It’s Still A Barren Land, So Where Did All The Money Go?
A report from Realtor.com. “As more homes hit the market, sellers are being forced to make price reductions to compete. ‘The percentage of homes with price reductions increased from 17.7% in September of last year to 18.6% this year,’ says Realtor.com senior economist Ralph McLaughlin. ‘Home price reductions signal to homebuyers that homes are not moving as quickly as sellers anticipated, and thus they reduce prices in order to drum up more interest from buyers. However, this doesn’t mean buyers can get whatever they ask for and should be aware there is a fine line between respectable offers and insulting offers, the latter of which may cause a seller to not want to do business with a particular buyer.'”
WPTV in Florida. “Jamie Tracey’s Port Salerno home was one of several that suffered damage following the tornado outbreak earlier this month. The 71-year-old calls it an ‘insurance nightmare,’ facing a $14,000 deductible to get her house fixed. Tracey estimates her home damages may cost $30,000. She adds paying a percentage of the building insured value, is something she was unaware of. ‘I was just told I had a 5% deductible but I thought it was 5% of the damages,’ shared Tracey. Tracey will now apply for a home equity loan but feels blind-sided by her insurance company. ‘I feel like a lot of people are getting robbed,’ shared Tracey. ‘And they’re crooks, they really are.'”
Local 10 in Florida. “The president of a condo association accused of embezzling more than $1 million from residents could soon return to the building where the alleged theft occurred. Jail records show 62-year-old Gregori Arzumenov, president of the Turnberry on the Green condominium in Aventura since 2008, has posted bond and is awaiting release. ‘It’s a shame, it’s a shame,’ a resident told Local 10 News reporter Christian De La Rosa. Arzumenov was arrested earlier this month, as first reported by Local 10 News, after being accused of orchestrating a series of financial schemes to steal from the association. In total, detectives say Arzumenov pocketed $1.5 million, using some of the money to purchase artwork and dine out. ‘Anything from buffalo chicken wings to going to buffets,’ an official said.”
Franchise Times. “Two former Anchored Tiny Homes executives filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection weeks after shutting down their company headquarters. Colton and Austin Paulhus, brothers and co-founders of the home builder franchise, filed bankruptcy petitions in California October 11 and September 30, respectively. The franchise abruptly closed its Fair Oaks, California, office in August and franchisees report rarely being able to reach the co-founders, if they can get in contact at all. In a LinkedIn message in September, the brand’s former eastern United States field business coach, Richard Howard, told Franchise Times ‘the business has gone under. There are so many people hurt by the owners,’ he wrote. ‘It is so wrong on many levels.'”
Times of San Diego. “Not surprisingly, this year’s presidential campaign pitting Vice President Kamala Harris against former President Donald Trump includes a sharp conflict over whether California is a shining model of prosperity and inclusiveness to be emulated or a dystopian hellhole of crime, squalor and oppressive politics. During a weekend rally in Coachella, Trump ticked off the well-worn list of California’s supposed sins — its embrace of undocumented immigrants, its huge population of homeless people and its regulatory thicket that makes doing business difficult. However, it also has one of the nation’s highest unemployment rates, as well as its highest levels of poverty and homelessness, twin crises rooted in very high housing costs. Moreover, the California economy is growing slowly, has been losing population to other states and nearly six million students in its school system fare poorly vis-à-vis those in other states in academic achievement tests. Gov. Gavin Newsom often seems unwilling to concede that California’s critics have some valid points, however politically motivated they may be. Continued failures to deal with existential issues such as housing and educational shortcomings could result in California’s becoming the dystopia Trump and others portray.”
The San Francisco Chronicle in California. “It’s been a tumultuous time for downtown San Francisco malls. Last week, in a surprising turn of events, it was reported that the jam-packed Metreon had been officially listed for sale. Now, the San Francisco Business Times reports that the fate of San Francisco’s former Westfield mall — now known as Emporium Centre San Francisco — is slated to be decided at a foreclosure auction on Nov. 14. Last month, the Japanese noodle chain Ajisen Ramen, permanently closed, as reported by the San Francisco Chronicle. Emporium Centre San Francisco’s auction follows the 2023 decision by owners Brookfield Properties and Westfield to walk away from their debt, citing ‘challenging operating conditions in downtown San Francisco.’ This came after the departure of anchor tenant Nordstrom, which occupied nearly half of the mall’s space, and other major closures.”
The Review Journal in Nevada. “Rental rates are dropping in the Las Vegas Valley from a glut of new supply coming on the market, according to Redfin. Many Sun Belt cities are starting to see large month-over-month rental rate drops, including Jacksonville, Florida, (-11.3 percent) Raleigh, North Carolina, (-10.6 percent) and San Diego (-10.4 percent). Las Vegas is currently adding a record number of apartment units to its total as a wave of pandemic-era financing kicked off a building boom in the city. Apartment complexes across the Las Vegas Valley are offering sizable concessions right now to entice renters, including multiple months of free rent as vacancy rates rise across the board.”
“‘Rents for new apartments will likely fall a little more this year, because there are still a ton of new buildings being completed,’ said Redfin senior economist Sheharyar Bokhari. ‘With new apartments popping up everywhere, owners are competing with one another to find tenants by reducing rents and offering concessions like free parking. If you’re a renter in a market like Dallas or Nashville, where construction has been booming, there are likely deals to be found.'”
Bisnow on Texas. “Houston multifamily investors are ready to put ‘extend and pretend’ behind them. Distressed sales and foreclosures are taking far longer to play out than anyone expected, FCP Vice President of Multifamily Acquisitions Cole Kellogg said. ‘We really think 2025 will be the opportunity where a lot of this high-leverage, workforce housing assets that were purchased in ’21, ’22, really start to hit the market,’ Kellogg said. Terri Clifton, managing partner at Better World Properties recalled once having to attend a Zoom interview to become the final candidate for a property purchase because so many buyers were interested. Then property values lowered by 25% to 30%, the cost of taxes and insurance spiked and floating rate debt got out of control, thinning out the buying pool and landing some investors in hot water. ‘Now, people who purchased some of those deals are in trouble, and they’re looking to get out,’ Clifton said.”
“Some syndicators put off accepting reality, so they raised more capital from investors to float their properties. A number of them ran up debt by not paying maintenance and other bills, and stressed out on-site staff, leading to turnover, Clifton said. ‘We purchased something four, five months ago and got it at a killer deal,’ she said. ‘That’s because the seller, his loan was coming due and he was forced to sell. You’re going to see a lot of that happening here over the next year. We’re actually getting ready to take one from a lender and bring it in-house, which means the poor investors lost all their equity,’ she said. ‘But my new investment group is going to win.'”
The Epoch Times. “The First National Bank of Lindsay was forced to cease operations after the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) found the institution to be in a perilous financial position. The Oklahoma-based First National Bank of Lindsay was shut down on Oct. 18 after the OCC identified ‘false and deceptive bank records and other information suggesting fraud that revealed depletion of the bank’s capital,’ the agency said in an Oct. 18 statement. The OCC found the financial institution to be in an ‘unsafe or unsound condition to transact business and that the bank’s assets were less than its obligations to its creditors and others,’ according to the statement. A June 20 report from Klaros Group that analyzed the state of the U.S. banking industry for the first quarter said the sector ‘continues to be under the same stresses that have triggered recent bank failures: higher rates and looming CRE credit issues.'”
CBC News in Canada.”More than 100 people are out tens of thousands of dollars each, after the developer of a pre-construction home project in Clearview, Ont., entered receivership. Rayyan Shahid and his wife, who are expecting their first child next month, were looking forward to moving into their dream home next year at the Clearview site near Wasaga Beach, about 150 kilometres north of Toronto. But that won’t be happening. The first-time homebuyer says that since December 2021, he’s paid $100,000 of his life savings as a down payment on the home, which was supposed to have been built by Sunrise Acquisitions (Stayner) Inc. by April 2025.”
“That Richmond Hill-based developer entered into receivership on the project in February. As a result, court documents show 117 homebuyers stand to lose about $4 million collectively, with some individuals losing as much as $130,000. Shahid’s on the hook for about $15,000. ‘It’s really devastating,’ he said. ‘It’s heartbreaking … One thing is not getting the house, then the other thing is losing the money also.’ Shahid says his biggest question is where the money went — especially given there’s been no construction of the homes people put down payments on. ‘It’s not like they started construction and they had to leave it in the middle,’ Shahid said. ‘It’s still a barren land. So where did all the money go?'”
“Faran Haq is another homebuyer who says he spent $100,000 since 2022 as a downpayment toward a home in the Clearview project. He expected to move into the new home this summer with his wife, son and parents. He says he was shocked to learn that the company he paid a deposit to had gone into receivership under a different name in the past. He said he hoped there would have been better regulatory oversight to protect buyers like him. ‘If someone’s been stung once, let’s make sure that … someone is not able to get stung again by the same person, right?'”
This Is Money in the UK. “The housing market continues to heat up with more people contacting estate agents hoping to buy or sell property, according to Rightmove. It also revealed the number of available homes for sale is 12 per cent higher than a year ago – and at the highest per estate agent since 2014. However, while people look keen to crack on with home moving plans, asking prices are being kept in check by the fact that buyers are spoilt for choice. Rightmove says the glut of homes on the market is intensifying competition between sellers, with buyer choice at levels not seen for ten years, putting downwards pressure on asking prices. Tim Bannister, property expert at Rightmove warned sellers need to price attractively to find a buyer, particularly with increasing numbers of people looking to sell.”
“‘This month’s subdued price growth comes as buyer choice soars to a level not seen since 2014,’ said Bannister. ‘With the ball in the buyer’s court and the pick of a big crop to choose from, sellers need to be pricing competitively to find a buyer, particularly with affordability still very stretched.’ Competition for buyers is particularly intense at the top-end of the market, where the number of four-bedroom detached houses and five-bedroom-plus homes available for sale is 17 per cent ahead of last year.”
Birmingham Mail. “UK tourists in Lanzarote and Tenerife have been ordered to ‘go home’ by locals. UK tourists in the European Union have been ‘forced to flee’ as ‘Go Home Tourist!’ signs are erected in Spain by the ‘Canary Islands Have a Limit’ group. Holidaymakers at Tenerife’s Playa de las Americas and Troya beaches were met by demonstrators who chanted ‘more tourists, more misery.’ It comes as protests continue to sweep Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura, Lanzarote, La Palma, and El Hierro. 8,000 protesters took part in the Canaries. One woman was carrying a cardboard poster which said: ‘Tourists, go f*g home.'”
Australian Financial Review. “Having peaked in 2021 amid a boom in commodity prices and low interest rates, the number of farmland transactions fell 18.7 per cent to a record low of 2966 between January and June, according to Rural Bank’s latest Australian Farmland Values Report. Danny Thomas, senior director at agency LAWD, said the Bureau of Meteorology’s forecast of an El Nino dry period in October last year led to a collapse of sheep and cattle prices and put a ‘real dent in confidence as it relates to real estate transactions.’ ‘And so from the fourth quarter of 2023 and into the first half of 2024 things have been quite difficult. So deals are taking longer, there have been less buyers in the market,’ he said.”
“The sharpest falls in median prices over the first half of 2024 compared with the second half of 2023 occurred in WA (-12.1 per cent), SA (-11 per cent) and Victoria (-6.7) per cent. Weakest performing markets over the first half of 2024 included the NSW far west – down 56 per cent – and south Tasmania, where median prices fell 52 per cent.”
From Worldcrunch. “You have to arrive at night in Shaoguan, a city of 3.3 million people in southeast China, to measure the real estate crisis that has hit the country. Around the high-speed train station, inaugurated in 2019, tower blocks of buildings have sprung up like mushrooms in recent years, creating a gigantic neighborhood. But when night falls, not a single light is on. That’s because Shaoguan is drowning in empty and unsold apartments. At the current sales pace, it will take more than 10 years to sell this stock, compared to an average of two years in China, according to estimates by the China Real Estate Information Corporation. This is a record in the country, which has 28,000 billion yuan ($3.96 billion) worth of available apartments, according to Barclays. ‘There are so many apartments, you can buy whichever one you want,’ Deng, a taxi driver, says jokingly.”
“Still, developers on site are doing everything they can to convince potential buyers. Huge red billboards on the tops of the buildings under construction announce in large letters ‘Buy this year, move in next year!’ At the Light of the New City residence, by the developer Country Garden, the purchase of a large three-room apartment comes with an additional 96.8 square feet for free. Buyers are also entitled to a free range hood. But nothing seems to be working. On this Friday at the end of September, the residence’s showroom — complete with a gigantic model of the building complex — is empty. Two real estate agents are killing time. ‘Country Garden has laid off half of its staff in Shaoguan,’ one of them says. Further into the city, the showroom doors of the Baoli Metropolis residence, are closed with a large padlock.”
“While real estate in Shanghai has remained stable (+0.8% in September), the price of new apartments fell by 8.3% in Shaoguan over the same period, according to real estate platform Anjuke. One square meter (10.7 square feet) is now worth only 5,590 yuan ($790) on average, while some apartments start at 4,000 yuan or 5,000 yuan per meter. ‘It’s really cheaper than 10 years ago,’ says a real estate agent at the Junyue residence, which is owned by Evergrande.”
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‘We purchased something four, five months ago and got it at a killer deal,’ she said. ‘That’s because the seller, his loan was coming due and he was forced to sell. You’re going to see a lot of that happening here over the next year. We’re actually getting ready to take one from a lender and bring it in-house, which means the poor investors lost all their equity,’ she said. ‘But my new investment group is going to win’
That’s the spirit Terri!
Tracey estimates her home damages may cost $30,000. She adds paying a percentage of the building insured value, is something she was unaware of.
“I was just told I had a 5% deductible but I thought it was 5% of the damages,” shared Tracey.
Norberg says it’s an issue some people run into.”The thing about deductibles is there needs to be a better explanation for everybody,” stated Norberg.
Norberg explains every insurance company is different and carries multiple deductibles. He says lower deductibles mean higher premiums, so most people take higher deductibles and run the risk of having to pay in a big catastrophe.
Florida is finished
“should be aware there is a fine line between respectable offers and insulting offers, the latter of which may cause a seller to not want to do business with a particular buyer.’”
It ain’t personal, it’s just business.
“…fine line between respectable offers and insulting offers…”
Fine line? Who’s kidding who?
Insulting offers? No, its insulting prices.
Yellen Bux “value” is melting away from overpriced shacks like FB tears in the rain. But the greedheads need a few more months of relentless housing bubble bust headlines and empty open houses to soften them up.
“…empty open houses to soften them up…”
Gigantic property tax bills (even here in SoCal with Prop 13) and end of year insurance renewals will help break the ice.
At the end of the day, maybe all those ‘insulting offers’ would be looking so bad after all.
” . . . there is a fine line between respectable offers and insulting offers . . ”
“Fine line” !? Oh please, spare me the fake empathy & concern for a seller: the only “fine line” that matters to realtors is the one that bears the signature on their commission check.
My suggestion is for buyers to figure out what they are willing and able to pay, and offer that, and no more. A given seller has the prerogative to contextualize any offer received as insulting and reject it. But eventually some seller will come to their senses and deal with a serial insulter’s lowball offer as better than never selling.
I have friends who have done well by making aggressive (insulting?) offers in a buyer’s market.
“ If you’re a renter in a market like Dallas or Nashville, where construction has been booming, there are likely deals to be found.’”
And remember too renters, rents are negotiable as much as home prices are negotiable. You see a rental that’s been sitting for a while, lowball it and ask for concessions.
As a credit-worthy renter with a solid track record, especially during the scamdemic when I honored the contract I signed with my landlord, I want to be wooed. I deserve that.
The IMF informs the peasantry that the (mythical) global fight against inflation is “almost won.” Meanwhile almost everything keeps getting more expensive as the central bankers keep expanding the money supply. One of these things is not like the other.
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/10/22/global-fight-against-inflation-almost-won-but-risks-are-rising-imf.html
However, this doesn’t mean buyers can get whatever they ask for and should be aware there is a fine line between respectable offers and insulting offers, the latter of which may cause a seller to not want to do business with a particular buyer.’”
It’s way too early in the housing bubble bust to be making any offers, insulting or otherwise. Seller delusion and entitlement are still far too strong. Give it a few months until the panic sets in and greedhead sellers get a reality check on “insulting” offers being the new market value. Strategic patience, frens.
I must admit that during the last bust when I started sniffing out deals I did take a perverse pleasure in the insulting lowball offer.
If they aren’t insulted, you offered too much.
“….aren’t insulted…”
Yes!.. The absolute litmus test. Sellers / agents faces must become cherry red.
Call it helping them get through the anger phase of denial sooner rather than later. Your welcome!
To be honest it doesn’t have anything to do with pissing off the seller. It’s good business. You make yer money especially as a landlord, when you buy.
I’ll give you an example that I’ve mentioned here before. In 2014 I was tasked with finding a 1031 exchange replacement for $330k. I looked over 3 states and settled on Kingman AZ residential rentals. These weren’t foreclosures, not enough time for that. I found a four plex with a cap rate of 12%, hammered the seller. He and his wife were going to do a 1031 exchange too and buy near their daughter in Ohio, so I knew they wanted out.
I had another 35k to spend. Found this sh$tbox listed at for 40k, SF 2/1 and a half baths. I knew seller lived out of the country, my agent informed me he/she really wanted to dump it. I think I offered 35k. My UHS calls and says’ ‘he accepted!’ I said oh sh$t, I paid too much. I was under contract. At inspection I came up with another 7k of stuff wrong, which wasn’t hard to find, and dropped my price that much and he accepted. My UHS said, I thought you were going to make him give it to you Ben!
I saved enough of the 1031 money to put in new ACs for it all and reworked some stairs and doors. They generated cash well, and were both sold in the past two years. The sh$tbox got 115k.
That money was made on the buy. Dirt cheap, couldn’t lose even buying in a time pinch during a bubble. And you know where I learned that if yer first offer is accepted you paid too much? From some guy on HBB years ago. I took it to heart, IMO you need to have an philosophy about it. The minute a UHS tells me there’s other people interested, I say let em have it, there will always be more and end the conversation. I am a vulture.
“Follow the science,” they said. Failing to mention that the “science” was bought and paid for by the likes of Bill Gates.
https://x.com/liz_churchill10/status/1848517857619173792
I noticed the Aussie small ranches (They call them stations) ,are right reasonable priced ,even along the east coast ,within an hour or two of the water ,up above Sidney …,all the way to the bay…..their houses are still listed far too high , Why would you buy a house in town , for the same price as a small ranch?
Here ,in the US ,we are overdue for a correction in farmland, the farmers will howl to daddy in washington , but land will still drop ,as it always has …
The paper silver that the COMEX has been selling to investors does not exist in physical above-ground form. This scam should be illegal, but instead is integral to the Fed propping up the dollar by having its bullion bank accomplices manipulate (suppress) silver and gold prices by selling paper (non-existent) silver. That works until it doesn’t.
https://x.com/RRHacker1934/status/1848473969562730966
When investors balk at buying the debt of a corrupt, insolvent banana republic, how far will the Fed be forced to raise rates to fund our insane deficits?
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bonds-selling-off-everywhere-traders-022248698.html
Silver, Bitchez!!
https://x.com/WallStreetSilv/status/1847363099046678740
‘Muricans have completely burned through their scamdemic-era savings, while credit card debt is hitting new record highs. Paul Krugman could not be reached for comment.
https://x.com/GlobalMktObserv/status/1848371161744155049
Revealed: the dark money cabal behind the uniparty.
https://x.com/Tyler2ONeil/status/1848369567401226530/photo/1
There is no housing shortage. Realtors are liars.
https://x.com/DonMiami3/status/1848360721182044469
Realtors are liars.
The restaurant apocalypse continues in Paul Krugman’s Strongest Economy Ever. If people can’t afford to eat out, how will they be able to afford exorbitant corporate rents or overpriced shacks?
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/yourmoney/article-13986199/popular-usa-restaurant-chain-shutters-locations.html
Going out for breakfast has become a luxury.
For me it was always a treat or something to do with guests. When prices shot up I got sticker shock and backed off. Now with no habit of eating out, I find I never do it anymore. Inflation is a terrible thing Jerry. It changes peoples behavior in millions of ways. The other day I got an email ad for a BBQ chain joint. The 3 meat plate went from $18 to $30 in one go. What will that do to sales?
The 3 meat plate went from $18 to $30 in one go. What will that do to sales?
I can smoke two whole racks of baby backs for less than $30. With fixin’s it’s under $40, and it’s enough for four.
I haven’t tried a brisket yet, mostly because they take so long. I use the 3-2-1 method for ribs, which is 6 hours. But a brisket can take 12+ hours
Going out for breakfast has become a luxury.
Before 2020, wifey and I could go out to a Saturday breakfast for less than $25, including a nice tip. Last time we tried, it was near $50.
We won’t be back. I can make a Denver omelet at home for a few dollars. That’s a permanent change. To paraphrase Harris, I’m not going back.
“To paraphrase Harris, I’m not going back.”
LMFAO!!
This is an article on a housing development now in default in the Reno NV area. Over 600 lots, behind a paywall:
https://www.rgj.com/story/news/money/business/2024/10/21/meridian-120-housing-project-in-reno-gets-notice-of-default-real-estate/75782324007/
While the globalist scum media enforces a journalistic omerta when it comes to reporting on unrealized losses at U.S. banks, some African financial commentators – of all people – note that these losses are 7X worse than during the 2008 Great Financial Crisis. Senator Running Deer could not be reached for comment.
https://www.tekedia.com/unrealized-losses-at-us-banks-7x-higher-than-2008/
Bonds Slump Globally as Traders Rethink Fed’s Rate Cut Path
Bonds extended losses as investors mulled the prospect of slower US interest-rate cuts, a trend that risks upending debt positions everywhere.
The selloff pushed yields on two-year Treasuries higher by as much as two basis points on Tuesday, while 10-year yields briefly topped 4.2% for the first time since July. The rate on 10-year German securities touched the highest level since early September. The rout also spread to Asia, where the yield on Australian benchmark debt surged as much as 16 basis points. US yields subsequently retreated to little-changed levels.
At the heart of the selloff lies a reassessment of the outlook for US monetary policy. Traders are paring back bets on aggressive easing given the US economy remains robust and Fed officials this week sounded a cautious tone over the pace of future rate decreases. Rising oil prices and the prospect of bigger fiscal deficits after the upcoming US presidential election are only compounding the market’s concerns.
“With less than two weeks now until the US elections, concerns about the fiscal outlook and its potential upward pressure on inflation have become more acute,” said Robert Dishner, senior portfolio manager at Neuberger Berman in London.
The US 10-year yield rose 10 basis points on Monday. The move steepened a part of the US yield curve that’s been inverted since late 2022, with the gap between three-month and 10-year yields reaching the narrowest level in nearly two years.
“We will see 4.5% probably early next year” for US 10-year yields, said Ed Yardeni, founder of Yardeni Research, speaking in an interview on Bloomberg Television.
“We probably see a slight correction from here,” said Lucinda Haremza, vice president of fixed-income sales at Mizuho Securities in Singapore. There’s “risk of a stronger rally on rising Middle-East tensions or a Harris election win,” she said, referring to the US presidential election contest between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, the Republican candidate.
For now though, the combination of US debt supply, election hedging and markets front-running the risks of a Republican “red sweep” at the polls may see larger-than-usual fluctuations in Treasuries.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bonds-selling-off-everywhere-traders-022248698.html
But I was dating the rate
Mortgage Rates Rise to a 2-Month High: Our Economist Explains What It Means for the Housing Market
By Danielle Hale, provided by
NAR Sponsorship Logo
Oct 21, 2024
…
https://www.sfgate.com/realestate/article/mortgage-rates-rise-to-a-2-month-high-our-19847606.php
When are loose lending and plummeting CRE values going to start taking down local and regional banks?
https://www.news9.com/story/67131d0292f4d252bbe60336/first-national-bank-of-lindsay-closes–fdic-takes-over-deposits
UK tourists in Lanzarote and Tenerife have been ordered to ‘go home’ by locals.
While I understand their frustration with huge waves of tourists, the truth is these places would shrivel up without them. Or perhaps they truly want to revert to being third world fishing villages?
I have read that there is a new trend in ocean cruising: to not get off the ship when it’s in port, and that it’s for four reasons:
1) Some ports are not safe
2) Some ports are over crowded when several megaships dock and disgorge their passengers
3) The mega ships often have to dock at “ugly” piers, where the container ships dock, because they are too big to dock downtown
and
4) The locals are hostile to the cruisers.
A reader sent these in:
Children bouncing on worn out mattresses in England, 1980s.
https://x.com/historyinmemes/status/1848220417007521834
More than half of Florida, Tampa’s homes on the market have seen price reductions, making it one of the hardest-hit metropolitan areas in the country, per NYP.
https://x.com/unusual_whales/status/1848322590311321966
CB Leading Index fell pretty substantially in September – led by real estate weakness, new orders & abatement in stock gains.
This is the largest drop on record w/o recession while private sector struggles continue.
https://x.com/DonMiami3/status/1848366656986243506
Massive inflation will create illusory ‘shortages’ as too much capital is chasing a limited supply of housing stock that were turned into gambling trading cards.
The real shortage is in rental & affordable stock created by that same effect – adding 15-20 million people in 3 years will put pressure on particularly rental supply.
https://x.com/DonMiami3/status/1848361968891019561
Don’t worry, the S&P 1 is just fine.
https://x.com/NorthmanTrader/status/1848365821380145406
Bond market to Fed:
Can you hear me now?
https://x.com/NorthmanTrader/status/1848384594774524404
“early stage of a melt up”
https://x.com/NorthmanTrader/status/1848363675536515388
The bond market seems to be sending a message to fiscal policymakers both in the U.S. and abroad that we have hit a breaking point with global public sector debt rapidly approaching the $100 trillion mark. The record-breaking gold price would concur.
https://x.com/EconguyRosie/status/1848368958522474891
Curious if we get an administration change how this will impact student loan payments.
These have been on pause for 4 years now in many cases – I bet they come up with a new payment plan to 99 years or something to say they ‘kept repayments’ rather than cancelling.
https://x.com/DonMiami3/status/1848428700565447055
30 year mortgage back near 7%
https://x.com/DonMiami3/status/1848401106197434727
Brutal day
https://x.com/stevehouf/status/1848455956167880926
Credit card debt is exploding way beyond 2008 and 2020 levels.
If history’s taught us anything, it’s that this kind of spike usually screams incoming economic crash.
https://x.com/kurtsaltrichter/status/1848340990433636544
BLACKROCK’S FINK SAYS RISING US GOVERNMENT DEBT “A BIG PROBLEM”
https://x.com/DeItaone/status/1848395406629363942
KASHKARI: VERY FEW TRANSACTIONS HAPPEN ON CRYPTO, UNLESS ITS DRUGS OR ILLEGAL ACTIVITY
https://x.com/DeItaone/status/1848420382878921196
The FTC’s final rule banning fake online reviews and testimonials has come into effect.
This means businesses are prohibited from the sale and purchase of fake positive or negative consumer reviews, as well as “fake indicators of social media influence.”
https://x.com/unusual_whales/status/1848450684338987228
Rising rates crashed the market in the 1970s
Is history repeating today?
https://x.com/bravosresearch/status/1848403918755401803
If your plan was always QE to infinity, and you made all your bets that way, and you’re still rooting for it, you are a plague on future generations. The right thing is to allow deflation. The financial powers have controlled this country and world and look at the mess.
https://x.com/windgineering/status/1848445331241099315
If student loan repayment is inconsequential to the consumer economy, why keep pausing?
https://x.com/NeelyTamminga/status/1848440143968969022
46% of US electric vehicles owners eye gasoline vehicles again — Report
https://x.com/anasalhajji/status/1848398987331555788
Nancy Pelosi is now worth $257,000,000, per our estimates.
She has made $12M in the stock market in just over a month.
https://x.com/QuiverQuant/status/1848434295280451760
BIGGEST HOME PRICE DECLINES SINCE THEIR 2022 PEAK
Among the 300 largest metros…
Austin, TX -> -20.4%
New Orleans, LA -> -14.4%
Lake Charles, LA -> -14.1%
Punta Gorda, FL -> -11.8%
Boise, ID -> -9.7%
San Francisco, CA -> -9.4%
Chico, CA -> -8.8%
https://x.com/ResidentialClub/status/1848428856576741626
And they’re still overpriced by 40%
https://x.com/g0lden8ge/status/1848429551115968802
Economist Claudia Sahm says namesake recession rule, the Sahm Rule, may have misfired this year, per MW.
https://x.com/unusual_whales/status/1848362855651037194
RE agent in one of the hottest markets in the country says the market is “dead” (Boston).
https://x.com/GayBearRes/status/1848400421552808072
Can’t find a home?
331 Langley St sold Oct 2023, registered for Airbnb 2 days later.
“Real Estate Investors” Brenda deGerald & Brenden Derstine bought 2 homes in San Diego to Airbnb. They don’t live in them.
100s of cases like this in San Diego.
No housing shortage.
https://x.com/NotoriousAirbnb/status/1848390660602364079
If you’re trying to lose some IQ points, I highly recommend this article
https://x.com/GayBearRes/status/1848486071455322118
Seems about right.
https://x.com/SacAppraiser/status/1848479482933334257
A lot of people dating the rate, about to divorce the house.
https://x.com/BuxJackets/status/1848444725050937618
So the insurer of last resort isn’t paying out claims in Florida?
https://x.com/GayBearRes/status/1848443655037849850
Bill Ackman sold his shares in Netflix here:
https://x.com/brewmarkets/status/1848396641008513441
🧐North Dakota voters could end property taxes. North Dakota have a chance to act next month by repealing property taxes and barring counties, towns and other local governments from levying them. ND would become the first U.S. state to end property taxes
https://x.com/dailyjobcuts/status/1848549553508643172
Coming soon: Federal mandate to purchase homeowners insurance covering “climate-driven” perils like storms, floods, and wildfires taking into account climate change.
“Obamacare for homeowners insurance” 😬
https://x.com/RyanMaue/status/1848423856798679180
TGI Fridays is the latest chain restaurant grappling with financial distress as fewer people eat out and costs rise. The casual sit-down restaurant chain with about 200 remaining locations is preparing to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in coming weeks, Bloomberg reports, citing unnamed sources. TGI Fridays is meeting with lenders to secure new financing and hopes to emerge as an operating company, according to Bloomberg.
The restaurant has struggled to compete with fast-casual restaurant chains like Chipotle, Cava and Sweetgreen, which have eaten into its market share. The restaurant industry as a whole has suffered since customers have pulled back on dining out, and restaurants face rising expenses from factors including high interest rates, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Going back decades, this year is set to come second to only 2020 for the number of restaurant chains and operators declaring bankruptcy, according to BankruptcyData.com records reported by the WSJ. Traditional chain restaurants like Red Lobster and Buca di Beppo have had to resort to a court-facilitated restructuring, but so have fast-casual chains Roti, Tijuana Flats and fast-casual taco chain Rubio’s.
Same-store sales traffic at U.S. restaurants was down 3.3% year-over-year this month, according to Black Box Intelligence, and casual dining restaurants saw visits fall 4.5%.
Cava CEO Brett Schulman told the WSJ that he has had more than a dozen distressed restaurant companies pitched to him as acquisition or investment targets over the past year.
But private equity firms and banks have become more cautious toward the restaurant sector, Morgan McClure told the WSJ. McClure is the managing director for Fortress Investment Group, which leads the ownership group that has bought Red Lobster, Krystal Restaurants, Logan’s Roadhouse and more out of bankruptcy since 2020.
McClure said he has looked at nearly 100 restaurant companies available for purchase this year and passed on most of them. “There’s going to be pain for a while,” McClure told the WSJ.
https://www.bisnow.com/national/news/retail/tgi-fridays-prepares-to-join-growing-list-of-2024-restaurant-bankruptcies-126411
The tone-deaf strategy and bad leadership at the heart of Stellantis’s failure
Stellantis workers, dealers, investors and customers should be scratching their heads: How come the guy responsible for making a proper mess at the giant automaker gets to stick around for another 18 months?
What a mess it is. Stubbornly high luxury-level prices on core workhorse brands like Jeep, Dodge and Ram have turned away loyal buyers. Bloated inventories have clogged North American dealer lots, reaching almost half a million vehicles in the summer. The company’s stock has lost almost half its value this year, and thousands of workers face layoffs.
There’s even word that the company might need to shed some of its signature brands, which include Maserati and Chrysler, to right the listing ship.
In any other company, except maybe Boeing, such a crisis would have stakeholders, including boards of directors, calling for the immediate taking of leadership heads. After all, the problems didn’t happen overnight or because of some external force; they have been building for some time and are entirely self-inflicted.
Not at Stellantis. The No. 4 automaker’s embattled chief executive, Carlos Tavares, intends to remain in his position until his contract expires in 2026, as if he is doing stakeholders a favour by staying on to attempt a turnaround from a crisis he created by failing to understand the tolerances and sensitivities of car buyers in the company’s most lucrative market.
For the man heralded as a visionary dealmaker for combining Peugeot and Fiat Chrysler to create Stellantis, Mr. Tavares’s current fumble is remarkable. The company stunned investors last month with a dire profit warning tied directly to the failing health of its perennial cash cow, the U.S. market, where sagging sales and shrinking margins of Jeeps, Dodge and Ram pickup trucks reached critical condition.
U.S. sales fell 20 per cent in the third quarter, a stark contrast to industrywide sales that showed modest growth. As inventories at North American Jeep, Dodge and Ram dealers rose to record levels, investors’ concerns drove down the share price.
Yet the valley of death between the marketplace reality and the arrogance of the Stellantis C-suite did not seem to humble Mr. Tavares, who initially kissed off the U.S. problems as a “small operational error.”
The real problem is that Mr. Tavares forgot a most basic rule of business: Know what value means to your customers and price your products accordingly.
Like many automakers, Stellantis raised prices during the COVID-19 pandemic as supply chain problems caused inventory shortages. The increases were beyond the reach of even the most loyal customers for its popular North American models, who had always looked to those brands for reliable, value-priced products.
When the company was slow to lower prices when shortages eased, customers looked elsewhere for value. But since the company had scrapped many of its entry-level models and did not invest adequately in popular mid-market models, many buyers found it difficult to stay in the Stellantis family.
The disconnect opened the door for competitors. For example, Ford Motor Co.’s Bronco SUV model was able to gain ground among Jeep buyers with discounted pricing and targeted marketing.
Among the many lessons in Stellantis’s spin-out: Even leaders with stellar reputations like Mr. Tavares should be careful about resting on their laurels. In a highly competitive and constantly changing business like the auto industry, that’s a risky strategy.
And don’t let hubris drive your marketing and sales strategy. Remember who your customers are, why they buy your products and how much they are able to pay for them.
Any leader who hasn’t learned that shouldn’t feel entitled to stay, no matter what his contract stipulates.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/commentary/article-the-tone-deaf-strategy-and-bad-leadership-at-the-heart-of-stellantiss/
Stubbornly high luxury-level prices on core workhorse brands like Jeep, Dodge and Ram have turned away loyal buyers.
It crosses my mind that had the eschewed all the fancy tech that makes cars and trux so expensive, they would be able to easily undercut the competition. When I look at new prices I’m simply blown away.
Then I read this morning that GM has near record sales (in $$ not units) and profits. What is going on?
“…all the fancy tech that makes cars and trux so expensive…”
Adding to the fixed expense is the collision and comprehensive auto insurance. When these vehicles are in even a small fender bender, say up front, the collision center replaces [all] of the front sensors, e.g., parking, adaptive cruise control, inlet air temperature, etc., with factory oem parts. To operate and depreciate a vehicle now requires serious cashflow.
Aircraft dealers closed 373 transactions for pre-owned models in the third quarter, a 15% year-over-year increase and the highest level of third-quarter closings recorded by the International Aircraft Dealers Association (IADA) since it started surveying members in 2020.
Releasing its third-quarter market report on Oct. 21, IADA said its members closed 993 transactions through September, 14% more volume compared to the first three quarters of 2023.
The inventory of pre-owned aircraft has grown over the last year, softening demand and lowering prices. Buyers have gained negotiating leverage when considering older models, IADA says, but newer pre-owned models remain in demand.
“There is movement, and it is becoming more of a buyers’ market than a sellers’ market, but it’s a very normal progression,” says IADA Executive Director Wayne Starling. “It’s largely because inventory is increasing. But if you look for a late-model [aircraft], the inventory has not increased there. It has increased for some of the legacy, older aircraft that people are putting on the market. Those aren’t moving like they were two years ago.”
Dealers reported 144 new acquisition agreements in the third quarter, a 4% increase over the second quarter and 22% more year-over-year. The number of exclusive retainer agreements stayed steady from the previous quarter. There was a 67% increase in reduced-price listings year-over-year measured from a relatively small base, IADA reports.
“As expected, price adjustments are a feature of today’s market as the resetting of value expectations continues after post-pandemic highs experienced in 2021 and 2022,” the association says.
https://aviationweek.com/shownews/nbaa/iada-reports-shift-buyers-market
Heat pumps were supposed to help save the planet. But they’ve run into a bump.
Sales of solar panels, batteries and electric vehicles have soared over the last few years — helping to slow global warming and take dangerous pollutants out of the atmosphere.
But one technology critical to fighting climate change is lagging, thanks to a combination of high interest rates, rising costs, misinformation and the cycle of home construction. Adoption of heat pumps, one of the primary ways to cut emissions from buildings, has slowed in the United States and stalled in Europe, endangering the switch to clean energy.
Heat pump investment in the United States has dropped by 4 percent in the past two years, even as sales of EVs have almost doubled, according to data from MIT and the Rhodium Group. In 13 European countries, heat pump sales dropped nearly in half in the first half of 2024, putting the European Union off-track for its climate goals.
“Many many markets are falling,” said Paul Kenny, the director general of the European Heat Pump Association. “It takes time to change people’s minds about a heating system.”
In the United States, experts point to lags in construction, high interest rates, and general belt-tightening from inflation. Lacey Tan, a manager for the carbon-free buildings team at the clean energy think tank RMI, says that heating systems follow a regular pattern — they need to be replaced at least every 15 years or so. So installations occur cyclically, every 15 years after a building boom.
According to data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the last major spike in new home construction was in 2005, followed by the 2008 housing crash. That means the biggest wave of upgrades for those homes has already passed; the homes being upgraded now were built during the housing slump.
In the United States, low gas prices also make the economics of heat pumps more challenging. Gas is around three times cheaper than electricity — while heat pumps make up most of that ground with efficiency, they aren’t the most cost-effective option for every household.
In Europe, heat pump installers are also facing a wave of misinformation. Last year in Germany, the government proposed a ban on installing gas furnaces — the law, which was eventually watered down, became a central talking point for the emerging far right. Right-wing groups claimed that heat pumps cost up to 100,000 euros (nearly $109,000) and only worked if homes had underfloor heating.
In the first half of 2023, contractors sold 1.44 million heat pumps in Europe — in the first half of 2024, that number dropped to just 744,000.
Kenny, of the European Heat Pump Association, points to those far-right protests — as well as falling gas prices. In 2023, with the invasion of Ukraine, natural gas prices spiked and Europe pivoted quickly away from the fuel. Now, gas prices have come down, undercutting the benefits of switching to electricity. Europe as a whole gets about 40 percent of its electricity from renewable sources, and just 20 percent from gas. At the same time, countries like Italy and Poland cut their subsidy rates, also eliminating some of the cost savings.
“Right-wing politicians and populist politicians need culture wars,” Kenny said. “And climate is an easy one.”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/heat-pumps-were-supposed-to-transform-the-world-but-it-s-not-going-as-planned/ar-AA1sDozN
Boston Landlord Charged with Defrauding Pandemic Housing Relief Funds
A Boston-area landlord faced arraignment in Suffolk Superior Court on charges of defrauding pandemic housing relief funds. Steven Stoico, who owns properties across Boston, Chelsea, and Revere, has been charged with multiple counts of larceny and attempted larceny.
Stoico is accused of submitting seven falsified applications for rental assistance during the COVID-19 pandemic. Allegedly, three were approved, funneling $95,400 into Stoico’s accounts. The four other claims, which attempted to garner an additional $136,200, were not successful. Inspector General Jeffrey S. Shapiro, as reported by Mass.gov, highlighted the severity of this misuse of rental assistance, especially given the region’s high housing costs.
https://hoodline.com/2024/10/boston-landlord-charged-with-defrauding-pandemic-housing-relief-funds/
Big banks are bracing for losses as Americans struggle to pay off debt
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/big-banks-bracing-losses-americans-203829840.html
US consumers and businesses are having trouble paying off credit, auto, and commercial-real-estate debt.
Banks have increased their reserves in part to prepare for loan losses.
Bank CEOs said on recent earnings calls elevated prices and interest rates continued to weigh on people.
US banks are having a harder time collecting debts, so they’re taking precautions.
According to Federal Reserve data, the past-due debt share for credit cards, autos, and commercial real estate has recently risen to above pre-pandemic levels. The share of debt banks have written off as a loss because they couldn’t collect it has also ticked up, with the charge-off rate for two of these three loan types the highest they’ve been in more than a decade.
Business Insider spoke with industry insiders who said this had prompted a response from big banks anticipating a continued increase in bad loans. US banks have increased their reserves in recent years, effectively setting aside cash to cover loan losses.
While it’s commonplace for banks to increase their reserves as loan levels rise over time, reserves have started gradually making up a bigger share of total loans at firms such as Wells Fargo, Bank of America, JPMorgan, and Citigroup. Since June 2022, Wells Fargo’s and Bank of America’s reserves have risen by about $1.8 billion and $2.4 billion, respectively. Still, for context, these firms’ cash coffers are still considerably lighter than they were during the Great Recession.
America’s 3 debt pain points
Each month, the New York Fed asks roughly 1,300 Americans to estimate the chance they’ll be unable to make a minimum debt payment over the next three months. Aside from the pandemic, Americans haven’t been this pessimistic since 2017.
Consumers’ struggles to repay credit-card and auto debt suggest that inflation and interest rates, while moderating in recent months, are still taking a toll on their finances. Additionally, businesses’ struggles to pack back commercial-real-estate debt indicate that factors like elevated interest rates and the remote-work revolution are having lingering effects.
Here’s a closer look at each of the three debt categories:
Credit-card debt
As of the second quarter of this year, more than 3% of all credit-card accounts in the US had past-due balances, the Federal Reserve Board found — up from less than 2% in 2021.
The steady uptick in past-due credit-card debt over such a short period provides some cause for concern, Bruce McClary, a credit counselor and senior vice president at the nonprofit National Foundation for Credit Counseling, told BI.
“What we are seeing is that people are struggling to repay debt while continuing to use up what is left of their available credit — forcing more people to start falling behind on their payments and into the hands of debt collectors,” he said.
David Schiff, a senior managing director at FTI, told BI that prolonged debt-repayment problems would eventually present a bigger risk to the economy.
The increase in reserves raises “real concerns about the softness of certain assets classes — specifically ongoing uncertainty around the commercial-real-estate market and increasing worry about the number of revolving credit-card customers and their rapidly growing balances,” Schiff told BI.
Auto debt
A Federal Reserve report published on September 26 found that auto-loan delinquency rates rose “substantially” above pre-pandemic levels by the end of 2023, driven in large part by growth in monthly debt payments.
In fact, a growing number of Americans owe more than their cars are worth, a report published on Tuesday by the automotive website Edmunds said. Stephen Biggar, the director of financial-services research at Argus Research, told BI that if a bank is forced to repossess such a vehicle, the car’s value wouldn’t even cover the loan, resulting in losses to the bank. He said that the uptick in auto delinquencies was “not a spike but is kind of a concern about what goes on from here.”
Commercial-real-estate debt
Another problem for banks is that some businesses with commercial-real-estate loans are struggling to repay them. Biggar said some of this was tied to high vacancy rates among offices. While many companies have called employees back to the office since the height of the pandemic, office vacancy rates still rose to record highs over the past year.
Elevated interest rates have also made it difficult for businesses to pay back commercial-real-estate loans related to office, retail, hotel, and apartment-building properties, among others. That’s because some loans are coming due — forcing businesses to refinance at much higher interest rates.
To be sure, we’re still far from a debt crisis: The share of past-due and charged-off debt generally remains in line with historical levels after rising from pandemic-era lows. Additionally, some banks are simply restoring reserves that were depleted during the pandemic. However, if the economy slows and the unemployment rate rises further, the uptick in delinquencies could become a larger concern, Biggar said.
Wall Street acknowledgment
While banking executives this earnings season generally spoke highly of the economy, they did acknowledge that elevated prices and interest rates continued to weigh on American consumers.
“Our customers are healthy but more discerning in their spend with signs of stress isolated,” Jane Fraser, Citi’s CEO, said, referring to consumers with lower credit scores.
Brian Moynihan, Bank of America’s CEO, said that overall consumer spending remained strong but that “consumers are worried of the cost of living, worried about higher rates, and other matters.”
Charles Scharf, Wells Fargo’s CEO, said the bank hadn’t seen “meaningful changes” in delinquency rates across its credit portfolio but that there’s evidence of financial strain among some Americans.
“We continue to see more pronounced stress in certain customer segments with lower deposit and asset levels where inflation has partially offset strong employment and wage growth,” he said.
Jeremy Barnum, JPMorgan’s CFO, said that consumers’ discretionary spending had “normalized” following particularly strong levels in recent years.
The financial roller coaster of pandemic payments, inflation, and high interest rates is especially affecting lower-income Americans.
“We know consumers at a certain income level and below are strapped,” Biggar said, adding, “There’s been a lot of concern, particularly at the lower-income category, that people are unable to make ends meet.”
Going forward, Biggar said, many banks could continue adding to their reserves, particularly if the unemployment rate rises further. That might not ultimately be necessary, since the jobless rate has stabilized over the past two months after a surprise increase.
“I’m not expecting any big spike from here unless the unemployment rate moves materially higher,” Biggar said of further reserve reinforcements.
Paul Krugman muh best economy ever.
“In fact, a growing number of Americans owe more than their cars are worth, a report published on Tuesday by the automotive website Edmunds said.”
Who knew ‘underwater automobile’ could refer to other than a consequence of severe flooding?
“Who knew ‘underwater automobile’ could refer to other than a consequence of severe flooding?”
Wonder how many upside-down vehicle owners purposely drove into the deep water, i.e., sold it to Allstate et al?
Forget Kamala Harris: Should Democrats Have Picked Michelle Obama?
Democrats Have Buyer’s Remorse with Kamala Harris: The Democratic Party was deeply committed to not only being the party that got the first female president of the United States but that the first female president was also a person of color. Enter Vice-President Kamala Harris, who swooped in to replace her running-mate, the aging President Joe Biden in the eleventh hour and who appealed to the Democrats because she was that female of color that they wanted so badly to nominate.
But before the switch-a-roo between Biden and Harris occurred over this last summer, there was talk for many years that Joe Biden was going to be replaced in 2024 as the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee with another famous woman of color. Many people believed that former First Lady Michelle Obama was slated to be called upon by her party to replace the aging Joe Biden at the last second.
Indeed, judging from how badly Vice-President Harris has been performing in the polls—and the fact that even before she became the nominee Harris’ approval rating as vice-president was one of the lowest in history—many Democrats likely have buyer’s remorse. Compare Harris’ ratings over the last four years with those of Michelle Obama. Whereas Harris is viewed with derision, Michelle Obama is still highly regarded.
This year, things seem to be somewhat normal in terms of the election. There is no novel crisis affecting the American public that might impact voting (so far). Under these conditions, then, Trump can be Trump—and he is. The fact that President Biden, after having won 14 million Democratic Party votes in his party’s presidential primary this year, was unceremoniously ousted from the nomination by his fellow DNC elites has left a bad taste in many people’s mouths.
Whether fair or not, this has negatively impacted Kamala Harris, who is now seen by many as a usurper (even if she does not struggle with the obvious age-related cognitive decline of Biden).
While the Democrats are content to play along with the charade that Biden wanted to extricate himself from this year’s race, the general voting population is uneasy about it. Meanwhile, Trump continues to ground Harris’ campaign down, notably in key swing states (and that’s all while Trump has a rather unimpressive ground game in those key swing states).
For all her favorable press, Harris is proving to be as unprepared for running for president this cycle as she was in the previous one (remember she dropped out of the Democratic Party’s 2020 race before the California primary because she feared losing her own state). While it’s true that Michelle Obama has never run for high office, the fact of the matter is that her support and popularity are far different from those of Harris.
Plus, we all know that the Obama wing of the Democratic Party has its hands firmly on the steering wheel of the Harris campaign. In 2020, both Barack and Michelle Obama firmly supported Kamala Harris’ candidacy. They begrudgingly accepted the Biden candidacy. Yet, having an acolyte running for office is far different than having a genuine article, like Michelle Obama, run.
It’s possible that, once in the ring, Michelle Obama would have experienced the same relative decline in her popularity and support—notably in key swing states—that Harris has. Michelle Obama is noted for having a glass jaw.
As First Lady, she was not an explicitly political figure and, therefore, was often treated far differently than she would have been treated if she were in the political arena rather than her husband. It’s possible that Mrs. Obama’s negatives would have been amplified—especially by the brutal campaign style of Donald Trump.
But Michelle Obama is a much stronger figure on the campaign trail than Kamala Harris (and that’s saying a lot since Harris is a professional politician). Michelle Obama is much better about getting her messages out, and she resonates with a much larger share of the American people.
In other words, whether she wins or not, Kamala Harris is a much weaker candidate than Michelle Obama would have been. Of course, Michelle Obama appears to be living her best life. Why sully it with a run for office?
Anyway, the Democrats have obvious buyer’s remorse. It’s probable that President Biden, despite all his shortcomings (and he has many) was a better and more qualified candidate for president than Kamala Harris.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/forget-kamala-harris-should-democrats-have-picked-michelle-obama/ar-AA1sFAk0
“…whether she wins or not, Kamala Harris is a much weaker candidate than Michelle Obama would have been.”
Are we still discussing the leader of the free world?
[No good deed shall go unpunished.]
Squatters allegedly take over home of couple in their 70s: ‘The law should be different’.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/squatters-allegedly-over-home-couple-080057443.html
The daughters of a Colorado Springs couple are alleging that a homeless woman, her boyfriend and her son have taken advantage of their father, who suffers from dementia, and taken over their parents’ house of 50 years.
William Towns, 76, met the woman while he was out walking his dog and saw that she was living out of her car, his daughters wrote in a GoFundMe initiative for legal expenses. His wife, Arlene, was staying with one of her daughters while she recovered from major heart surgery.
“[The homeless woman] offered to do some household chores for him, to which he agreed. Chores turned into using his shower on occasion and then sleeping in a guest room of his home for what he understood to only be a number of days,” Towns’ daughters wrote.
But the woman “quickly took advantage” of the man, moving two non-working automobiles, many of her belongings, her 15-year-old son, her boyfriend and her cat into the house.
“[The boyfriend] harasses our dad and our family and friends when asked to leave,” the daughters wrote. “He has provoked altercations with our dad on numerous occasions and gets into arguments with a number of unknown other groups of people that come by the property to seek him out.”
Now, Towns is “extremely uncomfortable having these people and their associates in his home, and is fearful of his safety when at the house.”
The daughters claim that the squatters have started up a “mushroom growing operation” in the couple’s living room, that there is “underage drug use” in the home, that they “intentionally flash” firearms at security cameras installed in the home, that they “turn on faucets and the hose just to let water run” and “leave every light on in the house 24/7.”
“They spend their days living in the home as if it is their own, rummaging through drawers and cupboards, going through storage items, using all appliances, dishes, tools, food in the refrigerator and pantries, etc.,” the GoFundMe states.
“There was never an agreement by our dad, mom, or any of our family members with these people stating that they or any other occupants could take permanent residency in the home or on the property, but because they have stayed in the home for more than a few days, they have rights to the home and can do as they please.
“This isn’t their first rodeo, and they have taken full advantage of the system and know the law is in their favor and seem to live confidently that they will have free housing and utilities for months through this process.”
The Towns couple live off Social Security on a fixed income, their daughters wrote, and cannot afford the exorbitant legal fees associated with extricating their unwelcome guests. They wrote that an attorney will charge a $1,800 retainer and $400 to $500 per hour. Meanwhile, the family claims, the squatters “receive free legal services, court fees waived, all of their required paperwork provided directly to them… everything served to them on a golden platter.”
The family wrote that they have called on the Colorado Springs Police Department “exhaustively” for help. “Many times dispatch doesn’t come at all; others it takes 24+ hours for an officer to come, and when they do, they speak to this woman and her boyfriend and they are not given permission by them to enter the property, so they can’t do anything.”
“We feel so helpless, and each day that goes by and each new failed attempt to ask for help from law enforcement leaves us feeling less and less trust in the system’s ability to keep our community safe,” the daughters write. “We just don’t know what else to do, and just sitting around for months watching while our parents are scared to live in their home is unbearable, unfair, and absolutely unacceptable.”
The Colorado Springs Police Department told Fox 21 that because the alleged squatters were invited inside, it is not trespassing, evictions are handled by the Sheriff’s Office, and that the case will likely require a court order, judge’s decision, and enforcement by El Paso County.
Fox News Digital could not reach the Colorado Springs Police Department and the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office for comment at press time.
“From a legal perspective, the key here is the permission – if the people were not invited into the home, they’d be squatters, they’d be trespassing, and you could go directly to law enforcement,” real estate litigator Kevin Hughes, a partner at California-based Foundation Law Group, told Fox News Digital. “You still would have to go ultimately through the legal eviction process… they have rights and they have rights to due process.
“What you would need to do, you should engage an eviction lawyer. You’re going to need ultimately to write a letter, give them clear notice, and demand that any tenancy rights they have are hereby terminated, and they have to leave by this specific date. That’s the start of the process.”
If the interlopers don’t leave by that point, Hughes said, the couple can file an eviction complaint. After another 30 to 45 days, a judge may give sheriff’s deputies an order that would allow them to remove the unwanted family.
“The reality is you probably have these people staying under your roof for a couple of months, even after you start this process with that notice letter,” Hughes said.
The father’s allegedly compromised mental state could add a layer of complications to the situation rather than a legal remedy, Hughes said.
“It’s just a question of whether the parent has the cognitive capacity to be a good [legal] client and to advise and instruct the lawyer… if not, you get into a situation where you may need either a power of attorney, a legal guardianship or conservatorship,” Hughes said. “And that is complicated and that’s time-consuming and that’s expensive, and that’s a different lawyer…. But we just want to get the squatters out. And already, we’re thinking about how much time that’s going to take and how much money it’s going to cost.”
“What’s the difference between what happened in Colorado and a home invasion? Except the people who invaded got comfortable? And, you know, and brought their toothbrushes. Well, it doesn’t seem like the law should favor that. That’s crazy. And because it’s crazy, the law should be different.”
More Florida news! Man I miss this site.
‘I was just told I had a 5% deductible but I thought it was 5% of the damages,’
It would be very hard to just assume this. A Florida declarations page has the hurricane deductible both in dollars and percentage in big bold font on the first page. It also has this disclosure in bold 14 point font or higher by law:
THIS POLICY CONTAINS A SEPARATE DEDUCTIBLE FOR
HURRICANE LOSSES WHICH MAY RESULT IN HIGH OUTOF-POCKET EXPENSES TO YOU.
I got 5 pesos that says this lady never read her policy.
She saved a bunch of money taking that high deductible and now regrets it after a loss. There was a time where precious airtime wouldn’t be wasted on these fake sob stories.
5% of $1 million is $50,000.
That’s a lot of out-of-pocket damages to cover before insurance kicks in!
Is the Plunge Protection Team keeping the value of your stock HODLings up in the face of rising Treasury bond yields?
Stock Market News: Stocks Pick Up Steam
The Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq edge higher in the afternoon.
Last Updated:
Oct. 22, 2024 at 2:36 PM EDT
…
https://www.barrons.com/livecoverage/stock-market-today-102224
“Obama care for property insurance. ”
Of course that’s what they are going to do. Wouldn’t doubt it if they plan to make your property insurance based on your income. Maybe car insurance will be based on your income also.
So, nothing will be based on risk, but rather each according to its ability, each according to its need. But insurance Companies will get defined profits by this rigged looting. Same happened with medical Insurance.
In the One World Order dictorship vision, Monopolies/Elites and others in collusion partner with global Governments to force Monopoly control of all resources and consumption.
The end game plan is to eliminate all property rights of the masses to eliminate competition to the Great Reset , Monopoly/Elites ” Stakeholder Capitalism.”
Its basically that these big monopolies, banks, elites, big pharmacy, etc, control or own all means of production and means of distribution to masses.
In Karl Marx version, all property rights would be destroyed for Government control of means of production and distribution and resources.
Under the One World Order Dictorship , (Great Reset) , Monopolies will control or own resources and means of production and distribution to masses, in conjunction with governments enforcement.
Governments will be the enforcement arm of this self serving Oligarchy power grab. John Kerry said in essence, “… no government can stop the ” market forces.”
So, under “Stakeholder Capitalism,” all the big Mega Monopolies and Elites and other Entities in collusion are the “Chosen Entities” in conjunction with governments or UN/WHO to rule the world.
So, under facism Germany, the whole idea was the German race and Germany soil (Nation State) should rise in a collective and genocide any race or defect or conflict to the pure German Race and the Chosen People by blood and soil. So, German citizens in the collective would give up individual rights for the Nation State Germany and the so called pure German blood.
Marxism or facism,. it all requires individual humans to give up for the collective , which is a con job.
So , the One World Order con job is that Rich private party Entities, in conjunction with governments , are the chosen entities to rule the world, control/own all resources and means of production and consumption.
And the fraudulent narratives of global emergencies of Climate Change and Panademics is used to justify this power grab enslavement of humanity.
Humans, animals and plants emit Co2 carbons ,therefore a threat to sustainable earth. Invisible viruses are carried by diseased humans or animals, therefore forced counter measures to that threat must be forced or mandated.
So, you will own nothing, eat bugs, mandated vaccines, surveillance 24/7, deprivation of resources, energy and food in 15 minute Cities.All distributed by a partnership of Mega Corporations and infiltrated Governments and their agencies.
And all this talk of equity, racism, , transgender rights,etc, is just divide and conquer division so the masses don’t unite against this pre planned power grab enslavement and genocide by these Entities.
They very overly say what the plan is for the future, yet no challenge by MSM , or Countries Governments and dispute by Science is censored.
Unreal, just so unreal and hard to believe by a lot of people.
Basically a global power grab by global governments , UN/WHO , with Mega Corporation Monopolies, Elites and other powers to put the masses under this dictorship and tyranny.
And the manufactured blueprint is the 2030 UN Sustainable Earth Agenda. The humans, animals, plants and earth can only be sustained by this insurrection by a Cult of psychopathic depopulation control freaks and infiltrated governments enslaving inhabitants of earth.
I believe these Entities have no intentions of reducing carbons to zero by 2050. Its just a narrative to destroy current systems and government by the people for this forced dictorship.
The Powers that be are in process of creating world wide prison camps and world wide manufacturing plants for pharmacy products, probably the mass production of vaccines.
Again, hard to believe, but happening.
“Obama care for property insurance. ”
We’re all in this together! 🙂
It takes a village
‘I was just told I had a 5% deductible but I thought it was 5% of the damages’…Tracey will now apply for a home equity loan but feels blind-sided by her insurance company. ‘I feel like a lot of people are getting robbed,’ shared Tracey. ‘And they’re crooks, they really are’
I know I sound like a broken record Tracey, but this is how insurance works.
‘In total, detectives say Arzumenov pocketed $1.5 million, using some of the money to purchase artwork and dine out. ‘Anything from buffalo chicken wings to going to buffets’
I’m kinda fascinated with this ‘where did the money go?’ thing. Does it really matter? They chugged beer laughing about it!
‘Emporium Centre San Francisco’s auction follows the 2023 decision by owners Brookfield Properties and Westfield to walk away from their debt’
These guys have plenty of money. Sound lending!
‘Shahid and his wife, who are expecting their first child next month, were looking forward to moving into their dream home next year at the Clearview site near Wasaga Beach, about 150 kilometres north of Toronto. But that won’t be happening. The first-time homebuyer says that since December 2021, he’s paid $100,000 of his life savings as a down payment on the home…That Richmond Hill-based developer entered into receivership on the project in February. As a result, court documents show 117 homebuyers stand to lose about $4 million collectively, with some individuals losing as much as $130,000. Shahid’s on the hook for about $15,000. ‘It’s really devastating,’ he said. ‘It’s heartbreaking … One thing is not getting the house, then the other thing is losing the money also.’ Shahid says his biggest question is where the money went — especially given there’s been no construction of the homes people put down payments on. ‘It’s not like they started construction and they had to leave it in the middle,’ Shahid said. ‘It’s still a barren land. So where did all the money go?’
That’s a big long tale of woe Rayyan. Normally I’d say it was cheaper than renting, but you were renting and still are!
‘Haq is another homebuyer who says he spent $100,000 since 2022 as a downpayment toward a home in the Clearview project. He expected to move into the new home this summer with his wife, son and parents. He says he was shocked to learn that the company he paid a deposit to had gone into receivership under a different name in the past. He said he hoped there would have been better regulatory oversight to protect buyers like him. ‘If someone’s been stung once, let’s make sure that … someone is not able to get stung again by the same person, right?’
That frozen wasteland is crawling with RE crooks Faran, obviously the authorities are in on it.
‘You have to arrive at night in Shaoguan, a city of 3.3 million people in southeast China, to measure the real estate crisis that has hit the country. Around the high-speed train station, inaugurated in 2019, tower blocks of buildings have sprung up like mushrooms in recent years, creating a gigantic neighborhood. But when night falls, not a single light is on. That’s because Shaoguan is drowning in empty and unsold apartments. At the current sales pace, it will take more than 10 years to sell this stock, compared to an average of two years in China, according to estimates by the China Real Estate Information Corporation. This is a record in the country, which has 28,000 billion yuan ($3.96 billion) worth of available apartments, according to Barclays. ‘There are so many apartments, you can buy whichever one you want’
Notice not even the globalist scum media is buying the idea that 500B more Xitler bucks is going to fix this.
There’s No End In Sight (Toronto Real Estate Market Update)
Team Sessa Real Estate
54 minutes ago
In this episode we look at the current Toronto Real Estate Market specifically the detached home prices and market trends for the week ending Oct 16, 2024. We also discuss the problems that could arise with people taking advantage of the new mortgage rules that have relaxed lending.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PyLevw_kWI
16:38.
Pre-Construction Condo Market Nightmare!!!
OwlMortgage
47 minutes ago
Sorry to break the bad news! But in this video, we dive into the current state of the pre-construction condo market and the tough decisions many purchasers are facing. With a significant number of buyers entering the market during its peak, many now find themselves grappling with declining values and uncertainty about when—or if—the market will bounce back. This may be a tough learning experience for many.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCeb1Z8fU9Q
5:19. ‘Cut yer loses, swallow it and take this as a major learning opportunity’ at 4:30.
The thought occurred to me, how many chicken wings can you get with $1.5 million?
You will own nothing.
MJTruthUltra
@MJTruthUltra
There it is folks…
🚨 Governor Roy Cooper of North Carolina just confirmed that Certain Areas won’t be Rebuilt and they’re Buying Out Entire Communities Affected by “Climate Change”
“We’ve spent a lot of time on the way we approach rebuilding… in some areas, you just SHOULDN’T Build Back.
And we’ve been able to convince certain communities and people that BUYOTS are better…
• he also says, “we know these events will become more and more intense”
How the hell do they know, unless THEY are causing these hurricanes?
The land grab is REAL.
This is what they mean when they say Build Back Better.
https://rumble.com/v5jpst9-nc-gov-confirms-land-grab-community-buy-outs.html
3:53 PM · Oct 22, 2024
https://x.com/MJTruthUltra/status/1848814876858405093