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Sellers Need To Cut Out Wishful Thinking And Get Realistic

A report from the Washingtonian. “‘Since about the third week of September 2023, the market is what the market is and we’re just here for the ride,’ says Brett West, an agent with McEnearney Associates. ‘Houses that were expected to sell fast sometimes sit on the market for ten days or two weeks, and sellers get worried. I tell them to take a breath and don’t rush to reduce the price if it seems appropriate. Right now, a home that receives multiple offers in DC is an exception.’ The weakest part of the housing market is condos, particularly in the District. Even newly built condos are slow to sell, says Ericka S. Black, an agent with Coldwell Banker Realty. One in Brentwood, near the Rhode Island Avenue Metro station, took seven months to find a buyer, and another in Columbia Heights took nine. Some sellers give up and rent their condos to avoid losing money.”

“‘Everyone just needs to get used to changes in the market,’ says Corey Burr, a senior vice president at TTR Sotheby’s International Realty. ‘Sellers need to cut out wishful thinking and get realistic,’ Burr says. ‘Instead of adding 5 percent to their price, they need to list at a reasonable price and hope for more buyers.'”

The Miami Herald in Florida. “The surge on Fort Myers Beach, according to the National Weather Service, was almost six feet. Some on the little island an hour north of Naples questioning whether it’s time to just move on. ‘After Ian and this, I’m not staying here, I’m done. I lost two cars and lots of other things,’ said Nir Cohen, owner of the beachware clothing store H2O. ‘It’s difficult to come back and face the reality.’ On Fifth Street in the town’s business district, Carlos Sanchez, 57, and his two nephews were cleaning out his two stores. He said the last two years have just been too painful to keep on going. ‘I’m just not evacuating anymore,’ he said. ‘For now, I have to clean up and re-open. But my plan is to sell.'”

USA Today on Florida. “When Hurricane Helene hit two weeks ago, James Sowards knew his home near Charlotte Harbor would flood. As day broke Thursday morning, he drove back to Punta Gorda to find his home blocked by floodwater. He had insurance, but it was getting more and more expensive. ‘I’m thinking about just getting rid of it,’ he said, looking across the water at his home. ‘And just get out of here.'”

CBS News on Florida. “Diana Nguyen was reduced to tears when speaking about the damage to her parents’ home near Palm Beach Gardens. ‘We had the tornado landing on the roof and taking out winds and destroying everything in our yard. They grew trees here for the last 25 years and now everything is gone,’ she told CBS News Miami. ‘We didn’t have insurance on the home and this is really devastating. There is so much work to be done and I am not sure what we are going to do.’ She said her parents had decided to cancel their homeowner’s insurance. ‘It got so expensive,’ she said. ‘And they wouldn’t insure us because of our roof.'”

Hollywood Reporter in California. “Casa Encantada is considered by many to be the finest residence in the United States. Currently on the market for an eye-watering $195 million, the storied estate, lording over the Bel-Air Country Club on a stunning 8.4 acres. But since 2019, Casa Encantada has repeatedly been listed only to be pulled back off the market, its price slashed from $250 million to $195 million. The estate, at 10644 Bellagio Road, has broken records as the most expensive home sold in the United State twice before. It was built for Hilda Boldt Weber, a former nurse turned fabulously wealthy widow of a glass bottle mogul, who had scandalized society by marrying her butler.”

“Weber’s profligacy would bleed her dry. So expensive was the upkeep, she put it on the market for $1.5 million in 1948. With no takers, desperate for cash, and shunned by the snobs of Bel-Air, she sold it in 1950 to hotelier Conrad Hilton for only $225,000 ($3 million in 2024 dollars). Broke and disenchanted, Weber died by suicide shortly after the sale. Westside Estate Agency’s Kurt Rappaport, Drew Fenton of Carolwood Estates, and Million Dollar Listing’s Josh Flagg of Compass – are dreaming of the large commission that will come their way if they are able to finally sell the mega-estate, even as the luxury market sags. Flagg believes that the time is finally right for the property to sell. ‘The market has been in a very strange place for the last couple of years,’ he says. ‘If this was 2017 or even during the height of COVID the house would be sold by now. Someone is going to get an incredible deal since it is now appropriately priced at $195 million.'”

Silicon Valley in California. “A big San Jose housing complex with hundreds of units is in default on a loan that tops a quarter-billion dollars, a setback that could lead to a foreclosure of the property’s delinquent financing. The $264 million construction loan for the double-tower housing highrise at 188 West St. James Street, formerly known as Silvery Towers, is in default, documents filed on Oct. 10 with the Santa Clara County Recorder’s Office show. FPP MB, which is affiliated with China-based real estate firm Z&L Properties, owns the two residential towers, which are in the lively San Pedro Square neighborhood. Flawed construction, development delays, lawsuits, failed payments to subcontractors and even a suicide have haunted the double-tower project in recent years.”

“‘This default almost seems inevitable, considering all the problems the project has had,’ said Bob Staedler, principal executive with Silicon Valley Synergy, a land-use consultancy. The complex totals slightly over 600 units with about 300 units in each of the 22-story towers. The loan default suggests the housing complex could become the latest in a growing string of development failures for the once-impressive real estate empire that Z&L Properties had fashioned in San Jose. ‘Z&L has botched every project in which they have become involved,’ Staedler said.”

Westword in Colorado. “The office vacancy rate in downtown Denver spiked this August at around 34 percent, according to real estate research, and a new market report isn’t any brighter. The River North Arts District (RiNo) has Denver’s highest vacancy rate for offices. RiNo used to be filled with warehouses, but over the past few decades has shifted to more new builds dedicated to nightlife and luxury living. RiNo comes in with a whopping 49 percent office vacancy rate in the third quarter of 2024. Over 1.2 million square feet of the nearly 2.8 million square feet of office property are vacant in the growing district right now, according to Cushman & Wakefield, and that number could grow.”

“The River North Arts District (RiNo) has Denver’s highest vacancy rate for offices. RiNo used to be filled with warehouses, but over the past few decades has shifted to more new builds dedicated to nightlife and luxury living. Large buildings like One River North and Mica RiNo are working to attract residents to the area while the Industry building at 3001 Brighton Boulevard was recently transformed into a co-working office space. But despite the nightlife and residential housing, RiNo’s office-space boom has been more of a bust so far.”

Multi-Housing News. “More than one in five professionally managed apartment units across the nation offered concessions in the second quarter of this year. This marks a sharp year-over-year increase. Excelsa Properties Managing Director David Fletcher told Multi-Housing News that high construction loan interest rates have curtailed new multifamily starts in all markets, including those that are oversupplied. ‘Heavy concessions remain where desperate developers struggle to stabilize the market by undercutting it,’ Fletcher said. ‘Because the oversupply wave is ending, developers in lease-ups are becoming more rational, so heavy concessions and undercutting in the Class A space are growing less frequent.'”

“For operators who overpaid and financed acquisitions with risky high-yield debt, pricing tactics like concessions have been popular. But Fletcher said that as lenders step in and force sales or rationalize operations, operators are less able to offer these high concessions. Brian P. Hourigan, senior managing director at BOND New York Properties, LLC. noted that some concessions, including the landlord covering the brokerage fee and or waiving a combination of free rent and building amenity fees, etc., become a bit more common. ‘Disproportionately, the highest percentage of concessions are offered in the full-service luxury market and new development sectors, where management companies are eager to lease up a comparative glut of inventory to a financially specific, and limited, target audience at the most aspirational prices to achieve rent rolls that meet or exceed the lofty projections shared with banks and investors before a new development launch,’ he said.”

Global News in Canada. “The real estate market across much of the Greater Toronto Area and beyond continues to remain soft. Prices have also fallen in other areas around the city, according to a realtor in Durham Region. ‘In Ajax, I think they were floating just over a million at that time in terms of average price, and that’s dropped to just over ($900,000.) So we’re close to a 10-per cent reduction,’ Ajax realtor Doug Gordon said. Many realtors in Toronto use a product called Broker Bay to book showings, according to Gordon. He noted that it also allows realtors to notify their counterparts when an offer has been made in an effort to drum up interest. ‘It’s definitely much quieter since the beginning of this year,’ he explained. ‘So the number of offers dropped in half since the spring.'”

“Toronto realtor Melanie Piche noted that since houses are spending more time on the market, they are slower to get bodies through. When things were overheated in 2021, and a house would sell in a week, they would get five people through in a day but that is no longer the case. The slow sales in 2024 has created a glut of inventory in Toronto, according to numbers provided by Piche’s agency, the BREL Team. ‘People are taking longer to make those decisions because they’re not feeling rush to make offers on properties,’ Gordon said. ‘You know that the pressure is not there and the number of offers have dropped.'”

“The slower pace of sales has forced realtors to adjust how the are handling the sales end of things as well. Open houses have returned while realtors are also forced to pay closer attention to every aspect of their job. Hamilton realtor Rob Golfi said that some realtors are leaving the business while others are struggling with the new realities. ‘It is a lot tougher now, too. In this business, there’s no doubt,’ he said.”

The Globe and Mail in Canada. “Failures to stop money laundering in Toronto-Dominion Bank’s U.S. division were egregious, pervasive and well known even at senior levels of the bank, marking TD as a place where low-level employees joked openly about the bank being an easy target for bad actors, while senior executives failed to act on warnings, according to top U.S. Justice Department officials. Two of TD’s U.S. subsidiaries pleaded guilty to multiple felony charges on Thursday, agreed to settlements and restrictions on the bank’s American retail banking operations, and agreed to pay more than US$3-billion in penalties.”

“The Justice Department found that senior executive managers, including TD’s chief anti-money-laundering officer and the officer in charge of complying with the U.S. Bank Secrecy Act, “knew there were long-term, pervasive, and systemic deficiencies in the Defendants’ U.S. AML policies, procedures and controls,” according to court documents filed in New Jersey as part of TD’s guilty plea. In one UTR filed in September, 2020, an employee bluntly reported to the bank’s U.S. anti-money-laundering program that ‘EVERY DAY CUSTOMER DEPOSIT A LOT OF CASH.'”

Nine News in Australia. “Embattled home builder Nicheliving has reached a deal with the Western Australian government after leaving hundreds of customers with unfinished homes. Under the agreement, Nicheliving will end its legal fight and surrender its building licence for ten years. Directors Ronnie Michel-Elhaj and Paul Bitdorf are now barred from re-registering under any name. Customers have spent the past few years displaced and living in alternate housing waiting for the saga to come to an end. ‘We were displaced for two to three years, couch surfing, you know staying at a friend’s house for two to three weeks because we just had nowhere else to go,’ Sarah Munro said.”

“Customer Kathy Ellis said what was supposed to be a little family adventure turned into a nightmare. ‘I sat my kids down, we had a family meeting and I said ‘look four months in a camper trailer, we’re going to be fine its going to be fun,’ Ellis said. ‘Twenty months later we are still in our camper trailer.'”

The New Indian Express. “Residents of the 2BHK Dignity Housing Colony in Muralidhar Bagh, located close to the Gandhi Bhavan Metro station, are raising serious concerns about the quality of construction and the lack of basic amenities. The colony, which houses 120 units, was inaugurated in May 2023 and falls under the Goshamahal Assembly constituency. However, residents claim that substandard materials were used in the construction, leading to cracks in the walls, peeling cement and inadequate infrastructure, including water tanks.”

“K Anil, one of the residents, pointed out several issues in the construction. ‘Cracks have appeared in the walls of almost every building. The doors are either partially or completely damaged, and there’s leakage through the water pipes,’ he stated. Pointing to a vacant space, he added, ‘A community hall and a medical centre were supposed to be built, but they remain incomplete, with carts and garbage strewn around the area. There is also leakage from the water pipes.'”

“K Chanda, a homemaker living in Block C, complained about the dampness in the walls. ‘Even though we moved here just a year ago, there’s seelan (dampness) in the walls. When I touch the walls, the paint flakes off. Even drilling causes the paint to peel,’ she said. Reflecting on their earlier living conditions, she added, ‘We were better off in the basti (slum), where there was peace.'”

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This Post Has 94 Comments

  3. ‘Sellers need to cut out wishful thinking and get realistic,’ Burr says. ‘Instead of adding 5 percent to their price, they need to list at a reasonable price and hope for more buyers.’”

    Hope isn’t a strategy, Corey.

  4. ‘the latest in a growing string of development failures for the once-impressive real estate empire that Z&L Properties had fashioned in San Jose. ‘Z&L has botched every project in which they have become involved’

    To reflect on that period: At first Larry told us repeatedly ‘Chinese buyers are going to own California!’ Then these Chinese developers swooped in with their Xi-bucks and started buying land and buildings. Remember the Chinese guy in a glass elevator in NYC saying ‘I want that one, and that one.’ He’s been in a Chinese prison for years.

    Come to think of it, has there been one successful Chinese developer in the US? The Oceanwide tower in LA is a graffiti stained eyesore. There was the Mandarin hotel to condo fiasco in NYC. Is there a successful Chinese developer even in China?

    1. I forgot all the Chinese E-B5 visa fraud deals. That predates the blunders above and is still ongoing!

    2. so, my pots & pans franchise opportunity (who doesn’t love a good loud pot-banging protest?!) has a practical side in cooking up that delicious dry-wall-flavored concrete tofu for dinner, after a long day protesting whatever is currently pissing off the Chinese housewives

      get in now: supplies are limited. First 10 callers get a free Tik Tok account w/home page set to Housing Blog.

  5. Someone is going to get an incredible deal since it is now appropriately priced at $195 million.’”

    And yet it sits unsold. As the implosion of Housing Bubble 2.0 plays out, white elephants like this gaudy monstrosity are going to shed millions in Yellen Bux “value” each month.

    1. I clicked thru, the maintenance costs on that place must be unbelievable. Milllions. Plus taxes, insurance, etc. Plus it’s been sitting empty for 7 years so lots of work probably isn’t done.

      But they think a 20% cut off 2019 (in really good times) when it didn’t sell is going to sell now??????

      More worried about their commission/laundering money than selling the mansion.

  7. Under the agreement, Nicheliving will end its legal fight and surrender its building licence for ten years. Directors Ronnie Michel-Elhaj and Paul Bitdorf are now barred from re-registering under any name.

    That’ll teach ’em.

    1. maybe caue no one in de whit house knows how to call the pres of exxon shell phillips oxy mobil etc and tell em to send 1000 full gas trucks and fill up peoples tanks and the gov will pay for it.

    2. Financial Times
      JPMorgan Chase & Co
      Kolanovic to leave JPMorgan after series of mistimed stock market calls
      Top analyst leaves US bank after bearish forecasts on S&P 500
      JPMorgan signage on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange
      Marko Kolanovic and other JPMorgan strategists had reiterated their bearish outlook in a note to clients last week © Bloomberg
      George Steer in London and Joshua Franklin in New York
      July 3 2024

      Marko Kolanovic will leave his role as JPMorgan’s chief global markets strategist, ending a 19-year stint that culminated in a series of mistimed calls on the US stock market.

      Kolanovic, also the bank’s co-head of global research, was among the few bearish strategists left on Wall Street, having recently forecast that the S&P 500 would tumble by almost 25 per cent from current levels by year-end.

      Once dubbed “the man who moves markets” by CNBC and “Gandalf” by Bloomberg, Kolanovic’s star has fallen in recent years on a series of contrarian and ultimately mistimed calls on the direction of the S&P 500.

      Two years ago he advised clients to take an overweight position in US stocks during the deep market sell-off, before switching to recommending an underweight position in early 2023. The bank has stuck with that position ever since, despite the blue-chip index having surged more than 40 per cent since then.

      Kolanovic — who graduated from New York University with a PhD in theoretical high-energy physics and went on to work at Bear Stearns and Merrill Lynch before joining JPMorgan — will now be “exploring other opportunities”, according to a person familiar with the situation. Kolanovic did not respond to a request for comment.
      …

    3. The Wall Street Journal
      Airlines
      Boeing to Cut 10% of Workers Amid Strike, Delay New 777X Production
      Manufacturer to book $5 billion in charges on troubled programs and warns of deeper quarterly loss amid machinists strike
      By Sharon Terlep
      Updated Oct. 11, 2024 5:20 pm ET
      Boeing will delay the launch of the 777X to 2026. Photo: jennifer buchanan/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

      Boeing will cut 10% of its global workforce, or roughly 17,000 jobs, and warned of deeper losses in its operations as a machinist strike compounds problems brewing at the jet maker for years.

      Along with the job cuts, the manufacturing giant said it would further delay the launch of a new airplane, the 777X, that is already years behind schedule. It will also discontinue the 767 cargo plane.
      …
      https://www.wsj.com/business/airlines/boeing-to-cut-10-of-workers-delay-new-plane-394370d5

    4. BP says lower refining margins will hit profits by up to $600 million
      By Louis Goss
      Published: Oct. 11, 2024 at 5:14 a.m. ET
      The logo of the multi-national oil and gas company BP (British Petroleum) at a petrol station in Tonbridge, south east of London on April 30, 2022. BP said a slump in its refining margins will see it take a $400 to $600 million hit to its profits in the third quarter.
      Photo: Ben Stansall/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
      Referenced Symbols

      BP on Friday said a drop in its refining margins will see it take a $400 million to $600 million hit to its profits in the third quarter following a worldwide slowdown in demand for refined products including jet fuel, diesel and gasoline.
      …
      https://www.marketwatch.com/story/bp-says-lower-refining-margins-will-hit-profits-by-up-to-600-million-b1cd7f26

    5. Tesla shares drop 9% after Cybercab robotaxi reveal ‘underwhelmed’ investors
      Published Fri, Oct 11 2024
      4:47 AM EDT
      Updated Moments Ago
      Ryan Browne
      Lora Kolodny

      Key Points

      – Tesla shares fell Friday after the electric vehicle maker’s long-awaited robotaxi event failed to impress investors.

      – CEO Elon Musk revealed the company’s Cybercab concept vehicle and said consumers would be able to buy one for a price tag under $30,000.

      – Analysts at Barclays said the revelations had failed to highlight any near-term opportunities for Tesla, instead prioritizing Musk’s vision for a fully autonomous driving future.
      …
      https://www.cnbc.com/2024/10/11/tesla-tsla-stock-drops-in-premarket-after-cybercab-robotaxi-reveal.html

    6. Financial Times
      German economy
      Germany expects economy to shrink in 2024 after cutting forecast
      Government predicts rebound in 2025 following 0.2% decline this year as it tries to address long-term structural problems
      German economy minister Robert Habeck sets out the government’s new economic forecasts at a press conference in Berlin on Wednesday
      German economy minister Robert Habeck says the country’s growth potential is anaemic because of ‘failures not of the past few years but of past decades’ © AP
      Guy Chazan in Berlin October 9 2024

      Germany is facing its first two-year recession since the early 2000s as the government downgraded its 2024 growth forecast for the eurozone’s largest economy.

      “The economic conditions are not satisfactory at the moment,” Robert Habeck, economy minister, said on Wednesday. “But we’re in the process of working our way out of it.”

      Habeck said Germany had made “real progress” in tackling the short-term factors dragging down output in recent years — soaring inflation, high interest rates and energy costs driven higher by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
      …

  14. I never have understood the hair-of-the-dog hangover cure. Does it really work, aside from transferring more alcohol into a drunkard’s body?

    1. China Economy
      China’s ‘whatever it takes’ moment? Investors hope for hundreds of billions in new stimulus
      Published Thu, Oct 10 2024 11:47 PM EDT
      Updated Fri, Oct 11 2024 4:15 AM EDT
      Anniek Bao

      Key Points

      – Investors are on tenterhooks as Beijing prepares to deliver fresh policies to boost its economy.

      – China’s top state planner underwhelmed investors by announcing smaller-than-expected actions earlier this week, sending a lengthy stimulus rally in the Chinese markets into days of intense volatility.

      – With Beijing at risk of missing its full year economic growth target of 5%, some analysts are confident that authorities are ready to deliver major fiscal stimulus at the highly anticipated event, while others remain skeptical.
      …
      https://www.cnbc.com/2024/10/11/chinas-whatever-it-takes-moment-investors-hope-for-billions-of-additional-stimulus-this-saturday.html

      2. Translation – some folks are looking to syphone off to get some of that cheese. It will be laundered and parked in real-estate in another country.

        some analysts are confident that authorities are ready to deliver major fiscal stimulus at the highly anticipated event, while others remain skeptical.

    2. “I never have understood the hair-of-the-dog hangover cure. Does it really work, aside from transferring more alcohol into a drunkard’s body?”

      I spent a month in Baja in my early 20’s “researching” this topic. Yeah, it works, but only to postpone the eventual hangover. And the longer you postpone it the more catastrophic that eventual hangover is gonna be. I think it was several weeks before I was anywhere close to feeling normal after that. So yeah, good analogy.

    4. Oh yeah, it works. To my understanding a hangover is alcohol withdrawal. So a drink in the morning scratches the itch, but it just kicks the can down the road.

  15. A reader sent these in:

    San Francisco to Shut 9% of Public Schools Amid Runaway Budget Deficit

    https://x.com/MacroEdgeRes/status/1844828725654790329

    7-Eleven is shuttering 444 convenience stores in North America, including in the U.S., due to underperformance

    https://x.com/MacroEdgeRes/status/1844599525048033598

    In North America, the company said it’s enduring “a tough consumer spending environment, particularly among lower-and middle-income earners.” The company said these consumers have exercised “a more prudent approach to consumption.”

    https://x.com/MacroEdgeRes/status/1844599821664981365

    Prices going up at a slower pace after a blistering spike not seen in four decades equates to enormous pain. You are either dumb as hell or full of shit. The only honest narrative on inflation (see chart).

    https://x.com/cvpayne/status/1844771219398136095

    Another automaker seeing troubles.

    https://x.com/DonMiami3/status/1844768628870144366

    Cabinetworks, a large cabinet manufacturer, will eliminate over 400 employees in Pennsylvania as demand for home cabinets remains low

    https://x.com/MacroEdgeRes/status/1844811286254883039

    “Our economy has grown 3.2% per year under the Biden Harris Administration—stronger than during the previous administration. Incomes are up almost $4,000, after adjusting for inflation.”
    – Lael Brainard
    Are you familiar with your own data, Ms. Brainard?

    https://x.com/RealEJAntoni/status/1844797899823276468

    This tweet describes $TSLA cultists perfectly – style over substance.

    One of these vehicles is operational in multiple cities, delivering thousands of autonomous rides. The other is a concept car.

    https://x.com/ChartingCycles/status/1844755801678004431

    From “holding offers” to “holding bags” 👜

    📍Kitchener, ON 🇨🇦

    Kitchener detached loses $460K in 2️⃣ years. 📉

    In 2022, the owner of this Kitchener detached held offers. The winning bid was $420k over asking. 💸

    An apt number… 💭

    The owner was just smoked with a whopping $460K loss, not counting land transfer tax, commissions, and other fees. 💀

    https://x.com/ShaziGoalie/status/1844794606078373919

    If everybody compares 2008 vs 2024 here you have US02Y yields

    Post first rate cut in September 2007 US02Y jumped from ~3,80% to ~4,20%, so all this 50bps cut initially gone.

    In September 2024 US02Y jumped from 3.50% to 4.10% so all this 50bps cut … gone, question what’s about to happen now.

    https://x.com/Analyst_G/status/1844771702498066736

    Ivy Zelman

    “We have seen weakness in Phoenix.”

    “I think the [Harris campaign’s] focus on boosting demand is the wrong strategy.”

    “In addition, Harris talks about removing tax benefits for investors who are buying single-family homes. Investors purchasing homes are believed to be taking away what otherwise would be available to first-time buyers. There might be some truth to that.”

    https://x.com/JohnWake/status/1844777387235434761

    No matter how rich a country is, high house prices make it less rich.

    https://x.com/JohnWake/status/1844743332469051863

    Florida real estate crash of 1926

    https://x.com/FinanceLancelot/status/1844512449598235134

    ELON MUSK: “I’d like to introduce you to the ROBOVAN.”

    https://x.com/AutismCapital/status/1844577066777444655

    IPOs 2000-2024

    https://x.com/j77324/status/1844600043245806005

    “Most listings continue to operate without valid licenses or permits, meaning most of the profit that STR platforms enjoy from New Orleans also comes from these illegal listings,”

    https://x.com/NotoriousAirbnb/status/1844593852142977100

    Stellantis, maker of Jeep and Ram, lays off more than 1,100 Detroit automotive workers and is adopting an indefinite layoff strategy to adapt to declining auto demand

    https://x.com/MacroEdgeRes/status/1844859183461437796

    Companies are shifting these notices to Friday more often to dampen market impact since Wall Street is already off drinking on Long Island.

    https://x.com/DonMiami3/status/1844859812334424529

    Tesla

    > let me be clear
    > Elon said L4 autonomy next year with L5 autonomy the year after
    > like the boy who cried wolf one too many times, the villagers are ignoring his shouts
    > those of us who have tried FSD or use it regularly can feel the month to month improvement
    > Actually Smart Summon is the first time the car is driving around without a driver
    > now that the stack is in place, the improvements are coming fast and furious
    > their internal terms will have metrics on number of overrides
    > must absolutely be nailing the exceptions, and have a trajectory to when it’ll cross the acceptance threshold
    > Model Y owners will most definitely get it sometime next year

    Market reaction is shocking and reinforces my maxim that there is enormous alpha in just believing.

    Still to come: Detroit bankruptcies and pension bailouts (one million retirees depend on GM alone and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp maxes out rescues far below the union benefit line). They will need to blame someone.. I’d guess it’s going to be China 🇨🇳 and Elon.

    https://x.com/8teAPi/status/1844775592304267771

    Realtors facing more issues with deals/situations/clients than actual deals coming to fruition this past year.

    https://x.com/nasmadotali/status/1840797432063672550

    Where are the good all days when you just had to pose and look beautiful to make an honest 5% of the selling price?

    https://x.com/SomeIdeasInc/status/1840844004415717782

    Did you give your brother the same advice on his pre con purchase? Seems you advised him that prices will go up & he can assign it. The decision regarding your unethical behaviour speaks volumes.

    https://x.com/PlannerFinnegan/status/1844812421686313248

    General Motors (GM), is laying off nearly 2,000 workers at its assembly plant in Fairfax

    https://x.com/MacroEdgeRes/status/1844862558685323534

    Tough times in Sunbelt real estate land

    https://x.com/DonMiami3/status/1844885808697708940

    Jesus F-g Christ

    https://x.com/GayBearRes/status/1844847178403238353

    Take the below Stellantis “indefinite layoff strategy” announcement, add the 17,000 Boeing layoffs, and then tack on 7-Eleven’s decision to close 444 North American stores

    These are not signs of a healthy labor market nor of hardy consumer spending

    https://x.com/menlobear/status/1844860179520880670

    Every province had a y/y increase in unemployment rate except for NS and NB, which account for less than 5% of the population.

    QC, MB and BC are still <6% but all saw big jumps in unemployment rate y/y (+1.2, +0.5 and +0.4 respectively).

    AB and ON continue to get hammered.

    https://x.com/igetredpilled/status/1844785281750143122

    1. “a more prudent approach to consumption”

      Economist babble.

      Almost four years of the Harris / Biden economy, people are BROKE AS SH*T.

      1. Outside of the managerial class, I’m amazed that anyone who has a non gooberment job would vote for Harris.

        And speaking of cameltoe, I wonder how many people were bused into her “rally” in Arizona?

    2. “7-Eleven is shuttering 444 convenience stores in North America, including in the U.S., due to underperformance”

      I was in Southeast Asia recently and the 7-11’s there actually seemed nice and respectable. Here in the US if you go to a 7-11 and manage not to get mugged or witness a parking lot fist fight you’ve actually accomplished something.

      1. I was in Southeast Asia recently and the 7-11’s there actually seemed nice and respectable.
        Was there early this year as well and 7/11’s were everywhere. Nice and clean and no issues even at night.

    4. San Francisco to Shut 9% of Public Schools Amid Runaway Budget Deficit

      I guess this means that reparations are no longer on the menu?

    5. “Realtors facing more issues with deals/situations/clients than actual deals coming to fruition this past year.”

      Ahhh, poetic justice. Now, not only have they not made squat the last many months but they’re having to answer angry call asking, “Why did you rip me off by talking me into this overpriced POS!” Excuse me while I don’t feel the least bit sorry for ya.

    6. Stellantis, maker of Jeep and Ram, lays off more than 1,100 Detroit automotive workers and is adopting an indefinite layoff strategy to adapt to declining auto demand

      So autoworkers could be facing a permanent termination (which is what mere mortals call a “layoff”) and not a furlough where the company actually keeps paying them and they get called back.

    7. General Motors (GM), is laying off nearly 2,000 workers at its assembly plant in Fairfax

      The trux ain’t sellin’

    8. Take the below Stellantis “indefinite layoff strategy” announcement, add the 17,000 Boeing layoffs

      Boeing has over 6000 jets on order, which will take years to deliver. How can they have a layoff? Unless they are using a layoff to clear out as many DEI hires as possible.

  16. After retiring in 2014 from an uncharacteristically long tenure running the NSA (and US CyberCommand), Keith Alexander founded a cybersecurity company called IronNet. At the time, he claimed that it was based on IP he developed on his own time while still in the military. That always troubled me. Whatever ideas he had, they were developed on public time using public resources: he shouldn’t have been able to leave military service with them in his back pocket.

    In any case, it was never clear what those ideas were. IronNet never seemed to have any special technology going for it. Near as I could tell, its success was entirely based on Alexander’s name.

    Turns out there was nothing there. After some crazy VC investments and an IPO with a $3 billion “unicorn” valuation, the company has shut its doors. It went bankrupt a year ago—ceasing operations and firing everybody—and reemerged as a private company. It now seems to be gone for good, not having found anyone willing to buy it.

    And—wow—the recriminations are just starting.

    ‘The firm’s crash has left behind a trail of bitter investors and former employees who remain angry at the company and believe it misled them about its financial health.’

    https://securityboulevard.com/2024/10/ironnet-has-shut-down/

  17. Companies Are Dropping Carbon Offsets, But Still Buying the Worst Ones

    Carbon offsets once looked primed for unstoppable growth. Analysts had forecast that the credits, which claim to wipe out a ton of emissions, would be worth hundreds of billions of dollars in the coming years. But companies are starting to cool on the market as it faces increasingly sharp criticism from scientists and experts.

    Purchases by banks, airlines, industrial heavyweights and other businesses fell for the first time last year, according to Bloomberg Green’s analysis of data in three public registries covering more than 260,000 transactions since 2010. The 5% drop in demand for all offsets in 2022 from 2021 doesn’t reflect the impact from more negative events this year, such as the collapse of the world’s second-biggest project and revelations of questionable practices within the unregulated industry.

    Within this shifting trajectory for the carbon market and growing questions about its efficacy, buyers haven’t necessarily been switching to higher-quality offsets. Even as transactions declined last year, corporate buyers increased purchases of offsets derived from a particularly controversial source — wind, hydro and solar projects. Most experts have written off these renewable energy credits because power from these sources is already the cheapest option in most parts of the world. That means any extra funding from the sale of carbon offsets won’t move the needle on emissions.Renewable-energy offsets made up about half of all purchases last year, up from 38% in 2021. That increase surprised Lambert Schneider, a carbon markets expert at the German nonprofit Öko-Institut. “It’s really well known today that these credits have serious integrity issues,” he said.

    In other words, the companies decided some offsets weren’t good enough to meet their own climate goals — and yet have continued selling them to customers as a feel-good solution. “It’s often a lie because the credits don’t represent their claimed emissions reductions,” said Barbara Haya, director at the Berkeley Carbon Trading Project. “The whole idea that you could fly and drive a gas car guilt-free is simply not accurate.”

    https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/investing/commodities/2024/10/11/companies-are-dropping-carbon-offsets-but-still-buying-the-worst-ones/

  18. I watched the corruption of the med system by the monopoly med insurance companies along with Big Pharmacy.
    The property Insurance Companies are equally corrupt and they are making their move to not insure anything that has a risk. Same thing that Med Insurance Companies did back in 70’s to bring on Medicare so they could make more money by Government taking risk instead.
    And I witnessed after a earthquake in CA they sent out adjusters that would underestimate damage, and stuff like that. Med Insurance Companies started dictating care to patients instead of the Doctors. Even if you had good med Insurance and were covered for everything, they wanted to dictate the health care instead of the Doctors.
    I witnessed that Ins Companies were crooks in a California earthquake , that took years to sort out by law fare.
    For instance Ins Company adjuster would say a house had 10 thousand damage when it was actually 150 to 200k of damage.
    They would hire temporary adjusters from other States, that didn’t have emotional involvement in CA to adjust, and they give bonus money for low damage assessments.
    These Monopoly Corporations are tied in together in the transfer of wealth from the people.
    These Monopolies are the greatest beneficiaries of government handouts by tax dollars..
    Medical ill health is the fastest growing Industry in the US. 4.5 trillion or more is looted by Med system to have a med system that’s the third cause of death.
    Just saying

  19. Snubbed by Tesla, Mexican government pledges to create its own small, affordable electric car

    Snubbed by Tesla, Mexico’s new president pledged Friday to create a Mexican-made small, affordable electric car to compete with vehicles imported from China. President Claudia Sheinbaum said Teslas were too “onerous,” or expensive, for the Mexican market anyway. Tesla’s cheapest car, the Model 3, costs about $30,000.

    Tesla CEO Elon Musk said in July the company had “paused” plans for a plant in Mexico, citing Donald Trump’s remarks about possible auto tariffs. Sheinbaum said her government will try to bring together Mexican companies and researchers to produce a “compact, cheap electric car.”

    She cited electric vehicles from China and India — some of which are already flooding into Mexico — as examples. Small electric motorbikes from China have flooded Mexican streets in recent months, but Sheinbaum said motorbikes, which in Mexico are often ridden by three people at a time, were too dangerous.

    The plan faces a number of problems, including the fact that Mexico doesn’t produce any lithium, the key ingredient for batteries, nor any mass quantity of batteries. High domestic electricity rates could also be a roadblock.

    There are some clay-encased lithium deposits in northern Mexico, which the government nationalized under the last administration. However, Sheinbaum said the techniques for mining that lithium weren’t currently commercially viable, and that production from those sources was “a little bit more long term.”

    And anybody seeking to charge a battery at home could face punishingly high bills. Mexico subsidizes low-level domestic power consumption at about 10 cents per kilowatt hour, a bit lower than the U.S. average.

    But a vastly higher rate kicks in for any electricity consumption above the minimal level, which is basically just enough to power a dozen light bulbs, a washing machine and a refrigerator.

    Moreover, Mexico’s decrepit power lines and transmission facilities are barely able to keep up with current demand, let alone widespread at-home charging of vehicle batteries.

    Sheinbaum did not say what sales price Mexico was aiming at for its ultra-small electrical car, but that could be another problem.

    Some Mexican discount stores are offering a tiny mail-order Chinese electric car for about $1,000. It would be very hard for Mexican manufacturers to compete with that motorcycle-level price.

    https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-snubbed-by-tesla-mexican-government-pledges-to-create-its-own-small/

    1. Mazda produces its CX-30 vehicles in Mexico. A neighbor who bought one for his daughter told me it was constantly in the shop, whereas his Japanese-made CX-5 was super-reliable. He said he would never again buy a vehicle manufactured or assembled in Mexico.

    2. She’s been in office for just 12 days and she’s already going full commie. Of course no one in Mexico’s private sector will touch this with a ten foot pole, so it will have to be a money losing state owned automaker. Mexico once had one of those, Vehiculos Automotores Mexicanos (VAM) which made and sold AMC vehicles under license. VAM folded in the 1980’s.

  20. B.C. billionaire posts third large sign criticizing NDP ahead of the election

    British Columbia billionaire Chip Wilson has put up yet another billboard message to voters, his third post outside his multimillion-dollar mansion in NDP Leader David Eby’s own riding.

    The latest sign outside the Lululemon co-founder’s home says that if Eby and his party can’t balance B.C.’s budget then “what right does he have to tell us how to live our lives?”

    The NDP has said their platform promises this election would cause government revenue to drop by more than $1.5 billion, while it forecasts the province’s budget deficit to increase next year to $9.6 billion.

    Wilson’s first sign referred to the NDP as “communist,” while the second said Eby gives money away that he has already taken away from voters. Both signs were quickly vandalized.

    B.C. Conservative Leader John Rustad initially said he didn’t disagree that Eby was a communist, but rebuked Wilson’s second sign, saying the Conservatives aren’t planning tax breaks for billionaires.

    https://bc.ctvnews.ca/b-c-billionaire-posts-third-large-sign-criticizing-ndp-ahead-of-the-election-1.7071006

  21. B.C. Conservatives Leader John Rustad says it will be up to voters to judge his party’s candidates as he stood by a pair whose remarks on Indigenous and Muslim people drew condemnation from election rivals and other critics.

    “B.C. Conservative candidate Brent Chapman’s comments on the residential school system are racist and despicable,” union vice-president Chief Don Tom said in a post on social media. “John Rustad needs to condemn these hurtful and racist remarks and fire Brent Chapman.”city’s Downtown Eastside.

    Chapman wrote of Palestinian children: “They are all little inbred walking, talking, breathing time bombs … figuratively and quite literally.”

    The National Council of Canadian Muslims had already condemned Chapman’s post as deeply Islamophobic, disgusting, and utterly unacceptable.

    On Thursday, Chapman issued his “sincerest apologies to everyone hurt” by his posts, adding that the comments “do not reflect who I am today.”

    https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/bc-muslim-association-wants-conservative-candidate-removed-for-time-bomb-post/ar-AA1s4BZw

  22. Prime minister faces mounting pressure to step aside from inside caucus

    Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will face mounting pressure from his caucus this week to step down from the leadership of the Liberal party.

    A group of backbench MPs, primarily from Atlantic Canada and southwestern Ontario, are in discussions to formally release an ask for the prime minister to consider the future of the Liberal party in making a decision about whether to stay at the helm of it.

    Though MPs for months have lamented behind closed doors, and yes even to reporters, that they were resigned in their belief the prime minister was staying on, things changed this week during caucus Wednesday.

    Both the prime minister and his top staffer were absent from the regular weekly meeting, a rare occurrence. And as discussion turned to the challenges the party faces, vis-a-vis the most recent byelection results in Montreal and Toronto and sustained public opinion polling, things became – as one MP recounted to CTV News – “fraught.”

    After asking staff from the Prime Minister’s Office to leave, a group of those MPs broke off after caucus in what three of them told CTV News was like a “secret” caucus. It was during this meeting talk of something more formal developed, though other MPs in the group insisted they wanted to tell the prime minister directly. That has not happened.

    CTV News spoke to 24 Liberal MPs Friday, about half of whom said they were aware of a so-called letter circulating but had not put their name to it. Half a dozen of the MPs said they had heard “about 30 people are signing it” but had not seen the signatures themselves. Three MPs told us they could only speak for themselves but would support the prime minister re-considering his bid to lead the party into the next election and another three MPs said it was “news” to them the letter existed.

    Each MP requested anonymity out of concern of reprisal for speaking out. Many told CTV News the Prime Minister’s Office has taken a harder line on MPs leaking to the press as of late.

    https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/prime-minister-faces-mounting-pressure-to-step-aside-from-inside-caucus-1.7072242

  23. What Justin Trudeau can learn from Kamala Harris

    In her only debate with former president Donald Trump, Vice-President Kamala Harris made sure to mention that she’s a gun owner. In an interview with 60 Minutes, Ms. Harris said that her weapon is a Glock; asked whether she’s fired it she replied, incredulously, “Of course I have.” And in conversation with Oprah, Ms. Harris said, in a scripted zinger designed to be TikToked, “If somebody breaks into my house, they’re getting shot.”

    Ms. Harris has also repeatedly praised fracking and rising American oil and gas production, while never missing an opportunity to say she looks forward to signing the most restrictive border-control bill in generations. Those things are opposed by her most progressive supporters, but backed by a large majority of Americans.

    The Vice-President’s message to swing voters is: I’m with you – and I’m not a prisoner of the progressive pieties of my party’s left wing.

    Prime Minister Justin Trudeau should be listening carefully, and figuring out how to translate it into Canadian.

    So far, that’s not what’s happening. In a friendly podcast interview last week with Nate Erskine-Smith, one of his MPs, Mr. Trudeau once again signalled that he plans to try to win the next election as the same guy, with the same message and the same policies.

    “The old flag, the old policy, the old leader,” may have worked for Sir John A. Macdonald in 1891, but this is 2024. The old leader and the old policies are deeply unpopular.

    https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/commentary/article-what-justin-trudeau-can-learn-from-kamala-harris/

  24. Opinion: Ontario must resist move to ‘forced treatment’ for drug users

    Across Ontario, the toxic drug supply killed 290 people in July 2024 alone. These tragic deaths stem from government inaction on unregulated drugs. Each day the drug supply remains criminalized, we expose loved ones to unpredictable, deadly risks.

    In response, many mayors are pursuing expansions to their power to potentially force certain people into custody and confinement, while the province is moving to introduce Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment (HART) Hubs to displace existing supervised consumption sites. So far, we know these hubs won’t provide critical harm reduction services like safe supply programs, supervised consumption, or needle exchanges, which reveals the province’s intent to impose its vision of “recovery” and view drug users as disposable. One of the supervised consumption sites being closed is at the Somerset West Community Health Centre.

    These cuts to supervised programs set people up to die even if the mayors’ push for involuntary institutionalization doesn’t proceed. However, we know that Ontario Health Minister Sylvia Jones is “willing to look at all the options” in spite of previously rejecting forced treatment. We know with absolute certainty that this very model is moving forward in British Columbia , New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island while being considered by the Conservatives federally. We need to push back against this threat while we have time.

    https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/opinion-ontario-must-resist-move-to-forced-treatment-for-drug-users/ar-AA1s502D

    1. Americans are drowning in credit card debt. Trump’s proposed cap on interest rates probably won’t help
      By Elisabeth Buchwald, CNN
      4 minute read
      Published 5:30 AM EDT, Tue September 24, 2024
      Credit card debt is at a record high, with fees substantially higher compared to before the pandemic.
      d3sign/Moment RF/Getty Images

      New York CNN —

      It’s easy to see why many Americans would welcome former President Donald Trump’s proposal to cap credit card interest rates at less than half their current level — even if only temporarily.

      At $1.14 trillion, Americans’ credit card debt is at a record high, according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Meanwhile, the average credit card interest rate was 21.5% in May, six percentage points higher than the rates before the pandemic, according to Fed data.

      “While working Americans catch up, we’re going to put a temporary cap on credit card interest rates,” Trump said at a rally last week. “We can’t let them make 25 and 30%.”

      However, his proposal is all but certain to get stalled in Congress, just like similar plans introduced by Republican Sen. Josh Hawley and by progressive lawmakers including Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

      But in the event that lawmakers approve Trump’s measure and it withstands inevitable legal challenges by the credit card industry, you may want to hold off on celebrating.
      …
      https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/24/business/trump-credit-card-cap/index.html

      1. “Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. He who understands it, earns it; he who doesn’t, pays it.”

        — Albert Einstein

  26. This $12 million house is on sale in the tiny town of Lucas, population 8,461

    A high-end home still under construction in the Collin County city of Lucas has hit the market, underscoring the spread of luxury living to the far-flung corners of the Metroplex.

    The 11,367-square-foot new construction located at 2305 Country Club Road will boast seven bedrooms, eight full bathrooms and two half-baths on nearly 4 acres. The custom home is expected to be completed in 2025, even without a buyer.

    The property is listed at $12 million, or about $1,056 per square foot, which is the most expensive home for sale in the city, according to the listing database of the Houston Association of Realtors, which provides statewide home listing data. Of course, that would not include any properties being marketed off-market or pocket listings, which are common in luxury real estate.

    Listing agent MJ Abdelrazzaq of United Real Estate said the home stands out from other luxury properties in Dallas-Fort Worth because of its “book-matched fireplace and contemporary millwork throughout.”

    “It is a gorgeous area that boasts larger lots, spaced out homes, and offers a mix of city and country living,” Abdelrazzaq said. “Housing in Lucas is luxury overall, specifically on the larger lots, and the area has been booming over the last five to 10 years.”

    Abdelrazzaq said United Real Estate bought the land for the home for $1.1 million six months prior to starting construction. A 22.66-acre tract nearby recently hit the market for $5.3 million, with its owners eyeing residential development.

    Other nearby lots for sale range in price from $600,000 to $3 million, according to Zillow.

    Lucas, which is about 30 miles northeast of downtown Dallas, is a small city amongst a growing population in Collin County. Residential real estate has surged in the area to meet the needs of people moving farther out from Dallas as well as those moving from out of state.

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/realestate/this-12-million-house-is-on-sale-in-the-tiny-town-of-lucas-population-8461/ar-AA1s1UJl

    Check out the photo.

  27. Someone please explain what happened here:

    Pending
    Price cut: $20K (10/3)
    $1,275,000
    4beds
    2baths
    1,823sqft
    11366 Turtleback Ln, San Diego, CA 92127
    Zestimate® $1,289,900
    Estimated sales range $1.23M – $1.35M
    Est. $8,360/mo
    Rent Zestimate® $4,947/mo
    Zestimate® history+119% in last 10 years
    Listed for $1.3M on 10/2/24

    Price history
    Date Event Price
    10/8/2024 Pending sale $1,275,000 $699/sqft
    Source: SDMLS #240023461
    10/3/2024 Listed for sale $1,275,000 -1.5% $699/sqft
    Source: SDMLS #240023461
    10/1/2024 Listing removed $1,295,000 $710/sqft
    Source: SDMLS #240021631
    9/12/2024 Listed for sale $1,295,000 -4% $710/sqft
    Source: SDMLS #240021631
    9/9/2024 Listing removed $1,349,000 $740/sqft
    Source: SDMLS #240019480
    8/16/2024 Listed for sale $1,349,000 +34.8% $740/sqft
    Source: SDMLS #240019480
    7/2/2024 Sold $1,001,000.$549/sqft
    …
    https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/11366-Turtleback-Ln-San-Diego-CA-92127/16795954_zpid/

    1. How can the home sell for $274,000 (27.4%) more in October than it sold for in July?

      Realtors are liars.

    2. “Est. $8,360/mo
      Rent Zestimate® $4,947/mo”

      Also: How can anyone be dumb enough to buy at a price where the monthly mortgage payment is 68% over rent on a comparable place? That’s before factoring the difference between landlord-provided yard care and maintenance versus owner-provided upkeep and maintenance, insurance, HOA, Mello-Roos, property taxes, interest, etc. etc. etc. There’s never been a dumber time to buy.

      And by the way, we rent a nicer place nearby at a much lower monthly rent than $5K.

    3. “Pending
      Price cut: $20K (10/3)”

      So I thought “Pending” meant an offer to buy was in play. But when I drove past the place earlier, it seemed like the it was still languishing on the market, with a “For Sale” sign still in the yard and all.

      Maybe “Pending” refers to fiture price cuts?

  30. Shut up and pay your property taxes Racist.

    Catering to Non-English Speaking Kids Sends Education Costs Skyrocketing

    Warner Todd Huston
    11 Oct 2024

    The education budgets for America’s small towns and states are skyrocketing as the huge wave of of the Biden-Harris administration’s migrant children are diverted into American primary schools.

    As these migrants flood into public schools, administrators are shifting more budget dollars towards dealing with children who speak a dozen different languages, and some who have had little or no education in their home countries before they came to the U.S., and this shift of budget dollars necessarily takes resources away from native students.

    https://www.breitbart.com/education/2024/10/11/catering-to-non-english-speaking-kids-sends-education-costs-skyrocketing/

  34. ‘he drove back to Punta Gorda to find his home blocked by floodwater. He had insurance, but it was getting more and more expensive. ‘I’m thinking about just getting rid of it’

    In the article there’s a boat story!

    ‘It had been an especially rough night for Jeff Weiler. The 61-year-old engineer said that in the past, he thought storm surges often hadn’t lived up to forecasts.’

    “I used to say to everybody, don’t worry about the water. They say, we’re going to have a surge. Don’t worry about it,” he said. So he decided to stay put for Milton in Punta Gorda Wednesday night. About two hours after Milton made landfall, with winds howling and the storm pushing seawater ashore, he heard a “crash.” A section of a local dock that broke loose in the storm surge blasted into his house.’

    ‘As water gushed to roughly waist deep, he started wishing he had evacuated. Instead, he retreated to his second floor as Milton marched east across Florida. “We had maybe 7 feet of surge,” Weiler said. They also lost power and broke a water line. But the worst news would come the next morning.’

    ‘Last fall, he cashed in his 401(k) to purchase a 60-foot boat that had long been part of his retirement dream. He finally got it out of the shop for repairs and paid a full year of insurance. He planned to work for just one more year.’

    ‘Instead, he learned the boat had suffered what he believed to be fatal damage. “I just cashed in my retirement to buy that boat,” he said, choking back tears as his dog, Einstein, sat next to him. “It’s gone.”

  35. ‘We had the tornado landing on the roof and taking out winds and destroying everything in our yard. They grew trees here for the last 25 years and now everything is gone,’ she told CBS News Miami. ‘We didn’t have insurance on the home and this is really devastating. There is so much work to be done and I am not sure what we are going to do.’ She said her parents had decided to cancel their homeowner’s insurance. ‘It got so expensive,’ she said. ‘And they wouldn’t insure us because of our roof’

    This is what I’ve been mentioning since these floods started. The general public’s idea of how insurance works is way different than it has played out so far. And how much more confusion could there be?

  36. ‘It was built for Hilda Boldt Weber, a former nurse turned fabulously wealthy widow of a glass bottle mogul, who had scandalized society by marrying her butler…Weber’s profligacy would bleed her dry. So expensive was the upkeep, she put it on the market for $1.5 million in 1948. With no takers, desperate for cash, and shunned by the snobs of Bel-Air, she sold it in 1950 to hotelier Conrad Hilton for only $225,000 ($3 million in 2024 dollars). Broke and disenchanted, Weber died by suicide shortly after the sale’

    I guess California real estate doesn’t always go up.

  37. ‘RiNo comes in with a whopping 49 percent office vacancy rate in the third quarter of 2024. Over 1.2 million square feet of the nearly 2.8 million square feet of office property are vacant in the growing district right now’

    How do you like those 5% cap rates now?

  38. ‘Heavy concessions remain where desperate developers struggle to stabilize the market by undercutting it’

    I’m sure the lending is sound Dave.

    ‘For operators who overpaid and financed acquisitions with risky high-yield debt, pricing tactics like concessions have been popular. But Fletcher said that as lenders step in and force sales or rationalize operations, operators are less able to offer these high concessions…noted that some concessions, including the landlord covering the brokerage fee and or waiving a combination of free rent and building amenity fees, etc., become a bit more common. ‘Disproportionately, the highest percentage of concessions are offered in the full-service luxury market and new development sectors, where management companies are eager to lease up a comparative glut of inventory to a financially specific, and limited, target audience at the most aspirational prices to achieve rent rolls that meet or exceed the lofty projections shared with banks and investors before a new development launch’

    Yer a terrible communicator Brian. I’ve read it 2 times and it sounds fishy.

    ‘as lenders step in and force sales or rationalize operations, operators are less able to offer these high concessions’…’glut of inventory to a financially specific, and limited, target audience at the most aspirational prices to achieve rent rolls that meet or exceed the lofty projections shared with banks and investors before a new development launch’

    A long way of saying rubber meets road.

  39. ‘Prices have also fallen in other areas around the city, according to a realtor in Durham Region. ‘In Ajax, I think they were floating just over a million at that time in terms of average price, and that’s dropped to just over ($900,000.) So we’re close to a 10-per cent reduction’

    That’s why 20% down is sound K-dn common sense Doug.

    ‘He noted that it also allows realtors to notify their counterparts when an offer has been made in an effort to drum up interest. ‘It’s definitely much quieter since the beginning of this year,’ he explained. ‘So the number of offers dropped in half since the spring’

    You wanna know the good thing Doug? Prices are still waaay higher than before minor respiratory illness.

  40. ‘The Justice Department found that senior executive managers, including TD’s chief anti-money-laundering officer and the officer in charge of complying with the U.S. Bank Secrecy Act, “knew there were long-term, pervasive, and systemic deficiencies in the Defendants’ U.S. AML policies, procedures and controls’…In one UTR filed in September, 2020, an employee bluntly reported to the bank’s U.S. anti-money-laundering program that ‘EVERY DAY CUSTOMER DEPOSIT A LOT OF CASH’

    It used to be a lot worse. I followed K-dn money laundering long ago. In the late 2000’s, maybe 2009 I posted an article where a Hong Kong guy got caught at the Vancouver airport with a suitcase of cash. He legally paid guberment a couple thousand pesos on the spot and they gave him back his money. Off he went.

  41. ‘what was supposed to be a little family adventure turned into a nightmare. ‘I sat my kids down, we had a family meeting and I said ‘look four months in a camper trailer, we’re going to be fine its going to be fun,’ Ellis said. ‘Twenty months later we are still in our camper trailer’

    I’m not a big fan of camping Kathy. It kinda sux.

  43. ‘Cracks have appeared in the walls of almost every building. The doors are either partially or completely damaged, and there’s leakage through the water pipes,’ he stated. Pointing to a vacant space, he added, ‘A community hall and a medical centre were supposed to be built, but they remain incomplete, with carts and garbage strewn around the area. There is also leakage from the water pipes’…’Even though we moved here just a year ago, there’s seelan (dampness) in the walls. When I touch the walls, the paint flakes off. Even drilling causes the paint to peel,’ she said. Reflecting on their earlier living conditions, she added, ‘We were better off in the basti (slum), where there was peace’

    Everybody just calm down. I know you’ve been through a lot and more a$$ pounding is to come. But in the end, you will be the winnahs!

    1. I know exactly where I heard that song for the first time, it was on the juke box in a bar we used to drink in when we were under age back in 1976 – 1977.

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