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Sellers Are Realizing It Is Not 2020 Or 2021 Anymore

A report from the Toronto Sun. “The issues that Arizona voters are grappling with will sound familiar to any Canadian: The cost of living, a housing crisis, immigration, and the general state of the economy. ‘The economy sucks right now,’ Kenney says on Saturday night in one of the craft breweries along the main drag in Kingman. While not as bad as in Canada, the cost of housing has become an increasing worry. Home prices in places like Phoenix, Scottsdale, Mesa metroplex have increased dramatically, especially in the last four years. Since 2020, home prices in this area have increased by 47% , a rate that far outpaces income growth. ‘It’s out of control, everything is so expensive,’ a patron at Judy’s Saloon in Oatman opines as customers gripe about the cost of living, housing in particular.”

The Times Union. “Real estate brokers in the Hudson Valley are expressing a sense of uncertainty amid a stagnant market that signals the pandemic-era housing boom has officially ended. The Hudson Valley real estate market exploded during the pandemic as the region became a popular place for New York City residents to move. That momentum lasted for a few years. But now, the state of the market is officially getting closer to what it was pre-pandemic. That means fewer bidding wars, fewer all-cash offers and fewer egregiously priced homes. ‘I have clients who have gone to the trough two or three times and have not won a single bid,’ said DeWayne Powell of William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty, of those reasonably priced homes. However, the luxury market is seeing a decrease in interest, which has led to lower prices. Powell says he’s seen several listings reduce prices to attract more attention. ‘A lot of the higher-end luxury properties, anything over $1 million, are seeing a longer sale cycle,’ he said.”

The Pueblo Chieftain in Colorado. “‘Overall, Pueblo’s real estate market is still going slow, but sellers are reducing prices to get things sold. They are realizing it is not 2020 or 2021 anymore,’ when sellers were able to dictate higher asking prices, said Dave Anderson, spokesperson for the Pueblo Association of Realtors. The biggest issue in Pueblo, Anderson said, is that ‘buyers don’t qualify for home loans because their FICA credit scores are bad. In Pueblo, our buyers need help with down payments to get a loan as they barely have been able to save enough for earnest money.’ ‘There are clearly a lot more homes for potential buyers to look at with active listings jumping 17% to 869 compared to September 2023. Looking at just the Pueblo West market report, there is a five-and-a-half month supply of homes for sale with 237 homes available,’ Anderson explained.”

The Epoch Times. “A New York-based property management company has broken its silence on recent reports that a Venezuelan gang known for its violent and illegal activities took control of several apartment buildings it manages in Aurora, Colorado. The company said gang members seized control of some units, allegedly assaulted one of their employees, and tried to extort the company. ‘To address this entity (gangs) we contacted every city official we could think of to help with the problem,’ the company said in one of the posts. ‘Unfortunately, none were willing to take meaningful action.’ CBZ Management said that it spoke to Aurora police, the FBI, and Homeland Security, who reportedly said that the gang was part of the Tren De Aragua criminal organization, which was also causing problems in other parts of the country.”

“‘Two days after our FBI meeting, the gang confronted our on-site manager, asserting control over all three properties,’ CBZ Management said. ‘They offered an ultimatum: share rental income 50/50 or lose the buildings permanently. They also threatened to harm him and his family.’ ‘Despite clear evidence, many still deny the reality of the situation, sometimes using us as scapegoats,’ the company said. ‘That’s why we are no longer staying silent. We will continue to counter falsehoods with simple facts and evidence. Yes, gangs did take control of our apartment complexes in Aurora, Colorado, and the government did nothing. That is the real story.'”

The Associated Press. “Rhoda Moehring, who turns 86 this month, says she doesn’t have a lot of faith that insurance companies will help her salvage the flooded rental homes she owns in the river town of Steinhatchee in Florida’s Big Bend. ‘I usually get zip with these things,’ Moehring said. ‘Was I insured for that?’ ‘No, sorry, you weren’t.’ And it goes on and on. So I don’t put a whole lot of confidence in it.’ While Helene was primarily a flood event, there may be disputes over what is or isn’t ‘wind-driven rain’ from Milton. Don Hornstein, an insurance law expert at the University of North Carolina, said the line between wind and water is a thin but very clear line that technical experts can determine. Should there be a proverbial tie, the law favors the insurance company. ‘If the house was simultaneously destroyed by flood and, concurrently (by) wind, it’s not covered by private insurance,’ Hornstein said.”

The Oaklandside. “The National Association of Realtors and California Association of Realtors have collectively spent $302,703 on two hotly contested local races: the Oakland City Council District 3 election and the Alameda County Board of Supervisors District 5 race. ‘I’ve said publicly that I think housing is a human right,’ Oakland Councilmember Nikki Fortunato Bas told The Oaklandside this week. ‘A landlord organization attacking an affordable housing champion isn’t a surprise.’ Fife said she wasn’t surprised to see the real estate industry target her. ‘None of the attacks are really about anything I’ve done — they’re about hyperbole and misinformation,’ said Councilmember Carroll Fife. ‘I think they are reading the room and using people’s fear about public safety to address the thing they care about most, which is their pockets. They understand people see Oakland as a crazy, scary place, and if they can make me a boogeyman, it’s a win-win.'”

“Kiran Shenoy, government affairs director for Bridge Association of Realtors, told The Oaklandside that the real estate spending is less about housing and more about the public safety issues facing small businesses in Oakland. He said the association believes current Oakland leadership has failed to put the city on a safer path. ‘We were receiving reports from our members of being assaulted and attacked while trying to conduct business in Oakland,’ Shenoy said. ‘Our members are small business owners — [our spending has] mostly stemmed from that, and seeing the city as a whole spiral downward in terms of economic health.’ He said Realtors, who’ve seen vacant houses on the market get burglarized, are also concerned that people might not want to move to the city because of safety issues.”

Bisnow Baltimore in Maryland. “Longtime D.C.-area developer Peterson Cos. expanded into the industrial sector five years ago, just before the market’s pandemic-era boom. Its timing was impeccable: It struck deals to develop build-to-suit warehouses in Fredericksburg, Virginia, for Amazon and O’Reilly Auto Parts. ‘We felt good about it, so we built a spec building,’ Peterson President of Development Taylor Chess said. But it hasn’t found a taker. Chess said Peterson is ‘still trying to lease it.’ ‘The market’s a little bit soft,’ he said. ‘In the last year, we really felt that softening. … We’re waiting for what we see as the next wave to come. We still have that hangover of that huge push of industrial from Covid to 2023.'”

“The D.C. and Baltimore metro areas’ industrial markets combined to record negative net absorption of 1.2M SF in the second quarter of this year, according to JLL. ‘Since 2017, we have seen almost consecutively positive net absorption in the industrial market,’ JLL Executive Managing Director John Dettleff said. ‘Vacancies [were] at record lows. We’ve delivered record amounts of industrial buildings. Rents hit record highs. And then at the beginning of 2024, the music stopped.'”

CTV News in Canada. “Police are asking for the public’s help in identifying a suspect wanted in connection with an arson investigation after two more fires in a new Bradford community. On Sunday around 4:30 a.m., emergency crews received reports about two separate structure fires in new homes yet to be occupied on Rowe Street in Bond Head. Bradford West Gwillimbury Deputy Fire Chief Steve Hall told CTV News one of the houses is ‘a total loss.’ No injuries were reported. Authorities believe the weekend fires were intentionally set and called the Ontario Fire Marshal’s Office to assist with the investigation.”

“Last week, crews were called about another suspected arson at a home under construction in the same development. In June, two more new builds were significantly damaged by what is believed to have been intentionally set fires. And in February, two more newly constructed homes sustained damage as flames spread inside. Officials say both houses were close to being ready for occupancy. South Simcoe police say Sunday’s incident marks the eighth residential fire in the new development on Rowe Street north of 88, west of Highway 27. A spokesperson with Northbridge Financial Corporation, a leading insurance provider for homebuilders, told CTV News that in 2023, it saw 10 times more suspicious fires in residential homebuilding than in the previous five years combined.”

The Telegraph in the UK. “Landlord profits have collapsed in the past decade following an onslaught of taxes and red tape, analysis reveals. A London landlord in the higher rate income tax band would have made £2,200 profit on a £500,000 property with a 75pc LTV two-year fixed buy-to-let mortgage in 2013, according to analysis from estate agents Hamptons. In 2024, the same landlord would have made a £1,300 loss despite near-identical mortgage rates. Landlords have sold 300,000 more properties than they bought since 2016. Paul Shamplina, of law firm Landlord Action, added: ‘Most landlords are pretty robust – they’ve seen crackdowns before. But for some, it’s not worth the aggravation any more, and they’ll get out. The days of the hobby landlord are over.'”

The Soko Directory. “In Nairobi, real estate prices defy logic. How is it that a property in Nairobi, a city facing significant poverty and infrastructure issues, costs more than one in Cape Town, New York, or even London? This paradox has left many questioning the forces driving Nairobi’s real estate market. Unlike the global trend where housing costs correlate with economic growth and local purchasing power, Nairobi’s property boom seems fueled by an undercurrent of illicit cash that’s turned the sector into a money-laundering paradise. The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) indicates that housing prices have risen over 350% since 2000, yet household incomes have barely doubled in that time.”

“With a per capita income of around $1,870, according to World Bank data, how does the average Kenyan afford such inflated prices? The answer lies in the capital flows coursing through Nairobi’s real estate, sourced from tax evasion, drug trafficking, and political kickbacks. These opaque investments have made Nairobi’s property sector a cash-laundering haven where wealth acquired outside legal boundaries is washed and parked as ‘safe’ investments. With weak regulatory oversight, those with money to hide can find a soft landing in real estate. This influx artificially inflates prices, pricing out genuine homebuyers and leaving Nairobi with a skyline full of high-priced, often unoccupied apartments.”

“This is not just a story of illicit money; it’s a tale of failed governance. As international experts continue to warn of Kenya’s vulnerability to a real estate bubble burst, the government appears resistant to reform. The country’s political class benefits too much from the status quo. This demand is driving up construction costs, which, when coupled with regulatory apathy, creates a highly fragile market. It’s no surprise that some developments have stalled, unable to find legitimate buyers who can sustain inflated rental or purchase prices.”

Radio New Zealand. “Some Auckland property owners are considering renting out their homes when they move overseas and it’s contributing to the slowdown of the rental market. New migration data shows in the year ended August there was a record net loss of 56,100 New Zealand citizens, with just over half headed to Australia. Barfoot and Thompson general manager Samantha Arnold said the data is being reflected in housing in the Auckland region. She said there is a lot more stock than there are tenants. ‘We’re seeing owners move overseas wanting to rent their properties out, but we’ve also got tenants moving overseas as well so there’s a slight over supply.'”

News.com.au in Australia. “The property clock is ticking for Geelong home values to turn around as new figures reveal how far prices have slipped in the past year. The biggest fall added up to more than $100,000 off the value of a typical house in Barwon Heads. ‘The areas where we are seeing the biggest declines are actually those more expensive areas,’ PropTrack economist Anne Flaherty said. Buxton, Highton agent David Gray said competition was scarce, even though there were plenty of buyers around. ‘Each deal has certainly had its challenges, nuances and just a bit more of an arm wrestle,’ he said. ‘I feel it’s a very balanced market at the moment, and that can take a 12 month period for a vendor to realise that’s where my house sits, and for the buyer to be comfortable to pay that price. I don’t think anyone’s getting anything at an unbelievable discount, they’re just being able to buy it with less of a frenzy around it.'”

The Christian Science Monitor. “China has a glut of tens of millions of unoccupied housing units, many unfinished and unsold. An inescapable part of the landscape, seen from roads or trains, are compounds of hulking, empty high-rise buildings. Many of these ‘ghost cities,’ as they’re often called, have no lights and a see-through quality due to their unfinished, open windows. Some 80 to 90% of new housing in China is presold, meaning people buy a home before it’s ready to move into, and start paying the mortgage before they have physical possession of the property.”

“Yet buyers have no way to enforce contracts if developers fail to deliver the housing on time, or at all. ‘All the risk is borne by the household,’ says Andrew Batson, China research director for Gavekal, a Hong Kong-based financial firm. He says the defaulting of the China Evergrande Group taught everyone in China that the system is no longer reliable. ‘You could hand over your life savings to a developer and receive nothing. That is a pretty big risk. The people paying the price for developers’ bad behavior are not the developers, but the households themselves – and in fact every participant in the Chinese economy, which remains quite depressed.'”

“Huang Yuxia, a migrant worker from Hebei province, mustered her family’s savings to buy an apartment for her son, who was engaged to be married. But the apartment, promised for completion in 2021, was never finished. In China, men are traditionally expected to provide a home prior to marriage, and her son’s engagement broke off. ‘We didn’t get the house, so he had no place to go,’ Ms. Huang says. ‘Homebuyers … are worried prices will keep falling,’ says Yin Bolin, a senior broker at Deyou real estate in Chengdu.”

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This Post Has 92 Comments

  1. ‘I usually get zip with these things,’ Moehring said. ‘Was I insured for that?’ ‘No, sorry, you weren’t.’ And it goes on and on. So I don’t put a whole lot of confidence in it’

    Insurance doesn’t work if they have to pay out Rhoda.

    ‘While Helene was primarily a flood event, there may be disputes over what is or isn’t ‘wind-driven rain’ from Milton. Don Hornstein, an insurance law expert at the University of North Carolina, said the line between wind and water is a thin but very clear line that technical experts can determine. Should there be a proverbial tie, the law favors the insurance company. ‘If the house was simultaneously destroyed by flood and, concurrently (by) wind, it’s not covered by private insurance’

    What a great system Don, I can see why guberment backs trillion$ in shack loans.

    1. “…I can see why guberment backs trillion$ in shack loans.”

      Actually, the government backs shack loans to enable asset inflation, which allows them to pay their bi-annual Treasury interest with inflated dollars.

  2. ‘Two days after our FBI meeting, the gang confronted our on-site manager, asserting control over all three properties,’ CBZ Management said. ‘They offered an ultimatum: share rental income 50/50 or lose the buildings permanently. They also threatened to harm him and his family.’ ‘Despite clear evidence, many still deny the reality of the situation, sometimes using us as scapegoats,’ the company said. ‘That’s why we are no longer staying silent. We will continue to counter falsehoods with simple facts and evidence. Yes, gangs did take control of our apartment complexes in Aurora, Colorado, and the government did nothing. That is the real story’

    Local cops, FBI and homeland security all knew ahead of time and what did they do? Gaslight.

    2. Related article:

      “Leaders of nonprofit organizations in Aurora “fear chaos” after city council approved a measure Monday evening that will allow the city to investigate who provided grants to nonprofits that were used to help relocate immigrants coming from the southern border.”

      Fear chaos = interrupting their revenue stream.

      “The proposal, brought forward by Councilwoman Danielle Jurinsky and approved by Aurora City Council in a 6-2 vote, authorizes the Aurora City Attorney’s Office to submit a series of Colorado Open Records Act (CORA) requests to the Governor’s Office, the Colorado Office of New Americans, the Denver Mayor’s Office, and the Denver Pathways to the Integration of New Americans for any emails and contracts “related to providing assistance to immigrants in order to relocate them to the city of Aurora.”

      https://www.denver7.com/news/front-range/aurora/aurora-wants-to-audit-immigrant-aid-in-the-city-one-nonprofit-says-its-a-scary-slope

  3. ‘Since 2020, home prices in this area have increased by 47% , a rate that far outpaces income growth. ‘It’s out of control, everything is so expensive,’ a patron at Judy’s Saloon in Oatman opines as customers gripe about the cost of living, housing in particular’

    Talk about a crazy place. I drove up there once in 2009. At that time it was a small collection of shacks made to look like mining shacks. Most are bars or tourist junk shops. Bikers like it for the winding scenic drive. There were all these wild burros everywhere. And they just walk into stores like they own the place. If there’s a bubble in Oatman Jerry, you really screwed up.

    If you ever go there make sure you’ve got a full tank of gas.

      1. I wasn’t impressed except by the burros. I probably looked around for 20 minutes and headed down the route to Golden Valley after going up on the Fort Mojave side of the mountain.

    2. Oatman was one of the storied stops along the old route 66. It was also one of the main reasons for the demise of route 66. That stretch had a jaw dropping death rate from various wrecks over the years. If you imagine some of those old beat up old cars going way too fast around the curves you can imagine how dangerous it was. So many people died on route 66 that they put a lot of effort into making new routes and getting rid of route 66 entirely. Oatman went from being on the main drag to being a relic just like many of the other towns along the route.

      1. Some people claim that there are still lots of vintage old cars at the bottom of some of the slopes because it was too much effort to remove them.

      2. I didn’t know it was on 66. Jeebus it was nerve wracking driving up there, and I was in a heavy 4 by 4. The real wonder is how did people get up there on foot, horse or wagon with supplies? Tough people.

  4. “In Pueblo, our buyers need help with down payments to get a loan as they barely have been able to save enough for earnest money.’

    2. And compared to the rest of the front range, Pueblo is cheap. That said, it’s overpriced as the town is Colorado’s armpit.

  5. ” . . the government appears resistant to reform. The country’s political class benefits too much from the status quo.”

    pretty much sums up every govt. that ever existed.

  6. “I didn’t add a comment because the stupidity speaks for itself.”

    $400/hr attorneys call that “Res Ipsa Loquitur”
    btw, if you want to piss off an ESQ. call them “Counselor”.
    Ohhh they really hate that !

  7. The biggest issue in Pueblo, Anderson said, is that ‘buyers don’t qualify for home loans because their FICA credit scores are bad.

    No, the biggest issue is that Pueblo is a gang-infested barrio sh*thole.

  9. Companies spent 8 billion on programs that are discrimination against “WHITES”.

    What ever happen to Civil Rights laws, discrimination laws, Constitutional protections, 14 amendment, etc.
    Whites aren’t included in diversity and inclusion programs, which is a direct discrimination against a certain race. And if you just hire women, than that’s gender prejudice.
    Just like Big Monopoly Companies carried out the vaccines mandates or you loose your job, they are carrying out the discrimination based on race and gender as to hiring practices. Subjecting people to
    reprogramming classes on ” White Privilege “and hate basically for white race is discrimination and racism.
    We all remember how the Jews were isolated in Germany, deprived of basic rights, than isolated and than transported to slave labor concentration camps, than eliminated.
    When CNN at one point had people on that advocated taking the unvaccinated to camps , I seriously was alarmed. They backed off on that but it was shocking.
    Hilary Clinton talking about sending people to reprogramming camps, censorship of free speech. John Kerry pushing taking free speech and censorship because its to hard to govern. These are 2 x Presidential candidates saying this stuff.
    Biden Administration claiming that his political opponents are a ” threat to democracy” as he sneaks around trying to transfer power by Treaty to the UN/WHO for a One World Dictorship.
    Bill Gates being a private party , unelected Rich Elite ,funding all kinds of programs with government partnership .
    The WEF unelected special Interest group of private party Monopoly Corporations , with a Great Reset Agenda of “Stakeholder Capitalism” whereby Monopoly Companies will partner with Governments in a facism power grab Dictorship.
    A 2030 UN Sustainable Earth Agenda, as the blueprint .
    John Kerry said,” ..no Government can stop the “market forces”, and Klaus Schwab said ,”who owns technology controls the World.”
    I think you can safely say the “market forces” and technology are in the hands of Monopoly Corporations ,Rich Elites, and others in collusion.

    The fraudulent Narratives of Climate Change doomsday and global Panademics are the justification by these Entities to literary enslave humanity , you will own nothing and eat bugs, and mandated vaccines.
    Are they playing with the weather, just like they were playing with gain of function bio weapons with China. Constant cloud seeding all over the globe, that we get no answers to.
    But, these Entities are vocal about their pre-planned end game of humanity being under a technology control grid , while they control all resources and consumption . Its all to save the World from global emergencies , caused by co2 carbon emissions, and disease Panademics, whereby humans/animals are the cause.
    The evidence shows that these Globalist Entities are fraudulent ,genocidal and deranged psychopaths that are the biggest threat to earth and all inhabitants of earth.
    Nothing else explains all the assaults we the people have be subjected to.

    1. It’s mind-boggling that so many self-hating whites still pull the D lever election after election. Zero instinct for self-preservation.

  10. Linked from Antiwar dot com.

    Biden and Netanyahu’s endless war for US-Israeli supremacy (10/13/2024):

    “For Netanyahu, the Oct. 7th maelstrom created an equally opportune moment. The Biden administration offered its unconditional support for an Israeli plan to turn Gaza from an occupied, besieged concentration camp into a decimated, rubble-strewn death camp. Meanwhile, as my colleague Max Blumenthal has newly demonstrated in the documentary “Atrocity Inc.”, Western establishment media lined up to parrot Israeli atrocity propaganda to manufacture consent for mass murder …

    According to the Times, one current US official “said it was easier for Israel to go on offense when it knows that ‘Big Brother’ is nearby.” Or as Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has reportedly described it, Israel is “playing with house money.” What Austin means, the Washington Post explains, is that Israel is “taking big shots at its adversaries, knowing that the United States, as Israel’s chief ally, would throw its military and diplomatic weight behind it.”

    In the new Middle East, those who disrupt the US-Israeli monopoly on violence simply cannot be part of the “game.”

    https://www.aaronmate.net/p/biden-and-netanyahus-endless-war

  11. A reader sent these in:

    Car buyers are doing anything to lower their monthly payments:

    Including signing on for 84-month auto loan terms — which have grown steadily over the year to 18.1%.

    Sure, stretching out the loan can make payments more manageable but…

    The risk is that extending loans increases the likelihood of car owners carrying negative equity into their next purchase — creating a debt cycle that’s tough to climb out of.

    https://x.com/GuyDealership/status/1845812338160464104

    Why is that only homebuilders w/lending arms, Street sell-side analysts and ⁦@Airbnb jocks croon on about the strength of the US housing market?

    ⁦@TrueValue files for bankruptcy after 75 years, blames weak housing market for plunging sales.

    https://x.com/DiMartinoBooth/status/1845933079778439555

    Punta Gorda’s housing market remains in correction mode

    Home prices in the Punta Gorda, FL metro down -11.8% from their 2022 peak

    https://x.com/NewsLambert/status/1845870389576036816

    Walgreens says it will close 1,200 stores, with 500 stores closing over the next year.

    https://x.com/MacroEdgeRes/status/1846178137811329195

    This will likely impact around 15,000 employees over the next year, with ~35,000 impacted over the closure plan period. This is around 1/7th of Walgreens store footprint.

    https://x.com/MacroEdgeRes/status/1846178656688730140

    The garage is half the house 😂

    https://x.com/DonMiami3/status/1846222580694274104

    Neighbor finally cut the price again on their listing – down 300K now from last summer (200+ dom) ~22% reduction

    https://x.com/DonMiami3/status/1846258449824289143

    Demand is still cooked here. Insurance & taxes a massive issue.

    That’s a $7k/mo payment – need a $250HHI if you have children.

    https://x.com/DonMiami3/status/1846259587571192096

    Auto loan 90+ day delinquency rates are now 2.88%, the highest since Q2 2010.

    The percentage has almost DOUBLED in just 2.5 years.

    Serious delinquent auto loans have been rising at the fastest pace since the 2008 Financial Crisis.

    At the same time, auto loan debt held by Americans rose to a record $1.63 trillion, 92% above 2008 levels.

    Meanwhile, car insurance costs jumped by 15% in the first half of 2024 and hit a new record of $2,329.

    https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/1845945275241898458

    Historically auto loan delinquencies were a function of unemployment. Today the surging delinquencies (“But off a low base!”) aren’t matched by unemployment in the official stats, but DO match the sentiment charts of “Jobs Hard to Find vs Easy” which also historically tracked unemployment. When two integrated series diverge from a 3rd, which one should we question?

    https://x.com/profplum99/status/1846279878515064981

    Intel Corporation will lay off approximately 1,300 employees in Oregon

    https://x.com/MacroEdgeRes/status/1846315447744180432

    A 2023 survey from a Harris Poll for Bloomberg found that about 45% of people ages 18 to 29 lived at home with their families, an 80 year high.

    https://x.com/SavingsCaptain/status/1846264780736418296

    We would currently be in a recession if it wasn’t for the insane government spending we are seeing right now.

    https://x.com/StealthQE4/status/1846216976106246409

    1 million fully forgiveable loans of up to $20k based soley on the color of your skin?

    This is anti-American and evil.

    https://x.com/Geiger_Capital/status/1846000492469502119

    The Buffet indicator just blew past 200.

    https://x.com/great_martis/status/1846292348206305516

    Gold Coast Apartments Handed Back to Lender

    – 189 units | 2 West Delaware Place, Chicago

    – $130mm loan (~$687K per unit), issued in 2020

    – Opened as condos in 2010, converted to rentals after lackluster sales

    – Loan refinanced in 2020, deed-in-lieu accepted by lender to avoid formal foreclosure

    https://x.com/aryal1994/status/1846329291874742599

    US households now hold 48% of their assets in equities, the highest since the 2000 Dot-Com bubble peak.

    Since the 2020 crash, this has risen by ~13 percentage points as the stock market has rallied 160%.

    Over the last 15 years, this percentage has DOUBLED.

    Interestingly, Americans’ allocation to bonds and cash is just 16% and 15%, respectively, well below their long-term averages.

    In other words, households are all-in on the stock market rally.

    Bullish sentiment is at record levels.

    https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/1846234676756644055

    While VP Harris promised $20 billion in forgivable “loans” based on skin color, this has already happened.

    https://x.com/cvpayne/status/1846298703482495239

    “…how his criminal past led him to get involved in real estate”

    https://x.com/JohnWake/status/1846297115737063434

    1. 1 million fully forgiveable loans of up to $20k based soley on the color of your skin?

      This is anti-American and evil.

      Stealth reparations.

    3. “Including signing on for 84-month auto loan terms — which have grown steadily over the year to 18.1%.”

      Assisted suicide.

  12. Republican lawmakers are urging California environmental regulators to delay action on new policies that could push gasoline prices up by nearly 50 cents a gallon.

    The California Air Resources Board is scheduled to vote Nov. 8 on amendments to a longstanding carbon-market program that penalizes high-carbon fuel producers, while offering credits to providers of lower-carbon alternatives.

    The new policies would bring carbon emissions down faster, but at greater cost to refineries, most of which is passed through to retail gasoline buyers.

    The scheduled vote in November would not directly hike gasoline prices. But the Air Resources Board itself last year estimated the measures could lead to a hike in prices at the pump of up to 47 cents a gallon. The air board’s staff now says that estimate is out of date, but that it has no plans to release a new figure.

    “Right now Californians are paying $1.50 more per gallon than the average across the other continental states,” said state Sen. Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh (R-Yucaipa). “This aggressive pursuit of green environmental goals will increase inflation and fall on the back of many Californians, especially those of lower economic means.”

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/republicans-urge-air-board-to-delay-vote-on-new-policies-that-could-lead-to-gasoline-price-hikes/ar-AA1skeNq

  13. California Democrats want to slash gas prices, a state climate policy will raise them

    Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation Monday aimed at easing spikes in California’s already high gasoline prices, a key consumer protection that he’d sought from a special legislative session.

    Whether Newsom’s proposed reserve requirement for the state’s gas refineries, cheered by consumer advocates, will keep fuel prices in check remains to be seen — the fuel industry, labor unions, Republicans and governors of two neighboring states say that it could create shortages and higher prices.

    California’s average $4.67 a gallon gas price already is the highest in the U.S., well above the $3.20 national average. It’s critical to Newsom, and lawmakers running for reelection, to make progress on stubborn gas prices in California, said Thad Kousser, a professor of political science at UC San Diego.

    “Having something to deliver for the election was paramount for the Democratic caucus,” he said.

    Aaron Smith, a professor of agricultural economics at UC Davis who has studied the fuel standard, estimates price increases from 20 cents to 84 cents per gallon in 2030 if the board approves the amendments. If it rejects them, the regulations could still add as much as 53 cents per gallon by then, Smith said.

    Although that would pose a challenge to drivers, Smith said the low-carbon fuel standard is an important part of California’s climate strategy. Scientists say climate change is already intensifying natural disasters in California and nationally while driving terrifying declines in biodiversity, and maintain it poses an existential threat to humanity over the century.

    “Yes, it’s worth it to have a tax on petroleum, or fossil fuel emissions generally,” he said.

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/article/california-democrats-want-to-slash-gas-prices-a-state-climate-policy-will-raise-them/ar-AA1skaNe

  14. To the editor: Skelton misses the point and neglects to provide critical context when he writes: “So, an unelected bunch of regulators can arbitrarily adopt new rules without weighing the cost to consumers? Doesn’t seem right. Seems a bit irresponsible and arrogant.”

    The California Air Resources Board’s carbon emission reduction efforts are in fact exactly about costs to consumers. The less we do to reduce, the more we will pay down the road to deal with the disruption, destruction and dislocation that Mother Nature will hand us due to human hubris.

    Skelton’s all-too-common dismissive attitude about the enormous costs of climate change is the type of arrogance we should most be concerned about.

    Dan Rothman, Fountain Valley

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/letters-to-the-editor-this-infamous-downtown-l-a-chevron-isn-t-an-example-of-high-gas-prices-in-california/ar-AA1sinEU

    1. Dan Rothman, Fountain Valley

      I remember when Fountain Valley was as conservative as they came.

      So how long until Clownifornia flat out collapses, with the lights going out and total anarchy taking hold? Will those fleeing be able to escape, as there won’t be any fuel for transportation?

      1. “So how long until Clownifornia flat out collapses, with the lights going out and total anarchy taking hold? Will those fleeing be able to escape, as there won’t be any fuel for transportation?”

        no worries, here in the Greater Sacramento area I’ve got preps stashed in my basement, like the Alamo.

  15. In a sprawling industrial building in Brooks, Alta., about two hours east of Calgary, is a former pheasant hatchery that’s now stacked waist-high with thousands of dusty, damaged solar panels.

    Dan Carrocci, who’s worked in renewable energy construction for more than a decade, has long been troubled by the lack of end-of-life options for this infrastructure and is stockpiling the old panels in hopes of developing acommercially viable means of recycling them.

    He’s now built up a stash of nearly 10,000 panels that have been damaged during manufacturing, pummelled by hail or banged up during installation.

    “I call it the ‘big green elephant’ of renewable energy — is the waste material,” said Carrocci, president of Sunset Renewable Asset Management.

    Installation of solar and wind power ison the rise, but according to a 2021 report from the University of Ottawa think-tank the Smart Prosperity Institute, decommissioned solar panels and wind turbine blades often end up sitting in storage or being sent to landfill.

    Much of the wind and solar infrastructure in this country is fairly new, but by 2050 the Smart Prosperity Institute said conservative estimates suggest Canada could see a cumulative 365,000 to 470,000 tonnes of expired solar panel waste and 4.5 million tonnes of wind turbine waste, though the institute said the total will be much higher if the country plans to hit its net-zero targets.

    “Just producing that much waste, landfilling it going forward, it’s not really a sustainable solution,” said Geoff McCarney, the institute’s senior research director.

    While it’s critical to keep ramping up use of renewables, he said, there’s concern “we’re creating other environmental problems while trying to address the climate problem.”

    https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/these-busted-solar-panels-are-an-early-example-of-a-looming-problem/ar-AA1slYlH

    1. “we’re creating other environmental problems while trying to address the climate problem.”

      All we are doing is offshoring our carbon output.

      That said, I read the other day that ambassador Ken Salazar, who gave ex Mexican president AMLO a very hard time over AMLO’s objections to reducing the use of fossil fuels in Mexico and threatened to reduce investment in Mexico, is now buddy buddy with new president Claudia Sheinbaum, who has promised to take Mexico to the promised land of renewables. IIRC, it got to the point where AMLO refused to speak with Salazar.

      Salazar had a group of investors come to Mexico to meet with Sheinbaum’s government, promising to invest in her new green paradise. One key difference between AMLO and Sheinbaum: AMLO was a nationalist, Sheinbaum is a globalist. I am still scratching my head over how she got the ruling party’s nomination.

      1. In a country of 150 million or so, and about 100,000 jews, somehow the new president of Mexico is not only female, but of course a jew and a globalist.

        every.single.time.

        2. I am still stunned that she won, and if the numbers are to be believed she got over 60% of the vote, while her opponents had to split the rest.

          Sheinbaum is clearly jockeying for getting investment that used to go to China. Since she is a globalist she will likely get it. Curiously she is demanding that Spain apologize for the conquest. If Harris is installed as president I suspect her admin will twist Spain’s arm into apologizing and maybe even welcoming millions of Latin American “migrants” and paying reparations.

  16. Some of the people staying at homeless shelters in downtown Sydney, N.S., say the services belong there, despite comments from some municipal election candidates.

    Several people running for the mayoralty in Cape Breton Regional Municipality say the shelters are creating a safety concern for area residents and visitors.

    Former mayor Cecil Clarke, who’s trying for a third term after losing in 2020, told CBC Radio’s Information Morning Cape Breton on Tuesday that the situation is now a “crisis,” with people defecating and urinating on nearby properties.

    Jason Bennett, a client at the Ally Centre of Cape Breton, said the public is not at risk. The Ally Centre is a harm reduction centre for people who use drugs. It also provides some health services and has been temporarily housing people overnight at its facility on Prince Street.

    “It’s not a safety issue to anybody but the people that are in the shelter,” Bennett said on the sidewalk outside the centre. “Nobody bothers anybody outside of the shelter.”

    Stanley Paul, another client of the Ally Centre, said homeless people are more at risk of danger from each other than the public is of them.

    They said there are fights over drugs or money, but most of the trouble is caused by a few people who have been banned from the facilities for one reason or another trying to come back.

    “Some people just look at us like needle bangers and stuff, but some of us are real good people,” Paul said.

    https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/shelter-clients-say-facilities-belong-in-downtown-sydney-despite-campaign-comments/ar-AA1smg1b

    1. Several people running for the mayoralty in Cape Breton Regional Municipality say the shelters are creating a safety concern for area residents and visitors.

      Part of the plan: via economic and social policies, ensure that the homeless population will continuously swell, even as they OD on fentanyl.

  17. White culture was the dominate culture in USA, in terms of numbers.Just like in Africa the dominate culture is Black .We wouldn’t think of calling “Black Privilage” in Africa.
    So, in terms of commerce, Companies catered to the majority populations preferences. With time other ethic groups got product representation in commerce as their populations increased in USA.
    So, something that was a function of supply and demand, becomes systemic racism and “White Privilage”.
    Do you expect in Africa that commerce would put out shampoo designed for whites, or rather shampoos designed for blacks.
    If a minority applies for a job, and they are beat out on the tests by another eithic group, is that racism or is that competition .
    If a illegal crossing the border can speak the language, and can’t compete, so to speak, is that racism, or is it a unfortunate fact of life that poor people are less competitive regarding merits concerning some jobs.
    Maybe it take a couple of generations for a poor group to become competitive.You can see this in American history where Irish or Italian imigrants , who are considered White, had to work their way up by merits.
    I’m just saying that regardless of your ethic group, if you start out poor , your group has to work and claw your way up.
    You might call it a class system, rather than racism.Poor verses richer .
    President Johnson launched the “War on Proverty” in the US. This seems to target being poor, rather than racism.
    In that the Great Depression in US , reduced the majority populations to being wiped out, or starting from scratch, where is the generational wealth that the whites got by slavery?
    It seems like a certain privilaged elk of Rich Plantation owners were the greatest beneficiaries of slave labor.
    But, slavery was abolished over 165 years ago.Now the problem is the divide between rich and poor, if you ask me.
    We aren’t talking about the privilage, power, and systemic corruption by money powers
    and Monopoly
    Corporations.
    This racism dividing is a distraction from the real culprits that are parasites, looters, fraudsters , and anti humanity Cult of control freaks.
    Not saying that there wasn’t slavery in World history. But, you wouldn’t believe the kind of slavery of humanity that the One World Order Cult wants to inflict on all ethic groups and both genders.
    Just saying.

    1. If you can, read The Camp of the Saints. Jean Raspail saw this coming as far back as the 1970’s, when he published his book, which appears to have been sent to the memory hole.

      1. Colorado,

        I just read a long summary on the “Camp of Saints ”
        book, after you suggested it. Got the plot of book and everything.

  18. Westfield Montgomery Mall Owner Sees Value Slashed But Secures Loan Extension

    The owner of the massive Westfield Montgomery mall in Bethesda has received a two-year extension on a $350M loan after it didn’t pay off its debt ahead of its August maturity.

    The 836K SF property tied to the loan also received a new valuation that cuts it nearly in half from a decade ago, according to Morningstar Credit.

    The owner, Paris-based Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, has until August 2026 to pay off its extended loan on the mall, which now has an outstanding balance of $333.5M. With the extension, the owner agreed to an immediate payment of $16M and an additional $5.5M to be paid over the next two years.

    The extension comes after the loan was transferred to special servicing in April, four months ahead of its August maturity.

    The new valuation on the property is $353M, down from $680M when the loan was securitized in 2014, according to Morningstar.

    “While the new appraisal is a very healthy haircut to the original, the fact that it’s above the outstanding balance is a positive in the current environment,” Morningstar Credit Senior Vice President David Putro wrote in an email to Bisnow.

    “The loan’s not out of the water by any means — 2023 cash flow was still $10 million below the underwritten level from 2014, but the extension and paydown was [a] half-decent development for the time being,” he added.

    The mall totals 1.3M SF, but URW’s footprint excludes Nordstrom, Macy’s and Macy’s Home, the property’s anchor tenants. URW’s portion was 80% occupied as of the end of June, down from 94% at the end of last year.

    URW plans to redevelop Westfield Montgomery into 2.9M SF of retail and 717 residential units. But more than four years after it received approval for those plans in the summer of 2020, the owner has yet to begin construction.

    https://www.bisnow.com/washington-dc/news/retail/westfield-montgomery-mall-valuation-chopped-in-half-as-owner-secures-extension-126295

    1. Just kicking the can. If you can’t pay it now, what makes you think you can pay it in 2 years?

      notgonnahappen.com

      The banks just don’t want to recognize the loss on their books.

    2. “The new valuation on the property is $353M, down from $680M when the loan was securitized in 2014, according to Morningstar.”

      That’s a close shave, not a haircut.

  19. Prague bans organised night-time pub crawls in bid to attract ‘more cultured’ tourists

    Beer is still cheaper than water in some restaurants and the local lager will set you back fewer than three euros ($4.80) a pint.

    There’s a reason why the Czech Republic has long reigned as the world’s thirstiest nation.

    In 2023, the average Czech — counting all citizens, including newborns — drank a world-leading 128 litres of beer.

    And its capital city has long been a popular destination for foreign beer lovers looking for the perfect bachelor(ette) parties and pub crawl, largely from Britain.

    But this week, Prague city councillors announced that night-time pub crawls organised by travel agencies would now be banned.

    “It will not be possible to have guided tours between 10pm and 6am [local time],” one deputy major said.

    Prague City Council said councillors had approved an amendment limiting “organised movements of tourists from pub to pub, disrupting the night peace especially in the centre”, according to the BBC.

    The decision was made on the grounds of noise, safety and cleanliness.

    Deputy Mayor Jiri Pospisil said Prague City Hall was “seeking a more cultured, wealthier tourist” and are trying to avoid the visitor “who comes for a short time only to get drunk”.

    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-10-16/prague-bans-organised-night-time-pub-crawls/104478606

    1. Prague has a bevy of hot ash, thigh gap, deep cleavage hotties ever assembled in Europe, which can drive a guy to twist his head like a hoot owl. Unfortunately, they’re all smoking cigarettes, apparently lighting the fresh one from the butt of the last. WTF?

  20. Migrant deaths in New Mexico have increased tenfold

    Ten times as many migrants died in New Mexico near the U.S.-Mexico border in each of the last two years compared with just five years ago as smuggling gangs steer them — exhausted, dehydrated and malnourished — mostly into the hot desert, canyons or mountains west of El Paso, Texas.

    During the first eight months of 2024, the bodies of 108 presumed migrants mostly from Mexico and Central America were found near the border in New Mexico and often less than 10 miles (6 kilometers) from El Paso, according to the most recent data. The remains of 113 presumed migrants were found in New Mexico in 2023, compared with nine in 2020 and 10 in 2019.

    It’s not clear exactly why more migrants are being found dead in that area, but many experts say smugglers are treating migrants more harshly and bringing them on paths that could be more dangerous in extreme summer temperatures.

    “Our reaction was sadness, horror and surprise because it had been very consistently low for as long as anyone can remember,” said Heather Edgar, a forensic anthropologist with the office.

    Serving the entire state, the office over two years has added deputy medical investigators to handle the extra deaths on top of the usual 2,500 forensic cases.

    “We’d always had three deputies down in that area, and I think we have nine or 10 now,” Edgar said of New Mexico’s eastern migration corridor.

    Dylan Corbett, executive director of the faith-based Hope Border Institute in El Paso, said 10-member church teams recently started dropping water bottles for migrants in the deadly New Mexico corridor alongside fluttering blue flags.

    “Part of the problem is that organized crime has become very systematic in the area,” Corbett said of the increased deaths. He also blamed heightened border enforcement in Texas and new U.S. asylum restrictions that President Joe Biden introduced in June and tightened last month.

    https://www.kunm.org/kunm-news-update/2024-10-15/tues-migrant-deaths-in-new-mexico-have-increased-tenfold-more

    1. I have read that traffickers pay central American families cash for their daughters. Their parents are selling them into a life of prostitution.

  21. Toronto-Dominion Bank spends millions of dollars each year to pay august, accomplished business leaders to serve on its board of directors, the ultimate stewards of the corporation.

    They seem to have overlooked a few things, to put it lightly.

    In a plea agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice, TD admitted its U.S. bank allowed criminals to launder hundreds of millions of dollars and failed to properly monitor trillions of dollars’ worth of transactions. TD was America’s most convenient bank for criminals.

    While the settlement between TD and U.S. prosecutors and regulators details all manner of wayward behaviour by TD employees, it also explicitly lays blame where it ultimately belongs: with the boards of the Canadian parent company and its various U.S. banking subsidiaries.

    The U.S. regulator, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, said it believes some of the problems were not escalated to the boards of the U.S. bank or bank holding companies. But in other instances, those boards – which included key members of TD’s parent-company board – were told about money-laundering issues.

    And the U.S. Department of Justice charges, to which TD Bank N.A., the U.S.-based bank, pled guilty, said that over at least the past 11 years, U.S. regulators, TD Bank N.A.’s internal audit employees and third-party consultants all “repeatedly identified its transaction monitoring program as an area of concern.” The DOJ says the senior executive leaders and boards of directors of the U.S. bank, the U.S. holding companies and the Canadian parent “were made aware of certain of the concerns identified by these regulators and auditors.”

    The DOJ also says the boards were informed in 2018 and 2020 of compliance deficiencies and failures, and the lack of a plan to fix some of them.

    Importantly, there was no reason to believe that this was a fresh, emerging or minor problem. Two U.S. regulators had already dinged TD Bank N.A. in 2013 to the tune of US$37.5-million for violations of that country’s Bank Secrecy Act, and the bank had to enter a compliance agreement with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the primary national regulator of U.S. banks.

    So, where was the board? During the 10 years cited by the DOJ, TD’s audit committee was largely populated by directors who hadn’t worked for long periods in the banking industry. For most, their biographies suggest little experience with money-laundering controls.

    How could so many well-paid (TD directors made an average of $285,000 last year for a part-time job) and purportedly talented business leaders botch things so badly? While TD’s audit committee could have stood more expertise, the answer is more troubling. All the knowledge and skills in the world won’t help if the bank’s board won’t challenge executive leadership, ask tough questions, express skepticism and remain alert for red flags.

    We’ve largely moved past the era when corporate boards were rainmaker rubber-stamp clubs. But TD illustrates that we may not have moved far enough. And in this, we have a lesson for all banks, and all corporations: When your organization begins to rot, who will call out the smell?

    https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/commentary/article-td-bank-money-laundering-board-of-directors/

  22. Labour’s first 100 days in power – MPs reflect

    It’s been 100 days since the Labour party’s landslide victory, which saw Sir Keir Starmer take the helm as prime minister.

    Starmer, the first Labour PM since 2010, said the job had been “much tougher than anything I’ve done before, but much better.”

    South Shropshire’s new Conservative MP already has political clout. Stuart Anderson, who took the reins from long-serving Ludlow MP Philip Dunne, was a government whip under three Tory prime ministers while MP for Wolverhampton South West.

    He is critical of the first 100 days of the new Labour government. “There’s a lot of buyers’ remorse”, he said. “On the same day they announced record-breaking public sector pay rises, they cut winter fuel payments… it’s cruel and nasty.”

    Anderson rejected a claim that trust is being restored in politics after the in-fighting and chaos, which tarnished the last Conservative government in which he served. He described the thousands of pounds of donations and gifts, including clothing, hospitality tickets and glasses, given to Sir Kier Starmer and other cabinet ministers as “cronyism”.

    “Do you need £32,000 worth of suits? No you don’t,’ he said.

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/labours-first-100-days-in-power-mps-reflect/ar-AA1sm7Fl

    1. There’s a lot of buyers’ remorse”, he said.

      No problem, they can vote the bums out in just 5 years.

      I’m sure a lot of Brits were hoping to join the Free Sh!t Army. They might be disappointed.

  23. While it is best to work for a Kamala Harris victory, Black political history suggests that voters may also want to prepare for the worst. Many supporters have been caught up in the campaign spirit of “enthusiasm and joy” with favorable national polls and early voting underway in some states. Some may even believe that positive trends in swing states are indicators that “she’s got it.”

    Most concerning is Harris’s failure to nurture enthusiastic support among Black men — and current efforts to make up for lost ground that come off as patronizing. Former President Barack Obama scolding Black men was unwarranted and unhelpful. Her promise to legalize marijuana and protect crypto currency in exchange for Black men’s votes reeks of desperation for a campaign that should have developed relevant policies, not symbolism, as noted by the National Association of Black Journalists.

    Not long ago, Harris stated that “I’m working to earn the vote — not assuming I’m going to have it because I am Black.” The puzzle is that she has repeated the same mistake as Stacey Abrams’s campaign made in her race for Georgia governor in 2022. When the Abrams campaign took men for granted, it likewise floated innuendos of misogyny for their lackluster support. The campaign later got wise and proposed a set of targeted proposals known as the “Black Men’s Agenda.”

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/opinion-9-ways-to-prepare-for-racial-blowback-if-harris-loses/ar-AA1sipPB

    1. so, first the democrat heavyweights insult, then flatter their intended targets.

      sounds like a typical, angry, desperate realtor.

    2. Most concerning is Harris’s failure to nurture enthusiastic support among Black men

      Probably because they know she is a red dot Indian masquerading as a black. So now she has promised them a $20K gift if she is elected. I suspect they aren’t buying it.

      1. Harris’s failure to nurture enthusiastic support among Black men
        I see a lot of You Tube videos about, both pro and Con, PassPort Bros. I doubt PP Bros think black women like Harris are flawless and deserve their respect and vote.

  24. A police investigation has concluded that an unknown substance a suspected drone was allegedly dropping on homes in a small Ontario town was just bird poop. The Waterloo Regional Police Service says its probe into the “suspicious drone activity” has wrapped up with no criminal charges.

    Police said in August they were investigating harassment and mischief involving a drone after receiving multiple complaints of “harassing behaviour” and property damage in Ayr, a community in the Township of North Dumfries.

    Investigators said at the time that they believed a first-person view drone flew over a residential area on several nighttime occasions and dropped the unknown substance on houses, vehicles and properties.

    Police say the University of Guelph assisted with the resulting investigation. They determined the substance was a heron’s feces and there had been no criminal activity.

    https://globalnews.ca/news/10813701/ontario-drone-bird-investigation/

  25. Bank of America Bond Losses Narrowed to $85.7 Billion. They Still Lead the Industry.

    Bank of America’s unrealized losses on a key part of its bond portfolio diminished markedly in the third quarter as interest rates declined, though they remain the largest in the banking industry by a large margin.

    The paper losses on the company’s held-to-maturity portfolio, which mostly consists of U.S. mortgage securities, stood at $85.7 billion at the end of September. That compares with $110.8 billion on June 30.

    The bank’s held-to-maturity portfolio is falling by about $10 billion per quarter and is down by $116 billion since peaking three years ago. Still, the paper losses are substantial and the small yield on the portfolio, locked in when interest rates were much lower during the pandemic, weighs on the bank’s interest margin.

    The bank’s total bond portfolio has an average yield of about 3.10%, which is below current market yields on Treasuries and agency mortgage securities and two percentage points lower than Bank of America’s average yield on its assets. The paper losses likely have widened since quarter-end because bond yields have risen in October.

    Bank of America accumulated much of what is now in its held-to-maturity bond portfolio when rates were near historic lows in 2020 and 2021. Other big banks didn’t move as aggressively then to buy fixed-income securities.

    JPMorgan Chase, for instance, was less willing to invest in bonds during that period, reflecting the views of CEO Jamie Dimon. The losses on its held-to-maturity bond portfolio were around $20 billion at the end of September.

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/topstocks/bank-of-america-bond-losses-narrowed-to-85-7-billion-they-still-lead-the-industry/ar-AA1sk5gL

  26. The globalists want to impose a cashless society that will enable them to gain total information awareness into your sources of income and wealth, to facilitate more efficient looting and asset-stripping of the population, as well as locking those with sub-par social credit scores out of the financial system.

    https://www.news.com.au/finance/business/banking/more-than-half-of-australias-atms-onethird-of-bank-branches-shut-since-2019/news-story/e40685d3da8a85162b011273f7c58e20

  27. Newsom in California wants to past a law that food companies don’t have to put a “sell by” date on food products.
    So, this would benefit the big food companies in not having to disclose how old food is.
    I don’t know about you but I I’m relying on those dates .
    This law would increase profits of food companies if they didn’t have to disclose how old a product is.
    I think California is the test grounds for New World Order Monopoly Corporations.
    Norther Calif Counties have already reintroduced mask mandates.
    The military industrial complex is running the asylum .

    1. no no, the law is actually not bad.
      It means they have to remove the “sell by” or “best by” dates, which are just made up dates by companies so you think your product is bad. (soap for example doesn’t need a best by date).

      They still have to put the no good by (it has a name i forget) date on it

      I bought spam last year, it had a date on it of this year. spam. The meat, only good for 1 year. totally ridiculous. clearly just company driven.

      1. …..” the no good by date.”
        Ok, if they are required by law to put a “no good by date” than I didn’t understand the law.
        Just wondering why the change after over a half century of the “sell by” stamping on products, to “no good by date, as you say.

        1. Ok, seems like “good by” would extent the amount of time product could be sold .
          “Sell by” was more assurance of product not being degraded , or on verge of being “not good”.
          Its definitely a higher standard being ” sell by”verses “not good “date.

  28. CBZ Management said that it spoke to Aurora police, the FBI, and Homeland Security, who reportedly said that the gang was part of the Tren De Aragua criminal organization, which was also causing problems in other parts of the country.”

    1. The Aurora PD is a “woke” force headed by a DEI hire that slavishly adheres to political lines laid down by Denver’s Democrat-Bolshevik municipal “leadership.”

    2. The FBI has been subverted into the DNC’s Stasi secret police. They do not concern themselves with mundane matters like migrant criminal gangs culturally enriching sanctuary cities.

    3. “Homeland Security” is headed by a former HIAS senior official who in both roles facilitated the importation of millions of criminal migrants and dependency voters. He and DHS are facilitating this invasion as official policy approved at the highest levels of the Biden-Harris regime and Deep State.

      1. Come down and spend some time in Denver and drive around the city.

        It’s worse than you can imagine.

        Underwear and laundry soap are locked up at Wal-Mart. This is the “low trust society” that Denver voters voted to create.

        1. Come down and spend some time in Denver and drive around the city.

          I’ll pass. If I “go to Denver” it means I’m driving the E-470 to the airport.

  30. Salem, Massachusetts, to Give Guaranteed Cash to Low-Income Residents

    Olivia Rondeau
    16 Oct 2024

    Salem is joining the list of Massachusetts cities that have introduced programs to give unconditional cash payments to low-income residents, the mayor’s office announced.

    The city government and the California-based organization UpTogether are set to select 100 applicants to give $500 per month for one year as part of a study conducted by Salem State University, Mayor Dominick Pangallo said in a statement.

    https://www.breitbart.com/economy/2024/10/16/salem-massachusetts-give-guaranteed-cash-low-income-residents/

    1. Real Estate
      Weekly mortgage demand tanks 17%, after interest rates hit the highest level since August
      Published Wed, Oct 16 2024 7:00 AM EDT
      Updated Wed, Oct 16 2024 7:41 AM EDT
      Diana Olick

      WATCH LIVE
      Key Points

      – The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($766,550 or less) increased to 6.52% from 6.36%

      – Refinance demand fell 26% week to week.

      – Applications for a mortgage to buy a home dropped 7% for the week.
      …
      https://www.cnbc.com/2024/10/16/weekly-mortgage-demand-tanks-17percent-after-interest-rates-hit-the-highest-level-since-august-2024.html

      1. “Mortgage interest rates rose last week for the third straight week, hitting the highest level since August. That caused demand from both current homeowners and potential homebuyers to take a big step back. Total mortgage application volume fell 17% last week compared with the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s seasonally adjusted index.”

    2. Marketplace
      Why have mortgage interest rates been rising since the Fed cut rates in September?
      Caleigh Wells
      Oct 16, 2024
      Heard on:
      The average interest rate on a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage rose for the third week in a row, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.
      Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

      A couple of economic data drops this week should give us some insight into the housing market: On Friday, we’ll learn how many new residential units were under construction in September, courtesy of the Census Bureau. And while that number picked up in August, the consensus of economists surveyed by Bloomberg is that the number we’ll get Friday will show a decline.

      Meanwhile, Wednesday morning, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported that the average interest rate on a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage actually increased for the third week in a row.

      Which means that ever since one week after the Fed cut rates by 50 basis points, mortgage rates have been rising. And they’re now as high as they were about a month before the Fed cut rates.

      The bad news about rising mortgage rates is a symptom of good news for the rest of the economy.

      “If the economy continues to outperform expectations, then you’re likely to see rates come down more slowly,” said Gerald Cohen, chief economist at the Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
      …
      https://www.marketplace.org/2024/10/16/mortgage-rates-rising-federal-reserve-fed-cuts-homebuying/

  32. ‘Real estate brokers in the Hudson Valley are expressing a sense of uncertainty amid a stagnant market that signals the pandemic-era housing boom has officially ended. The Hudson Valley real estate market exploded during the pandemic as the region became a popular place for New York City residents to move. That momentum lasted for a few years…‘I have clients who have gone to the trough two or three times and have not won a single bid’

    Gosh DeWayne, I hope no one overpaid in such an environment!

  33. ‘There are clearly a lot more homes for potential buyers to look at with active listings jumping 17% to 869 compared to September 2023. Looking at just the Pueblo West market report, there is a five-and-a-half month supply of homes for sale with 237 homes available’

    We don’t hear the shortage thing much these days.

  34. ‘A landlord organization attacking an affordable housing champion isn’t a surprise.’ Fife said she wasn’t surprised to see the real estate industry target her. ‘None of the attacks are really about anything I’ve done — they’re about hyperbole and misinformation,’ said Councilmember Carroll Fife. ‘I think they are reading the room and using people’s fear about public safety to address the thing they care about most, which is their pockets. They understand people see Oakland as a crazy, scary place, and if they can make me a boogeyman, it’s a win-win’

    This is one of those homes for moms or moms for homes squatters who has milked that notoriety into a guberment job. Sounds screwy to me.

  35. ‘We felt good about it, so we built a spec building,’ Peterson President of Development Taylor Chess said. But it hasn’t found a taker. Chess said Peterson is ‘still trying to lease it.’ ‘The market’s a little bit soft,’ he said. ‘In the last year, we really felt that softening. … We’re waiting for what we see as the next wave to come. We still have that hangover of that huge push of industrial from Covid to 2023′

    Yer fooked Taylor. You never had a buyer. People like you get slaughtered the most.

  36. ‘A spokesperson with Northbridge Financial Corporation, a leading insurance provider for homebuilders, told CTV News that in 2023, it saw 10 times more suspicious fires in residential homebuilding than in the previous five years combined’

    I’ve been following this every step of the way.

  37. ‘The areas where we are seeing the biggest declines are actually those more expensive areas’

    That’s what one would expect with a bubble popping Anne.

  38. Will The Builder Reduce The Price? (GTA Condo Real Estate Market Update)

    Team Sessa Real Estate

    1 hour ago TORONTO

    This episode looks at the current GTA Condo Markets – Toronto, York Region & Peel Region for the week ending Oct 9, 2024. We also discuss an ongoing question regarding pre-construction units where buyers are wondering if the builder will reduce the prices for them because of the changing market.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1M9fKkD5t7k

    15:22.

    1. At 3 minutes he says ‘3.6% of all available condo in downtown Toronto sold last week.’ But is a 6.5 month inventory, he says.

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