They Have Got No Equity, There Is No Spare Money To Spend, It’s Heartbreaking
It’s Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. “Total home sales fell more than 4% in March, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday. Lawrence Yun, the association’s chief economist, said in the report rising job numbers suggest there are more aspiring home buyers in the market now than when compared to pre-Covid highs, but total unsold inventory at the end of March (1.11 million homes) was up 4.7% from the month before and 14.4% from one year ago. ‘Home sales are essentially stuck,’ Yun told reporters.”
“US foreclosure filings in the first quarter climbed 22% from a year ago, and repossessions rose by 6%, according to ATTOM. Foreclosure activity has increased for 23 consecutive months after a federal moratorium was lifted, reaching 95,712 filings last quarter. Repossessions high a three-year high. A separate report from Redfin on Wednesday pointed to other signs of weakness in the housing market. Median home prices in March dropped 3.3% annually, the biggest decline since 2012. Pandemic boomtowns and the San Francisco Bay Area led the price declines.”
“Buyers in Bradenton and Sarasota had a lot more options in March with the inventory of existing single-family homes up sharply from a year ago. In the Bradenton area, there were 2,581 active listings, a 51% increase from the 1,706 listings last March. Even though there was more inventory, sales dropped. ‘The real estate market in 2024 has been one of adjustment and realignment,’ Realtor association president Tony Barrett said in the news release. ‘Particularly, buyers have more options and leverage, while sellers might need to adjust expectations regarding pricing and time on market.'”
“Redfin said 70.3% of Florida homeowners have been affected by rising homeowners insurance costs, well ahead of the nationwide figure of 44.6%. ‘I would think that 70% seems low,’ Gregory Buck, from National Risk Experts in Palm Beach Gardens, said. Buck said seniors living in condos are feeling it the worst since they are on fixed incomes. ‘The bottom line is our people are saying we have to look,’ Buck said. ‘We have to move. We don’t have a choice, and they’re not going to move down the street. They’re going to have to move to north Florida and up.'”
“The devastation wrought by the Oregon Road fire near Elk and the Gray fire near Medical Lake last summer, burned a combined 21,000 acres and destroyed 366 homes. Spokane County estimated the loss at $166 million of assessed value. Some eight months after the fire, even those victims who had insurance are discovering what companies offer as settlements are not coming close to making them whole. Some insurance companies are dropping clients, telling others they won’t be renewed or, even in cases of homeowners who avoided damage, are raising monthly rates to levels they can’t afford, several sources told The Spokesman-Review. Elk resident Kelcene Dodd has filed several rounds of paperwork with FEMA and said both she and her father have received some assistance. But, she mostly received frustration. ‘They asked, ‘Do you have receipts?’ Are you serious?’ Dodd said. She told the FEMA representative ‘give me an envelope and I’ll give you some ashes, and there’s your receipt.'”
“As housing insurance companies continue leaving California, it’s having an impact on the San Diego real estate market. ‘Every single morning when I wake up, I fear that there’s going to be an email in my inbox that a certain insurance company is no longer going to be writing new business in California,’ said Kiyoma Yoshizumi, an insurance broker based in San Diego. ‘Just a couple of weeks ago, we had a client who was slated to purchase a home in Escondido. They got their offer accepted, the lender reached out to me and said, hey, is this going to be a difficult one to insure because it is in Escondido, and we were able to find a quote, no problem for this client. But the problem was the client wasn’t anticipating that high of an insurance premium,’ said Yoshizumi. That client pulled out of the deal.”
“In 2022, state Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara announced he would force companies to offer discounts to people who take specific steps to protect their homes from wildfires. It was part of an effort, he said at the time, to ‘reward the hard work that California consumers do’ to make their properties, families and communities safer. But based on what companies have put forward, the cost of qualifying for them will dwarf the savings for many homeowners. Farmers estimated the average policyholder in an area with a high fire risk would save about $42 to $75 a year for taking the specific mitigation steps, according to a document obtained by The Sacramento Bee. ‘That’s a drop in the bucket,’ said Hans Shillinger, who lives near Nevada City. Shillinger said he pays about $7,200 a year for his home insurance with Farmers.”
“What’s more, the company wants Shillinger and other policyholders to pay for an inspection to determine what, if any, discounts they are eligible for, another document shows. The company said the evaluations would need to be renewed every three years. It costs $125 to apply for the review. That means the savings could roughly equal what a homeowner has to pay to even qualify for the discount.”
“Trudy Allen has buyers’ remorse after dealing with what she describes as ‘issue after issue.’ The trombone player sold her home in 2020 and moved to the Sunridge Villas condominium on Westpark Drive in Southwest Houston. ‘It’s been very far from an oasis. I just stay in my house,’ Allen said. ‘I regret [the] purchase of this property.’ Allen said it’s hard to avoid the issues, especially when she’s trying to watch television because outside her window: overgrown weeds. Allen said she and other people in the condominium pay $350 a month. ‘What’s going on? Why can’t I get information on how the money is spent? Where is it going? Why can’t the HOAs agree on anything? Do something,’ Allen said. ‘Something needs to be done around here. This place is going straight down the toilet.'”
“The Four Seasons Hotel and Private Residences at the foot of Canal Street is facing financial struggles nearly three years after opening as New Orleans’ premier luxury hotel and condominium complex, forcing its owners to seek additional investor cash in an effort to avoid having to sell the property. In October, a group of wealthy foreign investors who, collectively, invested more than $50 million in the project, were notified that the Four Seasons project had been ‘adversely affected by conditions currently affecting the real estate industry nationally and worldwide’ and that, ‘the developer has been unable to improve net operating income of the hotel or sell enough residential condo units.'”
“Currently, 33 units — including seven of the penthouses and many of the larger, three-bedroom units remain unsold. Together, their square footage represents more than 82,000 square feet — about half the total residential space in the building. According to documents sent to investors in February, Massachusetts-based Carpenter & Co., the main developer of the project, is in default of a loan agreement with its mortgage lender. The developer has been instructed by its senior lender, New York-based Madison Realty Capital, to look for new funding from investors or prepare to sell. The letter, sent from Pathways EB-5, a Florida company that raises money from foreign investors, went on to say that ‘the developer claims it is facing serious financial challenges with respect to the project and limited options to improve its short-term finances.'”
“Home sales in Philadelphia declined nearly 40% last year compared to the prior year, according to a new report from the Pew Charitable Trusts. In 2023, a total of 15,617 homes were sold — nearly 10,000 fewer than 2022, a banner year for home sales in Philadelphia. Maria Quattrone, owner of RE/MAX@HOME, said she spends a lot more time reaching out to buyers and sellers with hopes of making a sale happen. ‘You have to do more to get the same result. And if you want a better result you have to do two or three times as much,’ said Quattrone. ‘It reminds me of the Great Recession,’ she said.”
“According to an Edge Realty report, in February, provincial real estate markets experienced varied trends, while Canada overall continued to face affordability challenges. Nationally, house prices in February were still 14% below peak levels, translating to a real, inflation-adjusted, decline of 22%. This emphasizes the significance of this real estate correction in Canadian history, even if it is experienced to different degrees across the different regions.”
“Late last year, celebrities packed a party thrown at Fatima and Eskandar Maleki’s luxury mansion in London’s Mayfair neighborhood. The occasion, in part, was meant to showcase the sprawling townhouse the hosts had been trying to sell for quite some time without much success. A few months after the bash, the art collector-oil tycoon couple eventually found a buyer from the Middle East, but only after agreeing to a hefty discount: 33% below the property’s original asking price of £40 million ($50 million). It took three years, a series of price cuts and a champagne-soaked soiree to push the deal over the line for a home that otherwise might’ve been snapped up within weeks during the heyday of London’s luxury housing boom about a decade ago. The £27 million discounted transaction offered a peek into signs of things to come as a slump gripped the high-end market.”
“Many other wealthy home sellers in London have also been resorting to price cuts to secure deals as property valuations tumble from their peak. Earlier this year, a mansion on one of Kensington’s most expensive streets reached a sale deal for about £30 million, 17% below its original listed price. Nestled between Holland Park and Kensington Gardens, the house was listed for £36 million by broker Knight Frank in March 2023, before being reduced to £32 million in a separate listing. Later, that price had to be slashed further.”
“News agency Der Speigel notes that the collapse in the housing market, now in its third year, is the most severe in decades. Andreas Mattner, the president of the German Property Federation, called on state governments to cut a property sales tax to stem the decline. ‘Housing construction is in a downward spiral. It can’t go on like this. It must be stopped at all costs,’ he said.”
“Dan Golin, who has undertaken more than 8,000 building and pest inspections during his 18 years in the industry, said there was a heightened risk of buying defective or damaged homes as Queensland’s property market continued to boom. ‘I have seen a lot of heartache in this field and I can’t see it going away in a hurry,’ Mr Golin said. ‘They have got no equity. There is no spare money to spend, so when they realise there is structural damage and it’s not just thousands, it’s tens of thousands, it’s heartbreaking.’ Mr Golin said termites were ‘everywhere’ and estimated he found two or three homes each year in south-east Queensland that were a complete write-off.”
“Mr Golin was the man called in to help Zara and Shaun Sarson, whose Gold Coast home was so badly riddled with termites it had to be demolished within months of their family moving in. The couple bought the house after having it checked by a different building and pest inspector, who told them it was fine. The Sarsons said the real estate agent who sold the property knew it had termites, but did not tell them. They believed the damage was deliberately concealed. But Mr Golin said to a trained eye, the termite damage was not difficult to spot. He advised buyers to check for ‘cover-ups’ such as new skirting boards or architraves that looked like they had been replaced, or did not match the paint on the walls. ‘That’s a bit of a giveaway,’ Mr Golin said. ‘It’s a hard one to control because sellers always lie when it comes to termites and agents don’t want to know about it — they don’t ask, because they would rather not know.'”
“While the Sarsons did everything right by paying for an independent inspection, Mr Golin said engaging an inspector recommended by the sales agent or trusting a report provided by the seller was a recipe for disaster. ‘Because [the real estate agent] gives [the inspector] the majority of their work, they let things slip that you usually wouldn’t,’ he said. ‘In a way, they are paid to let things slip.'”
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‘total unsold inventory at the end of March (1.11 million homes) was up 4.7% from the month before and 14.4% from one year ago. ‘Home sales are essentially stuck’
Wa happened to my shortage Larry?
It’s beginning to look like real estate inventory will keep going higher for longer, until falling prices eventually clear out the glut.
So it isn’t different this time? What? That’s not what I’ve been told by Dong Ramsey and Barbara Cornhole.
“…Dong Ramsey and Barbara Cornhole.”
You got their anatomy right! LOL
‘she mostly received frustration. ‘They asked, ‘Do you have receipts?’ Are you serious?’ Dodd said. She told the FEMA representative ‘give me an envelope and I’ll give you some ashes, and there’s your receipt’
Yer still a winnah! in my book Kelcene.
‘Mr Golin was the man called in to help Zara and Shaun Sarson, whose Gold Coast home was so badly riddled with termites it had to be demolished within months of their family moving in. The couple bought the house after having it checked by a different building and pest inspector, who told them it was fine. The Sarsons said the real estate agent who sold the property knew it had termites, but did not tell them. They believed the damage was deliberately concealed’
Zara, Shaun it was still cheaper than renting.
“While the Sarsons did everything right by paying for an independent inspection, …”
[Not everything, they did not do everything right …]
“Mr Golin said engaging an inspector recommended by the sales agent or trusting a report provided by the seller was a recipe for disaster. ‘Because [the real estate agent] gives [the inspector] the majority of their work, they let things slip that you usually wouldn’t,’ he said. ‘In a way, they are paid to let things slip.’”
[Not “in a way they are paid to let things slip”; they were simply paid to let things slip.]
People are stupid.
‘The letter, sent from Pathways EB-5, a Florida company that raises money from foreign investors, went on to say that ‘the developer claims it is facing serious financial challenges with respect to the project and limited options to improve its short-term finances’
The guberment set up this money laundering visa scheme and I can’t recall one worked.
Foreclosure activity has increased for 23 consecutive months after a federal moratorium was lifted, reaching 95,712 filings last quarter.
If by some miracle a legitimate government ever reemerges in the USA, every official involved in the CDC’s illegal and unconstitutional intrusion into contract law needs to get hard time in the worst federal penitentiary.
‘It reminds me of the Great Recession,’ she said.”
Don’t you dare Maria!! Didn’t you get the memo that it’s different time? Shame on you! As a realtor you should know better.
You will own nothing.
Why can’t the HOAs agree on anything? Do something,’ Allen said. ‘Something needs to be done around here. This place is going straight down the toilet.’”
Welp, at least Trudy knows how to play Debbie Downer trombone notes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSI4nxdfaTs
“Home sales in Philadelphia declined nearly 40% last year compared to the prior year, according to a new report from the Pew Charitable Trusts.
Is that a lot?
Even with the lapdog media covering for him, Biden’s cognitive decline is on full display.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D54QTyNPq_o
Do you need homeowners’ insurance to get a mortgage in California?
2 more insurance companies announce plans to leave California
Iman Palm
15 hours ago
Two more insurance companies have announced plans to withdraw from the insurance market in California.
According to filings from the state’s Department of Insurance, Tokio Marine America Insurance Co. and Trans Pacific Insurance Co. said they would both withdraw from the homeowners and personal umbrella insurance markets in the Golden State.
Both entities are subsidiaries of Tokio Marine Holdings Inc., a Japanese company.
…
https://ktla.com/news/california/2-more-insurance-companies-announce-plans-to-leave-california/amp/
The dude paying 7200/year in Nevada City will pay 72k over ten years or $216000 over a 30 year term. Nevada City is mostly in the woods and fires are known to move through the area but damn. I lived in Rough and Ready for a bit, which is one town over, and have been through it but that is nuts. When you get right down to it, this is really just another manifestation of the bubble. The majority of the housing stock there isn’t fancy but bay area money has driven everything to extremes. The reality is the economy there is tiny and can’t support those rates. There’s just not enough gold left in those hills.
The insurance thing is a scam anyways ….Fraud and or arson is way up there , I’d suspect it’s at 30% or more of claims, that’s why the adjusters fight back like they do …..They’re under pressure to return at least half of the premium money ,back as insurance Company profits…..
Freedom should never be confused with “Our Democracy.”
https://www.foxnews.com/media/biden-takes-heat-gaffe-urging-americans-choose-freedom-over-democracy-get-man-office
Journalist Marlo Nawfal posted, “Dems really need to upgrade his [operating system] or something…”
Poor sleepy Joe; the lights are on, but nobody is home.
“We always tell people the tax audit from New York is like the tax version of a colonoscopy,”
Meanwhile, tax attorneys tell stories of clients idling in their luxury SUVs near the New Jersey entrance to the George Washington Bridge shortly before 12 a.m., waiting for the clock to turn before crossing the state line to New York.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/new-york-s-rich-get-creative-to-flee-state-taxes-auditors-are-on-to-them/ar-AA1nit6R
————–
im a little guilty too had my car registered n CT for years (parents house)… saved me at least $1000+ a year on car insurance
Problems like that will seem quaint soon. Have you seen the latest invader news? They are complaining that New Yorkers wont learn 3000 languages and feed them better. One of the african invaders at the latest hearing has a large sack of fresh garlic around her neck as a big garlic necklace to protect her from vampires! NYC is so screwed. Pic in link or find the youtube of her, it is great irritainment.
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/watch-migrants-complain-new-yorkers-dont-learn-african-languages
If I was a vampire, she would have to be the last creature within 500 miles. 🙂
Any vamps here into that? I bet PB would.
Not defending any of this, but as it often does, ZH exaggerates and sensationalizes a bit here. I think the woman was saying she asked the NYC government to provide English language tutors who would be native speakers of the “migrants'” languages, and the gov’t refused. She wasn’t asking every New Yorker to learn 3000 languages.
I think the woman was saying she asked the NYC government to provide English language tutors who would be native speakers of the “migrants’” languages
Paid for by taxpayers, of course. Because we’re rich, or something.
With rising inventories in the face of higher-for-longer rates, is the US housing market a slow motion trainwreck in progress?
ChatGPT 3.5
With rising inventories in the face of higher-for-longer rates, is the US housing market a slow motion trainwreck in progress?
ChatGPT
The situation you described does raise concerns about the US housing market. Rising inventories coupled with prolonged higher interest rates could indeed signal potential challenges ahead. It’s important to closely monitor how these factors interact and their impact on the housing market over time.
What kind of challenges do you foresee?
ChatGPT
Several challenges could arise in the US housing market due to rising inventories and higher interest rates:
Decline in Home Prices: Increased inventory levels can lead to greater competition among sellers, potentially putting downward pressure on home prices.
Slower Sales: With more options available, buyers may take longer to make purchasing decisions, leading to slower overall sales activity in the market.
Tightened Affordability: Higher interest rates can increase the cost of borrowing, making homes less affordable for prospective buyers, especially those with lower incomes or marginal credit.
Impact on Construction: Builders may scale back on new construction projects if demand weakens, which could affect employment in the construction sector and related industries.
Potential for Defaults: Homeowners with adjustable-rate mortgages or variable interest rates may face higher monthly payments, increasing the risk of default, especially if they are unable to refinance at lower rates.
Regional Variances: The impact of these challenges may vary across different regions of the country, depending on local market conditions and economic factors.
Overall, these challenges could contribute to a slowdown or stagnation in the housing market, impacting both homeowners and industry stakeholders.
ChatGPT can make mistakes. Consider checking important information. Read our Terms and Privacy Policy.
Published April 19, 2024 6:00am EDT Updated April 19, 2024 9:37am EDT
The cost of buying a house hit another record high as mortgage rates spike again
Buying a house just got more expensive as mortgage rates spike again
By Megan Henney FOXBusiness
ResiClub co-founder and editor-in-chief Lance Lambert discusses the U.S. housing affordability crisis on ‘Making Money.’ video
Housing affordability is at worst level in four decades, expert says
The cost of buying a new house just hit a fresh record as mortgage rates rose to the highest level this year, according to a new report.
…
https://www.foxbusiness.com/economy/cost-buying-house-hit-another-record-high-mortgage-rates-spike-again
Trends
The Fed Is Poised To Hold Interest Rates Steady—Here’s What That Will Do to Mortgage Rates By Clare Trapasso
Apr 17, 2024
Mortgage rates are likely set to rise again.
The U.S. Federal Reserve is poised to hold interest rates steady for longer than expected because inflation has remained stubbornly high. That could mean the Fed won’t cut rates this year or will cut them fewer times than many had predicted.
This could result in mortgage rates edging back up to 8%, says Realtor.com® Chief Economist Danielle Hale.
…
https://www.realtor.com/news/trends/how-high-will-mortgage-rates-go/
Yahoo Finance Video
7% mortgage rate may become new ‘status-quo’: Economist
Brad Smith
Thu, April 18, 2024 at 10:32 AM PDT
Housing prices continue to rise under the higher-for-longer inflationary environment, according to a Redfin (RDFN) report. First American Chief Economist Mark Fleming joins Wealth! to discuss the implications of these trends for the housing market.
Fleming explains that the rise in mortgage rates “has a demand-side effect,” making homes less affordable for potential buyers. He notes that the impact is now also being felt on the supply side, as homeowners have become less willing to sell their properties due to the increased costs associated with housing transactions.
Looking ahead, Fleming believes that life changes will start to become “the driving factor for people moving,” rather than rates, if it remains elevated.
…
https://finance.yahoo.com/video/7-mortgage-rate-may-become-173250854.html
But UHS told buyers to date the rate?
Dating relationships sometimes end with ugly breakups.
High Interest Rate Era:
Higher Rates Changed the World
How Pros Misread the Economy
Price of Money Is Going Up
Shattered Housing Dreams
Economics
Are Rates High Enough? Fed Resets Clock on Interest-Rate Cuts
– String of consumer price data muddles inflation trajectory
– Policymakers, including Powell, see little urgency to cut
The Marriner S. Eccles Federal Reserve building in Washington, D.C.
Photographer: Samuel Corum/Bloomberg
By Catarina Saraiva
April 19, 2024 at 4:00 AM PDT
Updated on April 19, 2024 at 10:19 AM PDT
A string of disappointing inflation data has forced the Federal Reserve to reset the clock on its first interest-rate cut and re-evaluate the trajectory of price growth.
Chair Jerome Powell cemented that message this week when he said it’s likely going to take “longer than expected” to gain the confidence needed to lower rates, dashing hopes for more than two cuts in 2024. Some worry there may be none at all.
…
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-04-19/fed-s-powell-rethinks-interest-rate-cuts-for-2024-to-combat-inflation
Oh Dear
https://youtu.be/OhAsHuXsBak?si=na29luc4FejqjWf9
[This post is for Housing Wizard.]
“This Is Too Stupid For It Not To Be The Plan” Holter Hammers Globalist Agenda ‘Driving America Into A Brick Wall’
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/too-stupid-it-not-be-plan-holter-hammers-globalist-agenda-driving-america-brick-wall
[here is a snip …]
“This is too stupid for it not to be the plan. . . .This is not a Republican or Democrat thing. We are being steered directly into a brick wall because the globalists can’t take over the world with the US standing.
They have to take the US down, and if they take the US down, so will the western financial system fall. If that happens, the globalists can have their way.”
‘This is too stupid for it not to be the plan’
This doesn’t make any sense.
With ‘Halving’ Imminent, Peter Schiff Says ‘Bitcoin Has No Value’
https://www.zerohedge.com/crypto/halving-imminent-peter-schiff-says-bitcoin-has-no-value
[here are some snips …]
“This is just the beginning of a massive re-pricing of gold, and people aren’t even buying it yet. You have central banks buying, but investors aren’t even buying gold. Retail investors, the institutions— they’re not in the market at all. They don’t even understand why gold is rising. They’re attributing it to geopolitical risks, but it’s all about inflation. The key is that the markets have the inflation story wrong. The Fed rate hikes up to five and a quarter, five and a half, have not been nearly enough to put the inflation genie back in the bottle.”
[snip …]
“I’d say [inflation’s] at least double what the CPI is. So if the government claims inflation is two, it’s four. And when they claimed it was nine, it was probably 18. People are struggling. It’s a lousy economy. People’s real incomes have been eviscerated by inflation. They’re forced to work multiple jobs. They’re drowning in a mountain of debt, and we’re headed for a major disaster.”
[snip …]
“The entire banking system is insolvent. That’s the big problem— when interest rates were kept at zero, and all these homeowners were refinancing their mortgages at 3%. The banks own all that paper. They’re insolvent now! They own all these treasuries. Thanks to the government— the Fed— the entire US banking system is insolvent. And if the Fed actually raised interest rates to an appropriate level, all the banks would fail, including all the too-big-to-fail banks.”
[snip …]
“I kept warning about the mistakes the Fed was making, and the housing bubble, and the financial crisis that was going to hit when the bubble popped. People would say, ‘When, when, when?’ Well, I don’t have a date. I just know that it’s going to happen. I can’t tell you exactly when. It’s the same thing now. But a lot of things have happened now, just like they did in 2007, that indicated that the day of reckoning was getting closer.”
[snip …]
“They say, ‘Bitcoin is a store of value,’ but it doesn’t have any value. You can’t store what you don’t have. The reason gold is a store of value is I can take the gold that I have and in a hundred years, I can make a watch with it. I can conduct electricity with it. I can use it in medicine, in dentistry. Gold has a real purpose in the world. It is a commodity that is used throughout industry.”
[snip …]
“The public was dumping their gold stocks to put their money into these ETFs. But the problem is, when the people who bought these ETFs want to get out, it will be impossible. … There won’t be enough demand for the people who bought to get out. The price is going to crash. We’re going to see the biggest Bitcoin crash we’ve ever seen. … These are paper hands. They’re not diamond hands.”
[snip …]
“Look, if you want to go in Bitcoin, take the money that you would have used to buy lottery tickets or if you’re planning a trip to Vegas, instead of playing craps or roulette, you can gamble with Bitcoin. But don’t confuse it with an investment. It’s not even a legitimate speculation. It’s just pure gambling.”
City Journal — When Politics and Physics Collide (4/17/2024):
“The idea that the United States can quickly “transition” away from hydrocarbons—the energy sources primarily used today—to a future dominated by so-called green technologies has become one of the central political divides of our time. For progressive politicians here and in Europe, the “energy transition” has achieved totemic status. But it is fundamentally a claim that depends on assessing the future of technology.
While policies can favor one class of technology over another, neither political rhetoric nor financial largesse can make the impossible possible. Start with some basics. It’s not just that currently over 80 percent of our energy needs are met directly by burning oil, natural gas, and coal—a share that has declined by only a few percentage points over the past several decades; the key fact is that 100 percent of everything in civilized society, including the favored “green energy” machines themselves, depends on using hydrocarbons somewhere in the supply chains and systems. The scale of today’s green policy interventions is unprecedented, targeting the fuels that anchor the affordability and availability of everything.
The total direct and induced spending on the energy transition could easily exceed $5 trillion before a decade passes, or sooner, if advocates prevail. For context, the entirety of World War II cost the U.S. roughly $4 trillion (in today’s dollars).
It’s obvious that the motivation underlying this largesse is a kind of mania to “decarbonize” everything. However, one’s beliefs or predictions about climate have no bearing whatsoever on the features and costs of energy technologies, whether solar panels or lithium batteries; nor do they bear on realities such as the sources of the copper wires and other hardware needed to expand the grid. A growing number of analysts, both within and outside government, worry about the underlying realities that expose the hard limits to executing the “transition.”
https://www.city-journal.org/article/the-magical-thinking-behind-the-energy-transition
Updated 12 min ago
Yahoo Finance
Stock market today: S&P 500 dips under 5,000, Nasdaq sinks
Karen Friar and Hamza Shaban
Updated Fri, April 19, 2024 at 9:15 AM PDT
In this article:
Stocks moved mostly lower Friday morning as Big Tech stocks continued a sell-off that sent the S&P 500 back under the 5,000 mark.
The S&P 500 (^GSPC) fell about 0.4%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) slid more than 1%.
…
The S&P 500 on Thursday notched five losing days in a row as investors absorbed disappointing earnings from Netflix (NFLX). That weighed on hopes that quarterly earnings will meet high expectations to help revive the equity rally. Shares of the streaming giant, the first of the megacap techs to report, slid 7% to during the morning session.
Other tech stocks followed on the path down. Market darling Nvidia (NVDA) lost more than 3%, while Apple (AAPL) and Amazon (AMZN) saw drops of more than 1%.
The market had come back from a deeper sell-off after Israel’s retaliatory strike on Iran spooked traders market overnight and spurred a rush to safe havens such as gold. But investors are still on high alert, though Iran has confirmed the drone attack and said it failed.
Stocks were already under pressure before the shock amid persistent uncertainty about Federal Reserve interest-rate cuts.
…
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/stock-market-today-sp-500-dips-under-5000-nasdaq-sinks-133358439.html
Quality of life in L.A. County has plummeted, UCLA survey finds
Austin Turner
2 days ago
An apartment for rent sign is posted in South Pasadena, California on October 19, 2022. (Photo by Frederic J. BROWN / AFP) (Photo by FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images)
Rising costs for housing and groceries has lowered the quality of life for Los Angeles County residents over the course of the last year, according to a survey conducted by UCLA’s Luskin School of Public Affairs.
The school’s Quality of Life Index measures a combination of county residents’ satisfaction in nine different categories on a 10-100 point scale. Interviews were conducted with 1,686 L.A. County residents between Feb. 22 and March 14, both in English and Spanish.
The results for 2024 tied the lowest score in the survey’s nine-year history with a rating of 53. It was just the second time the result has been below the scale’s midpoint of 55, matching a 53 in 2022. Last year, the survey produced a 55 rating.
Outrageous housing costs contribute to lower quality of life
…
https://ktla.com/news/local-news/l-a-s-housing-costs-has-helped-lower-residents-quality-of-life-ucla-survey-finds/amp/
“Los Angeles County”
10+ million population in a single county, most of any county in the U.S. too much traffic.
Don’t forget LA county’s 1+ million illegal aliens.
“Buck said seniors living in condos are feeling it the worst since they are on fixed incomes”
I saw a retired woman on the local news last week saying she was going to have to get at least a parttime job to cover her condo owners insurance rate increase.
Hypocrisy Sucks
@hypocrisy_sucks
Lawrence Odonnell claims no jurors in the Trump NY case have lied to the judge. That is just “made up out of whole cloth”.
Except a juror was dismissed yesterday for lying to the judge. 😆
https://x.com/hypocrisy_sucks/status/1781298950810591576
Do you ever suspect financial journalists of not having a clue about what they are discussing?
For instance, what does this sentence mean?
“Meanwhile, US government bonds pulled back almost fully from their biggest rally of the year. The yield on the safe-haven 10-year Treasury (^TNX) fell to trade around 4.6%.”
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/stock-market-today-tech-stocks-smoked-nvidia-tumbles-10-to-cap-worst-week-of-the-year-200313365.html
[Here is what the 10 Yer futures chart looks like …]
https://finviz.com/futures_charts.ashx?p=i30&t=ZN
Yer = Year
People Are Stupid,
Since you made your above post for me, I’m going to response.
Of course the Mega Monopolies, Rich Elites, UN and WHO and their other co conspirators have a agenda to create a One World Order dictorship where these Entities rule the World.
They in fact overtly state what their plan is .
Of course the US Government and its constitutional protections stand in the way of them ruling the World.
They can’t have even one Nation standing that has Respresentive Government or constitutional protections, or freedoms for the populations.
They don’t even care if you know what their agenda is now , because they think they have it in the bag.
They want to implement their sinister agenda by 2030.
Basically the plan was to infiltrate global governments to partner with them on creating their stupid One World Order dictorship.
So, the take down of the US is necessary for their end game objectives.
As John Kerry recently said, “No Governments can stop the ” market forces.” They are the “market forces” that are in control of just about everything. They have monopoly control over food supply, banking and lending, Media, Big Pharmacy and medical system, high tech, military supplies, big box stores and supply lines,AI and Robots, Investments, ( think Blackrock),transportation industry, just about everything.
The objective is for them to control all resources and consumption of humans in a forced enslavement and deprivation that includes genocide.
Klaus Schwab said that Joe Biden was such a hard working disciple for the One World Order before he became President. After Joe Biden became President he said words to the effect that the US should lead in the One World Order. The 2020 election was rigged to put Joe Biden in as this puppet of the enemy of the US. Joe Biden has done nothing but advanced the One World Order agenda.
Along with them overtly discussing their agendas, and bragging about their infiltration of Governments, and revealing their end game of you will eat bugs and own nothing, their sinister hate for humans comes out loud and clear.
Anything that opposes or disputes their great Fraudulent Narratives is to be destroyed.
And no doubt the border invasion is all part of the take down of the good old USA, as well as all the other insanity.
“They want to implement their sinister agenda by 2030.”
https://conservationcorridor.org/what-is-30×30/
Want to implement their agenda by 2030.
Just because they have some aspects of their agenda that look good, that doesn’t mean that the major portion of their agenda isn’t a epic power grab of a One World Order Dictorship . They call their power grab “Stakeholder governance”, which is a fancy word for facism.
Course they throw in their BS talk about equity, that really means they want the human populations to be equally deprived.
And if you really want to get grossed out just hear them talk about their trans humanism agenda where they will hack you and merge you with machine.
“They want to implement their sinister agenda by 2030.”
Rosa Koire, who has sadly passed was a liberal Democrat who stumbled on this through her work and was blowing the whistle what is now decades ago.
Behind the Green Mask: U.N. Agenda 21
by Rosa Koire
Paperback – September 2, 2011
4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 1,343 ratings
Top reviews from the United States are well worth looking at themselves.
https://www.amazon.com/Behind-Green-Mask-U-N-Agenda/dp/0615494544
Rosa Koire exposes UN Agenda 21 2030
https://rumble.com/v2652zy-rosa-koire-exposes-un-agenda-21-2030.html
Rosa Koire exposes UN Agenda 21 2030
https://rumble.com/v2652zy-rosa-koire-exposes-un-agenda-21-2030.html
Behind the Green Mask.
Right, I’m very aware of Behind The Green Mask, and I have seen a number of her tapes.
She was a Government appraiser that started noticing this covert infiltration of Agenda 21 into zoning and all kinds restrictions, way back starting around 1992. This was directly following them creating the Agenda 21 documents.
Also, years ago I ran into reading Agenda 21, which has now morphed into UN 2030 Sustainable Earth Agenda, which is basically the blueprint for their justification for them controlling all resources and consumption . Their justification for the tyranny and dictorship they plan is basically they are saving the earth from Climate Change doomsday by getting rid of carbon emissions. Also Panademics and global health policy, equity and all kinds of things they want to force.
The evidence shows way back in 1968 Rockefeller funded the Club of Rome. That organization was responsible for starting all these Climate Change phony narratives, as well as discussing the need for depopulation.
It was a known fact the Rockefeller and his cohorts wanted to create a One World Order. These power hungry Monopolist creeps have been the invisible hand in looting and rigging the systems for decades now.
2years after the Club of Rome was formed, in 1970 The WEF was formed under Klaus Schwab. Basically the biggest Mega Corporations on the planet all engaged in their power grab.
Housing Wizard, you too should write a book on the subject. Pretty impressive.
300+ million guns in the hands of U.S. citizens, aim for the blue helmets, kidz.
“300+ million guns in the hands of U.S. citizens”
14:40 scary
Rosa Koire. UN Agenda 2030 Exposed
https://rumble.com/v2sq0so-rosa-koire.-un-agenda-2030-exposed.html
The Intelligent Investor
How Not to Invest in the Bond Market
Investors poured billions into long-term U.S. government funds last year. Right on cue, the market tanked—again.
By Jason Zweig
April 19, 2024 11:04 am ET
Illustration: Alex Nabaum
Only a few things in investing life are certain. One is that investors will always find a way to lose ungodly amounts of money on bond funds.
In 2023, investors poured a record $54 billion into mutual funds and exchange-traded funds specializing in long-term U.S. government debt, according to Morningstar. More than half of the iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF’s $46.1 billion in total assets, for instance, came in during last year alone.
…
https://www.wsj.com/finance/investing/long-term-bond-funds-how-not-to-invest-in-the-bond-market-22ca937f
Couldn’t all he says apply even more to stocks, where muppets pile in with abandon at the parabolic stage of a bubble, just before CR8R?
Sidney Powell, a lawyer who filed lawsuits after the 2020 election, got a win in Texas after an appeals court ruled that the Texas bar did not prove that she engaged in misconduct or fraud.
A panel of judges on the Fifth District of Texas Court of Appeals in Dallas ruled Wednesday that the state bar’s arguments lacked merit and evidence. They found that state bar prosecutors “employed a ’scattershot’ approach to the case” that had alleged Ms. Powell did not have a reasonable basis to file lawsuits that challenged the 2020 election’s outcome in battleground states.
“The Bar employed a ‘scattershot’ approach to the case, which left this court and the trial court ‘with the task of sorting through the argument to determine what issue ha[d] actually been raised,’” Justice Dennise Garcia wrote in the court’s ruling. “Having done so, the absence of competent summary judgment compels our conclusion that the Bar failed to meet its summary judgment burden.”
A separate court had sided with Ms. Powell in the case last year, finding “numerous defects” in the evidence presented by the State Bar of Texas Commission for Lawyer Discipline. The court also found that the bar couldn’t provide evidence that she filed frivolous lawsuits.
“Under these circumstances and on this record, we conclude the trial court did not err in granting Powell’s no-evidence motion for summary judgment,” the appeals court wrote.
The State Bar of Texas Commission for Lawyer Discipline has not yet issued a statement on the matter. A representative for the Texas State Bar told Reuters that the commission would meet to determine its next steps but declined to comment further.
“The Dallas Court of Appeals has affirmed the Texas state court’s dismissal of the Texas Bar’s case against Powell. After three years of litigation, the Court of Appeals held the Bar had no evidence Powell violated any disciplinary rule in filing four federal lawsuits in the aftermath of the 2020 election,” she said in a statement this week after the court’s decision.
In court papers filed with the appeals court, Ms. Powell disputed the bar’s allegations that she provided altered evidence in her legal filings. She said the documents were provided by other attorneys involved in the case.
The court appeared to agree with her arguments. “Regardless of whether the challenged conduct must be knowing, intentional, or otherwise, a question we need not resolve here, it is axiomatic that dishonesty involves some conscious perversion of truth,” the judge wrote Wednesday.
https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/sidney-powell-handed-win-after-judges-dismiss-disciplinary-effort-by-texas-state-bar-5632951
‘it is axiomatic that dishonesty involves some conscious perversion of truth’
Ima going to have to pull that one out at a party or something.
Sell Your Investment Property Vacant Now Or You’ll Regret It
Mark Turcotte
40 minutes ago
In this video, we discuss the crucial reasons why you should make the decision to sell your investment property vacant. From attracting more serious buyers to showcasing the full potential of the property, selling a vacant property can lead to a quicker sale and potentially a higher selling price. Learn the top tips and strategies for selling your investment property vacant to avoid regrets in the future. Watch now and make the best decision for your real estate investment!
Are you looking to sell or buy Innisfil, Barrie , ESSA, Springwater Township real estate. Understanding the correlation between price and days on the market may be crucial to your success. In this video, we discuss how many property sellers in Barrie are now associating price with how long their property has been listed for sale. This allows them to price their property competitively and attract more potential buyers. Selling your home can be a daunting task, but with proper strategies and insights, you can achieve your goals with ease. Our team of experienced real estate agents is dedicated to helping you succeed in your real estate endeavours, whether you’re buying a new home or selling your existing property. Our mission is to provide you with actionable tips and tricks that will help you navigate the complex Barrie real estate market confidently. Don’t let your property sit on the market for months on end.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39EuBppN30Q
26:27.
‘The bottom line is our people are saying we have to look,’ Buck said. ‘We have to move. We don’t have a choice, and they’re not going to move down the street. They’re going to have to move to north Florida and up’
As long as they don’t give it away Greg, good riddance. But you yahoos stay out there on the east coast.
‘Just a couple of weeks ago, we had a client who was slated to purchase a home in Escondido. They got their offer accepted, the lender reached out to me and said, hey, is this going to be a difficult one to insure because it is in Escondido, and we were able to find a quote, no problem for this client. But the problem was the client wasn’t anticipating that high of an insurance premium’ said Yoshizumi. That client pulled out of the deal’
So there was a problem for the client Kiyoma.
Kiyoma’s dad should’ve pulled out.
‘Nationally, house prices in February were still 14% below peak levels, translating to a real, inflation-adjusted, decline of 22%. This emphasizes the significance of this real estate correction in Canadian history, even if it is experienced to different degrees across the different regions’
And they still act as though nothing happened.
‘Housing construction is in a downward spiral. It can’t go on like this. It must be stopped at all costs’
The angry desperate German isn’t a good look Hans.
“More than 9.5 million people, mostly single parents and their children, live in cramped conditions with skyrocketing rents.”
There goes those goose-stepping Germans!
with skyrocketing rents
How many invaders did Mutti Merkel let in? And her successors were probably no better.
It’s no fun competing with “refugees” for housing, especially when the government pays their rent; but not yours.
“Peter Kox, managing director of the German Tenants Association, told news organisation Deutsche Welle that almost half the population of Düsseldorf, Cologne and Bonn were eligible for subsidised housing based on their incomes.” “These days, it’s not just those on public assistance who are frequently coming to us for help, but also average members of society,” he said.
Gee, it sounds like, “Work won’t set you free.”
Don’t Rely On Your Tenants To Pay Your Mortgage! (Peel Region Real Estate Market Update)
Team Sessa Real Estate
30 minutes ago MISSISSAUGA
In this episode we take a look at the current Brampton, Mississauga, Ajax, Whitby, Pickering Real Estate home prices and market trends for week ending April 10, 2024. We also discuss the issue when homeowner’s rely on their tenants rent payment to help them pay their mortgage. This is not a responsible or reliable plan to put in place.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1XHtNMq1Jc
12:45.
Bad Is Bad · Huey Lewis & The News
https://youtu.be/va8l5klBEHI?si=Yy4QH_85yXrDjUWs
Dirty Laundry · Don Henley
https://youtu.be/fwgJgTL5JmE?si=49wU14TybDw8QJVu
Do you feel last night’s attack set the stage for a stock market crash?
Last Night’s Attacks on Iran Just Set the Stage for a Stock Market Crash
A bull trap is ready and waiting in the stock market now
13h ago · By Michael A. Gayed
As expected, Israel retaliated against Iran, and news Thursday night of the strike caused both futures and Treasury yields to collapse. This is the fourth time in four weeks where the “flight to safety” trade lifts government debt. Of course, the move has yet to stick. Following the collapse in futures, traders began arguing that what’s happening with futures is merely a “bear trap.”
In trading, a bull trap and a bear trap represent deceptive market signals that can mislead investors into making unprofitable decisions, but they operate in opposite market conditions.
A bull trap occurs during a downtrend when an asset appears to be recovering, enticing traders to buy in anticipation of a rising market. Prices then resume falling, resulting in losses for those who bought in. Conversely, a bear trap happens in an uptrend, where a brief price decline leads sellers to anticipate a market downturn, prompting them to sell off their assets. However, the market quickly recovers, leaving sellers at a disadvantage as prices climb.
Essentially, while a bull trap lures investors with the false promise of a rising market, a bear trap tricks them with the fear of a falling one.
I think we see both here. While for now it seems as though Iran won’t escalate by retaliating against Israel, there are other worrying dynamics that favor the bears. The main one here of course is gold, which I continue to believe is warning about war and a currency crisis in its unrelenting move higher. If this were a bear trap, gold would confirm by selling off. Instead, it’s holding strong.
…
https://investorplace.com/2024/04/last-nights-attacks-on-iran-just-set-the-stage-for-a-stock-market-crash/
Would you pay over $50,000 for the electric equivalent of a pet rock.
HOMEPAGE
Finance
Jamie Dimon calls bitcoin a ‘fraud’ and a ‘Ponzi scheme’ — and says the crypto is hopeless as a currency
Theron Mohamed
Apr 18, 2024, 9:10 AM ET
President and CEO of JPMorgan Chase Co. Jamie Dimon testifies before a Senate Banking Committee hearing on Capitol Hill June 13, 2012 in Washington, DC.
Mark Wilson/Getty Images
– Bitcoin is a “fraud” and “Ponzi scheme” and cannot serve as a currency, Jamie Dimon said.
– The JPMorgan CEO said cryptos that enable smart contracts and blockchain apps might have value.
– Dimon has dismissed bitcoin as a “pet rock” in the past and slammed it for enabling criminals.
…
https://www.businessinsider.com/jamie-dimon-bitcoin-crypto-ponzi-scheme-fraud-currency-blockchain-jpmorgan-2024-4?amp
Only if there was a limited amount of rocks.
Actually, there is a limited number of rocks on Earth. It’s a huge number, but it is limited.
KTLA
California home prices climb higher, but sales stall
Marc Sternfield
11 hours ago
Home for Sale
A sign is posted in front of a home for sale on February 05, 2024 in San Anselmo, California.
(Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Sales of existing single-family homes in California dipped in March as mortgage rates once again edged higher, according to new data from the California Association of Realtors.
After two consecutive months of double-digit increases, statewide home sales fell by 7.8% month over month and were down 4.4% percent from March 2023 on a seasonally adjusted annualized rate.
Home prices, however, continued to climb.
The median price of a single-family home in California was $854,490 last month, up nearly $50,000 over February and more than $60,000 higher than March 2023.
The San Francisco Bay Area continues to be the Golden State’s priciest region, with a median home price of $1.38 million, followed by the Central Coast ($950,000) and then Southern California ($850,000), the data shows. The median price in metro Los Angeles was $801,000.
…
https://ktla.com/news/california/california-home-prices-climb-higher-but-sales-stall/amp/
“The San Francisco Bay Area continues to be the Golden State’s priciest region, with a median home price of $1.38 million…”
The typical 40-yr old, 3br/2ba, house in San Jose isn’t worth $380k, so it’s difficult to see where the other $1M of value comes from.
Housing Market
Real estate
U.S. Economy
Will House Prices Go Down? Housing Market Stung by New Prediction
Published Apr 19, 2024 at 11:04 AM EDT
Updated Apr 19, 2024 at 1:23 PM EDT
By Giulia Carbonaro
US News Reporter
The Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, better known as Freddie Mac, is predicting that home prices will rise much more modestly in 2024 and 2025 than its experts had previously estimated.
At the beginning of the year, Freddie Mac had forecasted that home prices would have increased by 2.8 percent in 2024 and by 2.0 percent in 2025 at the national level. But in its latest monthly outlook, published on Thursday, the government-sponsored corporation has dramatically changed its prediction.
According to Freddie Mac’s baseline scenario, home prices will increase by a much more modest 0.5 percent this year and in 2025.
“Under our baseline scenario, our housing outlook, particularly for home sales, remains subdued,” the corporation wrote.
“While housing demand is solid due to a large share of millennial first-time homebuyers looking to buy homes, they are challenged by high mortgage rates and a lack of homes available for sale.”
Freddie Mac expects these challenges to continue throughout 2024 “mainly in the absence of significant rate cuts, which will keep the rate-lock effect in place and keep total home sales volume below five million in 2024.”
Newsweek previously reported about the impact that millennials are having on the housing market, where they’re unwillingly contributing to keeping prices high.
The generation born between 1981 and 1996 has been waiting years for the right moment to buy only to see the financial crisis of 2007-2008 followed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Many got tired of waiting, and they’re now trying to get on the property ladder en masse, shaking up the entire market.
This pent-up demand for homes is keeping prices high, especially as the U.S. is still suffering from a historic lack of inventory, and mortgage rates, which are currently averaging 6.8 percent, remain high. The result is that many homebuyers are still being squeezed out of the market—as recent sales data show.
The latest report on existing-home sales by the National Association of Realtors (NAR), published on Thursday, found that existing-home sales descended 4.3 percent in March from February. Compared to a year before, they dropped 3.7 percent. At the same time as sales dropped, prices climbed: between February and March, the median existing home sale price rose 4.8 percent to $393,500.
Matthew Walsh, Moody’s Analytics housing economist, told Newsweek that, as expected by Freddie Mac, home sales are expected to remain low throughout 2024.
“Extremely low housing affordability and a lean existing sales inventory will keep a lid on existing-home sales in the coming months,” he told Newsweek.
“Sales remain well below their average over the past decade, and forward-looking indicators are downbeat. The National Association of Realtors’ pending home sales index had an uneven showing to start the year, and is averaging near its record low. Similarly, mortgage purchase applications have moved sideways over the last few weeks.”
…
https://www.newsweek.com/will-house-prices-go-down-housing-market-new-prediction-1892095
Do you find the news that pension funds are dumping stocks concerning?
I don’t.
Investing
Pension Funds Are Pulling Hundreds of Billions From Stocks
Some turn to bonds or private markets after major indexes’ run to records
By Heather Gillers and Charley Grant
Updated April 18, 2024 6:45 am ET
Johnson & Johnson reduced the stock-allocation target for its pension fund. Photo: brendan mcdermid/Reuters
Stock portfolios at large pension funds had a blockbuster run. Now, managers are cashing out.
Corporate pension funds are shifting money into bonds. State and local government funds are swapping stocks for alternative investments. The nation’s largest public pension, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, is planning to move close to $25 billion out of equities and into private equity and private debt.
…
https://www.wsj.com/finance/investing/pension-funds-stocks-bonds-679b8536
Rates & Bonds
US Treasury key yield curve inversion becomes the longest on record
By Davide Barbuscia
March 21, 2024 8:32 AM PDT
Updated a month ago
NEW YORK, March 21 (Reuters) – A key bond market signal of an upcoming recession has flashed red continuously for the longest time ever, even if the U.S. economy is far from showing signs of a growth contraction.
The part of the Treasury yield curve that plots two-year and 10-year yields has been continuously inverted – meaning that short-term bonds yield more than longer ones – since early July 2022. That exceeds a record 624 day inversion in 1978, Deutsche Bank said in a note on Thursday.
A 2/10 curve inversion is a time-honored signal of an upcoming recession. Short-term bonds yield more than longer maturities because investors expect interest rates to remain high in the short term as the Federal Reserve battles inflation, while long yields are lower on expectations the central bank will cut interest rates to stimulate a weakening economy.
An inverted yield curve is also by itself typically bad for economic activity and financial markets because higher short-term yields lift borrowing costs on consumer and commercial loans, while lower compensation for long-term lending discourages risk-taking.
…
https://www.reuters.com/markets/rates-bonds/us-treasury-key-yield-curve-inversion-becomes-longest-record-2024-03-21/
Whatch out for disinversion, which has historically immediately preceded a recession.
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/T10Y2Y
I thought recessions were a thing of the past?
Disinversion,,,I like that word,,,,,it needs to disinvert back to a positive, in the 1 + territory before stocks will be worth a look, but the time between now and then may be a hideous journey.
For that period, maybe a garage full of whiskey and cigarettes will be a good investment.