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A New Round Of Forced And Panicky Selling

A report from the News Press in Florida. “Lee County Property Appraiser Matt Caldwell released his preliminary report on real estate values in Lee County during 2022. Two barrier island communities hit hardest by Hurricane Ian saw sharply falling values, a nearly 40% decrease in Fort Myers Beach and 31% in Sanibel Island. The lower values could strip them of enough cash to support municipal services at current levels.”

The Durango Herald in Colorado. “Greed. Price gouging. Theft. ‘Everyone is kind of freaking out about the percentage increase,’ said Kim Cofman, a real estate agent in Durango with Sotheby’s International Realty. The notices contain the assessed property values, upon which property taxes for 2023 (to be paid in early 2024) will be calculated. And homeowners, some of whom have made no improvements to their properties in the two-year cycle of revaluation, have received assessed values that are 40%, 60% or even 100% higher than the one issued in 2021.”

“Bill Fisher said he opened his notice of valuation ‘with a great sense of dread.’ The dread was justified. His Edgemont Ranch home, which he purchased for $699,000 in 2016, was valued at $764,000 in 2021. This year, the value had jumped 46%, to $1.12 million. ‘Three sides of the foundation of the house are slowly sinking – that’s caused quite a number of interior cracks in drywall, walls and ceiling,’ he said. ‘So if I put the house on the market and someone came in to look at it, they would absolutely be asking about those cracks and offering less money.'”

The Ahwatukee Foothills News in Arizona. “The massive Upper Canyon development in western Ahwatukee is taking shape far slower than originally projected – partly because the site owner hasn’t paid most of the $175.1 million it owes Arizona for the site. While developer Blandford Homes told the city last year it expected to be selling homes by 2024, no construction activity has occurred on the 373-acre parcel of former State Trust Land. And no date has been set for D.R. Horton and Blandford Homes to start building the 1,050 single-family homes and 479 apartments and townhouses they plan for site, which Blandford won with its whopping bid in a June 7, 2021, auction.”

“That second extension came after company owner Jeff Blandford indicated to the Land Department that housing market conditions had made the going tougher than it had expected. Based on the value of the land determined by an independent appraiser, the Land Department set a starting bid of $105 million for the June 2021 auction. Blandford’s $175.5 million bid stunned the other three bidders, who quickly folded. ‘The (department) has a track record of entending out terms with NO additional payments even on properties NOT bid up like this one,’ Blandford continued, reminding how high his company exceeded the opening bid, capitalizing a couple words to make his point. Last Nov. 28 – three days before he got his second extension on the auction debt – Blandford wrote then-Deputy Land Department Commission Jim Perry. ‘I do not see what the issue is with (the department) in regard to extending this out as there is nothing whatsoever to lose as you will not be able to sell this property again over the next 12 months at the bid-up price we have as of now.'”

From Geekwire. “Real estate startup Flyhomes is laying off employees for the third time in a year, citing an effort to focus on profitability amid the broader housing market downturn. The Seattle company confirmed the cuts to GeekWire on Monday. ‘I will confirm that this extremely difficult decision was necessary for the company to navigate the sustained, challenging real estate market conditions and drive our continued focus toward profitability,’ Flyhomes spokesperson Justin O’Neill told GeekWire.”

Yahoo Finance. “The spread between rates for jumbo mortgages, which are too big for government backing, and rates on those guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac shrunk as much as 11 basis points in mid-May, an indication that banks no longer see jumbos as an attractive investment. ‘On the securitization side of things, investors are dealing with massive extension risk,’ Jeremy Collett, executive director of capital markets for Guaranteed Rate, told Yahoo Finance. ‘Liquidity for jumbo loans is most likely to remain incredibly challenged for the foreseeable future. Not only are depositories struggling with underwater portfolios of loans with low yields and considerable duration risk, but the outlook for deposit growth is also not encouraging.'”

The Real Deal on California. “Wells Fargo Bank has found a mystery buyer for its 13-story office building in San Francisco’s Financial District, and appears poised to take a $60 million bath on the sale. The San Francisco-based bank has chosen a buyer for its 355,000-square-foot building at 550 California Street, expected to sell for between $42.6 million and $46 million, the San Francisco Business Times reported. The pending deal works out to between $120 and $130 per square foot. Wells Fargo bought the building in 2005 for $108 million, or $304 per square foot.”

Bisnow Los Angeles in California. “The developer of an unfinished trio of towers that has stood for years across from what’s now called the Crypto.com Arena has defaulted on an EB-5 loan tied to the project. Oceanwide owed $157.4M to EB-5 lenders as of January, according to a notice of default filed with L.A. County and reported by The Real Deal. The notice also says that the sale of Oceanwide Plaza can be scheduled after Aug. 8. Oceanwide ‘failed to complete construction of the project in accordance with the loan agreement,’ to obtain a senior construction loan and to keep all risk insurance on the development, the notice said. Oceanwide also allowed mechanic’s liens to be filed against the project, a violation of the loan agreement, TRD reported. The project, when complete, was planned to hold 504 residential units, a 184-room Park Hyatt Hotel and 153K SF of retail and restaurants.”

The Real Deal. “Earlier this year, RXR dropped a bomb on New York commercial real estate. CEO Scott Rechler signaled that his firm might hand lenders back the keys of two office towers that he likened to film cameras in a digital world. Last month, RXR’s default on one of them, 61 Broadway, became official. The firm will return the FiDi office tower to its lender rather than try to recapitalize its debt, which RXR stopped repaying in December.”

“Banks that long delayed writing down distressed property debt, favoring an extend-and-pretend approach in the hopes of a turnaround by the struggling asset, are abandoning that strategy, preferring to rip off the Band-Aid instead. ‘I’ve never heard of this happening before,’ said Mark Edelstein, co-chair of law firm Morrison Foerster’s distressed real estate group. ‘Banks are actually coming to us saying, ‘We’d rather take the hit today and lose maybe $10 million than give the borrower two years when we might take a $40 million loss.'”

“‘We’re actually working out deals where lenders are questioning whether this thing will even exist as a fundamental asset,’ Faisal Ashraf, founder of restructuring firm Lotus Capital Partners, said of office buildings.”

The Daily Hive in Canada. “Vancouver developer Coromandel Properties is the subject of a new civil suit over an unpaid debt of more than $8 million. The financially troubled developer initiated insolvency proceedings earlier this year, only to halt them after coming to an agreement with several of its lenders. The fate of several of its existing projects was called into question, with one being foreclosed this month. Now, Coromandel is being sued by Woodbourne Capital Management, a real estate firm with offices in Toronto and Boulder, Colorado, for over $8 million that Coromandel owes.”

“The notice of civil claim was filed in the BC Supreme Court in May and explained Coromandel never repaid its $8.3 loan, despite a demand letter sent on January 25. At the date of the demand letter, interest on the loan was accruing at about $3,300 per day. The two companies were working together on the Southview Gardens project in Champlain Heights. Coromandel wanted to redevelop the existing townhouses’ 140 apartment units into four six-storey buildings with 1,150 rental homes. According to court documents obtained earlier this year, Coromandel owed more than $80 million for Southview Gardens.”

The Globe and Mail in Canada. “An Ontario court has ordered the sale of land assets held by Stateview Homes as part of a rolling insolvency process following the collapse of the company’s home-building business that has put hundreds of purchaser contracts at risk of cancellation. On Monday Justice Michael A. Penny agreed that the sale of seven Stateview housing projects or phases would go ahead immediately in an effort to raise money for lenders who are collectively owed $349-million.”

“Left on the sidelines are those who put deposits down with Stateview in hopes of getting a new-construction home. The sales process contains explicit conditions that buyers of the defunct Stateview projects will not be required to honour agreements of purchase and sale for new homes that hundreds of buyers signed and put down millions of dollars in deposits for. In all, Stateview collected $77.2-million in deposits from 765 homebuyers hoping to one day occupy of one of seven still unfinished Stateview townhouse and detached home projects. According to KSV, almost all of that deposit money has vanished, with only $349,945 remaining in all the bank accounts connected to the projects that have been placed under the receiver’s control.”

ABC News in Australia. “The Reserve Bank has lifted its official interest rate to 4.1 per cent, a level not seen since early 2012. Veteran housing market analyst and SQM Research managing director Louis Christopher believes rates have now hit a tipping point that will trigger a double dip housing downturn. ‘While our numbers on distressed listings today remain largely benign (except for Tasmania), we can now expect distressed activity to rise based on a new round of forced and panicky selling starting sometime in the second half of this year,’ he warned in a note.”

From Reuters. “Some of China’s distressed property developers face the risk of being delisted, which would reduce their options for restructuring and make them more vulnerable to liquidation, S&P Global Ratings said on Wednesday. Property companies were among the biggest high-yield issuers in Asia and many aim to use shares of their listed entities to restructure offshore debt after having defaulted on their repayment obligations.”

“The Shanghai stock exchange delisted Sichuan Languang Development on Tuesday, the first such case for property A shares, and Sinic Holdings was delisted from Hong Kong in April. In mainland China, S&P said the 11 firms at risk of being delisted, including Shanghai Shimao and Yango Group, have offshore and onshore bonds outstanding collectively worth $21 billion. These firms either closed below or just above 1 yuan on Monday or before they went into trading halt.”

“The agency said its empirical study shows investors typically get about 2-4 cents on the dollar in liquidation, and liquidation terminates jobs, meaning homes that buyers have bought may not be completed. ‘(Delisting) closes options for Chinese developers to recover, and for investors to get their money back,’ said S&P credit analyst Esther Liu, adding it discourages parties from seeking an out-of-court restructuring.”

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This Post Has 93 Comments

  1. ‘I do not see what the issue is with (the department) in regard to extending this out as there is nothing whatsoever to lose as you will not be able to sell this property again over the next 12 months at the bid-up price we have as of now’

    Jeff was the winnah!

  2. ‘The agency said its empirical study shows investors typically get about 2-4 cents on the dollar in liquidation, and liquidation terminates jobs, meaning homes that buyers have bought may not be completed’

    Of course S&P warned everybody about those billion$ in bonds – not!

    ‘These firms either closed below or just above 1 yuan on Monday or before they went into trading halt’

    That’s even less than a peso.

  3. ‘Banks that long delayed writing down distressed property debt, favoring an extend-and-pretend approach in the hopes of a turnaround by the struggling asset, are abandoning that strategy, preferring to rip off the Band-Aid instead’

    But we’re all in this together?

    ‘I’ve never heard of this happening before…Banks are actually coming to us saying, ‘We’d rather take the hit today and lose maybe $10 million than give the borrower two years when we might take a $40 million loss’

    The banks are walking away Mark?

    Sacré bleu!

  4. ‘Liquidity for jumbo loans is most likely to remain incredibly challenged for the foreseeable future. Not only are depositories struggling with underwater portfolios of loans with low yields and considerable duration risk, but the outlook for deposit growth is also not encouraging’

    Underwater portfolios of loans? Wa happened to my sound lending Jeremy?

    1. I was told if banks couldn’t lend it did not matter because all-cash buyers would flood the market for deals. Any day now they’ll come.

    1. A homebuilder in the neighborhood where I’m renting just sold over a dozen homes to private equity or some investor. One minute they’re all under construction and the next day they all have sold signs. I wonder how much of a haircut they took.

      1. “I wonder how much of a haircut they took.”

        Odds are the developer bought the lots, cheap, a while ago, and hopefully the permitting process wasn’t a drawn out process. The buyer could be protecting the value of adjacent properties they own in the area, so they buy these too…and wait.

        1. Odds are…

          Or…this little speed bump is just temporary. A slight pause and it’s off to the races again, for sure.

    1. Remember the employer “vaccine” mandates, and who voted for them?

      There will be no pandemic “amnesty” not now not ever.

      1. Remember the employer “vaccine” mandates, and who voted for them?

        Experimental vaccine mandate. I love to remind people that the jab was AND still is experimental and that if they rolled up their sleeves they were essentially volunteer guinea pigs.

      2. Don’t forget those who wished to deny you food and medical care if you didn’t vaccinate.

        They’re on the Interweb, archived for your address seeking pleasure.

    2. Just came across this. Remember, route of exposure (inhalation vs. injection) matters.

      https://twitter.com/twc_health/status/1666124697690587137?cxt=HHwWgoDS1bjloZ8uAAAA (w/ 53s video)
      “Spike Protein Is Probably One of the Most Toxic Compounds Human Beings Can Be Exposed to”

      The harms of spike protein, per Dr. Paul Marik:
      • inflammation
      • clotting
      • causes autoantibodies
      • damages endothelium
      • activates genetic pathways, which leads to cancer

      1. One thing that is forgotten amongst all this is: the human body is very resilient. Despite the jab, some people did not have any visible effect thus far. Perhaps their lifespan gets reduced, eventually. For others that survived the jab, it has affected their lifestyle and caused/exposed medical issues.
        It will be interesting to see the actuarial data from insurance companies in the next 5 to 10 years, on the real impact of the jabs.

        1. the real impact of the jabs

          It will be very difficult to sift out.

          $cience being what it is these days.

        2. It will be interesting to see the actuarial data from insurance companies in the next 5 to 10 years, on the real impact of the jabs.

          It will be memory holed. I recall that some insurance company in Indiana released data that showed a significant rise in deaths not attributable to Covid. I recall that it was described as a once in a 500 year event. Since then it has been crickets.

        3. some people did not have any visible effect thus far

          Not all batches of the vaccines are equal. Manufacturing was tricky and quality control was abysmal. Dr. Michael Yeadon covered this over a year ago, when I stopped following this stuff because witnessing genocide in real-time got to be too much. Feel free to peruse howbadismybatch.com or go back a year on HBB and look at my posts.

          1. I’m told America cannot produce ibuprofen, but magically we could churn out millions of vaccines in a few months. That set my BS meter off.

          2. I remember seeing a simplified manufacturing flow chart highlighting how precise each step had to be to end up with the touted product. It also showed other likely combinations.

          3. a simplified manufacturing flow chart

            It’s like cooking. If any of the steps are wrong, the final product is wrong.

  7. What is happening with property values in SWFL in the wake of Hurricane Ian is absolutely baffling. Houses that went that were worth around $250-$300k before the storm are selling selling for the same amount or more, totally gutted to the rafters after being completely flooded with seawater. Many other houses in this same flood plain, that went completely under water, are now in the process of being underpinned and jacked up into the sky by a company out of Louisiana, promising to get them above flood stage and double their value at the same time. It’s absolute insanity.

    Look at this one for example. It wasn’t worth $300k before it was filled with 6′ of seawater;

    https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/6013-Swords-Way-Fort-Myers-FL-33908/45433209_zpid/

    Here’s another prime example;

    https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/6037-Macbeth-Ln-Fort-Myers-FL-33908/45433183_zpid/

    Absolute insanity!

      1. The Estimated Market Value “Zestimate History” on that one really paints a picture of the insanity of the SWFL real estate market.

        January of 2020 it was valued at $270k, by June of 2022 it was valued at $500k. Then, over the next 11 (hurricane Ian flooded it 9/28/22) months the value chart drops almost horizontally, back down to $305k, which might be about right if the house hadn’t been totally destroyed in a hurricane/flood.

        The real value as it sits should be about $305k, less the drop in value incurred by knowing that this house can go under 6′ of water at any point during hurricane season, now that the high water mark has been set, less the cost of the substantial flood insurance premium increase, and then less the cost to remodel the house back to useable, which is easily $100k.

        Seems like something in the $125k range might make sense, as long as you don’t mind living in house, knowing that everything you own may very well be lost in another hurricane every summer for the rest of eternity.

        1. Careful. New FEMA regs going into effect and in effect prohibit certain flood zoned restoration projects and remodels UNLESS the house is jacked up above FEMA flood zoned heights. New and newly imposed FEMA regulations are widespread in Florida.

        2. This is an example of the ‘animal spirits’ that affect markets. People have been so twisted by the latest bubble that they fear missing out on these ‘great deals’. They don’t realize that they are going to become bag holders. It is a process that just has to play out, as these rounds of fools are exhausted, the correction will continue a downward trajectory. Houses will be available in that region for pennies on the dollar in a few years but we have to get through the layers of ignorance and FOMO chasers first. This takes time.

          1. It does take time. Everyone talks about ‘08 being the burst of the last bubble. Not true. That’s when everything broke down because of a ongoing burst of the bubble. People of this blog back then remember it well. There was evidence of price correction as early as late ‘05 in places.

          2. ‘There was evidence of price correction as early as late ‘05 in places’

            Like fannie mae and freddie mac not being able to produce financial statements while simultaneously diving head long into subprime lending?

          3. “There was evidence of price correction as early as late ‘05 in places.”

            Indeed. That’s when many California cities leveled-off as the refinancing started drying-up. I recall a newspaper piece regarding Stockton, CA that Ben posted back then regarding the lack of refinancing. A comment immediately followed, “And this my friends is how the story ends.”

          4. I was one of bag holders the last go-round. I bought a house in SWFL in 2005, made every payment on time for a full decade and sold it in 2015 for $200k less that I paid for it TEN YEARS earlier. But don’t worry, it’s different this time;)

        3. Zillow, the company that lost money selling houses in the greatest housing boom in history.

          Yeah, I’d trust their numbers.

      2. a fireplace in floorriddah?

        I sometimes question them here in California. In the almost 10 years we’ve lived in this rental, I think we’ve used the fireplace maybe twice.

        1. we used ours at least once a week in winter, sometimes more, we even chopped the logs to put in them and father was a bricklayer so lots time in the winter we would all be home around the fire….not such a bad childhood

        2. speakin’ of fireplaces, the fire-making ability of that contestant on the most recent season of Survivor was pretty awesome: quite often people who talk smack fall short but boy howdy she was all ranch AND hat!

          disclaimer: haven’t watched Survivor in a long time, too predictable/formulaic but for some reason tuned in this year. latest cast had me laughing so hard. sometimes it’s an entertaining mix of people.

          threw the sword back into the arena.
          YES, Maximus, I have been entertained!

        3. Lots of new homes in the DFW area no longer have a fireplace. You really do need them here since we regularly have freezes and it has gone near zero a few times. If the electric goes out, you’re screwed. My backup plan would be a couple of propane space heaters.

    3. I bought a gutted home. It hadn’t been flooded, it was just a failed reno/flip. No bidders because it wasn’t habitable, so no financing. How would someone buying these stripped specials get financing?

      I paid pennies compared to these homes. I’m not in a flood zone.

      1. $400,000 gets you an uninhabitable wreck in my part of South Denver. And the duplexes that often replace them are $800,000 (each, not for both) with a postage stamp size backyard.

  8. “…The notices contain the assessed property values, upon which property taxes for 2023 (to be paid in early 2024) will be calculated. And homeowners, some of whom have made no improvements to their properties in the two-year cycle of revaluation, have received assessed values that are 40%, 60% or even 100% higher than the one issued in 2021….”

    Ever increasing holding costs… Who would of thunk?

    Of course, no one could of seen this coming!

  9. A reader sent these in:

    “Demand shows 62% of Americans who recently purchased homes in 2022 and 2023 are not managing to make their mortgage payments. Add on an average of $393 per month for 40 million Americans in that same millenial cohort that is recently become homebuyers…

    https://twitter.com/DiMartinoBooth/status/1666099881545482241

    Interest-only loans as a % of new commercial mortgage-backed securities…
    2010: 17%
    2013: 51%
    2016: 65%
    2019: 84%
    2021: 88%
    An estimated $1.5 trillion in commercial mortgage loans are coming due over the next 3 years.

    https://twitter.com/charliebilello/status/1666116435486072832

    Typically these IO loans are paid back through refinancing or the sale of the property. Both of those options are becoming increasingly difficult, particularly in the office market. CMBS spreads continue to widen, now over 1,100 bps for BBBs, pricing in much higher default rate.

    https://twitter.com/charliebilello/status/1666117803122761728

    Expansion of Fed’s balance sheet during initial phase of banking stress has been nearly fully reversed

    https://twitter.com/LizAnnSonders/status/1666030951363756032

    Today we charged Coinbase, Inc. with operating its crypto asset trading platform as an unregistered national securities exchange, broker, and clearing agency and for failing to register the offer and sale of its crypto asset staking-as-a-service program.

    https://twitter.com/SECGov/status/1666059252442746881

    SEC SAYS COINBASE HAS NEVER REGISTERED AS A BROKER, NATIONAL SECURITIES EXCHANGE OR CLEARING AGENCY, EVADING THE DISCLOSURE SCHEME FOR SECURITIES MARKETS

    https://twitter.com/DeItaone/status/1666056649373540353

    Today we charged Binance Holdings Ltd. (Binance); U.S.-based affiliate, BAM Trading Services Inc., which, together with Binance, operates http://Binance.US; and their founder, Changpeng Zhao, with a variety of securities law violations.

    https://twitter.com/SECGov/status/1665779371108335618

    Global Central Bank Update: Australia hiked rates for the 12th time, 25 bps increase to 4.10%.

    https://twitter.com/charliebilello/status/1666102655318470657

    lololololol

    https://twitter.com/INArteCarloDoss/status/1666130274516627456

    1. The owner of the largest hotel in San Francisco has stopped paying its debt, essentially walking away from the property and handing it back to lenders in the latest blow to the city’s downtown.

      The real estate investment firm Park Hotels & Resorts said it stopped the debt service on a $725 million loan it held against the Hilton Union Square this week, citing a desire to “materially reduce our current exposure to the San Francisco market.”

      The Hilton Union Square is a nearly 2,000-room hotel that takes up an entire city block in downtown San Francisco. It is one of the biggest hotels in the country outside Las Vegas, according to SFist. Park Hotels will also cease payments on loans against its nearby 1,000-room Parc 55 property. All told, the company is effectively giving up on 3,000 hotel rooms and their amenities.

      In a statement, Park Hotels said it was making the decision to walk away from those properties because of “concerns over street conditions” as well as record high office vacancy rates in the city.

      Are any conventions still being held in San Francisco? I’ve heard that many simply moved to Las Vegas or other parts, including my employer’s “Oracle Openworld” convention.

      All this lost tax revenue has to be making a dent in San Francisco’s city budget. Lots of municipal employees are about to lose their cushy jobs. Meanwhile, the city was serious about paying reparations to people who were never slaves with money they don’t have.

      Anyway, this is what the transformation into South Africa looks like. Meanwhile, sanctuary California cities are losing their minds as buses and charter jets arrive with illegal immigrants. Suddenly the virtue posturing is coming to an end,

        1. “The two hotels were appraised at $1.6 billion in 2016, according to the Business Times, meaning the owners are walking away from a debt that is less than half what the real estate was once worth.”

          I hope the Democrats are proud of their success stories.

      2. “…this is what the transformation into South Africa looks like….”

        At least South Africa has dictators who wear styled flashy clothes..

        1. I’m sure that ANC “people who matter” wouldn’t be caught dead in a non Italian suit or one that costs less than $2000.

      3. I stayed at the Parc 55 the first and only time I visited San Francisco four years ago, recall paying $260 a night. Google Maps shows rooms there now from $110 a night.

        1. This is the future of most, if not all, US urban centers. Downtown areas are turning into no go zones and leftist mayors are going to be wringing their hands as they watch their tax base evaporate.

          Expect a coast to coast request for municipal bailouts. But as Denver’s leftist mayor learned when he and the governor asked the Feds for money to take care of the tsunami of “immigrants” arriving, there was none offered; which is why he loaded the invaders into buses and sent them elsewhere.

          1. “which is why he loaded the invaders into buses and sent them elsewhere.”

            I saw a couple of “invaders” crossing Indiantown road in Jupiter Fl. the other day, they looked excited and confused. Brand new Walmart shirt, shorts and baseball hats, boder debit card money well spent.

          2. A la Jeff below, I saw a coach bus stop at a local Tallahassee China Buffet as the Mrs. and I were picking up our order.

            All new hats, sneakers, and necklaces. Only two women who stayed well clear of all the “men”.

            As it wasn’t far from I10 and, since they they stopped to eat, I can only hope they were on their way to Kamala’s house.

        1. If there is no money, there is no money. Unless the Feds bail out every malgoverned sh!thole, year after year, something will have to give.

        2. No doubt pension funds will go underfunded.

          Situation may become a little heated when current retires find that their monthly checks are cut by X%.

          Its a slow moving downhill train wreck.

          Of course, *nobody* in the MSM can see it coming. Its all going to be a big surprise.

          1. Of course, *nobody* in the MSM can see it coming. Its all going to be a big surprise.

            And muni workers and retirees will be painted as “heroes” deserving of bailouts. But by that point it might be too late as the Feds will be having a hard time financing their current deficits.

      5. Detroit is the model they are following. If you want a glimpse into how it is going to go just review the phases Detroit went through after it passed it’s peak. I believe it was destined to happen regardless of wuflu but wuflu sped the process way up. Once the land becomes monopolized to the point of significant uneconomic ‘value’ and then you run your productive people and entities out, there is nothing left but a long steady decline into irrelevance. SF is now a city where dreams go to die.

        It looks to me like some other cities are going to follow the same path from here. Instead of a rust belt we will have a stucco belt.

        P.S. Even Poway has homeless encampments that need clearing now!

        2. Even Poway has homeless encampments that need clearing now!

          This is going to become so prevalent that we will learn to tune out the homeless encampments.

          1. …we will learn to tune out the homeless encampments.

            Easy peasy. It’d be rude to notice.

  11. ‘Three sides of the foundation of the house are slowly sinking – that’s caused quite a number of interior cracks in drywall, walls and ceiling,’ he said. ‘So if I put the house on the market and someone came in to look at it, they would absolutely be asking about those cracks and offering less money.’”

    I’ve got good news, Bill. Foundation problems are some of the most expensive repairs you can endeavor on a house. Oftentimes, they will run into the hundreds of thousands on a large house. Oops, that’s not good news at all. I lied.

  12. Posting this article so you can scroll down to see the photo of Kerry and who he is plaing cards with on his private jet and thinking his mind was not on Climte Change or Global Population Growth.

    “File/John Kerry plays cards on board his family’s private jet enroute to Albuquerque, New Mexico from Minneapolis on May 4, 2004. (Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)”

    John Kerry Despairs at Global Population Growth: 10 Billion ‘Unsustainable’

    SIMON KENT
    7 Jun 2023

    A world population nearing 10 billion people by the middle of this century is “unsustainable,” U.S. special climate envoy John Kerry declared Wednesday, before setting out his future plans for planet earth.

    https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2023/06/07/john-kerry-despairs-at-global-population-growth-10-billion-unsustainable/

    1. Who is she? I don’t recognize her. Is she an “escort”?

      A world population nearing 10 billion people by the middle of this century is “unsustainable,” U.S. special climate envoy John Kerry declared Wednesday, before setting out his future plans for planet earth.

      Who died and made him Elvis?

      Feeding people in a sustainable way is the key, Kerry continued, using Africa as an example of unsustainable population growth and the pressure it puts on food supply chains.

      So he basically admitted who the globalists want to cull first. While they give lip service to BLM, they are planning on depopulating Africa. Which is why they are trying to shut down farms around the globe.

      These ghouls are even worse than last century’s monsters. And if you rolled up your sleeve for their magic jab, you are participating in your own culling.

      1. Who is she?

        It looks like his daughter, Vanessa, who IIRC was speaking alongside her father.

      2. “So he basically admitted who the globalists want to cull first.”

        Misdirection, methinks. Their policies are all about culling makers while encouraging takers to breed like rabbits.

        1. Possibly, but that is a formula for a global collapse, or at least the collapse of the west. Eventually there will be nothing left to take.

          Depopulate Africa, and then there is plenty to take. And the status quo is that China is the one hustling into Africa.

          1. China is the one hustling into Africa

            Looking forward to the remake of the movie “Zulu”.

      3. Is she an “escort”?

        The elites prefer underage girls and boys. Any photos wouldn’t appear in MSM. That’s Epstein level blackmail.

  14. John Kerry and his depopulation Cult makes my blood boil.
    Certainly there are better answers than this self serving Cult of killers could every come up with.

  15. ‘We’re actually working out deals where lenders are questioning whether this thing will even exist as a fundamental asset’

    I’ll give ya tree fiddy.

  16. From the AZ link above:

    Last Dec. 1, Blandford obtained a second extension to June 7, 2029, according to Land Department records.

    But that second extension came after company owner Jeff Blandford indicated to the Land Department that housing market conditions had made the going tougher than it had expected.

    In an Oct. 19, 2022, email to the department, Blandford referred to a December 2023 extension he had sought on a $25 million interest payment.

    The department wanted $5 million up front and Blandford wrote:

    “We did not have any expectation to fund any payments in exchange for an extension to December 2023. This request is of course due to market conditions that we all discussed yesterday. Your $5,000,000-plus payment request towards interest did catch us off guard and I am not sure what you would like to do at this time. Builders are delaying all financial land decisions and commitments at this time.”

    1. The State apparently financed this thing. Maybe that’s typical? This is the REIC machine in action in AZ. The State paid NOTHING for this land. They dole it out to developers at whopping prices. When it blows up, ah shucks, what’s the latest on traffic Ken?

  17. The notion of appraising property taxes on the home value is outdated. Time to find another format.

    Slumlords renting to 20 Mexicans pay the same taxes as grandma..

  19. What happened here?

    Price and tax history
    Price history
    Date Event Price
    6/5/2023 Sold $1,114,000+12%$607/sqft
    Source: SDMLS #230008925
    5/18/2023 Pending sale $995,000$542/sqft
    Source: SDMLS #230008925
    5/13/2023 Listed for sale $995,000+24.4%$542/sqft
    Source: SDMLS #230008925
    3/14/2023 Sold $800,000-13.5%$436/sqft

  20. Will nobody think of the builders

    Truscott says:

    The economic case for buying a home therefore remains compelling, but for many first time buyers the higher cost of borrowing and the cessation of Help to Buy are prohibitive to realising this ambition.

    If interest rates continue to rise, and remain elevated for a sustained period of time, this will undoubtedly exacerbate this issue even further and start to impact demand and confidence again. We continue to call on Government to recognise this challenge and provide further support to these potential homeowners.

    Mortgage rates in the UK have been rising in recent weeks, and some lenders have also pulled deals from the market.

    https://www.theguardian.com/business/live/2023/jun/08/uk-housing-market-housebuilder-interest-rate-rises-stock-market-ftse-business-live?filterKeyEvents=false&page=with%3Ablock-648175628f085d9ad6c9dbbb#block-648175628f085d9ad6c9dbbb

  21. Mismanagement is universal

    Woking Borough Council has gone bust under the weight of its £2billion debt and banned from any new spending after effectively being declared bankrupt. The dire situation means the council will cut all spending for non-essential services after a section 114 notice was issued. The authority’s debt is forecasted to rise to £2.6bn.

    The only exceptions are in cases where it must legally protect vulnerable people and for services it must cover by law. The full impact on residents is not yet clear. Croydon Council, which issued its third 114 notice last year, had to increase council tax by 15 per cent and its till negotiating a bail out for about half a billion pounds.

    https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/woking-borough-council-officially-bust-27070743

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