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Before, People Would Pay Anything, But Now That Bubble Is Gone

It’s Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. “Despite increasing in November and October, existing home sales are still running below last year’s pace, when they sank to a nearly 30-year low. ‘Looks like we won’t match last year in terms of the annual total, so it will be the lowest home sales since 1995,’ said Lawrence Yun, the NAR’s chief economist.”

“An Idaho couple in their early 30s — a nurse married to an attorney — are anxious to sell the tiny two-bedroom rambler they bought before the pandemic. Maya Hyman, an agent for the Compass realty brokerage, doesn’t know the couple in this true story. But she cautions that in the immediate future, sellers could potentially face more headwinds. ‘Right now, the overall market is sluggish,’ Hyman says. Jiayi Xu, an economist for Realtor.com, notes that the inventory of for-sale homes has increased more than 23% since last year. Lauren Davis, an agent with the Sotheby’s realty company, encourages wannabe sellers to avoid arrogance when they decide on a listing price. ‘It can be a good idea to price your place aggressively, maybe even to 10% below its current market value. Because buyers are now very sharp on property values, your house is likely to attract more interest if it is priced realistically, prompting more bidders to come around,’ she says.”

“No matter when you put your place on the market, Ronald Phipps urges you to avoid the most common home-selling pitfall: pricing based on wishful thinking. ‘Buyers are more prepared, more informed and more self-disciplined than ever. You can’t fool them into spending more than your house is worth,’ says Phipps, who heads a family-owned realty firm in Rhode Island.”

“The Villa Del Sol condos are still boarded up, owners can’t get into their homes. They have been told the repairs could cost millions of dollars. All 73 residents here need to fund those repairs even though only 11 units are evacuated. And with the new year coming up fast, residents are searching for lawyers and moving companies. Villa Del Sol resident Christine Chico has lived in these condos for 5 years. The retired anesthesiologist paid $129,000 for a 600-square-foot unit. But her once affordable condo has been slowly draining her bank account. Villa Del Sol residents were informed by their board that each would have to come up with $30,000 to fund a list of maintenance projects around the property.”

“Chico took out a loan so she could comply. She could have never imagined that $30,000 was just the beginning and that was on the cheaper end. But after the milestone inspection, Chico received word that the board had two estimates, ranging from $6 to $9 million. ‘Now we’re up to $9 million, which would mean about $178,000 per unit for repairs,’ said Chico. ‘I, personally, was struggling with the $30,000, if it gets to $178,000 there’s no way I can stay here.’ Chico is worried that a potential buyer won’t like the sound of those assessments either.”

“If your homeowners insurance renewal has been denied or your premiums have spiked, you’re not alone. Laurie Benner, whose parents live in the Montego Bay subdivision in Ocean City, is already being impacted because insurers now refuse to provide coverage for older manufactured houses and mobile homes in Maryland coastal communities. ‘Not only is it an issue for our own personal family ownership of the property, and what that means if there is some type of a loss, some type of a flood, some type of issue in not having insurance, but obviously it’s an issue when we go to sell it.’ In Montgomery County, cases of non-renewals jumped nearly 48%, while statewide non-renewals rose by over 62% from 2021 to 2023, the report said.”

“In Virginia Beach, Fred Drummond experienced the problem firsthand when his policy was canceled in 2023. ‘I don’t think most people are looking at this until it actually happens to them,’ he told WVEC reporters. ‘You feel very vulnerable because you suddenly realize that if you cannot get insurance or the insurance goes so high you can’t afford it, then the mortgage company is going to call your loan due and it goes into foreclosure—you lose your house, and there’s your life.’ Drummond was eventually able to find new insurer but at a significantly higher cost. In Ocean City, however, mobile home owners remain without viable options as 2024 ends.”

“In Minnesota, insurance carriers have taken losses in six of the last seven years, largely due to hail. Townhome owners in a Rogers neighborhood are preparing to pay a $16,400 bill from their homeowners’ association for new roofs — just two years after a full roof replacement. Natalie Croaker bought a townhome in the community with her husband in 2022. When they filed a claim for the $16,400 bill from the HOA, they learned they didn’t have the right amount of coverage — their insurance will only cover $1,000, so they are on the hook for more than $15,000. ‘We would have to most likely get help from family and friends, because we do not have $15,000 lying around,’ Croaker said. ‘We have a kid that we have to take care of, and we both work full time, and our kid is in daycare, and just like — life is expensive in general.'”

“A federal judge sentenced a real estate developer to almost 13 years in prison for his role in conspiring to embezzle millions over more than a decade from the failed Washington Federal Bank for Savings in Bridgeport. Park Ridge native Marek Matczuk, received the sentence Monday after being found guilty of illegally pocketing almost $6M from the shuttered bank, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. The judge also ordered Matczuk to pay close to $6M in restitution to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., which still aims to recover $90M lost in the failure of the bank. Matczuk was among its delinquent mortgage customers. ‘The amount of loss in this bank collapse is staggering,’ U.S. District Chief Judge Virginia Kendall said, according to the Sun-Times.”

“Matczuk, alongside Miroslaw Krejza, was convicted last September of conspiring to commit embezzlement and falsify bank records, as well as aiding and abetting embezzlement by bank employees. The conspirators disguised the embezzled money as purported real estate development loan disbursements made to Krejza, Matczuk and others, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois. The recipients weren’t made to repay the loans, and they didn’t, according to a release.”

“The late John F. Gembara, the CEO and majority shareholder of Washington Federal, directed the bank to give Matczuk the money between 2007 and 2017. Gembara died by suicide in the main bedroom of Matczuk’s home on Dec. 3, 2017. ‘The evidence at trial showed you had daily contact at the bank with Mr. Gembara. Whatever Mr. Gembara wanted, you would do to make him happy,’ Kendall said, according to the Sun-Times. ‘You were benefiting from it. It enabled you to go to the casino. It enabled you to go on vacations. Sadly, at the end of his life, he chose to be by the person he trusted the most, which is you.'”

“Once hailed as ‘king,’ condos (in particular, new condos) in Canada’s most major markets have seen a dramatic fall from grace over this past year. Experts agree that a perfect storm of factors is to blame, headline-grabbing interest rates being just one of many, but also acting as the straw that broke the camel’s back. ‘The people in the new construction space that are closing on their 2020, 2021 purchases are in quite a bit of pain. The defaults are escalating — not in a huge way, but they are escalating noticeably, for sure — and there are more and more tears, and there are more and more discussions about not closing,’ says Mark Morris, Real Estate Lawyer with LegalClosing.ca. ‘This was all kind of charted. Everyone was able to tell that this was the case because, in the resale market, we’ve had, largely, a plateauing of prices. In very particular areas of the market, like ‘dog crate’ condos, we’ve had a serious decline in value.'”

“Now, ‘we are in a depressed market’ for new condos, Morris goes on to say. ‘Both because the investors have fled and the builders are no longer able to charge prices that are divorced from Canadian income. Before, people would pay anything, because there was a bubble. But now, that bubble is gone.'”

“A woman who says she is unable to sell her flat because of its cladding is now being charged almost £700 a month – to fund a 24-hour fire warden. Lucy Tissington bought her property in Clayewater Court in Bristol in 2017 just months before the Grenfell disaster. The scandal led to changes in building regulations around cladding. The 34-year-old says because of the new rules it then became almost impossible for potential buyers to get a mortgage on flats there. Now Lucy feels trapped in her small two-bedroom flat. She says the issue is not just the cladding but the entire external wall systems being substandard. ‘We’ve not been able to sell since that became the regulation. The situation that I’m in is because my building is below 11m. There are zero protections for us as leaseholders.’ Lucy purchased her flat as part of a government Help to Buy scheme which was interest-free for five years.”

“New Zealand’s abundant supply of rental stock continues with listings up 36 per cent year-on-year according to Trade Me Property’s latest Rental Price Index. Rental listings were up four per cent month-on-month and currently sit at the highest since 2019. Trade Me Property’s Customer Director Gavin Lloyd suggests several reasons for the recent rise in listings. ‘Possibly homeowners seeking additional income, an increase in Kiwi moving overseas, or maybe people are simply choosing to not leave the nest and live at home a while longer. As a result of the oversupply, landlords may need to soften price expectations to meet the current market which continues to favour tenants.'”

“The structural cracking calamity that took place on Christmas Eve at Sydney’s Opal Tower four months after its completion in 2018, continues to cast a pall. Six years on, the 392 apartment owners at Sydney Olympic Park are still suffering. The latest loss making sale was a $1.72m four bedroom, three bathroom penthouse that had first sold at $2.1m, down $380,000 reflecting an 18 per cent drop. The biggest loss came in 2023 when a 22nd-floor, three-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment fetched $1.11m after having cost $1.61m off the plan in 2014, so backwards by $500,000 or 31 per cent. There have been 3300 defects reported so far this year in stand-alone houses reported so far this year.”

“The number of properties auctioned off due to loan defaults in South Korea is on track to hit its highest level in 11 years, reflecting the combined impact of soaring interest rates and a sluggish real estate market. Data from the Court Registration Information Plaza shows that 129,703 foreclosure applications were filed for voluntary auctions between January and November 2024, already surpassing any full-year total since 2013, which recorded 148,701 cases. Residential properties, particularly apartment complexes, officetels, and multi-family homes, accounted for the majority of cases. From January to November 2024, voluntary auctions for such properties reached 51,853, marking a 48% increase compared to the same period last year.”

“The surge is attributed to homeowners who took out significant loans during the housing boom, often at high-interest rates, and are now struggling to meet their repayment obligations as interest costs have skyrocketed. The rise in foreclosures is expected to continue as high-interest rates persist, exacerbating financial strain on heavily leveraged borrowers. ‘The number of voluntary auctions typically increases with higher interest rates,’ said Lee Joo-hyun, a researcher at real estate auction platform Jiji Auction. ‘Many borrowers who turned to high-interest loans during the 2021 housing price surge are now facing mounting repayment pressures.’ This trend underscores the lingering challenges in South Korea’s real estate market, with declining property transactions and a wave of unsold homes further compounding the problem.”

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This Post Has 106 Comments

    2. Realtorbabble:

      “It can be a good idea to price your place aggressively, maybe even to 10% below its current market value”

      What it sells for *IS* market value.

      1. “Realtorbabble:

        “It can be a good idea to price your place aggressively, maybe even to 10% below its current market value”

        What it sells for *IS* market value.”

        \\

        – Yes, price is set at the margins and the comps are the price.
        – Comps go up while bubble is inflating.
        – Comps go down when the bubble deflates. This isn’t gravity, but reversion to the mean and every asset bubble in history has done this. There is no “permanently high plateau” in finance. Just wishful thinking and hopium. This is just getting started and 10% is just the beginning. Knife-catcher phase.
        – The REIC wants prices only go up, but the market eventually prevails. Same with stonks. This is a problem when asset prices are the economy, but bubbles always burst.
        – Realtors have a huge conflict of interest. Not fiduciary. Caveat emptor!
        – Housing investor perceptions (then): Housing only goes up! 🙂
        – Housing investor perceptions (now): Oh, housing also goes down. ☹️
        – This isn’t our first rodeo. Reference: Housing Bubble (U.S.) 1.0. Rinse and repeat.

  2. ‘Now we’re up to $9 million, which would mean about $178,000 per unit for repairs,’ said Chico. ‘I, personally, was struggling with the $30, 000, if it gets to $178,000 there’s no way I can stay here.’ Chico is worried that a potential buyer won’t like the sound of those assessments either’

    Christine is the proud loanowner of an airbox in St. Lucie county, Florida.

    2. Christine Chico has lived in these condos for 5 years. The retired anesthesiologist paid $129,000 for a 600-square-foot unit. But her once affordable condo has been slowly draining her bank account
      anesthesiologist???? According to Siri the average anesthesiologist pay is $438,000. Buying a $129K apartment and can’t come up with $30K? I don’t understand the financials at all

  3. ‘We would have to most likely get help from family and friends, because we do not have $15,000 lying around,’ Croaker said. ‘We have a kid that we have to take care of, and we both work full time, and our kid is in daycare, and just like — life is expensive in general’

    Yer doing the right thing Natalie, borrow what you have to, yer sitting on a gold mine! You aren’t feeding that rug rat expensive food are you?

  4. ‘Looks like we won’t match last year in terms of the annual total, so it will be the lowest home sales since 1995,’ said Lawrence Yun, the NAR’s chief economist.”

    Get to sawin’ and slashin’ like you mean it, greedhead sellers. Refuse to list overpriced shacks, starving realtors.

  5. Jiayi Xu, an economist for Realtor.com, notes that the inventory of for-sale homes has increased more than 23% since last year.

    But…but…muh pent-up demand! The NAR assured me that legions of credit-worthy buyers were waiting impatiently on the sidelines as soon as moar inventory appeared.

  6. ‘It can be a good idea to price your place aggressively, maybe even to 10% below its current market value.

    Those “lowball” offers are the new market value, greedheads.

  7. Holding costs? Because warmists gonna warm.

    New York Times — Insurers Are Deserting Homeowners as Climate Shocks Worsen (12/18/2024):

    “The insurance crisis spreading across the United States arrived at Richard D. Zimmel’s door last week in the form of a letter.

    Mr. Zimmel, who lives in the increasingly fire-prone hills outside Silver City, N.M., had done everything right. He trimmed the trees away from his house, and covered his yard in gravel to stop flames rushing in from the forest near his property. In case that buffer zone failed, he sheathed his house in fire-resistant stucco, and topped it with a noncombustible steel roof.

    None of it mattered. His insurance company, Homesite Insurance, dumped him. “Property is located in a brushfire or wildfire area that no longer meets Homesite’s minimum standard for wildfire risk,” the letter read.

    Mr. Zimmel has company. Since 2018, more than 1.9 million home insurance contracts nationwide have been dropped — “nonrenewed,” in the parlance of the industry. In more than 200 counties, the nonrenewal rate has tripled or more, according to the findings of a congressional investigation released Wednesday.

    As a warming planet delivers more wildfires, hurricanes and other threats, America’s once reliably boring home insurance market has become the place where climate shocks collide with everyday life.”

    https://archive.ph/JqPSp

    1. BS.
      The “wildfires, hurricanes and other threats” have always been there. Just because developers push in to susceptible areas and build housing and commercial developments that go up in smoke or washed away does not mean climate change is the cause.
      The bible says the wise man builds his house on a rock.

      1. For some reason not mentioned in the Bible, people are attracted to living in disaster-prone areas. And the low disaster risk areas are often less attractive places to live. Go figure!

  8. The retired anesthesiologist paid $129,000 for a 600-square-foot unit. But her once affordable condo has been slowly draining her bank account.

    But…but…muh generational wealth!

  9. Chico is worried that a potential buyer won’t like the sound of those assessments either.”

    Gosh, I fear that once assessments are factored in to the equation, Chico won’t be able to give her condo away – literally.

  10. ‘You feel very vulnerable because you suddenly realize that if you cannot get insurance or the insurance goes so high you can’t afford it, then the mortgage company is going to call your loan due and it goes into foreclosure—you lose your house, and there’s your life.’

    Gosh, I hope no one vulners you, Fred.

  11. Gembara died by suicide in the main bedroom of Matczuk’s home on Dec. 3, 2017.

    Nothing like a suicide in the master bedroom to shave a few tens of thousands off a shack’s valuation.

  12. ‘The people in the new construction space that are closing on their 2020, 2021 purchases are in quite a bit of pain.

    Die, speculator scum.

  13. There are zero protections for us as leaseholders.’ Lucy purchased her flat as part of a government Help to Buy scheme which was interest-free for five years.”

    If you need gub’mint help to “buy” a shack or skybox, you have no business signing on Mr. Banker’s dotted line for a shoddily constructed shack or skybox in the first place.

    3. She seems very upset that Congress is unable to compromise and find consensus.

      Maybe she should try working in fast food? It’s much easier mentally than needing to compromise.

  25. ‘Looks like we won’t match last year in terms of the annual total, so it will be the lowest home sales since 1995,’

    Homes were downright affordable back in 1995 compared to now.

    Looking on the bright side of the equation, perhaps this is a harbinger of a return to normalcy, where houses are no longer a speculative risk asset, but rather an affordable option for young families to live in.

    1. Looking on the bright side of the equation, perhaps this is a harbinger of a return to normalcy, where houses are no longer a speculative risk asset, but rather an affordable option for young families to live in.

      We don’t need no stinkin’ young families. We have migrants to save the day.

  26. Alex Berenson (12/19/2024):

    “Yale University scientists have found Covid spike protein in the blood of people who received Covid mRNA shots – up to two years after they received the jabs.

    The people were never infected with Covid, antibody tests show, and our immune systems rapidly destroy newly produced spike proteins. The finding suggests some people who took the shots may be making the proteins on their own.

    A possible reason is that genetic material delivered in the shots has integrated with human genes and is continuing to activate protein-making structures in our cells. If found to be correct, this explanation has serious implications for mRNA vaccine safety and the more than 1 billion people who received mRNA Covid doses.”

    https://alexberenson.substack.com/p/urgent-yale-researchers-have-found

    At least you got a free donut.

    1. At least you got a free donut.

      Salt Lake City gave out free hot dogs. I think the folks in DC got dime bags.

  27. Did the Grinch steal your Santa Claus rally?

    Not to worry… there’s another wave of speculative euphoria just around the corner.

  28. Oh, look, it’s the “Experts”

    HuffPaint — Experts Predict What Will Happen If Vaccine Programs And Mandates Go Away (12/20/2024):

    “Another week brings more health care proposals, as incoming President Donald Trump and his pick for the head of the Department of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. share plans to change up some establishments throughout the United States. From vaccine access to funding changes to firing staffers at the National Institutes of Health, it seems no area will be untouched by the new administration.

    One major area of concern throughout the country is vaccines. Recently, Trump voiced distaste for school vaccine mandates and said he and Kennedy are going to have a “big discussion” about childhood vaccination programs. Kennedy has long been known as an anti-vaccine advocate who has repeated debunked claims linking autism and vaccination (which Trump has also echoed) and is now working with a lawyer who previously tried to revoke approval of the polio vaccine for children.

    All of this could signal a change to the lifesaving routine vaccinations for children in the United States. While no one knows exactly what will play out in the coming months, experts have thoughts on what an end to longstanding vaccine programs and mandates could mean if they happen.”

    https://www.huffpost.com/entry/future-of-vaccines-trump-rfk_l_6761cfa9e4b05b42dfd9c57e

    Translation: “Experts” paid by Big Pharma fear loss of paycheck. And yes, covid vaccines are poison.

  29. San Antonio man says he faked playing instrument in Texas A&M band for 4 years for cheap housing

    A TikTok of a Texas A&M alum who claims he faked his way through four years of playing an instrument as part of the school’s Corps of Cadets has gone viral.

    First-generation college student Gerardo Juarez, who now works as a staff attorney at St. Mary’s University’s Center for Legal and Social Justice in San Antonio, said in the clip that he accidentally moved into dorms reserved for Aggie band members as a freshman because it was the cheapest housing option.

    “A month before classes started, I got a band orientation email,” he wrote in his TikTok. “I had only played band in the 6th grade, but it was kind of late to find alternative housing, so I just showed up.”

    Juarez alleges that the directors of the SEC program — ranked as one of the nation’s most prestigious collegiate marching bands by higher-ed blog College Transitions — never bothered to ask him for an audition.

    “They told me ‘someone will come get you throughout the next week,” Juarez wrote in the comments section of his TikTok. “Band practice and [Fall Orientation Week] started. No one ever came to get me to audition.”

    So, he pretended to play an instrument and traveled the country for four years as a member of Texas A&M’s Fightin’ Texas Aggie Band — or so the story goes.

    While the attorney didn’t immediately respond to the Current’s request to discuss his video and reveal, for example, what instrument he played, some TikTok commenters questioned the veracity of the tale.

    “How did you get an instrument?” user @Britt24601 asked, while @mariasutterfield asked suggested that Juarez should post photos as evidence.

    As of press time, Juarez hasn’t responded to those inquiries via his TikTok account.

    https://www.sacurrent.com/news/san-antonio-man-says-he-faked-playing-instrument-in-texas-aandm-band-for-4-years-for-cheap-housing-36325757

    1. First-generation college student Gerardo Juarez, who now works as a staff attorney at St. Mary’s University’s Center for Legal and Social Justice in San Antonio

      St. Mary’s is one of those podunky private schools that is barely hanging on , yet it has a “Center for Legal and Social Justice”? Who funds these things?

  30. Bakersfield man gets 16 years, 4 months for fraud schemes

    BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — A Bakersfield man who carried out two lengthy fraud schemes was sentenced Thursday to 16 years and four months in prison.

    Jacob McNabb, 33, was found guilty last month of 15 fraud-related counts.

    He devised two schemes, the first starting in 2016, when he intentionally got in vehicle collisions on four occasions then filed insurance claims.

    In each incident, McNabb received money for repairs but kept it instead of fixing his car — then when he got into another collision he claimed the preexisting damage was new, prosecutors said.

    The California Department of Insurance began an investigation after law enforcement noticed McNabb was involved in an unusually high number of collisions — 40 over a six-year period.

    The second scheme, carried out from September 2015 to November 2019, involved filing false documents in lawsuits that began in Superior Court.

    In nine small claims cases, McNabb intentionally didn’t notify the people he was suing but claimed in court filings that they were properly served, prosecutors said.

    “As a result, he would be able to argue his case in court without letting the other victims give their side of the story,” prosecutors said.

    He won judgments and tried enforcing them — defrauding 15 people and one business.

    https://www.kget.com/news/crime-watch/bakersfield-man-gets-16-years-4-months-for-fraud-schemes/

  31. Angry Investors Sue Hawk Tuah Promoters Following 90% Token Crash

    Haliey Welch is not listed as a defendant despite her involvement in the project.

    The team behind the Hawk Tuah meme coin project is facing a lawsuit from disgruntled investors after a devastating crash in the token’s value.

    On Thursday, Bloomberg Law reported that the investors alleged that the project, which launched the $HAWK token in early December, engaged in deceptive practices that caused them to suffer significant financial losses. The lawsuit accuses the promoters of orchestrating a “rug pull,” a common cryptocurrency scam where project developers suddenly withdraw funds and abandon the project. In this case, the alleged scheme caused the token’s value to plummet by 90%, leaving investors with virtually worthless assets.

    The $HAWK token was introduced into the crypto market as part of the Hawk Tuah meme coin project, spearheaded by Haliey Welch, a public figure with a large online following. She conducted aggressive promotions of the token to the public using her podcasts and social media platforms.

    As a result, the token gained traction, drawing in fans and first-time crypto investors who believed in her. Despite its promising start, the token’s value dropped drastically, leaving many investors in financial ruin.

    The collapse of $HAWK sparked outrage among its community, with accusations of foul play spreading rapidly on social media. Crypto investigator Coffeezilla called the launch “one of the most miserable, horrible launches,” alleging insider trading linked to accounts associated with the project’s creators.

    Many investors voiced their anger, claiming they were misled by the project’s promotional strategies and Welch’s involvement, which lent credibility to the token.

    The filing alleged that the project used Welch’s celebrity status to create a speculative frenzy, leading to a spike in the token’s value before its rapid decline.

    According to the lawsuit, many investors were new to the crypto market and relied on the project’s roadmap and Welch’s public endorsements. Attorneys representing the plaintiffs argue that these factors misled investors, causing substantial damages when the token’s value crashed.

    Meanwhile, despite Welch’s prominent role in promoting the project, she is notably absent from the list of defendants in the lawsuit.

    This controversy follows a series of high-profile crypto failures, drawing comparisons to Logan Paul’s troubled CryptoZoo project. The popular YouTuber is currently facing a lawsuit in the United States for misleading investors. The complaint claimed he promoted the project without disclosing he had a financial interest in the token.

    https://www.coinspeaker.com/angry-investors-sue-hawk-tuah-promoters-following-90-token-crash/

  32. Farm Slump Dragging Into 2025 to Weigh on Machinery Maker AGCO

    Shares of agriculture machinery maker AGCO Corp. fell the most in more than a month as the agriculture machinery maker said it will be pressured next year as farmers keep struggling with low crop prices.

    Net sales in 2025 will be about $9.6 billion, the Georgia-based company said Thursday at its annual investor meeting. The outlook — its first for the coming year — is down from an estimated $12 billion in 2024, with the decline partly tied to its divestment of its grain-storage and livestock business.

    Retail sales next year in the key North American market are expected to drop by 25%.

    “It’s no surprise to anyone in the room here: the ag industry is continuing to get weaker,” Chief Financial Officer Damon Audia said at the meeting in New York.

    “We’ve got a much softer market,” said Chief Executive Officer Eric Hansotia. “There’s usually, in every business cycle, one year where it goes from very good to not so good, and there’s a big correction. We’re in the middle of that right now.”

    https://finance.yahoo.com/news/farm-slump-dragging-2025-weigh-170558113.html

  33. Canadian Western Bank says loan loss provisions will remain elevated in 2025 after bad loans hit profits in 2024

    Ripple effects from the collapse of a major Canadian trucking conglomerate are leading Canadian Western Bank to brace for more bad loans.

    The Edmonton-based lender reported lower-than-expected fourth-quarter profit Wednesday, partly because it was forced to set aside $40-million in new provisions against loans that could default. That figure was nearly double what Bay Street analysts were expecting, and CWB said provisions are likely to remain elevated until after its sale to National Bank of Canada, which is expected to be completed early next year.

    “We expect to see continued pressure in the first half of the year related to both impairments and provision levels,” chief risk officer Carolina Parra told analysts on a Wednesday morning conference call.

    “That would translate into slightly higher losses as well when we look at the trend for the next year. Then we expect that to normalize – not normalize, but trend toward the end of 2025 to more normal levels in 2026.”

    Trucking inventory has “flooded the market from large players that have disposed of their assets,” Ms. Parra said.

    In March, Mississauga-based Pride Group Holdings Inc. filed for creditor protection with $1.6-billion in debt after defaulting on more than 40 loans. At the time, Pride had a fleet of approximately 20,000 trucks and tractor-trailers across Canada and the U.S.

    Pride was given two months to find a way to restructure. Liquidation, the company argued in its request for creditor protection, would result in “thousands of trucks being sold on the market at once, which would decimate the value of trucks across the North American market.”

    Restructuring efforts ultimately failed, and the sale of Pride’s remaining assets began in August.

    Pride was not mentioned directly on the CWB conference call, but Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce analyst Paul Holden did reference a “very publicly known trucking entity that has resulted in losses for other banks” in asking about the source of the bank’s higher-than-expected provisions for credit losses.

    Ms. Parra replied that CWB does not have “any direct exposure” to that specific borrower. “However, the fact that such a large player has disposed of so many assets in the market has really driven down values, so indirectly it has really impacted all players, including ourselves.”

    https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-canadian-western-bank-says-loan-loss-provisions-will-remain-elevated/

  34. An Ontario community fined $15,000 for not celebrating Pride Month is asking a judge to review the decision.

    Emo, Ont., located 200 kilometres southeast of Kenora, announced Thursday it was seeking a judicial review of a decision by the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario made last month.

    The community was ordered to pay $10,000, and Mayor Harold McQuaker was ordered to pay $5,000 to Borderland Pride, who filed the initial complaint following a meeting in 2020.

    Borderline Pride was asking for Emo, which has a population of approximately 1,300, to declare June Pride Month and fly or display an LGBTQ2S+ flag for a week during June.

    The town council voted down a resolution 3-2.

    Shortly after the vote, Mayor McQuaker, who voted against the proclamation, said, “There’s no flag being flown for the other side of the coin…there’s no flags being flown for the straight people.”

    The comment was called “demeaning and disparaging” of the LGBTQ2S+ community in the tribunal’s report, and it was considered discrimination.

    McQuaker and the town’s CAO were both ordered to take sensitivity training.

    https://winnipeg.ctvnews.ca/ontario-town-seeks-judicial-review-after-being-fined-15k-for-refusing-to-observe-pride-month-1.7152638

    2. Imagine being so thin-skinned about your sexual preferences that you need people to celebrate you with a flag.

      1. It’s about power. Remember the scene in “1984” when Winston Smith is asked “how many fingers do you see?”

        It’s not about being “accepted”. If it was, once they are accepted the demands would cease, but they never do. THere are alsways more and bigger demands.

  35. Homelessness in Regina up 255 per cent since 2015, according to study

    There are currently 824 people in Regina who are experiencing homelessness, according to the 2024 point-in-time (PiT) homelessness count.

    The count, conducted by Namerind Housing Corporation, says that is an overall increase of 255 per cent, going from 232 in 2015 to the current 824.

    It is also up from 488 in September of 2021, according to the report.

    “That’s not an estimate. That is, ‘at least,'” said Namerind President and CEO Robert Byers. “When we did [the count in 2015], I could hardly believe there was 232 people that were homeless. Now there’s 824.”

    Many respondents to the study also claimed to face substance use challenges, 71 per cent. Another 54 per cent said they were battling one or more mental health conditions. Nearly 30 per cent of the 824 also live with children, 37 per cent of which are under the age of five.

    “The increase in homelessness is alarmingly high, increasing by two-thirds in each of the last two counts,” Namerind Housing Corporation said in the study

    The province also outlined an additional $750,000 in grants to the City of Regina to support warming spaces this winter.

    “In just a few years, the number of homeless people has tripled in Saskatoon and doubled in Regina,” the NDP opposition said in response to the PiT’s release Wednesday. “We know this issue is getting worse in our medium and small centres as well.”

    https://regina.ctvnews.ca/alarmingly-high-homelessness-in-regina-up-255-per-cent-since-2015-according-to-study-1.7150066

  36. London police arrest shooting suspect, make largest-ever fentanyl seizure

    London police made the city’s largest-ever seizure of fentanyl after arresting a second suspect in a shooting at a London public housing building, the head of the force’s guns and gangs section says.

    Three men entered an apartment building at 241 Simcoe St., west of Wellington Street, on Nov. 19 at 5:35 p.m. and forced their way into a unit, where one of the intruders pointed a gun at a person and fired a shot, police said. Nobody was injured and the suspects ran away before officers arrived.

    Police arrested Nicholas Traviss, 28, of London on Dec. 8 and searched his house the next day, seizing 12.4 kilograms of fentanyl, more than one kilogram of cocaine, 388 grams of carfentanil, 794 oxycodone pills and four loaded handguns, police said.

    “Drug trafficking and illegal firearms possession poses a safety risk to everyone,” Det.-Sgt. Josh Silcox, the head of the guns and gangs section, said Wednesday at a press conference showcasing the cache of guns and drugs seized in London since July.

    Last week’s seizure of fentanyl – an opioid up to 100 times more potent than morphine that has been linked to many of the city’s drug overdoses in recent years – is the largest in London police history, Silcox said.

    https://lfpress.com/news/local-news/london-police-arrest-shooting-suspect-fentanyl-seizure

      1. Anecdotal: just drove by someone smoking fentanyl/meth on the sidewalk openly on South Broadway in Denver.

        Public hard drug use is legal here, because reasons, and NOBODY CARES.

          1. I witnessed a revived OD inside the Glendale Home Depot about a year ago.

            Junkie in the stretcher outside the bathroom. Police, fire, EMT, social worker all on the scene there. What a waste of taxpayer money.

            Let them all die ☠️

          2. Police, fire, EMT, social worker all on the scene there. What a waste of taxpayer money.

            FWIW, they all get paid whether a junkie OD’s or not.

            I do wonder what the ratio is between “revived” vs. “too late”?

          1. I suspect he has his business contacts in Dumver. Anyway, all big cities have pretty much the same problems. He is working on building his retirement home in a semi-rural setting, and doing it without borrowing money.

  37. Homes with bullet holes, residents shaken: Durham police investigate 6 shootings in past week

    Elaine Watson was in bed Thursday, when she heard a series of bangs outside her Whitby, Ont., home.

    A day earlier, 14 gunshots were fired into a housing complex in Oshawa, with one bullet found under the bed of a 12-year-old girl.

    The incidents are among six shootings in Durham Region over the past week that have left homes with bullet holes and residents shaken.

    Watson said she jumped of her bed when she heard the noise and ran to the window. She couldn’t see anything, but a bullet had hit the side of her home.

    “It’s disturbing because this is usually a very quiet neighbourhood,” Watson told CBC Toronto. “Now I’m nervous. Now I don’t think anywhere is safe.”

    No one was injured in the incidents, but in all of the cases, police have said people were home at the time of the shootings. The region has seen 45 shooting incidents so far this year, a 50 per cent increase compared to the same time last year.

    https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/homes-with-bullet-holes-residents-shaken-durham-police-investigate-6-shootings-in-past-week/ar-AA1wbJ1z

  38. The Never-Ending Line: Migrants Wait For Benefits That Never Come

    City officials are winding down Chicago’s emergency response to the new arrivals. But the seemingly endless line outside of a state resource center in Humboldt Park is a visible reminder of the daily struggles thousands still face.

    They wait and wait and wait. Some wait for hours. Some for days. Some for months.

    The families line up outside the state government office at North and California avenues as early as 4 every morning, several hours before it opens, to secure their spots.

    To pass the time, some sit in parked cars, and others strike up conversations while their children run around. Some buy empanadas and bottled water from vendors who work out of their cars or set up stands nearby.

    The families know the wait can be long, sometimes up to 10 hours. And they know it can be fruitless. In many cases, they leave with merely a piece of paper reminding them when they’ll have to come back. When they return, they start the process all over again.

    On a recent morning, Jhon, his 38-week pregnant wife and their two-year-old twins made the journey to Humboldt Park from their shelter near Midway airport, seeking medical benefits to support the family.

    “We’ve sent our documents by mail and came to wait in line, but there are so many requests that our cases are not reviewed, so we have to come back,” Jhon said.

    “I’m desperate to get the medical card because she will give birth and that’s costly.”

    Sandra, the migrant from Colombia, now has to find a new place for her and her sons to live. The Uptown shelter where they’ve been staying is closing at the end of the month.

    She tried three times to get benefits through the Humboldt Park resource center. She filled out paperwork to the best of her ability — “I filled out what I understood” — and waited in long lines in the cold.

    Sandra left empty-handed each time.

    “If I had known it would be this hard, I wouldn’t have risked my children’s lives traveling through the jungle, so many countries, everything we went through in the four months traveling from Colombia to here,” she said, tears welling up in her eyes.

    https://blockclubchicago.org/2024/12/19/the-never-ending-line-migrants-wait-for-benefits-that-never-come/

    1. “some sit in parked cars”

      Who paid for those cars?

      “I’m desperate to get the medical card because she will give birth and that’s costly”

      All you care about is what taxpayers will give you for free. GTFO and go back to sh*thole Venezuela.

    2. “If I had known it would be this hard, I wouldn’t have risked my children’s lives traveling through the jungle, so many countries, everything we went through in the four months traveling from Colombia to here,”

      Yeah, those smiling NGO workers back in Colombia told you the streets were paved with gold and that you would get a free house, free car, free everything, didn’t they? Unfortunately, they lied to you. You are nothing more than a pawn in the political game their paymasters play.

      I have an update on the story of the Hondurans who rolled their car in Tennessee while driving to Phoenix, killing one of their boys. Last I heard they are trying their luck with joining the Free Sh!t Army in Florida. From what I was told the husband has never held a job, not here and not in Honduras. He didn’t come here to work.

    3. “I’m desperate to get the medical card because she will give birth and that’s costly.”

      Go home. You aren’t welcome.

      1. It’s only costly if you actually pay for it. Being that they are here illegally and are not working, I don’t think they have to worry about bill collectors, garnished wages or credit scores.

      2. Go home.

        They won’t have to walk back as they will get a free one way airplane ticket back home, where I’m sure it’s a lot warmer than Chicago right now.

  39. Trump is all about tariffs as he leads a party that used to be all about free trade

    This week, President-elect Donald Trump told reporters that “tariff” is “the most beautiful word in the dictionary” and claimed that tariffs would “make our country rich.”

    All of that is standard Trump rhetoric on trade, but it also represents a stunning about-face for the party he leads, especially when you look at how past presidential nominees talked about trade.

    In 1999, while running for president, George W. Bush framed free trade as a moral good: “In order to promote the peace, I believe we ought to be a free-trading nation in a free-trading world,” he said at a primary debate, “because free trade brings markets, and markets bring hope and prosperity.”

    In 2007, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., proclaimed himself “the biggest free marketer and free trader that you will ever see.”

    In 2011, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney likewise championed free trade, albeit with a few more reservations.

    “I love free trade. I want to open markets to free trade, but I will crack down on cheaters like China,” he said at a debate.

    But Trump blew up that Republican orthodoxy, twice winning the presidency while telling voters to be skeptical of international trade. Relatedly, he proposed massive new barriers to trade. During his most recent presidential campaign, he floated 60% tariffs on Chinese goods, plus blanket 20% tariffs on all other goods coming into the United States. Since winning the presidency, he has additionally promised 25% tariffs on products from Mexico and Canada.

    Free trade has had support from prominent Democrats as well over the years — think President Bill Clinton passing NAFTA or President Barack Obama promoting the Trans-Pacific Partnership (which ultimately failed).

    There wasn’t just a partisan divide on trade, says Diana Mutz, a political science professor at the University of Pennsylvania. There was a divide between elites and voters — one that Trump used to his advantage.

    “What he did was to move the Republican Party’s position to something closer to what the average American position was on trade, which was more negative than they saw the party elites being on trade,” she explained.

    Mutz has studied American attitudes toward trade closely — she wrote a whole book on the subject — and her research found that Trump’s shift did win him votes.

    “What happened in 2016? The two big issues that people talked a lot about were trade and immigration,” she said. “And what I was surprised to find in my analysis was that Trump moving the party closer [to voters] on trade did in fact garner additional votes. It did switch people’s attitudes toward the Republican candidate relative to the previous presidential election.”

    In addition, Trump made voters think more about trade, period, than they had before. And he did it in a very Trump way: He made trade about fighting.

    “Trade was emphasized by Trump as a means of dominating other countries, as a means of becoming the winner and them the losers,” Mutz added.

    For now, Trump isn’t backing off his tariff threats. In just over a month, he’ll get the chance to follow through.

    https://www.wamc.org/2024-12-20/trump-is-all-about-tariffs-as-he-leads-a-party-that-used-to-be-all-about-free-trade

    1. “it also represents a stunning about-face for the party he leads, especially when you look at how past presidential nominees talked about trade”

      I’ll be in Northeast Ohio next week, maybe take some pictures of what “free trade” did to this country’s former manufacturing base, Midtown Corridor of Cleveland east of downtown is a great example.

      The peasants can buy a $200 TeeVee from wallymart (that needs replaced every two years), meanwhile every alleged benefit of “free trade” has accrued only to the non-producers, the money grubbers, the coin clippers, the Parasite Class.

  40. Singh says the NDP ‘will vote to bring this government down’ in new letter

    After months of being non-committal, in a new letter, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says his caucus “will vote to bring this government down,” sometime in 2025.

    In the letter, addressed to Canadians, Singh says he will “put forward a clear motion of non-confidence in the next sitting of the House of Commons,” and “give Canadians a chance to vote for a government who will work for them.”

    This latest blow — seeing the NDP pull out the only pillar of parliamentary support the embattled Liberal government was relying on to stay in power — comes just ahead of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau arriving at Rideau Hall to shuffle his cabinet.

    “I called for Justin Trudeau to resign, and he should,” Singh said, not specifying how early into the 2025 sitting this motion moving to defeat the prime minister’s Liberal government could be advanced.

    The House of Commons is currently on a six-week holiday hiatus, and is not scheduled to resume until Jan. 27.

    “The Trudeau Liberals said a lot of the right things. Then they let people down again and again. Justin Trudeau failed in the biggest job a prime minister has: to work for people, not the powerful. To focus on Canadians, not themselves,” Singh said. “The Liberals don’t deserve another chance.”

    Earlier in the fall, Bloc Quebecois Leader Yves-François Blanchet issued an ultimatum to Trudeau: ensure two bills — one intended to boost Old Age Security (OAS) and the other to protect supply management in future trade talks — become law by Oct. 29, or his party would start negotiating with the Conservatives and NDP to topple the government.

    The Liberals, however, refused to capitulate to those demands, leading to them losing the Bloc’s support. Blanchet then ended the fall sitting pushing for the prime minister to visit Rideau Hall and launch the country into a federal election campaign by the end of January.

    In a social media post on Friday, Blanchet wrote that Singh’s letter comes “better late than never.”

    There is no scenario in which the Liberal government survives any coming opposition days or budget, Blanchet also wrote in French.

    https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/singh-says-the-ndp-will-vote-to-bring-this-government-down-in-new-letter-1.7153541

    2. Housing Wire
      Inventory
      682,150-7,865
      30-yr Fixed 6.90%

      Powell’s remarks shoot mortgage rates higher
      The fallout from Fed day got out of hand very quickly
      December 18, 2024, 5:30 pm
      By Logan Mohtashami

      The fallout from Fed day got out of hand very quickly. The market reacted badly to the FOMC statement and remarks by Federal Reserve Chairman Powell during the Q&A presser, sending the 10-year yield and mortgage rates higher. Also, the Dow was down over 1,000 points today.

      So what gives? Market players were already talking about how the Fed would dial back rate cuts in 2025, but Powell didn’t sound sure of himself in that press event and left an opening to create tighter financial conditions.

      What he got is higher mortgage rates — again.

      Key takeaways from the Fed presser

      1. Powell didn’t seem very confident while answering some questions about inflation and the labor market. He consistently emphasized that while the labor market is softening, it hasn’t completely broken. This has been my main observation regarding Powell and the Federal Reserve since 2022: They won’t truly pivot until the labor market breaks. I’ve been cautious about getting to sub-6% mortgage rates until the labor breaks. The Fed became fearful after the negative revisions and decided to cut aggressively in September, but now they have backtracked from that fear regarding the labor market.

      2. The Fed raised its inflation forecast to 2.5% PCE for 2025. Two years ago, achieving this would have seemed like a miracle, but some market participants interpreted the news as an indication of a “higher for longer” interest rate environment. This also means mortgage rates can be elevated if they don’t negatively impact the economic data.

      3. The Fed has a small margin of error in its unemployment rate forecast for 2025. This ties into my discussion on a recent episode of the HousingWire Daily podcast about the wildcards for housing in 2025. I also wrote an article on this topic today, The Federal Reserve’s housing recession dilemma, and the timing couldn’t be more perfect. The Fed is now playing with the Krampus Fire with elevated mortgage rates and the housing starts data. The Fed can’t afford to lose any sector of the economy to maintain its restrictive stance, which makes me believe they have intentionally set a low bar for 2025.

      What a crazy day! Everything was calm but the markets weren’t ready for the Fed statement or press event. I jumped on the HousingWire Daily podcast right after the Fed press conference ended, so catch that episode tomorrow as we go over the Fed press event with more detail. While we were recording the podcast, the stock market continued to decline, but bond yields maintained their upward movement, making higher mortgage rates a 100% certainty.

      Merry Christmas, everyone.
      …
      https://www.housingwire.com/articles/powells-remarks-shoot-mortgage-rates-higher/

    3. Money Mortgages
      Article updated on Dec 20, 2024
      Mortgage Rates Are Closing In on 7% After the Fed Rate Cut. Today’s Rates, Dec. 20, 2024
      Many expected mortgage rates would end the year close to 6%. Instead, they’re on the brink of 7% following another Fed rate cut. Here’s why.

      Mortgage
      30-year fixed-rate
      6.88% (+0.18)
      15-year fixed-rate
      6.15% (+0.15)
      30-year fixed-rate jumbo
      6.95% (+0.11)
      5/1 ARM
      6.49% (+0.17)
      10-year fixed-rate
      6.02% (+0.07)
      Refinance
      30-year fixed-rate refinance
      6.88% (+0.20)
      15-year fixed-rate refinance
      6.16% (+0.15)
      10-year fixed refinance
      6.04% (+0.02)

      When the Federal Reserve finally began cutting interest rates this fall, would-be homebuyers were eager for relief from over two years of high mortgage rates. Although the Fed made another 0.25% interest rate cut at its policy meeting on Dec. 18, the wait for affordable mortgage rates is getting longer, not shorter.
      …
      https://www.cnet.com/personal-finance/mortgages/mortgage-rates-heat-up-since-last-week-todays-mortgage-rates-for-dec-20-2024/

  42. From Salon (no link provided):

    “After the November election, a rowdy debate erupted in online spaces over whether it’s acceptable to cut off family and friends because of how they voted. Supporters of Kamala Harris expressed a range of views, from a reluctance to burn bridges to a “screw ’em all” mentality. “It’s okay to shame someone for doing something shameful,” feminist writer Jessica Valenti argued on Instagram. Shunning those who voted for Orange Man Bad, she added, was “a reasonable response by those of us who are disgusted, anxious, and afraid.”

    “On the day after the election, I had several calls from clients that they need to have an appointment as soon as possible,” Dr. Farnoosh Nouri, a clinical assistant therapist at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, told Salon. She reports that colleagues across the state are reporting the same. “One colleague had 33 calls the day after the election, new clients who wanted to come in.”

    Before 2016, Nouri said, she had not witnessed this kind of political stress on families. After Orange Man Bad’s first win, she saw a spike in college students “struggling with going back home for Thanksgiving holidays, for Christmas holidays.” Now the fear and stress are ramping up again. Across social media, the stories are mounting, both from liberals who wonder whether it’s time to go no-contact with MAGA parents and from Orange Man Bad voters who complain about “childish” offspring who no longer speak to them. Nouri’s experiences are backed by new statistics from the Public Religion Research Institute, which found that “Democratic voters (23%) are nearly five times as likely as Republican voters (5%) to say they will be spending less time with certain family members because of their political views.”

    Don’t forget to forfeit any inheritance you may have coming.

    1. “On the day after the election, I had several calls from clients that they need to have an appointment as soon as possible,” Dr. Farnoosh Nouri, a clinical assistant therapist at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, told Salon.

      Funny how we were able to endure four years of FJB and we didn’t need to see a shrink.

      These people are pathetic. They are brittle and useless. How would they cope with a true calamity?

      1. +1

        I’ll be seeing some people next week who are borderline falling into this depth of TDS. When you’ve known someone for 30+ years you don’t abandon them.

        1. When you’ve known someone for 30+ years you don’t abandon them.

          Agreed. Even though they would turn their backs on you, you won’t do that to them. Of course, they don’t see that.

      2. These people are pathetic. They are brittle and useless. How would they cope with a true calamity?
        They would rely on the people who they now “hate” because of politics to bail them out.

  43. ‘Chico took out a loan so she could comply. She could have never imagined that $30,000 was just the beginning and that was on the cheaper end’

    via GIPHY

  44. ‘Not only is it an issue for our own personal family ownership of the property, and what that means if there is some type of a loss, some type of a flood, some type of issue in not having insurance, but obviously it’s an issue when we go to sell it’

    So when yer parent die and the trailer is finally yers, that might bite you in the a$$ Laurie.

  45. ‘This was all kind of charted. Everyone was able to tell that this was the case because, in the resale market, we’ve had, largely, a plateauing of prices. In very particular areas of the market, like ‘dog crate’ condos, we’ve had a serious decline in value’

    I can see what yer doing wrong a mile away Mark. It’s marketing. Have you thought about dropping the dog crate brand?

  46. ‘Now Lucy feels trapped in her small two-bedroom flat. She says the issue is not just the cladding but the entire external wall systems being substandard. ‘We’ve not been able to sell since that became the regulation. The situation that I’m in is because my building is below 11m. There are zero protections for us as leaseholders’

    It’s still way cheaper than renting Lucy.

  47. Lack Of Patience Could Cost You Big Time (Peel Region Real Estate Market Update)

    Team Sessa Real Estate

    33 minutes ago MISSISSAUGA

    This episode shows the current Brampton, Mississauga, Ajax, Whitby, and Pickering Real Estate home prices and market trends for the week ending Dec 11, 2024. We also discuss how some people spend their money before they receive it and this can lead to a very costly financial mistake.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slUKd0OVDb4

    12:33.

  48. Ry Cooder – Maria Elena

    mbroders

    17 years ago

    From “Ry Cooder & The Moula Banda Rhythm Aces: Let’s Have A Ball”, a film by Les Blank taped at The Catalyst, Santa Cruz, CA on March 25’th 1987. With wonderful trombone solo by George Bohannon.

    Comment from MrBillindallas:

    Concert was from a two night run – the last of nine total dates on the NorCal tour. Shot on 16mm film with an audio remote truck in the alley. Movie was released in Europe but not in the US. Great band, at one of the best venues in the ‘States, the last two nights of the mini-tour they were truly on fire. One venue was so small the band filled the stage and the dance floor.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AszqfR6as8k

    6:25.

    1. Benzinga
      No Laughing Matter: Jim Carrey Sells LA Home of 30 Years After $10M Price Drop Amid Claims He Needs The Money
      Jeff Vasishta
      Fri, December 20, 2024 at 12:00 PM PST 5 min read

      Did a series of unfortunate events cause funnyman Jim Carrey to finally sell his LA home of 30 years by taking a drop of $10 million from his original asking price? The 10,954-square-foot house in Brentwood went into contract with an asking price of $19.75 million, down from $28.9 million a year ago.

      Claims To Need Cash

      Carrey had stated in 2022 that he was quitting acting after starring in the wildly successful “Sonic the Hedgehog 2,” but his time off was short-lived. The actor stars in the third installment, which will be released on December 20th. When questioned about the retirement U-turn during the film’s promotion, Carrey hinted at a cash crunch:
      …
      https://finance.yahoo.com/news/no-laughing-matter-jim-carrey-200018831.html

        1. They also rarely tell us what he paid for it, nor his holding costs.

          And while I get it that voice acting doesn’t pay the big bucks he got in the past, he still has income, so what’s with the cash crunch?

  50. R u planning to buy the dip on the assumption that stocks will soon rocket up again in yet another tsunami wave of irrational exuberance?

    2. the dip on the assumption that stocks will soon rocket up again in yet another tsunami wave

      Seems to happen about every month.

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