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I Was Previously Considered Wealthy

It’s Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. “After predicting that the sluggish housing market had started to rebound in January, Redfin this week blamed real estate market conditions as part of the reason for its latest round of layoffs. ‘At that time, we also acknowledged then that we weren’t out of the woods yet and the market was still touch and go,’ said Alina Ptaszynski, a Redfin senior communications manager, told GeekWire.”

“It’s clear that buyers are still paying never-before-seen prices for residential properties, but a slowdown in overall sales is leading to price cuts across the board, brokers say. In February, sales fell more than 30 percent in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties, year-over-year, according to the Miami Association of Realtors. Single-family home sales in Miami-Dade declined 28 percent. ‘There’s no question that many sellers had expectations of the Covid boom in price increases,’ said Mike Pappas, CEO of the Keyes Group of Companies. ‘That now is not there. Reality is making them make the adjustment to the current market pricing.'”

“The dizzying pace of the Brooklyn real estate market over the last decade is slowing. The number of sales in the quarter dove 39% to 2,236 vs. 3,666 in the same period a year earlier. Discounts on the last listing price were at 8 percent, compared with 1.6 percent in the same quarter last year. Sellers were also ‘capitulating to market conditions,’ said appraiser Jonathan Miller, as shown by the high level of discounted closings. ‘I think what the 8 percent represents going into the first quarter of this year is that sellers are being a bit more negotiable.'”

“Every corner of California is experiencing a real estate market cool down. To view the interactive map, click here. The number of home sales in nearly every county in the state declined during the last week of March compared with the previous year, according to Redfin. Among counties with at least 100,000 residents, the steepest drop in sales was in El Dorado County, where transactions fell by roughly 50%. Sales are down throughout the Sacramento region; local market analyst and appraiser Ryan Lundquist reported this week there were roughly 2,000 fewer sales in the region in the first quarter of 2023 than during the same time period last year. Falling demand was seen in every region, including the Bay Area, San Diego, the Central Coast Los Angeles, Fresno and the Central Valley.”

“Traylon Homes builds houses in Lorson Ranch in Colorado Springs, Meridian Ranch in Peyton, Pueblo West, and Eagle Brook in Loveland. To avoid a bidding war, Jade Rhodes closed on her $450,000 Tralon home in a rush in August 2021. Within four months of moving in, she started finding problems. ‘We bought this out of desperation,’ Rhodes explained. ‘It was going to be one of those where we’re going to be here for a bit, sell it, go to the next. Well, now we have these issues where we have to fix before we can sell it.'”

“Katherine Magana and her husband Giovanni told our team they regret buying their Tralon home. They admitted to closing on their house in 2021 for $504,000 without doing any research. Despite the consistent controversy and complaints, the Landhuis Company is busy with 38 more builds just around the corner from the Maganas. ‘If they can’t even keep up with the amount of warranty for the homes that they have right now,’ Katherine said, ‘why are you building more homes?'”

“A landlord accused of allowing residents to live in unsafe conditions at an east Houston apartment complex has lost four Houston apartment communities with more than 3,200 units in a foreclosure. Applesway founder Jay Gajavelli did not respond to request for comment, but an online marketing video showed him pitching the benefits of acquiring apartment communities, holding them for a short period and then selling them at profit. ‘You double your money in three to five years,’ Gajavelli said in the video. ‘This is a very powerful concept and proven business concept.'”

“A realtor is suggesting home sales in Hamilton are beginning to favour buyers this spring. Hamilton-Burlington home prices fell on average almost 20 per cent year over year from last March, with apartment-style homes seeing the largest decrease, down 22.8 per cent year over year. Rob Golfi of Remax Escarpment Realty told 900 CHML sellers may have to lower expectations with those shifts as hanging on to the notion they will be able to get ‘what their neighbour got’ the same time last year is likely ‘unrealistic.’ ‘So there’s a small inventory out there that are overpriced listings, which will probably have to sit for a while until the homeowner realizes that the market’s not going to give them that large dollar on their house,’ Golfi said.”

“Emma Fildes, of buying agent Brick Weaver, said developers were becoming desperate to offload properties and were offering discounts on sales prices. She said: ‘You can negotiate quite heavily on new builds. They are throwing the kitchen sink at it.'”

“According to Domain Group data, the median house price in Sydney’s Cremorne has fallen 23 per cent in a year to $2.52 million while Toorak’s median house price is at $4,737,500 – down a substantial 17 per cent. At the cheaper end of the scale, Camperdown’s median house price dropped 14 per cent to $1,655,000, Redfern prices fell 11.3 per cent to a $1.65 million median while Erskineville’s median price came down to $1.58 million. ‘There is a fair bit of apprehension among buyers who are motivated but don’t want to feel like they’re paying more than they should,’ said Nelson Alexander’s Rick Daniel.”

“The New Zealand Herald’s property editor Anne Gibson has been documenting the liquidations and she talks to The Detail about what’s behind them. ‘They’re suffering the most because they’re the ones on the knife edge,’ she says. ‘They just can’t carry on, and they have to declare at a certain point in time that the liabilities outweigh the assets.’ Building Industry Federation chief executive Julien Leys says the industry is softening, but it’s not falling off a cliff. ‘We’ve got a lot of inventory in terms of building supplies around the country. The demand’s not there and the prices are starting to level back.'”

“Liu Baoxiang, who runs a mahjong parlour in a city on China’s rust belt, no longer splurges on extravagant fashion items after seeing the two flats he owns lose roughly a third of their value over the past two years. ‘I was previously considered wealthy in the area,’ said Liu, who also owns some commercial property in the northeastern city of Liaoyuan. ‘I used to buy mink coats in the tens of thousands of yuan, but I’ve hardly purchased any and haven’t travelled lately.'”

“A resident in the northern city of Langfang said her flat is now priced at 8,000 yuan per sq m, less than half the 18,000 yuan she paid for it three years ago. ‘I have paid hundreds of thousands of yuan for a downpayment, paid off over 1 million yuan in loans and currently have over 1 million yuan in loans to repay,’ said Emily, who only gave her first name for privacy reasons. ‘I’m not going to spend money on anything this year. I need to tighten the belt. The suffering is unbearable.'”

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This Post Has 64 Comments

  1. The CO article is interesting.

    ‘We bought this out of desperation,’ Rhodes explained. ‘It was going to be one of those where we’re going to be here for a bit, sell it, go to the next. Well, now we have these issues where we have to fix before we can sell it’

    First of all Jade – you are a winnah! Keep in mind you can paint those crumbling walls any color you like.

    1. ‘If they can’t even keep up with the amount of warranty for the homes that they have right now,’ Katherine said, ‘why are you building more homes?’”

      Builder: “Sue me”

  2. ‘I’m not going to spend money on anything this year. I need to tighten the belt. The suffering is unbearable’

    Emily has learned the biggest lesson of being a winnah! You gotta stop eating.

    1. suffering
      Aw. It probably came out a bit stronger in translation, but there are people out there who talk like this. The other day, my husband casually mentioned going out to breakfast after an early appointment. I asked if he was out of his mind, spending $30-40 dollars for some eggs is something that is no longer possible for us, not that it was ever a smart thing to do 😬

      1. I have to admit, I only eat breakfast at a restaurant when on vacation, as the price is, as you mentioned, absurd. And I can afford it.

      2. A couple of days ago I visited a former co-worker who is also now retired, and we went out to Denny’s for breakfast. It cost $55 including the tip.

        1. “including the tip”

          Which is now expected to be 20%. I can make it at home for less than the tip.

          2. How is it that a waiter bringing a $100 bottle of wine needs more tip than a $8 bottle? Is it harder work?

      3. You guys are high rollers.

        If I’m caught out driving and need breakfast, it’s a Tim Horton’s Breakfast Sandwich. $5

        1. Still a fan of sausage and egg breakfast McMuffins, I go Scotch these days and opt for the Jimmy Dean box of 8ea frozen sandwiches; remove the cheese and add ghost pepper sauce!

          2. Ouch. Careful or your future medical costs will far outweigh your savings of a processed food diet.

  3. ‘an online marketing video showed him pitching the benefits of acquiring apartment communities, holding them for a short period and then selling them at profit. ‘You double your money in three to five years,’ Gajavelli said in the video. ‘This is a very powerful concept and proven business concept’

    The Holy Grail of investing Jay. You too are a winnah!

    1. “…This is a very powerful concept and proven business concept….”

      Powerful? – Any time that word is used in any kind of marketing pitch, run in the opposite direction. (Not limited to just R/E, btw).

      Proven? – Show me the proof. (We all know there isn’t any)

    2. You double your money

      After all, the money you borrowed isn’t “your” money.

      The reason you sell is to get back into a fully leveraged position, I guess.

      “Once we get this figured out, the boom will be over.” — an old boss

  4. ‘In February, sales fell more than 30 percent in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties, year-over-year, according to the Miami Association of Realtors. Single-family home sales in Miami-Dade declined 28 percent. ‘There’s no question that many sellers had expectations of the Covid boom in price increases,’ said Mike Pappas, CEO of the Keyes Group of Companies. ‘That now is not there. Reality is making them make the adjustment to the current market pricing’

    Not a few little sh$tholes. Entire counties are sinking like a turd in a well. Have you noticed the Tampa Bay Times and Orlando Sentinel have been kinda quiet lately? They do that every time it craters.

  5. ‘After predicting that the sluggish housing market had started to rebound in January, Redfin this week blamed real estate market conditions as part of the reason for its latest round of layoffs. ‘At that time, we also acknowledged then that we weren’t out of the woods yet and the market was still touch and go’

    Bon Appétit Glen:

    via GIPHY

  6. Americans to Spend Billions on Biden’s Obamacare for DACA Illegal Aliens

    JOHN BINDER
    13 Apr 2023

    American taxpayers are likely to subsidize billions of dollars in Affordable Care Act benefits for illegal aliens enrolled in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program under a plan by President Joe Biden.

    On Thursday, President Joe Biden announced a plan to open the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare, and Medicaid rolls to hundreds of thousands of DACA illegal aliens.

    Previously, Center for Immigration Studies researchers estimated that the cost of opening Obamacare and Medicaid rolls to illegal aliens would cost American taxpayers about $4,600 per illegal alien.

    At this rate, Biden’s Obamacare and Medicaid for DACA illegal aliens has the potential to cost American taxpayers roughly $2.8 billion every year.

    https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2023/04/13/americans-spend-billions-biden-obamacare-daca/

    2. Unfortunately it’s been this way for 30-40 years. Illegals come in get hurt or sick and go to the hospital. Sit down right beside me to get medical attention. Except I’m paying $15,000 a year in premiums. Been that way for ever. I’ve got beats I ride motorcycles with do the same thing. To cheap to pay for health insurance…..get hurt not wearing a helmet….she up on disability.

    4. “Replacement Theory” is not a theory, the Marxist globalists have openly stated that they wish to replace, and ultimately exterminate, all white Christians from the planet.

      The Southern Poverty Law Center and Anti Defamation League are actively attempting to enact white genocide.

      #Noticing

      1. Alarming, and not the first time reported.

        @amuse | Apr 14, 2023
        A network of mass migration camps are being erected in Latin and South America. They are funded by Democrats and facilitate illegal human trafficking of military-aged males from China into the U.S.
        https://twitter.com/amuse/status/1646844207724625926

        Next tweet: “More than 400,000 military-age males have illegally entered the U.S. since Biden took office.”

        1. One of those shelters in Ciudad Juarez caught fire and burned, killing several. From what I have read in the Mexican media (which also doesn’t like to talk about it) Mexican border towns are overwhelmed by the central and south American caravans.

          There was an article that did discuss how organized crime preys on the caravans, and that people are known to disappear while in transit.

          The bunks shown in the video are run by Panamanian immigration. I don’t know if they are detention centers for deportees or a place for caravans to rest.

      3. San Jose has a good share of tech firms, so covid and work from home hit their office sector pretty hard. In addition, San Jose has been the dumping ground for Santa Clara county’s drug addled misfits and homeless services, so Palo Alto, Cupertino, Mountain View, and in the east bay Warm Springs, Milpitas, Berryessa, etc., enjoy a public dumping ground.

    1. “victim”

      Pretty sure there were multiple victims. I hope he was dumb enough to steal some luggage in a jurisdiction with a non-Soros DA (or at least one that still believes in prosecuting crimes).

        1. Backpfeifengesicht 🥴

          “Do you ever look at someone and feel like punching them in the face? Well, Germans have a unique word for that face: a Backpfeifengesicht — a face that’s badly in need of a fist.

          This is one of those strange words that’s uniquely German with no English equivalent.”

          Should be the schadenfreude (favorite German buzz word) of this latest financial crisis. Some people need to be more than punched.

  9. “After predicting that the sluggish housing market had started to rebound in January, Redfin this week blamed real estate market conditions as part of the reason for its latest round of layoffs. ‘At that time, we also acknowledged then that we weren’t out of the woods yet and the market was still touch and go,’ said Alina Ptaszynski, a Redfin senior communications manager, told GeekWire.”

    Lemme guess, the prediction was on page 1 in 16 point font, the acknowledgement was on page 104 in footnote number 2,325.

  10. Video: Carlson Exposes How Establishment Media Is Desperate To Help Cover Up Info From Intel Leaks

    By Steve Watson
    Friday, April 14, 2023

    Fox News host Tucker Carlson noted Thursday that instead of asking questions about the substance of the information contained in the leaked intelligence material from the Pentagon, the corporate media simply wanted to know how they can help cover it up.

    The documents, allegedly leaked by a 21-year-old National Guardsman, reveal information showing that the U.S. is deeply involved in the Ukrain/Russia war.

    “If you want to get really sick to your stomach, go pull a transcript from the Pentagon briefing today where news reporters asked flacks from the Pentagon, what are we gonna do to keep information like this secret in the future?” Carlson urged.

    The host added that the press failed to ask “one question about the substance of the information,” adding “We are fighting a war against Russia directly, really? Don’t they have the biggest arsenal in the world? Not one question,” instead the reporters asked “How can we help you keep it secret?”

    “Those are the questions and not only are the media covering up the substance of the story, which is not who leaked it, but what he leaked, they are covering up the crimes committed to get you this information,” Carlson continued.

    “The administration apparently used illegal surveillance techniques to identify this kid apparently with the help of The Washington Post and The New York Times,” Carlson emphasised, further charging that the media is working in lockstep with the intelligence community.

    “If it’s illegal to see these documents if you don’t have a security clearance, how is the Washington Post doing this legally?” Carlson asked, further noting “They don’t have a security clearance. Well, obviously, they were given them by the U.S. Intel agencies and are working alongside them.”

    Carlson asserted “this is information that is relevant to the public in a so-called democracy. You cannot lie about things that jeopardize our collective future and get away with it and you certainly shouldn’t be doing that with the assistance of the news media.”

    “The news media whose job it is to inform you of what your government is doing, but instead they are working actively late into the night to lie to you on behalf of their masters in permanent Washington. By the way, just last week, the plan was to lie in an even more grotesque way and blame Russia for this,” the host also noted.

    Watch:

    https://www.newswars.com/video-carlson-exposes-how-media-wants-to-help-cover-up-information-from-intel-leak/

  11. New York Post — Woke marketing forced on firms is alienating American consumers (4/13/2023):

    “Here’s how the game works: The world’s largest asset managers use your retirement funds, 401(k) accounts and investment dollars to pressure US companies to adopt political agendas that most Americans did not and would not vote for at the ballot box.

    The newest trend in executive compensation is the incorporation of ESG (environmental, social, governance) factors into determining how CEOs and CFOs are paid.

    A quarter of S&P 500 companies now pay their executives based in part on the achievement of ESG goals, from financial institutions like Bank of America to oil companies like Exxon to beverage companies like Coca-Cola. Scoring high on the “corporate equality index” is a nice way to score well on the “social” prong of an ESG assessment — and like normal humans, CEOs respond to financial incentives.

    This of course raises the question of why BlackRock and other financial institutions play this game of self-sabotage by steering companies to adopt harmful policies.

    After all, don’t they make less money if they make companies perform more poorly?

    Not quite.

    In fact, they might make even more money from the greater fee streams they generate from blue-state pension funds — like CalPERS in California — that effectively demand that BlackRock, State Street and Vanguard adopt ESG agendas as a condition for investing money with them.

    So even if everyday Americans whose retirement accounts invested in these funds are left holding the bag, BlackRock itself still wins because it gets to manage more money from those large blue states — and to earn a greater fee stream in the process.”

    https://nypost.com/2023/04/13/tragic-trans-battle-of-the-brands/

    1. Not trusting money managers is why I’ve always rolled 401K’s into my self-directed IRA.

  12. Print $5 trillion for a phony “pandemic” and this is what you get:

    “Inflation, economic instability and a lack of savings have an increasing number of Americans feeling financially stressed.

    Some 70% of Americans admit to being stressed about their personal finances these days and a majority — 52% — of U.S. adults said their financial stress has increased since before the Covid-19 pandemic began in March 2020, according to a new CNBC Your Money Financial Confidence Survey conducted in partnership with Momentive.

    Nearly 60% of respondents cited inflation as the main contributor to their financial stress, followed by economy-wide instability (43%), rising interest rates (36%) and a lack of savings (35%), according to the survey of 4,336 adults, which was conducted at the end of March.”

    https://www.cnbc.com/2023/04/11/70percent-of-americans-feel-financially-stressed-new-cnbc-survey-finds.html

    CCP Flu is the greatest FRAUD of my lifetime.

    1. Print $5 trillion for a phony “pandemic” and this is what you get:

      Don’t forget the other $5 trillion in monetary stimulus. This was the most reckless, sinful crime in the history of mankind.

  13. “At the cheaper end of the scale, Camperdown’s median house price dropped 14 per cent to $1,655,000…”

    In today’s bizarro world, $1.655M is considered “cheap” in some places.

        1. The chances of having another Worldwide pandemic in the near future is essentially ZERO. After all, the last pandemic to sweep the Earth occurred in 1918. Given that it seems that Covid-19 was cooked up by the Chinese/NIH/Fauci and company and every government on Earth went into panic mode by curtailing basic civil rights etc., any “New” pandemic anytime soon will prove that the Deep State is in fact trying to take over the World.

          1. The average NPC meatbot has the attention span of a fruitfly. They won’t be able to make the connection

    1. The Generals telling JFK that if we attacked the Russians we would kill 120,000,000 of them and ONLY suffer 30,000,000 “TOPS!” dead here!

      That was the exact same line that General Buck Turgidson said in Dr. Strangelove. It’s not a coincident that the plot in Strangelove mimics real life. It’s even more disturbing that it seems that this country has run off its rails:
      https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/04/the-arrest-of-a-21-year-old-national-guard-member-for-leaking-classified-docs-leads-to-more-questions-than-answers/
      The CIA may in fact be the organization that assassinated JFK. And they’re even more powerful today.

      1. “The CIA may in fact be the organization that assassinated JFK.”

        With help from Sam Giancana and his business associates.

        “A pivotal period of U.S. involvement in Vietnam, punctuated by three important events: the overthrow and assassination of South Vietnam’s president Ngo Dinh Diem; President Kennedy’s decision on October 2 to begin the withdrawal of U.S. forces; and his assassination fifty days later.”

  17. “After predicting that the sluggish housing market had started to rebound in January, Redfin this week blamed real estate market conditions as part of the reason for its latest round of layoffs. ‘At that time, we also acknowledged then that we weren’t out of the woods yet and the market was still touch and go,’ said Alina Ptaszynski, a Redfin senior communications manager, told GeekWire.”

    Ancient Chinese proverb:

    He who picks bottom
    Often wakes up with smelly finger.

  18. “Falling demand was seen in every region, including the Bay Area, San Diego, the Central Coast Los Angeles, Fresno and the Central Valley.”

    California homeowners hopiing to capture the pandemic price premium in a home sale missed the boat. Enjoy riding your falling knife towards the ground.

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