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Sellers Will Just Have To Accept A Lower Price

A weekend topic starting with Toronto Life. “Alexander Evans, a 39-year-old real estate agent, bought an $869,000 one-bedroom-plus den at Richmond and Bathurst in December—and saved more than $60,000 in fees and taxes. ‘In August 2020, I helped a client buy a condo in a building at Richmond and Bathurst. A few months later, in December, I called the developer and asked if they any unsold units; as a realtor, I know that some developers of newer buildings hold onto units knowing that they can sell them in the future for a higher price. It turns out they had an unsold one-bed-plus-den available for $889,000.'”

“‘The market was exceptionally slow at the end of 2020, and I figured that developers would be eager to sell some of their units. I knew I had room to negotiate. I got $20,000 taken off the purchase price, and I got them to throw in a locker, valued at $7,000, and roller blinds on all the windows. Better yet, they waived their development charges, which usually run around $22,000, and agreed to cover $12,000 worth of extra fees and taxes. That ran a total of about $61,000 saved.'”

“‘I’m pretty sure the housing market downtown will return quickly after the pandemic, especially once people start to get back into their offices later this year or early next. I’m already seeing changes in the market. In 2020, no one was buying condos. But now people are lining up to do showings. And most good units receive multiple offers and sell well over asking.'”

The Globe and Mail. “After a year in which buyers shunned tiny condos in favour of roomier houses in smaller cities, new data show that new condo sales are steadily climbing in the large urban centres. These are condos that have either yet to break ground or are under construction, and sales for these projects are often viewed as a bet on the future because buyers wait several years for their units to be built.”

“‘Fear of missing out is driving a lot of activity today,’ said Matthew Boukall, a vice-president at Altus Group, a commercial real estate data firm. Buyers fear missing out on a market that they think will keep rising, he said. As well, buyers ‘missed out on single family and they don’t want to miss out on anything.'”

“In downtown Toronto, condos are popular among investors who are increasingly buying on the idea that prices will continue to rise so they can sell the property when the condo is built. With preconstruction condos selling at more than $1,400 a square foot, it’s difficult for investors to have their renters cover the cost of their mortgage payments, insurance and condo fees. But that hasn’t seemed to faze many investors, and developers have been making it easier for buyers to come up with the cash for the 20-per-cent down payment by extending deadlines.”

“‘Investors are clearly purchasing in downtown condo projects for long-term capital appreciation, otherwise the motives are harder to justify,’ said a recent report from industry researcher Urbanation Inc.”

From Blog TO. “The condo market in Toronto seems to be as unpredictable as ever in recent months, oscillating between seeing prices and sales volumes fall and rebounding back hard in various parts of the city and the GTA at large. Condos were the only housing type in T.O. that took even somewhat of a hit due to the health crisis — in part due to the flailing rental market as people left the city amid work-from-home trends and new Airbnb regulations came into place — which was good news for those looking to finally get into the home ownership game for slightly less money.”

“But new data from May courtesy of condo listing site Strata shows that sales in the region are down again after a flurry of activity from late 2020 into the first few months of the year. Compared to a very hot March 2021, sales numbers were down a whopping 23 per cent. This follows a drop in April, too, as things began cooling off and residents gave up on the idea of condo ownership given the high prices and competition.”

“Downtown Toronto in particular saw its greatest fall in a year, with sales down 19 per cent, which Strata’s people say ‘solidifies the continuation of a downward trend after the market’s long-awaited plateau in April.'”

From CBC News. “NDP MPP Jessica Bell, who represents the University–Rosedale riding in Toronto, introduced a motion in the provincial legislature Thursday to create a speculation and vacant home tax to increase the number of rental properties available. Downtown condo resident Jaco Joubert says his research supports Bell’s proposal. He used light detecting camera technology to estimate the vacancy rate in some buildings. His technique suggested a vacancy rate as high as 13 per cent in some cases, and on average 5.6 percent of units sat empty.”

“But realtor Linda Pinizzotto, founder of a non-profit group called Condo Owners Association, says vacancies are up and many of her members are desperate to find tenants or planning on selling their units. ‘COVID has already created problems in the rental scene in downtown Toronto,’ she said. ‘This is not the time to put more things out there of this nature. People are already struggling to hopefully get their lives back.'”

“On Dec. 16, 2020 Toronto city council voted 24 to one to introduce a vacancy tax in 2022, but the details are still being worked out. In the meantime, the city says in a statement that ‘the number of vacant homes in Toronto is unknown at this time and will not be known until Council has approved the tax and the definitions and criteria that will determine whether a home is subject to the tax.'”

The Toronto Sun. “Toronto’s downtown core condo sales continued to suffer in May. Condo listing site strata.ca reports GTA condo sales dropped for a second straight month in May with the biggest declines in the downtown core, down by 19%. ‘All of those people afraid of the mortgage changes coming June 1st … they decided it’s now or never,’ broker Robert Van Rhijn told Strata.ca. ‘So it really lit a fire under them to get off the sidelines and just buy something, anything, while they still had greater purchasing power.'”

“Van Rhijn also said May’s lower sales also indicate there’s ‘burnout’ that normally occurs after the traditional spring rush. ‘Put those two things together and of course we’re going to see a notable dip in condo sales,’ he said. ‘Sellers will just have to accept a lower price.'”

The Vancouver Sun. “A Vancouver realtor’s online advice on ‘how to avoid the foreign-buyers tax’ is a sign of how difficult it is to track foreign ownership. Realtor Andrew Szalontai’s website offers foreign nationals a wide variety of strategies for circumventing B.C.’s 20 per cent foreign-buyers tax on residential dwellings. Some of his suggestions for avoiding ‘the frustration’ of the tax are straightforward, while others are dubious, according to Ron Usher, general counsel for the Society of Notaries Public of B.C.”

“It’s clear a non-Canadian can avoid the foreign-buyers tax on a residence simply by instead buying a commercial property, as Szalontai’s website says. And it’s also well-known anyone can do so by buying a home outside Metro Vancouver, Victoria or other places where the tax applies.”

“Things becoming rapidly more complicated, Usher said, with the realtor’s suggestion foreign nationals could also make a ‘great investment’ in a B.C. home by becoming a permanent resident, which would exempt them from the tax. And Usher shook his head at the realtor’s recommendation about avoiding the tax by setting up a trust, or even forming a complex real estate investment trust. It is not simple, in addition, to follow the guidance of Szalontai, who could not be reached for comment, on handling condo presales, which are often flipped before the final contract, when the foreign-buyers tax finally comes due.”

“Regardless of the usefulness of the realtor’s online free advice, his tips and many others like them on the web point to how real-estate industry players have long helped a base of offshore buyers sidestep taxes related to non-resident ownership, including the city of Vancouver’s empty homes tax, Ontario’s foreign-buyers tax and B.C.’s speculation and vacancy tax.”

“Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland announced she’s considering following B.C. and Ontario to introduce a national tax on foreign investors in residential real estate. ‘The idea here is that homes are for Canadians to live in. They are not assets for parking offshore money,’ she said.”

“But even if new taxes are brought in nationally, how effective will they be if there is a world of realtors, tax lawyers, immigration consultants, notaries public and accountants leading clients through the numerous exemptions, loopholes and workarounds? And what if enforcement of false information on declarations continues to be lax?”

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  1. ‘But even if new taxes are brought in nationally, how effective will they be if there is a world of realtors, tax lawyers, immigration consultants, notaries public and accountants leading clients through the numerous exemptions, loopholes and workarounds? And what if enforcement of false information on declarations continues to be lax?’

    This is guberment and central bank policy:

    https://betterdwelling.com/canada-says-property-bubble-not-great-for-locals-good-for-foreign-investors/#_

    2. This is guberment and central bank policy

      And something that we, the voters, never got to vote on. Time to start choppin’ heads.

      1. Anybody who has cast votes for the crony capitalist status quo has in fact voted for this.

  2. ‘now people are lining up to do showings’

    Alex, meet Linda:

    ‘vacancies are up and many of her members are desperate to find tenants or planning on selling their units’

    1. many of her members are desperate to find tenants

      More and more people can only afford tents on a sidewalk. I haven’t heard Jerome Powell and Co. talk about that as they gorge on MBS.

      1. They would never, ever acknowledge any connection between housing price stimulus measures and rising rates of homelessness.

  3. ‘With preconstruction condos selling at more than $1,400 a square foot, it’s difficult for investors to have their renters cover the cost of their mortgage payments, insurance and condo fees’

    It’s impossible,not difficult. And that was well known before the Chinese Communist Party virus.

    ‘Investors are clearly purchasing in downtown condo projects for long-term capital appreciation, otherwise the motives are harder to justify’

    This is classic mania behaviour. The REIC media will never say it, but it’s true.

    ‘But that hasn’t seemed to faze many investors, and developers have been making it easier for buyers to come up with the cash for the 20-per-cent down payment by extending deadlines’

    That’s some sound lending right there. But who cares? It’s a hole in the ground.

    1. It’s kinda nice of these landlords to subsidize renters…

      All for the promise if long term sweet equity.

    2. That’s some sound lending right there. But who cares? It’s a hole in the ground.

      The trick to maintaining unsound lending and having the central bank bail you out is to force everyone but the loan originator to have skin in the name. Specifically make sure consumer deposits are at risk (a happy side effect of repealing Glass Steagall) and fight all attempts to prevent risk transmission.

      I think the non-bank lenders (Quicken, etc) are cute. They have a lot of funding from banks. Who are funded by consumer deposits.

      From the Powell presser on April 28th:
      “Jerome Powell: (17:55)
      So, it’s not an unalloyed good to have prices going up this much and we’re watching it very carefully. I don’t see the kind of financial stability concerns, though, that really do reside around the housing sector. So many of the financial crack ups in all countries, all Western countries, that have happened in the last 30 years, have been around housing. We really don’t see that here. We don’t see bad loans and unsustainable prices and that kind of thing.” source: https://www.rev.com/blog/transcripts/fed-chair-jerome-powell-press-conference-transcript-april-28-market-update

      “No one coulda seen it coming.” Remember that NBER paper that said the foreclosure crisis was primarily a prime phenomon. As the house price rate of increase goes up, even end users will buy, with two reasons being to have the asset increase in value and to avoid missing out.

      Median LTV today is 95pct vs 80pct pre Financial Debacle (p.15)

      I guess if the mortgage market is nationalized, that’s one way to enable whatever lending you want and protecting the FIRE sector from consequences. Also monetizing a larger amount of government debt helps insulate from the vagaries of markets.

      OTOH… funding the government through seignorage (“profit made by a government by issuing currency, especially the difference between the face value of coins and their production costs”) I think has consequences. “Teenagers like to drive. Teenagers like to drink. Why not let them have some fun?” “Central bank’s been printing money to fund the deficit. Let’s see how far it can go.” — MMT (as a side note, I think the problem central bankers and top economists have with MMT is that it takes the discussion about money printing too public and everyday and if the average person ever got wind of how the system actually works, that might change their attitude about their role in it: https://i.imgur.com/m3VNsPs.jpg).

      The central bank is a tool of government and Wall Street. Since the 70s, going off the gold standard, it seems like the mindset about the Fed is “Let’s see what this thing can do.”

      I remember Krugman talking about the need for the Fed to be “credibly irresponsible” … “Let’s see what this sucker can do.”

    3. A friend of mine in San Diego just sold her ~1800 sq ft house on a medium sized lot in an upper-middle tier neighborhood for 1.2 million. The house hasn’t been updated since the 1980s. This is nowhere near La Jolla, Del Mar, or Rancho Santa Fe.

      Another friend bought a place in 2010 for 625K$ and a similar house down the street in the same development just sold for 1.4 million.

      Just when you are sure the bubble is stretched to its tensile limit, it inflates further. If you want to buy a house in San Diego in the top quartile of school districts, you are going to pay over a million dollars for it.

      I would tend to think this must be the absolute peak of this surreal mania but I’ve been living in a state of seeming perpetual incredulity for years now.

      1. We keep hearing stories about people’s actions to cash in on the San Diego home equity gain bonanza in various ways. A family we know from church is moving to AZ after cashing in a $1 millionish home equity gain for having bought fifteen years ago and HODLed a home through the 2007-2012 crash and subsequent Quantitative Easing-led recovery.

        The latest trend I have heard about is families selling the property they live in and moving into their investment property that they have been renting out to others. I guess another family has to get booted from the rental for this to work out.

        And regarding peak mania, a chart accompanying an article in the weekend Wall Street Journal summarizes this pretty well. It shows “median profit on home sale in the U.S. by quarter”, defined as median sale prices of used homes in each quarter less the amounts for the previous sales of the same homes. The metric is a bit incoherent due to not adjusting for inflation. However, it seems to give a pretty good indication of what happened after the Fed began focusing Quantitative Easing on housing. From 2008 through 2011, the median “profit” was a loss of about $30,000. This began climbing in almost a straight line starting around 2012, crossing over $0 in 2014, then continuing to steadily increase to its recent level of around $70,000. This is a $100,000 national-level median gain in the profits home sellers are reaping in nine years’ time; of course the home sale gains are much larger in wealthier communities. I’m curious if anything has ever previously occurred over a nine year period in the U.S.?

  4. From the last link:

    ‘While Usher said the B.C. NDP have brought in numerous measures and disclosure documents to catch people who might try to avoid paying taxes on foreign purchases, speculation, vacancies and property transfers, it’s difficult to seriously monitor how many are truly complying.’

    ‘In some ways the government needs to do an extensive auditing program,” Usher said. “Ultimately, you would have staff going out and knocking on thousands of doors, asking, ‘Who is really living here?’ But that’s not cheap to do’

    And:

    ‘the city says in a statement that ‘the number of vacant homes in Toronto is unknown at this time’

    This is a gotdam lie. Just look at the water usage.

    1. Amazing how fast cities will hunt you down for an unpaid parking ticket.

      They just don’t want to do this find the foreigners thinging

      Wondering why…🤔

  5. ‘The idea here is that homes are for Canadians to live in. They are not assets for parking offshore money’

    You know, you get into a circular thing here when you consider most loanowners in Canadia don’t have a unleveraged pot to piss in and are counting on a glorious retirement on the backs of a even more leveraged greater fool.

    1. The idea here is that homes are for Canadians to live in

      Quite remarkable that the government countenances – nay, actively encourages – price runups in a product that everyone needs (shelter, be it owned or rented).

  6. ————–
    Bitcoin: El Salvador plans to make crypto-currency legal tender

    El Salvador’s president says he will make the Bitcoin crypto-currency legal tender in the country. If his plan is backed by congress, the Central American country would be first in the world to formally adopt the digital currency. It would be used alongside the US dollar, El Salvador’s official currency.

    Much of El Salvador’s developing economy is based on remittances from abroad [$4 billion/year] and the move to a digital currency may allow family members to avoid the costly fees involved in sending money home each month.

    https://news.yahoo.com/bitcoin-el-salvador-plans-crypto-053058919.html
    ————————–

    In other words, El Salvador is about to become a massive tax haven and money laundering state. Countries and companies are lining up as we speak.

    (Nor am I impressed by the tired argument that crypto is going to save the “unbanked.”)

      1. That’s awesome. They are freeriding off two money systems they don’t have to manage…

    2. to avoid the costly fees involved in sending money

      That’s a false premise. It’s not difficult to send money to another country without fees. I do it regularly. Paying traditional wire transfer fees is like paying long distance phone charges to call across state lines.

        1. My Canadian GF uses that to get paid for teaching overseas (online). I use ACH to send her funds, bank account to bank account (no fee). She has an account at a Canadian bank with a NYC branch office. I’ve used Paypal (friends and family) to send funds to Hong Kong and other places (no fee).

      1. When the MSM says “fighting broke out,” what that means in every single case is that the Soros scum attacked their opponents, who then defended themselves.

    2. 5:15 – 5:50

      The safety glass on those doors all took a pounding except for the one fatal pane which fell out with a light touch.

    3. The jailed “insurrectionists” don’t have a hope in hell of getting due process or a fair trial in Le Cesspool Grande in Federal “rocket dockets” whose juries are comprised of federal employees and BLM sympathizers.

    4. It was a a massive unarmed pro-democracy demonstration.

      Unacceptable to the “Leaders of the Free World”.

      The only person who was killed was a white female veteran, shot by police with immunity. The media still refers to it as the Deadly Insurrection.

      1. “The only person who was killed was a white female veteran, shot by police with immunity.”

        That’s what I thought until today and now I’m not even sure of that.

        1. In a world of fake news, it’s hard to trust anything anymore. The only thing I am 100% sure of is that Joe Biden was not elected, he was installed.

        2. I’m not even sure of that.

          I have a pretty good imagination, but I can’t imagine what the purpose would be.

        3. purpose

          Optics? Is it really an insurrection or attack on our democracy if no one is hurt?

          My imagination admittedly sucks.

    5. So, Ashley Babbitt was a operative, who is probably alive, and that footage does look weird.

      Any evidence of this?

      1. “Any evidence of this?”

        There was no “evidence” of the 2020 election being stolen either as I recall.

        There was no “evidence” in multiple swing states where vote counting was mysteriously stopped just as a landslide win for Trump was assured only to have millions of votes appear exactly where they were needed and counted while no one was allowed to watch during the early morning hours in the swing states where the counting had mysteriously stopped.

        No evidence Just videos of poll workers pulling suit cases of ballots out from under tables and running them through a vote counting machine 3 times per ballot, poll workers covering windows after poll watchers had been kicked out where the vote counting had mysteriously been stopped etc.

      2. Somebody suggested it on social media, which makes it likely to have happened.

        1. “Somebody suggested it on social media, which makes it likely to have happened.”

          What the video of the ballots in suitcases being pulled out from under the table and run through counting machines 3 times after the counting had stopped and poll watchers had been sent home that Ben posted on this blog?

          Which was on one of the numerous links citing election fraud he ran every day which IIRC was for a couple of weeks with “no evidence”?

    6. So, Ashley Babbitt was a operative, who is probably alive, and that footage does look weird.

      Please stop posting lunatic bullsh*t like this, as you’ll destroy any credibility you have. Ashley Babbitt’s needless death at the hands of a trigger happy Capitol Police officer is a well established fact.

      1. Looking at the 3:50 – 4:48 above it looks like he missed and hit a piece of window trim.

  9. My father who was a bricklayer told us this when we were kids plus at least 10% profit… …..
    it’s difficult for investors to have their renters cover the cost of their mortgage payments, insurance and condo fees.

  10. “NDP MPP Jessica Bell, who represents the University–Rosedale riding in Toronto, introduced a motion in the provincial legislature Thursday to create a speculation and vacant home tax to increase the number of rental properties available.

    It’s about time.

  11. ‘So it really lit a fire under them to get off the sidelines and just buy something, anything, while they still had greater purchasing power.’”

    I won’t lie: I’m going to feel pure malicious schadenfreude watching so many indescribably stupid lemmings get financially wiped out once the central bankers’ Everything Bubble bursts.

  12. ‘The idea here is that homes are for Canadians to live in. They are not assets for parking offshore money,’ she said.”

    Canadian cucks have installed globalist Quislings to rule over them. Now the heritage Canadians, like heritage Americans, will have to accept a future of being strangers in a strange land as their former country becomes a globalist looting preserve and overflow tank for every Third World cesspool.

  13. It’s going to be a long hot summer. Anyone who would buy a shack in a Democrat-Bolshevik malgoverned urban center spiraling into dystopia is a special kind of stupid.

    Protests erupt for a THIRD night in Minneapolis as BLM demonstrators block traffic following the fatal shooting of wanted criminal, 32, who fired a gun at US Marshals

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9656665/Protests-erupt-night-Minneapolis-following-fatal-shooting-black-man-cops.html

    1. Expand the draft to include all 70 gender options (currently available on Facebook), round up everyone under the age of 35 still collecting extended pandemic gibs, and send them to Iran.

      Orange Man Bad was anti-war, therefore all snowflakes should show their love for Pedo Joe by having their legs blown off by an IED. First wave, front line infantry, boots on the ground.

      Dying for globalists = owning Orange Man Bad.

      1. So many young men killed or maimed. Every time I see a commercial for a charity that supports these veterans and their families, I hate the globalists more.

    1. Bing works in China, it’s not even that slow in English. Why cut out that market? Come on, man! They’re good folks!

  16. Atkinson, NC Housing Prices Crater 26% YOY As Rural Land And Housing Prices Nosedive

    https://www.movoto.com/atkinson-nc/market-trends/

    As a national land broker explained, “There is a globe full of land were fully 95% of it goes undeveloped. Land is essentially worthless dirt. If you paid more than $500 an acre, you got ripped off.”

  17. Saw a couple of nice looking Ribeye steaks at Publix yesterday. Figured I might pick them up and throw them on the grill for dinner tonight, then I saw the $38.72 price.

    We’ll be having burgers tonight.

    1. The globalists remind you that cicadas make an excellent protein source, and meat is bad for the planet so you (but not your elite betters) should desist.

    2. What was the price per pound? I’ve seen USDA Choice rib eyes at Sam’s Club for $11/lb. $16 for USDA Prime.

      You don’t buy steaks at the supermarket unless they’re on sale,

      1. Conversation between my kid and me years ago:
        K: “Do we have to buy only stuff that’s on sale?”
        Me: “Yes.”

      3. “unless they’re on sale”

        Orange sticker manager’s special bargain bin. Safeway used to have 50% markdowns, those disappeared a few years ago, so 30% off is the cheapest there now. Soopers’ markdowns are rarer and not much of a deal.

        I am living proof that meat can be cooked and eaten past its alleged expiration date.

        The Pedo Joe hyperinflation is the “fundamental transformation” that you were promised.

        1. Safeway periodically has T-Bones on sale for < $6/lb.

          Lately I just buy USDA Prime at Sam's Club.

      4. I picked up a 4 lb./1 lb. portions box of frozen 97% lean chopped meat, grass fed, no antibiotics, non-GMO, cow had a happy childhood, blah blah for $15 the other day at Sam’s Club, pretty good.

      5. Ground beef here is about four bucks per pound. The grass-fed stuff I get has been the same $6.49/pound for the past 18 months. Chicken breast appears to always be on sale for $1.99 in bulk value paks. If there are shortages and inflations, it’s not here yet. Or maybe it’s just in the steaks.

  18. “In World War II the US totally faked they had fleets of planes, that turned out to be balloons. It faked out the enemy.”

    Somewhat related to that is this …

    In order to deceive the Allies during the Second World War, the Germans built fake airfields on the continent, often with runways and sometimes with buildings, but always with fake wooden planes, called “Attrappen”. Strange stories can be heard in which allied airplanes made fun of them by dropping wooden bombs on which they had sometimes painted remarks like “Wood for Wood”.

    The wooden bombs return – Airminded
    https://airminded.org/2012/01/21/the-wooden-bombs-return/

    1. If the Germans were savvy enough to build fake airstrips and planes, then how were they fooled by the Allies fake invasion of France in the lead-up to the landing at Normandy?

      1. German resources were spread too thin due to the Russian Front, and the Allies were careful to advance during poor weather to conceal their movements toward France. And then there’s Lady Luck.

      2. “If the Germans were savvy enough to build fake airstrips and planes, then how were they fooled by the Allies fake invasion of France in the lead-up to the landing at Normandy?”

        Here’s a clue …

        “To give the appearance of a massive troop buildup in southeast England, the Allies created a largely phantom fighting force, the First U.S. Army Group, headed by George Patton, the American general whom the Nazis considered to be the enemy’s best commander and the logical man to lead a cross-channel invasion. The Allies broadcast endless hours of fictitious radio transmissions about troop and supply movements and planted wedding notices for fake soldiers in local newspapers. They deceived Nazi aerial reconnaissance planes by fashioning dummy aircraft and an armada of decoy landing crafts, composed only of painted canvases pulled over steel frames, around the mouth of the River Thames. They even deployed inflatable Sherman tanks, which they moved to different locations under the cover of night, and used rollers to simulate tire tracks left behind in their wake.

        “Since Allied code-breakers had been successful in deciphering Germany’s secret communications, they knew that the Nazis had fallen for the deception as D-Day approached. In the weeks leading up to the invasion, the Allies stepped up their aerial attacks on Pas de Calais to throw the Nazis off the scent. They even employed Lieutenant M.E. Clifton James, a bit Australian actor who bore a striking resemblance to Bernard Montgomery, to impersonate the British general. After James spent time with Montgomery to study his mannerisms, he donned one of the general’s uniforms and black berets and flew to Gibraltar on May 26, 1944, and then to Algiers where German intelligence was sure to spot him and surmise that no attack across the English Channel could be imminent with the Allied general scouting the Mediterranean.”

        Fooling Hitler: The Elaborate Ruse Behind D-Day – HISTORY
        https://www.history.com/news/fooling-hitler-the-elaborate-ruse-behind-d-day

      3. Also, the Allies were reading all the electronic German intelligence thanks to English code breakers. If you google “Alan Turing D day”, it’ll turn up some links. This is the title of a Guardian article: “Unsung Bletchley Park hero whose role in D-day was equal to Turing’s”.

        1. Little known fact: the first intercepted German message decoded by Turing’s machine was an encrypted message from the German High Command to Gen. Rommel in North Africa which stated simply: “Realtors are liars.”

  19. “I got $20,000 taken off the purchase price, and I got them to throw in a locker, valued at $7,000, and roller blinds on all the windows. Better yet, they waived their development charges, which usually run around $22,000, and agreed to cover $12,000 worth of extra fees and taxes. That ran a total of about $61,000 saved.’”

    That’s a lot of free gimmes. It seems like this approach to hiding falling prices will not work for very long before everyone can see through it. Even the journalists who write these real estate fluff pieces might eventually catch on

    1. Even the journalists who write these real estate fluff pieces might eventually catch on

      And piss off their REIC advertisers? Not bloody likely, as they say in England.

    1. Anyone else notice that “gun violence” is almost exclusively “vibrant violence”?

      I’ve noticed a couple of media outlets in California blur the perpetrator but not the Asian victim. It seems like they’ve got their redacting backwards?

      1. I’ve wondered how long until Asians stop pulling the D Lever and vote for some law and order?

        I realize it could be a long wait.

        1. The Asians I know are very conservative, and they hate anything that smells like communism.

        2. It depends I think on where they were born and how connected to the diaspora they are. That is, immigrants or children of direct immigrants tend to be more realistic about totalitarianism, whereas people with yellow skin who are fully American, born here and grew up with modernist American values, they love to vote D because otherwise it’s white supremacy or something.

          They don’t seem to mind being discriminated against for college admissions and corporate recruiting.

          1. They don’t seem to mind being discriminated against for college admissions and corporate recruiting.

            Or getting beat up by vibrants.

  22. What is a $7,000 locker? Or does “locker” mean something different in Canuckistan?

    1. The locker appears to be a locked storage unit in the condo building where the guy bought his 1-bed+den condo for $869K. They rent for $70-80/mo, so I guess he got a permanent locker.

  23. Oh dear…a rare honest judge has struck down California’s un-Constitutional ban on “assault rifles.” This is going to drive the globalists and their Democrat-Bolshevik Quislings into paroxysms of rage as the productive and responsible targeted for “redistribution of the wealth” now will have the means to defend what’s theirs and protect their neighborhoods and families as law and order breaks down in yet another progressive-malgoverned People’s Republic.

    (CNN)A federal judge overturned California’s longtime ban on assault weapons on Friday in a ruling that likened the AR-15 to a Swiss Army knife.

    https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/05/us/california-gun-ban-overturned/index.html

    Assault weapons have been banned in California since 1989, according to the ruling. The law has been updated several times since it was originally passed.

    According to the ruling by US District Judge Roger Benitez of San Diego, the assault weapons ban violates the Second Amendment’s right to bear arms and deprives Californians from owning assault-style weapons commonly allowed in other states. Benitez issued a permanent injunction Friday so the law cannot be enforced.

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