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Buyers Are Looking For Reasons Not To Pay So Much

A report from Hawaii News Now. “The Honolulu Board of Realtors says the median price of a single-family home on Oahu fell slightly to $1,105,000 for April. The number of homes pending sale also fell — a sign rate hikes by the Federal Reserve are starting to have an impact. ‘Whatever they could afford before, they cannot afford now. Let’s say if you are able to purchase $2 million before with a lower rate. Now, your budget is most likely reduce to let’s say 1.5 million or 1.6 million,’ said Vanessa Kop, executive vice president at NAI CBI Hawaii.”

The Troy Record in New York. “Encouraged by the market activity and most likely aware of planned rate increases, 1,207 sellers entered the Capital Region real estate market by listing their homes in March, the report said. However, closed sales decreased by 17 percent from March 2021 to 904 for the month, marking seven consecutive months of decline. ‘The rates of the last two years were an anomaly due to the pandemic. Buyers and potential buyers should keep in mind that historically, a 5 – 7 percent rate is still low for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage – nowhere near the 16 percent rate buyers dealt with in the early 1980s,’ Greater Capital Association of Realtors CEO Laura Burns said in the report. ‘It’s not the 2 – 3 percent of 2020 and 2021  but that was a forced low rate to keep money moving during the pandemic.'”

From Bloomberg. “Lenders have seized control of the property where China Oceanwide planned to develop one of lower Manhattan’s tallest towers. Oceanwide defaulted on a $165 million loan on the project, at 80 South St., in January, leading to the transfer to a receiver as the property’s custodian, according to a filing by the developer’s Hong Kong affiliate. Oceanwide had invested $410 million in the project.”

“‘The borrower has failed to pay all amounts demanded under the notice of default,’ Oceanwide reported in the filing. ‘The company is continuously assessing the legal, financial and operational impacts of the actions to be taken by the initial lender.'”

From My News LA in California. “A Santa Clarita man who invested in real estate and sold “coupon bonds” that promised regular interest payments on top of principal repayment has agreed to plead guilty to a federal criminal charge for defrauding investors out of more than $1.7 million, the Department of Justice announced. Matthew Skinner, 45, who in 2014 founded a company called Empire West Equity Inc. and later established Simple Growth LLC, was charged Tuesday with securities fraud, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.”

“Skinner admitted that he did not intend to purchase, develop or resell real estate, and that he instead used investor funds to pay older investors, his employees and himself. He ‘used investor funds from those entities and accounts to pay for personal trips, his mortgage, his utility bills, cosmetic surgery, and alimony payments to his ex-wife,’ Skinner acknowledged in the plea agreement. Simple Growth raised $1,744,946 from more than 20 investors — none of whom received any of their money back. The securities fraud charge against Skinner carries a penalty of up to 20 years in federal prison.”

The Hartford Current. “Greenwich real estate developer whose business went bust in a market downturn and who was accused later of swindling $1.5 million from friends and associates, was sentenced in federal court Tuesday to three years in prison. Samuel Klein, 66, lived in a multi-million dollar mansion in the Greenwich back country and collected sums ranging from tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars from friends and associates on promises that he could make substantial and in some cases guaranteed profit on real estate deals.”

“Federal prosecutors said Klein stole to subsidize a lifestyle he could not longer afford. ‘Klein prioritized his own lavish lifestyle which included accommodations at an exclusive resort and staggering credit card expenditures,’ prosecutors said in a court filing. ‘He spent far beyond his means, and funded some of his extravagance with victim investors’ funds, which he plowed through at an aggressive clip.'”

From WLNS. “A 61-year-old real estate developer is looking at some potential prison time after pleading guilty to tax evasion. According to a statement from the United States Attorney’s Office of the Western District of Michigan, Scott Chappelle ran an operation that kept the IRS from collecting his business and personal taxes for close to a decade. All the businesses were involved in real estate development and property management in the East Lansing area.”

“When the IRS went to collect the unpaid taxes, Chappelle lied to the agency about his and his companies’ assets and income, concealed his vacation house on Lake Michigan and purchased real property in nominee names instead of his own. Chappelle also told the IRS he couldn’t afford to pay his tax debts when he was using business bank accounts to pay for mortgage payments on two houses and a condo, college tuition for his children, personal credit card bills, life insurance premiums, multiple car payments, and expenses for the boats he owned.”

From CBC News in Canada. “A court-appointed investigator looking into the Epic Alliance group of companies says the public may never fully know what happened to the hundreds of millions raised by the failed Saskatoon real estate venture. The report establishes that entrepreneurs Rochelle LaFlamme and Alisa Thompson created Epic Alliance in August 2013 and ran it until they told 121 investors in a video meeting on Jan. 19, 2022, that there was no money left.”

“The Ernst and Young report revealed that, from 2019 to 2022, much of the new investor cash went to fill in the gaps on earlier obligations. It showed that 82 per cent of the company’s revenues came from investors and 18 per cent came from the operations of its businesses. Saskatoon lawyer Mike Russell represents the investors. Russell said the investors must now decide what, if anything, they can do get back some of their money.”

“‘This report would either provide investors with an idea what assets would be available for them to go after, or it would say there are no assets but at least give them an overview of what happened with these companies,’ he said. ‘I think it does an extraordinary job of the latter.'”

The Toronto Star in Canada. “The Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB) released its report for April showing a 9.2 per cent decline in the combined average price for all dwelling types since hitting a record high in January. The average price for detached and semi-detached houses, and townhouse and apartment condominiums dropped from $1,367,444 in January to $1,241,658, with all housing types seeing month-over-month price declines for a second straight month.”

“The average price for detached homes in Brampton peaked in January at $1,652,088 and has fallen each month since to an average of $1,474,967 in April — a decline of $177,121 or 10.7 per cent in just three months. Semi-detached homes hit a record high in February at a monthly average sale price of $1,262,256. Last month, semi-detached units sold for an average of $1,122,428, marking a $139,828 or 11 per cent in two months.”

“Price declines in the condo sector have been less pronounced with townhouse-style condos falling 8.4 per cent from a monthly average high of $910,184 in February to $833,411 last month. Brampton apartment condos also set a record high in February at $693,955 and have declined 5.1 per cent in average price to $658,500 since hitting that high-water mark.”

“‘Based on the trends observed in the April housing market, it certainly appears that the Bank of Canada is achieving its goal of slowing consumer spending as it fights high inflation. Negotiated mortgage rates rose sharply over the past four weeks, prompting some buyers to delay their purchase,’ said TRREB president Kevin Crigger.”

The Guardian on Australia. “The days of the bull run are over, said John, standing on the street in Redfern as we watched a tepid auction over a terrace not so much unfold, as haltingly and painfully reach some kind of an ending. John was filming this auction for a segment on the ABC 7pm news bulletin. And the story? A slowing market. ‘The end of 2020 you’d have 400 people go through a house in half an hour before it was auctioned. You’d have 60 registered bidders, it was rapid fire and crazy,’ he said.”

“Prices were still stratospheric, of course. But gone was the craziness, the prices climbing quickly until the house was millions over the reserve, the paddles in sweat-soaked paws and the dilated pupils, the weird feeding frenzy of trying to grab a piece of the hot market that seemed it would surge on forever. Bids were going up slowly by thousand dollar lots. An old punk walked through the auction expressing his disgust at all of us – ‘Oh excuse me! Walking past an auction,’ he said sarcastically, pointing at the house and saying ‘Woo hoo, an auction.'”

“‘Better not put your hand up mate – you’ll be the owner soon,’ said some wag in the crowd, breaking the tension and everyone laughed, and even the old punk smiled. The Redfern house (which needed a lot of work) eventually sold for $2.876m. Then on to Parramatta. This one – a three-bedroom house on a large block in a quiet street at $1.5m would surely attract plenty of bidders. But the atmosphere was funereal when I arrived.”

“The agents were packing up their boards and flags. There were two registered bidders but neither showed up. The property was passed in. Agent Broderick Wright asked me if I wanted a lift to the station. We hopped into his new-model Mercedes and drove past a little gem he’d just sold that morning for $1.1m – a heritage two-bedroom cottage in central Parramatta. But as to the north Parramatta property that just got passed in? ‘It was surprising to me because we had two buyers who were registered to buy but they did not register to bid. Plus we have lots of stock on the market in the area.'”

“The owners were mum and dad investors who had once lived in the property but had moved to another part of  Sydney. ‘There were a few other properties around that were at a lower price. Buyers are looking for reasons not to pay so much.'”

From Bloomberg. “It’s ending as fast as it began for retail day traders, whose crowd-sourced daring was the pre-eminent story of pandemic equities. Nursing losses in 2022 that are worse than the rest of the market’s, amateur investors who jumped in when the lockdown began have now given back all of their once-prodigious gains, according to an estimate by Morgan Stanley. The calculation is based on trades placed by new entrants since the start of 2020 and uses exchange and public price-feed data to tally overall profits and losses.”

“A craze born of the coronavirus outbreak and nurtured by Federal Reserve largesse is being laid low by a villain of identical lineage, inflation, which global central banks are racing to combat by raising the same interest rates they cut. The result has been a lumbering bear market in speculative companies that surged when the stimulus started flowing in March 2020.”

“‘A lot of these guys started trading right around Covid so their only investing experience was the wacked-out, Fed-fueled market,’ said Matthew Tuttle, CEO at Tuttle Capital Management LLC. ‘That all changed with the Fed pivot in November, but they didn’t realize that because they have never seen a market that wasn’t supported by the Fed,’ he said. ‘The results have been horrific.'”

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This Post Has 129 Comments

  1. It’s ponzi scheme Monday! Actually I’ve had PS articles piling up so I put off the latest craters.

    ‘‘A lot of these guys started trading right around Covid so their only investing experience was the wacked-out, Fed-fueled market’

    Yet another easy mania prediction: day traders are a herd of fools looking to go broke – like at the casino. How do you know Ben?

    We saw this before.

    1. The information at 23:00 of the Dinesh D’souza video you posted yesterday makes me glad I still have that 2003 F-250 so I can still jump in it, lose my cellphone and go dark.

    2. Washington Post Editorial Board — Jan. 6 was worse than you remember. It must define our politics (5/7/2022):

      “The attackers did not behave like “tourists”; they were not unarmed; Jan. 6 was not a normal protest that got out of hand; the attack was not staged by far-left agitators posing as Trump supporters. Instead, it was a coordinated and concerted effort on the part of pro-Trump zealots, riled up by then-President Donald Trump himself, to reverse a presidential election by intimidation and force.”

      The 2020 election was stolen.

      “The goal was “to stop the transfer of power by disrupting a joint session of the U.S. Congress convened to ascertain and count the electoral votes related to the presidential election.”

      The 2020 election was stolen.

      “Jan. 6 should have been a turning point in our politics. Voters must recognize that where politicians stand on democracy is more important than tax rates, inflation, gas prices or any other policy issue.”

      The 2020 election was stolen.

      “Lawmakers who see the threat that growing illiberal forces pose to the nation must secure its democratic institutions.”

      The 2020 election was stolen.

      https://archive.ph/ghy6R

      The Washington Post is globalist scum media.

      And President Donald Trump was correct when he stated that “the media is the enemy of the American people”

  3. ‘The borrower has failed to pay all amounts demanded under the notice of default,’ Oceanwide reported in the filing. ‘The company is continuously assessing the legal, financial and operational impacts of the actions to be taken by the initial lender.’

    Heh, kinda like Bob Dole talking about himself in third person. These clowns defaulted years ago on this and red hotcakes LA and San Francisco towers.

    1. BTW, was it an subprime loan that did them in ? Nope, they paid too much for the land.

      ‘their only investing experience was the wacked-out, Fed-fueled market…That all changed’

      1. “BTW, was it an subprime loan that did them in ? Nope, they paid too much for the land.”

        As a national land broker advised, “Land is riskiest asset out there. It’s a gamble considering land prices dive 40% before you can ever possibly get a sale. If you paid more than $500 and acre, you got ripped off.”

        He’s right.

        Charleston, SC Housing Prices Crater 27% YOY As Land And Lot Prices Plummet

        https://www.movoto.com/charleston-sc/market-trends/

  4. Some good news for a Monday.

    New York Post — NYC could face ‘long-term decline’ of workers returning to offices over crime (5/8/2022):

    “An advocate for large New York City employers warned Sunday that the Big Apple could see a “long-term decline” of workers commuting to Manhattan’s office buildings if crime isn’t reduced.

    The head of the group, Kathryn Wylde, in an appearance on WABC aired Sunday, assigned blame for the low office attendance to “the public safety problem” and concerns surrounding homelessness, rather than the city’s increasing COVID-19 positivity rates.

    “When we asked employers what’s the factor that would be most effective in bringing people back to the office, they said, ‘Reduce the presence of the homeless and mentally ill individuals, and expand police presence on the streets and subways”

    https://nypost.com/2022/05/08/nyc-could-face-decline-of-workers-returning-to-offices-over-crime/

    New York City is getting exactly what they voted for.

    “They’re not sending their best”

    1. Before Libtards the mentally ill were housed in hospitals with tax paid support. Now governments are paying reparations, turning men prisoners into women, and diddling kiddies.

    2. NYC could face ‘long-term decline’ of workers returning to offices over crime (5/8/2022)

      crime causes poverty. if you don’t believe me, ask thomas sowell. that’s what he’s been telling us all for a long, long time.

  5. ‘The average price for detached homes in Brampton peaked in January at $1,652,088 and has fallen each month since to an average of $1,474,967 in April — a decline of $177,121 or 10.7 per cent in just three months’

    The UHS up there are flooding the intertubes with tales of woe. From what I watched it’s these “suburbs” of Toronto taking the brunt of the a$$ poundings.

    How did you lose yer shack, eh?

    The Bank of Canada is achieving its goal of slowing consumer spending!

    1. The reality is Brampton has been falling for over a year now. I’ve posted that fact at a few other of my favorite social media sites. It truly causes mass enragement.

  6. ‘It’s not the 2 – 3 percent of 2020 and 2021 but that was a forced low rate to keep money moving during the pandemic’

    How did you lose yer shack mate?

    I was moving money during CCP virus!

  7. Antifa terrorist abortionists firebombed a pregnancy center in Madison, WI this weekend.

    Protests in the streets in front of the Supreme Court Justices’ personal residences in Chevy Chase, MD.

    Justice Alito has relocated to a secure location because of death threats.

    Antifa terrorist abortionists storming a Catholic cathedral in Los Angeles.

    This is the Democrat Party.

    The Democrat Party is the party of dismembering a human fetus inside the womb and sucking it out of its mother with a vaccuum.

    This is the Democrat Party.

  8. from Forbes. Looks like we will be at 6% way sooner than i thought
    —-
    Today’s average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage is 5.60% compared to the 5.49% average rate a week earlier.

    The 52-week high for a 30-year fixed mortgage was 5.60% and the 52-week low was 4.12%.

  9. Hungary flips NATO the bird:

    “Hungary has been the EU’s most vocal opponent on the oil ban. Prime Minister Viktor Orban — a longtime ally of Putin — has said that ending Russian oil purchases would be an “atomic bomb” on Hungary’s economy.

    https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/09/russia-putin-ally-orban-stalls-europes-oil-embargo-against-moscow.html

    Hungary stands for Christianity and European Civilization.

    The West stands for abortion and drag queen story hour, and its hero is an unelected, CIA installed, World Economic Forum member who dances in leather pants and heels.

    Russia is winning.

    1. Hungary is playing a delicate balancing act between the EU/NATO and Russia. They have no love for the Russians, who oppressed them for decades, but they can see the handwriting on the wall with the EU, which is demanding total submission to globohomo.

  10. UK economy – potential of recession???? I was wondering why the UK central bank was alone in issuing a warning instead of jawboning like Powell and the ECB. Eg. The Bank of England has warned that the UK risks a recession as inflation is expected to pass 10%.

    The following article finally start to explain the reason.

    There’s an economic idiosyncrasy in the U.K. that makes it “one of the most vulnerable countries in the world right now,” according to an investment strategist.

    Mike Harris, the founder of Cribstone Strategic Macro, argues that a major problem for Britain is that its mortgage market is “heavily short-term.” While in the U.S. and in other parts of Europe citizens like long-tenure mortgages, many Brits opt for short-term loans of less than five years. Tracker mortgages are also popular which fluctuate with the Bank of England’s base rate.

    Harris told CNBC Friday that this was an issue as rate rises would immediately trigger losses to household incomes, while it might not actually deal with the issue of inflation. He explained that the U.K. was a country that “imports inflation,” so the effect of interest rate hikes by the Bank of England wasn’t simply a rebalancing of supply and demand that would slowly rein in consumer price growth

    https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/09/strategist-why-the-uk-economy-is-one-of-the-most-vulnerable-right-now.html

    1. Another problem: Britain is utterly dependent on food imports. If the global food shortage materializes there could be rationing in the UK.

  11. All those people switching jobs for an extra 25% in earnings. All those new engineers from top10 schools earning as much as a new hire, as a doctor.

    A change might be coming. Watch out for realestate in the Bay, Seattle etc.

    Uber will cut back on spending and focus on becoming a leaner business to address a “seismic shift” in investor sentiment, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi told employees in an email obtained by CNBC.
    …
    “We will treat hiring as a privilege and be deliberate about when and where we add headcount,” he added. “We will be even more hardcore about costs across the board.”

    It makes Uber the latest tech company to warn of a slowdown in hiring. Facebook parent company Meta last week told staff it would stop or slow the pace of adding midlevel or senior roles, while Robinhood is cutting about 9% of its workforce.

    2. “We will treat hiring as a privilege and be deliberate about when and where we add headcount,” he added. “We will be even more hardcore about costs across the board.”

      FWIW, it’s always been like this where I work. Hiring someone here is a glacially slow PITA, requiring approvals up the command chain all the way to the CEO for even a lowly individual contributor.

  13. “Scam monday” , Thanks for warning us all…..If you meet someone that’s a good talker , and goes to the same Church you do, and wants your money, just put it in the offering plate, all of it , it will do more good there ……..It’s almost always a scam , if you follow a hot lead , like that…

  15. Home » Economics » Introduction to Inflation

    Causes of Inflation

    The reason for inflation can be summed up in one sentence: Too many dollars chasing too few goods.

    https://ilearnthis.com/a/inflation/

    I’m off to put a couple of hundred $ in the nearly empty 40 gallon tank of my Ford 2-Fiddy. I hope congress gives the Dementia Patient in Chief that $33 billion to further pad the pockets of the military-industrial complex soon or um I mean protect Democracy in Ukraine so maybe I can pay even more when the summer of death and dismemberment for the unvaccinated gets into full swing.

    Well it could always be worse.

    Oh wait, It’s going to get worse!

    Coronavirus wave this fall and winter could potentially infect 100 million, White House warns

    By Kaitlan Collins, CNN
    Updated 12:14 PM EDT, Sat May 7, 2022

    https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/06/politics/white-house-covid-fall-wave/index.html

    1. Just put on a sweater and turn down the t-stat. You get the protection from CoronaScam and Zelensky and the Ukraine National Socialist Workers Party get $8 billion every few months.

      I’d tell you Trump was right but the real question is, when was he ever wrong?

    2. “potentially infect 100 million”

      Meaningless numbers.

      A CCP Flu “case” is not a legitimate medical diagnosis of anything.

      The White House spin is just running cover in advance for the millions who will die later this year from the side effects of their third, fourth, fifth, sixth injections of MRNA poison that is not a vaccine.

      BTW, there are more people wearing masks around Dumver now than there were a month ago.

      “They’re not sending their best”

      1. the millions who will die later this year from the side effects

        I am wondering who will be the next member of my extended jabbed family who will have an “unexpected heart attack” and when.

    3. Coronavirus wave this fall and winter could potentially infect 100 million, White House warns

      I seem to recall reading that in animal tests of the mRNA vaccine that the tested critters eventually became infected and died.

      All of them.

      1. animal tests of the mRNA vaccine

        Correction: previous coronvirus vaccines. Remember they skipped animal tests for the COVID “vaccines.”

        1. Animal testing may have been done in parallel with human clinical trials but it certainly wasn’t complete before injecting humans, which is normal practice.

        2. Remember they skipped animal tests for the COVID “vaccines.”

          Correct. I was talking about the deleterious effects of the mRNA technology in general. And a very good point you make about no animal testing at all done with the Covid-19 jabs. I haven’t heard anything lately about the proposed mRNA flu jab. Has that been quietly dropped?

          Interesting that they are predicting 100M new cases this fall, as it allegedly took 2 years for 100M to be infected previously, and now those 100M should have some immunity, plus another 200M have been jabbed. Shouldn’t this Fall’s projected numbers be teensy weensy?

          1. The new Narrative is out. Omicron is just as “severe” as prior variants. This fits in with the Fall “forecast”.

            Better get jabbed before it’s too late!

    1. The Death of Bidding Wars in San Diego

      May 6, 2022

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbgAvvgHJN8

      7:22.

      ‘The San Diego Housing Market has been one of the hottest housing markets in the country over the last 2 years. Mortgage rates were around 3% just 4 months ago rates are hovering right around 5% (depending on the loan program) I imagine this will start to slow down the housing demand in the coming months. I’ve already seen it happening over the last 2-3 weeks. The days of 15-20 offers in San Diego may be over but don’t expect some huge crash – but more of a leveling off and perhaps a small dip in home prices.’

      1. but more of a leveling off and perhaps a small dip in home prices

        Enough for me not at waste 7m22s.

        3. After reading some of the comments, I decided to watch it at 1.5x. As of the posting date of 5/6/2022, he’s already wrong as he expects mortgage interest rates to stay between 4-5%.

  19. So retail diesel and No2 fuel oil are in the $6-$7 range. The beauty in all this is the abundance of limpwristed effeminates in the northeast and new england that seem to decide national elections now have a grim choice. Freeze your ass off or pay triple (thats right… triple then some)to stay warm….. right when they all thought they were gonna stick it in the ass of Trump Army.

  20. FDA: Americans Should Treat COVID-19 Like the Flu

    ‘Several top Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officials, including Commissioner Robert Califf, admitted that Americans will now have to accept COVID-19 as another respiratory virus, comparing it to influenza.’

    ‘Califf, Principal Deputy Commissioner Janet Woodcock, and top vaccine official Dr. Peter Marks wrote for the Journal of the American Medical Association that COVID-19 will be around for the foreseeable future while suggesting that it will require yearly vaccines targeting the most threatening variations of the virus.’

    “Widespread vaccine- and infection-induced immunity, combined with the availability of effective therapeutics, could blunt the effects of future outbreaks,” the officials said, referring to another name for the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus. “Nonetheless, it is time to accept that the presence of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, is the new normal.”

    ‘The virus “will likely circulate globally for the foreseeable future, taking its place alongside other common respiratory viruses such as influenza. And it likely will require similar annual consideration for vaccine composition updates in consultation with the [FDA],” they continued.’

    https://www.theepochtimes.com/fda-americans-should-treat-covid-19-like-the-flu_4453370.html

    Do you wear a mouth hankey for flu season? Neither do I.

    1. Do you wear a mouth hankey for flu season? Neither do I.

      Those who are afraid can knock themselves out and wear a hazmat suit when at King Soopers. I refuse to ever wear a mask again.

        1. Masked Servant Class Stooping Over To Adjust Hillary Clinton’s Gown

          She’s 74, and as we all saw in 2016 was already in poor health as she collapsed on the campaign trail. She is the poster girl for “high Covid risk”, so why isn’t she wearing a mask?

          1. OMG, a doting black man fussing with her gown? Where did this gown nonsense with material dragging over the dirty floor get it start?

    2. comparing it to influenza

      Starve the flu, feed a cold. Since when is Corona Virus “influenza”?

  21. Lumber still sticking to 1000 as we are on the verge of a depression. Makes sense

      1. hunter/gathers

        Stocked up on meat again. Strawberry and tomato plants looking good. Planting beans today. Wish we could plant more but given our desire/intent to move it doesn’t make much sense.

    1. Hubby’s lost a third of his recent ETH “investment.” I told him it was a stupid idea. Good thing we have separate finances.

      1. NASDAQ is down 25% YTD. But I do expect Crypto to continue falling faster and more spectacularly.

        As Ben has mentioned in the past, a lot of people won’t be retiring per their plans and expectations. And inflation is handily outpacing Social Security benefits.

        1. “…As Ben has mentioned in the past, a lot of people won’t be retiring per their plans and expectations….”

          And human nature being what it is/isn’t, now the real panic starts to set in.

          We are starting to see panic mode enter into the [stock] markets. Wouldn’t be surprised to see panic selling accelerate in the coming days.

          Next stage is panic in the R/E markets, as speculators and overextended buyers realize (too late) that gazillions in profits won’t be coming their way any time soon.

          Surprised that the big hedge funds / Zillows of the world haven’t started dumping R/E. Maybe dumping in stealth mode?

          1. Wasn’t BlackRock dumping a bunch of properties in Washington not that long ago?

          2. Rule 1: Don’t panic
            Rule 2: if you have to panic, panic first.

            I’m 80% out of stocks tomorrow. 😉

        2. outpacing Social Security benefits.

          It’s a good idea to start retirement needing little and having a multitude of alternatives.

          1. Seems like the handyman types are able to retire sooner, and they’re are not so stressed going forward.

  23. “The Honolulu Board of Realtors says the median price of a single-family home on Oahu fell slightly to $1,105,000 for April. The number of homes pending sale also fell — a sign rate hikes by the Federal Reserve are starting to have an impact. ‘Whatever they could afford before, they cannot afford now. Let’s say if you are able to purchase $2 million before with a lower rate. Now, your budget is most likely reduce to let’s say 1.5 million or 1.6 million,’ said Vanessa Kop, executive vice president at NAI CBI Hawaii.”

    Oh Dear?

    “He ‘used investor funds from those entities and accounts to pay for personal trips, his mortgage, his utility bills, cosmetic surgery, and alimony payments to his ex-wife,’ Skinner acknowledged in the plea agreement.”

    Skinner paying boob job for the mistress and alimony for his EX. What a life?!

    1. At the very least one should always buy their children’s mother a small paid-off house. When the mistress runs off with everything else of any value the tomcat may eventually need a place to stay.

  24. After six straight weeks of sliding, is it safe to say that the stock market’s long slide has ended?

    1. Markets
      Markets Now
      The Dow Is Sliding, Palantir Is Tumbling—and What Else Is Happening in the Stock Market Today
      By Jacob Sonenshine and
      Jack Denton
      Updated May 9, 2022 10:07 am ET / Original May 9, 2022 5:26 am ET
      Stocks have had a tough 2022, with the S&P 500 firmly in correction territory.
      Dreamstime

      Stocks continued to sell off Monday, as bond yields marched to new highs.

      Shortly after the open, the Dow Jones Industrial Average retreated 382 points, or 1%, while the S&P 500 dropped 1.6%, and the Nasdaq Composite slumped 2.2%.

      Overall, “the path of least resistance remains lower for global equity markets to start the week,” wrote Brian Price, head of investment management at Commonwealth Financial Network.

      https://www.barrons.com/articles/stock-market-today-51652088366

  25. Transpacific box line freight rates nosedive as demand falls

    By Mike Wackett 06/05/2022

    ‘US spot rate components of the Freightos Baltic Index (FBX) slumped this week by 19% and 7% respectively for container shipments to the US west and east coasts.’

    ‘According to the FBX reading, US west coast spot rates fell to $12,596 per 40 ft – their lowest level since July last year. For US east coast shipments FBX’s spot rate declined to $15,973 per 40 ft.’

    “As demand falls and space becomes available, ocean rates continued to fall this week,” said Judah Levine, head of research at Freightos.’

    “In addition, the past weeks have seen the removal of many of the premium surcharges securing capacity,” explained Mr Levine.’

    https://theloadstar.com/transpacific-box-line-freight-rates-nosedive-as-demand-falls/

  26. Flaunting your wealth in libtard-malgoverned cities where the vibrants have free rein to cavort with impunity yields predictable outcomes.

    Moment ‘drunk’ British Lamborghini owner screams ‘black b***ards’ as LA cops and girlfriend try to calm him down after couple were robbed of two watches, including $19,000 Rolex, by gang who fled in Rolls Royce

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10797925/Drunk-LA-couple-Lamborghinis-robbed-19-000-worth-watches.html

    1. by gang who fled in Rolls Royce

      It would be funny if they in turn were robbed.

    1. “…Desperate mothers are forced to buy formula…”

      I am not a OB/GYN or anything like that, but how did the human species manage to survive in the era *before* baby formula?

      Or am I missing something obvious?

      1. Or am I missing something obvious?

        My understanding is that if mom doesn’t start nursing right after the baby is born, that the spigot is shut off and can’t be reopened until the next baby is born.

        1. Some moms don’t produce enough milk. It’s more common than you might think, which explains all the one support groups. I did everything, including taking unapproved compounded drugs at $5 a pop, pumping every hour (including middle of the night) to stimulate production, and taking a gazillion herbal supplements. All three of my kids would’ve been dead without formula or a wet nurse. This us ropes-and-lampposts, storm-the-bastille time.

      2. What happens if the mom has to leave town on business and the dad is left home to care and feed the baby? BTW, before leaving the mom couldn’t freeze enough milk. Oh, that’s right. In the old days before airplanes were invented, mothers never had to fly to Cleveland on a week long business trip.

        Never mind.

          2. Only men have any vested interest in this topic (baby formula) since men (the real ones, not the ones who identify as one) don’t have a boob to whip out to feed the starving baby. This is a fact, it’s reality notwithstanding what the confused and mentally ill people who can’t figure out what is meant by the words gender and sex say.

            But I guess mothers and females in general like to whack men over the head anytime they say a word about feeding babies. God created men in such a way that they cannot produce milk. God also gave humans a brain so that they could invent a substitute and allow men to feed hungry babies. So the rules of this game dictated by mothers/women are that men are damned if they do feed babies with artificial milk, and damned because they can’t produce real milk.

            When my sister had her first kid, her husband couldn’t help out since he was busy playing a Naval Officer in the US Navy. So I had to run all over the place picking up supplies and the rented breast pump, etc. Talk about a logistical nightmare–pumping and storing and freezing and washing and transporting. There’s a lot of reasons why baby formula was invented that have nothing to do with the idiotic views of society today.

          3. Only men have any vested interest in this topic

            Not true. Plenty of women can’t breastfeed for a number of medical reasons.

            So I had to run all over the place picking up supplies and the rented breast pump, etc. Talk about a logistical nightmare–pumping and storing and freezing and washing and transporting.

            This!

          4. Plenty of women can’t breastfeed

            Didn’t there used to be professional nurses to help with these situations.

          5. professional nurses

            Yes, there are lactation consultants to assist with problems breastfeeding. I was speaking about women for whom breastfeeding is not an option (e.g., medications, mastectomies).

          6. lactation consultants

            I was speaking about surrogate lactating women who could nurse another’s baby, not simply give advice. It used to be a thing, I believe, the Nurse.

          7. surrogate lactating women

            AKA wet nurses. Now there’s breast milk donation and sharing.

  28. FDA Chief Claims “Misinformation” is Leading Cause of Death in the United States

    by Paul Joseph Watson
    May 9th 2022, 12:10 pm

    During an appearance on CNN, FDA chief Dr. Robert Califf asserted that the leading cause of death in the United States is online “misinformation.”

    Yes, really.

    Califf said that anti-virals and vaccinations meant “almost no one in this country should be dying from COVID,” before going on to explain that there was also a “reduction in life expectancy from common diseases like heart disease.”

    “But somehow … the reliable, truthful messages are not getting across,” he said, adding, “And it’s being washed down by a lot of misinformation, which is leading people to make bad choices that are unfortunate for their health.”

    Android Facts
    @manatweets

    In an exclusive interview with CNN’s Pamela Brown, FDA chief Dr. Robert Califf explains why he says the leading cause of death in the US is misinformation. http://dlvr.it/SQ1knp

    https://twitter.com/manatweets/status/1523648617449279488?s=20&t=2y4UcXmu3DHuTbRzL8ohLg

    1. Califf said that anti-virals and vaccinations meant “almost no one in this country should be dying from COVID

      The new Ministry of Truth should come in very handy for the jabbists.

  29. Lone Tree, CO Housing Prices Crater 19% YOY As Denver Suburbs Stagger On Soaring Mortgage Defaults

    https://www.movoto.com/lone-tree-co/market-trends/

    As a noted economist explained, “I can ask $50k for my 10 year old Chevy pickup but where is the buyer at that price? So it is with all rapidly depreciating assets like houses and cars.”

  30. Lennar Corp. paid $42.5 million for land in Queen Creek, with plans to build 281 homes.

    The Miami-based homebuilder bought the entire third and final phase at Madera, a 310-acre master-planned community being developed by Scottsdale-based Communities Southwest Inc.

    1. 42 million dollars for a few hundred acres of desert scrub in that hellhole? Tells you everything you need to know about this bubble. It would be overpriced at a million.

  31. Turns out Big Sis knows a thing or two about spreading disinformation.

    REVEALED: Biden’s new ‘Disinformation’ czar pushed debunked Russia collusion claims from Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign that are now at the center of special counsel John Durham’s first prosecution of her lawyer

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10798373/Bidens-Disinformation-czar-pushed-debunked-Russia-collusion-claims-Hillarys-2016-campaign.html

    The head of President Joe Biden’s new Disinformation Governance Board has a history of pushing now-debunked claims that there are ties between Russia and Donald Trump, old and recently resurfaced tweets reveal.

    Nina Jankowicz promoted several claims from Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign on Twitter, including allegations that are now being looked into by special counsel John Durham.

    1. Give her what Mad Maxine Waters wants.

      4Chan has the goods, publish the address(es).

      Glowies gonna glow. Lone wolves gonna lone wolf.

      “They’re not sending their best”

    2. Biden’s New Press Secretary Has Storied History of Peddling Fake News & Sowing Discord

      Infowars.com
      May 9th 2022, 4:49 pm

      Joe Biden’s new press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, who is replacing Jen Psaki on May 13, has a long and documented history of perpetuating fake news and sowing political discord, making her the perfect candidate for her new job as Biden’s mouthpiece.

      Jean-Pierre propagated the thoroughly disproven Hillary Clinton-contrived Trump-Russia collusion hoax in a series of tweets during its peak in 2016:

      https://www.infowars.com/posts/bidens-new-press-secretary-has-storied-history-of-peddling-fake-news-sowing-discord/

      Karine Jean-Pierre
      @K_JeanPierre

      Stolen emails, stolen drone, stolen election …..welcome to the world of #unpresidented Trump

      Kyle Griffin
      @kylegriffin1
      So if a foreign nation takes something of ours, we should let them keep it? https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/810288321880555520

      8:25 PM · Dec 17, 2016

      https://twitter.com/K_JeanPierre/status/810294911815847936?s=20&t=1INSo5cMIivdpgtAYDnOeg

    3. George Soros Operative Appointed As Biden’s Ministry of Truth Co-Chair

      by Jamie White
      May 9th 2022, 12:26 pm

      The Ministry of Truth’s new Principal Deputy General Counsel Jennifer Daskal has deep ties to the Hungarian billionaire globalist.

      First, Daskal served as a fellow of Soros’ Open Society Foundation (OSF), where she was tasked with “working on issues related to privacy and law enforcement access to data across borders.”

      Daskal also worked as senior counterterrorism counsel for anti-free speech organization Human Rights Watch, which received over $32 million from Soros between 2000 and 2014.

      Human Rights Watch recently condemned Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter over his aim to make the social media platform a haven for free speech.

      Finally, Daskal was also the founding editor of the Soros-funded Just Security blog, which the OSF gave $675,000 to between 2017 and 2019.

      https://www.infowars.com/posts/george-soros-operative-appointed-as-bidens-ministry-of-truth-co-chair/

  33. Are you looking forward to a nice, big, fat dead cat bounce on your stonk portfolio tomorrow?

    Try not to care yourself a falling knife.

    1. The Financial Times
      Markets Briefing Equities
      European shares steady after steepest slide for global stocks since 2020
      Nasdaq futures rise after tech-heavy US index sheds more than 4% in previous session
      People stand next to a display showing the stock numbers on the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong
      The Hang Seng tech index slid after a one-day holiday
      © Dale de la Rey/AFP via Getty Images
      Jennifer Creery in Hong Kong and Harriet Clarfelt in London
      41 minutes ago

      European stocks recovered some of their losses on Tuesday after economic growth fears drove the steepest drop for global equities since June 2020.

      The regional Stoxx 600 gauge rose 0.8 per cent in early trades, having dropped 2.9 per cent on Monday. London’s FTSE 100 added 0.6 per cent.

      In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index was down 1.9 per cent in mid-afternoon trading, having opened sharply lower after a holiday. Chinese technology groups listed in the territory recorded some of the biggest declines, with Alibaba falling as much as 8 per cent and the Hang Seng Tech index declining 3.3 per cent.

      Tuesday’s moves came after a steep decline for shares the day before, with the FTSE All-World index down 3 per cent — hitting its lowest level in more than a year. The US’s broad S&P 500 gauge closed 3.2 per cent lower and the tech-focused Nasdaq Composite lost 4.3 per cent.

      Futures contracts tracking the S&P and the Nasdaq 100 gauges also showed early signs of recovery on Tuesday, up more than 1 per cent during the European morning.

      The previous session’s losses followed bleak Chinese export data which showed growth had slowed sharply last month as tough coronavirus lockdowns continued to drag on the world’s second-largest economy.

      BlackRock last week reversed its bullish stance on China. The New York-based investment house downgraded its “modest overweight” rating on the country’s stocks and bonds to neutral over the deteriorating economic outlook despite promises of support from Beijing last month.

      “We see a growing geopolitical concern over Beijing’s ties to Russia. This means foreign investors could face more pressure to avoid Chinese assets for regulatory or other reasons,” said the BlackRock Investment Institute, an internal research unit led by Jean Boivin.

      “Lockdowns are set to curtail economic activity. China’s policymakers have heralded easing to prevent a growth slowdown — but have yet to fully act.”
      …

  34. Are you hoping that housing will have a softish landing this time?

    If so, you’re probably f__d.

    1. The Financial Times
      Opinion Unhedged
      What is a ‘softish’ landing?
      And El Salvador’s bitcoin debacle
      Robert Armstrong
      Jay Powell and the US Federal Reserve seal
      Jay Powell’s comment was not, apparently, off the cuff or a slip-up
      © Financial Times
      Robert Armstrong & Ethan Wu yesterday

      Good morning. It was another horrible day for stocks yesterday. Revisiting the reasons for this would be redundant after we combed through the charred remains of the bull market last week. Suffice it to say that a big oil sell-off, and falling two-year yields, suggest that fear of slowing growth — as opposed to fear of inflation — was at the fore Monday. We were struck, looking over the sea of red, to find this patch of deep green on the FactSet screen:
      the sea of green

      Investors are literally buying canned goods, toilet paper and bleach, all in bulk. This tells you what you need to know about sentiment. If you have a nice, contrarian, optimistic view, send it to us: robert.armstrong@ft.com and ethan.wu@ft.com.

      From soft to softish

      We, and several others, had a giggle when Fed chair Jay Powell referred to the possibility of a “softish” landing for the economy as the central bank raises rates. Jokes were made about how unnerving it would be to hear the term from the pilot of your plane.

      This was not, apparently, off the cuff, or a slip-up by Powell. Several people have pointed out us to a presentation that Alan Blinder, former Fed vice-chair, made back in February. In it, he makes the soft-softish distinction explicitly.

      The consensus view is that in the past half century, almost every Fed tightening has culminated in a recession, with the only notable exception being the 1993-1995 cycle. Blinder strongly disagrees. He counts 11 tightening cycles since 1965, and finds that three of them were hard, three were soft, three were “softish” — meaning that they were accompanied by quite shallow recessions — and two were ambiguous. Blinder annotates a Federal Reserve chart of the policy rate with stars to mark the end of tightening cycles. I have scribbled in some annotations:
      …

  35. Today is Tuesday, May 10th 2022 and Joe Biden is not the legitimately elected president of the United States.

    The 2020 election was stolen.

      1. U.S. Congress Plans Nearly $40 Billion More for Ukraine, COVID Aid to Wait

        By Reuters
        May 9, 2022, at 4:15 p.m.

        By Patricia Zengerle

        WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. congressional Democrats agreed to rush $39.8 billion in additional aid for Ukraine, two sources familiar with the proposal said on Monday, easing fears a delayed vote could interrupt the flow of U.S. weapons to the Kyiv government.

        A proposal for additional COVID-19-related funding, which some Democrats had wanted to combine with the emergency Ukraine funding, will now be considered separately.

        Biden on April 28 asked Congress for $33 billion to support Ukraine, including more than $20 billion in military assistance. That proposal was a dramatic escalation of U.S. funding for the war with Russia.

        https://www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/2022-05-09/u-s-democrats-propose-nearly-40-billion-more-funding-for-ukraine-source

          1. “The cash laundering is going to be spectacular.”

            No doubt and getting those ducks in a row was surely the sole purpose of the Pelosi visit.

      1. “The 2020 election wasn’t stolen — it was likely bought…”

        This has been my personal conclusion from the outset.

    1. The Financial Times
      Emerging markets
      Emerging markets hit by ‘toxic’ mix of rising rates and slower growth
      Currencies such as China’s renminbi fall sharply as risks mount for developing economies
      People wearing personal protective equipment cross a street in Beijing on Tuesday
      People wearing personal protective equipment in Beijing on Tuesday. Lockdowns that have piled pressure on the Chinese economy could also hit emerging economies
      © Noel Celis/AFP/Getty Images
      Tommy Stubbington in London yesterday

      Emerging market currencies have fallen by their most since the early stages of the pandemic as a “toxic” mix of rising US interest rates and slowing Chinese growth dims the outlook for developing economies around the world.

      An MSCI gauge of emerging market currencies has tumbled by more than 4 per cent since early April as the Federal Reserve embarks on an aggressive tightening of monetary policy in a bid to rein in high inflation, boosting the US dollar while battering stocks and bonds. Draconian coronavirus lockdowns in China have piled on further pressure by threatening a crucial source of demand for emerging economies.

      The Chinese renminbi fell to its weakest level against the dollar in more than 18 months on Monday after data showed the country’s exports grew at the slowest pace in two years last month, spurring a further bout of selling across emerging market currencies.

      “We have had this cooling down of Chinese demand coming at a time when the Fed is hiking interest rates and inflation is still pushing higher,” said Cristian Maggio, head of emerging markets portfolio strategy at TD Securities. “As if that weren’t enough we still have the risks related to the war in Ukraine. It’s a very toxic combination.”

      Rising US interest rates make emerging markets relatively less attractive to investors, prompting many to pull their money out of riskier economies and shift it to the relative safety of the American financial system. Even so, currencies in the emerging world had mostly shrugged off the prospect of tighter Fed policy until a month ago, helped by rate rises from emerging market central banks facing their own inflation problems last year.

      Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February, which propelled the price of goods from oil to wheat higher, also bolstered currencies of commodity-exporting countries including Brazil and South Africa.

      “EM has had the tailwind of higher rates and higher commodities,” said Polina Kurdyavko, head of emerging market debt at BlueBay Asset Management. “The question was always how long that would last.”
      …

  39. I know plenty of DebtDonkeys personally. This afternoon I ask one what her housing losses are so far. She snorted and stamped her feet and took off.🤣🤣🤣

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