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The Perception That It’s A Good Investment Makes It A Good Investment

A weekend topic starting with the Northwest Florida Daily News. “The Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin metropolitan area saw a massive increase in permits for new single-family homes in the past year. Alan Baggett, VP of The Building Industry Association of Okaloosa and Walton Counties added, ‘If you lived in California and you moved here and you saw something that was inflated from, maybe it was $500,000 last year but now it’s $800,000 this year, you’d go, ‘Shoot that’s a bargain compared to where I come from. I’ll take two.'”

In Maricopa in Arizona.  “The housing market is beginning to calm with inventory rising and prices flattening a bit. Residents looking to sell should not worry — a cooling of the market this time of year is normal in Maricopa, and not the sign of a market crash. Several signs point to 2021 being similar to previous years. The first is inventory levels. The number of active listings has nearly tripled in the last 90 days.”

From Har.com in Texas. “While we are still in a sellers market, it has already softened quite a bit here in the Houston area. I have heard the following 4 things from my sellers. These are untruths they have heard from friends, neighbors, their mailman, even other Realtors. 1. You don’t need to do anything—buyers will take whatever. 2. You can just name your price and get it. 3. Sellers don’t need to market their home, it will sell. 4. Its super easy, just take highest offer.”

The Concho Valley Homepage. “Across West Texas, the housing market is robust with demand during a time of year that it would normally be cooling down. ‘Over the past year we’ve been in a bit of a feeding frenzy which has really spiked the list price of homes,’ said Jordan Rose of Keller and Williams Realty. ‘What were seeing now is in the past few weeks or so we’ve really seen a lot of homes have price reductions so what that tells me is because of that feeding frenzy, we’ve kind of priced of some buyers and so now were coming back to an equilibrium.'”

From DS News. “DS News team was on-site, speaking with mortgage servicing’s best and brightest to learn about the state of the industry from their perspective. Bryce Fendall, VP, Default, Foreclosure, Bankruptcy, REO, Claims Statebridge Company: What can the industry do to assist struggling homeowners as they exit forbearance plans?”

“For all mortgage servicers, that has been our focus for the last year-and-a-half: making contact with customers. There’s a kind of phenomenon taking place. When a borrower defaults, they quit reading their mail. They know they owe the bank money, and they know what that letter is, so they quit reading the mail. We are sending them their options. We have learned to become creative to get them to open the mail.”

“We have a lot of tricks that we use, including sending them overnight mail, sending boxes in oblong shapes. We have one mailer where we put dice inside of it, and it says, ‘Don’t roll the dice, because you know we’re here to help.’ We, as servicers, must continue to find interesting ways to connect with the homeowner. It’s not that we’re not there to help them; they are often not receptive to the help we offer. They know they owe the debt, and they think that’s the only thing we want. We only make money when the loans are performing, and when the loans aren’t performing, it gets very costly for everybody involved.”

“Do you anticipate a significant increase in REO activity? We are seeing an increase in foreclosure activity already. However, we also see an increase in resolutions. We send the notice that we’re going to put the home in foreclosure unless a payment is made by a particular date, that date passes, and the loan goes into foreclosure. Sometimes, it comes to just that point where the borrower realizes, ‘Oh, I need to do something!'”

“Right now, borrowers have many options, and many of them have equity. What we are seeing a lot of is getting the home into foreclosure, and then we get a notice or request for a payoff. They want to know how much they owe so that they can pay it off. Then, they pay it off or have worked out some other arrangements. I see our foreclosure volume increasing, but I don’t know how many of those foreclosures will make it to the end. It’s not going to be like what we experienced 10-15 years ago.”

“We are still processing loans that were delinquent before the pandemic started; essentially, all of those were on hold. We can now begin to move those forward, so we’re starting to see those sales. That is what will start happening first. We don’t know what kind of volume we will be looking at. It’s too soon to tell.”

From Reuters. “Close to half a million low-income homeowners in the United States, many of them minorities, are nearing the end of mortgage forbearance plans that allowed them to halt loan payments during the pandemic, presenting a est for the mortgage service firms tasked with helping struggling borrowers move onto payment plans they can afford. Their missed payments could add up to a ‘forbearance overhang’ of more than $15 billion in postponed mortgage payments, or about $14,200 per person.”

“Black Knight estimates that about 850,000 homeowners who participated in forbearance were in plans set to expire by the end of this year, including those who already exhausted their options. Roughly half of those homeowners have loans backed by the Federal Housing Administration or the Department of Veterans Affairs. Those loans, which often require smaller down payments and lower credit scores, are disproportionately used by low-income borrowers, first-time home buyers and minorities.”

“Soon after forbearance ended for Marvin Williams in August, he learned his loan would be transferred to another servicer. For longer than a month, Williams said it was not clear if the new company would defer his missed mortgage payments – adding up to at least $8,000 – to the end of his loan or if he would have to pay it back sooner. Williams, 63, said he often endured two-hour waits on the phone when trying to get in touch with the servicer. On Wednesday, the housing counselor helping him with his case was told the payments would be deferred, but Williams said he is still waiting for written confirmation.”

“‘I’m trying to hope that I’m in the right place with this,’ said Williams, who lives outside Rochester, New York.”

The Chicago Sun Times in Illinois. “Wanda Carter is among thousands of Chicagoans haunted by what have come to be known as ‘zombie properties.’ It started when Carter bought a house in Englewood in 2004. She fell behind on the mortgage and by 2006 found herself facing foreclosure. With no prospect of bringing the mortgage current, Carter and her husband moved out in 2008, agreeing to deed the house back to the bank. Her husband died the next month.”

“Thirteen years later, the property at 6548 S. Morgan St. where Carter’s two-story frame house stood is a vacant lot, the abandoned building demolished in 2018 by the city after it fell into disrepair. But the city is still trying to hold the 70-year-old widow responsible for the upkeep of the lot, hitting her with thousands of dollars in fines and penalties over the years for code violations like not cutting the weeds — at a property she hasn’t owned for years.”

“‘I’m trapped on a property that is not even there anymore,’ she told me. ‘It’s like this is never ending.'”

“In ‘zombie foreclosures,’ lenders begin foreclosure proceedings against homeowners but don’t follow through because they want to avoid the financial responsibility that comes with holding title to the property — costs that often exceed the value. Former owners like Carter later discover their former lender never recorded a new deed, leaving them as the owner of record even though they have no benefits of ownership. So they’re victimized twice.”

From The Record in New Jersey. “The increase in housing prices during the pandemic is forcing many first-time buyers to stretch financially. There’s no sign that prices will return to pre-pandemic levels, even as the market returns to a more normal selling cycle. There’s still a scarcity of homes for sale, said Jordan Kaufman, a partner at Green Ridge Wealth Planning in Montville. That’s especially true in Bergen County, where price  appreciation is above the national average.”

“‘The perception that it’s a good investment makes it a good investment,’ said Kaufman, who lives in Ridgewood.”

From NewJersey.com. “The billboards offer an irresistible come-on, the promise of a pristine life on Easy Street. ‘Realty Investment Done Right’ one says, alongside an image of a silver-haired couple riding bicycles on the beach. The radio ads feature none other than former Fox News personality Bill O’Reilly, promising a ’10-per-cent monthly payout.'”

“Yes, there is fine print — for one thing, National Realty Investment Advisors will only accept minimum investments of $1 million. (Hey, it takes money to make money.) But the Secaucus-based private equity firm portrays its ‘cash recycling’ investment strategy as foolproof. NRIA claims to have amassed $1.25 billion in assets in 15 years in business, focusing on high-end real estate in gentrifying city neighborhoods and tony suburbs from Palm Beach to Brooklyn, with stops in Bergen and Hudson counties. The firm also runs lucrative businesses in India, Dubai and Thailand, selling chances at American green cards to rich foreigners and their families.”

“The alluring pitch, however, may mask a more sordid reality. On the morning of March 4, FBI agents surrounded the Secaucus home of the firm’s then-portfolio manager, Nick Salzano. A tense, hours-long standoff ensued, locking down the suburban neighborhood. When Salzano eventually surrendered, authorities charged him with attempting to con an investor as part of a North Bergen housing development project. Prosecutors say he also forged a multimillion-dollar loan guarantee in 2019 to squeeze another $150,000 out of a Silicon Valley woman.”

“The investigation has widened to include other NRIA leaders, including founder Rey Grabato, and his lieutenant, Coley O’Brien, sources with direct knowledge of the proceedings said. Grabato’s signature appeared on the doctored loan agreement, according to federal charging documents. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the New Jersey Bureau of Securities are also investigating, the source said.”

“‘The reality is, for many of these cases, nobody is going to know until the horse is long out of the barn that the issuer is doing business in the states, and that’s a problem,’ says Rick Barry, the former enforcement chief for the New Jersey Bureau of Securities. ‘When there is a problem with exempt offerings, by the time it all gets uncovered, the money is usually gone. And it’s expensive (and) difficult — if not impossible — to recover any money.'”

From Tokeneo. “Comparing Bitcoin to a bubble on a Dutch tulip bulb maintains the deception. Technology is evolving faster than nature, and a decentralized network has more financial benefits than a bundle of flowers. Bitcoin is a technology, tulips are plants, and no intelligent person is going to make any further comparisons. Tulipmania, a 17th century market bubble in which the price of a bulb rose due to speculation by Dutch investors, caused a major slump. Prices exceeded six times the average annual income at the time. The rarest light bulb is one of the most expensive items in the world.”

“British economist Gabriel Mahluff reminded us superficially of Bitcoin: ‘300 years ago people invested money in tulips because they thought they were investments.’ Bitcoin opponents repeatedly use Tulipmania to live up to their petty expectations. Tales of the tulip mania were popularized by Scottish journalist Charles Mackay in his 1841 book Memoirs of Extremely Popular Misconceptions and Crowd Madness, as Mackay wrote: Sailors, henchmen, servants, even chimney sweeps, dug in the tulips. When the tulip bubble burst in 1637, McKay claimed the Dutch economy was in chaos.”

“Anne Goldgar, Professor of Early Modern History at King’s College London and author of Tulipmania: Money, Honor and Knowledge in the Dutch Golden Age, explains why Mackay’s version is not suitable. ‘It’s a great story, and the reason it’s great is because it makes people look stupid,’ said Goldgar, who complained that even a serious economist like John Kenneth Galbraith Mackays in A Brief History of Financial mimicked euphoria. He continued: ‘But the idea that tulip mania causes a lot of depression is completely wrong. I don’t think that this has any real impact on the economy.'”

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This Post Has 73 Comments

  2. ‘If you lived in California and you moved here and you saw something that was inflated from, maybe it was $500,000 last year but now it’s $800,000 this year, you’d go, ‘Shoot that’s a bargain compared to where I come from. I’ll take two’

    1. Take two? Why don’t you take ten since it’s such a great “investment.” Go all in.

      Realtor, I have so much money left after “throwing money away on rent” every month that I don’t know where to throw it.

      I don’t have to mow or rake or shovel snow off my Fidelity account. I don’t have to replace its roof or its furnace. I don’t have to buy insurance for it or pay property taxes on it. My dividends automatically buy more shares, and I don’t have to do anything.

      Rotting shacks are not “investments.” And Realtors are liars.

      1. “…I don’t have to buy insurance for it or pay property taxes on it…”

        Most people simply don’t comprehend that any structure is nothing more than a long term consumable.

        Never once, to the best of my knowledge, has the REIConplex *ever* mentioned the danger of excessive holding costs.

        IMO, I believe now a significant portion of all U.S. households could not now afford many homes even if initial acquisition cost was zero. Property taxes, insurance, maintenance, HOA dues, utilities, etc.
        would exceed actual household cash income.

        Thus, many properties real rate of return is actually negative. Much like a bank account that pays negative interest.

        1. any structure is nothing more than a long term consumable.

          Old saying: “Houses do not appreciate; only land appreciates.”

          1. only land appreciate

            Obviously, the value of land only goes up based on improvements made to it. To have unimproved land pay you money is ridiculous (outside of bubble think).

          2. Obviously, the value of land only goes up based on improvements made to it

            What about land with mineral or timber rights, where the minerals/timber become more scarce and thus more valuable?

          4. Obviously, the value of land only goes up based on improvements made to it.

            Obviously? 🤨 Even absent natural resources or good weather, land value rests in its proximity to jobs and activities. If jobs and activities move towards to your acre, that value of that acre increases even if no improvements are made to the land itself. If urban and suburban sprawl creeps toward your formerly rural farm, your land is suddenly worth more even if you made no improvements to the land itself. For a more time-condensed example, when Amazon announced that they had chosen Arlington, VA as the location for thousands of six-figure HQ2 jobs, what do you think happened to the value of the land? And that’s on TOP of land appreciating in terms of nominal currency.

          5. “…only land appreciates.”

            In San Jose there is a family that owns farmland just south of Branham Lane and due west of Snell Ave. They haven’t improved it much, but it has to be worth a bundle! Here’s a link:

            https://tinyurl.com/2pj883sv

    2. The poorest state in the country and they pretend every californican is a multi millionaire. STOP the nonsense.

  3. ‘The housing market is beginning to calm with inventory rising and prices flattening a bit….The number of active listings has nearly tripled in the last 90 days’

    Here we go again Maricopa…

    1. ‘What were seeing now is in the past few weeks or so we’ve really seen a lot of homes have price reductions so what that tells me is because of that feeding frenzy’

      Another sh$thole with a frenzy.

      ‘it has already softened quite a bit here in the Houston area’

      But UHS says red hotcakes Houston?

      ‘I have heard the following 4 things from my sellers. These are untruths they have heard from friends, neighbors, their mailman, even other Realtors’

      Do you say UHS different when it’s capitalized? Are you saying somebody is a lion?

    2. I remember the crash last time in Arizona. The inventory build was absolutely epic. All of a sudden the mls was overloaded with $500k and $600k house with not even a lookie-loo. They were coming onto the market faster than flies on sh!t.

  4. ‘the housing counselor helping him with his case was told the payments would be deferred, but Williams said he is still waiting for written confirmation…’I’m trying to hope that I’m in the right place with this’

    Sure you are Marvin, just cough up 8 grand! Better get some boxes.

    ‘We are still processing loans that were delinquent before the pandemic started’

    These guys aren’t fooked. They get up day after day and get paid to slog through the gigantic mess the guberment created. Oh they’ll think up cutsie dice in the box mailers.

    ‘There’s a kind of phenomenon taking place. When a borrower defaults, they quit reading their mail. They know they owe the bank money, and they know what that letter is, so they quit reading the mail’

    1. “When a borrower defaults, they quit reading their mail. They know they owe the bank money, and they know what that letter is, so they quit reading the mail”

      Back in my car repo days, I’d get a car once in awhile with the glove compartment stuffed full of unopened mail that clearly were past due bills. A divorce, job loss or medical event would scuttle things.

  5. ‘about 850,000 homeowners who participated in forbearance were in plans set to expire by the end of this year, including those who already exhausted their options. Roughly half of those homeowners have loans backed by the Federal Housing Administration or the Department of Veterans Affairs. Those loans, which often require smaller down payments and lower credit scores’

    March 26, 2020

    “As America heads into a deep recession, the $11 trillion residential-mortgage market is in crisis. Investors who buy home loans packaged into bonds are dumping even those with federal backing because of panic that millions might not make their payments. Yet one risky sector had started to show cracks long before the coronavirus pandemic sparked the worst financial meltdown in 12 years: the federal government’s largest affordable-housing program, whose lenient terms are geared toward marginal borrowers.”

    “As real estate prices soared in recent years, working-class adults everywhere have increasingly relied on mortgages backed by the Federal Housing Administration — and U.S. taxpayers. Since 2007, the FHA’s portfolio has tripled in value to more than $1.2 trillion, almost 11% of the market. While private lenders make these loans, they are packaged into Ginnie Mae bonds, common in mutual funds and pensions.”

    “Before Covid-19 started roiling China, a November FHA report found that 27% of borrowers last year spent more than half their incomes on debt, a level it describes as ‘unprecedented.’ The share of FHA loans souring in their first six months has doubled over the last three years to almost 1%.”

    “Not long ago, Alex Castillo drove his shiny black Infiniti SUV through an office park north of the San Antonio airport, along a busy seven-mile stretch of highway that loan officers call ‘Mortgage Row’ because of its abundance of small independent mortgage companies that dominate FHA lending. Castillo, who has the words ‘The Dream Starts Here’ stitched into his jacket, works for Pennsylvania-based American Residential Lending. Oddly, amid the pandemic, his business is booming. His customers locked in FHA mortgages after interest rates plunged this month — adding to federally backed mortgage debt.”

    “‘If the government tells me you’re good enough to get a loan, I have to trust and believe in the government,’ Castillo said. ‘Then we just hope and pray that the client doesn’t get foreclosed on.’”

    “In downtown San Antonio, scores of investors stood on a parched lawn beside the city’s historic granite-and-red-sandstone courthouse. It was the first Tuesday of February, the day of the foreclosure auction. Matt Badders, a San Antonio lawyer who represents lenders, auctioned off two houses. The failed mortgages remind him of the run-up to the financial crisis 12 years ago, when lending to customers with spotty credit nearly brought down the world’s financial system. ‘We’re almost back to 2007, when mortgage originators are waking people up on park benches, saying sign here,’ Badders said.”

    “At the auction, the crowd bid on 338 homes, a third with FHA mortgages, according to Roddy’s Foreclosure Listing Service. One house had dual master bedrooms, a game room and granite kitchen counters. It sold for $202,000 — $52,000 less than the homeowner borrowed only two years ago. The taxpayer-backed FHA insurance fund will take a loss.”

    “Dave Stevens, FHA commissioner under President Barack Obama and former chief executive officer of the Mortgage Bankers Association, said a recession will expose hidden risks in home lending. ‘This should be an alarm bell to policymakers,’ Stevens said. ‘Sometimes you get blinded by a good economy and suddenly look at it and see a bubble of defaults coming.’”

    “The federal government has decided it doesn’t want to pursue — and has asked a judge to dismiss — a lawsuit against Utah-based Academy Mortgage Corp. The judge refused. The suit claims the company’s staff would repeatedly feed information into an automated federal underwriting system, manipulating it until the computer gave the green light. ‘Decline is a curse word,’ Plaintiff Gwen Thrower, a former underwriter, quoted a manager as saying. ‘We don’t use it.’”

    http://housingbubble.blog/?p=3070

  6. “The investigation has widened to include other NRIA leaders, including founder Rey Grabato, and his lieutenant, Coley O’Brien, sources with direct knowledge of the proceedings said. Grabato’s signature appeared on the doctored loan agreement, according to federal charging documents.”

    When NRIA emerged during the last bust, anyone who knew anything knew it was a mob racket. What made it different was they advertised heavily on NY/NJ/CT radio and in particular on Bloomberg(back then everyone listened to WBBR… Now? Nobody listens) and it gave then legitimacy. What stood out in their ads were nearly word for word NAR propaganda (lies).

    1. Ring ring!

      Hello?

      Hi there, ima riddin on my Harley and saw yer billboard. Is Nick available?

      Uh, right now he’s in a tense, hours-long standoff. Do you want to talk with his partner Knuckles?

        1. Always trust the experts! Fauci, Millie, this sharply dressed guy, Biden, etc- just listen and no questions!

    2. ** “What made it different was they advertised heavily on NY/NJ/CT radio and in particular on Bloomberg(back then everyone listened . . . ”

      reminds me of that oh-so-sincere-voiced snake-oil salesman/huckster Hayes Barnard here in Sacramento Metro years ago.
      he was on practically every radio station (back when they actually played a few songs) incessantly bleating about his “Paramount Equity” company.

      perfect weather this weekend. carpe diem !!

  7. ‘It’s a great story, and the reason it’s great is because it makes people look stupid’

    Click!

  8. ‘I’m trapped on a property that is not even there anymore,’ she told me. ‘It’s like this is never ending’

    Wanda’s story is why you shouldn’t expect the guberment to do anything but fook the situation up. In this case, the guberment stupidly passes the ball to these “servicers”, who think dice in the box is gonna turn things around.

    There’s a reason they don’t open the mail: they are broke. You know what else they don’t open? Bills, all sorts of bills. I was usually the first person inside a foreclosure after the FB was long gone. There was almost always a pile of unopened mail on the countertop.

    1. I pulled the plug on CA when they pulled the following:
      Sent a tax bill to an address I had not used for approximately 17 years.
      After that old address, I had two stable addresses — one for 14 years and one for 8 years as the addresses overlapped to insure receiving ALL mail.
      I filed taxes EVERY YEAR from these two addresses for approximately 17 years.
      In short—CA intentionally sent the tax bill to the old address to get penalties and interest and the tax bastard on the phone so much as admitted it. Yes I actually got THE bastard who sent out the bill on the phone after weeks of tracking him down and being on hold over days.

      1. I found out when they levied an account. They damn well knew I would never get those notices sent to my oldest address on file.
        AND, the tax bill was for a year when I used a newer address to file.

          2. You missed the point. Knowing when your tax bill is due is not the point. As stated, I filed every year. The State took it upon themselves to inform me at a 17 year old address that they were adjusting my tax bill for a previous year subsequent to me filing at that address. Capiche? .

          3. The State took it upon themselves to inform me at a 17 year old address that they were adjusting my tax bill for a previous year

            I haven’t been to Clownifornia for several years. I can’t possibly think of a reason to visit.

          4. adjusting my tax bill for a previous year subsequent to me filing at that address. Capiche?

            No, I certainly missed that a tax bill you had already paid in a timely fashion was adjusted after the fact. Perhaps you failed to mention that.

  10. This is a pearl clutching article.

    Washington Post — Trump asserts his dominance inside GOP, pushing Republicans to embrace his false claims of fraud (10/15/2021):

    “Trump has repeatedly turned the focus back onto the 2020 election. He moved into new territory Wednesday when he released a statement threatening the GOP with ballot-box repercussions if candidates do not embrace his false claims that the White House race was rigged.

    “If we don’t solve the Presidential Election Fraud of 2020 (which we have thoroughly and conclusively documented), Republicans will not be voting in ’22 or ’24,” Trump said, part of a barrage of statements on the election and the Jan. 6 Capitol attack that he sent out this week. “It is the single most important thing for Republicans to do.”

    The former president’s threat drew winces among GOP operatives and U.S. senators gathered for a donor retreat for the National Republican Senatorial Committee in Palm Beach, Fla., this week. Many still blame Trump for the loss of two U.S. Senate seats in Georgia in runoff elections early this year, saying his false claims of fraudulent ballots kept people from coming to the polls.”

    https://archive.fo/hQOTs

    Archive website link provided because we do not give clicks or revenue to globalist rags.

    The 2020 election was stolen.

    1. Sidney Powell has a website save the republic dot org wherein there is massive sky high documentation of fraud

    1. Winston from another blog said, “The EPA reached an agreement with the California Air Resource Board to shut down semi-tractor rigs that were non-compliant with new California emission standards. In effect, what this 2020 determination and settlement created was an inability of half the nation’s truckers from picking up anything from the Port of LA or Port of Long Beach. Virtually all private owner operator trucks and half of the fleet trucks that are used for moving containers across the nation were shut out.”

      1. These truckers usually get the containers fitted in Ontario, CA after they’re moved inland from Long Beach by rail.

    2. “A look at what’s going on at the ports …”

      Maybe that’s because Mayor Pete the Transportation Secretary has been on paternity leave for 2 months, perhaps trying to figure out if either he or his husband can learn how to breastfeed.

      We had 3 kids and I believe I took one day off for each one. Of course neither my wife nor myself got any paid paternity leave and to be fair my wife already knew how to breastfeed.

      Pete Buttigieg has been on paternity leave amid Biden supply-chain crisis

      By Callie Patteson
      October 15, 2021

      While Americans worry if they’ll be able to afford — or even find — presents for their children this holiday season, the Biden administration’s point person to clear up the supply chain bottleneck, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, has been home playing with his.

      Besides several recent television hits, Buttigieg has been a stay-at-home dad Politico reported — out on paternity leave for nearly two months amid the spiraling crisis to spend time with his husband and two newborn babies. And the Biden cabinet secretary plans to continue to give them home support in the coming weeks, the report said.

      https://nypost.com/2021/10/15/secretary-buttigieg-stays-on-paternity-leave-amid-supply-chain-crisis/

      1. “…perhaps trying to figure out if either he or his husband can learn how to breastfeed.”

        ROTFLMFAO!!

        “… and to be fair my wife already knew how to breastfeed.”

        Maybe you sampled some too? Confess! 🙂

  12. *Early tech – build hardware, software, supply chain, networking, marketing, support, employee pension funds
    *Mid tech – build software, support, marketing
    *Late tech – build an app, administer/censor it, report occasionally to Congress
    *Crypto – no company! no pesky P/E ratios, quarterly reports, misbehaving CEOs. Spreads like cancer across distributed P2P motivated by greed. Most pure form of tech investment, ever.

  13. “The housing market is beginning to calm with inventory rising and prices flattening a bit. Residents looking to sell should not worry — a cooling of the market this time of year is normal in Maricopa, and not the sign of a market crash.

    It’s too bad REIC shills can’t be held financially liable for misleading the sheeple who trust them as a source of news and information.

  16. “Close to half a million low-income homeowners in the United States, many of them minorities, are nearing the end of mortgage forbearance plans that allowed them to halt loan payments during the pandemic, presenting a test for the mortgage service firms tasked with helping struggling borrowers move onto payment plans they can afford.

    Foreclosure is rayciss, yo.

  17. Ever since George Soros blasted China’s Xi for becoming more nationalistic, globalist media outlets that previously were fawning cheerleaders for the CCP and China’s “success story” have suddenly become more critical. Funny how that works.

    ‘Shut out’: China’s Evergrande crisis escalates

    https://www.news.com.au/finance/economy/world-economy/evergrandes-big-blow-to-china-developers-shut-out-of-global-debt-markets/news-story/768c9ebf9dea5d93ab4e4871f3b2a265

    Property giant Evergrande’s slow motion crisis is now impacting the wider Chinese property market.

    Problems at Evergrande, which is in the red more than AU$400 billion, have raised fears of defaults in China’s property sector, leaving Chinese developers “shut out” of global debt markets.

      1. The rest of the world knows well that the blue-eyes will strip-mine their wealth and force the yoke of debt upon their children and grandchildren.

  18. Baoneng Auto Unit Defaults on $434 Million Trust Loan

    https://globalinsolvency.com/headlines/baoneng-auto-unit-defaults-434-million-trust-loan

    ‘Shenzhen-based Baoneng Investment Group missed repayments on yet another debt to finance its unrealized automaking dream, underscoring the deepening capital crunch of the once-highflying private conglomerate, Nikkei Asia reported. Baoneng Motors Group, the auto unit of Baoneng, failed to pay interest on a 2.8 billion yuan ($434 million) trust loan to finance a new-energy vehicle (NEV) industrial park project in Guangzhou, state-backed China Railway Trust disclosed. Baoneng and its controlling shareholder, Yao Zhenhua, offered guarantees for the product’

    ‘The loan was issued in May 2020 with a maturity period of 15 months. It raised funds to develop Baoneng’s NEV project, which started in 2017 but has made little progress. Baoneng, a private property and financial services company, is the latest Chinese conglomerate to face a massive debt crisis. The company is best known for its failed 2015 hostile takeover attempt of major property developer China Vanke. Baoneng’s capital crunch was revealed around the beginning of the year. With 200 billion yuan of debt, Baoneng faces employees demanding unpaid wages, suppliers clamoring for overdue payments, and creditors seeking loan payments.’

      1. “Bao” is Mandarin for the sound of a bubble bursting and “neng” is for the sound of the debris hitting the ground.

  19. Sorry, bagholders, but that’s not the way it works.

    In China, Home Buyers Who Went All In Say They Want Out

    https://globalinsolvency.com/headlines/china-home-buyers-who-went-all-say-they-want-out

    China is trying to cool its costly and dangerously debt-ridden housing market, where high prices and go-go levels of borrowing and spending are increasingly seen as a national threat. But as the troubles of a major property developer and its $300 billion mountain of debt drive a government effort to contain the peril, Beijing risks hurting a major driver of its crucial economic growth engine: home buyers like He Qiang, the New York Times reported. He was so optimistic about property in China that he bought an apartment from that property developer, China Evergrande Group, then became a real estate agent himself, selling the company’s apartments to hundreds of other families. “It was the peak of Evergrande’s glory,” He said. He is much more pessimistic these days. He, who is from the southern city of Yueyang, has yet to move into his apartment because Evergrande has stopped construction. So many other people are nervous about buying homes, he said, that he’s considering going back to selling cars.

    The real estate boom that once attracted young professionals like Mr. He is experiencing a dramatic overhaul. At one point, buying was so frenzied that properties would sell out within minutes of being offered. Speculation sent prices soaring. Real estate grew to provide more than a quarter of the country’s economic growth by some estimates, with homes becoming the main savings vehicle for Chinese families. Nearly three-quarters of household wealth in China is now tied to property. The loss of confidence in the market could spill over to lower sales of cars and appliances, further hurting the economy. Already, weak retail sales in China have signaled that consumers are feeling increasingly insecure. As more buyers shy away from home sales, experts say Beijing’s decision to intervene in the market and curb debt may risk overall growth.

    1. “On a global scale, only Hong Kong and Vancouver have higher costs of living, according to the Demographia Housing Affordability Ratings. Sydney (third) and Melbourne (fifth) are the only two Aussie cities on the list, with New Zealand’s Auckland placing fourth in front of Toronto.”

      Create inflation when working doesn’t work.

  21. Spin this, Psaki!

    ‘Let’s go Brandon’ – #1 hip-hop song on iTunes inspired by Joe Biden meme

    https://bgr.com/politics/lets-go-brandon-1-hip-hop-song-on-itunes-inspired-by-joe-biden-meme/

    The “Let’s go Brandon” meme lampooning President Biden is taking over the internet. It continues to blanket conservative news sites and social media accounts, getting repurposed in all sorts of different ways. From now adorning merchandise for sale to serving as the message chanted by crowds in all kinds of settings, like at sports games. But perhaps the most improbable turn of events for this anti-Biden slogan embraced by critics of the president is that it’s now also been turned into a hit rap song. One that, in fact, is sitting at #1 on the iTunes hip-hop chart as of the time of this writing.

    2. The song is by rapper Loza Alexander, which first went viral on TikTok.

      Last time I checked, the white-boy deplorables and old fogies GOP weren’t listening to hip hop or hanging out on Tik-Tok or Spotify. So who are these mystery Biden-haters making this #1?

      Has anyone asked Brandon Brown what he thinks about this?

      1. Blacks make up one of the largest demographics of the “vaccine resistant.” Seems they have some residual collective memories of government using them as lab rats. The collapsing Biden economy and soaring inflation are probably hitting them as hard or harder than any other group, and their jobs are most at risk from the illegal immigrants flooding across our open southern border.

  22. Blue Sky

    I keep a budget. I know when my tax bill is due.

    Everyone knows when their taxes are due.
    You don’t know when the State adjusts your taxes until you are informed.

    1. All I meant is that if I don’t get the bill when I know I should get the bill, I make a phone call or a visit. These things are easy to sort where I live. Sorry for your situation.

  23. A look at what’s going on at the ports …
    According to Bloomberg.com the ports were working 24/7 at the request of the President.

  24. Anybody else seeing rental asking prices that would need 3 median income earners to afford a 1 bedroom apt? LMFAO. This can’t last.

    1. rental asking prices
      Mine went up 23.75% so I moved about 100 miles west.
      Same price as pre-rent hike for about the same apartment, but not quite as nice.

      1. As a noted economist stated so eloquently, “I can ask $50k for my run down 10 year old Chevy pickup but where is the buyer at that price? So it is with rapidly depreciating assets like houses onad cars.”

        Orlando, FL Housing Prices Crater 24% YOY As The Toxic Rot Of Appraisal Fraud Blankets State

        https://www.movoto.com/fl/32804/market-trends/

    2. Here are the fees at one place to just move in:
      $150 app fee (2x $75)
      $250 admin fee
      $600 non-refundable pet fee (2 dogs)
      $250 move-in fee

      So that’s $1250, non-refundable just to get the keys.

    1. Italy writes history

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvxHHEguJs8

      ‘October 15, 2021. Remember that date! What you’re looking at is a straight up revolution, happening in Trieste, Italy. Thousands of dock workers and residents of Trieste, Verona, Vicenza, Pordenone, Venice and Treviso are blocking access to the port of Trieste to protest the mandatory vaccines and the vaccine passport.’

      A comment:

      ‘If you have to be persuaded, lied to, incentivized, coerced, bullied, socially shamed, guilt-tripped, threatened, punished and criminalized… If all of this is considered necessary to gain your compliance – You can be absolutely certain that what is being promoted is not in your best interest’

  26. So I stopped at this link on the morning searches, just one of many I could have posted:

    https://www.foreclosure.com/listings/n-las-vegas-nv-89131

    32 pages of mostly “pre-foreclosures” in one zip code. Oh, but there’s no foreclosures in to the moon Alice! land. Foreclosure.com isn’t even the best site for these.

    There are more US shack loans in default right now, this morning, than last decade. Fact – jack.

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