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It Used To Be That Real Estate Was The Safest Investment, But 2023 Broke This Unwritten Rule

A report from the Washington Post. “It has been nearly three years since dozens of first-time home buyers were forced to flee their crumbling Anacostia condominium because the District deemed the newly-constructed building unsafe. Ever since, homeowners said, they have existed in a state of limbo — unable to return to life as they knew it and unable to truly move on. Tina Olayimika, 34: When my husband and I got married in 2017, I had in the back of my mind that I wanted to have kids — and I wanted to be able to stay home with my kids. The best way for us to do that was to buy a home that could afford us stability and financial flexibility. I was so proud of myself when we closed. It was such a big moment. But then there was this big crack in the walls and leakage from above us and then the roof started to cave in and the ceiling started to sink. Once the engineering report came out warning about the dangers of the building, it all started to come together. I thought, ‘Wow, we bought a lemon.'”

KOIN in Oregon. “After a week of heavy rain, the temperature in Portland reached 58 degrees on November 6, 2023, with about three-quarters of an inch of rain throughout the day. That morning, Gary Vuchinich and his wife, both in their 70s, were at their home in Lake Oswego. He soon discovered water spewing from the pavement and shooting up out of the city’s storm drain. The damage exceeded $100,000. He and his wife filed a claim with the city. Lake Oswego denied their request for help. The city’s insurance provider said: ‘The City had not been working on this pipe and had no expectation that the pipe might rupture. There is no evidence to suggest that City was negligent in maintaining the pipe or responding to the rupture. The evidence leads us to believe that our insured is not liable for your damages.'”

“He went to City Hall and asked them to reconsider. But Vuchinich said leaders told him they didn’t have a legal obligation to help him. ‘When I asked Joe Buck, the mayor of Lake Oswego, and Megan Fallon, the loss manager for the City of Lake Oswego, what kind of assurances could give us that this wouldn’t happen again? They said, ‘We can’t give you any assurance that this won’t happen again,’ Vuchinich said.”

Public Source on Pennsylvania. “When tuition reared its ugly head earlier in her life, Alexandra Mosser opted to take out private loans in addition to federal loans — a decision she now calls a ‘mistake.’ The 39-year-old Monroeville resident now works in behavioral health — and has more than $200,000 in student debt. Private loans only take up about a quarter of that, but their lofty interest rates mean much higher repayments. Her monthly payments, about $760 for private loans and $134 for federal loans, exceed her monthly mortgage expenses. Without student debt, ‘I would have significantly less credit card debt, honestly. … We have a dog, also, that has some health issues. … And that thousand dollars a month would make it so that I could even save money,’ Mosser said. ‘I don’t have a savings right now.'”

“For some still struggling to pay back student loan debt, the federal government’s income-driven repayment option doesn’t offer any relief. Julie Melissa owes more than $30,000, and because her income has recently risen, the plan would increase her monthly payment by about $400 she said. Melissa, a 48-year-old Harmony resident with two children, a foster child and a semi-retired husband, often picks up dozens of hours a week of overtime work for her job in behavioral health. After handling groceries, health insurance and the mortgage, she puts about $500 a month into her loans — a little more than required. ‘I don’t want to die with student loan debt,’ Melissa said.”

The Dallas Morning News in Texas. “A lender made good on its threat to foreclose on a 378-unit Dallas luxury apartment tower. The 14-story Gabriella apartment tower on Live Oak Street, just east of downtown Dallas, was developed by North Carolina-based Greystar Real Estate Partners and opened in 2020. Areeif Lender W LLC foreclosed on the high-profile property, declaring the owner had defaulted on debts. The New York lender provided $127 million in mortgages on the building in early 2022. The lender bid $80 million for the property in the public foreclosure auction this week, said Curtis Roddy of Roddy’s Foreclosure Listing Service, a company that tracks foreclosures. ‘We have seen bigger commercial sales the last few months. but this is the biggest mixed-use residential foreclosure we have seen in at least 12 months in the Dallas area,’ Roddy said.”

“Greystar Real Estate is one of the country’s largest apartment builders and operators. It manages or owns more than 120 rental communities in Dallas-Fort Worth. The Gabriella foreclosure is the largest recent Dallas-area forced property sale by lenders. Higher interest rates and tougher financing requirements have made it harder for building owners and developers to obtain mortgages.”

The Real Deal on California. “UDR has seized a 173-unit apartment building in Downtown Oakland from development partner Mill Creek Residential, which walked away from a losing investment. The Colorado-based real estate investment trust took control of the Residences at Lake Merritt at 1940 Webster Street after the Florida-based developer tossed it the keys, the San Francisco Chronicle reported, citing a regulatory filing and an earnings call. UDR has seized a 173-unit apartment building in Downtown Oakland from development partner Mill Creek Residential, which walked away from a losing investment. While Mill Creek said on its website it had ‘sold’ the two-year-old building last month, public documents filed this month by its former investor suggested the developer never made a dime.”

“‘I think everybody is pretty familiar with what happened in Northern California since pre-COVID, with rents still being down and then in Downtown Oakland, perhaps one of the worst submarkets in that respect, with rents still down 30 percent plus,’ UDR President Joe Fisher told investors. ‘And so we did take the keys back on that asset, as the developer didn’t want to continue to support the cash flow shortfalls.’ Mill Creek’s exit caused a loss to UDR of $24.3 million, Fisher said.”

From Reuters. “New York Community Bancorp’s exposure to commercial real estate has intensified investor scrutiny around regional banks, with some expecting more pain for those with office and multifamily property loans. OceanFirst and Valley National as well as NYCB, have CRE holdings as a proportion of total risk-based capital above 300% according to data from Trepp. That level of 300% may indicate a lender is exposed to significant risk of CRE concentration, according to public guidelines from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Valley’s CRE holdings as a proportion of its total risk-based capital was at 479% in the fourth quarter, while OceanFirst was at 447%, Trepp’s data showed. As of the third quarter, NYCB had a ratio of 468%. In total, nearly 1,900 banks with assets less than $100 billion had CRE loans outstanding greater than 300% of equity, according to Fitch.”

“Selling loans may not be an optimal solution with properties now valued 50%-75% below their valuations at the time loans were struck, said Rebel Cole, a finance professor at Florida Atlantic University. ‘Loans that were done over the last five to seven years, a lot of those are challenged now,’ said Ran Eliasaf, founder and managing partner of real estate investment firm Northwind Group, who is investing in the New York multifamily market.”

CP 24 in Canada. “New homeowners may be ‘feeling the sting’ of falling house prices in a number of Ontario cities, including Burlington, which fared the worst compared to other Canadian cities over the past 12 months, according to a recently released report. The Point2Homes report, which reviewed condo and single-family home prices in Canada’s largest cities in 2022 and 2023, found that owners of single-family homes in Burlington who bought at the end of 2022 lost an estimated $163 every day for a year for a total of nearly $60,000. The average price for a single-family home in the city dropped to $1,200,817 in 2023, down from $1,260,400 in 2022.”

“While Burlington was the ‘worst-case scenario,’ the report said, several other Ontario cities also ‘went backwards’ in terms of the value of single-family homes. ‘The year-over-year changes in home prices in the 67 largest cities in the country show that owners of single-family homes in 18 cities and condo owners in 26 cities have seen their homes lose value in the last year,’ the report read. ‘It used to be that real estate was the safest investment, but 2023 broke this unwritten rule.’ Condo owners saw an even worse scenario in 2023, according to the report.”

From Teesside Live. “Latest data shows the changes in house prices in TS postcodes – and one area has fallen by more than 25%. The property hot and cold spots of 2023 reveal that house prices in TS27 have fallen a staggering 25.9% – one of the biggest reductions in the country. The average home in the postcode, which covers the Blackhall Rocks area just outside Hartlepool, cost £121,224 in 2023, down from £163,554 in 2022 – a drop of 25.9%. The national picture shows that house prices fell by an average of over £6,500 in England and Wales over the course of 2023 – a drop of 1.8%. Some areas saw far larger drops than others, however, with the poshest of the posh parts of London being particularly affected.”

“The average house in W1H sold for £1.43m in the 12 months to December 2023. That’s down from £2.28m in the year to December 2022, a drop of 37.3%. In E1W, Wapping, the average price fell by 37.2%, going from £1.05m to £657,923. There was a dramatic drop in the number of homes sold there as well, going from 375 sales in 2022 to 97 in 2023. The SW1W postcode area, which covers Belgravia, had the next largest percentage drop in the country at 31.5%. The average home there sold for £2.44 million in 2023, down from £3.57 million in 2022.”

ABC News in Australia. “Building their dream waterfront home was supposed to begin a new stage of life for Kevin Haley and Sonia Gardner. But instead of giving the blended family of six more room to move, the two-storey home full of defects has taken a huge emotional toll. ‘I don’t particularly like coming here, it’s just a foul taste for me to come here knowing how we wanted this to be and how it’s turned out,’ Mr Haley said. A building surveyor report listed 47 issues with the build, and the couple was given quotes of $2.4 million to rebuild it a few years ago. The couple said a settlement with the builder only covered their expensive legal bill, meaning their only option is to demolish the house. ‘I’ve started to pull little bits off … but I’ve got to get a 20 tonne excavator here and push it over,’ Mr Haley said.”

“At his lowest point, Mr Haley considered taking his own life. Two years on, he said he would probably build a smaller house on the property, if he could afford to, but has also considered other options. ‘I’ve actually thought about leaving the state because we don’t feel the government is here for the people of Tasmania, so that’s crossed our mind,’ Mr Haley said. ‘They said seven months ago they’d implement [the laws] immediately. The premier said he would call me … that was in parliament, on record … I am still waiting for that phone call.'”

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This Post Has 76 Comments

  1. ‘Once the engineering report came out warning about the dangers of the building, it all started to come together. I thought, ‘Wow, we bought a lemon’

    Maybe so Tina, but that lemon made you a winnah! Lot’s of FB tales of woe in this article.

  2. ‘I’ve actually thought about leaving the state because we don’t feel the government is here for the people of Tasmania, so that’s crossed our mind,’ Mr Haley said. ‘They said seven months ago they’d implement [the laws] immediately. The premier said he would call me … that was in parliament, on record … I am still waiting for that phone call’

    Ring ring!

    Hello.

    Keven?

    Speaking.

    This is the HBB FB helpline, the guberment asked us to give you a call regarding yer shack.

    Yes?

    It’s died in the arse Kevin, tear it down at yer own expense. Goo-day mate!

    1. Well there’s always metaverse. I heard air space is depressed there too. Or wakunda, the colored unicorn and all

  3. ‘sold’ the two-year-old building last month, public documents filed this month by its former investor suggested the developer never made a dime’

    I’ve been saying this since 2014, these clowns were cash flow negative.

    ‘I think everybody is pretty familiar with what happened in Northern California since pre-COVID, with rents still being down and then in Downtown Oakland, perhaps one of the worst submarkets in that respect, with rents still down 30 percent plus,’ UDR President Joe Fisher told investors. ‘And so we did take the keys back on that asset, as the developer didn’t want to continue to support the cash flow shortfalls.’ Mill Creek’s exit caused a loss to UDR of $24.3 million’

    Note that these airboxes and the Dallas tower are 2 years old. In Dallas there’s nothing wrong with the apartments. They’re fully rented. And they tossed the keys. Sound lending!

  4. ‘In E1W, Wapping, the average price fell by 37.2%, going from £1.05m to £657,923’

    It’s a good thing everybody put 40% down in Wapping!

  6. ‘Vuchinich said leaders told him they didn’t have a legal obligation to help him. ‘When I asked Joe Buck, the mayor of Lake Oswego, and Megan Fallon, the loss manager for the City of Lake Oswego, what kind of assurances could give us that this wouldn’t happen again? They said, ‘We can’t give you any assurance that this won’t happen again’

    Even Joe and Megan couldn’t help Gary? Well, it is still cheaper than renting.

  8. just wondering why so many people who are in hock to their eyeballs also have dogs…they cant afford?

    Without student debt, ‘I would have significantly less credit card debt, honestly. … We have a dog, also, that has some health issues.

  9. This year was shaping up to be a good one for the workers at the GM Orion Assembly plant in a working-class suburb of Detroit. After winning a pay raise following last year’s United Auto Workers strike, they were slated to start production later this year on a marquee product for GM: the electric Chevy Silverado pickup truck.

    But like thousands of other workers on the front lines of the electric vehicle transition, they have hit some bumps in the road. GM told the nearly 1,000 workers at the Orion plant in December that they were being laid off until late 2025 to make engineering improvements and amid cooling demand for electric vehicles. Their last paycheck was their holiday pay the week of Christmas, and many are still waiting to find out if they will be offered a job at another plant.

    “It’s been a very somber moment here the last month,” said an employee at the plant who asked not to be identified because they weren’t authorized by GM to speak to the media. “We thought we finally got a little bit of a break. We were only supposed to be down for at most for a year for retooling, and now GM is revisiting the EV market. I don’t think the economy is hurting — I think the automotive industry is hurting. In my opinion, they put the carriage in front of the horse.”

    “Ultimately it all stems from demand, and demand is just not showing up to where all these CEOs thought. So a lot of the initial targets put out by GM or Ford a couple years ago have maybe proven to be a bit too optimistic and probably too aggressive,” said Gabe Daoud, a sustainable energy senior analyst at TD Cowen. “I think everybody was expecting the entire car fleet to change overnight and go electric, but that’s obviously just impossible and impractical.”

    “I think what you’re seeing is the slope changing in how fast people are willing to purchase EVs right now because they’re expensive and there is concern about charging infrastructure,” said Alan Amici, CEO of the Center for Automotive Research. “If you’re an efficient automaker, you’re trying to match your production to demand. It doesn’t do anyone any good to fill up a yard with EVs that are not being sold.”

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/as-electric-vehicle-demand-slows-workers-caught-in-the-middle-face-an-uncertain-future/ar-BB1i6Imx

    1. obviously just impossible and impractical.

      It was obvious long before you idiots gambled your money on a stupid political fad.

      1. Looks like Toyota was the smart car company and pissing off the owners of the internet

        “Toyota predicts that battery electric cars will only reach 30% market share. What is Toyota’s approach to electric vehicles? — Toyota is investing in unnecessary and inefficient hydrogen technology and developing new combustion engines, denying the inevitable shift to electric vehicles.”

    2. “….obviously just impossible and impractical….”

      You don’t mean that the number of charging stations would have to increase by several orders of magnitude and that the number of power generating stations would have to double or triple to generate the kilowatts needed to replace conventional fuels do you?

      Here in California, it takes *decades* to just traverse the permitting process for a new power generating station, let alone the time to build, let alone the time and permits to build transmission towers.

      From GOOGLE:

      The California Air Resources Board (CARB) in August 2022 approved the landmark plan to end the sale of gasoline-only vehicles in the state by 2035.

      So no more sales of ICE autos by 2035, but Edison and other utilities will only be half way thru the permitting process to build new capacity.

      1. The California Air Resources Board (CARB) in August 2022 approved the landmark plan to end the sale of gasoline-only vehicles in the state by 2035.

        Gasoline cars also have electric batteries, so you can just say hey, my car isn’t gasoline-only.

      2. So no more sales of ICE autos by 2035

        Unless the current trajectory changes, I think California will have already collapsed into anarchy by then, probably before 2030.

        1. “Yep, an air-cooled POS.”
          Corvair was a really good vehicle that suffered agony due to Ralph Nader’s quest for fame.

  10. When Maryam Ali saw a headlight on her car turn on in the middle of the night, she knew something wasn’t right — and rushed out to confront two car thieves, screaming at them.

    Her surveillance video shows the thieves scatter — a small victory in the fight against surging thefts — and also shows in detail a tactic that security experts believe they have identified and can fight with new security standards.

    “I saw the light in my car go on. And right away, something clicked. I said, ‘This is not happening to me,’” Ali told CTV News Toronto in an interview at her Pickering, Ont., home. “There was a rage that came through. You know, I got really, really angry,” she said.

    Other security video shows the thieves scouting the neighbourhood and then settling on Ali’s Lexus.

    Rather than go into the driver’s seat, the thieves target the headlights, drilling or hammering through to access its wiring.

    The video shows one headlight turn on, and only then do the thieves get behind the wheel, ready to go — exactly the point where Ali rushes outside.

    The tactic she interrupted is known as a CAN injection attack, said Durham Autohaus’s Ryan Jaipaul. He says thieves get at the wiring in the headlights and use that to send signals to the car’s Controller Area Network.

    Digitally controlling that central hub allows the thieves to command other parts of the car, including unlocking the vehicle and tricking the car into thinking that its key fob is in the vehicle, which allows them to start the car.

    “They’re injecting their software through the CAN wires into the vehicle and then hacking it,” Jaipaul said as he watched the video with CTV News Toronto.

    It’s one of several types of attacks that treat a car like a computer. And the tech-savvy approach is one that defeats an immobilizer, which stops a car from starting without its key.

    Ali says her victory against the car thieves targeting her Lexus was short-lived. Months later, she said, someone targeted her car in a parking lot and they were successful.

    “I came back at four in the afternoon to the spot where I thought my car was and it wasn’t there. I think I cried. I was so upset,” she said.

    She says she’s not confident even her newer replacement vehicle is less vulnerable to attacks like the one that she believes ultimately took the Lexus.

    “Vehicle companies need to be held accountable,” she said.

    https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/i-got-really-angry-ontario-woman-scares-away-car-thieves-at-her-home-1.6764462

    2. “Vehicle companies need to be held accountable,” she said.

      Idiot voters who elect corrupt politicians & judicial officials who aid and abet the criminal element need to be held accountable.

      There, fixed it for ya.

  11. Standing in his downtown office Tuesday, Denver Mayor Mike Johnston got word that a Senate bill to overhaul U.S. asylum law was doomed. He shook his head as the optimism drained from his face. Washington, once again, had failed to solve his biggest civic problem.

    This city of 713,000 people has absorbed nearly 40,000 migrants in a little over a year, more per capita than any other U.S. city. It is second only to New York in the total number of foreigners who have arrived since 2022.

    The Senate bill that failed Wednesday held the promise of immediately unlocking $1.4 billion to reimburse cities and nonprofit aid groups that have been caring for migrants. Last year the government paid out about $790 million to reimburse cities and aid agencies for migrant costs, a fraction of what cities say they need to become whole. The legislation would have in effect shut down the border to asylum seekers if more than 4,000 a day attempted to cross, potentially cutting in half the total of arriving migrants.

    In Denver, nearly every corner of the city has been affected by the rising migrant population. As many as 100 migrants arrive on some days, funneling into city-provided hotels where they receive two meals a day. Migrant men, unable to work legally, are visible throughout the city, offering to wash windshields for change at crowded intersections and selling food or flowers to passing cars.

    Rafael Crinzone, a 28-year-old Venezuelan man, arrived in Denver about two months ago after he, his wife and their 2-year-old son crossed the Rio Grande into Eagle Pass, Texas.

    They rode to Colorado aboard a Texas-funded bus and have been living in a Quality Inn not far from downtown Denver ever since. Crinzone, who on Tuesday afternoon spent lunchtime with his son in the hotel’s dining room, said he wasn’t sure what the family will do when they are forced to leave later this month.

    “We are going to ask for asylum, but it’s a long process,” Crinzone said, adding that he initially left Venezuela for Peru, before migrating north. At home, he said, he was only able to make about $5 a week and couldn’t support his family. “I’m just a person who wants to work. Things are complicated, but I am going to do whatever I can to stay.”

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/denver-is-furious-that-washington-can-t-fix-the-border/ar-BB1i4p2H

    ‘would have in effect shut down the border to asylum seekers if more than 4,000 a day attempted to cross’

    Whoever negotiated this crap needs to go up against a wall.

    1. Denver is a failed city.

      There will be no escaping the Doom Loop. And a reminder: former mayor Michael Hancock who implemented the “sanctuary city” policy was re-elected in his last election by 80% of Denver voters.

      You @ssholes did this to yourselves.

    2. There are a lot of flower-sellers and median-walkers in my area. Some even walk between lanes of cars when the light is red. They haven’t tried the windshield tricks yet.

      1. So basically, they have the same type of employment they did back home.

        And I still don’t believe that these families with small children made an intercontinental trek on foot, thousands of miles long, through jungles, deserts and mountain passes, without assistance. I am fairly certain they were transported most of the way, as many are seen dragging large, wheeled suitcases behind them as they enter the US. Yeah, they dragged those all the way from Venezuela.

        THis exodus is not organic nor spontaneous. These people were organized by outsiders, who promised to help them get into the US.

          1. I strongly suspect that globalist funded NGOs provided buses and other transportation, and maybe a ferry trip around the Darien Gap. Probably less than seven days from Caracas to Eagle Pass.

            The optics of women with small children crossing the border is needed to push the “they are here for a better life” Narrative, even though they are a small minority of the invasion force.

        2. MIcheal Yon has gone into detail about how they are being bused and transported here. Aided and abetted by mostly church based NGO’s using money from the US. Yep, we’re paying for our own invasion.

    3. Sanctuary City Mayor Cuts Services for Americans, Blames Trump

      NEIL MUNRO
      11 Feb 2024

      The Democrat Mayor of Denver, Colorado, is imposing wartime-like “shared sacrifice” on Americans rather than curbing his welcome for tens of thousands of illegal migrants.

      Mayor Mike Johnston (D-CO) — like other Democrat big city mayors — is also hoping his imposed sacrifice on Americans will spur voter turnout against former President Donald Trump.

      Johnston spoke at a February 9 press conference, three days after a Republican revolt blocked the more-migration deal pushed by Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY). McConnell’s deal opened Americans’ border to the government-directed mass inflow of migrants and also provided $5 billion to help the migrants settle in a myriad of cities and towns.

      “This is a plan for shared sacrifice,” said Johnston — who has already granted aid and support to 35,000 illegal migrants — as he slammed the Republicans’ defense of Americans:

      In Denver, for example, the 20,000 hospital visits by the Democrats’ wave of poor migrants forced the partial shutdown of a city hospital, Breitbart News reported in January.

      In a February 7 speech to Democrat voters, Johnston excluded any criticism by pretending that everyone believes Americans must welcome Biden’s huge flood of illegal migrants, whom he described as neighborly “newcomers … people”:

      Today is the day that residents of Denver should be heartbroken and they should be furious because we know we have a humanitarian crisis in this city trying to welcome newcomers to build a new life … We actually had a bipartisan Senate deal that would have addressed the needs that we have …[Trump] intervened with House Republican leadership to kill that bill just so this crisis would continue just because he thinks he has a better chance of reelection.

      Johnston portrayed himself as a wartime leader:

      https://www.breitbart.com/2024-election/2024/02/11/colorados-sanctuary-city-mayor-cuts-services-americans-blames-trump/

      1. Mayor Johnston why don’t you go f* yourself?

        I live in Arapahoe County, less than a mile from the city line, but it’s only a matter of time until they start trying to push the problem onto taxpayers in my county.

        Build the wall, deport them ALL.

      2. Today is the day that residents of Denver should be heartbroken and they should be furious because we know we have a humanitarian crisis in this city trying to welcome newcomers to build a new life

        Why are you welcoming these invaders, Mr. Mayor? Is it because you are a Democrat and unless you toe the party line regarding the invaders, your political career is over?

        So Mr. Mayor, where are you going to stash the 100-200 who will arrive today? Will you close the libraries and lay off the staff to pay for them? And when that money runs out, will you cut back on street or sewer maintenance? How far are you willing to go to house people who shouldn’t be here in the first place? As far as it takes?

        Also interesting how other Dem run cities that have so far been spared the brunt of the invasion aren’t offering to chip in with some cash.

        1. +1 on all of that.

          It’s gonna bankrupt the city. But at least there’s no more mean tweets now 🤣🤣🤣

    4. “I’m just a person who wants to work. Things are complicated, but I am going to do whatever I can to stay.”

      Yeah, he wants to work. I’m sure he has an impressive resume of skills and could get a high paying job if only he could get a “work permit”. It’s funny how illegals have never before used a lack of a “work permit” as an excuse for unemployment.

      And “do whatever I can to stay”? What has he done so far. other than to rely on Denver taxpayers to house and feed him and his family?

  12. ABC News Poll: Almost NINETY PERCENT Believe Biden Isn’t Fit To Serve

    https://modernity.news/2024/02/11/abc-news-poll-almost-ninety-percent-believe-biden-isnt-fit-to-serve/

    A poll conducted in the wake of probably the worst week of his Presidency has found that a whopping 86 percent of Americans do not feel Joe Biden is in good enough shape to serve another term.

    The poll by ABC News/Ipsos was carried out Saturday, after the Special Counsel report that described Biden as “an elderly man with a poor memory,” and after he ended up angrily yelling at reporters for asking questions about the issue.

    The poll also found that 73 percent, almost three quarters, of Democrats think Biden is too old to serve, and a whopping 91 percent of Independents feel the same way.

    Critics have charged that ABC News has attempted to mask the ‘mainstreaming’ of Biden’s cognitive decline by also throwing Trump into the ‘too old to run’ mix.

    Rather than focus on the figures with regards to Biden, the sitting President, the report goes to great lengths to include Trump, noting that “the figure includes 59% of Americans who think both [Biden] and former President Donald Trump, the Republican front-runner, are too old and 27% who think only Biden is too old.”

    It further states that “Sixty-two percent of Americans think Trump, who is 77, is too old to serve as president,” and goes on to focus on Trump being indicted on federal charges.

    Buried at the bottom of the article are findings of the poll that most Americans believe Trump would do a better job of handling immigration and the border than Biden by 44 to 26 percent, and the handling of crime (41%-28%), the economy (43%-31%) and inflation (41%-31%).

    As we highlighted earlier, Trump called for cognitive tests for anyone running for President to become mandatory during a Saturday rally, asserting that if you asked Biden what MAGA stands for “he would not be able to tell you,” because his “brain is not working too well.”

    The comments come in the wake of a week replete with examples of Biden’s mental acuity failing him, prompting even the staunchest leftists and people within the Democratic Party to admit there is a problem.

    Meanwhile, Biden today posted a 30 second Super Bowl PSA complaining about the size of ice cream packaging.

      1. The next couple of months should be interesting. It’s possible they have already decided to dump him; but haven’t decided who the replacement will be: Gruesome, Big Mike, some beige governor with little baggage who they could pass off as a moderate?

        1. It’ll be Michelle for sure. Newsome has too much baggage. Beige governors will wither in any debate with Trump.

  13. Buying class on credit: 59% of rich millennials feel it’s important to ‘appear’ financially successful — but can the avocado toast generation actually afford their luxurious lifestyles?

    https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/buying-class-credit-59-rich-155500511.html

    You might spot your younger friends rolling up to events in a sleek Tesla or armed with a Prada purse, but it’s entirely possible they’re running their bank accounts ragged just to look good.

    A recent study from Wells Fargo reveals 59% of affluent millennials — with $250,000 to more than $1 million in investable assets — feel it’s important to look or appear financially successful to others, compared to just 35% of Gen X and 14% of baby boomers.

    However, a sizable portion of the younger generation (40%) also admit to taking on more debt than they want in order to live large.

    Here’s why rich millennials are wrapped up in a “Keeping up with the Joneses” mentality — and how to avoid sacrificing your financial security for splendor.

    Although appearances are a top priority, more than half of the group say they’ve been greatly impacted by the cost-of-living crisis as well — a higher proportion than any other generation surveyed by Wells Fargo.

    It’s not hard to see why this generation is struggling. They’re weighed down by student loans, have experienced two major financial recessions and are trying to purchase their first homes in a time of high mortgage rates and limited supply of real estate.

    So, why are they still splurging on luxury items and costly experiences? Social media could be partly to blame, with many folks feeling the FOMO (fear of missing out) online. Some users scramble to post photos of their pricey restaurant dinners on their Instagram stories or create aesthetic TikTok videos of their travels in other countries, and watch the views and likes rack up.

    But as a result, many young Americans may find themselves shelling out the funds for items or experiences they can’t actually afford. The Wells Fargo study found 41% of affluent millennials are funding their lifestyles with credit cards or loans (in comparison to 28% of Gen Xers and 6% of baby boomers) — a tactic that can become particularly dicey during a time of high borrowing costs.

    The average credit card interest rate today is around 24.59%, the highest on record, according to LendingTree.

    1. Clueless people spending money that they don’t have on things that they don’t need to impress people that they don’t know.

      Any surprises why there is now over $1T in consumer credit card debt?

      1. Clueless people spending money that they don’t have on things that they don’t need to impress people that they don’t know.

        Having a Tesla is a big status symbol for that demographic. Reminds me of the previous crash, when we learned that people making $40K were driving BMWs.

    2. I”d like to see the stats broken down by men vs. women. I suspect (since they are not telling us) that the results are pretty heavily learn towards one sex.

  14. I saw this documentary in which this couple was putting out peanuts daily for the neighborhood crows.
    Than the crows started dropping gifts for the couple near the peanuts, like a toy car.
    Than when the couple was once working on their sprinkler system, the crows started dropping PVC for their generous humans.
    So, I.started thinking even Crows know you have to give back and no free rides.
    Yet, we have people that think they are entitled to what other people earn , as the parasite class of Elites think.
    Crows are smarter than these psychopaths that want to rule the World.

  15. ‘It used to be that real estate was the safest investment, but 2023 broke this unwritten rule.‘

    That rule was broken long before that.

    1. They have short memories. From their perspective the Great Recession was back in the stone age. All they remember was that their parents were worried about losing their jobs.

  16. [This situation could turn out to become very interesting. Stay tuned.]

    Boston Couple Sign Up To House Illegal Immigrants, Get FOUR Delivered Within An Hour

    https://modernity.news/2024/02/12/boston-couple-sign-up-to-house-illegal-immigrants-get-four-delivered-within-an-hour/

    A couple in Boston signed up to a government scheme to house illegal immigrants in their own home and were delivered an entire family of four within an hour, according to a CBS News report.

    “When Colin and Jessica Stokes called the state to sign up to be a host family, it took less than an hour for the displaced migrants to be dropped off at their door,” the report notes, adding “The family of four, who didn’t want to go on camera, had made been sleeping at Logan Airport“

    he couple, Colin and Jessica Stokes, said that “they knew they had the means and wanted to step up,” and that “It has been wonderful.”

    “I was like I have to get sheets on the beds. How many people are coming? Where are they from? What ages. We really knew nothing,” Mrs Stokes told reporters, with her husband adding “The need is so clearly overwhelming.”

    X owner Elon Musk, who has vocally charged that the Biden Administration is encouraging and aiding mass illegal immigration, previously warned that soon people would be giving up their homes to house immigrants as there is no where else for them to go.

    Musk was right.

    As we previously highlighted, illegal immigrants are being found sleeping in airports all over the country as states such as Texas are bussing them further north once they have crossed the border and been processed.

    Meanwhile, Department Of Homeland Security head Alejandro Mayorkas has again refused to take responsibility for what is happening on the Southern border, declaring that “Congress is the only one who can fix it.”

    1. [Related to the above article is this …]

      How to evict a house guest in Massachusetts?

      https://forum.legaljunkies.com/forum/real-estate-and-property-law/landlord-vs-tenant-issues/57704-how-to-evict-a-house-guest-in-massachusetts

      Originally posted by jpr1379
      My wife and I have let a guest stay with us for the past ten months because they lost their home and job. This was supposed to be a short term arrangement,no more than three months. Not that we’ve asked but this person has contributed nothing to the house hold and is now recieving disability and has the means to move out on their own. This person is now causing problems in the house hold with my wife,myself and kids. We called the police to remove the person but they claimed that because the person was here more than three week we need to evict them. I live in Massachusetts so it wouldnt surprise me but I can not find anything for evicting a guest. From what I have gathered online because there is not an agreement or lease or any kind of contract they are not a tenant. I’m at a loss as what to do.

      That’s because you have misunderstood your situation.

      This person has established residency, and the right to possession, due to being a resident of your home for so long. That qualifies them as a TENANT, with all the rights and protections of the law that other tenants enjoy.

      If you want them to leave, you will have to follow Massachusetts law and evict them like you would any other tenant. Start by giving them notice that you are terminating their tenancy, and if they do not comply with the notice, you will have to file for a court-ordered eviction against them. You cannot lock them out, block their access to the rented premises, or forcibly remove them or their personal property from the premises without a court order.

      You allowed this person to stay this long, and your failure to act sooner gives the person the right to claim himself as a tenant with legal standing. Now, if you want them leave, you are going to have to treat them as such.

    2. While one can admire their charitable spirit, this arrangement is almost certain to blow up in their faces. It would be far safer to donate cash to a shelter. But as Ben Franklin said (very paraphrased), some people only learn things the hard way.

    3. previously warned that soon people would be giving up their homes to house immigrants as there is no where else for them to go

      I wonder how long until some leftists try to make this compulsory,.

  17. Squatters Taking Over Homes All Over Nation On An Industrial Scale

    https://www.offthepress.com/squatters-taking-over-homes-all-over-nation-on-an-industrial-scale/

    Thanks to online listings, it is easier than ever to identify properties that are vacant, and many states have laws that make it exceedingly difficult to get squatters out once they have settled in. In some cases, squatters are able to live rent free in beautiful homes for months or even years. This is becoming an absolutely massive problems, especially in certain areas of the country. For example, it is being reported that squatters have taken over approximately 1,200 homes in the Atlanta area…

    [… squatters have taken over approximately 1,200 homes in the Atlanta area… ZOWIE!]

    Squatters are ruining entire neighborhoods in Atlanta and police response to evict is so slow, some homeowners have resorted to paying nuisances to leave.

    Brazen squatters even opened an illegal strip club on a property they had taken over — one of the 1,200 homes which has been squatted in the city, according to the National Rental Home Council (NRHC) trade group.

    “I’d be terrified in Atlanta to lease out one of my properties,” Matt Urbanski, who manages a local home-cleaning company, told Bloomberg.

    There is no way in the world that I would want to own a rental property in that city.

    If you can believe it, there is even one company that has been running ads on social media offering to find a prime squatter home in Atlanta for you for a fee…

    At first glance, it looks just like another real estate pro hustling to rent homes on social media.

    But at 1 Time Payment Homes, the site makes it clear these are squatter homes and spells out just what that means in a pinned Insta story.

    “The company’s owners will come out, so will the police. The police will tell you there’s nothing they can do about it — squatters rights,” our Channel 2 producer J.P. read off the Instagram account.

    Recently, 1 Time Payment Homes has actually been running a “New Year’s special”.

    $1,400 will get you the keys to a squatter home so that you can “stack money and turn ya life around”.

    Whoever is behind 1 Time Payment Homes should be in prison.

  18. 10-Year-Old Boy Killed in DUI Hit-and-Run by Mexican Suspect Kicked Out of US Six Times

    by Dan Lyman
    February 12th 2024, 1:38 pm

    An illegal alien from Mexico who was previously kicked out of the United States at least six times has been arrested for killing a 10-year-old boy in a hit-and-run drunk driving crash in Texas last week, according to reports.

    The horrifying incident unfolded just after 4 p.m. on Thursday in Midland.

    Midland police were called to the scene of an accident near the IDEA Travis charter school where they found an unresponsive juvenile who had been struck by a vehicle while leaving the school on foot.

    Officers located the driver of the pickup truck involved in the accident and took him into custody.

    The child was airlifted to a hospital in Lubbock in critical condition where he was later pronounced deceased.

    The suspect was originally identified as 41-year-old Rogelio Ortiz, however the Midland Police Department (MPD) later clarified that the suspected killer was actually 50-years-old and that he also is known under the alias Juan Ortiz Perez.

    Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has issued a detainer on Ortiz, whose original charges of collision involving serious bodily injury and driving while intoxicated have been upgraded to “hit-and-run, accident causing death,” according to MPD.

    https://www.infowars.com/posts/10-year-old-boy-killed-in-dui-hit-and-run-by-mexican-suspect-kicked-out-of-us-six-times

  20. ‘The 39-year-old Monroeville resident now works in behavioral health — and has more than $200,000 in student debt. Private loans only take up about a quarter of that, but their lofty interest rates mean much higher repayments. Her monthly payments, about $760 for private loans and $134 for federal loans, exceed her monthly mortgage expenses. Without student debt, ‘I would have significantly less credit card debt, honestly. … We have a dog, also, that has some health issues. … And that thousand dollars a month would make it so that I could even save money,’ Mosser said. ‘I don’t have a savings right now’

    They loaned her the money to buy the shack even though she’s up to the gills in credit card and student loan debt of $200,000! That’s some sound lending right there.

    1. “…has more than $200,000 in student debt.”

      It’ll never be repaid.

      “They need to be able to pull in a salary that allows them to actually enjoy life and not just work and pay the bills.”

      Their prosperity will be spent in the Gaza strip.

  21. ‘I think everybody is pretty familiar with what happened in Northern California since pre-COVID, with rents still being down and then in Downtown Oakland, perhaps one of the worst submarkets in that respect, with rents still down 30 percent plus,’ UDR President Joe Fisher told investors. ‘And so we did take the keys back on that asset, as the developer didn’t want to continue to support the cash flow shortfalls.’ Mill Creek’s exit caused a loss to UDR of $24.3 million’

    That’s 24.3M so far Joe as you now own those cash flow shortfalls.

  22. ‘Selling loans may not be an optimal solution with properties now valued 50%-75% below their valuations at the time loans were struck’…Loans that were done over the last five to seven years, a lot of those are challenged now’

    This is just what happened in the 2000’s Rebel. It was the loans in the ‘footprint’ of time that failed. Meaning their failure was tied to the price peak. And in the 2000’s the number of single family prime loans that defaulted was 95% plus. Subprime just failed first and didn’t cause anything. The real cause of default was prices and the corresponding loosening of credit.

  25. Is it true that a soft landing is underway in the US and real estate can only go up from these levels?

  26. European Markets
    German commercial property prices post biggest-ever drop, data shows
    By Tom Sims
    February 12, 2024 1:47 AM PST
    Updated 16 hours ago
    A double decker bus passes the skyline with its dominating banking district in Frankfurt, Germany, November 8, 2023.
    REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach/File Photo Purchase

    FRANKFURT, Feb 12 (Reuters) – German commercial property prices fell 12.1% in the final three months of 2023 compared with a year earlier in their biggest-ever drop, the VDP banking association said on Monday, as the nation’s struggling property industry suffers its worst crisis in decades.

    For the full year, commercial real estate prices dropped 10.2%, accelerating their decline after small drops of less than one percent in 2022 and 2021, VDP’s data showed.
    “A trend reversal is not yet in sight for property prices, despite frequent public speculation. The situation will remain difficult for the time being in 2024,” said VDP’s chief executive Jens Tolckmitt.

    For years, property in Europe and particularly Germany boomed as interest rates fell, turbocharging demand. But a sudden jump in rates and building costs tipped some developers into insolvency as bank financing dried up and deals froze.
    Germany is so far Europe’s hardest hit in a rout that has also struck China and the United States. Jobs are increasingly on the line, and the industry has called for emergency aid.
    …
    https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/german-commercial-property-prices-post-biggest-ever-drop-data-shows-2024-02-12/

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