A Building Boom That Overshadowed Demand For Years
A report from Mansion Global on New York. “The opening months of 2018 have had varying effects on Manhattan’s real estate markets. Manhattan’s luxury condo market—defined as properties priced at above $2,000 per square foot—saw 62 contracts signed in February, a slight boost from the six-month low of 59 transactions logged in the previous month, according to a report by CityRealty. Outside of the big-ticket sales, and across the Manhattan apartment market in general, the number of sales logged in January—from which the most recent data is available—dropped to 779 from 884 in the previous month. The average sales price of a Manhattan apartment fell substantially, too—to $1.9 million from $2.3 million. New condo developments fared particularly badly in January as the average price fell almost 50% to $3.6 million from $6.9 million in December.”
From the Daily Business Review on Florida. “Fortune International Group owes $1.5 million to a lender in the developer’s luxury Jade Ocean high-rise condominium in Sunny Isles Beach, a Miami-Dade Circuit Court lawsuit claims. Fortune International used a network of affiliated companies to funnel investments and loans for the development of Jade Ocean in part by collecting administrative and commission fees higher than what it was entitled to, according to the complaint.”
“Fortune’s affiliates and an outside consultant, who also is a named defendant, falsely said most of the Jade units were sold before construction and the unit contracts were enforceable to persuade Ocean Tower to lend, according to the complaint. Then Fortune and its affiliates created fraudulent financial statements and hired an outside auditor, HLB Gravier LLC, to confirm the project lost $62 million, according to the complaint. HLB Gravier is a co-defendant.”
“Fortune International general counsel Olga de los Santos denied the allegations in the lawsuit and said the developer will seek dismissal. ‘These are baseless allegations made almost a decade after Fortune Ocean built and delivered the Jade Ocean condominium to buyers in the midst of the worst real estate collapse South Florida has ever seen,’ she said in an email.”
From Multi-Housing News on Oregon. “A wave of new inventory and historically high rents moderated Portland’s average rent growth to just 0.8 percent year-over-year in 2017, 170 basis points below the national rate. Investor appetite slowed in 2017, with $960 million in multifamily properties changing hands, a significant downshift compared to 2016’s cycle peak of $2.4 billion. But even though transaction volume dropped, prices continued to rise, reaching a new cycle high of $207,300. The metro’s multifamily pipeline is robust, with more than 7,000 units underway as of December and another 11,000 in the planning stages.”
From the Dallas Morning News in Texas. “If you’re a renter in Dallas — particularly if you moved here from California, where combing through Craigslist posts is a rite of passage — you’ve likely experienced the disorientation that comes with apartment-hunting in one of the nation’s fastest-growing markets. Large property managers use price optimization programs that constantly take in data about everything from how many apartments are expected to open nearby to vacancy rates across the region.”
“Dallas-Fort Worth’s ballooning supply of apartments in large complexes makes it the perfect place for landlords to make use of hyper-specific rent optimization, said David Kahn, Dallas-Fort Worth senior market analyst for the real estate data firm CoStar. Kahn recommends always visiting or touring the complex you’re considering. And ask for deals when you get there. And Kahn also let slide a tip that he joked his clients might not want him to mention: Always put in your 60-day move-out notice before your lease expires, even if you think you might renew.”
“‘The rent’s never really bottomed out until it is. There’s always something extra that can be thrown in,’ he said. ‘When you go to the property management website and you apply, sometimes they will have something different in the actual application portal, and it might be a big difference.’”
From The Oklahoman. “Apartment construction in Oklahoma City slowed last year and is likely to slow further this year as the market gets over a building boom that overshadowed demand for several years, according to Price Edwards & Co. The firm said just 1,554 apartment units were completed last year, down 54 percent compared with 2016. Even fewer, 1,230 units, are scheduled for completion this year, Price Edwards reported.”
“About 3,000 apartments are in planning stages, but that number is always soft because more are always planned than built, the firm said. Demand remained strong, with the market last year absorbing not only the 1,554 new apartments but another 731 units besides, bringing overall occupancy up to 90 percent from 89 percent at the end of 2016.”
“‘This is a welcome trend after multiple years of negative absorption created by overbuilding during a slow economy; however, one wonders whether it is due to construction finally slowing down, or to increased demand,’ according to the report, prepared by broker David Dirkschneider.”
“‘For more than a decade, the number of renter households in the U.S. has expanded year after year, sometimes by more than 1 million a year. This year, the explosion of renters in the wake of the foreclosure crisis has maybe, finally, begun to fade, as 2017 was the first time since 2004 that the number of renter households declined,’ Dirkschneider wrote. ‘Just like in the past, when there’s a need for something people jump on. In the commercial real estate market, when people jump on, they jump all the way in, and they kind of went overboard for a little while. … It was hot and good for awhile, but it went a little too fast for our size of a market.’”
From the Indianapolis Business Journal. “The apartment market is starting to cool off in Carmel, which has added hundreds of units over the past few years. According to an apartment market report by Indianapolis-based apartment brokerage firm Tikijian Associates, average apartment rents in the Carmel/Westfield/Zionsville market dropped by 2.8 percent in 2017. Carmel in particular has seen a lot of apartment development recently, and that has played a significant role in shrinking rents.”
“‘The market’s softened a little bit because there are just a lot of projects coming on line,’ said George Tikijian, senior managing director at Tikijian Associates. ‘It’s going to be a couple more years before Carmel absorbs all of these new properties.’”
The Pasadena Star News in California. “Looking for housing in California — to buy or rent — means having the fewest choices in the nation. A curious stat from the U.S. Census Bureau tracks empty residences, whether those units are rentals or ownership properties. Basically, ‘gross vacancy rate’ is a proportional measure of how many places are available in a geographic area.”
“When I put this housing-supply data into my trusty spreadsheet, I found California has had nation’s lowest vacancy rate in five out of the last seven years. And in the two years, California did not have the slimmest housing supply (2011 and 2013), the state ranked No. 2. Last year, 8.3 percent of California residences — both ownership and rental — were vacant. The only good news is the 2017 California vacancy rate was up from 7.8 percent in 2016 (also a national low) and the highest since 2014 (also a national low).”
“This vacancy data has a key quirk: States with significant seasonal employment and/or well-traveled ’snowbirds’ with second homes. So the highest vacancy rates are found in Maine, Florida, Alaska, Vermont and Arizona.”
Some comments to the Indianapolis article:
“I recently commented to my wife regarding how many apartment complexes are found in Carmel and that it seems hard to believe that many people are looking to rent. It seems they are being built on every corner. Apartments are not inherently bad. It is when an area becomes saturated with them that it can potentially become a problem. The question is how many individuals want to pay hefty rental fees to live in Carmel, or anywhere for that matter? There is a set point and the trick is to not go beyond that point. These apartments are not a charity and need units filled to turn a profit. You do not want to get to the point where supply outstrips demand and then the apartments have to start taking steps to fill the units (lower rent, looser credit requirements, etc.). That can often mean the beginning of the end for what was once a very nice complex. There are plenty of architecturally beautiful apartment buildings in Indianapolis that were “the place to be” back in the day, but then faded. Of course, there are other factors involved in their demise, but the point is you have to be very careful that you avoid having too much of a good thing.”
“It’s crazy how there is that much demand for apartments in the Indy area. The number of apartments built downtown, the suburbs, and even Bloomington has been staggering the past several years. It will be interesting to see if the demand at these regionally high price points keeps up after more projects get completed.”
“Way too many were approved ..no way the market can support all these units. Now we are stuck with them. The mayor seems to thrive on the ‘look how fast we are growing’ self-congratulatory press releases.”
The southeastern half of Indianapolis (with a few exceptions, not many) is a bombed-out dump. Many slum neighborhoods. Lotsa crime.
It’s a shame, too, because many of these awful neighborhoods are close to town, comprised of predominately brick, 1200-1800 square feet single families. Many, many blocks of ranches and two stories. What great neighborhoods they must have been back in the day!
The near west side isn’t much better. The airport is on the southwest side.
The northside (Carmel) is where the well-heeled live. A completely different area than the rest of Indy. It’s own country. Outrageous prices for large and small homes alike.
I checked out the area on three different trips in 2017. Sad to say, had to check Indy off my list as a potential toe-tag city.
MacBeth - what other cities are on your list?
And why did you check it off as a toe-tag city? Bad winter?
No. Winters in Indy aren’t all that horrific.
I checked it off because much of Indy is a dump. I mean it’s really bad. That which isn’t is much too costly.
I hoped that Indy would have been it for me. About 1 million in the city, 1.75 million metro. It has the Colts, the Pacers, NCAA finals/basketball, the Indy 500. It hosts the state fair.
It also is the state capital, of course.
All appears great….until you get there.
IN is under great management. Daniels was the best. Sucking $ from surrounding states.
St Louis (yes, you read that correctly - a much better city than its public reputation would lead you to believe. Problem for me is climate - hot as blazes in the summer/humidity).
Cincinnati
Columbus (tho it being dominated by OSU is a turn off. College towns get old fast.)
Pittsburgh (I won’t go further east.)
Michigan is a temptation. The west coast of Michigan is fantastic. Problem for me isn’t the cold, but the relative isolation. (I don’t love the cold, but it is certainly better than the high heat/humidity of the Southeast or Texas).
BTW,
Fargo, North Dakota, is a kickass small city, especially when one considers its highly undesirable location. One of the very best surprises I’ve yet to come across. More eclectic and vibrant than it should be. A busy place.
Plus, the city has miles of living American Elm trees lining the streets. Massive trees. Reminds me of my early childhood, before Dutch Elm decimated the species.
No, I have no thoughts of living there.
I was impressed. There’s something about cities and people who are dealt weak hands that say screw it, and proceed to make their hands stronger. Voila, Fargo.
Anywhere west of the Missouri River in the St Louis Area is livable and affordable. In fact, my parents and a sister, plus several other blood relatives, live in the vicinity. I’d give Cottleville a look…nice blend of trendy with historic small-town ambiance. Kirkwood, in Southwest St. Louis County, and Chesterfield and surrounding communities are also good choices.
I’ve been thinking a bit about where to retire, and I’ve been to some pretty nice places, including the actual Oil City, PA, and its sister town Franklin. I visited Asheville just before it exploded and that seemed pretty nice too.
But I still have ~20 years before retirement. For all I know, 20 years from now Oil City could be entirely gone, or the entire country overrun with corruption, or the entirety of flyover depopulated due to opioid overdose and diabetes, or my 401K could be raided to pay for Millenial college loans. This will be a very different country when the last of the Baby Boomers are finally gone. So it’s pointless to speculate.
‘Last year, 8.3 percent of California residences — both ownership and rental — were vacant. The only good news is the 2017 California vacancy rate was up from 7.8 percent in 2016′
Doesn’t sound like a shortage to me.
That’s only the technically “vacant” houses, which are the ones for sale. How many more are unoccupied or easily vacated, not for sale, held only for their appreciation? When the Prices only go up mania dissolves the vacancy numbers could balloon.
After 65 years of government intervention in support of the housing bubble, reversal could be a long and painful process.
There’s a tendency these days to put the blame on other countries for stealing our industrial base through unfair trade practices. It might not be a bad idea to take a hard look in the mirror at the long-term effects of a national economic policy focused for decades on the Keynesian ditch digging exercise of building and selling each other ever larger and more expensive houses.
Keynesian ditch-digging (KDD) is a cover for transfer payments. It might have been necessary for a smaller economy trying to maintain the value of its currency, but the USD has shown itself to be very strong in retaining its usefulness as a currency, despite all the modern novel insults thrown at it, after Friedman’s publication of A Monetary History of the United States (1963).
From Bernanke’s speech on Friedman’s 90th birthday:
“As everyone here knows, in their Monetary History Friedman and Schwartz made the case that the economic collapse of 1929-33 was the product of the nation’s monetary mechanism gone wrong. Contradicting the received wisdom at the time that they wrote, which held that money was a passive player in the events of the 1930s, Friedman and Schwartz argued that “the contraction is in fact a tragic testimonial to the importance of monetary forces [p. 300; all page references refer to Friedman and Schwartz, 1963].” — Federal Reserve Board speeches
It is true that Bernanke and Friedman are Very Smart People. But you know what? So was Robert McNamara. McNamara was selected for his proven brilliance. And he made a fiasco out of Vietnam.
The great financial crises we’ve had have been debt-driven crises. The central bank is playing with a cobra - it’s belief that growth must be debt-fueled (often true) and thus broadly encouraging debt (always dangerous). Very smart people playing with fire, because they wind up being too clever by half, and thinking they can centrally plan in some way, the economy. The economy is too complex.
Heck, Greenspan said Wall Street would always be ahead of Fed regulators, and that the Fed’s job was to “go in and clean up the mess.” If the Fed cannot control Wall Street, then how can it control the larger economy, of which Wall Street is a part?
“Keynesian ditch-digging (KDD) is a cover for transfer payments.”
Especially where ‘Affordable Housing’ is concerned. These social engineering measures to get government-subsidized home loans into the hands of low income buyers has succeeded in driving home prices out of reach and helping many low-income households to put themselves on a path to financial ruin.
If obtaining prosperity was as easy as manipulating the money supply, Latin America, Africa, India, central Asia and Eastern Europe would be prosperous.
Modern day economic policy makers are modern day alchemists, seeking a quick and easy way to turn lead into gold. They are the opposite of the Swabian Housewife. She has been oft-derided by the alchemists (Keynesians and Monetarists). Her prescriptions are not simple and hedonistic, like the alchemists’. They require self-discipline and effort. And she’s probably right.
Your best post yet, Neuromance.
And everything you said here all seems so obvious, doesn’t it? It’s too bad the masses can’t wrap (or won’t) their heads around it.
In general, US citizens have been presented two economic options on a personal level:
(1) Do I work less, save less, but want more, OR,
(2) Do I work more and save more, but want less.
It’s very easy to cater to #1: Go Keynesian and print money. It doesn’t matter if the population is ever satisfied. All that matters is that I’M satisfied, the non-productive Keynesian bureaucrat.
It’s tougher to cater to #2 if you’re a non-productive Keynesian bureaucrat. It’s much tougher to steal from someone who works harder, saves more and covets less.
The mindset of the people has been changed, deliberately and on purpose.
That is something I rarely see discussed on HBB.
The Germans I worked with called it “Schwaben”. The Anglo counterpart is Scottish Frugality, something I inherited.
I like your post MacBeth. Several years ago I read the book Your Money or Your Life. It was a fantastic read. In essence it articulated a lot of core principles that I had already subconsciously adopted, but it was nice to have them put together into a concise, coherent message.
The basic message of the book is that you need to figure out how much of your life you are willing to trade for stuff. The author goes on to advocate that consumers look at money as the amount of their life’s energy that must be devoted to work in order to procure one’s wants and needs. If one is not careful, the bulk of one’s life can be frittered away toiling for things that do not ultimately represent one’s greatest values. Housing is one of those rare things that is not just a want but also a need. Nonetheless, it is too easy to overextend oneself and in a moment of weakness/stupidity consign one to crushing debt by reaching for housing far beyond necessities.
Greed, and debt to serve it, will cost you the best decades of your productive working life!
“The author goes on to advocate that consumers look at money as the amount of their life’s energy that must be devoted to work in order to procure one’s wants and needs.”
That is exactly right. Long ago, my parents repeatedly encouraged their kids to consider the pre-tax cost of anything to be purchased, and convert that into hours worked to purchase that item.
“You mean that two-hour dinner out/drinks will cost me 4.5 hours of work? Uh, no thanks.”
A remarkably effective approach.
+1 BlueSkye and +1 MacBeth
‘Much like the rest of the nation, the communities of the Southern California desert saw home values plummet in the wake of the 2008 recession. But while sale prices in Los Angeles County have since returned to their pre-recession peaks, that hasn’t happened in the desert—yet.’
‘The market is picking up, though, and real estate agents in the area say they’re optimistic that trend will continue. Across the region, the value of homes has soared in recent years. “People want to come out and spend $100,000 on a junky cabin and fix it up,” says Madelaine La Voie, who operates realty offices in the cities of Joshua Tree, 29 Palms, Morongo Valley, and Pioneertown. “But that was two years ago. You can’t find that anymore.”
‘In Joshua Tree, home values more than doubled over the past five years. In Desert Hot Springs, they’re up more than 80 percent. Cathedral City (64.9 percent), Indio (52.4 percent), and Palm Springs (49.4 percent) also saw huge gains during the same period, according to data provided to Curbed by Zillow.’
‘Opportunities for remote work aside, the desert still attracts a very high number of buyers looking for a vacation home or part-time residence.’
‘In many desert cities, more than one-third of houses are vacant, meaning their owners don’t live there year-round—or rent them out to long-term tenants. That’s particularly true in the wealthy enclaves of Rancho Mirage and Indian Wells, where more than 40 percent of homes are vacant.’
That’s some shortage. Let me guess: they plan to get rich letting these shacks sit empty. And isn’t it strange the GSE’s finance more of these second shacks than they do low income first time buyers?
“…they plan to get rich letting these shacks sit empty.”
It makes perfectly good sense to leave your place empty if the annual appreciation exceeds carrying costs year-in, year-out. Once appreciation slows, the race to the exits should be entertaining.
Appreciation doesn’t cease to exist if you rent the place out.
You have to find a renter first.
Remember…… You can ask $3000/month for your pimped housing unit in the hood but where is the renter at that price?
So it is with all depreciating assets like housing units.
Great to hear that we are on an improving trend. And with lots of new SFR construction in North San Diego County along the I-56 corridor, plus unlimited numbers of new luxury condo towers going up downtown, San Diego’s affordable housing crisis seems on the way to a resolution.
“When I put this housing-supply data into my trusty spreadsheet, I found California has had nation’s lowest vacancy rate in five out of the last seven years. And in the two years, California did not have the slimmest housing supply (2011 and 2013), the state ranked No. 2.
Last year, 8.3 percent of California residences — both ownership and rental — were vacant. That was the tightest market among the states ahead of Washington, Ohio and Oregon.”
“Please note, this vacancy data has a key quirk: States with significant seasonal employment and/or well-traveled “snowbirds” with second homes. So the highest vacancy rates are found in Maine, Florida, Alaska, Vermont and Arizona.”
This data includes vacation homes, second homes, homes that are under renovation, etc. In other words, the same definition as the Census data–and not necessarily homes that are available for people to purchase or rent.
Unless of course, you are an advocate for seizing people’s property for the good of others.
Being the least smelliest turd in the bowl is still a smelly turd.
With 25 million excess empty and defaulted houses out there, 4.4 of which are in CA, it’s hard to make the case that CA is any better off than other states.
Unless of course, you are an advocate for seizing people’s property for the good of others.
Never before has there been so much vacant housing. It’s all been bought and held for speculative purposes, something that’s only been discussed on this blog on a daily basis for 14 years now.
‘Many people believe California is a place of ease and beauty. What’s not to love about such a place? Apparently, there seems to be a lot.’
‘A study recently proclaimed that California has the worst quality of life in America. The state came in 50th place, right behind New Jersey and Indiana. How can this be possible? For starters, California ranked low in environmental quality and social engagement. Apparently, things are dirty in California. Also, folks don’t seem to vote or enjoy community bonding the way folks do in other states. The state also received poor marks simply because outsiders tend to think of Californians themselves as insufferable.’
‘The study also examined housing in California, a topic that is arguably the most important. For example, it’s hard to enjoy any quality of life at all if you can’t afford to keep a roof over your head.’
‘You also don’t need to be completely homeless to have a poor quality of life in California. In 2017, Harvard University reported that one-third of renters in Los Angeles were “severely rent-burdened.” This means people were forced to spend at least half of their income on housing, leaving little else for food, utilities, medicine, savings, or recreation. Living in such a manner greatly reduces one’s quality of life.’
Before some Californians get mad (it doesn’t take much to do that), objectively consider this report from the Daily Breeze:
‘Rising housing costs take a toll on South Bay residents, employers’
‘Mary Tautai and her teenage son found their dream home in Torrance last year — a two-bedroom apartment with a spacious back patio and an area out front to grow a garden. But less than a year after moving in, they got devastating news: Their $1,795 monthly rent was being hiked to $1,965.’
“I’m a single mom who makes $14 an hour. We’ll be able to afford it for a few months but it will take a toll,” Tautai said. “It doesn’t seem fair to me. It just seems like the little person is always the little person. Where’s the cap on how much a place can cost?”
‘In Houston, a two-bedroom typically rents for $1,020 while the median cost of a two-bedroom apartment in Torrance is $2,020 — $860 more than the national average, according to Apartment List. The average cost of rent in Southern California last year reached $1,750, or $21,000 a year, according to Beacon Economics. In Los Angeles County, the average monthly rate was $1,830 in 2017.’
‘Joyce Barney, 62, got a jolt last month when she was informed that her $925-a-month rent would soon jump by a staggering $670 to $1,595. She lives in a one-bedroom on Kent Avenue in Torrance and works as an office manager. “I sold my house in 2014 and moved in here because I got into a little financial difficulty and, in order to get out of it, I had to sell my house,” Barney said. “I lived there close to 30 years. Both of my daughters were as heartbroken as I was that I had to sell it.”
‘Barney, a widow, said she struggled to find someone to rent to her in 2014 because she wasn’t working. Now, she fears she’ll be homeless. “The guy upstairs moved out and said he’s going to live in his storage unit,” she said. “I can’t find an apartment I can afford.”
‘Another neighbor is moving to Florida. Barney said she is going to protest the increase because the owners haven’t responded to her complaints about mold in her bathroom. “I don’t make enough money to pay $1,600,” she said.’
‘Toni Newman, who has worked as a counselor and teacher at El Camino College for decades, is now struggling to keep up with rising rents at her Lomita apartment. “I was paying $1,900 when I moved in in 2009. In 2012, I got a $75 rent increase,” Newman said. “The next year I got another one to $2,075. Now it’s $2,475 and I know they’re going to raise it again this year. Pretty soon, when it gets close to $3,000, I will have to move.”
These guys aren’t raising rents: they are just running off their tenants.
As an outsider who has only briefly visited the state, I’d say a big part of the problem is you got too many greedy bashtards. $2,000 a month sounds pretty darn high to me, so why does it just have to be $3,000?
Most of them are Johnny-come-latelys. The vacancy is going to crucify their bottom lines, they just can’t see past their own blind greed.
“$2,000 a month sounds pretty darn high to me, so why does it just have to be $3,000?”
Not to be snarky, but the rent is high because the landlords are able to get away with it.
In other states, landlords can’t get away with it because tenants would simply take their sh*t elsewhere. When you have a lack of available housing (especially at the affordable end), tenants really don’t have much of a choice but to pay the rent or move farther away.
Said another way, if there was an abundance of housing in CA, this wouldn’t be a problem.
‘Mary Tautai and her teenage son found their dream home in Torrance last year — a two-bedroom apartment with a spacious back patio and an area out front to grow a garden. But less than a year after moving in, they got devastating news: Their $1,795 monthly rent was being hiked to $1,965.’
“I’m a single mom who makes $14 an hour.”
Check.
“It doesn’t seem fair to me.”
Check.
“It just seems like the little person is always the little person.”
That’s because the little person is always the little person.
“Where’s the cap on how much a place can cost?”
There isn’t one. Your $14 an hour wage is competing against wages that are higher. You are screwed.
Life’s a bitch, and then you die.
“It just seems like the little person is always the little person.”
Stuart Little reconciled a similar dilemma.
‘Your $14 an hour wage is competing against wages that are higher’
Not really. There’s a 12% vacancy rate in downtown and that isn’t including concessions, etc. Most renters there are paying a historically high percentage of their incomes. That’s happened all over the country. Why? Ask Mel Watt why he is financing almost all of the “value-add” apartment rent-jacking tsunami that has swept across the country. This isn’t an accident.
People are leaving California, and that’s how it works, people vote with their feet. These landlords will be wishing they could get 2k a month before it’s all over. But back to my point: too many people out there think they are entitled to get rich for nothing.
“But back to my point: too many people out there think they are entitled to get rich for nothing.”
And the irony here is that nothing drives poverty higher than a single family residence.
‘Your $14 an hour wage is competing against wages that are higher’
“Not really.”
Yes, really …
Wage info from May, 2016 …
“Workers in the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale Metropolitan Division had an average (mean) hourly wage of $26.71 in May 2016, about 12 percent above the nationwide average of $23.86, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.”
https://www.bls.gov/regions/west/news-release/occupationalemploymentandwages_losangeles.htm
If they make so much money, why are they poor?
‘In 2017, Harvard University reported that one-third of renters in Los Angeles were “severely rent-burdened.” This means people were forced to spend at least half of their income on housing’
And then there’s this:
‘The state also received poor marks simply because outsiders tend to think of Californians themselves as insufferable.’
‘The state also received poor marks simply because outsiders tend to think of Californians themselves as insufferable.’
So do I, and I live here.
The state also received poor marks simply because outsiders tend to think of Californians themselves as insufferable ??
All 39.25 million of them ??
“If they make so much money, why are they poor?”
Could it have something to do with choosing to rent at 50% of income?
“All 39.25 million of them ??”
Yes, except for me.
😁
‘Uninhabitable Oakland house With Collapsed Roof Hits the Market For $399,000′
‘A property near Paradise Park in Oakland has hit the market at $399,000. As a 1,036 square foot, single family home with three bedrooms, one bathroom some may call 1091 Alcatraz Ave in Oakland a steal.’
‘However, pictures posted to Zillow show the residence is uninhabitable, with a collapsed roof. The home is listed under single family residential because there is a structure on the property and it is not a vacant lot. However, the seller asked Joyner that no one enter the property out of safety concerns.’
‘The listing has done very well on the online real estate database, in just 11 days, it has had a total of 19,180 views. Joyner says they’ve received 17 offers and the seller is looking to accept one around March 9.’
Well here are 19,180 people who sit around and wonder why shacks cost too much when they should look in a mirror.
Mr. Banker…The “lone” person of integrity left in California…
I never claimed to be a person of integrity, I claim to not be insufferable.
Okay…The “lone” person left in California thats not insufferable..
And the fiscally irresponsible who live beyond their means with credit drive not only themselves into poverty, they drive their neighbors into poverty as well.
I do not know where this occurred but chances are good it was not in California …
https://youtu.be/-wKmpU_EJb0
“(mean) hourly wage of $26.71 in May 2016, about 12 percent above the nationwide average of $23.86″
But the median wage in 2016 was $19/hour. I guess the average for LA is skewed by high earners. Even so, Ms. Tautai needs to consider moving to a cheaper state. She could make that $14/hour in any office in the Midwest and pay half the rent.
‘Uninhabitable Oakland house With Collapsed Roof Hits the Market For $399,000′
It’s a tear down. The $399K is in the 5357 sq ft lot. 5357 sq ft sounds like a small lot, but for perspective, here’s a house 3 blocks away.
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/6429-Essex-St-Oakland-CA-94608/24757321_zpid/?fullpage=true
It’s a cutie-patootie 2/1 on a 2700 sq ft lot, listed for $700K. Other houses nearby are listed for $600-$800K.
So $399K probably IS a good price. The structure was built in 1897 and was likely worthless even before the roof collapsed. You could tear it down and build something decent for $250K and sell it for $800K - $900K.
By “good price,” I mean compared to comps of the moment. In absolutely terms, the whole state is outrageous.
[FYI, the same thing is happening in the Pimmit Hills area of Northern Virginia. 1950's development of 2/1 capes (800 sq ft), each sitting on a beautiful 1/4 acre of PRIMO location land. They are now selling for $500K as tear downs.]
That’s right, let’s blame the near-minimum-wage working mom. And let’s blame the still-working senior citizen who apparently tried to do the responsible thing by selling an asset to cover her debts and now rents.
The comments here suggest they deserve everything they get because 1) they don’t make enough money, 2) they’re driving up rents for everyone else because they “choose” to pay a disproportionate amount of their income to rent in an unexceptional area, and 3) they’re too stupid to move to a cheaper state.
It’s shocking that people can read this blog everyday and still conclude that these hard-working people are more than a tiny percentage of the problem.
Everyone mentioned has a job; sometimes more than one. They don’t take Section 8. And they’re trying to rent in places like Torrence and Inglewood, not Beverly Hills. People who work for a living should be able to afford a modest roof over their heads. Period. If they can’t, en masse, there is something else at fault.
Perhaps it has to do with decades of economic policy has deliberately engineered a 1% world and forced the 99% to pay for it. Perhaps it has to do with greedy landlords trying to to get blood from a turnip.
But no. Let’s blame Lashonda Johnson, a woman with a full-time job who managed to make it out of Compton to a better life in Inglewood. After years of stagnant wages and an overnight 17% increase, “she and her teenage son moved back to Compton… ‘Not long after we moved, a little boy was killed down the street from my house and we heard the gunshots. He said: ‘Mom, is that firecrackers?’’”
The kicker: “Even for Compton, the rent is going up.”
312 W School St, Compton, CA 90220
$374,900
https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/312-W-School-St_Compton_CA_90220_M29125-50998
It’s pending.
All DebtDonkeys want everyone to join their misery.
Those Compton prices are unreal.
What did Janet Yellen once say? The poor just need to have more assets? If Ms. Johnson had gotten over her head in debt to buy one of those lottery-ticket houses in dangerous Compton instead of renting in safer Inglewood, she’d be a rich asset owner instead of a gradually-impoverished renter. Too bad those Compton houses had more volatility than a penny stock over the past 20 years.
Lurker, you are NOT being fair to Ben, at all.
OF COURSE there’s something else at fault, and Ben has been on this blog every day telling us that this housing situation is NOT the fault of the little guy. It’s the fault of the GSEs who are backing loans for luxury construction, or allowing banks to keep zombie properties on the books at premium pricing. Or the globalists who have depressed wages, or the foreigners who have laundered money through American real estate without paying any kind of tax or penalty.
And you *do* realize that Mr. Banker is a veteren HBB poster who is deliberately posing as a heartless banker?
For myself, yes, I do think that Mary of the $14/hour should consider a cheaper state. Is she “stupid” for doing so? Maybe. Perhaps her pride will not allow her to admit that she can’t hack it in California. But we have to be honest: she CAN’T hack it in California. No it’s not fair, but there it is.
As an alternative to moving, I suppose she could march on Sacramento and demand fairness and ethics and morals and affordable housing and a great wage with a pension as if it were still 1960. That’s a great ideal to aspire to, but… which action is more likely to bring real results on an individual level?
The comments here suggest they deserve everything they get because…
Perhaps you miss a theme of the comments. The greedy specuvestors have raise the cost of housing for honest working folk. With borrowed money and subsidized by our government!
‘the $14/hour should consider a cheaper state’
Are there $14/hour jobs in California? Of course. So where are they supposed to live? 15 to a house? This is why the value add stuff bugs me so much. OK, shacks are stupid expensive. It’ll end up where it will. But apartments are supposed to be cheap. You don’t have a yard, you share walls, parking. But at least you could have a roof over your head. When apartment rents are beyond peoples ability to pay, we are at a Dickensian situation.
“So where are they supposed to live? 15 to a house?”
Some do live 15 to a house. Where does anyone think all these people who come flooding into California from other countries live? In the streets?
Well, yeah, some of them do live in the streets. But a lot of them live crowded into all rooms of a house sleeping on mattresses, live in the garage sleeping on mattresses, live in camper shells set up in the backyards on sawhorses. I am not exagerating.
These people can afford to pay out hefty rents because the hefty rents are divided up amongst them. The one person earning $14 cannot afford hefty rents because he/she has no one to help carry the load.
And so there it is.
Here’s an old article that deals with the issue I just described and here’s a snippet from the article …
“It’s difficult to assess how widespread the problem is. Cities such as Santa Ana, Anaheim and Fullerton report it’s a constant battle to shut down garage homes, where entire families often are crammed together. Whitaker talks about garages with as many as 20 people, and one where there were so many people that those living there slept in shifts.”
http://articles.latimes.com/1999/jun/10/local/me-46177
‘A study recently proclaimed that California has the worst quality of life in America. The state came in 50th place, right behind New Jersey and Indiana. How can this be possible? For starters, California ranked low in environmental quality and social engagement. Apparently, things are dirty in California. Also, folks don’t seem to vote or enjoy community bonding the way folks do in other states. The state also received poor marks simply because outsiders tend to think of Californians themselves as insufferable.’
So there it is.
How do the DC housing peops dress “value add” as a desirable policy objective? Sounds like blatant theft from the U.S. Treasury, but if there is a public purpose served by this practice, I am certainly curious to hear what it is.
What’s better: living 20 to a garage, or living outdoors?
“…things are dirty in California.”
Come on in, the water is fine!
Feds Facing Lawsuit Over Cross-Border Sewage Spills In San Diego
Friday, March 2, 2018
By Erik Anderson
Above: Polluted water flowing out of Goat Canyon into the Tijuana River Valley near the U.S.– Mexico border, March 2, 2017.
Imperial Beach and the Port of San Diego are pushing forward with plans to sue the federal government over cross-border sewage flows.
The lawsuit comes after federal officials turned back a request by San Diego area politicians and regulators to take steps to stop the cross-border sewage flows. The region has endured poor water quality linked to renegade sewage flows for decades.
The International Boundary and Water Commission was asked to take steps to alleviate the persistent sewage flooding.
Those requests included building a basin system that could catch and control flows of raw sewage, fortifying systems that catch and divert flows coming through certain canyons and doing more frequent water quality testing at significantly more locations.
…
Another snippet from the article …
“And you have to understand, for some people, garage living isn’t substandard housing,” said Shear of Orange. “Some have come here from another country where they were living virtually in cardboard boxes.”
“It’s shocking that people can read this blog everyday and still conclude that these hard-working people are more than a tiny percentage of the problem.”
Some don’t care about the long-term ramifications of their own actions. It matters not if their actions ruin the lives of others. It matters not if their actions sabotage individual liberty, even their own.
As we know, Keynesian economics ruins economics.
Worse is the damage it does to the soul.
MacBeth, so what are you thinking? That these $14/hour American workers should band together en masse and demand better working conditions, higher pay, and lower rents? Well, they are doing this already. Workers are effectively going on strike, thinking that employers will break before they do.
But guess what, that hasn’t worked in 40 years. When low-paid Americans refuse to take jobs like this, do business lower wages? Do LLs lower rents? Do politicians step in to help? Hell no — they all say that “these are jobs that Americans refuse to do” and import more immigrants to do those jobs and live 5 to a house, especially in CA.
I think the money tap (the FED printing press) needs to be curtailed significantly.
these are jobs that Americans refuse to do” and import more immigrants to do those jobs and live 5 to a house, especially in CA.
This is an astute observation oxide. Also, I agree with you that some workers outside of the labor force are effectively on strike in some cases. It might be rational to conclude that living with one’s parents and binge watching Netflix is a better option than working at low-wages and paying exorbitant sums of money to a landlord. Not that I am excusing laziness or sloth, but I think this “pull yourselves up by the bootstraps” narrative misses the point, kind of like these medicaid work requirements. Most, if not all, of my patients who are on medicaid are already working, some of them long hours and difficult, low paying jobs. It’s a false narrative that is sold by the moneyed class as they try to pit the middle class (or what remains of it) against the working poor while distracting them from the wide chasm of wealth inequality.
Ben said it very well elsewhere on this blog. It should be possible to live in an apartment at $14/hr, even in CA. The fact that this can’t really be done speaks volumes to the type of economy and housing structure our political economy has created.
Thanks for agreeing! The economy and housing structure are such behemoths that individuals like Mary simply can’t make much headway to change it, even if there are several million of Marys. At best, they can vote for Trump because they are looking for something, anything, to break the logjam, even if they have to accept Trump’s boorishness in return. But even he isn’t making any headway against the globalist mindset.
So yes, if Mary moves to a cheaper state, she is sort of admitting defeat. She’s an economic migrant. But it’s less of a defeat than staying in CA.
By the way, I have to disagree with you on the Medicaid work requirements. Republican governors believe that there are always a few thousand fraudsters who game the system, and that has been holding them back from expanding Medicaid to the their states. But if there are requirements to weed out those gaming the system, those governors are more willing to expand Medicaid to those who need it. IIUC, the work requirements will actually cover more people, not fewer.
“It should be possible to live in an apartment at $14/hr, even in CA.”
It probably is, but not in Torrance, or even Compton.
Here’s a place that may satisfy her needs …
https://goo.gl/images/TQSNYL
Republican governors believe that there are always a few thousand fraudsters who game the system, and that has been holding them back from expanding Medicaid to the their states.
There are plenty of fraudsters, but they are mostly on the provider side, rarely on the patient side.
But as far as realpolitik is concerned, if a medicaid work requirement is what it takes to expand the safety net, then it’s probably worth it. Ideologically though, I think many who push this view it as a first step towards dismantling medicaid.
Denver, CO 80211 Housing Prices Crater 9% YOY On Record High Cash-out Refinancing
https://www.zillow.com/denver-co-80211/home-values/
*Select price from dropdown menu on first chart
Something from non-luxury Florida housing
91-year-old partially blind woman claims relative stole her house
MARCH 1, 2018
King fell behind on her taxes, owing about $5,000 to the county. That’s when a relative approached her about helping.
“He said he was going to just pay the tax and sign my house over to him,” King said.
However, what the relative brought her was a quitclaim deed.
“He said, ‘You sign this.’ I cannot see good, my eyes are bad, and I couldn’t see what I was writing. He just told me, ‘Sign here,’” she said.
“He’s supposed to turn it back over to her after everything’s done, and it didn’t happen,” said King’s son, Jerome.
Months later, an eviction arrived at King’s home.
https://wsvn.com/news/local/91-year-old-partially-blind-woman-claims-relative-stole-her-house/
There is a special place in hell for somebody like this.
‘These are baseless allegations made almost a decade after Fortune Ocean built and delivered the Jade Ocean condominium to buyers in the midst of the worst real estate collapse South Florida has ever seen’
Still suing each other and you already have another collapse underway.
Could you translate this for me?
“falsely said most of the Jade units were sold before construction and the unit contracts were enforceable to persuade Ocean Tower to lend”
Does this mean that that the developer drew up the Jade tower on paper, said that the units were sold, and that’s how they convinced Ocean Tower (the bank) to lend them the construction money? What does it mean when a “unit contract is enforceable?”
‘New condo developments fared particularly badly in January as the average price fell almost 50% to $3.6 million from $6.9 million in December’
What happens to the savvy investors who snapped up a bargain in December? Developers don’t care about their past buyers.
What happens to the savvy investors who snapped up a bargain in December ??
I suspect many if not most are not “savvy” they are just looking for a place to hide…I suspect that once a few dirty buyers find a place to hide, that information likely goes through the underground black markets and more dirty money pours in…What other explanation would you have for towers of condo’s with no lights on…
IMO, these world wide money launderers look at their 10’s of millions as not having much value at all because there is no place to spend it without getting caught…So, if you put $1.00 in of dirty money and sometime later you get 50 cents back that is “clean” they are likely ecstatic about that…
The bigger problem for all the rest is the distortion of the market place that occurs…
Why Is California Rebuilding in Fire Country? Because You’re Paying for It:
“As climate change creates warmer, drier conditions, which increase the risk of fire, California has a chance to rethink how it deals with the problem. Instead, after the state’s worst fire season on record, policymakers appear set to make the same decisions that put homeowners at risk in the first place. Driven by the demands of displaced residents, a housing shortage, and a thriving economy, local officials are issuing permits to rebuild without updating building codes. They’re even exempting residents from zoning rules so they can build bigger homes.
State officials have proposed shielding people in fire-prone areas from increased insurance premiums—potentially at the expense of homeowners elsewhere in California—in an effort to encourage them to remain in areas certain to burn again. The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) spent a record $700 million on fire suppression from July to January, yet last year Governor Jerry Brown suspended the fee that people in fire-prone areas once paid to help offset those costs.
Critics warn that those decisions, however well-intentioned, create perverse incentives that favor the short-term interests of homeowners at the edge of the wilderness—leaving them vulnerable to the next fire while pushing the full cost of risky building decisions onto state and federal taxpayers, firefighters, and insurance companies. “The moral hazard being created is absolutely enormous,” says Ian Adams, a policy analyst at the R Street Institute, which advocates using market signals to address climate risk. “If you want to rebuild in an area where there’s a good chance your home is going to burn down again, go for it. But I don’t want to be subsidizing you.”
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2018-03-01/why-is-california-rebuilding-in-fire-country-because-you-re-paying-for-it
California crime is second to none. Those people invent new ways to defraud every day
Not a difficult task. It is not that they haven’t already been sufficiently dumbed-down.
“California crime is second to none.”
You’ve never been to South Florida, have you?
“You’ve never been to South Florida, have you?”
+1 Florida is a sunny place for shady people.
“As climate change creates warmer, drier conditions…”
I disagreed with the premise, so I ignored the rest of the article.
Funny how that works.
The Thomas Fire that burned 282,000 acres and replaced brush-covered hillsides with blackened, barren vistas is likely contributing to growing waves of valley fever disease in Ventura County, said area lung and infectious disease specialists.
In January alone, 55 possible cases of the fungal disease with symptoms that can mimic the flu were reported in Ventura County, according to provisional data from the California Department of Public Health.
I don’t think its the fire , I would think the fire would burn the fungus out ?
Construction equipment brings it up to the surface.
The fungus is in the soil …
“The fungus grows in the soil. It gets into the air when the ground is broken and the dirt and dust spread into the air”
https://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/tc/valley-fever-topic-overview
There’s a fungus amungus!
If you want to rebuild in an area where there’s a good chance your home is going to burn down again, go for it. But I don’t want to be subsidizing you.”
Go for it? HELL NO. Even if the homeowners bore the full cost of rebuilding by themselves, just the act of rebuilding is sure to endanger the health and lives of the firefighters who have to go in to save their sorry butts next time.
Trump’s tariffs ‘could not have come at a worse time’ for anyone planning to buy a home:
“The US housing industry is in the crosshairs of President Donald Trump’s planned tariffs on steel and aluminum.
The National Association of Homebuilders was among several trade organizations that spoke out against the tariffs, or import taxes, announced on Thursday. That’s because higher steel costs would raise construction costs for its members, which could eventually could be passed on to homebuyers.
“Given that home builders are already grappling with 20 percent tariffs on Canadian softwood lumber and that the price of lumber and other key building materials are near record highs, this announcement by the president could not have come at a worse time,” Randy Noel, chairman of the NAHB, said in a statement.”
http://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-tariff-impact-on-housing-and-construction-2018-3
What would be really awesome is if a crackdown were announced, in conjunction with the new tariffs, on foreign money launderers who park their loot in U.S. residential real estate investments.
on foreign money launderers who park their loot in U.S. residential real estate investments ??
Its more like all real estate including commercial/industrial/Ag….
South Florida will require a twenty-foot storm surge to possibly slow it down.
I wonder if the same regulations meant to crack down on foreign money launderers would also hit illegal immigrants who are buying houses on that Mel Watt roommate-income mortgage.
Affordable housing tops list of Denver worries in poll:
“Denver’s high cost of housing and lack of affordable alternatives appears to be city residents’ biggest concern, and a majority are likely to support some increase in property or sales taxes to fix the problem.
That’s the indication of a public opinion poll conducted last month on behalf of All In Denver, a non-profit public advocacy organization that focuses on urban sustainability issues.
After housing, education, homelessness and cost of living in Denver were the top concerns. Transportation came in fifth place among the top concerns in the poll, followed by public safety, jobs and the economy, parks and trails, taxes, green issues and sustainability and libraries.”
https://www.bizjournals.com/denver/news/2018/03/02/affordable-housing-tops-list-of-denver-worries-in.html
“Denver’s high cost of housing and lack of affordable alternatives appears to be city residents’ biggest concern, and a majority are likely to support some increase in property or sales taxes to fix the problem.”
Colorado = The Next California.
Yeah, yeah. I know. TABOR.
Enjoy Colorado as long as you can…then get the hell out.
I expect the city of Denver voters to “de-Bruce” Denver and exempt it form TABOR. The suburbs … probably not. In my little burg getting a $100 a month property tax increase approved by voters is next to impossible.
Catching Up With Retirement After a Recession:
“A number of Americans had to delay their plans to retire when the economic crisis hit in 2008. Some lost their jobs, some took serious losses to their 401(k) plans and some had to go back to work because of the shortfall in their retirement savings.
In the decade since, people who were close to retirement have struggled to replenish their lost savings and now are focused on financial security. We revisited some near-retirees who had been interviewed by The New York Times about coping during the recent recession along with others who stepped up to tell the stories of how they managed in ensuing years.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/03/business/retirement/catching-up-with-retirement-after-a-recession.html
The very first story is about a Ms Carol Shoberg of Milwaukee, Wis.
Here are my responses to her woes:
>”But as a divorced mother of three children and grandmother of four, relocation was not possible for her.”
Nonsense. People move away from family all the time for a job. That you didn’t want to isn’t my problem.
> “At 60, she was not ready to retire, and available jobs paid $20 an hour compared with her previous six-figure salary, so she began providing outplacement services.”
So Carol, you were making $100K plus in Milwaukee? What did you do with all that dough? Blow it all? On what? In Milwaukee, you easily could have saved $2500 a month. $30K a year.
> “I had to start all over, and begin putting as much money away as I could,” she said.
In other words, you never saved much to begin with. Did you have a HELOC as well? And now I’m supposed to feel sorry for you. I don’t.
She might be bankrolling the kids and grandkids. I see this quite a bit - with all the offspring living a lifestyle well above their salaries - if they have a salary at all. Fancy phones, new cars, getting edumacated in basket weaving or some such at some podunk college no ones ever heard of but charges big $$. Economic predation is the single most lucrative career field in this country in the past 2-4 decades.
If you’re good at math your as rare as hens teeth in many parts of this country. Physics, EE - fugedaboutit. You might as well be from another planet. And why should people bother studying those things when they can be an RE agent and swindle fools while trading a little crypto in the side.
Feel me Mr. Banker?
No mention of the piss-poor 401k gains the past 10-yrs.
Article written about young people set back by the recession:
“Lazy, get a job, work, bootstraps, blah, blah, blah”
Article written about old people set back by the recession:
“Oh these poor people who never invested and threw away their money, let’s feel bad for them”
I mean, six figure job in Milwaukee for many years with nothing to show for it? Tell me where I should feel bad?
true story - friend of my wife.
She was in a the beginning of company (less than 10 employees). As the company grew (hightech), she kept getting promoted even though she was a glorified office manager.
She was making $120K base before stock and bonuses. Life was good- for example she would take vacations to Napa and send dozens of bottles of expensive wine.
When she was finally pushed out in 2012 from a merger, she refused to get any work below her ’station’. Fast-forward to 2016 and she had spent everything. She is now in a a relative’s basement (although in a nice neighbourhood) ….
In her early 60’s she is completely dependent from the good graces of friends.
That woman is clueless. Always was.
She was extremely fortunate and didn’t recognize it. She clearly didn’t have the skills to warrant the pay, and masked her incompetence with arrogance. Capped it off leading a hedonistic lifestyle.
What was that recurring line in today’s threads? Oh, yeah, it was this:
‘The state also received poor marks simply because outsiders tend to think of Californians themselves as insufferable.’
Your wife’s friend may not be Californian, but she fits the stereotype.
The very least she could have done is recognize her good fortune, and keep her mouth shut about it. Not smart enough to do even that.
Hers isn’t even an example of The Peter Principle for gosh sakes.
Exactly. I make a good salary now, but I also grew up during a recession in the 80s where my Dad was out of work and times were tough. I save a lot, I spend some but never would I ever think it’s gonna last forever.
“Lemme tell ya something Tony, or maybe you can read it in the papers…..everything comes to an end” - Carmella Soprano
It’s easy to be conned into believing that you piss perfume.
Compilation of articles and editorials dated March 4, 2018 — How homelessness became an intractable crisis:
“Over the last several days, rain offered the Southland a respite from the dry winter the region had been experiencing. But it’s worth taking a moment to reflect on the 58,000 people in Los Angeles County who have no roof over their head and perhaps no dry clothes to change into. The homelessness crisis here is a multifaceted conundrum with no easy solution, but its scope and scale are impossible to ignore. The Los Angeles Times has devoted significant resources to exploring how it got so bad and whether there’s a way to solve this problem.”
http://www.latimes.com/newsletters/la-me-ln-essential-california-20180304-story.html
58,000 homeless in LA County alone? Holy smokes, pretty soon you’re talking real numbers!
Bear in mind the LA County population is north of 10 million. 58,000 represents 1 in 172 of them.
America’s costliest house: developer takes $500m gamble on Bel Air eyrie:
“Sweeping in every direction is a panoramic view of Los Angeles and the Pacific Ocean. Beneath him is a gargantuan glass and marble residence with moats, four swimming pools, 20 bedrooms, a nightclub, a bowling alley, a cinema and walls and ceilings made of jellyfish aquariums. Price: $500m.
The construction of this and other so-called giga-mansions underscores a new gilded age in the United States and especially in LA. Tech tycoons and other plutocrats are splashing fortunes for homes breaking records for scale, opulence and excess.
The splurge comes amid a housing shortage that has fuelled a homelessness crisis, with 57,000 people without permanent shelter in LA county, a ragged army that pitches tents on sidewalks and sleeps in cars, doorways and on the beach. The Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez compared the city’s hilltop mansions to giant tombstones marking the death of humility.”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/mar/04/most-expensive-house-los-angeles-niles-niami
“When films didn’t make enough money he switched to real estate.”
Ta-da!
Ben would like this part:
He gave the Guardian a tour of the Opus, a 20,500 sq ft mansion on a cul-de-sac known as Billionaire’s Row.
It went on the market last year for $100m, including Damien Hirst paintings and a luxury car museum. No one bit so Niami excluded the art and the cars and recently dropped the price to $77.5m.
So this guy had to drop the price of “The Opus,” his other mansion, 23%, and he still thinks he can sell the “The One” for 5x that?
A longgggggg read and…… how’s the real estate doin’ in Uzbekistan?
Why is it always the same cast of characters?
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/15/us/shell-company-bel-air-mansion.html
What If America Didn’t Have Public Schools?
“The United States has witnessed heightened interest in the role of private schools in the broader K-12 education landscape since Donald Trump tapped Betsy DeVos as the country’s education secretary in 2016. DeVos is a vocal proponent of voucher programs, which allocate taxpayer money to families—namely those who couldn’t otherwise afford it—that want to enroll their children in private schools. Parents choose to send their kids to private schools for all kinds of reasons—religious affiliation, single-sex classrooms, specialized curricula, strong academics, and location, among others. For some parents, a small, specialized campus is the dream setting for their child; others are afraid of parochial schools teaching their kids as much about the Bible as it does math. Many other parents still, of course, are simply happy with—and often prefer—the default public option in their neighborhood.”
https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2018/03/what-if-america-didnt-have-public-schools/552308/
Don’t ban guns. Ban schools.
Giant swamp rats are poised to dig into California. Should we eat ‘em?
“It’s been about a month since California wildlife officials started sounding the alarm on nutria, invasive South American rodents that look like enormous, 20-pound rats and have the power to devastate wetlands. They’re making a comeback after being eradicated in the 1970s and have been spotted in Stanislaus, Fresno, Tuolumne and Merced counties so far.
“We didn’t know at first if it was a small, isolated population,” California Department of Fish and Wildlife spokesman Peter Tira told the Chronicle in February. “But it became clear that it’s a breeding population, and they’re reaching major waterways where they can move.”
It was only a matter of time until someone suggested eating them.
A recent article on tech news site The Verge, entitled “The case for eating California’s giant invasive rodents,” broached the topic recently, pointing out that nutria “apparently taste great in jambalaya.”
https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/nutria-should-we-eat-invasive-species-swamp-rats-12726054.php
The Cajuns imported them for their fur. Great idea!
One thing I understood in Louisiana, every thing is good for making Gumbo.
http://www.geniuskitchen.com/recipe/smothered-nutria-cajun-style-418543
They need to introduce them into the Florida Everglades to address a shortage of food for the Burmese pythons there that are not picky in their diet. The pythons will eat organic to stay healthy, but, inorganic is acceptable, too.
“…invasive South American rodents that look like enormous, 20-pound rats and have the power to devastate wetlands…”
Pffft. That ain’t nothin’. How about a 200 lb Capybara?
http://library.sandiegozoo.org/factsheets/capybara/capybara.htm
How Chicago Ticket Debt Sends Black Motorists Into Bankruptcy:
“For Chicago’s working poor, and particularly for African Americans, a single unpaid parking or automated traffic camera ticket can quickly spiral out of control and threaten their livelihoods. Bankruptcy offers a temporary reprieve, giving these motorists the chance to resume driving without fear of getting pulled over or losing their vehicles to the city pound.
The problem has gotten worse over the past decade, ProPublica Illinois found in an analysis of bankruptcies filed in the Northern District of Illinois, which includes Chicago and its suburbs.
In 2007, an estimated 1,000 Chapter 13 bankruptcies included debts to the city, usually for unpaid tickets, with the median amount claimed around $1,500 per case. By last year, the number of cases surpassed 10,000, with the typical debt to the city around $3,900. Though the numbers of tickets issued did not rise during that time, the city increased the costs of fines, expanded its traffic camera program and sought more license suspensions.
Legal experts say what’s happening in Chicago’s bankruptcy courts is unique. Parking, traffic and vehicle compliance tickets prompt so many bankruptcies the court here leads the nation in Chapter 13 filings.
It’s a problem fueled both by the city’s increasingly aggressive ticketing to boost revenue — tickets brought in nearly $264 million in 2016, or about 7 percent of the city’s $3.6 billion operating budget — and a handful of law firms that pitch bankruptcy protection as a cheap solution to drivers’ woes.
“If you’re a city government that has a policy of basically balancing the budget by issuing huge numbers of traffic tickets, you have to expect this response,” said John Rao, an attorney who specializes in bankruptcy at the nonprofit National Consumer Law Center. “There’s obviously a market for consumers who are in need of relief, and while it’s not the perfect form of relief, the other options aren’t that great either.”
https://features.propublica.org/driven-into-debt/chicago-ticket-debt-bankruptcy/
particularly for African Americans
These tickets are issued when the driver is gone from the car, or by an automated camera. So it’s pretty hard to imply that African Americans are somehow singled out just for being African American.
Maybe they see the ridiculous rims and issue a ticket. Styling leads to pro-filing muh bruthas!
they keep playing the card
It’d be an interesting statistic to see how many haven’t paid their delinquent parking tickets because they’ve since been murdered.
What about it, Chicago? How about publishing THOSE statistics?
Photo gallery: Heartbreaking scenes of homelessness from a ‘national disgrace’
“What Hong shows us through his lens is a collection of people living raw, destitute lives in a place the Los Angeles Times describes as “a Dickensian dystopia in downtown Los Angeles.” There are many people there — some because of economic reasons and some for mental health reasons. But what is certain is that the sight of so many people without a place to live is a heart-rending one, as you can see through Hong’s images here.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/in-sight/wp/2018/03/02/heartbreaking-scenes-of-homelessness-from-a-national-disgrace/?utm_term=.8f2ac454666c
If you’re not mainlining… you’re not partying.
Drugs and alcohol are the devils nectar. The percentage of people unemployed and/or homeless that have a problem with at least one of those is probably somewhere between 40-80%.
How does the photographer determine his subject is “mentally ill”? Just because he’s on the street?
Victor Davis Hanson breaks down the cold hard reality of Clownifornia
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnVBoZi8hEo
Love the Q&A at the end too. Cherry flavored truth bombs all over the place.
Get. Out. Now.
With all the discussion about the Kushner Companies role in the Qatar economic blockage, purportedly resulting from a rebuff of an investment offer by the same, I’m reminded of George Bush’s 1989 response during the Iran-Contra incident: “There was no quid pro quo.”
Kind of a famous retort
I mean, I have no idea of the reality of what’s going on, but I was listening to news radio this morning discussing the issue, and thought, “That’s what Kushner needs to say”.
“The facts that we know of in the murder of the DNC staffer, Seth Rich, was that he was gunned down blocks from his home on July 10, 2016. Washington Metro police detectives claim that Mr. Rich was a robbery victim, which is strange since after being shot twice in the back, he was still wearing a $2,000 gold necklace and watch. He still had his wallet, key and phone. Clearly, he was not a victim of robbery”
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-03-02/contradictions-seth-rich-murder-continue-challenge-hacking-narrative
“Logrolling is the trading of favors, or quid pro quo, such as vote trading by legislative members to obtain passage of actions of interest to each legislative member.[1] In an academic context, the Nuttall Encyclopedia describes logrolling as “mutual praise by authors of each other’s work”. In organizational analysis, it refers to a practice in which different organizations promote each other’s agendas, each in the expectation that the other will reciprocate.” —Wikipedia
Seth wasn’t willing to roll with it. Hence, the double-tap and official police brush-off. As they would say on the other coast, “Forget it, Jake… it’s Chinatown.”
What does Seth Rich have to do with Jared Kushner? Was he mixed up in that mess on top of his debt woes?
San Francisco, CA 94109 Housing Prices Crater 13% YOY As Residents Flee West Coast Crime And Failing Economy
https://www.zillow.com/san-francisco-ca-94109/home-values/
*Select Price from dropdown menu on first chart
California is the most impoverished state in the country.
Look at the Washington Post photo gallery posted above.
This is what California is: absolute squalor and human misery.
Colorado = The Next California.
How soon do you think it will be before the Denver homeless take over streets other than 16th?
It’s already happened.
The Denver Police mostly keep them out of affluent areas like Cherry Creek, Highlands, Washington Park, but there are panhandlers on every corner and highway off-ramp in most of the city.
As I mentioned in a previous post, the ATM lobby of the Wells Fargo Bank building near Broadway and Hampden is now locked overnight to keep people from sleeping in there. I went there this morning to pull out some $$$ and some freak was sitting on a bench outside talking to himself waving his hands in the air.
Closer to (but not in) downtown, East Colfax and West Colfax are particularly nasty. A female electrician I know (yes, they do exist) found a dead body of a homeless man on her jobsite at Sloan’s Lake.
This is the “fundamental transformation” that you were promised…
When the time comes and you recognize it’s time to leave Colorado, where do you think you’d go?
Back to Ohio where I was born and lived for 3 decades.
Time will tell…
“I went back to Ohio
But my city was gone
There was no train station
There was no downtown
South Howard had disappeared
All my favorite places
My city had been pulled down
Reduced to parking spaces
Ay, oh, way to go, Ohio…”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wplUBFVsbtw
Meanwhile, in Washington, DC…
The Northwest Washington lifestyle trap: $500,000 in income and still can’t save:
“If the mortgage is $5,000 a month and day care is $3,000, and they have significant student loan payments, and they bring in $13,000, $14,000, $15,000 take-home, that leaves very little left over for the electric bill,” Atwood said. “The first thing I am looking for is are they overcommitted on fixed costs?”
“Over-housing” is the culprit that snares many people into the Northwest D.C. lifestyle trap.
“They don’t have to have the house they own,” Atwood said. “There are times I have said, ‘You have to move.’ ”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/the-northwest-washington-lifestyle-trap-500000-in-income-and-still-cant-save/2018/03/02/b2f23a4c-1c0a-11e8-9de1-147dd2df3829_story.html?utm_term=.6ecd441ccc35
LMAO! What morons.
Let’s say they bring in the lesser amount -$13000. They pay $8000 total monthly for housing and kiddie daycare (colossal dumb@sses, but I digress).
That leaves $5,000. They spend all that on student loans, utilities and food? That’s some mighty ‘pensive schoolin’ right them thar.
The idea that that $13,000 has to be net wages is mindblowing, considering that they couldn’t afford to pay their mortgage if that $13K was gross.
What the h@ll am I supposed to make of this, everybody?
I love articles like that because it points out the fallacy of the higher-wages/grow-yourself-out-of-a-bubble model. If this couple gets a raise to $600k a year, will it all be ok? How about a million a year? Is that enough?
Take away a zero at the end and that’s the proposed solution for everyone’s financial woes. People just need to get paid more so they can continue to fork over outlandish sums to health care companies, education institutions and housing. Problem solved!
Unless the real problem is less about wages and more about the wildly out-of-balance cost basis of our economy, nurtured by years of debt-driven asset bubbles.
Precisely.
There is no growing your way out of any of this. We wouldn’t be in this recession if it were possible. Again….. How many times must DebtDonkeys be asked this eternal truth….
Do you really believe wages will triple or quadruple to meet grossly inflated housing prices?
Of course they don’t believe it and neither does anyone else.
Slate Star Codex had a good commentary on a Bloomberg piece that references “Cost Disease”. It hits on many of the points you make here:
http://slatestarcodex.com/2017/02/09/considerations-on-cost-disease/
Say two adult “meals” and two children’s (”happy”) meals. That’s about $25 per visit. Sounds like that’s what they eat for dinner every week night.
That’s more than most people stash into their 401Ks.
I’m thinking we probably spend $200/month at Chipotle, but consider it a good deal. It’s one of the few fast food restaurants where I can get grilled veggies, fresh guac, pico, black beans, brown rice and feed myself and my son for $7. I consider it money well spent.
Paying off credit cards, upping 401(k) contributions: These people found the secret to financial success is a few strong drinks:
“Some Reddit users shared their tendency to make drunk financial choices that were actually positive. User sealclubber281 recently wrote that he checked his bank account and was shocked to see that his tax refund had disappeared — until he remembered that while drunk the night before he used it all to pay off his credit cards.
“After six beers, I start beefing up my savings and paying off credit cards like a mad man,” he said. “Wise move, drunk me. Because I probably would have gone shopping otherwise.”
Making investments and credit-card payments is better than the usual effects of drinking on financial decisions: Americans spend an average of $206 on drunk purchases in one alcohol-fueled shipping spree, a study from Finder.com found.
Some 46% of people who regularly drink alcohol each week also make spontaneous purchases while drunk and two in five of these people (39%) admitted to buying shoes or clothes while intoxicated.
Like drunk shopping, drunk financial reorganization is not sustainable, or even advisable in the short term, said Mark Hamrick, senior economic analyst at personal-finance site Bankrate.com.”
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/paying-off-credit-cards-upping-401k-contributions-these-people-found-the-secret-to-financial-success-is-a-few-strong-drinks-2018-02-16
why isnt this a feel good story?
This is better financial advice than listening to the crooks at the wsj.
Cost of 6 beers - $18
Benefit of paying down high interest credit cards - Huge ROI
A pitcher of home brew hard cider = $1.
Drinking and dialing potentially unimaginably expensive.
Where’s the article on the guys who get smashed and go gambling online?
im banking on my inheritance to help me buy another house.
It’s too bad your family did not pass on honest good sense.
do u think we should default on chinese debt or japanese debt first?
I was hoping you’d mention Uzbekistan.
The Chinese in San Jose say you have to have at least 4 homes by the time you’re 40 or you are a failure
If your home isn’t making 10K a year you’re doing somthing wrong ( Ok this was a white guy who said this) Or maybe it was a month can’t remember. probably a month.
They like to brag about their RE in Santa Clara CA , down here we are in the cheap part of CA.
those folks are the biggest gamblers I have ever seen.
And just going by the odds, gambler = loser 99.9% of the time. But this time will be different!
They’ll be lucky to escape with the pajamas on their backs, lol. I especially like how so many smoke even with the already abysmal air in that part of the world. Dont expect herr leader Winnie the Pooh to fix things either, he’s probably stuck in a hole trying to get honey.
7054 Oswego Ct,
Moorpark, CA 93021
4 beds 2.5 baths 2,400 sqft
FOR RENT
$4,200 /mo
Rent Zestimate®: $3,300 /mo
List your rental on Zillow. It’s free!
Davey, here is some of the blowback on tariffs from Europe.
“Juncker told German television stations. “We must show that we can also take measures. This cannot be a unilateral transatlantic action by the Americans,”…“We will put tariffs on Harley-Davidson, on bourbon and on blue jeans – Levi’s,”
That’s their big guns? Hardly like poking our eye out.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/mar/02/china-expresses-grave-concerns-us-steel-tariff-plans
Canada’s Trudeau2 simply says “US tariffs on steel and aluminum would be “absolutely unacceptable”.
Does that mean he will cry or poke our eye out? I have no idea. He already shut down our milk imports to Canada, to save Canadian jobs. What about that Justin?
This is an interesting study in the dynamics of abusive relationships. These countries expect the US to lie down and be taken advantage of, because why?
companies will just raise prices and buyback stock. the american consumer loses.
As a taxpayer, I would rather have my neighbor working at the Alcoa plant in Oswego making aluminum than have him on unemployment, then disability and welfare, because there are no jobs. I’ll pay a few cents more for the things I buy and not mind a bit. The stockholders may also get lower returns, I don’t know. For sure, I wouldn’t own any shares of a company which was borrowing to buy back their own shares.
+1000
+1
That’s their big guns? Hardly like poking our eye out.
The fact is that for the most part the rest of the world only buys stuff from us when they have no other choice. If they make it themselves they erect trade barriers, while expecting us to leave our trade doors wide open.
And now that we’re threatening to slam the door shut they’re freaking out.
He already shut down our milk imports to Canada, to save Canadian jobs. What about that Justin?
Get with the narrative, dude! It’s ALWAYS OK when they do it to us. When we do it, they stamp their feet and soil their shorts, because they’re the ones with the most to lose.
CNN Now Attacking Infowars Sponsors In Free Speech Crackdown:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8oVvBOhTsM8
Ben Jones, how much longer will “free speech” on the internet exist?
Depends on how you look at it. I first saw Jones on the Austin cable access show. He had 30 minutes a week. Now across the various media his audience probably rivals CNN.
That reminds me of an Alex Jones story. I was campaigning with Ron Paul one day in 1994. We spent the whole day crisscrossing around in three vehicles along with the campaign manager. At lunch they told me Ron was taping a show with Alex that evening. We finally found the studio in east Austin and I started to leave. Ron asked me, “don’t you want to come in and meet Alex?” I had never heard of him and said “naw, I’m tired I’m going home.” Looking back on it I should have taken 5 minutes and met the guy.
Its obviously a coordinated effort to get all social media under the thumb of an unelected group of bureaucrats who will decide what is “acceptable” speech. Housing prices out of whack? Off to the gallows for you Mr. Jones!
I take issue with your using the word “bureaucrat.”
While not elected, bureaucrats are bound to enforce existing regulations (which are indirectly passed by an elected Congress). If you as a member of the public do not like a regulation, you have some recourse to appeal. Every day, the Federal Register publishes the government’s activity for all to see, and almost every FR entry contains instructions on how to register a comment or request or complaint to that section of the government.
The folks trying to shut down Alex Jones, however, are *not* bound to follow public law or regulation in any way. It’s a class of private 0.01%ers, or connected journalists with an axe to grind, or globalists sucking $40 hot dogs in smoke-filled rooms. Not exactly open to the public.
Hey Donk
Newcastle, WA Housing Prices Crater 24% YOY As Seattle Area Rental Rates Plummet
https://www.movoto.com/newcastle-wa/market-trends/
Your property taxes just jumped by more than 50 percent. Now what
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/realestate/your-property-taxes-just-jumped-by-more-than-50-percent-now-what/ar-BBJP8eW?li=BBnbfcN
People who think it’s great when house prices rise are lunatics.
I didn’t realize some towns only reassess every great once in a while. The article says Jersey City hasn’t done it since 1988, and now the residents are receiving their new tax bills. Just in time not to be able to deduct anything above $10,000.
“For Keren Vered, a Jersey City resident, community activist and fashion industry consultant, the $18,000 tax hike on her townhouse translates to an additional outlay of about $1,500 a month.
That’s on top of the $10,000 she already paid annually in property taxes prior to the city’s reassessment. Then there are other regular monthly costs she’ll need to weigh.”
Ouch.
Incredible. Eventually the taxpayers will be politicking NRA style.
Donald Trump says he’s open to Dianne Feinstein’s assault weapons age limit – or even a ban
BY EMILY CADEI
February 28, 2018 03:17 PM
WASHINGTON
Sen. Dianne Feinstein got a high-profile boost for her new legislation to raise the minimum age for purchasing assault rifles.
http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article202729549.html
White House walks back Trump’s gun control comments hours after Oval Office meeting with NRA
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Friday, March 2, 2018, 2:07 PM
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/w-h-walks-back-trump-gun-control-comments-nra-meeting-article-1.3851299
You aren’t the first Dianne Feinstein.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddmXM-96-no
The NRA is dooming itself with its stance. They could advance some reasonable gun control regulation and guide the narrative as an active partner, but instead they dig in and try to fight any proposal tooth and nail. There should be universal background checks and the gun show loophole should be closed. There are plenty of reasonable restrictions that would qualify as “well regulated militia” that would jive with the 2nd amendment.
A comment in last weeks version of The Economist said it well:
“It is unlikely that a generation raised on lockdown drills, with access to phone footage of gun rampages and a waning interest in hunting, will grow up parroting the National Rifle Association’s rhetoric as enthusiastically as today’s political leaders. Change is coming.”
All of my extended family, save my father, vote Republican. And all of them detest the NRA, but it wasn’t always so. The evolution happened when my wife was in a mass shooting and everyone was appalled by the hard-line stance that the NRA took. Right now there are a lot of NRA supported congress members whose re-election is bankrolled by them. But watch out when one highly rated NRA member loses re-election. Watch how quickly these congress members will stop parroting the NRA’s line word for word.
R u gonna BTFD this week?
If President Donald Trump’s tariffs go into effect, one of Wall Street’s long-time bulls suggests stocks will get hammered.
Raymond James’ Jeffrey Saut says the safest place for investors is on the sidelines until there’s more clarity.
“If this spills over into a full-blown trading war, then I have no idea where the bottom is going to be in this,” the firm’s chief investment strategist said Friday on CNBC’s “Trading Nation.” “I’m just kind of sitting on my hands right here until the dust clears.”
On Thursday, Trump announced the United States will institute tariffs on steel and aluminum as early as next week. The news sparked a deep stock sell-off. For the week ending Friday, the Dow fell 3 percent and the S&P 500 dropped 2 percent.
“We’ll have to see what happens in the next couple of weeks because I think it’s going to take that long to sort it out,” he added. “If you’re going to see a retaliatory move, you’re going to see it in the next couple of weeks.”
if you are holding onto to huge gains u r a fool not to sell.
hogs get slaughtered!
Sell when u can, not when u have to.
“if you are holding onto to huge gains u r a fool not to sell.”
“Nobody ever lost money taking a profit.” —Bernard Baruch
Donald Trump says he’s open to Dianne Feinstein’s assault weapons age limit – or even a ban
BY EMILY CADEI
February 28, 2018 03:17 PM
WASHINGTON
Sen. Dianne Feinstein got a high-profile boost for her new legislation to raise the minimum age for purchasing assault rifles.
http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article202729549.html
DJT pulled the football out on Dianne Feinstein.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddmXM-96-no
I’m thinking miami is the most boned city going
chighetto next ,then nyc
dems will save dc
“I’m thinking miami is the most boned city going”
What’s Miami’s shtick… besides snap babies?
From Black Knight:
• However, the recent spike in interest rates cut the population of borrowers with an interest rate incentive to refinance by nearly 40 percent in 40 days
• Approximately 1.4 million borrowers lost the interest rate incentive to refinance in just the first six weeks of 2018
• 2.65 million potential candidates could still both benefit from and likely qualify for a refinance at today’s rates
• That is the smallest this population has been since late 2008, prior to the initial decline in rates during the recession
• Though the population is only 10 percent off its February 2017 mark, rate/term refinance production could see a more significant impact than this might suggest due to increasing burnout in the market
• A corresponding drop in the average credit score of refinance originations is typically observed when rates rise
http://www.bkfs.com/CorporateInformation/NewsRoom/Pages/NewsRoom.aspx
Looks like a bad day to be a mortgage originator.