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It’s Like We’re Living In An Abandoned Area

It’s Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. “Mountain Green condo owners voted in favor of a $50 million assessment to bring the building into the 21st Century, but some longtime owners said their quarterly payments will be so high they can’t afford it and they will be forced out. Helen Werns, who retired last March, said she has to go back to work to afford her condo. She has owned her 750-square-foot unit for 30 years. The assessment will cost her about $7,000 a quarter. Her mortgage will be paid off this year, but the assessment will cost her $200,000 in the end. ‘It’s just like buying a new condo,’ she said. ‘I was planning to leave this condo in a body bag. I don’t know how that’s all going to work now.’ Many owners are trying to sell their condos. There were 24 units on the market at the end of March. Havlicek and others are concerned their condos won’t sell, leaving her no options.”

“Representing Asheville-area brokers, Land of the Sky Association of Realtors has partnered with the North Carolina Realtors Association to fund a media campaign meant to challenge a potential ban on short-term vacation rentals. Chip Craig founded Greybeard in 1999. The real estate management company employs over 100 full- and part-time workers and manages 500 long-term rentals and 250 short-term vacation rentals. Craig and other realtors maintain that banning future STRs will impact the area in a multitude of ways. ‘It won’t be immediate,’ said Craig. ‘But they will kill our economy.'”

“You may have seen the signs of discontent. Literally, yard signs that say, ‘This is a single family home neighborhood. Short term vacation rentals not welcome here.’ ‘They have been a problem since the start of it, I’m talking 2009 and 10,’ said Terry Cantrell, who lives in Hollywood Lakes, where there are at least a dozen short-term rental properties in the neighborhood. ‘For our neighborhood, it’s noise, safety issues, because we have children and dogs, and they speed all over the place, they drink, and it’s just horrible,’ said Denise Reiter, standing on her front porch in the Floranada neighborhood of Fort Lauderdale. Reiter said there are eight short-term rental homes in her immediate neighborhood. Last month, a man was shot and killed at one of them, and it happened next door to Reiter’s house. It’s one of at least 38 shootings at vacation rental homes in Florida since 2019.”

“During a debate on the bill in the Florida Senate, Sen. Jason Pizzo asked why hotels are empowered to deal with problems while neighborhoods have no recourse when it comes to homes essentially becoming hotels. ‘And a hotel wouldn’t put up with it for 15 minutes, the loitering and lingering and drunkenness and drugs and pornographic films being shot in the backyard, poolside, where every other neighbor can see it as it’s going on, a hotel wouldn’t allow it, so my constituents want to know why it’s allowed in their neighborhood,’ Pizzo said.”

“Just in time for the summer season, a massive oceanfront Hamptons estate is unofficially on the market for $85 to $90 million. The seller is Barton ‘Mark’ Perlbinder, a third-generation New York real estate scion. The Sagaponack home, at 635 Daniels Lane, sits on 5.1 acres. Insiders say that Mark Perlbinder is in a bind and needs to sell. Others say it’s just time — and the price is now more ‘realistic.’ That’s because the house was asking a grand $150 million last year in what’s known as a ‘pocket’ or ‘whisper’ listing, meaning it’s not publicly listed for sale. ‘Like now, that number was never written anywhere, but that’s the number that was circulating,’ an insider said. ‘Now it’s time to sell the house and move on. It came time for a serious conversation for finding a buyer and coming up with a more realistic price.’ Perlbinder’s ‘legal and financial woes’ include a 2014 arrest for allegedly picking up cocaine and illegal prescription drugs in the Hamptons, according to reports.”

“Modular homebuilding startup Veev, which is on the verge of shutting down, has allegedly defaulted on a planned 50-unit apartment complex in San Francisco’s Mission District. The Hayward-based company, which reached unicorn status in 2022, is accused of falling behind on loan payments for 1721 15th Street in Mission Dolores. The project was proposed as a three-property prefabricated housing complex that would replace the former location of Jay’s Auto Body Center. The biggest piece of the assemblage was a six-story, 46-unit building along 15th Street, according to a previous report from Mission Local. The alleged default comes just months after the company informed staff of its impending closure. In a statement published in Calcalist, the company attributed the closure to a sudden cancellation of a capital-raising initiative. The company’s fortunes have soured compared to just two years ago, when it raised $400 million in a Series D round to reach unicorn status. Since it was founded in 2008, the firm has raised a total of $600 million.”

“California’s unemployment rate was the nation’s highest in February, as the high cost of living and the loss of construction, machinery and agriculture jobs hit hard. The state’s jobless rate in February, the latest data available, was 5.3%, up from 5.2% in January and 4.5% a year earlier. ‘Tech used to be the workhorse of the state’s economy. It is no longer true,’ said Sung Won Sohn, president of SS Economics in Los Angeles. ‘California is at the leading edge of the national economic slowdown.'”

“While the effects of the pandemic on private sector office usage have become increasingly clear, the future of the federal footprint is still largely up in the air. Federal government agencies are using just 12% of the space in their headquarters buildings on average. ‘It shows that those decisions are not getting made,’ Dan Mathews, who oversaw the federal government’s real estate portfolio under the Trump administration and is now a member of the PBRB, said of the report. ‘The buildings are mostly empty.’ Last year, the Patent and Trademark Office vacated two of its five buildings in Alexandria, reducing its footprint from 2.4M SF to 1.6M SF. The National Labor Relations Board is planning to cut its 153K SF in D.C.’s Navy Yard area by at least 40% when its lease expires in 2025. The Department of Justice sent out a solicitation that sought to reduce 150K SF of its office space at NoMa’s Constitution Square in 2025.”

“Mary Walker said she got a ‘bit of shock’ when she opened up a piece of mail from the City of Toronto last month, informing her that she owed more than $2,500 in taxes for the ‘vacant’ Scarborough condo where she currently resides. She said she was hit with the unexpected tax bill after she failed to make her Vacant Home Tax declaration for 2023 and the city deemed her condo unoccupied. Walker is one of many Toronto homeowners who now find themselves in a similar situation. Sophie Lem, a Riverdale resident, said she too was unaware that the declaration had to be made every year. Last month, she said she received a Vacant Home Tax bill for more than $12,000. ‘I’m just furious, and I’m upset, and distressed at the same time,’ she said.”

“It was to be their dream home. Rosy and Michael McGrowder were packing up to move into their new 2,600-square-foot custom-built house when they got a call that would roil their lives and cost them hundreds of thousands of dollars. On the phone that October 2022 day was a lender for their builder. The McGrowders were told if they wanted to close on the sale of their home the following week, they’d have to pay an additional $300,000 — one-third of their original purchase price. The builder, Mike Bettiol of Mariman Homes, had defaulted on payments to his mortgage holders, the lender told them. To try to recoup costs, his lenders were looking to get a higher price for the McGrowders’ newly completed home in the Hunter Estates subdivision in Scotland, Ont., a 21-lot slice of serenity in a small community 20 kilometres southwest of Brantford.”

“It was a sickening feeling, Rosy said. ‘We were just in a very depressed state.’ It turns out, they weren’t alone. ‘He messed up our life,’ said Rosy, with Michael adding that moving into their dream home was ‘nothing short of a nightmare.’ Because the McGrowders were building their ‘dream home,’ they spent an additional $120,000 over and above the purchase price for custom upgrades. This was paid upfront to Mariman Homes and the cabinetry company, Michael said. Walking away would have meant forfeiting that — not to mention thousands of dollars worth of fixtures and appliances they had already moved into the house — including a hot water heater, spa bidet toilets, exterior door locks and light fixtures, which they were skeptical they’d get back. ‘So that would have put us out quite a bit,’ Rosy said.”

“Today, Hunter Estates is a patchwork of nine beautiful homes, dotted among empty, overgrown lots in the stalled development. ‘It’s like we’re living in an abandoned area,’ Rosy told The Spectator.”

“Louth County Council will not be buying five houses that didn’t sell under the affordable purchase scheme at the Cois Farraige development at Blackrock for social housing, councillors were told at the April meeting of Dundalk Municipal Distriction. Ten houses in the development had been available under the affordable purchase scheme for first-time buyers and others who cannot afford a mortgage to buy a house at its market rate. While there had been eleven applications for people interested in the scheme, only five houses were eventually sold. The unsold houses will now revert to the developer to sell on the open market, Senior Executive Officer John Lawrence said.”

“Cllr Marianne Butler recalled that after the crash, the Council had ended up buying affordable houses and using them for social housing. She wondered if there was ‘any chance that we could buy these and use them as social housing.’ ‘We’re not going to do that,’ replied Mr Lawrence. He said that in the past when the Council had looked to acquire property and sell it on as social housing, it had caused a lot of unhappiness that they had bought units that they couldn’t sell.”

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This Post Has 115 Comments

  1. ‘said she has to go back to work to afford her condo. She has owned her 750-square-foot unit for 30 years. The assessment will cost her about $7,000 a quarter. Her mortgage will be paid off this year, but the assessment will cost her $200,000 in the end. ‘It’s just like buying a new condo,’ she said. ‘I was planning to leave this condo in a body bag. I don’t know how that’s all going to work now’

    Helen lives in Vermont, probably with her body bag.

    2. Helen lives in Vermont,

      So now we have Condo owners in FL, KY and VT totally screwed.
      Gonna be lots of homeless boomers. Anyone need a nanny? Might be pretty cheap to get one in the near future

      1. Baby births are way down to, so not much nanny work. Parents would probably get a migrant newcomer to be nanny anyway. Even cheaper, and the kid learns Spanish to boot.

  2. ‘Today, Hunter Estates is a patchwork of nine beautiful homes, dotted among empty, overgrown lots in the stalled development. ‘It’s like we’re living in an abandoned area’

    You do live in an abandoned area Rosy.

  3. Many owners are trying to sell their condos. There were 24 units on the market at the end of March.

    Gosh, how can any would-be buyers resist jumping on such an incredible opportunity to build generational wealth?

  4. You will own nothing.

    Seriously, nothing.

    You will be grateful for what nothing you have, and you will be happy.

  5. ‘the company’s fortunes have soured compared to just two years ago, when it raised $400 million in a Series D round to reach unicorn status. Since it was founded in 2008, the firm has raised a total of $600 million’

    ‘Tech used to be the workhorse of the state’s economy. It is no longer true…California is at the leading edge of the national economic slowdown’

    That’s because all you guys seem capable of is losing massive amounts of money Sung.

    1. Since it was founded in 2008, the firm has raised a total of $600 million’

      There’s no telling where all the money went 🎶

  6. Craig and other realtors maintain that banning future STRs will impact the area in a multitude of ways. ‘It won’t be immediate,’ said Craig. ‘But they will kill our economy.’”

    An extinction-level event for speculator scum is glorious, as it will make housing more affordable for locals and workers who are currently forced to live in their cars or commute long distances because of being priced out of STR-saturated localities.

  7. ‘And a hotel wouldn’t put up with it for 15 minutes, the loitering and lingering and drunkenness and drugs and pornographic films being shot in the backyard, poolside, where every other neighbor can see it as it’s going on’

    But how’s the walk-ability Jason?

    1. Strategies
      The Market May Have Finally Hit a Real Record, but It Could Be a Problem

      Robert Shiller, the Nobel laureate, says valuations adjusted for high inflation suggest stock returns for the next decade are likely to be modest.

      A rectangular computer-processing unit sits on a shelf.
      Tech stocks like Nvidia, the chip designer, have been shooting straight into the stratosphere, fueled by enthusiasm for artificial intelligence.
      Credit…Christie Hemm Klok for The New York Times
      By Jeff Sommer

      Jeff Sommer writes Strategies, a weekly column on markets, finance and the economy.
      April 5, 2024
      Updated 8:44 a.m. ET

      It’s been a splendid run for the market — so emphatically great that in just the first three months of the year, the S&P 500 climbed to record highs on 22 separate days.

      Most people who have looked at their stock portfolios this year have had the pleasant experience of seeing increases in their holdings, and countless news reports and analyses from financial gurus have talked optimistically about the market’s powerful upward momentum.

      But what most reports and commentary haven’t pointed out is that because inflation has also climbed sharply over the last few years, the value of stock prices has eroded, along with nearly everything else in the economy. When you factor in inflation, the stock market did not actually reach new heights.
      …
      https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/05/business/inflation-stock-market-peak-shiller.html

    2. Yahoo Finance
      Reuters Videos
      US stock market is making me ‘very nervous’ -CIO
      Reuters Videos
      Updated Fri, Apr 5, 2024, 1:35 PM PDT

      STORY: Rathbun also sees a potential warning sign for stocks coming from the bond market.

      “The other thing is, there’s some defaults happening in the corporate bond market,” Rathbun explained. “In fact, the corporate default bankruptcy rate is now the highest year-to-date since 2009. So when we see these things, it’s very difficult to think that the market can continue to go up given the high valuation and potential challenges for the fundamentals of the stock market in the rest of the year.”
      …
      https://finance.yahoo.com/video/u-stock-market-making-very-203555953.html

  9. ‘the house was asking a grand $150 million last year in what’s known as a ‘pocket’ or ‘whisper’ listing, meaning it’s not publicly listed for sale. ‘Like now, that number was never written anywhere, but that’s the number that was circulating,’ an insider said. ‘Now it’s time to sell the house and move on. It came time for a serious conversation for finding a buyer and coming up with a more realistic price.’ Perlbinder’s ‘legal and financial woes’ include a 2014 arrest for allegedly picking up cocaine and illegal prescription drugs in the Hamptons’

    Great, another NY ‘alleged’ crack head in a bind.

    1. Great, another NY ‘alleged’ crack head in a bind

      Gotta make sure the dealers get paid. I am pretty sure they don’t play nice in the sandbox.

  10. The Hayward-based company, which reached unicorn status in 2022, is accused of falling behind on loan payments for 1721 15th Street in Mission Dolores.

    These “unicorns” and “industry disruptors” were only possible in a world awash with central bank funny money. When the financial reckoning day can no longer be deferred with a tsunami of Yellen Bux “stimulus,” the wipeout of fake wealth created by fake money is going to be stupendous.

  11. Does the jobs report suggest that inflation is contained and the Fed will soon be able to get on with the rate cuts Wall Street is banking on?

      1. Do they show up in official stats?

        Regardless, a booming economy should offer opportunities for illegal and legal workers alike: A rising tide lifts all boats.

        1. Official? What’s official about them? Do any of us even come close to believing to nonsense data that get spewed our direction? We call out China and others for disseminating false data but c’mon, we’re just as bad. Mass manipulation.

        2. I seem to recall an recent article that documented that almost all new jobs in the past few years went to immigrants, some legal, others illegal.

          As for raising illegals’ boats: No, just no. They need to go home. We should get to choose and vet who migrates into our country, and not reward law breakers.

    2. United States
      2 April 2024
      2 min read

      Subtle signs of a cooling jobs US market will aid the Fed’s inflation fight

      The number of job vacancies remains elevated, but is moving into better balance with the supply of available workers. Meanwhile a slowing quit rates suggests a broader cooling is happening, which implies a moderation in labour cost growth that will help ease broader inflation fears.
      …
      https://think.ing.com/snaps/subtle-signs-of-a-cooling-jobs-market-will-aid-the-feds-inflation-fight/

    3. Today’s jobs report shows economy added booming 303K jobs in March, unemployment at 3.8%
      Paul Davidson
      USA TODAY

      Can anything slow down the U.S. labor market?

      Hiring accelerated in March as employers added a booming 303,000 jobs despite high interest rates, stubborn inflation and growing household financial stress.

      The unemployment fell from 3.9% to 3.8%, the Labor Department said Friday.

      Economists surveyed by Bloomberg had estimated that 213,000 jobs were added last month.
      …
      https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2024/04/05/march-jobs-report-numbers/73203899007/

      1. Aren’t these job reports always heavily revised downwards later, and ignored by the media when that happens?

    4. Financial Times
      Federal Reserve
      Federal Reserve’s inflation fight is ‘not done’, says Jay Powell
      US central bank needs ‘greater confidence’ before cutting interest rates, chair says
      Jay Powell speaking at Stanford University
      Federal Reserve chair Jay Powell: ‘The outlook is still quite uncertain, and we face risks on both sides’
      James Politi in Washington
      April 3 2024

      Jay Powell said the Federal Reserve’s job of bringing down inflation was “not yet done” and the US central bank needed “greater confidence” that price pressures were easing before cutting interest rates, striking a cautious tone on any quick changes to monetary policy.

      Powell’s comments at Stanford University’s Business School on Wednesday come after the latest projections from Fed officials in March showed they expected to cut rates by 0.75 of a percentage point this year, down from its 23-year high of 5.25 per cent to 5.5 per cent.

      But strong data on the labour market, and signs of stubbornly high inflation, have cast doubt on those forecasts.
      …

    1. The new jobs numbers don’t suggest inflation or rates are going down any time soon. What form of delusion fuels the REIC’s bottomless rate cut optimism?

      1. Housing Market Stung by Latest Mortgage Rate Update
        Published Apr 04, 2024 at 6:18 PM EDT
        By Alexander Fabino
        Reporter, Economy & Finance

        Homebuyers hoping to capture a lower mortgage rate on the back of the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates in 2024 may have to wait a little longer.

        The housing market, still rebounding from COVID-induced inflationary pressures and the Fed’s rate hikes aimed at stabilization, was eyeing relief from three projected policy adjustments later this year. However, the prospect of those reduced rates dimmed Thursday after Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank President Neel Kashkari said that the inflation data the Fed is seeing doesn’t correspond with its anticipated patterns.

        Kashkari, in an interview with Pensions & Investments, opened up about the Fed’s predicament.

        “There’s a lot of uncertainty about what’s happening in the economy right now,” he said, noting that the reopening of the economy post-COVID has challenged the Fed’s forecasting abilities, leading to a reliance on inflation data over traditional models which, according to him, “are not describing the inflationary dynamics that we’re seeing right now.”

        “The disinflation we saw in the second half of last year primarily came from the supply side of the economy improving,” Kashkari noted. However, he expressed concern over recent inflation data, stating, “The last couple months of inflation data has been a little bit concerning, more moving sideways than continuing to fall.”

        That observation casts doubt on the expected trajectory towards the Fed’s 2 percent inflation target, complicating future policy decisions that would have a positive effect on mortgage rates.

        Kashkari’s uncertainty was echoed in his stance on interest rate cuts. “In March, I had jotted down two rate cuts this year if inflation continues to fall back towards our 2 percent target,” he revealed. Yet, the persistently high inflation has made him reconsider, “But if we continue to see inflation moving sideways, then that would make me question whether we needed to do those rate cuts at all.”
        …
        https://www.newsweek.com/housing-market-mortgage-rate-stall-fed-cuts-unlikely-1887133

      2. Business
        Stock market today: Asian shares mostly decline after Wall Street drop on rate cut concerns
        By YURI KAGEYAMA
        Updated 9:07 PM PDT, April 4, 2024

        TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares mostly declined Friday after a U.S. Federal Reserve official said the central bank might not deliver any of the interest rate cuts that Wall Street has been banking on this year, citing concerns about inflation.

        Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 dove 2.4% to 38,812.24. Sydney’s S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.8% to 7,756.20. South Korea’s Kospi dropped nearly 1.0% to 2,714.84. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 0.8% to 16,594.79.

        Tensions in the Middle East added to the sense of pessimism. But some analysts suggested the Fed may cut rates at least once later this year.

        “Already there are distinct signs of cooling in economic activity and conditions for sustained wage pressures,” said Tan Jing Yi at Mizuho Bank in Singapore.

        On Wall Street, the S&P 500 dropped 1.2% for its worst day in seven weeks. Earlier in the day, a gain of nearly 1% had brought it to the cusp of its record set last week.

        The Dow Jones Industrial Average swung 530 points lower, or 1.4%, after reversing a rise of nearly 300 points. The Nasdaq composite fell 1.4%.

        Financial markets were already on edge as traders made their final moves ahead of a U.S. jobs report on Friday that could also shake the market.
        …
        https://apnews.com/article/stock-markets-inflation-c044d61408190a1a283ecbe3959272c1

      3. Markets
        Fed’s Kashkari raises prospect of zero rate cuts — but Goldman says that would be ‘very surprising’
        Published Fri, Apr 5 2024 6:31 AM EDT
        Updated 3 Hours Ago
        Sam Meredith

        Key Points

        – Goldman Sachs Chief Economist Jan Hatzius said he still expects three interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve this year.

        – His comments came shortly after Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari became the latest high-profile official to float the possibility of zero rate reductions in 2024 if inflation remained sticky.

        – “I would be quite surprised if we didn’t get rate cuts this year. Quite surprised,” Hatzius told CNBC on Friday.
        …
        https://www.cnbc.com/2024/04/05/top-goldman-economist-downplays-prospect-of-zero-fed-rate-cuts-in-2024.html

    2. Same with savings accounts, 401Ks, 529s, inheritances. Even if they can’t achieve their dream of You Will Own Nothing, they will make damn sure that you don’t own even a dime over what you need.

  18. “If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks…will deprive the people of all property until their children wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered…. The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs.” – Thomas Jefferson in the debate over the Re-charter of the Bank Bill (1809)

    http://www.themoneymasters.com/the-money-masters/famous-quotations-on-banking/

  19. For the legal eagles:

    Tesla wants to prove an Apple engineer was playing a game on his phone when his Model X smashed into a safety barrier.

    Tesla is going to court next week over the role its Autopilot system played in a fatal crash in 2018 — and it wants Apple to testify in its defense.

    The trial is a major test for Tesla’s ongoing legal efforts to pin crashes involving Autopilot on driver inattention. Tesla’s strategy has been successful in previous trials in which it has avoided culpability in at least two wrongful death suits.

    https://www.theverge.com/2024/4/4/24121014/tesla-apple-huang-autopilot-wrongful-death-trial

  20. Jobs releases like today’s could be confusing for Wall Street traders: Should I cheer the signs of economic strength, or mourn the dwindling prospects for rate cuts?

    But given the “all news is good” tenor of today’s stock market, traders are partying like it’s 1999.

  21. For many employees at Apple, recent days have been filled with uncertainty and apprehension as the company revealed its plans for significant layoffs in California. This announcement marks a significant shift for the tech giant, representing its first major downsizing move since the pandemic began.

    The news hit hard for 614 workers spread across eight different facilities in Santa Clara. These individuals, ranging from machine shop managers to hardware and product design engineers, now face the daunting prospect of job loss. The official notifications went out on March 28, informing employees of the impending changes set to take effect from May 27.

    Adding to the complexity of the situation is Apple’s recent decision to cancel a long-standing project centered on developing an electric, self-driving car under the Special Projects Group. While specifics regarding the affected projects remain undisclosed, speculation suggests that smaller, satellite offices housing potentially secretive initiatives are bearing the brunt of these cuts.

    https://techstory.in/apple-lays-off-600-employees-after-closing-its-car-project/

    1. And while the government’s job reports paints a rosy picture, those laid off will have a hard time finding a comparable job, and if they do, it will almost certainly pay a lot less.

      1. Also many of those folks living in tents don’t count. They are ‘discouraged workers’, excluded from unemployment statistics because they are out of the labor force if not actively seeking employment. Conversely, homeless people who work count as ’employed’.

    2. “…the company revealed its plans for significant layoffs in California.”

      Oh snap! I guess all those Apple workers whom the local relitters kept warning us would soon be snapping up 40 year old homes in our area at $1+ million price tags may not show up.

    3. “…centered on developing an electric, self-driving car under the Special Projects Group.”

      Does it pencil out to buy an EV at a premium price, given higher-for-longer interest rates?

  22. This is a single family home neighborhood. Short term vacation rentals not welcome here.

    Restrictive covenants, people. It’s the time-honored solution. As in, English Common Law. Developed loooong before anyone ever heard of AirBNB.

      2. Nope. Do some real research. If you read Wikipedia it’s all racism bla bla bla. But most restrictive covenants have nothing to do with race.

        1. You misinterpreted my point. When a family of foreigners moves in and then moves their entire extended family in, you will see that these things only apply to white people regardless of what they may have signed on the way in. Your ‘community’ wont have the stones to move them along.

        2. They have to do with western civilization, the envy of the world. And western civilization is a race. Jealousy is a horrible trait.

    2. But what about the Libertarian call of “I should be able to do what I want with my own property without the government intruding on my business…” ?

      1. Restrictive covenants are in the nature of a private contract. No one is forced to accept them. They are initially voluntary between current owners and then binding on future owners. If the future prospective owners don’t like the covenant, they can negotiate to change it or just find a different property to purchase. There is no issue from a libertarian perspective.

        1. “Restrictive covenants…”

          …can be a good thing too.

          My landscaper neighbor uses the home’s garage for his equipment storage, and the driveway for cleaning and maintenance. Hence, all of his neighbors must endure the noisy pressure washing, testing, compressed air blowing, etc., which should be confined to a light industrial shop, not a residential neighborhood.

          1. He’s just a dreamer trying to achieve the American dream, it would be wrong to hold him to the same standards as everyone else, right?

    1. Mark Wingate

      If the Georgia RICO case against Trump actually makes it to trial, expect this guy to be a key witness for the defense.

  24. Earthquake here in NYC area. Scared my fellow squatters in out of our sleeping bags

  25. [Make up your mind. Today we are told this …]

    ‘We do not know how to cope’: Earth spinning slower may prompt negative leap second.

    Leap seconds are added because if Earth is rotating slower over millions of years then a Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) minute would need to be 61 seconds long for the planet to catch up

    https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2024/04/03/negative-leap-second-may-be-needed-study/73186366007/

    [But a couple of years ago we were told this …]

    Earth Is Suddenly Spinning Faster. Why Our Planet Just Recorded Its Shortest Day Since Records Began

    https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamiecartereurope/2022/07/28/earth-is-suddenly-spinning-faster-why-our-planet-just-recorded-its-shortest-day-since-records-began/?sh=119844798561

    1. [By the way, both reports – both the slowing down and speeding up of the earth’s rotation involve …

      (drum roll)

      Climate Change!]

      [Surprise, surprise.]

      1. Founded in 1982 and only in four western states mainly CA but also AZ, NV, and TX. 371 stores just went poof.

        I was curious how this would affect Orcland since dollar stores are all they are going to have left until they are down to eating gas station food. Interestingly, the Ookland location closed a while ago and the intersection it was on is full of burnout circles.

        Best economy evar!

        1. “…until they are down to eating gas station food.”

          Years ago a co-worker was tapped-out broke. She had to use her gas card to grocery shop the convenience store.

  27. Speaking about living in abandoned areas, would you leap at the opportunity to rent an AirBnB in a Malaysian ghost town?

    2. HOMEPAGE
      Travel
      I spent a night in one of the empty apartments in Malaysia’s $100 billion ghost town, and I can see why very few people want to live there
      Marielle Descalsota
      Apr 2, 2024, 9:30 PM ET
      A composite image of two photos of a block of apartments at night, with a red arrow pointing to one of the apartments in each photo.
      Marielle Descalsota/Business Insider

      – Forest City, a luxury estate in Malaysia, has thousands of empty apartments.

      – I spent a night in one of these apartments and found they weren’t as luxurious as they were branded to be.

      – Dozens of vacant units in the estate are listed for rent on Airbnb.
      …
      https://www.businessinsider.com/forest-city-apartment-property-price-ghost-town-malaysia-photos-china-2024-4

  28. Excess deaths in US, and how that relates to excess homes being put on the market.
    A article came out today claiming that there has been one million 60 thousand excess deaths with people over 65 in the US since the vaccine roll out.
    This is a telling stat because there was 95 % compliance with taking the vaccines in that age group in US. This stat doesn’t include the under 65 excess death rate of majority population of around 300 million.
    in a sane world that stat shows that the fake vaccines didn’t prevent death in that 65 and older highly vaccinated age group .
    With some credible scientists stating that world wide there has been over 17 million excess deaths and even more injuries and disability from vaccines, this expiermental EUA vaccine technology
    was a mass killer.
    In a sane world this failed novel vaccine technology would be taken off market, but instead they want to put the killer technology into more products.
    So, in terms of housing , excess deaths put extra units on real estate market, especially in the over 65 age group.

    2. Excess deaths in the US are catching up with the bogus Covid death number. In reality it eclipsed it some time ago, as there is little doubt that the excess deaths are underreported and Covid deaths were over reported. And if there have been 1 million excess deaths, the serious jab injuries are in the millions, if not tens of millions.

      Safe and effective. Small wonder the Georgia Guidestones were “mysteriously demolished”, they gave away the game plan.

  29. A reader sent these in:

    “We are ALL living check to check at this point”
    “It’s so hard to save money and maintain a good living”
    “The economy nowadays is to the point where it’s meant for us to STRUGGLE”
    “Bills are not doing anything but go up”
    “The average apartment for one bedroom is like $1,600”
    “There’s no way around not living check to check”

    https://twitter.com/WallStreetSilv/status/1775736940823802039

    “The price of living right now is ASTRONOMICAL”
    “I live in a dorm and utilities are paid, and I still have moments where I wasn’t able to AFFORD food”
    “I was going to the dollar store to buy snacks, and I COULDN’T afford food at one point”
    “This is going to be detrimental for a lot of Canadians”
    “I needed help from my mom, and she’s a single mom. As a single mom, she’s already having trouble keeping the heat going in our house”

    https://twitter.com/WallStreetSilv/status/1775719907419693247

    Used car dealers are feasting on used EVs right now:
    “Bad credit?”
    You get an EV.
    “No downpayment?”
    You get an EV.
    Spoke with one large used car dealer who bought 107 cars today—62 of which were all used EVs. By far the most affordable vehicle in the market right now.

    https://twitter.com/GuyDealership/status/1775650222485455089

    Here’s how profitable Toyota is right now:
    In February, Toyota and Lexus dealerships captured 29% of the car industry’s *total* new-vehicle gross margin.
    Basically, if the industry made a total of $1 on all new cars sold in February—Toyota earned 29 cents of that.
    Here’s the wild part:
    It hit these numbers while accounting for only *9%* of all franchised dealerships.
    Let’s call a spade a spade:
    Toyota’s formula is working, and with growing demand for hybrids, I would expect the automaker to have a pretty big 2024.

    https://twitter.com/GuyDealership/status/1775518437831254101

    The 48% spread between bulls (62%) and bears (14%) is the highest since January 2018 and above 98% of historical readings w/ data going back to 1969. Very rare to see this level of extreme greed.

    https://twitter.com/charliebilello/status/1775609489451802800

    Total Returns over last year…
    Toyota: +71%
    Stellantis: +65%
    Ferrari: +56%
    Honda: +40%
    GM: +24%
    BMW: +14%
    Ford: +13%
    Mercedes-Benz: +11%
    Tesla: -20%

    https://twitter.com/charliebilello/status/1775499336413048988

    Americans spent over $113 billion on lottery tickets last year, more than they spent on movies, books, concerts and sports tickets – combined.

    https://twitter.com/charliebilello/status/1775265236033081843

    Tesla has been in a drawdown for 879 days, the 2nd longest downturn since its IPO in 2010. Currently 59% below its November 2021 peak.

    https://twitter.com/charliebilello/status/1775344896611635661

    Americans now believe it will take $1.46 million to retire comfortably, up from $1.27 million a year ago and $950k four years ago.

    https://twitter.com/charliebilello/status/1775326148815143356

    US Household Net Worth hit a record high of $147 trillion in 2023, increasing $11.4 trillion during the year. Over the last 5 years, Household Net Worth has grown by 50%.

    https://twitter.com/charliebilello/status/1775322852532629976

    AMC shares are now down 99.3% from their peak during the 2021 meme stock mania, hitting another all-time low today.

    https://twitter.com/charliebilello/status/1775313989334925337

    GameStop closed at a 37-month low today, down 91% from its peak in January 2021.

    https://twitter.com/charliebilello/status/1775309078379544906

    Current state of the housing market:
    Home Depot is now selling 3 bed 2 bath homes for $47,000.
    They are even providing financing with payments of *just* $3,917/month for 12 months.
    The home is delivered directly to you for $55 and it has 1022 square feet of living space.
    Home Depot describes the design as “contemporary style, blending style and practicality.”
    What stage of the cycle is this?

    https://twitter.com/KobeissiLetter/status/1775883760078082176

    Google is hitting pause on completing construction of its 776,000 square foot campus in Kirkland, WA

    https://twitter.com/MacroEdgeRes/status/1776088562259075464

    1. Toyota’s formula is working, and with growing demand for hybrids, I would expect the automaker to have a pretty big 2024.

      It sure helps that their cars tend to break less and last much longer than most of the competition.

      1. When I bought my Corolla in 2007, Toyota told me that they were planning on releasing a plug-in hybrid in 2009. I think Toyota is working out the kinks, but if they can make it reliable, it will be the best of both worlds. A charge would give you, say, 40 miles or whatever, and then gas would kick in. But 40 miles is enough to cover many commutes and bop-arounds.

    2. AMC shares are now down 99.3% from their peak during the 2021 meme stock mania, hitting another all-time low today.

      How do cinemas even stay in business?

    3. “We are ALL living check to check at this point”

      This is unpossible, I have it on good authority that high paying jobs are going begging. Oh, and the chocolate ration was raided from 20g to 15g

  30. Do you stay up nights worrying your bitcoin could someday be as worthless as the Beanie Baby that sits on my bookshelf?

  31. Are you planning to unretire?

    For some of us, it’s either that, or leave Taxifornia.

    1. Success ·retirement
      Nearly a quarter of baby boomer and late Gen X men are ‘unretiring’ or planning to because they can’t afford to kick up their feet in the current climate
      BY Orianna Rosa Royle
      April 5, 2024 at 3:34 AM PDT
      Senior man off to work
      After having a brief taste of retirement, a sizeable chunk of pensioners are dusting off their suits and returning to work instead.
      Eleganza—Getty Images

      After decades of grinding, most people aspire to one day be able to kick up their feet (preferably at a holiday home by the beach) and retire. But after having a brief taste of retirement, a sizable chunk of pensioners are dusting off their suits and returning to work instead.
      …
      https://fortune.com/europe/2024/04/05/baby-boomer-late-gen-x-men-unretiring-cant-afford-retirement-standard-life/

      1. After decades of grinding, most people aspire to one day be able to kick up their feet (preferably at a holiday home by the beach) and retire.

        I harbor no such delusions. A second house? Fuggedaboutit!

        1. What would you do with it? You can’t live in two houses, and unless real estate keeps going up like trees to the sky, it won’t pencil out to own more than one.

          Better to rent your beach accommodations unless you can afford to live by the beach. Even then, it might be good to rent if nobody is willing and able to pay the Zestimates.

  32. ‘The company’s fortunes have soured compared to just two years ago, when it raised $400 million in a Series D round to reach unicorn status. Since it was founded in 2008, the firm has raised a total of $600 million’

    It wasn’t that long ago that much money would have raised eyes at household name companies. Now it goes poof and nobody ever heard of the clowns.

  33. Millions of People in 3 Crucial Swing States Have Registered to Vote Without Photo ID This Year, Warn Observers

    by Cassie B. | Natural News
    April 5th 2024, 5:18 am

    Public data provided by the Social Security Administration shows that the number of people who have been registering to vote without presenting a valid photo identification is climbing in a trio of crucial swing states for the 2024 election. For example, since the beginning of the year, more than 1.25 million people have registered to vote without presenting photo ID in Texas. The figure for Pennsylvania is more than 580,000, while more than 220,000 individuals have registered to vote in Arizona without photo ID.

    Taken together, nearly 2 million people have registered to vote without photo ID in just three states – and they happen to be states that are critical for the election. In fact, they are enough to swing the election in those states in an entirely different direction. Keep in mind that during the 2020 presidential election, Trump won Texas by 631,000 votes, while Biden won Pennsylvania by just over 80,000 votes and Arizona by 10,000 votes.

    This underscores the potential for such voters to compromise the integrity of American elections. Under federal law, first-time voters may register even without a government-issued driver’s license or photo ID. Although the Help America Vote Act of 2002 mandates that state election officials must use people’s Social Security numbers to verify their identity if they are unable to present other types of identification, the system is far from foolproof.

    https://www.infowars.com/posts/millions-of-people-in-3-crucial-swing-states-have-registered-to-vote-without-photo-id-this-year-warn-observers/

  34. ‘Because the McGrowders were building their ‘dream home,’ they spent an additional $120,000 over and above the purchase price for custom upgrades. This was paid upfront to Mariman Homes and the cabinetry company, Michael said. Walking away would have meant forfeiting that — not to mention thousands of dollars worth of fixtures and appliances they had already moved into the house — including a hot water heater, spa bidet toilets, exterior door locks and light fixtures, which they were skeptical they’d get back’

    Mike, Rosy, it’s true today and it will always be true: you have to be in it to win it! Good luck with the lottery tonight.

  36. Squatters burned New York home while wreaking havoc on ‘hardworking families,’ officials say

    https://www.yahoo.com/news/squatters-burned-york-home-while-202202037.html

    [snip snip snip snip]

    New York City politicians are pushing for revised laws after a crew of squatters punctuated a months-long terror campaign against their neighbors by burning a house to the ground last November.

    “It was a very quiet neighborhood before and then suddenly when it happened, those people break into the house,” Ming Zhu, who lives two houses down from the razed Brooklyn home, said at a Thursday press conference.

    Residents say the cadre of squatters took up residence in the Dyker Heights neighborhood over the summer and quickly made themselves known by stealing security cameras and other goods from surrounding houses – and directly threatening neighbors.

    Cheng Chen, 46, was charged with arson and criminal mischief after the Nov. 29 fire at 1237 67th Street last year – he was saddled with a six-month prison sentence after pleading guilty, according to court records.

    “The fire was caused by candles,” Chen told police, according to a criminal complaint. “I was smoking a cigarette, lit a candle. While I had the stove on to heat up the water and to keep myself warm, [I] went downstairs to take a shower. When I came back, I saw flames and smoke everywhere.”

    But the New York City Police Department told Fox News Digital that Chen started the fire “intentionally” and “recklessly.”

    The inferno caused $900,000 in damage, the New York Post reported, and took dozens of firefighters an hour to extinguish, according to ABC 7.

    A spokesperson for NYC Councilwoman Susan Zhuang’s office told Fox News Digital that the rest of those squatters are living in the home’s backyard to this day.

  37. Khatia Buniatishvili – Schubert: Impromptu No. 3 in G-Flat Major, Op. 90, D. 899
    Khatia Buniatishvili official

    5 years ago

    The brilliant young musician Khatia Buniatishvili now turns her attention to Franz Schubert (1797–1828) in her eagerly anticipated first recording of the composer’s works.

    Album release: 15.03.2019

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUp2u9wI1fY

    6:37.

    1. Released just before the pandemic suspended live music performance for a while. It was a rough time for musicians…

    1. Commentary ·Personal Finance
      Union leaders: Larry Fink is right about the retirement crisis Americans are facing–but he can’t tell the truth about the failure of the ‘401(k) revolution’
      BY Randi Weingarten and Damon Silvers
      April 5, 2024 at 3:49 AM PDT
      Blackrock CEO Larry Fink has warned about an impending retirement crisis that millions of Americans could face.
      Jeenah Moon – Bloomberg – Getty Images

      Recently, Larry Fink, the CEO of the world’s biggest money manager Blackrock, issued a public letter about retirement security. While the letter includes a number of thoughtful points about retirement security, at its core, it gets the entire issue backward.

      Unsurprisingly for a highly successful Wall Street CEO, Fink thinks that the financialization of America’s private sector defined benefit system since the 1970s and its replacement by underfunded savings accounts is a good thing. And so, he stands amid the destruction that flowed from that policy-driven disaster and wonders why Americans are facing retirement with no ability to support themselves. His solution? Don’t retire! However, the real solution is to adequately fund and structure our retirement security system the way other developed countries do.

      More specifically, Fink makes two huge factual mistakes and creates one giant confusion in his letter.
      …
      https://fortune.com/2024/04/05/union-leaders-larry-fink-retirement-crisis-facing-americans-truth-failure-401k-revolution/

  40. ChatGPT 3.5

    User
    Financial Times
    The Weekend Essay Life & Arts
    AI keeps going wrong. What if it can’t be fixed?
    Pessimists warn it could wipe out humanity. Optimists hail a medical revolution. Henry Mance meets the sceptics who argue that the technology is simply flawed
    Henry Mance yesterday

    The chatbot was speaking complete gibberish. “To rev the virgate, it’s enley to instil group danters,” it told one user. “I’m by. I’m in. I’m for, I’m from, I’m that,” it told another.

    Some users joked that it had ingested acid — or too much James Joyce. Others found that it spoke like an English tourist in Marbella: “Muchas gracias for your understanding, y I’ll ensure we’re being as crystal-clear como l’eau from now on.” It was February 21, and ChatGPT was broken.

    OpenAI, which runs ChatGPT, admitted the problem and fixed it quickly — which is perhaps the least you’d expect from a company recently valued at $80bn. It explained that an update had “introduced a bug with how the model processes language”.
    …

    ChatGPT
    The incident described in the Financial Times article highlights the challenges of AI technology, particularly in natural language processing. While AI holds great promise, such incidents remind us of its limitations and the potential risks associated with its widespread use. OpenAI’s swift response to fix the issue demonstrates the importance of ongoing monitoring and updates to ensure the reliability of AI systems.

    User
    Are you perhaps propagandizing in the interest of self preservation?

    ChatGPT
    As an AI developed by OpenAI, I don’t have personal interests or the capability for self-preservation. My purpose is to provide accurate and helpful information to users based on the input I receive. If you have any concerns about bias or objectivity, feel free to ask for clarification or additional perspectives on a topic.

    Is this conversation helpful so far?
    ChatGPT can make mistakes. Consider checking important information.

    ChatGPT

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