Caught Up In The Desirability Of A Quick And High Return
It’s Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. “When I see record-high homes prices and worst-in-seven-years job growth … I gulp! The median selling price for an Orange County home hit a record $675,000 in April, CoreLogic reports. In a county with chronic housing affordability challenges, a modest pullback from buying mania could be good for the financially challenged stakeholders in the marketplace. Still, who’d want a total collapse? So let’s just call these recent anxiety-producing patterns a must-watch trend for the coming months. Orange County real estate, you’ve been warned.”
“The number of April sales of Naples-area houses and condos fell to 902 from 947 last year, a five percent decline. The Naples Area Board of Realtors also reported that the median price of houses sold in April dropped six percent to $525,000 from $559,000 last year. Brokers said unrealistic pricing led to the sharp increase in the number of days that houses and condos spent on the market before they were sold. ‘There appears to be a number of sellers who, when pricing their homes, refuse to take into account the added competition from the new construction market,’ said Jeff Jones, managing broker at the Naples-Park Shore office of Coldwell Banker.”
“Last year, Starwood Capital Group’s CEO Barry Sternlicht called Greenwich, Conn. the worst real estate market in the country, as reported by Bloomberg. He apparently was correct. The Wall Street Journal reports: ‘There were only five sales for $10 million or more in 2015 and 2016, the slowest pace in this category since at least 2008, and less than half the average, according to brokerage Houlihan Lawrence. In all, there are 38 properties listed for $10 million in and around Greenwich, meaning it would take at least seven years to sell them all at the current pace.’”
“In granting developer Mark Bulman a comprehensive permit in 2007, the Chatham zoning board of appeals agreed to waive 18 zoning regulations and allow construction of 10 condominiums on a lot which otherwise would have only supported two single-family homes. The trade-off was that two of the units had to be sold as affordable. Nearly a decade later, Bulman is asking for a refund of the $130,000 that he’s paid to date, warning that without the town’s cooperation the affordable units could be foreclosed upon.”
“Bulman said he hasn’t been able to sell the units because his ‘hands are tied’ by the looming foreclosure. Failure to obtain a refund of the money he’s already paid the trust fund could have dire consequences, he said. ‘My last resort is bankruptcy,’ he said.”
“Is Chicago’s cab industry on the verge of collapse? The competition is fierce as rideshares like Uber and Lyft take business from traditional cabs. The result is a crash in the cab market as more driver face foreclosure and surrender their once-prized medallions. ‘I have talked to over 1,200 cab drivers or medallion owners and they fall into three buckets: Either 1. They are in foreclosure proceedings, or they have already defaulted and are not in foreclosure yet, or they are at the verge of defaulting on the loan,’ said Furqan Mohammed, attorney.”
“In the wake of the housing crisis, investors have been snapping up foreclosed properties across the city and suburbs and then cutting deals with low-income buyers who don’t qualify for traditional mortgages. Carolyn Smith and her elderly mother bought one of the homes in the city’s Austin neighborhood. The seller was Harbour Portfolio Advisors of Dallas. The company bought more than 6,000 U.S. homes, according to the City of Cincinnati lawsuit. Harbour paid $1,000 for the two-story property in Austin in August 2011, records show. She says she spent so much on repairs that she couldn’t keep up with her taxes. They were purchased last year in a sale. Smith now has to pay over $7,500 in back taxes and fees by next year, or else lose the home. ‘I’ve been duped,’ Smith says.”
“In a statement, an attorney for Harbour defends the deals. ‘Every person that buys or gets a mortgage for a home is responsible for repairs, taxes and insurance which is in fact a privilege that goes along with home ownership. There is absolutely nothing predatory about charging people less money than one would pay in rent, yet at the same time fulfilling the dream of home ownership.’”
“Investors who bought apartments on the south bank of London’s River Thames hoping to flip them for a quick profit face falling values and declining premiums for new homes. ‘I expect values to fall further in the Nine Elms area after a huge amount of supply came — and is still coming — at the wrong price,’ said Neal Hudson, founder of research firm Residential Analysts Ltd., ‘Investors have dried up and the bulk of demand for London homes is now from owner-occupiers who can only afford’ to pay 450 pounds per square foot.”
“The Nine Elms homes are priced between 750 pounds and 1,500 pounds a square foot, he said. The apartments are often sold with facilities including gyms, swimming pools and 24-hour concierge services.”
“Despite the sharp rise in house prices, hundreds of thousands of homes bought between 2004 and 2012 are still in negative equity, the Telegraaf reported. Property researcher Calcasa reveals that 340,000 homes throughout the country are still now worth less than their purchase price. The company said most of the homes ‘virtually’ in negative equity were in the east (120,000) and south (127,000) of the country. The average sales price for a home in the Netherlands is now €266,000, up from €262,000 in the peak year of 2008. But Calcasa warned that this was not the case in 282 towns.”
“Norway’s notoriously high housing prices, especially in the Oslo area, are showing signs of flattening out in the midst of an unprecedented homebuilding boom. That’s expected to further cool off the red-hot real estate market of the past several years, but experts warn it’s still way too expensive for far too many to buy a home. While many welcome a halt in the soaring home prices of the past few years, those who bought when prices peaked won’t enjoy gains on their investments and may even find themselves vulnerable to losses.”
“Sellers, one broker told NRK, ‘think the market is falling and that prices will go down, so they’re trying to sell now.’”
“According to Lightstone, only 10 properties with a combined value of R79.8m changed hands in Inanda in the 12 months ending 30 April with Atholl faring a little better with 24 sales realising R146.5m, but Justine Roux, area specialist for Lew Geffen Sotheby’s International Realty, says that there were many more potential sales which fell through during this period. ‘One of the main reasons homes aren’t selling is that sellers simply won’t budge from their listing prices despite the notable decline in investor numbers that has precipitated a shift to a buyers’ market,’ he said.”
“Two brothers who rode the wave of the Pilbara property boom to become multimillionaires are facing a potential financial headache, with a bank foreclosing on part of their property portfolio after they allegedly failed to pay their mortgages. Ryan and Morgan Crawford claimed to have made millions of dollars from investments in Pilbara towns when property and rent prices reached astronomical levels during the mining boom.”
“But in a spectacular example of the Pilbara property crash, part of the Crawford property empire has been sold for a fraction of the buying price, according to Landgate records, with documents filed in the Supreme Court last week revealing the proceeds fell well short of what was owed. Morgan Crawford was once quoted in the press saying he was ‘often asked if I’m worried about the debt that’s in my name, and whether I could sustain my financial obligations if something goes wrong. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t consider this, I think about the risks before and after every purchase,’ he said.”
“Real Estate Institute of WA president Hayden Groves said the men may have ’suffered the same as mum and dad investors’ in the region. ‘Investors are attracted to quick returns in any environment … but any immediate and high-return strategy comes with more risk. Unfortunately many investors were caught up in the desirability of having a quick and high return, and sadly many did not get out in time and suffered significant losses as a result.’”
“Maybe prices in Toronto and the surrounding suburbs really have reached a new normal, and a wide swath of people are permanently shut out of the market. ‘There is no particular reason housing has to be affordable for the average person,’ wrote Ernest Wong last month, a research analyst with Baskin Wealth Management. Toronto is still cheaper than cities such as Hong Kong, he argued. ‘Despite being increasingly unaffordable for new home buyers, the current expensive housing prices are rational, and should be expected in the low interest rate environment.’”
“This line of thinking could be classified as a ‘this time is different’ argument, which is used by investors to justify what turn out to be unsustainable market trends. Investment guru John Templeton is known to have remarked that ‘this time it’s different’ are the four most dangerous words for investors. Economists Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff published an entire book on the subject in 2010 and examined eight centuries of financial disasters. They found ‘this-time-is-different syndrome’ pops up again and again.”
“‘It is rooted in the firmly held belief that financial crises are things that happen to other people in other countries at other times,’ they write. ‘We are doing things better, we are smarter, we have learned from past mistakes. The old rules of valuation no longer apply.’”
“‘Every bubble begins with a good fundamental story,’ says Doug Porter, chief economist at BMO Financial Group. But people then take sound economic trends to an extreme. ‘Investors extrapolate a good thing into something that can never go wrong—until it does,’ Porter says.”
‘There is no particular reason housing has to be affordable for the average person’
I guess the MSM will continue to say there is no bubble, but looking at the above links I’d say it’s already popped. BTW, the last article by Macleans is once again worth reading in full.
This time is different,” buyers tell themselves. They’re right—until they’re terribly wrong.
‘There is no particular reason housing has to be affordable for the average person’
+++
Staggering Number Of Homeless In LA Shows How Tough It Is To Get By
Newz Sentinel | 6-2-2017
The number of homeless people in Los Angeles is skyrocketing. In just one year, the figures revealed that the homeless population in the city grew 20% while the numbers for the wider Los Angeles County were even higher at 23%.
As if looking at those numbers isn’t cringeworthy enough, The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority reported Wednesday that 6,000 homeless young people were tallied across the county in January, a 61% increase over the 2016 total. Most of the young people are ages 18 to 24. All the youth shelters have waiting lists and affordable housing is tough to find, even with a rent voucher, according to Heidi Calmus of Covenant House California, an international youth homeless services agency with a branch in Hollywood. “The system is overwhelmed,” Calmus said Tuesday night as she and a colleague, Nick Semensky, delivered toiletry bags and sandwiches to young people living in the streets.
Despite efforts to combat the problem, the number of homeless continue to go up. In 2015 authorities declared a public emergency as the numbers sleeping on the streets soared. City officials committed $100 million to tackle the problem. It’s safe to say that whatever is being done right now is not working.
This past week I posted a report on the “glut” of luxury apartments in LA, with 3200 more units receiving permits in the first quarter of the year. This as Mel Watt has poured over a trillion Yellen bucks into multi-family financing.
‘It’s safe to say that whatever is being done right now is not working’
Mel Watt - another obama legacy that needs to head directly in to the ash bin of history (along with the Paris Accord).
+++++
Mel Watt’s plan to loosen mortgage credit will shape housing finance for years
Joseph Lawler | May 17, 2014 | The Washington Examiner
Watt began his speech noting “certain changes in focus” from the plans laid out by his fiscally conservative predecessor Ed DeMarco, and then outlined a number of plans to loosen the terms that Fannie and Freddie require for the loans they insure. The two government-sponsored enterprises buy loans from lenders and package them into insured securities, with the purpose of increasing liquidity in the mortgage markets.
The immediate reaction to Watt’s speech was to raise concerns that his actions would inflate a new housing bubble.
Americans may understandably be concerned about the standards Fannie and Freddie require for the loans they guarantee — the two did receive $188 billion in bailout funds after risking trillions on bad loans.
But Watt’s decisions will not just shape the short-term availability of mortgage credit. They also will play a critical role in shaping the housing finance system for years.
DeMarco had explicitly favored tightening the GSEs’ lending terms to shrink their market footprint and bring private capital into the secondary market for mortgages. By reversing course, Watt plans for Fannie and Freddie to maintain their market share — which in turn will lessen the pressure on Congress to wind down the two companies and reform the market.
People on this side of the pond are having hysterics over Trump’s Paris decision, It’s pretty much the only US news you hear/read in the UK. Never mind that China and India don’t have to do anything to reduce green house gasses until 2030 I believe.
Labour is lambasting the Tories because they didn’t condemn Trump and the US. The hatred towards us is palpable.
Prime Minister May is being portrayed by Labour as being Trump’s right wing lap dog. Never mind that she is left of the US Democrats.
The election here is next Tuesday. I’m going home tomorrow, thank goodness. I rode the London Eye yesterday. Interesting, but like all things here it’s absurdly expensive.
funny how everything is expensive and folks are taxed to death in the free HC countries
hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm………..
Prime Minister May is being portrayed by Labour as being Trump’s right wing lap dog. Never mind that she is left of the US Democrats.
That’s probably true of most conservative leaders in the Western world. The American people are also to the left of US Democrats on a number of issues. This shows how much big business calls the shots in the USA.
Europe, India, China and scam green energy companies are crazy mad because Trump pulled out of the insane Paris Accord.
1. Notice it is not a treaty but an “agreement.” Obama “agreed” to the Paris Accord because even his own party wouldn’t have voted for it in a Senate vote to make it a treaty. As it is NOT a treaty - it has no legal enforcement in America. None.
2. The obama Paris Accord would kill hundreds of thousands of jobs, harm American manufacturing, and destroy $2.5 trillion in gross domestic product by the year 2035.
3. China and India - the largest polluters in the world, were except from doing anything, unless America paid for it.
4. The entire world was waiting for the trillion dollar obama gravy train to include the scam companies of “green energy” such as Telsa. Elon Musk (a huge obama donor) just saw his company turn down the road to bankruptcy.
The American people are also to the left of US Democrats
So far left are they, they won’t up even show up to vote!
The American people are also to the left of US Democrats on a number of issues.
Which issues?
The crazy thing here is that the locals don’t think they’re overtaxed or over-regulated. Case in point, the oppressive Ministry of Transportation vehicle inspection, which forces people to choose between junking a perfectly good 10 year old car or spending thousands and thousands of pounds making unnecessary repairs. The thing is that the locals believe that those repairs are reasonable. When I tell them that we have nothing equivalent in the USA, most Brits are aghast and believe that we all drive around in rickety death traps.
Taxes, health care and marijuana legalization come to mind. For a long time the polls showed that people wanted less spending on the armed forces, but that seems to have changed in the last year. The polls even showed recently that more people support Obamacare than oppose it since the probability of its repeal is increasing.
The overall picture you get from following the polls is that American people would like to have a social democratic economy similar to what exists in western Europe and Canada. Thus Bernie Sanders is perhaps a bit left of center and Paul Ryan basically an extremist.
Canada you say?
Deports illegals on sight?
Required a government ID to vote in ALL elections?
Will not let ANY foreigner get a legal job there if there is any way a Canadian can do it?
Has a long, long process to become a citizens?
Damn - that is some Trump talk there…
I was referring to the big issues - taxes and government spending and the economy.
Will not let ANY foreigner get a legal job there if there is any way a Canadian can do it?
That sounds unlikely.
Bernie Sanders is not “a bit left” of center. He is far left of center.
http://www.gallup.com/poll/1714/taxes.aspx
51% of the US already feels they are taxed too much. Ms. Clinton ran on the basis of getting the wealthy to pay their fair share. And Bernie would have had to raise taxes a lot more to pay for his programs. It doesn’t seem that the US as a whole is to the left of the Democratic party on this one.
In a separate poll, it looks like people ARE moving more in favor of the ACA. It’s hard to take away the government cheese once you get it. The main issue is that the ACA needs to be changed in order for it to be viable.
Serious question…would the ACA have passed in the first place had the truth been known about its actual long-term cost and what it really meant for the types of insurance policies that you could purchase?
It is definitely NOT clear to me that Americans are in favor of a European style HC system. I say this mainly because people in the US don’t really know what that means (ie. polls on “universal” healthcare are flawed in that way).
For example, would Americans be in favor of dramatically reducing the amount of end-of-life care in conjunction with a European style HC system? That’s a big part of why their system can work with much lower cost.
Would they be in favor of a Canadian type HC system if they knew that it meant a median wait time of 20 weeks for “medically necessary” treatments? (this is the actual median wait time in Canada for such treatments in 2016–Neurosurgery…median wait of 47 weeks)
From my view, most Americans want to live their lives with a minimum of government meddling, and they only want government involvement for critical services that are not well-served by non-government entities.
The bulk of Americans exist between both ideological camps.
On average Americans are meaningfully more conservative than Europeans…I think you are missing something fundamental if you think that we are somehow very similar to a European mindset.
Here is the polling from Pew (updated in 2012)
http://www.pewglobal.org/2011/11/17/the-american-western-european-values-gap/
“unlikely”
As a border dweller I can tell you it is the general rule, and the general question if you are crossing the border “on business”.
Frustrations With Tax System: Sense That Corporations, Wealthy Don’t Pay Fair Share
Fewer are bothered by the amount they pay in taxes
A majority of Americans now view the federal tax system as unfair, including similar shares of Republicans and Democrats. But partisans differ in their concerns about the tax system, with Democrats far more likely than Republicans to express frustration that some corporations and wealthy people don’t pay their “fair share.”
Among the public overall, 62% say they are bothered “a lot” by the feeling that some corporations don’t pay their fair share of taxes, and 60% say the same about some wealthy people not paying their fair share.
http://www.people-press.org/2017/04/14/top-frustrations-with-tax-system-sense-that-corporations-wealthy-dont-pay-fair-share/
Bernie proposed expanding Medicare to cover every American. That would be very popular. Americans love their Medicare.
“unlikely”
As a border dweller I can tell you it is the general rule, and the general question if you are crossing the border “on business”.
Read that unlikely sentence again. Canada has to have something like green cards, which allow people live and work in the country without becoming citizens. The unlikely assertion would mean that employers would be compelled to hire citizens instead of those legal immigrants, which would make the whole immigration system unwieldy. It would also mean, for example, that there would be zero non-Canadian plays on the Toronto Maple Leafs, since there are millions of Canadians who could perform those jobs. You can easily look up the fact that they have some players who are foreigners.
Bernie proposed expanding Medicare to cover every American. That would be very popular. Americans love their Medicare.
Many people also buy supplemental insurance because Medicare isn’t enough.
You know would else would be popular? Free foot massages, and puppies, and ponies, and ice cream.
Medicare is on a one-way trip to collapse since each person gets 3x+ more in benefit than they ever paid in to Medicare–and demographics are catching up.
The harsh reality of “universal” healthcare, is that there are trade-offs. And the two big ones are access to end of life care, and time that it takes to get care.
And I will point you in the direction of the Pew research study, where 20%+ more people in the US felt it was more important to “pursue life’s goals without state interference” than the state guarantee that nobody is in need (as compared to UK, France, Germany, Spain).
And pursuit of life’s goals is hamstrung if taxes are too high…a pre-requisite of universal healthcare.
some wealthy people, some corporations
“some”
I would have said that bothers me “a lot” also.
That’s more about the complexity of the tax code (and the loopholes that are exploited) than the overall level of taxation.
53% say they are either bothered “some” or “a lot” about how much they pay.
And when a relatively large percentage of Americans pay little other than payroll taxes, it’s no shock that 46% aren’t really bothered at all.
Only 5% say they are paying less than their fair share.
40% say they are paying more than their fair share.
54% say they are paying about the right amount.
The hatred towards us is palpable ??
It’s just started. Let another year or two go by. Hell, people in my own country hate me because I am from California. Thank god I have anything and everything one would want to do within my borders.
“Unlikely”
Look up their point system for immigration.
If you are from a Commonwealth Country, well alrighty. If you are a Syrian refugee, well OK then. If you have a special skill or degree and have plenty of money and are young, well maybe. If you’re going to take a job away from a Canadian, unlikely.
Just for humor; they passed a la that Yanks cannot catch their own minnows on a fishing trip, because Canadians can do this, eh. Not kidding.
“pursue life’s goals without state interference”
That’s quite a vague phrase there.
You must have missed what I wrote about whatever they call greens cards and also the bit about hockey players.
Mikey,
I saw you mentioned green cards. Not sure what your point was. It is unlikely you would get one unless you are quite special, do not need money, healthcare & etc. I never heard of anyone getting a job if they are there without documents.
If you are a star hockey player with an NFL offer, that’s different!
It’s easy to get invited to go to Japan if you are a star baseball player too, and their immigration is quite restricted.
I thought I made it clear. The claim that I was criticizing was that green card holders (I think that they’re called landed immigrants) could not be hired if a citizen could do the job.
Also, if you travel around Toronto or Montreal, you can find working class neighborhoods filled with many thousands of recent immigrants working jobs that don’t require special skills.
Clear that you don’t want to understand. I never said you couldn’t get a job if you had a Green Card! Go try to get one if you don’t have the qualifications I spoke of. I spend half my time in Canada, but you figure things the way you want to.
I never claimed that you said that a person with a green card can’t get a job. I was referring to 2banana’s claim that Canada “Will not let ANY foreigner get a legal job there if there is any way a Canadian can do it”.
Also, I doubt that the time that you spend in Canada is relevant unless you spend that time in long, detailed discussions with immigration lawyers.
“pursue life’s goals without state interference”
That’s quite a vague phrase there.
——————-
Yes it is, but it was the same phrase that both Europeans and Americans were asked…and the difference between the two polling samples was 20%+.
And before you note translation, it’s worth noting that the UK was the closest to the US views…and they were 20 points different (58% vs. 38%).
“long, detailed discussions with…lawyers”
Yeah, I hear ya. Without that none of us would know anything.
You don’t get that point either then. Your physical presence within the borders of a country doesn’t automatically give you knowledge of its laws.
MightyMike
I am a Canadian and I believe Blue Skye is right. We do not have a green card system here. You can only immigrate to Canada if you garner so many points (some can be bought as investment capital, preferred carreers - like hockey players).
I found ZBanna’s list very accurate.
On another note - that crazy redhead Griffin ? - I think she is Canadian - please keep her in the USA.
Blue Skye - if you ever are up at the top of Lake Ontario this summer please contact me. The lake is really high this year - most docks are underwater.
What I was comparing to a green card is called permanent residency. This is from Wikipedia:
Permanent residence of Canada is a status of a person who is not a Canadian citizen but who has been granted permission to live and work in Canada without any time limit on their stay.[1]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permanent_residency_in_Canada
In other words, I’m just referring to non-citizens who are able to live and work in the country. My assertion is that, for the purposes of employment, such people are treated the same as citizens. Employers are not compelled to prefer citizens over permanent residents who have the proper documents.
The Canadian point system is pretty well known. However, there do appear to many immigrants who do work that is not considered to require lots of skills, such as work in restaurants.
Hey Patrick,
I’m not headed up the Trent this year. The Erie/Oswego is still tricky and my stopping places on Eastern Lake Ontario are in very rough shape. There is wood in the Erie canal system and one has to pick their way along carefully, or wait. Perhaps next year. I will try to take advantage of the free pass I already have glued to my windshield. Happy 150 years. I also have a free pass on the NY canals, happy 200 years. Probably just the Rideau this year. Buskars in Kingston July 8.
And how would I contact you?
Contact Ben . I am sure he has a way. If not I will figure one out.
“never say bubble”
HA! sooooo obvious after years of observation that the industries dependent upon large, upfront commissions, never want to be the first to stop the obvious pending inferno & spook the fee-paying unshorn captive sheeple too soon . . . as they take aisle seats in the crowded theater.
by the exits.
Yes, but we have government. We have Elisabeth Warren. The federal government has practically taken over shack financing. I understand that greedy fools will do what they do, but isn’t somebody, anybody, responsible to step in and stop this madness when it’s this out of control? I read hundreds of headlines a day. It’s not just coastal areas. “Why Las Vegas is just catching up to the bay area. Toronto is cheap compared to Hong Kong!”
‘There is no particular reason housing has to be affordable for the average person,’ wrote Ernest Wong last month, a research analyst with Baskin Wealth Management. Toronto is still cheaper than cities such as Hong Kong, he argued. ‘Despite being increasingly unaffordable for new home buyers, the current expensive housing prices are rational, and should be expected in the low interest rate environment.’
Currently, nearly all the world now believes in cheap and easy fiat credit.
(with a few notable exceptions)
More and more easy and cheap debt. Debt that will never be repaid. Lower and lower standards of lending. Ignoring of GAAP and banking laws. Keep the can kicking down the road…
It is the EASY way to prosperity.
No one elected to power is going to stop it.
It’s kinda funny that no one in history has never tried this before…
Wait a sec….But it has been tried before…
And it leads directly to ruin, bankruptcy, misery, massive changes in government and war.
“More and more easy and cheap debt. Debt that will never be repaid. Lower and lower standards of lending. Ignoring of GAAP and banking laws. Keep the can kicking down the road…
Yep.
“No one elected to power is going to stop it.”
A beautiful thing, ain’t it.
The American people: Dumb ‘em down, and profit.
“A beautiful thing, ain’t it.
The American people: Dumb ‘em down, and profit.”
++++
It is just so plain for those who read, think, experience life and see it for what it is.
And we can see the steamroller coming. And the fools in front of it picking up pennies.
And we know HOW this is going to end. We just don’t know the WHEN of it all.
So in the meantime…
Stay out of debt
Live below your means
Save. Save some fiat. Save some gold. Save some silver. Save some food
Get away from places (cities/counties/state) that are drowning in debt and will drag you down with it
Learn some skills - useful and enjoyable skills
Have fun, make friends, enjoy your family (or start a family)
Find a church you like and go. You are going to need a strong internal support network more than “I am a snowflake and the world must change to suit me…”
Feel free to add…
Dumb ‘em down and send them to wars.
Let freedom reek.
+1
Get away from places (cities/counties/state) that are drowning in debt and will drag you down with it.
First you’ll have to get a rocket. The whole planet is drowning in debt!
It is quite possible to shelter in plain sight. I have done it.
“No one elected to power is going to stop it.”
The majority of people who elected them don’t want it to stop. It will end anyway. Can’t say when, but the longer it takes the more dramatic it is likely to be.
“…but isn’t somebody, anybody, responsible to step in and stop this madness ….”
Who would you like to step in that is not benefiting from it directly or indirectly ? Volker went back to WallStreet. Bernake is collecting fees. Greenspan is working on another book. Politicians need money from donors to run their campaigns. And…
Housing has become an asset class. (People now talk about their houses, NOT their “homes.”)
It begins and ends with interest rates. Raise ‘em and you remove the fuel. We’re unwilling to do that or are not able to do that anymore. Interestingly enough the acceleration of money growth which predicts Recessions has stopped.
We’re not in Grandpa’s world anymore.
My question to you is: Why do you assume that we are going to be around in five hundred years? My kids were brought up with snakes and frogs. They’re gone. My two favorite lakes that I drank water from as a kid are now eutrophied septic swamps.
I’m jus’ sayin’.
It begins and ends with potable water. Municipalities think it’s infinite. That’s the Achilles heel.
With enough Hydrogen and Oxygen - it is infinite!
“There is no particular reason housing has to be affordable for the average person.”
But there is a reason that housing has appear - APPEAR - to be affordable to the average person and that reason has to do with God’s Plan to make everyone debt slaves.
And God’s Plan is unfolding as it should, one dotted line at a time.
Bahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaahahahahahaha (hic).
In the end, socialists run out of other people’s money and go bankrupt.
In the meantime, expect every tax to exponentially increase. Especially property taxes. It’s only fair…
Lord help you if you own a house or business there - especially Chicago.
—-
S&P Downgrade Brings Illinois Debt One Step Closer to Junk
Illinois may become the first U.S. state to be given a junk rating
Wall Street Journal | June 1, 2017 | Heather Gillers
Illinois is on the verge of becoming the first state with a junk-bond rating following downgrades from two of the world’s largest credit-ratings firms. S&P Global Inc. warned that Illinois could be downgraded to junk status next month if it doesn’t solve its partisan gridlock. The state hasn’t had a budget for two years because of a standoff between the Republican governor and Democratic legislature.
It’s not just Illinois. I posted an article last weekend on Waco Texas. Oh the shack renovating show is located there! Prices are up and away! Then there was the grumbling about how people were using their retirement money to pay property taxes.
the grumbling about how people were using their retirement money to pay property taxes will be nothing compared to the grumbling from people whose retirement money is completely consumed due to paying property taxes.
“Then there was the grumbling about how people were using their retirement money to pay property taxes.”
See? No dollar escapes. Not one.
IN has the lowest debt per capita in USA
IL is one of the highest
a tale of 2 states
30 years ago they were the same sos
one dem the other gop and RTW
In the end, socialists run out of other people’s money and go bankrupt.
One thing I have noticed in London is that most restaurants are EMPTY mid week. Pubs are jam packed with people buying a 5 pound pint and drinking it outside the pub after quitting time at the office, but if you go to a restaurant you can pretty much just walk in. We had dinner one night at the Beni Hana by St. Paul’s and we were the only patrons in the restaurant when we arrived. By the time we left there was a whopping total of 2 other parties.
Not more than 6 months ago.
I tried to eat cheap in London for about a week.
$40 for meal at a cheap “working man” pub…
The government’s “per diem” rate in London is about $250/day for FOOD.
If I lived there - I would not go out to eat either…
Are you sure about that? I can usually get a meal and a beer at a pub for 10 pounds or less. It’s cr@p food, but not $40. No waiter service, Each table is numbered. You order at the bar, pay there, give them your table number, and eventually they bring the food to your table.
$250 per diem? Our dinner for 3 at Beni Hana wasn’t that much.
To clarify, a restaurant meal can be comparably priced to the US, but the locals can’t afford it. We had Italian for 3 tonight, with wine, appetizer, entre and dessert. It was 80 pounds.
Most Brits seem to be flat broke. Even in my podunky hometown people go out a lot more.
Most Brits seem to be flat broke.
That could explain the whole Brexit thing.
That could explain the whole Brexit thing ??
It could also explain our recent Presidential elections. Damm Obama killing all the jobs.
Brexit will be a big disappointment in that regard. The portion who are flat broke will not be reduced.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-06-02/over-last-10-years-us-economy-has-grown-exactly-same-rate-it-did-during-1930s
Over The Last 10 Years The US Economy Has Grown At Exactly The Same Rate As It Did During The 1930s
If only we had even bigger and bigger government, more and more regulations and higher and higher taxes…
We could solve this and get the US Economy moving again.
That’s the official UK Labour Party platform: bigger government, bigger spending and bigger taxes.
The sales tax (VAT) rate is 20%. I’m sure Corbyn would like to raise it.
If only we had even bigger and bigger government, more and more regulations and higher and higher taxes…
We could solve this and get the US Economy moving again.
Well, that was the solution to the slow growth of the 1930s.
Spending increased GDP following the Great Depression.
Tax hikes to pay for the spending pushed us back into depression in the late 1930’s.
I was referring to the cure that ended the Depression for good - the massive deficit spending of the 1940s.
You mean the deficit spending that was brought on by WWII?
Yay, WAR!
Yep, that’s it. The war itself wasn’t necessary get the growth going again, just the spending.
Deficit spending and war did not make the US more wealthy. When we came back from war and started doing productive work, then we became wealthy.
You mean the deficit spending that was brought on by WWII ??
And We could be headed there again. Thank god we are on such great terms with our NATO allies.
Mike is like rio, still living in the distant past when everyone didn’t know socialism was a miserable failure. (He also thought Missouri was in the south). The business cycle ended the depression. If borrowing to dig holes and filling them back in worked, we wouldn’t still be in the emergency measures of ZIRP and QE.
The business cycle was not affected by all of the spending? That’s an interesting assertion. It’s unclear what this story has to do with socialism. You have to be mistaken about Missouri. I wouldn’t have made such a statement. Though it was a slave state.
It was rio who said that about Missouri. We borrow/spend more every year than we spent in the 40’s and it’s a good gig to make 2 bucks an hour driving people around in your own car. Anyway, that’s ancient history. Now we have record deficit spend and bubbles. And if housing bubbles made one wealthy, Johnny Depp would be the richest guy in Hollywood instead of the broke joke that he is.
Well, the topic was the events of the depression and the war.
The business cycle was not affected by all of the spending?
Of course it is, but pushing around the business cycle (bringing forward consumption via increased government expenditures, or pushing consumption back via increased taxes) doesn’t bring about long-term increases in prosperity.
Only increases in productivity do that (where we can get more with less), which the government has little to do with, other setting up an environment that is conducive to investment (of both time and money) in both the creation of new technologies, and utilization of such new technologies.
And before you tout how complicated that is (setting up a conducive environment), I would note that the heavy lifting for that has largely been done–rule of law, patent protection, effective judicial system, etc.
What screws it up is bringing uncertainty into the mix…like writing massively complicated laws that take 5-10 years to implement and equally difficult to understand (ACA and Dodd Frank).
I would note that the current administration is doing no better in removing uncertainty.
Of course it is, but pushing around the business cycle (bringing forward consumption via increased government expenditures, or pushing consumption back via increased taxes) doesn’t bring about long-term increases in prosperity.
Only increases in productivity do that
I haven’t claimed that ending the Great Depression also led to a long term increase in prosperity. On the other hand, a long recession can have some effect on long term prosperity. Workers who are unemployed for a long period can experience an atrophy in their skills, which can lead to a decline in national productivity. Reducing the length and severity of a recession can reduce that phenomenon.
Only increases in productivity do that (where we can get more with less), which the government has little to do with, other setting up an environment that is conducive to investment (of both time and money) in both the creation of new technologies, and utilization of such new technologies.
This is not strictly true. An increase in the number of workers can also increase prosperity. This played a role in the enormous economic growth that Ireland experienced between the mid 1990s and 2008. Family size shrank dramatically, freeing up women to enter the workforce.
And, of course, you mentioned new technologies. So it has to be mentioned that the federal government is responsible for many new technologies through its spending on research and development and its early adopter role.
Illinois and Chicago will be the pathfinders to state and large city bankruptcies.
Their long term democrat leaders and the public unions that back them all expected a bailout from the Federal Government. So there was no reason to change their behavior, to shrink spending or renegotiate insane public union pensions.
There have been predictions of this day for the last 20 years. The math is not that hard.
The Federal bailout plan went out the window with the election of Trump.
Now they are left with raising taxes exponentially. Not one union pensions will be cut. Anything that can be sold, will be sold. Your house will have a big target on it. Failure to pay your insane property taxes will mean a public union official with a gun will come and take it.
And people and jobs will continue to leave. And property values will get crushed.
They are in a debt death spiral.
The logical decision would be to declare bankruptcy NOW (pass state constitutional changes, if needed), declare all public union contracts void, drastically cut spending and taxes…
And start economic growth.
But that would mean long term democrats and their party in power would lose power.
So, in the end, after everyone who can leave has have left, when their bonds require 25% interest rates to get anyone to nibble for a sale, when roads/schools/bridges and literally crumbling…
The first public union pensions will take a minor cut.
And then it all collapses.
all public union contracts void IANAL, but this would probably take a US constitutional amendment, and due to the existing support for and by public union retirees/workers, would probably take a complete US financial collapse to finally destroy that support once and for all.
Meanwhile, in the nation’s soon to be third largest city:
http://www.pionline.com/article/20170531/ONLINE/170539972/texas-governor-signs-houston-pension-reform-bill-firefighters-fund-sues-city
Hahahaha!
This is what they are suing for?
The Houston Public unions should be thanking the Republicans in Texas that they will STILL HAVE a pension in 20 years. Unlike most of the people who pay taxes or the public union goons in Detroit or Chicago (who are going to lose it all)…
+++++
The firefighters’ lawsuit, filed in Harris County District Court against the city of Houston on Tuesday, argues that the pension fund has “sole constitutional discretion” over determining the fund’s actuarial assumptions, including its assumed rate or return, according to a news release from the pension fund Wednesday. On Tuesday, the pension fund board lowered its assumed rate of return to 7.25% from 8.5%.
“On Tuesday the pension fund board lowered its assumed rate of return to 7.5% from 8.5%.”
Bahahahaha … there is absolutely no end to the number of jokes to be found on this blog.
This cracked me up.
“This is one of the things I find funny about the radical Left protests on campus…. You want to have it both ways. You want to be a fledgling member of the elite and a champion of the underprivileged. So, how narcissistic can you get? You want to have all the benefits of having all of the benefits, and you want to have all the benefits of having none of the benefits, because just having all the benefits isn’t enough for you.”
-Jordon Peterson, University of Toronto Psychology Professor
He doesn’t make much sense. Being a sophomore at a top university doesn’t make someone part of the elite.
I think it’s more that being part of the elite helps give you your year as a sophomore at a top university. So there is some correlation.
The could be what the professor means. On the other hand, the University of Toronto probably has quite a few hard working kids of low income Asian immigrants. They probably don’t all come from Canada’s one percent.
Yeah, I was just taking “top university” at face value.
A 19 year old that makes sense. Now that’s funny.
That’s another good point. Most 19 year olds say and do goofy things occasionally. You would think that this fully grown man with PhD could find something more interesting to focus on.
How sophomoric.
Jordon Peterson, University of Toronto Psychology Professor: “We’re teaching university students lies”
http://www.c2cjournal.ca/2016/12/were-teaching-university-students-lies-an-interview-with-dr-jordan-peterson/?gclid=Cj0KEQjwmcTJBRCYirao6oWPyMsBEiQA9hQPbn-_hb9VL1s0FDhtnEGFwCTa1IB0hWH7zg_j08KZw68aAvq_8P8HAQ
Wow. A University Professor who gets it…
Now the price you pay for drawing a line – especially with the politically correct material – is that you’re going to get tarred and feathered for bigotry. The social justice people are always on the side of compassion and ‘victim’s rights,’ so objecting to anything they do makes you instantly a perpetrator. There’s no place you can stand without being vilified, and that’s why it keeps creeping forward.
Isn’t that the logical outcome of the tactical application of Saul Alinsky?
That’s exactly right. The thing is if you replace compassion with resentment, then you understand the authoritarian left. They don’t have compassion, there is no compassion there. There’s no compassion at all. There is resentment, fundamentally.
I think Petersen was the guy who also pointed another classic logic fail that the left suffers from - their contention that there is no right or wrong (starting at the macro with morality and working down to the micro) along with their companion contention that the left is always magically right on every issue. I’m sure the resident hippies here will find time to put down the bong and the NY times and argue against this but it is what it is and why people like Petersen get tons of views online and leftists get crickets.
I have a feeling that he can’t identify any people who actually agree with that contention.
“I have a feeling that he can’t identify any people who actually agree with that contention.”
You seem to have a lot of these feelings. Have you ever considered using evidence?
It’s called judgment. There are a lot of guys like him out there and I’ve heard or read what they have to say.
“There are a lot of guys like him out there and I’ve heard or read what they have to say.”
Guys like him out there but not necessarily him, is that correct.
“It’s called judgment.”
Sound more like judging; Judging from feelings rather than from facts.
I’ve never heard or read anything interesting from anyone who rambles on about PC and SJW and virtue signaling.
I read a little of that interview with him. He claims “People don’t understand the Holocaust”. He knows, but others don’t. Millions of people have read about the Holocaust. Only he understands it.
Then he talks quite a bit about a bill under consideration in the Canadian parliament. He thinks that it would violate the Canadian constitution. That opinion is based on his knowledge of American case law. Then he claims that he would be committing a crime given the way he talks to his students if that bill were to become law. This law professor at his own university says that he’s completely off base.
http://sds.utoronto.ca/blog/bill-c-16-no-its-not-about-criminalizing-pronoun-misuse/
So it turns out that he is angry clown, just as I thought before I read the interview. I didn’t realize that he would so absurdly arrogant.
“… it is what it is and why people like Petersen get tons of views online and leftists get crickets.”
It is what it is and Petersen is on thin ice with the University and his non-politically correct rectum (am I allowed to say rectum?) might possibly if not probably be tossed out of the University if he does not repent and change his non-conformist ways.
IMO lots of good stuff to be found in the article and in the imbedded videos.
It’s interesting that you’re a fan of that guy. I had a feeling that profits for business have something to do with it.
Here’s one of the videos; it lasts about 55 minutes …
http://tvo.org/video/programs/the-agenda-with-steve-paikin/genders-rights-and-freedom-of-speech
“I had a feeling that profits for business have something to do with it.”
I suggest you lay down for a while and allow this feeling to pass.
You confirmed my feeling by your interest, Mr. Banker.
why people like Petersen get tons of views online
ZeroHedge gets a lot views as well. It only proves that are a lot of angry cranks with a lot of free time on the internet.
“ZeroHedge gets a lot views as well.”
A fact.
“It only proves that are a lot of angry cranks with a lot of free time on the internet.”
A conclusion?
Read the comments on ZeroHedge.com
Obamas pay $8.1 million for DC house they had been renting. Did they pay cash or take out a mortgage?
Fraud.
Second home, isn’t it?
Where’s the fraud? Do you think that they lied on their mortgage application?
Obama = Fraud
Obama’s are the quintessential fraud.
It says right in your link.
“Homefront Holdings LLC, which is controlled by the Obamas” bought the place.
Nothing to see here, move along.
At least he earned it vs. having a golden spoon shoved up your a$$ at birth.
He certainly earned the moniker. Had we known he’d never get elected.
Exactly what knowledge about Obama would have elected McCain in 2008?
We had know idea what a fraud he is. And useless.
Can you be more specific?
What are you unclear of?
So that’s your answer. You can’t explain why you think that he’s a fraud.
What is your question.
My question should be clear. Why do you say that he’s a fraud. Was it a broken promise?
You’re not making sense. What don’t you understand about Obama being a fraud?
Thanks for playing. It’s clear that you have no argument. Otherwise, you’d attempt to make one.
Argue less state more facts. Your life will be much improved.
If you would only listen, your life would be improved by my arguments.
I’d be the only one listening.
No, you wouldn’t be listening.
“At least he earned it…”
That’s curious. Exactly how did he earn it? Why is it in a mysterious LLC? Obama didn’t gross half of that as President for eight years. Can you explain where the money came from?
book sales
Obama didn’t gross half of that as President for eight years.
There is a thing called a mortgage which a couple can use to buy a house that costs more than they have in the bank.
Doesn’t he also get pretty large speaking fees along with the advance on his book?
I don’t think there was mention of a mortgage. Book sales looks like a huge payday.
https://70news.wordpress.com/2016/11/25/the-obamas-own-5-homes-chicago-washington-d-c-hawaii-california-and-new-york-hey-obama-you-didnt-build-that/
bought at the peak-lefties do that
‘part of the Crawford property empire has been sold for a fraction of the buying price, according to Landgate records, with documents filed in the Supreme Court last week revealing the proceeds fell well short of what was owed’
When you look at photos of shacks there, it’ll say “sold for 900k in 2012″, but it looks like an ordinary house in flyover country. And obviously there’s no shortage of land. Commodity bust or not, there was no way these prices were going to hold.
‘Every person that buys or gets a mortgage for a home is responsible for repairs, taxes and insurance which is in fact a privilege that goes along with home ownership. There is absolutely nothing predatory about charging people less money than one would pay in rent, yet at the same time fulfilling the dream of home ownership.’
That’s what Mel Watt has been saying.
‘Smith now has to pay over $7,500 in back taxes and fees by next year, or else lose the home. ‘I’ve been duped,’ Smith says.’
But Carolyn, it is cheaper than renting. Pride of ownership, no NINJA loans!
‘which is in fact a privilege that goes along with home ownership’
Merlin: You brought me back. Your love brought me back. Back to where you are now. In the land of dreams.
Arthur: Are you a dream Merlin?
Merlin: A dream to some. A nightmare to others.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8mJwgPiarg
“‘I’ve been duped,’ Smith says.”
No, just successfully dumbed-down.
There are millions of Smiths out there, millions of successfully dumbed-down ignorant pukes eager to place their names on dotted lines.
Millions.
Me and Mrs frankie are buying a new boiler next month, it’s a necessity but I’d hardly class it as a privilege; unless they also class hemorrhoids as a privilege of getting old.
I had to cough-up $10k recently for a new HVAC heat pump and air handler system; painful but necessary in the desert.
Remember, median household income here is less than $60,000:
http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/local-news/report-denver-rents-up-about-1-percent-in-may
Remember, I’ve only proven you wrong on that about a hundred times.
http://www.deptofnumbers.com/income/colorado/denver/
Consider that with such statistics, the number you get depends on what areas are included.
Here is an analysis for just the city of Denver. Shows median around $50K.
http://statisticalatlas.com/place/Colorado/Denver/Household-Income
‘I have talked to over 1,200 cab drivers or medallion owners and they fall into three buckets: Either 1. They are in foreclosure proceedings, or they have already defaulted and are not in foreclosure yet, or they are at the verge of defaulting on the loan’
Not an interest only loan in sight. And all so uber drivers can make $2/hour.
Interesting article on zero hedge the other day noting that Uber burned through an insane amount of money - the equivalent of paying 150K people 100K salary. How much does it take to build and maintain an app - where is the money going? I’m sure the insiders are grabbing everything that isnt nailed down, but that much?
My partner keeps using Uber and not Lyft because they keep giving him free rides.
That costs money.
I have no insider knowledge, but I’ll bet here is their strategy:
1. Get so many people to use their service that UberPool users are a meaningful percentage of rides.
2. UberPool is the only thing about their model that provides for a “network effect”…the more people use it, the cheaper it becomes…therefore;
3. Once they have those users, they can lower the cost for everyone, and thus out-compete Lyft, and slowly wipe them out.
Their one major miscalculation, IMHO, is that:
1. People aren’t big fans of taking a lot of extra time on the road (and so I suspect will adopt UberPool slowly, or use it infrequently);
2. People don’t like it when a-holes make a lot of money, and the CEO of Uber is a well-known a-hole. Many people (myself included) would rather pay a little bit more and use Lyft than contribute to Uber’s success.
Well, the other obvious flaw is that Lyft isn’t gonna just stand still and let that happen.
‘There appears to be a number of sellers who, when pricing their homes, refuse to take into account the added competition from the new construction market’
That’s right, you can buy a new shack for less than an existing one in Naples. No negative amortization loans here.
Remembering bubble 1.0 and Naples, then. Same as it ever was.
Palmy - if one of your old buddies in the northeast asked you to suggest a place in Florida to retire to, where would you tell them?
‘There appears to be a number of sellers who, when pricing their homes, refuse to take into account the added competition from the new construction market,’ said Jeff Jones, managing broker at the Naples-Park Shore office of Coldwell Banker.”
Naples, Fl. is due for this. What Florida does is retirement. What retirement does is spark a intense desire to not pay a monthly mortgage. Sell the house in Chicago or Cleveland and move to sunny Florida? Problem is the houses in Chicago or Cleveland are not selling, or they are not selling for the price listed. $525k in Naples as a median price? Cleveland has a median price of $65k. Chicago has a median of $190k, Queens has $789k, W D.C. has $460k, L.A. has $627k. So, we have W D.C. Queens, Mahatten, Brooklyn, W.D.C., LA, etc., wanting to sell and move to Naples, FL? Some will do this, but how many? For that stratospheric price?
Wow.
Regards,
Roidy
Follow Up:
Simple Realtor.com search with no parameters:
Naples, Fl 8,850 Homes result. Metro pop. = 322,000.
Tallahassee, Fl 2,166 Homes result. Metro pop. = 377,924.
Tampa, Fl 5,217 Homes result. Metro pop. = 2,971,086
… and the un-ignorable Jacksonville, Fl.
Jacksonville, FL 7,941 Homes result. Metro pop. = 1,626,611
Naples, Fl is done. Stick a fork in it. More than four times the listings than Tallahassee, Fl with 17% less population than Tallahassee. Tallahassee has gov’t, educational, and commercial employment, too. Naples employment? Tally’s top employer is the State Gov’t at about 25,000. Naples top employer is the school board with a little more than 5,000. Ok, I’m not really convinced that there is currently a housing bubble on a national scale, but I am completely convinced that there is one in Naples, Fl and perhaps the whole of Florida. Not even Tampa or Jacksonville have the number of listings that Naples has.
BTW check this out:
http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/944-22nd-Ave-N_Naples_FL_34103_M53802-79873#photo12
Regards,
Roidy
Construction work on a $7.9bn project to develop a sprawling coastal Olympics complex and Athens’s former airport will begin in six months, the Greek government has said.
State minister Alekos Flabouraris said on Friday that the leftist administration’s privatisation agency had given the go-ahead to a consortium of Abu Dhabi and Chinese investors backed by the Chinese conglomerate Fosun, which owns the British holiday company Thomas Cook, to turn the site into a major resort.
It had been earmarked as a metropolitan park but was largely abandoned for the past decade. Now the consortium plans to build a 200-hectare (494-acre) park along with apartments, hotels and shopping malls at the site, which also includes some venues from the 2004 Olympics.
Greece committed to sell off state assets under the terms of the international bailout keeping its economy afloat since 2010. Its main private property developer, Lamda, signed a deal in 2014 to build on the Hellenikon coastal area, in one of Europe’s biggest real estate development projects.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/jun/02/greece-approves-8bn-chinese-backed-resort-project-outside-athens
This will not end well.
THE UK could be hit with a new property recession as house prices fall to the lowest levels for years.
Figures showed this will be the longest continuous fall in prices since 2009 – the peak of the financial crisis.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/money/3704277/uk-new-property-recession-house-prices-tumble-lowest-levels/
Interesting point here is the source. The Sun is the UK’s best selling “newspaper”, given it makes the National Enquirer look like a paper of record, if it’s picking up house price drops it is getting serious.
I make 50 /hr working from home bird dogging.
Don’t try dogging in the UK. They tend to get arrested. Here is that well know newspaper the Sun, dealing with this serious problem. Amazing what they do to keep people amused. Bread and circuses always work.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/2412759/dogging-sites-public-sex-illegal-uk/
MIAMI: Property developer Gil Dezer owns 29 cars. And he plans to admire some of them from his couch in a swank Miami high-rise building, with the ocean in the background.
Yes, Dezer is planning to park the cars IN his apartment.
Miami’s 60-floor Porsche Design Tower — the first of its kind in the world — has glass-enclosed elevators that bring sports cars up to the plush homes of their owners.
The residential skyscraper, which has 132 units and opened in March, is the latest of several super-luxury buildings dotting the Miami coastline.
But what if you don’t own a Porsche?
“Why wouldn’t you have a Porsche?” asked the 42-year-old Dezer, who developed the project at the request of the German automaker.
Of course, if you paid between $5.5 million and $33 million for your apartment, chances are you own a Porsche.
http://www.theglobalrealty.com/2017/06/02/the-first-of-its-kind-porsche-design-tower-in-miami-is-all-things-luxury/
by admin. Not sure if admin is an alias for Puff the Magic Dragon
SYDNEY: Houses prices in Australia’s capital cities slipped for the first time in 1-1/2 years in May as demand appeared to cool off in Sydney and Melbourne, a sign that tighter lending restrictions were beginning to bite.
Property consultant CoreLogic said its index of home prices for the combined capital cities fell 1.1 % in May, the weskest monthly result since November 2015, and compared with a gain of 0.1 percent in April.
Annual growth in overall prices slowed to 8.3 percent from 11.2 percent in April. Home values in Sydney eased 1.3 percent – the first fall since December 2015 while prices in Melbourne inched 1.7 percent lower.
The results come after dramatic gains in both the cities over the second half of 2016 and early 2017.
A slowdown will be welcome news for the Reserve Bank of Australia which is worried about a debt binge by households and the impact on overall consumer spending in the economy.
A sustained softening in price growth would vindicate steps adopted by regulators in recent months to take some of the heat off the housing market amid concerns that speculation in property could ultimately hurt consumers, banks and the economy.
http://www.theglobalrealty.com/2017/06/02/australia-house-prices-go-into-reverse-as-regulatory-curbs-bite/
WELLINGTON: New Zealand’s housing marketcooled in May to post the slowest growth in two years,government property valuer QV said on Thursday.
Quotable Value’s (QV) residential property price index rose9.7 % in the year to May, compared with an annual rate of11.1 % in the previous month.
The index is now 53 percent above the market’s previous peakin late 2007.
New Zealand’s soaring house prices have raised concerns atthe Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) about high mortgage debtand the systemic risk that it poses were the market to collapse,although the bank said on Wednesday it was encouraged thatprices appeared to be cooling.
Stricter lending rules introduced by the RBNZ last year,including loan-to-valuation ratio (LVR) limits, to insulatebanks from any housing downturn were behind the slowing growth.
“Nationwide value growth continues to ease back due to lowerdemand in the housing market caused by the latest round of LVRrestrictions and tougher lending criteria from the banks as wehead into the winter period,” said QV spokeswoman Andrea Rush.
House prices in the Auckland region were up percent 9.3percent in the year, the slowest growth since November 2014, andthey were largely flat, rising 0.1 percent, in the three monthsto the end of May.
http://www.theglobalrealty.com/2017/06/02/new-zealand-house-prices-post-slowest-growth-for-2-years-in-may-qv/
Like here in the US, Australia has long had it’s entrenched mouthpieces that seldom speak truth about housing. You can be certain theyre understating the price drops.
Dear In Colorado
Everyone needs a bogey man, the USA is now becoming that to us on the other side of the Atlantic. It’s lazy and far from true but hey it makes life so much easier if you have someone to blame and Trump is beginning to fill that role for more and more Europeans. Being told who to hate is so much easier than actually thinking; especially if you might not think the correct thoughts and we can’t be having that.
Dear In Colorado,
Trump is being portrayed as the new Bogey man. Everyone needs someone to hate and providing a Bogey man saves people from the problem of thinking and we can’t be having the plebs thinking. Personally I think he’s far from ideal but their are others I’d much prefer to be the Bogey man, those I really do fear and they don’t come from your side of the Atlantic.
frankie,
Are they hating us enough to decide to stay in the EU and bow to the Germans?
The pain hasn’t started yet. You can’t leave a gang and get away scot free. When the beating starts who knows what the outcome will be.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-05-31/sales-ultra-luxury-homes-greenwich-continue-plummet
Sales Of Ultra-Luxury Homes In Greenwich Continue To Plummet
I don’t get it. Yellen the Felon has gifted these Wall Street grifters and hedgies with trillions in FedBux funny money to buy up the distressed assets of the proles. They should be living high off the hog in places like Greenwich and The Hamptons.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-05-31/sales-ultra-luxury-homes-greenwich-continue-plummet
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/susan-jones/not-so-great-94983000-americans-not-labor-force-may
Not So Great: 94,983,000 Americans Not in the Labor Force in May
Yet an official unemployment rate of only 4.3%.
I know where all those former Soviet economists and statisticians ended up after the USSR collapsed.
I wonder what number would be acceptable to this woman? I’ll give her one thing. At least she admits this:
The not-in-the-labor-force number includes retirees, students, homemakers, the disabled, and others who have stopped looking for work for whatever reason.
Sure Mikey, ten million people have stopped working because they are just having too much fun.
Tens of millions of people realize just how corrupt and dead the economy is so they give up.
This is bad.
Heckova job, Ben & Janet.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/01/health/cnn-hero-doniece-sandoval-lava-mae/index.html
Poor FSA members on food stamps will be curtailed in their ability to binge on junk food and pop due to meanie Trump.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2017/06/01/donald-trump–is-end-obama-food-stamp-folly-james-bovard-column/102292366/
GSEs to lower debt to income on new mortgages in July.
https://www.mhanson.com/6-2-hanson-wow-big-housing-mortgage-easing-news-changes-things/
“‘Every bubble begins with a good fundamental story,’ says Doug Porter, chief economist at BMO Financial Group. But people then take sound economic trends to an extreme. ‘Investors extrapolate a good thing into something that can never go wrong—until it does,’ Porter says.”
Story. There’s that word again.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-06-02/pledged-assets-are-not-there-reuters-goes-china-discovers-ghost-collateral
Reuters Goes To China, Discovers “Ghost Collateral”
Cathy Griffin can dish it out but she can’t take it.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-06-02/hysterical-breakdown-tear-drenched-kathy-griffin-declares-he-broke-me
California Democrats want to balance the gaping holes in public union pension funds by playing financial shell games. Anything to hold off the financial reckoning day until the next administration takes over.
http://reason.com/blog/2017/06/01/california-gov-jerry-brown-uses-one-stat
“These risks do not seem to bother Brown, whose pension proposal—released as part of his “May Revision” budget—calls for borrowing $6 billion from a state savings account at 1.5 to 3.5 percent interest rates and investing that money in CalPERS, the state’s pension investment fund, which Brown is counting on to make 7 percent returns.”
“… which Brown is counting on to make 7 percent returns.”
Bahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.
do you guys remember when an awful NFP jobs report when tank the markets? Now the markets rise . Something is very fishy here.
OT
comrades sc,migthy soon to get FREE HC in CA!
If single payer cuts out the middle man how come it costs $400,000,000,000 extra
may the tax be with you