More And More, Buyers Prey On Desperation And Time Pressure And Make Ridiculous Requests That You Can’t Afford To Turn Down
A report from the Miami Herald. “Florida lawmakers made a choice after the 2021 Surfside building collapse: to protect human life instead of continuing to allow condominiums to defer important maintenance that could put more people at risk. The unintended result is that some condo dwellers might be in for a sticker shock. State law now bans condo associations from waiving financial reserves for building maintenance, a common practice among associations. By January 2025, they will have to conduct “structural integrity reserve studies” to determine how much money must be set aside to complete structural repairs such as roofs, load-bearing walls and fire-protection systems.”
“These new requirements, along with the skyrocketing costs of property insurance, could create a perfect storm and make condo living unaffordable for many Floridians. Officials in South Florida are sounding the alarm, saying that foreclosures will start to happen. That was a topic of concern during a recent Broward County legislative delegation meeting. Hit the hardest will be residents of buildings that have not kept reserves. As condo lawyer Ryan Poliakoff told the Herald Editorial Board, many condos ‘were living off borrowed money.’ Costly choices made 10, 15, 20 years ago to waive a rainy-day fund will now come due, and those picking up the tab might not even be aware of it unless they have kept up with their association.”
Yahoo Finance. “Roughly 53,000 US home purchase agreements fell through in September, according to Redfin, equal to 16.3% of homes that went under contract that month. That’s the highest percentage of canceled contracts since October 2022 when mortgage rates surpassed 7% for the first time in two decades. The share is also up from 15.2% a month earlier and 15.8% a year earlier. Pandemic boomtowns where home prices skyrocketed due to the influx of remote workers were hit the hardest with buyers with cold feet, Redfin noted, with some areas in Florida seeing contract cancellation rates over 20%.”
“Among the 50 most populous metros analyzed by Redfin, Atlanta saw the most pending sales fall out of contract in September. Some 24.4% of contracts were canceled in the area that month, up from 23.6% in August – but slightly down from 27.1% a year earlier. Metros in Florida rounded up the top five cities with the highest shares of cancellations, with Jacksonville seeing 24% of contracts fall through in September, followed by Orlando (23.6%), Tampa (22.7%), and Fort Lauderdale (22%). ‘Affordability is a big issue,’ Jeffrey Ruben, president of WSFS Mortgage, told Yahoo Finance. ‘The interest rate environment is definitely creating constraints in our industry. It’s become a depressed kind of housing market.'”
Deseret News in Utah. “Even though the housing market is in the midst of a correction thanks to the rapid rise of mortgage rates that began in mid-2022, U.S. home prices are still overvalued — and some local markets are more overvalued than others. That’s according to a new analysis from Moody’s Analytics, which estimates national median home prices are about 15.7% over their fundamental value. Boise was also among the first to post a year-over-year home value decline in Zillow’s Home Value Index, down 1.2% in August 2022. More recently, Boise was down over 7% year over year, according to Zillow data through Sept. 30.”
“Utah, like Idaho, was also hit hard by the pandemic housing rush and saw some of the biggest home price declines as interest rates rose. In August, after six straight months of growth, home prices in most of Utah’s Wasatch Front counties tipped down. In Salt Lake County, the median price of all home types fell to $520,000 that month, a nearly 10% drop from a year ago and nearly 2% down from July, according to the Salt Lake Board of Realtors. To put those declines in perspective, however, Utah’s home prices surged by 72% over the past five years, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency. In the two-year period from 2020 to 2022 alone, the median sales price of a home in Utah rose almost 50%, up from $336,300 in February of 2020 to $500,000 the same month in 2022, according to estimates from the University of Utah’s Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute.”
Willamette Week in Oregon. “Portland-based Sortis Holdings is not a household name. But many of the companies Sortis controls are recognizable, at least to Portlanders who like trendy restaurants, good coffee, stylish hotels and haircuts with a complimentary beer. For the past three years, Sortis executive chairman Paul Brenneke has assembled a number of consumer-facing businesses as the region recovers from the pandemic. But a flurry of recent lawsuits, including a wrongful termination claim by a former senior executive and demands from unpaid creditors, suggests Sortis’ plan may not be working.”
“Then, on Nov. 3, the Portland Business Journal reported that Sortis’ acquisition of the boutique hotel chain Ace Group International, announced in January, had failed after litigation with the seller. Sortis told the Business Journal that it was laying off 30 employees as a result but would continue stronger than ever. Kurt Huffman, founder of ChefStable, a Portland company that has worked with chefs to develop dozens of local restaurants, says he has found Sortis’ game plan increasingly hard to follow. ‘I kind of understood the strategy of buying top-flight hospitality businesses at a discount,’ Huffman says. ‘It became very confusing when they acquired a bunch of coffee chains, hotels and barbershops—that’s when they lost me.'”
From CalMatters. “The numbers of Californians living in poverty or near-poverty edged upward this year as federal pandemic programs expired, according to a new survey by the Public Policy Institute of California and Stanford University’s Center on Poverty and Inequality. Currently, 13.2% of California’s nearly 40 million residents live in families which fall below the $39,000 annual income mark deemed the minimum for a family of four to meet its needs. The rate climbs to 31.1% if those in near-poverty (incomes up to $60,000) are included. The California Poverty Measure, or CPM, is derived from the federal Census Bureau’s Supplemental Poverty Measure, or SPM, which was devised to cure the deficiencies of the official poverty rate, a one-size-fits-all data point that measures just some income but is not adjusted for the cost of living.”
“Although the methodology varies a bit, the Census Bureau’s SPM rate for California, 13.2%, is identical to the California measure rate and is the highest of any state. Within California, Los Angeles County has the highest CPM rate at 15.5%, followed by San Diego County at 15%. While California’s SPM rate is the nation’s highest because of its costs of living vis-à-vis its income levels, Los Angeles and San Diego rates are the state’s highest because their housing costs outstrip incomes for their many low-income service workers and their families.So there are the numbers. California has the nation’s highest functional poverty rate and Los Angeles County, which has about a quarter of the state’s population, leads the state.”
CTV News in Canada. “A little more than two weeks have passed since the B.C. government rolled out proposed legislation to crack down on short-term rentals in B.C. in an effort to correct the ongoing housing crisis. Now the dust has begun to settle and the impact of that legislation is beginning to come to light. Three and a half years ago Steve Gordon and his wife, Sharon, retired. The couple sold their home in Esquimalt and bought two condos – one in Squamish and a small unit in the Janion building in downtown Victoria. They call themselves collateral damage of the province’s crackdown on short-term rentals. ‘We saw this and we bought it knowing that we can Airbnb it,’ said Steve. ‘We’ve done everything legally and we actually paid a premium because of that. You know what? We have been bullied.'”
“They don’t want to sell, nor do they want to rent the unit on a long-term basis because that defeats their reason for buying the studio apartment in the first place. ‘The property value definitely has gone down,’ said Steve. ‘I’m seeing huge attrition of my clientele,’ said Nancy Paine, CEO SpaceHost, a short-term rental management company in Victoria. Paine says after the province’s announcement a little more than two weeks ago, she immediately lost 30 per cent of her business. ‘Twenty per cent of my clients are listing on MLS right now,’ said Paine. Others have decided to list later and 43 per cent of her clients are in a holding pattern, trying to decide what to do by the deadline of May 1. That is when the proposed legislation will kick in. ‘I don’t think my business will exist in January or certainly by May 1,’ said Paine.”
The Canadian Press. “Greater Toronto home sales fell 5.8 per cent last month compared with October 2022, with sales of townhouses recording the biggest decline. New listings surged 38 per cent to 14,397 in October compared with 10,433 in October 2022, which had marked a 12-year low. Toronto realtor Vy Ngo said the market is currently as slow as she’s ever experienced in her career while buyers try to wait out the high interest rate environment. ‘I thought this time last year, it was really bad. But this period we’re in right now is even more than a year ago,’ said Ngo, a sales representative with Big City Realty Inc. Brokerage. ‘Sales are really low because buyers just can’t afford to qualify for a mortgage.'”
From Metro in the UK. “The day before she was due to exchange contracts, the people buying Katharine Storr’s family home slashed their offer by £30,000. ‘They were bringing up all kinds of things which were in the survey, but weren’t issues at all,’ said the mum, 38, who lives in Tooting with her husband Matt and their kids. ‘They had us over a barrel and knew it as we have three children and were moving house for schools.’”
“Like many selling a property in the current market, Katharine had been gazundered – when a buyer reduces their offer at a late stage of negotiations to pressure the seller into accepting less money. According to research by House Buyer Bureau, 31% of UK home sellers over the last six months have fallen victim to gazundering, with a third saying it happened within a week of their exchange date. ‘We were so upset and angry,’ writer Katharine told Metro.co.uk. ‘It felt awful, everything had gone so smoothly until that point and then it felt like they were inventing issues that weren’t there to try to get money off.’ But the tactic worked for the buyer and, backed into a corner, they accepted £15,000 less than the original offer.”
“Evie Richards, 25, was keen to sell the house she shared with her boyfriend after they broke up, so she could move on with her life. The deputy SEO editor from South London and her ex put the property on the market in February but didn’t accept an offer until June. ‘The offer was already around £20,000 below asking,’ she explained. ‘But it was at the bottom end of what the house was valued at and we weren’t making a loss (breaking more-or-less even) so reluctantly agreed – knowing that this is just how the market is, and we both wanted out of our current situation.’”
“By September, they were ready to sign on the dotted line when Evie got a call from her solicitor while she was at work. The buyer claimed that unless they were willing to accept an offer £30,000 less than agreed, he’d ‘walk away’ completely. She told Metro.co.uk: ‘My world shattered, and it took me a while to compose myself and get back to work. He said unfortunately this is common practice we’re seeing more and more, where buyers prey on desperation and time pressure and make ridiculous requests like this that you can’t afford to turn down.’”
“After a lot of back and forth, they were able to negotiate the price to £7,000 less than originally offered, along with amenities such as the brand new fridge and garden furniture thrown in. Yet Evie remembers the nerve-wracking ordeal as ‘a waste of time and money’ that left her ‘terrified that the buyer would pull out.’”
ABC News in Australia. “A suspected Ponzi scheme that has ensnared Melbourne racing identities and a senior AFL figure was offering returns of up to 8 per cent before the sudden death of its alleged mastermind last month. Some estimates have put the scale of losses in the scheme run by suburban Melbourne lawyer John Adams at $100 million – more than four times the amount high-profile Sydney con woman Melissa Caddick stole from her victims before disappearing in 2020. The Victorian Legal Services Commissioner is now working with police to investigate claims that solicitor Mr Adams, who passed away suddenly at the age of 81 last month, misappropriated funds invested in the mortgage lending scheme he operated out of his firm’s Ivanhoe office for more than 40 years.”
“ABC Investigations has obtained a letter Mr Adams sent to a client in 2019 promising returns of up to 8 per cent, at a time when major banks were offering about 1 per cent annually on term deposits. It says investors are paid the interest in monthly instalments. One investor told the ABC their payments continued up until the week before Mr Adams’s death. The Victorian Bookmakers Association (VBA) earlier this week revealed it stands to lose about $1.8 million it invested with Mr Adams. The VBA’s co-chairman Lyndon Hsu said the operation had the hallmarks of a Ponzi scheme.”
“‘We have invested through AMS Lawyers for decades, and in 2019 we invested about $300,000 into the scheme,’ he said. ‘The way it works is that we would be connected with individual borrowers and individual properties and provided with documents showing that we would have a mortgage over the property. But unbeknownst to us at some stage that mortgage has been discharged and we no longer have control over the property.'”
“Mr Hsu said the association has been flooded with inquiries from bookmakers who also had personal savings invested in the scheme. But Mr Adams’s clients extend beyond the racing industry. The ABC has also spoken to a senior AFL figure who said he stands to lose more than a million dollars through the scheme.”
Newshub New Zealand. “Kiwis have shared their regrets about buying their first home as the cost-of-living crisis continues to bite. The regrets were sparked by a Reddit post titled ‘Anyone regret buying their first home?,’ which has seen over 230 people respond to it. The person started the post by saying, ‘Just wonderting anyone have regret buying their first home? (sic)’ before going on to explain his regret. For me, I bought a apartment last year and then two months after settlement, I was told that the building was in the process of a claim and I got special levy. And the body corporate committee is not transparent and they tried to keep everyone silent about the case and construction defects,’ the poster said.”
“The post was flooded with responses after it went up on Friday afternoon, with one person sharing their experience of the value of their house decreasing. ‘Alot of the times yeah, when I see all of my friends overseas or out having fun and I’m just about scraping by with the mortgage. My house value has gone down and the mortgage barely decreases each month and I think to myself hmmmmm,’ one commenter said.”
“Another person commented saying, ‘No such thing as a safe home. I got caught in a bad deal with a dodgy supplier. House got sold from under us.’ A third person commented saying, ‘I really wanted to sell when the value shot up during the pandemic but my partner refused & insisted they’ll just keep going up forever like property in China (nek minnit).'”
South China Morning Post. “China’s financial regulator has lowered the risk weightings on property sector-related loans for commercial lenders, as Beijing attempts to walk the fine line between salvaging the sector and defusing a local government debt crisis while also serving the real economy. The new financial regulator, the National Administration of Financial Regulation (NAFR), issued the changes on Wednesday, a day after the conclusion of the twice-a-decade central financial work conference, which prioritised risk control and contagion prevention.”
“The risk weightings are covered under capital base rules, which determine the minimum amount a bank must hold in relation to the risk profile of its lending activities and other assets. China had 38.5 trillion yuan (US$5 trillion) of outstanding home mortgages at the end of September, according to the central bank. ‘Unfortunately, bank loan losses have occurred and no ‘regulatory tricks’ can undo the losses. The only thing banks can do is to spread the losses across different stakeholders and across time,’ said Chen Zhiwu, chair professor of finance at the University of Hong Kong. ‘At the moment, the priority is to ensure the delivery of homes by sacrificing banks’ interest to help developers complete projects … no one should think that these adjustments will help recover losses.'”
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‘The VBA’s co-chairman Lyndon Hsu said the operation had the hallmarks of a Ponzi scheme’
You have all the hallmarks of a bag holder Lyndon.
‘We were so upset and angry,’ writer Katharine told Metro.co.uk. ‘It felt awful, everything had gone so smoothly until that point and then it felt like they were inventing issues that weren’t there to try to get money off.’ But the tactic worked for the buyer and, backed into a corner, they accepted £15,000 less than the original offer’
That’s the spirit buyers, pull the rug at the last minute to make it more painful!
They don’t stock lube in Schlongville. But as we say here often, stupid should hurt.
‘The interest rate environment is definitely creating constraints in our industry. It’s become a depressed kind of housing market’
But it’s still a sellers market Jeff.
“Ngo said the market is currently as slow as she’s ever experienced in her career while buyers try to wait out the high interest rate environment”
Wrong. Buyers are no longer waiting out interest rates. They’re waiting out prices. No one I run into these days is talking about interest rates as much as they are prices coming down. There’s blood in the water now and folks could a sh#t about lower interest rates. They want lower prices and they’re gonna get ‘em.
‘Evie remembers the nerve-wracking ordeal as ‘a waste of time and money’ that left her ‘terrified that the buyer would pull out’
Evie the look on yer cats face shows they don’t like to be held like that.
I wonder if Pinky the cat ever got adopted.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COkumQuCibU
You will own nothing.
“Currently, 13.2% of California’s nearly 40 million residents live in families which fall below the $39,000 annual income mark deemed the minimum for a family of four to meet its needs. The rate climbs to 31.1% if those in near-poverty (incomes up to $60,000) are included.”
It’s understandable how the number of broke Californians keeps rising, given the juxtapostion of modest incomes with high tax rates and crazy housing costs enjoyed by state residents.
It’s also understandable why people keep leaving California.
Local News
Leaving California: These were the top destinations for Californians who moved in 2022
by: Alix Martichoux
Posted: Oct 20, 2023 / 07:02 AM PDT
Updated: Oct 20, 2023 / 08:54 AM PDT
The California exodus continues, new Census data released Thursday shows. In 2022, more than 817,000 people left the Golden State for somewhere else in the U.S.
About 475,000 people decided to move to California last year, meaning California suffered a net loss of around 342,000 to other U.S. states.
As in years prior, Texas was the No. 1 target for people fleeing California. About 102,000 ex-Californians sought greener – or more likely, cheaper – pastures in Texas last year. That’s a modest drop from 2021.
Other popular destinations for Californians to move were Arizona (74,157 people), Florida (50,701), Washington (49,968), Nevada (48,836) and Oregon (36,429).
“We are losing younger folks, and I think we will see people continuing to migrate where housing costs are lower,” Manuel Pastor, a professor of sociology and American Studies & Ethnicity at the University of Southern California, said in an interview with the Associated Press. “There are good jobs in California, but housing is incredibly expensive. It hurts young families, and it hurts immigrant families.”
…
https://ktla.com/news/local-news/are-californians-still-taking-over-texas-new-census-data-reveals-where-people-are-moving-most/
Markets
CNBC TV
Economy
Bad news for the economy is good news for the stock market … as long as it doesn’t get too bad
Published Fri, Nov 3 2023 10:53 AM EDT
Updated Fri, Nov 3 2023 12:12 PM EDT
Jeff Cox
Key Points
– Stocks rallied sharply after the Labor Department said nonfarm payrolls rose by 150,000 in October — 20,000 fewer than expected.
– Slow, controlled growth is something the markets and the Fed are seeking in the current climate, negative growth is not.
Friday’s market reaction to the jobs report comes down to a simple premise: bad news is good news, as long as it isn’t too bad.
Stocks rallied sharply after the Labor Department said nonfarm payrolls rose by 150,000 in October — 20,000 fewer than expected but a difference attributable pretty much completely to the auto strikes, which appear to be over.
For the Federal Reserve, the relatively muted job creation coupled with wage gains nearly in line with expectations adds up to a scenario in which the central bank doesn’t really have to do anything. It can just continue to let the data flow in, without having to move on interest rates as it evaluates the impact of its previous 11 hikes.
“The Fed finally got what it’s been looking for — a meaningful slowdown in the labor market,” said Mike Loewengart, head of model portfolio construction for Morgan Stanley’s Global Investment Office.
“We’ve seen one or two head fakes in this direction before, but the fact that this report followed other weaker-than-expected economic data points this week may encourage investors who have been waiting for a less-hawkish Fed,” he added.
Markets reacted in more ways than one to the report. Traders in fed funds futures reduced the probability for a December rate hike to less than 10% and now see the first cut coming as soon as May, according to CME Group tracking.
However, that cut could be the really bad news, as it likely would signal the Fed’s concern that the economy is slowing so much that it needs a boost from monetary policy. Slow, controlled growth is something the markets and the Fed are seeking in the current climate, negative growth is not.
“Investors who are eager for the Fed to be cutting rates should be careful what they wish for,” Michael Arone, chief investment strategist at State Street Global Advisors, said in an interview earlier this week.
…
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/11/03/bad-news-for-the-economy-is-good-news-for-the-stock-market-as-long-as-it-doesnt-get-too-bad.html
Finance · recession
Rising unemployment is near a key tipping point popularized by a former Fed economist that has reliably predicted past recessions
BYRich Miller and Bloomberg
November 3, 2023 at 5:19 PM PDT
…
https://fortune.com/2023/11/03/unemployment-verge-recession-sahm-rule/
State of Freight
Uber Freight CEO says the shipping recession is at a new tipping point
Published Thu, Nov 2 2023 8:30 AM EDT
Updated Thu, Nov 2 2023 11:29 AM EDT
Lori Ann LaRocco
Key Points
– Fuel costs may be a tipping point for carriers operating with little to no margin, according to Uber Freight CEO Lior Ron.
– “I believe the contract pressure will continue. The non-diversified brokers and subscale, less financially sound players are feeling a lot of pressure,” he said.
– Trucking company Yellow entered bankruptcy in August and once hot freight startups including Flexport and Convoy have been humbled by recent conditions, with Convoy recently shutting down.
…
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/11/02/freight-recession-is-at-a-new-tipping-point-says-ubers-shipping-ceo.html
Yahoo
Business Insider
The founder of the market’s most famous recession indicator says the Fed overdid it with rate hikes and a downturn is still coming
Aruni Soni
Fri, November 3, 2023 at 3:52 PM PDT·2 min read
stock market crash
Getty Images
– The Fed overestimated inflation and went too far with rate hikes, Duke finance professor Campbell Harvey said.
– He’s the founder of the market’s most famous recession indicator: the inverted yield curve.
– Now the curve is uninverting, which happened before each of the last four recessions, Harvey told CNBC.
…
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/founder-markets-most-famous-recession-225231419.html
Yahoo
Moneywise
‘The situation is dire’: Nearly two-thirds of potential homebuyers would welcome a recession if it meant lower mortgage rates — but here’s what they’re missing
Serah Louis
Sun, November 5, 2023 at 5:00 AM PST·4 min read
– ‘The situation is dire’: Nearly two-thirds of potential homebuyers would welcome a recession if it meant lower mortgage rates — but here’s what they’re missing
– ‘The situation is dire’: Nearly two-thirds of potential homebuyers would welcome a recession if it meant lower mortgage rates — but here’s what they’re missing
With mortgage rates creeping up to the 8% mark and home prices still high, many potential buyers are sitting on the sidelines until their prospects improve.
The situation has become so unsustainable that 64% say they wouldn’t even mind a recession, if it helped them better afford a home by lowering mortgage rates, according to a Credit Karma study.
…
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/situation-dire-nearly-two-thirds-130000246.html
“Bad news for the economy is good news for the stock market … as long as it doesn’t get too bad”
\\
– What nonsense. What tripe. Here’s a differing view of recent stonk market gains.
\\
https://www.nexteconomy.co/p/the-treasury-blinked
The Treasury Blinked
What yesterday’s QRA release means for the economy and markets
Florian Kronawitter
Nov 2, 2023
“As I have written many times in the past months, the excessive US budget deficit created an issue for both the economy and markets as long-term yields started to rise in a disorderly way. Thus, bond investors tensely awaited yesterday’s Treasury’s quarterly funding schedule, which breaks down how the larger than expected $816bn funding needs for Q1 were to be financed:”
“The Treasury now plans to sell $348bn coupons for the quarter, with the remaining 58% bills. This is much lower than the initially guided $396-$460bn, and only a mere $10bn step up in coupon issuance vs Q4”
“This is a huge policy decision. Per its own mission statement, the Treasury aims to be regular and predictable and to seek the lowest cost for the taxpayer. In order to stick to these principles, the Treasury would have had to prioritise coupons, which are still historically cheap as measured by their term premia”
“However, the Treasury’s private sector advisors (“TBAC”) acknowledged in their report that there was just not enough demand for these long duration bonds. This comes as no surprise as every investor in the world can see the deficit wall ahead, with a 6-8% budget deficit for years to come.”
– The key bit here:
“Now, the prudent move would be to address the deficit either via revenue raises or spending cuts. Alternatively, the Treasury could let long-end yields drift higher so they can take the sting out of the inflation created by excessive fiscal spending.”
“The path of least resistance however is a different one. It is a path that has been taken by many inflationary Emerging Markets before: If the market does not want the long end, and no political party is willing to address the deficit, one simply switches to very short-term debt (i.e. bills) instead.”
“With very short maturities, bills carry little risk of losing purchasing power. For the private sector these are cash-like, just with interest; they do not translate the market’s disciplinary force in case of high inflation. Coupons, on the other hand, require private sector confidence that inflation stays low, given their long duration. By prioritising bills and reducing coupon supply, the Treasury can overlook private sector inflation concerns in its funding. There is no free lunch of course, fewer coupons lower the yield on long-duration bonds, which loosens financial conditions and is thus inflationary. Further, due to their cash-like nature, bills are in fact liquidity-positive and also loosen these conditions. By changing the bill/coupon mix, the Treasury effectively undoes the Fed’s work.”
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– This is Emerging Market kind of stuff, not of a country showing organic growth and fiscal discipline. Yellen is goosing the markets by loosening financial conditions and (temporarily) lowering rates. How long this lasts is anyone’s guess, but a short-term “Santa Claus” rally is likely. Longer-term, the high fiscal spending and debt issuance is of course inflationary and destructive to the eonomy, but the current administration wants 4 more years of Brandon and stonk markets influence election outcomes. See “The Presidential Cycle.” Every trick in the book. Even Venezuela has a rising stonk market. Banana republic.
What nonsense.
That’s CNBC.
The legacy media is garbage. Anyone who still trusts the MSM for news and information after the past three years purely & simply deserves to be fleeced by the Wall Street-Federal Reserve Looting Syndicate.
That’s why I pointed it out.
fewer coupons lower the yield on long-duration bonds
So that’s why the 10YR and mortgage rates went down this week.
there was just not enough demand for these long duration bonds
Dedollarization at work.
“However, that cut could be the really bad news, as it likely would signal the Fed’s concern that the economy is slowing so much that it needs a boost from monetary policy.”
Think about how idiotic this is. Shut off the free money firehose until the economy blows up, then frantically open it up again. I can remember morons in the financial media prating about Goldilocks and the greatest story never told because Bernanke had brought the economy in for a perfect three-point landing back around 2006. Remind me again, how did that work out?
Had an argument with some boomer relations back in spring when the banks blew up. I said it was time to get rid of the Fed as it is plainly incapable of doing its supposed job. They were shocked and appalled at the idea of the interest rate being set by the free market. They literally couldn’t wrap their head around it, and finally stated flatly that it would be far worse than what we have now. Of course, being boomers, they’re well insulated from financial misfortune and think Brandon is doing a hell of a job.
Keep working on your story Bob. The Fed directly caused the false boom and so baked the bust into the cake. The boom was fake because it was purely based on cheap easy money for stupid investments that produced nothing but waste and poverty. It wasn’t an accident.
I said it was time to get rid of the Fed as it is plainly incapable of doing its supposed job.
Au contraire, fren. The Fed has been a brilliant success at its one and only true mandate: transferring the wealth and assets of the soon-to-be-extinct American middle class to the Fed’s oligarch accomplices.
“He said unfortunately this is common practice we’re seeing more and more, where buyers prey on desperation and time pressure and make ridiculous requests like this that you can’t afford to turn down.’”
Okay, it’s stuff like this that makes me want to throw my coffee cup across the room. So sellers weren’t preying on the desperation of buyers over the last 3 or 4 years? Please!! And “ridiculous” is the wrong word here. I think you mean “realistic”. And anyone accepting a “ridiculous” offer today should count their lucky stars. Wait until you see how “ridiculous” that offer will be 6 months from now.
+1
40% price increase in a few years because of muh minor respiratory illness?
It cuts both ways, greedheads.
+1
At the start of the last bubble burst I remember some old bat of a financial columnist griping about buyers “wasting sellers’ time” with lowball offers. Not a word, of course, about the prior five plus years of sellers demanding buyers feed the squirrels.
Love to see this reference. I’m only in my 40’s but experienced the last recession and it’s destruction first hand through my old job. I see folks slightly younger than me missing all the warning signs flashing right now that shit is about to implode. Only us folk with the wisdom and understanding of obscure references, like the lady who demanded the highest bidder feed the squirrels in iirc some obscure real estate section of a California newspaper are prepared for the destruction that is coming. This time will be worse because we have so many commie young people who will want to burn it all down.
“This time will be worse because we have so many commie young people who will want to burn it all down.”
Indeed.
However, I don’t blame them since those before them did little to protect their future opportunities. FWIW, they’re supposed to provide the necessary economic inputs that enable our retirement investments to function properly.
“He said unfortunately this is common practice we’re seeing more and more, where buyers prey on desperation and time pressure and make ridiculous requests like this that you can’t afford to turn down.’”
Gosh, it sounds like sellers are vulnerable, & buyers are going to vulner and vulner them till they can vulner no more.
imagine having a good contract written with real deposit money from the buyer with objection dates in them. Get to 1 day before and the buyer wants to back out? that’s fine, I’ll keep the money. Maybe if people actually READ the documents they are signing regarding house sales and negotiated dates and deposits as part of the deal. Crazy talk i know, forcing people to take responsibility for their actions.
“Alot of the times yeah, when I see all of my friends overseas or out having fun and I’m just about scraping by with the mortgage”
What you have is a common case of Instagram envy. Trust me, your friends are just as fooked as you are.
“structural integrity reserve studies” to determine how much money must be set aside to complete structural repairs such as roofs, load-bearing walls and fire-protection systems.”
Not to mention balconies. Can’t begin to count the number of condos that I have seen scaffolded to repair condo balconies in buildings that in the great scheme of thing aren’t really that old, in some cases 20 years maybe. That salt water ocean breeze does a number on concrete, rebar and metal.
Not to mention balconies. Can’t begin to count the number of condos that I have seen scaffolded to repair condo balconies in buildings that in the great scheme of thing aren’t really that old,
Balconies are an issue no doubt. About 20 years ago I looked at a place in FT Lauderdale and along with the normal HOA fees there was a $195 36 month special assessment for balcony repair. I never would have thought about balconies being an issue until then, but yeah..
The Washington Post is the enemy of the American people.
The enemy.
Washington Post — Trump and allies plot revenge, Justice Department control in a second term (11/5/2023):
“Donald Trump and his allies have begun mapping out specific plans for using the federal government to punish critics and opponents should he win a second term, with the former president naming individuals he wants to investigate or prosecute and his associates drafting plans to potentially invoke the Insurrection Act on his first day in office to allow him to deploy the military against civil demonstrations.”
It’s okay to kill communists. It really is.
“In private, Trump has told advisers and friends in recent months that he wants the Justice Department to investigate onetime officials and allies who have become critical of his time in office, including his former chief of staff, John Kelly, and former attorney general William P. Barr, as well as his ex-attorney Ty Cobb and former Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Gen. Mark A. Milley, according to people who have talked to him, who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private conversations. Trump has also talked of prosecuting officials at the FBI and Justice Department, a person familiar with the matter said.”
Merrick Garland is guilty of TREASON and he needs to hang ☠️
“To facilitate Trump’s ability to direct Justice Department actions, his associates have been drafting plans to dispense with 50 years of policy and practice intended to shield criminal prosecutions from political considerations. Critics have called such ideas dangerous and unconstitutional.
“It would resemble a banana republic if people came into office and started going after their opponents willy-nilly,” said Saikrishna Prakash, a constitutional law professor at the University of Virginia who studies executive power. “It’s hardly something we should aspire to.”
https://archive.ph/1uOgW
The illegitimate unelected Biden regime is a banana republic.
The Day Of The Rope is coming, and it’s coming for you too, specifically, Washington Post ☠️
“It would resemble a banana republic if people came into office and started going after their opponents willy-nilly,” said Saikrishna Prakash, a constitutional law professor at the University of Virginia who studies executive power.
Said with zero sense of irony. How many J6 protestors are languishing in the D.C. prison for taking unguided tours of the Capitol Building? How long have our institutions of governance been weaponized against anyone who pushes back on globalist agendas?
This is probably fake news using fake anonymous sources. Wapo is mostly fake news or via propaganda anyway. Trump probably is plotting revenge but not against Barr or his former lawyer, but likely against the democrats who actually caused him real harm and are trying to harm him. This is roman general Sulla level stuff here to restore the republic, and destroy his real enemies.
Sunday morning link dump:
https://westernrifleshooters.us/
https://www.antiwar.com/
https://www.rt.com/
https://gab.com/
Put down that globalist scum media. Get yourself some truth…
Midnight Oil – Put Down that Weapon
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzEwCc4WVKs
“Roughly 53,000 US home purchase agreements fell through in September, according to Redfin, equal to 16.3% of homes that went under contract that month.
Is that a lot?
‘The interest rate environment is definitely creating constraints in our industry. It’s become a depressed kind of housing market.’”
Yet as I recline on my lawn chair, popcorn in hand, I’m the furthest thing from depressed as the long-deferred financial reckoning day slouches closer to the Fed’s Everything Bubble.
That’s according to a new analysis from Moody’s Analytics, which estimates national median home prices are about 15.7% over their fundamental value.
Would this be the same Moody’s that assigned AAA ratings to toxic-waste mortgage-backed securities so Goldman Sachs & its ilk could unload them onto unsuspecting “investors” as Housing Bubble 1.0 was imploding?
Ratings agency scene from “The Big Short.” Not a single regulator, enforcer, ratings agency official, or bankster went to prison for committing massive, systemic fraud or criminal negligence that caused the 2008 financial crisis.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xZx1lf2tvs&t=16s
But many of the companies Sortis controls are recognizable, at least to Portlanders who like trendy restaurants, good coffee, stylish hotels and haircuts with a complimentary beer.
Just say no to corporate-owned restaurants, coffee shops, and barbershops. Support non-woke independent proprietors that have the deck stacked against them by the corporate chains and their lobbyists.
“Just say no”
I already am, but more because of INFLATION than anything. Don’t eat out very often, I make coffee at home, and I cut my own hair.
Developer suicide https://therealdeal.com/la/2023/11/02/artem-tepler-founder-of-development-firm-schon-tepler-dies-at-41/
speaking of suicide…sad story
Smiths Station Mayor F.L. “Bubba” Copeland, who also served as the pastor of First Baptist Church in Phenix City,……. involuntary outing as a transgender woman
https://www.yahoo.com/news/alabama-mayor-pastor-dies-suicide-084152190.html
Toronto realtor Vy Ngo said the market is currently as slow as she’s ever experienced in her career while buyers try to wait out the high interest rate environment.
It’s more like we’re waiting for the cratering to hit terminal velocity. Still too much “extend and pretend” going on, but we’re a patient bunch.
‘We saw this and we bought it knowing that we can Airbnb it,’ said Steve. ‘We’ve done everything legally and we actually paid a premium because of that. You know what? We have been bullied.’”
Cry me a river, speculator scum. Houses are for living in, not setting up unlicensed hotels in residential neighborhoods.
‘I’m seeing huge attrition of my clientele,’ said Nancy Paine, CEO SpaceHost, a short-term rental management company in Victoria. Paine says after the province’s announcement a little more than two weeks ago, she immediately lost 30 per cent of her business.
Add STR management companies to the ever-growing list of F*cked Companies that were only viable in a world awash with central bank funny money.
(Consider this point as you read this article: If somebody with the power does not like your, say, social score then he/she can shut you out of the economy. This will especially true if our economy goes “cashless”.)
Why Banks Are Suddenly Closing Down Customer Accounts
https://www.yahoo.com/news/why-banks-suddenly-closing-down-155511987.html
The reasons vary, but the scene that plays out is almost always the same.
Bank customers get a letter in the mail saying their institution is closing all of their checking and savings accounts. Their debit and credit cards are shuttered, too. The explanation, if there is one, usually lacks any useful detail.
Or maybe the customers don’t see the letter, or never get one at all. Instead, they discover that their accounts no longer work while they’re at the grocery store, rental car counter or ATM. When they call their bank, frantic, representatives show concern at first. “Oh, no, so sorry,” they say. “We’ll do whatever we can to fix this.”
Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times
But then comes the telltale pause and shift in tone. “Per your account agreement, we can close your account for any reason at any time,” the script often goes.
These situations are what banks refer to as “exiting” or “de-risking.” This isn’t your standard boot for people who have bounced too many checks. Instead, a vast security apparatus has kicked into gear, starting with regulators in Washington and trickling down to bank security managers and branch employees eyeballing customers. The goal is to crack down on fraud, terrorism, money laundering, human trafficking and other crimes.
In the process, banks are evicting what appear to be an increasing number of individuals, families and small-business owners. Often, they don’t have the faintest idea why their banks turned against them.
But there are almost always red flags — transactions that appear out of character, for example — that lead to the eviction. The algorithmically generated alerts are reviewed every day by human employees.
Banks generally won’t say how often they are closing accounts this way, and they’re not tracking how often they get it wrong. But federal data offer clues.
By law, banks must file a “suspicious activity report,” known as an SAR, when they see transactions or behavior that might violate the law, such as unexpectedly large cash transactions or wire transfers with banks in high-risk countries. According to Thomson Reuters, banks filed more than 1.8 million SARs in 2022, a 50% increase in just two years. This year the figure is on track to hit nearly 2 million.
Multiple SARs often — although not always — lead to a customer’s eviction. Federal laws have little to say about the trigger for account cancellations.
But a New York Times examination of over 500 cases of this dropping of customers by their banks — and interviews with more than a dozen current and former bank industry insiders — illustrates the chaos and confusion that ensue when banks decide on their own to cut off customers.
Individuals can’t pay their bills on time. Banks often take weeks to send them their balances. When the institutions close their credit cards, their credit scores can suffer. Upon cancellation, small businesses often struggle to make payroll — and must explain to vendors and partners that they suddenly don’t have a bank account.
As if the lack of explanation and recourse were not enough, once customers have moved on, they don’t know whether there is a black mark somewhere on their permanent records that will cause a repeat episode at another bank. If the bank has filed an SAR, it isn’t legally allowed to tell you, and the federal government prosecutes only a small fraction of the people whom the banks document in their SARs.
As a result, you don’t know what you’re under suspicion for. “You feel like you’re walking around wearing this scarlet letter,” said Caroline Potter, whose Citibank accounts were shut down abruptly last year.
The banks, facing ever more aggressive regulators and examiners, offer a modicum of sympathy.
“We want to build long-term relationships with our clients, which is why accounts are closed only after appropriate review and consideration of the facts,” said Jerry Dubrowski, a spokesperson for JPMorgan Chase, the nation’s largest bank with 80 million retail customers and 6 million small-business ones. Former Chase account holders sent nearly 200 complaints to the Times.
“We act in accordance with our compliance program, consistent with our regulatory obligations,” Dubrowski continued. “We know that can be frustrating to clients, but we must follow those obligations.”
He added that “the vast majority of closures are correct, consistent with the regulatory obligations we are required to follow,” and that the number of closed accounts was a fraction of the bank’s overall business.
Federal data on the types of SARs that banks file show what they worry about most. Last year, banks filing SARs tagged categories including suspicious checks, concern over the source of the funds and “transaction with no apparent economic, business or lawful purpose” most often, according to Thomson Reuters.
To former bank employees, the bloodless data belie the havoc that banks wreak. “There is no humanization to any of this, and it’s all just numbers on a screen,” said Aaron Ansari, who used to program the algorithms that flag suspicious activity. “It’s not ‘No, that is a single mom running a babysitting business.’ It’s ‘You’ve checked these boxes for a red flag — you’re out.’”
What follow are profiles of customers who lost their accounts and an analysis of what behavior may have spurred their banks to shun them.
The reasons vary, but the scene that plays out is almost always the same.
Bank customers get a letter in the mail saying their institution is closing all of their checking and savings accounts. Their debit and credit cards are shuttered, too. The explanation, if there is one, usually lacks any useful detail.
Or maybe the customers don’t see the letter, or never get one at all. Instead, they discover that their accounts no longer work while they’re at the grocery store, rental car counter or ATM. When they call their bank, frantic, representatives show concern at first. “Oh, no, so sorry,” they say. “We’ll do whatever we can to fix this.”
Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times
But then comes the telltale pause and shift in tone. “Per your account agreement, we can close your account for any reason at any time,” the script often goes.
These situations are what banks refer to as “exiting” or “de-risking.” This isn’t your standard boot for people who have bounced too many checks. Instead, a vast security apparatus has kicked into gear, starting with regulators in Washington and trickling down to bank security managers and branch employees eyeballing customers. The goal is to crack down on fraud, terrorism, money laundering, human trafficking and other crimes.
In the process, banks are evicting what appear to be an increasing number of individuals, families and small-business owners. Often, they don’t have the faintest idea why their banks turned against them.
But there are almost always red flags — transactions that appear out of character, for example — that lead to the eviction. The algorithmically generated alerts are reviewed every day by human employees.
Banks generally won’t say how often they are closing accounts this way, and they’re not tracking how often they get it wrong. But federal data offer clues.
By law, banks must file a “suspicious activity report,” known as an SAR, when they see transactions or behavior that might violate the law, such as unexpectedly large cash transactions or wire transfers with banks in high-risk countries. According to Thomson Reuters, banks filed more than 1.8 million SARs in 2022, a 50% increase in just two years. This year the figure is on track to hit nearly 2 million.
Multiple SARs often — although not always — lead to a customer’s eviction. Federal laws have little to say about the trigger for account cancellations.
But a New York Times examination of over 500 cases of this dropping of customers by their banks — and interviews with more than a dozen current and former bank industry insiders — illustrates the chaos and confusion that ensue when banks decide on their own to cut off customers.
Individuals can’t pay their bills on time. Banks often take weeks to send them their balances. When the institutions close their credit cards, their credit scores can suffer. Upon cancellation, small businesses often struggle to make payroll — and must explain to vendors and partners that they suddenly don’t have a bank account.
As if the lack of explanation and recourse were not enough, once customers have moved on, they don’t know whether there is a black mark somewhere on their permanent records that will cause a repeat episode at another bank. If the bank has filed an SAR, it isn’t legally allowed to tell you, and the federal government prosecutes only a small fraction of the people whom the banks document in their SARs.
As a result, you don’t know what you’re under suspicion for. “You feel like you’re walking around wearing this scarlet letter,” said Caroline Potter, whose Citibank accounts were shut down abruptly last year.
The banks, facing ever more aggressive regulators and examiners, offer a modicum of sympathy.
“We want to build long-term relationships with our clients, which is why accounts are closed only after appropriate review and consideration of the facts,” said Jerry Dubrowski, a spokesperson for JPMorgan Chase, the nation’s largest bank with 80 million retail customers and 6 million small-business ones. Former Chase account holders sent nearly 200 complaints to the Times.
“We act in accordance with our compliance program, consistent with our regulatory obligations,” Dubrowski continued. “We know that can be frustrating to clients, but we must follow those obligations.”
He added that “the vast majority of closures are correct, consistent with the regulatory obligations we are required to follow,” and that the number of closed accounts was a fraction of the bank’s overall business.
Federal data on the types of SARs that banks file show what they worry about most. Last year, banks filing SARs tagged categories including suspicious checks, concern over the source of the funds and “transaction with no apparent economic, business or lawful purpose” most often, according to Thomson Reuters.
To former bank employees, the bloodless data belie the havoc that banks wreak. “There is no humanization to any of this, and it’s all just numbers on a screen,” said Aaron Ansari, who used to program the algorithms that flag suspicious activity. “It’s not ‘No, that is a single mom running a babysitting business.’ It’s ‘You’ve checked these boxes for a red flag — you’re out.’”
What follow are profiles of customers who lost their accounts and an analysis of what behavior may have spurred their banks to shun them.The reasons vary, but the scene that plays out is almost always the same.
Bank customers get a letter in the mail saying their institution is closing all of their checking and savings accounts. Their debit and credit cards are shuttered, too. The explanation, if there is one, usually lacks any useful detail.
Or maybe the customers don’t see the letter, or never get one at all. Instead, they discover that their accounts no longer work while they’re at the grocery store, rental car counter or ATM. When they call their bank, frantic, representatives show concern at first. “Oh, no, so sorry,” they say. “We’ll do whatever we can to fix this.”
Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times
But then comes the telltale pause and shift in tone. “Per your account agreement, we can close your account for any reason at any time,” the script often goes.
These situations are what banks refer to as “exiting” or “de-risking.” This isn’t your standard boot for people who have bounced too many checks. Instead, a vast security apparatus has kicked into gear, starting with regulators in Washington and trickling down to bank security managers and branch employees eyeballing customers. The goal is to crack down on fraud, terrorism, money laundering, human trafficking and other crimes.
In the process, banks are evicting what appear to be an increasing number of individuals, families and small-business owners. Often, they don’t have the faintest idea why their banks turned against them.
But there are almost always red flags — transactions that appear out of character, for example — that lead to the eviction. The algorithmically generated alerts are reviewed every day by human employees.
Banks generally won’t say how often they are closing accounts this way, and they’re not tracking how often they get it wrong. But federal data offer clues.
By law, banks must file a “suspicious activity report,” known as an SAR, when they see transactions or behavior that might violate the law, such as unexpectedly large cash transactions or wire transfers with banks in high-risk countries. According to Thomson Reuters, banks filed more than 1.8 million SARs in 2022, a 50% increase in just two years. This year the figure is on track to hit nearly 2 million.
Multiple SARs often — although not always — lead to a customer’s eviction. Federal laws have little to say about the trigger for account cancellations.
But a New York Times examination of over 500 cases of this dropping of customers by their banks — and interviews with more than a dozen current and former bank industry insiders — illustrates the chaos and confusion that ensue when banks decide on their own to cut off customers.
Individuals can’t pay their bills on time. Banks often take weeks to send them their balances. When the institutions close their credit cards, their credit scores can suffer. Upon cancellation, small businesses often struggle to make payroll — and must explain to vendors and partners that they suddenly don’t have a bank account.
As if the lack of explanation and recourse were not enough, once customers have moved on, they don’t know whether there is a black mark somewhere on their permanent records that will cause a repeat episode at another bank. If the bank has filed an SAR, it isn’t legally allowed to tell you, and the federal government prosecutes only a small fraction of the people whom the banks document in their SARs.
As a result, you don’t know what you’re under suspicion for. “You feel like you’re walking around wearing this scarlet letter,” said Caroline Potter, whose Citibank accounts were shut down abruptly last year.
The banks, facing ever more aggressive regulators and examiners, offer a modicum of sympathy.
“We want to build long-term relationships with our clients, which is why accounts are closed only after appropriate review and consideration of the facts,” said Jerry Dubrowski, a spokesperson for JPMorgan Chase, the nation’s largest bank with 80 million retail customers and 6 million small-business ones. Former Chase account holders sent nearly 200 complaints to the Times.
“We act in accordance with our compliance program, consistent with our regulatory obligations,” Dubrowski continued. “We know that can be frustrating to clients, but we must follow those obligations.”
He added that “the vast majority of closures are correct, consistent with the regulatory obligations we are required to follow,” and that the number of closed accounts was a fraction of the bank’s overall business.
Federal data on the types of SARs that banks file show what they worry about most. Last year, banks filing SARs tagged categories including suspicious checks, concern over the source of the funds and “transaction with no apparent economic, business or lawful purpose” most often, according to Thomson Reuters.
To former bank employees, the bloodless data belie the havoc that banks wreak. “There is no humanization to any of this, and it’s all just numbers on a screen,” said Aaron Ansari, who used to program the algorithms that flag suspicious activity. “It’s not ‘No, that is a single mom running a babysitting business.’ It’s ‘You’ve checked these boxes for a red flag — you’re out.’”
What follow are profiles of customers who lost their accounts and an analysis of what behavior may have spurred their banks to shun them.
(There is more but you will have to access the link to read it.)
Never keep all of your eggs in one basket. There are many other reasons that a bank can lock up on you as well. Always have plan B and C ready to go.
Always keep a reserve of cash and precious metals where you can access it, too.
I Tried Selling My U.S. Silver Coins In Frankfurt Germany – I Wasn’t Expecting THIS!
Financially Aware
1 day ago FRANKFURT
I tried selling my U.S. 90% silver coins in Frankfurt Germany, but I ran into some problems. Not all foreign coin dealers want US coins because they are hard to sell. Follow along as I try to sell my Washington 90% Silver Quarter coins. How much below the silver spot price are the gold and silver dealers going to offer me?
The price of silver was about $23 US Dollars per ounce when I was trying to sell these coins. The melt value for these 25 coins in US Dollars was $4.16 each. With the US Dollar trading around 1.07 to the Euro, the 25 Washington Silver Quarters were worth about $104 or 97 Euros. See how much I am offered for them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPXCgl88TTs
9:23.
I think he could have given his hotel address, if he wasn’t just entertaining.
Do American citizens get to vote on it, or could the unelected Fed suddenly take us to an all-digital dollar without recourse?
It’s a good time to build out your network and either start growing your own food or make close ties with those who do. My dad’s rural community did just fine growing their own food and taking care of other basic needs in the 1930s when the bankers put the country on a cash starvation diet. Barter is a perfectly fine system of exchange when cash is unavailable, so long as the people in a community are sufficiently resourceful and cooperative.
The important thing is, no more mean Tweets.
https://confoundedinterest.net/2023/11/05/alarm-bidenomics-and-the-tilt-effect-mortgage-rates-up-174-under-biden-10y-treasury-yield-up-402-real-disposable-income-declining-tlt-calls-explode/
I found 18 BUILDERS with the BIGGEST PRICE CUTS in Celina!
Home in Dallas Texas
2 hours ago
In this video, we journeyed through the ENTIRE city of Celina, tracked down 18 different builders in 11 new construction neighborhoods – all in search of the BEST POSSIBLE DEALS! We found fixed interest rates as low as 3.99% and that was just the beginning! Get ready because we’re going to tell you exactly where the hot deals are and where they are NOT – so you don’t waste your time!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-fgCJzM0QM
15:45.
All of these prices are insane. It’s hard to believe this is in Texas.
40 miles north of Dallas, flat and barren all around. It amazes me what people will put up with. It wasn’t long ago when that kind of money would get you a sweet spread on decent acreage. It still will in a number of places that are way nicer than that area but people need to do the research. I wouldn’t be interested in Celina at 50% off those prices.
Insurance is going to be going up as we see more FBs trying to arson their way out of bad financial situations.
https://twitter.com/GRomePow/status/1721218303929282601
Genius move, Green economic ignoramuses. Any taxes or fees put on landlords will promptly be passed on to their tenants. We will not have affordable rents or housing as long as central banks are allowed to turn housing into a speculative asset bubble.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/nov/06/greens-brisbane-city-council-battle-landlords-rent-prices-freeze
Yet Evie remembers the nerve-wracking ordeal as ‘a waste of time and money’ that left her ‘terrified that the buyer would pull out.’”
If it’s any consolation, Evie, you dodged a bullet, as that knife catcher’s smugness over pulling a fast one is going to dissipate in a hurry once the REAL cratering kicks in.
(Burning stupidity.)
‘That is 72 months of death’: This young Texan took out 2 mega car loans with interest rates of 13% and 25% — and now he’s stuck. Here’s how to avoid being stranded by debt
https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/72-months-death-young-texan-113000160.html
(A snip or two from the article …)
“It’s always an investment!”
That’s how Daniel Rivera justified buying two cars using high-interest auto loans totaling $30,638 — seemingly unaware of the fact that most cars depreciate as soon as they’re driven off the lot.
The 22-year-old auto technician from Lubbock, Texas detailed his dastardly debts on Caleb Hammer’s YouTube series “Financial Audit” in July.
At the time of recording, he had a $19,042 loan for a 2016 Scion (now Toyota) iM, with an interest rate of 13.06% over a 72-month term. He took out this loan for his mom, who was trying to get a mortgage and didn’t want to take on the extra debt.
Unfortunately, he was roped into a two-for-one deal by the car dealers which meant he took out an additional $11,704 loan to buy himself a 2016 Ford Focus, with a shocking interest rate of 24.39% over a 72-month term.
“I didn’t know I got screwed over until the end,” Rivera told Hammer during the episode.
“I think that’s a minimum if we’re keeping it … and that is 72 months of death my dude. You can’t afford either of these cars the way you’re doing it,” the host replied.
(Do the link thing for the rest of the article.)
“I didn’t know I got screwed over until the end,” Rivera told Hammer during the episode.
Maybe our NEA indoctrination mills should focus more on basic maff and economics, and less on pushing #ClownWorld agendas.
Opinion
Sam Bankman-Fried exposed the woke capitalist elite for the fools they are
https://www.yahoo.com/news/sam-bankman-fried-exposed-woke-090000107.html
In the end, he was found guilty on seven counts. But Sam Bankman-Fried, founder of the crypto currency exchange FTX, and once the youngest multi-billionaire on the planet, will have to wait until March for sentencing. He may well spend the rest of his life behind bars.
But as the dust now settles, one point has become increasingly clear. It is not just SBF, as he was known to acolytes, who should have been on trial. It should have been much of the flawed, phoney venture capital (VC) industry.
High on sanctimony, blinded by woke posturing, and desperate for world-changing businesses rather than those which simply provide products and services people want, the investment funds that backed FTX have displayed terrible judgment.
The developed world needs patient, carefully-applied capital and investment more than ever. Instead it is seeing vast sums being poured into firms the VC industry doesn’t understand.
As the evidence piled up, the verdict looked less and less in doubt. On Thursday, Bankman-Fried was found guilty on all counts of defrauding his customers in a Manhattan federal court. An empire that, at its peak, was valued at $32bn, is now worthless.
Bankman-Fried got rich faster than almost anyone in history, acquiring an estimated $26bn in personal wealth and featuring on countless magazine covers. Now, he could face up to 110 years in prison. It is an epic scandal, and one that could take many more years to completely unravel.
But despite the verdict, there are harder questions that still have to be answered. Bankman-Fried was feted by the world’s political elite. At one point, he shared a stage with both Bill Clinton and Tony Blair, politicians who still wield great influence behind the scenes.
Major venture capital firms backed FTX, a company set up by someone not yet 30, scruffily dressed and rumoured to have a limited attention span, which was based offshore with no proper board of directors and no proper auditors. It had red flags all over it.
The miracle is that it managed to raise any kind of cash at all, never mind hit a valuation of more than $30bn.
The VC industry has lost its way. Next week, WeWork, the shared office space company, is expected to file for bankruptcy. At its peak, it was valued by its backers at $47bn.
“Our mission is to elevate the world’s consciousness,” it wrote, in a summary of its mission when it was raising extra cash in 2019. “Philosophically, we believe in bringing comfort and happiness to the workplace.”
True, its offices were famous for free snacks and calm, safe spaces, but it has not brought “comfort” or, come to think of it, “happiness” to its investors.
The buy-now-pay-later start-up Klarna, has seen its value plummet from $45bn at its peak to just a fraction of that now.
Beyond Meat, another company which received significant backing from the VC industry and promises to save the world by cutting out the carbon emissions involved in traditional meat production, has crashed, this week announcing its second round of job cuts this year.
The $13bn it was worth at its peak has turned into less than $1bn today. While the VC industry will always take risks, which sometimes pay off though often will not, it keeps backing disastrously bad businesses.
Part of the problem is that many funds appear so consumed by woke politics that they base decisions as much on an investment’s ability to virtue-signal as to create products and services for customers, or provide decent returns for its investors.
FTX championed “effective altruism”, the philosophy that explores how individuals can maximise their philanthropic impact, with Bankman-Fried donating huge sums to predominantly left-leaning political causes. Bankman-Fried contributed more than $70m to election campaigns in less than 18 months.
WeWork preached the virtues of flexible, employee-centric working, creating offices that were more like creches than places to get stuff done. Beyond Meat argued that by “shifting from animal to plant-based meat, we can positively affect the planet, the environment, the climate and even ourselves.” And so on.
Bankman-Fried’s actions were inexcusable. But it is also now clear that the VC industry suffers from three major flaws.
First, it over-values “weirdness”. There was always an element of truth in the idea that great entrepreneurs, just like most individuals who massively over-perform in any field of human endeavour, can be slightly odd.
The result? The risk that VC houses will conclude any shambolic weirdo who walks through the door is a genius, and start writing a cheque based on little more than guesswork.
Second, it often lacks a clear picture on what is happening inside the companies it invests in. Throughout the FTX trial, it was obvious that Bankman-Fried himself was in the dark as to the sums of money flowing through the exchanges he was meant to be managing.
The funds that backed him had even less. Very often, they just don’t know enough about what they are buying into.
Finally, the industry chases outsized returns. A 30pc or 40pc profit won’t do. It wants ideas that will change the world, and generate five or ten-fold returns. That makes it an easy prey for hucksters and fantasists with grand ambitions but insufficient substance to back them up.
The world now needs more incremental, measured investment. It needs capital to be deployed carefully, to build better supply chains, renew infrastructure, establish how to reduce carbon emissions without sacrificing growth, and to improve productivity and output.
But the VC industry is incapable of providing that. Indeed, most of the leading players seem to have forgotten why capitalism is the best economic system we have.
If that lesson is not relearned very quickly, Bankman-Fried won’t be the last founder to spend time behind bars, and it may not be long before the VC industry is once again under fire.
It is not just SBF, as he was known to acolytes, who should have been on trial. It should have been much of the flawed, phoney venture capital (VC) industry.
SBF’s fraud was not just possible, but inevitable, in a world awash with Yellen Bux “stimulus.” I hope I live long enough to see post-collapse tribunals where the gold collar criminals at the Fed are finally held accountable for their fiat currency fraud and the destruction of the former American middle class.
the dry wit of Patrick Boyle has an in depth analysis of sbf:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpKQWJFA3aw&t=304s
“Sam Bankman-Fried exposed the woke capitalist elite for the fools they are”
For committing that crime,
He must serve some hard time.
“He must serve some hard time.”
He’ll end up in Lompoc, CA where he’ll rub shoulders with other Wall street crooks just like him while working on his golf swing near the Pacific coast.
Re : More And More, Buyers Prey On Desperation And Time Pressure And Make Ridiculous Requests That You Can’t Afford To Turn Down.
Somehow I never saw a report saying “More And More, Sellers Prey On Greed And Time Pressure And Make Ridiculous Demands That You Can’t Afford To Turn Down.”
Isn’t a double-edged sword supposed to cut both ways? In any case, if you can’t afford to turn down an offer then, logically speaking, that is the best offer you can find and the buyer is doing you a favor by taking on your problem because, otherwise, you would not be selling at that price . . .
The neocons have just informed Biden that his globalist handlers are preparing to swap him out for a less odious stooge.
https://twitter.com/BillKristol/status/1721159574521028667?
Via Politico: Former Obama strategist wonders if Biden should stay in presidential race
“What he needs to decide is whether that is wise,” David Axelrod said of Biden.
‘Boise was down over 7% year over year, according to Zillow data through Sept. 30…In Salt Lake County, the median price of all home types fell to $520,000 that month, a nearly 10% drop from a year ago’
Both of these sh$tholes are down way more from the peaks.
‘I kind of understood the strategy of buying top-flight hospitality businesses at a discount…It became very confusing when they acquired a bunch of coffee chains, hotels and barbershops—that’s when they lost me’
They’ve been disrupted Kurt.
‘So there are the numbers. California has the nation’s highest functional poverty rate and Los Angeles County, which has about a quarter of the state’s population, leads the state’
Housing bubbles make you poor and then they pop.
‘Evie remembers the nerve-wracking ordeal as ‘a waste of time and money’ that left her ‘terrified that the buyer would pull out’
So the shortage is over I take it?
More bluster? If not, get ready for $10 a gallon gas.
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/iran-says-us-will-be-hit-hard-if-no-ceasefire-gaza-tasnim-2023-11-05/
‘We have invested through AMS Lawyers for decades, and in 2019 we invested about $300,000 into the scheme…The way it works is that we would be connected with individual borrowers and individual properties and provided with documents showing that we would have a mortgage over the property. But unbeknownst to us at some stage that mortgage has been discharged and we no longer have control over the property’
The way it works is you got swindled Lyndon.
JOHN COLTRANE , STAN GETZ Autumn in New York
Mar 29, 2013
John Coltrane (tenor sax)
Stan Getz (tenor sax)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pc6CWfBgIt8
6:17.
Does a period of extraordinarily high inflation seem like a bad time for a pay freeze, and an especially bad time for job loss?
Financial Times
Management consulting
Consulting firms freeze starting salaries in bid to shore up profit
McKinsey and BCG among those holding pay at last year’s levels as growth slows
Montage showing logos of Boston Consulting Group, McKinsey and Company, Bain and Company
McKinsey pays a base salary of $192,000 for a new recruit from business school, according to Management Consulted
Stephen Foley in New York
9 hours ago
The world’s most prestigious consulting firms have frozen US starting salaries for new graduates, as a war for talent that sent pay soaring after the pandemic gives way to tougher competition for jobs.
McKinsey and BCG are among the firms holding salaries at 2023 levels for undergraduate and MBA students taking up positions next year, according to people familiar with the matter.
That stands in stark contrast with the situation a year ago, when firms raised salaries by the largest amount in more than two decades. The persistence of historically high inflation means the real-terms value of a new consulting job will be sharply lower next year.
…
Financial Times
Financial services
US asset managers launch new round of job cuts as investors seek safety
Charles Schwab, Prudential and Invesco announce cost controls as industry turns cautious after 2021 hiring spree
Charles Schwab has announced plans to cut about 2,000 jobs
Will Schmitt in New York 16 hours ago
US asset managers are launching their second wave of job cuts this year, with Charles Schwab, Prudential and Invesco each announcing cost controls amid a flight of customers into safer investments with lower fees.
Schwab and Prudential have in recent days divulged plans to cut about 2,000 and 240 positions, respectively. Invesco last month reported severance and reorganisation expenses of about $39mn in the third quarter of 2023 — about twice as much as expected — while posting a marginal drop in headcount.
Though not as substantial as widespread lay-offs in early 2023, the cost-cutting reflects the cautious outlook of asset managers after their hiring spree in 2021. They were then competing for talent in a roaring market but now face falling fees, outflows from active strategies and shrinking margins, said Chris Connors, principal at pay consultant Johnson Associates.
…
“…amid a flight of customers into safer investments with lower fees.”
Yep.
I watched lots of financial services industry colleagues lose their jobs in the early 1990s recession, and I eventually joined them. It was not a fun time in many respects, but it eventually led me to personal growth and better opportunities.
Moneywise
Grant Cardone says buying a home is a ‘terrible investment’ — and uses Elon Musk and Warren Buffett’s unique housing situations to make his point. But would the billionaire investors agree?
Bethan Moorcraft
Sat, November 4, 2023 at 3:30 AM PDT·7 min read
Real estate investor Grant Cardone has once again taken a swipe at homeownership — one of the cornerstones of the American dream — calling it a “fantasy,” a “trap” and a “terrible investment” in an interview with Moneywise.
His comments followed a controversial Instagram post — that he claims to have gotten “a lot of hate” for — where he wrote: “Buying a home without a doubt is the WORST investment people can make, yet it’s also the most common one.”
…
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/grant-cardone-says-buying-home-110000018.html
“Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,”
By Mother Goose
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall;
All the king’s horses and all the king’s men
Couldn’t put Humpty together again.
The Maoist Roots of Xi’s Economic Dilemma
Beijing needs domestic consumers to spend more, but the Chinese president’s ideology is getting in the way.
By Jeremy S. Friedman, an associate professor at Harvard Business School.
November 2, 2023, 11:06 AM
Not long ago, pundits were debating the consequences of China’s inevitable rise. Today, however, the Chinese economy has slowed growth to the point that some are beginning to doubt whether it will ever eclipse the United States’ as the world’s largest, something that had previously seemed a foregone conclusion. The discourse has suddenly shifted to “peak China” and how Washington, and the world, should manage Chinese decline.
Many have sought to explain what went wrong for China—from the shock of its zero-COVID policies to the gut punch of de-globalization and a trade war with the United States. Some have simply argued that China fell victim to the “general logic of authoritarian regimes.”
One of the most venerable and compelling explanations is that China is simply reaching the limits of its investment-heavy, export-driven growth model—an explanation adopted by the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) itself in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. Chinese leaders believed then that if they could increase consumption at home, China would not be as dependent on foreign consumers racking up debts to buy Chinese goods.
Though efforts to do so by predecessors were notoriously unsuccessful, many hoped that when Chinese President Xi Jinping took office in 2013, he would manage to do what others had not. He seemed to many observers like an “ambitious, efficiency-minded economic reformer” who would inaugurate a new era of liberalization.
…
https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/11/02/china-economy-xi-socialism-growth-consumption/