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To The Operators, The Buildings Were Cash Cows, Not Physical Assets

A report from Click Orlando. “Regency Gardens Monthly HOA dues are projected to increase by approximately $900, in addition to flat assessments based on condo size. Jon Epstein, a concerned resident, questioned the feasibility of these assessments for working-class families. Epstein said if this continues to happen at condos around Orlando, there will be a mass exodus. ‘The lesson I’m learning is don’t buy property in Florida, don’t buy property in Orlando,’ he said.”

ABC Action News. “Floridians continue to fight through the state’s fractured insurance market. Marisa Borgia bought her Pinellas Park home in 2018 and said since then, her insurance rates have doubled twice. As a single mom, Borgia had to take on two part-time jobs on top of her career as a nurse. ‘That’s more than 400%,’ Borgia said. ‘How do people afford it?’ We’ve also spoken to retirees, like Venice condo owner Karen Shipman, who got her nursing license here in Florida – ready to come out of retirement to afford rising rates. ‘Sometimes I’m not sure this will be our last home because our condo fees have gone up, and mainly insurance is a big factor,’ Shipman said.”

Business Insider. “As I stood in my newly renovated bathroom, watching water spill over the shower edge and flood the room, I alternated between rage and exhaustion. Even with my untrained eyes, I could tell that the lip of the shower was improperly leveled, which led to water cascading to the floor instead of swirling toward the drain. If it was left unchecked, the long-term water damage would be disastrous. What was supposed to be a yearlong $140,000 renovation ballooned into three excruciating years that cost us more than $500,000 — and the work is still not finished.”

“Our story is not unique. Homeowners nationwide have grappled with similar construction calamities wrought by unreliable and often unscrupulous contractors. The surge in home renovations post-health emergency, fueled by hit TV shows such as ‘Property Brothers’ and ‘Love It or List It’ that make renovations look like a breeze, exacerbated the situation. When our family bought our 130-year-old property in Northern Michigan in September 2020, we thought we’d be moving in by June 2021. We hoped to use the small cottage as a summer getaway and rent it out for the remainder of the year. A project that several contractors told us should take a year, give or take. Things started out well, but by fall 2021, it became apparent that our contractor had no intention of adhering to the agreed-upon timeline. Our descent into renovation purgatory had begun.”

KVVU in Nevada. “A federal judge last week signed off on an anti-trust settlement reached by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) and a group of home sellers. We invited six real estate professionals to give us their opinions on what this means. KARINA SILVA, REALTOR: ‘What we’re going to also see is sales price being negotiated. If the buyer is paying for earned compensation that could come off right off the top of this sales price.’ JOHN HUCK: ‘Okay, so there is a way of baking it into the sales price.’ STEVE HAWKS, REALTOR: ‘Yeah, that the sellers can say, here’s $20,000 for closing costs, do it with you want with it. So now the loan officer and the buyer’s agent will be competing for the contribution that the seller gives towards the closing cost of the buyer.'”

“STEVE HAWKS, REALTOR: ‘That FHA now allows the real estate buyer’s agent also to be the loan officer on the transaction. So this is a big change right now. That nobody would ever have. If someone had said that two or three years ago, they said, no, that’s never gonna happen. But now FHA, which is predominately first time homebuyers is now allowing something that no one ever thought would happen. So now that loan officer can be the realtor and the realtor can be the loan officer, which is going to help first time homebuyers obtain that goal.'”

The Journal Sentinel in Wisconsin. “New nationwide changes in how real estate agents are paid commissions are coming. Tom Zellner, retail sales manager for Nicolet National Bank, said mortgage bankers across the United States want to see if mortgage underwriters Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac adjust their lending rules to allow buyers to include agent fees in their mortgage. Zellner said it could ease some of the financial pressure on buyers. Agencies like the Veterans Administration and Federal Housing Authority that also back mortgages to veterans or families with lower incomes would have to change their rules, too. ‘I think Fannie and Freddie are working on this. We cannot lose sight of the fact our buyers need to be in a strong position in order to buy a home,’ Zellner said.”

The Real Deal. “Norman Fuchs inked the deal of a lifetime. In Cincinnati in 2019, Fuchs bought a sprawling, nearly 1,000-unit rental complex for $70 million and flipped it for a 30 percent profit a week later. But Fuchs never saw the money. In fact, he had zero involvement in the deal. The fast, profitable flip was evidence of a bigger scheme, a crack in the system quickly expanding into a giant loophole. It started with small-time landlords looking for easy cash and spiraled into nearly every part of the real estate ecosystem: title insurers, brokers, appraisers and possibly lenders, who knew more than they are letting on. The Department of Justice and the Federal Housing Finance Agency are running investigations.”

“What actually happened was that three investors — Boruch Drillman, Fred Schulman and Mark Silber — had allegedly stolen Fuchs’ identity, forged his signature and bought the apartments for $70 million. Then the fake Fuchs flipped them to the real Drillman for $96 million, according to the Department of Justice. With the higher price, Drillman was able to score a $74 million loan from JLL, meaning the investors were putting in essentially no money of their own, since the loan and actual purchase price were close to the same amount. The JLL loan was quickly offloaded to Fannie Mae.”

“It wasn’t an isolated scam. Savvy real estate investing relies on loopholes. Every sophisticated developer maximizes depreciation benefits or 1031 exchanges. Other loopholes foster perfect conditions for fraud, industry sources say. In deals like Drillman’s, owners could ‘self-certify’ rental income: Property owners tell lenders, ‘trust us.’ These loans were then sold to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. Lenders often rely on title insurers to report a flip, but — critically — title companies have no legal requirement to do so. Apartment owners could also fail to note bad debt, such as unpaid rent, in loan applications. To be sure, the agencies mandated other safeguards. Freddie Mac required audits and inspections on apartment units. But in-person inspections were halted during Covid, and some owners found workarounds.”

“Congress established Fannie and Freddie, which are quasi-public entities, to provide liquidity to the market by guaranteeing payments on certain loans in the event of default. Fannie alone provided more than $52 billion in financing to the multifamily sector last year. Now the agencies suspect some of the loans they purchased are fraudulent, meaning that the public is not just subsidizing Drillman’s zero-equity, 30-percent-upside flip in Cincinnati, but also giving lenders every incentive to make risky loans, knowing they won’t be on their books for long.”

“The DOJ alleges that Drillman ran a similar scheme in Michigan a year later. There, he partnered with the father-son team of Aron Puretz and Eli Puretz to buy an innocuous office complex for $42.7 million. That purchase was flipped for $70 million back to Drillman and the Puretzes. Riverside Abstract, a title insurer, performed both closings. Here is where the game gets fuzzy. To the operators, the buildings were cash cows, not physical assets. Drillman had only seen the Columbus site once before purchasing it in 2021, he said in court. The approach left hundreds of tenants in the Ohio cities living in squalor.”

The San Francisco Chronicle in California. “For six months, the man who lived upstairs in the garden-style apartment at 403 Gonzalez Drive terrorized his Parkmerced neighbors. Erick Rosemon banged on one resident’s door and threatened to shoot his wife, according to interviews with tenants and police reports. Armed with a knife, he allegedly threatened two other residents and a letter carrier. When an ambulance showed up on an unrelated call, he allegedly vandalized the vehicle with his knife and stole an iPad from the front seat. When Sara attempted to bring the problem to the attention of Parkmerced’s management, they said they couldn’t do anything and ‘ping-ponged me back and forth to the police,’ Sara said.”

“‘They kept saying, ‘Call the police, keep us in the loop,’ but they were not very helpful,’ Coni said. ‘They really dropped the ball. Sara would call. I would call. There were emails. It finally raised up to the level of what happened on the eighth — it was terror on Gonzalez Drive.'”

“While the disturbances represent an extreme example, residents of the 3,221-unit complex say the ordeal, and the handling of it, reflect a financially strapped property owner who seems to have cut back on security and maintenance. Regular complaints include broken elevators, lack of lighting in public areas, mold and mildew, leaks, car break-ins, rodents, overflowing dumpsters, and squatters taking over vacant units, according to tenants and public records. On April 16, the Chronicle reported that the ownership group is at risk of defaulting on its nearly $1.8 billion mortgage. The owner has requested the transfer of the mortgage to special servicing, a move that often leads to foreclosure, according to a report by the financial services firm Morningstar.”

“The loan originated in 2019 when Maximus sought to start construction on a long-approved redevelopment of the property, which would expand it to 8,900 apartments, from 3,221. Instead, the pandemic decimated the property’s revenue stream. Many of the tenants, young workers and students at San Francisco State University, left the city as classes and work went remote. Meanwhile, rents fell more than 25%. At one point, the property had close to 40% vacancy rate. Morningstar said the current occupancy rate is about 83%, and cash flow is ‘well below’ what is needed to cover debt payments.”

The Globe and Mail in Canada. “In January, 2021, American law enforcement agencies surveilled a suspicious box truck and a Lexus SUV through the streets of Queens, N.Y. Their hunch was that a criminal ring was out to launder drug money. Starting in a supermarket parking lot, a man and a woman got in the truck carrying three bags, then they drove to a bank parking lot where an Lexus SUV pulled up. Bags were exchanged between the vehicles, and the box truck left.”

“Shortly afterward, the woman, Yunqin Liu, took a bag from the SUV and walked into the bank, where she made a large cash deposit. Then she drove to another branch of the same bank and did it again. And then deposited even more at yet another branch. Four months later, the U.S. authorities charged six people with money laundering, which resulted in the lead defendant, David Sze, pleading guilty. Throughout the proceedings, the authorities never named the Queens bank, merely referring to it as FI-1. But on Thursday The Globe and Mail reported that the financial institution is Toronto-Dominion Bank, and the revelation shed light on a years-long investigation that has haunted Canada’s second-largest lender.”

“‘I regret that there were serious instances where the Bank’s AML program fell short and did not effectively monitor, detect, report or respond,’ TD’s chief executive officer Bharat Masrani said in a statement Friday. ‘This is unacceptable and not in line with our values.’ Although TD is not the only financial institution tied to the money laundering operation, the sum of money involved is stunning. U.S. authorities believe the criminal ring conducted more than US$2-million worth of transactions on that single day in January, and that it laundered US$653-million between 2016 and 2021.”

The London Free Press. “The annual spring fever that hits the London real estate market is more like a seasonal chill, as home sales remain sluggish, a lingering hangover from higher interest rates, say industry observers. The industry has taken note of the slower market this season, and a drop in the current five per cent Bank of Canada rate may be all that is needed, said Troy Couwenberghs, a broker and manager of Re/Max Advantage Realty Ltd. Brokerage in London. ‘It is slower than what we anticipated. The first half of last year was very busy, average prices went up about $100,000. The Bank of Canada raised interest rates and everything slowed down. I think that is still having an impact. People are waiting to see what happens in June.'”

“‘It has been slow for a year and continues to be; there is no spring ramp up,’ said London realtor Marcus Plowright, who owns the A Team brokerage. ‘The market is continuing to be slow and below historic averages. If interest rates come down, the belief is it will bring buyers out. It suggests buyers have the power, it is a buyers’ market.'”

Scoop Business. “Increasing costs of living, high interest rates, and recessionary pressures all impacted the New Zealand property market in April. New data from realestate.co.nz indicates a nationwide downturn in property demand, a trend that extends across most regions. Sarah Wood, CEO of realestate.co.nz, notes: ‘This indicates a cooling of buyer interest amid economic uncertainty. It is a significant shift as most regions have experienced year-on-year demand growth during 2024 until now.’ Roughly 59% of New Zealand’s existing mortgages (by value)are up for renewal within the next 12 months. ‘Those who fixed two years ago might soon move from interest rates of around 3.0% to around 7.0%. This is likely pulling liquidity from the market and dampening demand,’ says Wood.”

“Contributing to this waning demand, stock levels were notably high last month – echoing figures from 2015. Up 18.1% on April 2023, there were 33,815 total homes available for sale. New listings were also up nationally by 34.9% year-on-year. Since January 2023, the national average asking price has remained stable. At $868,877, it is down a marginal 0.6% on April last year and down 1.8% month-on-month. Wood notes that the national average asking price has remained below $900,000 since December 2022, a significant decrease from the market peak in January 2022 when it exceeded $1 million.”

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This Post Has 45 Comments

  2. ‘Okay, so there is a way of baking it into the sales price.’ STEVE HAWKS, REALTOR: ‘Yeah, that the sellers can say, here’s $20,000 for closing costs, do it with you want with it. So now the loan officer and the buyer’s agent will be competing for the contribution that the seller gives towards the closing cost of the buyer’

    Sure sellers just toss 20k at buyers cuz they like the cut of their jib Steve. What really happens is the UHS cook up a deal to roll everything into the loan.

    ‘STEVE HAWKS, REALTOR: ‘That FHA now allows the real estate buyer’s agent also to be the loan officer on the transaction. So this is a big change right now. That nobody would ever have. If someone had said that two or three years ago, they said, no, that’s never gonna happen. But now FHA, which is predominately first time homebuyers is now allowing something that no one ever thought would happen. So now that loan officer can be the realtor and the realtor can be the loan officer, which is going to help first time homebuyers obtain that goal’

    I’ve said it a thousand times: these guberment loan guaranty outfits are full of crooks, thieves and almost no one is ever prosecuted. Mix in the crooked UHS, title people and you got what we have. This is trillions of pesos they play with yer after year.

  3. ‘On April 16, the Chronicle reported that the ownership group is at risk of defaulting on its nearly $1.8 billion mortgage. The owner has requested the transfer of the mortgage to special servicing, a move that often leads to foreclosure, according to a report by the financial services firm Morningstar’

    ‘The loan originated in 2019 when Maximus sought to start construction on a long-approved redevelopment of the property, which would expand it to 8,900 apartments, from 3,221. Instead, the pandemic decimated the property’s revenue stream. Many of the tenants, young workers and students at San Francisco State University, left the city as classes and work went remote. Meanwhile, rents fell more than 25%. At one point, the property had close to 40% vacancy rate. Morningstar said the current occupancy rate is about 83%, and cash flow is ‘well below’ what is needed to cover debt payments’

    This isn’t a tale of a sh$thole going bad. It’s a bad loan that got exposed.

    1. This isn’t a tale of a sh$thole going bad. It’s a bad loan that got exposed.

      Shirley this is a one-off, isolated incident that in no way reflects systemic, unchecked fraud in our financial system. With such worthies as Senators Maxine Waters and Fauxahontus, and Yellen the Felon overseeing the soundness of our banking institutions, I find it inconceivable that regulators, enforcers, auditors, and ratings agencies would all fail to do their jobs.

  4. ‘These loans were then sold to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. Lenders often rely on title insurers to report a flip, but — critically — title companies have no legal requirement to do so. Apartment owners could also fail to note bad debt, such as unpaid rent, in loan applications. To be sure, the agencies mandated other safeguards. Freddie Mac required audits and inspections on apartment units. But in-person inspections were halted during Covid, and some owners found workarounds’

    You know what else got suspended during minor respiratory illness? Physical shack appraisals. We all know what happened then. That’s how sick these dogs are. They’ll use anything to slip in fraud and felony.

    1. I was thinking the other day that it has been a while since I’ve seen a story about fannie or freddie raising their loan limits. Is the sky the limit these days?

  6. Ya gotta admit its hilarious…

    Hims & Hers Health Shares Tumble After CEO Says ‘Will Hire Anti-Israel Student Protesters’

    “What does this have to do with selling boner pills.”

    2. Moneywise
      Jeremy Grantham still expects the S&P 500 to plunge by 50% from its peak — here are 3 recession-proof stocks in his portfolio to help limit the pain
      Jing Pan
      Updated August 15, 2022 4 min read

      Many investors hope that the stock market has finally bottomed out. But according to legendary investor Jeremy Grantham, that’s not the case.

      In a recent ‘We Study Billionaires’ podcast, Grantham predicts that the market tumble is far from over.

      “In terms of the entire bear market, it would be unusual for it to bottom out anywhere near this high,” he says. “I would expect that by the low, the S&P would have declined by 50% from the peak in real terms.”
      …
      https://ca.movies.yahoo.com/finance/news/jeremy-grantham-still-expects-p-130000942.html

      1. “expects the S&P 500 to plunge by 50% from its peak”

        I sold off most of my stonks Fidelity FZROX this week. Getting near 5% APY on cash in SPAXX. Let it crash and burn 🔥

    3. Markets
      ‘Big downside revisions coming’: A famed economist who called the 2008 recession warns jobs data will shockingly turn sour in the next 6 months — and says a stock-market AI bubble is starting to unravel
      William Edwards
      May 4, 2024, 2:31 AM MDT
      stock trader sad
      Spencer Platt/Getty Images

      April’s jobs report fell short of expectations: The Bureau of Labor Statistics said on Friday that the US economy added 175,000 jobs last month, shy of economists’ forecasts for 238,000 and well below the 274,000 average jobs added per month from December to March.

      While one month of data does not make a trend, some bearish market observers say the fresh numbers could be a preview of more significant weakness ahead.
      …
      https://www.businessinsider.com/stock-market-crash-famed-economist-warns-ai-bubble-is-unraveling-2024-5

    5. Industries
      Finance
      Berkshire Cash Hoard Scores Another Record as Earnings Gain

      – Buffett’s cash pile rose to $189 billion amid scarce deals

      – Conglomerate posts earnings as Omaha annual meeting kicks off

      Attendees during a shareholders shopping day ahead of the Berkshire Hathaway annual shareholders meeting in Omaha, Nebraska.
      Photographer: Dan Brouillette/Bloomberg
      By Sally Bakewell
      May 4, 2024 at 6:11 AM MDT
      Updated on May 4, 2024 at 9:11 AM MDT
      …
      https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-05-04/buffett-s-berkshire-says-cash-hits-record-as-earnings-gain

    6. US Jobs Report:
      April Payrolls Report
      Key Takeaways
      Employed But Unhappy
      Unemployed Americans Left Behind
      Markets
      Bond Market Parties On as Jobs Data Revive Fed Rate-Cut Bets

      – Traders restore wagers on easing beginning earlier in year

      – Gains pared as next week’s Treasury auctions come into view

      US Adds 175,000 Jobs in April, Missing Estimates

      By Liz Capo McCormick
      May 3, 2024 at 6:38 AM MDT
      Updated on May 3, 2024 at 12:34 PM MDT

      The world’s biggest bond market is back in celebration mode after its worst month in more than a year.

      Evidence that the US labor market is finally softening in response to the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate increases revived bets that the central bank will begin lowering rates by the end of the year. That enabled the bond market to extend a rally that began Wednesday after supportive comments by Fed boss Jerome Powell.
      …
      https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-05-03/treasury-yields-tumble-as-jobs-data-revives-case-for-rate-cuts

  8. The Department of Justice and the Federal Housing Finance Agency are running investigations.

    Our corrupt, subverted, captured DoJ is “running investigations.” I expect to see perp walks any day now….

  9. “What actually happened was that three investors — Boruch Drillman, Fred Schulman and Mark Silber — had allegedly stolen Fuchs’ identity, forged his signature and bought the apartments for $70 million.

    These Houthi fraud rings are part of a devious plot by the mullahs in Tehran to defraud and undermine our financial system to weaken us from within.

    Oh, wait….

  10. Instead, the pandemic decimated the property’s revenue stream.

    The globalist scum media willfully twists the truth: it wasn’t the Wu Flu that had such an adverse impact: it was the Communist response to it by FedGov and the CDC.

  11. The US Is The Only G-7 Nation To See Trust In Government Plummet.

    https://www.zerohedge.com/political/us-only-g-7-nation-see-trust-government-plummet

    How much do you trust the government, and its various institutions?

    It’s likely that your level of confidence probably depends on a wide range of factors, such as perceived competency, historical context, economic performance, accountability, social cohesion, and transparency.

    And for these same reasons, trust levels in government institutions also change all the time, even in the world’s most developed countries: the G7.

    Confidence in Government by G7 Countries (2006-2023)
    This chart, via Visual Capitaist’s Nick Routley, looks at the changes in trust in government institutions between the years 2006 and 2023, based on data from a multi-country Gallup poll.

    [A chart appears here …]

    Specifically, this dataset aggregates confidence in multiple national institutions, including the military, the judicial system, the national government, and the integrity of the electoral system.

    What’s interesting here is that in the G7, a group of the world’s most developed economies, there is only one country bucking the general trend: the United States.

    Across most G7 countries, confidence in institutions has either improved or stayed the same between 2006 and 2023. The largest percentage point (p.p.) increases occur in Italy and Japan, which saw +13 p.p. and +11 p.p. increases in trust over the time period.

    In the U.S., however, confidence in government institutions has fallen by 13 p.p. over the years. What happened?

    Key Figures on U.S. Trust in Institutions
    In 2006, the U.S. was tied with the UK as having the highest confidence in government institutions, at 63%.

    But here’s where the scores stand in 2023, across various institutions:

    [Another chart appears here …]

    Based on this data, it’s clear that the U.S. lags behind in three key indicators: confidence in the national government, confidence in the justice system, and confidence in fair elections. It ranked in last place for each indicator in the G7.

    One other data point that stands out: despite leading the world in military spending, the U.S. is only the third most confident in its military in the G7. It lags behind France (86%) and the United Kingdom (83%).

  13. A reader sent these in:

    Late last year the share of first home buyer purchases in New Zealand hit a record high according to Corelogic. Amazing what the phase out of negative gearing, tighter investor lending standards and a ~20% drop in housing prices at a national level can do.

    https://twitter.com/AvidCommentator/status/1786237567366840741

    Twitter waiting 5 months to make 12% on china
    Gamestop +20% in 2 days

    This is absolutely insane…
    This is Jared Bernstein. Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers.
    He advises Biden on economic policy.

    https://twitter.com/Geiger_Capital/status/1786377408993468714

    JPOW gave HF their best quarter in 4 years with his little dovish flip in dec 23 – Never forget who JPOW works for

    https://twitter.com/INArteCarloDoss/status/1786355559513346194

    Time will tell where the unemployment rate tops out for the cycle, but odds are that this will not happen for a while. It generally takes about two years for a change in the Fed Funds Rate to be reflected in employment. It seems clear that the story is just beginning.

    https://twitter.com/FrancoisTrahan/status/1786402132821766406

    “Audit finds 282 U.S. banks at risk of failure.”
    👀👀

    https://twitter.com/profstonge/status/1786423051820703841

    US Commercial Real Estate Prices are down the most on a year-over-year basis since the Great Financial Crisis.

    https://twitter.com/PikerCapital/status/1786484977158295603

    Nikola Motor, a company that never made a dime of profit, whose stock is down 93%. This is where former CEO lives now after being accused of fraud

    https://twitter.com/GRomePow/status/1786525681935085639

    🚨Foreclosure sale: 228 apartment units.
    Midtown Crossing apartments in Raleigh, NC just transacted at a foreclosure auction.

    https://twitter.com/aryal1994/status/1786475114378232057

    It’s time we take a stand to house our people by phasing out illegal short term rentals. Today, alongside Lahaina Strong, Hawai‘i’s Hoteliers and Hotel Labor Unions, we united in support of counties’ authority to phase out Short Term Rentals (STRs).

    https://twitter.com/GovJoshGreenMD/status/1782945581100638349

    The former CEO of Boeing that oversaw the absolutely disastrous 737 Max program that killed 346 people. This is where he lived

    https://twitter.com/GRomePow/status/1786437221979172909

    In the defense of Jared, there are plenty of people out there who don’t understand the bond market and the workings of the treasury and the Fed…but also to be fair, most of those people aren’t appointed chair of council of economics..but whatever…

    https://twitter.com/jimiuorio/status/1786406184087351327

    Who really benefits when residential RE prices increase? Here’s a list to help you choose…
    Banks/lenders
    Realtors
    Mortgage Brokers
    Governments
    Speculators
    Investors
    Flippers
    First Time Buyers
    Families
    Parents
    Tenants
    Who would benefit the most if they didn’t increase?

    https://twitter.com/JonFlynnREstats/status/1786404835132137911

    Stone Age
    Bronze Age
    Iron Age
    The Gilded Age
    The Age of Grift < -- we are here https://twitter.com/statespace9/status/1786424705454334109

    – Vision Pro Fail
    – Mediocre M3 performance boost
    – “new” iPhone with literally zero added features compared to iPhone 14 Pro (no one cares about Titanium)
    – Tim Cook like how do I save stock price? Lets announce a $110B buyback

    We’re either at peak Apple or peak Apple is behind us. Only in hindsight will we know which

    https://twitter.com/varunramg/status/1786178649751789707

    An anecdote from recent job postings in Florida:
    Landscaper, $25/hour, <1 applicant per week.
    Janitor, $25/hour, <1 applicant per week.
    Admin Assistant, $20/hour, >60 applicants in 24 hours.

    https://twitter.com/CXCarroll/status/1786357208361455679

    Apple has devolved into a late stage holding company
    That Siri has no LLM while they are doing this scale of buyback is a complete lack of ambition and no understanding of what is about to happen to them

    https://twitter.com/garrytan/status/1786245056787329059

    Economists don’t understand economics.

    https://twitter.com/Rothmus/status/1786003041889472700

    She did that to herself

    https://twitter.com/NoCapFights/status/1786213497476723039

    Angry customer scores a complimentary tour of the kitchen.

    https://twitter.com/SteveInmanUIC/status/1785441082987143419

  16. I love these buyer’s realtor stories about how people should still pay for them, but not directly. Yeah, ain’t no one paying for your useless services if they can’t hide the fees somehow.

    You can see them reaching for anything.

    As a seller, I ain’t paying the buyer’s realtor anything. You (the buyer) hired them, you pay them. Not my problem. I feel quite confident I’ll still be able to sell my house (if the price is right).

    I don’t think the realtors have any clue what’s about to hit them. And right as the market is turning down.

  17. ‘said if this continues to happen at condos around Orlando, there will be a mass exodus. ‘The lesson I’m learning is don’t buy property in Florida, don’t buy property in Orlando’

    Not only is it going to continue Joe, it’s gonna get worser.

    1. Not only is it going to continue Joe, it’s gonna get worser.
      I am surprised condo prices aren’t down 25% or more already.

      I think 50% is possible and I wouldn’t be surprised to see bigger %’s declines than that. Condo owners are having to pay up for deferred maintenance of 20-25 years. They have essentially been living a “lie” for, in some cases, the last few decades.
      No one should buy a condo in Florida for at lest the next year, way too many unknowns to risk it.

  18. ‘had to take on two part-time jobs on top of her career as a nurse. ‘That’s more than 400%,’ Borgia said. ‘How do people afford it?’

    They don’t eat expensive food Marisa. But it’s still cheaper than renting

    ‘We’ve also spoken to retirees, like Venice condo owner Karen Shipman, who got her nursing license here in Florida – ready to come out of retirement to afford rising rates. ‘Sometimes I’m not sure this will be our last home because our condo fees have gone up, and mainly insurance is a big factor’

    There’s a big line of would-be movers forming Karen.

  19. ‘Other loopholes foster perfect conditions for fraud, industry sources say. In deals like Drillman’s, owners could ‘self-certify’ rental income: Property owners tell lenders, ‘trust us.’ These loans were then sold to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. Lenders often rely on title insurers to report a flip, but — critically — title companies have no legal requirement to do so. Apartment owners could also fail to note bad debt, such as unpaid rent, in loan applications’

    You could drive a herd of cats through that loophole.

  20. ‘took a bag from the SUV and walked into the bank, where she made a large cash deposit. Then she drove to another branch of the same bank and did it again. And then deposited even more at yet another branch. Four months later, the U.S. authorities charged six people with money laundering, which resulted in the lead defendant, David Sze, pleading guilty. Throughout the proceedings, the authorities never named the Queens bank, merely referring to it as FI-1. But on Thursday The Globe and Mail reported that the financial institution is Toronto-Dominion Bank, and the revelation shed light on a years-long investigation that has haunted Canada’s second-largest lender’

    That Dave, I knew he was no good.

    ‘I regret that there were serious instances where the Bank’s AML program fell short and did not effectively monitor, detect, report or respond…This is unacceptable and not in line with our values’

    So yer going with the rogue trader thing eh Bharat? Why not, guberment seems on board. But most big banks have these things called internal audits. Which are then followed up with even more critical third party audits. So how does David and his secret Chinese lady walk around north American with suitcases of pesos depositing them and not have to show source of funds? Where did the cartel connections come in? It was really dirty money as is the case these days. If I deposit over 3k the bank makes a note. And they go on to do this with over 600M pesos and none of the audits saw anything unusual.

    No, maybe yer right, it was that Dave, he was a bad apple.

  21. ‘It is slower than what we anticipated. The first half of last year was very busy, average prices went up about $100,000. The Bank of Canada raised interest rates and everything slowed down’

    Here’s what I’ve noticed about yer sh$thole igloo clusters in K-da Troy: the prices jump up fer no dam good reason all the time, then sink like a turd in a well and you all act like that’s normal. Meanwhile most of you think yer rich when just across the border igloos sell fer half that.

  22. ‘This indicates a cooling of buyer interest amid economic uncertainty. It is a significant shift as most regions have experienced year-on-year demand growth during 2024 until now.’ Roughly 59% of New Zealand’s existing mortgages (by value)are up for renewal within the next 12 months. ‘Those who fixed two years ago might soon move from interest rates of around 3.0% to around 7.0%. This is likely pulling liquidity from the market and dampening demand’…Wood notes that the national average asking price has remained below $900,000 since December 2022, a significant decrease from the market peak in January 2022 when it exceeded $1 million’

    Those rate daters are fooked, right Sarah?

  23. Image file for Jeff — Shovel And Wheelbarrow Edition:

    https://ibb.co/yqkyBj8

    B*tch and moan about overpriced real estate and interest rates?

    Buy a teardown on a residential lot with existing utilities and DO THE WORK YOURSELF, and buy it with CASH.

    Soft hands city boys won’t do this. Too busy selling off their Funko Pops collection to pay next month’s rent than actually work for themselves…

    1. Waiting for Lower Mortgage Rates? Prepare To Dig In for the Long Haul By Keith Griffith
      May 2, 2024
      Prospective homebuyers waiting for mortgage rates to come down sharply are likely facing a lengthy wait.

      As expected, the U.S. Federal Reserve held its benchmark interest rate at the current target range of 5.25% to 5.5% during its latest meeting on Wednesday. In a statement, the Fed’s Open Market Committee cited a “lack of further progress” on bringing inflation down to its 2% target.

      Bond markets now price in a 78% chance that the central bank will hold rates steady at the current range at least through August, according to the CME Group’s FedWatch tool. That significantly dims hopes of imminent mortgage rate relief for prospective summer house hunters.
      …
      https://www.realtor.com/news/trends/lower-mortgage-rates-federal-reserve/

  26. Times of San Diego
    Posted in Business
    Household Income Needed to Afford a San Diego Home Soars Above $250K
    Avatar photo by Editor
    20 hours ago
    A home for sale in Del Mar.
    File photo by Chris Jennewein

    How do you achieve the American dream of buying a home? In San Diego, by making more than $250,000.

    For hopefuls in California’s major metros, including San Diego, the household income required to purchase a median-priced home exceeds a quarter of a million dollars, or more than double the national income needed.

    According to April housing data by Realtor.com, the national required household income to purchase such a home rose to $116,000, up $5,900 from a year ago, after accounting for the cost of tax and insurance.

    But in San Diego the income needed is a whopping $259,000, just ahead of San Francisco, at $256,000.

    That income is based on a median listing price of $1.05 million in San Diego and almost $1.03 million in San Francisco.

    And the median household income for San Diego County? It’s just shy of $97,000, according to the Census Bureau – roughly 37% of the $259,000 called for in the data.

    Danielle Hale, chief economist for Realtor.com, called California “a fascinating market” not only because of the “eye-popping” figures, but “because it is a microcosm of the variety we’re seeing in housing markets nationally.”
    …
    https://timesofsandiego.com/business/2024/05/03/household-income-needed-to-afford-a-san-diego-home-soars-above-250k/

    1. But in San Diego the income needed is a whopping $259,000…based on a median listing price of $1.05 million

      Four times gross pay and the house will eat almost all of your take home pay.

  27. If stocks and real estate are still red hot cakes, how come Uncle Warren is sitting on a record cash pile? You would think he would be backing up the truck…

    1. Yahoo
      Yahoo Finance
      Why Warren Buffett’s billions in cash at Berkshire Hathaway is a bearish stock market signal
      Seana Smith
      Sat, May 4, 2024, 4:29 PM MDT
      4 min read
      Queue the bears.

      Berkshire Hathaway’s (BRK-A, BRK-B) cash pile hit another record high in the first quarter of $189 billion, the industrial giant said in its earnings release on Saturday.

      That massive cash war chest will likely reach $200 billion by the end of the current quarter, Buffett told shareholders at a packed CHI Health Center today.

      Such a hoard of greenbacks signals Buffett is “bearish” on the stock market right now, according to one veteran value investor.

      “Buffett is bearish on the stock market. He shows this by growing his massive cash position to $200 billion, selling Apple (AAPL) shares and saying that he doesn’t see bargains,” Smead Capital Management CIO and long-time Buffett watcher Bill Smead told me on the grounds of the Woodstock of Capitalism.

      Berkshire’s decision to reduce its stake in Apple and boost the company’s cash position is a move that Buffett says makes sense given the current macroeconomic environment.

      “I don’t think anyone sitting at this table has any idea how to use it effectively, and therefore we don’t use it,” Buffett said in response to a shareholder question of why Berkshire isn’t putting the cash reserve to work.

      “As the world gets more sophisticated, complicated and intertwined, more can go wrong” and you want to be able to “act when that happens,” Buffett added.

      Apple and those other Buffett stocks

      The bears have some meat to feast on, compliments of Buffett.

      Berkshire reduced its position in Apple by about 13% during the first three months of the year, marking the second quarter in a row that the conglomerate reduced its stake in the iPhone maker.

      As of March 31, Apple accounted for about 40% of Berkshire’s vast stock portfolio, worth a total of $135.4 billion.
      …
      https://finance.yahoo.com/news/why-warren-buffetts-billions-in-cash-at-berkshire-hathaway-is-a-bearish-stock-market-signal-222937302.html

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