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This Sounds Like A Diabolical Financial Position To Be In

A report from Mansion Global on New York. “Moneyed Manhattanites returned from their Labor Day breaks with a voracious appetite for real estate, according to the weekly report Monday from Olshan Realty. The townhouse on East 74th Street was asking $23.8 million. The seller paid $26 million for the house in 2013.”

From ABC Action News. “Lives are changed yearly in Florida as hurricanes and rising water continues to threaten local communities. On a typical Tuesday at the end of August, heavy rain drenched the Shore Acres neighborhood, and 24 hours later, several storm drains remained at capacity, overflowing back into the street. For sale signs are everywhere. Sean Appelbaum bought his home in 2021, knowing it had flooded in 2019. Appelbaum moved back to St. Louis in April. He’s had his house on the market ever since with no luck. He’s even bumped the price below what he bought it for. ‘The owner had lived there since the early 90s, and that was the only time it had ever flooded, so I was like, oh, I’ll take my chances,’ he said. ‘It got about six inches in the house,’ he said, pointing out where the water hit in his garage. ‘People are fed up for sure,’ he said.”

10 Tampa Bay in Florida. “Gov. Ron DeSantis said Monday that lawmakers should act before the 2025 regular legislative session to address problems facing condominium associations and owners, including soaring costs. Condo owners like Celeste Noren of St. Pete is among those paying more in HOA fees. That’s amid her home insurance also increasing. ‘It’s frightening,’ Noren said. ‘It doesn’t matter how rich or poor you are. I mean, even people that have money are concerned about this.’ Local realtors like Ashley Gajdosz said inventory is up for condos locally, but prices in the market are decreasing. Sellers appear to be having a longer time having their condos sold. ‘Unfortunately, what they’re seeing is that it’s not that easy to sell, because when you try to sell that unit, and you do your seller’s disclosure, you have to disclose these assessments and the repairs that are required,’ said Rep. Tom Fabricio, R-Miami Lakes. ‘So, that’s causing issues with the market throughout. So, it’s causing a problem for these seniors.'”

The Coeur d’Alene Press in Idaho. “The median price of a single-family home in Kootenai County was $527,860 in August, up slightly from one year ago, but down slightly from July, according to the Coeur d’Alene Regional Realtors. In Shoshone County, the median home price was $281,200 in August, down nearly 8% from $305,000 a year ago, and a drop from $289,000 in July.”

The New York Post. “According to new findings from Realtor.com, homeownership recently got a tad more affordable in Kansas City, San Diego and Miami, where residential real estate prices went down more than in any other city year-over-year. Nationwide, the median price of homes for sale last month decreased by 1.3%, to $429,990. In Miami, Realtor.com analysts found that, year-over-year, the median listing price dropped 11.7%, to $530,000, the biggest reduction in the country. In second place came San Diego with a 9.1% reduction, bringing median listing prices to $999,000. And in third, Kansas City, with an 8.5% reduction, for a new median of $398,050.”

KRON in California. “Women were flown from New York City to San Jose with promises of legitimate jobs before they were victimized in brothels operated in residential neighborhoods, according to a police report filed in court. The San Jose Police Department Human Trafficking Task Force’s report, obtained by KRON4 on Monday, describes how neighbors in San Jose were confronted by men seeking prostitutes. One tip to SJPD stated, ‘My mother’s home … continues to have solicitors asking for women and have shown my mother pics of Asian women whom they are looking for. Several men have tried to force themselves into my mother’s home. It is dangerous.’ Another tip stated, ‘People knocking at our home … saying they are there for a massage. Many unidentified men trying to force themselves into our (home) and then running away.’ Neighbors told police that suspicious activities had been happening for nearly a year.”

KVIA in Texas. “El Paso police officers have been called out nearly 700 times over two years to investigate criminal activity at a condemned hotel in downtown El Paso. That’s just one bombshell in the County Attorney’s lawsuit against the owner of the Gateway Hotel, which is on S. Stanton Street, one block west of the El Paso County Courthouse. Other allegations include operating without proper licenses and harboring members of a dangerous Venezuelan gang known as the Tren de Aragua. A video, according to the County Attorney, shows, ‘people partying, drinking, smoking and dancing provocatively while children are present … at least one gun being shot, … men holding knives and another man with a hatchet assaulting people and causing damage to the hotel in front of a security guard.’ One El Paso police officer said, “There should be concern due to the establishment and rise of the Venezuelan Criminal Organization ‘Tren de Aragua’ at the Gateway Hotel. We discovered several Venezuelans have the tattoo identifiers of Tren de Aragua.'”

From Soo Today in Canada. “The City of Sault Ste. Marie plans on taxing owners of vacant, neglected homes in the city beginning next year — and now, it’s looking to the public for input. Over the past two years, SooToday has written extensively about vacant, derelict properties in Sault Ste. Marie owned by out-of-town landlords that scooped up dozens of homes — many of them in the city’s downtown core — as housing prices plunged during the COVID-19 pandemic. Earlier this year, a group of out-of-town landlords filed for creditor protection in Ontario Superior Court, claiming $144 million in debt and less than $100,000 cash on hand.”

“Meanwhile, another out-of-town landlord with a grandiose vision of using the Sault’s housing stock in order to create a real estate empire in Ontario is in some hot water of their own. CPM Properties — a property management company based in southern Ontario that rents out properties in Hamilton, Sudbury and Sault Ste. Marie — has been facing rampant criticism from tenants over substandard living conditions and unpaid utility bills since buying up homes locally. The company’s co-director, Nels Moxness, used 31 numbered companies to buy up at least 130 properties in Sault Ste. Marie, many of which remain boarded up in the city’s downtown core. Last December, two people died in a fire at a boarded-up house on Huron Street owned by one of those numbered companies.”

“This week, SooToday reported that Nels Moxness and his numbered companies have been hit with a dozen lawsuits from lenders — totalling more than $2.4 million — since 2022, seeking both repayment of mortgages and repossession of the properties in many instances. The bulk of those allegations have not been proven in court.”

CTV News in Canada. “In 2022, Tanya Frisk-Welburn and her husband bought what they hoped would be a dream home in Mexico. The seller was a company called Caban Condos whose website described it as ‘two guys from Saskatchewan’ building condominiums near idyllic seaside locations in the Yucatan peninsula. ‘We put down a whole ton of money,’ Frisk-Welburn said. ‘It’s my retirement fund.’ Frisk-Welburn still has no condo. She’s out nearly US$170,000 and is suing Caban Condos. And she’s not alone. An investigation by the Investigative Journalism Foundation (IJF) and CTV Saskatoon has found Caban Condos repeatedly failed to return promised money to buyers in its Mexican real estate projects, most of which are years behind schedule. And in one of the company’s only completed developments, residents say they never received legal title to their property.”

“In many cases, the 11 groups of buyers identified by the IJF and CTV Saskatoon say they spent their life savings or retirement funds on a Caban condo deposit. Frisk-Welburn says she never would have bought property in Mexico if the builder hadn’t been local. ‘We’re just two guys from Saskatchewan’ — we’re just — that means, ‘trust us.’ And that’s what I did. I put my full trust in these people, and now I don’t have a condo,’ she said.”

“Caban Condos Mexico, incorporated in Saskatchewan as Regal Property Developments Ltd., is owned by Corman Park, Sask. resident Mike Delaire. Delaire partnered with Parrish Kondra, a fellow Saskatonian he met at a jet ski rally. William Ambery, a former New York City detective, bought a penthouse condo in an upcoming development after connecting with Kondra in 2020. Ambery sent Delaire more than US$164,000, half the price of the unit. Ambery’s contract said he would have his condo by July 2022. Ambery referred to Kondra as a ‘used car salesman.’ ‘But in this case, you’re not even getting a car,’ he said.”

I News in the UK. “For a successful life, Paul Afshar thought he needed to achieve the following: get a job, buy a home in London. and have a happy relationship. So when he got on the property ladder aged 24, he felt optimistic about his future. Afshar, now 41, used Southern Housing’s shared ownership scheme to buy 25 per cent of a one-bedroom flat in London in 2007, with the hope of continuously saving money and buying more of the property until he owned it outright. But in the years that followed, he discovered the drawbacks of shared ownership. Under these agreements, touted as an ‘affordable’ way for people to own a home without a deposit, tenants take out a mortgage on their share of the property and pay rent to a housing association on the remainder.”

“But now, amid rising mortgage costs and bills, and with many shared ownership properties caught up in the building safety scandal, they are turning out to be a disastrously bad deal for some. They find themselves trapped in unsellable homes, with all the downsides and none of the benefits of homeownership. Afshar put a 5 per cent deposit of £2,500 on his share of the flat at the time and entered a 35-year mortgage on a standard variable rate. Over the last 17 years, his monthly payments have increased drastically – his mortgage alone has risen 48 per cent from £268.65 to £400.28. Looking back, he wishes that the increase in service charge and mortgage rate, as well as selling protocols, had been explained fully. ‘I was hoping for a quick sale. Not only did that not happen – we discovered it was unsellable and I was potentially going to have a massive bill to pay. I got into something I didn’t fully understand. I was sold a dream of homeownership and it’s come back to bite me years later. It’s heartbreaking.'”

From News.com.au. “Millions of Australians are sitting on ticking time bombs that could detonate at any moment and those meant to prevent disaster are almost powerless to help. New research from the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute has revealed 70 per cent of the estimated 10.9 million homes across the country have some kind of major building defect. Zeher Khalil is a building inspector who checks the quality of new and recently constructed homes across the country. Mr Khalil said it’s ‘pretty much a guarantee’ he’ll find at least one serious defect in every dwelling he checks. And he’s not talking about a patchy paint job or some missing silicon. ‘I’m talking about really serious issues that require the roof to be stripped out or an entire bathroom to be demolished,’ he said.”

“Given around 150,000 to 170,000 new homes are built each year, that’s a lot of ‘ticking time bombs’ that will go off sooner rather than later, he said. ‘This country now builds homes that don’t even last for 10 years,’ Mr Khalil said. ‘You get to year seven or eight and they’re falling apart.’ While he’s seen it all over the years, Mr Khalil still finds it hard to believe the sheer extent of problems given how much Australians pay for their homes. ‘Last week, I was in Sydney and I inspected a home that was selling for $2.5 million,’ he said. ‘Essentially the whole thing was noncompliance. Roofing, waterproofing, water going into the kitchen, guttering, leaks … you name it. That’s a minimum of $100,000 to correct. Someone will have to allow for that. It’s a huge problem.'”

Radio New Zealand. “A Wellington real estate salesperson who lost about $200,000 on a new build townhouse says a similar situation is being played out around the country. Mike Robbers of Lowe & Co Realty told clients last week that he and partner Socheata had signed a contract for a three-bedroom Wellington investment property which was not yet built in 2020. At the time, ASB was offering a 1.9 percent interest rate for new builds and the expected rent would cover repayments. ‘The market was booming, our incomes were solid and we expected that by the time it was built, our townhouse would be worth considerably more than what we agreed to pay for it.'”

“But by the time the house was built and ready for settlement, almost everything had changed. ‘Interest rates hadn’t just doubled, they’d quadrupled. Rents had tanked by more than 30 percent – unprecedented. The townhouse was no longer a viable investment and completely unaffordable for us to consider keeping. But property prices had dropped so much, that the property was now worth less than the remaining balance required to settle.’ He said, with their incomes also down, he was not able to get bank finance to settle. ‘Whilst this sounds like a diabolical financial position to be in, it is one that many, many people found themselves in, caught by an unprecedented change in circumstances on multiple fronts. We ended up using a second tier lender to settle on the townhouse, then did some painting and styling and got it sold within four weeks for around a $200,000 loss.'”

“He said the end result was that they had a bigger mortgage. ‘This is such a common story at the moment, but you don’t see it mentioned much, or the actual impact discussed. If 5000 New Zealanders did something similar to us – perhaps a conservative estimate – that’s a billion dollars in equity wiped out over the last 24 months – if the properties have now been sold again at a loss, none of this is recoverable. I think the effects of these losses will linger on for decades, retirement plans altered, investment plans reconsidered. We’ll probably never know the true impact to be honest, but a billion dollars or more is a significant sum for a small country.'”

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This Post Has 107 Comments

  1. It’s FB Tuesday:

    ‘We’re just two guys from Saskatchewan’ — we’re just — that means, ‘trust us.’ And that’s what I did. I put my full trust in these people, and now I don’t have a condo’

    There’s more tales of woe at the link.

  2. “In second place came San Diego with a 9.1% reduction, bringing median listing prices to $999,000.”

    How do last year’s buyers feel about this downtrend in listing prices?

    2. It also means all the recent rate daters are hosed. Sure hope they put 30 to 40 percent down or it’s no soup for you!

  3. Afshar, now 41, used Southern Housing’s shared ownership scheme to buy 25 per cent of a one-bedroom flat in London in 2007, with the hope of continuously saving money and buying more of the property until he owned it outright.

    You’d have to be a special kind of stupid to “co-invest” in property with strangers.

    1. I was sold a dream of homeownership
      A dream? You bought a dream? With real money?
      “You can’t fix stupid.” Ron White

      1. What is the influx of Democrat-on-Arrival 3rd World benefits spongers & criminals doing to housing values in the neighborhoods & communities where they’re being resettled?

  5. ‘I was hoping for a quick sale. Not only did that not happen – we discovered it was unsellable and I was potentially going to have a massive bill to pay. I got into something I didn’t fully understand.

    Cry me a river, speculator scum. The sooner degenerate gamblers like you get flushed from the housing market, the better.

  6. ‘This country now builds homes that don’t even last for 10 years,’ Mr Khalil said. ‘You get to year seven or eight and they’re falling apart.’

    The build quality on most new residential developments in Colorado’s Front Range is horrendous, yet builders are asking $400-600K. I’m astonished at the financial liability FBs are taking on for these shacks.

    1. Another potential Colorado pitfall: expansive soils. They can, over time, knock houses out of square, and in bad cases the windows won’t open, which is an expensive fix.

      1. in bad cases they can destroy the whole foundation

        I’ve seen houses where they are a foot out of level in the basement from one side to the other. A FOOT.

        But don’t worry, I”m sure developers would only build in good areas that are tested and approved by an impartial government.

        1. I’ve seen houses where they are a foot out of level in the basement from one side to the other. A FOOT.

          That happened to someone I know. It costs tens of thousands to remedy. I won’t say “fix”, just remedy.

  7. The townhouse was no longer a viable investment and completely unaffordable for us to consider keeping. But property prices had dropped so much, that the property was now worth less than the remaining balance required to settle.’

    It’s getting cold in here. Someone throw another speculator on the fire.

    1. ** ” ‘People knocking at our home … saying they are there for a massage. Many unidentified men trying to force themselves into our (home) and then running away.’

      BUT, if these men pronounced it “MA-ssage” in an uppercrust droll english accent then let them in forthwith. these are the posh crowd.
      and bro, selfies on their way out as they’ll have happy ending smiles.

  8. If 5000 New Zealanders did something similar to us – perhaps a conservative estimate – that’s a billion dollars in equity wiped out over the last 24 months – if the properties have now been sold again at a loss, none of this is recoverable.

    Good. The more brutally the housing speculator scum get schlonged, the sooner sanity can return to the market.

  13. ** “Local realtors like Ashley Gajdosz said inventory is up for condos locally, but prices in the market are decreasing. Sellers appear to be having a longer time having their condos sold. ‘Unfortunately, what they’re seeing is that it’s not that easy to sell, because when you try to sell that unit, and you do your seller’s disclosure, you have to disclose these assessments and the repairs that are required,’ said Rep. Tom Fabricio, R-Miami Lakes. ‘So, that’s causing issues with the market throughout. So, it’s causing a problem for these seniors.’”

    HAHAha . . “Causing PROBLEMS FOR SENIORS” = translation:
    everyone now has to be (a bit) more honest about the transaction ’cause our “Seniors” will be impoverished since they can’t easily unload the money pit to some other fool while all the real estate vultures gorge on the carcass.

    did I miss anything? fail to offend anyone in the RE industry?
    speak now or forever blow your balloons.

    1. Yeah, no one ever gives a rat’s rear end when problems are being caused for young and middle-aged people, but God forbid “seniors” should suffer any minor inconvenience or distraction from their croquet games, then it’s like OMG, the gov’t must step in with bailouts and legislation and special exceptions and exemptions and COLA increases. This cultural zeitgeist has to reverse at some point, and when it does, it won’t be pretty.

      1. but God forbid “seniors” should suffer any minor inconvenience or distraction from their croquet games, then it’s like OMG, the gov’t must step in with bailouts and legislation and special exceptions and exemptions and COLA increases.
        You are a d@mn good man. Now work that second (and third?) job and take better care of us seniors who are so stupid we can’t take care of ourselves and please let us get back to our couquet!

    2. You mean the boomers and silents who lived there for 20/30 years voting against every dues increase cuz “we’re retired” and hoping to get out before it all collapsed

      TFB

      2. and hoping to get out before it all collapsed
        It was a gamble and I guess the”winners” died? It’s Just like the US debt. Will I die before the US implodes?

  14. ** “A video, according to the County Attorney, shows, ‘people partying, drinking, smoking and dancing provocatively while children are present … at least one gun being shot … ”

    ie. any given weekend in Ybor.

    on a related note, my spouse & I have grown watchful when viewing Netflix. we dutifully rush to open windows when presented with the warning “Smoking” in the corner title flash screen.

    1. We discovered several Venezuelans have the tattoo identifiers of Tren de Aragua

      I’m sure that when they invaded our country and flashed their gang tats, the Border Patrol fist bumped them as they handed them a debit card.

      We were assured they were all wonderful people and that we are lucky to have them. All future doctors and engineers.

      If there is one thing I hope for in the DJT administration, it’s that all of the FJB invaders are sent packing, along with as many pre FJB invaders as possible, including MS-13 and other gang thugs. Fly them back to Panama and let them walk the rest of the way home.

  15. A reader sent these in:

    Meanwhile on the Big Island, condo listings are orange and pendings are down and no, this is not seasonal.

    https://x.com/jimmydean197/status/1830402827900051581

    What’s going on in Canada? 😮

    https://x.com/Alphafox78/status/1832898894042157202

    Apple investors watching the company release the same products they’ve been releasing the last 6 years

    https://x.com/DonMiami3/status/1833193115777163342

    Fed is now at the exact symmetrical spot vs 2021. Back then FOMC was massively behind the inflation curve. Today it’s massively behind the recession curve.

    Real 10s are around 2% which has been historically a very restrictive level.

    FFR are between 225% and 250% above neutral.

    Inflation expectations have been dropping quickly (over 75 bp in few weeks at the 5y point).

    FOMC should be cutting by 75 bp, not 25 bp, and that’s just to go back to a less restrictive level.

    Tte longer they wait, the further behind the curve they will end up being, the more heavy lifting the belly out will have to do to compensate for a very restrictive FFR.

    https://x.com/INArteCarloDoss/status/1833264860517585197

    Greater Nashville Expired / Cancelled Listings +30% higher than 2019 but Active Listings are still climbing.

    https://x.com/ethanflynncpa/status/1833096217569493407

    I’m seeing stuff like this where I want to buy;

    https://x.com/DanielM65604046/status/1833258630650765357

    Bought it to rent it. Cannot rent it. I have seen a few of these lately.

    https://x.com/notsure_now/status/1833242514297438267

    House prices used to be 2.5x the average household income, they’re now 9x.

    Does anyone know what happened? (hint in chart)

    https://x.com/JonFlynnREstats/status/1833161240597668128

    Casino…

    https://x.com/RudyHavenstein/status/1833233924572828123

    I’ve noticed that a lot of listings that have been on the market for over a year are now coming up in my “newest” search on Zillow. They’re not fooling anyone 😂

    https://x.com/Bosslady75110/status/1833228257849970861

    Buyers remorse. 😬

    https://x.com/SteamChaser/status/1833164761644605783

    This is the start of the silver tsunami that so many pundits said was indefinitely canceled

    https://x.com/NipseyHoussle/status/1833060870097629545

    Despite the ongoing softness in Texas, with rising inventory and falling home prices in some markets, many big homebuilders across Texas—even in Austin—continue to barrel head.

    https://x.com/JohnWake/status/1833155273781125630

    Canada’s Monetary Wave 1981-2021

    (The falling price of credit and the financialization of the economy)

    The real scarce commodity in every bubble isn’t the assets being speculated on—it’s confidence.

    Bubbles are essentially confidence games, fundamentally unsound schemes that rely entirely on belief to sustain their value.

    Every confidence game in history has ended with losing that belief, and this one will be no different.

    https://x.com/TheELongWave/status/1832751469163852035

    The City of Chicago has enacted a citywide hiring freeze, effective immediately, in an effort to address nearly a $1 billion budget deficit forecast for 2025.

    https://x.com/MacroEdgeRes/status/1833288024777445820

    A weak spot in the August labor market data was the increase of the youth unemployment rate to almost 10%, while the 16-19 unemployment rate rose to 14.1%

    https://x.com/MacroEdgeRes/status/1833323814060450028

    US housing affordability is worse today than the peak of the last housing bubble. The median American household would need to spend nearly 44% of their income to afford the median priced home for sale.

    https://x.com/charliebilello/status/1833340111485808910

    ‘Pre-sales’ may sound boring, but they have had a huge impact on #Vancouver. A large portion of Metro Vancouver’s highrises would not have been built without this popular sales technique.
    It’s now in trouble. My latest 1/2

    https://x.com/DouglasTodd/status/1833292501270122515

    🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️

    https://x.com/SallyMayweather/status/1833338172790739181

    One more and it will all be over #SlavaUkraine

    https://x.com/ThePacificNews/status/1761541646729232880

    Iphone 16 launch in coming hours.

    https://x.com/great_martis/status/1833031568631505081

    Reminder that Haiti is a shithole bc the Clinton Foundation stole more than 90% of their aid money.

    https://x.com/SallyMayweather/status/1833193684818379260

    Bankruptcies jumped again in August (after dropping down in July).

    Consumer discretionary led the way.

    https://x.com/MosesSternstein/status/1833226315417235704

    $35.3 trillion in debt (and rocketing higher) but at least every American can afford a home…

    https://x.com/RealEJAntoni/status/1833235156049793042

    Total consumer credit jumped in Jul at fastest rate since Nov ’22 as people lean hard on credit cards to maintain spending growth – it’s hard to see how this doesn’t end in a hard landing:

    https://x.com/RealEJAntoni/status/1833230767574725054

    An estimated 360,000 property owners in south Florida may not be able to afford the repairs required by the new law.

    Nearly 90% of the 20,000-plus units for sale in Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade are in buildings aged 30 years and above.

    https://x.com/FCNightingale/status/1833280446748074333

    The massive wave of illegal immigration was all planned. The plans were out in the open.

    https://x.com/FedGuy12/status/1833298794651304378

    Another criminal f*cked around & found out.

    https://x.com/SteveInmanUIC/status/1833334570105901089

    This has been the longest yield curve inversion EVER

    It has set the stage for a painful economic downturn

    https://x.com/WinfieldSmart/status/1833310674522358155

    Home price relative to median income is now at the highest level ever seen

    https://x.com/WinfieldSmart/status/1833310330606268843

    Goldman Sachs to post $400 million hit to third-quarter results as it unwinds consumer business

    https://x.com/CNBC/status/1833267339220906484

    1. The City of Chicago has enacted a citywide hiring freeze, effective immediately, in an effort to address nearly a $1 billion budget deficit forecast for 2025.

      It’s going to take more than a hiring freeze to close that deficit. Like maybe stop giving freebies to the invaders and telling them that it’s over and they should head home.

      1. It’s going to take more than a hiring freeze to close that deficit
        I would love to listen in on those budget meetings. Also, if I worked for Chicago and were NOT in the budget meetings I would be very concerned about my job. People in the budget meetings are safe, but if you are not in the meetings….

    2. The massive wave of illegal immigration was all planned.

      Of course it was. They sent activists to other countries to encourage people to come to the US with promises of joining the Free Sh!t Army. They even fly some of them in. Those 20,000 Haitians didn’t end up in Springfield, OH by chance.

    3. “Bought it to rent it. Cannot rent it. I have seen a few of these lately.”

      It’s amazing how many wanna-be investors think rental returns are automatic. Was talking with someone who was penciling a potential rental and I told them to factor in 25% vacancy rate. He just looked at me like “what the heck are you talking about?”

    4. US housing affordability is worse today than the peak of the last housing bubble. The median American household would need to spend nearly 44% of their income to afford the median priced home for sale.

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

  16. About 5 miles off the coast of Santa Barbara, California, a vast swath of giant kelp—Macrocystis pyriferia, which can grow nearly 3 feet per day—sways just below the surface of one of the world’s first open-ocean seaweed farms.

    Still in its research phase, the 86-acre project is operated by Ocean Rainforest, a company that aims to fight climate change by growing seaweed at scale: 1 million tons a year by 2030. Although an 86-acre terrestrial farm would be considered boutique, the Ocean Rainforest plot, floating in sight of the Channel Islands, represents a significant leap in size from the average U.S. seaweed farm of 1 to 4 acres—and a new frontier for ocean farming.

    Supported by $6.2 million in Series A funding, for a total of $22 million from U.S. and European governments, grants, and venture capital, Ocean Rainforest also operates seaweed farms in the Faroe Islands and Iceland that supply the animal-feed, fertilizer, and cosmetic industries. The company’s goal of substantially decarbonizing these industries—with seaweed, instead of petroleum feedstocks, as raw material—depends on the success of this farm. Growing seaweed in the open ocean, with room to exponentially expand, means the Ocean Rainforest team is tackling how to anchor crops in hundreds of feet of water, withstand intense weather, and monitor a farm that lies many miles from shore.

    As Ocean Rainforest continues its research, the wider U.S. seaweed industry, still in its infancy, faces significant challenges. Several years of steady investment and scientific breakthroughs have helped it advance, but since 2023, funding has dropped precipitously, and so have retail prices for seaweed-based foods. In the meantime, a lack of government guidance by means of regulation and legislation makes it difficult for farms to gain traction. Seaweed is an extraordinary crop, offering multiple benefits to planetary and human health along with an array of business applications. But it’s fair to say that right now, the industry is having growing pains.

    In 2023, according to Phyconomy, a database that tracks the seaweed economy, seaweed funding in the U.S. abruptly began to sink, dwindling from a peak of about $100 million in 2022 to just $8 million for 2024 so far.

    “We are in what I call the ‘valley of disappointment,’” says Steven Hermans, who founded Phyconomy. American investors have become more sophisticated about startup investments, including in seaweed, he says. A few years ago, he adds, “They didn’t know anything, and they were like, ‘OK, we’ll toss a couple of million into this.’ Then, Everyone kept their money in their pockets during high inflation … [and] people realized … it will take a long time to build a market for American-grown kelp. Now they’re asking better questions, and that will ultimately lead to better investments.”

    But for some companies, that won’t matter. Since Civil Eats began this reporting project nearly a year ago, two of the largest and most well-known American kelp businesses have gone under: Running Tide, a carbon capture company, and AKUA, maker of kelp burgers.

    https://kleanindustries.com/resources/market-analysis-research/seaweed-farms-face-hurdles-in-scaling-up-across-the-us/

  17. The art market is in the midst of a radical sea change. What can buyers and sellers learn from the cresting waves?

    Until recently, Mihail Lari was the kind of engaged and passionate collector the art world loves. He cultivated relationships with artists, whose work he acquired in depth. He bid on art at charity auctions. He was the chairman of the board of advisors at the Hammer Museum, in Los Angeles, and had access to coveted works by both emerging and established artists.

    But over the past two years, Lari has scaled back his engagement with the art world. He stepped down as the Hammer’s chairman, gave away more than 50 artworks from his collection to various museums, and significantly cut down on new purchases. While he used to buy art every month, he has bought only one piece since the start of the year. Instead, he’s thrown himself behind a congressional campaign in Palm Springs, California, fundraising to elect 39-year-old Democrat Will Rollins and unseat the district’s longtime Republican incumbent.

    “The music has stopped,” said Lari, 58, a former tech entrepreneur. “The world is so precarious right now that one wants to focus on what’s really important. To accumulate art for the sake of accumulating art is just so five years ago.”

    https://news.artnet.com/market/art-market-reset-riding-the-waves-of-change-2533656

    1. The music has stopped,” said Lari, 58, a former tech entrepreneur. “The world is so precarious right now

      So he doesn’t understand why the world is so precarious? Or maybe he’s hoping that of he helps the Dem win the Palm Springs seat that he might a member of the inner party?

  18. The New Car Market Is ‘Stuck’ Because Buyers Can’t Afford Them

    Every now and then, it’s good to step back from the electric vehicle sector and take a good, hard look at the car market as a whole. After all, EVs and hybrids had a pretty strong sales month in the U.S. in August; just ask Honda, Hyundai and even Ford. But when you look at the new car market in aggregate, things don’t look as good as they did in past years. Why, you ask? To paraphrase one famous election-related quip from when I was a kid, “It’s the economy, stupid.”

    case (although more and more cheaper models are debuting all the time.)

    The entire post-pandemic new car market has been marked with sky-high prices as automakers that once sought to compensate for supply chain issues got addicted to absurd sticker prices. The average new car price was actually down in August to $44,039, but that’s still awfully high for families everywhere getting squeezed out by the high cost of goods, a slowing job market and other challenges.

    This story on the slowing new car market from Automotive News has too many good quotes to pull from, but I like this one:

    “A lot of borrowers are really hanging on by a thread,” said Charlie Chesbrough, senior economist at Cox Automotive, adding that Cox’s most recent estimate of average monthly auto payments was $767 for new vehicles, $566 for used vehicles and $558 for leased vehicles. Those are down slightly from earlier peaks as average new- and used-vehicle prices have been trending lower, Chesbrough said.

    And this one:

    “It’s going to be a very challenging second half of the year unless consumers get some relief,” J.D. Power’s Jominy said. He said the industry may need to do a hard reset of its expectations in a landscape that has priced many consumers out of the new-vehicle market, including budgeting more for incentives.

    “We need to reframe the way we think about the industry. I mean, a 17 million SAAR? We’re never getting back there,” Jominy said. “The price [increases] we’ve taken means that we have contracted the volume fundamentally in the industry.”

    If you aren’t familiar with industry jargon, J.D. Power data impresario Tyson Jominy is referring to the seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) for new vehicle sales in the U.S.; total annual sales were around 17 million for much of the back half of the 2010s. In simple terms, annual new car sales are projected to be in the millions less than they were a few years ago, and automakers and dealers alike are kind of panicking about it.

    And as that story notes, sales were actually better than in August 2023, but below projections, leading some to worry that America may never get as high as 17 million annual new vehicle sales again.

    “The market is stuck,” [Jominy said.] “It’s a standoff right now — between consumers, dealers, automakers and lenders — to see which one is going to blink.”

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/news/the-new-car-market-is-stuck-because-buyers-cant-afford-them/ar-AA1qfO9s

    1. From what I have read, cars priced between 20 and 30K are selling much better than their 50K+ brethren. So it’s about price.

      I don’t know what automakers were thinking, but it’s very clear that not many can afford their wares.

    2. “It’s going to be a very challenging second half of the year unless consumers get some relief,” J.D. Power’s Jominy said.

      Recall Dubya sending out checks.

  19. Australia’s housing shortage and record overseas migration rates have once again been brought into question with a campaigner against high immigration hitting out at the ABC. He claims the national broadcaster banned him from addressing the issue while appearing on Q&A this week.

    Jordan Knight, the founder of Migration Watch Australia, who works for independent MP Rod Roberts in the NSW Parliament, claims he was “chosen to read out a question” on Monday night’s program, “only for them to call and cancel last minute”.

    He claims the reason was to do with the question he’d planned to ask the panel — which on Monday night included Housing Minister Clare O’Neil, shadow housing minister Michael Sukkar, Grattan Institute chief executive Aruna Sathanapally and the ABC’s finance commentator Alan Kohler — about whether or not the high number of international students was worsening Australia’s rental crisis.

    “Australia has more foreign students than Great Britain and almost as many as the United States,” Knight’s submitted question said.

    “Meanwhile, we have record low rental vacancy rates, people are paying 50 per cent of their wage on rent.”

    “My question is this,” it continued. “Does the panel believe that housing Australians is more important than educating foreign students? And if so, will they further reduce the number of foreign students in the country to 50,000, in order to free up housing for Australians?”

    https://au.news.yahoo.com/qa-guest-hits-out-at-abc-after-simple-immigration-question-was-banned-062747219.html

    1. “My question is this,” it continued. “Does the panel believe that housing Australians is more important than educating foreign students? And if so, will they further reduce the number of foreign students in the country to 50,000, in order to free up housing for Australians?”

      Nope, because the plan is to replace heritage Australians with foreigners.

  20. Liberals want pause on plan to double Nova Scotia’s population

    Liberal Leader Zach Churchill says the premier’s plan to double Nova Scotia’s population is proving too successful, and it’s time to hit the brakes.

    Churchill told reporters Friday at Province House that Tim Houston’s goal of hitting two million people by 2060 is putting excessive strain on the housing market as well as the education and health-care systems.

    “Why he’s sticking to that plan, we don’t know,” said Churchill. “We can grow, but we have to grow at a sustainable rate where people who move here can find a place to live, where people can find doctors and can get into hospitals to get medical care when they need it [and] when they can put their kids in schools that aren’t overcrowded.”

    https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/other/liberals-want-pause-on-plan-to-double-nova-scotia-s-population/ar-AA1qgj7I

    2. If one is seeking tranquility in their surroundings it is very important to understand growth rates. At just a 5% population growth rate, your population will double in about 14 years and you will need twice as much of everything. For a small town it can seem somewhat reasonable but imagine needing twice as much of everything in a place like Los Angeles. Now lets factor in anti-growth building policies and lack of available space. I’m sure it will be fine, let’s do it! Open the border gates wider!! And put a black woman in charge!!! 🙂

  21. David Rosenberg: Love him or hate him, an economy under Trump should fare better than under Harris

    Mark Twain, if he were alive today, would likely update his famous refrain to “Lies, damned lies, statistics and politics.” I want to state emphatically that I am not “political,” and this is not one iota an attempt to be “political”. Being a Canadian resident and citizen, I am not even eligible to vote on November 5th . When I penned something critical of the Democrats a couple of months ago, I received my fair share of hate mail and had some subscribers threaten to cancel their subscription with me. The problem is that politics, markets, and economics are all intertwined, and everything I write is aimed at being analytical rather than judgmental.

    Because of the massive US$2 trillion stimulus checks doled out in early 2021, what the Biden team engineered was a consumption society, with a +3.4% annualized trend in household spending, doubling what the Trump policies managed to accomplish. But tax gimmicks to incentivize consumers to spend are not a replacement for the durable benefits from all the multiplier impacts that flow from business spending (after all, unless you are self-employed, it is the business sector that employs people) and the associated deepening in the productive private sector capital stock.

    I can’t imagine that this sort of rational economic thought would ever make it on the campaign trail since it would be over most people’s heads, and let’s face reality, which the Democrats have certainly figured out — nothing works better in an election race than playing the role of the Candy Man.

    Third, I find it amazing that the Democrat ticket is suddenly so concerned about inflation. The inflation their party helped create, no doubt. Cheering over the fact that inflation is now below 3% is a small consolation since this 3% inflation rate compounds off a price spiral from 2021 to 2023 that has completely eroded real purchasing power for the working class. While virtually everything that comes out of Donald Trump’s mouth needs to be fact-checked, the Democrats seem to be getting a free pass — but not from me. Both parties are guilty of gross misstatements. This is not about crowd size, the number of illegal immigrants and their criminal activities, abortion, or who was responsible for the mess the world finds itself in today (Iran, Israel-Hamas, the Houthis, Russia-Ukraine). This is about the facts as they pertain to the economy, and specifically inflation and all its corrosive effects on society.

    https://www.theglobeandmail.com/investing/markets/inside-the-market/article-david-rosenberg-trump-vs-harris-and-the-us-election-outcome-all/

    1. Everyone in the media keep spouting that bogus 3% inflation number, when it’s very plain that the real number is far worse.

      I get why the elites want four more years of the nightmare, they made out like bandits in the first four years. But is “murder muh baby” so sacrosanct to the middle class that they will endure 4 more years of misery, which will like be worse than before? Or do they really believe that price controls and multi trillion dollar deficits will work and usher in a utopia?

    2. “Rosie” never once mentions the role of the Fed and the ongoing concentration of wealth and power in the greedy hands of a corrupt and venal .1% in the financier oligarchy.

    3. Trillions were also given out in 2020 under trump. Just to be fair….I think both of these fossils suck!!!!

      2. Trillions were also given out in 2020 under trump. Just to be fair
        Yes both of them will run Trillion dollar deficits and kick the can down the road. And just like the FL condos, the time time of reckoning will occur.

  23. Why Should You Care When Stocks Plunge?
    by William Bernstein, 9/10/24

    “Global Stocks Dive as Trades Unravel,” screamed the front page of The Wall Street Journal the morning after the S&P 500 fell nearly three percent this summer on August 5, a move accompanied by an even more alarming VIX spike over 60, both apparently precipitated by the unwinding of – wait for it – the yen-dollar carry trade.

    Should you care? Of course not, and if your phone was exploding with rattled clients, you might revisit how you screen prospects.
    …
    https://www.advisorperspectives.com/articles/2024/09/10/why-care-when-stocks-plunge

  24. Why is Germany imposing more restrictions on its borders?

    Germany’s centre-left government has decided to impose temporary land border restrictions aimed at controlling irregular migration in the wake of a knife attack and electoral gains made by a far-right party.

    The new curbs, announced by the government on Monday, come days after the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) won elections to the eastern state of Thuringia and came a close second in the neighbouring state of Saxony. Those elections were held in the shadow of a knife attack, allegedly carried out by a Syrian asylum seeker, that killed three people in the western city of Solingen.

    Interior Minister Nancy Faeser announced on Monday that the controls will start on September 16 and initially last for six months with the option of being renewed.

    Temporary controls are to be imposed at land borders with France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Belgium and Denmark.

    This will add to restrictions already in place for Austria, the Czech Republic, Poland and Switzerland – the other four of the nine countries with which Germany shares its more than 3,700km-long (2,300-mile-long) border – to check arrivals of immigrants.

    The additional checks for the border with Austria are currently in place until November while measures for Switzerland, Poland and the Czech Republic are slated to remain in force until at least December.

    Germany has informed the European Commission and the neighbouring countries, which are all part of the Schengen Area, the Europe-wide free movement zone, about its plans to impose tighter controls.

    Faeser said the government has drawn up plans to allow local authorities to directly reject and turn away migrants at the borders, a measure that could prove controversial and could face legal challenges. The interior minister did not provide any details.

    German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, under pressure from the far right, has gradually been sharpening his rhetoric on immigrants. He has promised to deport immigrants accused of committing serious crimes.

    Germany deported 28 Afghan nationals charged with criminal acts on August 30, the first time it restarted the practice after the 2021 return of the Taliban to power in Afghanistan following a withdrawal by the United States.

    Faeser said Germany is going beyond the European Union’s controls and tightening up security internally to be better prepared against “irregular migration” and what she called “Islamist terrorism and serious crime”.

    “We are doing everything we can to better protect people in our country against this,” she said.

    The chorus of voices opposed to immigration has considerably grown in Germany since the country of 84 million people automatically granted asylum to about one million Ukrainians fleeing Russia’s 2022 invasion as it faced energy and economic challenges.

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/why-is-germany-imposing-more-restrictions-on-its-borders/ar-AA1qkgpm

    1. I suspect some of the globalist Quislings know there’s lampposts & boiled rope in their future once the day of reckoning arrives for their treason.

  25. Washington Post:

    “Incidents of looting and vandalism broke out in the District late Monday and early Tuesday, according to the D.C. police, in what appeared to be a possible response to the release of video of a recent fatal shooting by officers.

    The thefts and the destruction of property occurred in Georgetown, City Center and other parts of the city, according to a statement issued by the police. Incidents occurred in at least three other neighborhoods, the statement indicated.”

    And from ZeroSludge:

    “Footage of the looting was uploaded to X. Citizen journalists reported that rioters stormed a Gucci store and other brick-and-mortar shops.”

    Joe Biden’s America.

    1. Ally Financial Corp.’s stock fell sharply on Tuesday after the consumer lender said delinquencies in its retail car-loan business were up more than expected as people continue to struggle with inflation.

      Ally Financial’s stock
      ALLY

      -16.89%
      was down nearly 18% in what would be its biggest one-day decline since the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, when it fell 21.8% on March 16, 2020.

      https://www.marketwatch.com/story/ally-financial-shares-plunge-as-lender-says-consumers-are-struggling-to-pay-back-loans-bf9f2acb

      1. as people continue to struggle with inflation

        But the gooberment says inflation has been whipped and we are in the best economy ever!

  27. Finbold Logo
    Shocking 3-year losses on a $1K investment in Cathie Wood’s ARK ETF
    Andreja Stojanovic
    Stocks
    May 31, 2024

    Once upon a time, in the near-mythical years 2020 and 2021, Cathie Wood’s ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK) – an exchange-traded fund focused on promising yet highly speculative technology stocks – was all the rage.

    Indeed, during the two years, ARKK was massively outperforming the broader market with a string of interesting and successful investments. Between March 2020 – once the COVID-19 recession ended – and the fund’s peak in February 2021, Cathie Wood’s ETF soared approximately 313%.

    Things have changed significantly since then, and ARKK has seemingly done little other than go from one major mistake to another. In fact, by the time of publication on May 31, 2024, the ETF is a mere $5 above its pandemic-era lows at the press time price of $42.79.
    …
    https://finbold.com/shocking-3-year-losses-on-a-1k-investment-in-cathie-woods-ark-etf/

    1. BlackRock Issues Serious Fed Warning As Crypto Braces For A Predicted 50% Bitcoin Price Crash
      Billy Bambrough
      Senior Contributor
      I write about how bitcoin, crypto and blockchain can change the world.
      Sep 10, 2024, 08:26am EDT
      Updated Sep 10, 2024, 08:34am EDT

      Bitcoin (Bitcoin +2.2%) has bounced back from a price crash last week, climbing along with stock markets as traders hold their breath for a Federal Reserve bombshell.
      …
      https://www.forbes.com/sites/digital-assets/2024/09/10/blackrock-issues-serious-fed-warning-as-fears-swirl-of-a-50-bitcoin-price-crash/

    1. She says lots of things. Never forget that the bankers pull her strings. What she says she will do and what she will actually do are two different things

  31. ‘For sale signs are everywhere. Sean Appelbaum bought his home in 2021, knowing it had flooded in 2019. Appelbaum moved back to St. Louis in April. He’s had his house on the market ever since with no luck. He’s even bumped the price below what he bought it for. ‘The owner had lived there since the early 90s, and that was the only time it had ever flooded, so I was like, oh, I’ll take my chances,’ he said. ‘It got about six inches in the house’

    You have to roll with it Sean.

    1. If you bought a house that had flooded 2 years before and you didn’t buy flood insurance, well that’s on you.

      You got a clear beaming neon sign and choose to ignore it

      choices have consequences.

      1. If you bought a house that had flooded 2 years before and you didn’t buy flood insurance, well that’s on you.
        An other example of “You can’t fix stupid.” Ron White

  32. ‘Unfortunately, what they’re seeing is that it’s not that easy to sell’

    Tom, the UHS say you can always sell. The only thing that would prevent that is if people can’t sell.

  33. ‘Earlier this year, a group of out-of-town landlords filed for creditor protection in Ontario Superior Court, claiming $144 million in debt and less than $100,000 cash on hand…Meanwhile, another out-of-town landlord with a grandiose vision of using the Sault’s housing stock in order to create a real estate empire in Ontario is in some hot water of their own…used 31 numbered companies to buy up at least 130 properties in Sault Ste. Marie, many of which remain boarded up in the city’s downtown core. Last December, two people died in a fire at a boarded-up house on Huron Street owned by one of those numbered companies’

    ‘Sault Ste. Marie is bordered to the east by the Rankin and Garden River reserves, and to the west by Prince Township. To the north, the city is bordered by an unincorporated portion of Algoma District, which includes the local services boards of Aweres, Batchawana Bay, Goulais and District, Peace Tree and Searchmont. The city’s census agglomeration, including the townships of Laird, Prince and Macdonald, Meredith and Aberdeen Additional and the First Nations reserves of Garden River and Rankin, had a total population of 79,800 in 2011’

    This igloo cluster isn’t very big and they had two over one hundred igloo ponzi schemes going at the same time.

  34. ‘‘We put down a whole ton of money…It’s my retirement fund’…she never would have bought property in Mexico if the builder hadn’t been local. ‘We’re just two guys from Saskatchewan’ — we’re just — that means, ‘trust us.’ And that’s what I did. I put my full trust in these people, and now I don’t have a condo’

    It’s Mexico Tanya and you got the donkey show.

  35. ‘Over the last 17 years, his monthly payments have increased drastically – his mortgage alone has risen 48 per cent from £268.65 to £400.28. Looking back, he wishes that the increase in service charge and mortgage rate, as well as selling protocols, had been explained fully. ‘I was hoping for a quick sale. Not only did that not happen – we discovered it was unsellable and I was potentially going to have a massive bill to pay. I got into something I didn’t fully understand. I was sold a dream of homeownership and it’s come back to bite me years later. It’s heartbreaking’

    Seventeen years in London. That’s an a$$ pounding record in some category.

  36. ‘The market was booming, our incomes were solid and we expected that by the time it was built, our townhouse would be worth considerably more than what we agreed to pay for it…But by the time the house was built and ready for settlement, almost everything had changed’

    You got schlonged more than most today Mike. Bravo!

    ‘I think the effects of these losses will linger on for decades, retirement plans altered, investment plans reconsidered. We’ll probably never know the true impact to be honest, but a billion dollars or more is a significant sum for a small country’

    It is a small insignificant sh$thole.

  37. JD Vance Slams Media for Ignoring Migration’s Damage to Americans

    Neil Munro
    10 Sep 2024

    Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) slammed journalists for ignoring the damage caused by mass migration after the corporate media pounced on Vance for his comments about unconfirmed claims that Haitian migrants are eating pets in Springfield, Ohio.

    Do you know what’s confirmed? That a child was murdered by a Haitian migrant who had no right to be here. That local health services have been overwhelmed. That communicable diseases–like TB and HIV–have been on the rise. That local schools have struggled to keep up with newcomers who don’t know English. That rents have risen so fast that many Springfield families can’t afford to put a roof over their head.

    If you’re a reporter, or an activist, who didn’t give a shit about these suffering Americans until yesterday, I have some advice: Spare your outrage for your fellow citizens suffering under Kamala Harris’s policies. Be outraged at yourself for letting this happen.

    https://www.breitbart.com/2024-election/2024/09/10/jd-vance-slams-media-for-ignoring-migrations-damage-to-americans/

  38. captive dreamer
    @captivedreamer7

    Absolutely HEARTBREAKING moment Springfield, Ohio, resident tells mayor that she “can’t take it anymore” as Haitian migrants squat on her lawn, litter in her yard and harass her and elderly husband daily.

    The mayor of Springfield does NOT want people to see this:
    11:52 PM · Sep 6, 2024

    https://x.com/captivedreamer7/status/1832265609905672235

  39. Why Haven’t Toronto Home Prices Plummeted? (Toronto Real Estate Market Update)

    Team Sessa Real Estate

    8 minutes ago

    In this episode we take a look at the current Toronto Real Estate Market specifically the detached home prices and market trends for week ending Sept 4, 2024. We also discuss why home prices seem to not be coming down as fast as some people are expecting, even though signs are pointing in that direction.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvjr0ZXMK3U

    16 minutes.

  40. Twofer Tuesday — United States federal income taxpayer edition:

    https://news.antiwar.com/2024/09/09/forty-palestinians-reported-killed-in-israeli-strikes-on-al-mawasi-camp-in-gaza/

    https://news.antiwar.com/2024/09/09/at-least-25-killed-scores-wounded-in-intense-israeli-attacks-on-central-syria/

    Central Syria? Remember when U.S. taxpayers voted to pay for that? I don’t.

    “Ever get the feeling that you’ve been cheated?” — Johnny Rotten, at the Sex Pistols’ last concert, 1978

  42. Donald needs to focus, he’s missing slam dunks like the Biden administration opening the border on day 1.

      1. 93 cases total. 32 decided on the merits. Trump and/or GOP prevailed in 24 out of 32 cases decided on the merits (75%).

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