Investors May Find Themselves In A Sticky Situation
It’s Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. “WFLD-Ch. 32 news anchor Sylvia Perez and her husband recently sold their four-bedroom, 4,375-square-foot house in Hinsdale for about $1.33 million. The couple paid $2.2 million for the house in 2006. They first listed it in 2013 for $2.399 million and later cut their asking price to $2.199 million, $1.995 million, $1.95 million and just below $1.8 million. ‘We had it on the market for four years, and it did not move,’ Perez said. ‘It definitely was time to downsize; we would like to have downsized years ago when we put it on the market, but we got caught up in this financial downturn in the housing market like everyone else.’”
“Residents at Millennium Tower, San Francisco’s leaning, sinking skyscraper, are scrambling to sell their multimillion-dollar condos. Residents say they’re selling their homes short of what they paid for them, with about 100 condos falling $320,000 in value on average.”
“Real estate sales in Manhattan plunged 25 percent in the first quarter from a year ago, as the new federal tax law, stock market swings and a glut of luxury condos spooked buyers. Prices are also under pressure. The average sales price dropped 8 percent compared from the same quarter last year. The high end of the market is getting hit the hardest, since it’s the most discretionary segment. Prices for luxury apartments in Manhattan fell 15 percent and sales were down 24 percent in the quarter from last year.”
“With so many luxury apartments still overpriced, they are now sitting on the market on average of more than a year and a half — a 50 percent jump over last year. ‘The next couple of years will be all about price discovery,’ said Jonathan Miller, president of Miller Samuel.”
“As of February one of every 1,012 ‘units’ in the state was a foreclosure, said Bayard Williams, president of the Delaware Association of Realtors. This puts Delaware among the top five states in the nation in terms of high foreclosure rates. The damage caused by the recession appeared for many in the loss of home equity, said Mr. Williams. Homeowners who may have refinanced on their homes before the recession hit found themselves in a particularly bad position.”
“‘When they refinanced, they pulled as much equity back out as they were allowed prior to the downturn in the market — when the market went south, they ended up upside down on their loans,’ he said. ‘We’re even seeing some people who’ve been in their homes for 20 or 30 years trying to sell and you’d think that they’d have a lot of equity at that point to put toward closing costs and the purchase of their next house. But, that’s not always the case anymore.’”
“A group of Oakville homebuyers, struggling to finance the pre-construction houses they bought in February 2017 at the height of last year’s real estate frenzy, are blaming ‘reckless’ provincial housing policy and new mortgage rules for putting them on the brink of financial ruin. Declining real estate sales in the Toronto region have meant the buyers have not been able to sell their existing homes for the amounts they anticipated when they contracted to buy new houses in Mattamy’s Preserve development. After they failed to sell when the market plunged or they took lower-than-expected prices, they say they couldn’t get larger loans to cover the difference.”
“‘This impacts your health. Financially it breaks families,’ said Zahir Bashiruddin. The Bashiruddins were watching real estate prices climb in 2016 and early 2017. They worried they wouldn’t be able to afford a move. ‘At the time we thought it was a great decision (to buy the Mattamy home) because we’ve locked in our price,’ he said. ‘I honestly have not been this stressed ever.’”
“‘The individuals who signed up for these houses … did so with full understanding of where we were in the full housing cycle, in the same way anyone else would,’ said Mattamy president Brad Carr, adding that there was extensive media coverage of the heated housing market around the time the buyers purchased. The average price of a new-construction detached house in the Toronto region was $1.22 million in February this year. A year earlier, the average was higher — about $1.5 million, according to building industry statistics.”
“A surge in supply of rental properties has given tenants added bargaining power when looking for a new place. The market shift has occurred in rental markets outside budding city regions such as Helsinki, Tampere, Turku and Oulu, where tenants are increasingly hard to find. ‘That is what it looks like right now. Tenants have the freedom of choice between properties and are even in a place to negotiate,’ said Mia Koro-Kanerva, executive director of the Finnish Landlord Association.”
“If the competitive market is tightened further, housing investors may find themselves in a sticky situation as an empty owner-occupied apartment will quickly become a costly venture. Many housing investors will buy a rental apartment with a loan. If interest rates increase but rents don’t, investors’ returns will diminish. Koro-Kanerva said the rent landlords are asking for apartments should be dropped if no interest is shown in the property. ‘You should definitely not wait around for months on end.’”
“The dozens of suburbs bordering Nairobi, Kenya’s capital, have experienced rapid real estate development in the last a few years, but this growth is now hurting property developers as rental yields fall. Over the years, population in all the suburbs has surged, becoming an impetus for developers to invest in high-rise residential buildings to reap big. These structures have now become a major undoing for the landlords as rents for two and three bedrooms fall in some suburbs and in others stagnate.”
“‘I had to cut rent from 140 dollars to 125 dollars to maintain my tenants but still two of the six two-bedroom houses remain vacant after the previous occupants relocated to a new apartment offering same rates,’ said John Kuta, a banker and landlord in Ruai. ‘I have seen Ruai being turned into high-rise residential estate, with many developers coming in but the market is now saturated and we are feeling the pinch.’”
“Thousands of homes are lying empty in Brisbane’s most desirable neighbourhoods amid a chronic apartment oversupply. Nearly 20 per cent of the apartments in inner Brisbane are sitting empty and more than 50 projects have been shelved or ditched altogether as landlords struggle to survive the city’s oversupply crisis. More than 10,000 new apartments have been abandoned or deferred by developers in the past 12 months. Record levels of apartment completions have tipped the market into oversupply, putting pressure on rents and prices and resulting in a growing number of ‘ghost houses’, according to the Inner Brisbane Apartments 2018-2025 Market Brief.”
“BIS Oxford Economics senior manager of residential property Angie Zigomanis said many unoccupied apartments were kept as second homes or speculative investments, but a number were also empty because landlords simply couldn’t find a tenant for them. Mr Zigomanis said landlords would continue to struggle to find tenants for inner Brisbane apartments for another two to three years. ‘They’ll always be competing against the latest and greatest new stock, so they’ll need to offer incentives to make their properties more attractive,’ he said.”
“While Gladstone’s rock-bottom housing market has meant sellers have had to take significant losses, it hasn’t been all doom and gloom for those on the other side of the equation. Electrical engineer Rachael Parker and her partner Lee MacBeath have been looking to buy their family home over the last seven months. Ms Parker said the current state of the market means they can take their time in finding the house which best suits their needs as a family, without worrying about rising prices or increasing rents.”
“The couple spend time looking for houses every second day and have been to two auctions - one at which they were the only bidders - but they remain confident they will not have to pay more than what they have budgeted. While the current circumstances are working in her family’s favour, Rachael said she was aware not everyone in Gladstone was lucky enough to be in the same position and she felt very sorry for those who bought in the boom and were now trying to get out of the market.”
“‘There’s a lot of people that have lost out big… it hasn’t been a pleasant experience for a lot of people,’ she said.”
Albany, OR Housing Prices Crater 29% YOY
https://www.movoto.com/albany-or/market-trends/
“A South Korean court condemned disgraced former president Park Geun-hye to 24 years in prison on Friday, confirming her position as the latest South Korean leader whose downfall is marked by corruption scandals.”
http://www.newsweek.com/south-korean-presidents-all-seem-end-dead-or-court-874613
In fed dc they get pensions
Or a high paying job at an investment bank.
Or $200,000,000 in a “charitable trust” funded by counties looking to do business within the U.S.
‘When they refinanced, they pulled as much equity back out as they were allowed prior to the downturn in the market — when the market went south, they ended up upside down on their loans,’ he said. ‘We’re even seeing some people who’ve been in their homes for 20 or 30 years trying to sell and you’d think that they’d have a lot of equity at that point to put toward closing costs and the purchase of their next house. But, that’s not always the case anymore.’
You know Bayard, when you refinance you just sold it to the bank and have to start paying it off again. We’ve got a lot of that going on right now. See yesterdays post.
my neighbors have a new truck and boat thx to MEW.
Does the misses have a rack to go with that boat?
double d’s my friend. its awesome to go boating with them.
Is it a motorboat?
You two win the internet today!
I’m curious. Do people go into the bank (or whatever the online equivalent is ) with the intent to extract equity out, or does the bank upsell them on the idea?
To me, the only reason I would look into refinancing would be to reduce the total claims against my future earnings or possible lower my current payment if I had cash flow needs. I don’t know where the idea that “It’s your money, you deserve it” is being promoted from.
Of course, you would want to refi an ARM before it adjusts, but there’s still nothing there about taking on more debt.
You know the saying: YOLO. Gotta have those toys now. Tomorrow? Heck, we might be dead tomorrow.
“or does the bank upsell them on the idea?”
Cue: “oh, Mr. Banker!”
“Denni$, leave Mr. Wil$on alone!”
“or does the bank upsell them on the idea?”
Lay out a dotted line for the sheep and into the bank they flock; No sheepherder or Judas goat is required in order to get them into the bank, the sheep do this all on their own.
Allow them to sign loan agreements that contain such interesting phrases such as “adjustable mortgage rates” - a phrase that should alarm even an ignorant puke - and (amazingly) sign them is what they will do.
“To me, the only reason I would look into refinancing would be to reduce the total claims against my future earnings or possible lower my current payment if I had cash flow needs. I don’t know where the idea that “It’s your money, you deserve it” is being promoted from.”
If you paid your mortgage off, it means you probably did not manage your funds efficiently over the years. It’s as if you had 500,000 dollar bills stuffed in your mattress.
you refinance to get your equity and support the economy.70% of the economy is consuming.
“If you paid your mortgage off, it means you probably did not manage your funds efficiently over the years. It’s as if you had 500,000 dollar bills stuffed in your mattress.”
I’m not sure if my sarcasm filter is working or not.
I can not rely on my current income being maintained indefinitely, nor having the ability, desire and drive to put in the amount of work needed to sustain it until the day I die. Paying off my mortgage is part of the way I see gaining control over my life by removing other entities claim(s) against me and my time/assets.
But I guess I am too old fashioned - a dinosaur - when I should be putting all of my money to work, and then leveraging it again so even more money is put to work making more money for my money ad infinitium. I seem too concerned with the fact that I need someplace to live in and provide shelter, every single day, and want some say over it and to be the one to decide if I stay or go. Antiquated notions that have outlived their usefulness.
The poster satirically is referencing something Lereah, in his capacity as NAR’s chief economist, actually said back in 2005, at the height of the bubble. See below:
“Bill and Barbara Brockmann have a different view of their house. The retired Huntington Beach couple is sitting on half a million dollars of equity, but they’re ignoring it. They aren’t drawing on it to buy a new car or invest in a condo in Miami.
‘I don’t like debt,’ said Bill Brockmann, 79. ‘I don’t buy anything I can’t pay for.’
Such thriftiness has gone out of fashion. What was once considered undesirable — taking on large debt — is now seen as smart. And what used to be smart — becoming debt-free — is described as imprudent.
‘If you paid your mortgage off, it means you probably did not manage your funds efficiently over the years,’ said David Lereah, chief economist of the National Association of Realtors and author of ‘Are You Missing the Real Estate Boom?’ ‘It’s as if you had 500,000 dollar bills stuffed in your mattress.’
He called it ‘very unsophisticated.’”
http://articles.latimes.com/2005/aug/28/business/fi-homedebt28
Antiquated notions…
Not at all. Hard lessons to learn is all and there aren’t many learned around. I’m retired with no debt. I can do whatever I want with my time as long as I stay within my means. Priceless and obvious.
There is such thing as time affluent. Owing your own time is one of the most valuable assets one can have. You have earned this BlueSky. You can trade time for money, but the equation doesn’t go in reverse.
You have earned this…
I actually wonder how you come to this conclusion. With all due respect, I managed to get there, not exactly in a straight line. I did things a lot of people don’t approve of, so I wasn’t holding out for someone to tell me I deserved anything. I always thank God that I didn’t get what I deserve.
Fair enough. A dose of humility is good. I think that your vehement desire to avoid being shackled to debt is what has earned you your time freedom. Not everyone learns this lesson, and thus they shackle themselves to the pursuit of things.
You have earned this…
I actually wonder how you come to this conclusion. With all due respect, I managed to get there, not exactly in a straight line. I did things a lot of people don’t approve of, so I wasn’t holding out for someone to tell me I deserved anything. I always thank God that I didn’t get what I deserve.
It’s like the now-common phrase, “that’s above my pay grade”. Well, pardon me, but I’m not a soldier in anyone’s army and no one has or will assign a pay grade to me and tell me what I can do and what I can think and whom to associate with based on that.
I decide my life and what’s within the scope of my knowledge and abilities. No one else.
I decide my life
It’s nice to decide your own pay grade.
I decide my life
It’s nice to decide your own pay grade.
Sure is. And I can change it at any time by increasing my knowledge and abilities.
I think now and continuing into the future you are going to see Boomer parents pass away who are upside down in their house. Old people are broke, but are used to the flashy style of the 70s and the greedy style of the 80s. They need the toys, cars, vacations and want to live life to the fullest! Magically when the kids inherit the house there won’t be any equity left and will have to write a song. Heck, may have to put on a whole Broadway style musical with some of these McMansions.
“Son, where did you get the HELOC?”
“You Dad!! I learned it from watching you!”
And how many of those baby boomers are upside down on the house because they hocked it to send Sonny and Susie to college, or even to subsidize Sonny and Susie in their Sbux job, or even subsidize grandchildren?
Probably a good amount, but I’d argue that most subsidized other RE deals or RVs more than their kids college. Add in nothing for retirement savings and it’s a recipie for financial disaster. Remember, it’s YOUR money and you can’t take it with you!
there is > 5 trillion in equity available to withdraw.
😁
there is > 5 trillion in equity available to
withdrawuse as collateral against a LOAN that has to be paid back, with interest.Fixed it.
Somehow you will end up paying the LOAN and banker will walk richer.
Always.
how do u stop the pboc from printing?
We do not have to, in fact let them print more to increase consumer spending in China. It would only help the US economy. China will have to at least import more raw materials. We can sell the Saudis more military hardware when the Chinese import more oil, for example.
That’s pretty Machiavellian of you, Dan.
However, ISTM that the “ethics and morals” that MacBeth brings up so much are Western values, and ONLY Western values. Other cultures see the West not as a culture to emulate, but a culture to harvest without replanting any seeds, if you know what I mean. If the West is to survive, they’re gonna have to play dirty.
Housing Donk.
Dewey Beach, DE Housing Prices Crater 10% YOY
https://www.movoto.com/dewey-beach-de/market-trends/
“If the West is to survive, they’re gonna have to play dirty.”
Yes, but Trump is right, our trade deficit with China is so large it is really a battle we cannot lose. Yes, China can decided not to buy our soybeans but if they buy from other countries those countries will not be able to sell to their present consumers, the net impact on the US is very little. It is similar for other commodities.
Of course, China can start selling treasuries and that might raise interest rates. However, that means the rest of their holding will drop in price, hurting them about as much as it hurts us.
China can devalue its currency. Of course, that creates inflation in China and well lead to more currency flight from China when it is just barely maintain monetary reserves now. Already, China is being hurt by the sanction far more that is generally reported. China has been hiding a lot of steel and aluminum sales by shipping through third countries. Many of those countries already are paying higher tariffs. Perhaps more importantly companies both domestic and foreign are reluctant to construct new factories in China, if they are unsure of being able to ship to Uncle Sucker. Actually, that is why the globalists are screaming, they have built factories in China assuming they can ship the goods to American consumers buying on credit.
Thus, in the end if we stay strong China will negotiate better trade terms and meet at least some of our demands which is a better situation than we have now.
SACRAMENTO (AP) — Hundreds of federal and local law enforcement agents have seized roughly 100 Northern California houses purchased with money wired to the United States by a Chinese-based crime organization and used to grow massive amounts of marijuana illegally, authorities said Wednesday.
Lots of grow houses here. The article in the Sacramento Bee says they got 200 kilos worth $100 million. What? That makes no sense.
1 kilo is 2.2 pounds. 10 years ago it sold for $3,500. Today it sells for $500…..supply is over running demand. 200 kilos = 440 pounds = $220,000. What was that reporter smoking??? I
Outing your betters will land you on the no-fly list, for starters.
priceofweed.com shows median quality marijuana at $205 per ounce.
200 kg * 2.2 lbs/1kg * 16 oz/1lb = 7040 oz
7040 oz * $205/oz = $1.44 million
Math checks out.
‘They worried they wouldn’t be able to afford a move. ‘At the time we thought it was a great decision (to buy the Mattamy home) because we’ve locked in our price,’ he said. ‘I honestly have not been this stressed ever.’
Well, you’re locked in now Zahir. And look, this guy isn’t giving you the money back:
‘The individuals who signed up for these houses … did so with full understanding of where we were in the full housing cycle, in the same way anyone else would,’ said Mattamy president Brad Carr, adding that there was extensive media coverage of the heated housing market around the time the buyers purchased.’
All you shack-happy goobers out there take note.
A poll, taken on the plight of Zahir and other stressed buyers, when asked should the PTB help them out showed a resounding;
“NO. Buying a home in a hot real estate market is always a risk. 80.66%”
No chance mate when the politicians see that percentage!
Yep… They thought they would get two servings of joy. Move on to a house that accumulated equity and sell theirs a year later at a higher price… Shucks… Check out their whiny web site. One Guy said Mattamy have him a ‘big cold NO’. They played with fite..
‘Thousands of homes are lying empty in Brisbane’s most desirable neighbourhoods amid a chronic apartment oversupply. Nearly 20 per cent of the apartments in inner Brisbane are sitting empty’
There was a utility study that said the same thing 2 years ago.
“Brisbane’s most desirable neighbourhood$”
Down under airbnb seed$ … Sounds like a good place to visit!
(maybe they have a green.egg on the patio!) … or a pizza oven.
Sounds just like SF, NYC, Dallas, Seattle, Denver and Boston.
“The couple paid $2.2 million for the house in 2006. They first listed it in 2013 for $2.399 million and later cut their asking price to $2.199 million, $1.995 million, $1.95 million and just below $1.8 million”
————————————-
The seller should have just written a song for potential buyers. That will make sure they bring more money to the table, or so I’m told in this rational, fundamentals based market.
Imagine the property tax on that house. It’s in Illanoy. I’ll bet it’s at least $2000 a month, if not more.
I wonder why they were willing to take that 900K loss on the house. Are the on the verge of losing their big buck jobs and won’t be able to afford the monthly nuts?
It looks like they already couldn’t afford the monthly nut.
From the article:
“The buyer was Wells Fargo Bank, which accepted the deed instead of foreclosure proceedings.”
““WFLD-Ch. 32 news anchor Sylvia Perez and her husband recently sold their four-bedroom, 4,375-square-foot house in Hinsdale for about $1.33 million. The couple paid $2.2 million for the house in 2006.”
Dr Hook- Sylvias Mother
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QN_89-_K3f0
Colorado, you were close. You can find the recently-sold house on Zillow.
Property tax: $12,867/year.
They’re $25,000 a year.
The buyer of the Hinsdale house was Wells Fargo - accepted deed instead of starting foreclosure proceedings.
“Imagine the property tax on that house.”
Imagine heating that place in the winter… a great lakes winter.
Apparently Hinsdale is not far enough away from Chicago.
“Chicago man charged, vehicle stolen from Hinsdale driveway”
http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/hinsdale/news/ct-dhd-stolen-car-arrest-tl-0412-story.html
Is that a love cave in the swimming pool?
That kitchen is high-end hideous. And I’m surprised they didn’t put a piano in the 2-story living room… it’s already got a balcony.
Love cave in the pool… yup. That could be the next salvo in the luxe apt amenity war…
Hey Donk.
That’s a Florida or Southern California pool, with landscaping to match, in a climate that would allow for its use maybe three months out of the year.
Gotta wonder what that place would fetch in California?
“but we got caught up in this financial downturn in the housing market like everyone else.’”
2006 was the time to be sellin but that ain’t what old Sylvias yellin.
Pebble Beach, CA down 22%.
A friend of mine had his house on the market there for six months at 1.3 M. He moved his family to Dallas, TX and still couldn’t sell the house. He finally had to knock 200k off the price and settle at 1.1M.
https://www.movoto.com/pebble-beach-ca/market-trends/
When the Pebble Beach crowd goes down the rest of us will be fighting each other over scraps of meat in the street.
When the Pebble Beach crowd goes down the rest of us will be
fightingeyeing each otherover scraps ofAS meatin the street
Yellen begins cashing in with first Wall Street speech
By Greg Robb
Published: Apr 5, 2018 marketwatch
Yellen is featured on the front page of the Washington Speakers Bureau’s website as a speaker-for-hire. There was no fee listed.
Former Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen launched her new career as a economic talking-head with a visit earlier this week to Jefferies , according to a published report.
Yellen told the firm’s clients that three or four rate hikes were likely this year and that fiscal policy posed some risk of running the economy hot, the Reuters report said. Her fee was not disclosed
“A steadfast policymaker, an advocate for jobs and an economics trailblazer, former Federal Reserve Chair Janet L. Yellen offers candid insights into global and domestic monetary policy and economic trends,” the bureau’s promotion material said.
$plitting hairs, iffin’ she $peaks more than once, shouldn’t “her fee”, … Bee, ” “her fee$”? … Oh wait, maybe she charge$ @ a flat.rate!
must be nice its tough to print money and buy bonds.
Another day, another 700 points down on the Dow in the Fed’s Great Quantitative Easing Unwind…
Don’t fight the Fed.
Those bitcoin goobers can’t be too happy these days either.
Yellen begins cashing in with first Wall Street speech
Nice work if you can get it.
Anyone who pays more than a penny to hear her drivel is an utter fool.
In n va inventory is tight n realtors are calling begging me to list
Trump has refilled the swamp w the 1.3 trillion spend
I’m in an ugly nabe. I get standard junk postcard asking me to list, but nothing desperate. I did get one postcard where the realtor was desperate to buy my house.
There’s always still wild card Amazon. If DC is picked, that’s gonna throw the whole area.
Wars ain’t cheap, chief.
Sunny & Cheer signin’ : ” … and the beat goe$ on, and the beat goe$ on”
Kushner, CIM to Get $600 Million JPMorgan Loan for Brooklyn Site
Twenty-one story tower will go up as NYC real estate slows
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-04-06/kushner-cim-to-get-600-million-jpmorgan-loan-for-brooklyn-site
Oakton, VA Housing Prices Crater 10% YOY As Housing Inventory Floods Market
https://www.zillow.com/oakton-va/home-values/
*Select price from dropdown menu on first chart
Trump touts falling aluminum prices as reason to not fear tariffs
“Despite the Aluminum Tariffs, Aluminum prices are DOWN 4%. People are surprised, I’m not! Lots of money coming into U.S. coffers and Jobs, Jobs, Jobs!,” Trump tweeted on Friday
President Donald Trump said falling aluminum prices are evidence that his tariffs aren’t impacting the U.S. economy.
But in reality the price of the metal declined because he exempted Canada and Mexico from the tariffs.
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/06/trump-touts-falling-aluminum-prices-as-reason-to-not-fear-tariffs.html
Azdude, #4 on your “go long, money in the bank” import$ list …yesterday
Next:
USA’s Top 5 Commodity Imports Commodity Annual Amount
Refined and Crude Petroleum $149.2 billion
Lumber $20.3 billion
Gold $16.5 billion
Aluminium $8.2 billion
Coffee $5.75 billion
In CA they have destroyed the timber industry with regulations so we have to import from canada. real smart.
on that list oil is probably best commodity to go long.
eye’ll keep a watch.out, regarding Lumber, seems like the import$ are feed backs to some of the US exports. (like the mention @ the end, beg$ the que$tion: how close are we near the end of the hou$ing recovery?)
Presently there is a healthy lumber economy in the United States, directly employing about 500,000 people in three industries: Logging, Sawmill, and Panel. Annual production in the U.S. is more than 30 billion board feet making the U.S. the largest producer and consumer of lumber. Despite advances in technology and safety awareness, the lumber industry remains one of the most hazardous industries in the world.
While challenges in today’s market exist, the United States remains the second largest exporter of wood in the world. Its primary markets are Japan, Mexico, Germany, and the United Kingdom. Due to higher labor costs in the United States, it is common practice for raw materials to be exported, converted into finished goods and imported back into the United States. For this reason, more raw goods including logs and pulpwood chip are exported than imported in the United States, while finished goods like lumber, plywood and veneer, and panel products have higher imports than exports in the U.S.
Recently there has been a resurgence in logging towns in the United States. This has been due in large part to the housing recovery.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_lumber_industry_in_the_United_States
Sounds like a contrary indicator to me.
With the globe awash in crude oil, falling oil prices and record high crude production and capacity, you’re right.
Record oil demand and declining inventories. Housing HA, Housing.
Incorrect.
Crude demand is at multi-year lows and falling.
u people have no real solutions to the chinese trade deficit. slapping tariffs on their products is only going to make things more expensive for us.
I feel like im beating a dead horse here. How do u stop the PBOC printing press?
What if the dollar went higher and they are forced to print more?
If the values of the currencies were the same they wouldn’t have the advantage.
‘I feel like im beating a dead horse here’
We’re going to try something different Grandpa.
the snobs at the masters banned the minions from saying dilly dilly.
Could someone explain this dilly dilly thing? It seems frat-boy silly silly to me.
Bud Light commercials, so yes, frat-boy silly.
But also gave us this gem:
https://youtu.be/aYVdkINXZaM
Pretty much, probably to appeal to the hipster millennials who go to Renaissance Fairs (where they dress up like medievals and pretend to fight each other, saying things like “dilly dilly”). It’s all the rage, even being featured on several TV shows as of late.
Lavender blue dilly dilly
OK. But I was wondering why they chosen those actual silly words. IMO “dilly dilly” is weak p*u*sy sauce. Couldn’t they have come up with something more manly, like “rape and pillage,” or “kill and maim.”
China is one with the most to lose in a trade war.
I find it amusing that they slapped tariffs on food imports. So their people will have to pay more for food now, that sounds like a winning strategy.
slapped tariffs on food imports”
I wonder how the The Wonderful Company LLC will end up with a trade war ? A large exporter of Almonds and extra large user of water in CA needed to grow almonds and pistachios in a semi arid part of CA. Expanded to sell to China. Made big water bets on this market.
Our CEO said CA is safe China just wants to punish red states .. and of course everyone thought that was so funny.
So their people will have to pay more for food now ??
If this escalates, the question then becomes who can tolerate the most pain for the longest period.
I would like to see the price of pistachios come down here at home.
China is a creditor and US is a debtor nation.
China can hold out a lot longer. Don’t make the chinese mad though…they may just sell their overpriced shacks in USA causing your house to drop at least 50% in value.
they may just sell their overpriced shacks in USA
Please no…anything but that.
Although I am a little curious if this latest development could result in a market for American houses in China. As in one Chinese person paying another Chinese person directly in RMB that never leaves China, and then doing the paperwork in the USA as though it were some kind of gift or something.
I guess that would be one way to fix the bilateral trade deficit: more American money going to the China property market. Not that I would consider that wise given the bubbilicious market there.
Don’t make the chinese mad though…
They’ll stamp their little feet.
Is that a foot binding joke?
It’s an HBB joke. Angry children yell and stamp their feet when they don’t get their way.
Oh I know :-). Just some SJW humor…
I liked your take on it as a foot-binding joke, Carl.
I have been reading this free daily email called “Crunchbase”..Not sure where I found it but I could have came across it here on the blog…Its pretty incredible the amount of money thats being tossed around throughout the world…
Global venture capital deal and dollar volume in the first quarter of the year eclipsed previous highs, setting fresh quarterly records for post-Dot Com Bubble startup investment. Crunchbase projects nearly $77 billion worth of venture deals were completed last quarter, more than double levels from the same period last year, led by a jump in late stage investment.
https://crunchbase.apms5.com/anywhere/m?s=crunchbase&m=s_2459c650-2d17-4be5-9f33-8bfe6e8a6d61&u=e1jq4wvfdtfm4ctn6h1k4ghr5mtk8ctj5mu34h9n5n0kcd9n5n1m8h9k8h2keh1n70uke&r2=d1u78w3k78qjyvk5extjwrvjenq66u32c5tpabk3dxpjyvk5extjyw9h5mt30c9r5nkprvv2c5p2uubeetjq6×3dcnq78bbjcnr6ywkm5np62×355ntq8rb7cmpp8tb1dgppurbbd5q6ebbgentpgtbk5nvpywkcchvpjt355nv66bbecnvjuu35d5kpgx3k5wzqax3dbxtpyxbjcdjkurv2bxj62ubcf4k7ax3dbxppat39enpkutbdc5mpr9knehpnyrv1dnr62ub7dryk4c1h70r38c1p4tuq8vazcdqpwx35dtu3uubeeht6y9knehpnyx35e9pkurvfdtu6avkm4ttpavk4bxjpurb9dgyjacj44mt48hbdc5mpr99j8gjk4h10&n=3
Lucy: “Charlie Brown, you’re such a blockhead! Here, I’ll hold the football …”
It Started With the Rockefellers. It Ends With Crypto?
In the 1930s, Laurence Rockefeller began investing his oil-anointed inheritance in technology and aviation companies. Several decades later, in 1969, the grandson of John D. Rockefeller brought his siblings together to found Venrock, the family’s official venture capital arm. (“Venture” plus “Rockefeller” equals “Venrock.”) Today, long after multiplying its fortunes through prescient bets on then-upstarts, such as Intel and Apple, the firm is embarking on a new frontier: cryptocurrency.
Like many blockchain proponents, Pakman and Brukhman see tremendous opportunity in the potential for the technology to disintermediate middlemen. “Gatekeepers tend to charge rent or toll on users,” Pakman said on the show. “The benefit of the advent of crypto is that we have fewer gatekeepers.”
“Venture capital itself is effectively a gatekeeper industry and I’d actually like to see that undone,” Pakman said. “I don’t believe that a small group of people should make the decisions about which projects can raise some money and get off the ground.”
http://fortune.com/2018/04/06/crypto-vc-venrock-coinfund/?xid=gn_editorspicks&google_editors_picks=true
“I don’t believe that a small group of people should make the decisions about which projects can raise some money and get off the ground.”
Correction: remove the word ‘don’t’
Same as it always was. Play that Sonny and Cher song again!
The big problem with block chains is that they’re chains - you gotta process the whole thing to verify it. And there are other problems.
Bitcoin for instance has a hard stop limit on the number of transactions that can occur in a given period of time - hence the run up in transaction fees - people bid up the price to get theirs done sooner.
Someone explain to this dummy. Isn’t VC a gatekeeper industry because a few people have, you know, MONEY? Does it matter if they keep their gates using crypto, cash, check, credit, or chickens?
By choosing to fund crypto, the VCs are keeping the very gates they want to eliminate.
Oxide, I don’t know if you ever read Matt Levine over at Bloomberg, but he wryly dismantles the absurdity of blockchain on a regular basis. Just the other day he said this in reference for a proposal to use the blockchain for shareholder voting and corporate governance:
“Look, you know, fine. We have talked about exactly these problems — the complex chain of intermediation in stock voting that leads to uncertainty and reduced participation — and in fact I have even gone so far as to mutter the word “blockchain” in those discussions. But what if you replaced the word “blockchain” in the paragraph above with a word like, say, “website”? What if the company had a private website where it could put proposals, and a database where it tracked share ownership, and the shareholders could log in to the website and see and vote on proposals? The call here is for a private blockchain — one administered by the company — so the trustlessness and decentralization benefits of public blockchains are not relevant. This is just an argument that companies should have better databases for tracking their shareholders, and better user interfaces to allow those shareholders to vote their shares. The blockchain has nothing to do with it, except that people want to read about the blockchain.”
77 billion dollars of junk. LOL
Realtors are liars.
Fakebook
did u know my speaking fees are 10 grand a pop?
Is that in Venezuelan Bolivars?
Zuckerberg is a cuck.
Looks like the Denver Post is going the way of Toys Я Us.
That’s been coming forEVER…
Seems like the slowly phase is approaching suddenly.
Yes, like a quote from a Hemingway novel.
How did you go bankrupt Denver Post?
So no major daily in Denver? Not that anyone would notice if it folded.
The piece suggested that the Denver Post were the guardians of intelligent democracy, and without them we’ll descend into a Hobbsian struggle for survival.
So did they help stoke the housing bubble?
Goog! Much more dangerous in every imaginable way.
The last time the Kudlow’$ catapla$m & $alve for “relaxation” was offered around 10am et … Today?
Top Trump economic advisor Larry Kudlow: I just found out about new China tariffs ‘last night’
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/06/larry-kudlow-just-found-out-about-new-trump-china-tariffs-last-night.html
he has been a permabull all his life.
Well, has he ever had a reason to have any $elf doubt$?
Larry Kudlow is usually wrong and frequently absurd, as an example, in June 2005 Kudlow wrote “The Housing Bears are Wrong Again” and called me (or people like me) “bubbleheads”.
and he is in one of the top positions regarding the economy. Self proclaimed economist?
Hey, who woulda thunk that a reality TV host and a weekend radio talk show would be in charge of our country’s economic direction?
The Simpsons got it at least part right, much like Laugh-In accurately predicting Ronald Reagan becoming the US president (they said in 1976, so they were only off by one election cycle).
Larry Kudlow used to have (or still does?) a serious cocaine problem.
He’s into hopium now. Much more dangerous.
Filling the cabinet with TV stars. What a president we got.
Newcastle, WA Housing Prices Crater 13% YOY As Seattle Area Housing Housing Inventory Skyrockets
https://www.movoto.com/newcastle-wa/market-trends/
“if you have equity u need to pull it and put it to work.” SHP
#fakenews, HA. Was just visiting friends there a few days ago.
Hello my good friend.
Severna Park, MD Housing Prices Crater 10% YOY
https://www.movoto.com/severna-park-md/market-trends/
Did you let the voyeurs spy on you today?
tariffs only hurt the little man.
Littleman will be fine He’s no skin in the game.
tariffs only hurt the little man.
Yeah he’s been getting rich without them.
“tariffs only hurt the little man.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrjStSqu_w4
“In fact, clumsy or not, he’s now hitting on all cylinders with respect to the real purpose of his election. Namely, to bring the faux prosperity of the Bubble Finance era to a crashing end.
Ever since the GOP rank and file folded when the first TARP vote sent the market crashing by 8% back in September 2008, the casino has assumed that the politicians are petrified of a hissy fit and will quickly back off from any action that threatens the stock averages.
It turns out that the US imports $37 billion of laptops from China and that accounts for 93% of the total. So we don’t think the Donald’s computer tax is going to cost China a dime of lost revenue netback; the tariff will be coming right out of US customer pockets.
In all these near monopoly cases and hundreds of like and similar ones, the “customer”, not Chinese suppliers, will be paying the freight. And we have employed quotation marks because there is an especially luscious irony when it comes to the receiving end of Trump’s tariffs.
The real cause is an economy that is bloated with high costs owing to the Fed’s 2.00% inflation fetish, and starved for productive investments, owing to the rampant financial engineering in the corporate C-suites.”
http://davidstockmanscontracorner.com/not-your-grandfathers-trade-war-wall-streets-mindless-complacency-part-3/
So we don’t think the Donald’s computer tax is going to cost China a dime of lost revenue netback; the tariff will be coming right out of US customer pockets.
Or maybe consumers will buy fewer laptops?
consumers buying fewer laptops?
I still carry my laptop many places, even to campgrounds. I have bought several slightly used ones whose hardware is compatible with my Lenovo R500 which I purchased on clearance in 2010. I cannibalize them when I wear out my keyboard. I turned down a chance to buy a boxful of stripped out Lenovo laptops (minus HDD and memory) at a local hamfest for just $15 since I already have 3 or 4 laying around here. I am sure I am an atypical laptop owner.
You cannot get much real work done on a smart phone or tablet. I’ve tried. Even simple word processing doesn’t work that well compared to doing it on a computer.
Yeah, you can compromise with a bluetooth keyboard and a pad with a stand but you really need a mouse to make it all work right. Touch screens suck for some kinds of work.
My wife swapped out her laptop for an iPad. She has a bluetooth keyboard. I, on the other hand, can’t stand doing any type of work on a tablet. My first preference is my laptop. A tablet or a phone won’t do for me as a replacement for my laptop. My phone is primarily for calling/messaging, GPS naviation, listening to music, and very basic Google queries when out and about.
My first preference is my laptop.
Typing as someone who has worn out about 8 keyboards in the last 35 years, I fully agree. Some of my key reference books, I have “digitized” on the cheap. Have Staples cut off the bindings, run the pages through a sheet fed scanner, assemble the scans as PDF’s and load them into my laptop & smartphone for easier reference. Don’t even bother with OCR.
Have Staples cut off the bindings, run the pages through a sheet fed scanner, assemble the scans as PDF’s and load them into my laptop & smartphone for easier reference.
Nice idea. But then they aren’t searchable are they? If you upload them to Google Drive, you can do full searches of any string, even on PDFs with images. This has been a nice feature for me. Our hospital gives us access to Lexicomp, and I use Trissel’s IV compatibility quite often for more complex patients.
But then they aren’t searchable are they?
Definitely not. But these are reference books with pretty good indices. I can flip back & forth much much faster on a PDF than I can on the original printed version. Thanks for the tip on Google Drive, I will look into it.
If you drag a PDF into an open note in Evernote, it automatically becomes searchable. You wouldn’t want to read a whole book in Evernote, as it would involve endless scrolling and it doesn’t keep your place if you don’t finish it all in one session, but it’s great for searching text. It somehow automatically OCR’s everything.
How do you get Staples to cut off the bindings? I tried that a couple of years ago and they told me they no longer do that. I had to remove it myself and then bring it in for digitizing.
How do you get Staples to cut off the bindings? I tried that a couple of years ago and they told me they no longer do that.
I just walk in and ask for it. Have only done that at a single Staples outlet. Have done this 4 or 5 times in the last 3 years. They will also punch and rebind the cut pages, up to about 1″ thick, with a metal spiral binding. A book thicker than that they have to send out, but the charge for the larger spiral is the same as for the smaller one.
Or maybe consumers will buy fewer laptops?
Or they’ll buy from Dell who will assemble them here. The only real problem is if critical parts aren’t available. But an extra 25% on a part here and there shouldn’t be a big deal. Taiwan might want to start making a few motherboards again. Foxconn is Taiwanese even though most of their production is now on the mainland.
China to go nooclear and wipe out the US housing. I love this trade war already.
pull that equity and get some bling! Dont be a boring @ss debbie downer.
Howso? Are you suggesting that they will stop expatriates from parking their yuan into stateside real estate?
Somebody needs to do something. It’s hard to swoop in when there’s no carcass.
With everything mortgaged at 150% and prices falling, housing is doomed regardless.
Seminole, FL Housing Prices Crater 34% YOY
https://www.movoto.com/seminole-fl/market-trends/
Gavin Newsom said this the other day: “[Housing] is a crisis. We can’t live on intentions. At the end of the day, if you want to move the mouse, you’e got to move the cheese. The middle class of hte state is leaving in droves. This is a Code Red in California.”
In this analogy, what do you think is the house and what is the cheese?
Get out of California before it secedes! Once that happens, you’ll be stuck.
My passport doesn’t say California on it.
The middle class of California are buying houses in places like Austin Texas that have grocery stores near by with low tax cheese.
Simi Valley, CA 93065 Housing Prices Crater 5% YOY As Illegal Aliens Overrun Southern California
https://www.zillow.com/simi-valley-ca-93065/home-values/
*Select price from dropdown menu on first chart
Sedona company in big trouble
Backpage.com shut down by FBI
http://www.azfamily.com/story/37898603/fbi-raids-sedona-home-of-backpagecom-founder-michael-lacey
Zowie …
“The DOJ says the site has earned $500 million in revenue from prostitution since it was created.”
The only question is what percentage of that is from Mr. Banker?
Crude Falls on Growing Inventories; Global Demand Plummets
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-global-oil/oil-falls-on-trumps-latest-china-trade-threats-idUSKCN1HD080
Demand is over 99 million barrels a day this year and will exceed 100 million next year. To put it in perspective, the world will use more oil this year than the entire shale reserves of the U.S Granted the resource is greater. As far as production, the EIA predicted a production increase of around 100,000 barrels for January 2018, the actual numbers came out a week ago and it was less than 10,000 barrels. The EIA is totally ignoring that the sweet spots are just about drilled out. Took a little longer than I expected but I have made good money on buying the drillers cheap and writing Call options and collecting fat dividends. I said it three years ago that was my strategy. patience is a virtue, not even warren Buffet has perfect timing, the key is just getting the direction right, oil is much higher than January 2015.
Incorrect . . . Crude demand is at multi-year lows and falling.
EIA predicted around a gain of 100,000 actual number 6,000.
https://www.ugcenter.com/eia-us-crude-oil-production-rose-slightly-january-1693126