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This Sounds Like A Bad Science-Fiction Movie

A weekend topic starting with WILX. “Lansing broker Kim Dunham said it’s a good time to buy if you can because the market will continue to inflate. We are still looking at a seller’s market, just not as extreme as it was last year. ‘So last year we were getting way over, on every single home. We were able to sell them for 30 and 50 thousand over,’ said Dunham, ‘Now that’s still happening, it’s just taking longer.’ Dunham has been in this market for 30 years, and said Mid-Michigan is ‘definitely in a transitional market.'”

From WXYZ on Michigan. “From Farmington Hills to Ferndale, homeowners are expressing worry over rising interest rates and anticipated falling prices that could soon be creating a troubling scenario. Hairstylist Jayme McNeil is among those watching the situation closely. ‘I hope for the best and plan for the worst,’ says McNeil who bought a home 10 years ago. She recalls relying on savings when COVID led to a lockdown for 3 months. She fears many could soon be falling under water, with loans becoming more than a home is worth.”

“‘We are already seeing a 5% reduction in home prices,’ says real estate expert Ali Charara, with Century 21 Curran and Oberski. He says fewer people are also refinancing now. ‘In this past month, you’re seeing a lot of inventory coming on the market,’ he said. According to the Michigan State Housing Authority, more than 16,000 households in our state are in line for aid. ‘This month I’ve seen over 30 different people regarding stopping foreclosures,’ says bankruptcy attorney John Kallabat.”

The Columbia Basin Herald. “It’s the nagging fear every homeowner has when economic times become hard: What if I can’t keep my home? That’s something quite a lot of people are worried about, said Nik VinZant, an analyst with QuoteWizard in Seattle. According to a survey done by QuoteWizard, 17% of people in Washington state are worried about losing their homes in the near future.”

“According to that survey, Washingtonians’ incomes have risen 26.5% between 2012 and 2021, while housing costs have gone up 116.3%. That’s a gap of 89.8 percentage points, and it spells trouble, VinZant said. ‘We’re seeing a high number of people that, once you get behind, it is very difficult to catch up right now,’ he said. ‘And I think what’s happening is that people are getting behind and there’s just no way out.'”

The Journal Record. “Oklahoma saw the greatest monthly increase in foreclosure starts among states that had at least 100 starts in August, according to a eport. Attom reported August foreclosure starts were up 80% over July in Oklahoma, followed by Tennessee (up 74%), Virginia (up 64%), Arkansas (up 53%) and Washington (up 50%). Forbearance has ended for the majority of Oklahomans who were enrolled in the program and the remaining few likely will exit the program in February, said Valenthia Doolin, director of homeownership at the Oklahoma Housing Finance Agency. ‘We have seen the number of foreclosures going to court going up,’ said Doolin, who expects that number to grow.”

From KCRW. “Prices are usually rising in Southern California’s residential real estate market. But over the last few months, the market has chilled slightly, with asking prices falling for many homes. What’s going on? Is this a blip or sign of a long-term trend?  Homes are still selling, says LA realtor Dunia Handy Gill. She uses the example of Pasadena, where properties are turning over quickly. She says some homes are listed and purchased within a month.”

“‘I’m still seeing multiple offers. I’m seeing cash, but I’m also still seeing buyers with mortgages, but not [with] 30-year fixed mortgages, more of a seven ARM [adjustable-rate mortgage], even a 10 ARM. So mortgage companies are getting a little more creative in order to continue to have buyers that are able to purchase,’ Handy Gill says.”

From NPR. “A lot of homebuyers these days are turning to adjustable rate loans because they start out with a lower, more affordable interest rate. Katrina Wooten is in the process of buying a house near Gainesville, Florida. It’s still under construction and she hasn’t yet locked a home loan. But with mortgage rates doubling this year to around 6%, her monthly payments will likely be hundreds of dollars more than she’d originally budgeted for. ‘I was having panic attacks over it,’ she says. For a more affordable option, her mortgage broker has talked to her about considering adjustable rate mortgages.”

“‘A percentage point can make a really, really big difference in that monthly payment,’ says Holden Lewis who for the personal finance site NerdWallet. ‘So they grasp for that rescue ring, an adjustable rate mortgage. When you get a fixed rate loan, if mortgage rates rise after that, that’s the lender’s problem,’ says Lewis. ‘If you get an adjustable rate loan and mortgage rates rise, that’s your problem.'”

The Daily Mail. “Home prices across the U.S. recorded their biggest drop in 11 years by as much as 4 percent, leaving hundreds of thousands of borrowers at risk of going underwater — and those who bought along the West Coast worst hit. Worried property owners have taken to social media to express their fears about slipping underwater. One user warned that interest rate hikes were ‘devastating to young families’ who had only recently managed to get on the property ladder.”

“Another queried how many borrowers would ‘be underwater soon’ due to falling prices and rising interest rates, while one other warned of ‘2008 all over again’ and a market collapse, defaults and evictions.'”

From Fox News. “Zero down-payment mortgages and similar programs appear to have recently been gaining traction on Main Street. Bank of America announced Aug. 30 that it is launching a trial program, called the Community Affordable Loan Solution, offering mortgages that do not require closing costs, down payments or minimum credit scores. People in predominantly Hispanic or Black neighborhoods in Charlotte, North Carolina; Dallas; Detroit; Los Angeles; and Miami that meet specific income requirements will have access to the program.”

“Bankrate.com chief financial analyst Greg McBride told FOX Business that this is the ‘wrong end of the real estate cycle for zero down payment mortgages.’ ‘The risk to borrowers has grown because of the surge in home prices,’ McBride said. ‘If home prices stall, or even decline, a no down payment loan could be setting the buyer up for failure as they won’t have much, if any, equity stake in the home.'”

From KERA. “As interest rates have risen, the mortgage market has cooled, despite hot home sales just a year ago. That’s led to layoffs among lenders, including Home Point Financial. The nation’s third largest lender just announced 526 new layoffs come November: 150 of those will be in Texas. Mike Davis, economics professor at SMU’s Cox School of Business, blamed High Point Financial’s significant layoffs on rising interest rates. He said rising rates, which may go up again soon, mean two things for mortgage lenders. Neither of them are good.”

“First, fewer houses get sold. Next, and more importantly, he said the business of refinancing starts to fade away. And that’s true regardless of whether someone is trying to get a lower interest rate or hoping to pull cash out of their house. ‘To be a mortgage lender is kind of like to be an umbrella salesman. You know, when business booms, it really booms,’ Davis said. ‘The mortgage business was booming and these mortgage lenders wanted to have boots on the ground to capitalize on that. And now, you know, the rain has stopped. Nobody’s buying umbrellas. Nobody’s refinancing their mortgages.'”

From Business Insider. “Declining liquidity in the US Treasuries market represents the biggest systemic risk to financial markets since the 2007 housing bubble, if not bigger. That’s according to a Wednesday note from Bank of America, which outlined just how important the day-to-day functioning of the US Treasury market is, and how imperative it is that the market functions without hiccups. The aggregate amount of capital allocated to market-making has not kept pace with the very rapid growth of marketable Treasury debt outstanding. As trading in the US Treasury market decreases, while the issuance of US Treasuries increases, a period of illiquidity could materialize.”

“‘While this sounds like a bad science-fiction movie, it is unfortunately a real threat that has absorbed a large amount of people-hours over the past 10 years with very little output from regulators or lawmakers,’ the bank added. And while the Fed has stepped in to buy US Treasuries during periods of market stress, it’s a ‘tenuous long-term solution for the central bank to act as a buyer-of-last resort of the federal debt,’ BofA said.”

“‘It is not structurally sound for the US public debt to become increasingly reliant on Fed QE,’ BofA said. ‘It is risky in our view to rely on the Fed alone to solve the problem of Treasury market liquidity, resilience and functioning.’ Instead, BofA believes a better long-term solution is for the creation of a dealer of last resort that is not the Federal Reserve, which is governed by its dual mandate of price stability and low unemployment. ‘We believe such an entity should be formed before a crisis requires it.'”

From Bloomberg. “Many merchants, who sell more than half of the goods on Amazon’s web store, fear they’ll be forced to cut prices to move a mountain of inventory. ‘Consumers don’t seem to be spending much on anything beyond basic necessities, so sellers have to offer discounts and coupons and aggressive marketing, which can be expensive,’ said Lesley Hensell, a co-founder of Riverbend Consulting, which advises Amazon sellers. ‘The fourth quarter looks scary this year.'”

“The effects are rippling from sellers to firms that support them, including small business lenders. An Amazon merchant commonly borrows about $100,000 to buy inventory and pay for marketing campaigns during the holidays, paying the loans off with their proceeds. Seth Broman, chief revenue officer of Swiftline, which offers loans to online merchants, is turning down more loan applications this year. Rising costs and slower growth has simply made lending sellers money too risky, he said. ‘A lot of customers are over-leveraged, and their sales are off,’ Broman said.”

The South China Morning Post. “After China’s weakened exports surprised the market on the downside in August, shipping agents across China are struggling to find cargo during what is traditionally the peak shipping season ahead of Western holidays. ‘We are, in fact, seeing an off-season at present,’ a Jiangsu-based shipping agent said on condition of anonymity. ‘The overall shipping demand from customers is plummeting.’ Another agent, based in Tianjin, likened shipping prices to ‘cliff diving,’ because of their sharp descent.”

From Ottawa Life. “Fueled by the media and propagated by misinformed economist pundits, public anxieties about the real estate market will become a self-fulfilling prophecy if the government doesn’t act with urgency to protect Canadians’ largest asset class and prevent a real estate crash. Rising mortgage rates mean that the average Canadian needs to make a staggering additional payment of $800-$1100 per month for a mortgage of $800,000. This places enormous pressure on already strained households grappling with relentless inflation and rising costs of living — everything from higher gas and grocery prices to inflated hydro bills and property taxes.”

“Homeowners and the real estate market will feel the burden of this jarring payment increase for at least the next five years. If our government doesn’t act soon, the effects will be catastrophic and result in a major real estate crash in Canada, wiping the home equity and retirement savings of millions of Canadian homeowners across the country. As someone who has worked extensively in this industry for over 20 years, I can say with confidence that there is a way for the Canadian Government to combat inflation without collapsing the Canadian housing market and irreparably damaging the household balance sheets, credit, and home equity of everyday Canadians along the way.”

“The solution is simple: Canada needs to introduce 40-year amortization. The government must allow homeowners with existing mortgages to renew their mortgages up to 40-year amortization. When we look at the data and the realities of the market on the ground, this is the best solution we have available.”

“Sooner or later, our homeowners must renew their mortgages at the current high rates! If we don’t change course, many Canadian homeowners will buckle under the weight of unaffordable mortgage payments and runaway inflation within a few months once these mortgages are up for renewal. Many people will have no choice but to put up their homes for sale well below what they owe to the banks and the mortgage companies.”

“For over a decade, low interest rates in Canada combined with the increasing value of homes have helped millions of Canadians across the country build tremendous wealth and a stable personal balance sheet. The thriving real estate market has also supported and created millions of jobs in this country. But without a prudent government strategy to safeguard Canada’s most important asset class, there is a significant risk of wiping out the balance sheets of Canadian homeowners today and curtailing the wellbeing and prosperity of Canadians for generations to come.”

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This Post Has 96 Comments

  2. ‘Washingtonians’ incomes have risen 26.5% between 2012 and 2021, while housing costs have gone up 116.3%. That’s a gap of 89.8 percentage points, and it spells trouble’

    This has been going on for over a decade – everywhere. You know what the sound lending people never mention? Loan to income. Typical of how the system works. We gotcher subprime, but just don’t call it that.

    This past week I saw something else: a bunch of lenders are raising their loan caps! Just as it is obvious shack prices are sinking like a turd in a well, they want to loan you hundreds of thousands more. This is exactly how the REIC responds every time they start to go hungry.

    2. “This is exactly how the REIC responds every time they start to go hungry.”

      This is how the phat cats exit the game at the top, selling to the unsuspecting starving dogs!

    3. “Loan to income.”

      It’s a very big number for both of my nieces.

      But so long as real estate keeps going up, they will be just fine.

  3. ‘It is not structurally sound for the US public debt to become increasingly reliant on Fed QE’

    And it was never legal. Good luck with yer zero down crap BoA.

    1. BoA knows the Fed & middle class taxpayers have their back, so they can lend to the non-creditworthy with reckless abandon.

  4. ‘So last year we were getting way over, on every single home. We were able to sell them for 30 and 50 thousand over’

    Sound lending!

  5. Russia Today, because the New York Times and Washington Post are globalist scum media.

    Russia Today — The vast pro-Ukrainian ‘bot army’ designed to influence Western policy makers (9/10/2022):

    “Researchers at the University of Adelaide have published a landmark paper on the activities of bot accounts on Twitter related to the conflict in Ukraine. These Australian findings are truly staggering – of 5.2 million tweets on the social media network from February 23 to March 8, between 60 to 80% were shared by fake accounts. What’s more, 90% of those posts were pro-Ukraine.

    In particular, these accounts pushed the hashtags #IStandWithUkraine, #IStandWithZelenskyy, and #ISupportUkraine, and myths like the ‘Ghost of Kiev’, a fictional Ukrainian fighter pilot who is farcically alleged to have taken down 40 Russian jets within hours of the military operation commencing.

    The accounts identified were overwhelmingly English language, leading the researchers to conclude these fake users sought to “drive more disruption in English-speaking countries” and “influence a variety of user groups.”

    The accounts were successful in their objective of stimulating discussions and trends around particular topics, kickstarting and increasing online discussion around a number of subjects, including the question of whether Ukrainians should flee the country. The researchers recorded “significant flows” of information from Ukrainian bots to non-bot accounts.

    One need only spend a few minutes scrolling major social media networks to identify a profusion of anonymous, recently registered users pumping out pro-Ukraine, pro-NATO, and pro-war propaganda, and attacking anyone critical of ascendant Western narratives. It is, in the words of writer Caitlin Johnstone, “the most aggressively trolled war of all time.”

    https://www.rt.com/news/562509-ukrainian-bots-in-twitter/

    Russia is winning.

    2. It’s still a game of chicken. I’m following the analysis of Peter Zeihan and the Joe Blogs YT channel, and they aren’t so rosy about Russia’s chances, especially economically.

      1. and they aren’t so rosy about Russia’s chances, especially economically

        Is that why the Ruble is trading at an all time high?

        It’s the western alliance that is running on fumes.

          2. The nato media blitz is revealing. Why work so hard on a narrative? Those aren’t real. I don’t see the rush, it’ll probably be over before winter.

            I have followed on the site a reader suggested and one thing looks clear: ukranistan is taking little villages – on the flat sh$t hole that is the area. What you aren’t hearing is casualties. Thousands of guys are getting killed for these ‘victories’. Any fool can take a worthless village if you are willing to get yer guys slaughtered. Russians meanwhile focus on not losing men, and respond with aircraft and artillery. One seems shortsighted and barbaric, the other is a longer road. I’m guessing we’ll hear calls for negotiation any time now, which should have been the goal months ago.

          3. The nato media blitz is revealing.

            It reeks of the Ghost of Kiev. Remember how the western press insisted that the Ghost was real?

          4. Russia is quietly accepting Euro transactions again as to cool down the strenghth of the Ruble. They are doing OK.

  6. COVID vaccines are deadly poison.

    The Federalist — Ad Council Attempts To Emotionally Manipulate Low-Risk Young People To Get The Covid Jab (9/9/2022):

    “The Ad Council, a nonprofit that produces public service announcements, has spent tens of millions of dollars on ad campaigns in an attempt to convince you to get a Covid jab, and they’re using emotional manipulation to try to get your consent.

    An ad targeting unvaccinated young adults ran during the first college football game of the season between two top-five teams. Two cozy chairs are set against a dark backdrop and warm lighting as twenty-somethings try to convince loved ones such as brothers, friends, and boyfriends to get the Covid shot.

    Many people skeptical of the Covid shots have undoubtedly found themselves in a similar situation over the last year and a half. What follows is not what we all wish would have happened in those conversations, though: an intelligent back and forth weighing risks and benefits and the quality of evidence available, colored with respect for personal autonomy. Instead, it’s an elevation of peer pressure and misinformation as appropriate ways to convince young people to take the jab.

    The Ad Council lined up $50 million to promote Covid vaccines in late 2020 and has produced many ads toward this end. They’re funded by a variety of corporate entities, including Google, Facebook, Twitter, Pfizer, and Johnson & Johnson. Their website states they didn’t receive any funding from pharmaceutical companies or “political organizations” for their vaccine campaigns specifically, but their “COVID Collaborative” is “with the involvement of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).”

    https://thefederalist.com/2022/09/09/ad-council-attempts-to-emotionally-manipulate-low-risk-young-people-to-get-jabbed/

    Google, Facebook, Twitter?

    Here we can discuss, without censorship, that these mRNA injections are not vaccines, they do not prevent infection or transmission of CCP Flu, and they are more likely to kill you than CCP Flu itself.

    It’s a medical genocide.

    1. John Campbell, in his video from September 7, said something interesting: none of these vaccines will prevent spread of COVID, simply because the incubation time is too short. For example, the Measles virus has to be in the body for two weeks before reaching high enough levels to be infectious to other people. That two weeks is plenty of time for the body to recognize the measles, direct the memory T and B cells to manufacture antibodies, and send the antibodies to attack and kill the virus particles before you can infect anyone. But COVID reaches infectious levels in two days. Even if the antibodies work and I don’t develop symptoms, during that time I would have been infectious enough to spread. Even if everyone was vaccinated with the Omicron specific shot, everyone would still be a carrier.

      So the whole “you must get vaxxed or you’ll kill Grandma” argument just doesn’t apply anymore. The best way to help Grandma is for her to go low carb/IF to lose body fat, and give her sunlight, fresh air, and Vitamin D. (and get her vaxxed with non-mRNA shot if she wants)

      One vaccine expert, Eric Topol, is hoping that pharma can develop a nasally-delivered vaccine. The objective is to concentrate the memory cells and antibodies at the virus entry point. Then the antibodies might be able to neutralize the virus before it can incubate.

      (As for preventing “infection,” I see that as kind of meaningless. If the vaccine prevents symptoms and spread, it doesn’t really matter whether your body tests positive. For all know, I could be “infected” with measles for the past 10 days right now.)

          1. I’m not saying that he’s wrong, after all, a broken clock is right twice a day. I just don’t consider him a reliable source of information.

    2. These new technology MRNA vaccines are still on the market, in spite of evidence of the epic killing and injury , from these expierments on global populations.
      The FDA has been captured, and just rubber stamps these poison injections that aren’t safe or effective.
      Never forget how Big Pharmacy and Stakeholders like Bill Gates, captured the narrative by fake news, with censorship of dispute. Corporations and Institutions in collusion threatened you job if you didn’t take this fake vaccine.
      Never forget how Biden used the power of the White House to pimp this vaccine poison, and lied saying they were safe and effective and you won’t get Covid.
      Never forget how these fraudsters locked down the globe, and made you wear useless masks that obstructed air, and destroyed small business, to make Mega Corporations more powerful, as they looted the tax coffers.
      Climate Change is the next manufactured fraud to take energy, food and fertilizer, to throw Civilization in to dysfunctional by famine and freezing , and more destruction of business.
      Locked downed over Climate Change now , with deprivation of food and energy, so the Klaus Schwab Great Reset can be forced on the World. Captured Governments implementing these crimes against humanity. They plan total slavery, and plan to throw humanity into a austerity and deprivation of world resources , that they will control.
      Humans are the enemy now, and they must be eliminated for sustainable earth utopia for the chosen few.
      Nothing else explains the madness they have thrown the World into.

    3. Two cozy chairs are set against a dark backdrop and warm lighting as twenty-somethings try to convince loved ones such as brothers, friends, and boyfriends to get the Covid shot.

      A relative nagged me to death to get jabbed. I, of course, told him to go pound sand. I recently asked him if he was going to get the next booster. He hemmed and hawed until he finally admitted that he was done with the jab.

  7. A reader sent these in:

    Phoenix Rental Market is in trouble

    https://twitter.com/GRomePow/status/1567983697214963713

    Toronto has 68,000 Realtors. How much is that?

    – Toronto’s school board: 42,000 employees

    – City of Toronto: 40,739

    – CIBC (🇨🇦): 45,282

    – physicians (🇨🇦): 92,173

    … not knocking TO Realtors. People go where incentive is, but a bubble means a misallocation of human capital

    https://twitter.com/StephenPunwasi/status/1568240317295476736

    The 30 year mortgage rate reached another multi-year high this week.

    The Fed lowered rates to record lows and then waited until home prices were at record high to raise mortgage rates by a record amount.

    A far worse version of what happened in the last bubble.

    https://twitter.com/SuburbanDrone/status/1568394120762097664

    $RH CEO: “We’re in a recession. Anybody who thinks we’re not in a recession is crazy. The housing market is in a recession, and it’s just getting started.”

    https://twitter.com/Quartr_App/status/1568244411372281856

    Sales of bonds backed by debt associated with single-family rentals are retreating from record levels, per Bloomberg.

    https://twitter.com/unusual_whales/status/1568352510502645761

    Lance Lambert

    The U.S. home price correction is sharper—and more widespread—than previously thought.

    https://twitter.com/NewsLambert/status/1568192491567943682

    We are there already in some parts of California.
    30% down from peak zestimate. Getting to 50% from peak zestimate doesn’t look like a stretch.

    https://twitter.com/KrishnaK154043/status/1568300535513776128

    San Francisco right now

    https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1568237548274864128

    https://layoffstracker.com/layoffs-at-realtor-com/

    1. “zestimate”

      Thank god I was able to convince the wifey that “zestimate” is nothing pure fiction…she gets it now. Life is better that way.

    2. $RH CEO: “We’re in a recession. Anybody who thinks we’re not in a recession is crazy. The housing market is in a recession, and it’s just getting started.”

      I don’t think we’re in a recession yet. I’ve never seen so much traffic, so many people spending, etc. It’s like 2005. When the depression hits, it will be unmistakable. I remember 2009. Economic activity just dried up and the streets were like ghost towns. It was eerie.

      1. I don’t think we’re in a recession yet. I’ve never seen so much traffic, so many people spending, etc.

        Maybe where you are. In my little burg I am most definitely seeing it. Stores are empty. Traffic is noticeably less, etc. My preferred index, the drive thru line: I haven’t had to sit in a long drive thru line in months. Sometimes, even during the normally busy hours, there is no one in front of me in line. Not surprising, as fast food is expensive. Want a pizza on Friday night? No problem, it will be ready in 15 minutes.

        Remember, there are 20 million households that are about to have their power cut because of non payment. From what I read food banks are slammed, their shelves are nearly empty. People frequently post on NextDoor asking for help, saying things like: “I don’t get paid til next week and I don’t have anything to feed my kids, please help”. Yeah, it might be a scam, but even just a few months ago I never saw people plead for help on NextDoor.

      2. “30% down from peak zestimate. Getting to 50% from peak zestimate doesn’t look like a stretch.”

        50% off won’t even get us out of bubble territory.

        “When the depression hits, it will be unmistakable.”

        Yep. This feels closer to 2006 or maybe 2007. A few less delusional people are starting to realize there’s a problem, but the real pain hasn’t even begun.

      3. “I don’t think we’re in a recession yet.”

        Up in the Columbia Basin area things are already slowing down, especially restaurants, which is surprising since eating is a major league activity around here.

        Now San Jose, CA is completely opposite, it’s really busy with waiting lines outside most restaurants. And traffic is awful just about anytime during the day.

    3. “The U.S. home price correction is sharper—and more widespread—than previously thought.”

      It will get still sharper and widespread after word gets out.

      Try not to catch yourself a falling knife. 🔪

  8. Some local news. Note that the article does not mention once that the state legislature decriminalized fentanyl in 2019.

    Colorado Sun — Denver business leaders want immediate answers to homelessness as downtown struggles to rebound (9/8/2022):

    “It’s bad and getting worse” was the title of the Colorado Chamber of Commerce agenda, and there was no argument from even the groups working to solve the problem. The Colorado Coalition for the Homeless and the state Office of Homeless Initiatives are providing more housing and services than ever before, but cannot keep up with the demand.

    While business owners support long-term solutions for housing, they also want immediate help, said Beth Moyski, a senior vice president with Downtown Denver Partnership, which advocates for the business community. She regularly hears from business owners who say their customers feel unsafe downtown because of the number of people on the streets, including those who have mental illness and are talking to themselves as they pass by.

    “I get phone calls from property managers and property owners who say, ‘There is an encampment in the alley or across the street from me. What are you going to do about it?’” she said.

    Moyski said she is concerned not only about businesses, but about people who are homeless and hurt by others who are on the streets. “A lot of those folks are victimized by criminals who are bringing drugs into the environment and other activities that are illegal,” she said. “We are working with the police department to address the criminal element.”

    https://coloradosun.com/2022/09/08/homelessness-downtown-denver/

    There are zero consequences for publicly shooting up or smoking drugs off of tinfoil. None.

    Vote like California, become California.

    1. Related article.

      KKTV — Colorado is #1 state in the U.S. for car theft (9/8/2022):

      “Colorado continues to lead the nation in motor vehicle theft. Ranked #1 in America in 2021, in the first 6 months of 2022 (January – June), the motor vehicle theft rate increased another 17.2%.

      At the current rate of 4,007 thefts per month, motor vehicle thefts are on pace to exceed 48,000 for the year—an all-time high. The estimated total value of these stolen vehicles is between $468.1M and $848.3M, on the road to nearly $1B.

      Arrests are not keeping pace with theft. The arrest rate per motor vehicle theft is 9.4%, down from 15.5% in 2019.

      The number of secondary offenses related to motor vehicle theft has increased more than six-fold since 2008. Drug crimes involving motor vehicle theft have increased 1,110%, violent crimes involving motor vehicle theft 521%, and property crimes involving motor vehicle theft 583%.”

      https://www.kktv.com/2022/09/09/csi-colorado-is-1-state-us-car-theft-pueblo-ranks-9-cities/

      The District Attorneys who are not prosecuting these crimes (and when they reluctantly do, immediately grant no cash bail to criminals) are funded by George Soros.

      Globalists gonna globe.

    2. There are zero consequences for publicly shooting up or smoking drugs off of tinfoil. None.

      No legal consequences. Obviously, there are health related consequences, and no Soroscum DA can erase those.

  9. ‘If home prices stall, or even decline, a no down payment loan could be setting the buyer up for failure as they won’t have much, if any, equity stake in the home.’

    Is he saying it’s better to make a down payment, which will be wiped out when prices fall?

    I’m missing the logic.

  10. Steiner Ranch Housing Report – September 2022 | Austin, Texas
    Craig Smyser
    Sep 9, 2022 We’ve had a little uptick in buying activity, but prices continue to come down.

    Welcome to the September 2022 edition of “How’s the Market in Steiner Ranch.” We’ve had a little uptick in buying activity, but prices continue to come down.

    In August, 13 resale homes closed in Steiner Ranch which was down 55% from August 2021. This is an extremely low number for August. If we look at 2020 when 34 homes closed, the drop is 62%. The median price in August increased year-over-year by 1.5% to $900,000. The average price of a home increased 3.6% to $1,010,212. The average price per square foot increased by 3.9% to $305.94. With only 13 homes comprising the data this month, it’s hard to say conclusively, that this is where the market is today. Personally, I think the median would be a little higher if we had a better representation of the market in Steiner, but I can safely say the median is now under $1 million and will continue to come down for a while longer. I’ve always said that one month of data isn’t a good read on the overall market and that I prefer to look at a longer period of time. However, given the current market, when we look at the year-to-date sales, they are overstated because we are including prices from when the market was higher. But, let’s look at them anyway. In the first eight months of 2022, the number of resale homes sold is 125, down 39% from the same time frame last year. The median price of a home has increased 31% to $1,085,000. The average price increased by 23% to $1,180,797. The average price per square foot increased 21% to $349.17. Now it’s hard to say exactly what was the peak median price because our data tends to swing so much from month to month, but we are probably down 12% or so. This drop is a bit larger than what we see overall in the Austin area market, which is down 8% from the peak price that was hit in May.

    The number of available resale homes at the end of August was 52, up from 21 last August. This is down from the 63 in July, but there were 10 homes that were taken off the market without selling during August. Some were rented out and others will wait until later to try selling again. During August, 12 new listings hit the market which is less than half of last year. One bright spot in August was the 20 new contracts. Not all price ranges of homes participated in this, but any improvement is nice to see.

    The average sales price to list price ratio was 97.3%, which was the lowest we’ve seen since the end of 2019. For homes that closed in August, the average days on market was 24, up from 11 last year. It’s also doubled from 12 days in July. Across Steiner, the August sales ranged from a low of $531,750 to a high of $2,275,000.

    While the prices continues to move down, I’ll continue to track the number of price reductions. During August, there were 88 price reductions on homes in Steiner. Given the total number of homes on the market during the month, that averages out to more than one price drop for every home. The 88 price reductions was a four-fold increase from the 22 in August of last year. It’s also up from the prior month of July, when there were 70.

    I will reiterate what I’ve been saying for a few months. I believe the Austin economy is strong and that the outlook for housing in the medium and long term is extremely positive. However, the short term is questionable after the rapid appreciation of the past two years and the rapid increase in interest rates this year (as of today, mortgage rates are almost double from the start of the 2022). Of course, interest rates will climb higher which is the main driver of this slowdown. I don’t know when we will hit the bottom either in terms of price or timeframe, so we just have to work within the market we are given. I don’t want this to sound all doom and gloom, but I do want to present an accurate picture of the market. Homes are selling in Steiner now and will continue throughout this downturn. Sellers just have to realize how the prices have changed.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiyoB2cTIzU

    5 minutes.

    1. We’ve had a little uptick in buying activity, but prices continue to come down.

      Every market had “a little uptick in buying activity” over the past few months as the markets were fighting the FED and mortgage rates, inexplicably, reversed course for three months. However, that delusion was short-lived and mortgage rates have again reversed course and are pushing higher than they’ve been in a decade+.

  11. Extortion, money laundering, and arms trafficking.

    Burning Platform — Zelensky is literally selling Ukraine to US corporations on Wall Street (9/10/2022):

    “Ukraine’s Western-backed leader Volodymyr Zelensky virtually opened the New York Stock Exchange on the morning of September 6, symbolically ringing the bell via video stream.

    Zelensky announced that his country is “open for business” – that is to say, that foreign corporations are free to come and exploit its plentiful resources and low-paid labor.

    In a speech launching the neoliberal selloff program Advantage Ukraine, Zelensky offered Wall Street “a chance for you to invest now in projects worth of hundreds of billions of dollars.”

    Zelensky coordinated his New York Stock Exchange publicity stunt with an editorial in the Wall Street Journal imploring US capitalists to “Invest in the Future of Ukraine.”

    “I committed my administration to creating a favorable environment for investment that would make Ukraine the greatest growth opportunity in Europe since the end of World War II”

    https://www.theburningplatform.com/2022/09/10/zelensky-is-literally-selling-ukraine-to-us-corporations-on-wall-street/

    Globalists gonna globe.

  13. Extortion, money laundering, and arms trafficking.

    Breitbart — Zelensky Will Deliver Keynote Address at U.S. Defense Industry Conference (9/9/2022):

    “Zelensky’s keynote address at the National Defense Industrial Association’s (NDIA) annual Future Force Capabilities Conference and Exhibition will occur over video on September 21. Zelensky is expected to make his pitch to U.S. defense companies for more weapons to aid in his country’s war with Russia, Reuters reported.

    NDIA’s board of directors includes individuals who work for defense industry titans such as Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and Northrop Grumman.

    Although America is in a recession and faced with record-high inflation, President Joe Biden’s Department of Defense announced an additional $675 million weapons package for Ukraine on Thursday. Since Russia invaded the country in February, the United States has provided more than $14 billion in aid to Ukraine.”

    https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2022/09/09/zelensky-will-deliver-keynote-address-u-s-defense-industry-conference/

    U.S. taxpayers, remember you’ll never be seen as anything more than cattle to these globalists.

    1. “…Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and Northrop Grumman.”

      These companies are fine-tuning their products in a live conflict.

  14. Sputnik News, because the New York Times and Washington Post are globalist scum media.

    Rand Paul Hits Out at ‘Enormous Disconnect’ Between Priorities of Congress and Constituents (9/10/2022):

    “Republican Senator Rand Paul has lashed out at what he describes as a huge gap between Congress’ priorities and those of normal US constituents, especially when it comes to funding programs.

    Speaking to Fox News, Paul argued that there’s an “enormous disconnect between those in Washington and those on the ground, like in Kentucky,” his home state which was hit by “severe” flooding in late July in which 40 people died and “hundreds of homes were lost”.

    The Republican pointed to a total $54 billion dollars of funding that Washington has reportedly sent to Kiev since the beginning of Russia’s ongoing special operation to demilitarize and de-Nazify Ukraine on February 24. According to the senator, this sharply contrasts with the fact that Kentucky and much of Appalachia has struggled with serious infrastructure issues for decades.

    “I was just out there,” Paul claimed. “Not one person said, ‘Can you please send more money to Ukraine?’ They said, ‘How come we’re a rich country and we’re having trouble digging our ditches, repairing our roads and all of the basic functions of government?’”

    “And yet in Washington, it’s not just Democrats. You’ve got Democrats and all the Republican leadership lining up saying, ‘Please send more of our money to Ukraine,’ but I’m not hearing it at home at all,” he said.

    Referring to the US’ total national debt, Paul said, “We’re $30 trillion in the hole and it’s inflationary”. According to him, “You borrow more money to buy weapons. It also causes inflation. And so really what I hear still around Kentucky and around the U.S. is, ‘My gas costs so much. We can’t go on vacation this year. The groceries cost so much”

    https://sputniknews.com/20220910/rand-paul-hits-out-at-enormous-disconnect-between-priorities-of-congress-and-constituents-1100638853.html

    The United States is a bankrupt empire in terminal decline.

    1. Why the US Arms Flow Has Failed to Translate Into Strategic & Political Win for Kiev and Biden (9/9/2022):

      “The Biden White House’s continued military aid to Ukraine amid Russia’s special military operation is largely ongoing because of the perception within the US that Kiev is “functionally operation at a high level against” Russian forces, an academic has said.

      “The US wants the conflict prolonged on American terms, i.e., in ways that signify and represent deaths happening for the Russian military and damage to the overall objectives and plans of the Kremlin,” says Dr. Matthew Crosston, professor of national security and director of Academic Transformation at Bowie State University.

      The US has been providing Kiev with military aid for quite a while but has ramped up supplies of lethal arms to Kiev since the beginning of the Russian special operation to demilitarize and de-Nazify Ukraine.

      The Pentagon reported in August that since January 2021, the United States has provided Ukraine with more than $13.5 billion in security assistance. With the new aid package taken into account, US military aid has exceeded $14 billion.

      Prior to the special military operation, Russia came up with a comprehensive security initiative urging the US and NATO to provide guarantees of the transatlantic military alliance’s non-enlargement and Ukraine’s non-admission to NATO. Moscow handed over its draft security agreements to Washington and NATO amid the US military buildup in Ukraine and Kiev’s snubbing of the Minsk Agreements with regard to Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics.

      Nonetheless, the US and NATO rejected key provisions of the Russian proposals.

      As the flow of heavy and sophisticated arms from the US to Ukraine is gaining momentum, reports emerging in the Western press since the beginning of the conflict indicate that many of the American weapons systems routinely vanish “in the fog of war.”

      https://sputniknews.com/20220908/why-the-us-arms-flow-has-failed-to-translate-into-strategic–political-win-for-kiev-and-biden-1100562746.html

      Russia is winning.

      2. “…many of the American weapons systems routinely vanish “in the fog of war.”

        I seriously doubt that since these systems have firmware and software security controls designed to prevent their use should they fall into the wrong hands.

  15. “Rebuilding Ukraine” is going to be the biggest patronage and graft racket yet for the Democrat-Bolsheviks.

    Now Treasury looks to REBUILD Kyiv: Janet Yellen calls for a focus on high-impact projects to restore after brutal Russian invasion… as US total funding hits $15B

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11198531/Now-Treasury-looks-REBUILD-Kyiv.html

    Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Friday argued for even more funding for the Ukraine, this time to help to help the war-torn nation rebuild.

    Yellen, during a virtual meeting with Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, underscored the need for a broad coalition of partners to help Ukraine rebuild, with a focus on near-term, high-impact projects, the Treasury Department said.

  16. “Lansing broker Kim Dunham said it’s a good time to buy if you can because the market will continue to inflate.

    Realtors are liars.

  17. “From Farmington Hills to Ferndale, homeowners are expressing worry over rising interest rates and anticipated falling prices that could soon be creating a troubling scenario.

    “A troubling scenario”? Au contraire. Sanity returning to these Fed-blown asset bubbles and greedy speculators getting their fool heads handed to them is the furthest thing from “troubling.”

  18. Epoch Times — ‘Irrefutable Proof’ That mRNA Vaccines Cause Vascular and Organ Damage (9/9/2022):

    “A recent study claims to have found “irrefutable proof of causality” that the mRNA vaccines cause vascular and organ damage.

    The study, conducted by microbiologists Dr. Michael Palmer and Dr. Sucharit Bhakdi, was mostly based on the findings of German pathologists Dr. Arne Burkhardt and Dr. Walter Lang.

    “This study, by the type of dyes they use, shows irrefutable proof that the spike protein goes everywhere—heart, ovary, liver, spleen—and to a lesser extent, testes.” Dr. Sherri Tenpenny, an expert in vaccine damage, told The Epoch Times.

    “This is what leads to multi-organ system failure. This is what leads to infertility in women.”

    “There has been a lot of hypothesis about the damage these shots cause. Now, with these pathology slides and the specific types of immunochemistry staining, Bhakti and Palmer show—unequivocally—that the spike protein is quickly disseminated to every organ they examined,” Tenpenny said.

    “Those of us who warned of the dangers of these COVID shots were widely censored and ridiculed,” Dr. Christiane Northrup, former fellow in the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, told The Epoch Times.

    “I wish we had been wrong. We weren’t. And we finally have irrefutable proof,” Northrup added.

    https://archive.ph/PiSo9

    Remember who threatened to get you FIRED FROM YOUR JOB if you did not get injected with this mRNA poison?

    Remember? All of these people have names, and addresses. They have regular commuting and travel patterns. They always go to the same Starbucks. When they walk their dog in the evening they are unarmed. They don’t think they need to look over their shoulder when walking through a parking garage in New York or Washington.

    It’s the middle tier Blue Checkmarks. They may have a Ring camera on their front door, but they don’t have personal security details.

    4chan can deliver the goods. What happens with that information, once published, nobody knows…

  20. “It’s the nagging fear every homeowner has when economic times become hard: What if I can’t keep my home?

    It isn’t “your” home until the final mortgage payment clears.

    1. It’s never “your home,” it’s the local taxman’s home. Try not paying the ever-exploding property taxes and see where you end up.

      1. There are some low tax areas where your tax bill can easily be justified for services that you actually need/use. For instance, my city provides trash collection, recycling, and they even send a crane truck around to remove a 6’x6′ pile of trees every 2 weeks and the cost of my entire city tax bill is less than it would cost me to contract that out privately. It is similar for county. It is important to do research on these matters. There are areas of this country where you can bug out and live very very cheaply. I believe they let it go for 5 years of non payment here before they try to take anything. It is very rare and generally only happens when someone dies or disappears. Anyone who is even a little serious can cure any arrears. That said, at times they will remove the entire house instead of foreclosing so it is best not to disappear.

  21. “According to that survey, Washingtonians’ incomes have risen 26.5% between 2012 and 2021, while housing costs have gone up 116.3%. That’s a gap of 89.8 percentage points, and it spells trouble, VinZant said.

    Heckova job, “Zimbabwe Ben” Bernanke, Yellen the Felon, & BlackRock Jay.

  22. For a more affordable option, her mortgage broker has talked to her about considering adjustable rate mortgages.”

    The stupid, it burns.

    1. In most countries adjustables are the only kind of mortgage offered. Which is why people all over the world soil themselves every time central banks raise rates. And in most countries all mortgages are recourse, so the nightmare doesn’t end with the foreclosure.

  23. Linked from No New Normal.

    Germany to Impose New Nationwide COVID Rules From October 1 (9/9/2022):

    “The new ordinance that has been voted for adoption by the Bundestag will enter into force on October 1 and will remain effective until April 7, 2023, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.

    In line with the new rules, from October 1, all people over the age of 14 will be required to wear an FFP2 mask on long-distance trains in Germany. Children between the ages of six and 13 will also be required to wear a face mask on long-distance trains. However, they do not necessarily need to wear an FFP2 mask, as a surgical face mask is sufficient for them.

    While mask wearing will be mandatory on long-distance trains, the case is not the same for aeroplanes and airports. Passengers will not be required to wear a face mask for domestic as well international flights. Nonetheless, it has been pointed out that this rule might change if the number of COVID-19 infection cases starts to increase.”

    https://www.schengenvisainfo.com/news/germany-to-impose-new-nationwide-covid-rules-from-october-1/

    Germans are not citizens, they are slaves.

    They have never known freedom, they don’t know what it means to be a free people in a free nation.

    1. White liberal women were most gullible in getting jabbed for covid, research finds (9/8/2022):

      “By the time the third (and now fourth?) injections for the Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) came around, most men, Hispanics, and blacks had already figured out the scam and said no way, José. Most college-indoctrinated white women, though, were eager to get triple injected, a new poll has found.

      YouGov and The Economist surveyed 1,500 adult citizens across the United States, posing a series of questions and statements aimed at taking a pulse on the demographic compliance with the plandemic.

      One of the question sections centered around determining who got single, double, and triple injected for the Fauci Flu was based on skin color, education level, and sex. Overwhelmingly, white women – and especially college educated white women – showed the most compliance”

      https://pandemic.news/2022-09-08-white-women-most-gullible-jabbed-covid-research.html

      Top comment on the No New Normal thread linking to this article:

      “Who cares most of them aren’t having children anyway”

      And its top reply:

      “Shhh – some of them don’t know that yet!”

  24. The BofA program, which provides home financing to people who can’t really afford it, is eerily reminiscent of 15 years ago, when the government pushed lenders to do the same thing. The theory was that owning a home makes better citizens, a typical confusion of cause and effect.

    It isn’t owning a home that “makes a better citizen”. It’s the ability to create the environment that allows you to purchase a home in the first place: savings, focus on the long-term, stable family and employment, foregoing immediate pleasures for long-term results, etc., etc.

    Short-circuiting the process for corporate “feel-good” is not a solution, and will simply lead to the same dismal results we saw in 2008. But, being “woke” is all about focusing on the intentions and not the results.

    1. “The theory was that owning a home makes better citizens, a typical confusion of cause and effect.”

      The theory is that it’s an election coming-up. Anything for a vote!

    2. “The BofA program, which provides home financing to people who can’t really afford it, is eerily reminiscent of 15 years ago, when the government pushed lenders to do the same thing.”

      If the government wants you to do it you know it’s bad for you.

      Shots anyone?

    1. When the FED went woke and started talking about social justice and climate change was when the veil was lifted. The entire system needs to collapse.

    2. The WEF:

      -Wants to take your car away
      -Wants you to sweat in the summer
      -Wants you to freeze in the winter
      -Wants you to accept rolling blackouts as ‘normal’
      -Doesn’t want you to travel
      -Wants you to eat bugs
      -Wants to inject poison into your body

      Any questions?

  29. “..It’s the ability to create the environment that allows you to purchase a home in the first place: savings, focus on the long-term,…”

    And guess what makes the environment to create savings so difficult in the first place?

    It’s the FED [ignoring the long term], printing fake money and creating inflation, thus destroying any savings already in place. Good job FED!

  30. How’s that taxation without representation working out for ya, Deplorables?

    Americans Spent More on Taxes in 2021 Than on Food, Clothing and Health Care Combined

    https://www.cnsnews.com/article/washington/terence-p-jeffrey/americans-spent-more-taxes-2021-food-clothing-and-health-care

    During 2021, according to Table R-1 in the BLS’ Consumer Expenditure Survey, American “consumer units” spent an average of $15,495.28 on food, clothing and health care combined, while paying an average of $16,729.73 in total taxes to federal, state and local governments.

        1. There’s a whole world of depravity behind them that I didn’t need to know about. Additional phrase for searching: The Liminal Order.

          3. A good primer is probably Rekieta Law YT channel “Adam Crigler on a Bogus Beard and a Broken Brain – Finishing Off Murphy (Not That Way).” Be sure to read the description. There are also time stamps in the comments so you can skip parts.

          4. Thx, will look.

            Some things you can’t unsee.
            Agree. I have run across things I wish I hadn’t seen. I tweeted a link to the infamous John Podesta “Fatherhood” child abuse video in response to someone’s request (it was surprisingly easy to find.) In the replies, people said “wish I could unsee” over and over. One said he/she/it reported me for posting child porn (it’s abuse, more audio than video.) Everyone’s so repulsed by the subject, they immediately shoot the messenger. But Pizzagate was debunked, so I guess that’s that.

          5. more audio than video

            Honestly, I don’t think I’ve ever heard anything more disturbing. And, it’s clearly him.

    1. Joe Biden is not the legally elected President of the United States, he is a puppet installed by the Deep State globalists.

  33. Just wanted to note that today is Casey Serin’s 40th birthday. I wonder who this bubble’s Casey is going to be? I just hope it’s comedy gold like the original.

  35. Is the tide going out on investment companies that leveraged to the hilt on low interest loans to buy properties?

    1. The Financial Times
      Property sector
      Investors cool on property groups as tide of cheap money recedes
      Rising interest rates and spiralling inflation could be a problem for landlords that piled on debt when rates were low
      Ian Johnston, Robert Smith and George Hammond 16 hours ago

      In March last year, Swedish real estate mogul Roger Akelius spotted challenges ahead for the business he founded three decades ago and decided to take some chips off the table.

      Akelius Residential Property had ridden a wave of rising property prices and falling interest rates. Now, the 77-year-old property tycoon presented a simple plan for “safeguarding present profit” to its board: sell assets and repay debt. “We will sell Stockholm, Malmo, Copenhagen, Hamburg, Berlin,” he wrote in an email to board members.

      Six months later, the company struck a deal to sell nearly 30,000 apartments across Germany, Denmark and Sweden to rival Swedish property firm Heimstaden Bostad, which took on the equivalent of more than $6bn in new debt to complete a deal worth more than $10bn.

      “Heimstaden doubled the size of its portfolio and leveraged up to do it,” said David Shnaps, a senior analyst at research firm CreditSights. “At the time, I was thinking, one of these guys is right and the other isn’t.”

      One year on, with rising interest rates and spiralling inflation threatening debt-laden landlords, Akelius appears to have been vindicated.

      At the same time, bond investors, who in recent years have lent European property companies more and more money at lower and lower yields, are fretting over these companies. Losses on real estate bonds have outpaced the wider corporate debt market this year.
      …

    1. The Financial Times
      Evergrande Real Estate Group
      Evergrande crisis deepens after lender seizes headquarters
      Indebted Chinese property developer defaulted on loan and twice failed to sell Hong Kong building
      The China Evergrande Centre in the Wan Chai district of Hong Kong
      The China Evergrande Centre in Hong Kong is valued at $1.2bn
      Cheng Leng, Tabby Kinder and Chan Ho-him in Hong Kong
      September 8 2022

      Evergrande’s Hong Kong headquarters has been seized by a lender after the struggling Chinese property developer defaulted on a loan and twice failed to sell the building, according to four people with knowledge of the matter.

      The lender, whose identity has not yet been confirmed, informed Evergrande earlier this week that it had appointed a receiver to take charge of the property that is valued at $1.2bn and force a sale, the people said.

      They added that the lender had security over the China Evergrande Centre — a 26-storey tower near the city centre of Hong Kong island — which allowed it to take charge of the asset.

      One person familiar with the situation said that Evergrande had in the past pledged the building in exchange for loans from a consortium of lenders led by China Citic Bank International, the Hong Kong subsidiary of the Chinese state-owned bank.

      The lender has appointed receivers from restructuring firm Alvarez & Marsal, according to two people.

      Evergrande and Citic Bank International did not immediately reply to requests for comment. Alvarez & Marsal declined to comment.

      Last September, as an Evergrande default loomed, Citic Bank told its investors that its loans to the developer were pledged against valuable security, although it did not provide further details.

      Evergrande was the most prominent developer to default last year as a liquidity crisis gripped the Chinese property sector. It told creditors in January that it would unveil a preliminary plan by the end of July to restructure its $300bn of liabilities, which include $20bn of offshore bonds, but it missed that deadline and instead said it had only made “positive progress” towards a proposal.

      Evergrande has twice attempted to sell the tower. Last October, Chinese state-owned Yuexiu Property pulled out of a reported $1.7bn deal to buy the building over concerns about the developer’s financial situation.
      …

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