You Can’t Refinance And You Can’t Consolidate Because The Home Is Worth Less Than You Paid
A report from the LA Daily News. “The economic impact of the devastating Palisades and Eaton fires grows larger by the day. Homeowners, many of them underinsured, face years of anguish as they struggle to find temporary shelter and get claims paid. Consumers face ever-mounting insurance premiums — if they can get insurance at all — as carriers reassess the risks of doing business in Southern California. Apart from insurance, banks worry about people not being able to pay their mortgages on time or defaulting on their loan altogether, said Jonathan Schneyer, research director with CoreLogic’s Insurance Solutions Group. And that could ‘grow substantially’ as the fires spread. Yet, insured losses represent only about 40% of total property damages, Schneyer said. ‘That difference is what we refer to as the insurance gap,’ he said. Homeowners may not have enough to pay their mortgage after dipping into savings to pay for temporary housing or living expenses, Schneyer said. ‘Try putting yourself in the place of someone who just evacuated on a moment’s notice, who may have lost their entire home,’ he said. ‘The last thing you want to be thinking about is your mortgage payment.'”
The Los Angeles Times. “Peggy Holter spent decades as a television journalist, a peripatetic career that took her all over the world, but there was one place she called home and always returned to: the Pacific Palisades condo she moved into on Jan. 1, 1978. That all changed after Tuesday’s firestorm, when her condo burned to the ground along with the rest of the 36 units in the Palisades Drive complex. Holter, 83, who only retired last year, is now facing uncertainty after she said State Farm didn’t renew her individual condo insurance, citing the condition of her roof. Her biggest question is whether she can rebuild. The homeowners association had a master policy from FAIR Plan, which totaled only $20 million. That would pay out only about $550,000 per unit if the complex were not rebuilt — far below the $1 million-plus the condos commanded in recent sales. The land could be sold off to a developer. Holter, who is now living with her son in the Hollywood Hills, had paid off her condo.”
From Xinhua. “Preliminary estimates place the economic losses from the wildfires between 52 billion and 57 billion US dollars, exceeding the devastation caused by California’s 2018 wildfires. Dorothy, a longtime resident of the Palisades, also lost the home she had lived in for 40 years, along with the homes of all her neighbors. ‘The whole area is wiped out. It’s a nightmare,’ she told Xinhua. ‘I’m a retired school administrator, and most of us bought our homes decades ago when they were affordable. Now, even if there were homes left to buy, who can afford that?'”
From WTSP TV. “Areas with unprecedented flooding from Hurricane Milton continue to recover exactly three months after Hurricane Milton made landfall in Florida. Neighborhoods in north Tampa like Forest Hills took a hard hit despite being in a low-risk flood zone. Affected neighbors said they didn’t have flood insurance, are still not at home, or are navigating challenges with FEMA. ‘There’s days that I just can’t even get out of bed,’ Marilyn Menendez-Arnett said. She is determined to rebuild her home after it flooded. It’s a home she shared with her late husband Wendell Arnett who passed away last year. Menendez-Arnett, who also went through back surgery and two knee replacements prior, said while she’s been able to get some help from FEMA, she’s still out at least thousands of dollars. On top of paying for her mortgage and the shed-turned-apartment unit temporarily, the money adds up for someone relying on disability. “
From KDVR. “A statewide grand jury found enough evidence in December to indict five employees of two Denver-area construction companies on 34 counts of fraud and theft, the Colorado Attorney General’s Office announced Friday. The charges are related to what the AG called a ‘widespread home remodeling contractor fraud scheme’ from July 2021 through December 2024. The contracting companies named in the affidavit were Schwalb Builders and Avi’s Remodeling and Contracting. The companies are affiliated with each other. Named in the grand jury indictment were the two companies’ owners — Sean Schwalb and Avi Schwalb — as well as three employees: Kevin Allbritton, Michael Stein and Blanca Dominguez.”
“According to the Colorado Attorney General’s Office, the five had collaborated to find home remodeling contracts, collect customer deposits and ‘then failed to complete any work on the projects.’ ‘In some instances, Schwalb Builders abandoned the projects after starting demolition or performing faulty work on the homes, leaving the homes damaged and uninhabitable,’ the AG’s office continued in a press release. The indictment alleges that ‘in all instances’ the members of the perceived criminal ring never returned customer funds for incomplete or defective work.”
The Chicago Tribune in Illinois. “Kelvis Sanchez has lived in fear for so long that he no longer reacts to the sounds of gunshots, screams or windows breaking that ordinarily would have terrified him. A recent morning, the 30-year-old Venezuelan stood in his kitchen and propped his toddler daughter up over his shoulder. He and his wife had run several extension cords outside for electricity. Bare bulbs and wires hung down from the ceiling, several feet above the head of their 4-year-old. ‘We left (Venezuela) because of the violence and the chaos. And now, we’ve found ourselves again in the middle of chaos,’ Sanchez said. ‘We really didn’t expect this to happen when we entered the United States. My daughters hide under the bed when they hear the gunshots.'”
“After migrants started coming to Chicago in 2022, state agencies launched a program that helped those staying in shelters resettle into rental housing. Migrants generally moved to the South and West sides, where some have encountered patterns of violence and chaos similar to what they risked everything to leave behind. And now that President-elect Donald Trump is promising the largest deportations in United States history. Sanchez said he had some leads on an apartment, and that he wanted to leave as soon as he could. Still, as he falls asleep to gunshots, he said he sometimes understands the call for mass deportation. ‘Those who are causing harm should be deported. Even Venezuelans criticize them, and I agree,’ he said. ‘I don’t think — and I pray they don’t — come for people like us.'”
Fosters Daily Democrat. “Residents of mobile homes and condominiums are speaking out after the city’s property revaluation process resulted in large tax increases, on average much higher than what single-family homeowners are seeing. A report by Marybeth Walker, the city’s interim chief assessor, shows the disparity. Condo values went up 94% on average and mobile home values went up 208%, following trends seen in other New Hampshire cities and towns. Single-family homes went up on average 73%, meaning more of the tax burden shifted to people who own condos or mobile homes.”
“This not fair, according to Sheila Hall, 67, who lives in a mobile home in Hideaway Park. She and her husband Ken, 74, are on a fixed income. ‘I have lived here since 1970 and have done nothing special to the home except for regular maintenance,’ Hall said. ‘We bought it for $39,000 and now they say it valued at $139,000. My tax bill increased by 34% because they put it on a spreadsheet and valued my mobile home the same as a new one. Well, mobile homes depreciate. They do not appreciate.'”
“Hall said the city does not maintain roads in her neighborhood because the city says they are private property. ‘We are part of a cooperative,’ she said. ‘We own the trailer and a share of the land in the park. My homeowner’s insurance will only cover us for $50,000. We cannot replace it for more or get what they say it’s worth. I do not think this is right or fair. How can we be valued for more than we can even insure our home? And it is our home. We want to stay (but) maybe can’t afford to as we are on Social Security.'”
The Globe and Mail in Canada. “10 Glencairn Ave, Toronto. Asking price: $1,549,000 (September, 2024). Previous asking prices: $1,579,000 (August, 2024); $1,629,000 (July, 2024). Selling price: $1.53-million (October, 2024). This three-bedroom house attracted some attention from buyers but received no offers as competing homes became available on adjacent streets off Yonge Street,. That changed somewhat after the price was cut by $50,000, but the two bidders that emerged were in the end unable to reach a deal with the sellers. ‘The time it was on the market was just quiet, and people had no sense of urgency,’ said agent Brayden Irwin. ‘We had a few offers made over the course of the listing, but we weren’t able to get on the same page.'”
“In the fall, a further $30,000 price cut brought in another offer and a deal was cut for $1.53-million. ‘A lot of the mechanicals and the bones of the house were updated, but not necessarily the kitchen, bathrooms or floors,’ said Mr. Irwin. ‘Sometimes it’s hard for buyers to see the value. A lot of buyers don’t want to undertake any renos, so it just took a little longer to find the right buyer.'”
The Herald Sun in Australia. “Victorians trapped in ‘mortgage prisons’ are putting their homes up as holiday rentals, leasing out spare rooms and ending maternity leave early in desperate bids to pay their mortgage. Airbnb has revealed more than 40 per cent of Aussies opening their door to holiday makers are doing so in an effort to hang onto their home. Meanwhile, mortgage brokers have revealed falling home values have left others unable to refinance their loan and forced to work second jobs or cut short their time with new bubs as the Reserve Bank keeps the nation’s cash rate on hold at 4.35 per cent — the highest level since 2011.”
“More than 35,500 Victorians sought financial counselling last year, about 10,000 above the 24,532 who called for help in the midst of the pandemic in 2021. The number one reason behind the calls was difficulty paying a home loan. Smart Lending director Melissa Gielnik said younger Victorians who bought a home anywhere from 2018-2021 were bearing the brunt of the property pain, most taking on second jobs to cope with the strain.”
“Ms Gielnik said one in four people they were speaking with now were in a ‘mortgage prison.’ ‘That’s where you have a mortgage and can’t refinance and you can’t consolidate because the home is worth less than you paid,’ Ms Gielnik said. ‘They might have bought for $700,000, but the repayments now compared to back then — it’s a good $1000 different and for the average family that’s shocking, for a month.’ She said while many were desperately holding on for a rate cut later this year, it might not be enough for everyone. ‘I feel like everyone is holding their breath, waiting for the rates to lower,’ Ms Gielnik said. ‘And I’m not that confident they will drop more than 1 per cent in the next two years … and I don’t know that it will be enough to have the impact people think it will.'”
This Post Has 83 Comments
Realtors are liars.
‘insured losses represent only about 40% of total property damages, Schneyer said. ‘That difference is what we refer to as the insurance gap,’ he said. Homeowners may not have enough to pay their mortgage after dipping into savings to pay for temporary housing or living expenses’
As head of HBB mis, mal and dis-information enforcement, I must point out that the lending was sound Jon. At the time.
‘‘We bought it for $39,000 and now they say it valued at $139,000. My tax bill increased by 34% because they put it on a spreadsheet and valued my mobile home the same as a new one. Well, mobile homes depreciate. They do not appreciate’
The sh$thole where Sheila and Ken live is called Rochester.
‘Neighborhoods in north Tampa like Forest Hills took a hard hit despite being in a low-risk flood zone. Affected neighbors said they didn’t have flood insurance, are still not at home, or are navigating challenges with FEMA…while she’s been able to get some help from FEMA, she’s still out at least thousands of dollars. On top of paying for her mortgage and the shed-turned-apartment unit temporarily, the money adds up for someone relying on disability’
Another mortgage, no insurance. Sound lending!
“You Can’t Refinance And You Can’t Consolidate Because The Home Is Worth Less Than You Paid”
Underwaterness is the new black.
Seen on Twitter: If you’re a ‘date the rate’ buyer from 2022-2024, I hope your home is really hot
Oh dear…when even the ultra-wealthy speculators and parasites who have been the sole beneficiaries of the Fed’s “No Billionaire Left Behind” monetary policies have to slash their mega-mansion wish prices by millions of dollars, you know things are getting bad in NAR-land.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14272803/Dan-Bilzerian-Las-Vegas-selling-mansion.html
“Even Venezuelans criticize them, and I agree,’ he said. ‘I don’t think — and I pray they don’t — come for people like us.’’
Are you here legally Mr Sanchez? If no, then why wouldn’t they come for you? When did legal and illegal become so hard to understand?
What part of “you are being replaced” do you fail to understand?
You are being replaced, and, as always, it’s a bipartisan production. Democrat Party wants white genocide, because muh colonial, oppressor class, etc. GOP Chamber of Commerce want white genocide too, but *slower* because they need slaves to work for them, with the help of all the globalist NGO’s who provide the transportation, free housing, Obamaphones, etc.
You are being replaced, and your replacers have deemed that any noticing, let alone discussion, of your replacement will not be allowed.
‘The Chicago Police Department closed off five apartments in the building due to safety concerns, said a source close to the building’s manager. It caught everyone by surprise.’
“It’s not fair to come and shut the doors and not give us an opportunity, a chance,” said a Venezuelan woman named Alejandra Yovera, who has four kids under the age of 12. “Some of these apartments don’t even have light, others don’t have heat.”
4 children under the age of 12: how is she going to be able to support them? She can’t.
Since January 20, 2021 you live in a country where illegal criminal invaders have more rights than citizens.
Will this begin to change a week from tomorrow? Maybe. Will it be any meaningful, lasting change? Probably not.
For every future Laken Riley homicide prevented, there will remain 10,000 illegal criminal invaders getting free hotels, apartments, $5,000 debit cards, Obamaphones, etc.
The unfortunate reality is that nothing short of mass civilian vigilante enforcement, including violence if needed, there will be no significant change. Any any civilian who attempts this, regardless of who controls the White House or Congress, will end up in the globalist gulag.
And a reminder, any time two or more civilians discuss doing something, one of them is a Fed. In a group of ten of them, nine could be feds.
Luigi showed the way. Never mind his target or his motivations, but if a hundred young men on 4chan could put down the video games and p0rn and weed, identify the executives and senior staff of all of the replacer NGO’s that’s a good start.
‘Will it be any meaningful, lasting change? Probably not’
It’s already changed. The Rio Grande Valley voted overwhelmingly for mass deportations.
That Luigi guy is sitting in prison and he’ll never get out. No thanks.
Are you here legally Mr Sanchez?
And he is surprised by the crime. Perhaps he was expecting to live in in a 1970’s sitcom neighborhood, with two new cars on the driveway and a big fat EBT card. I’m sure that all those smiling NGO workers back home told him that the streets were paved with gold in the US and that it didn’t matter that he has no marketable skills.
I heard Tom Homan is coming to town on January 20th. Perhaps they should pack to be prepared.
So now LA’s ultra-wealthy are discovering their evacuated mansions are being looted by Democrat-on-Arrival “newcomers.” This is what we call a teachable moment, high-net-worth LA libtards.
https://www.news.com.au/finance/work/leaders/viciously-robbed-former-tinder-boss-makes-heartbreaking-claim-amid-fires/news-story/26f36fd3e4e02e4e14c9b64277048762
He advised people to keep lights on, doors locked, and perimeters secured and use group chats to organise proof of presence. He also warned people to “stay vigilant” and look out for each other.
Mr Norgard also took the moment and made it political.
“My famous actor neighbour came by today after the looting gangs freaked him out to the point of exhaustion and whispered in my ear, ‘I guess I am a conservative now’,” he added.
Posting for reference and discussion. As of now, the “market cap” of all of the magic internet money on this site is $3.31 trillion. Note that none of this existed 16 years ago.
https://coinmarketcap.com/
Dogecoin, which started as a meme (almost all of them did) has a market cap just shy of $50 billion.
If you scroll through the list on the first page, there are 97 alleged coins with a market cap above $1 billion.
There are 10,591 different types of magic internet money listed on this site, you’ll have to scroll through 106 pages to see all of them.
🤡
Why do people spend real money on imaginary coins?
Why do people spend real money on imaginary coins?
They’ve made some people incredibly rich. Greater fool and all that.
“imaginary coins”
What is: the derivatives market?
It’s been years since I formally studied it, and I still understand the basics like agricultural futures (to hedge against crop failure, and yes, speculation) and currency swap agreements for entities that conduct international trade.
But the majority of it, the hundreds of trillions or quadrillions of it, doesn’t seem to really do anything beyond enrich the non-producing members of the Parasite Class. Their derivatives “wealth” is no more real or less imaginary than $hitcoins, but the key difference is that if a Parasite Class pigmen is threatened with the loss of a few pennies, or a few trillion, they *WILL* be made whole, as always, at the expense of the taxpayers and inflation via Big Government money printing.
“A lot of buyers don’t want to undertake any renos, so it just took a little longer to find the right buyer.’”
Here most buyers can’t afford any renovations on an existing home purchase. They’re borrowing the down payment/closing costs and have zero in reserves (cough into hand “subprime!”). A lot of these new buyers are a water heater break down from bankruptcy.
Celebrity libtards are acting like LA Mayor Karen Bass is solely responsible for the botched response to the LA wildfires. In reality, every D voter owns this.
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/sarah-michelle-gellar-sara-foster-171006805.html
“We pay the highest taxes in California. Our fire hydrants were empty. Our vegetation was overgrown, brush not cleared,” the “90210” alum tweeted Wednesday.
“Our reservoirs were emptied by our governor because tribal leaders wanted to save fish. Our fire department budget was cut by our mayor. But thank god drug addicts are getting their drug kits.”
Foster, 43, also called for Bass and California Governor Gavin Newsom to resign, arguing that their “far left policies have ruined our state. And also our party.”
James Woods, who lost his home in the Palisades Fire, also slammed “liberal idiots” Bass and Newsom.
“This fire is not from ‘climate change,’ you ignorant a–hole,” he tweeted in response to a fan who claimed Woods has always expressed “skepticism about climate change.”
“It’s because liberal idiots like you elect liberal idiots like Gavin Newsom and Karen Bass,” the “John Q.” actor, 77, added.
“One doesn’t understand the first thing about fire management and the other can’t fill the water reservoirs.”
‘response to a fan who claimed Woods has always expressed “skepticism about climate change’
I’ve mentioned before: what combination of taxes and subsidies would have stopped these fires from happening? Or making cars drive 20 MPH, etc?
“what combination of taxes and subsidies would have stopped these fires from happening?”
Nothing would have.
I got this from Foreclosure.com:
Est. $599,600
7810 Cowboy Way, Flagstaff, AZ 86004
This foreclosure property is a great opportunity to invest in this neighborhood and generate potential profit.
3/7/2025 Foreclosed auction unpaid balance
The owner of this property has been served a Notice of Sale. This property is scheduled to be sold at a foreclosure auction on 3/7/2025 at 200 N SAN FRANCISCO ST, FLAGSTAFF. Because auction dates often change or are postponed, please confirm the auction date with a foreclosure specialist.
Public records indicate the owner of this property is in pre-foreclosure.
9/29/2005 Loan issued $195,000
A loan was issued by WELLS FARGO BANK NA on 9/29/2005 in the amount of $195,000.
7/30/1998 Loan issued $137,000
This home last sold for $137,000.
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/7810-Cowboy-Way-Flagstaff-AZ-86004/7374762_zpid/
From the photo I’d say this is in Doney Park, which is just east of Flagstaff.
What a great spread! Only $599,600 you say? Where’s my checkbook!
Note the loan was for $195k near the peak of the ‘bubble’ in 2005.
The DNC’s CCP ideological mentors value “stability” above all else, but the screwed-over Chinese populace is reaching the boiling point as the PRC’s tyranny, corruption, and economic mismanagement make life unbearable. Watch & learn, Democrat-Bolshevik Comrades of Proven Worth.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kERF__qn15c
Why an angry, divided China will topple the Chinese regime
Lei’s Real Talk
1 day ago
Why an angry, divided China will topple the Chinese regime
A massive riot broke out in Xi Jinping’s home province, Shaanxi, during the New Year. Angry citizens clashed with the police over the death of a 17-year-old student, whose alleged murder was covered up by the school because the perpetrator’s parent is a local official. This case highlights the deep divisions within China and foreshadows the trajectory of the CCP’s downfall.
Watch the full live stream here: • A massive riot in Shaanxi illustrates…
0:46 The death of a student in Shaanxi
4:04 One China, two peoples
7:20 The two worlds clash
10:49 Why the CCP has failed to reduce tensions
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8oCOcQ22lA
14 minutes.
I was reading about medical Insurance Companies denying claims and trying to push care to be covered by Medicare.
Likewise , the recent cancelling of property insurance in CA to the insurer of last resort being
CA Fair Plan appears to be a similar tactic. With only 200 million in fair plan, how are billions of dollars of claims going to be paid?
How about millions of mortgage loans being transferred to government. How about billions in school loans being passed to government while private industry takes the money and runs.
This has been a ongoing scheme by Industry to transfer risk and liability to the Government or the tax payers.
And for years they told us that medical cost were high because of Med system high cost of research.
But than you find out so much of it was being paid by tax payers, even funding gain of function research with China, that leaked and shut down the World.
And add to this how so much tax dollars were diverted to paying for illegals that crossed the borders and programs like giving addicts their fix.
And the danger in Cal with so many homeless being not only a crime risk and a health risk, but also a fire risk.
The Military/ Industrial complex has looted the government, or tax payers ,for a long time in private/ public partnerships where the marbles go to them and the taxpayers get stuck with the loss.
Nothing but rigged systems looting the masses for decades.
And Climate Change and Panademics and fires and other disasters are leading the sheep to “you will own nothing and eat bugs and be happy. “
how are billions of dollars of claims going to be paid?
The insurance companies are technically on the hook for any shortfall, but given the degree of negligence by state and local governments I expect the insurance companies to fight it out in court.
I predict that a bunch of those non conforming high loans in fire areas will go into foreclosure before its even possible to rebuild.
Also predict all kinds of lawsuits and a big mess in the Judicial system .
Your still responsible for your mortgage and taxes , even if you have a burned down house.
Also, based on what I witnessed regarding the Insurance Companies with the Earthquake damage in Ca , they send out claims adjusters from other states to try to low ball damage and screw the insurance claimant.
And recent Fire Insurance policies have all kinds of disclaimers and ways of screwing claimants on what should be a very obivious burn down by a fire.
And other people are bringing up the new building codes and red tape in building anything in LA County will delay, delay, delay.
I think about these fire victims that still have to go to a job and function , while being homeless, while there might not even be enough rental units available to house the fire victims for the long haul of rebuilding.
will go into foreclosure
Let Asheville be our guide.
https:// nitter.poast.org/ m3_melody/ status/ 1878174723529465881#m:
Prior to the fires, unemployment in LA was 5.8% (Nov)
Current mortgage delinquency for zip codes impacted by LA fires at 1.04% (nat’l average 4.22%)
Prior to the hurricanes, Asheville unemployment was 2.6%, now 6.1%
Mortgage delinquency in Asheville was 2.32%, now 7.55%
Insurance Industry Claps Back at Kamala’s Wildfire Claims—’False, Wrong and Dangerous’.
https://redstate.com/bobhoge/2025/01/10/insurance-industry-claps-back-at-kamalas-wildfire-claimsfalse-wrong-and-dangerous-n2184206
Trigger warning: the woman discussed in the article below came reasonably close to becoming the president-elect of the United States and could have been preparing for her inauguration on January 20. Food for thought.
Vice President Kamala Harris took aim at insurance companies during a press conference Thursday regarding the tragic, overwhelming wildfires in the Los Angeles region that broke out Tuesday, killing at least 10, destroying thousands of structures and displacing tens of thousands from their homes.
“Many insurance companies have canceled insurance for a lot of the families who have been affected and will be affected, which is only going to delay or place an added burden on their ability to recover.”
“I think that is an important point that must be raised,” she continued, “and hopefully there can be some way to address that issue, because these families — so many of them — otherwise will not have the resources to recover in any meaningful way, and many of them have lost everything.”
The implication from her statement is that some companies abandoned their obligations and canceled policies even as the devastation was unfolding.
Spokesfolks for the insurance industry are clapping back at the VP, though, and telling her that she’s ill-informed and is spreading misinformation:
David Sampson, president and CEO of the American Property Casualty Insurance Association (APCIA), told FOX Business, “It is false, wrong and dangerous to even insinuate that insurers are abandoning their customers, and it’s especially concerning coming from a former California statewide elected official who should know the law.”
He added, “Insurers are committed to protecting the safety of those affected and providing expedited relief to their policyholders for the covered losses.”
Sampson noted that California law prohibits insurers from canceling an insurance policy during its term, except for very limited exceptions, such as non-payment of premiums or fraud.
He added, “So the implication that people who have insurance coverage effective on January 7th are being canceled — just to leave that impression with people and to create that fear — is irresponsible, in my view.”
The reality that the failed Democrat presidential candidate forgot to mention is that the state is in the middle of an insurance crisis, largely self-inflicted. Between onerous regulations, an infamously hostile business climate, and the knowledge that the state is prone to natural disasters, some industry giants are just ditching the state altogether.
Even before this week’s wildfires hit, California was in the midst of an insurance crisis, with many residents unable to obtain homeowners insurance due to several carriers limiting their exposure in the state or pulling out completely in recent years because of heavy losses and the inability to adequately raise premiums or assess risk due to California’s regulations.
The state’s largest homeowners insurance carrier, State Farm, announced in March of last year that it would not renew some 72,000 home and apartment policies in the summer. The company cited inflation, regulatory costs and increasing risk of catastrophes for its decision and had previously stopped accepting new applications in the state.
One can’t help but wonder if some of their analysts weren’t aware that parts of LA and California were tinderboxes just waiting to explode—like they just did in the Pacific Palisades and Altadena—due to mismanagement of the water supply and brush clearance, and decided to get out while the getting out was good.
State Farm was hardly alone in their assessment:
Several other leading insurers, including All State, Farmers and USAA, have also in recent years curbed new policy applications in California as part of an effort to limit their exposure to policies that carry what they see as undue risk given what the state’s regulators have allowed them to charge policyholders. Similar reasons of escalating risk, high repair costs and rising reinsurance premiums have been cited in those decisions.
Now don’t get me wrong—I’m not an apologist for the insurance industry, and like with any business sector, there are abuses, and sometimes they make it very difficult to get your claim fairly settled. That being said, like with so many sectors, the insurance folks are abandoning California, and it’s long past time for “leaders” here to start figuring out how to solve the problem instead of just trashing them.
Also, all the far left Liberals who thought they were the protected and chosen people, just found out the Powers That Be could care less about you.
Watching them complain now about who they voted for in California and the conquences of their destructive policy insanity is to late.
Watching them complain now about who they voted for in California and the conquences of their destructive policy insanity is to late.
Yet far too many just won’t learn.
And now California has turned into an arsonist’s dream.
I also read that Oregon sent dozens of fire engines to help, but they are being held back until CDOT can get around to inspecting them.
Continued Dry and windy in S. CA , so many fires all south of where I live so no smoke here. I work in Malibu but that area already burned a month ago, the area around Malibu canyon and PCH. The canyon burned by the ocean but inland by Mulholland hwy to hwy 101 plenty of very dry chaparral. Kanan road very dry. No rain lots of wind no safe in the hills.
Tech Bubble 2.0 is bursting. I hope none of those 150,000 fired tech workers have mortgages to pay.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/emilsayegh/2024/08/19/the-great-tech-reset-unpacking-the-layoff-surge-of-2024/
Those are people with families. It is not a joke when people lose their jobs.
FWIW, there was a lot of smugness and arrogance in tech during the good times. People would job hop every year, then came the quiet quitting, and people bragged about their wages. So there is some schadenfreude out there.
But yeah, these are real people, some with families. I have been laid off in the past, so I also don’t laugh at their misfortune.
There are smug jerks in any industry going through good times.
Not to mention that they work for peanuts. I see this at my employer. The only domestic hiring is for highly specialized positions. Run of the mill coders can be hired in Eastern Europe, India or LatAm for less than $2000 a month
When your employer can fire you at will without cause, job hopping is a natural consequence.
Also, this idea that all foreigners from all cultures will burn the midnight oil and give 110% is laughable.
[An interesting read that contains an interesting fact.]
[First up is the interesting fact:]
“Moreover lithium battery fires cannot be extinguished with water. They have to burn themselves out over a period of many hours, so the toxic fumes never stop. While a gasoline fire burns at 1,500 degrees, lithium batteries burn at an incredible 5,000 degrees. This prodigious heat would surely and quickly set neighboring structures on fire as well.”
[Here is the interesting read …]
Hazard warning for Everett’s lithium battery park.
https://www.massfiscal.org/hazard_warning_for_everett_s_lithium_battery_park
The Healey Administration just approved the permitting of an enormous lithium battery complex in the City of Everett, which would make it among the largest in New England and in a rather populated area compared with past large scale battery projects. This is concerning because lithium batteries can burn or explode without warning. The resulting toxic inferno from a project this size, and near such a populated location would be catastrophic. Given the new law requiring the electric utilities to buy huge quantities of these batteries, this added threat is unnecessary.
The Texas developer Jupiter Power proposes to place an incredible 700 megawatts (MW) of giant lithium batteries on a 20 acre site that is surrounded by commercial development. This includes an existing casino and hotel plus a proposed soccer stadium, and mixed use development.
This would be one of the biggest lithium battery complexes in America, the biggest being 821 MW located in a remote part of Kern County, California. There are no large battery complexes in urban areas as this one is proposed to be.
The last thing a dense, urban area like Everett needs is the gigantic fire threat which these lithium batteries certainly present. The Everett site would host over 400 tractor trailer sized batteries, each weighing up to 80,000 pounds and containing a hundred times the amount of chemicals in an electric car battery. That is 16,000 tons of lithium batteries that are capable of unexpected fire or explosion. That this threat exists is well established.
Large scale lithium battery complexes like this are normally built far from communities. They are built on hundreds of remote acres so if one battery burns it does not set its neighbors ablaze and poison thousands of people. If a fire were to break out, the chain reaction could quickly engulf the entire complex, producing enormous amounts of toxic smoke.
The 20 acre Everett site is so small that the batteries would have to be side by side or even stacked one on another. Packed together like that, a single battery burning could set the entire complex on fire. The effects of this on the metro area would be unthinkable.
From Jupiter Power’s website, it looks like their biggest built project to date is just 200 MW and all projects are located in remote areas. Building a colossal 700 MW project within Metropolitan Boston is not a wise one for Jupiter or Massachusetts and certainly not for Boston or Everett.
Moreover lithium battery fires cannot be extinguished with water. They have to burn themselves out over a period of many hours, so the toxic fumes never stop. While a gasoline fire burns at 1,500 degrees, lithium batteries burn at an incredible 5,000 degrees. This prodigious heat would surely and quickly set neighboring structures on fire as well.
Both the Everett and Boston fire marshals should be deeply concerned about this proposed urban concentration of dangerous lithium batteries. So should the elected officials, neighbors, and the overall site developers.
There really isn’t any conceivable need for this preposterous complex. The new climate law already requires the electric power utilities to buy huge quantities of lithium batteries. That is 1,500 MW by this coming July, a whopping 3,500 MW within three years and 5,000 MW by 2030. Presumably these batteries will be sited in safe places. Surely there is no call to put another 700 MW just a few miles from Boston and near a proposed mixed-use housing and commercial development, a stadium, hotel and casino.
There have already been several fires in large scale lithium battery complexes that have had the space to be spread out judiciously. Thankfully none has led to a complex-wide fire. Let’s not make Everett the first catastrophe.
1 in 10 Los Angeles homes don’t have insurance, says one estimate
Roughly one out of every 10 Los Angeles homeowners lacks insurance – a share on par with statewide trends, according to one estimate.
My trusty spreadsheet reviewed LendingTree’s tracking of how many owners lacked home insurance in 2023. Analysts at the loan-referral service looked at the Census Bureau’s housing cost data and assumed owners spending less than $100 in a year on insurance meant no coverage.
In Los Angeles County, struck in recent days by a series of devastating wildfires, 9.8% of homeowners were uninsured, by this math – 154,100 out of 1.57 million homes.
Across all of California, LendingTree found 806,600 owners without coverage out of 7.66 million residences. That’s 10.5% of all homeowners.
Statewide, the share of uninsured runs above 19% in three counties – Lake, Kings and Humboldt. Meanwhile, another trio is below 7%: Marin, El Dorado and San Luis Obispo.
“The high wildfire risk in California has led to insurance companies withdrawing from underwriting policies in some parts of the state or limiting coverage for perils like wildfire, making it even harder for homeowners to find affordable policies that provide them with the protection they need,” says Divya Sangameshwar, a LendingTree home insurance analyst.
California home insurance premiums have risen 48% in the past five years, according to LendingTree. However, this isn’t just a California cost issue. Rates nationwide are up 38% in the same period.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/realestate/1-in-10-los-angeles-homes-don-t-have-insurance-says-one-estimate/ar-BB1rhvKR
“1 in 10 Los Angeles homes don’t have insurance, says one estimate”
Playing Russian roulette with California wildfires doesn’t seem like a sound financial strategy for uninsured owners of homes worth $1 millions.
for a regular suburbia home (esp in cali where they aren’t really that big). the cost to rebuild (sticks and bricks) is probably 200k? 300k tops. Remember they aren’t insuring the value, only the cost to replace it.
Even some of those places worth big bucks are not mansions and aren’t going to cost 4 million to rebuild. Even though they might sell for that.
Lots of people are under insured because they haven’t realized how costs have gone up over time and especially the last few years.
[Here is an interesting comment from JoNova’s website …]
More on the Los Angeles fires.
“The 2024-25 California state budget, which Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law in June 2024, slashed funding for wildfire and forest resilience by $101 million as part of a series of cutbacks according to an analysis by the state’s Legislative Analyst’s Office.
However overall, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE)’s wildfire protection budget has increased sharply from $1.1 billion in 2014 to $3 billion in 2023, much of which took place after Newsom became governor in 2019.
Speaking to Newsweek, a spokesperson for Newsom said that under the governor’s “leadership” the CAL FIRE budget had doubled from $2 billion in 2018-19 to $3.8 billion in 2024-25, whilst the department’s personnel went from 5,829 to 10,741 over the same period.”
So in the style of Daniel Andrews, the number of administrators doubled but the actual ability to fight fires was dramatically reduced. This is the socialist way, public service jobs equals Democrat/Labor voters which means much more taxation and far less ability to get the job done.
It is the hallmark of socialist states. Hire more, pay more, tax more, do less. Which is why socialist schemes self destruct. You pay more people more money. And they have to economise, so they cut the actual fire fighting budget!
In the EU the farmers are still the taxation and regulation target to pay for explosive growth in socialist administrators. For a better, more eco friendly, more diverse, more equitable, more inclusive and more peaceful world where there is no food and no ability to defend what you have.
And in left dominated universities, half the salaries are for administrators and 97% of all staff vote Democrat. It’s clearly a requirement. And in an age where computers have automated most administration tasks like accounting and scheduling, what do they actually do?
Donald Trump and DOGE are about to reverse this. Zero fire fighting ability, zero water in Los Angeles is a wakeup call to all of America. How can you have 11,000 full time people in the State Fire Department and no water in the hydrants in a city which contains 36% of the population?
[Another interesting comment from JoNova’s blog …]
Jo , a very clear explanation of what brought them to this situation .Those hyper wealthy people lived in fabulous luxury and thought they knew better than the plebs . They voted for this . They also voted for a maze of rules that means that they will be homeless for the next 5 years unless they have the cash to buy in another state . The insurance companies had already fled from California , cancelling many policies in the last 6 months . Seems there was a shortage of insurance companies who were willing to take on such reckless risk . Those hypocrites probably thought that all the rules and restrictions they voted for would only apply to the peasants . I hope they enjoy the taste of their own medicine !
About every 10 years we have a major bushfire / fire storm followed by a royal commission which reminds the authorities of the importance of fuel reduction burns . They try for a couple of years to keep up with fuel reduction burns and then the screeching and wailing against the practice starts up again and soon the fuel levels build up to the point where it is too dangerous to burn even in mild weather . Then the next firestorm is pretty much locked in . They never learn .
. They also voted for a maze of rules that means that they will be homeless for the next 5 years unless they have the cash to buy in another state
Please don’t come to the Centennial State. We are full, no vacancy. We are still dealing with all the Venezuelans. Sorry.
“…slashed funding for wildfire and forest resilience by $101 million as part of a series of cutbacks…”
Oh bugger.
Public electric vehicle charger delays frustrate regional Queensland drivers
Electric vehicle drivers in regional Queensland are still facing a “charging desert”, with gaps of up to 600 kilometres between public chargers on major highways.
The Queensland government had plans for chargers in 24 locations by mid-2023, but the regional towns of Emerald, Rolleston, Injune and Roma are still waiting.
Andrew Borchardt lives in Sapphire, a small fossicking town in the Gemfields near Emerald, 900 kilometres from Brisbane.
The delay of a public charger in the Central Highlands forced Mr Borchardt to trade in his first electric vehicle for one with a longer range.
“My first one [electric vehicle] had a real-world range of about 350 kilometres and I bought that sort of thinking that would be fine because the plans were that fast chargers would be available,” Mr Borchardt said.
Mr Borchardt said people were weary about buying an EV due to delays in installing public chargers.
“I’m frustrated, they [public chargers] have been promised and promised but it seems like the can just keeps getting kicked down the road … particularly the Emerald one, it’s a major centre,” Mr Borchardt said.
Cody Dickenson works as a paramedic in Emerald and bought an electric vehicle last year.
He saw Emerald listed on the PlugShare app as an upcoming public charger location and didn’t expect it would still not be installed.
While he can charge at home, Mr Dickenson says it’s a slow charge and the lack of a faster, public charger has impacted the use of his electric vehicle.
“In the instances where I have to do a long trip, say to Rocky on short notice, or sometimes going to other stations for work, not being able to charge to a higher capacity in a short amount of time … it means that I am not able to go home or I am not able to go out and help in these other communities,” he said.
In the absence of a public charger at Emerald, there is a gap of 435 kilometres between stations, between Dingo and Barcaldine. For Mr Dickenson in Emerald, it’s just a bit too far between chargers for his comfort. “I haven’t even gone out that way because I am worried about charging,” he said.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-01-12/public-ev-charger-delays-in-regional-queensland/104761762
The Queensland government had plans for chargers in 24 locations by mid-2023, but the regional towns of Emerald, Rolleston, Injune and Roma are still waiting.
So it’s not just the FJB administration.
Does this period of spiraling interest rates seem like an excellent time to be out of debt?
I think so.
Urgent warning to Americans as key economic indicator hits highest level since 2008 financial crisis
By DANIEL JONES, CONSUMER EDITOR FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
04:37 12 Jan 2025, updated 04:37 12 Jan 2025
US corporate bankruptcies hit their highest level since the 2008 financial crisis – as Americans tighten their belts.
Companies have also incresingly been grappling with high rising debts – driven by high interest rates that caused borrowing costs to spike.
In 2024, 686 companies filed for bankruptcy, up 8 percent from 2023 – and almost more than 2021 and 2022 combined. It also marks the most filings since 2010, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence.
In addition last year, more companies tried to avoid bankruptcy through out-of-court actions, with these efforts outnumbering actual bankruptcies two to one, according to Fitch Ratings.
One of the year’s biggest bankruptcies came from Party City, which filed for Chapter 11 for the second time in just over a year.
The company announced it would close all 700 stores, blaming inflationary pressures and Americans cutting back on spending. The reasons mirror those of other struggling companies.
Other major names like Tupperware, Red Lobster, and Spirit Airlines also filed for bankruptcy in 2024. Even popular vodka Stoli filed for bankruptcy in November.
‘The persistently elevated cost of goods and services is weighing on consumer demands,’ said Gregory Daco, chief economist at EY, told the FT. He said it was hitting lower-income families the most.
…
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/yourmoney/consumer/article-14267639/urgent-warning-americans-economic-indicator-highest-level-2008-financial-crisis.html
Jobs report fuels Treasury yield surge as markets brace for 5% threshold
By Davide Barbuscia
January 10, 2025 1:13 PM PST
Updated 2 days ago
The Federal Reserve building is seen in Washington, U.S., January 26, 2022. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts//File Photo
Summary
– Strong economic data raises prospect of yields surging further
– Some fear inflation rebound, see risk of Fed hike
– Higher yields could further wobble stocks
– Some see 5% yield as threshold for allocation shifts
NEW YORK, Jan 10 (Reuters) – A recent surge in U.S. Treasury yields may gain even more momentum after a strong jobs report reinforced expectations that interest rates will stay high for longer and raised the spectre of benchmark 10-year yields hitting 5% — a level that some fear could rattle broader markets.
Friday’s jobs report revealed that employers added 256,000 jobs in December, well above economists’ forecasts, while the unemployment rate dropped, bolstering market expectations that the Federal Reserve will maintain elevated interest rates to curb economic overheating.
That news dashed investors’ hopes for some respite from a sharp rise in Treasury yields that has wobbled stocks since the beginning of the year. The data also re-ignited concerns about inflation, which remains stubbornly above the Fed’s 2% target.
“The report was obviously negative for inflation,” said Felipe Villarroel, partner and portfolio manager at TwentyFour Asset Management. “This is definitely not an economy that is decelerating.”
Traders are now expecting the central bank will wait until at least June to reduce its policy rate. Before the jobs data, they were betting the Fed would cut rates as early as May with about a 50% chance of a second cut before year end.
…
https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/jobs-report-fuels-treasury-yield-surge-markets-brace-5-threshold-2025-01-10/
Blaming the LA fires on Climate Change is a fraud because arson and government neglect was the cause, along with high winds, that have occurred since I have been alive.
Pretty weird how all these disasters and emergencies play into the Globalists Agenda of UN 2030 Sustainable Earth Agenda.
Dense real estate development in fire hazard zones just might have been a factor…
Even more interesting is the bluer the state, the bigger the catastrophes.
Evidence is building of a Wall Street investment ‘bubble’ with implications for Australia
It’s widely accepted the US stock market, AKA Wall Street, is currently overpriced or overvalued.
The multi-trillion-dollar question is whether the drop will be shallow or deep?
Howard Stanley Marks is an American investor and writer. He also co-chairs Oaktree Capital Management, an investment firm with $US1 trillion of assets under management. So, when its chair “ponders” the current market stage, it’s worth paying attention.
Asset markets tend to move in cycles. Those cycles are known widely as “bull” and “bear” markets, or sustained periods of heightened interest, or lack of interest, in stocks more broadly.
But first, let’s look at the term stock market “bubble”.
“For me, a bubble or crash is more a state of mind than a quantitative calculation,” Marks notes in a public memo titled On Bubble Watch.
“In my view a bubble not only reflects a rapid rise in stock prices, but it is a temporary mania characterised by — or, perhaps better, resulting from — the following: highly irrational exuberance, outright adoration of the subject companies or assets, and a belief that they can’t miss, massive fear of being left behind if one fails to participate (”FOMO”), and resulting conviction that, for these stocks, there’s no price too high.”
That last point, “there’s no price too high”, is crucial, Marks says.
He explains it this way: “When you can’t imagine any flaws in the argument and are terrified that your office-mate/golf partner/brother-in-law/competitor will own the asset in question and you won’t, it’s hard to conclude there’s a price at which you shouldn’t buy.”
So that’s a “bubble”. It’s most investors throwing caution to the wind.
So how do those on the frontline of Australian financial markets view current investor psychology?
“Well, there’s certainly exuberance in the market,” MooMoo Australia’s chief commercial officer Michael McCarthy told ABC News. “In fact, in post-US election trading there’s very clear signs of euphoria. And of course that calls to mind the famous market saying that bull markets are born in despair and die on euphoria.”
Indeed, as Marks explains, one can argue based on this reading of the stock market, both in Australia and overseas, that a major downturn is imminent.
“The first stage usually comes on the heels of a market decline or crash that has left most investors licking their wounds and highly dispirited,” he says. “At this point, only a few unusually insightful people are capable of imagining that there could be improvement ahead.
“In the second stage, the economy, companies, and markets are doing well, and most people accept that improvement is actually taking place.
“In the third stage, after a period in which the economic news has been great, companies have reported soaring earnings, and stocks have appreciated wildly, everyone concludes that things can only get better forever.”
But Howard also says that the greatest bubbles usually originate in connection with innovations, mostly technological or financial, and they initially affect a small group of stocks.
“But sometimes they extend to whole markets, as the fervour for a bubble group spreads to everything,” he says.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-01-12/stock-market-crash-evidence-of-bubble-wall-st/104805230
Has systemic risk ever been greater? When this Everything Bubble pops, there will be nowhere to hide.
Talk of a sharp stock correction is rising. Here’s how painful it could get.
Matthew Fox Jan 11, 2025, 4:35 AM PST
…
https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/stock-market-correction-outlook-painful-sell-off-predictions-2025-1
‘INHABITANTS of CANADA!” begins the social media post from the U.S. general assigned the job of occupying us. “The ARMY under my command has invaded your country, & the Standard of the UNION now waves over the Territory of CANADA. To the peaceable unoffending inhabitant … I come to protect, not to injure you.”
He declared that “the arrival of an Army of friends must be hailed by you with a cordial welcome” – though Canadians who refused to be “emancipated from Tyranny and oppression” would “be treated as enemies.”
But why resist? “The UNITED STATES offer you peace, liberty and security.” And if we didn’t say uncle to Uncle Sam, we’d get “WAR, slavery, and destruction.”
That was U.S. General William Hull’s proclamation to the people of Canada, issued in July, 1812.
For those of us lucky enough to have lived in the Western world through the long post-Second World War era, such threats sound outrageous and even incomprehensible – as outrageous and incomprehensible as Donald Trump saying he wants to take over Greenland, the Panama Canal and Canada, and will use military might or economic pressure to make it happen.
But in the sweep of human history, it’s all depressingly normal. Give me what I want, or I’ll take it. Ho hum.
In 416 BC an army from Athens landed on the Aegean island of Melos. Athens, the most powerful city-state in Greece, was at war with Sparta and it demanded that Melos – which was neutral – become part of its empire, or else.
The people of Melos were not only surprised, they were morally offended. They had good relations with Athens. These demands were illegal. This was not justice. This was not right.
The Athenian response is summed up in the most famous line of what is known as the Melian Dialogue: “You know as well as we do that right, as the world goes, is only in question between equals in power, while the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must.”
Political scientists of the realist school use the story to illustrate how relations between states tend to work. Countries and leaders pursue their interests, and may treat morality, international law and even friendship as so much easily swept-away gossamer. As for Mr. Trump, this observation about how the world sometimes goes is his North Star for how it should always be.
And might over right is the most commonly spoken language in human history. If you were lucky enough to live in Canada in the past 80 years, you got a vacation from that history. The holiday has gone on for so long that you may have been left with the impression that we’ve made a hard break with the past, and this is how the world goes now.
The Melians rejected the Athenian offer and were conquered. All the men were murdered; all women and children were sold into slavery.
As for Gen. Hull, after briefly invading western Ontario and issuing his proclamation, he marched back to Detroit. His army was later surprised and surrounded by a smaller force under Gen. Sir Isaac Brock, to whom he surrendered. At war’s end in 1814, a U.S. court martial sentenced him to death, though the sentence was commuted by the president.
Through the 19th century, former territories of Mexico were conquered by the U.S., from Texas to California. Canada escaped this fate because we were part of the British Empire, so Manifest Destiny had to content itself with marching west and south, not north.
Ancient history, right?
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/commentary/article-donald-trump-is-the-end-of-american-exceptionalism/
Canada is also a great example of ‘stability breeds instability’. The Palisades as well.
Meta’s move to scrap fact-checkers ‘very dangerous’, Jim Chalmers warns
Treasurer Jim Chalmers has called Meta’s move to scrap fact-checking on its social media platforms “very dangerous”.
The tech giant announced this week it was ditching its third-party fact-checking program on Facebook and Instagram in favour of an X-style community notes system.
But Mr Chalmers on Thursday warned of the consequences of false claims going unchecked in an age when information spreads at lightning speed.
“I think it’s very concerning,” he told the ABC. “I think misinformation and disinformation is very dangerous and we have seen it really kind of explode in the last few years and it’s a very damaging development.
“Damaging for our democracy, it can be damaging for people’s mental health to get the wrong information on social media, so of course we are concerned about that.”
Meta introduced third-party fact-checking in 2016 as a way to counter misinformation flooding social media amid concerns turbocharged falsehoods could manipulate political discourse.
It engaged established media organisations as well as independent fact-checking groups to check viral claims made on its platforms.
Announcing the decision in a video statement, Mr Zuckerberg said it was “time to get back to our roots around free expression on Facebook and Instagram”.
“We built a lot of complex systems to moderate content, but the problem with complex systems is they make mistakes,” he said. “Even if they accidentally censor just 1 per cent of posts, that is millions of people, and we’ve reached a point where it’s just too many mistakes and too much censorship.”
https://www.news.com.au/technology/online/social/metas-move-to-scrap-factcheckers-very-dangerous-jim-chalmers-warns/news-story/7660d3e35a51de5e18d9e2933a324f45
Learn to pick crops, “fact checkers.”
we’ve reached a point where it’s just too many mistakes and too much censorship
I wonder just what is the “right amount” of censorship.
Do these people even think about what they’re saying?
“it can be damaging for people’s mental health to get the wrong information”
You’re being lectured by people in denial of basic biology, God, and nature that there are only two genders.
And on the subject of “mental health” consider what just a few decades of globalist vermin brainwashing on Muh Climate has done to an entire generation of young people.
You’re being lectured by people in denial of basic biology
People who are demented, and who are now terrified of losing their gravy train jobs. I don’t think too many firm’s censorship departments are hiring.
They just fired the guy who put tampons in the Men’s room there. It’s getting serious!
Gavin Newsom caught scamming his 2.1M idiot followers.
https://x.com/MAGAVoice/status/1878262725752791142
Pocahontas did the same.
No matter how much you hate the globalist scum media, it isn’t nearly enough.
https://x.com/WallStreetMav/status/1878507155348680917
I’ve been noticing an inventory of houses for sale in Colorado Springs that are now up for sale at 50K to 100K less than they purchased in 2022/2023, like this one:
https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/7789-Valley-Quail-Pt_Colorado-Springs_CO_80922_M25828-43674
I’m guessing that CoS is about to get a large-scale influx of Los Angeles wildfire refugees. No telling how that will impact the local housing market. There are five military bases in CoS, with a big FedGov payroll and lots of military contractors. If DOGE follows through with pledges to cut unnecessary positions & “defense” spending, that could impact a lot of deadwood currently fastened on to that gub’mint teat.
I came to California at 4 years old when the weather was great, and almost everything was cheap, including property insurance and health insurance.
You didn’t see thousands of homeless, or even a bunch of sick people.
Insurance Companies have been instrumental in creating entirely unsustainable systems in health care and property coverage. How could it work so nicely for decades and decades but now its a rigged joke?
I say of course the Insurance Companies have been responsible for the break down of a functioning health care and shelter being affordable.
I spent a week reading about health insurance denials and property insurance being cancelled.
I think of a 38 year old I know spending 690 bucks a month for health care, when I only paid 15 bucks a month for better coverage at the same age.
And our health care costs more than 50 % more than other developed nations like UK and Canada. But our system doesn’t deliver in that the Insurance Companies deny claims, or delay claims based on any bogus excuse they can think of.
So, if the New World Order Entities wanted to devise a means to tear down current systems , the Insurance Companies are right there disrupting any
sustainable function.
My friend pays 9 thousand a year in property insurance on a modest like home in LA Country that isn’t even in fire territory. They say the house is worth 1.7 million , but it just looks like a 90 thousand dollar house to me from back in the day.
Insurance Companies started out giving cheap employer based health insurance and cheap property insurance, and now it accounts for massive monthly payments that just aren’t affordable or sustainable.
And forced Obama care that you have to pay based on your income, or suffer a major tax penalty, is just being forced into high costs.
And I have a friend who is having a hard time booking a funeral because of how busy the mortuary is with excess deaths.
And I have a friend who is having a hard time booking a funeral because of how busy the mortuary is with excess deaths.
Funny how the media memory holes stuff like that. I’ll bet the real excess death numbers are much higher than what is being reported. So glad I refused the jab.
[Here is a snip from an article …]
“‘So we went looking company after company after company, and some of them would say, ‘No, we don’t cover anything in California.’ Some said, ‘We’re not doing any new policies.’ Some said, ‘No, we don’t do 91001 because it’s in a fire zone, and we were like, ‘That’s crazy.'”
[“That’s crazy”. Check.]
Just a day before his policy was set to expire last summer, Knight said he finally managed to secure similar coverage with Aegis Insurance. But in the haste to get the policy in force, the home he has lived in for 16 years was left wildly under-insured for less than $300,000. The home is valued at $1.13 million on Zillow.
The ferocious winds that fanned the Eaton fire started a power outage Tuesday evening, so Knight decided to drive his children over to his parents’ home on the other side of Altadena where they could do their homework. From there, he saw the fire start on a street hugging the mountains near what appeared to be a power line.
“Within minutes it was taken up the hillside. It was unbelievable,” he said.
[So much for “crazy”.]
[Here is the article …]
First, they lost their home insurance. Then, L.A. fires consumed their homes
https://www.yahoo.com/news/lost-home-insurance-policies-then-110040841.html
Last year, Francis Bischetti said he learned that the annual cost of the homeowners policy he buys from Farmers Insurance for his Pacific Palisades home was going to soar from $4,500 to $18,000 — an amount he could not possibly afford.
Neither could he get onto California FAIR Plan, which provides fewer benefits, because he said he would have to cut down 10 trees around his roof line to lower the fire risk — something else the 55-year-old personal assistant found too costly to manage.
So he decided he would do what’s called “going bare” — not buying any coverage on his home in the community’s El Medio neighborhood. He figured if he watered his property year round, that might be protection enough given its location south of Sunset Boulevard.
It wasn’t. The home he lived in for nearly all his life burned down Tuesday along with more than 10,000 other homes and structures damaged or destroyed in the worst fire event in the history of Los Angeles. Sixteen deaths have been confirmed countywide.
“It was surrealistic,” he said. “I’ve grown up and lived here off and on for 50 years. I’ve never in my entire time here experienced this.”
Farmers Insurance declined to comment, saying it does not discuss individual policyholders.
‘A train wreck coming down the track’
Bischetti was far from the only homeowner living in Pacific Palisades, Altadena or other fire-prone hillside neighborhoods who struggled to maintain their insurance amid sharply rising costs and the decision by many insurers to reduce their exposure to catastrophic wildfire claims by not renewing the policies of even longtime customers. Many fire victims reported that insurers had dropped their policies last year.
The fires — expected to be among the costliest natural disasters in U.S. history — have deepened a crisis in the state’s home insurance market that was already reeling before the devastation came.
The state’s largest home insurer, State Farm General, announced in March it would not renew 30,000 homeowner and condominium policies — including 1,626 in Pacific Palisades — when they expired.
Chubb and its subsidiaries stopped writing new policies for high-value homes with higher wildfire risk. Allstate has stopped writing new policies, and Tokio Marine America Insurance Co. and Trans Pacific Insurance Co. pulled out of the state, though Mercury Insurance offered to take their customers.
Liberty Mutual was sued last month by a homeowner who accused the insurer of dropping her over a bogus claim that her roof had mold damage.
“Driven by a desire to maximize profits, property casualty insurance companies … have engaged in a troubling trend of dropping California homeowners’ insurance policies like flies,” said the complaint, filed in San Diego County Superior Court. A spokesperson for Liberty Mutual declined to comment on the litigation.
The inability to get coverage is reflected in the number of policies picked up by California FAIR Plan, which as of September had about 452,000 policies, up from a little over 203,000 four years ago. FAIR Plan’s website says its claims exposure is nearly $6 billion in Pacific Palisades alone.
“The situation has been a train wreck coming down the track for a while,” said Rick Dinger, president of Crescenta Valley Insurance, an independent brokerage in Glendale.
Not enough insurance money to rebuild
Peggy Holter spent decades as a television journalist, a peripatetic career that took her all over the world, but there was one place she called home and always returned to: the Pacific Palisades condo she moved into on Jan. 1, 1978. That all changed after Tuesday’s firestorm, when her condo burned to the ground along with the rest of the 36 units in the Palisades Drive complex.
Holter, 83, who only retired last year, is now facing uncertainty after she said State Farm didn’t renew her individual condo insurance, citing the condition of her roof.
But with the loss of her documents she isn’t sure if and when the policy lapsed — and she hadn’t yet secured a new carrier. The insurance typically covers personal belongings and a unit’s interior and provides benefits such as living expenses if a condo becomes unusable.
“I’m not a big keeper of things, but what I did have was a whole wall of pictures and albums of all the places I had been, family photos. I had a picture of my mother on a camel when she was 52 in front of the Sphinx,” Holter recalled. “The only thing I am concerned about is the future, because that is what you have to do.”
Her biggest question is whether she can rebuild. The homeowners association had a master policy from FAIR Plan, which totaled only $20 million. That would pay out only about $550,000 per unit if the complex were not rebuilt — far below the $1 million-plus the condos commanded in recent sales. The land could be sold off to a developer.
Holter, who is now living with her son in the Hollywood Hills, had paid off her condo.
She went back to the complex after the fires died down to get a closer look at the damage. There was nothing left of her unit, but the complex’s koi pond survived, along with the fish.
State Farm has declined to comment on its non-renewals, saying in a recent statement: “Our number one priority right now is the safety of our customers, agents and employees impacted by the fires and assisting our customers in the midst of this tragedy.”
‘We don’t cover anything in California’
Matt Knight considers himself fortunate: He and his family could have lost it all in the Eaton fire, just like Bischetti and Holter in the Palisades fire.
The trouble started last year he said when he received a notice from Safeco Insurance that the policy on his Sonoma Drive home in Altadena, where he lives with his wife and three children, would not be renewed due to a tree overhanging his garage.
The 45-year-old Covina elementary school teacher said he dutifully trimmed the tree only to be told the ivy growing on the garage also was a problem. After removing that, he said he was told he had to fix his damaged stucco, which forced him to paint his house and in the process replace his old roof. Yet he said he still couldn’t get insurance after spending $30,000 on the repairs.
A spokesperson for Safeco, a subsidiary of Liberty Mutual, said the carrier does not comment on individual policyholders.
“So we went looking company after company after company, and some of them would say, ‘No, we don’t cover anything in California.’ Some said, ‘We’re not doing any new policies.’ Some said, ‘No, we don’t do 91001 because it’s in a fire zone, and we were were like, ‘That’s crazy.'”
Just a day before his policy was set to expire last summer, Knight said he finally managed to secure similar coverage with Aegis Insurance. But in the haste to get the policy in force, the home he has lived in for 16 years was left wildly under-insured for less than $300,000. The home is valued at $1.13 million on Zillow.
The ferocious winds that fanned the Eaton fire started a power outage Tuesday evening, so Knight decided to drive his children over to his parents’ home on the other side of Altadena where they could do their homework. From there, he saw the fire start on a street hugging the mountains near what appeared to be a power line.
“Within minutes it was taken up the hillside. It was unbelievable,” he said.
His parents’ home on Roosevelt Avenue escaped the devastation, and throughout the night he drove over to check on his home. By 6 a.m., he had joined a brigade of homeowners to fight the encroaching flames on Sonoma Drive. “The whole neighborhood was there grabbing hoses and fighting fires,” he said.
In the late afternoon, he said, the water ran out for the homeowners and firefighters alike, forcing him and his neighbors to pack up and go. He was sure he would lose his home, but the winds died down.
“I think that was the ultimate good fortune,” he said, though some other neighbors were not so lucky.
Bischetti was not so lucky either.
On Tuesday, when the fires started in the hills and all of his Palisades neighbors started to pack their cars, Bischetti stayed behind to keep hosing down his property, including his lawn, roof, rafters and walls.
“I thought everything would be relatively safe,” he said. “I was sticking around trying to protect the house with water.”
He gradually started packing his car with a change of clothes, one of his guitars, tax papers, property deeds and hard drives from his computer. He left his computer itself back in the house, along with his amps, music equipment and tools.
His entire street was a ghost town by 5 p.m. By then, Bischetti had already watered down his property multiple times. It was dusty and smoky, and a voice in his head told him it was time to go. “I’m going to come back for this tomorrow,” he recalled thinking. “I don’t want to weigh down my car.”
It didn’t work out that way.
Bischetti drove near Palisades High School and saw a house on the corner of the street start to burn down. He then tried going on El Medio Avenue and drove into black smoke, with flames on both sides of his car. He started panicking and realized he couldn’t get through.
After making it to his sister’s home in Mar Vista, he found out from a neighbor that all of the homes on his block had been leveled.
Bischetti said his siblings lost family mementos and photos and he lost thousands of dollars’ worth of tools and musical instruments. They also had spent nearly $4,000 fixing up the home in order to rent out some of the rooms.
Bischetti and his family have signed up for Federal Emergency Management Agency disaster relief funds and are trying to get help with cleaning up the property, which he said could cost at least $10,000.
“I was getting ready for this,” he said of his one-man firefighting efforts. “That was the last hurrah.”
[Here is a fun rant. It’s too long to post so I will only offer up the link.]
https://raconteurreport.blogspot.com/2025/01/brushfires-it-isnt-just-government.html
https://nitter.poast.org/houmanhemmati/status/1878521212772696082#m (w/ 2m6s video of Newscum):
🔥🔥🔥 THIS SHOULD FRIGHTEN YOU:
@GavinNewsom said re: his “Marshall Plan”:
“We already have a team reimagining LA 2.0.”
WHAT? He’s ALREADY had that team. Pre-fire. This means no single family zoning, public transit for ALL, equity/climate/DEI agenda.
We need new leaders, not a new LA. LA isn’t perfect but it’s just FINE. It’s NEWSOM who’s responsible for many of our problems. He’s the LAST person to fix them. And no he’s NOT using the loss of much of LA as an opportunity (as he did with COVID) to create a “new normal.”
YOU weren’t elected to reimagine ANYTHING. You were elected to keep us safe (failed), manage our taxes responsibly (failed), educate kids (failed)…
Your term is over, either by resignation or recall. Either way, pack your bags. 👋
FEMA Chief Criswell, (a female) said in summary that the CA fires were caused by Climate Change.
Newsome launches investigation into why hydrants
had no water,( as if he doesn’t know why.)
I hate to say it, but all these Women in leadership positions failed to lead or prevent disasters. Even the Secret Service head was a women that failed.
While Newsome is the Big Daddy of CA failure regarding fire prevention or response, I keep seeing many females in high leadership positions .
It’s a know fact that females are on average more capable of following orders or directions, than leading. I hate to say that . You could see how VP Harris didn’t come close to a leadership vibe.
Not saying that there isn’t females with leadership ability, but those have not been getting the positions.
What do we expect when Biden just appointed VP Harris based on her gender and color.
Seriously , hiring based on diversify, gender or anything but ability is absurd.
Even under Communism, they say ,”Each according to his ability, each according to his need.”
But of course the worse was the male Governor Newsome , who set up a recipe for disaster in Ca.