thehousingbubble@gmail.com
Blog

A Fast Track To Grim Reaper Stress

A report from the Oklahoman. “Downtown housing prices are soaring in Oklahoma City to an extent that they have more than doubled over the past decade. The Property Shark report cautions the housing price growth is not entirely good news. ‘Locals are starting to feel the pressure of population growth, especially as out-of-state investors compete with would-be homebuyers — meaning prices will continue to grow,’ the report warned. ‘Additionally, it must be noted that while downtown OKC has been historically more expensive, prices have skyrocketed since the pandemic. Specifically, downtown OKC stood at a median sale price of $261,000 in 2020, only to surge to nearly $700,000 in 2023.'”

“Scott Holsey, a homebuilder with new homes being built along the east fringe of downtown believes price inflation will slow new housing construction downtown. ‘We’re seeing a slow down,’ Holsey said. ‘It’s been a bit more of a grind. Some of the other guys are feeling the same thing. Downtown is a niche market. During the COVID days, it was a sure thing. You could ask $350 to $400 a foot and it was somewhat believable. We’re at a place where we really need $400 a foot to turn a profit and that’s hard to do,’ Holsey said. ‘The thought process is whether home prices are going to go down, some will have to liquidate and sell. The majority will hold the line.'”

Atlanta Capital B in Georgia. “In Atlanta in 2024, buying your first home doesn’t just mean learning how to hire an agent. It means paying interest rates nearly double what they were less than five years ago on homes that have skyrocketed in price. It’s all made coaching prospective buyers like the ones at the Invest Atlanta seminar that much harder. Elevated home prices and lack of affordable housing are ‘huge problems’ that contribute to buyers’ overall pessimism, said Anita Allgood, Invest Atlanta’s vice president of single family & homeownership services. ‘Education about homeownership and financial literacy and awareness is also a huge challenge,’ Allgood said. ‘The reality is that real estate is always booming.'”

“Ramphis Velasquez, a community lending manager with Prosperity Home Mortgage, said some applicants are surprised to learn they can qualify for a Federal Housing Administration (FHA) mortgage loan with a credit score as low as 580. Other typical requirements include a debt-to-income ratio of 43% and a down payment that’s 3.5% of the home price. ‘I’m seeing a lot of eyes open wide when I start letting them know what they thought … is actually not the case,’ Velasquez said.”

Foothills News in Arizona. “It’s no secret that home prices in Tucson have gotten out of hand. Recent data from the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) estimate that slightly over 90% of the city’s households are unable to afford a new, median-priced home. What are some of the ways people are finding to buy a home in Tucson right now? One strategy is choosing a home with an accessory dwelling unit, or ADU. In January 2022, Tucson amended the city’s building codes to permitted casitas, or so-called ‘granny flats,’ in residential neighborhoods. Recently, the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. (commonly known as Freddie Mac) and the Federal Housing Administration updated their policies to allow income from renting out an ADU to contribute to mortgage payments. That means if you buy a home with a granny flat in its backyard, you can apply the potential income you’ll get from renting it out toward the mortgage.”

“‘Freddie Mac and FHA have opened the option to use income off of an accessory dwelling unit,’ said Tom Heath, senior loan officer at Nova Home Loans in Tucson. ‘If you’re looking to purchase a property that has a secondary unit that can be rented out, that rental income can be considered, in most cases, toward the purchase of that home. I have had people that were able to increase their purchase price by finding a home with a guest house that they plan to rent out.'”

The Los Angeles Times. “Accessory dwelling units are multiplying across California, boosted by permissive state laws that aim to increase the supply of affordable housing. Now, a handful of cities are moving to let homeowners sell their backyard cottages and converted garages separately from the houses they live in, potentially transforming ADUs into a new generation of starter homes that cost a fraction of a full-sized house on a full-sized lot. The first to act was the San José City Council, which approved an ordinance Tuesday authorizing the separate sale of ADUs as of mid-July. Housing advocates say that Sacramento and Berkeley are also working on measures to allow separate sales of ADUs, and San Diego County is exploring it. Local governments were given the authority to do so last year under Assembly Bill 1033, which also laid out the process homeowners must follow to sell their ADU without selling the land it’s sitting on.”

“Meredith Munger, a loan officer at CrossCountry Mortgage in San Diego, estimated that 60% of her customers are building ADUs for family members, and more than half of those want to sell the unit to those relatives. With such a sale, the homeowner would no longer be responsible for the debt incurred in building the ADU, and the relatives would be able to build an equity stake. Paul Dashevsky and Jon Grishpul, owners of home improvement sites GreatBuildz and Maxable, said a homeowner going through the process probably will require an attorney, a surveyor and a civil engineer. People will also have to consider what it will mean to create a homeowners association for their house and the ADU, they said.”

“‘It’s probably a yearlong process. Nobody knows yet,’ Dashevsky said. Grishpul said service providers may need to emerge in California to handle the paperwork burdens for homeowners, as they have in places like Seattle that already have gone this route. The HOA would cover the operating and maintenance costs of any shared spaces and utilities, such as water and sewer lines, which could translate into monthly fees. Its covenants, conditions and restrictions could also set rules for such things as the appearance of the property and its structures, although future owners of the house and the ADU could agree to amend them.”

KFMB in California. “Online maps showing the locations of short-term vacation rentals in San Diego are causing a stir on social media over housing availability. ‘We have a housing shortage. Why do we allow this?’ said one online commenter on Reddit. Jay Goldberg has been analyzing the city of San Diego’s short-term rental locations for a year and a half. ‘The concentration is surprising,’ said Goldberg. ‘You’re talking about 6.2 percent of all dwelling units in Ocean Beach currently licensed as short-term rentals.'”

“Goldberg said the real problem is loopholes in the city’s ordinance that allows owners to license multiple units using the names of family members. ‘The market has been overrun with corporate operators who run more than one property, who are doing this as an investment opportunity to capture the most amount of revenue they can,’ said Goldberg.”

CBS 8 in California. “Long-term tenants in La Jolla are being evicted so their apartment complex can be converted into short-term rentals. The new owners of the property appear to be taking advantage of a loophole in the city’s ordinance to license vacation rentals. ‘The reason that they gave was for a substantial remodel. It seems like they just want to get everybody out,’ said tenant Devin O’Dea. Data shows almost four percent of housing in La Jolla currently consists of short term rental properties. ‘You just point in any direction, and they’re all short term rentals,’ said O’Dea.”

“O’Dea said he didn’t even know about the planned conversion until San Diego vacation rental data expert Jay Goldberg showed up and told him about the investment firm’s license applications with the city of San Diego. ‘Several of the names of the people on the licenses are the same last names as the owners of this investment firm,’ said Goldberg. He says multiple apartment units can be converted to vacation rentals using a loophole in the city’s ordinance. ‘A person can only have one license. It could be any person, though. So, if you’re an owner with five properties, if you can find five different people to put their names and phone numbers down as owners of that license, they will get that license,’ Goldberg said.”

Orange County Register. “You really don’t need ‘affordability’ indexes to measure the preposterous expense of Southern California housing. Yes, these yardsticks of homebuying’s financial pain often overstate the monetary challenges for a suggested house hunter, who is arguably a unicorn. I mean, who buys the typical home with the typical salary while getting a typical mortgage? This buyer’s true magical power is having enough cash for a 20% downpayment, a common mathematical assumption in affordability calculations. RealtyHop’s affordability index for 100 US cities estimates how much of a household’s median income would be gobbled up by a mortgage payment for a median-priced home listed in May.”

“This math – which assumes a 7.13% mortgage rate, a 20% downpayment and property taxes – shows Los Angeles was No. 1 for its lack of affordability. The theoretical LA buyer would spend 99% of their income – yes, basically all of it – on the estimated $6,512 house payment. That buys you a $1.1 million house while eating up almost all the income of $78,671. No. 3 was Irvine with an 85% slice of pay for an $8,982 payment on a $1.48 million house compared with a $126,861 income.”

Yahoo Finance. “Bryan Tucker began looking for a starter home in the Washington, D.C., suburbs earlier this year. He soon decided it wasn’t worth it. In Arlington, Va., where he was looking, he found that most options he was interested in were priced over $1 million and way out of his budget. So he decided to renew his apartment lease another year. ‘I have looked,’ said Tucker, a 27-year-old project manager in the tech industry. ‘The only options that are really affordable for me for the next year are condos.'”

“‘The monthly cost of owning a home today is 61% more than leasing an apartment,’ Richard Campo, CEO Camden Property Trust (CPT), a Houston-based owner of 58,000 apartment homes, said on the company’s first quarter earnings call in early May. ‘This is not going to change anytime soon.'”

From Fortune. “There was a recent boom in multifamily construction, which is why we saw rents fall, and there’s still a backlog of apartment buildings in the works, so prices can’t move up too much, as Redfin points out. That’s not great for investors, but it is for anyone who needs to rent a home to live in. The median asking rent declined the most in Jacksonville, falling 10.1% in May from the previous year. The median asking rent fell 8.7% in San Diego during the same time period, 7.2% in Austin, 5.9% in Seattle, and 5.5% in Phoenix.”

“‘Rents are falling in the Sunbelt in part because the region has been building more apartments than other parts of the country (like the Midwest and Northeast) to meet demand brought on by the influx of people who moved in during the pandemic,’ the analysis read. ‘But the pandemic housing boom is now in the rearview mirror, and property owners are facing vacancies, which is causing rents to cool.'”

The Real Deal. “In 2022, Alan Stalcup and his firm, GVA, a syndicator known for pooling money to buy up apartment complexes in the hope of flipping them at a profit, bought 11 apartment complexes across North Carolina, South Carolina and Oklahoma for $132 million. The deal was supposed to be financed with a single loan of $95 million. Or so one equity investor, Overwatch Fund, thought. Overwatch has filed a lawsuit against Austin-based GVA and Stalcup, claiming the firm and its principal misrepresented the deal to investors by saying the properties would be financed with a $95 million, but then going with a $153 million loan instead.”

“Overwatch claimed it never knew about the $153 million loan, provided by Benefit Street Partners, nor did it know the properties would be pooled in with five others. In April, Overwatch sued after allegedly suffering a $7 million loss in equity after a lender foreclosed on the 285-unit Solara apartment complex in San Antonio last year. GVA has lost many other properties to foreclosure, and is delinquent on more than half a billion dollars worth of securitized debt tied to his portfolio. If the five properties at the center of the lawsuit run into financial issues and GVA failed to pay off the larger loan, Benefit Street could foreclose, wiping out Overwatch’s equity.”

From Barron‘s. “Mortgage rates inched down to their lowest level since mid-May this week. Rates below 7% are a sliver of good news in a tough housing market—but it will take a lot more to improve buyers’ sour moods. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell mentioned the effects of high interest rates on homebuying in Wednesday’s press conference, noting that they are greatly affecting the housing market. ‘Ultimately, the best thing we can do for the housing market is to bring inflation down so that we can bring rates down so that the housing market can continue to normalize,’ said Powell.”

From CBC News. “Help from parents is increasingly becoming a deciding factor in who is able to realize their dream of owning a home and who is not. A report from Statistics Canada released last month found that as of the 2021 reference year — the latest available from the Canadian Housing Statistics Program — around one in six properties owned by buyers born in the 1990s were actually co-owned with their parents. None of this is a surprise to Paul Kershaw. He’s a professor at the University of British Columbia’s School of Population and Public Health. ‘So when my mom started out in the housing market in the mid 1970s, it would have taken five years of full-time work for a typical young adult to save a 20 per cent down payment on an average price home,’ Kershaw told Cost of Living. ‘If you flash forward to today, it’s 17 years on average, 22 in B.C. and Ontario.'”

The Financial Post. “When lenders size you up for a mortgage , they analyze your ratio of debt to income, down payment, credit and so on, and most people get approved. But not everyone gets approved for the mortgage they should get. In many cases, by stretching their budget, folks land heftier mortgages than their wallets can bear. Burdensome mortgages not only make them house-poor but research shows the stress they cause might just shave years off a borrower’s life. One-third (33 per cent) of mortgagors surveyed by Mortgage Professionals Canada (MPC) say they regret taking on the size of mortgage they did. On a percentage basis, that’s 27 per cent more than 12 months before. And, for those renewing in the next year, the share with regret is 10 percentage points higher.”

“It does make one ponder why folks willingly dive into such mortgage misery. One factor is needlessly exorbitant home prices. Many feel they don’t have a choice but to pay up. That reality is driven mainly by too much population growth and not enough home building. Credit for the population boom goes to the federal government, while the lack of building can be blamed on all levels of government. The second reason is homebuyer expectations. People have blind faith that prices will keep climbing. In fact, 72 per cent of Canadians think prices will go up in the next 12 months, finds that MPC survey. And most, (58 per cent) say their purchase was at least partially motivated by their expectation of home appreciation.”

“You can’t rely on lenders to tell you your mortgage is too hefty. And stretching your home purchase budget to the max, as CMHC says nearly half of buyers do, is a fast track to that grim reaper stress we were talking about.”

The Globe and Mail in Canada. “A court-ordered report into the spending patterns of a former child actor’s insolvent real estate empire in Ontario alleges a pattern of lavish personal spending and ‘a pervasive lack of proper record keeping’ about how $144-million in loaned money was spent. The case involves a real estate rental investment business, known as Balboa Inc. et al. in court filings, that sought insolvency protection in January, after it accumulated 407 homes and rental properties across Northern Ontario beginning in 2019 financed with private mortgages that later fell into default.”

“The companies are controlled by Robert (Robby) Clark, a U.S.-born actor who, as a 13-year-old, began starring in YTV’s The Zack Files, which aired between 2000 and 2002. He filed for creditor protection earlier this year on behalf of his companies and business partners. The report, published Tuesday night, says KSV identified ‘numerous instances’ of borrowed funds transferred by the companies to either Mr. Clark and his partners or other companies they owned or controlled. George Benchetrit, partner with Chaitons LLP and the representative counsel for the secured lenders, said in an e-mailed statement that his clients are ‘shocked and appalled’ with the conduct outlined in the KSV report.”

“‘The monitor has identified misappropriations of funds lent by innocent investors who trusted these companies with well over $100-million of monies advanced to them, including retirement savings, and has concluded that funds were improperly used for personal benefits and extravagant expenses of the principals without any discernible benefit to the business,’ the statement says.”

“In an interview with The Globe and Mail in late March, Mr. Clark said the directors didn’t take salaries or charge a management fee to run the enterprise, and claimed that ’98 per cent of the capital invested is directly related to expenses in the companies’ for everything from operations, acquisitions and renovations. ‘It’s easy to get misconceptions; Instagram lifestyle is, you know, very different from reality,’ Mr. Clark said in response to questions about social-media videos of himself at private villas, on yachts and in private jets. ‘I can understand how people would get the wrong perspective of how things were done.'”

Blog TO in Canada. “An Ontario home sold at a devastating loss after multiple failed attempts to sell is the latest window into just how unpredictable prices tend to be in the province’s real estate market. According to its listing, the two-bedroom, two-bathroom property, located near Niagara-on-the-Lake, provides views of the Toronto skyline and direct access to Lake Ontario. The lakefront property was first sold in March 2022 for $1.46 million, at a time when cheaper borrowing rates contributed to an uptick in demand and skyrocketing prices in the province’s real estate market.”

“Just one month later, the home was put back on the market for $1.59 million, but failed to attract any buyers. The property was re-listed at the same price point in August and November 2022 without any success. In January 2023, the home entered the market again at $1.55 million at a slight discount, but its price shot back up again when it was re-listed for the fifth time in April 2023 for $1.6 million. The home’s price increase didn’t stop there. In July 2023, it was relisted for a sixth time for a staggering $1.68 million. After failing to attract buyers once again, it slashed $400,000 off its price tag and was relisted for $1.28 million in January 2024.”

“Even this heavy price reduction didn’t get the home sold, and eventually, the property was listed for a seventh and final time, just under the $1 million mark in March 2024. Following two years of failed sales, the home finally got scooped up for $980,000 — exactly 480,000 less than it was originally sold for in 2022. It’s important to note that the property was under a power of sale, which differs from a regular home sale. The clause is written into a mortgage note that authorizes the mortgagee to sell their property in the event of default to repay the mortgage debt.”

Related Posts
This Post Has 72 Comments

    1. Related article.

      New York Post — Nearly two-thirds of middle-class Americans say they are struggling financially: ‘Gasping for air’ (6/7/2024):

      “A majority of middle-class Americans are experiencing financial hardship that they expect will continue for the rest of their lives, according to a new poll.”

      For the rest of their lives? Must be one of those “we’re all in this together” kind of things.

      “While many of these people said they are able to afford the most basic expenses, they expressed concern about their inability to save for the future.

      Tellingly, about 40% of Americans said they are unable to plan beyond their next paycheck, while another 46% said they do not have $500 saved for emergencies.

      The typical U.S. household needed to pay $227 more a month in March to purchase the same goods and services it did one year ago because of still-high inflation.

      Americans are paying on average $784 more each month compared with the same time two years ago and $1,069 more compared with three years ago.”

      https://nypost.com/2024/06/07/us-news/nearly-two-thirds-of-middle-class-americans-say-they-are-struggling-financially-gasping-for-aird/

      Three years ago, did you say?

      Are you any better off now than you were in January 2021?

      Stolen elections have consequences.

  2. I’ve been running late because I planted some grass this spring and I need to water it before it gets hot. The good news is it’s doing well with all the rain lately.

  3. ‘it must be noted that while downtown OKC has been historically more expensive, prices have skyrocketed since the pandemic. Specifically, downtown OKC stood at a median sale price of $261,000 in 2020, only to surge to nearly $700,000 in 2023’

    Have you heard one reporter ask Jerry, has there ever been a time when shacks in BFE sh$tholes more than doubled in 3 years? Cuz I don’t think they ever have.

    1. Wanna be rich? Then close your eyes and tap your heels together three times. And think to yourself, there’s no place like home. 🙂

  4. “The thought process is whether home prices are going to go down, some will have to liquidate and sell. The majority will hold the line.’”

    You act is the majority will even have a choice.

  5. ‘We’re seeing a slow down,’ Holsey said. ‘It’s been a bit more of a grind. Some of the other guys are feeling the same thing. Downtown is a niche market. During the COVID days, it was a sure thing. You could ask $350 to $400 a foot and it was somewhat believable’

    That minor respiratory illness was something, eh Scott?

  6. ‘The monthly cost of owning a home today is 61% more than leasing an apartment,’ Richard Campo, CEO Camden Property Trust (CPT), a Houston-based owner of 58,000 apartment homes, said on the company’s first quarter earnings call in early May. ‘This is not going to change anytime soon’

    How do you like those 5% cap rates now Dick?

  7. ‘Locals are starting to feel the pressure of population growth, especially as out-of-state investors compete with would-be homebuyers — meaning prices will continue to grow,’ the report warned.

    The litmus test for any state or local politician should be a demonstrated willingness to ban the private equity locusts from competing with legitimate homebuyers for housing stock, and driving the speculators out of the housing market.

  9. ‘Education about homeownership and financial literacy and awareness is also a huge challenge,’ Allgood said. ‘The reality is that real estate is always booming.’”

    So REIC touts and shills are entrusted with “education about homeownership and financial literacy”? The stoopids who blindly trust such “advice” are in for some severe rectal trauma.

  10. U.S. Treasury’s Yellen tells G7 to keep spending, says inflation will pass (6/5/2021):

    “Yellen said inflation will remain elevated at 3% on a year-over-year basis until about the end of 2021.

    “I personally believe that this represents transitory factors,” she said. Production bottlenecks had caused elevated prices in some industries, such as motor vehicles, while other prices, such as airline fares, were rebounding back to more normal levels, she added.

    “So we shouldn’t expect this process to be complete in a month or two,” Yellen said. “And while we’re seeing some inflation, I don’t believe it’s permanent.”

    https://www.reuters.com/business/yellen-urges-g7-keep-up-fiscal-support-sees-inflation-transitory-2021-06-05/

    A month or two?

    Remember when prices stabilized in August 2021? Oh, wait…

  11. The theoretical LA buyer would spend 99% of their income – yes, basically all of it – on the estimated $6,512 house payment. That buys you a $1.1 million house while eating up almost all the income of $78,671.

    Heckova job, “Zimbabwe Ben” Bernanke, Yellen the Felon, & BlackRock Jay.

  12. In April, Overwatch sued after allegedly suffering a $7 million loss in equity after a lender foreclosed on the 285-unit Solara apartment complex in San Antonio last year. GVA has lost many other properties to foreclosure, and is delinquent on more than half a billion dollars worth of securitized debt tied to his portfolio.

    Few things are more satisfying than seeing the housing speculator scum rack up huge losses as the private equity locusts overextend themselves and fall victim to their own debt, fraud, and hubris. Senator Running Deer could not be reached for comment.

  13. Following two years of failed sales, the home finally got scooped up for $980,000 — exactly 480,000 less than it was originally sold for in 2022.

    Greedheads chasing the market down while racking up massive losses makes for very entertaining reading – thanks, Ben!

  14. Biden’s Chief of Staff Ron Klain promotes tweet calling inflation and the supply chain chaos ‘high class problems’ (10/14/2021):

    “White House Chief of Staff Ronald Klain claimed Wednesday evening that the current U.S. economic issues, including inflation and supply chain delays, are just ‘high class problems’.

    Jason Furman, a Harvard Economics professor and former chairman of President Barack Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers, tweeted: ‘Most of the economic problems we’re facing (inflation, supply chains, etc.) are high class problems.’

    Klain retweeted the post along with, ‘This’ and two emoji fingers pointing down to the tweet – indicating his agreement.

    White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki confusingly said during her briefing on Wednesday that inflation has actually decreased by 50 per cent in recent months, despite all numbers pointing to the contrary.

    ‘We’ve seen a decrease over the course of time,’ Psaki told reporters. ‘Over the second and third quarter of this year, monthly inflation increases have actually decelerated.’

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10091939/WH-Ron-Klain-promotes-tweet-calling-inflation-supply-chain-crisis-high-class-problems.html

    Next time you go grocery shopping, watch the olds pawing through the manager’s special bakery markdowns and meat markdowns looking for FOOD they can afford to eat, and you’ll witness this “high class problem” for yourself.

  15. Paul Krugman.

    New York Times — Should Biden Downplay His Own Success? (6/3/2024):

    “The performance of America’s economy over the past two years has been remarkable, especially given the dire predictions of many observers. Remember the economists who forecast a recession in 2023? Remember all those warnings that getting inflation down would require years of high unemployment?

    Yet there’s still a lingering conventional wisdom that says Biden shouldn’t trumpet his economic record. The Washington Post’s editorial board just wrote that “Telling Americans the economy is good won’t work.” The Financial Times’s editorial board wrote that “The president’s state of the nation address in March was littered with superlatives about the economy” but that his messaging “risks negating the experience of voters on the ground” — basically saying that Biden shouldn’t talk about his economic achievements, even implying that he should try to relate to voters by acknowledging that the economic picture out there is bad, which it isn’t.

    But demands that Biden stay quiet about good economic news — particularly when there’s a lot of good economic news to talk about — seem to be saying that he should in effect validate misinformation. Why would anyone consider this a good idea?”

    https://archive.ph/yODDp

    When you buy FOOD on a credit card that you can not afford to pay off every month, you are “validating misinformation”

    1. Wall Street Journal — Why Democrats Keep Losing the Battle for Small-Town America (6/15/2024):

      “The Democratic Party is losing rural voters, an especially serious problem for President Biden’s re-election campaign in North Carolina, the most rural of the battleground states this year. Biden narrowly lost the state in 2020.

      Republicans have long held an electoral advantage in rural communities, but many of those areas aren’t growing as fast as cities, which have become Democratic strongholds. Donald Trump has overcome that demographic disadvantage by invigorating GOP turnout across small-town America. Fyle is betting that high gas and food prices will tip the scales Trump’s way in November.

      “It’s terrible when you have to decide whether to buy Ruffles or a loaf of bread,” she said.

      https://archive.ph/f6oRP

      Christy Fyle, you are “validating misinformation”

  17. ‘Locals are starting to feel the pressure of population growth, especially as out-of-state investors compete with would-be homebuyers — meaning prices will continue to grow,’ the report warned. ‘Additionally, it must be noted that while downtown OKC has been historically more expensive, prices have skyrocketed since the pandemic. Specifically, downtown OKC stood at a median sale price of $261,000 in 2020, only to surge to nearly $700,000 in 2023.’

    Like the pandemic that precipitated it,
    the geographic extent of the present day US investor scourge has no limit.

    What follows this episode of exploding home prices should be quite interesting. I am recalling how Japan’s similar home price explosion in the late 1980s was followed by a decade of intractable deflation.

  18. User
    Is there any geographic limit on the extent of the US real estate investor scourge?

    ChatGPT
    The impact of US real estate investors isn’t limited strictly by geography within the United States itself, as investors can operate nationwide. However, their influence can vary significantly depending on local market conditions, regulatory environments, and economic factors in different regions. For instance, major urban centers often attract more investor activity due to higher potential returns and demand, while rural or less-developed areas may see less investor interest. Therefore, while there’s no strict geographic limit, the intensity and nature of investor impact can vary widely across different parts of the country.

    Don’t share sensitive info. Chats may be reviewed and used to train our models.

    Learn more
    ChatGPT can make mistakes. Check important info.

  19. Did somebody say election year variant?

    The Hill — Former CDC director predicts bird flu pandemic (6/15/2024):

    “Former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Robert Redfield said he predicts a bird flu pandemic will happen, it’s just a matter of when that will be.

    Redfield joined NewsNation Friday to discuss the growing concern for bird flu, as the virus has been detected in dozens of cattle across the country and the World Health Organization identified the first human death in Mexico.

    “I really do think it’s very likely that we will, at some time, it’s not a question of if, it’s more of a question of when we will have a bird flu pandemic,” Redfield said.

    He also noted that bird flu has a “significant mortality” when it enters humans compared to COVID-19. Redfield predicts the mortality is “probably somewhere between 25 and 50 percent mortality.”

    https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/4723753-former-cdc-director-predicts-bird-flu-pandemic/

    Between 25 and 50 percent mortality, is that a lot?

    And for the other 50 percent still alive, they’ve got a “vaccine” to wipe you out. Trust The Science™

    1. Don’t discount Covid. It’s still a thing:

      Thailand is set to see the KP.2 strain of Covid-19 become the dominant variant, with increased transmissibility and challenges for vaccine efficacy. However, the symptoms will not be more severe than those of previous strains, according to a prominent virologist. Yong Poovorawan from the Centre of Excellence in Clinical Virology at Chulalongkorn University announced on Facebook that the KP.2 strain…

      https://thethaiger.com/coronavirus/thailands-new-covid-19-strain-kp-2-spreads-faster-than-jn-1

  20. New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof argued Saturday that the West Coast’s version of liberalism just isn’t working, urging liberals to “face the painful fact that something has gone badly wrong where we’re in charge, from San Diego to Seattle.”

    West Coast liberals accept a “yawning gulf between our values and our outcomes,” Kristof observed in his column, embracing contradictions like declaring “housing is a human right” while failing to actually “get people housed.”

    Kristof, who launched a bid to run for Oregon governor in 2022 but was found not to meet the three-year residency requirement to appear on the ballot, believes the problem is not liberalism itself, but the West Coast’s brand of liberalism that is “infected with an ideological purity that is focused more on intentions than on oversight and outcomes.”

    “I’m an Oregonian who bores people at cocktail parties by singing the praises of the West, but the truth is that too often we offer a version of progressivism that doesn’t result in progress,” he wrote, pointing to disparities between liberal cities on the West Coast and East Coast.

    “The two states with the highest rates of unsheltered homelessness are California and Oregon. The three states with the lowest rates of unsheltered homelessness are all blue ones in the Northeast: Vermont, New York and Maine,” he continued. “Liberal Massachusetts has some of the finest public schools in the country, while liberal Washington and Oregon have below-average high school graduation rates.”

    “The West Coast’s central problem is not so much that it’s unserious as that it’s infected with an ideological purity that is focused more on intentions than on oversight and outcomes.”

    “Perhaps on the West Coast we have ideological purity because there isn’t much political competition,” he wrote. “Republicans are irrelevant in much of the Far West, so they can’t hold Democrats’ feet to the fire — leading Democrats in turn to wander unchecked farther to the left.”

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/leftist-nyt-columnist-gives-in-calls-to-stop-woke-infected-leftism-plaguing-west-coast/ar-BB1oi8Mb

    1. “face the painful fact that something has gone badly wrong”

      At least there’s no more mean tweets now.

    2. “Republicans are irrelevant in much of the Far West, so they can’t hold Democrats’ feet to the fire — leading Democrats in turn to wander unchecked farther to the left.”

      The Establishment GOP controlled opposition answers to the same Cabal of globalist oligarch mega-donors as their Democrat “rivals.” Until the Republican base takes an iron broom to the RINOs, neocons, and corporate stooges, the GOP will continue to be irrelevant not just in the Far West, but nationwide.

  21. The warmer weather has drawn the crowds back to the city’s open-air drug market at Mass and Cass, which one city councilor says is alarming the community despite the mayor’s insistence that the area is much safer since last year’s tent crackdown.

    City Councilor Ed Flynn said roughly 70–80 people have been gathering and openly using and selling drugs at Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard on a daily basis for at least the past month.

    Flynn said he visited the area on Thursday and observed an “organized system of drug dealers on Melnea Cass” in Roxbury. He described the situation as a danger to people in the area, saying that he went on to speak with residents in South Boston, which is part of his district, who are “very concerned about the significant escalation of drug dealing and drug use in the neighborhoods.”

    “I talked to several Boston police officials today and expressed my concern about the area and requested enhanced police presence in the impacted neighborhoods and to arrest drug dealers,” Flynn told the Herald Thursday. “It’s a significant issue impacting the quality of life of residents.”

    The criminal activity has also spilled over into other areas, Flynn said, with more people gathering throughout neighborhoods in Roxbury and the South End, Andrew Square in South Boston, and at the South Bay mall in Dorchester.

    The South Bay mall drew attention last summer for juvenile mobs committing violent crime, leading then-Councilor Frank Baker to partly blame the example set for youth by the Mass and Cass inhabitants who go through the stores there to “rob the place blind and shoot up drugs in the sidewalks,” when the matter came before the City Council for discussion last September.

    “I don’t believe we should allow people to use drugs openly on the streets of Boston,” Flynn said. “I believe it’s a public health crisis.”

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/the-tents-are-gone-but-the-crowds-and-drug-use-are-back-at-boston-s-mass-and-cass/ar-BB1ohYAB

    1. When will housing prices drop?
      Yahoo Personal Finance
      · Getty Images
      E. Napoletano·Contributor
      Thu, Jun 13, 2024
      6 min read

      Data from the National Association of Realtors (NAR) shows that existing home sales may be cooling — the typical home for sale spent 44 days on the market in May 2024. That’s a far cry from the just-listed-to-pending trend seen during the housing market’s hot streak from 2021 to 2022. So you might be wondering: If the housing market is cooling, when will housing prices drop so I can get my slice of the homeownership pie?

      Experts say that 2024 will likely not be the year that housing prices start their descent to pre-pandemic levels. But if you’re determined to buy or sell, here’s what you need to know about today’s residential real estate market and your options for moving forward.
      …
      https://finance.yahoo.com/personal-finance/when-will-housing-prices-drop-161956745.html

  24. “Former CDC director predicts Bird Flu Panademic…”

    In the article above, why would the x CDC Director be talking about gain of function Bird Flu.? Is this some attempt to try to normalize gain of function bio weapons?
    We are making bio weapon disease, so we can fine a counter measure vaccine is insanity.
    China and US being partners in gain of function bio weapon Covid 19, that got unleashed. Isn’t this US
    treason making weapons with a rival foreign Communist Country?
    Why don’t we just make bio weapons with IRAN, or Russia, or Hamas.?
    And Congress/Senate/White House doesn’t see the US funding bio weapon creation with a foreign Communist Country as a act of treason.

    Congress/Senate/White House is condoning manufacturing and stockpiling mRNA Bird Flu vaccines in preparation for a potential Bird Flu Panademic.
    Dr BRIX, is on Media Circuit touting marvelous technology of PCR testing, stating that all chickens and cows should be tested with it, as they slaughter the food supply. Dr BRIX suspects human Bird Flu is circulating.
    And now X CDC director mentioning gain of function Bird flu in the above article. This of course follows a first bird flu death case in Mexico where the 59 year old that died wasn’t associated with or exposed to the poultry or cow business. A different strain of the Bird flu they claim with this death. They tested this person post test for Bird flu.
    Ok, so in 30 years they are alleging 800 cases of bird flu, with about 1/2 of that 800 dying. All cases occurred in third world countries, lacking med facilities, clean water, poverty conditions.

    One wonders how they tested and confirmed bird flu for 30 years prior to the marvelous PCR test.
    Congress/Senate/White House holding no viable investigation on the PCR testing , known for its high
    false positive rates.
    If we are going to determine Panademics, by this bogus PCR testing , they are touting is the Gold Standard of testing, than any fake panademic they want can be called.
    Are you going to lock down over scary bird flu and take a WHO mandated mRNA vaccine? Will you allow your air to be cut off by masks and your business shut down , and subjected to God knows what?
    Hope Bird Flu Panademic doesn’t come, but it sure looks like they are trying to set it up.

    1. This of course follows a first bird flu death case in Mexico

      That claim has been debunked by the Mexican government.

      1. Colorado,
        They have gotten so much press on the first Bird Flu death case, that the debunking probably won’t be given much press.
        This is how they operate.

    2. “Are you going to lock down over scary bird flu and take a WHO mandated mRNA vaccine?”

      Do. Not. Comply.

      Canada, the UK, AUS, NZ, are all lost cause prison nations, but here in the US there are 300 million guns in the hands of civilians.

      Start with the “soft targets” at the municipal or county level. F* with the feds and you’ll end up in the January 6th gulag.

      1. Canada, the UK, AUS, NZ, are all lost cause prison nations

        It won’t be long until those countries permanently require Soviet style exit visas to leave. And if granted, you will be allowed only the shirt on your back when you leave, like in the old USSR.

  26. Ok, so the WHO delayed their vote 4 months for any Country that doesn’t want to be part of the Global Panademic Treaty where the WHO dictates all Health Policy and mandates for all Countries (194) that agree to Treaty.

    According to talking heads on the matter Congress needs to approve such Treaty, which they haven’t done.
    Also such a Treaty would violate the 14th amendment, as well as other Constitutional protections under the US Constitution.

    The WHO would be able to supersede our government, our judiciary, our health authorities, all standing laws in this land, all freedoms, and dictate health mandates for all Countries signing the Treaty.
    Further your taxes would go to funding this corrupt organizations dictates.
    Prior to current proposed Treaty , guys like Bill Gates and Communist China were highest funders of the WHO.
    So, on its face , the WHO Treaty is a gross violation of US constitution and amendments, and our very Sovereign State Governments to rule.
    I submit you can’t make Treaties with third party entities that would supersede the Authority of our US Government and essentially make it that the WHO orders the US gov what to do. Call it treason, call it a treasonous transfer of power to a third party enemy, call it anything you want.
    And the evidence shows already that the WHO called a fake Covid 19 Panademic, using bogus PCR testing, etc. Recent lawsuits filed have alleged these crimes by the WHO.

  27. I forgot to mention that a number of these Countries that have signed this WHO Treaty have exposed they are being extorted that if they don’t sign they won’t get loans and funding they need.

    Its seem like extortion, bribery, blackmail and threat is used by these Entities in power position to get what they want.
    They bribed and extorted hospitals and Doctors to kill thousands of vulnerable people by mal practice protocols, while they censored and suppressed and vilified viable meds that cured the Covid like ivermectin.
    They would not of qualified for EUA on a expiermental mRNA countermeasure vaccine, had they not committed their fraud about having meds that were highly effective against Covid.
    In spite of this fact, you don’t see Congress/Senate/White House or any investigation body talking about that fraud and murder.
    At least the 5th circuit Court ruled in favor of Doctors/Scientists having the right to have 1St amendment right to state their opinion on Health matters.
    During the Covid Saga, Doctors/Scientists were attacked by medical boards , censored from media, fired, attacked by lawsuits, cancelled, threatened job loss,vilified and slandered and deemed a Quack etc.etc.
    9th District Court just ruled Covid vaccine don’t even qualify as being a vaccine.
    But in spite of some recent rulings that make sense , the hideous mRNA vaccines are still on market with them putting same technology in numerous products.
    We don’t have any governmental body or agency that is capable of taking a failed killer mRNA technology off the market or address a bogus PCR test fraud.

    1. We don’t have any governmental body or agency that is capable of taking a failed killer mRNA technology off the market or address a bogus PCR test fraud.

      Capable? Yes. Willing? No.

  29. Accessory dwelling units are multiplying across California, boosted by permissive state laws that aim to increase the supply of affordable housing. Now, a handful of cities are moving to let homeowners sell their backyard cottages and converted garages separately from the houses they live in, potentially transforming ADUs into a new generation of starter homes

    If that doesn’t sound third world, I don’t know what does.

      1. 12914 is a crane-dropped prefab. The other neighborhood prefab eyesore isn’t showing up on Google maps yet.

    2. “If that doesn’t sound third world…”

      It’s another scam to forestall the eventual foreclosure of the primary residence. Can we HELOC the garage to buy groceries?

  30. Mortgage rates inched down to their lowest level since mid-May this week

    Inched? More like millimetered.

  31. ‘Ramphis Velasquez, a community lending manager with Prosperity Home Mortgage, said some applicants are surprised to learn they can qualify for a Federal Housing Administration (FHA) mortgage loan with a credit score as low as 580. Other typical requirements include a debt-to-income ratio of 43% and a down payment that’s 3.5% of the home price. ‘I’m seeing a lot of eyes open wide when I start letting them know what they thought … is actually not the case’

    This is risk layering.

  32. ‘Recently, the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. (commonly known as Freddie Mac) and the Federal Housing Administration updated their policies to allow income from renting out an ADU to contribute to mortgage payments. That means if you buy a home with a granny flat in its backyard, you can apply the potential income you’ll get from renting it out toward the mortgage’

    Drip drip, this kind of thing never stops.

    ‘Freddie Mac and FHA have opened the option to use income off of an accessory dwelling unit,’ said Tom Heath, senior loan officer at Nova Home Loans in Tucson. ‘If you’re looking to purchase a property that has a secondary unit that can be rented out, that rental income can be considered, in most cases, toward the purchase of that home. I have had people that were able to increase their purchase price by finding a home with a guest house that they plan to rent out’

    I’m sure that’s going to be fine just fine, Tom. Living cheek to jowl with a pissed off tenant living in a shed is what I call pride of ownership!

  33. ‘Now, a handful of cities are moving to let homeowners sell their backyard cottages and converted garages separately from the houses they live in, potentially transforming ADUs into a new generation of starter homes that cost a fraction of a full-sized house on a full-sized lot…a loan officer at CrossCountry Mortgage in San Diego, estimated that 60% of her customers are building ADUs for family members, and more than half of those want to sell the unit to those relatives. With such a sale, the homeowner would no longer be responsible for the debt incurred in building the ADU, and the relatives would be able to build an equity stake’

    So far, kind of crazy.

    ‘People will also have to consider what it will mean to create a homeowners association for their house and the ADU, they said…it’s probably a yearlong process. Nobody knows yet’…service providers may need to emerge in California to handle the paperwork burdens for homeowners, as they have in places like Seattle that already have gone this route. The HOA would cover the operating and maintenance costs of any shared spaces and utilities, such as water and sewer lines, which could translate into monthly fees. Its covenants, conditions and restrictions could also set rules for such things as the appearance of the property and its structures, although future owners of the house and the ADU could agree to amend them’

    So I’m supposed to set up an HOA for a shed.

    ‘it’s probably a yearlong process. Nobody knows yet’…service providers may need to emerge’

    We’ve seen some shack doozies in K-na but this one is up there.

    1. Living cheek to jowl with a pissed off tenant living in a shed is what I call pride of ownership!

      In years past I have seen op ed cartoons where a realtor is trying to sell a dog house to a desperate couple. Who woulda thunk it would come true.

      1. Imagine trying to sell your primary residence, but the shed owners have an easement that allows walking past your bathroom and bedroom windows?

  34. ‘Goldberg said the real problem is loopholes in the city’s ordinance that allows owners to license multiple units using the names of family members. ‘The market has been overrun with corporate operators who run more than one property, who are doing this as an investment opportunity to capture the most amount of revenue they can’

    These loop holes are wide open gates everybody has known about for a long time.

  35. ‘The theoretical LA buyer would spend 99% of their income – yes, basically all of it – on the estimated $6,512 house payment’

    Weather!

  36. ‘Rents are falling in the Sunbelt in part because the region has been building more apartments than other parts of the country (like the Midwest and Northeast) to meet demand brought on by the influx of people who moved in during the pandemic,’ the analysis read. ‘But the pandemic housing boom is now in the rearview mirror, and property owners are facing vacancies, which is causing rents to cool’

    There may come a day when they talk about airbox/shack crater, and don’t constantly reference minor respiratory illness. It’s a really odd thing IMO.

  37. ‘GVA has lost many other properties to foreclosure, and is delinquent on more than half a billion dollars worth of securitized debt tied to his portfolio’

    There was a time when a 500 million peso blow out would have been seen outside of CRE web sites.

  38. ‘So when my mom started out in the housing market in the mid 1970s, it would have taken five years of full-time work for a typical young adult to save a 20 per cent down payment on an average price home,’ Kershaw told Cost of Living. ‘If you flash forward to today, it’s 17 years on average, 22 in B.C. and Ontario’

    That’s some sound lending right there Paul.

  39. ‘said in an e-mailed statement that his clients are ‘shocked and appalled’ with the conduct outlined in the KSV report …‘The monitor has identified misappropriations of funds lent by innocent investors who trusted these companies with well over $100-million of monies advanced to them, including retirement savings, and has concluded that funds were improperly used for personal benefits and extravagant expenses of the principals without any discernible benefit to the business’

    They are fooked George. And by a guy so dumb he posted videos of himself blowing their money.

    ‘In an interview with The Globe and Mail in late March, Mr. Clark said the directors didn’t take salaries or charge a management fee to run the enterprise, and claimed that ’98 per cent of the capital invested is directly related to expenses in the companies’ for everything from operations, acquisitions and renovations. ‘It’s easy to get misconceptions; Instagram lifestyle is, you know, very different from reality,’ Mr. Clark said in response to questions about social-media videos of himself at private villas, on yachts and in private jets. ‘I can understand how people would get the wrong perspective of how things were done’

    As usual, everybody was screaming ponzi scheme at first, but that dies down when the lawyers get involved.

  40. ‘The lakefront property was first sold in March 2022 for $1.46 million, at a time when cheaper borrowing rates contributed to an uptick in demand and skyrocketing prices in the province’s real estate market…Following two years of failed sales, the home finally got scooped up for $980,000 — exactly 480,000 less than it was originally sold for in 2022. It’s important to note that the property was under a power of sale, which differs from a regular home sale. The clause is written into a mortgage note that authorizes the mortgagee to sell their property in the event of default to repay the mortgage debt’

    So a 33% haircut fer the lender in 2 years. Sound lending Sunday!

    1. Huge “F@CK Joe Biden” sign on North Shore today. Huge Trump sign on our way to Kualoa Ranch on Saturday.

Comments are closed.