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If You Wait Another Month, You Might Not Even Get This Price

It’s Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. “Hawaiʻi’s luxury home market experienced a 22% decline in the number of sales last year compared with 2021. ‘It’s not quite as doomsday as people think,’ Hawaiʻi Life CEO Matt Beall says of 2023.”

“Keith Eatmon finally had a buyer for the house on Francis Place. A real estate agent with Roswell-based Solid Source Realty GA LLC, Eatmon listed the Grove Park home in August. Eaton and the family listed it for an ‘investor price’: $329,000. With mortgage rates rising and buyer demand dwindling, the house sat on the market for months. After a price cut and a dip in rates, the house picked up interest. A real estate investor agreed to the new asking price — $275,000 — and took it under contract in late January.”

“Then Microsoft confirmed it had stopped work on its planned 90-acre East Coast hub in Grove Park. That was Feb. 3, during the due diligence period. The buyer saw that news and canceled the contract. ‘A lot of people were buying on speculation,’ Eatmon told Atlanta Business Chronicle. ‘Oh, Microsoft’s coming. It’s going to be worth so much. There’s going to be so much growth,’ and all of that. But, they pulled the plug.'”

“The median sale price of a Memphis-area home last month was $175,000, down from $195,375 in January 2022, a more than 10% dip. Monthly sales volume also dropped by almost 32% from January 2022. ‘January is always a slow month, and this one was no different,’ said Carmen Prince, the association’s 2023 president. ‘But there are still good opportunities out there.'”

“The Thurston County housing market has dramatically changed in the past six months, as January data shows. Sales and median price fell from January 2022, while inventory shot higher, according to Northwest Multiple Listing Service data. The median price of a single-family home was lower last month than it was in January 2022. The median price fell 1.03 percent to $475,000 from $479,950 in 2022, the data show. It is down even more from December, when the median price was $497,500. The county’s median price peaked at $525,000 in June 2022.”

“The West Michigan market is leveling out, with instances of 10-plus offers hitting $30,000 or more over asking disappearing. Some in West Michigan are now selling below listing, but home prices should still increase. ‘Now it seems that well-priced homes might have an offer or two to compete with, and others will end up sitting on the market for a while and eventually drop their price some,’ said Joshua Schaub, Icon Realty Group broker.”

“Real estate markets throughout the East Bay have experienced significant changes since 2019 — and more are on the way. The median sales price for a single-family detached home in Pleasanton during March 2022 was more than $2 million. By December 2022, the median sales price had dropped to approximately $1.5 million. ‘Faced with significantly less purchasing power due to larger monthly payments, buyers backed off making aggressive offers,’ said Steve Medeiros, 2023 president of the Bay East Association of Realtors. ‘Starting in June 2022, homes began sitting on the market longer as buyers hit the brakes.'”

“Local lawmakers in suburban Maryland are backing a fresh wave of rent control legislation that would set rent caps far below the increases the market has seen in recent years. ‘These restrictions on rights, these burdens placed on providers, are making it less attractive to be in the business,’ said Dean Hunter, CEO of the Small Multifamily Owners Association. ‘They’re selling, they’re getting out.'”

“The problems plaguing downtown Portland show up as empty storefronts. The current vacancy rate for commercial buildings is about 26-27%. Homer Williams was a driving force behind the Pearl District and the South Waterfront. ‘We will see, I think, this year office buildings being auctioned off.’ ‘It’s already the reality,’ Vanessa Sturgeon with TMT Development said. ‘I mean, we have 20% of downtown Portland is in foreclosure or pre-foreclosure at this point.'”

“A real estate developer with a number of large properties in Vancouver is seeking creditor protection, citing  approximately $700 million in outstanding debt. Coromandel Properties Ltd. filed a petition in B.C. Supreme Court asking for more time to seek equity from existing partners or new partners. The petition goes on to say the developers have ‘insufficient cash flow to complete development of the projects, have been unable to refinance their existing debts and liabilities or sell assets at sufficient prices to avoid loss … As a result, the development work on the various properties is in jeopardy.’ The petition says without CCAA protection, Coromandel will not be able to explore restructuring ‘and may be forced to liquidate its assets on a fire sale basis.'”

“The swing is bringing about some grisly comparisons: The Toronto Regional Real Estate Board reports that sales in the Greater Toronto Area tumbled 44.6 per cent in January compared with the same month last year. The average price stood at $1,038,668 in the GTA in January, which marks a 16.4-per-cent decrease from $1,242,793 in January, 2022. Munira Ravji, real estate agent with Royal LePage Signature Realty, met with the owners of one semi-detached house in the Trinity-Bellwoods neighbourhood in April and estimated that the house would sell for about $1.7-million, based on recent sales of comparable homes. But by the time the homeowners were ready to list in November, she recommended an asking price of $1.5-million based on the softness in the market.”

“‘Showings were few and far between,’ she says. The house eventually had two buyers competing and still sold far below asking at $1.364-million. She advised the seller, ‘if you wait another month, you might not even get this price,’ she recalls.”

“Cluj-Napoca recorded an almost 5% decrease in apartment sales prices, according to new data revealed by real-estate experts from Blitz. ‘At the beginning of 2023, the Blitz index for the municipality of Cluj is on a downward trend,’ reads the analysis. ‘Real estate experts think that January is the month with the fewest transactions, and prices have undergone an important correction, given the market situation.’ For rent, trends are showing a positive march toward price correction. Specialists believe that they will gradually decrease until early spring. ‘However, the decrease was not only located in Cluj but also in the rest of the cities presented in Romania, the market, therefore, registering a normal price correction, after a period with record prices,’ the same source said.”

“Two Australian companies have collapsed after being caught up in the failure of a high profile property developer called Dyldam Developments, which went under last year owing more than $280 million. Its liquidation was handled by Cathro & Partners, which said in a creditors report that Dyldam ‘grew into one of the more well-known high density apartment developers in the Sydney metropolitan area’ before its downfall in January last year. The latest collapses are part of a horror time for the construction industry, which saw dozens of companies fail in 2022 with the grim news also continuing this year.”

“Headline news about a big jump in negative home equity may look scary at first sight. After all, the data indicates a 22-fold increase from a year ago, to an 18-year high of 12,164 cases. Last time Hong Kong had a real property slump because of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) outbreak in 2003, there were 105,697 such cases. Negative equity is only a niche problem and a result of an average 15 per cent drop in home prices last year. As a result, banks have been writing down the value of properties held as collateral in mortgages for clients.”

“‘Buying the house in 2021 might be one of the biggest regrets of my life,’ says Kim Myung-soo, a 33-year-old whose home in Jamsil, eastern Seoul, has fallen in value by about $400,000. His wife is 33 weeks pregnant and Mr Kim does not know how he will repay the mortgage. He had planned to wait for prices to rise before selling the property to pay off the loan.”

“Mr Kim is not alone in his worries. Across the rich world, property markets look precarious. Few are in as bad shape as South Korea’s. House prices fell by 2% in December alone, the biggest monthly drop since official figures began in 2003. The slump has been particularly brutal for apartments in Seoul: prices are down by 24% since their peak in October 2021. In a downturn, some landlords are forced to make firesales to reimburse departing tenants, having invested in risky assets, including more housing, and lost the money. Stories about sudden defaults and vanishing ‘villa kings,’ owners of dozens of rental properties, proliferate.”

“Most countries are not as exposed as South Korea. But some, including Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden, share the same mix of high household debt and frothy property prices. All began raising rates after South Korea, and have further to go before the pressure feeds through. They are in for a rocky ride.”

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This Post Has 153 Comments

      2. There was a joke on twitter recently:

        “Back in my day we were really really rich.”
        “How rich were you?”
        “We were so rich that if you pissed me off, I’d TP your trees and egg your house!”

        1. egg your house!”

          I did that once when I was a kid. My buddy stole a dozen eggs from his mother. The eggs were hard boiled and just bounced off the house of our arch enemy.

          So ended a career of crime.

        1. For the majority, nothing will ever get better, not without some serious revolutions, civil wars, or other political / economic violence.

          The standard of living peaked in the United States in the early / mid 1970s and it’s been a downhill slide ever since.

          It’s illegal for rich people to lose money. Everyone who ever serves in Congress (exception: Dennis Kucinich) will leave Congress with a $10+ million net worth (on a $200K salary).

          Defense contractors will always profit from endless war (Ike warned us about this) and Israel, and now Ukraine, will bleed us dry, forever.

          Central bank digital currencies will be the finish line of your permanent enslavement.

          It’s worse than Orwell ever predicted, and it will get worse than you can ever imagine.

          Violence is the only option, voting won’t solve anything.

          1. I think the only “economic violence” that would work would be to eliminate most social welfare programs for the able-bodied. Not that we need to downgrade all the way to Dickensian workhouses or Grapes-of-Wrath style trekking from Oklahoma to California, but surely there’s got to be some way to motivate people back to work.

          2. some way to motivate people back to work

            We’ve been living on Easy Street for many decades. Easy Street is a Dead End. People will be anxious to work when they run out of road.

          3. “Violence is the only option, voting won’t solve anything.”

            I’m sure this is true. Frankly, I’m surprised more dads haven’t taken this route over the jabs. I’ve little doubt they will.

            If I played in a dead pool I’d pick a Walensky or Wen.

  2. ‘The median sales price for a single-family detached home in Pleasanton during March 2022 was more than $2 million. By December 2022, the median sales price had dropped to approximately $1.5 million’

    Good thing everybody put 40% down!

  3. “‘Buying the house in 2021 might be one of the biggest regrets of my life,’ says Kim Myung-soo, a 33-year-old whose home in Jamsil, eastern Seoul, has fallen in value by about $400,000. His wife is 33 weeks pregnant and Mr Kim does not know how he will repay the mortgage. He had planned to wait for prices to rise before selling the property to pay off the loan.”

    Is 33 weeks a lot? It was cheaper than renting though.

    1. Die, speculator scum. You priced the prudent & responsible out of the housing market; now you get to sit down at the banquet of consequences.

      1. He had planned to wait for prices to rise before selling the property to pay off the loan

        If this were his primary residence, I would have more sympathy. But this sounds like a second home. Yeah, nope. I wonder if they have jingle mail in Korea.

  4. ‘The median sale price of a Memphis-area home last month was $175,000, down from $195,375 in January 2022, a more than 10% dip’

    That’s YOY now fer this sh$thole. The media is waving it off, but 10% means jingle mail. And we’re seeing it all over the place, and craters are even worser in the commie cites.

    1. “And we’re seeing it all over the place, and craters are even worser in the commie cites.“

      – Wait a minute. I thought everything was better under Communism? Is that a lie? Be still my beating heart ❤️! Happy Valentine’s Day!
      – Be careful what you wish for.
      – Gooder and harder!
      – Venezuelans are surely enjoying it! They voted for it after all. LOL!
      – Feces and needles and crime, Oh my!
      – Communism/Socialism (is there a difference, really?), is Western civilization in retrograde. From civility to tribalism to barbarism. Mogadishu is looking pretty good! Keep defunding your local police dept. I’m sure it will work out in the end…

  5. ‘A lot of people were buying on speculation,’ Eatmon told Atlanta Business Chronicle. ‘Oh, Microsoft’s coming. It’s going to be worth so much. There’s going to be so much growth,’ and all of that. But, they pulled the plug’

    You mean like what you do when windows freezes up – again? Sux to be you Keith.

  6. ‘It’s already the reality…I mean, we have 20% of downtown Portland is in foreclosure or pre-foreclosure at this point’

    Yer doing it wrong Vanessa. You need to play up how much longer yer lamp posts stand up to bum urine than bay aryans.

    1. Yet rather than elect a different party, the voters in these areas keep voting for the same policies. I’ve even seen them in article comments. “I’ll vote for a different blue candidate, but I’ll NEVER vote red.” Ummm, okay?

      I will be the first to admit I don’t like either party. I think they’re both rotten to the core. But what’s happening in places like Seattle and Portland is a direct result of the policies of Democrats, and it’s an obvious and well-known fact, even by the dullest of sheep. Yet they do the same thing, over, and over, and over, voting for them on autopilot.

      2. I think the Dems are stuck in a couple of ruts. First, to them, “Republican” means outsourcing jobs, lying into Iraq, letting banks run rampant (housing bubble), withholding health care, and giving Social Security to Wall Street. I know, because I was one of those Dems. Trump changed everything. These newer (younger) Republicans seem to be more moderate, less beholden to Wall Street, and more in tune with blue collar. But the old Dems are still in 2004-mode, with enhanced social justice warrior. As Dan Bongino says, “things aren’t bad enough yet.” If that happens, more people may change their minds.

        1. I should also add that 2004-era Republicans were far too intolerant on social issues, such as gays-go-to-hell and rape-victims-can-shut-a-pregnancy-down. That appears to be moderating too. Now we’re at go-ahead-be-gay-but-leave-my-kid-alone and three-months-and-stop.

  7. As reported by Daily Hive Urbanized, Coromandel Properties has 16 active real estate projects within the city of Vancouver that have amassed a combined total of $700 million in outstanding debt. Eight secured lenders have issued default notices, seeking repayment of over $200 million, which the company does not have.

    The active projects entail thousands of future homes (condominiums, rentals, and social housing), as well as commercial uses including proposed hotels. In its court filing, the developer warns that if it is unable to receive the court’s protection, it will be forced to perform a fire sale of its properties.

    Vancouver-based Coromandel Properties, which has its roots in China, is a relatively new player in the local real estate market. It first began acquiring properties for the redevelopment in 2013, with the filing stating it depends on a combination of secured loans, unsecured loans, and equity financing for its business.

    https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/metro-vancouver-real-estate-developers-debt-risk

    ‘has its roots in China’

    he he…

    1. the crazy part (from another article). There is only a single director/officer – from China. The did hire an ex-Vancouver councilmember (of Chinese heritage) to be COO. I bet you Zhen is laughing all the way to his luxury retirement, and the banks and pension funds that loaned $s are stuck.

      The petition lists Zhen Yu Zhong as the sole director and officer of Coromandel Properties. Former Vancouver city councillor Raymond Louie, who served five terms representing COPE and then Vision Vancouver on council until 2018, was hired in 2019 as Coromandel’s chief operating officer and his LinkedIn profile still lists him in that role.

        1. Louie was the COO (operating officer) – but he was not on the board – and still not considered an officer of the company. Wierd all round – and now financial intuitions are on the hook for $700M.

  9. The board of Project Veritas (I didn’t know they had a board) has placed its founder James O’Keefe on leave, and will possibly fire him.

    This just a few weeks after O’Keefe exposed Pfizer execs lying about their alleged vaccines.

    It’s a medical genocide.

    3. I thought PV exposed Pfizer’s plans for directed evolution to make more vaccines and more money. Lying about the existing vaccines was exposed by non-USA governments such as the EU, i.e. Pfizer not testing whether the vaccine prevented spread of COVID.

  10. ‘It’s not quite as doomsday as people think,’ Hawaiʻi Life CEO Matt Beall says of 2023.”

    No, the worst is yet to come, REIC dissembler.

  11. Eaton and the family listed it for an ‘investor price’: $329,000.

    “Knifecatcher price” would’ve been problematic from a marketing standpoint.

  12. ‘A lot of people were buying on speculation,’ Eatmon told Atlanta Business Chronicle. ‘Oh, Microsoft’s coming. It’s going to be worth so much. There’s going to be so much growth,’ and all of that. But, they pulled the plug.’”

    Die, speculator scum.

  13. “The median sale price of a Memphis-area home last month was $175,000, down from $195,375 in January 2022, a more than 10% dip. Monthly sales volume also dropped by almost 32% from January 2022.

    Is that a lot?

  14. ‘These restrictions on rights, these burdens placed on providers, are making it less attractive to be in the business,’ said Dean Hunter, CEO of the Small Multifamily Owners Association. ‘They’re selling, they’re getting out.’”

    Being a landlord in a Democrat-Bolshevik controlled municipality where parasitism and freeloading are the supreme virtues, enabled and exalted by the State, is a non-viable business model.

  15. ‘I mean, we have 20% of downtown Portland is in foreclosure or pre-foreclosure at this point.’”

    You’re looking at this all wrong. Nothing spells “success” in the eyes of the globalists & their Democrat minions like blighted downtown urban cores and strung-out fentanyl zombies leaving dirty syringes & poop on sidewalks.

  16. A reader sent these in:

    🚘 Consumer update:
    ▪️ Used car prices still up 45% since 2019
    ▪️Loan rates 6.92% New / 10.57% Used
    ▪️ Prices much higher in January and expected to continue through Tax Ballers season
    This is not Disinflation.

    https://twitter.com/DisruptorStocks/status/1623425905262485505

    Fed governor Chris Waller: “We are seeing that effort [to reduce inflation] begin to pay off, but we have farther to go. And, it might be a long fight, with interest rates higher for longer than some are currently expecting.”

    https://twitter.com/NickTimiraos/status/1623396230301728769

    CarDealershipGuy

    New month, new record 😵‍💫 Average APR for a car loan in January:
    New Cars: 6.92%
    Used Cars: 10.57% (!!!)

    https://twitter.com/GuyDealership/status/1623308476427411456

    I find it perpetually amazing that seemingly sensible market commentators can look at a stock market full of speculative froth and conclude that current valuations are not only sustainable but we are at the start of a new bull market

    https://twitter.com/BisphamGreen/status/1623290110216179713

    BLOOMBERG: used car prices jumped last month at the fastest pace since November 2021 🤔

    https://twitter.com/MenthorQpro/status/1623305491370717193

    It always looks like a soft landing – 2007 editions.

    https://twitter.com/MichaelKantro/status/1622883261637599232

    It always looks like a soft landing – 2000 edition

    https://twitter.com/MichaelKantro/status/1622883633018163202

    The 1990 Soft Landing that didn’t happen.

    https://twitter.com/MichaelKantro/status/1622938161792925696

    The list of U.S. markets with year-over-year rent declines tripled (from 2 to 6) from Dec to Jan — and likely will keep expanding. List now includes: Phoenix, Vegas, Reno, Stockton, Vallejo/Napa, and Honolulu. The U.S. average is down to 1/3 of peak, now below 5%…

    https://twitter.com/jayparsons/status/1622981289165967365

    The US spent trillions of tax payer dollars bailing out the housing market in 2008. This is the policy outcome we have to show for it:

    https://mobile.twitter.com/texasrunnerDFW/status/1623774025561382918

    Canada’s missing Hundred’s of Billion’s of dollars since the Covid free spending. Why won’t Justin Trudeau tell us who got the money? This could be a world record for missing funds. As long a the Liberal stay in Government we’ll never know who got the money! Why the secrecy?

    https://twitter.com/yonkojohn/status/1623823988794294273

    CarDealershipGuy

    Low-income consumers are getting squeezed.

    Here’s a new disturbing trend we’re noticing…People are buying cars and immediately canceling their insurance policy after the sale. Has happened to us *multiple* times in the last month alone. (Disclaimer: Do not try this)

    https://twitter.com/GuyDealership/status/1623782576459481089

    Lots of homes/lots I’ve been eyeing in NC have been “pending” for almost six months now.

    https://twitter.com/CXCarroll/status/1623824698533376001

    almost every house going pending is contingent LOL. Ponzi participants all selling to each other

    https://twitter.com/GRomePow/status/1623800388200833026

    The same morons who inflated housing prices 40% in two years now talk about how important affordable housing is. Liars or morons, you decide.

    https://twitter.com/GRomePow/status/1623821342616457216

    Throwback Thursday

    https://twitter.com/NipseyHoussle/status/1623797344738181121

    Lance Lambert

    Here’s active listings data for the nation’s 400 largest housing markets 🏡👇

    https://twitter.com/NewsLambert/status/1623750806972379138

    The 2-year note Treasury yield tops 4.5% for the first time since November 30th, which means the bond market is beginning to take the Fed more seriously again. Important to note Powell and other Fed speakers have emphasized “higher for longer” as their policy tightening mantra.

    https://twitter.com/Mayhem4Markets/status/1623760484624113665

    Remember, the National Association of Realtors spends 10s of millions of dollars to make sure home prices stay out of reach of young Americans.

    https://twitter.com/GRomePow/status/1623754483422597121

    The question every personality in finance should be asking Jerome Powell: “Is the policy of the Federal Reserve to keep young people from affording homes by not selling Mortgage Backed Securities?”

    https://twitter.com/GRomePow/status/1623383396121739264

    John Wake

    Last August: “In our coming house price correction prices will still be sticky on the downside but two changes since 2006 will make prices a lot less sticky. First, home buyers and sellers have a lot more information about the real estate market today…”

    https://twitter.com/JohnWake/status/1623725914801713153

    UK Warehouse Land Values Plunge by Half as Borrowing Costs Soar ⁦

    https://twitter.com/danjmcnamara/status/1623725058345644034

    8) Top 3 Cities with Highest % Decrease in Airbnb Average Price Per Night (1/14-2/5) of cities tracked:
    Tucson ⬇️-20.48%
    Bakersfield ⬇️ – 9.20%
    San Francisco ⬇️– 9.18%

    https://twitter.com/m3_melody/status/1623684431591493632

    Car loans are insanely stupid, but right now it’s mind boggling. Not only are you missing out on a 4.5% risk free return, but your car loan is 10%+. 14.5% opportunity cost

    https://twitter.com/GRomePow/status/1623719189478543360

    Real estate is apparently the most ‘distressed’ industry right now. Genuine question: Is anyone seeing real distress?

    https://twitter.com/TripleNetInvest/status/1623664259518410755

    Gen Z has an average of $33,000 saved for retirement, per Forbes.

    https://twitter.com/unusual_whales/status/1623678352128352257

    Isn’t it funny how the Fed’s monthly MBS runoff has fallen _far_ short of the $35B/mo in “QT” set last year (less than half that in Jan @ $16.5B)? Thankfully selling MBS isn’t on JPow’s list of things “actively being considered” after years of double-digit housing inflation.

    https://twitter.com/OccupytheFeds/status/1623677172861833218

    John Wake

    Sellers Beware! “Question: I am an elderly lady that is exhausted by all of the STRs having parties on our street in Old Town Scottsdale. In the spring I want to sell my home and move to San Diego… Will I have to disclose the STR parties on our street?”

    https://twitter.com/JohnWake/status/1623428585557221378

    What would the housing market look like if the Federal Reserve didn’t hold $2.62 trillion in mortgage-backed securities. 🧐 The boom and bust cycles are fueled by the Fed’s actions.

    https://twitter.com/WallStreetSilv/status/1623793187801206786

    In unrelated news, Disney is laying off 7,000 employees. 🧐

    https://twitter.com/WallStreetSilv/status/1623712419489914880

    lol Austin downtown rents have crashed hard. new 1 beds for $2k and under

    https://twitter.com/clueless_1337/status/1623820908661182465

    Lyn Alden

    From 2007 to 2011, the net worth of the bottom 50% of the population fell from $1.5 trillion to $260 billion. Almost completely wiped out. From 2019 to 2022, the net worth of the bottom 50% of the population increased from $2.1 trillion to $4.5 trillion, or a 114% gain.

    https://twitter.com/LynAldenContact/status/1623791515813261312

    George Gammon

    IOW, the US economy is running on stimmy checks and a real estate bubble.

    https://twitter.com/GeorgeGammon/status/1623818376530341889

    1. Thank you for these links. I especially like the used car links because I’m in the market. I’m driving a 15 year old jalopy – in every sense of the word – with 160,000 miles that’s falling apart and leaks all kinds of fluids. Cars today are ridiculously priced. I can afford to buy a car. I can afford to buy a car in cash. But I’m not paying $36,441 for a used 2020 Jeep Grand Cherokee Overland 4WD with 50,735 miles on it. Car Gurus says its a *good deal* priced $15 below market. I’ve been driving this thing three years longer than I wanted to drive it while I wait for prices to drop.

      But as the famous saying goes, sometimes the car market will remain irrational longer than your car will remain roadworthy.

      I think that’s how the saying goes.

      1. ‘a 15 year old jalopy – in every sense of the word – with 160,000 miles that’s falling apart and leaks all kinds of fluids’

        Get a Toyota.

      2. “But I’m not paying $36,441 for a used 2020 Jeep Grand Cherokee Overland 4WD with 50,735 miles on it.”

        I got a flyer in the mail for a truck sale: Be ready for the post Super Bowl tail gate party. Hurry!

      3. But I’m not paying $36,441 for a used 2020 Jeep Grand Cherokee Overland 4WD with 50,735 miles on it.

        You might want to avoid that at any price. I know a lot of people think Jeeps are cool, but they break a lot.

          1. The Jeep Grand Cherokee is just an example. Here’s another car at a nearby dealership: A 2019 Toyota Highlander SE AWD with 27,002 miles is a ‘fair deal’ at $34,990. The MSRP four years ago was $42,000 and the average price paid was probably $38,000 or so.

            Nope, I’ll keep my jalopy for now!

        3. There is a niche of youtube videos where they jump SUVs at state fairs and local tracks. The Jeeps almost always suffer a critical failure. It is so common that we bet on which piece is going to break off.

          1. I have some time today, which is why I am commenting during the day instead of late at night, so I’ll check out those vids. I’m not entirely sold on the JGC but the wife likes them. We also like the Acura MDX. But neither of us can bring ourselves to buy a new, or used, car at a time when cars have never been more expensive in the history of cars.

      4. From what Lucky Lopez says, these high used car prices are basically paying for pandemic deadbeats. Here’s what happened:

        1. Pandemic: stimmie checks and unemployment payments.
        2. Pandemic: moratoriums on evictions and car repos.
        3. Pandemic: The Fed printed so much money that banks were pressured to give car loans to just about anyone.

        So of course the deadbeats did what any deadbeat would do: They used the stimmie/UE chex and no-rent to go out and buy the most expensive show-off car they could find, knowing full well they could drive it for a couple YEARS without making a single payment and still not get repo’d. And the banks made those crap loans because they had so much Fed money to lend out.

        Post-pandemic, the repos are now going gangbusters. But now, since the deadbeat never made a payment, the bank is still on the hook for the full loan amount, for a two-year-old luxury car with 30K+ miles. So the banks are refusing to allow used car dealers to buy those repos at any kind of lower price because then the bank would eat a big loss. Impound lots are filling up with zombie cars.

        Used car prices won’t go down until the banks finally cry uncle and eat the losses on those repo cars, or until normal turnover provides more trade-ins.

    2. Used car prices still up 45% since 2019

      Which goes to show that all of the hype and hoopla about crashing used car prices has mostly been click-bait.

      1. I’ve been following several models of used and new cars in my midwestern metro and prices are still very high. And some models of vehicles are, as @guydealership says, rotting on the lots. It’s like a switch flipped off for nissans, hondas, jeeps, infinitis, buicks, fords, and they’re not selling. There’s been some fake price reductions off wishing prices. But taking $500 off a car still overpriced by $15,000 isn’t moving the needle for discriminating buyers.

        1. Coupes and sedans are the best deals if you can’t wait. The hatchbacks, SUVs and trucks are still ridiculously expensive.

    3. BLOOMBERG: used car prices jumped last month at the fastest pace since November 2021

      While the FED was busy scaling back its rate hikes.

    5. Lyn Alden

      I don’t care for this person. I am not sure of their gender, either, but that’s beside the point. I have seen them on many financial news talks online, and not only were they hyping BitCON, but they were also seemed to be a covert MMT crackpot. It’s not surprising to see them hyping the gains in the net worths of the bottom 50%. They want more Socialism.

      1. In this case I had to use the “they/them” pronoun because I am totally unsure of the gender. I looked online and there are other people wondering if there’s been a gender transition.

      2. George Gammon

        IOW, the US economy is running on stimmy checks and a real estate bubble.

        And this Lyn Alden person wants more of it. They were one of the fearmongers talking up BitCON and how the FED could never raise rates because US debt was too high and everything would blow up. They desperately need a pivot, because they’re getting destroyed by higher rates. All of these people talk their book. That’s it.

      4. Lyn Alden is a woman with a husband. She just looks a bit alien. She makes more sense than a lot of others, but I didn’t like her take on Bitcoin either.

        As for rates, yes, the higher rates will blow up the debt. A lot of that $31T in debt is in short-term treasuries, 30 days to 12 months. For example, if you don’t cash out your 30-day Treasury bill, it rolls over into another 30-days, only at the higher interest rate. Kind of like an ARM mortgage. The US gov now has to pay more interest on the same T-bills. That’s why they can’t raise interest rates too far. They can’t afford those reset interest payments.

        1. they can’t raise interest rates too far

          We’ll see what they can and can’t do. I suspect they are not in complete control. I was absolutely sure they couldn’t borrow as much as they have. Anyway, things are already past “will not end well”.

        2. That’s why they can’t raise interest rates too far. They can’t afford those reset interest payments.

          Not true. Not only do they own the printing press, the payments on the debt as a percentage of tax receipts – you know, the taxes that pay for everything – are near record lows.

      5. It’s technically Lyn Alden Schwartzer.

        Don’t know why they/them/it doesn’t share her real last name?

      1. My post talks about earning $27/hr while the company was billing the clients $200/hr. Then your body is worn-out for retirement.

          1. It’s ridiculous but I know a case where the company has a contracting department with 3 ladies doing “contracts” for a handful of contracts a year. Dad is the company manager and shaves the profits really nicely, huge bonuses every year. The daughter is the head of the contracts department. She is home with her kids. Second lady in the department helps the first lady raise her kids. Third one is tasked with grocery shopping, and all the chores. I kids you not. And everyone that ever tried to complain was let go. Also, licensed guys who do the work al the time, if they don’t get enough billable hours, they cut their benefits. It a s..t show, and they get away with it. It’s a mystery to me.

        2. earning $27/hr while the company was billing the clients $200/hr

          This is why I went to work for myself, to cut out the “middleman.” And I don’t have to do what I don’t want to do, or answer to somebody who’s about 40 points lower on the IQ scale than me.

      2. How does a guy who films himself walking around his neighborhood at night, while discussing complicated economic issues, have 1,800,000 view?

        1. Easy. He owns Mac repair business and just moved fron nyc to Texas. One of the most informative people I follow why can’t you repair your own items like when you were a kid. You should check him out lots of vacant storefronts. Empty for years at ridiculous rents. And how to videos.

          1. ‘just moved fron nyc to Texas’

            I didn’t know that. I stopped watching cuz he’s got serious TDS. Oh, but the people he voted for turned NYC into one of the biggest non-functioning sh$tholes on the planet. Go back to yer frozen soup line damn yankee!

          2. Oh, but the people he voted for turned NYC into one of the biggest non-functioning sh$tholes on the planet.

            And you simply cannot make them understand that. In their minds Leftism will eventually work because it has to work.

        2. He’s a typical NYC lib. When it finally screws him then he leaves but not while he’s there.

          BUT

          he is the one guy who explained why storefronts and offices (commercial real estate) can sit empty for years and years without ever lowing their for rent sign. Why supply and demand completely doesn’t work in CRE. His walking around NYC videos are pretty interesting.

    2. The Real Reason Americans Aren’t Returning To Work

      Because they can financially afford not to. Once the money runs out, they’ll be begging for a job.

      1. But that’s what I’m wondering: is the money ever going to run out? It’s as if we have two types of poor people in this country: those who live in their cars and/or choose between food and rent, and those not-quite-employed younger men who seem to get by on gaming and making reaction videos. I guess the gamers have mom’s basement or a hard-working GF? I can’t figure it out.

        1. I guess the gamers have mom’s basement or a hard-working GF? I can’t figure it out.

          I recall reading that something like 1/3 of Millenials still live with their parents.

        2. The money-printers don’t even understand the distortions they created. People who were unemployed prior to the “pandemic” could suddenly collect UE and the “extra $600” per week. Prior to these emergency measures, they did not qualify. You only had to answer 1 question “yes” on the questionaire to be accepted. One of the questions was “has COVID affected your ability to work” or some such. That was it. Say “yes,” and you’re in. Literally everybody qualified.

          People who had zero income were suddenly getting over $3,500 per month, net, to spend. Not all of them spent every penny. Some started hoarding it. They ended up with close to 6 figures in the bank before the free cheese was cut off. They still have some money.

          Others were collecting all of that money PLUS working under the table, and they are counted as unemployed. These people have been working before and after, just getting paid cash by contractors and such. There is still a sea of money sloshing around out there, which is why scaling back the rate increases was laughable.

  18. 𝗦𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘃𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗲, 𝗠𝗘 𝗛𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝗖𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝟮𝟮% 𝗬𝗢𝗬 𝗔𝘀 𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝗘𝗻𝗴𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗛𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁 𝗕𝘂𝗰𝗸𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗨𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗪𝗲𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗢𝗳 𝗠𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗴𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗗𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗾𝘂𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗲𝘀

    https://www.movoto.com/swanville-me/market-trends/

    𝘈𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘥, “𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 $500 𝘵𝘰 $1000 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘤𝘳𝘦, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘨𝘰𝘵 𝘳𝘪𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘧𝘧.”

    1. Where is Yoel Roth?

      He was in DeeCee this week, but where is he now?

      4chan will deliver the goods. You can’t hide forever, Yoel Roth…

    1. They sure are pimping fear with that story. Mom even called, and her first words were the Chinese balloon. Reminds me of Colin Powell with a photo of some farm irrigation aluminum pipes while talking about centrifuges for uranium while the obedient media puts the story out at the top of each hour, 24/7 for the suckers.

      1. “The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by an endless series of hobgoblins, most of them imaginary.”

        — H.L. Mencken

    1. However, if the building tumbles into a sinkhole the residents want to sue for lack of inspections and maintenance.

  25. ‘Oh, Microsoft’s coming. It’s going to be worth so much. There’s going to be so much growth,’

    San Diego relitters use that kind of fantasizing about new tech operations to fan the flames of real estate speculation.

    Now that tech is getting flushed down the toilet, will the tech speculators get their clocks cleaned? One can hope…

    2. Things may have changed since I left, but I recall that wages in San Diego were lower than in LA or the Bay Area.

        1. Paradise at a Price
          San Diegans need to make over $166K salary to afford a house in San Diego County
          According to Visual Capitalist, San Diego is the third most expensive city when it comes to purchasing a home.
          Author: Steve Price
          Published: 7:18 PM PDT August 9, 2022
          Updated: 7:18 PM PDT August 9, 2022

          SAN DIEGO — Americans know that homes across the county are expensive, but a new study shows just how out of reach houses are in San Diego County.

          According to Visual Capitalist, San Diego is the third most expensive city when it comes to purchasing a home.

          With a median price of $905,000, you need a household income of $166,828 to afford it.

          “Not a lot of people are going to be in that category,” said University of San Diego Economics Professor, Alan Gin. “Even if they have two incomes in their households.”

          Gin says the median household income in San Diego is around $83,000, which is less than half of what you’d need to own the median priced house.

          San Jose topped the list of salary needed to own a home and San Francisco came in second. But Gin says home ownership in those cities is more affordable than San Diego.

          “While we may be third in terms of prices of houses, our income levels here tend to be lower than say, in the Bay Area, Silicon Valley,” said Gin.

          Realtor Frank Powell showed CBS 8 a Bay Park home with what many would call, “a million-dollar view,” but, you’d still be off by more than a million dollars.

          Powell, who is also president-elect of the San Diego Association of Realtors, knows it’s a house very few San Diegans can actually afford.

          “We haven’t seen a big slump in the market like people are anticipating,” said Powell.
          …
          https://www.cbs8.com/article/news/local/paradise-at-a-price/san-diegans-need-make-salary-over-166k-afford-house-san-diego/509-2cbfb081-bbe8-4ff9-b153-bac33cd88bac

    3. didn’t they start a whole city with a guy running around and crying,”gooold! gooold!” It must have been in one of Morricone’s movies, or music. 🙂 🙂

  26. DeSantis considers banning ‘hostile nation’ China from buying Florida real estate, polishing tough-on-China foreign policy stance amid 2024 speculation
    Kimberly Leonard
    Jan 10, 2023, 12:34 PM
    Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks during a press conference held at the Florida National Guard Robert A. Ballard Armory on June 07, 2021 in Miami, Florida. The governor had the press conference to speak about two bills he signed to combat foreign influence and corporate espionage in Florida from governments like China.
    Joe Raedle/Getty Images

    – DeSantis is considering asking the Florida legislature to ban China from real estate investments.
    – “We don’t want to have holdings by hostile nations,” the governor said.
    – Top politicians are increasingly taking a hard line on China.
    …
    https://www.businessinsider.com/desantis-considers-banning-china-from-buying-florida-land-and-homes-2023-1

    2. I’m not sure this is entirely Constitutional. Might violate Interstate Commerce or Making Treaties, which are powers granted to federal Congress. Should be interesting to watch.

  27. – As of today…. MND (WMD? 😀) 30 yr. Mortgage Rate is back up to 6.5%! 👈👀

    – Realtor says: “Buy now and refi later.”
    – Realtor says: “Marry the mortgage, but date the rate.”
    – How’s that workin’ out for ya? Good luck with that!
    – Can always try OnlyFans for extra $…. 😀
    – Jay Bowell wants housing and stonk prices lower because of the massive inflation that he caused. Employment next shoe to drop. Just starting. No soft landing IMHO. Demand destruction dead ahead.
    – The Fed needs to outright sell MBS in my view, but they’re scared. Should have thought of that when they started QE. Idiots.

    2. The whole notion of “date the rate” strikes me as someone with a “starter spouse” who thinks they can “trade up” later. While some pull it off, fro what I have observed it doesn’t really work out. Sure, the starter spouse can be replaced, but the replacement usually isn’t a trade up.

      Anyway, a lot of people are assuming that 3% mortgages will be back. They are going to be disappointed.

      1. There’s all kinds of articles out there about bitter younger second spouses. Their husbands are old men now while they’re still in their go-go 50’s and 60’s and they can’t live the life they thought they were going live.

        2. That’s the fault of the younger spouse. She wanted the wealthier distinguished man; he wanted the young hottie. They deserve each other.

          On a related note, I knew someone in his 60s who recently dated a 35 yo woman. She got a case of bio clock and asked for a baby. He said no, not fair, no child should have to put daddy in a nursing home just out of high school. The woman broke off the relationship and looked elsewhere (and was ultimately unsuccessful). Probably best for both.

          1. “That’s the fault of the younger spouse. She wanted the wealthier distinguished man; he wanted the young hottie. They deserve each other.”

            I dropped an oldje photo here some time ago titled, “When her bio says I love to travel, but you know she doesn’t have a job.”

          2. I love to travel

            Last spring I had to do some physio. My therapist was a rather cute 20 something. I told her she’d have to wrap up the sessions before I left for the summer cruising on my boat. Showed her a picture of it and such. She sincerely wanted to take a couple months off work and go as crew. I figured it wouldn’t be anyone’s “fault”, and nobody’s business.

      2. They will be back … in another 60 years or so. Interest rates move in decades long cycles, with ultralow periods bracketed by episodes of high inflation with rates chasing up inflation.

  29. Look everybody, it’s the “experts”

    NPR — Are there places you should still mask in, forever? Three experts weigh in (2/10/2023):

    “Wondering if and when you should still be masking up? NPR asked some experts.”

    https://www.npr.org/2023/02/10/1155516547/are-there-places-you-should-still-mask-in-forever-three-experts-weigh-in

    People survived THEIR ENTIRE LIVES until the year 2020 without useless sh*t strapped to their faces.

    Plenty of mask freaks still wearing it while driving alone around here. Mass Formation Psychosis is one hell of a drug.

    1. survived THEIR ENTIRE LIVES

      These people would wear an armband, if told they ought to, and they’d love it.

    2. To be fair, it’s not a bad idea to wear a mask to prevent against cold and flu in winter. Cold and flu travel from contaminated surface to fingers to nose, and any paper mask will keep a finger out of your face. If you’re old and susceptible, it’s prudent to protect against flu. And when I went on vacation last October, I wore a mask while traveling, simply so I wouldn’t spend a vacation sick. I took the mask off on the way home. Totally involuntary and temporary.

      1. It is not something that an adult should have to do, papering over their face to prevent rubbing eyes or sticking your finger in your mouth with dirty hands.

        1. sticking your finger in your mouth with dirty hands.

          I thought this is how we build up our immune system? Like kids putting everything in their mouths, or puppies eating sticks and rocks and dirt?

  30. Our good friend in Hawaii sent me this:

    $1,085,000 3 bd 2ba 1,602 sqft
    Price cut: $100K (2/2)
    68-3542 Awamoa Pl, Waikoloa, HI 96738

    https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/68-3542-Awamoa-Pl-Waikoloa-HI-96738/565787_zpid/

    Date Event Price
    2/2/2023 Price change $1,085,000 (-8.4%) $677/sqft

    1/28/2023 Price change $1,185,000 (-7.8%) $740/sqft

    1/21/2023 Listed for sale $1,285,000 (+8%) $802/sqft

    6/30/2022 Sold $1,190,000 $743/sqft

    5/20/2022 Contingent $1,190,000 $743/sqft

    5/16/2022 Price change $1,190,000 (-2.1%) $743/sqft

    5/6/2022 Price change $1,215,000 (-0.8%) $758/sqft

    4/24/2022 Price change $1,225,000 (+2.9%) $765/sqft

    4/7/2022 Price change $1,190,000 (-2.9%) $743/sqft

    3/17/2022 Price change $1,225,000 (-5%) $765/sqft

    3/1/2022 Listed for sale $1,290,000 (+158%) $805/sqft

    7/23/2019 Sold $500,000 (-3.7%) $312/sqft

    4/16/2019 Pending sale $519,000 $324/sqft

    4/13/2019 Price change $519,000 (-3.7%) $324/sqft

    3/3/2019 Price change $539,000 (-2%) $336/sqft

    2/11/2019 Price change $550,000 (+0.2%) $343/sqft

    2/4/2019 Price change $549,000 (-0.2%) $343/sqft

    12/21/2018 Listed for sale $550,000 (+25%) $343/sqft

    5/7/2014 Listing removed $440,000 $275/sqft

    2/22/2014 Price change $440,000 (+3.5%) $275/sqft

    2/8/2014 Listed for sale $425,000 (+18.4%) $265/sqft

    2/6/2013 Listing removed $359,000 $224/sqft

    11/29/2012 Listed for sale $359,000 (+19.7%) $224/sqft

    8/2/2010 Sold $300,000 (-37.7%) $187/sqft

    5/26/2010 Sold $481,549 (-14%) $301/sqft

    3/10/2006 Sold $560,000 (+28.7%) $350/sqft

    6/7/2004 Sold $435,000 (+64.2%) $272/sqft

    3/8/2002 Sold $265,000 $165/sqft

  31. Canada’s Economy Adds 150,000 Jobs: ‘CRUSHES’ Expectations
    Mark Mitchell – Mortgage Broker London Ontario
    Feb 10, 2023

    The Canadian Economy added 150,000 jobs in January, ‘Crushing Expectations’ by 10-fold, putting more pressure on the Bank of Canada to end its pause and increase interest rates.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSo1PyxM1qE

    5:31.

    1. His name is Yoel Roth.

      What’s his name? Yoel Roth.

      What did Yoel Roth write a PhD dissertation at the University of Pennsylvania about?

      It’s all been screenshotted. Your words, and your actions, will not be erased, Yoel Roth.

      You’re a civilian too, Yoel Roth. You’re not former FBI or some other fed pigman.

      4chan knows where you are, right now, Yoel Roth. Who knows what could happen to you out there in that big, scary world, Yoel Roth.

      The #Naming and the #Noticing will continue, whether you like it or not, Yoel Roth…

    1. The retired Colonel talks about how the globalist jooz get the U.S. in these conflicts around the world so Wall street can plunder and profit. Refreshing to hear someone with stones tell it like it is.

      1. how the globalist jooz

        It’s been a few days since I listened to this, but did he actually say that, or is that your injection?

  34. ‘In a downturn, some landlords are forced to make firesales to reimburse departing tenants, having invested in risky assets, including more housing, and lost the money. Stories about sudden defaults and vanishing ‘villa kings,’ owners of dozens of rental properties, proliferate’

    Probably nothing…

    1. The Financial Times
      Markets Briefing US equities
      US stocks register biggest weekly decline in two months
      S&P 500 loses 1.1% over the week as investors digest corporate earnings and anticipate higher interest rates
      A trader at the New York Stock Exchange
      Traders are awaiting US inflation figures due to be released next week
      Jaren Kerr in New York and Martha Muir in London 7 hours ago

      US stocks recorded their biggest weekly decline in two months, as investors digested mixed corporate earnings and weighed the prospect of further rises in interest rates after the release of important inflation data next week.

      The S&P 500 index gained 0.2 per cent on Friday, falling 1.1 per cent in the week. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 0.6 per cent on the day, losing 2.4 per cent across five sessions. The moves sent both indices to their most significant weekly losses since mid-December, with the Nasdaq’s weekly fall its first in 2023.

      Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Cresset Capital, attributed the week’s declines to an uneven set of quarterly earnings reported and concerns about the Federal Reserve’s plan to continue increasing interest rates.
      …

    2. Striking Price
      The Stock Market Could Be Set for a Big Drop. How to Prepare for It.
      By Steven M. Sears
      Updated Feb. 9, 2023 8:06 am ET / Original Feb. 9, 2023 1:30 am ET

      After a certain age, everyone accepts that they will have only a small number of close friends. An active life competes with the time needed to develop deep friendships.

      Nevertheless, many people act as if they have a deep knowledge of the stock market, which is larger, and far more complicated, than any social circle.
      …
      https://www.barrons.com/articles/chatgpt-microsoft-bing-51675799472

  37. At Regal Cinemas in Escondido. It’s less crowded in the theater than some of our peak pandemic movie dates, with four total audience members. Maybe our last time here before they shut down.

    However, the popcorn guy told my wife they hope to stay open by negotiating a lower rent. However, 20 people in the building on a Friday night won’t cover even the lower rent.

    1. Yahoo Finance
      Fed’s Waller calls crypto ‘nothing more than a speculative asset’
      Jennifer Schonberger
      Fri, February 10, 2023 at 9:35 AM PST·3 min read
      In this article:

      Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller said Friday he views crypto as a speculative asset that’s worth whatever the next person is willing to pay for it and says he, personally, wouldn’t hold it.

      “To me, a crypto-asset is nothing more than a speculative asset, like a baseball card,” Waller said in a speech at a crypto conference at the Global Interdependence Center in La Jolla, California.

      “If people want to hold such an asset, then go for it,” Waller said. “I wouldn’t do it, but I don’t collect baseball cards, either. However, if you buy crypto-assets and the price goes to zero at some point, please don’t be surprised and don’t expect taxpayers to socialize your losses.”
      …
      https://news.yahoo.com/feds-waller-calls-crypto-nothing-more-than-a-speculative-asset-173516465.html

      1. “…a speculative asset that’s worth whatever the next person is willing to pay for it…”

        What’s the difference between crypto and any other Ponzi asset?

        1. Ponzi assets at least know they’re assets. Crypto wants the best of both worlds of asset and currency. They will likely get neither.

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