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Maybe It’s Time To Ease Back On The Dreams Of Painless Real Estate Wealth

A weekend topic starting with KERA. “If you don’t make more than $100,000 per year, you can’t afford to buy a median-priced home in three of Texas’ largest metro areas: Dallas-Fort Worth, greater Houston, and the Austin area. That’s one of several findings from a new Harvard University study of the nation’s housing situation that shows huge swaths of the population — renters and homeowners alike —pay more for housing than they can afford. Would-be homeowners face a market in Texas where home values have risen far faster than incomes. In Dallas-Fort Worth, for example, the median home price was three times the median income in 2013. A decade later, the median home price was nearly five times the median income in the region.”

WFAA in Texas. “The extra monthly costs associated with buying a home instead of renting won’t fall back to pre-pandemic levels until the end of 2028 — another measure of how drastically the residential real estate market has shifted in recent years, according to a March analysis by real estate giant CBRE Group Inc., which calculated that it cost 115% more to buy than rent in Dallas at the end of 2023. This trend is seen across the country. CBRE reported that the cost to own has risen 75% nationally since 2019 — and was 38% higher than the cost to rent at the end of 2023. But Dallas still had a smaller spread between the cost of buying versus renting than Austin, where the premium was 164% at the end of 2023. In Houston, the premium was 106%. Los Angeles had the steepest premium at 173%.”

“Recalcitrant interest rates and modest projected rent growth could make it a protracted process. ‘That has created a lot of people with essentially golden handcuffs because they don’t want to sell their homes because if they have to sell their homes, then they have to originate a new loan … with an extremely high interest rate,’ said Travis Deese, CBRE associate director of multifamily research.”

From Go Banking Rates. “The concept of a half-million-dollar home has changed quite a bit over the last 30 or 40 years. ‘In the 1980s, $500,000 could buy you a mansion in many parts of the country,’ said 17-year real estate industry veteran, Teddi Schill of Portland Area Home Group. ‘Today, that same amount of money will barely buy you a starter home in many major metropolitan areas.’ Adjusted for inflation, $500,000 in 1985 dollars has the purchasing power of $1.43 million today. If housing inflation had kept pace with general inflation and today’s median home sold for $241,140, the ratio would have tracked nearly to the dollar — $1.43 million would be almost enough for six houses. But according to the St. Louis Fed, the median home price in the United States is $431,000. That means the 2023 equivalent of $500,000 in 1985 money — $1.43 million — can buy only a little more than three houses today. In short, a dollar bought about twice as much real estate in 1985 than it does today.”

KCTV in Missouri. “The scorching heat of the summer isn’t coming hand in hand with a scorching hot home market in many parts of the country, but one local realtor says it’s a great time to get into the market. ‘We get into a more even market in June, July, and August. We actually get a little nicer balance in the summer in Kansas City, especially here over the last couple of years, where there is a little more inventory,’ said David Conderman, Keller Williams Kansas City Metro Owner. ‘It’s going to allow more first-time homebuyers to be able to buy. As a matter of fact, one of the things that the lending industry has done recently is they have created more opportunities for zero down payments or 1% down payments. That’s really going to help those first-time homebuyers.'”

The Columbus Dispatch. “Central Ohio home shoppers are getting a summer surprise: A lot more homes to choose from. As of Thursday, 6,356 homes were actively on the market in the Columbus area, compared with 3,678 a year ago — a 73% jump and the highest level in at least seven years, according to the Columbus Realtors trade association. ‘We’re moving from a sellers’ market slowly to a more neutral market,’ said Howard Hanna agent Terry Penrod. ‘It creates a bit of comfort. We don’t have to write offers on the back of our cars all the time. Multiple offers just aren’t as common.’ The rise in inventory will help dampen price hikes, but buyers shouldn’t look for prices to actually decline in the Columbus area, say experts. ‘None of the trends would tell us that housing prices will be dropping soon,’ said Columbus Realtors President Scott Hrabcak. ‘Prices are not going to go down. Prices are not going to go down.'”

From Fortune. “Thinking about buying a home? You might be in for a rude awakening: a 20% down payment is no longer enough for most people to afford monthly payments—not when home values are 45% higher than before the pandemic, and mortgage payments are roughly 115% higher, according to Zillow. ‘In more expensive markets, where home values have long outpaced incomes, middle-income households need an even bigger down payment share on top of the bigger price tag,’ wrote Zillow’s chief economist, Skylar Olsen, pointing to some sunny California cities, among others.”

“In Los Angeles, for one, a median-income household needs to put down 81.1%, or $780,203, to afford the typical home and its monthly payments; she called that percentage, the highest in the nation, ‘nearly impossible.’ In San Jose, they’d need to put down 80.9%, or more than $1.3 million, ‘which is more than the typical home is worth in every other major market.’ In New York City, median-income households would need to come up with a more than 60% down payment, in Miami, they’d need to come up with a 64.5% down payment—and the list goes on.”

From Semafor. “A startup that spun out of Airbnb to manufacture tiny homes at a factory in Mexico is launching a mortgage product it hopes will relieve California’s housing crisis. Samara, which raised $41 million in 2023, is now getting into the financing business. It will start offering a mortgage that lets homeowners take equity out of their primary house to install backyard units, technically called accessory dwelling units, or ADUs. The company is seizing on two financial trends: Rising prices that have left homeowners sitting on a gold mine of equity in their houses, and Wall Street’s insatiable appetite for newfangled loans.”

“Samara declined to name its financing partners. Its CFO, Chris Wasley, said it will work with banks, investment funds, and securitization channels. ‘Clearly this should be an asset class,’ Wasley, Samara’s CFO, told me, using the language of this massive post-2008 shift in how seemingly everything is being paid for these days. Samara’s loans ‘should trade below second mortgages and slightly above first mortgages’ in terms of investor returns, putting it in a sweet spot for Wall Street investors.”

The Miami Herald in Florida. “Are homebuyers retreating from the market? The number of sales in Miami-Dade and Broward dropped this May compared to May 2023, dragged down by fewer condo transactions, according to a new monthly housing report from the Miami Association of Realtors. About 53% of the new condo inventory is at or above $600,000. Condo owners also are facing increases in maintenance, assessments and insurance. Mariya Letdin, a business professor at Florida State University, said the softer housing market could be due to a an increase in inventory, longer-term listings and more sellers dropping the price over time. According to the report, single-family median prices in Miami-Dade have risen for more than 12 years, the longest running-streak on record. In that time, single-family prices rose 242.1% from May 2012 to May 2024, from $190,000 to $650,000.”

“If you’ve noticed homes and condos sitting a little longer on the market, Letdin said there’s a gap in what buyers and sellers want. ‘The sellers still have prices from the super low interest rate environment in mind, and annual princess increases that we saw happening from 2020 … to 2022,’ she said. ‘Things were going so amazing if you’re a seller. There’s been a lot of price appreciation and sellers would like to see that continue.’ But buyers, she said, are faced with the challenge of interest rates nearly three times higher. ‘They just don’t see it the same way nor can they afford it,’ she said.”

From Local 10. “Some South Florida condo owners are being hit with six-figure assessments that are forcing them to flee. The situation is leaving many unable to sell or afford the staggering cost. Howard Konetz, a condo owner on Williams Island in Aventura, never thought he’d be in this situation at 79 years old. ‘I don’t know how we are going to live or where we are going to live,’ said Konetz. ‘We can’t afford it and we are going to go broke, especially with the special assessment that has been levied on us.'”

“Local 10 News investigative reporter Jeff Weinsier was sent to closely examine the numbers. ‘The total assessment from the apartment we are sitting on is what?’ asked Weinsier. ‘Approximately $224,000,’ said Howard Konetz. ‘When you say that number, can you believe it?’ asked Weinsier. ‘No. Not at all,’ Howard Konetz replied. That’s on top of monthly maintenance that’s gone from $1,500 to $3,000. ‘We never anticipated this escalation,’ said Konetz. ‘Someone also told me, ‘If you’re not able to pay, you shouldn’t be living here.’ The assessments at Williams Island can’t be passed onto a potential buyer. Howard and Shiela Konetz have had their condo on the market and dropped the price several times. Howard Konetz said he was turned down for a reverse mortgage due to strict condo rules. ‘At this point in time, maybe I can give it away for pennies on the dollar,’ he said.”

From News.com.au. “Millionaire Chinese investors are splashing massive sums on homes and market pundits believe they are driving prices up in pockets of Melbourne.In the final three months of last year, Chinese nationals invested $800m in Australian homes. ‘People want to get their money out of China and into a safe haven, and buying in a prestige property market like Toorak is as safe as you can get,’ said buyer’s advocate to Melbourne’s top end, David Morrell. Some foreign purchasers pushed property prices up by millions, Mr Morrell added.”

Independent Online. “Seeff Property Group agents, along with data from Lightstone Property, say millennials (individuals born between 1977 and 1994) are immensely active in the South African property market, making up between 30% and 42% of all property purchases. According to Lightstone, one of South Africa’s leading property information providers, another side of the coin is that millennials are also likely to spend three times more on their first-time home than the generation before them. Dr Katlego Lekalakala who revealed how the successional increase in the repo rate, and subsequently the prime interest rate in the last two years, led to her forking out more and more money towards her home loan instalment each month, a rise from R8,000 to R17,000. Qualifying does not mean affordability, being eligible for a home loan is only the tip of the iceberg.”

The Telegraph. “Barcelona is introducing a blanket ban on Airbnbs in a desperate bid to stop rents spiralling and lure more young people back into the city. Mayor Jaume Collboni said by 2029 there will be no tourist apartments in Barcelona, and that the municipal government will do this by not issuing new licences and not renewing existing ones. The Spanish politician hopes to bring over 10,000 short-term lets back onto the residential market to stop young people being forced out of the city by unaffordable rents.”

The Independent in the UK. “Stickers appearing to threaten arson attacks on second homes have been posted in the Lake District. The stickers have been stuck on signs near the popular destination of Lake Windermere. Thought to be a rise in the use of properties in the area as second homes, the stickers read ‘F*** your second homes,’ with a drawing of a house going up in flames. Second home-ownership has become an increasing concern for residents in popular tourist destinations such as Cornwall, Devon and the Lake District. Similar stickers have cropped up in other areas of the country before. In 2023, a mystery protest was launched against Air BnB in the Welsh village of Llanberis. Villagers came across stickers with ‘Death to AirBnb’ written on them, along with a picture of a noose.”

The Wall Street Journal. “It’s time to confront the possibility that China’s economy has changed permanently in recent years. Is anyone ready for the new reality? Data released this week by China’s National Bureau of Statistics suggest that the country’s real-estate deflation—soon to enter its fifth year—accelerated in May. New-home prices in 70 large and medium-size cities fell 4.3% year-over-year in May, compared with a 3.5% year-over-year drop in April. Existing-home prices fell 7.5%, compared with April’s 6.8% drop. This bell can’t be unrung. Even if Xi Jinping eventually succeeds in putting a floor under the property market, the middle class now is on notice that house prices can go down. The consequences of this shift could be profound, because an expectation that property prices will always increase is the bedrock on which China’s modern political economy was built.”

The Globe and Mail. “Prime ministerial interviews aren’t usually comedic material, but Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s chat this past month with The Globe and Mail’s City Space podcast did offer up a chuckle or two. On the one hand, Mr. Trudeau insisted his government was going to make housing more affordable for younger Canadians. On the other hand, he also declared that housing would retain its value for existing homeowners. Got all that? Apparently, home prices will fall for the young, but stay stratospheric for everyone else.”

“Um, right. Anyone who listened to the Prime Minister bob and weave around the topic began to understand why Canadian housing policy is a maze of contradictions. To be fair, though, many of us would not do a whole lot better than our country’s leader if we were asked the same questions. I know this because I’ve been asking friends how they would like to see home prices perform over the next five or 10 years. The answers vary hugely and they’re not necessarily any more logical than the Prime Minister’s responses.”

“Why does this matter? Because the first step in devising good housing policy is deciding where we want to go. At the moment, most of us are still in the early stages of grappling with the realities of what it would take to bring Canada’s housing crisis under control. The only way to durably guarantee affordable housing is to do our best to make real estate a long-term mediocre investment. I realize this is not a platform any politician wants to run on, but it’s hard to argue with the numbers. So long as home prices climb faster than people’s wages, affordability tends to deteriorate.”

“What might be an equally big challenge, though, is changing psychology. Canadians have grown used over the past quarter-century to thinking of their houses as gushers of wealth. Maybe it’s time to ease back on the dreams of painless real estate wealth and once again think of homes as simply shelter. You may, of course, disagree with this. You may want homes to continue being a hot investment. But if so, I challenge you to put a number on your beliefs and think through the implications.”

“The nub of the problem is that it’s difficult to imagine a scenario in which young people can afford to enter the real estate market but in which today’s lofty home prices don’t have to fall or at least stagnate for a long time. Politicians don’t want to tell us that unfortunate truth, but we shouldn’t be surprised by it.”

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This Post Has 75 Comments

  1. HBB warning to readers: wall street journal is globalist scum media that peddles conspiracy theories, election lies and mis, mal and dis-informations.

    2. No matter how much you hate the globalist scum media, you don’t hate them enough.

      1. +1

        If it’s the New York Times or Washington Post, you will NEVER hate them enough.

        Your Charlie Hebdo moment is coming, sc*m vermin.

  2. ‘CFO, Chris Wasley, said it will work with banks, investment funds, and securitization channels. ‘Clearly this should be an asset class,’ Wasley, Samara’s CFO, told me, using the language of this massive post-2008 shift in how seemingly everything is being paid for these days. Samara’s loans ‘should trade below second mortgages and slightly above first mortgages’ in terms of investor returns, putting it in a sweet spot for Wall Street investors’

    Yep, we need wall street to turn these back yard sheds into real estate gold!

  3. ‘At this point in time, maybe I can give it away for pennies on the dollar’

    Gotdammit Howard. Yer already a winnah! and now yer gonna screw up the comps!

  4. “None of the trends would tell us that housing prices will be dropping soon,’ said Columbus Realtors President Scott Hrabcak. ‘Prices are not going to go down. Prices are not going to go down.’”

    This quote could’ve come straight from 2007….but of course it’s different this time.

    1. “and Wall Street’s insatiable appetite for newfangled loans.”

      Again, sound familiar? And “newfangled”? Is that what we’re calling it now?

  6. The rise in inventory will help dampen price hikes, but buyers shouldn’t look for prices to actually decline in the Columbus area, say experts.

    “It is hard to get a man to understand something, when his paycheck depends on him not understanding it.” — Upton Sinclair

  7. ‘None of the trends would tell us that housing prices will be dropping soon,’ said Columbus Realtors President Scott Hrabcak. ‘Prices are not going to go down. Prices are not going to go down.’”

    Scott works for an industry of dissemblers whose prime directive is “Always Be Closing.” Scott is lying, because that’s what realtors do. Prices ARE going down, because the median priced shack has far outpaced median incomes & the “cost of living crisis” – in reality the cost of letting a criminal private banking cartel control our money issuance – only gets worse from here.

  8. In the final three months of last year, Chinese nationals invested $800m in Australian homes.

    One fine day, China will send the PLA to invade Australia and turn it into a resource colony. It’s disarmed populace won’t be able to resist.

    Tomorrow, When the War Began Official Trailer (2010)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KaX0F8GojI&t=18s

    1. Nonsense — they will buy the place rather than fire a shot.

      The Chinese play the long game.

  9. Mayor Jaume Collboni said by 2029 there will be no tourist apartments in Barcelona, and that the municipal government will do this by not issuing new licences and not renewing existing ones.

    Die, speculator scum.

  10. The Spanish politician hopes to bring over 10,000 short-term lets back onto the residential market to stop young people being forced out of the city by unaffordable rents.”

    Young people have no future under globalist Quisling regimes – or “Our Democracy” – that serve only their masters in the financier oligarchy.

  11. Data released this week by China’s National Bureau of Statistics suggest that the country’s real-estate deflation—soon to enter its fifth year—accelerated in May. New-home prices in 70 large and medium-size cities fell 4.3% year-over-year in May, compared with a 3.5% year-over-year drop in April.

    China’ official stats are as fraudulent and manipulated as ours. The true picture is probably much worse than the CCP is letting on.

  12. At the moment, most of us are still in the early stages of grappling with the realities of what it would take to bring Canada’s housing crisis under control.

    As long as the Keynesian fraudsters at the BoC control your money issuance, you will never get Canada’s housing crisis “under control.” But the globalist scum media always practices a journalistic omertà when it comes to any mention of that central bankers’ role in turning housing into a speculative asset bubble.

  13. “The nub of the problem is that it’s difficult to imagine a scenario in which young people can afford to enter the real estate market but in which today’s lofty home prices don’t have to fall or at least stagnate for a long time.

    Young people need to ask themselves a simple question: Do you intend to go quietly into that Long Goodnight the globalists have in store for you, or will you take your destiny into your own hands?

  15. – The Great Inflation since the 2008-2009 GFC, and more generally since the Federal Reserve Act of December 23, 1913, signed by Woodrow Wilson, a “Progressive” President. BTW, it’s no coincidence that The Revenue Act / 16th Amendment instituting the Federal Income Tax also became law in 1913. It’s been downhill ever since. How’s that inflation workin’ out for ya?

    “If progressives take over the central bank, they will have power beyond their wildest dreams to advance their destructive ideological agenda through economic policy that bypasses Congress.” – Miranda Devine

    “The surest way to destroy a nation is to debauch its currency.” – Vladimir Ilyich Lenin

    “The way to crush the bourgeoisie is to grind them between the millstones of taxation and inflation.” – Vladimir Ilyich Lenin

    “The establishment of a central bank is 90% of communizing a nation.” – Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov Lenin

    – The charter of the “Progressives” (read Communists) = Let’s destroy the bourgeoisie [middle class].

    “The most perfect political community is one in which the middle class is in control, and outnumbers both of the other classes.” – Aristotle

    “We must make our choice. We may have democracy, or we may have wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we cannot have both.” – Louis D. Brandeis

    \\

    A weekend topic starting with KERA. “If you don’t make more than $100,000 per year, you can’t afford to buy a median-priced home in three of Texas’ largest metro areas: Dallas-Fort Worth, greater Houston, and the Austin area.

    “Housing affordability is increasingly a priority issue, getting more attention at the state local and federal levels,” he said. “Momentum is building to address these problems.”

    \\

    WFAA in Texas. “The extra monthly costs associated with buying a home instead of renting won’t fall back to pre-pandemic levels until the end of 2028″

    “But Dallas still had a smaller spread between the cost of buying versus renting than Austin, where the premium was 164% at the end of 2023. In Houston, the premium was 106%.”

    “Los Angeles had the steepest premium at 173%.”

    “To put it another way, the Dallas market had a cost multiplier of 2.2 at the end of 2023. That meant it was more than twice as expensive to buy than to rent on a monthly basis, according to Travis Deese, CBRE associate director of multifamily research.”

    //

    https://www.wfaa.com/article/money/economy/dallas-fort-worth-consumers-decidedly-better-off-renting-than-buying-house/287-12502c2b-870d-47f2-bb57-c1403b48ad41
    Economy
    Dallas-Fort Worth consumers decidedly better off renting than buying a house, study indicates Dallas-Fort Worth ranked 11th most strongly in favor of renting out of the 100 largest U.S. housing markets.

    Author: Bill Hethcock (Dallas Business Journal), Dallas Business Journal
    Published: 6:42 PM CST November 17, 2022
    Updated: 6:42 PM CST November 17, 2022
    Facebook

    “DALLAS — Dallas-Fort Worth is one of many housing markets in the nation where high home prices and mortgage rates make it better financially to rent than to buy, according to a new study.”

    https://www.wfaa.com/article/money/opinion-dallas-youre-too-expensive/287-131056307
    money
    Opinion: Dallas, you’re too expensive
    Author: Jordan Armstrong
    Published: 12:35 PM CDT April 13, 2016
    Updated: 8:14 AM CDT April 15, 2016

    “What set me over the edge (enough to write this) is how much I have to pay to keep my cat. I visited my apartment complex’s office yesterday to inform them I have a cat and would like to pay their deposit.”

    “”Okay that’ll be $609. Money order or check,” the girl behind the desk told me.”

    “My heart was pounding. She broke down the numbers. $300 for a “pet fee.” Another $300 for a “pet deposit.” $9 for a pro-rated “pet rent.” After this I’ll pay $15 a month.”

    “My. Cat. Has. Rent.”

    “After posting this commentary, I’ve heard from many people in the same position, usually paying even more for their pets or trash service than I am. The general consensus is that it’s not even about apartment complexes (the messengers) — it’s that the cost of living is going up and employers aren’t raising salaries quick enough to keep up.”

    \\

    “The most important thing to remember is that inflation is not an act of God, that inflation is not a catastrophe of the elements or a disease that comes like the plague. Inflation is a policy.” – Ludwig von Mises

    – 5th Amendment, The Takings Clause:

    “…nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.”

    “Inflation is a quiet but effective way for the government to transfer resources from the people to itself, without raising taxes.” – Thomas Sowell.

    – Inflation is theft; it’s a stealth tax. It’s unconstitutional; it violates The Takings Clause. It’s illegal. And yet, here we are.

    – The financialization of everything is just wealth transfer from the middle class to the elites, but no one seems to mind as they’re gradually and then suddenly impoverished.

    “When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men in a society, over the course of time they create for themselves a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it.” – Frederic Bastiat

  17. Back when legalized pot became a thing in Colorado Springs, it was supposed to be a panacea for all of our economic woes. It also contributed to the run-up in local shack prices, because the legal weed purveyors used houses as piggy banks due to the hassles they had with banking systems that didn’t recognize drug revenues as legitimate income. Now the pot bubble is bursting – in these tight economic times, stoners would rather buy from their local Mexican cartel affiliate drug dealer than to pay the high taxes you incur by going to a legal weed retailer. This should be a net negative for the local RE market, though the CoS greedheads are a special blend of entitled & delusional.

    https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/06/09/colorado-weed-market-00157118

    1. stoners would rather buy from their local Mexican cartel affiliate drug dealer

      And risk that it might be tainted with fentanyl?

    2. Actually, what happened is New Mexico and Arizona legalized weed so tens of thousands of people that used to drive to Co. from NM and Az. can buy local. Colorado lost a lot of customers. The last time I was in South Colorado the disp. were complaining about it. Also, I think the novelty wore off IMO. I go to Gunnison valley every summer for off road motorcycle riding…..and it was neat buying in a store. But no reason to now….plus after many years of burning weed….not heavy but mainly weekend, camping etc. I’ve lost the desire.

    3. stoners would rather buy from their local Mexican cartel affiliate drug dealer than to pay the high taxes

      True stoners grow their own. It’s cheap, easy, and can be done indoors with minimal cost. Perhaps more and more consumers have figured this out.

      Street weed is mostly junk. It’s like buying bathtub gin.

  18. The Washington Post said Friday that newly named editor Robert Winnett has decided not to take the job and remain in Britain instead, another upheaval at a news outlet where a reorganization plan has gone disastrously wrong.

    The Post’s CEO and publisher, Will Lewis, announced Winnett’s decision to withdraw in a note to staff on Friday morning, and said a recruitment firm would be hired to launch a search for a replacement immediately.

    The financially struggling Post had announced Winnett would take over as editor of the core newsroom functions after November’s presidential election, while it was also setting up a “third newsroom” devoted to finding new ways for its journalism to make money.

    Three weeks ago, then-executive editor Sally Buzbee said that she would quit rather than take a demotion to head this revenue-enhancement effort. Former Wall Street Journal editor Matt Murray was brought on as her interim replacement and future leader of the “third newsroom.”

    Since then, several published reports had raised questions about the journalistic ethics of Lewis and Winnett stemming from their work in England. For example, both men worked together in a series of scoops about extravagant spending by British politicians fueled by information that they paid a data information company for – a practice frowned upon by American journalists.

    The New York Times wrote that both Winnett and Lewis were involved in stories that appeared to be based on fraudulently-obtained phone and business records.

    It sparked a newsroom revolt at The Post. David Maraniss, a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner who has worked at the newspaper for four decades, said this week that he didn’t know anyone there who thought the situation with the publisher and “supposed new editor” could stand.

    “The body is rejecting the transfusion,” Maraniss wrote on Facebook.

    Lewis, a former Wall Street Journal publisher and vice chairman of The Associated Press’ board of directors, started at The Post earlier this year, hired by billionaire owner Jeff Bezos to stem a costly exodus of readers. The Post had said it had lost $77-million last year.

    In a memo to key staff members earlier this week, Bezos assured them that journalistic standards and ethics at the newspaper would not change. “I know you’ve already heard this from Will, but I wanted to also weigh in directly,” he wrote.

    “To be sure, it can’t be business as usual at The Post,” Bezos wrote. “The world is evolving rapidly and we do need to change as a business.”

    In his Facebook note, Maraniss said that the issue for staff members is integrity, not resistance to change. To that end, it remains to be seen whether Lewis can gain staff support.

    https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/international-business/article-british-journalist-robert-winnett-will-not-join-washington-post-as/

    1. In his Facebook note, Maraniss said that the issue for staff members is integrity, not resistance to change.

      Realtors and crack whores have more integrity than the lying Real Journalists at globalist propaganda media outlets.

  19. Liquid MarketPlace Inc. says it sells investors portions of rare collectibles like sports trading cards using crypto technology, but the Ontario Securities Commission alleges the company is in fact a “multi-layered fraud.”

    The OSC’s Capital Markets Tribunal said Friday it will hold a hearing next month on allegations that the company’s three top executives illegally diverted millions of dollars in investor funds to themselves, then lied to OSC staff when questioned about their income. Ryan Bahadori, Amin Nikdel and Dennis Domazet – Liquid MarketPlace’s chief executive officer, chief technology officer and former chief financial officer, respectively – each face up to $7-million in fines alongside other penalties.

    Toronto-based LMP raised more than $10-million, according to its own public disclosures, of which the OSC alleges roughly $3-million was misappropriated for the personal enrichment of Mr. Bahadori, Mr. Nikdel and Mr. Domazet. Mr. Bahadori also used company credit cards and funds “to pay for nearly half a million dollars worth of personal expenses including high-end fashion, expensive jewellery and watches, personal health and spa services,” the OSC alleged.

    The three also authorized interest-free loans of at least $550,000 in investor funds to themselves – including more than US$10,000 that went to pay Mr. Bahadori’s rent – which were never repaid, the OSC alleged.

    LMP also made false and misleading statements about its core business, the OSC alleged. The company sells “LMP Tokens” for 10 cents each, which it claims represent fractional ownership of a certain collectible. For example, one of the first items LMP offered when it launched in 2022 was a 2003 autographed Lebron James jersey patch rookie card.

    Mr. Domazet’s profile cites more than 14 years working for Deloitte Canada, including nearly three years as the firm’s blockchain tax leader, before starting his own small business-focused accounting firm in 2020.

    According to the OSC, it was in late 2021 that the three men “devised a scheme to make significant payments to themselves through purported consulting companies,” each of which had “Kooney” in its name. More than $2.5-million was eventually transferred to what the OSC referred to as “the Kooney Companies,” the OSC alleged.

    “The services purportedly provided to LMP by the Kooney companies were identical to the pre-existing roles and responsibilities of the LMP Principals, for which they were already earning generous salaries,” the OSC said.

    https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-osc-accuses-torontos-liquid-marketplace-and-three-top-executives-of/

  20. SAN JOSE — Archer Aviation has revealed preliminary plans for a regional “urban air mobility network” that could slash travel times and revolutionize how people commute in the Bay Area by using flying taxis.

    The electric air taxi company envisions a Bay Area network that could chop the time people spend in their commutes.

    “Archer’s goal is to transform urban travel, replacing 60-to-90-minute commutes by car with estimated 10-to-20-minute electric air taxi flights that are safe, sustainable, low noise, and cost-competitive with ground transportation,” Archer said in a prepared release.

    The South Bay, East Bay, Wine Country and the Peninsula would be the key hubs in the network of air taxis powered by green energy, according to Archer Aviation.

    “This network is expected to open a new world of opportunity for Bay Area residents and visitors by providing efficient access to people, places, and events across the region,” Archer Aviation states in a prepared release.

    A real estate giant and Archer Aviation have crafted a preliminary deal that could give Archer access to a crucial anchor for the urban mobility network.

    “Archer and Kilroy Realty Corp. have recently signed a memorandum of understanding identifying Kilroy’s Oyster Point South San Francisco development as a critical hub in Archer’s Bay Area network,” Archer stated in the email.

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/article/electric-flying-taxi-firm-preps-aviation-web-to-slash-bay-area-commutes/ar-BB1oBquK

    1. How California’s Paradise Become Our Purgatory

      Just call it what it is: Hell. By definition, Purgatory is a temporary place where the elect are prepared to enter the Kingdom. California is not a purgatory. It is Hell.

  22. 6:14 video sadly very informative.

    Rand Paul: Illegal Immigrant Criminal Behavior ‘Should Be Enough to Disqualify Biden from Consideration’

    EFF POOR
    22 Jun 2024

    Friday on FNC’s “Hannity,” Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) said while the potential terror threat from illegal immigrants was a cause for concern, the regular criminal behavior should be enough to disqualify President Joe Biden’s reelection.

    According to the Kentucky Republican, Biden could have stopped the border situation if he wanted to make it happen.

    https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2024/06/22/rand-paul-illegal-immigrant-criminal-behavior-should-be-enough-to-disqualify-biden-from-consideration/

    1. The comments on YouTube were overwhelmingly negative as Jack Black’s craven shilling for Biden led many commentators to “notice” who the biggest cheerleaders are for this failed, corrupt president and profoundly evil human being.

    2. Sky News host Rita Panahi she is so damm good. her attitude: are you kidding me? sarcastic. really fun to watch

    1. Beautiful!

      One question though, how did they get the dogs up there? 🙂

      PS

      How is my old friend Beau?

  27. Democrats Jailing Political Opponents Means “The System Is Working!”– Joy Behar!

    The Jimmy Dore Show

    3 hours ago

    The View host Joy Behar is delighted at all the Trump cronies and associates who have gone to jail in recent years — an example of how they system is actually working properly, she says. Except she’s very afraid that if Trump wins in 2024 he will come after people like her and Rachel Maddow, somehow using the power of his office to pull their shows from the air.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5akU5fX7as

    7:28.

  28. ‘The scorching heat of the summer isn’t coming hand in hand with a scorching hot home market in many parts of the country, but one local realtor says it’s a great time to get into the market. ‘We get into a more even market in June, July, and August. We actually get a little nicer balance in the summer in Kansas City, especially here over the last couple of years, where there is a little more inventory,’ said David Conderman, Keller Williams Kansas City Metro Owner. ‘It’s going to allow more first-time homebuyers to be able to buy. As a matter of fact, one of the things that the lending industry has done recently is they have created more opportunities for zero down payments or 1% down payments. That’s really going to help those first-time homebuyers’

    Just say it out loud Dave, don’t be ashamed. Subprime is a jeebus send for first time buyers!

  29. ‘We’re moving from a sellers’ market slowly to a more neutral market…It creates a bit of comfort. We don’t have to write offers on the back of our cars all the time’

    This is Columbus Ohio Jerry. You really fooked up this time.

  30. ‘None of the trends would tell us that housing prices will be dropping soon,’ said Columbus Realtors President Scott Hrabcak. ‘Prices are not going to go down. Prices are not going to go down’

    Say it twice was a good move Scott. Three times would have sounded evangelical.

  31. ‘Thinking about buying a home? You might be in for a rude awakening: a 20% down payment is no longer enough for most people to afford monthly payments—not when home values are 45% higher than before the pandemic, and mortgage payments are roughly 115% higher…In Los Angeles, for one, a median-income household needs to put down 81.1%, or $780,203, to afford the typical home and its monthly payments’

    You don’t understand real estate zillow, those whopping down payments ensure that we’ve got sound lending!

  32. ‘Dr Katlego Lekalakala who revealed how the successional increase in the repo rate, and subsequently the prime interest rate in the last two years, led to her forking out more and more money towards her home loan instalment each month, a rise from R8,000 to R17,000. Qualifying does not mean affordability, being eligible for a home loan is only the tip of the iceberg’

    You dated the rate and got spanked Katlego. But you stick it out cuz yer a winnah!

    1. LOL! Imagine buying a shanty in South Africa. That’s even worse than buying in Orcland.

  33. ‘the stickers read ‘F*** your second homes,’ with a drawing of a house going up in flames…stickers with ‘Death to AirBnb’ written on them, along with a picture of a noose’

    A sure sign of a concept that’s never going away? People resign themselves to yer existence.

  34. Dr Jane Rudy is putting out warnings that the new Pharmaceutical mRNA solution to use another mRNA technology to deactivate the spike proteins in MRNA Covid Vaccines has not been properly tested and could be just as dangerous as the Covid vaccine is.
    So, the FDA has failed in the regulations, safety and effectiveness of vaccines and drugs and has caused
    a massive amount of deaths and injury.
    Firstly you know bad toxic drugs are approved and dispersed because Big Pharmacy and med system is listed as the third cause of death in the US.

    So we know the FDA has been captured by Big Pharmacy and vaccines and drugs aren’t properly tested for safety and effectiveness and the FDA has turned us all into lab rats for profits to Big Pharmacy.
    And worse, Big Pharmacy has become the agent of mass genocide and injury to humanity by fake mRNA vaccines. The FDA is approving mRNA technology to be put in numerous products while the government , Media and Health Agencies cover up this deployment of crimes against humanity by genocide by vaccines.
    People are desperate to find a cure to the killer toxic vaccines, but the corrupt agents of depopulation is the last entity that is going to cure the killer technology vaccines they unleashed on the world.
    This was the point of Dr Jane Ruby who is constantly attacked by controlled opposition and the Entities that are engaged in this massive murder and extermination of human populations.
    Just saying .

  35. ‘This bell can’t be unrung. Even if Xi Jinping eventually succeeds in putting a floor under the property market, the middle class now is on notice that house prices can go down’

    How the mighty have fallen. It was only a few years ago, they said Xitler would never let airbox prices fall.

    ‘The consequences of this shift could be profound, because an expectation that property prices will always increase is the bedrock on which China’s modern political economy was built’

    Anybody that got into bed with these idiotic communists has already been fooked or is about to be.

    1. ‘…the middle class now is on notice that house prices can go down’

      Just wait until the US middle class learns that lesson. There will be hell to pay!

  36. ‘Canadians have grown used over the past quarter-century to thinking of their houses as gushers of wealth. Maybe it’s time to ease back on the dreams of painless real estate wealth and once again think of homes as simply shelter. You may, of course, disagree with this. You may want homes to continue being a hot investment. But if so, I challenge you to put a number on your beliefs and think through the implications…The nub of the problem is that it’s difficult to imagine a scenario in which young people can afford to enter the real estate market but in which today’s lofty home prices don’t have to fall or at least stagnate for a long time’

    What anyone wants at this point is irrelevant. Yer cat climbed the tree. Get it down.

  37. Girl seated behind Trump at the Philadelphia rally tonight holding a sign…

    TOO BIG
    TO RIG

    1. LIVE: President Trump Holds a MAGA Rally in Philadelphia – 6/22/24
      Right Side Broadcasting Network

      Started streaming 4 hours ago

      President Donald J. Trump, 45th President of the United States of America, will deliver remarks at a Rally in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on Saturday, June 22, 2024, at 7:00 PM ET.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4QUTSgkdxw

  38. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna
    @RepLuna
    BREAKING: Rep. Luna Condemns Garland for Acts of Corruption

    Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna (FL-13) released the following statement after reports that Attorney General Merrick Garland is calling members of Congress and asking them to vote against her inherent contempt resolution:

    “Attorney General Garland is now calling moderate Republicans, pushing them to vote against my inherent contempt resolution. This is the very definition of corruption. He believes he is above the law and can tell elected members of Congress what to do. My message to Garland is straightforward: release the tapes to Congress and let us listen to them,” said Congresswoman Luna.

    “Why is Merrick Garland fighting so hard to keep these tapes hidden? What is on those tapes that is making him act in a criminal manner to protect Joe Biden? Any other American would be in jail for what he is doing. This blatant abuse of power must be stopped. The American people deserve integrity in our institutions, not political corruption.”

    8:55 PM · Jun 21, 2024
    ·
    https://x.com/RepLuna/status/1804317135252131845

  39. “Recalcitrant interest rates and modest projected rent growth could make it a protracted process. ‘That has created a lot of people with essentially golden handcuffs because they don’t want to sell their homes because if they have to sell their homes, then they have to originate a new loan … with an extremely high interest rate,’ said Travis Deese, CBRE associate director of multifamily research.”

    They got stucco. They really got stucco. And when they eventually have to sell to someone who finances at higher-for-longer 7%+ interest rates, they are likely to realize a loss relative to the 2022 Zestimate based on sub-3% mortgage rates.

  40. Los Angeles, for one, a median-income household needs to put down 81.1%, or $780,203, to afford the typical home and its monthly payments; she called that percentage, the highest in the nation, ‘nearly impossible.’ In San Jose, they’d need to put down 80.9%, or more than $1.3 million, ‘which is more than the typical home is worth in every other major market.’ In New York City, median-income households would need to come up with a more than 60% down payment, in Miami, they’d need to come up with a 64.5% down payment—and the list goes on.”

    Why do REIC experts favor straw man scenarios with few real world examples? Who uses an 80% down payment when lenders are financing loans with 0% or 1% down?

  42. Florida Homeowners Hit With Housing Market Double Whammy
    Published Jun 21, 2024 at 3:19 PM EDT
    Updated Jun 21, 2024 at 3:47 PM EDT
    By Omar Mohammed
    Reporter, Economy & Finance

    Florida’s housing market is currently facing two key challenges—homes for sale that are staying in the market longer and buyers showing reluctance to enter a market that is hampered by high mortgage rates, expensive home insurance costs and elevated prices.

    Those challenges were illustrated by existing home sales data released on Friday that showed single family homes sales in Florida were down 0.5 percent from a year ago, while condos and townhouses saw a decline of nearly 9 percent, according to data from Florida Realtors, as the number of listings and prices shot up.

    The median sale price of a previously owned property was up 1.6 percent from a year ago to nearly $427,000 as listings spiked by more than 15 percent. Townhouses and condos saw prices jump 1.5 percent compared to last year to $330,000 with an increase in those listings of close to 14 percent. These dynamics are coming at a time when mortgage rates have hovered around 7 percent even though there were signs of deceleration in recent weeks.
    …
    https://www.newsweek.com/florida-homeowners-hit-housing-market-double-whammy-1915954

  43. Luxury Condos Facing Million Dollar Losses
    Steve Saretsky

    8 hours ago

    National house prices are down 14% across Canada but the losses are not spread evenly. The luxury housing market, which depends on foreign capital, is really struggling, particularly for luxury condos in Vancouver and Toronto. Calgary’s real estate market continues to outperform.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_cq9VJj6SU

    11:40.

    1. California Water Temperatures Drop to Dangerous Levels
      Published Jun 21, 2024 at 9:24 AM EDT
      Updated Jun 22, 2024 at 7:13 AM EDT
      By Anna Skinner
      Senior Writer, General Assignment

      Swimmers could experience hypothermia in only 30 minutes off the coast of Crescent City, California, after water temperatures plunged because of coastal winds.

      Summer temperatures in Northern and Central California could have more people flocking to the beach to cool off in the ocean, but data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shows that some of the coastal waters are too cold for safe swimming. A recent temperature reading off the coast of Crescent City revealed that water temperatures were 47.3 degrees Fahrenheit, more than 3 degrees below normal for this time of year and 4 degrees below winter water temperatures in January.

      Meteorologists and weather experts are blaming the temperature plunge on an “intense marine cold spell.”
      …
      https://www.newsweek.com/california-water-temperatures-drop-dangerous-levels-1915779

    1. Of course I also listened to this in the early 70s on a transistor radio when I was about 10 years old. But that was when Michael Jackson was a little black kid playing with his brothers before he grew up and tuned into an I don’t know what that got way too close to Children at his Never Land Ranch.

      The Love You Save · Jackson 5

      https://youtu.be/BIZWIJwHiaU?si=neGw3r3-bHSDOsH0

      1. It is said that he asked Disney to build a copy of Pirates of the Caribbean in Neverland, and Disney declined.

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