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First Came The Feast, Now Comes The Famine

A report from the Sun Sentinel. “The one-two punch of the post-Surfside law designed to require condominium associations to set aside sufficient reserves for structural repairs combined with Florida’s unending increases in insurance costs is threatening to produce a wave of foreclosures. ‘People are going to be losing their homes. Foreclosures are increasing,’ warned Broward County Commissioner Mark Bogen. ‘As it looks right now, there are going to be so many people unable to live in their homes. … This is going to really be a crisis in our state.’ Bogen represents northern Broward, including Wynmoor Village, the large condominium community in Coconut Creek. And in his non-elected job, as a lawyer, he does a lot of work on condo issues.”

“‘The condos have been hit hard,’ said state Rep. Robin Bartleman, who represents southwest Broward. ‘You can’t walk into Century Village right now without hearing’ concerns. At another condominium, in Miramar, Bartleman said residents have to pay assessments for roof work, more money for higher condominium association insurance, and assessments to increase reserves. The ultimate result, she predicted: ‘We’re going to have foreclosures all across this county.'”

“County Commissioner Steve Geller recalled his time representing Hallandale Beach in the state Legislature in the 1980s and 1990s. Some residents didn’t want to pay at the time for problems they hoped would have to be addressed after they were no longer alive. ‘I would go to people and say, ‘You know, you need to stop waiving your reserve. …’ They would say, ‘Young man, young man, I’m 77 years old. I’m not going to worry about what’s going to happen in 10 years. Let my children worry about it because they’ll own the condo then. And the problem is that we had so many people that just kept waiving and waiving and waiving.'”

WKRN in Tennessee. “Interest rates haven’t been around 8% since 2000, but that’s the reality right now. The RE/MAX National Housing Report shows Nashville sales down 18.8% over last year. ‘Because of the pace at which rates increased, it’s a shock to people,’ said Jeff Checko, a relocation director with The Ashton Real Estate Group of RE/MAX Advantage. Checko said builders are doing what they can to keep the price the same, while helping sellers with rate buydowns and closing costs. But between those incentives and construction loans getting more expensive, Checko said that small builders could find themselves in some financial trouble soon. ‘The builder financially has sort of been stabbed and they are bleeding out slowly,’ said Checko. ‘In the old times of ’08 and ’09, we had a saying that we saw a lot of bad things happen to good people; I think that’s about to happen again.'”

From Summit Daily. “Summit County’s average single-family home price is flattening, a trend that began earlier this year after a decade of continuous growth. It’s a trend that’s held since the beginning of the year, when, for the first time in more than a decade, the average single-family home price dropped — though prices still remain historically high.Yet housing affordable to first-time homebuyers remains limited as multifamily units, historically more moderately priced, become more expensive. In 2018, the average price for a unit was $473,862, a figure that doubled in 2023, according to Land Title data. ‘It’s been on this sort of roller coaster,’ said Dana Cottrell, a Summit County broker and member of the Colorado Association of Realtors. ‘I see this year as sort of a reset.’ Cottrell said during the pandemic when interest rates were low and home values skyrocketed, homeowners were selling at a much faster pace. But so far this year, the average time for a home on the market has increased. ‘Now, I’m seeing sellers making concessions,’ she said.”

The Review Journal in Nevada. “Las Vegas real estate sales are on pace for the lowest year since the Great Recession in 2008, but what’s happening in the valley is in line with national trends. Las Vegas Realtors President Lee Barrett said it’s also important to remember the industry has both its ups and downs, and after record-breaking years coming out of the pandemic, sales figures are invariably coming back down to earth. He noted this year’s figures are easier to understand given the Fed is actively trying to cool inflation through economic levers.”

“‘The reality is that real estate historically goes through cyclical changes every 10 to 20 years, and we’re not necessarily in a manufactured state, but one that has been generated by interest rates, it’s not natural because of attrition or anything else’ he said. ‘Consumers are in an awkward position, they don’t know what to do. They think (interest rates) may go down, which is based on inflation, but it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen anytime soon.'”

From Reuters. “U.S. vacation home sales have fallen by nearly three-quarters from their frenzied pace three years ago as an inventory shortage spawns a wrenching correction in the second-homes market. In markets like Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, or Lake Havasu City, Arizona, sales have all but dried up, data from mortgage services firm Optimal Blue showed. The reduction comes after a fervor of real estate investment in vacation locales during the pandemic. And as secondary home activity dwindles, some smaller housing-related businesses in leisure hot spots say they are feeling the pinch as well. Hilton Head Island and Lake Havasu City experienced the greatest fall in volume at 83% and 87%, respectively, compared with respective gains of 45% and 79% from early 2019 to the start of this year.”

“‘Services for existing rentals has grown, but services for larger ticket remodeling work on new vacation rentals has stopped,’ said Tim Allen, owner of Kopa Home Services, based in Flagstaff, Arizona. ‘I can’t recall any large project or make-ready that we’ve done on a new vacation rental owner this year.’ Those who bought secondary properties during the pandemic as vacation rentals are now seeing declining occupancy rates and a loss of revenue as many markets became oversaturated.”

“Allen has had to decrease unit prices in his separate vacation rental business, Local Vacation Team, to keep occupancy figures above market. Since March of 2022, national short-term rental occupancy is down 8%. For Flagstaff, that figure is 14%, according to data from AirDNA, a short-term rental data provider. ‘Our market is all about supply,’ Allen said. ‘With the acceleration of the creation of vacation rentals during the pandemic, now if visitors are at 1,000, there are 3,000 rentals available,’ he said. ‘My largest price decrease was a 20% fall from the time they listed it to the time it finally went.'”

The San Francisco Chronicle in California. “Some of San Francisco’s largest apartment owners are in agreement: The city is still struggling from a pandemic hangover that is dampening pricing, and free rent concessions are widespread. ‘San Francisco — just to pick on it since everyone seems to like to lately — there’s a number of different headwinds there as I think we’re all well aware of,’ said Sean Breslin, AvalonBay’s chief operating officer, on an earnings call. ‘So fundamentals have remained weak and they did get weaker as we moved through the quarter into October. So trying to know exactly what’s underneath that other than weaker demand overall, it’s hard to be precise, but I’d say we did not see the same level of weakness in Seattle,’ he said, adding that ‘Seattle is still not strong.'”

“Landlord UDR, which owns 3,738 Bay Area apartments along with its partners, said the region has seen the biggest increase in concessions in the country. UDR is averaging three weeks of free rent in the market, and other projects are offering up to six weeks, equivalent to an 11% discount on annual rent. In comparison, the company’s apartments in Austin, Texas, are averaging 1½ weeks of free rent. UDR CEO Tom Toomey said concessions have shot up nationwide in the past couple months as new buildings opened, which has in particular hurt “Class B” buildings that are a tier below the highest quality properties. ‘This dynamic and its impact on our ‘B quality’ communities in particular was unexpected and unprecedented in my 30 years in the multifamily industry,’ he said on an earnings call.”

The Toronto Sun in Canada. “I heard a good one the other day: How do you know when the real estate market is really bad? The realtors are finally willing to admit it. Har har har. But also, yes, it’s absolutely true. Sentiment is pretty terrible across the board. Buyers are feeling it, sellers are feeling it, and even the eternally optimistic among us are now willing to concede that the seas are rough and what’s out there on the horizon doesn’t look particularly comforting. It may feel like the sky is falling, and for many of those working in real estate it probably feels that way these days, but the only way out is through. First came the feast, now comes the famine.”

News.com.au in Australia. “A residential building company has collapsed into liquidation just a few months after landing in court over nearly $1 million in unpaid debts. News.com.au can reveal that the Victorian Supreme Court ordered Melbourne-based Como Homes Pty Ltd to wind up on Tuesday. A social media group of Como homeowners has 64 members. The firm has been involved in a messy legal fight since the beginning of this year and in July, news.com.au reported that 13 creditors were chasing it for debts totalling nearly $1 million. The director’s solicitor James Shannon told news.com.au his client had tried everything to meet his obligations to homeowners and suppliers. ‘Unlike many, Mr Kidd sought to meet his obligations both to his customers and to his creditors, going so far as to sell his own home to do so. In the end it wasn’t enough, but he deserves the utmost credit for his efforts.”

“Others, however, aren’t as impressed. Brendan* is relieved the company has gone under because he can finally access a last resort insurance scheme to recover the $35,000 deposit he paid. The 56-year-old signed a contract with Como Homes in July last year but so far only has a vacant lot to show for it. ‘We still have an empty block,’ he lamented to news.com.au. ‘It felt like a lot of delaying tactics.’ He added that he didn’t know why the company ‘kept fighting it for so long.’ ‘It seems crazy,’ he said, adding it ‘would have been easier for everyone’ if the business had closed down months ago. ‘We actually feel a bit lucky that no work was done in the end as I’ve heard others have had frames up that will need to be pulled down and redone.'”

From Al Jazeera. “Around a tiled square on the outskirts of the Chinese city of Nanjing, a cluster of apartment buildings rise like concrete columns towards a grey sky. At first glance, the structures look like a testament to China’s awe-inspiring construction boom, which saw the country use more cement between 2011 and 2013 than the United States did throughout the entire 20th century. But upon closer examination, the development is more like a scene out of a post-apocalyptic story than a symbol of grandeur.”

“There is no light in any of the buildings and most of them lack doors or windows. An eerie silence lies over the compound, which is strewn with disassembled equipment and construction materials, broken occasionally only by the sound of a tarp flapping lazily about on top of a stack of iron rods. There are no residents in sight. ‘The workers stopped building in 2019,’ Ji Zhang, a 61-year-old resident who asked to be referred to by a pseudonym, told Al Jazeera. ‘They say it was because the developer ran out of money.'”

“Over a grainy video call, Ji gestures towards one of the unfinished high-rises, where she and her husband purchased a sixth-floor apartment in 2017. Ji felt like they were buying into a dream when they poured most of their life savings into a 60 percent down payment for the property. ‘It was all just an old village back then, but when the sales agents showed us the plans for the area, I saw how it could give my husband and me the retirement we were looking for,’ Ji said. The compound promised a range of modern amenities. Most importantly, the apartment offered the chance for Ji and her husband to live much closer to their daughter and two grandchildren in Nanjing. ‘But we haven’t had a chance to enjoy any of that,’ Ji said with tears in her eyes.”

“But with their apartment still unfinished five years after their purchase, Ji’s retirement dream lies in tatters. ‘And this is not just happening to us,’ Ji said, wiping away her tears. ‘It is unfortunately happening all over China.’ Across China, from Guilin in southern China to Dalian in the north, countless home buyers have emptied their life savings into homes that never materialised. So-called ‘rotten-tail buildings,’ as they are known in Chinese, dot the outskirts of cities and central locations alike. In Nanjing, a hotel, an office building, an art museum and even a castle have remained unfinished for years. In a suburb of the northeastern city of Shenyang, a planned neighbourhood of about 260 European-styled villas, was abandoned by the developer only two years after construction began.”

“During the late 2000s, entire “ghost” cities and neighbourhoods began to emerge across China as a credit-fuelled building boom bumped up against lacklustre demand. ‘This has been a problem, particularly in medium-sized cities and smaller cities where supply and demand has been especially skewed,’ Yang Jiang, a senior researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies, told Al Jazeera. It all ran on the expectation that demand and property prices would continue to increase,’ Jiang said.”

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This Post Has 97 Comments

  1. ‘County Commissioner Steve Geller recalled his time representing Hallandale Beach in the state Legislature in the 1980s and 1990s. Some residents didn’t want to pay at the time for problems they hoped would have to be addressed after they were no longer alive. ‘I would go to people and say, ‘You know, you need to stop waiving your reserve. …’ They would say, ‘Young man, young man, I’m 77 years old. I’m not going to worry about what’s going to happen in 10 years. Let my children worry about it because they’ll own the condo then. And the problem is that we had so many people that just kept waiving and waiving and waiving’

    A cluster fook 40 years in the making. Everybody could see it. Nobody did anything til a building fell and oh, insurance is through the roof too, hurray, yer all fooked!

    Condos are a failed experiment that drop like rqats all the time. You know what else doesn’t work? Second shack towns:

    ‘For Flagstaff, that figure is 14%, according to data from AirDNA, a short-term rental data provider. ‘Our market is all about supply,’ Allen said. ‘With the acceleration of the creation of vacation rentals during the pandemic, now if visitors are at 1,000, there are 3,000 rentals available,’ he said. ‘My largest price decrease was a 20% fall from the time they listed it to the time it finally went’

    Heating those empty shacks gets kinda pricey in the winter Tim.

        1. I said he sounds like….not is. This man is thankfully dead. To be followed soon by the boomers who offered nothing and took everything.

    2. ‘For Flagstaff, that figure is 14%, according to data from AirDNA, a short-term rental data provider.

      Die, speculator scum. Just die already.

    1. Coloradans report dramatic spikes in home insurance premiums heading into 2024 (10/30/2023):

      “When Jenny Meyer first opened the estimate for her homeowner’s insurance renewal, she thought it was a mistake.

      Last year, she paid roughly $2,800, but her new estimate from Nationwide Insurance stated she would owe nearly $4,800 in premiums to insure her home, an increase of 69%.

      “I was just in shock,” Meyer said.

      Meyer decided to pay her premium and, like many other homeowners, will have to figure out where to make cuts in her budget after already receiving a 38% property tax increase.

      “I think that the government needs to understand that giving senior citizens 3% raises or 3.4% whatever it is this year isn’t going to cut it,” Meyer said. “When you get bills like this that are going up at the rate they’re going up, we’re already paying more for medical, we’re already paying more for groceries, the basic needs of life just are gonna deteriorate.”

      https://www.denver7.com/news/investigations/coloradans-report-dramatic-spikes-in-home-insurance-premiums-heading-into-2024

      The basic needs of life just are gonna deteriorate?

      Must be one of those “build back better” kind of things. Jenny have you considered eating less?

      1. after already receiving a 38% property tax increase

        The Dems are pushing prop HH hard.

        They know very well that those 38% property tax increases will end up being part of a large TABOR refund. Prop HH would let the gooberment keep those refunds in exchange for a tiny property tax decrease.

        As for the insurance, she should shop around.

        And the insurance companies are still smarting from the Marshal Fire.

  3. ‘Young man, young man, I’m 77 years old. I’m not going to worry about what’s going to happen in 10 years. Let my children worry about it because they’ll own the condo then.

    You gotta love the leadership from this WWII generation. Once upon a time, the elders of this country wanted to secure the blessings of liberty to themselves and to their posterity. Now it’s just, screw posterity, I want what I want and some slave can pay the bill later. Oh, and give me 15% of every one of your paychecks in the meantime.

          1. The man mentioned in the article would be over 100 now, and so is most likely no longer alive. His greed and solipsism are simply a matter of historical record.

            The current concern is with people born in the 30s and 40s, of whom there are still 10s of millions. The ones who some have called the “Silent Generation”, except that they are extremely vocal when anyone proposes a 0.1% reduction in their COLA formulas.

          2. solipsism

            Avoid paying taxes that support socialism. Can’t think of any other personal solution except maybe avoid storing your wealth in USD. I’ve had a lifelong aversion to paying taxes that get spent on war and murder. l wasn’t successful.

        1. I have always heard “The Day of the Pillow” used in reference to boomers. Those who are 100 now are already sleeping in their graves. No pillow needed.

    3. You gotta love the leadership from this WWII generation.

      At least they served. From what I have been reading, Gen-Z, who have been very pro war, are suddenly worried that they could be drafted to fight in WW3.

      1. This reminds me of the “Oxford Pledge” from the 1930’s, where young people pledged to refuse to serve in the military: no soldiers == no war.

        We all know how that worked out.

        Some say that Gen-Z is unfit to serve: too fat, too soft, too brittle. I’m pretty sure some drill sergeants will be able to whip them into shape, though it might take longer than usual. There is already talk of fat camps: remedial prep before entering boot camp.

        All those wars sounded just fine as long as someone else was going to fight them and they could stay home smoking weed, eating pizza and playing video games.

      2. At least they served.

        From what I can tell, those born in the 30s and 40s mostly had very little if any military service. They were too young to be in WWII and too old to be in Vietnam. Idk about Korea. I did know one guy born in ’33, he was in the Navy for two years in the 50s, it was basically a free round the world vacation.

        1. “…too old for Vietnam”
          Born 1940. Vietnam war 1954-1975. Enlist 1960 = 20 years of age.
          What age again?

          1. Idk, you tell me. My understanding is that the US involvement in Vietnam didn’t really ramp up until the mid sixties.

            In any case, military service doesn’t make you a special breed, entitled to demand endless homage from civilians. Other people also have struggles and challenges in their lives, and contribute in their own ways that are often not acknowledged on a national level. And, again, many born in the 30s and 40s weren’t in the military, and are simply riding the coattails of the supposedly heroic era they were born into. This is where we get the incredible condescension and self-absorption exemplified by the Hallandale Beach guy.

            And while I wouldn’t deny that there are issues with the younger generations, it’s a matter of special economic concern when one generation is deliberately neglecting to maintain buildings, and demanding $96 trillion from another generation simply on the basis that that’s what they decided they want and and that’s what they voted for.

          2. when one generation is deliberately neglecting to maintain buildings,

            I guess I should get around to fixing the back porch, even though my kids will inherit my tools with the house and have their debts instantly forgiven. Wouldn’t want them to have to harbor a grievance.

        2. They were subject to the draft. The older ones got WW2, the next batch Korea, the youngest got Vietnam. Some lucky ones fell between the cracks.

          My point was that Gen-Z were very pro war (“I support Ukraine!”), until the possibility of being drafted raised its ugly head.

          2. If they didn’t like being subject to the draft, they should have lobbied to make it illegal, which it should be anyway under the 13th Amendment, instead of trying to compensate by demanding $96 Trillion from their kids. Regarding Gen-Z, hopefully there’s still time for them to learn.

  4. “U.S. vacation home sales have fallen by nearly three-quarters from their frenzied pace three years ago as an inventory shortage spawns a wrenching correction in the second-homes market.

    Gosh, I fear that in such an environment, the lemmings who rushed to sign on Mr. Banker’s line which is dotted during the peak of the scamdemic-era Fed liquidity-pumping are now finding themselves slipping further underwater on their shacks. This is my “deeply empathetic” face.

  5. Hilton Head Island and Lake Havasu City experienced the greatest fall in volume at 83% and 87%, respectively, compared with respective gains of 45% and 79% from early 2019 to the start of this year.”

    Is that a lot?

  6. (This non-housing related article is being posted due to its humorous attributes.)

    Air Force, Space Force raise maximum enlistment age to gain recruits

    https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2023/10/30/air-force-space-force-enlistment-age/7291698699713/

    To address ongoing recruiting challenges, the U.S. Air Force and Space Force have raised the age limit for new enlisted and officer recruits to 42.

    Department leadership made the adjustment to the age limit last week and it went into effect immediately.

    The change comes roughly a month after the Air Force missed its recruitment target, falling short by approximately 2,700 applicants this year, signifying a substantial recruitment challenge that has not been seen more than two decades.

    Military leaders believe the recruitment shortfall underscores the mounting difficulties the service faces in attracting qualified candidates amid a rapidly evolving job market and shifting demographics.

    Air Force authorities project that the increased age limit will draw in an additional 50 recruits annually.

    (Lol. FIFTY! Fifty new recruits annually.)

    Earlier this year, the department relaxed previously stringent regulations regarding tattoos and prior drug usage, aiming to reduce entry barriers without compromising the caliber of recruits.

    (Bottom line: They are screwed.)

  8. (Here is a long, informative article – too long for it to be posted here in its entirety – that contains lots of charts …)

    The national debt is finally a real-world problem

    finance.yahoo.com/news/the-national-debt-is-finally-a-real-world-problem-202357147.html

  9. ‘It was all just an old village back then, but when the sales agents showed us the plans for the area, I saw how it could give my husband and me the retirement we were looking for,’ Ji said.

    I see, Ji. So you & hubby were greedy & stupid. Maybe Confucian moral rectitude needs to make a comeback once you overthrow your bungling CCP overlords.

    4. Apparently Di Meola isn’t quite dead yet. He’s promising to resume his tour in 2024, which I doubt he will be able to do. More likely we will hear that he had another attack and died.

  11. Some Isreali units that struck back Oct 07 clearly show female soldiers among them, storming the villages , and looks like they’re doing quite well….

    1. Updated Tue, Oct 31 2023 10:00 AM EDT
      S&P 500 falls on Tuesday as stocks head for third-straight losing month: Live updates
      Sarah Min
      Hakyung Kim
      A trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, US, on Friday, Oct. 20, 2023. Stocks fell around the globe, bonds rose and oil hit $90 a barrel on concern that the Israel war with Hamas will escalate into a wider conflict in the Middle East. Photographer: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images
      A trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Oct. 20, 2023.
      Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty Images

      Stocks slid on Tuesday, with traders set to close out a dismal month that saw Treasury yields surge to multiyear highs.

      The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 87 points, or 0.2%. The S&P 500 declined 0.18% and the Nasdaq Composite was down by 0.6%.

      Earnings season continued Tuesday, with Caterpillar reporting earnings for the third quarter that exceeded estimates. However, Caterpillar said its fourth-quarter revenue would only be “slightly” higher than the year-ago period, worrying investors that it could miss analysts’ expectations. Shares were down more than 5%.

      JetBlue shares dropped more than 14% after the airline’s third-quarter results missed expectations on the top and bottom lines.

      The major averages are set to close out their third-straight losing month. The Dow and the S&P 500 are down about 2% and 3%, respectively. This marks the first three-month losing streak for both indexes since March 2020. The tech-heavy Nasdaq has declined more than 3% month to date, also on pace for its third negative month in a row.
      …
      https://www.cnbc.com/2023/10/30/stock-market-today-live-updates.html

  13. 5% on the US 10-yr bond seems to be the Fed’s line in the sand for the debt market. Buying up your own debt to artificially suppress yields seems like late-stage Zimbabwe klepto-capitalism, but when the Fed loses control of the debt market, it’s Game Over for its asset bubbles & Ponzi markets.

  14. (Yet another non-housing related article. This one is being posted to illustrate just how stupid people can be, especially California politicians.)

    San Francisco Plans To Close A Legal Loophole That Lets Thieves Get Away With Car Break-Ins

    https://www.yahoo.com/autos/san-francisco-plans-close-legal-141500714.html

    A California state senator is introducing a bill that would make it easier to prosecute thieves that are breaking into cars in San Francisco and stealing people’s belongings. The city has reported an alarming number of break-ins lately, due, in part, to a rule that requires people to prove their car doors were locked in order to prosecute thieves, even in cases of forcible entry.

    State Senator Scott Wiener introduced the bill, saying it’ll eliminate a rule currently preventing prosecutors from punishing thieves, as NBC reports. The rule amounts to a loophole that stops such cases from proceeding when there’s no proof that a vehicle was locked. Senator Wiener calls the rule nonsensical, arguing that there’s more than enough evidence in many cases. Per NBC:

    Unless victims of break-ins can prove vehicles were locked at the time of the thefts, city officials and police can’t go after burglars, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. Proof may come simply in the form of testimony by victims, but many of those affected are tourists visiting San Francisco briefly.

    Most tourists and out-of-towners are unable to return to the city just to testify, and the charges end up getting dropped — thereby enabling thieves to avoid punishment. Criminals are allegedly exploiting this loophole by targeting cars that are likely to belong to tourists, such as rental vehicles parked in areas that attract crowds of visitors. The SF Chronicle says thieves are known to target cars whose drivers forgot to curb their wheels — a tell tale sign of a tourist.

    The new bill would allow city officials to work such cases using eyewitness testimony and video evidence, as well as the physical evidence of a break-in. Senator Wiener is proposing the latest bill after having done so on two previous occasions.

    The bill had failed to pass for “procedural reasons,” according to the SF Chronicle, but the state senator is hopeful it’ll pass this time. And it may be overdue since there were 11,000 car break-ins in the city by September and just 45 convictions due to the loophole, as the San Francisco Standard reports.

    1. due, in part, to a rule that requires people to prove their car doors were locked in order to prosecute thieves

      While leaving your car unlocked is unwise, how stealing something from an unlocked car is not a crime is something only a California Democrat could rationalize.

  15. A mystery company backed by Silicon Valley elites is buying up land to build a new city. Farmers say they’ve been pressured to sell up.

    https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/mystery-company-backed-silicon-valley-130919151.html

    New filings accuse the company backed by Marc Andreessen and Reid Hoffman of forcing farmers to sell up.

    Solano County farmers say Flannery Associates targeted them with pressure tactics and litigation.

    The company has bought up 52,000 acres outside San Francisco to build a utopian city.

    The company that wants to create an entirely new city in California, and that’s backed by Silicon Valley billionaires, has been accused of coercing farmers into selling their land.

    In a court filing this week, farmers in Solano County said Flannery Associates used pressure tactics to acquire land for the new city, including evicting farmers who refused to negotiate and using expensive litigation to force residents to sell up.

    Backed by Silicon Valley heavyweights including investor Marc Andreessen and LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman, Flannery has bought up 52,000 acres of land in northern California with the aim of building a brand-new utopian city.

    The allegations appeared in response to a lawsuit submitted by Flannery in May accusing landowners in Solano County of fixing prices and overcharging the company for land.

    The defendants, including some families who say they have been farming the land for upward of 100 years, have hit back and accused Flannery of “hounding” local residents, canceling leases, and playing farmers against one another.

    They compare Flannery’s actions to “mobster tactics,” citing Californian Congressman John Garamendi. In one instance, the lawsuit said that Flannery attempted to purchase a plot of land owned by eight groups of descendants of the same family.

    When all but one of the groups refused to sell, Flannery adopted a “divide and conquer” strategy by acquiring the one-eighth share and suing the other owners, using the threat of expensive and lengthy litigation to force them into selling, the suit said.

    A Flannery spokesperson told Bloomberg that the company had specific evidence of price fixing and that it had made settlement offers to the remaining defendants.

    Flannery Associates has been quietly buying up thousands of acres of land in northern California since 2018 and has spent $800 million so far according to court documents.

    Jan Sramek, the CEO of Flannery’s parent company California Forever, told TV station KQED that the group is aiming to build a retro-themed “city of yesterday,” and renderings depict a utopian community with a focus on sustainability and accessibility.

    However, the group has faced skepticism and opposition from developers and locals. Sacramento-based real estate developer Mark Friedman told The New York Times that he doubted the plans would ever get off the ground, and Princess Washington, mayor pro tempore of Suisun City, said the group is trying to create “a city for the elite.”

    Silicon Valley investors have long been interested in the idea of building futuristic “smart cities,” and the latest plans come as many become increasingly disillusioned with San Francisco’s rising levels of crime and homelessness.

    California Forever, the parent company behind Flannery Associates, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider, sent outside normal working hours.

    1. The company has bought up 52,000 acres outside San Francisco to build a utopian city.

      So, a city where homeless, thieves, junkies and poors are not allowed. Isn’t that a common sci-fi plot?

    1. Name something that isn’t fake, stolen, deceptive or just flat out lies over the last decade…..longer, actually. The past election is just a tiny piece of it. The reason that blogs like this are so popular is that the search for truth is so elusive. Pretty good chance something in the next election will be stolen too. I’m sure the solution lies in not trying to fix the system they have in place…(notice I didn’t say “we”).

  17. KPBS
    Morning Edition
    Majority of San Diegans consider moving, citing housing crisis, living costs, survey says
    inewsource
    By Cody Dulaney / inewsource
    Published October 25, 2023 at 3:21 PM PDT
    A person skates in front of new construction on 30th Street in San Diego’s North Park neighborhood, Nov. 29, 2022.
    Zoë Meyers

    Nearly two in three San Diegans are considering moving out of the county, with most saying it’s too expensive to live here.

    Those findings are part of a new survey that also found San Diegans have grown increasingly concerned about affordable housing, climate change, mental health and racial justice. The results came out just as the city of San Diego was ranked the most expensive place to live in the United States, according to U.S. News and World Report.

    “Many San Diegans are questioning if they can remain in San Diego County due to the lack (of) affordable housing, inflation and the related high cost of living,” the survey says.
    …
    https://www.kpbs.org/news/quality-of-life/2023/10/25/san-diego-affordable-housing-homelessness-climate-mental-health-justice

    1. “San Diegans have grown increasingly concerned about affordable housing, climate change, mental health and racial justice.”

      Why limit yourself to worrying about unaffordable living costs when you can worry about EVERYTHING!?

      1. Please don’t bring all that woke sh*t from San Diego to Colorado, we have enough of that here already.

    2. Business
      San Diego home sales nosedive, median price drops
      Home sales dropped significantly in September.
      Pictured: Ingraham Street runs through the Crown Point area of Pacific Beach in San Diego in mid-October
      (K.C. Alfred/The San Diego Union-Tribune)
      There were 2,101 home sales in San Diego County in September, one of the lowest ever recorded. Price was also down
      By Phillip Molnar
      Oct. 31, 2023 5:30 AM PT

      San Diego home sales in September hit one of the lowest levels ever as mortgage rates continue to affect buyers.

      There were 2,101 home sales last month, according to CoreLogic data released Tuesday, the lowest ever recorded for a September in records dating to 1988. It wasn’t just low for September — usually a big sales month — but the eighth-lowest sales month ever recorded with a 20 percent drop from August.

      Tight inventory had pushed up the median home price for months, despite rising mortgage rates, but prices dropped 1.2 percent monthly to $830,000 in September. The median — which combines resale and newly built single-family homes, condos and townhouses — is still up 5.1 percent annually.

      In the last week of September, the average interest rate for a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage was 7.31 percent, said Freddie Mac. That was up from 6.7 percent at the same time last year.

      Mauricio Perez-Vazquez, a real estate agent in Chula Vista, said September was rough because there were a lot of potential sellers who would rather not sell because they don’t want to give up their low-interest rate mortgage. At the same time, rising interest rates are making it even harder for home shoppers to find any properties that fit their budget.

      “People are sitting on 2, 3, 4 percent interest rates. It’s a tough pill to swallow to buy another house with a much higher property tax and (mortgage rate),” he said. “The people I’m seeing sell are (doing so) right now only because they have to.”

      There were considerably more real estate agents, 26,300, than sales in San Diego County in September. It is common for many people to have their real estate license as a side gig, with typically only 35 percent of people working full-time as an agent, but the industry is still feeling the pressure, said Perez-Vazquez.

      The profession has seen a reduction across the country since the highs of recent years. The National Association of Realtors said 60,000 real estate agents left the industry in the six months ending in April.

      “We had such a good run and I think we got complacent in our industry,” he said. “We need to get back to what we’re doing: Always prospecting, door knocking, holding open houses. When the market slows down, you need to speed up.”

      There were around 3,400 homes for sale in September, said the Redfin Data Center. That’s down from 5,235 in 2022 and 4,250 in 2021. However, the number of listings has increased from a low point of 2,900 in April as homes are sitting on the market slightly longer. The median number of days on the market was 15.7 in September, up from 11 to 12 at the start of the summer.

      It isn’t just San Diego that is seeing more listings, but nationwide listings are inching up despite rising interest rates slowing sales. A Redfin study said new listings rose 0.3 percent from a year earlier during the four weeks ending Oct. 22. While the increase is minor, it’s the first uptick since July 2022.

      Redfin theorized that sellers are starting to list their properties again as concerns grow that home prices will start dropping and they could miss the boat on cashing out.
      …
      https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/business/story/2023-10-31/san-diego-home-sales-nose-dive-median-price-drops

      1. “Tight inventory had pushed up the median home price for months, despite rising mortgage rates, but prices dropped 1.2 percent monthly to $830,000 in September.”

        I don’t know nothing about no 1.2 percent monthly drop.

        But I do recall the San Diego median price was over $1 million just a few months ago. So it’s down by at least 17 percent since then.

        1 – $830,000/$1,000,000 = 17%

        1. San Diego median price was over $1 million just a few months ago

          For single-family homes. The median cited includes condos and townhouses.

          1. Fair enough. Regardless, it’s good to know prices have cleared the top of the roller coaster.

      2. “Redfin theorized that sellers are starting to list their properties again as concerns grow that home prices will start dropping and they could miss the boat on cashing out.”

        That’s the spirit! “Get me the f— out now!”

  18. The Powers that be want one generation to blame another generation for everything.
    They want minorities to blame Whites for everything now.
    It was a social engineering job for over 100 years.
    Regular people were just trying to make a living in a rigged world.
    The Depression /World War 2 generation didnt have it that great. The baby boomers were socially engineered also into the systems.
    The younger generations were even more screwed by the rigged and looting systems and the brainwashing they received.
    A small percentage of people were screwing all generations, and now these Powers want to reduce populations to enslaved and deprived populations.
    So, I don’t know that you can blame any generation for what a small group of psychopathic money powers did to rig the systems and loot the systems.
    They inflitrated the political systems, the school systems, science, and you name it.
    Divide and conquer and keep the people fighting with each other so the One World Order can rule and take control of all the marbles.
    So, what generation do you blame for not stopping the Elites and Money powers for their corruption .
    How long has elections been rigged. How long have people been lied to and programmed to comply with false narratives?
    The Chess Movers do not care about humanity at all.

    1. The Powers that be want one generation to blame another generation for everything.

      My news feed is full of stories about why this or that group svcks. That said, vibrants (especially aspiring rappers who were turning their lives around) and invaders are always portrayed as brave victims and heroes.

  19. Georgia DA Offers ‘Nothingburger’ Plea Deals To Build Parade Of Witnesses For Later Show Trials

    In the past week, the office of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis finalized “plea agreements” with three significant members of the group of 18 co-defendants indicted in Willis’ rambling Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (“RICO”) case filed this past August against former President Donald Trump and others.

    The pleas were with three prominent lawyers in the post-2020 election challenges: Sidney Powell, Kenneth Chesebro, and Jenna Ellis. Each was charged with multiple felonies, including the lead RICO count, carrying potential maximum penalties of many years of incarceration. The indictment purports to allege serious felonies based on serious wrongdoing that supposedly threatened the very fabric of our democracy, but you wouldn’t think so from the actual deals Willis struck.

    There is no legitimate prosecutorial reason for Willis to have struck these particular deals. Rather, these deals are designed to bolster the perceived, but not the real, strength of her case against the key defendants, both now, via the media, and later, by parading a string of “guilty” co-defendants as witnesses before the jury.

    Powell pleaded guilty to seven misdemeanors and no felonies, and the prosecutors moved to dismiss the seven felonies, including the RICO count they had charged against her. Chesebro pleaded guilty to one felony and the prosecutors moved to dismiss the remaining six felonies they had charged him with in the indictment, including the RICO count. Ellis pleaded guilty to a newly tailored felony count of aiding and abetting another defendant (Rudy Guiliani) in his alleged making of a false statement, and the prosecutors moved to dismiss the two felonies charged against her, including the RICO count.

    Thus, none of these three defendants pleaded guilty to the most serious charges against them. Far, far from it. Further, in all three deals, the prosecutors agreed not to oppose “First Offender” treatment for the cases under a Georgia statute that permits a judge to accept guilty pleas from those with no prior criminal records, and then later remove the conviction from their record entirely if they satisfactorily complete conditions of probation.

    The prosecutors also agreed to recommend probation-only sentences to the court in all three cases, which the judge duly imposed. None of these three defendants will spend one day in jail or have a conviction on their records for their role in supposedly undermining American democracy itself.

    When a prosecutor charges multiple, serious felonies and offers plea deals for significantly less serious charges, carrying no jail time, and the opportunity to have the entire case cleared off the defendant’s record, it is usually a clear sign that the prosecutor has overcharged the case and was not going to be able to prove the charges as alleged if forced to go to trial on them.

    Prosecutors are simply not in the habit of developing serious felony cases and then offering plea deals that amount to a legal “nothingburger” for the defendants involved. Even when trying to “flip” defendants to testify against others in the case, the normal prosecutorial practice is to still require some significant pain in the plea deal with cooperating defendants because if they don’t, then the defense lawyers for the defendants who go to trial can argue to the jury that the deals are so sweet they shouldn’t believe a word the flipped defendants are saying.

    That is not what is happening with the plea deals in Trump’s Georgia case, however. These deals with Powell, Chesebro, and Ellis are really, really sweet deals. Deals so sweet that no rational defense lawyer could advise the client to reject them.

    The prosecutors even agreed to ask the judge to include language in the sentencing order that said the charges to which they were pleading were not crimes of “moral turpitude,” because such crimes can make it more likely that a defendant who is a lawyer will lose their law license. These prosecutors did everything that could be done to craft these pleas in such a way that the defendants simply could not turn them down.

    https://thefederalist.com/2023/10/28/georgia-da-offers-nothingburger-plea-deals-to-build-parade-of-witnesses-for-later-show-trials/

    1. For a minute there I thought I hallucinated those videos of that mother and daughter running that Fulton County election center bragging about fake ballots and if it weren’t for all the black people voting for Trump they wouldn’t have to do this.

      Pipe bursts in Atlanta arena causing 4-hour delay in processing ballots
      No ballots were damaged, said the deputy secretary of state.

      ByEmily Shapiro
      November 3, 2020, 11:25 PM

      Though there have been few reports of widespread issues at the polls, the battleground state of Georgia has been the site of two Election Day snafus.

      A pipe burst in State Farm Arena in Atlanta on Tuesday morning, causing a four-hour delay in processing election ballots, according to deputy Secretary of State Jordan Fuchs.

      “As planned, Fulton County will continue to tabulate the remainder of absentee ballots over the next two days,” the officials continued. “Fulton County did not anticipate having all absentee ballots processed on Election Day.”

      https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/pipe-bursts-atlanta-arena-causing-hour-delay-processing/story?id=73981348

      1. It wasn’t a pipe burst. It was a drain pipe leak, which anyone could have done. It was called in to the fire department as one. They said vote counting was done. But Ruby Freeman and her sister and the gals started right up again with no one in the building, pulling boxes out from under tables, videotaped triple counting handfuls at a time. The only other time a presidential election was stopped was the Florida county with the Bush Gore thing. The night in question voting was stopped in multiple key swing state counties at roughly the same time, with similar irregular voting continuing after poll observers etc had been sent home for the night. Millions of votes continued to be counted in these key counties for days to come.

        1. stopped in multiple key swing state counties at roughly the same time

          Some of us stayed up and watched it live. I won’t be able to unremember that.

  22. I guess Elon went through with it. nitter.poast.org is now giving me HTTP error 402 payment required. I’ve been around a while but that’s a new one for me. At least this will give me some time back, plus lower blood pressure, from not reading WallStreetSilv doom porn.

  23. Oct 30, 2023
    @9mm_smg

    When the MK Ultra subject kills himself before the feds tell him to.
    R A W S A L E R T S
    @rawsalerts
    🚨#BREAKING: Authorities have found man dead at amusement park as he was heavily armed with guns, and IED explosive devices

    📌#Glenwood | #Colorado

    Authorities have found a 22-year-old man dead dressed in black-colored tactical clothing, bearing patches, dead at an amusement…

    https://x.com/9mm_smg/status/1719100811861426408?s=20

    @ThorThunderdog
    Somewhere a CIA handler is having to explain himself to his superiors.

    12:20 AM · Oct 31, 2023

    https://x.com/ThorThunderdog/status/1719207648506028478?s=20

    1. If our government was merely corrupt and content with graft, one might shrug and say “what can I do about it?”. But when the government/deep state actively tries to kill Americans, whether via mandatory experimental drugs, not so experimental drugs (opioids), mass shootings, or just flat out releasing the Orcs on us, then we have moved from corruption to flat out treason.

    2. Speaking of MK Ultra, an interesting related book is called ‘Acid Dreams: The Complete Social History of LSD: The CIA, the Sixties, and Beyond’
      by Martin A. Lee and Bruce Shlain.

  24. ‘multifamily units, historically more moderately priced, become more expensive. In 2018, the average price for a unit was $473,862, a figure that doubled in 2023, according to Land Title data. ‘It’s been on this sort of roller coaster’

    Enjoy the scary down part ahead Dana. But yer not in an amusement park.

    1. https://nitter.poast.org/KobeissiLetter/status/1719419837439455701#m:

      JUST IN: Jury rules that the National Association of Realtors and other franchisors are guilty of conspiring to inflate commissions.

      The ruling awards $1.8 billion in damages to victims of the class action lawsuit.

      Zillow stock, $ZG, along with many other real estate stocks fell sharply on the news.

      For the first time in decades, the way realtors are compensated may now change.

      The question becomes how many more lawsuits this case will spark.

      All in a delicate time for the housing market.

  26. ‘San Francisco — just to pick on it since everyone seems to like to lately — there’s a number of different headwinds there as I think we’re all well aware of’

    The sun don’t shine on the same dog’s ass all the time.

    Catfish Hunter

  27. ‘wiping away her tears. ‘It is unfortunately happening all over China.’ Across China, from Guilin in southern China to Dalian in the north, countless home buyers have emptied their life savings into homes that never materialised. So-called ‘rotten-tail buildings,’ as they are known in Chinese, dot the outskirts of cities and central locations alike’

    Dan:

    via GIPHY

  30. 29 Cities in Los Angeles County Sue County Over Zero Bail Policy

    https://amgreatness.com/2023/10/31/29-cities-in-los-angeles-county-sue-county-over-zero-bail-policy/

    (Here is a fun snip …)

    Following the announcement of the lawsuit, Claire Simonich, a spokeswoman for Vera California, the state branch of left-wing criminal justice reform group Vera Institute of Justice, defended the zero bail policy by claiming, with no evidence, that it is a safe policy.

    “The opponents are not only drowning out the factual data on the policy, but the years of research on not just Los Angeles County but in areas across the country that show ending money bail and ensuring public safety go hand in hand,” Simonich claimed. “A similar version of the policy has been in effect on and off for the last three years in Los Angeles County. Violent crime and property crime effectively dropped or remained unchanged compared to the two years before the policy was in place.”

  31. Now that the stock market has survived the spooky month of October unscathed, is it safe to back up the truck in preparation for the Santa Clause rally?

    1. WeWork plans to file for bankruptcy, reports say
      Published
      2 hours ago
      A WeWork office in Shanghai, China.
      Image source, Getty Images
      By Zarina McDonald
      BBC reporter

      Troubled office-sharing firm WeWork may file for bankruptcy as early as next week, according to US media reports.

      WeWork declined to comment when contacted by the BBC.

      Earlier on Tuesday, the company told the US financial regulator it had agreed with creditors to temporarily postpone payments for some of its debt.

      The firm, which as a private business was once valued at $47bn (£38.7bn), has lost almost 98% of its stock market valuation in the last year.
      …
      https://www.bbc.com/news/business-67281739

      1. WeWork Stock Soars: Meme Stock Madness or Mirage?
        September 14, 2023 — 09:25 am EDT
        Written by Ryan Hasson, MarketBeat Contributor for MarketBeat ->

        WeWork (NYSE: WE) experienced a remarkable surge of 62.15% on Tuesday, briefly surpassing the 100% mark intraday despite the absence of any significant news catalyst.

        The driving force behind this dramatic uptick was the extraordinary trading volume, reaching an impressive 61.5 million shares exchanged in a single day. The stock followed Tuesday’s impressive showing with another high volume day yesterday, trading almost 54 million shares.

        With recent company developments, soaring stock price, and volume, the question arises: Is WeWork becoming a meme stock worth considering, or is it time to ring the register or avoid it altogether?
        …
        https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/wework-stock-soars:-meme-stock-madness-or-mirage

    2. Dow Jones Soars 511 Points As Yields Rise Ahead Of Fed; Cathie Wood Buys These 3 Plunging Stocks
      MICHAEL LARKIN 04:44 PM ET 10/30/2023

      The Dow Jones Industrial Average soared Monday even as yields rose. Famed fund manager Cathie Wood snapped up some potential bargains for Ark Invest. And Microsoft (MSFT) and Amazon.com (AMZN) joined a prestigious list amid encouraging action even as fellow Magnificent Seven stock Tesla (TSLA) plunged.
      …
      Cathie Wood Buys These Plunging Stocks

      Buying on the dip can be a risky strategy for the inexperienced investor. But famed fund manager Cathie Wood took advantage of recent pullbacks to snap up some potential bargains, despite the risks.

      More than 221,000 shares of payments stock Block (SQ) were acquired by the Ark Invest’s ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK) late Friday. The move has yet to pay off though, as the stock fell 2% Monday. It is down more than 39% so far in 2023.

      ARKK also added nearly 106,000 shares of Beam Therapeutics (BEAM). The stock closed up 2.6% today but remains down nearly 49% for the year.

      And Wood’s flagship ARK Innovation ETF also snapped up nearly 73,000 shares in Verve Therapeutics (VERV). The stock fared best of the three as it gained 6.5% but is down about 50% for 2023.

      All three currently trade below their 50-day and 200-day moving averages, MarketSmith analysis shows. This is a distinctly bearish look.

      Bargain hunting can be tempting for investors but IBD recommends buying stocks with strong earnings and price performance rather than laggards. Look for leaders in strong industries that are showing superior earnings growth and sales.
      …
      https://www.investors.com/market-trend/stock-market-today/dow-jones-jumps-as-yields-rise-ahead-of-fed-meeting-cathie-wood-buys-these-3-plunging-stocks/

      1. Cathie Wood’s Biggest Holdings Are Tumbling, Including Tesla
        ED CARSON 08:26 AM ET 10/30/2023

        Cathie Wood, CEO and founder of Ark Invest, takes big bets on companies that she sees having high growth potential, such as Tesla (TSLA), Coinbase (COIN), Zoom Video Communications (ZM), DraftKings (DKNG) and Roku (ROKU).

        Coinbase, Tesla stock, Coinbase, UiPath (PATH), Roku and Zoom Video are Ark Invest’s top holdings as of Oct. 27. Those five Cathie Wood stocks account for 23% of all Ark’s holdings. Square-parent Block (SQ), Exact Sciences (EXAS), DKNG stock, Roblox (RBLX) and Twilio (TWLO) round out the top 10. All told, Ark has nearly 40% of its funds in these 10 stocks.

        DraftKings is the top 2023 performer among big Cathie Wood stocks, up 133.9% as of Oct. 27. COIN stock is up 100%. Tesla stock has jumped 68.3%, despite big recent losses in the week. Block is the biggest laggard, down 30%.

        But all 10 top Cathie Wood stocks are off more than 20% from their 2023 highs, with SQ stock plunging 55.5%. Much of that is a reflection of the market’s overall downtrend since late July.

        Year to date, the Dow Jones has fallen 2.2%, the S&P 500 index has climbed 7.2% and the Nasdaq composite has rallied 20.8%.
        …
        https://www.investors.com/news/cathie-wood-stocks-ark-invest-biggest-holdings-are-tumbling-tesla-coinbase/

    3. The US is borrowing too much money, and that’s what’s driving rates higher, former Dallas Fed President says
      Aruni Soni
      Oct 31, 2023, 11:38 AM PDT
      A creative of US 100 dollar bills overlaying the Federal Reserve
      Federal Reserve rate hikes.
      Douglas Rissing/Getty Images

      – The US is borrowing too much money and that’s what is keeping rates up, the ex-Dallas Fed Chair says.

      -The US is borrowing this quarter will amount $8.66 billion dollars a day.

      -;That’s a “horrendously” large number, Fisher said, and it’s set to grow next year.
      …
      https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/bonds/us-debt-federal-deficit-interest-rates-fed-hikes-treasury-issuance-2023-10

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