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Just When You Think It Cannot Get Any Worse, It Can

A report from Patch. “An Upper East Side man who was previously accused of sexual assault at the East Village bar he owned now refuses to leave his apartment after it was foreclosed in 2022, according to a new report in Crain’s New York Business. The homeowner, Frank Steo, has not allowed his Upper East Side apartment’s buyer access to the apartment and is still living there with his family, according to a lawsuit. According to the lawsuit, the ‘Defendants refused to vacate the premises, and [the] plaintiff is unwillingly funding defendants’ lifestyle of living for free in a property they do not own, and have no rights to.”

Click Orlando in Florida. “A Brevard County couple said they are now in danger of losing their home after a state-approved, clean energy home improvement lender failed to pay an air conditioning contractor. Rick and Cathy Yerkes were approved for a Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) loan by Ygrene Energy Fund in 2022. In September of that year, they signed a contract with a Brevard County company to install a new air conditioning unit. ‘They completed the job on a Thursday afternoon,’ Rick Yerkes told News 6. ‘On Friday, I submitted the paperwork, and on Monday, they sent me a stop work order. I said it’s too late, the work is already completed. They said we’re out of funds, and we will not be paying. There’s a real chance we will lose this house over it. We’re in foreclosure. If we don’t get a loan modification, we will lose the house.'”

From CBS 8. “Recent headlines have talked about the amount of foreclosures in California jumping 50-70% higher than pandemic-era lows. CBS 8’s Heather Myers looked at the foreclosure market in San Diego County and had an opportunity to tour a 15,000 square foot mansion that is currently in foreclosure. The mansion is located in the gated Alvarado Estates Community, near San Diego State University. The trees outside the home are overgrown and there is a giant lock on the front door. The pool is half empty and the water is green. Sandy Hardcastle-Taylor, the listing agent, says the story behind the foreclosure is not being not being made public. The asking price is $4,095,000. CBS 8 conducted a real estate records search and found there are only five homes in foreclosure on the market right now in San Diego County. Attom’s records show that in all of 2023, there were 2,029 foreclosure filings in San Diego County.”

“We asked realtor Sandy Hardcastle-Taylor if there are any deals out there right now? ‘This is a deal, this is a screaming deal,’ she said about her listing in Alvardo Estates.”

The Mercury News. “The market for hotel purchases has nosedived in both the Bay Area and California, in a sign that investors believe the weakness in the lodging sector has yet to run its course. Some hotels tumbled into foreclosure during 2023 in some instances, while in other cases, hotel property owners simply walked away from making makings and gave the keys to their lenders. Alan Reay, president of Irvine-based Atlas Hospitality Group believes the hotel market in the Bay Area and statewide could become worse before it gets better. ‘If interest rates come back down, then we will see sales activity pick up and values will stabilize or move up,’ Reay said. ‘If interest rates do not decline, we may start to see more distressed sales. That will create downward pressure on values.'”

From KTAR News. “The Westin Tempe faces a potential foreclosure sale after failing to make its loan payments. The lender for the 290-room hotel near Seventh Street and Mill Avenue in downtown Tempe filed a notice of trustee sale earlier this week, according Maricopa County records. Such notices inform borrowers and property owners they are facing a potential foreclosure and auction sale. The notice said that the 18-story hotel, which opened in 2021, will be auctioned off to the highest bidder on April 24 at the Arizona Superior Court building in downtown Phoenix. The construction loan for the Westin Tempe was issued in 2019 by Dallas-based Hall Structured Finance to an entity connected to Las Vegas-based CAI Investments LLC for $86.5 million. Hall’s president, Mike Jaynes, said at the time that the Tempe hotel’s ‘premier location in this market.'”

From Bisnow Houston. “Insurance prices are growing faster for multifamily than any other commercial real estate asset class, with national operators reporting a 26% rise in insurance costs on average from 2022 to 2023 and some being hit with 300% and 400% increases. The rise is most acute in catastrophe-prone regions, especially Texas, Florida and Louisiana. But multifamily owners and operators everywhere are feeling the pain of high rates, limitations in coverage, hikes on deductibles and a shrinking private insurance market. ‘I have so many investors that have gone into foreclosures,’ said Hanin Al Qoreishy, CEO of Houston-based brokerage Legacy Insurance Advisors. ‘My business partner owns a mortgage company and has issued so many foreclosures on properties as well. I can say that it’s not going to get better any time soon. It’s probably going to get worse mid-year.'”

From Cottage Life. “If someone had told you in late 2019 that a virus first spotted in China would create unprecedented demand for cottage real estate in Canada, would you have believed them? Because that’s what we saw: a mass exodus north during the pandemic. From 2020 to 2022, cottage prices across the country jumped an eye-popping 39 per cent, with waterfront properties reaching an aggregate price of $736,900, up from $498,111, according to Royal LePage. Andrew Thake, a mortgage broker in Ottawa says the added financial pressure of rising interest rates, inflation, and the cost of cottage maintenance could prompt some first-time buyers to sell—he’s already noticed a few ‘For Sale’ signs around his cottage in Perth, Ont.”

“‘Right now, you might pay a few thousand dollars more in interest with higher rates, but you’re not paying extra tens of thousands of dollars by competing with a dozen other people for the same cottage like you were during the pandemic,’ he says. ‘Buyers have more strength right now.’ ‘I did a lot of my own social media and marketing, and I was still able to pay a significant amount of our mortgage this year,’ says Sarah Etherden, who rents out her cottage on Kennisis Lake near Haliburton, Ont., which she bought in September 2021. ‘Many people I know barely got any bookings. You can’t just throw a property up on Airbnb anymore and expect bookings to come in,” she says. “I think there’s a lot more competition in the market as people try to offset their mortgage rates. I also cut my prices, which a lot of owners were not willing to do.'”

“‘If people took a shorter-than-five year mortgage, they’re coming out of their contract in 2024,’ says Christopher Alexander, the president of Re/Max Canada. ‘If they’re on a fixed-rate home equity line of credit, which is a good chunk of the market, it’s highly likely that interest rates will push them into selling because the short-term rental market fell out this summer.'”

City AM in the UK. “A 12-storey tower in Canary Wharf has reportedly been sold for 60 per cent less than its 2017 purchase price. 5 Churchill Place was placed into receivership by a syndicate of lenders last year and its Chinese owners Cheung Kei Group, put the building on the market. The building was bought for close to £300m by the Asian property developer back in 2017. However, a report in React News said Menomadin Group, the business owned by Israeli entrepreneur Haim Taib, has agreed to buy the building for £110m. The deal marks one of the largest distressed commercial property sales in London so far and could be a sign of things to come for the east London business district. 5 Churchill Place is just one of three buildings in the region likely to be sold.”

From Reuters. “SBB said on Tuesday that one of its creditors had started legal proceedings against the Swedish property group for its failure to repay a bond. The holdings of the bondholder represent about 46 million euros ($49.43 million), SBB said, adding that it may take around 18 months to reach a judgement. U.S. hedge fund Fir Tree Partners had told Reuters in November that it was accelerating its notes and starting proceedings against SBB for recovery of the debt. The group is at the epicentre of a property crash that threatens to engulf the Swedish economy, having racked up vast debt by buying public property, including social housing, government offices, schools and hospitals.”

This Is Money. “The moribund German economy suffered a fresh setback amid warnings there is ‘no end in sight’ to the crisis gripping its construction industry. In a bleak update, S&P Global said the index of activity among German builders tumbled to 36.3 last month, well below the 50 cut-off between growth and decline. The data provider said it was ‘again one of the lowest’ readings ever recorded and implied ‘a sharp rate of contraction in overall building activity’. Cyrus de la Rubia, chief economist at Hamburg Commercial Bank, which compiled the report with S&P, said: ‘Just when you think it cannot get any worse, it can. The German construction sector is extending and deepening its downturn with no near end in sight.’”

News.com.au in Australia. “A building company that undertook more than $10 million worth of construction work in the past year has collapsed. News.com.au can reveal that DC Living Pty Ltd, trading under the names Living Homes VIC and Living Homes QLD, went into administration last week. The builder was headquartered in Brisbane and it’s unclear if anyone in Victoria has also been impacted. Signs such as ‘pay up ya flog’ have been scrawled across at least one building site that news.com.au knows of. Ashton Close, a tradie who has been left $26,775 out of pocket over the debacle, said ‘it’s a disgrace.’ ‘They’ve dragged the chain on paying us, they’ve said they need an extra couple of weeks,’ Mr Close told news.com.au. ‘Before Christmas we were just getting the run-around. They’ve stung us about $26,000, it hurts, it definitely hurts.'”

The Globe and Mail. “In December, new home prices fell by the highest amount in almost a decade, while overall investment in the property sector was down 9.6 per cent last year. Many households store their wealth in property, and fears Evergrande would not be able to complete promised developments have sparked protests in some parts of the country. Stock market investors are not much better off. In the past three years, more than $8-trillion has been wiped off the value of Chinese and Hong Kong stocks.”

“Nanjing resident Ray Zhang said she had bought into bullish narratives around the Chinese stock market and an expected rebound following the lifting of pandemic controls, plumbing much of her savings into domestic equities. ‘New Year is just around the corner and I don’t know how I will tell my family about the losses,’ the 27-year-old told The Globe and Mail. ‘My stocks are going down all the time, I feel like someone is stealing my money every day.'”

“‘China’s economic policy-making process appears broken, or at the very least impaired,’ Logan Wright, a U.S.-based analyst with the Rhodium Group, wrote last week. ‘As China confronts its most significant crisis of market confidence, there is only official silence, along with the tedium of multipronged proposals for initiatives that are never completed. Instead, economic policy-making is starting to resemble the period of zero COVID, complete with denials, unrealistic messaging and then finally a mad scramble to adjust to reality.'”

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This Post Has 66 Comments

  2. ‘CBS 8 conducted a real estate records search and found there are only five homes in foreclosure on the market right now in San Diego County. Attom’s records show that in all of 2023, there were 2,029 foreclosure filings in San Diego County’

    2000 foreclosed shacks and 8 for sale?

    ‘We asked realtor Sandy Hardcastle-Taylor if there are any deals out there right now? ‘This is a deal, this is a screaming deal,’ she said about her listing in Alvardo Estates’

    That’s the spirit Sandy, screw up those comps!

  3. ‘multifamily owners and operators everywhere are feeling the pain of high rates, limitations in coverage, hikes on deductibles and a shrinking private insurance market. ‘I have so many investors that have gone into foreclosures,’ said Hanin Al Qoreishy, CEO of Houston-based brokerage Legacy Insurance Advisors. ‘My business partner owns a mortgage company and has issued so many foreclosures on properties as well. I can say that it’s not going to get better any time soon’

    This is why you need to make a profit Hanin and not just gamble on trees growing to the sky.

  5. ‘They completed the job on a Thursday afternoon,’ Rick Yerkes told News 6. ‘On Friday, I submitted the paperwork, and on Monday, they sent me a stop work order. I said it’s too late, the work is already completed. They said we’re out of funds, and we will not be paying. There’s a real chance we will lose this house over it. We’re in foreclosure. If we don’t get a loan modification, we will lose the house’

    Welcome to south Florida Rick.

    1. It sucks that the coverage they expected isn’t coming through, but if you cannot afford to replace an A/C unit without going into foreclosure, you really shouldn’t be a homeowner in the first place.

      1. I was thinking that too. In fact he said he was already in foreclosure. So why get a new A/C unit at all? They’re probably planning to squat, like everybody did in 2009.

      2. Part of the problem with HVAC is that a new refrigerant comes out every few years these days, which means a costly upgrade.

  6. ‘If someone had told you in late 2019 that a virus first spotted in China would create unprecedented demand for cottage real estate in Canada, would you have believed them? Because that’s what we saw: a mass exodus north during the pandemic. From 2020 to 2022, cottage prices across the country jumped an eye-popping 39 per cent, with waterfront properties reaching an aggregate price of $736,900, up from $498,111′

    Wasn’t that just the craziest thing?

    ‘If people took a shorter-than-five year mortgage, they’re coming out of their contract in 2024,’ says Christopher Alexander, the president of Re/Max Canada. ‘If they’re on a fixed-rate home equity line of credit, which is a good chunk of the market, it’s highly likely that interest rates will push them into selling because the short-term rental market fell out this summer’

    Borrowing short term HELOC money to buy into the minor respiratory illness/STR insanity – sound lending Chris!

  7. ‘Nanjing resident Ray Zhang said she had bought into bullish narratives around the Chinese stock market and an expected rebound following the lifting of pandemic controls, plumbing much of her savings into domestic equities. ‘New Year is just around the corner and I don’t know how I will tell my family about the losses,’ the 27-year-old told The Globe and Mail. ‘My stocks are going down all the time, I feel like someone is stealing my money every day’

    Here in the US it’s the central bank that does that Ray.

  8. They said we’re out of funds, and we will not be paying. There’s a real chance we will lose this house over it. We’re in foreclosure. If we don’t get a loan modification, we will lose the house.’”

    Green energy scams + unsound lending = more “homeowners” losing shacks they never should’ve been allowed to finance in the first place.

  9. ‘Signs such as ‘pay up ya flog’ have been scrawled across at least one building site that news.com.au knows of’

    I’ll have to remember that one.

    ‘a tradie who has been left $26,775 out of pocket over the debacle, said ‘it’s a disgrace.’ ‘They’ve dragged the chain on paying us, they’ve said they need an extra couple of weeks,’ Mr Close told news.com.au. ‘Before Christmas we were just getting the run-around. They’ve stung us about $26,000, it hurts, it definitely hurts’

    It died in the arse Ashton.

  10. ‘This is a deal, this is a screaming deal,’ she said about her listing in Alvardo Estates.”

    “You’d be nuts to buy into a bursting housing bubble,” said no realtor ever.

  11. ‘I have so many investors that have gone into foreclosures,’ said Hanin Al Qoreishy, CEO of Houston-based brokerage Legacy Insurance Advisors.

    Die, speculator scum.

  13. ‘Many people I know barely got any bookings. You can’t just throw a property up on Airbnb anymore and expect bookings to come in,” she says.

    Die, speculator scum. Just die already.

  14. ‘My stocks are going down all the time, I feel like someone is stealing my money every day.’”

    It would take a heart of stone to read these bagholder tales of woe, and not laugh.

  15. [This non-housing related article is an important read but it is too long to post in its entirety, hence I am offering up a snip or two.]

    The 5 Global Powers That Vie To Crush Each Other And Their Subjects

    https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/5-global-powers-vie-crush-each-other-and-their-subjects

    [snip]

    Today, the world has five globalist elites with worldwide aspirations—communist China and Islamists have joined refashioned successors of the three of the 1930s. As in the 1930s, the elites form alliances and cooperate in numerous areas, often to crush opposition from their own subjects.

    [snip]

    The five globalist groups are ideologically incompatible, each seeking the ultimate defeat of the other four. Within the United States, each has a degree of influence through lobbying and public relations activities, but none has the clout to unilaterally impose its will over a skeptical electorate. In response, globalists ally in strange-bedfellow groupings to bend policy to meet their objectives.

    [snip]

    Because radical social innovations in the West—whether gender fluidity or Black Lives Matter or critical race theories—undermine the West’s cohesion, all the enemies of the West support their infiltration into Western society. That, and a distaste for a citizenry exercising individual freedoms, sums up what the five globalist elites have in common.

    1. Here are the five groups:

      1. Today’s socialists (the Squad et al)
      2. Today’s fas**ts (WEF)
      3. American Foreign Policy Hawks (MIC and GOP never-Trumpers)
      4. Today’s Isl*m*sts (attacks on the West)
      5. Commu China

      All 5 are incompatible, but they all seem to agree to destroy the West by flooding it with migrants.

  16. User
    Any thoughts on why Treasury yields are falling, despite the Fed’s insistence that they are in no hurry to cut rates?

    ChatGPT
    There could be several reasons for falling Treasury yields despite the Fed’s stance on rates. One possibility is market expectations shifting due to concerns about economic growth or inflation, leading investors to seek the safety of government bonds. Additionally, global economic factors and geopolitical tensions can also influence Treasury yields. It’s a complex interplay of various factors beyond just the Fed’s monetary policy signals.

  17. Financial Times
    Chinese politics & policy
    China removes head of market regulator as it battles stock meltdown
    Securities commission chair Yi Huiman seen as ‘scapegoat’ for plunge in share prices in recent months
    Yi Huiman has been replaced as chair of the China Securities Regulatory Commission after a crisis in the country’s property sector hit equity valuations
    Joe Leahy and Ryan McMorrow in Beijing and Cheng Leng in Hong Kong 2 hours ago

    Beijing has removed the powerful Communist party boss and chair of its securities regulator as authorities battle plunging confidence in Chinese stock markets.

    The Communist party’s central committee replaced Yi Huiman with Wu Qing, a senior official who made a name for himself cracking down on brokerages, as China Securities Regulatory Commission chair and party secretary, state news agency Xinhua reported on Wednesday.

    The terse report did not provide any explanation for the decision to remove Yi. Before leading the CSRC, he was the chair of the state-owned Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), whose past executives have been targeted in widespread corruption probes.

    “He’s clearly gone down because of the market slump,” said Chris Beddor, deputy director of China research at Gavekal. “Part of his de facto job as securities regulator was to prevent exactly this from happening: a politically embarrassing market decline.”

    A crisis in China’s property sector, which has worsened deflationary pressures, has hit equity valuations and led institutional investors to divest their holdings, further hurting retail investor sentiment.

    One banker who has met Yi said he was taking the fall for recent losses in the market, which has suffered a particularly brutal sell-off since the start of this year. The benchmark CSI 300 index is down 44 per cent from its peak in 2021.

    “At this point, someone needs to be made the scapegoat,” the banker said
    …

    1. ChatGPT 3.5
      User
      “China removes head of market regulator as it battles stock meltdown”

      Can removing a top regulatory official stem a stock market rout?

      ChatGPT
      Removing a top regulatory official can send a signal of government intervention and potentially restore confidence in the market, but its effectiveness in stemming a stock market rout depends on various factors such as the reasons behind the market decline, the perceived competence of the replacement, and broader economic conditions.

  18. The European Union’s executive arm shelved an anti-pesticide proposal Tuesday in yet another concession to farmers after weeks of protests that blocked many capitals and economic lifelines across the 27-nation bloc.

    Although the proposal had languished in EU institutions for the past two years, the move by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was the latest indication that the bloc is willing to sacrifice environmental priorities to keep the farming community on its side. Despite concessions, protests continued from the Netherlands to Spain and Bulgaria.

    Farmers have insisted that measures like the one on pesticides would increase bureaucratic burdens and keep them behind laptops instead of farming, adding to the price gap between their products and cheap imports produced by foreign farmers without similar burdens.

    The pesticide “proposal has become a symbol of polarization,” von der Leyen told the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France. ”To move forward, more dialogue and a different approach is needed.”

    She acknowledged that the proposals had been made over the heads of farmers.

    “Farmers need a worthwhile business case for nature-enhancing measures. Perhaps we have not made that case convincingly,” von der Leyen said.

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/eu-scraps-pesticide-proposal-in-another-concession-to-protesting-farmers/ar-BB1hRhdE

  19. Describing California’s homelessness crisis as “inhumane” and “unhealthy,” Senate GOP leader Brian Jones of San Diego and Democratic Sen. Catherine Blakespear of Encinitas today announced a bipartisan bill to ban homeless encampments near “sensitive community areas” statewide.

    Modeled after San Diego’s “Unsafe Camping Ordinance,” Senate Bill 1011 prohibits encampments within 500 feet of schools, open spaces and major transit stops. It also bans camping on sidewalks if shelter space is available; requires cities or counties to give an unhoused person 72-hour notice before clearing an encampment; and mandates “enforcement personnel” to provide information about homeless shelters in the area.

    Jones: “California has spent $22 billion in the past six years on homelessness and what do we have to show for it? Nearly a 40% increase in homeless population…. Clearly California’s current approach to homelessness is failing and California’s are tired of it.”

    The most recent count found more than 181,000 unhoused Californians last year, 28% of the national total.

    https://www.abc10.com/article/news/local/sacramento/homeless-camp-bans/103-1c688f1a-c937-476c-944b-ddae04fd2c1f

    1. “California has spent $22 billion in the past six years on homelessness”

      Vote like California, become California.

      Oh, wait…

    2. Is there any information about illegal immigrants being bussed to or housed in California? We hear about NY and Chicago and Denver all the time, but surely some of the immigrants are finding their way to California. Are they just sleeping outside, or being taken in by virtue-signaling families?

    3. Here is a rare feel good story out of California where the government actually did something useful for once. Surprisingly, it is plucky little Stockton leading the way at a ‘sideshow’ with 150 arrests and 88 cars impounded. This video has a great response from the Sheriff suggesting to all of the car owners to stop calling in about when they can get their cars back because he is keeping them until after their court case is settled because they need to determine whether to have them destroyed or not. I doubt Stockton will be having any more sideshows for a while!

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9mhtcAbs9A&list=RDNSL9mhtcAbs9A&start_radio=1

  20. Article telling black men not to dare leave Democrat Party plantation.

    HuffPaint — The Sad State Of Affairs When Black Men Stump For Trump (2/7/2024):

    “A New York Times-Siena College poll from October revealed that 22% of all Black voters in six battleground states ― including my native Michigan ― would support Trump in a general election if it were held at that time. Black men seem to be leading this charge: Trump secured 12% of our vote in 2020, up from 8% in 2016.

    Considering that the Trump supporter archetype is that of an American-flag-shirt-wearing, far-right white wingnut from Middle America, it’s both frightening and sobering that, even with the information we have about Trump, nearly 1 in 4 Black folks would vote for him in states that matter.

    Trump has given no one any reason to suggest that he will sweep in on his Magic Negro Cape and spend his final four years in office transforming the Black experience in America for the better. There are entirely too many examples of him saying racist things, enacting or upholding racist policies, or simply establishing an environment in which folks are comfortably on some Jim Crow shit to believe things will change.

    There’s being frustrated in a bipartisan system that consistently fails us and there’s actively voting for a man whose fomentation of hatred is well documented ― or not voting at all, which might be the same as the latter. Black men, I implore you: Just because Trump isn’t calling you the N-word to your face doesn’t mean he doesn’t view you as one.”

    https://www.huffpost.com/entry/opinion-black-men-supporting-trump-2024-election_n_65c2c020e4b0dbc806ae8577

    Black men know they are being replaced by illegal criminal invaders, and are asking themselves am I better off than I was four years ago? Because you’re not.

  21. Defendants refused to vacate the premises,

    The new owner is probably asking the court for back “rent”. which is a mistake should file just for possession that usually fast tracks the case to a few weeks and the the sheriff will toss them out.

  22. Communism.

    The Hill — Democratic-led states join forces to boost heat pump use (2/7/2024):

    “Nine states signed a memorandum of understanding Wednesday calling for heat pumps to comprise 65 percent of heating and air conditioning in residential buildings by the end of the decade.

    In the memo, the air quality agencies of California, Colorado, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon and Rhode Island, also called for heat pumps to make up 90 percent of heating and air conditioning systems sold by 2040.”

    https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/4453395-democratic-led-states-join-forces-to-boost-heat-pump-use/

    1. When outside temperature drops below 45 degrees, heat pumps are useless. In Florida, we have auxiliary backup electric heat strips for those temps below 45.

      1. I saw an article in the Colorado Sun some months ago about heat pumps. They claim that there are heat pumps that work in cold climates. The catch? A system can cost $30,000, vs. $4000 for a nat gas furnace.

        And as gets asked over and over, but they wave their hands and say don’t worry: how will all that electricity be generated and delivered?

        1. how will all that electricity be generated

          Easy, by burning natural gas.

          I’m going to guess that the heat pump which works in extreme cold has a multiple stage compressor system. That kind of takes away the economic beauty of the heat pump concept.

          1. “The catch? A system can cost $30,000…”

            This must be a geothermal heat pump system. They’re awesome if you can get a tax break subsidy.

        2. “…how will all that electricity be generated and delivered?…”

          For 10’s of millions of homes for which natural gas has been outlawed?

          By the same imaginary fairy tale electric power plant and distribution infrastructure that will charge those 10’s of millions EVs.

          1. Someone I know mentioned that his furnace is 20 years old. I told him that’s pretty old and he might want to replace it now rather than be forced to replace the dead furnace with a heat pump.

          2. “..furnace is 20 years old….”

            One of the great features of natural gas is its utter simplicity and reliability.

            Forcing every household to depend on all electric creates a single point of failure. Every engineering student understands why all commercial airliners have at least 2 engines, why its a really good idea to make backups of your data, why there is a president and a vice president…

          3. I guess I was “lucky.” Two years ago my furnace from 1996 blew the motherboard with no replacement. I got a nice new gas furnace with A/C. I splurged a little and got a better system. Very happy with it so far.

  23. Maine Democrat Says Illegals Take Priority Over U.S. Veterans in Push For New Migrant Resettlement Office

    by Jamie White
    February 7th 2024, 1:53 pm

    A Maine Democrat pushing for a new “migrant resettlement” office admitted that illegal aliens take priority over U.S. veterans.

    Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D) in January proposed a new migrant resettlement office within the governor’s Office of Policy Innovation and the Future (GOPIF) called the “Office of New Americans” (ONA).

    The purpose of the bill, called LD 2167, will be to attract 75,000 new workers over the next five years by incorporating illegal immigrants into Maine’s workforce.

    Democrat State Rep. Deqa Dhalac, a co-sponsor of the bill, was asked during a legislature hearing why Maine should “fast track” illegal aliens rather than focus the state’s resources on assisting U.S. citizens who served in the military.

    Dhalac, who was the first Somali-born mayor in the US, replied veterans have the advantage of speaking English.

    The Maine Wire
    @TheMaineWire

    Sponsor of Mills’ migrant resettlement office says “New Americans” deserve priority over US veterans.

    0:40

    Feb 7, 2024

    https://x.com/TheMaineWire/status/1755208019363631580?s=20

      1. Democrat Party is the Great Replacement Party.

        Southern Poverty Law Center.
        Anti Defamation League.

        Nothing to see here, folks, just some #Noticing and #Naming

  24. ‘If someone had told you in late 2019 that a virus first spotted in China would create unprecedented demand for cottage real estate in Canada, would you have believed them? Because that’s what we saw: a mass exodus north during the pandemic. From 2020 to 2022, cottage prices across the co’untry jumped an eye-popping 39 per cent, with waterfront properties reaching an aggregate price of $736,900, up from $498,111’

    The only exodus was Tiff bucks to money heaven.

  25. ‘she had bought into bullish narratives around the Chinese stock market and an expected rebound following the lifting of pandemic controls, plumbing much of her savings into domestic equities. ‘New Year is just around the corner and I don’t know how I will tell my family about the losses’

    On the bright side Ray since you used yer real name they’ve probably heard yer fooked by now.

  26. GTA Condo Real Estate Update – Major Regrets Buying A Condo
    Team Sessa Real Estate
    24 minutes ago

    In this episode we take a look at the current GTA Condo Markets – Toronto, Vaughan, Richmond Hill, Markham, Brampton, Mississauga, Ajax, Whitby, Pickering. We also look at market trends for week ending January 31, 2023. We also discuss how some buyers got into condominiums unprepared without realizing certain small issues could cause major frustration.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQGpPz0KyLI

    20:43.

    1. The Irish are starting to figure out that their Indian PM and the globalists want to replace them with foreigners. Unfortunately, too many Irish are OK with being replaced. It is speculated that someday the Irish people will only be historical, like the Aztecs. Sure, there will be descendants who will bear little resemblance to their ancestors.

  28. Booker T. & The MG’s – Time Is Tight (Live, 1970)
    60s70sVintageRock
    13 years ago

    Booker T. & The MG’s opened this Creedence Clearwater Revival concert at the Oakland Coliseum, 1/31/70. Seen offstage are John Fogerty, Doug Clifford (w/beard), and Stu Cook (w/glasses).

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbBcXvKvB08

    5:27.

  30. Taylor Swift was thrilled when she was starting out and Toby Keith noticed her when others didn’t and signed her to his record label.

    Fast forward to today and Toby Keith has made countless appearances for our troops and played at Donald Trump’s 2017 presidential inauguration, that being said Taylor the WOKE Swift has not bothered to acknowledge his passing.

    Typical.

    Taylor Swift describes Toby Keith after signing with his record label

    https://youtu.be/A-dxLbrQCCo?si=WcU2Tth36hD4SPNE

    “Keith’s performance at Trump’s 2017 presidential inauguration did not happen in a vacuum. Keith accepted the gig amid reports that other major stars had refused the invitation to play at the Lincoln Memorial. According to Vulture, these included Elton John, Celine Dion, Kiss, and fellow country music star Garth Brooks.” 1 day ago

      1. Yahoo
        Business Insider
        China is facing the US financial crisis ‘on steroids’ as its real-estate market collapses, famed hedge-fund boss says
        Filip De Mott
        Tue, February 6, 2024 at 3:49 PM PST·2 min read
        Kyle Bass says China’s problems are bigger than anyone realizes.
        Reuters / Rick Wilking

        – China’s property-debt problem is worse than what the US faced in 2008, Kyle Bass said on CNBC.

        -:China’s real-estate sector was too reliant on debt, and now many public developers are in default.

        – Two Chinese real-estate companies hold a combined debt of about $500 billion.

        China’s overreliance on real estate has sent its economy tumbling toward what could be a version of the US’s 2008 financial crisis, Kyle Bass said on CNBC on Tuesday.
        …
        https://finance.yahoo.com/news/china-facing-us-financial-crisis-234945940.html

      2. Business / Economy
        China falls deeper into deflation, with consumer prices suffering biggest fall since 2009
        By Laura He, CNN
        Updated 11:38 PM EST, Wed February 7, 2024
        Qilai Shen/Bloomberg/Getty Images
        Pedestrians at a wet market in the Jiuxia Village area in Shenzhen, China, on January 19, 2024.
        Editor’s Note: Sign up for CNN’s Meanwhile in China newsletter, which explores what you need to know about the country’s rise and how it impacts the world.

        Hong Kong CNN —

        China’s consumer prices have slid deeper into deflationary territory, suffering their biggest drop since the height of the global financial crisis in 2009. But analysts say the sharp fall was largely due to a seasonal issue and the downturn may have already bottomed out.

        The country’s Consumer Price Index (CPI), a gauge of changes in the prices of goods and services purchased for consumption by urban households, dropped by 0.8% in January from a year ago, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Thursday.

        It was the steepest fall for the index since September 2009 and marks a fourth straight month of decline.

        The NBS, as well as some economists, attributed the sharp drop partly to the high base of comparison last year, when prices were particularly high due to holiday demand.

        “[The] Lunar New Year falls in February this year compared with the end of January last year, causing distortions to the base,” HSBC economists said in a research note on Thursday.
        …
        https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/08/economy/china-cpi-fall-deflation-intl-hnk/index.html

  32. Is it clear by now that US mortgage rates are drifting back down towards 3% and a soft landing is underway in the US housing market?

    1. ECONOMY
      Published February 7, 2024 9:51am EST
      Housing demand stalls out as mortgage rates march higher
      Mortgage demand rises despite uptick in interest rates
      By Megan Henney FOXBusiness
      High mortgage rates, home prices forces millions of Americans to the sidelines
      FOX Business correspondent Madison Alworth shares why for many first-time homebuyers, the American dream is delayed as a result of high mortgage rates and home prices on ‘Varney and Co.’

      Housing demand ground to a halt last week as mortgage rates inched closer to 7%, squeezing many would-be buyers out of the market ahead of the pivotal spring season.

      The Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) index of mortgage applications rose 3.7% last week, compared with the previous week, according to new data published Wednesday. But the increase was entirely due to current homebuyers who refinanced their mortgages.

      Applications for a mortgage to purchase a home fell 1% compared with the previous week as high mortgage rates continued to limit housing supply; application volume remains down 19% compared with the same time last year.
      …
      https://www.foxbusiness.com/economy/housing-demand-stalls-out-mortgage-rates-march-higher

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