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There Are Sellers Who Think This Is Not The Time To Give Away Their Property

A report from the Idaho Statesman. “In 2023, home sales in Ada and Canyon counties fell to their lowest point since 2009. ‘The past year was a needed correction in the market,’ said Mike Pennington of John L. Scott Real Estate in Boise. ‘The market was overheated in 2020 and 2021.'”

The Plain Dealer in Ohio. “‘So we’re in a strange market right now,’ said DeChella Woodruff, a Cleveland-based real estate agent with Century 21. ‘Now the average home sits on the market for about 60 to 90 days, which this is considered a healthy market, but previously it was a few days. Right now we’re in a market correction. It’s not really a seller’s market and it’s not a buyer’s market. It’s like we’re right in the middle right now.'”

KGUN in Arizona. “‘Bridgett Baldwin is an Associate Real Estate Broker with The Tucson Agents and says that here in Tucson it is currently a buyer’s market. She explained that right now sellers have to be more competitive with their pricing. ‘When rates drop you can refinance so right now is a great time for buyers because there’s a larger amount of inventory and they aren’t having to give up things like inspections, appraisals and cash out of pocket just to get the house,’ Baldwin said.”

The Santa Barbara Independent in California. “There’s a seeming contradiction in the local housing market right now: Prices overall are not dropping when looking at the market as a whole, but home buyers are noticing price reductions on a good number of individual listings. What’s up with that? Median selling price for the year 2023 was $2,100,000, compared to $2,150,000 in 2022. That’s only a 2.3 percent difference for all homes on the South Coast of Santa Barbara County, which is Goleta through Carpinteria. We are coming off several years of rapidly increasing sales prices, so it’s understandable that home sellers price their homes correspondingly — higher than the last sale. But this isn’t working anymore. Homes that are overpriced for today’s market are lingering on the market, getting price drop after price drop. Homes that are 10 percent or more overpriced are often being passed over by buyers who are mindful of not overpaying.”

“Keep in mind that median price reflects the mix of homes sold as well as price appreciation. More homes selling at the higher end will bring the median up, which we saw in 2020 and 2021. Relatively more homes selling at the lower end will skew that median lower, which we are starting to see now. If you look at Carpinteria/Summerland, it looks like it’s a buyer’s market with 17 months of inventory. More than six months of inventory strongly favors buyers. However, if you dive deeper, you’ll see that most of these listings are expensive homes. It’s a buyer’s market for those looking to spend more than $10 million in Carpinteria.”

The San Francisco Chronicle in California. “The Bay Area real estate listing that went viral for what appeared to be a very sad office-to-housing conversion last summer has sold. The ‘live/work’ opportunity in San Rafael was listed for $520,000 in May 2023, reduced in price in late July to $480,000 and ultimately sold for $440,000 in November. At just over 1,000 square feet, the unit has a washer and dryer, a bathroom converted to include a shower, and a new kitchen. The Zillow listing came under some playful TikTok scrutiny for its ‘soul-crushing’ office feel, with its drab gray carpet and stained commercial ceiling tiles. But Joe McCallum, an associate at commercial real estate firm Newmark who co-listed the property, said while ‘everyone had a good laugh,’ the video didn’t accurately represent the property. ‘It was never supposed to be an apartment,’ McCallum said.”

“He’s heard one of the two units will become a massage studio; the other’s use is still being decided. These types of flexible options may become more common as the Bay Area continues to reassess its need for typical office space, he said. ‘The market is in a weird place,’ he said. ‘I wouldn’t say there’s desperation, but you need to be able to understand the upsides. It’s a ‘what are our options mindset.'”

WFAA in Texas. “Lenders plan to foreclose on a newly built apartment complex just east of downtown Dallas anchored by a ground-floor Tom Thumb grocery store. The 2-acre property at the intersection of Live Oak and Texas streets that includes the Gabriella apartments, just north of Deep Ellum, has been scheduled for a foreclosure sale on Feb. 6, according to Dallas County documents. The lender, an entity tied to the New York offices of Ares Commercial Real Estate Management LLC, has requested foreclosure over a $127 million loan for the property originated by an affiliate of owner and developer Greystar in January 2022.”

“Despite being a newer complex with a great location and amenities, the high number of new apartments being constructed has forced this complex, like many others, to lower asking rents, according to Steve Triolet, a real estate analyst for Partners. For five of the past six quarters, according to Triolet, the property has had negative rent growth. ‘With increasing debt costs due to high interest rates, many apartment complexes are in for a great deal of short-term distress as near-record supply outpaces household formation for the current time period,’ Triolet said.”

“Aaron Amuchastegui, CEO of Roddy’s Foreclosure Listing Service, said that capitalization rates used by appraisers for new loans and refinance appraisals have fallen in recent years in the face of rising interest rates, and multifamily properties are now appraising for 20% to 30% less than they were two years ago. ‘Unfortunately, we are starting to see a lot of multifamily foreclosures being posted, even though most of them have been operating as expected,’ Amuchastegui said. ‘I am surprised to see this one being posted for foreclosure so soon after completion, and of the many postings we have seen over the last 12 months, this is one of the largest properties.'”

Bisnow Washington DC. “It’s not easy to watch $64M evaporate. But that’s what Doug Donatelli did last month when he and his partners decided that selling a downtown D.C. office building for $36M that they had bought for $100M was the smarter decision than putting more money into the asset. ‘We would love to have seen a signal from the market telling us it made more sense to make the investment than to bail, but that signal was never there,’ said Donatelli, co-founder of DSC Partners. The sudden disappearance of nearly two-thirds of the building’s value was difficult for Donatelli, the former CEO of First Potomac Realty Trust and a 35-year veteran of D.C.’s office market. He had seen a clear path to adding value when he bought it in 2018, but his firm is far from alone in mistiming the market.”

“A string of investors has been wiped out in recent months by the most dramatic disruption to the city’s office market most commercial real estate professionals have ever seen. This wave of deals shows that owners have capitulated — accepting that many of their buildings are worth no more than the value of the dirt they sit on — and they are deciding to cut their losses. The properties sold in recent weeks have all traded for less than 40% of their previous sale prices, and there is concern that values have further to fall.”

“Several of the deals have come from lenders selling properties after foreclosing on buildings where owners defaulted on their loans. MRP Realty Associate Vice President Nick Gordon said most lenders aren’t set up to hold large amounts of office assets on their books and have immediately initiated sale proceedings, a trend he expects to continue this year. ‘If you’re forced to take these back and you can’t handle them, you have to sell for whatever the market gives, and that’s just creating this situation where they’re taking what they can get,’ he said.”

The Globe and Mail in Canada. “The pace of the Toronto-area real estate market feels slightly more energetic in January as some aspiring buyers take tentative steps away from the sidelines. Prices softened over the fall, and sellers willing to price their house or condo realistically were able to strike deals during December and early January, says Christopher Bibby, broker with Re/Max Hallmark Bibby Group Realty. ‘The sooner we come to terms with the fact prices have come down, the sooner we’ll see more transactions,’ says Mr. Bibby.”

“At 138 Princess St., Mr. Bibby set an asking price of $949,900 for a two-bedroom penthouse in the building’s south-west corner. The unit sold for $915,000. ‘People are being budget-conscious in the market and don’t want to overpay,’ Mr. Bibby says. ‘It’s very important for buyers to feel they’re getting just a little bit off.’ Jimmy Molloy, real estate agent with Chestnut Park Real Estate Ltd., notes that last year the GTA tallied its worst year in sales since 2000. The decrease in prices in the GTA since the peak in February, 2022 follows a strong run-up during the early years of the COVID-19 pandemic. ‘A lot of that COVID premium has been taken out of the market.'”

“But that dip also discourages homeowners who are thinking about listing, he adds. ‘There are sellers for sure who think this is not the time to give away their property.’ As more listings arrive with the start of the spring market, buyers will become more engaged, he says. ‘Inventory gets people’s attention.'”

The Sun in the UK. “A block of flats has been dubbed worthless after apartment owners claimed they can feel the building shake when a lorry goes past. Dan Bruce, 40, is frightened that his entire building will fall apart if nothing is done to fix the endless problems. Located in Camden, Dan thought he was starting an exciting new chapter when he purchased the top-floor apartment at the Agar Grove complex in March 2019. Dan said: ‘I’ve got a house, it’s meant to be a home, that I paid a lot of money for, £800,000, and it’s worth zero. And there’s absolutely nothing I can do about it. And so that makes me absolutely f***ing enraged.'”

Daily Mail Australia. “A building firm has collapsed owing more than $6million to creditors. Insignia Homes, which is based on the Gold Coast, has stopped all work on its sites after going into liquidation on Monday. This leaves a confirmed eight Insignia sites to languish despite the homes being near to completion in the Queensland cities of Toowoomba and Logan. However, a contractor told the Gold Coast Bulletin there are many other builds stalled at earlier construction stages. The company’s sole director Kevin Ross said it’s ‘a sad time for everyone involved’ but declined to answer further.”

“A subcontractor who claims to be owed more than $100,000 said the carnage in the building industry has left them repeatedly out of pocket. ‘Obviously it sucks because that money comes straight off the profit line,’ the person said. ‘We’ve paid for everything upfront.’ Also on Thursday it was reported a major construction company that built houses across Melbourne had collapsed, owing up to $3.5million. Alpha Building Group Pty Ltd fell into liquidation last Thursday, with all staff sacked and 10 clients now left with unfinished homes.”

From Bloomberg. “No stationery at government meetings, a ban on flashy buildings and inspectors to watch for wasted food at official functions. These are some of the measures that local governments across China are taking in accordance with an order from Beijing that they ‘get used to belt-tightening,’ an edict laid down last month by top leaders at the Central Economic Work Conference. The order’s use of the term xiguan, meaning ‘get used to,’ is particularly significant. It’s the first time top officials have used the word in such a context, suggesting that despite Xi’s yearslong campaign to crack down on ostensible displays of wealth and corruption, many parts of the bureaucracy are still lagging behind.”

“The term xiguan is ‘foreseeing that the financial situation is unlikely to fundamentally improve for a considerable period in the future,’ said Lu Xi, an assistant professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore who specializes in China’s economy. ‘The central government is unlikely to provide financial assistance to local governments.’ The corruption watchdog said in an editorial last week that xiguan ’emphasizes that living on a tight budget is not a requirement or a solution just for the time being.’ It also warned that some local governments are asking for more money than they deserve from the Beijing.”

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This Post Has 155 Comments

    1. Squeegee workers surge in Denver metro amid migrant influx (1/24/2024):

      “The FOX31 Problem Solvers are taking viewer concerns to the city about an increase of people crowding the medians to squeegee cars around the Denver metro.

      “It’s a lot of young families and people that had every conceivable background coming from Venezuela, but people that are professionals,” Parady said. “I’ve talked to so many health care professionals while I’m thinking, my God, if these people could work. We have such a shortage of providers … probably hundreds of nurses that we could hire, for example, who would be fully qualified.”

      Parady and city officials say seeing more people with squeegees on the streets is a ripple effect of the current asylum and work authorization barriers that council and city leaders have been pressing the federal government to fix.

      “They won’t get a hearing in their asylum case, usually for like one to three years, and during that time, there’s a wait period where they are prohibited from working,” Parady said. “If they work, they could actually lose their claim and be deported, which is sort of backward from what you might think would be a good system.”

      https://kdvr.com/news/local/squeegee-workers-surge-in-denver-metro-amid-migrant-influx/

      1. probably hundreds of nurses that we could hire, for example, who would be fully qualified

        Fully qualified? The article writer assumes that the training over there is equivalent. It’s not. And even if they had a work permit, they would have to be qualified to work in the US, as in be able to pass a battery of tests. Do they speak English fluently?
        What a load of nonsense.

        Also fascinating how the Dems are letting millions of people into the country, then they throw them to the wolves.

        THe invaders were expecting a free house, free car and free food. Instead they are getting a tent in a park in freezing weather. And soup kitchens that serve food they find disgusting.

        1. It also goes against the pictures of the endless conga line of military-age young men. How many of them went to nursing school of any kind?

          1. I remain convinced that the Left intends to weaponize all those invaders later this year. They will riot and burn in blue states while the cops and national guard are ordered by blue mayors and governors to stand down, except to arrest anyone who fights back.

        2. And imagine what it would do to salaries and incomes for native workers if the health care or other professions were suddenly upended by a flood of third world immigrants. They’d likely fire all the natives and replace them with the foreigners at half the price.

    2. Denver advances move to transfer $25M to migrant aid (1/24/2024):

      “On Monday, a Denver City Council committee advanced an effort to move $25 million from multiple funds to help pay for its response to the migrant crisis.

      Approval from the Finance and Governance committee came weeks after Denver Mayor Mike Johnston estimated the city would spend around $180 million on migrant aid in 2024. Johnston has asked city departments to slash up to 15% of their budgets to cover the cost.

      The $25 million approved Monday comes from two sources: around $10 million from the general fund contingency, which is money set aside to fund unexpected or unbudgeted expenditures, and $15 million from a project to revitalize the Richard T. Castro Building.

      The city reported that it is expecting to spend around $90 per migrant per night on things like lodging, staffing, food and supplies, as well as $300 per ticket to take the migrants to their ultimate destinations.”

      https://kdvr.com/news/local/denver-advances-move-to-transfer-25m-to-migrant-aid/

      1. And Biden wants more money to hire more border patrol agents so he can have them process more invaders more quickly and distribute them throughout the country.

        “The $25 million approved Monday comes from two sources: around $10 million from the general fund contingency, which is money set aside to fund unexpected or unbudgeted expenditures, and $15 million from a project to revitalize the Richard T. Castro Building.”

        Biden: ‘Give me the money’ to protect US southern border
        Jan 2, 2024

        https://lufkindailynews.com/ap_video/biden-give-me-the-money-to-protect-us-southern-border/video_ef9416ca-4448-511b-9c1e-ba9a86a1b573.html

    3. On a dead-end street in north Denver, migrants are surviving winter with the help of an army of volunteers (1/22/2024):

      “North of Interstate 70, in a part of Denver filled mostly with warehouses and gas stations, the tents are flapping relentlessly in the wind. About 10 migrants from South America hunkered down here during four days of subzero temperatures, and the volunteers who brought them heaters and propane, hot meals and fresh water, are prepared to help hundreds more as Denver pushes migrants out of their city-provided hotel rooms in the coming weeks.

      The dozen or so brightly colored tents were mostly concealed from view by the field’s dirt mounds, despite that they were just across the South Platte River from the National Western Stock Show, one of Denver’s biggest events of the year. As the city stayed home during last week’s deep freeze, the Venezuelans and other South Americans in the encampment zipped into sleeping bags and gathered in a “warming tent” to play dominoes and eat a pot of homemade noodle soup.

      “The snow makes you shiver so much you can’t talk or anything,” said Kevin Bolaño, who is from Colombia. “Sometimes we go out to shake the tents around and remove the snow.”

      Bolaño, 33, arrived in Denver just over a month ago, one of 37,600 migrants, mostly Venezuelans, who have come through the city in the past year. He spent his allotted 14 days in a hotel room, then camped outside the Quality Inn in northwestern Denver until earlier this month, when city crews bused more than 200 people in that sprawling camp to shelters and scooped left-behind tents, mattresses and furniture into garbage bins.”

      https://coloradosun.com/2024/01/22/migrants-encampment-north-denver/

        1. “Coming soon to YOUR neighborhood…”

          – Over my dead body! Texas has this. Abbott’s got the cajones here. Globalist puppet Brandon’s got the senility. 2A is there for a reason.

          – F Brandon (aka Let’s go Brandon!)

          https://gov.texas.gov/uploads/files/press/Border_Statement_1.24.2024.pdf

          The federal government has broken the compact between the United States and the States. The Executive
          Branch of the United States has a constitutional duty to enforce federal laws protecting States, including
          immigration laws on the books right now. President Biden has refused to enforce those laws and has even
          violated them. The result is that he has smashed records for illegal immigration.

          President Biden has violated his oath to faithfully execute immigration laws enacted by Congress.
          Instead of prosecuting immigrants for the federal crime of illegal entry, President Biden has sent his
          lawyers into federal courts to sue Texas for taking action to secure the border.

          Under President Biden’s lawless border policies, more than 6 million illegal immigrants have crossed our
          southern border in just 3 years. That is more than the population of 33 different States in this country. This
          illegal refusal to protect the States has inflicted unprecedented harm on the People all across the United
          States.

          James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and the other visionaries who wrote the U.S. Constitution foresaw that
          States should not be left to the mercy of a lawless president who does nothing to stop external threats like
          cartels smuggling millions of illegal immigrants across the border. That is why the Framers included both
          Article IV, § 4, which promises that the federal government “shall protect each [State] against invasion,” and
          Article I, § 10, Clause 3, which acknowledges “the States’ sovereign interest in protecting their borders.”
          Arizona v. United States, 567 U.S. 387, 419 (2012) (Scalia, J., dissenting).

          The failure of the Biden Administration to fulfill the duties imposed by Article IV, § 4 has triggered Article I,
          § 10, Clause 3, which reserves to this State the right of self-defense. For these reasons, I have already
          declared an invasion under Article I, § 10, Clause 3 to invoke Texas’s constitutional authority to defend and
          protect itself. That authority is the supreme law of the land and supersedes any federal statutes to the
          contrary. The Texas National Guard, the Texas Department of Public Safety, and other Texas personnel are
          acting on that authority, as well as state law, to secure the Texas border.

          – Civil War. Are we there yet?

          1. I’m sure there are round the clock meetings in the White House discussing what to do about the “Texas Problem.”

            I’m sure they would love to send troops into Texas to seize Abbot. but they know that is easier said than done and would have huge repercussions (I’m sure the stock market would not like that), plus the Texans will shoot back.

            I think that they are looking for a softer solution, say like withholding Federal funds. Of course any action could escalate the situation and attract allies to Texas’s side.

            Civil wars are like toothpaste, once out of the tube it’s very difficult to put it back in, and even the Communists in DC understand that. They won’t use military force unless they are 100% certain of a quick and easy victory.

          2. – It’s time for the The Piece of Resistance.

            https://twitter.com/EndWokeness/status/1750634263739798005
            End Wokeness @EndWokeness

            Holy shlit. 25 Republican governors just signed a joint letter in support of the TX Resistance.

            https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GEuAlAiWQAALIbR?format=jpg&name=medium

            2:38 PM · Jan 25, 2024 · 3.3M Views

            \\

            https://www.rga.org/republican-governors-ban-together-issue-joint-statement-supporting-texas-constitutional-right-self-defense/

            Republican Governors Band Together, Issue Joint Statement Supporting Texas’ Constitutional Right to Self-Defense

            January 25, 2024

            WASHINGTON, D.C. – 25 Republican governors released the following joint statement in support of Texas Governor Greg Abbott and Texas’ constitutional right to self-defense.

            The statement comes as the Biden Administration continues to attack Texas and refuses to take action or responsibility for the crisis at the Southern border.

            “President Biden and his Administration have left Americans and our country completely vulnerable to unprecedented illegal immigration pouring across the Southern border. Instead of upholding the rule of law and securing the border, the Biden Administration has attacked and sued Texas for stepping up to protect American citizens from historic levels of illegal immigrants, deadly drugs like fentanyl, and terrorists entering our country.

            “We stand in solidarity with our fellow Governor, Greg Abbott, and the State of Texas in utilizing every tool and strategy, including razor wire fences, to secure the border. We do it in part because the Biden Administration is refusing to enforce immigration laws already on the books and is illegally allowing mass parole across America of migrants who entered our country illegally.

            “The authors of the U.S. Constitution made clear that in times like this, states have a right of self-defense, under Article 4, Section 4 and Article 1, Section 10, Clause 3 of the U.S. Constitution. Because the Biden Administration has abdicated its constitutional compact duties to the states, Texas has every legal justification to protect the sovereignty of our states and our nation.”

          3. They’re going to start charging charging each other criminally. Biden is going to stick the DOJ on the governor and the border agents. In turn, Abbott is going to start arresting federal agents and other federal authorities. Eventually it will get absurd and the administration will direct migrants to any one of the other crossings along the border.

          1. Hey Tarara, how did your housing situation work out? You may have posted updates but I missed them.

            After one too many “rug pulls” while trying to rent a house in Spring Valley, I got fed up and grabbed a townhouse near Fort Apache and Flamingo.

          2. Well, I managed to get the LL down to a $150 increase from $200, not great. The PM wanted a $150 fee for the signing an extension. I laughed and said for one piece of paper, no lawyers involved, no way, so they dropped it.

            I’m so tired of the condescension, the power they have over you. This b!tch sees herself as our benefactor. I could get into what she said, but it’s boring (and she’s petty and delusional.) She thinks she could get $400 more than we agreed to, so if we decide to stay the negotiations should be even more contentious at the end of the year, unless things change before then.

            We’re on the east side. The shopping is poor, and the surrounding neighborhoods are sketchy. A Smith’s cashier told me there have been knife fights in the parking lot.

          3. What is up with these LL’s, etc.?! I hope they get their comeuppance, and soon.

            I’m definitely paying more now for rent, but it certainly is a less sketchy area (with plenty of shopping) compared to where I was.

            I’m farther from my PT job, but since I’m very close to the 215 (but not too close!), it doesn’t really take any longer to get there.

          4. IDK. I’m trying to hold down my hostility.

            I was an accidental LL once. Bought a co-op in Manhattan, didn’t want to stay there. First renter was a customer of our restaurant, complained immediately and stopped paying rent. That was fun. I told my partner it would be a mistake, and what would happen. It did.

            Never once felt like I was above those who I sublet to in subsequent years (mostly employees). I was flush at the time, and I had paid cash for the place so I charged them very little. I did have a lot of trouble from the co-op board, who I dealt with by agreeing with everything they said and not doing it. Had an uncomfortable flashback when watching “Only Murders in the Building” co-op board meeting (though my place was nowhere near as an expensive area in Manhattan.)

            After having a few LLs here in Las Vegas, I think the worst people (with one wonderful exception) are drawn to this profession (?)

          5. @The Original Anonymous
            Anna Marie’s Italian Cuisine on Tropicana, not too far from you, is very good.

      2. Wait until the new arrivals turn to crime. Already organized migrant burglary and theft rings have been arrested in numerous cities.

        1. A journalist for Breitbart yesterday predicted, and he insisted he was going to most certainly be proven correct, that before the end of the year, Venezuelan crime rings were going to start clashing with the Mexican cartels for turf, and cartel style murders were going to start happening in large urban areas. And it might. Big city police departments have difficulty solving local murders and have low clearance rates, there’s no way they’ll be able to solve transnational cartel hits when bodies start showing up in the streets.

      3. Bolaño, a chef who specializes in Chinese dishes, wants to work in a restaurant or for a construction company, but he has struggled so far because he does not have a work permit.

        Since when did a lack of a “work permit” stop illegals from working in the past? This doesn’t pass the small test.

        1. lack of a “work permit”
          Back in the olden days when watching “America’s Most Wanted” I used to wait for it – where was he captured? He was caught at his job, working in a restaurant kitchen.

          1. The reason Mr. Bolaño can’t find a job is because there aren’t any. The job market in Denver has been abysmal for quite some time.

            Sadly, this contradicts the stories he was likely told back home, that millions of good paying jobs were going begging in the US and he would be able to snap one up upon arrival, after which he would be able to buy a house, a brand new SUV, etc. Instead he is broke, sleeping in a freezing tent and eating in soup kitchens.

        2. Yes, I was just going to say this: There is little work but then your 2nd comment said this.

          Much of the hispanic economy is underground and not very sophisticated. They can’t just show up and get work, and all the tacqueria jobs are already filled.

          1. Yep. For one spot I was trying to fill, I got multiple applications, all with the same name/SS number. Only realized it after I sat down after interviews to review them. More Chins than a Chinese phone book, but en Español.

  2. ‘Keep in mind that median price reflects the mix of homes sold as well as price appreciation. More homes selling at the higher end will bring the median up, which we saw in 2020 and 2021. Relatively more homes selling at the lower end will skew that median lower, which we are starting to see now’

    The MIX!

  3. “In 2023, home sales in Ada and Canyon counties fell to their lowest point since 2009. ‘The past year was a needed correction in the market,’ said Mike Pennington of John L. Scott Real Estate in Boise. ‘The market was overheated in 2020 and 2021.’”

    First comes the collapse of sales volume, next the price collapse.

    It’s how bubbles burst.

    1. Markets
      CNBC TV
      Oil
      Oil rises on U.S. crude stock draw, China stimulus hopes
      Published Thu, Jan 25 2024 2:28 AM ESTUpdated Thu, Jan 25 2024 2:30 AM EST
      Reuters
      WATCH LIVE
      Fuel and power produce, oil and gas pumping. Jack pump working in agricultural field
      Olga Rolenko | Moment | Getty Images

      Oil prices rose on Thursday after data showed U.S. crude stockpiles fell more than expected last week, while the Chinese central bank’s cut in banks’ reserve ratio reinforced hopes of more stimulus measures and economic recovery.

      Brent crude futures
      gained 25 cents, 0.3%, to $80.29 a barrel as at 0430 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate.crude climbed 31 cents, or 0.4%, to $75.40 a barrel.

      “A significant drop in the U.S. oil inventories and expectations of China’s economic recovery and more stimulus measures supported oil prices,” said Toshitaka Tazawa, an analyst at Fujitomi Securities.

      “Tensions in the Middle East were also behind buying,” he added.

      U.S. crude stockpiles tumbled by 9.2 million barrels last week, the Energy Information Administration said, more than quadruple the 2.2 million-barrel draw analysts forecast in a Reuters poll.

      The draw was driven by a stark drop in U.S. crude imports as winter weather shut in refineries and kept motorists off the road.

      U.S. crude output fell from a record-tying 13.3 million barrels per day (bpd) two weeks ago to a five-month low of 12.3 bpd last week after oil wells froze during an Arctic freeze.

      Oil prices also drew support from hopes for China’s economic recovery.

      China’s central bank announced a deep cut to bank reserves on Wednesday, in a move that will inject about $140 billion of cash into the banking system and send a strong signal of support for a fragile economy and plunging stock markets.

      China also said on Wednesday it is widening the uses for commercial property lending by banks in its latest effort to ease a liquidity crunch facing troubled real estate firms.
      …
      https://www.cnbc.com/2024/01/25/oil-rises-on-us-crude-stock-draw-china-stimulus-hopes.html

  5. ‘The past year was a needed correction in the market,’ said Mike Pennington of John L. Scott Real Estate in Boise. ‘The market was overheated in 2020 and 2021.’”

    Real estate offices have been inundated by thank-you notes from grateful clients who dodged a bullet because realtors exercising their fiduciary duty talked them out of FOMO purchases of shacks during the insane 2020-2021 price run-up.

    Oh, wait….

  6. Now the average home sits on the market for about 60 to 90 days, which this is considered a healthy market, but previously it was a few days.

    Stop trying to put lipstick on a pig, lying realtor (redundant). Shacks sitting unsold for 60-90 days means they’re overpriced. Now if you want to eat something other than Ramen noddles, tell sellers they’d better get to sawin’ and slashin’ like Freddy Krueger.

  7. ‘When rates drop you can refinance so right now is a great time for buyers because there’s a larger amount of inventory and they aren’t having to give up things like inspections, appraisals and cash out of pocket just to get the house,’ Baldwin said.”

    Buying into the cusp of the implosion of Housing Bubble 2.0 is setting up knife catchers for their financial Waterloo.

    1. When rates drop

      Perhaps it would be better to wait for said rates to drop, because who knows if and when they will.

  8. “It’s not easy to watch $64M evaporate.

    Au contraire. As I recline in my lawn chair, popcorn in hand, watching fake “value” created by the gusher of Fed funny money since 2008 fly off to whatever afterlife awaits debauched Yellen Bux “value” is not only easy, but entertaining.

  10. The nation’s top public health agency did not send an alert on COVID-19 vaccines and heart inflammation because officials were concerned they would cause panic, according to an email obtained by The Epoch Times.

    The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in 2021 drafted an alert for heart inflammation, or myocarditis, and the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines. Officials prepared to release it to the public, taking steps including having the agency’s director review the language, internal documents show.

    The alert would have been sent through the CDC’s Health Alert System (HAN) network, which goes to state and local officials, as well as doctors, across the country. The alert was never sent.

    In the May 25, 2021, email, exclusively obtained by The Epoch Times, a CDC official revealed why some officials were against sending the alert.

    “The pros and cons of an official HAN are what the main discussion are right now,” Dr. Sara Oliver, the official, wrote in the missive. “I think it’s likely to be a HAN since that is CDC’s primary method of communications to clinicians and public health departments, but people don’t want to appear alarmist either.”

    Dr. Oliver was corresponding with an employee of either Pfizer or Moderna. The employee’s name and email were redacted in the copy obtained by The Epoch Times.

    Dr. Oliver did not respond to a request for comment. Asked about the email, the CDC did not deny address Dr. Oliver’s statement.

    The “CDC’s apparent decision to not immediately issue a formal alert to clinicians warning them about the increased risk of myocarditis and pericarditis in vaccinated individuals is not only inexcusable, it’s malpractice,” Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), the top Republican on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, told The Epoch Times in an email.

    “CDC should never prioritize its own public perception over the public’s health, and those who made the decision to do so must be held fully accountable,” he added.
    It remains unclear which official or officials decided not to send the alert at a time when doctors across the country were seeing patients with myocarditis report to emergency rooms with chest pain and other symptoms.

    Kim Witczak, a drug safety advocate who helped convince regulators to add a suicide warning to antidepressants, said the CDC’s move to downplay heart inflammation fits into a longstanding pattern of transparency issues with agencies and drug companies.

    “I can’t even believe that this was even a discussion where they’re like, ‘We don’t want to alarm them.’ We do need to alarm people. We need people to be aware that this is a real potential [problem] that could happen,” Ms. Witzcak told The Epoch Times.

    A signal in the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), which the CDC helps manage, triggered in February 2021, the same month Israel warned the CDC and U.S. drug regulators of a “large number” of cases, primarily among young males.
    Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the CDC’s director at the time, first addressed the issue publicly in April 2021. She falsely said the agency had seen no reports and that no signal had triggered, while disclosing the CDC was in touch with U.S. military officials on cases among service members.
    In reality, hundreds of cases had been reported to the CDC, including some that resulted in death; the CDC either missed or ignored the signal in VAERS; and the CDC helped hide a signal that emerged from a Department of Veterans Affairs system, internal documents and other data reviewed by The Epoch Times show.

    https://www.theepochtimes.com/article/exclusive-email-reveals-why-cdc-didnt-issue-alert-on-covid-vaccines-and-myocarditis-5571675

    3. The American health system is top notch. My husband needs vitamin D supplements and our FSA won’t pay for them without a doctor’s note saying it’s a medical necessity. Well, first off, most people are vitamin D deficient. Second of all, it’s literally our money in that account.
      Third…wasn’t there something about vitamin D deficiency and Covid and they buried that one under a rug?

      1. our FSA won’t pay for them

        I used my card to buy any personal products I wanted without having to get FSA manager approval.

      2. “Third…wasn’t there something about vitamin D deficiency and Covid and they buried that one under a rug?”

        – Yes, correct. A lot of things were “swept under the rug” in 2020 and beyond. The globalists are still sweeping. See: MSM. I can’t vouch for all of the links in this article still being active.

        \\

        https://www.thedesertreview.com/opinion/columnists/indias-ivermectin-blackout—part-v-the-secret-revealed/article_9a37d9a8-1fb2-11ec-a94b-47343582647b.html

        India’s Ivermectin Blackout – Part V: The Secret Revealed

        by Justus R. Hope, MD Sep 27, 2021 Updated Dec 2, 2021

        \\

        Dr. John Campbell broke India’s Ivermectin Blackout wide open on YouTube by revealing the formula of the secret sauce, much to the dismay of Big Pharma, the WHO, and the CDC. Readers will want to watch this before it is taken down. See mark 2:22.

        https://youtu.be/eO9cjy3Rydc

        Each home kit contained the following: Paracetamol tablets [tylenol], Vitamin C, Multivitamin, Zinc, Vitamin D3, Ivermectin 12 mg [quantity #10 tablets], Doxycycline 100 mg [quantity #10 tablets]. Other non-medication components included face masks, sanitizer, gloves and alcohol wipes, a digital thermometer, and a pulse oximeter. See mark 2:33.

        Campbell reports that the exciting things in the kit that grabbed his attention were: Zinc, Vitamin D3, Ivermectin, and secondary antibiotic treatment. “Interesting, that’s what the government decided to give.” See mark 3:40

        John Campbell has reviewed repurposed drugs for COVID before. He has interviewed both Dr. Tess Lawrie and Dr. Pierre Kory. Repurposed drugs hold the potential for benefitting many conditions, not the least of which include viruses and cancers.

        https://www.amazon.com/Surviving-Cancer-COVID-19-Disease-Repurposed/dp/0998055425

        Dr. Campbell noted that there had been no recent cases in 59 Uttar Pradesh districts. In addition, out of 191,446 tests completed in the previous 24 hours, only 33 samples were positive for a test positivity rate of only 0.01%. Dr. Campbell called this low number “staggering.” See mark 5:05.

        https://youtu.be/eO9cjy3Rydc

        By September, cases had fallen dramatically. Out of the entire state of 200 million plus inhabitants, only 187 active cases were left compared to the peak in April of 310,783 cases. See mark 5:41.

        Dr. Campbell attributes their success to many factors, including early detection and early treatment with kits costing a mere $ 2.65 per person. See mark 6:20.

        Notice that Dr. Campbell does not mention a single person who had any toxicity from those ten 12 mg pills of Ivermectin – in the entire state of over 200 million. Not one poisoning was reported. No Indian poison control articles or telephone calls were reported. Out of millions of distributed medicine kits, each containing 120 mg of Ivermectin, not one person in Uttar Pradesh was reported to have had a problem with the drug.

        Notice that Dr. Campbell at no time criticizes the medicine kit as “fringe” or ineffective. After all, it would be improper to accuse a WHO-sponsored program such as the Uttar Pradesh test and treat – coordinated by WHO – of being “fringe.”

        https://www.who.int/india/news/feature-stories/detail/uttar-pradesh-going-the-last-mile-to-stop-covid-19

        Contrary to what little we receive – at great expense – from the government in the United States, these kits are efficient and contain gloves, a thermometer, and an oximeter. The last time I purchased an oximeter some ten years ago, it cost some $200.00. This entire kit – including the oximeter – costs only $2.65.

        – Follow the money.

        – Nuremberg trials 2.0

        1. The last time I purchased an oximeter some ten years ago, it cost some $200.00. This entire kit – including the oximeter – costs only $2.65.

          You can get them on Amazon for under $10

        2. “costing a mere $ 2.65 per person”

          The CEO of Pfizer, Albert Bourla, who in case you forgot, is not a Christian, does not benefit from this.

          All he cares about is more shekels in his pocket, all paid for by U.S. and other nations’ taxpayers.

          1. He’s not a F@#$ING doctor!!!!! He has a worthless Ph.D. in nurse education and convinced millions of people to get jabbed. If he’s not tried in Nuremberg 2.0, may he rot in hell!!!!!

          3. and convinced millions of people to get jabbed

            For that reason alone I refuse to watch his stupid youtube videos.

      3. My belief is that the Vitamin D deficiency thing is the result of bad interpretation of the data. If so many people are vitamin D deficient, well then maybe they aren’t deficient and that’s the low end of the deficiency scale.

    5. May 25?

      Israel was the early adopter of the Pfizer vaccine. It was in June/July of 2021, I believe, that Israel publicly reported heart problems in their young men likely due to the vaccine.

      But I learned that in a John Campbell video, so I guess it’s not true.

      1. Hmmm… the article says Israel issued the warning in Feb 2021. Was it that soon? I thought the young men didn’t get the vaccine en masse until much later than that because of priority for seniors, even in Israel.

        2. The only news I recall from Israel was that the jabbed were get infected anyway. While it is possible that Israel reported heart issues I expect it went straight into the memory hole.

    6. “A signal in the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), which the CDC helps manage, triggered in February 2021, the same month Israel warned the CDC and U.S. drug regulators of a “large number” of cases, primarily among young males.”

      – “a “large number” of cases, primarily among young males.”

      – Young males – A cohort known to be sickly, weak, and prone to disease, illness, such as sudden heart failure, for example…

      \\

      https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10022421/
      Immun Inflamm Dis. 2023 Mar; 11(3): e807.
      Published online 2023 Mar 17. doi: 10.1002/iid3.807
      PMCID: PMC10022421
      PMID: 36988252
      Adverse events following COVID‐19 mRNA vaccines: A systematic review of cardiovascular complication, thrombosis, and thrombocytopenia

      “Results”

      “A total of 81 articles analyzed confirmed cardiovascular complications post‐COVID‐19 mRNA vaccines in 17,636 individuals and reported 284 deaths with any mRNA vaccine. Of 17,636 cardiovascular events with any mRNA vaccine, 17,192 were observed with the BNT162b2 (Pfizer−BioNTech) vaccine, 444 events with mRNA‐1273 (Moderna). Thrombosis was frequently reported with any mRNA vaccine (n = 13,936), followed by stroke (n = 758), myocarditis (n = 511), myocardial infarction (n = 377), pulmonary embolism (n = 301), and arrhythmia (n = 254). Stratifying the results by vaccine type showed that thrombosis (80.8%) was common in the BNT162b2 cohort, while stroke (39.9%) was common with mRNA‐1273 for any dose. The time between the vaccination dosage and the first symptom onset averaged 5.6 and 4.8 days with the mRNA‐1273 vaccine and BNT162b2, respectively. The mRNA‐1273 cohort reported 56 deaths compared to the 228 with BNT162b2, while the rest were discharged or transferred to the ICU.”

      \\

      – The clot shot.

      thrombosis /thrŏm-bō′sĭs/ noun

      The formation, presence, or development of a thrombus. The coagulation of the blood in a blood-vessel or in the heart during life; the formation or existence of a thrombus. See thrombus .

      The obstruction of a blood vessel by a clot formed at the site of obstruction; — distinguished from embolism, which is produced by a clot or foreign body brought from a distance.”

      \\

      – I’m not a medical professional, but my understanding is that the mRNA SARS-Cov-2/COVID-19 vaccines never went through rigorous clinical trials, and even now, are considered “experimental,” but with zero liability for the manufacturers. Might things be different if trials were required and manufacturers were made liable for excess adverse outcomes? Asking for a friend.

  11. BOSTON — Attorneys for 13 alleged “John Doe” clients at the center of a Massachusetts sex ring that authorities said catered to “wealthy and well-connected clientele” are pushing to keep court hearings private.

    More than two dozen probable cause hearings that were to be public were initially scheduled for last week in the Cambridge District Court but were halted by the court.

    Elected officials, doctors, lawyers, professors, accountants, and military officers were reportedly among a group of “high-end” clients who paid for the illegal sex services at various locations in Massachusetts and in Virginia.

    https://www.boston25news.com/news/local/lawyers-13-john-doe-people-center-mass-sex-ring-push-keep-court-hearings-private/GVSIM2MYFRGQFIW6EP7AJSKXFA/

    2. Elected officials, doctors, lawyers, professors, accountants, and military officers were reportedly among a group of “high-end” clients

      They thought it was going to be legal by now.

  12. Projection is a psychological disorder and defense mechanism where the afflicted project their mental insanity and traits onto their targeted victims.
    The insane unelected Cult of money powers at the recent Davos meetings want to restore trust in their self serving desent into madness, causing greatest existential threat to humanity and earth.
    This Davos Cult had a Witch Doctor spitting on people.
    John Kerry said in essence that nobody can stop these wackos.
    Dr Harari in summary expressed that humans aren’t free, that’s just a story.
    Speakers at Davos think coffee should be eliminated for its co2 emissions. What, no coffee to wash the bugs and fake food down they want to feed you.
    Never before has there been such a insane group of power mongers that are such a existential threat to humanity and earth.
    Not only are they fraudsters, with their pre-planned Global emergencies, they are verifiable mentally ill wackos.
    The Davos group and their co-conspirators want a One World Order dictorship in which this bizarre Cult rules.
    Monopoly Corporations, Rich Elites, Banks, Pharma, Royalty, UN, WHO, and probably China Unite to launch war against populations of the globe.
    This is a new kind of warfare where the enemy acts like they are saviors, while leading the masses to a depopulation slaughter.
    It’s not like when one Country would declare war on another Country. This is war declared by a Cult of Monopoly Corporations, Rich Elites, etc against the entire World.
    They have revealed that they want to control all resources of earth and dictate consumption of humanity. They want to enslave humanity, you will own nothing and eat bugs.
    Mandated fake vaccines for globe as a weapon of mass genocide.
    Wow, dangerous insurrection by a realitivity small group of insane and homicidal villains.
    Klaus Schwab said, ” Who controls technology will control the World. ”
    No matter how hard they try, they can’t hide how much they hate humanity and how outright evil and insane they are.

    1. The insane unelected Cult of money powers at the recent Davos meetings want to restore trust in their self serving desent into madness, causing greatest existential threat to humanity and earth.

      As long as they can get their puppets into positions of authority and power in nations across the globe, by fraud if necessary. then they will be able to advance their wicked clown world agendas.

      1. Heck, they conned a majority of the globe to roll up their sleeves for an untested experimental “vaccine”. Telling them that they have to give up coffee to save the world will be easy. Remember those arrows on the floor at the supermarket? Most people obeyed them.

        And they won’t have to ban coffee. What they will do is regulate it so much that it will become unaffordable for regular people. Sure, if you want to splurge on your birthday you can pay $50 or whatever the cost will be for a pound of coffee beans, just like you might splurge on special occasions and have meat on the table.

        Coffee will always be served in Davos. The people who matter will have cars, their mansions will be climate controlled, they will still travel in their Gulfstreams, they will eat the finest meats, etc.

        1. roll up their sleeves for an untested experimental “vaccine”

          This morning at Scripps Clinic Rancho Bernardo, I overheard someone asking where to go for a COVID “vaccine.” SMH.

          1. I also heard that one of my son’s former classmates “has been a medical mess . . . lots of appts . . . weird blood pressure crap . . . fainted randomly, weight loss, MRI, EEG.”

          2. has been a medical mess

            I know of more than a few people like that, who were perfectly fine, got jabbed, and are now a mess. Too sick to work, etc. And some of them are very smart people, who for some reason placed their full trust in the “experts”, are were not alarmed by the vax’s experimental status.

  13. President Biden’s write-in win in New Hampshire Tuesday did little to stifle the angst Democrats have when it comes to the general election, a contest that is shaping up to be a likely 2020 rematch against former President Trump.

    Biden was able to brush off long-shot primary challengers and gain some momentum among Democrats by pulling off the write-in win in the Granite State. But, without increasing his polling numbers against Trump and without his campaign proving it is in high gear, concerns still linger over whether he could beat his predecessor again.

    Some prominent Democrats describe the Biden campaign as one that is struggling, a notion the campaign rejects at every turn despite much of its messaging failing to resonate with voters, according to a spate of national polls that also show record-low approval ratings for the president.

    “There’s something wrong with this campaign where we’re somehow expecting Joe Biden, who frankly hid during the last campaign, to come out now and be Flash Gordon and save his own campaign. The people who are benefiting from the Biden economy, and they exist, should be empowered to speak,” CNN’s Van Jones, a former aide to then-President Obama, said Wednesday.

    https://www.news10.com/hill-politics/biden-fails-to-stifle-democratic-angst-with-new-hampshire-win/

    1. Russia Today — Why many Americans believe only Trump can save their country (1/24/2024):

      “Against almost insurmountable odds, Trump – who is facing 91 felony counts across five indictments – has managed to corral much of the GOP into his MAGA camp while keeping the circling wolves at bay. For a 77-year-old man, this is no small physical and mental achievement.

      At the same time, his fiercely loyal base is of the opinion that the Democrats, ‘hyping up’ the so-called insurrection of January 6, 2021, are engaged in the very worst form of election interference and intimidation ever directed at a presidential candidate. In fact, Trump is the first and only former president to be criminally charged and many Republicans do not view that as an accident. What the Democrats learned too late, however, is that those attacks only served to bolster their opponent’s credentials.

      For MAGA adherents, the year 2024 represents not just another trip to the ballot box but a last-ditch effort to save their country, not least on the geopolitical front, where they want to see a more isolationist posturing. Thus, foreign policy played a crucial part in New Hampshire as the neocon faction headed by Nikki Haley, who represents the militant McConnell-Cheney wing of the Republican Party, attempts to stay relevant.

      On the question of national defense, it’s also necessary to mention Trump’s arch-nemesis, US President Joe Biden, who secured a write-in victory in New Hampshire. Undoubtedly, the greatest point of contention between the MAGA camp and the US leader is the situation on the US-Mexico border, where every year millions of illegal immigrants pour into the country at great expense to both safety and financial resources.”

      https://www.rt.com/news/591210-trump-can-save-us/

  14. MODESTO, Calif. — Caves equipped with tables, chairs and even beds — that’s what officials in Modesto say the homeless along the Tuolumne River were living in, up until a clean-up last weekend.

    Police tape and barricades went up Wednesday along the river near Crater Avenue and Dallas Street in Modesto, meant to keep the homeless out.

    “They’re building some interesting caves,” said Brian Brandenburg, who lives in the neighborhood and walks his dog along the river every day.

    https://www.abc10.com/article/news/local/modesto/tuolumne-river-caves/103-4a9f0c31-fe70-4ba6-9540-4d116059eb8a

    2. “However, for some neighbors like Brandenburg, the caves aren’t a problem.”

      “Let them have their peace, they’re out of everybody’s way,” said Brandenburg. “I mean, it’s getting them out of the weather, it’s not hindering anybody and I thought it was a good idea they did it.”

      https://youtu.be/H02iwWCrXew?si=ef8PyML1SsDXeM0S

          1. All this rain in California will fill up their reservoirs!

            Oh, wait, they hardly have any reservoirs, and haven’t opened one in decades.

            The state gets plenty of rain and snow, if they had more reservoirs, they could be more self-sufficient and reduce their dependence on the CO River. Which would relieve stress from that system.

          2. ‘Impactful’ atmospheric river likely to bring more heavy rain to San Diego
            Amber Coakley
            2 days ago

            SAN DIEGO, Calif. (KSWB) — As San Diego County reels from major flooding from a winter storm, the National Weather Service (NWS) said another “impactful” atmospheric river is likely on the way.

            For those unfamiliar with the term, an atmospheric river refers to a flowing column of condensed water vapor in the atmosphere that’s responsible for producing significant amounts of rain and snow.

            Newsom proclaims State of Emergency in San Diego County

            The weather event is expected to move southward along the West Coast Jan. 31 through Feb. 5, bringing heavy rain and high winds to the Golden State, weather officials explained. For mountain areas at higher elevations, NWS said heavy snow can be expected.

            To start the month of February, NWS said there is a 60-80% chance of above normal precipitation along the West Coast — from southern Oregon throughout California — and inland to the Great Basin as well as the Desert Southwest.
            …
            https://fox5sandiego.com/weather/impactful-atmospheric-river-likely-to-bring-heavy-rain-to-california

  15. Layoff tracker: Mass layoffs by tech companies big and small hit the Bay Area

    Ebay, Google, Cruise. Here’s an overview of Bay Area tech companies that recently executed a mass layoff.

    January 2024 kicked off with dismal news from both Ebay and Google announcing layoffs of around 1,000 employees.

    Ebay’s CEO Jamie Iannone told employees in a memo Tuesday that this decision that would see 9% off its workforce go, was made so the company could be “more nimble.” This round of cuts follows the loss of 500 jobs in February 2023.

    Google’s cuts reverberated across multiple divisions, including the hardware team responsible for Pixel, Nest, and Fitbit products as well as engineering and services. Google parent company Alphabet employed 182,381 employees as of September 30th, 2023, so this latest round of cuts would make around half a percent of the company’s total workforce.

    Cruise released a statement on Dec 14th that 900 employees or 24% of full time staff, primarily in operations and related corporate functions will be laid off with strong severance and benefits packages. Departing employees will remain on payroll through Feb. 12 and are eligible for an additional 8 weeks of pay, with long-term employees offered an additional 2 weeks’ pay per every year at Cruise over 3 years.

    Roku, which has already had three previous rounds of mass layoffs in 2022 and 2023, told the EDD it has decided to slash an additional 136 jobs in San Jose, bringing the total to 636 jobs lost over the past 2 years.

    Bloom Energy submitted that it was cutting 47 permanent roles as well as 50 contractors who were on assignment from staffing agencies.

    From Amazon to Twitter to Meta, to Niantic, Lyft, Ebay, Paypal and Splunk, thousands of U.S. workers have lost their jobs in brutal mass layoffs in 2022 and now in 2023.

    Satellite imagery company Planet announced on August 1st, 2023 that it is laying off 117 employees, or around 10% of its workforce. In a CEO note, Planet CEO Will Marshall says the additional costs that came with expanding rapidly are no longer supported by the changing macroeconomic environment, and are therefore “making changes to prioritize our attention on the highest ROI opportunities for our business and mission, while reinforcing our path to profitability.”

    San Francisco-based video game maker Niantic, better known as the creator of Pokémon GO announced on June 29th, 2023 that it is laying off 230 employees or approximately a quarter of its workforce. The company said it was restructuring to rein in cost and concentrate on first party games on mobile. Pokémon GO will remain a top priority “forever game”.

    The bulk of cuts will come from closing its LA studio and reducing its game platform team, effectively ending production on games such as NBA All-World and Marvel: World of Heroes. This announcement comes a year after Niantic laid off around 90 workers and canceled multiple projects including a Transformer game.

    On April 27th, 2023, Lyft employees received notification on their employment status after a note from new CEO David Risher a week earlier announced yet another round of cuts, this time an estimated 26% of current workforce or 1,072. This brings the combined estimated workers cut to 1806 or an estimated 34% of its original workforce from 2022.

    While our layoff tracker below watches tech mass redundancies in the Bay Area, due to the magnitude of the cuts, it is worth noting retail tech giant Amazon has announced on Monday March 20, 2023 it was laying off an additional 9,000 employees, on top of the cuts to 18,000 positions that the company disclosed in January, bringing it to a total of 27,000.

    This comes hot on the heels of a statement by Mark Zuckerberg a week before that Meta will lay off 10,000 more workers and incur restructuring costs ranging from $3 billion to $5 billion.

    On March 29 2023, Electronic Arts announced a restructuring plan through an SEC filing that will see around 800 or 6% of its staff let go.

    On February 7 2023, Zoom announced it was laying off 1,300 or 15% of its staff.

    On the same day, Ebay announced it was shaving off 4% of its workforce or 500 workers, to create “additional space to invest and create new roles in high-potential areas,” according to Ebay CEO Jamie Iannone in an SEC filing.

    On January 31st 2023, Paypal announced a round of layoffs, cutting 2,000 from its global workforce.

    Google (parent company Alphabet), together with a long list of tech companies executing mass redundancies, announced on January 20th that it will lay off 12,000 or 6% of its global workforce.

    Salesforce first announced layoffs of 1,090 workers in November and kicked off 2023 with another layoffs announcement in January of approximately 7,900 staff or 10% of its global workforce.

    San Francisco-based DoorDash announced on Nov. 30 that it is shaving 1,250 jobs or 6% of its workforce in an effort to rein in operating cost in a challenging post-pandemic, macro environment.

    Including the most recent announcement by Salesforce, a growing list of companies have made second and third rounds of cuts. These include Stripe, which cut around 1,000 in November after laying off around 50 people (from TaxJar, a Stripe acquisition) earlier this year, and Lyft, which slashed 683 from its team after laying off 60 people in July. In May, Netflix cut 150 staff members from its workforce and laid off 450 more in June.

    https://abc7news.com/tech-layoff-tracker-bay-area-layoffs-ebay-alphabet/12434385/

    1. A lot of these companies over hired because they were making money off people sitting at home stuffing their faces with frozen pizza while playing online games. It makes sense they’d do layoffs.

      1. A lot of the projects those companies had going were either pie in the sky or at least didn’t live up to the growth potential that was claimed. Once everyone has a Roku (or equivalent) on their TV then you only sell replacements for the ones that break.

        A lot of techies like to work on “cool projects” and don’t stop to ask “what if this product bombs and doesn’t generate the revenue expected?” I suppose that most think “No problem, I’ll just find another cool job.”; but most of them have never experienced a tough job market before and quickly figure out that they don’t piss perfume after all.

        The previous hot thing was cloud, now it’s AI and I suspect the AI bubble will be bursting very soon. A lot of cloud startups can’t keep the lights on anymore and even at bigger cloud shops like Amazon, Google and Microsoft the meteoric growth in sales is over, which means it’s layoff time. It has always fascinated me how quickly a job can go from big salaries, big raises, big bonuses/RSUs and beer busts and other celebrations to a pink slip. And if you’re laid off all those unvested RSUs go bye bye.

        1. beer busts and other celebrations to a pink slip

          I was at one Christmas party where the CEO made a speech to dispel rumors of a looming layoff. On the following January 2 about 30% were let go.

          1. Christmas party? I think those are extinct in Corporate America, and by that I mean any end of year party. The last one I attended was nearly 20 years ago. To be honest, I don’t miss them. A bunch of people who mostly dislike each other, who pretend to like each other.

          4. The firm party was typically in January someplace like the Rainbow Room at Rockefeller Center before the “patent ball” at the Waldorf Astoria in February.

          5. One of my front doormen seriously saved me from being whisked away in the wind while wearing a ball gown and high heels.

          8. In my youth, the Christmas parties ran the gamut from stiff to raucous, depending on where I was working at the time. Most memorable was my getting a ride home from a part-time job I had while attending NYU. I was very young, and my older female co-worker was quite the drinker. A co-worker volunteered to drive us home and they decided to park for a while at The Cloisters. She and he started, well, getting friendly. I minded my business, sitting up front. Turned around to see what was up. She told me I could have him now 😂🤣 I passed, laughing, told him no offense, he said none taken.

          9. The company I work for part-time had one last December. It was casual and held at the HQ building.

            It wasn’t the most fun I’ve ever had, but I did get a free meal and looked good for showing up (many people didn’t). Might be a connection between that and the extra shifts I’ve gotten recently. 😉

            I actually turned a profit directly from the party. First by stealing back my gift during the “white elephant”; I didn’t like anything the others had brought, so I grabbed mine back and later returned it to the store for a refund, lol. Then I won $250 in the raffle.

          12. @RR re: The Cloisters
            I grew up not too far from there. The surrounding area wasn’t as bad then. In those days, there was no admission fee or minimal age w/o an adult. Little Philistines that we were, if we had nothing else to do, we’d go up there and run around the place until the guards kicked us out.

            The Cloisters in Popular Culture: “Time in This Place Does Not Obey an Order”
            July 22, 2013
            https://www.metmuseum.org/blogs/now-at-the-met/features/2013/cloisters-in-popular-culture

          13. I thought about going back in August when we were in Scarsdale. Hubby didn’t want me riding the subway alone and he and my son would have been bored had I dragged them along.

    2. Dailyjobcuts dot com has info on layoffs too, even the smallest number.

      In today’s news, Business Insider is laying off 8% of its workforce, and Microsoft Video Game Workforce is laying off 1900.

    3. If the soft landing camp proves wrong and this is the start of a recession, the expectations shock could seriously CR8R markets.

      1. The Motley Fool
        This Recession Indicator Is Ringing Its Most Severe Alarm in 40 Years. Here’s What It Could Mean for the Stock Market.
        By Trevor Jennewine – Jan 22, 2024 at 4:53AM
        Key Points

        – A popular recession forecasting tool now shows its highest reading since 1981, signaling a high probability of a downturn in the next 12 months.

        – The S&P 500 declined by an average of 31% during the last 10 recessions, but the index has always recouped its losses and gone on to hit new highs.

        – The S&P 500 has returned 2,630% since January 1990 (a compound annual growth rate of 10.2%) despite four recessions and several market crashes in the last 34 years.

        – 10 stocks we like better than S&P 500 Index

        The risk of recession remains elevated despite the stock market’s tremendous performance in 2023.

        The S&P 500 had a remarkably good year in 2023. The benchmark index advanced 24% as a host of factors helped improve stock market sentiment, including a surprisingly resilient economy.

        After that performance, investors might have forgotten than many pundits had forecast a recession starting last year. That never materialized, but the risk has not disappeared. In fact, a forecasting tool based on the Treasury yield curve — which has a near-perfect track record in predicting recessions for more than 70 years — currently shows its most severe reading since 1981.

        Here’s what investors should know.

        Treasury bonds are debt securities that pay interest based on maturity dates. Long-term bonds normally pay more that short-terms bonds because investors expect higher returns when they commit capital for extended periods. As a result, the Treasury yield curve — a line plotting interest rates across all Treasuries (i.e., 1 month to 30 years) — moves up and to the right under normal circumstances.

        However, the Treasury yield curve becomes inverted when short-term bonds pay more than long-term bonds. That can happen when economic concerns cause investors to seek safety in long-term bonds (driving the yield lower) and avoid or sell short-term bonds (pushing the yield higher).

        Inversions can happen at any point along the curve, but an inversion between the 10-year Treasury and 3-month Treasury has been a particularly reliable leading indicator of recessions. To quote the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, “The yield curve has predicted essentially every U.S. recession since 1950 with only one ‘false’ signal, which preceded the credit crunch and slowdown in production in 1967.”

        With that in mind, a popular Federal Reserve forecasting tool uses the Treasury yield curve to estimate the probability of a recession 12 months in the future. That tool currently puts the odds of a recession at nearly 63%, as shown in the chart below. Gray areas represent recessions.
        …
        https://www.fool.com/investing/2024/01/22/recession-indicator-rings-severe-alarm-for-stocks/

  16. IF YOU DON’T EAT YER MEAT HOW CAN YOU HAVE ANY PUDDING! YOU CAN’T HAVE ANY PUDDING IF YOU DON’T EAT YER MEAT!!

    “A lot of our employees are seasonal, so they do come, work for a season or two, some of them do stay, seasonable it is hard to find a lease for less than a year so having something like this allows us to fill positions a little easier and then also allows the workers to come and have a decent place to live,”

    The Conifer Commons boast a mix of studio and single-unit rooms, with communal bathrooms and kitchens and while Ditzel referenced that it felt like being “back in college,” Miller prefers to consider it more as “communal housing.”

    https://www.winterparkresort.com/the-mountain/mountain-information/workforce-housing

  17. [A nation of broke-assed losers.]

    Here’s how much the typical American pays in debt each month

    https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/heres-much-typical-american-pays-122956423.html

    [snip snip]

    Americans are tumbling deeper into debt, with the typical household paying $1,583 a month on various loans, a recent study found.

    That’s a more than $300 increase from people’s average monthly debt payment in 2020, according to a LendingTree. The report, based on the anonymized credit reports of roughly 310,000 users from July 1 to Sept. 30, 2023, focuses on active debt such as mortgages, auto loans, credit cards, personal loans, student loans and other categories.

    Mortgages make up the lion’s share of debt, the study found, with property owners making average monthly payments of $1,855 on average on their home loans. Auto loans account for the second-largest share of debt, with payments averaging $690 a month — an amount that continues to climb as interest rates on auto loans jump. The third-largest category of debt is personal loans, with payments of $517 a month on average.

    Generation Xers (ages 43 to 58) carry the most debt, with $1,974 in average monthly payments. Baby boomers (59 to 77) are No. 2 with payments of $1,529, followed closely behind by Millennials (ages 27 to 42) at $1,490. Not surprisingly give their youth, Gen Zers (ages 18 to 26) have the lowest average monthly debt at $645.

    “The combination of high income and great credit means lenders will be eager to lend you money, but it also means you’ll have the ability to run up more debt,” Matt Schulz, chief credit analyst at LendingTree, said in the report. “That’s a real risk, especially considering the many financial issues Gen Xers may face, including paying for kids’ college tuition, helping their elderly parents and more.”

    Generationally, baby boomers pay the most toward student loans — $327 on average, the study finds. That may be because in addition to their own student debt, baby boomers were more likely to borrow to fund their children’s higher education, according to the Education Data Initiative.

    oughly a third of Americans say they have higher balances on their credit cards than they do in emergency savings, according to Bankrate. Sixty-three percent of U.S. adults point to inflation as the main reason why they are unable to save for the unexpected.

  18. “The Sun in the UK. “A block of flats has been dubbed worthless after apartment owners claimed they can feel the building shake when a lorry goes past. Dan Bruce, 40, is frightened that his entire building will fall apart if nothing is done to fix the endless problems. . . he purchased the top-floor apartment . . I paid a lot of money for, £800,000, and it’s worth zero. And there’s absolutely nothing I can do about it. And so that makes me absolutely f***ing enraged.’”

    I wouldn’t suggest ‘ol Danno stomp his feet in rage in this particular situation.
    blimey! could bring the whole building down.
    perhaps a good cathartic sky-scream.
    (after all, he IS on the top floor. player playa.)

    Go on now, mate: have a go. break out that Muslim prayer rug.

    green wool beanie optional

  19. I got this from foreclosure.com this morning:

    $259,900
    108 Falcon Ct, Page, AZ 86040
    3beds
    2baths
    1,344sqft
    Manufactured Home
    Built in 1994
    — sqft lot
    $247,000 Zestimate®
    $193/sqft

    What’s special
    New flooring New paint
    Visit this lovely refinished home in Page, Arizona! Lot’s to like. New flooring, kitchen and bath renovation, and new paint in and out. Three bedrooms with the bedroom suite opposite the remaining two bedrooms. Must see.
    Estimated market value
    $247,000
    Price history
    Date Event Price
    2/15/2023 Sold $141,100-5.9% $105/sqft
    Source: Public Record
    1/10/2020 Sold $150,000+100% $112/sqft
    Source: Public Record
    5/5/2015 Sold $75,000 $56/sqft
    Source: Public Record
    10/26/2005 Sold $75,000+319.6%$56/sqft
    Source: Public Record
    6/2/2004 Sold $17,873-76.5%$13/sqft
    Source: Public Record

    https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/108-Falcon-Ct-Page-AZ-86040/48136965_zpid/

    2. Probably half of Page, AZ works for the Bureau of Reclamation at the Glen Canyon dam, and the other half at Walmart. Not much else up there other than fast food and couple of roadside turquoise jeweler merchants.

    3. You’re a special kind of optimist when you think a roll of new vinyl flooring and a coat of paint justifies a $118K mark-up on a mobile home in Page.

  20. Greg Price
    @greg_price11

    Adam Schiff gets called out during the CA Senate debate by Republican Steve Garvey for lying about Russian collusion:

    Garvey: “I believe you were censured for lying.”

    Schiff: “I was censured for standing up to a corrupt president”

    Garvey: “Sir, you lied to 300 million people and you can’t take that back.”

    https://x.com/greg_price11/status/1749637147630490044?s=20

  21. [The chickens are heading for the roost.]

    ‘The Entire Journalism Industry Is In Freefall’: Taylor Lorenz Vlogs The Death Of MSM As BuzzFeed, Insider And Vice Jettison Assets

    https://www.zerohedge.com/political/leftist-journalist-taylor-lorenz-admits-corporate-media-imploding-begs-public-save-it

    Corporate media is on life support. Driven to cut costs by sagging ad revenues and waning appetite for propaganda, layoffs and ‘restructurings’ are happening all over.

    Earlier this week the LA Times laid off 120 employees, around 20% of its newsroom.

    Meanwhile, BuzzFeed and Vice Media – two former darlings of digital media, are looking to siphon off assets. BuzzFeed, which has lost over 97% of its value since going public in 2021, is looking to sell its food sites, Tasty and WeFeast. While Fortress Investment Group, which took over Vice in bankruptcy last year, is looking to sell its Refinery29 women’s lifestyle site, the Wall Street Journal reports.

    Fortress is in talks to sell Refinery29 after a failed attempt to find a buyer for Vice in its entirety, which includes its namesake news brand, production studio and creative agency, among other assets. Fortress is in discussions with prospective bidders for Refinery29, which saw a decrease in revenue to $30 million last year from around $50 million in 2022, according to people familiar with the matter.

    Vice notably bought Refinery29 for $400 million in 2019, while Tasty was an attempt by BuzzFeed to generate revenue streams beyond advertising with direct sales of kitchenware.

    The outlets join Jezebel (“Sex. Celebrity. Politics. With Teeth”), which was shuttered in November by G/O Media amid corporate layoffs, and Business Insider, which is now cutting 8% of its staff, per Semafor.

    Time Magazine also laid off 30 people this week.

    In 2023, there were over 30,000 workers laid off by media companies.

    This is the largest number of cuts in employment since 2020 when Covid-19 was raging and over 30,000 workers were laid off.

    The figure is also six times higher than the number of job losses in 2022 when several large media companies including Warner Bros. Discovery and Disney and others had undergone a series of layoffs impacting thousands of media workers. -Forbes

    Opining on the sad state of journalism is Jeff Bezos’s vocal-fry champion,Taylor Lorenz, who said this week that “The entire journalism industry is basically in a free-fall,” and that the LA Times’ woes follow “months and months of layoffs in the media industry.”

    “And it’s not just digital media sites,” she continues. “Local news has been obliterated, the newspaper industry is cratering, radio is essentially dead – aside from NPR which has been gutted. Meanwhile, hundreds of workers at Conde Nast, the parent company of pretty much every major magazine from GQ to Vogue to the New Yorker to Vanity Fair are on strike.”

    More on Taylor

    Despite her claims that she is a grassroots reporter that worked her way up from independent media into the halls of establishment journalism, Taylor Lorenz represents the quintessential media spin doctor. She is notorious for her consistent and often ludicrous defense of the Biden Administration, as well as her constant attacks on the alternative media; specifically on conservative YouTubers and social media accounts like Libs of TikTok.

    She became somewhat famous after her exposé on Libs of TikTok founder Chaya Raichik in what many argued was an attempt to dox and intimidate a person critical of woke activists (the initial story published by Lorenz contained a link to the woman’s work address and other work details. A later version of the story had the link removed).

    She was also accused of lying in an article about coverage of the Johnny Depp v. Amber Heard trial when she claimed she had contacted certain YouTuber’s for comment before publishing her attack on them (they say she did not and she had no evidence to support her assertions). The Washington Post was forced to quietly stealth-edit her article in embarrassment.

    The point is, Lorenz has made it clear by her actions that she views citizen journalists negatively if they aren’t on the political left. She has tried to sabotage them using dubious methods, and ironically it is this kind of behavior from corporate journalists like her that has led directly to the death of her industry. It is this kind of biased behavior that has compelled the public to seek out the alternative media and abandon legacy platforms.

    No matter how much you hate journalists, it’s not enough

    In a 2022 Pew Research poll of US mainstream journalists of all ages, over 55% said that they don’t believe all sides of any given story deserve equal coverage. The youngest journalists (ages 18-29) were the worst, with 63% saying they did not agree with equal coverage. Lorenz reflects this very sentiment as she rolls her eyes at the notion of objectivity in news writing.

    In a similar poll, over 76% of the general public said they want equal coverage of all sides by the media. The disconnect between establishment news sources and what their audience wants is immense. Given that progressive ideology is greatly over-represented in most corporate media, the public has simply sought out the other side of the story.

    Lorenz argues that she wouldn’t want to live in a world where people get their news from sixty second TikToks (while posting her appeal to TikTok), but she knows full well that it’s not TikTok journalism that’s taking the legs out from under organizations like The Washington Post – It’s the growing prevalence of the alternative media which she has lambasted for a large portion of her career.

    That said, ultimately the picture Lorenz paints is actually a positive one (though she doesn’t realize it). The implosion of legacy media is an expression of the free market. The public has spoken and finally these people are suffering the consequences of their dishonest activities. And to be clear, no, legacy companies do not matter.

    They are not special or integral to the economy or to society. They are not “too big to fail” and their collapse should be applauded after the years of disinformation and propaganda they have excreted on the doorsteps of the American populace. They deserve this and the world is better off without them. They are already being replaced with better companies and better journalists; may the free market run its course.

    Oh, and in case anyone was wondering – while corporate media has been imploding, ZeroHedge has been growing. We thank you for your readership.

        1. A person can buy the Washington Post, which was known for investigative reporting, and turn it into what it is. Keeping that going decade on end at a loss is another. Because of the decline caused by becoming so disgustingly biased, why keep paying? No one reads nor believes their crappola anyway.

          1. “why keep paying? No one reads”

            We read, but when we do we read via Archive which is a screenshot of the article, and they receive no revenue.

      2. There’s really no need for dozens of different media properties to exist when they all essentially say the same thing, with little nuance. NBC is CNN is CBS is NPR is MSBNC is WAPO is NYT is JEzebel, etc. It’s all exactly same product repeating the same talking points. That’s why it’s failing. Only one or two will survive, absent billionaires’ continued support, and the last properties standing will become the official Pravda for the Democrat and establishment party.

  22. ‘We are coming off several years of rapidly increasing sales prices, so it’s understandable that home sellers price their homes correspondingly — higher than the last sale. But this isn’t working anymore’

    via GIPHY

  23. ‘He’s heard one of the two units will become a massage studio; the other’s use is still being decided. These types of flexible options may become more common as the Bay Area continues to reassess its need for typical office space, he said. ‘The market is in a weird place,’ he said. ‘I wouldn’t say there’s desperation, but you need to be able to understand the upsides. It’s a ‘what are our options mindset’

    Hunter S Thompson would approve Joe.

    1. From the photo, this looks like a very small office building with an SBUX at retail. I don’t think you could get more than 3 units out of it.

      TBH, I rather like the idea of converting office space to affordable housing. Unlike a mall, office have a lot of natural light. In the article above, someone said it feels like a college dorm. Well, what’s wrong with that? The only problem is that low-income residents tend to trash places like this, but that’s not the fault of the building. I lived in dorms for years and it was entirely workable.

  24. ‘requested foreclosure over a $127 million loan for the property originated by an affiliate of owner and developer Greystar in January 2022. Despite being a newer complex with a great location and amenities, the high number of new apartments being constructed has forced this complex, like many others, to lower asking rents, according to Steve Triolet, a real estate analyst for Partners. For five of the past six quarters, according to Triolet, the property has had negative rent growth. ‘With increasing debt costs due to high interest rates, many apartment complexes are in for a great deal of short-term distress as near-record supply outpaces household formation for the current time period,’ Triolet said’

    ‘a $127 million loan for the property originated by an affiliate of owner and developer Greystar in January 2022′

    That’s some sound lending right there Steve.

    “Aaron Amuchastegui, CEO of Roddy’s Foreclosure Listing Service, said that capitalization rates used by appraisers for new loans and refinance appraisals have fallen in recent years in the face of rising interest rates, and multifamily properties are now appraising for 20% to 30% less than they were two years ago. ‘Unfortunately, we are starting to see a lot of multifamily foreclosures being posted, even though most of them have been operating as expected,’ Amuchastegui said. ‘I am surprised to see this one being posted for foreclosure so soon after completion, and of the many postings we have seen over the last 12 months, this is one of the largest properties’

    ‘we are starting to see a lot of multifamily foreclosures being posted, even though most of them have been operating as expected,’ Amuchastegui said. ‘I am surprised to see this one being posted for foreclosure so soon after completion’

    Brand new, working great, and they are walking away. Classic bubble behavior.

  25. ‘A string of investors has been wiped out in recent months by the most dramatic disruption to the city’s office market most commercial real estate professionals have ever seen. This wave of deals shows that owners have capitulated — accepting that many of their buildings are worth no more than the value of the dirt they sit on — and they are deciding to cut their losses. The properties sold in recent weeks have all traded for less than 40% of their previous sale prices, and there is concern that values have further to fall’

    This sh!thole is actually very small. Ten square miles, no one will even know the crater is there.

  26. ‘A lot of that COVID premium has been taken out of the marke’…But that dip also discourages homeowners who are thinking about listing, he adds. ‘There are sellers for sure who think this is not the time to give away their property.’ As more listings arrive with the start of the spring market, buyers will become more engaged, he says. ‘Inventory gets people’s attention’

    What Jimmy is up to is get the listings, promise the moon, and the inventory will crush the sellers who will slash the prices and he gets paid.

  27. ‘‘I’ve got a house, it’s meant to be a home, that I paid a lot of money for, £800,000, and it’s worth zero. And there’s absolutely nothing I can do about it. And so that makes me absolutely f***ing enraged’

    Yer story reminds of a long ago thing Dan. It used to be said in the US that new shack owners didn’t have to find the toe nail clippings of previous owners in the carpet or door jams. It was one of those weird phases of the mania where new shacks were the best bet. So calm down, take a deep breath, and be thankful for yer stranger toe nail free life.

    1. A million bucks for a dump in a dumpy neighborhood, which I’m sure has a great walk score. The overflowing communal trash cans add a je ne sais quoi to the place.

  28. ‘A subcontractor who claims to be owed more than $100,000 said the carnage in the building industry has left them repeatedly out of pocket. ‘Obviously it sucks because that money comes straight off the profit line,’ the person said. ‘We’ve paid for everything upfront’

    That’s what you’ll tell the bank and liquidators anyway subcontractor.

  29. ‘No stationery at government meetings, a ban on flashy buildings and inspectors to watch for wasted food at official functions. These are some of the measures that local governments across China are taking in accordance with an order from Beijing that they ‘get used to belt-tightening,’ an edict laid down last month by top leaders’

    I remember this Far Side comic that had people sitting in the galley of a slave rowing ship. In the back a woman held a crying baby, and a few rows forward, one guy said to the other ‘just when you think things can’t get worse’.

    1. She appears to have some of the “some lies were told” thing going on.

      What kind of primary lets your opponents vote for who your candidate will be?

          1. Jeez, I know I got that ballot, but I haven’t opened it yet.

            They do the most outrageous things here, and no one ever calls them out on it. They make NY politicos look like a bunch of angels. I got involved with GOP politics in NV when Ron Paul was running. They were very welcoming until they realized I was one of those RP people. We marched up and down the Strip a few times, attended rallies when he was in town, helped clean up his local campaign hq building, went up to Sparks as a delegate. It was lots of fun, met some very nice people.

  31. COMMENTARY HOUSING
    A crippled housing market has left Americans stranded in 40-year-old properties and unable to afford most home improvements. Now they are turning to ‘home hardening’ instead
    38% of homes in the U.S. were built before 1970–and the median age of homes in America is 40 years.
    BY JON BOSTOCK
    January 25, 2024 6:17 AM EST
    …
    https://fortune.com/2024/01/25/housing-market-americans-stranded-old-property-affordability-home-improvements-real-estate-jon-bostock

    1. Sounds like a description of the rental properties in our area…built over 30 years ago, with Zestimates north of $1 million and renting for $4000ish, which, by the way, provides less yield than a super-safe Treasury bill, even before considering various costs and risks of home ownership. I am grateful to the SoCal landlords who are willing to bear ownership costs of HODLing ancient houses with high depreciation rates in order to keep renting affordable.

    1. Finance
      Housing
      The housing market is in its worst slump since 1995. NAR says the ‘world was much different’ then—here’s how
      “2023 may well have the unique distinction of being incomparable and, hopefully, quickly a distant memory,” says First American’s Mark Fleming.
      BY Sydney Lake
      January 24, 2024 4:40 PM EST
      Existing home sales in December 2023 dropped to their lowest levels since 1995. Photo illustration by Fortune; Original photos by Getty Images

      To make sense of the pain and confusion associated with today’s housing market, economists have drawn on decades past. Mortgage rates and inflation have been compared to the market of the 1980s—but recent home sales reports have drawn more comparisons to the mid-1990s.

      Data revealed last week by the National Association of Realtors shows that existing home sales in December 2023 dropped to their lowest levels since 1995. The year had just 4.09 million transactions, even worse than figures from any month during the entire Global Financial Crisis, which was famously caused by a housing bust that put millions of people underwater on their mortgages.

      NAR expanded on the data with an economist report released Monday illustrating how today’s housing market compares to that of 1995, when there were 3.85 million existing home sales. The caveat, NAR says, is that the “world was much different” in the ‘90s, the last time home sales were this low.

      Housing market differences from the 1990s

      The first major difference between these two housing markets is the total U.S. population. In 1995, the population was a bit more than 266 million, but today more than 336 million people live in the U.S., meaning that another 70 million people can barely match a housing activity level from nearly three decades ago, putting in perspective the historical drop in activity. What’s going on, to make things this bad?

      “That answer becomes clear when looking at both inventory and affordability,” Jessica Lautz, deputy chief economist and vice president of research at NAR, wrote in this week’s report.

      In terms of inventory, there were 1.58 million single-family homes up for sale in December 1995, compared to just 870,000 last December. Supply was 4.8 months in 1995 compared to only 3.1 months in 2023, she adds.

      “2023 was actually worse than 1995 when accounting for population growth,” Mark Fleming, chief economist at Fortune 500 financial services firm First American, tells Fortune. “The larger the population, the more households and the more overall demand for shelter.”

      To get more granular, NAR data shows that 144 homes sold for every 10,000 people in 1995, but just 122 homes sold for the same number of people last year.

      The other major difference between the two housing markets is affordability. In 2023, mortgage rates spiked to a two-decade high at 8%, which strained new homebuyers attempting to enter the market. Although mortgage rates in 1993 averaged 7.93%, according to NAR, they started trending downward by 1995, Fleming says.

      “As we know, mortgage rates went the other way in 2023, so affordability is worse now than then as well,” Fleming says.

      What’s more, home prices were historically high in 2023. The median home sales price in 1995 was about $114,000 ($227,000 inflation-adjusted), according to NAR, but in 2023 it was nearly $390,000. Mortgage rates and home prices together are typically the factors in defining overall housing affordability. NAR uses these factors plus the qualifying income needed to purchase a home to define a housing affordability index, which shows that purchasing a home was more accessible in 1995 than it was in 2023.
      …
      https://fortune.com/2024/01/24/housing-market-worst-slump-existing-home-sales-since-1995/

      2. “2023 may well have the unique distinction of being incomparable and, hopefully, quickly a distant memory,”

        Good luck using hope as a strategy! If memory serves, then the reference year, 1995, was at the tail end of a real estate bust that began at least as early as the 1990 recession, if not sooner.

        By contrast, 2023 was the onset of a real estate bust which has yet to show significant market adjustment to restore price affordability. And if a recession is coming, it will seem like a lightning bolt out of the blue, because of the endlessly repeated soft landing assurances from on high.

        If there is a clear, quick, noninflationary path from here back to normalcy, I would be interested to hear how it is supposed to work.

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