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Many Short-Term Investors Know Prices May Have More Room To Fall And Want To Cut Their Losses

A report from Moneywise. “The golden days of real estate investors buying and flipping homes for a quick profit appear to have come to a halt. Investors lost money on roughly one of every seven (13.5%) homes they sold in March, according to Redfin. That followed a dire month in February, when real estate investors lost money on 14.5% of homes sold — the highest rate since 2016 and a long stretch from the record monthly low of 2.8% in May 2022. Real estate investors are most likely to lose money in markets that saw the largest surges in house prices during the pandemic, according to Redfin. In March, the hardest hit market was Phoenix, Arizona, where 30.7% of homes sold by investors lost money. Phoenix was followed by Las Vegas, Nevada, (28%), Jacksonville, Florida, (20.9%), Sacramento, California, (20.2%) and Charlotte, N.C. (17.4%).”

“‘I recently showed one of my buyers a three-bedroom single-family home in Glendale that was listed by an investor,’ Phoenix Redfin agent Van Welborn said. ‘My client ultimately found another house they liked better, and the investor ended up losing about $20,000. The investor bought the home for $450,000 and sold it for $480,000, but put $50,000 of work into it. The house also sold below the $550,000 list price after sitting on the market for almost four months.'”

“‘You might wonder why investors don’t just wait to sell until the housing market bounces back,’ Redfin’s senior economist Sheharyar Bokhari said. ‘Many long-term investors who rent their properties out are doing that, but many flippers — especially those who bought recently — can’t afford to.’  Home flippers — which Redfin defines as investors that buy and resell homes within nine months — sold roughly one in five homes at a loss in March, according to Redfin. ‘Holding onto homes that aren’t producing income can be expensive because the owner is on the hook for property taxes, along with operating costs and monthly mortgage payments in some cases,’ Bokhari added. ‘Many short-term investors are also opting to sell because they know prices may have more room to fall and want to cut their losses.'”

WRAL News in North Carolina. “Prices are coming down in the cities of Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill. A year ago, buyers were competing for homes with offers tens of thousands of dollars – even six figures – over the asking price. Tanisha Hithe, who is trying to sell her home and is making repairs and renovations after failing to sell last year, told WRAL News: ‘What we’re trying to do here is sell our home, right! Just making it something that will grab someone’s attention to say – oh I really want to be in this home. I can see myself raising a family here. To say stressful is an understatement.'”

The New York Post. “From impossible-to-score tickets for Taylor Swift’s New York City concert and a $6,000 Vespa — to pricey gym memberships and cars — high-gloss gifts to facilitate home sales are at an all-time high. These catchy incentives are in response to a slowing real estate market, industry experts say. ‘As a general rule, the more the market drops, the greater the perks that buyers and agents can expect,’ said Taylor Marr, the lead economist for Redfin. ‘These are on top of sellers dropping their asking prices too.'”

“According to a recent Redfin analysis, around 46% of sellers around the US offered gifts with a sale, a record high for the last decade. In New York, where real estate sales are down 38% year-over-year and prices are down by 3%, one in every six sellers dangled a gift to woo a new owner — and an expensive one, at that. Marr says that the value of the average gift is between $5,000 and $10,000, with some as high as $80,000. ‘We’re seeing an unprecedented number of these incentives out there,’ he said.”

The Times of San Diego in California. “After two months of rising home sales in San Diego County, the market fell by double digits in April, the Greater San Diego Association of Realtors reported. ‘Homes are selling at a much slower pace than a year ago, with escrows closing in the 30-day range,’ the association said in a report this week. Sales of single-family homes dropped 13%, while condominium sales were off 11%. Both were down by over a third from April 2022. Though sales volume declined, the median price of a single-family home ticked up 1% in April to $952,600, but remains nearly 5% under a year ago. The median price for a condominium was $640,000, 3% lower than a year ago.”

Bisnow San Francisco in California. “Two new listings for office properties in downtown San Francisco shine new light on how much valuations have fallen in the once high-flying market. A 138K SF building at 123 Townsend St. is on the market, according to Real Estate Alert, a division of Green Street News, and is expected to sell for about $90M, far off the $140M CBRE Investment Management paid for it in July 2020. Similarly, Real Estate Alert pointed to the listing of a 157K SF building at 60 Spear St. The anticipated list price of $55M is half what New York-based Clarion Property Partners paid for it in the summer of 2022. ‘The offerings come as early results from a wave of distressed listings suggest that pricing dislocation in the city may be worse than initially feared,’ Real Estate Alert said in the report.”

The News Tribune in Washington. “The bad news is accumulating when it comes to apartment development in the Tacoma area. The latest came with a Friday report released by real estate entity Kidder Mathews on Seattle and Puget Sound’s apartment markets. Seattle took perhaps the biggest hits in the report. ‘To say that the bloom is off the ‘tech rose’ is a massive understatement,’ said Dylan Simon in a release accompanying the report. ‘Seattle is on track for the fewest annual apartment sales in over a decade, with only 13 recorded sales in Q1 2023,’ according to the report. ‘Buyers cite interest rates and weak renter demand, while sellers continue to hold tight to yesteryear’s values.'”

“Meanwhile, a July 21 foreclosure auction looms for Tacoma Trax and the developers’ completed Madison Plaza project in Kent after multiple lien filings and two separate cases filed in King County Superior Court seeking to recoup money owed on loans and construction equipment rental. And this week, Tacoma-based Harbor Custom Development, which has pivoted more to multifamily-unit development in different U.S. markets in the past few years, announced its founder and CEO was stepping down in mid-July along with other executive moves. That news came after lower-than-expected earnings were reported for the quarter and for 2022 by the company at the end of March. Of the company’s six Puget Sound area apartment properties put on the market in April 2022, only two have attracted buyers so far.”

The Globe and Mail. “A year into the fastest campaign to hike interest rates in decades, the commercial real estate sector is deadlocked. In one corner, the world’s most sophisticated private real estate investors, including Canadian pension plans, say scores of properties they own are worth hundreds of millions of dollars each and have held most of their value. In the other, investors are dumping shares of publicly-traded real estate investment trusts (REITs), particularly those that own skyscrapers, because they don’t think such lofty values still make sense. In Canada, the national vacancy rate of office towers just hit an all-time high, and in New York, there are enough empty offices to fill 26 Empire State Buildings.”

“Amid this chaos, private owners do occasionally acknowledge the winds have shifted. Last year Royal Bank Plaza, the tower that houses the headquarters of Canada’s largest lender, Royal Bank of Canada, sold for $1.1-billion. Its sellers were OMERS’ real estate arm, Oxford Properties, and its co-investor, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board.At OMERS’ annual meeting in April, Blake Hutcheson, OMERS’ CEO, told pension plan members that if they tried the same sale again now, ‘I would think we’d get $300-million or $400-million less.’ That’s a 30- to 40-per-cent drop, in line with public market valuations.”

“‘The fundamentals are brutal. Some of these buildings are never coming back,’ said Jeff Olin, the co-founder of Vision Capital Corp. He still thinks some office towers are great, but when it comes to private owners’ estimates, ‘there’s certainly denial, that’s for sure.'”

The Daily Mail. “Barefoot Investor Scott Pape has warned Aussies to think twice before buying a house with just a two per cent deposit. He revealed a letter from a woman who managed to buy a unit as a single mum on a low income who is also a carer and sending money to a parent living overseas. Jane said she had put down a two per cent deposit when interest rates were low with help from the then-Coalition government’s First Home Loan Deposit Scheme. But now her fixed rate is about to run out, her mortgage is about to triple, she’s ‘terrified’ and wants advice on switching banks to keep her costs down.”

“Mr Pape was blunt in his answer, saying ‘Jane has about as much chance of moving banks as Peter Dutton has of being Prime Minister’. ‘She pretty much had zero equity in the joint to begin with, and it went down from there,’ he said. ‘So not only is she deeply in the red but, more importantly, her interest rate is about to triple, and her repayments could take food off her table.’ Jane had admitted in her email to him that she had gone ‘against what you recommended’ because ‘the government said they were helping me buy a unit’.”

This Post Has 106 Comments
  1. ‘What we’re trying to do here is sell our home, right! Just making it something that will grab someone’s attention to say – oh I really want to be in this home. I can see myself raising a family here. To say stressful is an understatement’

    Get a hold of yerself Tanisha! And whatever you do, don’t go giving it away.

    1. We’re back to the days of sellers either having to do a renovation for the buyer, or lowering the price to something a renoflipper would accept. It’s a $30-$50K hidden price cut.

  2. ‘Its sellers were OMERS’ real estate arm, Oxford Properties, and its co-investor, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board.At OMERS’ annual meeting in April, Blake Hutcheson, OMERS’ CEO, told pension plan members that if they tried the same sale again now, ‘I would think we’d get $300-million or $400-million less.’ That’s a 30- to 40-per-cent drop, in line with public market valuations’

    Been saying lots of people aren’t going to be retiring, or not like they thought. But we had to stamp out that minor respiratory illness! Wait, we didn’t stamp it out.

    Never mind.

  3. ‘To say that the bloom is off the ‘tech rose’ is a massive understatement,’ said Dylan Simon in a release accompanying the report. ‘Seattle is on track for the fewest annual apartment sales in over a decade, with only 13 recorded sales in Q1 2023,’ according to the report. ‘Buyers cite interest rates and weak renter demand, while sellers continue to hold tight to yesteryear’s values’

    Dylan, I’ll have you know this is THE Holy Grail of investing.

  4. “The golden days of real estate investors buying and flipping homes for a quick profit appear to have come to a halt. Investors lost money on roughly one of every seven (13.5%) homes they sold in March, according to Redfin.

    Die, speculator scum.

    1. They’re not even including the realtor fees and closing costs, which I’m sure the seller is pay for now

  5. These catchy incentives are in response to a slowing real estate market, industry experts say.

    Quit playing silly games & get to sawin’ & slashin’ like you mean it, greedheads. CRE & residential real estate in ‘Muricas’ urban centers is headed in one direction: down.

  6. A 138K SF building at 123 Townsend St. is on the market, according to Real Estate Alert, a division of Green Street News, and is expected to sell for about $90M, far off the $140M CBRE Investment Management paid for it in July 2020.

    It was only Yellen Bux. Easy come, easy go.

  7. ‘Many short-term investors are also opting to sell because they know prices may have more room to fall and want to cut their losses.’

    The last couple of real estate busts, prices fell for six years before reaching bottom. Are longterm investors really that patient?

  8. ‘‘She pretty much had zero equity in the joint to begin with, and it went down from there,’ he said. ‘So not only is she deeply in the red but, more importantly, her interest rate is about to triple, and her repayments could take food off her table.’ Jane had admitted in her email to him that she had gone ‘against what you recommended’ because ‘the government said they were helping me buy a unit’.”

    ‘We’re the government, and we’re here to help.’

  9. Monday morning.

    Time to go back to work? How much is that monthly mortgage payment?

    $5,000 a month? $8,000 a month?

    It all sounded easy when the bank told you that you “qualified” for 360 of those monthly payments, but now that weight is sinking in, and it’s heavy.

      1. Most won’t make it that far. Either they will sell or default long before 30 years. This isn’t the 1950’s anymore.

      2. Can you imagine having to drop $5k every 30 days for 30 years straight?

        The trick is cancelling Netflix and not buying the avocado toast.

        1. And then there is the $80,000 pickup.

          It wasn’t that long ago that 80 grand would buy a top of the line Eurotrash SUV and you could get a nice Lexus SUV for say $50K.

          From what I hear new inventory is starting to pile up at dealerships

          1. I capitulated the other day and bought a new Acura for $50k. Insanely expensive but cheaper than it was 7 months ago. A comparable used acura with an accident or high mileage was $40k+ so with two bad choices I took the least terrible choice. My parents vehicle is a 2017 Nissan that today is worth more money than they paid for it used in 2019. Sucks to need a car now but what you gonna do? Take public trans, risk your life in jail over some bum who tries to kill you first?

          2. Buy American whenever possible. If you make your money here, spend it here.

            Sorry. With the way American manufacturers offshored vehicle production and then set out to gouge customers to the most sickening level of greed imaginable, I’d love to buy a Chinese car and f*ck them right into bankruptcy. Then f*ck them again, and again, and again….

          3. With the way American manufacturers offshored vehicle production and then set out to gouge customers to the most sickening level of greed imaginable

            A lot of “American” cars and trucks are assembled in Mexico with significant Mexican content. An Asian vehicle assembled in the US is probably more “American”.

        1. That has already been deflected, but his gruesomeness will look the other way when Foot Lockers are looted and burned to the ground, then complain about greed when they are not reopened.

          Foot Locker has an interesting business model: it’s target demographic are likely to loot their stores.

        2. “The California task force has approved a reparations plan that could cost the state over $800 billion, more than 2.5 times the state’s annual budget.”

          Easy, just fire-up the MMT printing press!

      3. Can you imagine having to drop $5k every 30 days for 30 years straight?

        They are one layoff/recession away from losing the shack, even if they can swing it now.

  10. because ‘the government said they were helping me buy a unit’.”
    I guess Ronald Reagan’s quote about Govt. help applies to all English speaking countries not just the US.
    “The most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the government and I’m here to help.”

  11. A reader sent these in:

    One of the biggest acquirers of self storage over the last 3 years just had to make a capital call to refi their debt. This is only the beginning

    https://twitter.com/StorageDataDev/status/1656999568049860608

    Rental Market Tracker: Asking Rents Flattened in April as Landlords Faced Rising Vacancies

    https://twitter.com/TaylorAMarr/status/1656754801080692736

    The mortgage payment needed to buy the median priced home for sale in the US has moved up to $2,566, a new all-time high.

    https://twitter.com/charliebilello/status/1657362557399883777

    Where the California exodus is settling

    https://twitter.com/4Mischief/status/1657489404569571332

    1. Where the California exodus is settling

      That’s a stellar graphic. But I’m surprised so many went to New York.

      1. “The Hatch Act of 1939 is a federal law in the United States that prohibits civil-service employees in the executive branch of the federal government, except the president and vice president, from engaging in some forms of political activity. The act was introduced by Senator Carl Hatch of New Mexico to regulate corruption and intimidation of federal employees in the civil service by their elected supervisors. It also banned the use of federal funds for electoral purposes and forbade federal officials from coercing political support with the promise of public jobs or funds.”

        Likely includes log rolling while on the clock?

        1. I’ve never heard of “log rolling,” at least not in the context of low-level bureaucrats. What is it? Google isn’t much help.

      1. Imagine the desperation of these party hacks to keep half the people in the country from having their brains explode and flush them down the toilet of history forever. The truth will win in the end.

    1. The city of 176,000 has long been recognized by environmentalists — and even by the Russian government — as one of the most polluted places on Earth, because of one business: Norilsk Nickel, the world’s biggest producer of palladium and high-grade nickel and a top producer of platinum, cobalt and copper.Dec 10, 2021

      I watched a you tuber travel through these arctic areas, surreal

    2. so we really want to go all electric karz?

      For the people who matter. Everyone else can take the bus.

    3. The mistake is thinking that the global warming cult actually cares about the environment. They clear cut ancient forests to put up wind turbine farms. They destroy the environment with their lithium and cobalt mining. They used toxic batteries all over third world countries. They claim that CO2, nitrogen, and sunshine are deadly to life on earth. As with any cult, the leaders are scammers grifting for money and power and the followers are brainwashed idiots.

      1. Someone here posted that some WEF muckety muck said that the human herd needs to be culled, in the most humane way possible. I tried to find a link to that. Does anyone have it.

      2. Ironically, they are very excited about millions of people streaming across the border to vastly improve their consumption of precious resources.

        They are all despicable.

      3. All this talk about reducing emissions and cap-and-trade is silly. Easy answer: Plant more trees and grasses, desalinating for irrigation if necessary. Plants will suck up the CO2 for you, and — bonus — the trees will increase rainfall. Of course the problem is that such a simple plan doesn’t need much coordination, and won’t generate enough cushy jobs for the sons of diplomats.

        1. Plant more trees and grasses

          This doesn’t seem to happen on the larger scale. I believe environmentalists are intent on destruction. They say they’re green and they want to fight carbon, but they let the forests burn down and they often work to prevent replanting so that it’s “natural”. They are destroying the world.

          1. I’ve found most environmentalists in government and Big Corp are urban folks who have never grown a thing.

  12. And despite this, they feel poorer than ever:

    “Total consumer debt hit a fresh new high in the first quarter of 2023, pushing past $17 trillion even amid a sharp pullback in home borrowing.

    The total for borrowing across all categories hit $17.05 trillion, an increase of nearly $150 billion, or 0.9% during the January-to-March period, the New York Federal Reserve reported Monday. That took total indebtedness up about $2.9 trillion from the pre-Covid period ending in 2019.”

    https://www.cnbc.com/2023/05/15/consumer-debt-passes-17-trillion-for-the-first-time-despite-slide-in-mortgage-demand.html

    1. Wha… happened?

      Cash on the sidelines…..equity rich…..flushed with pandemic money..

      All nothing but bs.

      1. Wait until tens of millions have to start payments on their student loans again. An estimated 24 million are on scamdemic deferment. You’ll see a real drop in consumer spending as that average of $400/mo goes to the bankers instead of Amazon, Starbucks, Apple, Netflix, and avocado toast. Cut $10B a month off the discretionary spending.

        1. Whatever happened to ‘Mr. Banker’?

          Would love to see his insights on what’s coming down the pike.

          1. Collapsed as his bank? I kid I kid

            Hope he’s around. He was/is a good guy based on his writings.

    2. Thanks again for posting the picture of Beau, although not puzzling people with his ability to climb sheer cliffs and Rock the Rockies he looks good and like he is enjoying his AARP years.

  13. Repelled by high car prices, Americans are holding on to their vehicles longer than ever

    2 hours ago

    “You’re not going to get one for a price you can afford,” he said.

    Holdsworth has plenty of company. Americans are keeping their cars longer than ever. The average age of a passenger vehicle on the road hit a record 12.5 years this year, according to data gathered by S&P Global Mobility. Sedans like Holdsworth’s are even older, on average — 13.6 years.

    Since the pandemic struck three years ago, the average new vehicle has rocketed 24% to nearly $48,000 as of April, according to Edmunds.com. Typical loan rates on new-car purchases have ballooned to 7%, a consequence of the Federal Reserve’s aggressive streak of interest rate hikes to fight inflation.

    It’s all pushed the national average monthly auto loan payment to $729 — prohibitively high for many. Experts say a family earning the median U.S. household income can no longer afford the average new car payment and still cover such necessities as housing, food and utilities.

    Used vehicle prices, on average, have surged even more since the pandemic hit — up 40%, to nearly $29,000. With an average loan rate having reached 11%, the typical monthly used-vehicle payment is now $563.

    https://www.ksl.com/article/50644981/repelled-by-high-car-prices-americans-are-holding-on-to-their-vehicles-longer-than-ever

    1. I represent that.

      Have a 2006 honda with 120K miles….runs great. Wouldn’t mind upgrading to Acura or some other brand…can pay cash, too.
      But I am not going to play their bs game, so I will keep on driving the good ol’ honda.

      1. Have a 2003 Chevy S10 truck. 265K miles.

        *No* major problems.

        Other than scheduled maintenance, have replaced the battery 4 times, and 4(?) sets of tires, other than that, a cakewalk.

        Chevy builds a good product.

    2. I drove past a dealership the other day. I recall that just one year ago they had hardly any inventory on the lot. Now, it was bursting at the seams, and more inventory keeps arriving. Something is going to have to give, though from what I have read automakers will stop production before offering discounts.

      1. “automakers will stop production”

        Others will take their market share. Thank you very much. Some niche models like F15 may get away with this, but rest will lose to Koreans/Japanese. I predict we will see a Chinese brand within 5 years.

        1. This could be the break Chinese brands have been waiting for, but they will have to seriously undercut the known brands, as they have no track record. Would you buy a Chinese car for 10% less than a Corolla or a Civic? 25% less? 40%? 50%? I remember when Hyundai first arrived, their Excel was dirt cheap, but it wasn’t comparable to the Japanese models. Would there be a market for a $12K Chinese compact sedan? With a good warranty, perhaps.

          The big 3 have already given up on sedans and hatchbacks, conceding that segment to the Asian brands. But judging by what I see on the road even Asian brand buyers want SUVs and Trux.

      2. automakers can’t really stop production. Their fixed costs and overhead are HUGE, it literally costs more not to produce. This has always been their problem. A slight decrease in volume results in massive losses.

        At some point they are going to have to cut prices.

    3. I guess I’ve been very lucky with my timing. Bought a house at the right time, and might be able to sell at a good time too (10 years from now). Bought my Camry not quite 6 years ago, so I can wait 4-6 years for all this inventory to shake out. Of course by then I might be chained into a 15-minute city.

      1. sell at a good time too (10 years from now)

        Nothing personal, but I would like this long bubble collapse and stay down. I want this for the future of my children and grandchildren. It’s not just about the house debt slavery thing, there are myriad bad consequences of the financial pyramid scheme.

        If you make a few bucks off your luck, it doesn’t matter much. It wasn’t wise and studied “timing”. You kinda lost your mind at the time over how much money you were going to make and mocked those of us who advocated traditional financial modesty. That said, good luck Oxy.

        1. You keep saying this “I was going to make money,” “I was going to get rich.”

          No, I bought a house because my mortgage payment was LESS than my rent payment, and because I wanted a paid off dwelling in retirement. Even if I sold the house for what I bought it for, I would come out ahead of renting. I lost my mind trying to defend my purchase.

          1. I lost my mind trying to defend

            I’m sure it was just the NYT Rent or Buy calculator.

    4. My 15 year old domestic had too many problems to fix so I junked it for a new Acura. $50k. Insane but a used one was $40k with high mileage or an accident. The new market is better than the used market because I’ll get another 15 years out of this Acura.

  14. Another new winner from middle of nowhere. House built in 2002,
    sold in June of 2020 for 390k.
    Sold in May of 2022 for 439k.
    On the market just today for 669k. no updates.

    I be confused.

  15. The more one deep dives into Climate Change narrative , the more you find its just one big fraud.
    I can just picture these Masterminds trying to dream up something in order to take over humans and subject them to total control or enslavement.
    Your going to die if you don’t do what these fraudsters say regarding climate change or invisible virus.
    Science was bought off pretty easy, and Scientist would only get funded if they got behind the narratives.
    And than you saw a entire Medical System that was bribed or extorted into mass murder over a easy to cure Covid Virus.
    Than the your going to loose your job if you don’t take a expierment vaccine…
    All the rigged economic systems that were created that defied logic and common sense..Rule of law throw under the bus to create mayhem and instability..
    Schools becoming dangerous places for mind control, brainwashing ,transgender perversions and assault, and taught discrimation against WHITE RACE, in violation of Civil Rights Laws and Constitution . Invasion of Borders
    part of the planned attack.
    A lawless attack by criminal fraudsters of the New World Order to take over World.
    . Faked news with censorship to trick and deceive and fear monger Public with massive cover up of death and injury from fake vaccine.
    They plan to have currency where Banks control your consumption and what you can access. .

    Boy, they sure have this NEW WORLD all planned and people st to get to eat bugs and fake food living in 15 minute cities

    1. And “AI’s” will be used to spin narratives, which we can’t challenge because “they are smarter than we are”

      Remember that old Star Trek episode where two civilizations were fighting a virtual war, and if the computer said that you died in a virtual/simulated attack that you were to report to be executed?

      So what happens when the fake AI’s pronounce that billions need to die immediately to “save the world”?

      1. Oh right to AI factor. Oh no, they aren’t going to abuse AI.
        And ,these moron demon liars are so reckless with attacking CO2, that a reduction big enough could be a disaster for the earth. They don’t care, it all about their big plans.

        And when John Kerry at the WEF meeting talked about that group saving the earth, I think thats when I realized they were mentally ill and dangerous.

        1. I think thats when I realized they were mentally ill and dangerous.

          I don’t know if they are mentally ill, unless being evil == mentally ill; but they certainly are dangerous.

        2. I think thats when I realized they were mentally ill and dangerous.

          I don’t know if they are mentally ill, unless being evil == mentally ill; but they certainly are dangerous.

  16. ‘As a general rule, the more the market drops, the greater the perks that buyers and agents can expect…These are on top of sellers dropping their asking prices too’

    That’s the spirit Taylor, welcome to the team!

  17. Durham Report out today. Trump was totally innocent and it was hoax on Russiagate. FBI and DOJ and others were blamed in report , and Trump investigation should of never took place, in summary
    News outlets like CNN trying to downplay report.
    I was wondering what happened to that Durham guy. . Now who will be held accountable, anybody?

  18. The Deuce

    Peter Schiff: Great Depression 2.0 Is Incoming

    MONDAY, MAY 15, 2023 – 12:25 PM

    Via SchiffGold.com,

    Peter Schiff appeared on First TV’s I’m Right with Jesse Kelly to talk about the state of the economy, inflation, and the unfolding financial crisis. Peter warned that we’re heading straight toward Great Depression 2.0.

    Jesse opened the show by noting that the CPI fell to 4.9% in April. That’s an improvement, right? Peter responded, “I guess it’s not quite as bad as it was, but it’s not good.”

    https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/peter-schiff-great-depression-20-incoming

  19. Did the credit crunch drive your favorite large company to declare bankruptcy?

    1. Yahoo
      Credit Crunch Fuels 48-Hour Bankruptcy Rush With Seven Filings
      Libby Cherry
      Mon, May 15, 2023 at 8:30 AM PDT·4 min read

      (Bloomberg) — At least seven large companies filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in less than 48 hours, a breakneck pace of restructurings that included once-hot digital-broadcaster Vice Media LLC and KKR & Co.-backed Envision Healthcare Corp.

      That’s the largest number of filings on record during a two-day period since at least 2008, according to Bloomberg-compiled data on companies with at least $50 million of liabilities. And it comes as two Federal Reserve officials signaled that they favor a pause in their aggressive monetary-tightening campaign amid the ongoing fallout in credit markets.

      Firms across every sector are struggling with higher interest costs — making it more challenging to refinance loans and bonds — while corporate executives are drawing more scrutiny from investors and creditors.

      The weekend also saw filings from home security company Monitronics International Inc., chemical producer Venator Materials Plc, oil producer Cox Operating LLC, fire protection firm Kidde-Fenwal Inc. and biotechnology company Athenex Inc.

      For Vice Media, the filing marks a dramatic fall from its status as a media darling. The company secured a $450 million investment from private equity firm TPG in 2017, which valued the firm at $5.7 billion — a startling figure for a newcomer. Journalism has been an easy target for advertisers’ cost-cutting plans in an uncertain economy.

      For others, like Venator and Monitronics, the breaking point came amid looming debt maturities in the next few years.

      https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-credit-crunch-claims-seven-102459608.html

      1. “That’s the largest number of filings on record during a two-day period since at least 2008, according to Bloomberg-compiled data on companies with at least $50 million of liabilities.”

        Was there something unusual about 2008 that warrants special mention?

        “And it comes as two Federal Reserve officials signaled that they favor a pause in their aggressive monetary-tightening campaign amid the ongoing fallout in credit markets.”

        I had an interesting chat a couple of weeks ago with a financial advisor friend, who claimed that it is typical for the stock market to CR8R after the Fed pauses. He suggested that the Fed customarily pauses when they see storm clouds forming on the economic horizon.

        Of course in a market overrun with AI chat boxes, it is entirely different this time, so there is no cause for concern.

    1. Elon Musk Warns About Brewing Housing Crisis
      The serial entrepreneur is one of those who believe that the real estate market is currently overheating and its explosion is hanging by a thread.
      Luc Olinga
      5 hours ago

      Since the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank on Mar. 10, a crisis of confidence in banks has rocked investors.

      The question at the heart of this crisis is whether the Californian bank’s troubles are the result of a brewing financial crisis, whose effects are still little felt or will be felt a little later.

      This concern is not due to unfounded panic as investors often exhibit. It is a fear rooted in the fact that Silicon Valley Bank (SIVB) was the go-to institution for startups and many small businesses.

      https://www.thestreet.com/technology/elon-musk-warns-about-brewing-housing-crisis

    2. Hubby and I dropped his car off in Pacific Beach this morning. That area is riddled with potholes and homeless. Almost home, Hubby told me that he doesn’t think prices in our area will go down because so many people are fleeing more urban areas. I reminded him all’s well when people can borrow money but that credit is tightening.

      As a side note, it looks like the buyers of that strange property with the entry and living areas on the second floor are an acquaintance and her husband. When I learned about it yesterday in the presence of a small group of people we share in common, I accidentally blurted out how ugly the house was. Per MLS, they “paid” $4K over asking so $1.829M!

      1. If I could afford to pay $2M for a house, I would expect it to be truly spectacular. But in “America’s Finest City” all it does is buy you a 40 year old tract home in a decent neighborhood.

        I took a look on Zildo at our former Escondido shanty. The ZEstimate is 800K. And its location is not very desirable.

        1. If I could afford to pay $2M for a house, I would expect it to be truly spectacular

          Does the size of the plot of land matter?

          If it’s a house on 100 acres, $2m may not be a lavish house. On 1/8 acre it damn well better be!

          1. I suppose it depends on the acreage. But yeah, I was talking about a house on say 1/4-1/2 acre in a suburb or even an exurb.

        1. I’m admittedly not thrilled because this sets a comp for a property I’ve had my eyes on, but I won’t be paying that much cash for a better house/property.

        2. $335K in 1996. I’m sure it’s been remodeled since them, but it still looks like a 70’s tract home. which it is. It does have an acre. If it was in La Jolla it would be a teardown.

  20. A Wealth of Common Sense
    The Problem With Being House Rich
    Posted April 25, 2023 by Ben Carlson

    According to the National Association of Realtors, the median price of a house in the United States is worth $190,000 more than it was a decade ago.

    If you’ve owned a house for more than 3 years or so, you’re likely sitting on some nice gains.

    Those gains were not evenly distributed but across the various income levels, homeowners have made a good chunk of change:

    The pandemic-related housing gains are unlike anything we’ve ever seen before so it’s not like you should expect this to continue.

    But the housing market is more important for the middle class than the stock market for the simple fact that ownership of residential real estate is more widespread.

    The top 10% controls nearly 90% of the stock market while the bottom 90% owns more than 55% of the housing market:

    It’s no fun for those who have missed out on the gains we’ve seen during this cycle but this is a good thing for those who don’t hold as many traditional financial assets like stocks and bonds.

    There is, however, a problem with having your wealth so concentrated in your home.

    For one thing, the wealth gains cited in the research by the NAR are on a gross basis.

    You have to net out all of the ancillary costs involved with homeownership to get the real number. Things like realtor fees, closing costs, property taxes, moving expenses, insurance, upkeep and maintenance can take a huge bite out of any nominal price increases.

    Plus, having your wealth tied up in your house is much different than owning financial assets or having that money in the bank.

    A home is an illiquid asset.

    https://awealthofcommonsense.com/2023/04/the-problem-with-being-house-rich/

    1. Axios Homepage
      What Top Tech Leaders Are Saying About Multi-Cloud Security, IT Innovation and Efficiency Read more.
      Updated Feb 8, 2022 – Economy & Business
      Male economists are freaking out over a NYT profile
      Emily Peck, author of Axios Markets
      Stephanie Kelton in 2019. Photo: Scott McIntyre/Getty Images

      A handful of prominent male economists, including former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, are freaking out — mostly on Twitter — about a weekend New York Times profile of economist Stephanie Kelton, known for her work on Modern Monetary Theory, or MMT.

      Why it matters: This Twitter-based econ fight is about more than one economist. It’s an argument over a natural economic experiment — the U.S. government spending unprecedented sums to keep the economy from free-falling during COVID.

      And the gender dynamics — male economists piling on against a female economist and a female journalist, Times’ reporter Jeanna Smialek, in ways distinctive from typical academic arguments — look terrible here.

      The backstory: MMT proponents argue that countries that control their own currencies have the ability to run much larger budget deficits than they’ve done until recently, in part, because central banks can create new money to help pay for the budget gap.

      Catch up quick: “I am sorry to see the @nytimes taking MMT seriously as an intellectual movement. It is the equivalent of publicizing fad diets, quack cancer cures or creationist theories,” Summers tweeted.

      Summers’ tweet was criticized by some for being condescending and dismissive in its equating an economic idea with a quack cancer cure.

      In that same twitter thread, Summers then suggested a list of some male economists to write about instead of Kelton. And at least one is also a proponent of some MMT ideas, notes Claudia Sahm, director of macroeconomic research at the Jain Family Institute.

      “We can have a debate about substance but in these debates there is a layer of disdain and times when [Kelton’s] intellectual integrity and even her character are impugned or attacked,” she said.

      What they’re saying: Noah Smith, a well-known economist and former Bloomberg columnist, wrote a Substack post calling the article “bad.”

      Other economists say that the merits of MMT are up for debate, but noted the criticisms of Smialek and Kelton got personal in ways atypical from how men’s economic research is criticized.

      https://www.axios.com/2022/02/08/male-economists-are-freaking-out-over-a-nyt-profile

      1. “And the gender dynamics — male economists piling on against a female economist and a female journalist,…”

        Is it really a gender thing? Or more a matter of top economists shooting down a whack theory? I can’t recall Summers making any gender-based comments about Yellen’s work, for instance.

        1. And the gender dynamics — male economists piling on against a female economist and a female journalist, Times’ reporter Jeanna Smialek, in ways distinctive from typical academic arguments — look terrible here.

          Bad ideas are bad, no matter someone’s “identity”.

    2. This Economic Theory Could Be Used To Pay For The Green New Deal
      July 17, 2019 5:02 AM ET
      Heard on Morning Edition
      Scott Horsley
      4-Minute Listen
      Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez speaks about the Green New Deal in Washington, D.C., on May 13. She has shined a spotlight on a once-obscure brand of economics known as “modern monetary theory.”
      Cliff Owen/AP

      When Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez rolled out her “Green New Deal,” calling for clean energy, universal health care and guaranteed jobs, one of the first questions she got was: How do you plan to pay for it?

      The New York Democrat argued that ambitious programs can easily be financed through deficit spending.

      “I think the first thing that we need to do is kind of break the mistaken idea that taxes pay for 100% of government expenditure,” Ocasio-Cortez told NPR’s Morning Edition in February.

      In doing so, she shined a spotlight on a once-obscure brand of economics known as “modern monetary theory,” or MMT.

      “There was something of an Oprah effect when she did that,” said economist Stephanie Kelton of Stony Brook University. “People immediately probably started Googling ‘modern monetary theory’ to find out what she was referring to.”

      Run that Google search and you’ll quickly find Kelton herself. The economist, who advised Bernie Sanders’ 2016 campaign, is one of the best-known evangelists for the theory. Kelton says paying for big government programs is the easy part. If Congress has the will, the Federal Reserve can effectively print the money.

      https://www.npr.org/2019/07/17/742255158/this-economic-theory-could-be-used-to-pay-for-the-green-new-deal

      1. It seems like a Democratic Party endorsement could be the kiss of death for any puported theory.

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