When You Tell Them The Price, They Don’t Come Back
It’s Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. “An investment company could score a major victory this week in its alleged hostile takeover of a 1990s Miami Beach condo-hotel. Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Beatrice Butchko has set a three-day trial beginning Tuesday to decide the outcome of foreclosure lawsuits the Schecher Group has brought against 35 unit owners at the Sixty Sixty Resort. The trial is moving forward despite a pending chapter 11 filing by the Sixty Sixty Condominium Association aimed at preventing the owners from losing their units for next to nothing, said association president Maria T. Velez. ‘Schecher has already taken 10 units for free from people who couldn’t handle the stress and gave up in lieu of foreclosure,’ Velez said.”
“Singer-songwriter Mary J. Blige is in contract to sell her gated estate in the affluent New York City suburb of Saddle River, NJ, for a big loss, Gimme Shelter can reveal. Blige bought the chateau-style mansion for $12.3 million in 2008; it was last listed for $6.98 million. The buyer, we hear, is paying less than $6 million — less than half of what she originally paid for it. ‘Someone is getting an incredible deal,’ says a real estate source.”
“The mystery buyer of Manhattan’s most expensive apartment has been revealed: the Wall Street Journal says it’s Dell Technologies founder Michael Dell, who purchased the property for its $100-million asking price. One57 made headlines in 2017 for being home to New York’s largest apartment foreclosure—the original owner was Nigerian oil tycoon Kolawole Akanni Aluko, who was implicated in a money-laundering scheme that included the unit for which he had paid $50.9 million. It was eventually unloaded by its mortgage holder at an auction for $36 million.”
“Then there’s One57’s Unit 83, a 6,240 sq ft spot sold at a $13 million discount in 2016: Bought for $58.5 million in 2015, it ultimately changed hands for $45.8 million. The spectacular price cuts at One57 reflect drops in the super-luxury market over the past few years in New York and across the US. Recent resales have been trading at 25% less than their peak in 2014, according to appraisal firm Miller Samuel. A similar problem was faced by London’s Shard building, the apartment tower built around the same time as One57, which has been trying to sell its ultra-modern, £50-million flats for five years to no avail.”
“Silicon Valley remains far ahead of other regions according to a new study. But high housing prices contributed to a loss of residents in 2016, something the Bay Area has not seen since last decade’s recession. Brian Brennan, vice president of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, said that it’s a ‘dramatic shift’ from a year earlier. ‘What it does suggest is that we really need to take seriously the things that are causing people to leave, housing prices again being a big driver.’”
“British Columbians who bought homes last year in an attempt to borrow before a federal tightening of mortgage rules could be most at risk if the NDP government’s new housing taxes leads to a drop in prices. ‘The most worrisome is the people who bought in the last year, said University of B.C. professor and economist, Tom Davidoff. ‘Where it matters is when people can’t make payments … and then people start walking away. When people start walking away from their properties, that’s where you get the vicious cycle.’”
“Capital & Counties scrubbed £131 million off the value of its Earls Court development on Wednesday as it paid the price for a still-sluggish London property market. The latest hit, cutting the value of the regeneration scheme to £1 billion, means Capco has written down the scheme by 29% since 2015. Capco has sold half of the 186 flats in the second phase of its Lillie Square scheme. Of these 34 changed hands last year but just seven in the second half of 2017.”
“The number of housing starts in Sweden rose 8 percent to 64,000 in 2017 from 59,518 units the year before, the Statistics Office said. Sweden has seen a construction boom in the last couple of years as builders try to catch up with a rise in the population and cash-in on surging house prices. However, home prices have fallen during the last months, mainly due to a surge in building and new, tougher mortgage rules. In January, prices fell for the fourth month in a row.”
“A mini-survey has revealed a rise in advertisements of real estate worth billions of shillings due for distress sales. At least 50 properties are going under the hammer each week. Dr Adam Mugume, the executive director of research at Bank of Uganda, noted that the real estate sector has been thriving in some sort of a growth bubble.”
“He told The Observer how property prices grew by leaps and bounds up to around 2010. The promise of the country’s oil sector was still alive and demand for prime buildings was thought to continue pushing up. ‘There are those people who borrowed assuming property prices would continue rising and, therefore, sell their properties [at profit]. Those are the people we are talking about whose properties are being sold,’ said Mugume.”
“But even after they have taken on the properties, according to court bailiffs and several commercial banks’ officials we spoke to, there are no buyers. Naboth Apamba, an official at Excel court bailiffs and auctioneers, told The Observer: ‘The market has not been well. People are not buying. People don’t have the money. When you advertise the property, people come, make some inquiries and when you tell them the price, they don’t come back.’”
“He said if they had their way, they would cut the price of properties but by law, a foreclosed property is supposed to be sold at the market value. Another court bailiff said: ‘We have so many properties we haven’t sold that we may stop to take them on.’ Stephen Kaboyo, director at Alpha Capital, echoes similar views noting that people running the economy need to realise that something is not right somewhere. ‘I was reading one of the papers and found a property of someone working in one of the banks being taken over. That should worry us,’ Kaboyo said.”
“Sydney’s property market is set to face its first big test of the year on Saturday, with almost 1000 homes scheduled to go under the hammer. There are 942 properties scheduled for the bumper auction day, an 85 per cent increase on the 510 homes up for grabs last Saturday. Much of the action will take place in the city’s eastern suburbs, where a whopping 186 auctions are scheduled, but buyers will also be spoilt for choice in the inner west where there are 143 homes for sale.”
“Over the year to December the median house price in the inner west fell 2 per cent to $1.61 million, according to Domain Group data. On the lower north shore prices also dropped, falling 2.3 per cent. ‘If vendors’ expectations align with market, the new market, they’ll sell … if they’re trying to grab prices from 12 or 18 months ago, that’s not going to happen,’ said selling agent Brad Gillespie.”
‘Schecher has already taken 10 units for free from people who couldn’t handle the stress and gave up in lieu of foreclosure’
What do you know, they did give it away.
LOL!!
Quote:
As a daughter of a unit owners , it has been a nightmare for my parents since we got the unit, we were paying 950 a month plus 241 for a special assessment to cover renovations that didn’t happen for the first 2 years that we as other owners were paying , then the building was closed for almost 2 years , we couldn’t access our unit, which didn’t have any electricity , a/c , cable nor telephone lines! The building was completely closed however we were supposed to continue paying the same dues plus 2 other special assessments Schecher impossed on the owners without any explanation whatsoever!
When the building was reopened our HOA dues debt was 65,000 for a studio apt of 350 sq , Schecher didn’t allow us to rent the units unless we cover 25% of the debt or allow him to rent it through the hotel program to cover only 1400 a month when the HOA but that time were already up to 1700 a month plus another 1700 for late fees , making it impossible to paid off the debt and knowing by facts that the monthly income per unit average was around 4,000 a month!
A year later our debt is for more than 135,000 in 2 years and Judge Butchko doesn’t seem to care!
Hillsboro, OR Housing Prices Crater 9% YOY As Speculators Flood Market With Flips
https://www.movoto.com/hillsboro-or/market-trends/
Making up fake news headlines as usual there, Mafia Blocks?
Hello my good friend.
Shrewsbury, MA Housing Prices Crater 9% YOY Mortgage Meltdown Resumes
https://www.movoto.com/shrewsbury-ma/market-trends/
OK, you made me look.
Inventory is down 24% YoY and 9% month on month. 0% are distressed and price per square foot is up 6% YoY, though down 4% MoM.
You don’t have the will not to look my good friend.
Sequim, WA Housing Prices Crater 6% YOY As Housing Correction Expands Across Pacific Northwest
https://www.movoto.com/sequim-wa/market-trends/
‘The mystery buyer of Manhattan’s most expensive apartment has been revealed: the Wall Street Journal says it’s Dell Technologies founder Michael Dell, who purchased the property for its $100-million asking price.’
He signed this deal in 2012. He got schlonged by $25M at least.
I couldn’t have $100M worth of fun in any shack, let alone one with common walls/floors/ceilings. I’d rather just rent, and live in different places on a whim.
It must be awesome to have $25 million in throwaway money.
Another world.
The revenue for DELL 2012 was $60+ billion.
He didn’t waste money finishing college.
Nor did Bill Gates nor Mark Zuckerberg…
maybe realtor disclosure forms should show this springs assessments and tax rate changers
5% here in N VA
Chicago?
BASHtin
I figure a 6% re tax increase clips 1 % of the value or price
Here is a interesting twist on people leaving Silicon Valley;
https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/02/23/enough-is-enough-tenants-join-landlord-in-bay-area-exodus/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=gmsv&utm_medium=email
I wonder who’s going to move into the tens of thousands of SF units under construction?
Homeless.
As soon as I saw the destination was Colorado Springs I suspected that politics/religion was also involved. Sure enough they confirmed that later in the article.
On a related note, I’ve already met people here in the Folsom area who seem to hate the political climate and are making plans to leave the state for that reason. It’s a little jarring after San Jose where everyone seemed very comfortable with it.
I wonder how those lifelong Californians will enjoy their first Springs winter.
I’ve already met people here in the Folsom area who seem to hate the political climate and are making plans to leave the state for that reason ??
I have had several friends leave for Utah & North Carolina for the same reason and they don’t have to leave…Financial they are well off…They are just tired of it…
Check out the wife — 31 with an 8-year-old daughter from somewhere else. Betabux to the max.
It’s funny how we ridicule “economic migrants,” while we have American citizen economic migrants fleeing CA and looking for a better life.
Guy retired in his 40’s must be nice .
Another funny story found out one of our managers had the H1B’s help him move over the weekend… probably not ethical but that’s how we roll.
According to the story, he made his money in real estate.
“Check out the wife — 31 with an 8-year-old daughter from somewhere else. Betabux to the max.”
Haha, I had to look up “Betabux.” I now remember you using that term once before. Hilarious.
You should look up the term ‘frivorce’.
It describes too many men my age who are trying to make up for lost time economically.
LOL, that’s a new one, too. Sad times, for sure.
‘Blige bought the chateau-style mansion for $12.3 million in 2008; it was last listed for $6.98 million. The buyer, we hear, is paying less than $6 million — less than half of what she originally paid for it’
Gosh Mary, when you throw in all those property taxes you paid, it might have been cheaper to rent.
Wow, in 2008 of all times. The market had already tanked. This gal got ripped off bigtime. She lost 6 million dollars and all those property taxes, maintenance and repair. She could have 3 beautiful, paid off coastal properties for just the amount she lost on this one deal.
Rise in population in Sweden…
According to ♥PJW♥, Sweden is done for. Evidently the place is overrun with *ahem* old-school middle easterners, and it’s the native population who are being shamed for raising an alarm.
Western Europe is done for. It’s completely poz’d. London already has a Muslim mayor. When I visited the museums, the majority of the kids in the school groups were NOT ethnic British. The little girls all looked cute in their niqabs, though.
If you want to visit, you’d best go soon.
If you want to visit, you’d best go soon.
That’s how it felt in Berlin a year ago. Poland on the other hand, felt the same as always. Could get interesting around those parts.
Ditto in Munich. Burqas everywhere I looked. We stepping into a shopping mall in a suburb and saw the change there too. Very sobering.
Eastern Europe isn’t poz’d. They will endure, though they might end up leaving the EU and return to Mother Russia’s bear hug embrace.
Eastern Europe isn’t poz’d. They will endure, though they might end up leaving the EU and return to Mother Russia’s bear hug embrace.
I don’t know about the other countries. But Poland doesn’t consider themselves Eastern Europe and wants nothing to do with Russia. They see themselves as squeezed on all sides…like always.
Poland, the Czechs, the Slovaks and the Hungarians have formed their own alliance.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visegr%C3%A1d_Group
I suppose they will remain in the EU as long as they can profit from their membership.
Crossing my fingers Italy elects a PM that kicks the mudslimes out. Love Italy, such a beautiful country.
Fugly libtard women love them mudslimes, by converting they have an excuse to cover up the fugliness and they get a roof over their head and food on the table whereas in the west they actually have to work their azzes off to get that - aint no man in his right mind gonna pay for that!
Could we leave off with the racist descriptions? There’s plenty enough to say about their cultural choices.
I agree. Also I don’t think western liberal women have a thing for Muslim men. I think they just hate western men and the enemy of their enemy is their friend.
+1 Oxide
I think they just hate western men and the enemy of their enemy is their friend.
To quote the Knight in the Indiana Jones movie “they chose poorly”
+1 Oxide, scdave
Midslimes being slang for Muslims does not equal a racist comment. Islam being a religion and all. Thanks for displaying the beta - virtue signalling that Western women loathe btw.
Welcome to permanent HBB moderation (one tiny fraction of a step from blacklist BTW). Now as you wait for your posts to clear, and I decide which ones to delete, feel free to take your bullshit elsewhere. This is THE housing bubble blog. Not the anti muslim anti jew blog or any other buelllllllllll shit you may be dragging around with you.
Feel free to leave. We won’t cry, promise.
I do my best to keep it on topic but the subject matter here seems a little drifty and wobbly lately. It’s worthy to repeat so I’ll say it one more time…
Housing my good friends…. Housing.
Santa Clarita, CA Housing Prices Crater 15% YOY
https://www.movoto.com/santa-clarita-ca/market-trends/
23933 Via Hamaca, Valencia, CA 91355
6 beds 3 baths 3,355 sqft
For Sale
$799,900
Price cut: -$30,000 (2/21)
Zestimate®: $855,882
2/21/18 Price change $799,900-3.6%
11/11/17 Listed for sale $829,900 $247 RE/MAX of Vale…
09/11/17 Listed for sale $829,900 $247 Owner
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/23933-Via-Hamaca-Valencia-CA-91355/20222476_zpid/
Sold to Mister Zestimate®.
CraterForecaster in a link right here. 600 foreclosures in Sacramento. There were 20 this time last year.
https://www.zillow.com/homes/make_me_move/Sacramento-CA/pmf,pf_pt/house_type/20288_rid/globalrelevanceex_sort/38.751405,-121.181603,38.392262,-121.675988_rect/10_zm/
What could possibly explain a large spike in Sacramento foreclosures against the backdrop of an economic boom?
This bodes ill for the point over the next few years when it turns out that the business cycle didn’t go away, but was temporarily submerged by the Fed’s quantitative easing tsunami tide of liquidity, which is presently receding back to sea. The next recession will be a bitch. Thank God that foreclosure moratoriums are a recently tested household bailout technique.
Could we leave off with the racist descriptions? There’s plenty enough to say about their cultural choices.
And how about all of the anti-women comments. I notice no one mentions or cares about those. I guess that’s OK.
FWIW, not okay and yes, many care. There is a vocal minority that spouts off I think.
FWIW, not okay and yes, many care.
i’m not sure what you guys are talking about, but i’ll tell you this.. 3rd wave feminism is about power. you can hate 3rd wave feminism and still care for women very much. as a matter of fact, if you REALLY care about women, then you’re forced to hate 3rd wave feminism.
3rd wave feminism is marxism disguised as women’s rights. it’s costing women jobs right now. it’s making them miserable. it furthers the communist agenda.
i’m not sure what you guys are talking about
That’s what I mean. Virtually no one even notices.
Comment by ironknee
2018-02-23 13:05:08
Crossing my fingers Italy elects a PM that kicks the mudslimes out. Love Italy, such a beautiful country.
Fugly libtard women love them mudslimes, by converting they have an excuse to cover up the fugliness and they get a roof over their head and food on the table whereas in the west they actually have to work their azzes off to get that - aint no man in his right mind gonna pay for that!
It’s played off as hatred against only certain women (”3rd wave feminists, feminists, liberals, whatever), but it’s become obvious to me that it’s really about all of us.
it’s become obvious to me that it’s really about all of us.
thanks, now i know what you’re talking about.
i don’t agree that it’s about all women. there are some men that probably feel that way. for instance, some of the MRA feel that way, but not all.
do you agree that 3rd wave feminism is costing women jobs right now, and has evolved straight out of marxism?
do you agree that 3rd wave feminism is costing women jobs right now, and has evolved straight out of marxism?
I don’t know what this is and have never paid any attention to it. Who really cares? If it’s that loony, ignore it and focus on your life. If some crazy philosophy is costing its adherents jobs, be happy as that makes your job more secure.
Stick to your own knitting.
“There is a vocal minority that spouts off I think.”
tj came in as though on cue…
I’m going there- I plan to eat at the bacon chipper and always be near bacon
I wonder how that plays out for women’s rights which are very advanced in Sweden ?
Probably not so good going forward is my guess
Not so good now. From what I have read, many Swedish women are afraid of going out alone after the sun sets.
Also, when the Swedish PM (a woman) visited Iran, they very submissively donned hijabs and wore slacks (no bare legs) when meeting the Iranian leaders, AKA “The Walk of Shame”
https://www.unwatch.org/walk-shame-swedens-first-feminist-government-don-hijabs-iran/
Self driving car, anyone?
http://money.cnn.com/2018/02/22/technology/self-driving-car-wash/index.html
So, soap residue or water spots can blind an autonomous car? So how do they work in inclement weather?
If you’ve ever driven in a post snow slush you know just how dirty a car can get. How will those sensors work under those conditions?
“A traditional car wash’s heavy brushes could jar the vehicle’s sensors, disrupting their calibration and accuracy.”
A sensitive sensor. Got it.
“Even worse, sensors, which can cost over $100,000, could be broken.”
A sensitive sensor which can cost over $100,000 could be broken because the car went through a car wash. Got it.
So, where do I go in order to sign up for such a car?
I suppose they could use the “touchless” car washes.
So what would a pothole do to such a car? Fallen branch? Gravel road? Salt pile? Speed bump? Fender bender? Dirty puddle? (Maybe the car has a puddle-watching cam?)
Even if the roads and weather were pristine, how much is such a car going to cost if just one sensor is $100K? What person or business can afford such a car?
I expect that the cost of the sensors will come down. But from what I understand, the car’s computer(s) need to be able to see the the lane divider stripes, which can be hard to see in the snow or even just the rain, especially if they’re faded. A human can navigate a road when the stripes are not visible, especially on a familiar road. Does this mean that the future fleet of self driving buses and taxis we’re allegedly going to be using will shut down when conditions are not ideal?
Does this mean that the future fleet of self driving buses and taxis we’re allegedly going to be using will shut down when conditions are not ideal?
At first it will be a problem. But in the long term I’d bet it means the road maintenance will get better.
Faded lanes - haha good luck here in California. Hell, I can’t even see the lane markings sometimes.
But in the long term I’d bet it means the road maintenance will get better.
That costs $$$
Even if the roads and weather were pristine, how much is such a car going to cost if just one sensor is $100K?
i don’t believe it’s going to be much a problem. plus, i wouldn’t believe anything that comes from cnn.
nvidia appears to be the leader in auto ai. this video is from the latest ces in las vegas. the whole video is good, but watch from the 48 minute mark to get the latest about autonomous cars.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3BjB5-Y4JM
The boy gathers materials for a temple, and then when he is thirty, concludes to build a woodshed.
Henry David Thoreau
“…The new indictment also more closely details the methods through which Manafort and Gates would have evaded taxes. In the case of the Howard Street condo purchase, Manafort allegedly disguised $1.5 million from one of his Cypriot accounts as a loan in order to avoid income tax.
In total, Manafort is alleged to have disguised more than $13 million in funds from Cyprus as loans and to have laundered more than $30 million in total income from overseas.
Further bank fraud charges in the indictment implicate loan misrepresentations at Manafort’s Bridgehampton home on Long Island.”
https://therealdeal.com/2018/02/22/mueller-ups-manafort-indictment-to-include-mortgage-fraud/
‘The Federal Reserve released a key monetary policy report to Congress Friday. “Although there is no way to know with precision, the labor market appears to be near or a little beyond full employment at present,” the report said.’
“Valuation pressures continue to be elevated across a range of asset classes even after taking into account the current level of Treasury yields and the expectation that the reduction in corporate tax rates should generate an increase in after-tax earnings,” the report said. “Leverage in the nonfinancial business sector has remained high, and net issuance of risky debt has climbed in recent months.”
those employment numbers r pure fantasy.
How do you get beyond full employment? Is that when people have multiple jobs?
They say we’re at full employment, yet employers are ultra picky about who they hire, even for menial jobs.
As I have shared before, we had a layoff last year and many of my coworkers got the ax. It took them months to find a new job. Raises are rare and if you’re lucky enough to get one, they’re tiny. That’s not what happens when you have full employment.
They say we’re at full employment, yet employers are ultra picky about who they hire, even for menial jobs.
Agreed. It’s not really full employment. It ignores all the people who gave up and found other things to do but who would come back if offered a good deal. They just call it full employment because they are horrified at the idea of needing to offer anyone a good deal again. People came out of the woodwork in 99 and it would happen again under the right circumstances.
yep that’s right
“Although there is no way to know with precision, the labor market appears to be near or a little beyond full employment at present,”
Guess what happens next in the normal business cycle progression?
Sh!tcoin $1 million?
I was thinking about unemployment rates. Look at the five year period following any point since 1947 when the UE rate dipped below the third rail of four percent.
What if I don’t believe the recent 4% number to begin with?
Remember it’s four percent of the two-thirds of potential workers who are currently classified as “in the labor force”. The unemployment rate would certainly look a lot higher if the one third of potential workers not in the labor force were counted as “unemployed”… Upwards of 33% I guess.
I did a quick craigslist search for rentals in Redwood City, CA (5 Minute drive to Facebook). What I found is 502 rentals - last year when I checked the same area there were 199. We are over building even here, there will be a correction soon. Most of these new listings are new construction that is trying to sell a luxury life style. $4,200 for a 2 bedroom apartment, that’s twice the amount of my mortgage payment. This bubble is on it’s last leg, when the bust happens we’ll see carnage in the streets.
‘We are over building even here’
Don’t tell Rental Watch, he’ll have an aneurysm.
Facebook is cratering. Anyone under 20 won’t be caught dead on it. My kids are 11 - 15 and would be embarrassed to be seen on the “book”.
Yep, mine too.
Anyone remember MySpace?
IMO Facebook was clearly superior to MySpace and the inevitable happened. So far nothing else has been clearly superior to FB. There were simply other sites to go to if you wanted to avoid FB for whatever reason. I think that’s a major difference.
I don’t think FB will ever go the way of MySpace unless someone comes along with something clearly better. It will just get bashed for being uncool even as it continues to be used by everyone who doesn’t care if it’s cool.
Sort of like AOL.
You never know though. Kylie Jenner wiped $1.3 billion off of Snap’s market cap with an unfavorable tweet. If something becomes “uncool”, a vicious cycle can ensue. I deleted my Facebook account several years ago because I found no value in it. The only social media accounts I have now are LinkedIn (rarely use) and Twitter (frequently use).
At least Facebook has Instagram. That seems to be the social media avenue of choice these days for the younger crowd.
It’s now called “Fogeybook”.
I look forward to the day Facecrook is gone and I can say I never even used it one time.
I call it Fakebook. It’s full of bragging, fakery/lies, selling products, and overall lameness… there’s some good aspects of Fakebook but mostly it’s mind-numbing trash.
Don’t forget that it began as a platform to rate young women’s bodies.
Filed under: Make Germany great again!
“… China is BMW’s biggest market. The German company sold 560,000 cars there last year — more than the US and Germany combined — including 35,000 Minis. China is also a fast growing market for electric vehicles …”
“Production follows the market,” BMW said in a statement.
http://money.cnn.com/2018/02/23/autos/bmw-china-electric-mini/index.html
Nice looking cars. Getting them worked on, not pretty.
Sounds like there will be a after.german.market for $pare.parts, wonder if they will be found on Ali.baba …
Sure, if you like to put on poor-quality Chinesium plastic cooling system parts, when the OEM-quality ones can’t even make it to 100K miles w/o failing, then go for it!
De$igned ob$olescence for full robot employment in China, + isn’t a engine analyzer a sorta of a shade.tree.mechanics handheld robot?
More silicone, less fle$h … You
You … just need the fail code$
This reminds me of the textbook market. Local school boards in Texas have an outsized role in what gets adopted in school curriculum because they have a very rigid definition of what local residents approve of in the science and history. So a lot of textbook companies will sort of bend to Texan sensitivities, or at least be as pro-creationism as possible, in order to make sure their textbooks find a market.
Cars are going to go EV because China wills it. Manufacturers aren’t going to want to make one set of cars for gas users and another for electricity users.
We had a 2008 MINI. What a piece of junk. It was fun to drive, but after the warranty expired it began to break, a lot. And it was expensive to fix. We traded that sucker in and never looked back.
Can confirm. I have two good friends who both own one right now, with one of them planning on selling his soon. Not too bad if you do your own work, but both of them had to have bearings in the transmission replaced at 60-80K miles. Headliner falling down in one right now - shifter cables binding up, plastic interior parts failing, etc.
Worst part is it’s my wife’s dream car and she wants to pick one up as soon as she moves to the USA. She never felt like spending the inflated price for one in China. I’ve warned her that she may not like it for long, but this seems to be something she needs to get out of her system. So we’ll probably go with a cheap used one knowing she’ll dump it in a year or two. I wish she was that excited about Civics. The new ones are ugly but good. Or even a nice turbo Golf with the DCT would be better.
I don’t know how well they hold their value now, but we got 65% of the purchase price after 5 years. It was low on miles (30K) so that helped. The price for new ones has soared since 2008. What we paid 22K for would cost 30K now.
As for getting a used one, let me give you an idea of what they cost to fix. The straw that broke the camel’s back was when the engine thermostat got flaky. Now, you can buy a thermostat for a Chevy for maybe $15, and you can get them anywhere. The one for the MINI was about $200 and only available at the dealership. Unlike replacing it in a real car, it took hours to replace on the MINI and the labor was also in the hundreds. So while you can get that replaced on a regular car for maybe $100, labor included, it was a lot more on the MINI.
Aftermarket parts might be available now, but so many things broke on it after the warranty expired, and many broke while under warranty that I wouldn’t buy another one. The KIA Soul we replaced it with has never had anything break.
Another thought. All the current MINIs are turbos (ours wasn’t). If it’s out of warranty you might want to buy an extended factory warranty.
Unfortunately many domestic cars now have Euro drivetrains (tiny engines with turbos), so I fear it will be the same issue with them now.
Yeah, I own a 2008 BMW 335xi. I’m plenty familiar with all the things that can go wrong with their designs :-).
I had a Vdub. Biggest. POS. Ever.
Getting them worked on, pretty expensive.
All my good friends in one place.
San Francisco, CA 94109 Housing Prices Plunge 13% YOY As Bay Area Economy Craters
https://www.zillow.com/san-francisco-ca-94109/home-values/
https://snag.gy/m5EzRB.jpg
Lone Tree, CO Housing Prices Crater 6% YOY As Mortgage Defaults Surge
https://www.movoto.com/lone-tree-co/market-trends/
Realtors are liars.
….and every appraisal apocryphal.
Back before the US housing crash, everyone pretty much knew which banks had their necks out the most by selling so many loans to poor-credit borrowers and over-selling variable rate mortgages.
I know nothing about the reputation of Canadian banks. For anyone who can answer, which of the 5 main banks ($BMO, $BNS, $CM, $RY, $TD) has the reputation for selling the most garbage loans?
taxpayers will bail out the banks who make political donations.
“to deny homeowners access to their hard earned equity over a low credit score should be illegal.”
What are the odds that the equity is “hard earned” AND they have a low credit score?
Palmetto to jeff, paging jeff, you are wanted on the HBB.
So remember when you said you couldn’t find that video of the Parkland High School girl who was talking to the alleged shooter while shooting was going on elsewhere in the building? Yah, youtube has been scrubbing it and penalizing anyone who posts it, including cancelling their account. However, The Real Fly, a ZH contributor, posted it today:
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-02-23/youtube-removing-video-parkland-student-who-claimed-there-was-second-shooter
And here’s an added bonus: According to the girl in this video (scroll down) it seems the Broward Sheriff, Scott Israel, digs underage chicks, even though he’s married with children.
http://www.thetruthseeker.co.uk/?p=166023
Yah, that’s real smooth operator there.
That’s her.
This thing stinks to high heaven and the people who are starting to fall in line makes it slightly alarming.
Take heart. People are not on board with the offishul narrative:
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-02-23/shocked-and-outraged-four-broward-deputies-waited-outside-school-children-were
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-02-23/fbi-tipster-transcript-leaked-cruz-will-get-school-and-shoot-place
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-02-23/there-was-mistake-made-fbis-no-2-refuses-provide-details-how-cruz-tips-were-fumbled
Of course, Rick Scott can be counted on to be a weasel:
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-02-23/gun-maker-stocks-slump-after-florida-imposes-age-restriction-gun-purchases-bans
The FBI has released a transcript of a warning phoned in 5-1/2 weeks before the Cruz massacre, which they did nothing about besides recording & retaining the message.
Go here for PDF.
IMNSHO, this transcript is as significant as the Martin-Bellinger report that exactly predicted the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, months before it happened. That report was totally ignored also, and continues to be ignored by modern historians.
It’s pretty easy to play armchair quarterback on warnings that now seem obvious but were ignored when they could have mattered. What outsiders don’t see are either the volume of false threats that have to be addressed, or the number of incidents that never occurred because of the threats that were taken seriously, leading to a response. With easy access to assault weapons to anyone who can breathe, the volume of credible threats that have to be processed must be overwhelming.
the volume of credible threats that have to be processed must be overwhelming.
They used that same excuse to explain away the Martin-Bellinger report & deflect blame from the high command. I don’t accept it. FBI has been obviously preoccupied with the Russian hacking scandal.
On 15 Feb, the FBI admitted they didn’t handle this warning as they should have:
Denver(Highland), CO Housing Prices Crater 14% YOY As Housing Demand Plummets To 20 Year Low
https://www.zillow.com/highland-denver-co/home-values/
*Select price from dropdown menu on first chart
I feel sorry for this gal’s poor husband or boyfriend. Or maybe she reproduced by spontaneous combustion.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=190&v=0X1xOKMKX80
After viewing that clip owning a comfort peacock make sense.
She seems to have some kind of extreme hang-up about the Confederate Flag.
What’s the deal with the auctions in Australia? Reading the article it doesn’t appear that the houses have been seized by lienholders, but rather that the owners are selling them. Is this how houses are normally bought/sold in Oz?
Yes.
The Treasury bond market is dead.
Long live Treasurys.
Opinion | Prophets
The Bond Bulls Have Run Out of Compelling Arguments
The roots of this latest pullback are deeper than even the infamous “taper tantrum” of 2013.
by Scott Dorf
February 23, 2018, 3:30 AM PST
A herd mentality has overtaken the bond market. Photographer: Jean-Philippe Ksiazek
George S. Patton once said, “If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn’t thinking.” That contrarian approach suited the controversial U.S. Army general in his drive through German-occupied France during World War II. It might also suit those navigating the $14.5 trillion market for U.S. Treasury securities today.
The herd mentality has rarely been more evident than in recent weeks, as an army of pundits, strategists and investors have said that a 3 percent 10-year Treasury yield would signal the end of this brutal six-month-long bear market in bonds. While the 3 percent barrier did mark the end of the last bear market during the infamous “taper tantrum” of 2013, the roots of this latest pullback are deeper, and the arguments for a continuation of the trend remain more compelling than any case mustered by the bulls.
…
What the Spike in Treasury Bonds Supply Means for Interest Rates and Inflation
By Tom Graff Follow | Feb 23, 2018 | 11:30 AM EST
On Tuesday, the U.S. Treasury sold a staggering $179 billion of debt to the public in a single day, a huge trade even by Treasury market standards.
The large issuance was made necessary by the fact that the U.S. had recently butted up against the debt ceiling and therefore cash on hand had been running low. However, this one-off huge issuance is only the beginning. With the U.S. deficit set to balloon due to both tax cuts and spending increases, some are seeing this as a prelude. Supply of Treasury bonds is about to increase in a big way.
How much will this matter for interest rates?
…
Forget Stocks: This Is the Market Tumble You Should Really Worry About
By Paul J. Lim
February 20, 2018
If you’re an investor, you’re probably breathing a sigh of relief now that it looks as if the stock market selloff that spooked Wall Street this month is over.
But equities weren’t the only investments that fell — or that investors should be worried about.
Most types of bonds and bond funds have also suffered losses this year.
The average long-term government bond fund, for instance, is down more than 6% this year and more than 7% since late December. Corporate bond funds have fallen 2% this year and and around 5% since December. And high-yield bond funds have lost around 2% since the first week of January.
And unlike stocks, bonds aren’t likely to immediately rebound.
Why Even Modest Bond Losses Are Scary
To be sure, this year’s fixed-income losses haven’t been as flashy as the 10% plunge for stocks. That may explain why the bond market downturn has gotten very little attention.
But even “bad” bond market losses are always smaller than sizable equity market losses, just as fixed-income returns are more muted than stock gains.
What investors should really be worried about is that bonds are supposed to provide your portfolio ballast when the stock market sails into a storm, as it did earlier this month. Yet many fixed-income investments fell in lockstep with equities during this recent downturn — even though it’s their job to zig when stocks zag.
…
Investing in bond funds when interest rates rise
As rates head higher, returns on cash can outpace returns on long-term bonds
Feb 23, 2018
By Michael Finke and David Blanchet
The last time investors faced rising interest rates, one of us was investing paper route money and other wasn’t even born yet. In other words, the idea of a rising rate environment isn’t something we, or most advisers, have ever had to deal with. For bond investors, it’s worth giving some thought to what happens to different bonds when interest rates rise.
Whether real interest rates will rise in the future is debatable, but most economists project that bonds won’t provide much return after inflation. However, nominal interest rates could rise if inflation picks up and the federal government continues its expansionary policy.
…
Is this writer in his 20’s or something? Rates were rising in 2004-2007 and were much higher than now.
There’s a whole generation about to get a lasting lesson in life’s dear school for fools about the perils of investing in a rising rate environment.
Where bond guru Bill Gross is investing his money after calling bear market
- Bill Gross thinks bonds are in a bear market and will return 1 percent or less.
- He is favoring corporate investment-grade bonds, mostly but not only in the U.S. bond market.
- One of the biggest bond fund winners this year has been world bonds, and two of the top five bond ETFs in asset flows in 2018 are international bond portfolios.
Bryan Borzykowski
Published 14 Hours Ago
Updated 13 Hours Ago
CNBC.com
Bond guru Bill Gross has made his negative call on bonds clear: The bear market in fixed income has begun. As the era of quantitative easing winds down and interest rates go up, Gross has told investors not to panic, but to expect a “mild” bear market with returns of zero to 1 percent at best.
With yields on the 10-year treasury headed toward 3 percent and touching a four-year high on Wednesday, bondholders will get the income from the yield, but they’ll lose about three points in terms of price. “So they’ll get nothing,” Gross said in a recent interview with CNBC. Expectations for as many as four Fed rate hikes this year have been rising, and several Wall Street firms believe 10-year yields will be above 3 percent by year-end 2018.
…
Treasurys
U.S. Government Bonds Notch Gains
Market will be watching for interest-rate clues when several Fed officials speak later Friday
By Gunjan Banerji
Updated Feb. 23, 2018 4:24 p.m. ET
Government bonds strengthened Friday, capping off a turbulent week.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note slipped for the second straight day to 2.871% from 2.917% Thursday. Yields fall as bond prices rise.
The yield on the 10-year note hit a multiyear high earlier in the week before receding.
…
Treasurys draw buying as rate hike fears recede from monetary policy report
By Sunny Oh
Published: Feb 23, 2018 4:41 p.m. ET
Impending Italian election uncertainty boosts haven German bund
Treasury prices rose, pulling yields lower, on Friday after the Federal Reserve, in a report to Congress, gave little indication it plans to raise interest rates more aggressively in 2018.
Trading was typified by wild swings throughout the week as monetary policy concerns and inflation fears kept bond-buyers on edge.
What are bonds doing?
The 10-year Treasury note yield was down 4.6 basis points to 2.871%, contributing to a weeklong decline of 0.5 basis point, according to data from WSJ Market Data Group. The yield hit a four-year high at 2.957% on Wednesday.
…
A Sweeping New Bill Targets California’s Housing Crisis
Vox
David Roberts
Feb 23, 2018
“California is in the midst of crippling housing crisis. The state’s population has steadily grown, but it hasn’t been building new places for people to live at anything close to the same rate. It now ranks 49th in housing units per capita.”
“The predictable consequence of demand growing faster than supply is that existing housing in the state, especially in its biggest cities, has become insanely expensive. Seven of the 10 most expensive US real estate markets are Californian. The median home price in the state is $524,000; in San Francisco it is approaching $1.3 million.”
“Rising prices push middle-class workers further and further from their jobs, leading to unhealthy commutes and traffic congestion. Low-income Californians are increasingly forced to choose between rent and food or health care, adding to the state’s hunger and health problems, or being pushed out of housing altogether, adding to its burgeoning homeless population. According to analysts at McKinsey, the housing crisis is costing California $140 billion a year in lost economic output.”
https://www.vox.com/cities-and-urbanism/2018/2/23/17011154/sb827-california-housing-crisis
“Rising prices push middle-class workers further and further from their jobs, leading to unhealthy commutes and traffic congestion.”
The Libtards who don’t want any more homes built in California must love climate change, because cars driven great distances in congested traffic conditions emit way more greenhouse gases per daily commute than cars driven a short distance in uncongested traffic.
Well the libtards have well and truly ruined a once great state. I lived in CA in the 1980s and I can tell you man it was once a paradise. Now it’s a 3rd world hellhole. Silicon Valley is the only thing keeping it afloat. Even that will go away. Look at Amazon, building their 2nd campus anywhere but California.
I can tell you man it was once a paradise:
Honolulu
Santa Cruz
Florida Keys
Raleigh
Charleston
Maui
Boulder
“I lived in CA in the 1980s and I can tell you man it was once a paradise.”
You remind me of Dr. Zaius and the Forbidden Zone.
With 4.4 million excess empty and defaulted housing units in CA, there is no need to build more.
Emeryville, CA Housing Prices Crater 8% YOY As Housing Inventory Floods Market
https://www.movoto.com/emeryville-ca/market-trends/
Always lovely to see who’s going to catch falling knives…
One of my favorite words back in 2008 that I learned here - ‘infestors’.
The federal reserve phuc’d up when they lowered interest rates. There’s no stopping the “search for return.”
Does it seem like not enough greater fools have yet been sucked into the stock market for da boyz to yank the rip cord?
wall street will make a lot of money when this sh@t show goes down.
“At Goldman, we recognize that the capitalist system as we know it is circling the drain—but there’s plenty of money to be made on the way down.” —Lloyd Blankfein
It seems as though stock and bond prices are unmoored from fundamentals, wandering about in a fog or adrift in space. Perhaps this reflects tremendous uncertainty about what Jerome Powell’s tenure at the Fed will bring. On average, the S&P 500 Stock Market Index has dropped by 15% the first year of a new Fed chairman’s term. The prospect of balance sheet unwind against the backdrop of fiscal expansion could make things especially interesting this time around.
Has the inevitability of rate hikes failed to sink in yet?
CPI has market locking in March rate hike and moving toward 4 Fed increases this year
By Greg Robb
Published: Feb 14, 2018 9:54 a.m. ET
Fed had penciled in three moves in last forecast in December
Bloomberg
Fed Chairman Jerome Powell will discuss his inflation outlook when he testifies to Congress for the first time on Feb. 28.
The hotter-than-expected consumer price data for January adds to a growing expectation among economists that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates with four quarter-point moves this year, rather than the three they penciled in last December, economists said.
“I think this does cement the four rate hikes, given the inflation backdrop,” said Jeffrey Cleveland, chief economist at Payden &Rygel, an investment management firm based in Los Angeles.
U.S. consumer prices rose 0.5% in January, the biggest monthly increase since August 2012. Core CPI rose 0.3%.
…
Venezuela’s cash-strapped government faces eviction from a Miami building it once owned after its consulate failed to pay rent since August.
“95,385,000: Record Number Not in Labor Force; Participation Rate Falls to 62.7%”
https://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/susan-jones/95385000-record-number-americans-not-labor-force-participation-rate-falls
It seems paradoxical that although only around 4% (1in 25) of labor force participants are out of work, over 1 in 3 (33%) of potential labor force participants are not participating. With the economy doing so well, why don’t more potential workers want to dip their toes in the job market?
They do want to, they just can’t find a job. There’s no tracking that.
One of the problems with a system that sets a minimum wage and taxes incomes at a high rate is that lots of people are priced out of the labor market forever.
It seems like a big problem with the remaining unemployment problem is a jobs/skills mismatch and a location mismatch. This of course is indirectly related to housing. The move rate is at a historic low, so many people who could get a decent job by relocating to a thriving urban city center, and away from the Trump states suffering from manufacturing job losses, do not do so.
Then you add in drug addiction, criminal background, and other issues you have stubborn unemployment. But the labor market is starting to get hot, so the good news for the lowest skilled is that employers are going to have to be less picky. That should pull some of the “unemployable” off the sidelines.
Eye reckon the folks below are putting this monthly cash in tin cans buried behind their single wide … Surely, it’s knot going to buy $ee’s candie$ @ Xmas!
“About 61 million people collect Social Security benefits each month, and they account for about one in five people in the United States. In about one family in four, someone is receiving Social Security benefits.
About 42 million retired workers receive benefits and another 3 million individuals receive benefits as spouses or children of retired workers. A total of 6 million people receive benefits as survivors of deceased workers, including 3.7 million aged widows and widowers and 1.9 million children. Another 8.8 million people receive benefits as disabled workers, and 1.8 million people receive benefits as the child or spouse of a disabled worker. A total of 3 million children under age 18 receive Social Security and another 1.1 million adults who have been disabled since childhood get benefits as dependents of a retired, disabled or deceased parent.”
https://www.nasi.org/learn/socialsecurity/who-gets
90 million unemployed, 60 million on federal welfare programs…. It’s a wonder anything gets done in this nation.
And it’s all going to end within the next 20-30 years:
http://www.daytoncitypaper.com/conspiracy-theorist-88-2/
” Of course Social Security won’t really go bust. Seniors, who vote in droves, will vote to end U.S. wars and close foreign bases so they can keep their paychecks coming a little longer.”
Seniors don’t realize that keeping the U.S. military on both sides of Iran is protecting Israel. Hence, their retirements are negotiable all the way to zero if need be.
Brian Hanlon makes some good points in this article:
“You’ve got to be careful about the sort of protections you’re implementing. What you don’t want to do is allow wealthy, exclusionary communities in Silicon Valley to thwart all homebuilding by saying, “No, you may not demolish this detached single-family home that sells for $4M.” That’s not a good anti-displacement protection.”
“If I’m a poor person who lives near transit and I think about my community becoming more like the walkable communities I’m familiar with … it seems perfectly logical for me to think I’m not going to be able to afford that, that I’m going to get pushed out.
That makes intuitive sense, but when you actually look at how displacement happens in California, it is not through that process. Look at the home values for the single-family homes near the Expo line, near BART, near Caltrain. They’re astronomically expensive! No development has occurred there since prior to when those lines went in.”
“A lot of folks who represent more exurban areas, Inland Empire and parts of the Central Valley, they’re going to love this bill, even though it’s not going to allow more homebuilding in their areas. I spoke with one member in the legislature who just said, “I am sick and tired of these hypocritical, rich coastal liberals talking this good game on the environment, passing tax breaks for their rich constituents to buy Teslas, while not building any housing in their district. They’re displacing their middle-income people to my district, where they’re now driving an hour-and-a-half or two hours each way to get to work.””
” Look at the home values for the single-family homes near the Expo line, near BART, near Caltrain”
Have witnessed well dressed people emerge from overnight stays @ construction site toilets in this area & head for …
Did your real estate investment HODLings get schlonged so far in 2018?
It seems like the easy money train has run off the rails.
Is the REIT sell-off over?
Real estate investment trusts have gotten clobbered amid concerns about rising rates
Feb 23, 2018
By John Waggoner
If you’re a homeowner, you know that even though they aren’t making any more real estate, property values sometimes act as if they are churning out new continents from time to time. This is one of them. Does this mean real estate is undervalued?
The average fund that invests in real estate investment trusts, or REITs, has been hit by a wrecking ball, losing 9.71% this year, including reinvested interest, according to Morningstar Inc. While other income-generating investments, such as bonds and utility stocks, have tumbled this year as well, REITs have taken the hardest hit.
…
$303K is the annual income now needed to buy a median priced home in San Francisco
By Amy Graff, SFGATE Updated 7:15 am, Thursday, February 15, 2018
San Francisco real estate has reached yet another crazy extreme.
The household income needed to buy a median-priced home in the city reached a new high and is now $303,000. That’s according to the California Association of Realtors affordability index, which is based on sales in the fourth quarter of 2017.
The index approximates the percentage of households with the minimum income needed to buy an existing, median-priced single-family home with a 20 percent down payment at the current interest rate.
The new salary number is what a buyer needs to make to afford the $7,580 payment on a $1.5 million home, the fourth-quarter median.
A report from Paragon Real Estate that looks at the data points out, “The percentage of households who can afford to purchase a median priced house is 12 percent.”
https://www.sfgate.com/realestate/article/income-needed-buy-home-San-Francisco-real-estate-12614111.php
Astounding. That is so sad.
Strip Clubs, Lambos and Hackers: A Tale of Two Bitcoins
https://www.coindesk.com/strip-clubs-lambos-hackers-tale-two-bitcoins/
FEATURE
Ariel Deschapell
Feb 24, 2018 at 11:05 UTC | Updated Feb 24, 2018 at 11:18 UTC
When one imagines a networking event for a professional conference, the most well-known and over-the-top strip club in Miami probably isn’t the venue that comes to mind.
Yet that’s exactly where The North American Bitcoin Conference decided to host it. “Join us at E11even for some networking and R&R. Or dancing,” the description read.
There was a lot of dancing.
Not your nerdy friend’s crypto
Over the course of 2017, cryptocurrency experienced an unprecedented explosion.
After years of quietly languishing below $1,000, the price of a bitcoin began to increase rapidly and public attention along with it. But it wasn’t alone. At the same time, bitcoin’s so-called dominance index, the size of the bitcoin market cap relative to all other cryptocurrencies, shrunk.
The cause? Other established cryptocurrencies like ethereum and litecoin were making their own explosive gains, while scores of entirely new and tokens were created out of thin air en masse with shocking overnight valuations.
An influx of new investors wanted in on this digital gold rush, buying into these new initial coin offerings or “ICOs” as fast as they could be created. Suddenly, everyone was making it big. Self-professed expert blockchain investors and traders were springing up everywhere overnight.
Cryptocurrency was no longer the domain of just cypherpunks, anarchists and radical libertarians. In fact those early groups all but quickly disappeared from the public spotlight in favor of this newer, shinier, get-rich-quick crypto culture.
Fortunes were being made after all, and tales of overnight success are much better media stories than the ongoing and abstruse technical debates about the real use cases, limitations and challenges facing blockchain technology.
Delicately balancing network throughput and decentralization? That’s boring. Making outrageous money fast, and showing it off with Lamborghinis (”Lambos” for short) and extravagant strip club parties? Now that’s exciting.