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It’s Making People Poor

A holiday topic starting with In Maricopa in Arizona. “It’s no secret that right now, the real estate market is once again changing. Dayv Morgan, a Maricopa Realtor, has spent the last 13 years selling real estate. Morgan said the biggest difference between now and a few months ago, isn’t necessarily price, but the longer time for homes to sell. While it’s impossible to know what the future holds, Morgan is someone whose experience, in many ways, mirrors the meteoric rise of Maricopa itself.”

“Morgan moved to Maricopa in 2006. Morgan found a new community with inexpensive housing in what looked to be an up-and-coming city. But in 2006, the real estate bubble that fueled the Great Recession was in its final throes. While homes were cheaper in Maricopa than the Valley, prices were getting ready to crater everywhere. ‘I think I was a little naive really, to where the market was,’ Morgan said. ‘The first house we bought was in 2006, which was pretty much the peak of the market here. We paid $236,000 for that little house. It was 1,500 square feet, brand new. We loved that house. I don’t think we really understood what was happening with the market, until one of my neighbors made the comment that our house was only worth, you know, $100,000 or something like that. We said, ‘there’s no way.’”

“Unfortunately, the neighbor was correct. ‘I was really just oblivious to what was happening with the market at the time and turns out, it was worth even less than a hundred thousand dollars,’ Morgan said. The Morgans ended up losing their home and the bank sold it for $80,000, about a third of what they paid for it.”

The Idaho Press. “Chris Sabala, owner of Hornet Construction, is attempting to bring more relatively affordable housing to Harris Ranch — one of the most expensive places to live in the Treasure Valley. Between Jan. 1 and Aug. 1 this year, the average new home closed for $1,472,750 in northeast Boise, said Matt Weston, owner of Western Real Estate Services. Sabala is selling the 1,020-square-foot home he built on South Durham Way for $429,900.”

“‘This is more of an experiment for me,’ Sabala said in an interview. ‘I’ve tried to acquire in there for years. And then this popped up and it was perfect because there was only a garage on it, the trailer had been removed.’ Sabala purchased a lot in the Golden Dawn Mobile Home Park, which is in the middle of the Harris Ranch development. The mobile home park has single- and double-wide mobile homes, and approximately half of the homes are rentals, said Clint Wheeler, who lives in the park.”

“He said half of the rentals are owned by corporations that ‘don’t give a hoot,’ leaving weeds to grow and homes to fall into disrepair, which is why he and his wife Deb Wheeler are ‘thrilled’ about Sabala’s recent build. ‘It’s a big improvement to the neighborhood,’ Deb Wheeler said. ‘This is a 50-plus-year-old mobile home park.'”

“The mobile home park has had two other homes, both of which are older, go up for sale, according to Sabala, and they’re each about $300,000. ‘We’re old timers so we’re always shocked at the prices in this area and Harris Ranch, and all around here million dollar homes. $450,000 is certainly affordable in comparison,’ Clint Wheeler said. ‘A new home in that price range is pretty hard to find, with that quality.’ Sabala’s home was built by two or three people, Clint Wheeler said.”

The Lewiston Tribune in Idaho. “The cost of homes in Clearwater County rose by 55% in the decade ending in 2020 while median income in that jurisdiction increased by less than 1.5%. Those statistics are an illustration of how extreme the housing shortage is in north central Idaho, said Brian Points, president of Points Consulting. The cost of homes in Clearwater County rose by 55% in the decade ending in 2020 while median income in that jurisdiction increased by less than 1.5%.”

“The increase in the gap in earnings and housing prices was the most acute in Clearwater County, but the pattern repeated itself throughout north central Idaho, Points said. During part of the same decade, more than 30% of the population in north central Idaho was considered cost burdened or severely cost burdened because of how much they were spending to keep a roof over their head, according to the housing assessment. Those labels come from the U.S. Housing and Urban Development’s definition of affordable housing.”

“Families should be spending no more than a third of their gross income on rent or a mortgage, plus utilities and property taxes, according to the agency. Since 2020, the housing market has gotten even tighter, with the price of a home in north central Idaho that cost $250,000 in 2020 climbing to more than $313,000 by this summer, according to the housing assessment.”

“The numbers add up to a housing crisis with no easy or immediate solution that’s affecting families throughout the Northwest, said Steven Peterson, a clinical associate professor of economics at the University of Idaho. ‘It’s making people poor,’ said Peterson, who has studied the economy of the region since 1995 after 10 years as a Realtor. ‘(If) a greater portion of your income is going for housing expenses, that is basically reducing the standard of living for a significant portion of the population,’ he said.”

“Almost every inch of Idaho, Oregon and Washington is feeling the pinch, including places that are remote or not scenic. It used to be that people might work in Lewiston and commute from a nearby town where houses were less expensive, but now even that flawed option is less likely to be a possibility, he said. ‘The scary thing about the current crisis in Idaho is it’s every place and everywhere,’ Peterson said. ‘… There’s no place to escape.'”

The Press Enterprise in California. “Riverside County homebuying has cooled by 33% in a year as house hunters were scared off by 48% higher house payments. That left Riverside County home prices down 3.2% from their peak after the No. 9 worst July for sales on record. Here’s what my trusty spreadsheet found in DQNews’ report on closed transactions in Riverside County in July: The median: $579,500 for all residences —  down 2.5% in a month and up 10.4% over 12 months. Record Riverside high? $598,500 set in May. So, prices are -3.2% off their peak.”

“Pandemic era? 18 price records have been broken since February 2020.”

From USA Today. “The housing market ‘is giving off a lot of mixed signals’ lately, said Neda Navab, president of brokerage operations at real estate company Compass in New York. Buyers, sellers and real estate agents already are adjusting to the slowdown, said Navab, who notes that home sales prices, though lower, remain high. ‘The market simply could not, and was never expected to, grow at that pace indefinitely,’ Navab said. ‘Whether this trend will continue long enough for the market to enter a true ‘recession,’ or if this is simply the start of an expected ‘correction’ to historic norms, still remains to be seen.'”

“Los Angeles real estate investment adviser Andre Stewart, CEO of InvestFar, a startup, believes Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell is far from finished playing a key role in the housing market’s future. ‘The FED also has a $2.7 trillion mortgage dilemma, combined with high-interest rates, it’s very unlikely the Federal Reserve can unwind its balance sheet,’ Stewart said. ‘But if they do, prepare for a collapse, not a correction, in housing over the next 18 to 24 months.'”

From Reuters. “Canada’s soaring house prices will decline sharply next year, but still not enough to make them affordable as the Bank of Canada is set to continue raising interest rates and keep them higher for longer, Reuters polls showed. Fuelled by near-zero interest rates, already-elevated prices in one of the world’s hottest housing markets have surged over 50 per cent since the pandemic began. Although prices have declined nearly 6 per cent since the BoC started hiking the overnight rate in March, analysts say it will take years for affordability to return, if ever.”

“A median of seven responses on a separate question showed prices needed to fall nearly 18 per cent to be fairly valued. A few said they need to fall much more. ‘The fact is home prices have been disconnected from incomes and rents for quite some time,’ said John Pasalis, president at Realosophy Realty. ‘Even if benchmark house prices fall another 30 per cent nationally, this will just put prices back to Feb. 2020 levels (pre-COVID) which were not affordable at that time, but buyers will also be faced with higher interest rates compared to 2020.'”

Newshub New Zealand. “A breakdown of predicted retiree homeownership rates has been revealed in new figures published by the Retirement Commission, which point towards a larger chunk of over-65s being forced to continue paying a mortgage or renting later in life. The report showed about two-thirds of renters aged between 65 and 74 were spending 40 percent or more of the $463 NZ Super income on housing. That figure was worse for those still paying a mortgage, with more than half of people in the same age group spending over 80 percent on repayments.”

“Te Ara Ahunga Ora policy director Suzy Morrissey said retirees were being forced to use large amounts of their NZ Super to cover housing costs. When NZ Super was introduced, it was with the underlying assumption that those accessing it would be mortgage-free homeowners. ‘Today, the reality is very different. There are declining homeownership rates, more people needing to continue working longer because they still have mortgages to pay, are paying rent or haven’t been able to save enough to retire.'”

“By 2040, the 40 percent of people in their early 60s still renting would equate to as many as 600,000 people. ‘It’s a real challenge for people to make ends meet if they are having to use substantial amounts of their NZ Super to cover housing costs,’ Dr Morrissey said.”

From ABC News. “Like hundreds of thousands of other Australians, Madeline and Jacqueline Darkovska are prisoners to their mortgage. The 24-year-old twin sisters are among borrowers who purchased at the height of the pandemic housing boom and are finding it impossible to refinance their home loan. And with another double interest rate hike expected on Tuesday, the sisters — who are already struggling to meet higher mortgage repayments — fear they could lose their home in the coming months.”

“‘We’ve been struggling a lot,’ says Madeline, who had been working casual shifts as a clerk for a Perth hospital before losing her job and having to call on her mother, Val, to help her make the required mortgage repayments. ‘I haven’t been able to afford a lot of things, based on lack of basic living, haven’t been able to purchase a lot of food for myself or even help pay for my car bill, mortgage, everything,’ she tells ABC News.”

“Late last year, the nation’s banking regulator, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA), introduced more stringent ‘stress tests,’ requiring loan applicants to show they can afford monthly repayments at 3 per cent more than the current rate. However, Madeline and Jacqueline got into the property market when the stress test was just 2.5 per cent above the then rate. In December 2020, the sisters took out a $360,000 loan to build their dream home, enticed by first home owner grants and the $25,000 HomeBuilder Grant (they later missed out on the $25,000 because they learnt that siblings did not qualify).”

“At the time of taking out their loan, their only option without a 10 per cent deposit, was to go with a small lender on a high variable interest rate of 4.54 per cent. With four back-to-back rate rises, their repayments have shot up by more than $500 a month, and with more rate hikes expected to follow by year’s end, they could end up with a variable rate of about 8 per cent. That’s a dire prospect the sisters have been contemplating as they fight to hold on to their home in Aveley on the outskirts of Perth. ‘We’ll probably have to sell the house if we can’t keep up with the repayments — it’s really scary for us,’ Madeline says.”

“‘Mortgage prison is where you can’t refinance, and the main reason that would be is if the equity in your property falls below 20 per cent,’ RateCity’s research director Sally Tindall says. Ms Tindall says someone in Sydney who bought in December of last year with a 20 per cent deposit, is likely to be in mortgage prison already because the peak of the Sydney market was in January of this year and has been falling ever since. Add to this, the number of people who can’t pass the banks serviceability tests, and that figure may well run higher than 176,000.”

From Small Caps on Australia. “Oh, please spare us the violins and the flood of adjectives that are accompanying the current ‘historic’ property price ‘plunge.’ The only thing worse than the whining that accompanies the property price falls was the fawning words of adulation that accompanied the seemingly never-ending, double-digit boom in housing prices that preceded it.”

“It is almost as if several Property Commandments have been broken at the same time, leading to tough times at the Property Temple, which in recent years has been a place that has attracted huge audiences – many of them also addicted to home reno and flip television programs. One of those commandments to be broken is the old line peddled by every real estate agent since Adam – property prices never go down.”

“On average, over the long term and applied across several major Australian markets that commandment still holds water but at this specific moment it is absolutely wrong. Another broken commandment is the old ‘you’ll never lose money on property.’ Well, at all points of the cycle many people do just that and at the moment their number could be rising a little. If they don’t lose money on the actual property, many owners lose it big time on the loan, given the sheer quantity of money required to buy a property now and what effect even a small interest rate rise can have.”

“What the falls don’t really leave much of a dent in is the poor levels of house affordability, with anything lost on the price generally taken up – and then some – in the form of higher interest rates. Indeed, with rates rising, affordability is arguably going down even as prices go down as well, given that most property buyers will have a loan. That will be even more the case this week when interest rates rise again.”

“To really have an impact on affordability, prices would need to come down by the same sort of serious double-digit percentages that that some of the banking shock jocks are predicting. There was a time in the 1990s that you could buy a property for four times the median or middle income but that number has climbed to seven times the median income, or perhaps eight if you live in Sydney.”

“The most annoying thing about the property price mania – other than the vagaries of the imprecise statistics available – is the air of unreality that still surrounds current price levels. To the casual observer, property seems like a one way bet to success, with the only blips on the horizon the current ‘shock horror’ falls, which have upset the ‘natural order.’ This sort of fantasy comes about through a concentration on capital value, with of course no allowance ever made for transaction costs, interest, rates, insurance, management fees and land tax.”

“Property also has some natural investment advantages – it is an easy asset to borrow against to a very high level and it is one of the few assets that an astute buyer can add value to through alterations and renovations. However, it is not perfect and it can and indeed does produce losses at times. When it does, that is a great time to celebrate the rarity of such volatile reversals rather than start to wail and complain that the natural order of the universe has somehow been disturbed.”

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This Post Has 111 Comments

  1. ‘we’re always shocked at the prices in this area and Harris Ranch, and all around here million dollar homes. $450,000 is certainly affordable in comparison’

    Take a look at this sh$t box.

  2. ‘We paid $236,000 for that little house. It was 1,500 square feet, brand new. We loved that house. I don’t think we really understood what was happening with the market, until one of my neighbors made the comment that our house was only worth, you know, $100,000 or something like that. We said, ‘there’s no way.’

    ‘Unfortunately, the neighbor was correct. ‘I was really just oblivious to what was happening with the market at the time and turns out, it was worth even less than a hundred thousand dollars’

    Maricopa was a drive til you qualify group of shacks. Which is an aspect of subprime.

    1. until one of my neighbors made the comment that our house was only worth, you know, $100,000 or something like that. We said, ‘there’s no way.’

      I say it to borrowers all the time. The reaction varies wildly but in the end, they walk away ruminating about the fact they got ripped off.

    2. This is the expertise that goes into being a realtor??????????? I mean seriously, talk about failing up. Why would anyone listen to a word this person is saying about the housing market, they clearly have NO CLUE.

    3. How much is he going to lose his creditors this time? There is no way he could have seen this coming! How was he supposed to know that plywood could depreciate? Pandemic plywood is special.

    1. Hey Mafi, did you see that Marketwatch appears to have phased out and then disabled their comment section, with no warning or announcement? A shame really; they had been doing such a good job banning the slightest thing outside the narrative. Guess it got to be too much for them.

    1. The Nobel Prize awarded safe long term drug Ivermectin, that was a cure for Covid , was obstructed for a killer vaccine.

      Ivermectin is a parasite drug, that even cured a blindness disease that was occurring in third world Countries with a lot of parasites.
      I heard three censored Doctors talking last night about evidence that Ivermectin reduces cancer tumors, which could put a whole new slant on “is cancer a parasite that curable.”
      When I was young we use to say that if they found a cure for Cancer, they would supressed it because cures aren’t profitable.
      Right in front of our eyes , Fauci and the Health Authorities and Fake news obstructed and supressed a cure for Covid, where thousands died because they were denied a effective cure.
      The vaccine under EUA , would of been disqualified if they had a proven medication cure.
      This whole pre-planned vaccine in every arm as response to Covid has generated some of the greatest profits Big Pharmaceuticals has received.
      And the tragedy is the vaccine wasn’t safe or effective , and the deaths and injuries are piling up , over this vaccine not fit for human consumption.
      And this evidence of conductive nano particles in shots, and all the other toxic substances is mind blowing.
      And the gene altering technology that the FDA approved, is still on the market with more to come.
      How long can they supressed and cover up the deaths and injuries? Its a fake vaccine that doesn’t prevent Covid or transmission of Covid. Its some expierment on people , or worse a genocide, or a expierment with hacking , or God knows what.
      Dr McCullough was talking about some people might of been spared injury or death because many vax centers failed to keep the vaccines cold and the poison degraded. Can you imagine getting lucky because the clot shot degraded because of failure to keep it cold by vaccine givers.
      Unreal.

      1. I took Ivermectin at 58 years of age and kicked the bug in 2 days.

        Maybe I wouldn’t have got the China Flu if I got a shot!? 😂😂

        1. My 97 year old mother got the china virus last winter and we thought we were gonna lose her… it was that close. Bed ridden and barely concious. My brother started her ivermectin on a Monday evening. Wednesday morning she was out of bed making her tea, reading the paper and talking on the phone. Thursday she was disinfecting the house with a can of Lysol in one hand and a crucifix in the other. No joke. Exactly how it happened.

  5. “He said half of the rentals are owned by corporations that ‘don’t give a hoot,’ leaving weeds to grow and homes to fall into disrepair, which is why he and his wife Deb Wheeler are ‘thrilled’ about Sabala’s recent build.

    It should be illegal for corporations to own or speculate on shelter in any form. “Private equity” funds have an unfair advantage due to their access to free unlimited Yellen Bux from their Fed accomplices.

    1. Corporate law in general is responsible for a large part of the evils in the economy. It makes no sense for shareholders, directors and officers to be shielded from personal liability simply by filling out some forms and jumping through some legal hoops. The result of the limited liability doctrine is that corporations can grow to gargantuan sizes, with vastly disproportionate access to capital, lobbyists etc. compared with smaller unincorporated businesses. They lose focus on their business activities and become essentially political organizations and independent branches of government.

  6. A reader sent these in:

    Remember this gem from the legacy captured media in defense of the govt narrative during 2020? 😂

    https://twitter.com/WallStreetSilv/status/1566652346310037510

    The Kobeissi Letter

    Housing market update:

    1. Supply of new homes in US at highest since 2009

    2. Median home price down 6% in 2 months

    3. Over 5 million houses not current in mortgage payments

    4. Mortgage demand now lowest since 2000

    5. New home sales down 50% in 2 years

    The crash has begun.

    https://twitter.com/KobeissiLetter/status/1566458600331087872

    The reduction in the Fed’s balance sheet has been slow thus far, only decreasing by $139 billion with assets still higher than where they started the year. The expectation is that the unwind will accelerate from here at a pace of $95 billion per month.

    https://twitter.com/charliebilello/status/1566061111803318276

    US house prices in one chart

    https://twitter.com/jsblokland/status/1566311663468515329

    US existing home sales are in free fall… and this time it is hardly due to lack of inventory…

    There is already a large glut of unsold new homes…

    https://twitter.com/WallStreetSilv/status/1566380562444460034

    Citigroup Lays Off Mortgage Workers As Major Job Cuts Mount Amid Growing Recession Fears

    https://twitter.com/DonMiami3/status/1566590105283969024

    ATLANTA BASED DTC MORTGAGE WHOLESALER AMERISAVE MORTGAGE SOLUTIONS (AWMS) & PHOENIX BASED LENDER SUBURBAN MORTGAGE INC. HAVE ABRUPTLY STOPPED OPERATIONS

    https://twitter.com/DonMiami3/status/1566590529957396480

    BBG: This has, in a way, the ingredients for an energy-industry Lehman Brothers” moment, Finnish Economy Minister Lintila said at a news conference in Helsinki. We’re setting up liquidity facilities to avoid some power companies going into technical defaults as soon as Monday

    https://twitter.com/AlessioUrban/status/1566512703597846536

    Bank of America trying to offload housing before the crash …

    https://twitter.com/WallStreetSilv/status/1566539096998105089

        1. Same. Can’t control it, so do the best I can to position myself to be ‘okay’ no matter what path plays out

  7. “The mobile home park has had two other homes, both of which are older, go up for sale, according to Sabala, and they’re each about $300,000. ‘We’re old timers so we’re always shocked at the prices in this area and Harris Ranch, and all around here million dollar homes.

    $300K for a mobile home? Heckova job, Zimbabwe Ben Bernanke, Yellen the Felon, & BlackRock Jay.

  8. “The numbers add up to a housing crisis with no easy or immediate solution that’s affecting families throughout the Northwest, said Steven Peterson, a clinical associate professor of economics at the University of Idaho.

    There’s a very simple solution, Steven: End the Fed.

  9. ‘The FED also has a $2.7 trillion mortgage dilemma, combined with high-interest rates, it’s very unlikely the Federal Reserve can unwind its balance sheet,’ Stewart said. ‘But if they do, prepare for a collapse, not a correction, in housing over the next 18 to 24 months.’”

    As housing craters, who is going to take those $2.7T in MBSs off the Fed’s hands? I see massive losses that taxpayers, once again, are going to have to cover. #FJB

    1. “As housing craters, who is going to take those $2.7T in MBSs off the Fed’s hands? I see massive losses that taxpayers, once again, are going to have to cover. #FJB”

      Nope, King Obama said, never again!

  10. “‘We’ve been struggling a lot,’ says Madeline, who had been working casual shifts as a clerk for a Perth hospital before losing her job and having to call on her mother, Val, to help her make the required mortgage repayments. ‘I haven’t been able to afford a lot of things, based on lack of basic living, haven’t been able to purchase a lot of food for myself or even help pay for my car bill, mortgage, everything,’ she tells ABC News.”

    Madeline, you’re too stupid to make your own investment decisions. Remember those glossy magazine Real Journalists who told you you could have it all? They lied.

    1. working casual shifts as a clerk for a Perth hospital

      According to an Aussie gov website, “A person is a casual employee if they accept an offer for a job from an employer knowing that there is no firm advance commitment to ongoing work with an agreed pattern of work.”

      Sound lending…

    1. And the rubber like huge clots self assemble and aren’t like blood clots anymore, but are made up of aluminum, tin, all kinds of substances not associated with a normal blood clot.
      The embalmers started discovering these obstructions when they tried to put embalming fluids in, that wouldn’t go in.
      So, they literally had to take these clots or rubber like obstructions out, to be able to get embalming fluids in. And no they have never seen anything like these kinds of obstructions before.
      Most the embalmers are afraid to speak out , because you know afraid of job loss , etc.
      Is the whole world being extorted into being silent because of fear of job loss, or other punishments from the Cartel?

      1. Most the embalmers are afraid to speak out , because you know afraid of job loss , etc.
        Is the whole world being extorted into being silent because of fear of job loss, or other punishments from the Cartel?

        I did a quick search. In most states morticians and embalmers need to be licensed. So, yeah, a potential threat to their livelihood should they make trouble.

        They don’t need gulags. All they have to do is threaten you with permanent unemployment and seize any savings you might have.

  12. You need to own this, Democrat-Bolshevik mayors. Your party wants open borders and unrestricted immigration, so now you should feel the impact.

    <strong?Mayor Lori Lightfoot lashes out at Texas Gov. Abbott after 50 more migrants are bussed to Chicago

    https://www.foxnews.com/us/chicago-mayor-lori-lightfoot-lashes-out-texas-gov-abbott-after-50-more-migrants-bussed-chicago

    Lightfoot accused Abbott of using the illegal migrants as human pawns and said he is ‘manufacturing a human crisis’

    1. Your party wants open borders and unrestricted immigration, so now you should feel the impact.

      Are they? Take Chigetto. Every weekend dozens of people are shot and killed. Does Mayor Frog Face care? Is she held accountable? Is she worried about not being re-elected?

      A few busloads of illegals won’t make any difference. She only speaks up because Abbott is mocking her.

  13. Donald Trump: FBI Did ‘Deep and Ugly Search’ of Barron Trump’s Room

    JORDAN DIXON-HAMILTON
    4 Sep 2022

    During a Save America rally in Pennsylvania, Trump called the FBI raid a “shocking” abuse of power and criticized President Joe Biden’s administration for conducting it.

    Trump criticized President Joe Biden’s administration for authorizing the Mar-a-Lago raid, calling it “one of the most shocking abuses of power by any administration in American history.”

    He criticized the FBI for selectively choosing Federal magistrate Bruce Reinhart to approve the search warrant.

    “On a phony pretext, getting permission from a highly political magistrate, who they handpicked, late in the evening just days before the break-in and trampled upon my rights and civil liberties as if our country that we love so much were a third world nation,” Trump said. “We’re like a third world nation.”

    After criticizing the Biden administration and the FBI, Trump revealed that FBI agents conducted a “deep and ugly” search of his son Barron Trump’s room in addition to searching through former first lady Melania Trump’s bedroom.

    “They rifled through the first lady’s closet drawers and everything else, and even did a deep and ugly search of the room of my 16-year-old son,” Trump told the crowd, who responded with loud boos.

    The former president said the FBI left everything “in far different condition than it was when they started.”

    “Can you believe it? The FBI and the Justice Department have become vicious monsters, controlled by radical left scoundrels, lawyers, and the media who tell them what to do —you people right there— and when to do it,” Trump said.

    https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2022/09/03/donald-trump-fbi-did-deep-and-ugly-search-of-barron-trumps-room/amp/

    1. Trump had a huge, enthusiastic crowd, as usual. Funny how having #PedoHitler label you as “extremists” can fire up the MAGA Republican base.

  14. A top-to-bottom purge of corrupt, compromised Democrat-Bolshevik elements from the DoJ and FBI are essential if those institutions hope to regain public trust.

    FBI agent Timothy Thibault hid intel from whistleblower on Hunter and the ‘Big Guy’ Joe Biden

    https://nypost.com/2022/09/04/fbi-agent-timothy-thibault-hid-intel-from-whistleblower-on-hunter-the-big-guy-joe-biden/

    Timothy Thibault, the FBI agent alleged to have interfered with an investigation into Hunter Biden, was assigned by the Washington Field Office as “point man” to manage whistleblower Tony Bobulinski, the first son’s former business partner, before the 2020 election — but he suppressed his damning revelations, sources say.

    Bobulinski spent over five hours secretly being interviewed by the FBI on Oct. 23, 2020, about his inside knowledge of then-presidential candidate Joe Biden’s involvement in his son’s business deals with China.

    1. What is sobering is that DJT tried to drain the swamp, but couldn’t. The Deep State is very entrenched.

    1. I would say that Biden was channeling Klaus Schwab and the New World Order Terrorist Great Reset Cult, down to the red Hitler like speech.
      Over half the Country is opposed to Biden’s acts and policies, and Biden does not have the support of the Majority.
      Biden is the minority extremist that trying to take a wreaking ball to US, as he represents the most extreme terrorist cult being the Klaus Schwab One World Order/ Great Reset Terrorist Cult.

      1. Biden is the minority extremist that trying to take a wreaking ball to US,

        He wants to do to us what is happening in Europe. Everything that is happening there, the farming restrictions, the energy crisis, etc., they are planning on doing here next year. Europe is the dress rehearsal for the Great Reset.

    2. I don’t think it will be a fair fight. One side has 15 million guns and 8 billion rounds of ammunition. The other side can’t figure out what bathroom to use.

      1. That’s why they want CBDCs or Fedcoin or whatever, to outlaw even the option of untraceable cash. Give them control of the money supply and they care not who makes the laws.

  18. ‘Even if benchmark house prices fall another 30 per cent nationally, this will just put prices back to Feb. 2020 levels (pre-COVID) which were not affordable at that time’

    This predicament was first pondered in New Zealand just before the bottom fell out. Except it’s much larger, like 40% plus.

    ‘but buyers will also be faced with higher interest rates compared to 2020’

    Well fudge.

  19. ‘When NZ Super was introduced…’

    Here it comes:

    ‘…it was with the underlying assumption that those accessing it would be mortgage-free homeowners. ‘Today, the reality is very different. There are declining homeownership rates, more people needing to continue working longer because they still have mortgages to pay, are paying rent or haven’t been able to save enough to retire’

    So another ‘guberment affordable housing’ thing made shacks more expensive.

    1. NZ Super is their version of Social Security. The benefit is 463 NZD ($282 USD) per week starting at age 65. Yeah, I don’t think you can service a mortgage with that amount.

  20. ‘Pandemic era? 18 price records have been broken since February 2020’

    A mild respiratory illness will do that.

  21. ‘Ms Tindall says someone in Sydney who bought in December of last year with a 20 per cent deposit, is likely to be in mortgage prison already because the peak of the Sydney market was in January of this year and has been falling ever since’

    So shacks are down over 20% since January Sally?

    ‘The Morgans ended up losing their home and the bank sold it for $80,000, about a third of what they paid for it’

    But Dayv, you loved the shack! Wa happened? God hates quitters you know. You should have turned that frown upside-down for 14 years. Think of the equity!

    Maricopa is a town or small city in Maricopa county. I’ve never been there. I probably don’t know anyone who has ever been there. It was actually the first major blow up in Arizona in the 2000’s. The first Arizona photos of for sale signs lining the streets was there. Turned out nobody was living there: pure speculators, except Dayv of course. With good reason: the new highway was in the future and they ended up not building it last I heard. So it was a couple hours drive from anything. Then the builders decided to fook people like Dayv. Undercut them vastly. There was at least one development where they had enough HOA seats (empty lots) to do things like say, you know that school that’s in the deal? We’re voting against building it for now. So when johnny needs junior high, head back to Phoenix.

  22. ‘The only thing worse than the whining that accompanies the property price falls was the fawning words of adulation that accompanied the seemingly never-ending, double-digit boom in housing prices that preceded it’

    I’ve mentioned this several times: UHS cannot talk about the crater without regaling us with tales of previous red hotness.

    ‘It is almost as if several Property Commandments have been broken at the same time, leading to tough times at the Property Temple, which in recent years has been a place that has attracted huge audiences – many of them also addicted to home reno and flip television programs. One of those commandments to be broken is the old line peddled by every real estate agent since Adam – property prices never go down’

    Wa say you Neda?

    ‘The market simply could not, and was never expected to, grow at that pace indefinitely’

    blas·phe·my
    /ˈblasfəmē/

    noun: blasphemy; plural noun: blasphemies

    -the act or offense of speaking sacrilegiously about God or sacred things; profane talk.

  23. Anyone who is shocked by this never attended Yankee Stadium in the late 70s for a Red Sox game.

    WATCH: Two Fans Get into Insane Brawl at Georgia-Oregon Game

    DYLAN GWINN
    5 Sep 2022

    It’s unknown if the fan in the black shirt was an Oregon fan, but when the video picks up, he’s already on the ground taking shots from the Georgia fan in red. Things get crazier from there.

    https://twitter.com/calicocutpant/status/1566217350923407360?s=20&t=kSXnOwFhnEyz8q6NYA7hcQ

    1. 🤣👍 Same era: not a sports fan, but if friends were going to Yankee Stadium, I’d go to watch the crowd.

    1. The Financial Times
      The Big Read Property sector
      Crypto real estate: the property market built on digital assets
      Agents want to tap a growing pool of buyers looking to convert their cryptocurrency into bricks and mortar
      Joanna S Kao yesterday

      Portugal’s first property sale in cryptocurrency might have looked unremarkable, but it didn’t feel that way to those who had been working for nearly a year to make it happen.

      On May 4, in an office in the northern city of Braga, two men pulled up chairs in front of Apple laptops. João Marques, the seller, passed a crypto wallet address to the buyer, who made a transfer and became the new owner of an apartment in the city worth €110,000 — just under three bitcoin at the time. The president of the Portuguese chamber of notaries, Jorge Silva, watched on — as did Carlos Santos, chief technology officer at the Portuguese real estate company Zome, which brokered the sale.

      The whole process took just a few minutes but it was the culmination of many months of discussions between Portuguese tax, financial and notary authorities to agree on how to allow property transactions to happen entirely in cryptocurrency.

      Portugal, which does not have capital gains taxes for cryptocurrencies, has been a haven for crypto investors. In mid-April, Silva’s office issued guidance on how notaries should approach crypto transactions without the need to convert to euros before becoming legal. Silva says the move reflects a clear desire on the part of buyers: “Crypto is a reality,” he says, “and now you can do [crypto sales] in a legal way with transparency, complying with everything.”

      Portugal is unusual in this respect. In most countries, the absence of resources to assess associated tax implications and risks, as well as the danger of money laundering, means conversion to fiat currency is still necessary at some point in the process.

      That uncertainty has not deterred companies such as Zome that have taken the plunge and are attempting to work out what a more established crypto real estate market would look like. Zome began scoping out the possibility of cryptocurrency transactions last summer, says Santos, who sees potential to tap a new client base: “If we provide [crypto investors with] a convenient way, in their language, to allow them to do real estate business in Portugal, then we will attract these guys to us.”

      The pool of potential buyers is growing. There are now tens of thousands of bitcoin network participants who hold the equivalent of more than $1mn in their digital wallets. And a survey of US housebuyers commissioned by Redfin in December last year found that 12 per cent of first-time buyers planned to liquidate digital assets for a down payment — up from 5 per cent in the third quarter of 2019.

      As trading in cryptocurrencies soared during the pandemic, some investors struck gold and found themselves with the funds to buy property for the first time. Those with established wealth also added crypto to their portfolios. The 2022 Knight Frank Wealth Report, a global survey of more than 600 wealth managers who manage portfolios for individuals worth over $30mn, found nearly one in five clients now invest in cryptocurrencies, tokens and coins.

      That reflected the peak of the market. This year, a crash in crypto prices brought on by rising interest rates has spooked investors and wiped around $2tn off the value of all cryptocurrencies. Yet enthusiasm for crypto property deals remains — and not just among buyers who are looking to convert their increasingly volatile assets into safer investments.

      Safe as houses

      While some Web3-savvy investors have dabbled in buying virtual properties in the metaverse with their crypto funds, many would prefer their digital wealth to translate into their physical lives.

      Daniel Browne, a senior real estate associate at British legal firm Kingsley Napley, says he saw interest in buying property with cryptocurrency build in the run-up to bitcoin’s peak last November. Now, after months of market turbulence, the argument for turning to safer assets is becoming harder to ignore, he says: “People were looking at perhaps having an exit from something that is . . . known to be volatile and then putting money into something a little bit more well known . . . say bricks and mortar.”

      Many of Browne’s clients are younger first-time buyers who “had legitimately profited through taking risks and, I guess, some luck along the way as well. And they’re now . . . venturing into something else.”
      …

  25. Judge Grants Trump Bid for Special Master in Document Search

    AP
    5 Sep 2022

    WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Monday granted a request by former President Donald Trump’s legal team to appoint a special master to review documents seized by the FBI from his Florida home last month and also temporarily halted the Justice Department’s use of the records for investigative purposes.

    The decision by U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon came despite the objections of the Justice Department, which said an outside legal expert was not necessary in part because officials had already completed their review of potentially privileged documents. The judge had previously signaled her inclination to approve a special master, asking a department lawyer during arguments this month, “What is the harm?”

  26. So many of those WEF members , including Klaus Schwab, aren’t even US Citizens.

    But going back to the transfer of US jobs and manufacturing to places like Red China, this was a major betrayal by the D.C. Swamp. .
    Its was no different than de-funding the US
    by a monopoly of foreign manufacturing that would be a automatic crush of US competition.
    And now you have the Globalists and probably Red China engaged in taking over the World, and polishing off the US as a Sovereign State world power.
    And the citizens of US have been looted ,with rigged economics, and unsustainable debt.
    The power that be had to destroy capitalism, the US Constitution , government by the people , the US being a Sovereign State for a One World Order Dictorship by Corporations and Money Elite. They have planned this for decades and decades, as well as this depopulation genocide agenda.
    The people must give up everything so the earth can be saved from Climate Change, or invisible viruses. THEY ARE MAKING THIS SHIT UP.

    1. “A Ukrainian pensioner shot down a Russian Su-34 jet with a rifle, sending it spiralling to the ground, a government agency has said.”

      That’s a shotgun, not a rifle. That said, there’s no phuc’n way that 12-ga pellets are downing a jet fighter. This is BS^3!

      1. Wouldn’t knock down a pigeon past a few hundred feet. How much would you have to lead that bird anyway?

    1. “The plot’s basic conceit of rich liberals kidnapping and hunting working-class conservatives proved as inflammatory as designed, even provoking a tweet from the president of the United States.“

      I remember the film’s delayed release.

  30. In Great Britian, “Government closes in on energy rescue plan”

    https://www.bbc.com/news/business-62801913?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA

    (snip snip)

    “Help for consumers’ energy costs is to be provided by allowing energy suppliers to take out government-backed loans to allow them to subsidise bills.

    “The plan, which had been suggested by the energy industry, is set to be announced on Thursday.

    “The ‘deficit reduction scheme’ is expected to form the centre piece of the government’s attempt to tackle the high cost of energy for consumers.”

    It is a “deficit reduction scheme”. Got it.

    “Small business are also expected to be offered some relief.

    “New Prime Minister Liz Truss used her victory speech on Monday to pledge to ‘deliver on the energy crisis’ – with a price freeze widely expected.

    “Energy bills are rocketing and the cap on prices will go up on 1 October, meaning a typical British household is set to pay £3,549 a year on gas and electricity.

    “Energy bosses have insisted for some time that a government-backed superfund from which they could borrow to lower or freeze bills ‘is the only game in town’.

    “Scottish Power said freezing all bills at the current price cap of £1,971 for two years would cost nearly £100bn.

    “However, unlike households, businesses are not protected by an energy price cap. Many business fixed-rate deals expire this October, exposing thousands of firms to the full horror of bills that could rise by four or five times or more. Thousands would go bust or cut their wage bills by firing staff.

    “Smaller firms are expected to be offered similar help to that of households, although the BBC understands the details of how businesses will be helped may not be ironed out in time to be included in Thursday’s energy announcement.

    “However, the leader of one business group said ‘it’s clear they have crossed a mental Rubicon – they know that businesses need help to avoid lasting damage to the economy’.

    “Including businesses would mean the bill for the government’s energy plan could easily exceed £100bn.

    “It is understood that bigger companies may be offered bespoke tax breaks to help them through the period of high prices.

    “Energy bosses have been meeting government officials in the Cabinet Office this evening.

    “Under such a plan, the government would guarantee loans to energy companies that would be used to freeze or at least lower bills this winter and beyond. These loans would be repaid from bills over the next 10-20 years.”

    1. New Prime Minister Liz Truss used her victory speech on Monday to pledge to ‘deliver on the energy crisis’ – with a price freeze widely expected.

      Price controls do only one thing: create more scarcity.

      But no talk whatsoever about increasing supply. None. It’s net zero emissions or bust!

      1. They readily discuss more supply of some things like africans and gypsies. Larger waves of ‘immigrants’ will surely create more market strength. It’s all about priorities.

  31. JT Extension users — give the new version (4.12.0) a try. Should ‘restore’ the previous behavior when replying to comments.

    Note that this just tries to replace the previous behavior from whatever wordpress plugin. If you run into any issues, there’s an option in the extension options you can use to turn it off.

    Please reply here with any issues….I already see one (focusing the text input fields) I’m going to roll a bugfix version for soon.

    …and as always, PLEASE DONATE TO BEN to support extension development. If this site doesn’t exist, I have no motivation to continue to maintain it 🙂

    1. Bugfixes posted. 4.12.1 is the newest version now. Should auto-focus the comment field for you and be smart about where the text cursor ends up/whether text is selected

        1. Yeah, any version updates require a reload of the page for any changes to take effect. Thanks for letting me know it’s working!

  32. Surprise! Surprise! Surprise!

    “‘I’m DONE with Portland’ : Furious residents of the Dem-led city reveal to DailyMail.com why they have no choice but to sell their homes as ‘homeless drug addicts’ set up camp right outside their front doors
    Residents of Portland are selling their homes due to the homeless epidemic that is ravaging the city
    Some homeowners say they are ‘terrified’ to leave the house due to mental illness in homeless communities
    The city has set up Safe Rest Villages, a program that shelters homeless people in designated lots
    But unauthorized homeless encampments are popping up in many neighborhoods, spreading to the suburbs
    The homeless crisis is exacerbated by the worsening drug crisis, as hard drugs are decriminalized in the state
    Lifelong residents Bruce and Rebecca ‘Becky’ Philip who told DailyMail.com that they’re ‘done with Portland’ due to the increasing number of homeless camps that have trickled into the suburbs from downtown.”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11142685/Im-Portland-Homeless-people-forcing-terrified-residents-sell-homes.html

    “In a city known for it’s unique neighborhoods, bike-friendly commutes, and locally-owned businesses, some Portland, Oregon residents have become so terrified of the homeless crisis plaguing the area, which is now spreading into the suburbs, they have resorted to selling their homes – but realtors are struggling to offload them.

    “The Democratic city has one of the most deserted downtowns in the United States as soaring crime rates and homelessness are scaring away both locals and tourists. But now the crisis has spread beyond the downtown area and into the quiet suburbs, forcing many to leave.

    “These homeless camps are now becoming a permanent fixture in the suburbs, with the city being forced to conduct sweeps on a regular basis.

    “The latest sweep took place a week ago as Portland’s Rapid Response Bio-Clean team cleared out a large homeless camp at Southeast 80th Avenue and Rhine Street, according to KGW8.

    “The site – located at the corner of the South Tabor and the Foster-Powell neighborhoods – had been reported by residents countless times this summer, but nothing was ever done. Until now.

    “But it’s a little too late for lifelong residents Bruce and Rebecca ‘Becky’ Philip who told DailyMail.com that they’re ‘done with Portland’ due to the increasing number of homeless camps that have trickled into the suburbs from downtown.

    “‘I’ve been here 65 years but I’m done,’ Bruce Philip said. ‘I’m done with Portland.’

    “‘What’s there to say, they move in, take over the neighborhood, do their drugs, play their loud music, and make a mess,’ he said, adding that the homeless crisis has ruined not just a few neighborhoods, but all of Portland.

    “The couple also pointed out that the sweeps of the homeless camps – like the one held a week ago on Monday – are not the final solution and have not changed their minds about moving.

    “‘The city comes in and cleans it up and then two weeks later, they come back,’ Bruce Philip said. ‘It’s a vicious cycle, and I’m done.’

    “Local realtor George Patterson told DailyMail.com that the homeless encampments encroaching on residents’ front lawns is a topic that comes up with his clients ‘every day’, and that deals are falling through homes for sale in the area.

    “In one case, an early offer for a three-bedroom home asking close to $700,000 near a sanctioned homeless encampment, called Multnomah Village.

    “‘We had early offer on a home, but it fell through and there was some concern there with the Multnomah village site,’ Patterson said.

    “‘I can say [homeless encampments] are definitely affecting the property values.'”

    (there is more to this article. do the link thingy to read it)

    1. “‘I can say [homeless encampments] are definitely affecting the property values.’”

      Who in his right mind would buy a house near a growing homeless camp?

    2. Saw a fun YT short video from a comedian. He and his GF had a long-distance relationship; she was in Iowa and he was in LA. After a year it was time to decide who was going to move where. One day he was crossing a street mid-block in LA. A motorcycle cop saw this, flashed him and ticketed him for jaywalking. Meanwhile, hordes of homeless men were pooping on the sidewalk at a nearby homeless camp. The cops didn’t bother because the homeless guys had no money to pay a fine. The comedian said, in California, if you have a job and a bank account, you’re a target. If you’re a homeless drug addict pooping on the sidewalk, that’s fine.

      He and his GF married and live in Iowa.

    1. These folks will just move, vote the same way and get the same results. No understanding of cause and effect.

    1. That dude is lucky those people didn’t have a dog, either of the two Black Labs I have spoken about here would have taken a chunk out of his homeless @ss coming in house unannounced like that.

  36. No loose lending here. Guess who gets to bail out Skank of America when these loans go bad?

    Bank of America to offer zero-down payment mortgages in certain Black and Hispanic communities

    https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/01/homes/bank-of-america-zero-down-mortgages/index.html

    (CNN)Bank of America is offering zero down payment mortgages with no closing costs for first-time homebuyers in certain Black and Hispanic neighborhoods in a new program designed to chip away at inequality in the housing market.

    The new loan, launched this week, requires no minimum credit score nor mortgage insurance, which lenders typically charge when borrowers put less than 20% down.

    1. Interesting:

      “The program will be available to people in certain predominantly Black and Hispanic neighborhoods in Charlotte, Dallas, Detroit, Los Angeles and Miami. Applicants do not need to be Black or Hispanic in order to qualify for the program.” [emphasis mine]

      That’s how they’re going to try get around any discrimination lawsuits. I’m not sure if that’s going to work. When banks redlined, they denied mortgages for certain black and brown neighborhoods, regardless of who wanted to apply for a mortgage. This is sort of reverse redlining, giving mortgages to certain neighborhoods regardless of who wants to apply for a mortgage. Still discriminatory, right?

      1. “Applicants do not need to be Black or Hispanic in order to qualify for the program.”

        To see whether this program is discriminatory, substitute “White” for “Black or Hispanic” and see if it would be considered discriminatory.

  37. Cry me a river, Aussie FBs. Did you think artificially low interest rates would last forever when inflation was soaring?

    Interest rate warning as Aussies prepare for fifth consecutive hike

    https://www.news.com.au/finance/economy/interest-rates/interest-rate-warning-as-aussies-prepare-for-fifth-consecutive-hike/news-story/8568fd6568cc4b6b111de64d300dc874

    Australian homeowners are set to face more pain within hours, with interest rates set to break an almost 30-year-old record.

  38. ‘Most people don’t want to have to worry about if they can leave their car parked in their driveway overnight without maybe having it broken into,’ she added.
    ————-
    Well don’t buy so much stuff and the garage will be empty enough to park your car….see the problem is solved!

  39. Re: it’s impossible to know what the future holds . . . the meteoric rise of Maricopa.”

    Not impossible at all since we all know, or should know, what happens to a meteor in the end.

    The funny thing is nobody ever blames the real culprits counterfeiting endless fiat (fake) money, namely the Fed including Transitory Powell, who are never held to account for their idiotic misdeeds bordering on criminality . . .

    1. The problem is we are ALL guilty. Everyone wants to play the game. We have all played monopoly and know how it ends but we still want to play anyway. The cycle will continue with or without the Fed.

  40. Yahoo
    MoneyWise
    As the US housing market returns to sanity, researchers say these 5 cities are primed for deep price cuts
    Lauren Bird
    Sun, September 4, 2022 at 8:00 AM·6 min read

    If you’ve been squeezed out of the tight housing market over the past couple of years waiting for the opportunity to buy, you might finally get your chance – and some places are already looking more attractive for buyers.

    The housing market is beginning to cool and cities that have seen an “influx of affluence,” as Rick Palacios, Jr. calls it, may see prices drop the farthest.

    Palacios is the director of research at John Burns Real Estate Consulting, which delivers analysis on the housing market to clients such as builders, realtors and investors.

    He’s predicting a significant downturn in the housing market in Boise, Austin, Nashville, Phoenix, Sacramento and other cities where prices climbed during the COVID-19 pandemic as more people moved to them.

    “These are some of the markets where we were anticipating the steepest price declines in 2023,” says Palacios.

    Once tight markets will be leading the way down

    They’re the cities people flocked to during the pandemic, garnering them the nickname “Zoom towns.” They have a high quality of life and traditionally lower housing prices than the major centers.

    And since the beginning of the pandemic, people who could work remotely have relocated to these areas, nabbed the relatively cheap homes and drove up prices.

    But Palacios is predicting a steep drop in housing prices in these cities, with Boise leading the way.

    Boise became one of the least affordable cities to buy during the pandemic as an influx of people bought property in the area. House prices reached 72% above what a middle-income family can afford last year, according to Oxford Economics.

    “Boise is one of those markets that always rides the bubble wave. When things are great, I mean, it just – it catches that wave,” says Palacios.

    But the same can be said for when things start going downhill.

    “Just looking at the growth rate in home appreciation, [Boise] has reversed completely. And it is, I think, the single market that we anticipate actually getting to price declines in 2022.”

    And though this might be tough news for people who have bought in Boise and similar cities in the past couple of years, it’s good news for anyone looking to buy property — although it may take several months or even years before prices level out.

    Investors are pumping the breaks

    Home values in Phoenix went up 25% over the past year, according to Zillow’s value index.

    “As of the first quarter of this year… investor transactions are 45% of the entire housing market,” says Palacios.

    That includes people buying second homes, investment properties and houses to flip.

    “That’s a big deal,” says Palacios. “And there’s a lot of markets across the country where investor transactions are now 30-40-45% of all home purchases.”

    Markets that depend on investment activities do well on the upside, says Palacios, but they can turn quickly.

    “That’s why we’ve got some pretty negative forecasts, especially on a relative basis to more kind of slow, steady markets.”

    According to Redfin, investor purchases in Nashville were down nearly 17% in the first quarter of 2022, 17% in Las Vegas, and 21% in Sacramento.

    Inventory on the rise

    From February 2020, before the housing market went haywire, to this summer, housing prices in Boise went up 58%, says Palacios. In Austin, they’re up 75% and in Nashville, it’s up 56%.

    “We look at affordability as probably one of the most, if not the most, important indicator for how sustainable things are in a market,” says Palacios.

    And as interest rates began to rise — the national rate on a 30-year mortgage is now 5.66%, according to Freddie Mac — it became clear how unsustainable those prices had become.

    “The monthly payment is up 40-50% year over year,” says Palacios. “And that’s a huge shock to that buyer, which tells you why these markets have pulled back so fast.”

    Companies are also starting to bring people back to the office, which has played some part in more people putting their homes up for sale and a growth in inventory.

    Housing inventory is up 26% nationally year over year, according to Realtor.com.

    Ratiu says inventory is growing in Austin, Raleigh, Nashville, Sacramento and others – again, cities that saw a surge in population over the past two years.

    “These markets have, in many ways, attracted people from coastal, much more expensive markets,” Ratiu says.

    “Austin has been a magnet for a lot of tech workers from San Francisco, Silicon Valley, Seattle, Los Angeles, most of them really attracted to the relative affordability. It’s not surprising to see that, in turn, these markets are sort of leading the shift in the market.”

    Austin saw some of the biggest growth in inventory, according to Redfin. The number of homes for sale in the city rose by 27% in June, compared with last year.

    But as more homes come on the market, sellers are still hoping for those top of the market prices, says Ratiu.

    “Markets have changed dramatically in the last three months. And what we’re seeing pricing wise, we’re still seeing a lot of homeowners list homes based on the market from six months ago.”

    And price cuts for listings are on the rise. In July, 19% of listings nationally cut their prices, nearing levels not seen since 2017.

    Nearly 70% of sellers in Boise had to cut their prices in July, according to Redfin.

    What should buyers do now?

    Palacios says all signs point to a housing slow down, and though it may take several months or more for prices to come down, if you can wait, you should.

    “We haven’t been in a slowing environment for several years,” says Palacios.

    “The choices are going to be out there. And I don’t think it’s the worst decision in the world to be a bit more patient now than you would have been when rates were 3-4%.”
    …
    https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-housing-market-returns-sanity-150000097.html

    1. The Wall Street Journal
      Journal Reports: Personal Investing
      Monthly Monitor
      U.S.-Stock Funds Are Down 17.3% So Far in 2022
      After a weak end to August, stock funds are unlikely to be able to close the year in positive territory
      Stocks fell on four straight days to close out a rocky August.
      Illustration: Giacomo Bagnara
      By William Power
      Updated Sept. 4, 2022 10:00 am ET

      Fund investors might have to concede that 2022 will be forgettable.

      The average U.S.-stock mutual fund or exchange-traded fund is down 17.3% for the year to date, through August, according to Refinitiv Lipper data. That includes a 3.5% average decline in August, reflecting the stock market’s reaction to Fed Chairman Jerome Powell’s comments that the central bank will keep raising interest rates to fight inflation, despite recession risk.
      …

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