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Asking Their Lender To Accept Net Proceeds Short Of Their Outstanding Mortgage

A report from the Record Courier. “A lack of inventory, low interest rates and eager buyers have sent Douglas County home prices into the stratosphere. Nevada Board of Realtors President Brad Spires said that the median price per square foot was $326. ‘During 2010 that was under $100, so that number per square foot is incredible,’ he said. ‘There are 54 homes on the market over $1 million. Some of those are people looking at the market and thinking maybe it’s time for us to downsize, or to buy a motorhome and travel for three years. With numbers escalating the way they have, a lot of people are testing the market.'”

From KUNR in Nevada. “The median price for a house in the Truckee Meadows remained at $530,000 in July. That’s according to the latest data from the Reno-Sparks Association of Realtors. The latest data show a notable increase in the number of houses on the market last month, helping to keep the median price unchanged from June.”

The Idaho Press. “The Treasure Valley’s housing market is starting to cool off. It’s still a strong seller’s market, but rising inventory means buying a house has tended to be a little less of a frenzy than it was a few months ago. Christina Ward, a Realtor with Keller Williams Realty Boise, said she’s seeing a combination of some more sellers and a few less buyers. Ward has noticed buyers not having to be in as many big, competitive bidding wars as well as some price reductions on listings. Both coincide with the rise in inventory, which is a ‘huge relief’ for buyers, she said.”

From Boise Dev in Idaho. “There’s a rare decline in median prices in Canyon County. It’s the first significant drop in median price since before the pandemic in Canyon County. The median price level in Ada County returned to increases in July, but nowhere near the breakneck pace seen this spring. Another key metric – homes available for sale – saw a big increase in both counties, with more homes available for sale in both counties.”

“Combined, the inventory metric showed 1,731 houses for sale across the two-county region, more than triple the inventory available in January when just 429 homes were listed for sale. The data also shows there are 64% more homes available than in July of 2020, and 43% more than just a month prior. In another sign that the housing market has cooled a bit since the same time a year ago, the number of homes sold or pending backed off the highs seen last summer. The number of houses sold between the two counties stood at 1,643 – a decline of 53% from the 2,522 sold a year prior.”

From Biz West on Colorado. “Looking at recent headlines, there are indications that many housing markets around the country are starting to see an uptick in housing supply. Nationally, inventory totals have been rising steadily since January, reaching 2.5 months of supply for single-family homes by the end of May. Realtors in our area are, in fact, witnessing that homes are spending slightly more time on the market, and the volume of available homes for sale is making small gains. But the data for months of supply in Northern Colorado does not reflect any uniformity that could cause us to see a trend in the making. Local markets that have experienced a slight month-over-month uptick in months of supply are Estes Park, Johnstown, Loveland, Mead, and Wellington.”

“Competitiveness among buyers in our local markets has eased in some communities, but the necessity to pay over list price is still a very common occurrence here, with all local markets showing sale price-to-list price averages above 100%. Local Realtors have also witnessed a reduction in the ‘feeding frenzy’ environment, where sellers are receiving multiple offers — but they still exist. Markets such Berthoud, Estes Park, Fort Collins, Greeley/Evans, and Johnstown have all seen increases to the average sale price-to-list price ratio. While Longmont, Loveland, Mead, Milliken, Severance, Timnath, Wellington, and Windsor all show some reductions in the ratio, and hopefully some relief for frustrated buyers.”

The Dallas Morning News in Texas. “North Texas home sales fell for the second month in a row in July, giving pause to the run-up in property buying that began more than a year ago. Last month, sales in the area fell by 17% year-over-year. July’s decline followed a 3% dip in June. The recent decreases in single-family home purchases all but erased gains in the first five months of 2021. Year-to-date sales by real estate agents are just 2% ahead of last year’s record pace, according to data from the Texas Real Estate Research Center and the North Texas Real Estate Information Systems.”

“‘The rise in inventories and listings are at the higher price ranges, if we would have more home for sales the sales numbers would be higher especially at the lower price ranges,’ said Dr. Luis Torres, an economist with the Texas Real Estate Research Center. ‘I do also believe some households are being priced out given record price increases. If you add the possibility of interest rates rising in the coming months, I would say probably that demand has reached a peak.'”

From Fox Baltimore. “A realtor in Central Maryland says he is seeing a resurgence in a real estate practice that has been uncommon since the housing crisis of 2007 and 2008. Robert McArtor, CEO of Maryland Homes Team, Inc. of RE/MAX Components, says he is noticing an uptick in short sales on homes in the region. ‘Basically asking their lender to accept the net proceeds of their property short of their outstanding mortgage,’ said McArtor, describing the process of a short sale.”

“‘I just spoke with an appraiser just a few days ago — they had 13 orders just for doing appraisals for short sales,’ said McArtor. McArtor also says some of the upticks in potential short sales come from landlords and property owners who may be unable to keep up with bills and payments as some pandemic eviction moratoriums continue.”

From KJZZ. “The Arizona Multihousing Association, which represents apartment complex owners and private home owners with only a few tenants, said it has members who are owed tens of thousands of dollars in rent. CEO Courtney Gilstrap LeVinus said losing the income for 16 months has left some property owners facing foreclosure and others forced to sell.”

The Los Angeles Times in California. “One of the region’s most prolific apartment builders has sued the city of Los Angeles over its COVID-19 eviction moratorium, saying his companies have experienced ‘astronomical’ financial losses and are legally entitled to compensation from the city. GHP Management Corp., owned by real estate developer Geoffrey Palmer, said in its lawsuit that12 buildings it manages have experienced more than $20 million in lost rental income as a result of the measure. GHP, which filed the lawsuit along with several other Palmer companies, expects that number to triple by the time the moratorium’s provisions have expired.”

“Palmer’s companies said they are entitled to more than $100 million. GHP has filed a second lawsuit over anti-eviction measures enacted by Los Angeles County and the state of California. That case seeks another $50 million and deals with apartment buildings in Santa Clarita.”

The State Journal Register in Illinois. “In the maelstrom of economic chaos roiled by the COVID-19 virus, small-time landlords are struggling to stay afloat. ‘We are the only business out there that has to provide its service but doesn’t have to be paid,’ said Anthony Nudo, a Springfield landlord. While in theory landlords could eventually sue these tenants for back rent, it’s an unlikely scenario in the real world, Nudo said. ‘What I have found during my years as a landlord is that once someone is more than a month behind in their rent, you are never going to see that money.'”

From Zillow. “In August – October 2021, months of housing supply is likely to increase by 15% relative to June 2021 levels because of forbearance exits. Additional supply from distressed borrowers could represent between 5% and 26% of sales volume over that period. Approximately 850,000 borrowers will exit forbearance in August – October 2021, and because of strong price appreciation and very few loans with negative equity, open market sales are a realistic option for the majority of distressed borrowers. Over the past year, 25% of borrowers exited forbearance without a plan for returning their mortgage to good standing.”

“Low-income borrowers — who often, but not always, use federally backed programs including low down payment loans backed by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) to help them secure a home — may be particularly vulnerable, with less savings and monthly cash flow to work their way out of forbearance. Atlanta (42,000), Houston (40,000), Chicago (28,000), and Dallas (22,000) have the highest number of borrowers behind on their FHA loans, according to an analysis of FHA data by the American Enterprise Institute. Other areas with high levels of delinquent borrowers include Washington, D.C.; Baltimore; Riverside, Calif.; San Antonio; Fort Worth, Texas; and Philadelphia.”

“The table below details three forbearance exit scenarios: In the first status quo scenario, 25% of homes that exit forbearance are sold, which is consistent with borrower actions throughout the pandemic. In a second positive outlook scenario, only 10% of forbearance exits lead to homes sold on the open market. In a third, more-distressed scenario, 50% of forbearance exits lead to homes sold on the market, a significant deterioration from current conditions.”

The Real Deal on New York. “The hits keep on coming for HFZ Capital. The troubled developer was at the losing end of a recent court decision involving a lender on the XI, HFZ’s luxury condo project by the High Line. A state Supreme Court judge ruled that HFZ owed $136 million to the U.K.-based Children’s Investment Fund, which provided a nearly $1.3 billion loan in 2017 for the West Side development, according to Crain’s. The lender claimed HFZ stopped making monthly interest payments on the loan in April 2020.”

“The court delivered a summary judgment late last month, putting HFZ and its chairman, Ziel Feldman, on the hook for the $136 million, plus interest. Stu Loeser, a spokesperson for HFZ, said the company would appeal. He declined to comment further to The Real Deal. HFZ purchased the project site for $870 million in 2015 and had Bjarke Ingels design dancing towers that included 275 apartments, a 137-key luxury hotel and a spa/wellness center.”

“Sales have been slow, however, and the developer has been beset with financial problems that have further hampered the project as well as others for the company. HFZ has lost four Manhattan condo projects and a 34-story Midtown office tower to foreclosure.”

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This Post Has 89 Comments

      1. You knew that was coming. Thankfully, the globalists and their Democrat-Bolshevik Quislings can turn to their CCP ideological guiding lights for off-the-shelf internment camp blueprints as well as technology for mass surveillance and control. Forward!

      2. Put all the high risk people into one place, and hope the virus can’t find them?

        It’s already been tested all over the country in retirement communities where many of the worst covid outbreaks have occurred.

      3. They rigged the election, and the Panademic is fake, while they take your breath away by useless masks and unjustified lockdowns.
        Now they want to put the non compliant in camps.
        Is there any question that this is a attempt to take over the World by sinister psychopaths.
        While they mock you by the Obama party, people are being harmed, and they want to do more harm.
        Time to draw the line , or these people who are worse than all the villains of history will destroy all freedom and sanity .

      5. ‘The Department of Homeland Security said Friday they have observed “an increasing but modest level of activity online” by people who are calling for violence in response to baseless claims of 2020 election fraud and related to the conspiracy theory that former President Donald Trump will be reinstated.’

        “Some conspiracy theories associated with reinstating former President Trump have included calls for violence if desired outcomes are not realized,” according to a DHS Office of Intelligence and Analysis bulletin obtained by ABC News.’

        “As public visibility of the narratives increases, we are concerned about more calls to violence. Reporting indicates that the timing for these activities may occur during August 2021, although we lack information on specific plots or planned actions,” the bulletin sent to state and local partners reads.’

        https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/homeland-security-warns-increasing-moderate-threat-violence-trump/story?id=79324751

        1. ‘The U.S. Senate is currently considering a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill that’s primarily targeting the ailing highway system, with tens of billions left over to spend on advancing the nation’s EV charging infrastructure and incorporating more eco-friendly modes of public transportation. But there’s also some really kooky shit that you need to be made aware of before this passes into law.’

          ‘Along with new regulations that would mandate the inclusion of collision detection systems and automatic emergency braking, where the car calls your bluff and applies the wheel-stoppers independently of your actions, provisions have been made that would also require some kind of in-car breathalyzer. The stated aim is to reduce incidents of drunk driving. However, the proposed system may also include driver-monitoring cameras, totally undermining any nobility the cause might otherwise have had.’

          ‘Complaining about regulatory overreach is kind of my beat and the last few years have kept me truly busy. But this is on a whole other level as the nanny state runs amok — and we’re just getting started.’

          ‘Section 13002 of the bill includes a “per-mile user fee pilot” designed to help offset the highway infrastructure money lost via fuel taxes as vehicles become more efficient and/or electrified. Unfortunately the program aims to use connected OBD-II devices, OEM-collected telematic data, smartphone app, and information from insurance companies to effectively allow the government to track your whereabouts 24/7 and set up a payment plan using information you didn’t necessarily give up willingly. Some of those systems could also be leveraged to assist in some of the other proposals that have been tucked away in the bill, including the aforementioned inebriation issue.’

          ‘The 2,700-page document suggests installing automated traffic enforcement hubs, networked with speed and stoplight cameras (similar to what currently exists in China) and requiring automakers to install breathalyzers (or their equivalent) inside of vehicles that must be used before an automobile can even be started. This is a popular tactic among the court system as a way to ensure DUI recipients aren’t setting off three sheets to the wind. But one of the criticisms was that drivers could simply have someone else blow into the device. Well, the interested parties have accounted for that by requiring some kind of in-car monitoring system that not only makes sure you’re the one blowing but also has the ability to track face and eye movements in case you’re planning to get drunk while driving.’

          ‘Considering automakers are already installing driver-facing cameras as part of their “advanced driving suites” or “driver assistance packages,” it’s not much of a stretch to see that hardware readapted for government use. The industry has even begun signaling that it’s happy to comply.’

          ‘It’s all very futuristic until you remember that self-driving cars were supposed to have arrived a couple of years ago and the industry’s solution was to release a bunch of half-baked assistance features that mandate constant surveillance so the automaker can avoid any liabilities. That technology is now becoming the keystone for the proposed safety legislation that’s lurking in the Senate infrastructure bill.’

          ‘Those in need of further proof that this is all sketchy as hell need look no further than its endorsement by the world’s largest automotive lobby. The Alliance for Automotive Innovation (AAI) has already expressed support for driver-monitoring cameras, which are completely in line with what the bill’s proposing.’

          ‘If you have a free weekend, I strongly urge you to read the bill. It’s not just the automotive content that veers into the weeds. The entire thing is loaded with those weird inclusions that have nothing to do with infrastructure but had no other way of being snuck into law.’

          https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2021/08/senate-infrastructure-bill-seeks-to-make-breathalyzers-interior-cameras-mandatory/

          1. Lightning eMotors Inc. shares surged after the company that electrifies commercial vehicles announced a strategic partnership with a Berkshire Hathaway Inc.-backed bus maker.

            Coincidence? I think NOT.

        2. We are the leaderless resistance.

          Our resistance is the cumulative effort of our individual actions, the most important of which is to STOP GIVING THESE PEOPLE MONEY.

          Stop voluntarily funding your own destruction and persecution.

        3. the timing for these activities may occur during August 2021, although we lack information on specific plots or planned actions

          And if it doesn’t, (((generic they))) will make sure that it does.

      6. My favorite part of the camp document is the “neighborhood swap,” where all the vulnerable people to to live in one green-zone house and the rest of the family in that house disperse into neighboring housing. Oh sure, neighbor, come live in my house while Grandpa goes to live in your dining room.

        This is all impossible BS, and I’m pretty sure that even the authors knew it as they were writing. You would need Black Death-level disease before even considering this. Anyway, it looks like the idea has been abandoned. They haven’t even updated it for a year.

  2. ‘The data also shows there are 64% more homes available than in July of 2020, and 43% more than just a month prior’

    Hurrah for Harry Potter!

    ‘The number of houses sold between the two counties stood at 1,643 – a decline of 53% from the 2,522 sold a year prior’

    DONG!

  3. ‘A realtor in Central Maryland says he is seeing a resurgence in a real estate practice that has been uncommon since the housing crisis of 2007 and 2008’

    Wa? 2008!

    ‘he is noticing an uptick in short sales on homes in the region’

    Short sales are people walking away. Fook it, I’ll take the hit to my credit. So what did guberment think was going to happen? Which is ironic cuz guberments got their meat heads firmly locked in the shack loan vice.

    2. In fairness to landlords pursuing short sales, they had no a priori reason to assume state and federal governments would override centuries of contract law to take away their rights to collect rents. The value of a rental property is definitely lower without this privilege of ownership.

      1. “The value of a rental property is definitely lower without this privilege of ownership.”

        Ownership is just your turn to pay the property taxes.

  4. ‘his companies have experienced ‘astronomical’ financial losses’

    Eat yer crowz Thornberg.

  5. ‘the median price per square foot was $326. ‘During 2010 that was under $100, so that number per square foot is incredible,’ he said. ‘There are 54 homes on the market over $1 million’

    I doubt we have many readers familiar with this gotforsaken part of the world, but to see these kind of prices up there means fooked. Just who is underwriting 800k and up?

    1. I am familiar with it. I think it had the biggest meltdown of any area in the entire US last time. Prices fell to $135,000 from $365,000. Now they are WAAAYYYYY above the last peak. There are no words to describe how ludicrous it is.

  7. “…Anthony Nudo, a Springfield landlord. While in theory landlords could eventually sue these tenants for back rent, it’s an unlikely scenario in the real world, Nudo said. ‘What I have found during my years as a landlord is that once someone is more than a month behind in their rent, you are never going to see that money….’”

    Anthony Nudo is right, despite all the chest pumping from politicians that money is somehow going to fall out of the sky to make landlords whole.

    Is it not unreasonable to ask if the total rental [covid] non-payment losses even amongst small, private owner/operators will total in the billions?

    1. “…that money is somehow going to fall out of the sky to make landlords whole.”

      Doesn’t Modern Monetary Theory suggest that magic printing press money could be allocated to cover pandemic losses if political leaders decided it was a priority to make landlords, or any other politically favored group, whole?

      1. “Doesn’t Modern Monetary Theory suggest that magic printing press money could be allocated to cover pandemic losses if political leaders decided it was a priority to make landlords, or any other politically favored group, whole?”

        – I’ve heard MMT $ printing called “The Magic Money Tree.” 🙂

        – Democrats are so far left now that:
        a) There’s no intention of making (small) LLs whole; the strategy is to continue with the small to medium enterprise (SME) genocide, post-pandemic (did it ever really end?) so as to eliminate all free enterprise. These SMEs are independent, critical thinkers, and largely Republican, so eliminate them as rebels and opposition. All business will be under the command-and-control, centrally-planned mandates of The State, which allows only for large corporations that are in the inner circle as agents of The State.
        b) Destroy the rule of law, contract law and all private property rights. Straight from “The Ten Planks of the Communist Manifesto,” 1848 by Karl Heinrich Marx
        c) Continue to pander to your base of renter-serfs. These would be the “low information voters'” and “useful idiots” classes, that you want to have control over, but they just don’t know it (yet).
        d) Eviction moratorium today, tomorrow, and forever! Even the President is behind this.

        “WAR IS PEACE
        FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
        IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH.”         – George Orwell, 1984 – Ingsoc party slogan, Part 1, Chapter 1.

        – BTW, “1984” wasn’t supposed to be a “how to” novel; it wasn’t supposed to be non-fiction, and yet, here we are…

    2. Nudo said. ‘What I have found during my years as a landlord is that once someone is more than a month behind in their rent, you are never going to see that money.’”

      heeeeeeeeeeere we go again;
      get ready for the lazy emo liberal arts journalists to interview the same old “victims” of the mean old banks & landlords.
      get ready for the parade of poor single moms w/mixed race kids living in cars.
      get ready for the endless cliche’s of “fighting for my house” . . .
      “we are all in this together” . . .
      “like everyone else” . . .
      blah blah yadda yadda.

      you are expected to ignore the evidence of their poor choices in life yet feel sorry for their deliberate refusal to learn from their mistakes.

      failure has many fathers. success, one mother

      1. My family had a saying when I was growing up “I’d rather owe it to you than cheat you out of it”.

        It applies doubly when referring to back rent and other unpaid debts.

  9. “A state Supreme Court judge ruled that HFZ owed $136 million to the U.K.-based Children’s Investment Fund, which provided a nearly $1.3 billion loan in 2017 for the West Side development, according to Crain’s. The lender claimed HFZ stopped making monthly interest payments on the loan in April 2020.”

    Sounds like the Children may soon find themselves $1.3 billion short.

    1. Heads must be exploding across the pond.

      Smart philanthropy

      The Children’s Investment Fund Foundation was established in 2002 by Chris Hohn and Jamie Cooper. The co-founders set out to improve the lives of children living in poverty in developing countries through strategies that have lasting impact. With a rigorous business-like approach to philanthropic funding, the foundation was focused on clear returns for children from the outset. The emphasis on data to measure impact has been widely adopted by other development funders.
      …

  10. From KUNR in Nevada. “The median price for a house in the Truckee Meadows remained at $530,000 in July. That’s according to the latest data from the Reno-Sparks Association of Realtors.

    Those $15 per hour warehouse jobs sure work miracles. Oh, wait…..

    1. Those $15 per hour warehouse jobs

      Amazon is building a distribution center in my little burg. Unemployment here is low, so they will have to pay more to attract employees.

    1. Since the PCR tests are a total fraud, in which the test can’t tell the difference between the regular flu Covid or the common cold, I doubt that the mutations are truth.

      Countries , Scientist and Doctors calling for the proof of isolation of Covid 19, rather than a computer simulated version. They can’t produce proof .
      What a scam on the World while it was all about taking freedom from people, destroying smaller business and constant injections of God knows what.
      People should realize that it isn’t justified to shut down the Globe over a survival rate of over 99% and force untested new technology jabs in every arm. Aren’t you sick of useless masks and bogus lockdowns.
      Even if your a person who believes in vaccine programs, do you want to have repeated injections forced on you by Big Pharmacy Monopoly , in which thousands died because of suppression of meds, for the only solution being a guinea pig vaccine.
      They are your enemy in white coats acting like saviors, when they are killers.

      1. I haven’t looked into it, but I suspect that the variants are identifiable genetically, rather than by symptoms.

        Oxide!?

        1. The typical PCR tests recognize the S (spike) protein, and yes, it can distinguish from flu. PCR testing can tell you that you are infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus, but it can’t tell you which variant it is. Researchers take some (not all) of these positive swabs and do genomic sequencing on the virus to determine which variant it is. If 92% of these selected swabs are Delta, we can assume that 92% of all the new cases in the country are Delta even if we don’t test all of them. This is basic sampling statistics.

          Problem is, there are some real dummies on YouTube etc. (not here on HBB) who can’t seem to figure this out. You get logic like this:

          PCR test is positive.
          “Do I have Delta?”
          “We don’t know, PCR doesn’t test for Delta.”
          “THERE IS NO TEST FOR DELTA! IT’S ALL FAKE!”
          🙄

          As for identifying variants by symptoms, it’s kind a of a moot point. By now, Delta has outcompeted everything except Lambda in Peru. If someone has COVID at all (outside of South America), we can say it’s Delta. As for tracking symptoms, the most we have is the self-reported ZOE tracker app in the UK. ZOE is showing that mild cases in vaccinated people are showing head-cold symptoms, while unvaccinated are still getting the chest-cold symptoms of the older COVID variants. I’m not sure about this. I’ve seen some snippets that Delta itself has different symptoms regardless of vax status, but I haven’t followed it closely.

          1. PCR tests recognize the S (spike) protein

            I’ve seen the N-gene but it looks like as of March 2021 Roche has a “SARS-CoV-2 Variant Set 1” test for research purposes only.

          2. That was a thorough and awesome explanation.

            Btw, within the past week I’ve heard four separate reports through the family grapevine (i.e cases from 2 to 3 degrees of separation from me) of vaccinated people who recently caught COVID-19 in Florida with significant symptoms. Only one of them has died, so far. But the vaccine isn’t quite living up to its magic bullet reputation.

          3. significant symptoms

            For the three the survived, was it enough for them to be tested and officially counted among the breakthrough cases? I’m sure the deceased was counted. 😕

            While the CDC isn’t tracking non-hospital breakthrough cases, the states are. We’re hearing a lot of anecdotal evidence of breakthrough cases, but the statistics coming out of the states don’t support that. Silver bullet? Well no. But it’s a first generation vaccine for a virus that is still evolving.

            Virginia has compiled their data nicely: https://www.vdh.virginia.gov/coronavirus/covid-19-data-insights/covid-19-cases-by-vaccination-status/

          4. But it’s a first generation vaccine for a virus that is still evolving.

            Do you realize how stupid you sound?! Keep chasing those variants.

      1. RR

        I don’t believe anything they say anymore The only Scientists and Doctors I believe are the ones being censored and threatened.

        So, Monopolies think they can deceive the public over information that involves life and death matters. Criminals who don’t care who they harm.
        I have seen enough, of these psychopaths posing as Public health authorities with their pre planned agendas. They aren’t following any Science.

      3. It really depends on what the variant is. PCR is likely to miss a variation within the primer sequence where there are nucleotide polymorphisms towards the 5’ end of the primer especially if the primer is long with a high melting temperature and high GC content at the 3’ end of the primer. Similarly.a single nucleotide deletion resulting in a frame shift would most likely be missed if it were in a similar position. The PCR is only going to detect a variant or even be able to distinguish between corona virus subtypes if the primer sequences are significantly different between those variants or subtypes or the amplified sequence is of a significantly different length.

        “By now, Delta has outcompeted everything except Lambda in Peru. If someone has COVID at all (outside of South America), we can say it’s Delta”

        Metagenomic sequencing of an RNA virus from nasal swabs is a complex and time consuming experiment. It seems unlikely that enough data has been collected using metagenomic sequencing to reach the statistical certainty that would support this statement. For instance, on the continent of Africa there would only be a small number of labs with the facilities to perform these experiments reliably. In fact, in most of the world’s geography, the technology just doesn’t exist. For instance, how many samples from Central America or Mongolia or Siberia or the Philippines have been analyzed by metagenomic illumina sequencing? Probably close to zero…or even zero. The world population minus South America is about 7.4 billion people with many living as geographically isolated populations. Do you understand how many metagenomic sequencing experiments would have to be done to reach the statistical threshold to support this statement? The youubers you refer to may be more credible.

        1. At the moment, it’s all we have.

          Here’s a great website if you want to play around with which variants are in which country. The data isn’t great, not complete, and sometimes doesn’t represent an entire country, but it’s clear that Delta likes to take over. Only Gamma and Lambda are holding their own.

          https://covariants.org/per-country

  12. from CNN’s website:

    If there was ever any doubt that individual investors are a powerful new force on Wall Street, AMC Entertainment (AMC) CEO Adam Aron may just have silenced the skeptics.

    The latest: On the company’s earnings call Monday, Aron made it very clear through his choice of words — and downright flattery — that he views retail investors as crucial to the movie theater chain’s fortunes.

    Silly me, i thought that selling enough movie tickets and overpriced snacks to turn a profit was crucial to their fortunes. But who needs sales or profits in the everything bubble economy, where the stock of an unprofitable cinema chain with no hope of returning to profitability any time soon doesn’t tank?

    1. “…selling enough movie tickets…”

      Silly me, but are there any movies out there in theaters that anybody actually wants to watch?

      Physically, most multiplexes (at least here in SoCal) are in horrible condition. To cut costs, theaters are increasingly dependent on automation. The result, out of focus, mis-cropped pictures, sound levels way too high.

      Exception: privately owned ‘revival’ cinemas, in which the owners take pride to present a great movie experience.

    2. Today the retail investors in meme stonks are the most powerful force in the financial universe. But eventually they will get collectively wiped off the map by deeper hands, at which point the sob stories in the financial press will be unlimited in number and depth of woe.

      1. deeper hands

        shorthand for stronger hands in deeper pockets? 🙃

        The press will not tell tales of woe
        Instead they’ll crow “We told you so.”

  13. I wonder if Region IV will have ping-pong and beer available in the Covid Camps?

    Interim Operational Considerations for Implementing the Shielding Approach to Prevent COVID-19 Infections in Humanitarian Settings

    Updated July 26, 2020

    This document presents considerations from the perspective of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) for implementing the shielding approach in humanitarian settings as outlined in guidance documents focused on camps, displaced populations and low-resource settings.1,2 This approach has never been documented and has raised questions and concerns among humanitarian partners who support response activities in these settings. The purpose of this document is to highlight potential implementation challenges of the shielding approach from CDC’s perspective and guide thinking around implementation in the absence of empirical data. Considerations are based on current evidence known about the transmission and severity of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and may need to be revised as more information becomes available. Please check the CDC website periodically for updates.

    What is the Shielding Approach1?

    The shielding approach aims to reduce the number of severe COVID-19 cases by limiting contact between individuals at higher risk of developing severe disease (“high-risk”) and the general population (“low-risk”). High-risk individuals would be temporarily relocated to safe or “green zones” established at the household, neighborhood, camp/sector or community level depending on the context and setting.1,2 They would have minimal contact with family members and other low-risk residents.

    Population characteristics and demographics

    Consideration: The number of green zones required may be greater than anticipated, as they are based on the total number of high-risk individuals, disease categories, and the socio-demographics of the area and not just the proportion of elderly population.

    Explanation: Older adults represent a small percentage of the population in many camps in humanitarian settings (approximately 3-5%4,5), however in some humanitarian settings more than one quarter of the population may fall under high risk categories13,14,15 based on underlying medical conditions which may increase a person’s risk for severe COVID-19 illness which include chronic kidney disease, obesity, serious heart conditions, sickle cell disease, and type 2 diabetes. Additionally, many camps and settlements host multiple nationalities which may require additional separation, for example, Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya accommodates refugees from 19 countries.16

    Timeline considerations

    Consideration: Plan for an extended duration of implementation time, at least 6 months.

    https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/global-covid-19/shielding-approach-humanitarian.html

      1. “I posted about this last week and asked how are these not concentration camps.”

        I’m sorry I missed that.

        As far as your question, at best they are modeled after concentration camps and at worst they are concentration camps.

  14. Coming Soon For The Unvaccinated: A $50 Monthly Paycheck Deduction From Your Employer
    https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucejapsen/2021/08/08/coming-soon-for-the-unvaccinated-a-50-monthly-paycheck-deduction-from-your-employer/?sh=1231fea047ae

    (snip)

    “Employers are beginning to tack on a special surcharge of $20 to $50 a month to their unvaccinated workers, according to one of the nation’s largest health benefits consultancies.

    “To date, employers have offered gift cards, a day off from work, cash and other financial incentives to convince their workers to get vaccinated against Covid-19.

    “But the carrot approach is about to be joined by a stick that could cost employees up to $50 a month, according to Mercer, the large employee benefits consultancy that works with thousands of employers around the world.

    “’Employers have tried encouraging employees to get vaccinated through offering incentives like paid time off and cash, but with the Delta variant driving up infections and hospitalizations throughout the country – at the same time that vaccination rates have stalled – we have received inquiries from at least 20 employers over the past few weeks who are giving consideration to adding health coverage surcharges for the unvaccinated as a way to drive up vaccination rates in their workforce,’ said Wade Symons, Mercer’s regulatory resources group leader.”

    2. Let them try this bogus move where I work. Will sue them to ensure that they similarly charge the obese employees, of whom we have many, a similar, if not greater surcharge for their known health problems as a result of an eating disability. Let’s see where this goes?

      1. I know a lady with TDS who was singing this freak’s praises, saying he should run for President. This was shortly after he murdered all those nursing home residents.

  18. Did the cryptobillionaires get Congress to agree to their sweetheart legal exceptions? Because cryptocurrency is special?

    1. “Did Trump Ever Truly Leave Office?” is the title of this video.

      Joe Biden was never legitimately elected in November 2020 to become President of the United States, but he was however inaugurated as the President of the United States in January 2021.

      The 2020 election was stolen.

      1. Its a big deal that they rigged the election, while at the same time they brought on the Panademic, while at the same time brought on Censored News, while at the same time closed down the Globe.

        The timing of everything was a pre planned effort for these criminal Innsurrectist of the USA and other Countries to take over , using a unjustified faked Panademic, not following any Science to Police State the Globe.
        They use fraud, bribery, threat and force to get compliance while the intent is to take all freedom from populations of the World and usher in a Commie/Fascism Dictorship by Globlist Monopolies and Elites who were never elected.
        They are already acting like they rule the World, calling for Stalin and Nazi like tactics to deprive and murder and put in prison the non compliant.
        The intent is to destroy all small business, so the Monopolies control all commerce , while they loot the populations by money filtered to them pursuant relief packages by the puppets in Government who were put in by a rigged election.
        Than when the timing is right, and they achieve alk that is to be achieved by the Fake Panademic, they will bring on the economic system they want to enforce. Basically a slave like World where they dictate every move your allowed, while your injected at their whim.
        Can’t be in la la land anymore, while these evil doers even flaunt partying like Obama Party , while people are murdered and injured and robbed of their wealth.
        They are trying to destroy any power or wealth or independence of populations.
        No different than when the Nazis took the gold out of peoples mouths before they sent them to the gas chambers.

    1. what an absolutely beautiful development!!

      especially ban the masks! even ban people who carry them in their pockets! “do not enter if you are only even carrying a mask. keep those disease reservoirs off our property!”

    2. I guess it’s like all other kinds of segregation. No need for the State to impose segregation if the people self-segregate themselves.

      I see this as a good development. We will be exposed and immune all the faster. UK is on the downslope, we hope. I’m keeping an eye on FL too.

  23. Biden Wanders Off Despite Secret Service Directing Him To White House

    Infowars.com
    August 10th 2021, 5:06 pm

    Joe Biden seemed confused and frail upon his return to Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, as he was observed wandering off the walkway despite a Secret Service agent attempting to guide him to the White House.

    Video shows the agent directing Biden with his hand to take a right up the steps to the White House.

    Sleepy Joe instead kept bumbling into the lawn among the bushes before circling back around to the door.

    https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1425135620557623298?s=20

    The mainstream media would simply argue Biden wanted to take the scenic route!

    1. The most upsetting part of all this is the arrogance of these tenants. It’s as if they’re in a contest to see how much they can get away with.

      The financial goldbugs and OMG GREAT RESET financial gurus are still saying that we should trade our worthless fiat dollar for real assets like, you know, “income producing property.” Yeah right, just like those Mr. Money Mustache FIRE idiots. Enjoy your vibrancy the next time the Dems cancel rent. They’ve set the precedent, they won’t need a pandemic next time.

  27. Might we eventually reach the point where the plain people of the land (sometimes called deplorables) rise up against their corporate landlords and cast off the monopolistic shackles on residential real estate?

    1. The Financial Times
      FT Series
      Global house prices: Raising the roof
      Renting property
      ‘My flat is now a commodity’: Berlin to vote on seizing rental properties
      FT Series: Bid to confiscate apartments from publicly listed landlords could set precedent for other cities with high rents
      Lorena Jonas is campaigning for property to be expropriated from Berlin’s corporate landlords
      Erika Solomon in Berlin and George Hammond in London August 9 2021
      House prices are rising in many major economies. This FT series explores whether these increases are sustainable.

      Lorena Jonas has spent the past eight years fighting landlord rent rises in her trendy Berlin district. Her latest battle, though, could affect not just her neighbours but hundreds of thousands of tenants across the city.

      Jonas is involved in a radical campaign urging Berlin’s city government to expropriate 240,000 properties from Germany’s biggest publicly listed residential landlords, accusing them of squeezing out lower income, long-term residents through shoddy maintenance and jacked-up rents.

      After collecting more than 350,000 petition signatures, their proposal — which targets corporate landlords with more than 3,000 apartments each — will be voted on in a local referendum in September. Polling suggests nearly half of Berliners support expropriation, which would force the companies to sell their properties to the city government at a “fair” price.

      “What does it mean that my flat is now a commodity on the stock market, where the goal is to draw as much profit as possible for shareholders?” said Jonas, who lives in a property in Kreuzberg owned by Berlin’s biggest listed landlord Deutsche Wohnen, the main target of the campaign. “These questions are now resonating across Berlin, and beyond.”
      …

  28. By — Courtney Vinopal
    Houses are getting scooped up before they’re listed. It’s shutting people out of homeownership
    Economy
    Aug 10, 2021 8:37 PM EDT

    When a couple looking to buy their first home approached real estate agent Annette Dedios at the beginning of the year, she knew it would be tricky to find something that fit their needs. They were looking to buy in Fresno, California – dubbed “the nation’s hottest housing market” by the Los Angeles Times back in March – and most of the homes listed in their desired neighborhood were above their price point.

    Dedios had previously found the couple a condo in 2019, so when they approached her to get pre-approved to buy a house, she got to work. But, as she was doing so, her clients were poached by another agent – one who gave them an attractive offer: go with him to sell their condo and he would show them a home that was not yet on the market.

    So-called “pocket listings” like the one that caused Dedios to lose a sale are not a new phenomenon. Brokerages have used them for years to corner the market by way of having the opportunity to represent both buyer and seller, keeping these sales within their network. They grew so prevalent in some parts of the country that the National Association of Realtors (NAR) passed a policy against the practice in 2019, requiring brokers to list any property that they are marketing to potential buyers on the multiple listing service, or MLS, a publicly available online database.

    Still, real estate professionals say there are loopholes in the policy that allow the practice to persist, and in some cases worsen, because of the pandemic. The NAR policy does not ban “office exclusives,” which allows brokerages to market listings privately within their networks rather than listing it on the MLS. Advocacy groups such as the Consumer Federation of America have argued this loophole allows discriminatory housing practices to persist. Nor does it ban “coming soon” listings, which allow buyers to get a jump-start on a property and potentially close on it as soon as it hits the market.

    The number of homes that have likely sold without being marketed to the public has grown by 67 percent since November 2019, when the NAR adopted its stricter rules, according to a Redfin analysis tracking MLS listings that were marked “sold” or “pending” the same day they were put on the database. Over the past year and half, demand for housing skyrocketed while supply has shrunk to historic lows. Nationwide, 32 percent of homes sold in March of this year went for above list price, compared to 14 percent in 2020, according to real estate marketplace Zillow.

    “There have always been pocket listings, but not like it is now,” said Liz Hogan, a luxury real estate agent with the brokerage firm Compass in South Florida. “We have so many people relocating to Florida, and there are literally not enough properties for all the people who are moving here.”

    Hogan said she and other agents are part of WhatsApp chats where they share information on homeowners who are looking to sell their properties. In these chats, she said, “you say you know of an owner who is willing to sell in [a certain] neighborhood, and you’ll get like 10 responses. It’s almost like [these offline conversations have] become a secondary market.”

    While pocket listings can be lucrative for real estate agents, some realtors expressed concerns to the PBS NewsHour that sellers do not get the best deal when they keep their properties from being marketed to the wider public, because there’s no chance for multiple offers to compete against one another. And with home prices already at historic highs, housing advocates worry that the practice could worsen already-existing racial and socioeconomic disparities in homeownership, as well as shut some buyers out of the market.

    “It kind of feels one step removed from those racial covenants of the 1960s, which would explicitly say, ‘do not sell this home to anybody who was not white,’” said Daryl Fairweather, a chief economist with Redfin, which has come out against pocket listings. “Now, it’s not so explicit. But you know, it might serve the same purpose … who are you excluding?” Fairweather asked in reference to the practice.
    …

    1. Manipulation during the low-volume trading hours. Print a bunch of paper to crash the price. But why? I’m not sure. The PM community keeps saying things like “so JPM can cover their shorts,” but this has been going on for years. Just how many shorts are still out there?

      The more conspiracy-minded have a different view. PMs are unique in that they come in both paper and physical forms, and the elites could be using that paper crash to load up on the physical metal for hoarding. They can do this for both metals. Physical gold backs up currencies, and physical silver is vital to the green economy. You can’t wire up a Tesla with a share of SLV.

      Bonus points if you can crash the price enough to panic the retail buyers into selling their physical silver back to the local coin shop. Heh, the retail PM buyers are wise to this. They are BTFD.

  30. The FED’s balance sheet is now well over $8 TRILLION. It’s increased by more than $1.3 TRILLION since August 2020. This is pure madness, and they’re not even questioned.

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