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Whatever We Owe On It, Let The Bank Take It

A report from the Marin Independent Journal. “Beth Brody, a Compass agent in Mill Valley, is bullish about 2023 after a year in which the median home price in Marin plunged about 30%. The apex was $2.12 million in April. The median price for a detached home in Marin was $1.6 million last month, the assessor’s office reported. By comparison, the Bay Area median last month was $1 million, a year-over-year decline of 14.6%, the California Association of Realtors said. Brody, who says she has been an agent for 43 years, said she expects a much better inventory outlook this year, easing the competition among buyers. Her company alone has 300 homes in Marin set to list next month, she said.”

The Signal in California. “Local Realtors assisted the close of escrow on 126 homes and condominiums during January while the inventory of properties listed for sale rose to the highest level for the month since 2020, the Southland Regional Association of Realtors reported. The 406 active listings were up 31% from a year ago, with condominium active listings surging a whopping 89% and single-family home active listings rising 16%.  ‘As prices moderate, or even decline slightly, and inventory increases, prospective buyers soon enough will realize there are opportunities out there,’ said Anthony Bedgood, the 2023 chairman of the Santa Clarita Division.”

“The median price of the 88 single-family homes that closed escrow last month came in at $815,000, which was off 2% from January 2022. It also was below the $890,000 median price posted in April. The 38 condominiums that changed owners last month had a median price of $490,000. That also was down 2% from a year ago and below the $593,000 median condo price reported in February 2022.”

The Real Deal. “Home sales and new home construction in Texas tumbled last year as interest rates dampened activity across the state’s housing markets, according to new data from the Texas A&M Real Estate Research Center.  As construction slowed, so did demand. In Austin, where monthly starts dipped below 1,000 units for the first time since 2016, homes spent an average of 67 days on the market this year. The median home price statewide peaked in May at $349,900 and has been falling ever since. Still, it remains higher than it was a year ago. The median sale price in Austin has fallen more than $78,000 from its peak to $463,900. ‘The housing market took quite a spill last year, but if you look with a broader lens, it appears to be getting back to where things were,’ said Joshua Roberson, the paper’s lead author.”

From Urban Turf. “For years, the lack of homes for sale was a primary theme in the DC area housing market. That is changing. The inventory of homes for sale in the region is steadily increasing, up 43% compared to a year ago and approaching levels not seen since 2019. ‘Supply is still very low in the DC area housing market, but in some local markets, buyers are finding more options than they have had in more than three years,’ Bright MLS wrote in its January report.”

“In DC proper, supply is up 56%, but in some areas, the increase has been more substantial. For example, in Montgomery County, supply is up 87%, while in Prince George’s County, it has risen nearly 107%. The increase in supply is a little imbalanced when it comes to property type. In many markets, the condo inventory is more than double what it was prior to the pandemic.”

From People. “After denying that the home was in foreclosure in a video for her ‘haters’ in November, Kim Zolciak-Biermann and husband Kroy’s Alpharetta, Ga. mansion is now up for public auction. According to a notice shared Wednesday by Fulton County, Truist Bank will auction off the property on March 7 in front of the Fulton County Courthouse after the couple defaulted on a $1.65 million loan they took out for the property in Oct. 2012. The Real Housewives of Atlanta alum previously denied rumors the home was in foreclosure with a video on her Instagram Story captured by @BravoHousewives in November.”

“‘Ok you guys, my house has not sold for $257,000,’ she started in the clip, panning around the interior of her home. ‘If you guys think I would let my home that we’ve put millions and millions of dollars into go for $257,000, you’re an idiot, okay? For real. So, what are you gonna do, haters, when I’m here for Christmas, and I’m here for my birthday in May, and I’m here for all these amazing dates? I’m here until I f—ing want to move, until I decide I don’t want to live here anymore. So, enjoy the view, haters. You’re going to be seeing it for quite some time,’ added Zolciak-Biermann.”

KIRO in Washington. “Squatters took over a homeowner’s property in unincorporated Lynnwood on Locust Way. All the problems and crime stemming from the home led to a massive raid by Snohomish County law enforcement on Wednesday. Investigators found 52 cars on the land – some of them reported stolen – along with drugs and firearms. Neighbors and the property owner say they’ve been dealing with squatters at the property for about three years, since the beginning of the pandemic. Multiple neighbors said they were hopeful after seeing a raid was happening at the property. However, the squatters quickly returned.”

“‘A bunch of criminals,’ said Laleh Kashani, the homeowner. ‘They took over the house and we couldn’t collect a dollar of rent, and have a mortgage,’ she said. Kashani says after years of dealing with this, she’s about to give up and move out of state. She said her husband recently passed away, and now she’s left to raise kids, work, and deal with this alone. ‘I literally cry,’ she said. ‘I’m going to give up, I’m going to lose my house. Whatever we owe on it, let the bank take it,’ Kashani said.”

The Commercial Observer. “More distressed office moves are on the way. A new report from CommercialEdge expects a significant uptick in distressed activity for U.S. office real estate in 2023 due to the higher cost of debt, weak demand, falling prices and a potential recession, and predicts overall office transaction volume this year will be at its lowest level since the years following the Global Financial Crisis. CommercialEdge recorded just $1.9 billion of U.S. office trades so far this year, with properties trading at $202 per square foot. That’s far less than the $5.9 billion in office deals last January, and, so far, trades this year closed for 25 percent less than they sold for in the first quarter of 2022.”

“Higher interest rates have already put pressure on owners with floating-rate debt and created a substantial challenge for those who need to refinance this year. Companies that embraced remote and hybrid work mean offices often sit empty while waiting for leases to inch toward expiration, and the tech industry that drove much of the leasing in recent years is in a contraction. The lack of demand is leading to falling prices, and further distressed activity could trigger a ‘downward price spiral for offices.'”

“‘Due to the interest rate environment, economic uncertainty and remote work, we anticipate that there will not be much capital for office transactions this year,’ the report read. ‘Investors may still be able to find loans for well-located buildings with strong occupancy and cash flow, but for the most part deals for office buildings will fail to materialize.'”

“Manhattan and San Diego both recorded no sales of office buildings with at least 25,000 square feet in the first month of the year. CommercialEdge expects many of the distressed properties that are sold to be converted into life sciences or multifamily, with some properties razed and entirely redeveloped. Nationally, there are 123.6 million square feet of office space currently under construction, with Boston, Manhattan, Dallas, Austin and San Francisco accounting for more than a quarter of all new supply being built.”

The Stratford Beacon Herald. “The president of Huron-Perth’s real estate board says this year is going to be one of adjustment after the region’s residential sales dropped sharply last month. Bob Heimpel cited the Bank of Canada’s ‘rapid’ interest rate increases as the main reason for sales taking a 19.1 per cent hit in January. ‘Sales activity isn’t going to rebound overnight, so the theme of this year is going to be one of adjustment,’ Heimpel said.”

“The benchmark price last month in Huron-Perth — the value of a ‘typical’ home in a community, based on the most popular combination of features — was $534,000 for single-family homes, a decrease of more than 10 per cent from January 2022. The average price of homes sold last month was $577,312, a steep decline of 22.1 per cent from January 2022. New listings jumped 24.2 per cent to 159, which was the most for January in more than five years. There were 338 active listings at the end of January, more than double the levels from a year earlier and much higher than five- and 10-year averages.”

The Globe and Mail. “The financial difficulties of a Vancouver real estate development company sitting on close to a billion dollars in property has raised questions about the health of the housing market in Canada’s third-largest city. On Feb. 6, Coromandel Properties filed court papers seeking temporary protection from its creditors, to which it owes more than $700-million. Such filings often lead to the appointment of a receiver for the insolvent company whose assets may be restructured or sold off to satisfy its debts.”

“The company’s application is replete with examples of company paying top dollar for sites between 2016 and 2022, borrowing millions to hold on to them, and being unable to redevelop them into more profitable uses. In one example, Coromandel says it purchased a site called Southview Garden in 2017 for $72-million, and there are three loans registered on that property that total more than $80.5-million. The land is a little under three hectares with 140 townhouses and apartments on it that earn about $224,000 in rent monthly. This does not appear to be enough to satisfy the debt payments on loans, as three parties are named seeking repayment.”

“‘If you’re on a development treadmill and running 85 per cent loan to value, you need virtually nothing in terms of something that would go wrong to completely turn that apple cart over and basically you’re buried,’ said said John Nicola, CEO of Nicola Wealth, who described highly leveraged investing as no different than stock frenzies such as GameStop or pouring cash into crypto assets trying to make a market. ‘It’s not a gamble worth taking, not for us anyway,’ he said.”

The Daily Mail. “Billionaire property developer Harry Triguboff has slammed ‘silly’ interest rate rises claiming it won’t be enough to stop property prices rising. The Meriton Group managing director blasted the Reserve Bank of Australia while speaking on Friday. The RBA has increased interest rates nine consecutive times bringing the cash rate to 3.35 per cent and warned of more rate increases to come.”

“‘They say that because the interest rates go up, the prices will go down – I don’t believe that,’ Mr Triguboff said. ‘If there’s nowhere for people to live then the prices will go up despite that. This is the lucky country … we make silly little mistakes but we never make big mistakes. We make silly little ones, but thousands of them.'”

“The billionaire issued a blunt warning that housing supply will keep getting worse – forcing prices ever higher – until developers were given the green light to build more homes. ‘If the government needs housing so much then they should approve it,’ Mr Triguboff told the Sydney Morning Herald. ‘I don’t apologise, they can go to hell. They want production, they have to make sure I don’t go broke.'”

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This Post Has 54 Comments

  1. ‘Her company alone has 300 homes in Marin set to list next month’

    Spring will be interesting.

    ‘A bunch of criminals…I literally cry,’ she said. ‘I’m going to give up, I’m going to lose my house. Whatever we owe on it, let the bank take it’

    Now dammit Laleh, yer giving it away. Be more like Kim:

    ‘If you guys think I would let my home that we’ve put millions and millions of dollars into go for $257,000, you’re an idiot, okay? For real. So, what are you gonna do, haters, when I’m here for Christmas, and I’m here for my birthday in May, and I’m here for all these amazing dates? I’m here until I f—ing want to move, until I decide I don’t want to live here anymore. So, enjoy the view, haters. You’re going to be seeing it for quite some time’

    You tell em Kim!

    3. ‘A bunch of criminals…I literally cry,’ she said. ‘I’m going to give up, I’m going to lose my house. Whatever we owe on it, let the bank take it’

      This story is sickening. Property rights have eroded to the point of near irrelevancy.

        1. Impossible. I’ve been assured that Texas and Florida are where all the sane and conservative people live—the ones who are good parents.

          The author must have meant California. Everything bad happens there.

    1. Taking pipe up the rear end is not a job qualification. I don’t care what you do in the privacy of your bedroom, but don’t flaunt it in public and tell me it makes you special and deserving of positions of power, especially when you’re an extremely thin demographic.

  3. Sponsored content infomercial provided by Lockheed, Raytheon, Northrup, Boeing, General Dynamics, and Blackstone.

    Washington Post Editorial Board — How to break the stalemate in Ukraine (2/18/2023):

    “To thwart Russia and safeguard Ukraine’s sovereignty, the United States and its European allies have little choice but to intensify their military, economic and diplomatic support for Kyiv. That means equipping Ukrainian forces with more decisive weapons and in greater numbers, imposing more aggressive sanctions on Moscow and galvanizing a more muscular international coalition to isolate and ostracize Russia.

    That agenda is urgent; the status quo of relatively static battle lines is untenable. As Russia mobilizes hundreds of thousands of recruits in support of a massive new offensive and shifts its economy to an all-out wartime footing, the West’s piecemeal, reactive, only-what’s-essential-to-avoid-disaster approach has become a prescription for stalemate.

    Kyiv will need greater numbers of almost every type of weaponry — artillery shells, which it is firing at a rate of nearly 100,000 per month; fighting vehicles; advanced drones; and, especially, high-tech air defense systems. The United States and its allies, especially Germany, should accelerate their production and supply of air defense systems to blunt Russia’s systematic campaign to pulverize Ukrainian power stations and degrade critical infrastructure.

    Kyiv will also need advanced Western fighter jets. Providing that air capability has been ruled out for now by Mr. Biden, in the case of U.S.-made F-16s. He should reconsider on the condition that Kyiv commits that the jets will be used to defend Ukraine on its own territory, not for attacks inside Russia. Sooner or later, the West will need to provide Ukraine with weapons systems that not only help to end the war but also dissuade Russia from launching new ones. The most effective deterrent will be a convincing array of military muscle on the ground and in the skies — as well as, eventually, NATO membership and the security guarantee it provides.”

    https://archive.is/TVuX4

    Everything you hear from western media about this war is a LIE.

    This alleged war is nothing more than making sure all of the right people get paid, and you, the U.S. taxpayer, are footing the bill for ALL of it, and you get nothing in return.

  4. “The median price of the 88 single-family homes that closed escrow last month came in at $815,000, which was off 2% from January 2022. It also was below the $890,000 median price posted in April.”

    The median price for a house in Santa Clarita almost hit 900k. Santa Clarita, where the traffic begins at 5AM to commute to a job in Los Angeles. Prices are going to drop 50% in California.

    1. “Santa Clarita, where the traffic begins at 5AM to commute to a job in Los Angeles.”

      Got that right!

      Back in the mid 1990s I was doing work out in Lancaster, and I had a meeting in Ontario, so I hit the 14 south at about 0500-hrs. Some of the commuters were driving 90-mph on the 14 passing the slow pokes going 60-mph. The traffic approaching the 5 interchange in Santa Clarita was already backed-up, and it wasn’t even 0530-hrs yet! It was stop-n-go to the 210 before we’re moving again.

      1. The drivers on the 14 are insane. I have never been in fear of imminent death on a freeway- except for on the 14.

        1. Once you reach Palmdale there’s a whole lot of flat nothing, so they all probably drive with a heavy pedal.

      1. There are still people wearing a mask while driving alone in Denver, I see it regularly.

        “They’re not sending their best”

        1. about 100% of Asians

          Agreed. What does that tell you about cultural conformity?

          95% of Caucasians do not

          I see plenty of masked white liberals to this day.

  6. A reader sent these in:

    EU bankruptcy filings jump to 8-year high. Will the European Central Bank (ECB) be able to keep raising rates with this happening? Maybe even forced to cut rates this year.

    https://twitter.com/WallStreetSilv/status/1626978358360739847

    Purchasing $2T (more) in MBS was a massive policy error. Regardless of the Fed’s actual agenda regarding monetary policy, messing with the housing market was a mistake.

    https://twitter.com/trader_mtg/status/1627057855198269444

    Let’s check the DMs

    https://twitter.com/NipseyHoussle/status/1627166179709034498

    After adjusting for inflation, e-commerce retail sales fell 1% over the last year (down in 3 out of the last 4 quarters). With data going back to 2000, the only other time we’ve seen negative real e-commerce sales was during the 2008-09 recession.

    https://twitter.com/charliebilello/status/1626937973521498114

    The Fed’s balance sheet hit its lowest level since September 2021 this week, down $581 billion from its peak in April 2022. Some perspective on how much the balance sheet expanded in 2020-21: it’s still $4.2 trillion higher than where it was at the end of 2019.

    https://twitter.com/charliebilello/status/1626948548347527168

    Call me bearish if you want, but this isn’t going to end well for many. A temporary burst of TGA funds and central bank liquidity isn’t enough to overcome the overwhelming weight of extended valuations during one of the largest multi-asset bubbles in human history.

    https://twitter.com/Mayhem4Markets/status/1627091868130639873

    San Francisco is getting “emptier and emptier”
    Last time I went a man was urinating on the Twitter building and the only people on the street were angry press trying to snap photos of @elonmusk. Sad what’s happened to this town and scary they think they know best for the world

    https://twitter.com/ElijahSchaffer/status/1626541618538102784

    Did a disgruntled boomer write this?

    https://twitter.com/RampCapitalLLC/status/1626629865611853852

    Just a reminder, your house that was worth $462,107.54 @ 2.70% mortgage rates. Is now worth $295,760.60 at 6.5% mortgage rates

    https://twitter.com/GRomePow/status/1625160817695137792

    Danielle DiMartino Booth

    The “inventory is too low” narrative is slowly being decimated. Wait until all of these new homes under construction are finished out…only highest number of units since 1973…same situation on Multifamily. Double narrative buster.

    https://twitter.com/DiMartinoBooth/status/1627095962882834432

    “Sales of CMBS Plunge 85% as Commercial Property Markets Freeze” | Can’t hedge new deals in this market. Higher rates mean a lot of defaults.” *dear equity investors – basic math – see loans outstanding vs where they are priced – 200-400bps south of here. Sh$t storm.

    https://twitter.com/Convertbond/status/1626745084690546688

    The middle class is being hollowed out

    https://twitter.com/Mayhem4Markets/status/1627068083780345858

    The fact that Fed chairman Powell said “The disinflation process has begun” then a couple of weeks later the PPI shows goods inflation rebounding aggressively should cement the idea that we have an amateur leading the Fed and this should be terrifying to the American public.

    https://twitter.com/TheMaverickWS/status/1627084493529174018

    Also note that me nor any of the 10 sales reps I talk to in other states are seeing anything pick up.

    https://twitter.com/RaleighFam/status/1627085336743677954

    Avg individual income in East Palestine, OH = $28k

    This is yet another example of low-income Americans being disproportionately impacted by environmental disasters & being left in the dust by the gov’t. If this was in Martha’s Vineyard or Aspen, it would be handled differently.

    https://twitter.com/BenjiBacker/status/1627004432029483010

    Subprime auto delinquencies. Nothing to see here!

    https://twitter.com/TheMaverickWS/status/1627064875762741251

    Housing is less affordable now than during the peak of the 2007 housing bubble!

    https://twitter.com/GrahamStephan/status/1627002761962459136

    Same thing happened to me in Austin. I asked if they would do $1800 a month for a 15 month lease and they said no. Now it’s listed $1700 a month for a 12 month.

    https://twitter.com/esotericgrifter/status/1627173771458015234

    About 180K Californians are top earners and pay ~50% of the state’s income tax revenue. Income tax revenue is ~1/3rd of the state’s total tax revenue. ~50% of those 180k people left in the last 24-48 months.

    https://twitter.com/datarade/status/1610474899952357377

    For sale for 7.7 million. Comes with car elevator. No clue how you convert this vending machine to something else.

    https://twitter.com/nick_norris_slc/status/1626690149349203968

    CarDealershipGuy

    Front page of WSJ 😐

    https://twitter.com/GuyDealership/status/1626930893041418240

    If you’re buying a 6% cap today, just stay home and buy T-Bills.

    https://twitter.com/ShlomoChopp/status/1626705936701071360

    1. “For sale for 7.7 million. Comes with car elevator. No clue how you convert this vending machine to something else.”

      Another dealer will make it work when it’s priced near $2M.

    2. “~50% of those 180k people left in the last 24-48 months.”

      They THINK they left. We’ll see what the Franchise Tax Board has to say about that.

    3. For sale for 7.7 million. Comes with car elevator. No clue how you convert this vending machine to something else.

      https://twitter.com/nick_norris_slc/status/1626690149349203968

      We drive by this joke of a car dealership off I-15 through Lehi, Utah often. We’ve maybe seen 1 or 2 cars in the vending machine over the past year or so. So funny to see the 4-sale listing. 😆 It’s located in the heart of Utah’s “thriving” 🙄 tech center that’s been hit with its fair share of layoffs since last fall. Fascinating to watch the speculative dominos fall…

  10. “Beth Brody, a Compass agent in Mill Valley, is bullish about 2023 after a year in which the median home price in Marin plunged about 30%. The apex was $2.12 million in April. The median price for a detached home in Marin was $1.6 million last month, the assessor’s office reported.”

    Assuming ‘last month’ refers to January, April through January is 9 months. So the annualized rate of price decline is 1-(1-1.6/2.12)^(12/9) = 31.3% annualized rate of decline, to a reduced price level that still seems extremely unaffordable for all but extremely wealthy end users.

    I’m bullish that prices in Marin County will continue to approach affordable levels for years to come.

    1. Marin County, California – U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts

      Income & Poverty

      Median household income (in 2021 dollars), 2017-2021 $131,008

      Per capita income in past 12 months (in 2021 dollars), 2017-2021 $78,995

      Persons in poverty, percent 7.8%

      Home price to median income ratio

      $1,600 thousand / $131 thousand = 12.2.

      Historic norm for California is 6-ish…

  11. “So, what are you gonna do, haters, when I’m here for Christmas, and I’m here for my birthday in May, and I’m here for all these amazing dates? I’m here until I f—ing want to move, until I decide I don’t want to live here anymore. So, enjoy the view, haters. You’re going to be seeing it for quite some time,’ added Zolciak-Biermann.”

    Sounds like Kim will be celebrating Mardi Gras with a delicious baked crow dinner.

    1. I’m not sure I understand what she’s talking about. The article says she’s in default and they have set an auction date which is only weeks away. Are her intentions to squat and get into a standoff with law enforcement?

      1. I am not sure law enforcement has much to with it. There seems to be a great number of barricades (legal and bank protocol) to prevent eviction for years.

  13. 𝗕𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱𝗲𝗿, 𝗖𝗢 𝗛𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝗖𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝟮𝟰% 𝗬𝗢𝗬 𝗔𝘀 𝗗𝗲𝗻𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗔𝗿𝗲𝗮 𝗦𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗕𝗲𝗴 𝗙𝗼𝗿 𝗢𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝘀

    https://www.movoto.com/co/80301/market-trends/

    𝘈𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘋𝘦𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘥, “𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘳𝘦 𝘢 𝘣𝘶𝘺𝘦𝘳, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘴 𝘭𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶. 𝘐 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘢 𝘭𝘪𝘢𝘳 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘐 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘰𝘯𝘦. 𝘐’𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘭𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘺 𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘳𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦.”

  14. Do people really pay $8,400 amonth to live in 30 year old homes? We live just down the street, and rent for less than half that much for a slightly smaller home.

      1. Some Zestimates:

        Dec 2019 $829.4K
        May 2022 $1.5M
        Jan 2023 $1.2M
        Feb 2023 $1.4M

        Just like magic, the Zestimate increased by $200,000 or so because the seller listed it for that amount. I wonder why they didn’t list it for $2 million, so long as they are able to change the Zestimate that way?

        PS RAL.

      2. Basically a 4br/3ba spec house, e.g., no large closets, no pantry, small bathrooms, no bookshelves, etc., just lots of air. However, the location is compelling.

    2. If it’s still on the market, then no. I’m seeing a number of sellers still clinging to wishing prices. I did some calculations earlier today. People with the income required for those properties wouldn’t be looking at those properties.

  15. ‘The average price of homes sold last month was $577,312, a steep decline of 22.1 per cent from January 2022′

    She’ll be coming ’round the mountain when she comes (yee-haw)
    She’ll be coming ’round the mountain when she comes (yee-haw)

    1. 22.1% decline already.
      I sat for 3 years from 2005 – 2008 watching the crash slowly inch forward. Why isn’t the speed of the crash making headlines?
      I think everyone has internet so rumor travels faster but average people are still dim-witted.

  16. What?
    What country you from?
    What?
    “What” ain’t no country I ever
    heard of. They speak English in What?
    W-What?
    English, Kamala!
    Do you speak it?
    Yes!
    Then you know what I’m sayin’!
    Yes.
    Describe what Joe Biden
    looks like!

    Video: Andrea Mitchell’s Blank Stare Says It All After Kamala Harris Butchers Interview with Word Salad

    Infowars.com
    February 19th 2023, 12:21 pm

    Biden VP Kamala Harris made even friendly NBC News anchor Andrea Mitchell look uncomfortable after giving an incoherent interview in Munich on Friday.

    Mitchell highlighted recent remarks by Republican presidential contender Nikki Haley that Donald Trump, 76, and Joe Biden, 80, were too old to be president in 2024, asking Harris her thoughts on the subject.

    Harris, in her signature fashion, replied with a completely nonsensical and cognitively deficient answer.

    “When you present the suggestion that anyone is saying that it is time for a new generation, and they’re running against the person who is president, and when presented as though it’s an attack, I would like to let us all be clear that the attack is misplaced if the point of it is that we need leadership that is strong because we have a strong leader in Joe Biden,” Harris said.

    RNC Research
    @RNCResearch
    ·
    What?

    https://twitter.com/RNCResearch/status/1626633376521195520?s=20

    1. “I don’t know how long this can go on.”

      As long as it takes.

      Joe Biden

      “Some of these houses are finished and they’re empty.”

      If would be more concerned about the ones that weren’t finished and had nobody working on them if I had a dog in that fight.

      1. We have a multi-family development around here which has all the curb and gutter in, foundations poured, conduit and waste plumbing stubbed out, and an entire block of units completed on the exterior (don’t know about the inside), which suddenly halted a year and a half ago.

        The timing seems odd to me, since things were going gangbusters then. I need to look into it, but it appears somebody must have run into financial problems.

  18. Home
    Markets
    The Fed has failed to slow demand – and that means no upside for stocks as policy tightens, analysts say
    Filip De Mott
    Feb 19, 2023, 8:30 AM
    Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell
    Federal Reserve Board Chairman Jerome Powell.
    Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
    – Sticky inflation and robust retail activity are telling signs that the Federal Reserve has failed to stifle demand, analysts said.
    – That means investors should expect tighter policy and more weakness in markets.
    – “We would not be shocked to see a 15% to 20% pullback from current levels which would take us below the prior cycle.”
    …
    https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/stock-market-outlook-fed-rate-hikes-demand-cpi-retail-sales-2023-2

    1. The Financial Times
      Hedge funds
      Hedge fund Galois shuts down after half its assets trapped on FTX
      Co-founder Kevin Zhou says fund is no longer viable and sells claim on collapsed crypto exchange for 16 cents on dollar
      FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried is due to face trial in October on fraud charges, to which he has pleaded not guilty
      Laurence Fletcher in London 4 hours ago

      A hedge fund that was one of the highest profile victims of the FTX scandal when half its assets were trapped on the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange has decided to close and return its remaining money to investors.

      Galois Capital, which last year had been managing around $200mn in assets and was one of the biggest crypto-focused quantitative funds, told investors that it had halted all trading and unwound all its positions as it was no longer viable, according to documents seen by the Financial Times.

      “Given the severity of the FTX situation, we do not think it is tenable to continue operating the fund both financially and culturally,” wrote co-founder Kevin Zhou. “Once again I’m terribly sorry about the current situation we find ourselves in.”
      …

    2. 12 minute read
      February 16, 2023
      2:31 PM PST
      Last Updated 3 days ago
      Exclusive: Crypto giant Binance moved $400 million from U.S. partner to firm managed by CEO Zhao
      By Angus Berwick
      and Tom Wilson

      Summary
      – Binance moved large sums from U.S. partner to trading firm Merit Peak – bank records
      – Merit Peak document named Binance CEO Zhao as Manager
      – A Binance executive had access to U.S. partner’s account at Silvergate Bank, messages show
      – Reuters couldn’t determine whether transfers included U.S. customer funds
      – Binance.US, which says it is independent, says Reuters’ information is “outdated”

      Feb 16 (Reuters) – Global cryptocurrency exchange Binance had secret access to a bank account belonging to its purportedly independent U.S. partner and transferred large sums of money from the account to a trading firm managed by Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, banking records and company messages show.

      Over the first three months of 2021, more than $400 million flowed from the Binance.US account at California-based Silvergate Bank to this trading firm, Merit Peak Ltd, according to records for the quarter, which were reviewed by Reuters. The Binance.US account was registered under the name of BAM Trading, the U.S. exchange’s operating company, according to the records. Company messages show the transfers to Merit Peak began in late 2020.

      Reuters couldn’t determine the reason for the transfers or whether any of the money belonged to Binance.US customers. The exchange’s public terms of use at the time said its customers’ dollar deposits were held at Silvergate and a Nevada-based custodian firm called Prime Trust LLC. Prime Trust made $650 million in wire transfer deposits into the Binance.US account during the quarter, the bank records show.
      article-prompt-devices

      A Binance.US spokesperson, Kimberly Soward, did not address Reuters’ questions about the transfers detailed in the bank records. In a statement, she said Reuters’ reporting used “outdated information” without elaborating further. She added: “Merit Peak is neither trading nor providing any kind of services on the Binance.US platform” and “only Binance.US employees have access” to the bank accounts of the U.S. company. Soward didn’t specify when Merit Peak’s activities ceased.
      …
      https://www.reuters.com/technology/crypto-giant-binance-moved-400-million-us-partner-firm-managed-by-ceo-zhao-2023-02-16/

    3. Markets
      CNBC TV
      Tech
      The SEC has a stablecoin firm in its sights — and it could shake up the whole $137 billion market
      Published Sun, Feb 19 2023 8:46 PM EST
      Arjun Kharpal

      Key Points
      – The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) could be gearing up to take action against Paxos, a company that issued the Binance USD (BUSD) stablecoin.
      – The SEC hasn’t begun official action. But the agency’s actions are being watched closely because if it starts an official procedure, then it could have huge implications for all stablecoins including tether and USDC.
      – For its part, Paxos said it “categorically disagrees with the SEC staff because BUSD is not a security under the federal securities laws.”
      …
      https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/20/how-the-sec-and-paxos-busd-fight-could-impact-the-stablecoin-market.html

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