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Homeowners Often Find Themselves Grappling With Selling Their Properties During A Stagnant Or Falling Market

It’s Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. “New York Community Bancorp replaced its CEO, reported a fourth-quarter loss that was more than 10 times what it previously stated and disclosed faults in its financial reporting in filings on Thursday that sent its shares tumbling. The bank said it revised its fourth-quarter loss to $2.7 billion. NYCB on Thursday, in another filing, said it carried out a review in which ‘management identified material weaknesses in the company’s internal controls.’ The faults ‘related to internal loan review, resulting from ineffective oversight, risk assessment and monitoring activities,’ it said. The lender will delay the publication of its annual report because its internal controls over financial reporting were ‘not effective’ when its books were closed in 2023, the filing showed.”

“Home sales in the valley hit record highs in 2021 during the pandemic, when more than 50,000 units were sold. That number dropped to around 35,000 in 2022 and just under 30,000 last year, which was the worst year for sales in the valley since 2008. Tim Kelly Kiernan, branch manager of Realty One Group’s Summerlin office, said this appears to be the new reality not only for valley real estate but across the nation. ‘You know joking around when I talk to other Realtors, we say everything is in half right now, half the amount of listings, half amount of closing, everything is about 40 to 50 percent less than what it used to be.'”

“Concerning news if you’re a condo owner in Southwest Florida. The market is being flooded with condos going up for sale because many people can no longer afford to keep them. Linda Quimby has lived in Southwest Florida for 29 years and said the rate increases she is facing are unlike anything she has ever experienced. ‘My insurance condo renewal just came up, and it has gone up about $800 over last year, so it was over a 50% rate increase,’ Quimby said. Then there are her HOA fees, which have soared as well. Many people can’t pay the assessment, forcing condo associations to place liens on those condos. ‘I am very worried this time. I’m thinking about a second job because it’s just getting hard to pay on your own income,’ she said.”

“The influx is causing condo prices to fall statewide, and Mario Dormayer, who has been involved in realtor/broker in downtown Fort Myers for over 20 years, warns the cost of owning a condominium has increased drastically for some people. ‘We have a lot of working-class families and owners their budget is much tighter because their income is not keeping up with the rate of owning a condo or single-family home,’ Dormayer said.”

“‘2023 was not friendly to the San Antonio apartment market, and the fourth quarter was particularly unkind,’ the analysis firm Austin Investor Interests said in its most recent report. In the fourth quarter, the local sector continued ‘the free-fall that has been the theme of 2023,’ the report said.”

“Vestiges of the worldwide pandemic continue to grip the office market, and four years later, hopes are fading for a return to normal. In a state where higher-than-average vacancy rates are accepted as the cost of doing business and build, build, build is the norm, a Texas-sized threat now looms over three of its largest metros. Millions of square feet of expiring leases and dozens of new projects threaten to twist the knife, according to data provided exclusively to Bisnow. What comes next is sparking concern across the Texas Triangle. ‘We are not necessarily overdeveloped,’ said Brooke Armstrong, CBRE’s president of advisory services for Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas. ‘We are under-demolished.'”

“Record-high office vacancy rates coupled with growing housing demand in Northern California are pushing developers to transform unused work environments into living spaces. The world’s largest commercial real estate firm CBRE Group recently reported offices in cities like Sacramento are continuing to face an uncertain future in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. ‘There is too much office product, and some of the [assets] are cost-prohibitive to bring back to life as office buildings given projected office lease rates and the unpredictable demand,’ said CBRE Senior Vice President Tony Whittaker told ABC10. ‘A logical solution is to repurpose as residential as we know that demand is high.'”

“Last week, there were 374 new (property) listings in the Kelowna area. There were 130 sales, 85 were canceled and 42 expired. There were also 104 price reductions and three price increases. The market could be shifting to be more balanced, but I still consider it a ‘buyers’ market’ for now. The real estate market can be a rough ride. Homeowners often find themselves grappling with the challenge of selling their properties during a stagnant or falling market. Consider that, in a falling market, there might be three homes listed for every one sold. Highly motivated sellers, such as those getting divorced, moving for work or those who simply can’t afford to pay a higher mortgage, will lower their price to get to the front of the line. After a few of those sales, buyers will see similar properties they are interested in selling at that price level and will be more aggressive for a better deal.”

“They may have lots of places to pick from so if you want your home to sell, pricing becomes key. Don’t fall into the trap of chasing the market if you want to sell. Being every buyer’s fifth choice won’t make it easy.”

“Earlier this week, The Australian Financial Review reported that top NSW formwork subcontractor Dalma was under investigation by the Tax Office over what could be the country’s biggest corporate tax fraud. ‘This may be our last year,’ the engineering contractor says, after decades in business. The frustration among subcontractors in the building industry is reaching a boiling point. Following the revelation of alleged large-scale pay-as-you-go (PAYG) tax fraud by major subcontractors in the sector, with some cases left undetected for up to 15 years, they are convinced that tax dodging is endemic in the industry. The alleged fraud is believed to have enabled some subcontractors to bid lower prices for big government and commercial projects, knocking out legitimate contractors in the process. And it appears to have only gotten worse.”

“One formwork subbie, speaking anonymously because the person did not want to upset potential clients, says they are ‘sick of what is happening to our industry.’ ‘They [subcontractors] undercut everyone on price and leverage the ATO to make a living. The tier-one builders turn a blind eye because it all comes down to price. The true cost of the Sydney Metro developments, the new hospitals and schools should factor in the unpaid taxes. The taxpayer is being screwed.’ John Winter, CEO of the Australian Restructuring Insolvency and Turnaround Association (ARITA), says tax avoidance was ‘endemic’ in construction and many viewed getting caught as ‘the cost of doing business.'”

“‘Your return on investment for dodging out of it is so high,’ he says. ‘Unfortunately, so many have allowed that to be the business model and so everybody else goes, ‘Well, if you can’t beat ’em, you join ’em.’ He believes the behaviour is getting worse as trading circumstances turn desperate in the sector. One liquidator, speaking anonymously, said the insolvency sector meant that ‘the more honest you are, the less work you get.'”

“The number of home-backed non-performing loans referred for public auctions nearly quadrupled last year, due to sustained high borrowing rates brought on by rapid monetary tightening after the pandemic, data showed Thursday. The deterioration of non-performing loans is particularly rapid for apartment-collateralized cases, as evidenced by the total figure surging to 1,485, up from 400 in 2022. Most of them are the so-called ‘gap investors’ seeking gains under the country’s jeonse system, the official said. The home renting system unique to Korea is one whereby tenants pay a lump sum refundable deposit for the term of the contract instead of monthly rent. The gap investors can thus purchase homes while having only a small amount of money in hand as the ‘gap’ between the home prices and jeonse deposit can be small. For example, if they can get an 80 million won jeonse deposit from a tenant while the home is sold at 100 million won, they only need to fund 20 million won to register the home as theirs.”

“‘An increasing number of similar cases will pour in, mostly involving borrowers in their 20s and 30s who will not be able to handle soaring interest costs,’ the official added.”

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This Post Has 62 Comments

        1. “Trudeau Liberal justice minister Arif Virani says that putting Canadians under house arrest on suspicion that they may commit a hate crime in the future will ‘help to deradicalize people who are learning things online.'”

          An excellent way to radicalize someone is to place him/her on house arrest for learning things online.

          These people are well beyond being nuts.

    2. And you’ll finally be free! “Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose…”

  2. ‘New York Community Bancorp replaced its CEO, reported a fourth-quarter loss that was more than 10 times what it previously stated and disclosed faults in its financial reporting in filings on Thursday that sent its shares tumbling. The bank said it revised its fourth-quarter loss to $2.7 billion. NYCB on Thursday, in another filing, said it carried out a review in which ‘management identified material weaknesses in the company’s internal controls.’ The faults ‘related to internal loan review, resulting from ineffective oversight, risk assessment and monitoring activities,’ it said. The lender will delay the publication of its annual report because its internal controls over financial reporting were ‘not effective’ when its books were closed in 2023’

    Well!

    1. Dang, I though Sarbanes-Oxley was supposed to fix all these problems with the accuracy of corporate financial statements.

      1. This is reporting a serious internal accounting problem at a challenged regional bank that just loaded up on NYC CMBS when the Signature failed.

        New York Community Bank to buy failed Signature Bank
        Story by AP Associated Press
        • 11mo

        New York Community Bank has agreed to buy a significant chunk of the failed Signature Bank in a $2.7 billion deal, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said late Sunday.

        The 40 branches of Signature Bank will become Flagstar Bank, starting Monday. Flagstar is one of New York Community Bank’s subsidiaries. The deal will include the purchase of $38.4 billion in Signature Bank’s assets, a little more than a third of Signature’s total when the bank failed a week ago.

        The FDIC said $60 billion in Signature Bank’s loans will remain in receivership and are expected to be sold off in time.

        Signature Bank was the second bank to fail in this banking crisis, roughly 48 hours after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank. Signature, based in New York, was a large commercial lender in the tristate area, but had in recent years gotten into cryptocurrencies as a potential growth business.

        After Silicon Valley Bank failed, depositors became nervous about Signature Bank’s health due to its high amount of uninsured deposits as well as its exposure to crypto and other tech-focused lending. By the time it was closed by regulators, Signature was the third largest bank failure in U.S. history.

        The FDIC says it expects Signature Bank’s failure to cost the deposit insurance fund $2.5 billion, but that figure may change as the regulator sells off assets. The deposit insurance fund is paid for by assessments on banks and taxpayers do not bear the direct cost when a bank fails.

        https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/new-york-community-bank-to-buy-failed-signature-bank/ar-AA18PJeX

  3. ‘My insurance condo renewal just came up, and it has gone up about $800 over last year, so it was over a 50% rate increase,’ Quimby said. Then there are her HOA fees, which have soared as well. Many people can’t pay the assessment, forcing condo associations to place liens on those condos. ‘I am very worried this time. I’m thinking about a second job because it’s just getting hard to pay on your own income’

    I’d bet 5 pesos yer still eating expensive food Linda, probably more than once a day.

    ‘Many people can’t pay the assessment, forcing condo associations to place liens on those condos’

    That’s not good.

    1. “A former school”

      Ah, so that explains why it’s so weird-looking.

      The structure itself looks salvageable, and it probably would make a nice commune for some hippies or a clan of related invader families. But that area is boondock with NO civilization nearby to speak of, so it’s likely not worth it.

  5. The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged bankrupt Lordstown Motors with misleading investors about the sales prospects of its Endurance electric pickup truck.

    Lordstown has agreed to pay $25.5 million as a result — money that the SEC says will go toward settling a number of pending class action lawsuits against the company.

    “We allege that, in a highly competitive race to deliver the first mass-produced electric pickup truck to the U.S. market, Lordstown oversold true demand for the Endurance,” Mark Cave, associate director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement said in a statement. “Exaggerations that misrepresent a public company’s competitive advantages distort the capital markets and foil investors’ ability to make informed decisions about where to put their money.”

    The SEC says its investigation into Lordstown Motors — which began in 2021 — is ongoing. Lordstown is still in the process of Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Steve Burns recently purchased the majority of the assets related to the Endurance and is using it to promote a new startup called LandX. He is not specifically charged in the SEC’s order.

    “Although I have not been charged by the SEC, they have falsely characterized my actions in their settlement today with Lordstown Motors,” Burns said in a statement provided to TechCrunch. “I categorically reject the suggestion that my actions constituted wrongdoing. The facts and the truth are supposed to matter. This is not the way our system is supposed to work.”

    https://sg.finance.yahoo.com/news/lordstown-motors-charged-misleading-investors-222152643.html

    1. Exaggerations that misrepresent a public company’s competitive advantages distort the capital markets and foil investors’ ability to make informed decisions about where to put their money.

      Well, we sure wouldn’t want that.

    2. I’ve seen a few Rivian pickups being driven around town. Keeping those running in the long haul is going to be a blast.

      1. Lots of Teslas in my neck of the woods too, most still with new car smell. Let’s see how things shake out in 6-7 years when the battery goes.

        1. Free charging where I work so there are many Telsas and other electric cars to go with my 2012 Toyota Camry with the dents.

        2. My thoughts are more along the lines of Rivian going out of business and there being no parts available to repair those Rivian trucks.

          But yeah, when those Tesla, Chevy, Ford, KIA, Mercedes, etc. battery packs give up the ghost, owners will end up scrapping the cars vs. repairing them.

          1. Don’t look now, but governments the world over are falling over themselves providing funding for developing ammonia fuel. There is a huge scramble to access the funds by fly-by-night operators trying to design a viable system to burn ammonia using pilot fuels such as diesel or LNG in reciprocating 2 / 4 stroke marine engines. Apparently Man engine has tested their medium sized engine, however reliable technical data are not published.
            Apparently, the goal is target 60% of marine transport by 2050. Needless to say, there are serious questions on handling of NH3 and its treatment prior to safe venting during starting and stopping of the engines. Further NOx gases emitted as a result of combustion are 100X more potent than CO2 as a GHG.

  6. Homebuyers need $173K a year to afford a home in Denver (2/29/2024):

    “With the price of homes in Denver more than doubling over the last decade, a $100,000 salary doesn’t go as far as it used to.

    In 2020, a $101,365 income was enough to comfortably own a home in Denver. But according to a recent report from Zillow, that number has since increased by 70.5%.

    Assuming a 10% down payment, Zillow reports that mortgage payments have increased 85.5% over the last four years to $3,615 monthly.

    A similar trend has been seen on a smaller scale across the U.S., with the average mortgage payment on a typical U.S. home nearly doubling since 2020.”

    https://kdvr.com/news/local/zillow-homebuyers-need-173k-a-year-to-afford-a-home-in-denver/

    Nearly doubling since 2020?

    Minor respiratory illness the gift that keeps on giving. Are you any better off now than you were in January 2021?

    Young people, your future has been stolen from you by the Parasite Class, Wall Street Pigmen, and fat entitled boomers.

    With no hope of ever owning your own home in this rigged economy that only favors the already rich and insider trading crooks in Congress, revolution may be your only option.

    The Day Of The Rope is coming ☠️

    1. Homebuyers need $173K a year to afford a home in Denver (2/29/2024):

      What percentage of Denver households have that kind of income? 15%?

  8. Bill Gates may want us all to eat bugs, but he’s going to have to figure out what to do about these beasts:

    A Texas Warning on wild pigs threatening Minnesota
    YouTube

  9. I live in Southwest Florida. The real estate market here has gone completely insane over the past few years. Houses that were overpriced at $300k a couple years ago are now $600k. Houses that were flooded with several feet of water during Ian are now gutted and put back together and put up for sale for twice as much as they were worth before the hurricane showed just how vulnerable they are. Insurance is a mess at best. If there’s any place in the USA that is destined for a housing market crash of epic proportion it’s Southwest Florida. It was the one of the epicenters of the last bubble bust and it should be the epicenter of the one that’s coming.

    I can’t understand why people even WANT to live here. Sure it’s warm in the winter, but it’s sweltering hot 8 months of the year, traffic is a nightmare, bugs are miserable and there’s literally nothing to do besides golf or beach/boat. The estuary water quality is awful with frequent blooms of toxic red tide and algae that kill all the marine life. There’s not much to like besides the winter weather.

    2. FWIW. there is a reason so many flocked to California, especially before it went full Clownworld. Now living there is unbearable.

      I think lots of people romanticize Florida. But every time I’ve been there outside of winter it feels like the Amazon jungle. I could never see myself living there, though I’m sure Floridians would hate our winters here. That sait, it’s 63F right now.

  10. A reader sent these in:

    The one thing that has really surprised me last year was the recovery in US house prices. The monthly rises are now abating as mortgage yields rise again, but prices still up 6.2% yoy. This despite the huge rate hikes and collapse in mortgage demand – now at multi-decade lows!

    https://twitter.com/albertedwards99/status/1763128791390388312

    Prices up 6% y/y when affordability looks like this

    https://twitter.com/INArteCarloDoss/status/1763134663046922254

    lol the state of data and statistics departments in the US

    BLS on OER

    https://twitter.com/INArteCarloDoss/status/1763133446115700949

    2) Average weekly hours are falling fast. This cycle employers are preferring to cut hours instead of heads

    https://twitter.com/j77324/status/1763325461055308105

    The infamous magazine cover…

    https://twitter.com/DonMiami3/status/1763292878074159187

    Florida has the highest number of “motivated” sellers listing their properties on real estate marketplace app Zillow, according to data on the platform

    https://twitter.com/MacroEdgeRes/status/1763279094089687149

    lol

    https://twitter.com/MacroEdgeRes/status/1763279886121075003

    Wichita Public Schools to close 6 schools with additional possible due to demographic declines, budget deficit
    Isn’t it amazing the idiots in charge of these budget forecasts didn’t put in their forecast that the ‘COVID’ $ would run out??

    https://twitter.com/MacroEdgeRes/status/1763259697140809966

    Arkansas based Telecom company Windstream Corporation reportedly reducing workforce by up to 25%, ~2,770, per employee tip

    https://twitter.com/MacroEdgeRes/status/1763237496706535914

    A small North Texas homebuilder – Noble Homes – has filed for bankruptcy

    https://twitter.com/MacroEdgeRes/status/1763207421764211100

    Best Buy to eliminate approx 2,500-3,500 employees, close an additional 10 to 15 locations

    https://twitter.com/MacroEdgeRes/status/1763203814218182659

    Fed’s preferred Core PCE inflation measure rises most in a year

    Well half of states in labor market recession and rising inflation – welcome to the circus #73

    https://twitter.com/MacroEdgeRes/status/1763202305002762392

    Core PCE excluding housing:

    (Paul Krugman will use Core PCE – food – wine – housing – cars – gasoline – electricity), but we prefer this.

    https://twitter.com/MacroEdgeRes/status/1763203068668096887

    ❖ Home Buyers Need to Earn $47,000 More Than in 2020

    The income needed to comfortably afford a home has rise 80% since January 2020, well above the increase in median incomes. Home shoppers today need to make more than $106,000 to comfortably afford a home, Zillow says finds. In 2020, a household earning $59,000 annually could comfortably afford the monthly mortgage on a typical U.S. home, spending no more than 30% of its income with a 10% down payment. That was below the U.S. median income of about $66,000, meaning more than half of American households had the financial means to afford homeownership. Now, the roughly $106,500 needed to comfortably afford a typical home is well above what a typical U.S. household earns each year, estimated at about $81,000. “Housing costs have soared over the past four years as drastic hikes in home prices, mortgage rates and rent growth far outpaced wage gains,” Zillow says.

    https://twitter.com/DeItaone/status/1763255800993063206

    I see it. Low inventory plus buyers not willing to purchase with 6% interest and high cost of living

    Market is

    https://twitter.com/stockplaymaker1/status/1763256021772910698

    Restrictive policy and unaffordable housing for the bottom 90%.
    Loose financial conditions and record asset prices for the top 10%.

    And that pretty much summarizes the current state of affairs.

    https://twitter.com/NorthmanTrader/status/1763271868318945624

    🔴 FED’S GOOLSBEE: THIS IS A RESTRICTIVE ENVIRONMENT.

    https://twitter.com/financialjuice/status/1763246690042019973

    Now they’re just overdoing it…😅

    https://twitter.com/NorthmanTrader/status/1763220870728671496

    Due to inflation, February now has 29 days.

    https://twitter.com/dougboneparth/status/1763198724681949589

    If you’re struggling to pay for groceries, you’re not alone. Staples like bread, lunch meats, dairy products and eggs have seen price increases of 20% to 40% in the last three years. President Joe Biden is blaming grocery stores for “gouging” consumers, but there’s just one problem with that explanation: His administration’s own data disprove it.

    According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, prices paid by business and consumers alike have increased 18% on average since Biden took office. The higher prices that American families face today are simply the higher cost of doing business being passed along to the consumer.

    Despite this fact, the White House has repeatedly called for grocery stores to lower prices—as if a business owner sets prices arbitrarily. In a recent commercial, Biden also highlighted the phenomenon of “shrinkflation,” where products get smaller, but the price remains the same. The president again called on companies to stop the practice, as if it could be done by executive fiat.

    (full article in first reply below)

    https://twitter.com/Fxhedgers/status/1763281039013585216

    Median PCE price index rose 3.5% Y/Y in Jan – obviously not as bad as the 6% it was stuck at for 9 months, but still way too high and today’s price increases are on top of previous inflation, which is why people are so angry about the economy: things are still getting worse…

    https://twitter.com/RealEJAntoni/status/1763254971506495714

    And here’s the savings rate – less than half where it was pre-pandemic; people simply don’t have anything left at the end of the month that they can save for the future; only question now is when does the consumer hit the wall w/ savings gone and debt maxed out?

    https://twitter.com/RealEJAntoni/status/1763238155493286238

    Jan’s PCE report was lousy – while the headline Y/Y inflation numbers came down, that was just b/c the spike in last Jan’s price indices jumped more than this Jan, but it was still bad, w/ M/M up 0.3% and core up 0.4% – those are annualized rates of 3.7% and 4.9%, respectively:

    https://twitter.com/RealEJAntoni/status/1763235284127220061

    The IRS doesn’t require it, but I sent a stool sample in with my taxes.

    https://twitter.com/SallyMayweather/status/1763340735166763373

    It’s been real, guys. ✌️

    https://twitter.com/06Kiu/status/1763310875572641885

    1. Isn’t it amazing the idiots in charge of these budget forecasts didn’t put in their forecast that the ‘COVID’ $ would run out??

      Isn’t the conventional wisdom that government programs never end?

      Which is why it will be so hard to claw back the deficit spending in place, and the left will scream to high heaven, accusing the right of hating children and poor people as some spending is cancelled.

      1. Which is why it will be so hard to claw back the deficit spending in place, and the left will scream to high heaven, accusing the right of hating children and poor people as some spending is cancelled
        So true and I think that will lead to disaster 10 years down the road because as “Mr. Wonderful (I don’t know his name) said in so any words is that it is political suicide to try and cut benefits. (“Elect me and I will cut your benefits and make your life harder!!)
        Good luck with that.

    2. Despite this fact, the White House has repeatedly called for grocery stores to lower prices—as if a business owner sets prices arbitrarily. In a recent commercial, Biden also highlighted the phenomenon of “shrinkflation,” where products get smaller, but the price remains the same. The president again called on companies to stop the practice, as if it could be done by executive fiat.

      As someone who once lived in a “price controls” environment, wheres are set by government fiat, I can tell you how it alwys ends: empty shelves. An example: in the 70’s Mexico had price controls on milk (the stuff in cartons), which meant it was next to impossible to find it at the store. There were some loopholes. If you had the milk delivered to your home, it was legal for them to charge more because you were also paying huge home delivery fees. It made milk very expensive, but it was the only way to get it. The only other option was to buy canned evaporated milk at the store, which was also very pricey.

      Cooking oil (a big staple in Mexico) was also price controlled. And each type of oil (canolla, sunflower seed, etc.) had it’s own controlled priced. Usually a more “exotic” variety had a much higher official price, which few could afford.

      Mexico learned its lesson the hard way and they’ve had no price controls since the 90’s. Transitioning back to a free market was extremely painful.

    3. “Paul Krugman”

      That piece of sh*t needs to get dragged out of his Park Avenue co-op and beaten to death in the street with a blunt object.

      Cinder block to the skull, a la Reginald Denny style. Krugman deserves that and worse.

    4. “The one thing that has really surprised me last year was the recovery in US house prices. The monthly rises are now abating as mortgage yields rise again, but prices still up 6.2% yoy. This despite the huge rate hikes and collapse in mortgage demand – now at multi-decade lows!”

      Ever rising prices on collapsing sales volume is a classic indicator of the parabolic blowout phase of a bubble with an incipient crash in the making.

      1. Business
        San Diego home sales hit record low as price increases slightly
        Residential homes in Chula Vista, California on Thursday, February 29, 2024.
        Residential homes in Chula Vista, California on Thursday, February 29, 2024.
        (Nelvin C. Cepeda / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
        January was tied for the lowest-ever sales month in San Diego County. The median home price still rose slightly
        By Phillip Molnar
        Feb. 29, 2024 3:12 PM PT

        Home sales in San Diego County hit record lows in January as the median home price rose slightly.

        The region had 1,678 home sales in January, said CoreLogic data released Thursday, tied for the lowest-ever sales month, last January, in records going back to 1988. At the same time, limited supply of homes for sale has kept competition strong, resulting in rising prices.

        San Diego County’s median home price was $802,500 in January, up 0.3 percent in a month. Prices are up 7 percent annually.

        Mauricio Perez-Vazquez, a Chula Vista real estate agent and board member on the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals, said January is normally the slowest month and was made even worse in the current economic environment. He said many buyers have balked at higher interest rates combined with rising prices.

        “Rates, with where they were at, was a tough pill to swallow” for buyers, he said.

        In the last week of January, the average interest rate for a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage was 6.69 percent, said Freddie Mac. It had risen to 6.94 percent by Thursday.
        …
        https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/business/story/2024-02-29/san-diego-home-prices-up-slightly-to-start-the-year

    1. Newsom should bail-out these ocean view, Palos Verdes, distressed homeowners…after the black’s reparations are paid in full.

      1. after the black’s reparations are paid in full.
        Just saw the CA deficit yesterday. Up from $58B
        The Legislative Analyst’s Office projects the 2024-25 shortfall at $73 billion,
        Gonna take awhile for those $5 MM in repatriations to get paid.

  12. CNBC — The U.S. national debt is rising by $1 trillion about every 100 days (3/1/2024):

    “The nation’s debt permanently crossed over to $34 trillion on Jan. 4, after briefly crossing the mark on Dec. 29, according to data from the U.S. Department of the Treasury. It reached $33 trillion on Sept. 15, 2023, and $32 trillion on June 15, 2023, hitting this accelerated pace. Before that, the $1 trillion move higher from $31 trillion took about eight months.”

    Permanently?

    “Moody’s Investors Service lowered its ratings outlook on the U.S. government to negative from stable in November due to the rising risks of the country’s fiscal strength.

    “In the context of higher interest rates, without effective fiscal policy measures to reduce government spending or increase revenues,” the agency said. “Moody’s expects that the US’ fiscal deficits will remain very large, significantly weakening debt affordability.”

    https://www.cnbc.com/2024/03/01/the-us-national-debt-is-rising-by-1-trillion-about-every-100-days.html

    “This sucker could go down” — George W. Bush

    1. Some will benefit from this largesse, but most won’t as they watch the buying power of their paychecks continues to shrink. At some point it will be full blown hyperinflation.

    2. “The U.S. national debt is rising by $1 trillion about every 100 days (3/1/2024):”

      That is truly insane, scary etc.

  14. This invader is 26 years old.

    “Ruano Garcia claimed to have believed that the girl was 13 or 14 years of age.”

    Illegal alien arrested for allegedly raping 11-year-old Utah girl as ICE reveals staggering number of sex offender arrests

    PAUL SACCA
    MARCH 01, 2024

    An illegal alien from Guatemala was arrested in Utah and charged with raping an 11-year-old girl, according to reports.

    Jonathan Estuardo Ruano Garcia, 26, was arrested early on Monday morning by Provo Police.

    Ruano Garcia was hit with felony charges of rape of a child, enticing a minor, and forgery.

    Around 11:15 p.m. on Sunday, a mother returned to her apartment in Provo, Utah. She reportedly saw an adult male leaving the apartment and made eye contact with the man before he “quickly walked away.”

    According to arrest documents, the mother found her 11-year-old daughter completely naked in the hallway.

    “The 11-year-old girl told her mother that a male she met on the internet came to the apartment and had sex with her,” the police report said, according to KSL.

    The Guatemalan national allegedly told police that he had sex with the girl for 20 to 30 minutes.

    ICE recently announced a staggering number of illegal immigrants who were arrested for sex crimes last month.

    Between Feb. 5 and 16, 2024, ICE arrested “275 unlawfully present noncitizen sex offenders during a nationwide law enforcement effort.”

    https://www.theblaze.com/news/illegal-immigrant-arrested-rape-girl-provo-utah

  15. Thief busted in brutal subway cello attack released without bail — despite even DA Bragg’s office wanting her behind bars

    By Joe Marino
    Published Feb. 29, 2024, 12:10 p.m. ET

    Amira Hunter was nabbed Wednesday night, 15 days after she allegedly bashed Iain S. Forrest, 29, in the head as he performed in the Herald Square station.

    At her arraignment Thursday on second-degree assault charges, Manhattan prosecutors argued for $15,000 cash bail or $45,000 bond, noting that Hunter has failed to appear at three of her five court dates in other criminal cases last year.

    “The People have little faith that she will return to court of her own volition,” prosecutor Alexandra Robertson told Judge Marva Brown in Manhattan criminal court.

    Hunter, of Brooklyn, also had a bench warrant out for her arrest in two cases involving petit larceny, according to the Manhattan DA’s Offic

    https://nypost.com/2024/02/29/us-news/woman-23-arrested-for-attacking-nyc-cello-player-in-subway-station-after-weeks-on-the-lam/#:~:text=A%2023%2Dyear%2Dold%20with,she%20be%20held%20on%20bail.

    1. This is what civilizational collapse looks like. This unbelievable nonsense used to be the province of dystopian movies like the original Mad Max, where a busted murderer was released on a technicality. Now a technicality isn’t even needed for a perp to walk, now they are released because “why not?”

      1. “This is what civilizational collapse looks like”

        Got silver?
        Got ammo?
        Got a piece of buildable land 50+ miles from the nearest major city?

  16. ‘Highly motivated sellers, such as those getting divorced, moving for work or those who simply can’t afford to pay a higher mortgage, will lower their price to get to the front of the line. After a few of those sales, buyers will see similar properties they are interested in selling at that price level and will be more aggressive for a better deal’

    That’s the spirit!

    1. What about the throngs of aging Boomers who are no longer involved with raising families or able to maintain a single-family residence. Won’t they be dumping their McMansions in droves over the next decade?

  17. ‘Your return on investment for dodging out of it is so high…Unfortunately, so many have allowed that to be the business model and so everybody else goes, ‘Well, if you can’t beat ’em, you join ’em’ …One liquidator, speaking anonymously, said the insolvency sector meant that ‘the more honest you are, the less work you get’

    And they’ll wonder why 5 year old airbox towers become inhabitable.

  18. ‘The gap investors can thus purchase homes while having only a small amount of money in hand as the ‘gap’ between the home prices and jeonse deposit can be small’

    Sound lending!

    ‘An increasing number of similar cases will pour in, mostly involving borrowers in their 20s and 30s who will not be able to handle soaring interest costs’

  19. “56% of Canadians” Exit Real Estate Market on High Rates: Financial Post
    Mark Mitchell – Mortgage Broker London Ontario
    Mar 1, 2024 CANADA

    56 Percent of Canadians ‘postponed’ their real estate search on higher rates from the Bank of Canada – This according to the Financial Posts’s reporting on a survey conducted by Royal LePage. Yet, that’s not what the data actually says.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMObR47znb0

    8 minutes.

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