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Hey, Maybe I Can Pick One Of Those For A Much Better Price Because Those People Have To Sell

A report from Real Vail. “Nate Hall, certified luxury specialist and broker associate with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Colorado Properties, notes that strong buyer demand and limited inventory in the resort/luxury communities of Vail, Beaver Creek, Cordillera, and Arrowhead have led to heightened competition among buyers. ‘The allure of these mountain communities as vacation destinations and investment opportunities continue to attract affluent buyers looking for second homes or investment properties,’ said Hall. ‘While current market conditions favor sellers, it is the properties that are priced right (to market value), in the right location, and updated are the ones moving quickly and at times, creating multiple offer scenarios. While demand is high, today’s buyers are savvy and won’t overpay.'”

“Paula Fischer, broker associate with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Colorado Properties, notes she is also seeing sellers who are moving on to the next chapter in their lives. ‘Down valley and local market sellers are more willing to negotiate than a couple of years ago, making it more attractive for buyers.’ added Fischer.”

Canon City Daily Record in Colorado. “A Florence couple was not surprised when they learned a contractor they previously had done business with recently was arrested for allegedly defrauding more than $2 million from his customers. The couple says the arrest was long overdue. On March 5, Dwight Mulberry, 52, and his wife Joni Mulberry, 40, owners and operators of their Monument-based company, Craftsman Homes & Interiors, LLC, were arrested on suspicion of stealing, defrauding and laundering more than $2 million in funds from several victims. Rick and Becky Wallen started working with Mulberry in July 2021. ‘We thought this guy was really legit because he spent at least three hours with us, showing us different things and really making us feel good about it,’ Rick Wallen said. ‘He spent some time with us, a couple of times. Then we gave him earnest money.'”

“They were supposed to receive an invite to a portal where they could track progress on the project, but once they finally got access, they noticed that no work had started. ‘That’s when I started asking for my money back,’ Rick Wallen said. ‘When I started asking for my money back and he was giving me a hard time, I said, ‘let’s just be honest with this, you don’t have the money to build this house. You just don’t. You have no money. If you did have money, the ground would have been broke.'”

KCCI in Iowa. “The owners of a multi-million-dollar, 55+ housing development in Waukee have filed for bankruptcy. Now, contractors, investors and buyers trying to move in are wondering what’s next. ‘Well, first I heard of it was this morning when you called, and I was shocked,’ said Clive property investor Kurt Brewer. Brewer is just hearing the news about the Estates of Waukee. Pella developer Jeff Ewing recently filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy. It appears construction on his 55+ townhouse project is shut down. Many of the units are nearing completion, but no one has moved in.”

“Federal court documents show there is a long list of creditors owed millions of dollars. Brewer sold Ewing the land and was promised one of the townhouses. For now, he’s out $367,000. He says the Ewings are victims of high interest rates. ‘The people who are buying in and wanted to live there get hurt. And I think the Ewings are good people. It’s just that they’re they got hurt because of the interest rate environment and that economic environment,’ said Brewer. ‘Many, many things out of their control nipped them. And it’s it’s really tragic.'”

WVUE in Louisiana. “The redevelopment of New Orleans’ abandoned Lindy Boggs Medical Center has stalled, frustrating the owner and neighbors, and leading the developer to begin exploring other options for the property. ‘It’s been one attempt after another to try to get funding through other sources,’ said Thomas Ecker, president of the Mid-City Neighborhood Organization. ‘Inflation, you have high interest rates, you have high insurance rates, it all caught up. The person who owns this now, I have no ill will toward William Hoffman. He is a stand-up dude who wants to do good things. He’s just in a bad spot. I just don’t want to see Mid-City being this dumping ground for high-density residential spaces.'”

The Real Deal on California. “Group I, the developer behind San Francisco’s first office-to-home conversion, has defaulted on a $26 million loan tied to the historic building. The locally based developer was served a notice of default from its lender for the mortgage for 988 Market Street, in Mid-Market, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. In her State of the City address last week, Mayor London Breed, who is running for re-election in November, trumpeted the Warfield office-to-housing conversion project as part of her aim to restore the city’s ailing Downtown.”

“Some 35.6 percent of the offices across San Francisco stand empty during a broad shift to remote work. The record vacancy has shrunk foot traffic and hurt sidewalk businesses. Converting the unused offices into homes is touted as a way to bring people and life back to Downtown. Breed has announced a new initiative to bring 30,000 residents into Downtown by 2030, according to the Chronicle.”

“‘To do that, we first need to create more housing Downtown. We’ve already passed a few local laws to remove and reduce fees and barriers to office conversions,’ Breed said. ‘Our first office conversion is actually happening right now, 34 new homes at the Warfield Building that would not be happening if we hadn’t stepped in, and more are coming.'”

Global News in Canada. “The Toronto Regional Real Estate Board’s (TRREB) recently released Condo Market Report revealed that condo sales in the fourth quarter of last year were not only down 3.4 per cent on an annual basis with 3,446 units sold, but also the lowest quarterly sales recorded in the region since TRREB first began publishing condo market data in Q3-2011. Even during the onset of the pandemic in Q2-2020, sales were still higher, with 3,459 units sold, according to the TRREB condo report. ‘Something that started five years ago may not even be finished yet, but it sold four years ago at pricing that was established four years ago,’ said Marcus Plowright, a Realtor in London, Ont. ‘And then people are struggling to get mortgages on those properties because they don’t appraise them by the time they’re finished.'”

“Right at Home Realty president John Lusin described a similar situation and called it the ‘off-market assignment marketplace.’ ‘A lot of people who bought into the pre-con hype in the last few years, as they’re coming up now to actually close, they are realizing that they aren’t going to qualify, and they are trying to unload,’ Lusink said. He says this is impacting the existing condos that are already built and available in the market. ‘There are some buyers saying, ‘Hey, maybe I can pick one of those ones that are close to being completed but for a much better price because those people have to sell, and they can’t close.’ So, there’s a bit of turbulence in the market,’ Lusink said.”

“As for those planning to sell in the coming months, Matthew Gravina, a Realtor with Real Brokerage said that sellers really need to do their homework. ‘Sellers in the condo market in Toronto, and urban Toronto specifically, have been spoiled over the past few years … with the exception of last year,’ he said. ‘If you own a condo, and you were in a position to sell, all you needed to do was hand your keys off to an agent, they put it on the market, they could take photos on a flip phone, and the thing would sell. And it would sell for record numbers. That was the reality of the market, where today, that’s not really the case.'”

News.com.au in Australia. “Iron ore prices have plunged another 7 per cent this week. And China’s refusal to bail out the developers behind that country’s burst property bubble means the worst is yet to come. China’s National People’s Congress concluded on Monday night. Economists had been watching it closely in the hope that a massive government stimulus package would be announced to revive the country’s stagnating economy. But China’s real estate tycoons won’t be getting a bailout. Instead, China’s Communist Party seemed more interested in punishing the property magnates behind the $7.5 trillion market’s collapse.”

“‘Those who commit acts that harm the interests of the masses will be resolutely investigated and punished in accordance with the law. They will be made to pay the due price,’ Minister of Housing and Urban-Rural Development Ni Hong said at the weekend. So Australia’s iron ore export cash bonanza – which has been credited for saving the federal budget over several terms of government – may soon be over.”

The Associated Press. “Some investors in a troubled trust fund in China are facing financial ruin under a government plan to return a fraction of their money, casualties of a slump in the property industry and a broader economic slowdown. Sichuan Trust, headquartered in the southwest city of Chengdu, announced it was insolvent in 2020, stricken by sketchy accounting and failed investments in shopping malls and other projects. A deadline earlier this month to accept a 20%-60% ‘haircut’ or loss on their investments has left some investors in deep financial trouble, according to public announcements and AP interviews with five people affected.”

“Trusts are a cross between a bank and an investment fund. They’re actually private entities that fund projects like factories and shopping malls. Weak disclosure requirements allowed them to use money from new investors to pay what they owed earlier ones, a set-up somewhat like a Ponzi scheme. ‘We’re extremely anxious,’ one investor who asked not to be named told The AP. ‘It’s so cruel, the amount of money they’re giving us is so little.'”

“Some investors were retirees who said they met the investment threshhold by collecting money from friends and relatives who now want their money back. For them, Sichuan Trust’s default is a calamity. ‘They’re so poor, they don’t have money to spend,’ said a relative of investors who lost money to the trust. ‘They don’t have money for medical treatment. They have to borrow money to survive.’ ‘The country said trusts are very safe, like banks,’ one of the people said. ‘We didn’t think there would be problems.’ Instead of enjoying their retirements, two of the people said, they’ve had to borrow money from relatives and cut back on their expenses. ‘We ordinary people are miserable,’ another investor said. ‘The corruption is so serious.'”

From Reuters. “Chased by debt collectors over a mortgage delinquency in a southern Chinese city, former finance worker Lei Xiaoyu no longer answers her phone as she tries to delay the inevitable. ‘It’s my only house and I don’t want it foreclosed. But what can I do?’ said the 38-year-old, who in late 2022 lost her job and stopped repaying the mortgage and credit card debt she took to buy a 1.3 million yuan ($181,139) home in Huizhou. ‘I feel like I wasted my youth,’ she said, regretting the purchase seven years ago.”

“The number of foreclosed homes in China rose 43% year-on-year in 2023 to 389,000, said China Index Academy, a major independent real estate research firm. More than 50,000 other units were foreclosed in January, up 64.4% year-on-year, the firm said. Lei is in no mood to spend money. She made about 40,000 yuan last year selling goods via livestreaming, not enough to make any of the 4,200 yuan monthly mortgage payments and barely enough for basic living expenses. ‘All the clothes I wear are from five years ago, but I’ve gained weight and many no longer fit me. My friend gave me one of her old coats. I haven’t travelled since 2017,’ said Lei. Not being able to support her mother who lives on a 3,000 yuan monthly pension upsets her the most.”

“The failures highlight the excess housing supply built up during the boom years of the property sector, which accounted for about a quarter of economic activity at its peak in 2021. Xin, a 30-year-old single mother from Zhumadian, in the central Henan province, lost her flat after she mortgaged it to start a child entertainment business, which failed within weeks due to COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020. The property, valued in 2019 at 310,000 yuan, was auctioned twice in the past year for the 170,000 yuan Xin owes to the bank, but failed to attract any bids. ‘Who would buy it? There are more than 10 flats up for auction in the same building,’ said Xin, who only gave her surname, citing privacy reasons.”

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This Post Has 68 Comments

  1. ‘All the clothes I wear are from five years ago, but I’ve gained weight and many no longer fit me’

    I knew it, yer eating expensive food Lei. You can’t eat and be a winnah!

  3. ‘In her State of the City address last week, Mayor London Breed, who is running for re-election in November, trumpeted the Warfield office-to-housing conversion project as part of her aim to restore the city’s ailing Downtown….‘Our first office conversion is actually happening right now, 34 new homes at the Warfield Building that would not be happening if we hadn’t stepped in, and more are coming’

    Apparently not mayor. They quit talking about how bay aryans went all in on offices years ago and now they’re fooked.

  4. ‘Brewer sold Ewing the land and was promised one of the townhouses. For now, he’s out $367,000. He says the Ewings are victims of high interest rates. ‘The people who are buying in and wanted to live there get hurt’

    Jerry broke it off in yer a$$ Kurt.

  5. 600 family dollar stores closing ,While Dollar General stores keep “Hatching out”,at about every rural corner….Family Dollar took on so much debt ,they are hardly able to pay the help, their paltry wages ….

    1. IIRC, Dollar General and Family Dollar are not true dollar stores; they’re cheapie stores where items were under $20. Only Dollar Tree sells everything for a doll — well I think it’s $1.29 now.

      I think Dollar General will be fine. Their city stores are probably shoplifted within an inch of their lives, but their rural stores are probably going gangbusters.

      Even Five Below, which is/was a $5 and below store, is now $5.55. And they’ve introduced a “Five Beyond” section of the store, which stock more expensive items.

      1. I think Dollar General will be fine.

        They have too much debt.

        When I was a kid the major store down on Main St was the Five & Dime. Ours was a Kresge’s. Prices hadn’t actually been 5c or 10c in half a century.

  6. Joe Biden’s America.

    New York Times — Migrant Children Sell Candy on the Subway. New York Has No Solutions (3/13/2024):

    “Of all the manifestations of human misery that the two-year-old migrant crisis has brought to New York City, few trouble the conscience more than the sight of children selling candy on the subway — sometimes during school hours, sometimes accompanied by parents, sometimes not.

    On trains and on social media, New Yorkers have asked: Isn’t this child labor? Is it illegal? Shouldn’t someone be doing something to help these children?

    Children between the ages of 6 and 17 are required to be in school. Children under 14 are not allowed to do most jobs. You can’t sell merchandise in the transit system without a permit.

    But whose job is it to do something? Recent queries to seven city and state agencies found the consensus to be “not mine.”

    https://archive.is/6jqvQ

    This is the Fundamental Transformation that you were promised. Make New York City into Tijuana.

    Related subject: multiple measles outbreaks across the country, import the third world, become the third world.

  7. The Joe Biden Economy.

    The Guardian — American dream of owning a home is dead, majority of renters say (3/12/2024):

    “The American dream of owning your own home is dead, according to the majority of renters surveyed in a new poll shared exclusively with the Guardian, and the areas they live in have become so unaffordable they are “barely livable”.

    The poll, conducted by the Harris Poll Thought Leadership and Future Practice, asked survey takers to identify themselves as renters or homeowners, along with other demographic information. Those polled were asked their opinion on home ownership in the United States. For many, especially renters, the outlook is bleak.

    Though the vast majority of renters polled said they want to own a home in the future, 61% said they are worried they will never be able to. A similar percentage believe no matter how hard they work, they’ll never be able to afford a home.

    “When you think about Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, and housing is right at that foundational level of security, the implications on consumer psyche when things feel so unaffordable is something that will impact everyone,” said Libby Rodney, chief strategy officer at Harris Poll. The American dream of owning a home “is looking more like a daydream for renters”.

    https://archive.is/PE4YY

    How’s that Build Back Better working out for all of you?

      1. Eight years ago, who could have imagined having a president who hated America more than Barack Hussein Obama?

        And now, here we are…

      2. +1

        – The absolute worst, and not elected, which probably has nothing to do with it. 🙃

  8. Biden Regime Providing Travel “Loans” to Illegals Using Nefarious UN Migration Scheme

    by Ethan Huff | Natural News
    March 13th 2024, 7:09 am

    As millions of American citizens struggle to make ends meet, the Biden regime is busy handing out “loans” to illegal alien migrants all around the world so they can travel to and enter the United States illegally.

    A program of the United Nations (UN) IOM Migration Program, which works in partnership with the United States Refugee Admissions Program, the Biden regime is handing out U.S. taxpayer cash to illegal aliens at zero interest. Once in the U.S., these illegal aliens never have to pay back their “loans.”

    According to the program’s website, the “penalty and interest-free loans” – which are not available to struggling American citizens, by the way – only require that illegals sign a promissory note prior to leaving their homelands promising to pay back the loan. Should they choose to never pay back the loans, there are no penalties attached.

    “Why does the House fund these programs?” asked someone on X. “CALL your representatives and tell them to STOP funding the INVASION – make yourselves HEARD.”

    “How is this not treason?” asked another.

    Another of the stated goals of the UN’s IOM program, backed by U.S. taxpayers, is to protect illegals who arrive in America from being taken advantage of by “abusive and predatory lending markets for those without credit worthiness.”

    When the program first started back in 1958, there were actual repayments required of arriving refugees, this being one of the conditions of entry. Today, illegals are basically being handed out PPP “loans” like the kind offered during the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) “pandemic” that never had to be repaid.

    https://www.infowars.com/posts/biden-regime-providing-travel-loans-to-illegals-using-nefarious-un-migration-scheme

    1. “How is this not treason?”

      It is treason. The Unelected Occupant in the White House and the entire Executive Branch of his administration are traitors.

      BTW, your Region should brace itself for a few million Haitians coming via boats soon, with the assistance and full support of the illegitimate occupation government.

      You are being replaced.

      You will be replaced.

      1. “BTW, your Region should brace itself for a few million Haitians coming via boats soon”

        Town of Palm Beach is going to have to beef up their police force because that’s usually where they show up when they have boat troubles.

        “Be Strong, Be of Good Courage. God Bless America,. Long Live the Republic!”

      2. BTW, your Region should brace itself for a few million Haitians coming via boats soon

        I have been wondering how that will be organized. Will the Coast Guard be sent to Haiti to bring them over? Will older cruise ships be hired to bring them over by the thousands on each trip, dumping their hordes into Ft. Lauderdale or Port Canaveral as ship after ship docks?

        The Camp of the Saints is happening.

  9. Country Garden Misses Yuan Bond Payment for First Time
    Builder hasn’t paid coupon for 4.8% yuan bond after extension
    Its slump in home sales has worsened amid winding-up fears
    The Phoenix Palace project, developed by Country Garden, in Guangdong province.
    Source: Bloomberg
    By Bloomberg News
    March 12, 2024 at 7:09 PM PDT
    Updated on March 13, 2024 at 1:11 AM PDT

    Country Garden Holdings Co. missed a coupon payment on a yuan bond for the first time, adding to the woes of the Chinese developer that is facing a lawsuit seeking its liquidation offshore.

    The builder’s main onshore unit hasn’t fully prepared a 96 million yuan ($13 million) coupon that came due on Tuesday for a 4.8% yuan bond maturing in 2026, the company said in a response to Bloomberg. There is a 30 trading-day grace period for the payment, it added.
    …
    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-03-13/country-garden-misses-yuan-bond-coupon-payment-for-first-time?embedded-checkout=true

  11. Have we ever had a president who apologized to an illegal for calling him illegal after he smashed a young bright nursing school student’s skull in?

  13. A reader sent these in:

    I’ve been warning about this for some time. Almost a quarter of the CPI basket is running > 1% m/m and well over a third > 40 bp m/m

    Now it’s obvious that Jerome Burns lined-up 2 policy mistakes since Dec. First his dovish pivot in Dec and then his dovish tone during his hearing, on the heels of what he implicitly and explicitly discarded as a one-off, the Jan CPI shock print.

    Well, we got a 2nd consecutive one-off, and the most important point here beyond the headline is that core disinflation progress was too narrow and it has now stalled.

    This should unambiguously lead to a substantial shift higher in the outer dots (25 and 26) as well as a change in tone by Burns. There is no credibility left to salvage, just avoid ridicule.

    https://twitter.com/INArteCarloDoss/status/1767532851199631587

    On 3m annualized basis, CPI core services ex-housing (“supercore”) increased by 6.9% in February

    https://twitter.com/LizAnnSonders/status/1767532339578409263

    That’s clearly going in the totally wrong direction for the Fed. Change the dots now before you go down in history as the worst bunch of clowns that ever were at the Fed and that’s a very tough contest to win, believe me

    https://twitter.com/INArteCarloDoss/status/1767534587477942720

    Powell tucked his tail and now risks becoming Arthur Burns 2.0…
    Yellen in total control. God speed.

    https://twitter.com/Geiger_Capital/status/1767538169598062612

    🚨Insider trade alert
    Mark Zuckerberg just sold another $78 million worth of $META stock
    That brings his total sales to nearly $1 billion this year
    Zuckerberg joins billionaires like Jeff Bezos and the Walton family cashing out big in 2024

    https://twitter.com/TrackInsiders_/status/1767575114986447304

    Whoops. Chances of rate cut ? ZERO!!

    https://twitter.com/great_martis/status/1767538095568629878

    🇦🇺 rents thru time

    https://twitter.com/psimpsonmorgan/status/1767274551132766359

    IBM today told employees in a roughly seven-minute meeting that it’s cutting significant jobs in its marketing and communications division.

    https://twitter.com/MacroEdgeRes/status/1767629218769178683

    Note from a laid off Cisco Manager to all, valid life lessons:

    “Just a quick 7 min Webex and a very long career is over. Even after serving my entire career, running a very large team, building software, minting $100+ Million in YOY revenue. Stuck with legacy technology knowledge no one wants in other companies with age that’s discriminated in tech companies.

    I am feeling like the biggest fool now and learned loyalty never pays.

    Hard Lessons-

    Self serve first. Corporate companies are not your friend. They are there to make money even if US citizens suffer. Cheap Indian ‘engineer’ will one day take your job anyway. Keep yourself relevant by learning market-relevant technologies. In today’s time, stick to open-source technologies. Do not work on proprietary technologies. In case you are stuck, have an exit plan.
    Do not be lured by false future promises. Stick to what can be compensated in the present. No one knows the future, not even your boss or his boss. You will be taken advantage of if you allow that to happen. Fight for your rights diplomatically if your personal situation allows else have an exit plan ready. Do not stay for more than 2 years in a place unless you see strong future growth
    Maintain a work-life balance. I regret this as time lost will never come back. Try getting a side income, you never know when your side hustle will turn out to be a life saver. Save as much as you can and invest wisely.”

    https://twitter.com/DonMiami3/status/1767612978679955747

    Target Corporation lays off about 300 in its corporate HQ office – targeting marketing, cuts may expand

    https://twitter.com/MacroEdgeRes/status/1767621881924837828

    My bp’s almost 90 year old grandmother just texted him “I would like to buy some AI stocks…. can you recommend?” Mania on steroids, LOL!

    https://twitter.com/DonMiami3/status/1767618967655366773

    Small business hiring plans and optimism plummeted in February amidst rising inflation & rising unemployment.

    https://twitter.com/MacroEdgeRes/status/1767554294029357302

    ARGENTINA CONSUMER PRICES +13.2% IN FEBRUARY VERSUS MONTH EARLIER – INDEC STATS AGENCY

    https://twitter.com/DeItaone/status/1767629783230255467

    Fed: Our new inflation target may be 3% but the top 1% are making 20% a year so stop complaining.

    https://twitter.com/zerohedge/status/1767644913921900804

    This aged well, @jeromehpowell

    “When a central bank undershoots its inflation target, Mr. Powell explained, it can promise to the public that it will overshoot in the future.” “It’s a great idea.” – Powell

    https://twitter.com/RudyHavenstein/status/1491787414511112203

    “The past 15 years, where we now have two generations of investors that have never seen a down market, and the view is that the government will never let stocks go down ever. History disagrees, but you get these moments in time where valuation doesn’t matter…”
    – Mike Taylor

    https://twitter.com/RudyHavenstein/status/1767639751140786194

    Jobs #Recession Map based on Regions, where unemployment surpasses +4% 📈
    – 🔴 economic downturn 📉.
    – 🟡 Signal about to slip in 📉.
    – 🟢 Offer a glimmer of hope amid prevailing uncertainties.

    https://twitter.com/1CoastalJournal/status/1767621881220534725

    Nordstrom to layoff 784 employees in California

    https://twitter.com/MacroEdgeRes/status/1767657138279620934

    PROPERTY INVESTOR LASALLE SAYS 30% OF EUROPEAN OFFICE SPACE MAY BE ‘OBSOLETE’ (Reuters)
    LaSalle Investment Management is reducing its exposure to offices in Europe and believes between 20% and 30% of office space in the region could be “obsolete”, the firm’s head of Europe said on Tuesday.

    https://twitter.com/Fxhedgers/status/1767680837976228232

    First 5 months of current fiscal year: $828B deficit
    First 5 months of last fiscal year: $722B deficit.

    That’s a 14.6% increase versus last year which ended in the highest deficit versus GDP in a non recessionary environment in history.

    https://twitter.com/NorthmanTrader/status/1767657790120538297

    The Fed keeps saying it wants to get the inflation rate back to 2%, but why is that the end goal? Why not keep monetary policy tight until the 11% additional inflation we’ve had since Jan 2020 above the 2% trendline is erased?

    https://twitter.com/charliebilello/status/1767571342243631293

    In just the month of February, the US government spent $567.4 billion

    https://twitter.com/MacroEdgeRes/status/1767694652499505437

    In the month of February, the US collected $271.1 BN, yet spent $567.4 BN. A $296.34 BN deficit in one month. Annualized that’s a ~$3.5 Trillion deficit.

    https://twitter.com/Geiger_Capital/status/1767643299416830019

    “We are absolutely going to cut entitlements in this country. It is a lie and it’s a fantasy to say we don’t have to cut entitlements. We either cut them now or we’re going to cut them later on. But if we cut them later, it will be much worse.” – Stanley Druckenmiller

    https://twitter.com/Geiger_Capital/status/1767644938743796165

    *NEW YORK LAWMAKERS PROPOSE TAX HIKE ON INCOMES OVER $5 MILLION

    Florida real estate, which is already limit up, went limit-est up.

    https://twitter.com/zerohedge/status/1767597228665839670

    The Austin building boom is bonkers

    https://twitter.com/jc_econ/status/1767688859809112395

    The president of Keller Williams Realty has resigned “to truly put God and family first” announcing the move as the firm lays off 30 senior employees

    https://twitter.com/MacroEdgeRes/status/1767765866077175858
    Not sure why people assume a 3-4% mortgage can’t go delinq. Many of those loans were approved with >40%dti. You include increases in taxes, hoi, HOA, increases in cc debt, car pmnts, groceries, etc… and you can see how many people may be living on the edge….

    https://twitter.com/mortgREtracker/status/1767148636859781242

    🇨🇦’s dumbest real estate metric: mortgage debt to net worth.
    It’s circular since it includes the bubble value of real estate.
    There’s a reason bank chief risk officers have said they no longer depend on the value of homes but a borrower’s repayment ability.

    https://twitter.com/StephenPunwasi/status/1767634819846988004

    Does The Federal Government SUPPORT Ongoing Mortgage Document Fraud?
    Because when something is so researched, so thoroughly studied, so well known so completely fcking OBVIOUS & the Government does NOTHING the only logical answer is they’re good with it
    It’s been years

    https://twitter.com/ronmortgageguy/status/1767539008928711005

    1. “In the month of February, the US collected $271.1 BN, yet spent $567.4 BN. A $296.34 BN deficit in one month. Annualized that’s a ~$3.5 Trillion deficit.”

      Keep paying those federal income taxes, cattle tax slaves.

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

    2. Almost a quarter of the CPI basket is running > 1% m/m

      The grocery store receipts do not lie. Food is getting more and more expensive.

    3. obs #Recession Map based on Regions

      Interesting, as Colorado is tagged as green (better than average). I keep hearing through the grapevine that people here are struggling to find work,.

      1. Colorado is in a doom spiral.

        Not just Denver metro but with all the anti-logic/business new laws, businesses and then people gonna be baling left and right.

        But hey, don’t worry the 70IQ replacements will take right over.

    4. We are absolutely going to cut entitlements in this country.

      Unpossible, the SS/Medicare types here assure us that all the working generations need to do is buckle down and pay off that $96 Trillion over the next 75 years, and everything will be fine.

  14. Canon City Daily Record in Colorado. “A Florence couple was not surprised when they learned a contractor they previously had done business with recently was arrested for allegedly defrauding more than $2 million from his customers.“

    – ADX (Supermax) Prison is there in Florence, CO. That’s convenient. Just throw the bum in there!

    “When I started asking for my money back and he was giving me a hard time, I said, ‘let’s just be honest with this, you don’t have the money to build this house. You just don’t. You have no money. If you did have money, the ground would have been broke.’”

    – Prison time would be a warning to future scammers. Right now everything is consequence-free. See PPP loan fraud, ERC fraud, Biden ‘elected’ President fraud, the Fed $ printing fraud (counterfeiting), Congress insider trading and other self-enrichment schemes, Boeing, etc. Consequences needed here. We’re living in a huge scam on many levels. Does anyone do honest work anymore?

    2. “Does anyone do honest work anymore?”

      Personally, I’d like to see every plumber, electrician, HVAC technician in every blue city in the country go on strike for six months.

      The cannibals who will be kicking your door in won’t be asking for your preferred pronouns, soft city hands useful idiots…

      1. Personally, I’d like to see every plumber, electrician, HVAC technician in every blue city in the country go on strike for six months.

        Unlike you, most of them are up to their eyeballs in debt with no savings. How well did the NYC trucker boycott work?

      2. Every tech who does work on my house gets a $25 gift card to the Shell station and a can of SBUX mocha doubleshot. They are more deserving of tips than the yahoo at the smoothie shop.

  15. “Experts”

    CNBC — U.S. legal immigration policy should prioritize the economy, experts argue (3/13/2024):

    “Most other developed nations in the world have a much higher percentage of their immigration system based on economics,” according to Theresa Cardinal Brown, a senior advisor on immigration and border policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center.

    The U.S. legal immigration system is in dire need of reform to make it work for the U.S. economy, experts say.

    “I think the limitations for the numbers of annual immigrants was last updated in 1990 when our population was smaller and when the kinds of work that we did in this country was different,” Brown said.

    Simon Hankinson, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, said, “What I would like to see are reforms to make the majority of people who come here legally as immigrants to come because our economy needs them.”

    https://www.cnbc.com/2024/03/13/us-legal-immigration-system-doesnt-prioritize-the-economy.html

    Do you live in a sovereign nation with its own distinct culture, language, and border?

    These globalists consider the United States and its native population as nothing more than an Economic Zone, structured as a one way wealth transfer to the money handlers, the money counters, the money fondlers, the practitioners of usury, the Parasite Class.

    1. The U.S. legal immigration system is in dire need of reform to make it work for the U.S. economy, experts say.

      I have a relative who keeps asking “What are they thinking?” regarding all of the destructive government policies. He has a hard time understanding that economic collapse is the goal. I have introduced him to Cloward-Piven, but he refuses to accept it.

      1. [From Wikipedia: The Cloward–Piven strategy

        [Some snips …]

        The Cloward–Piven strategy is a political strategy outlined in 1966 by American sociologists and political activists Richard Cloward and Frances Fox Piven. It is the strategy of forcing political change to societal collapse through orchestrated crises. The “Cloward-Piven Strategy” seeks to hasten the fall of capitalism by overloading the government bureaucracy with a flood of impossible demands, amassing massive unpayable national debt, and other methods such as unfettered immigration, thus pushing society into crisis and economic collapse.

        [snip…]

        In papers published in 1971 and 1977,[6] Cloward and Piven argued that mass unrest in the United States, especially between 1964 and 1969, did lead to a massive expansion of welfare rolls, though not to the guaranteed-income program that they had hoped for.[7] Political scientist Robert Albritton disagreed, writing in 1979 that the data did not support this thesis; he offered an alternative explanation for the rise in welfare caseloads.

        In his 2006 book Winning the Race, political commentator John McWhorter attributed the rise in the welfare state after the 1960s to the Cloward–Piven strategy, but wrote about it negatively, stating that the strategy “created generations of black people for whom working for a living is an abstraction”.[8]

        According to historian Robert E. Weir in 2007: “Although the strategy helped to boost recipient numbers between 1966 and 1975, the revolution its proponents envisioned never transpired.”[

        1. [More …]

          Collapsing The System On Purpose: The Cloward Piven Strategy

          https://www.theglobaldispatch.com/collapsing-system-on-purpose-cloward-piven-61127/

          [snip snip …]

          Inspired by the August 1965 riots in the black district of Watts in Los Angeles (which erupted after police had used batons to subdue a black man suspected of drunk driving), Cloward and Piven published an article titled “The Weight of the Poor: A Strategy to End Poverty” in the May 2, 1966 issue of The Nation.

          Following its publication, The Nation sold an unprecedented 30,000 reprints. Activists were abuzz over the so-called “crisis strategy” or “Cloward-Piven Strategy,” as it came to be called. Many were eager to put it into effect.

          In their 1966 article, Cloward and Piven charged that the ruling classes used welfare to weaken the poor; that by providing a social safety net, the rich doused the fires of rebellion. Poor people can advance only when “the rest of society is afraid of them,” Cloward told The New York Times on September 27, 1970.

          Rather than placating the poor with government hand-outs, wrote Cloward and Piven, activists should work to sabotage and destroy the welfare system; the collapse of the welfare state would ignite a political and financial crisis that would rock the nation; poor people would rise in revolt; only then would “the rest of society” accept their demands.

          [There is more, much more. Go to the link to read it.]

  16. “There are some buyers saying, ‘Hey, maybe I can pick one of those ones that are close to being completed but for a much better price because those people have to sell, and they can’t close.’ So, there’s a bit of turbulence in the market,’ Lusink said.”

    “…but for a much better price because those people have to sell,…”

    – House price set at the margin. Comps drive price on the way up, and also on the way down.

    – This is economics. This is a global housing bubble.

    – Price is sticky to the upside right now in the U.S. ~80% locked in at sub-3% pandemic rates. Prices still at 3% rates, but rates at ~7% (6.94% today). Not sustainable. Housing is largely unaffordable. Existing house sellers (the majority of the market) are trying to wait it out; waiting for lower rates…

    – Some will need to sell. Death, divorce, debt, illness / disability, job loss, retirement / downsizing.

    – The economy, including recession (when, not if) affects employment and stonks, which are major factors in house price.

    – The global housing market has been turned into a gigantic gambling casino by guberments and their enabling central banks, along with the degenerate gamblers trading shacks between each other. No value add. No wealth creation. Only asset bubbles inflating and bursting. BTW, the “house” always wins! 🙂

    The U.S. has stonk and bond bubbles to add to this. Global debt is out the wazoo. I’m sure this is fine.

    1. around here (in the middle of nowhere). Listings are up (even over same time frame last year), under contract is about same percentage but closings are WAYYYYYYYYYYY down. Feb was about 1/2 of what’s been “normal” for the 2 years I’ve been watching and March ain’t doing much either. Heard from a couple people that they are going to put their houses on the market in April/May. I expect it to start snowballing soon.

      Prices have barely moved. I can’t understand what these people are thinking. If you put it on in December and you haven’t gotten an offer, your price is too high, end of story. You have to get ahead of the crowd.

      And that’s for the people that are in the ballpark. Some fo these sellers are just insane. I’ve actually seen relistings (new realtor? took the holidays off?) with price INCREASES. No idea what they are thinking.

      I have lots of popcorn.

        2. Selling takes very little time. You can always retire later. But this $73K won’t be there forever.

  18. $22 burrito helps San Francisco restaurant break even from inflation, owner says

    The owner of La Vaca Birria says it’s not an attempt to make more money, but an attempt to continue to break even as prices for everything rise.

    When you walk into the restaurant, it smells, “either like birria, or charcoal,” said Ricardo Lopez, owner of La Vaca Birria.

    For the last two years, he has operated the spot — built out of a former record store in the Mission.

    The only problem is, the price of nearly everything he uses to make his food has gone up. Like onions for example.

    “Before COVID, they were like $9 a sack at Restaurant Depot, I used to pick them up. During COVID, and after, it was $40 dollars. Right now, it’s $80,” said Lopez.

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/22-burrito-helps-san-francisco-restaurant-break-even-from-inflation-owner-says/ar-BB1jN5xL

    1. Right now, it’s $80,” said Lopez.

      Please, Mr. Lopez, please tell me that you won’t be pulling the D lever this November, because if you do then you deserve everything that is happening to you.

  19. SmartLabs will close its two Bay Area labs and coworking spaces as part of a broader pullback from the West Coast, the San Francisco Business Times reported.

    The company will focus on East Coast markets “where the company can bring the greatest strategic value based on current market dynamics,” SmartLabs said in a statement.

    SmartLabs will vacate two locations, including the Tower Place site in South San Francisco and another site at Gateway Boulevard that was never operational, the Business Times reported.

    SmartLabs will vacate 200K SF in its exit from the Bay Area market, per the Business Times.

    The Boston-based company offers research and development and manufacturing solutions in their lab spaces, which biotech and life sciences companies can use as their own offices and labs. More than 120 companies use SmartLabs’ solutions.

    The news of SmartLabs shuttering its West Coast sites comes just two months after the company announced that it had raised $48M in Series C financing.

    Its San Francisco site was mentioned in the funding news, and the company cited “sustained growth moving forward.”

    That growth will not be on the West Coast after all.

    SmartLabs plans to focus on the “strategic realignment of investment priorities towards the East Coast.”

    https://www.bisnow.com/san-francisco/news/life-sciences/smartlabs-will-close-south-san-francisco-locations-123313

  22. ‘once they finally got access, they noticed that no work had started. ‘That’s when I started asking for my money back,’ Rick Wallen said. ‘When I started asking for my money back and he was giving me a hard time, I said, ‘let’s just be honest with this, you don’t have the money to build this house. You just don’t. You have no money. If you did have money, the ground would have been broke’

    I bet that was an awkward moment Rick.

  26. Meet one of your Masters.

    Holy sh#t!

    James O’Keefe
    @JamesOKeefeIII

    BREAKING INSIDE THE PENTAGON: Associate Director in the Office of the Secretary of Defense says, “Why not just have an open border?” “Tear down the wall.”

    “I think we should repeal the Second Amendment and take the guns all away!” says Jason Beck, who has a classified security clearance and works for the Department of Defense. Beck, who uses a fake name Aiden Grey in his meetings with a disguised James O’Keefe, describes his extremist policies, including “mobilizing the national guard” to confiscate guns from people’s homes. Beck says he wants a “monopoly on state violence,” a concept he describes as “‘We {the government), are the only ones with guns.”

    Jason Beck works in Total Force Requirements & Sourcing Policy in the Office of
    @SecDef
    Lloyd Austin. This office oversees the
    @DeptofDefense
    and acts as the principal defense policy maker and adviser to the President of the United States. Beck says he helps “writes answers for testimony” of “the department’s senior leadership – basically they go over to the Hill for hearings on the department’s posture.”

    In this shocking footage we get an INSIDE look as Jason Beck tells James O’Keefe, “we need to pack the Supreme court,” ban the United States Senate, and abolish the electoral college. He also discusses his “bottom surgery’ being painful and the changes to his plumbing.

    FULL STORY BELOW

    https://x.com/JamesOKeefeIII/status/1768009862963728480?s=20

    1. Economy
      Nearly everyone has given up on their recession call, and that makes the outlook ‘dangerously reminiscent’ of 2007, SocGen says
      Jennifer Sor
      Mar 13, 2024, 10:24 AM ET
      Stock market crash
      Getty Images

      -:Recession views are dangerously similar to those in 2007, SocGen’s Albert Edwards said.

      – Edwards sounded the alarm for a potential downturn, pointing to signs of weakness in the US economy.

      – Soft landing or no landing outlooks are growing on Wall Street as the US appears on solid economic footing.
      …
      https://www.businessinsider.com/recession-outlook-economy-hard-landing-jobs-market-growth-2024-3

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