Inflated Prices That No Longer Have Any Basis In Reality
A report from MarketWatch. “House prices are soaring and, despite warnings from some analysts, most Americans believe they will continue to soar. A majority of U.S. adults (64%) continue to believe home prices in their local area will increase over the next year, a survey by Gallup concluded. That’s up nine percentage points over the past two years and is the highest percentage since before the housing market crash and Great Recession in the mid-2000s. The level of optimism is edging closer to the 70% of adults in 2005 who said prices would continue rising. That, of course, was less than one year before the peak of the housing market bubble in early 2006, which was largely fueled by a wave of subprime lending.”
From the Tampa Bay Times in Florida. “During the worst days of the housing crash, 43 percent of Tampa Bay homes were ’seriously underwater’ — their owners owed at least 25 percent more than the home’s value. Figures released today show that just 9.4 percent of homes with mortgages now fit that category, according to ATTOM Data Solutions. The Times spoke with Daren Blomquist, the company’s senior vice president, about the huge decline and some other trends both positive and worrisome.”
“Q. Why aren’t the equity rich numbers growing faster? A. That’s a testament to an increasing number of folks who do have equity starting to tap into it a little more so they are not necessarily staying in that equity rich category. Q. I’ve heard that some lenders are loosening up? Is that true? A. It’s nowhere near the level of looseness we saw a decade ago during the last housing boom. But one evidence anecdotally is the return of subprime mortgages, which they are now calling ‘non-prime’ mortgages, and I think more companies are doing them.”
“Q. Any other evidence that lenders have loosened up? A. We’re seeing in our own data a somewhat surprising increase in foreclosure starts in the first quarter. A lot of that increase is due to FHA loans originated in 2014, so as early as 2014 we were starting to see some loosening especially for FHA borrowers, which tend to be lower- credit borrowers. (The increase in foreclosure starts) showed up in some places we’d expect, like Rust Belt cities, but then we also saw it in places like Austin, with a 30 percent increase; Dallas, Reno, Las Vegas, Charlotte. All of those are poster-child markets of this housing boom. They’ve done very well, but there have been some increases in foreclosure starts.”
“Q. Anything else to keep an eye on? A. On the grapevine, we’re hearing a little more about people interested in mortgage-backed securities. That’s one of the hallmarks that helped inflate the housing bubble last time around.”
From NBC DFW in Texas. “While they aren’t saying Dallas-Fort Worth’s red hot housing market has slowed, real estate experts say home prices that have grown by leaps and bounds for several years have finally leveled off. ‘We’re definitely still seeing buyers and sellers with lots of new listings on the market and lots of homes going under contract, but the prices are definitely holding more steady then they have been,’ said Melissa Hailey, President of the Collin County Realtor’s Association.”
“Hailey says appreciation is no longer increasing at the rate it has been for the last several years. In Collin County, Hailey says first time buyer’s will get the most bang for their buck to the north in Prosper and Celina or to the east in Princeton and Farmersville.”
From the Laguna Beach Indy in California. “We live in a zip code where it is easy for marketing experts to mistake most of us for the rich people we aren’t. Cadillac and Maserati are always sending offers for free test-drive events held at fancy country club locations. Not so long ago a glossy magazine came in the mail selling expensive housing in New York City, the salsa capital of the world. One ad summed up the housing situation in Laguna Beach to a ‘T’.”
“‘Original Greenwich Village artist loft for sale: 20-foot ceilings, north facing windows with a large entertainment area. $5,295,000.’ Just like the situation in Laguna; there aren’t a lot of artist’s left, only expensive artistic housing selling at inflated prices based on a branding concept that no longer has any basis in reality.”
“We’re all sitting here marveling at how our ever-increasing home values are making our heirs rich. Half the homes up on the hill are multi-million dollar homes paid for with cash and occupied part time, if at all. Laguna morphed from a safe small town community to a home for absentee owners looking for a safe place to house their money. Most of us are tempted to sell if only we knew what to do about the tax bill and could find a place to move to that we love as much as Laguna.”
From Westfair Online. “In many ways, celebrity-owned real estate is the proverbial double-edged sword for real estate agents. But what happens when the celebrity has lost the respect of the public, or worse? In Fairfield County, disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein hurriedly sold off his three Westport properties after his career was derailed by multiple allegations of sexual misconduct. But buyers were not exactly clamoring for Weinstein’s residences: one was sold at a reduced price and the other two were adjacent properties acquired by a real estate investor who owned four other homes on the same street.”
“Another local celebrity home that sold after a lengthy period on the market and a not-small price reduction was Cyndi Lauper’s Stamford estate, which sold in January after being listed for nine months for $804,625 — a drop from the original $1.25 million price. Real estate experts did not see that as an indictment of Lauper’s diminished popularity, but as a reflection of luxury housing values. ‘Being reduced just means re-evaluating market value,’ said Linda Skolnick, a Westport Realtor with Coldwell Banker. ‘Whether you are a celebrity or a regular citizen, figuring out the market value and price is often difficult.’”
“And Joshua Shuart, chairman of the marketing and sports management department at Sacred Heart University’s Jack Welch College of Business, noted that being owned by a celebrity is no guarantee that a property will be snatched up at the asking price, let alone inspire a bidding war. ‘In Connecticut, celebrity homes sit on the market a lot longer than the average home,’ he said. ‘That is partly due to the price. But it doesn’t help if it’s taken on and off the market or if the price shifts around dramatically.’”
From The Real Deal on New York. “Though New York’s most expensive apartment listing of $85 million has languished for five years and counting, owner Daniel Neiditch’s got a new strategy he thinks will clinch the sale: space travel. He’s still offering three luxury cars, a $1 million yacht (plus five years of docking fees) but now two seats on a Virgin Galactic space flight have been added to the mix, according to the New York Post — and all that comes in addition to more giveaways, including a year’s worth of free dinners at Daniel Boulud’s flagship restaurant, Brooklyn Nets season tickets, a live-in butler and private chef, and a free summer in the Hamptons.”
“Onlookers are skeptical the space trip and other perks will lure a buyer at Neiditch’s famously fixed price of $85 million. ‘People only pile up giveaways when they won’t reduce the price. It has never made a lot of sense to me,’ an unnamed Manhattan broker said to the Post.”
From WBRC in Tennessee. “It’s no secret, blight is a big problem in the Bluff City. Now, a new list shows the top 10 property owners with the most code violations. Memphis attorney Steve Barlow has spent over a decade on the front lines battling the blight. He leads Neighborhood Preservation Inc., a non-profit that works to remove barriers to fix blighted properties. ‘We have a lot of challenges with abandonment and vacant, unutilized real estate. We have somewhere in the neighborhood of 15,000 abandoned city houses and several thousand abandoned multi-family units,’ he said.”
“Records show nearly all the properties on the list are owned by corporations. We have reached out to Cerberus Capital Management–which manages properties with the most code violations on the list—and they sent us this statement. ‘FirstKey Homes is committed to the Memphis area and our portfolio of high quality single-family rental properties are not part of the ‘blight’ that this civic group is fighting to eliminate. To the contrary, these homes are well-maintained properties for growing families and are helping to provide affordable housing options in Memphis.’”
‘The level of optimism is edging closer to the 70% of adults in 2005 who said prices would continue rising. That, of course, was less than one year before the peak of the housing market bubble in early 2006, which was largely fueled by a wave of subprime lending.’
‘Subprime Is Contained (and other notable statements declaring They Really Don’t Know What They Are Doing)’
Millennials + nesting instinct = financial suicide.
Financial suicide for some, a life of leisure for others. It all depends on where you choose to position yourself.
Outside of that dynamic.
That’s some serious editorial spin on a statistic. The fact that people think prices will go up doesn’t inherently equate to optimism. I am part of the statistic that believes prices will go continue to go up this year, but it’s not because I’m “optimistic” about a strong market, it’s because I see that the market has completely detached from reality. I see the crash and burn looming on the horizon. That does make me optimistic, but not in the “shine the turd” way that this article would lead one to believe.
‘We’re all sitting here marveling at how our ever-increasing home values are making our heirs rich. Half the homes up on the hill are multi-million dollar homes paid for with cash and occupied part time, if at all. Laguna morphed from a safe small town community to a home for absentee owners looking for a safe place to house their money. Most of us are tempted to sell if only we knew what to do about the tax bill and could find a place to move to that we love as much as Laguna’
‘tempted to sell’
Greedy.
‘if only we knew what to do about the tax bill’
Tax averse money grubbers.
‘We live in a zip code where it is easy for marketing experts to mistake most of us for the rich people we aren’t’
Click!
Yet the irony is the definition of a “strong market” is one where prices are falling to dramatically lower and more affordable levels accelerating housing demand and the overall economy.
As it stands now, this is the weakest housing market historically, given the record low demand.
‘Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Thursday that he didn’t believe the growing number of mortgage defaults would seriously harm the economy, and also noted that banks share significant risks when financing private equity deals.’
‘Facing criticism from members of Congress about lax regulation, Bernanke also promised that the Fed would do everything possible to crack down on abuses that have put millions of homeowners in jeopardy of defaulting on their mortgages.’
“We at the Federal Reserve will do all that we can to prevent fraud and abusive lending and to ensure that lenders employ sound underwriting practices and make effective disclosures to consumers,” Bernanke said in remarks prepared for a financial conference in Chicago.’
‘Bernanke said while it was likely that there would be further increases in mortgage delinquencies and foreclosures this year and in 2008, he did not believe this problem would be enough to derail the overall economy.’
“We believe the effect of the troubles in the subprime sector on the broader housing market will be limited and we do not expect significant spillovers from the subprime market to the rest of the economy or to the financial system,” Bernanke said in his remarks.’
‘In his speech, Bernanke said that the “vast majority of mortgages, including even subprime mortgages, continue to perform well.” He said that past gains in home prices have left most homeowners with significant amounts of equity in their houses and the growth in jobs and incomes should allow most households to keep their financial obligations in a manageable range.’
Hitler is informed about QE3
that just killed me, thanks for posting
Realtors are liars.
….. and every closing a crime scene.
Millbrae, CA Housing Prices Crater 5% YOY As Bay Area Layoffs Accelerate And Confidence Plummets
https://www.movoto.com/millbrae-ca/market-trends/
“We’re seeing in our own data a somewhat surprising increase in foreclosure starts in the first quarter.”
Nobody could have seen it coming!
Note that we are still in the ‘trees grow to the sky’ stage of the Echo Bubble. The next housing bust will be astonishingly ugly, due to the extreme level of bubble denial currently deluding the masses.
I found it funny when the UHS morphed into “short sale and foreclosure experts and analysts”. They couldn’t see foreclosures and short sales coming, but now they are the experts you need!
It’s just a small uptick…nothing to see here…
Meanwhile, anything in my area priced under $250K is being feasted upon by “investors” looking to flip. This smells of 2005-2006.
As prices become decreasingly detached from reality, and lending standards are continually weakened to qualify additional buyers at price levels which severely stretch their household finances, default risk will steadily increase.
Once the next housing bust begins, defaults will go into hyperdrive.
‘We’re seeing in our own data a somewhat surprising increase in foreclosure starts in the first quarter. A lot of that increase is due to FHA loans originated in 2014, so as early as 2014 we were starting to see some loosening especially for FHA borrowers, which tend to be lower- credit borrowers. (The increase in foreclosure starts) showed up in some places we’d expect, like Rust Belt cities, but then we also saw it in places like Austin, with a 30 percent increase; Dallas, Reno, Las Vegas, Charlotte. All of those are poster-child markets of this housing boom.’
And we learned from the AEI conference that FHA is supposed to be counter cyclical, meaning it loans more in a down market and less in an upmarket. Yet it was turned loose in 2014. Interesting that was just when many markets were rolling over.
I’m also surprised these Attom reports of a 10% delinquency in Florida and over 12% in greater Miami have simply been ignored by the MSM or falsely attributed to hurricanes. 10% is a disaster.
“Yet it was turned loose in 2014.”
Guess which public figure was confirmed as the head of FHFA at the tail end of 2013.
What home buyers were taught is they could simply default, wait 3 years, and do it again. I’m frankly surprised it’s only 10% despite the fact the number is a complete dumpster fire.
Arlington, VA Housing Prices Plunge 10% As NoVa/DC Market Craters
https://www.movoto.com/arlington-va/market-trends/
my house n Oxides continue up after orange man signed 1.3 trillion spend.a.thon
Prices rising in my nabe, but very slowly. Right now there isn’t much inventory to track.
In our neck of the woods, townhomes have gone from $150k 3 years ago, to $200k last year, to $225k now.
All my good friends in one place.
Broomfield, CO Housing Prices Cratter 7% YOY
https://www.movoto.com/broomfield-co/market-trends/
Up 3% per sq. ft. from a year ago. Lol
Do you just look for cities where the median size of the homes being sold is less than a year prior, to skew the numbers you cite?
I’d like 100 sq ft of house, 1/2 pound of bologna–make sure to slice it real thin…oh and some swiss, too, maybe 1/2 pound of that.
Anchorage, AK Housing Prices Crater 8% YOY
https://www.movoto.com/anchorage-ak/market-trends/
He cherry picks as well as any house seller. You know the saying, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
What was that word again?
H o u s i n g
Hood River, OR Housing Prices Crater 11% YOY
https://www.movoto.com/hood-river-or/market-trends/
‘We’re all sitting here marveling at how our ever-increasing home values are making our heirs rich. Half the homes up on the hill are multi-million dollar homes paid for with cash and occupied part time, if at all’
That’s some shortage.
‘Laguna morphed from a safe small town community to a home for absentee owners looking for a safe place to house their money’
And we know what happens to these safe deposit boxes.
Funny how most places morphed into “absentee owner” communities.
Saw over the weekend 2 handwritten signs strategically placed at busy intersections touting “We pay cash for houses Any condition Any situation” and judging by the penmanship the author barely passed junior high. Me, I’m loving it as I know the end is nigh and these fools are going to learn a hard lesson.
The thing about gambling is most people confuse luck with skill and dont know when to stop.
Well all I can tell you is that houses near me in the SFV part of LA are going like hotcakes and prices are inching towards 500.00 per sq.ft. and higher. Take a look at this little gem. https://www.redfin.com/CA/Los-Angeles/5036-Medina-Rd-91364/home/4179956.
Anything under 700k goes in practically days. Last house I went to see sold in a week for 150,000.00 over asking. Yes I said it, 150,000.00.
I heard through the neighborhood grapevine that a house in my nabe, which was built in 2002 (and sold back then for 360K) just got an offer for 675K (it was listed at 700k) after one month on the market. Of course, it hasn’t closed yet, and I will post the final outcome here after it happens, whether it closes or falls out of escrow. Just a couple years ago, neighboring houses sold for much less.
This greatly surprised me, given the price point, which is very high for my little burg. I guess orthopedic surgeons need to live somewhere. I remember when 700K would buy a real mansion here, just 8 years ago or so.
Here is a link:
https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/4283-Golf-Vista-Dr_Loveland_CO_80537_M27208-16378
$700K would still build a towering mansion.
A 28,000 sqft mansion at current construction costs.
Question:
I’ve talked to some people in the nabe who had their asphalt shingle roof replaced. When I ask them how much it cost, I usually hear about 10K, which to me sounds like highway robbery. These are typically 2 story, 3000 sq ft houses, so ‘m guessing 1500-2000 sq ft of roof.
In your opinion, what should the cost be?
My opinion nor anyone elses has nothing to do with it. Going rate is $50-60/sq +materials, NYC/Boston/Philly prices.
$50 a sq foot for a new roof? Or did you mean something else?
Roof takeoffs are measured in squares with 1 square being 100sq ft.
$50/sq ft is an entire house… lot, labor, materials and profit.
Roof takeoffs are measured in squares with 1 square being 100sq ft.
The “square” refers to the roof area only. $10K for a 15-20-”square” roof (as mentioned in initial post on this thread) is $500-$666/”square”
“The “square” refers to the roof area only. ”
What else would I pull a tape on? The kitchen wallpaper?
The kitchen wallpaper?
Too funny.
I have a house about that size. It had those elephant ear size asphalt shingles on to cover the original wood shingle roofing. So complete tear off. A section of the carpentry underneath needed repair as well and the chimney eliminated. I paid a local crew $4,000. Gutters and downspouts, disposal & etc included. Metal roof. Blue of course.
A friend recently made an offer at asking price for a 1950s house that had just come on the market in Littleton, CO. It was small, had an unfinished basement, and was covered in horrid wallpaper and old dirty carpet. It went under contract in less than 24 hours for $20K over asking price with multiple offers (listed at $350K, went under contract for $370K). Entry level prices are getting pushed up and and up and up, while higher priced properties are getting downward pressure. The trajectories are pushing in opposite directions.
Entry level prices are getting pushed up and and up and up, while higher priced properties are getting downward pressure. The trajectories are pushing in opposite directions.
This is what I have been observing as well, which is why the offer on the house in the link above surprised me.
After doing a little zillow fu I found that a very similar house sold in 2016 for 475K. From what I heard, the owner of that house died (he had terminal cancer) and his heirs priced it to sell quickly. But 200K in less than two years seems very odd to me.
Both are golf course homes, I don’t know if that has anything to do with it, unless some crazy foreigner bought it (which is very unlikely).
The South Florida market is no different. Base prices are in the $250K range for something livable and they’re snapped up immediately. Things priced over $500K inland are sitting on the market. Not much of a range…
This is a tear down, 10,000 foot lot (2 lots combined), figure $100K for the demo, they’re essentially asking someone to spend $770K on a double lot to build on; doesn’t say if possible to build 2 homes on the 2 lots included, but I’m sure it will be done if possible.
Poway, CA Housing Prices Crater 7% YOY As Failing China Economy Pummels California
https://www.zillow.com/poway-ca/home-values/
*Select price from dropdown menu on first chart
Poway up 5% from last year
https://www.movoto.com/poway-ca/market-trends/
Hello my good friend.
Bend(Century West), OR Housing Prices Crater 17% YOY
https://www.zillow.com/century-west-bend-or/home-values/
https://snag.gy/m5EzRB.jpg
Hi my good buddy. You often report on cities I’ve lived in or lived in or know a lot about. Prices might be “cratering” in various US of A cities, but Bend, Portland and Seattle aren’t cratering yet. Houses are selling like hotcakes for ridiculous prices within a one minute block of my house - yet you have said they’re cratering. What exactly is it that you look at? Your links don’t show what you say.
I look forward to your “hello my good friend” response telling me about another city that’s craterin’…
Hello my old friend…… Finally!
Ashford, WA Housing Prices Crater 27% YOY As Washington Economy Stumbles
https://www.movoto.com/ashford-wa/market-trends/
A house in Poway is 1.4 million? Why? It isn’t all that nice. No ocean view, but that’ll cost you about 5 million in La Jolla. And both the Cove and the Children’s Cove are closed to the public as Sea Lions have moved in and claimed them. Both Coves STINK.
‘We have a lot of challenges with abandonment and vacant, unutilized real estate. We have somewhere in the neighborhood of 15,000 abandoned city houses and several thousand abandoned multi-family units’
Weren’t we just reading the other day about how red hot the Memphis shack market is?
‘Records show nearly all the properties on the list are owned by corporations. We have reached out to Cerberus Capital Management–which manages properties with the most code violations on the list’
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerberus_Capital_Management
‘Real estate—Through investment affiliate Cerberus Real Estate, the company has been making direct equity, mezzanine, first mortgage, distressed and special situation investments in all asset types. Cerberus also has a minority stake in Miami Beach-based LNR Property, a large real estate development and investment firm through subsidiary Riley Property. Cerberus also controls Kyo-ya, a Japan-based group of entities that owns several Starwood managed assets in California and Hawaii. In October 2015 Cerberus completed an acquisition from Building and Land Technology of a portfolio of single family rental homes to be managed by its affiliated company, FirstKey Homes, LLC; there are currently more than 6,000 homes in the portfolio.’
Given the astonishing number of houses owned by these parasites, I wonder how this coming price correction will play out as compared to the previous bubble POP. Will it be about the same, take longer, not take as long?
Given the fact that things are in hyperinflation mode around here, it’s looking like 5-7 years out would be an optimistic time frame to purchase. I anticipate much cheaper rents in the next few years, however.
Centreville, VA Housing Prices Crater 11% YOY As Fairfax County Housing Demand Plummets
https://www.movoto.com/centreville-va/market-trends/
Because houses in California are not already expensive enough to build …
California go require solar panels on most new homes.
(snip)
“The new standards are poised to hike construction costs by $25,000 to $30,000 (about half of which is directly due to solar), but the self-produced energy is estimated to save owners $50,000 to $60,000 in operating costs over the solar technology’s expected 25-year lifespan.”
You go, Moonbeam. Bahahahahahahahahahahaha.
https://www.engadget.com/2018/05/06/california-to-require-solar-panels-on-most-new-homes/
Pitts: Do we really need to ‘understand’ Trump’s backers?
‘Here’s the thing: the rest of us have the moral high ground here.’
http://www.columbian.com/news/2018/may/07/pitts-do-we-really-need-to-understand-trumps-backers/
The other day someone popped by to whine about the “hard right” turn of some people on this blog. That’s funny because I post exclusively about the housing bubble. I guess this person is talking about commenters here. Don’t you know blog speech is to be regulated? Anonymously no less!
I don’t believe in left right. It’s become meaningless. Here’s an example: who is it that is standing up for labor in the face of global corporations who want to take jobs overseas and sell products here? Golly, that’s been staked out by progressives like Pitts for decades, right? Uh, no. There has been no significant group in DC that has opposed globalism for over 20 years. None.
So take the moral high ground and pound it along with some Laguna Beach sand.
I read the UK Guardian, Huffington Post, Salon, New Yorker, The Atlantic, etc on a regular basis. Their “moral high ground” of pseudo-intellectual pearl clutching is so beyond delusional it’s hilarious.
All of social media is a total wasteland of hivemind virtue signaling, so I don’t use it.
Jeb Bush: “Please clap”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdCYMvaUcrA
Oprah Bush.
If you’ve haven’t checked the Washington Post comment section, you’re missing out.
Best Of The Young Turks Election Day Meltdown 2016: From smug to utterly devastated.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiWY0iRLV94
Watch 21:50 “Everyone was trying to help her. Even the Republicans! Every television comedian, everyone was on her side. And she still lost to this guy”
23:10
‘She had no message. What was her message? Her own campaign statement, ‘I’m with her.’ What does that even mean? He won a sweet heart percent of the women’s vote.’
Pitts’ argument is the same demographic hypothesis, phrased as a comfortable certainty, that’s been driving the Democratic Party since about 2000: that eventually we’ll have more minorities and immigrants and young people, and they’ll vote for us, as will a solid majority of women. But who’s to say that those groups won’t be as upset about their economic marginalization, and the political establishment that has enabled it, as everyone else in that boat?
In the summer of 2016 I was trying to explain to some skeptical out-of-state relatives that Trump was going to win Florida. They believed that to be impossible because of Trump’s remarks and because there weren’t enough white people here.
He’s ignoring that millions of people who voted for Obama twice voted for Trump.
Pitts’ argument is the same demographic hypothesis, phrased as a comfortable certainty, that’s been driving the Democratic Party since about 2000: that eventually we’ll have more minorities and immigrants and young people, and they’ll vote for us, as will a solid majority of women.
I understand why they would think that. But I think Kanye is showing the cracks in that narrative. One (good) reason for the 50/50 split in our political system is that whenever one side starts to be dominant lots of people start questioning them. It’s like a tug of war. It’ll always be 50/50. The only question is where the flag sits at the moment.
Family political loyalties are tough to break. Look at the South. They voted Dem only because Dem was the party of not-Lincoln, and it took 150+ years for all of them to finally switch to conservative. I think it will go faster this time, but more like 50 years, not 20.
Housing my friends.
Duxbury, MA Housing Prices Crater 14% YOY
https://www.movoto.com/duxbury-ma/market-trends/
I agree generally with that comment Oxide. The internet age has accelerated everything from diet fads to fashion trends to teen jargon to celebrity status. Instead of being famous for fifteen minutes, people now are famous for fifteen seconds. There’s no reason to think that existing political allegiances won’t be truncated too.
This is what happens when people, so out of touch with the common men and women and in bed with special interests, are making the decisions.
Given how absurdly expensive electricity is in California, this could actually be a selling point. I have bay aryan colleagues who tell me that they can’t afford to run the A/C in the summer, as it would cost many hundreds per month to do so.
Having the government force you to pay an extra $60,000 for a house is a selling point?
It doesn’t cost that much. You can do it for much less than that now (~13K). Plus you haven’t seen what electricity costs in California. It’s one of the reasons businesses are leaving.
That said, I agree that it shouldn’t be mandatory.
I just took a looksie at Pacific Gas and Electric’s rates. They range from 20 cents to as high as 43 cents per kwh, depending on the tier (small wonder my bay aryan colleagues can’t afford to run the A/C). A quick google search shows that solar costs about 13 cents. We’re paying about 11 cents in my little burg, so solar doesn’t pencil out here, at least not yet.
“Plus you haven’t seen what electricity costs in California.”
Copy that.
Back in the late 90s in San Luis Obispo county, Los Osos, we used to spend about a month wearing sweat pants and a hoodie around the house during the cold-snaps, which typically happened around late Jan to early Feb. A non-insulated stucco house with single pane windows, it didn’t make sense to fight it. The rest of the year was great.
The return on investment will be heavily subsidized by someone else. California gives crazy feed in tariffs. Of course, they can always move the cheese, like Spain did.
solar technology’s expected 25-year lifespan.”
This should be getting a lot more attention. It appears that these things barely pay for themselves.
South Park?
One of the physics guys from a manufacturer pointed out to me that none of these systems has actually seen 25 years use, so the 25 years is simply a guess.
The inverter is only good for ten years. With low interest rates the system can pay for itself. However raise interest rates very much and they will never pay for themselves. More importantly in some areas the amount of energy used to make them, ship them and then service them, keep panels clean etc. exceeds the energy produced.
“the amount of energy used to make them”
I’m convinced this is the essence of it. They currently will not repay the energy used to produce them.
Oil and gas think tanks put all sorts of hit pieces out there and propaganda, but the truth is that while there is an energy (and environmental) cost to manufacture solar panels, they definitely pay back they energy used to create them:
“Over an average lifespan of 30-odd years, a PV system pays back the energy that was used in producing it “multiple times,” said the study authors.”
“Looking at data since 1976, the researchers calculated that on a global scale, solar energy’s “debt was likely already repaid in 2011″ for both energy input and greenhouse gases.”
https://phys.org/news/2016-12-solar-panels-repay-energy-debt.html
You call what I said a hit piece, and then you called what you said the Truth.
One, the article claims a thirty year life span, I do not know if those Chinese made solar panels are going to last that long. However assuming they do and the panels are put in an ideal location lots of sun very little sand blowing across them, very little grime or snow and ice etc. You find that you get under ideal conditions three or four times the energy from them and that usually ignores the maintenance inputs. A conventional oil well routinely was a 100 to one ratio. Many people have questioned whether society can prosper on such a low ROE. Right now it is Chinese coal that allows this to work. We are looking at very expensive energy costs when solar energy is used to make solar panels. When the energy laundering ends and we are not just hiding coal use we are going to be in trouble
“Over an average lifespan of 30-odd years, a PV system pays back the energy that was used in producing it “multiple times,” said the study authors.”
Are there actual PV systems that have seen 30 years of use, or is this an extrapolation?
Dan, I am as yet unaware of any facility uses solar power to manufacture solar cells, much less the steps before in refining the materials and producing the equipment in the fab. There was a First Solar plant that put an array up to run the lights. They could afford to do that just for the PR.
If you know of a case of solar to solar please do give more information.
You call what I said a hit piece, and then you called what you said the Truth.
To clarify, I wasn’t saying what you said was a hit piece, but that there are plenty of hit pieces from totally biased so-called “foundations” that purport to show what you were claiming, which is that the cost to get solar is exceeded by manufacturing. They try to obscure the benefit in terms of economics and environmental benefits of solar and wind.
If you want some good information, take a look at Bloomberg New Energy Finance reports. The gist is that solar energy is fast becoming, if not already is, the most cost-effective source of new electricity, without any subsidies. This is before perskovite solar cells or any new technology that is on the cusp of development.
Battery development and virtual power grids, like what Tesla is doing in Australia, is going to revolutionize the grid.
Karen, solar panels have been around since 1975, so there is plenty of data that support 30 year life cycle. Degradation of a panel is around .7% a year, so at 30 years you’d expect about 80% efficiency of a panel.
Albuquerquedan, I assume your referring to Energy Returned on Energy Invested. Your ratios don’t make sense for oil. Shale oil is like a ratio of 2, while photo voltaic is like a 7. Hydro is 100, and coal is like 80, while ethanol is about 1.3 (talk about a total scam). ERoEI say nothing about the sustainability of such energy production (like, wind and sun energy is essentially unlimited), nor does it speak to environmental degradation and pollution. Granted, some PV panel manufacturing is cleaner than others and recycling of some metals in PV panels needs to be addressed, but let’s not kid ourselves into thinking that coal, oil, and nat gas is somehow cleaner that wind, solar, and hydro.
solar panels have been around since 1975, so there is plenty of data that support 30 year life cycle
I’m not asking about data. I’m asking about actual 30 year old systems.
Solar=Failure. Just like electric cars.
Ethanol is < 1. Even the EPA acknowledges such.
PV is not 7. It is less than 1 also. It takes more energy to produce than it will ever pay back. I have no pony in that race but I see the madness in it. More hydrocarbon fuel is wasted producing PV than is saved.
This is not the most idiotic thing humans have done, but it makes the short list.
I’m not asking about data. I’m asking about actual 30 year old systems.
I have one around here, but I cannot fit it into my keyboard. Sorry!
Blue, please read my post again I did not claim that there is a plant making solar panels that uses solar, I think it would be impossible. One I do not know where you are getting the two to one ratio for shale, it is low but not that low. And yes at one time oil wells were a 100 to one proposition and that is why oil cane to dominate other sources
I do not expect anyone to take this source as gospel but I think it is very credible, also I think One may be confusing shale oil with oil shale. The low EROI of oil shale is why it will sometime be close to profitable during high oil prices but never quite make it:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesconca/2015/02/11/eroi-a-tool-to-predict-the-best-energy-mix/#1430e203a027
I do not expect anyone to take this source as gospel but I think it is very credible
I do not find those ERoEI numbers credible for solar PV:
“For solar, which I know better, this paper is an outlier. Looking at the bulk of the research, it’s more likely that solar panels, over their lifetime, generate 10-15 times as much energy as it takes to produce them and their associated hardware. That number may be as high as 25. And it’s rising over time.”
“The most comprehensive review of solar EROI to date is Bhandari et al Energy payback time (EPBT) and energy return on energy invested (EROI) of solar photovoltaic systems: A systematic review and meta-analysis.”
“Bhandari looked at 232 papers on solar EROI from 2000-2013. They found that for poly-silicon (the predominant solar technology today, found in the second column below), the mean estimate of EROI was 11.6. That EROI includes the Balance of System components (the inverter, the framing, etc..) For thin film solar systems (the right two columns), they found an EROI that was much higher, but we’ll ignore that for now.”
http://rameznaam.com/2015/06/04/whats-the-eroi-of-solar/
ERoEI is interesting, but it shouldn’t be taken as the end-all be-all of a mix of energy sources as there are plenty of other factors that should come into play. ERoEI says little about the energy dependence, sustainability, cost, or even emissions (CO, CO2, NOx, SO2, metals, etc.).
In Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, India, Pakistan, and China they are literally gassing their children and causing birth defects, respiratory infections, still births, asthma, COPD, and pneumonia with dirty energy that has a phenomenal ERoEI:
https://www.fairobserver.com/region/asia_pacific/worlds-most-polluted-city-mongolia-news-latest-33490/
Bhandari looked at 232 papers…
Lost in a forest of papers. No regard for those who have done the actual work.
Lost in a forest of papers. No regard for those who have done the actual work.
Meta-analyses are the strongest type of evidence. One can’t and shouldn’t rely on one study or one point of data to extrapolate about what net energy payback would be because so much depends on the circumstances around which PVs are deployed (e.g. weather conditions, angle of exposure, panel type, altitude, efficiency, etc.).
I’m not asking about data. I’m asking about actual 30 year old systems.
I have one around here, but I cannot fit it into my keyboard. Sorry!
“Data”:
We were told the data all said Hillary Clinton would win by a landslide.
We are told the data says global warming/climate change is real.
We were told for decades that that the data says automation was the real reason for the loss of American manufacturing jobs, and that American factories were simply producing more products with fewer workers.
Meta-analyses are the strongest type of evidence.
Reality is the strongest kind of evidence. Most of us can’t take it, so we resort to other means.
May have been posted already but well worth a reread. Some good FB stories in there:
The people who bought at the peak of Toronto’s real estate bubble, and then lost hundreds of thousands within months
When Toronto-area home prices began their slide, the market served up painful lessons for buyers and sellers alike — and revealed shady behaviour that helped inflate prices in the first place
http://www.macleans.ca/economy/realestateeconomy/toronto-real-estate-losses/
The first three paragraphs alone are priceless. Note that this particular FB was not deterred from further speculative activities. I’m guessing that the books he bought on Amazon don’t include “Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds.”
“The house in Toronto was the type of property highly coveted by those in the city: fully detached on a sprawling lot, recently renovated and adorned with granite countertops, hardwood floors and a solarium. John, who asked that his name not be used for reasons that will become obvious, knew he had to make an offer. He figured he could rent it out, and if the payments didn’t cover the mortgage costs, no matter. Back in early 2017, home prices in Toronto were on an unstoppable tear, surging double-digits every month. The house would surely be worth more in no time. The home was on the market for only a few days when John’s offer was accepted. He bid nearly $1.9 million, about $360,000 more than the list price. Then everything fell apart.
John, a real estate agent, thought he had financing lined up. But the bank declined to lend him the money. John had recently formed his own brokerage, and the bank was treating self-employed individuals with far more caution in an overheated market. He consulted two lawyers, who told him that if he walked away from the deal, he could be sued. John decided he had no choice but to take a mortgage from a private lender that carried a hefty 12 per cent interest rate. He knew there was no way he could afford the payments and listed the property as soon as he took ownership.
But there was another problem. During the closing period, the Ontario government introduced the Fair Housing Plan, which included a 15 per cent tax on non-resident buyers. The plan released the air from the housing market, and prices took a nosedive. John’s investment property sat on the market for 27 agonizing days before a buyer could be found. The home sold for 25 per cent less than what John had paid just five months earlier, leading to hundreds of thousands of dollars in losses. “I was so greedy,” he says now. “I will not play the game like that again.” Painful as it was, he looks back at the debacle as a learning experience. He even purchased some books about real estate investment on Amazon to learn how to do it properly.”
Santa Barbara, CA Housing Prices Crater 5% YOY As Market Fear Spreads Across Los Angeles
https://www.movoto.com/santa-barbara-ca/market-trends/
Prosper and Celina or to the east in Princeton and Farmersville.”
I know there are some HBBers in DFW. Are the commutes from those towns as hellish as Google Maps suggests?
If you tried that commute you would have to get to work and turn around immediately to get home for supper. Here’s the thing: these are old farm to market roads. Even now it can take 20 minutes to go a few miles. Stop lights all over the place. There’s no flow and won’t be for a long time. I don’t know who the target is for these really expensive mcmansions. But you can get zero down!
Sounds like the bay area. I have colleagues who start the day at home, hit the road at ten, stay in the office until 3, then finish the day at at home, in order to beat the traffic.
I wonder what will happen when that trick stops working?
“Q. Why aren’t the equity rich numbers growing faster? A. That’s a testament to an increasing number of folks who do have equity starting to tap into it a little more so they are not necessarily staying in that equity rich category.”
Translation: People are stupid. They think they have it made because their homebuying neighbors have lost their minds and are bidding up home prices beyond the level of sanity and these stupid pukes thus come to believe they are financial geniuses and as such should suck out some (most ? all?) of this price-generated equity and REPLACE IT WITH SOME VERY LONG-ENDURING DEBT.
A nation of dummies.
I just got this email:
CNBC ANNOUNCES SEASON TWO OF ‘THE DEED’ PREMIERES WEDNESDAY, JUNE 13 AT 10PM ET/PT
Sidney Torres is Back to Help Struggling Real Estate Investors Realize Their Goals
ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, N.J. — May 7, 2018 — CNBC’s home renovation series, “The Deed,” returns for a second season on Wednesday, June 13 at 10PM ET/PT with six, all-new episodes. In each one-hour episode, self-made real-estate mogul and serial entrepreneur, Sidney Torres, brings his multi-million dollar fortune and expertise to the aid of struggling property investors.
In exchange for a piece of the property and a percentage of the profits, Sidney helps these inexperienced developers restore their rundown homes to their former glory. Torres lives for the thrill of deal-making and using his vast resources, design savvy and years of experience to transform both the people and properties in need of his help.
This season takes viewers through every stage of the renovation process, as Torres works with everyone from aspiring and ambitious novices to seasoned, down-on-their-luck real-estate developers. Some of the partners featured this season include an ambitious law student looking to make his mark in real estate, a couple seeking to turn their flipping dream into a reality after a 10-year wait, a pair of recovering addicts looking for a fresh start, and one of Sidney’s oldest friends who’s in desperate need of help with his million dollar money pit.
Struggling property investors?
“Struggling property investors?”
Send them to me. 😁
Like sending a junkie to a pusher.
Since we’re talking about “struggling” I just saw an eBay auction for used insole inserts that have a visible black mold outline of sweaty feet. Yuck!
Portland, OR Housing Prices Crater 14% YOY As Land Prices Plummet
https://www.zillow.com/portland-or-97239/home-values/
*Select price from dropdown menu on first chart
Land prices plummet? huh?
That’s one zip code. I just checked on Movoto.com and Portland as a whole is up +3% YoY:
https://www.movoto.com/portland-or/market-trends/
You guys are seriously confusing on this blog.
Hello my good friend.
Cupertino, CA Rental Rates Crater 6% YOY As Housing Correction Slams Bay Area
https://www.zillow.com/cupertino-ca/home-values/
… and don’t forget to select price on the rental chart.
He does this nonsense all the time. It’s annoying. Most of here know that real estate will crash soon, so there’s no need to try and mislead people the way that he does.
Housing…
Westminster, CO Housing Prices Crater 14% YOY As Denver Housing Correction Advances
https://www.movoto.com/westminster-co/market-trends/
Lol thanks, I thought I was the only one that noticed…
Housing
Bellaire, TX Housing Prices Crater 19% YOY As Oil Bust Slams Dallas Area
https://www.zillow.com/bellaire-tx/home-values/
*Select price from dropdown menu on first chart
Add UPS to the list of mega corps who have outsourced to cheap labor countries. I tried to get some package info this morning, and after an exhausting effort finally reached “Nate” from Manila, Philippines. His accent and level of service were awful. Not only was he difficult to understand, he didn’t understand my questions and seemed to be reading from a script.
The UPS phone system is essentially a wall to prevent customers from reaching anybody in the first place. If you persist and persist beyond all of the messages designed to try to get you to hang up, you finally get a “Nate,” which is worse than talking to nobody at all. I just hung up.
I think it’s time the government started imposing fines or fees for every employee working outside the United States for domestic companies. It’s long overdue. Make the fees more expensive than the savings on labor. What we have been experiencing over the course of the past 20+ years is nothing short of warfare on wages and salaries for most. It’s time to fight fire with fire.
Do those people on the phone have access to any info you can’t already get off the UPS website? It’s not like they’re gonna get on the phone and call the last place the was logged and see if they can find it. Most likely they’re just write up a ticket and send it into the void.
I didn’t know that answer, which is why I wanted to call UPS. I will never call them again. They are absolutely worthless.
Actually, the reshoring of customer service has been happening for about 20 years. Companies initially outsourced to these low wage countries and then they realized that the low wages were nothing more than a trap. The decline in brand perception and customer loyalty, not to mention the fact that the resolution rate for these off-site agents is abysmal, ended up costing them much more than they saved. Upper management used to think of customer service as a cost (and it is), but in many cases it is the only touch-point for a brand with its customers, so it better be as good as possible to compete. Amazon’s customer service reputation is phenomenal and they have the most customer-friendly policies around. Like Nordstrom’s return policy, they are the ones that are setting the standard for everyone else. So when you get “Nate” at UPS, you get pretty ticked, and maybe you switch to FedEx, or DHL, or even the good US old post office.
Re-shoring the last 20 years? Who was off-shoring work so far back that they could be re-shoring it for 20 years? Working in IT, 20 years ago would put you at the start of the boom of off-shoring.
I am speaking of call centers more narrowly and not about IT, though you are probably right: the reshoring movement picked up in earnest in the call center world more towards the middle of the 2000s. I’ve ran global call centers located in many countries and that was my bread and butter for about 10 years.
“Since the early 90s, call centers have been shifting facilities to countries like India, China, and Philippines. The main reason for call centers being attracted to developing countries are the cheaper labor rates, availability of workforce, and government incentives.”
https://whittakerassociates.com/market-trends-call-centers-re-shoring/
It’s not just about direct labor costs. Companies that outsource are also saving a ton on indirect costs, especially for health care. I’m pretty middle of the road politically, but universal healthcare makes a lot of sense for a lot of reasons, including making American labor more affordable for employers.
see UK for results
like all countries w free hc it’s their #1 bitch
I lived in the UK and used the healthcare system. The weather was the #1 bitch, followed by football. I was offered a job there that came with the option of elective private insurance. They have private physicians and private insurance, but it doesn’t run amok over their entire healthcare system, everyone who needs care gets it, and employers aren’t required to shoulder the burden.
UK residents get up in arms about any potential cuts to the NHS budget. In fact, one of the main selling points about Brexit that was floated is that it would mean less money sent to Brussels and more to the NHS system (which turned out to be total bunk, by the way). In any event, the vast majority of UK citizens are thrilled by their healthcare system and shriek and howl at any notion that it would become more privatized (e.g. more like the US system). Single-payer works much better than we have now, and there are lots of variants and different ways to implement a vastly superior system than that of the US.
Every country has their sacred cow, or canary in the coal mine if you prefer, that lets them know that as least as long as we have this everything should be ok. The USA has guns, Germany has no speed limit sections of the autobahn. Sounds like Britain has medical care.
UKs health care is pretty rank judging by their teeth. Austin Powers is the epitome of healthy there.
UKs health care is pretty rank judging by their teeth.
That’s an old, out of date stereotype, driven mostly by malnutrition during WW2.
I’ve never heard your explaination for the origin of that myth/stereotype. Very interesting.
La Mesa, CA Rental Rates Crater 9% YOY As Wave Of Excess Housing Inventory Ravages San Diego County
https://www.zillow.com/la-mesa-ca/home-values
*Select price from dropdown menu on rental chart
‘Being reduced just means re-evaluating market value,’ said Linda Skolnick
Linda must be taking “Lawrence speak” YouTube classes from Lawrence Yun of the NAR.
“Lawrence speak” - Series of impressive sounding words strung together with absolutely no meaning.
Figures released today show that just 9.4 percent of homes with mortgages now fit that category,
what was the underwater # in the 1950’s
add big gov and stir
Miami, FL 33125 Housing Prices Crater 11% YOY As Plunging Confidence Shakes Housing Market
https://www.zillow.com/miami-fl-33125/home-values/
*Select price from dropdown menu on first chart
Cyndi Lauper’s Stamford estate, which sold in January after being listed for nine months for $804,625 — a drop from the original $1.25 million price. Real estate experts did not see that as an indictment of Lauper’s
Cause a her psoriasis
Cyndi Lauper’s Stamford estate
Reminds me of an Stamford MD I once knew, who gave up on ever accumulating enough money to buy a home in that area. He shut down his practice & moved to what he called “Mayberry RFD” somewhere in NC. He paid cash for his NC home with a portion of the money he had been saving for a Stamford down payment, and had money left over. This was in 1979.
Stamford CT was what I meant.
The phone rings in the middle of the night
My Realtor yells, “What you gonna price your shack right?”
CYNDI LAUPER SELLS LONGTIME CONNECTICUT HOME FOR $800,000
Debra Filcman
Singer-songwriter, actress and LGBT activist Cyndi Lauper has parted ways with her Stamford, Conn., home of more than three decades. The French Country Colonial sold at the close of 2017 for just $804,625, reduced several times from its original asking price of $1.25 million.
The asking price was reduced due to some needed work and the slow rate of home sales in Stamford.
“It was the last asking price, $799,000, that set off a bidding war with four or five bidders,” Leventhal said.
http://ultimateclassicrock.com/cyndi-lauper-sells-home/
A bidding WAR!!!!!
????
From $799,000 to $804,624
Were they bidding in $4 increments?
“From $799,000 to $804,624″
I was wondering if anyone would pick up on that.
“94,785,000 Not in Labor Force; At 62.9%, Labor Force Participation Stuck Near 38-Year Low”
https://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/susan-jones/no-records-set-august-number-employed-americans-drops-participation-rate
That is a fake number millions are working for CASH, so no taxes NO SS payments means the gov saves Hundreds of Billions each year in lower SS costs
It is an old number that is for sure
Why do Cal Ripken Jr., Ray Lewis, the late Tom Clancy struggle to sell their posh homes?
http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/real-estate/bs-bz-high-end-homes-20180302-story.html
Ummmm…
Because these homes are in or near Baltimore?
And also located in high tax and progressive/liberal controlled Maryland?
Kalaheo, Hawaii Housing Prices Crater 15% YOY As Housing Liquidation Accelerates
https://www.zillow.com/kalaheo-hi/home-values/
*Select price from dropdown menu on first chart
sorry for this long url….but
https://www.google.com/maps/@43.3150513,-75.7021222,3a,57.7y,230h,82.63t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sgPchFyHd5HxUSi-AJ9G2yg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656
That is awesome. What exactly is it though? Some sort of zombie/Halloween display?
Kings County, NY (Brooklyn Borough) Housing Prices Crater 10% YOY As Housing Correction Impacts Major Cities
https://www.zillow.com/kings-county-ny/home-values/
*Select price from dropdown menu on first chart
Jesus would be proud of the Catholic Themed entertainment today.
Jesus would be proud of the Catholic Themed entertainment today.
https://youtu.be/OOuWWzP7wl0
A 4%10-year Treasury yield is hard to envision…even though we’ve all been there before.
Jamie Dimon sees 4% bond yields ahead — but don’t panic
By Barbara Kollmeyer
Published: May 8, 2018 7:43 a.m. ET
Critical information for the U.S. trading day
More than this. JPM CEO Jamie Dimon talks how big bond yields can go.
It’s D-Day for oil as investors wait for POTUS to lay down his Iran proclamation, and investors keep selling the slick stuff in anticipation.
While crude is going to dominate the day, there’s another asset worth keeping a weather eye on. Just a couple of weeks ago, the yield on 10-year Treasurys (TMUBMUSD10Y, +0.45%) ratcheted up to 3%. It’s since backed off that level, but investors remain a little edgy about the possible inversion of the yield curve, when short-dated yields crest above long-dated ones — seen as a recession red flag.
So brace yourself for our call of the day, from none other than J.P. Morgan’s chief executive Jamie Dimon, who says get ready for 10-year note yields to hit 4%.
If economic growth picks up, and inflation accelerates and goes higher than expected, that could prompt the Federal Reserve to push up interest rates faster than seen so far, he cautions in an interview with Bloomberg TV.
“That could force the 10-year up, not down as in the in the past. You can easily deal with 4% bonds, and I think people should be prepared for that,” Dimon says.
But before you batten down the hatches, the J.P. Morgan CEO adds that if 4% is the mark of a ”strong and healthy” America, then he would call yields’ push higher “almost normalization.”
…
What kind of genius does it take to predict that something will go up after it is already going up? Besides, isn’t this one of the jokers that tells you to buy when he has just placed bets against you?
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman
Sweet sweet schadenfreude. The Hypocrite Creep Of NYC goes down.
“After the former girlfriend ended the relationship, she told several friends about the abuse. A number of them advised her to keep the story to herself, arguing that Schneiderman was too valuable a politician for the Democrats to lose.”
Submission
The beat goes on
Convicted by the press.
““We could rarely have sex without him beating me,” she said.”
NYTimes
Think of it as foreplay, like I do.
Yes, no one should be allowed to report on anything unless a governmental body like a court first adjudicates it and declares it to be true.
/sarc
The papers should be able to report on anything they want to. I don’t think us readers should take the reporters story as pure fact without a hearing and allowing the accused a defense. This guy has already been sentenced. Something is missing.
The quote I lifted from the article reminds me of an old story.
Wife: I have to confess that I’ve been raped.
Husband: By who!
Wife: Guy I met in a bar.
Husband: Where?
Wife: At his house.
Husband: When?
Wife: About 18 different times.
Husband: !
a court first adjudicates it and declares it to be true
Like this declaration from the US Supreme Court 1857? –
Copy that.
“In 1854, the California Supreme Court ruled in People v. Hall that the Chinese “were a race of people whom nature has marked as inferior, and who are incapable of progress or intellectual development beyond a certain point, as history has shown.” Citing a section of the California Criminal Proceedings that “No black or mulatto person, or Indian, shall be allowed to give evidence in favor of, or against a white man,” the Court ruled that the term “black” applied to anyone not white and therefore any discriminatory laws also applied to Chinese. Since blacks couldn’t testify against white people, the court threw out the testimonies of three Chinese who had identified Hall, a white man, as having killed a Chinese man.”
Et tu?
The Pew Charitable Trusts Research & Analysis American Families Face a Growing Rent Burden
Report
American Families Face a Growing Rent Burden
High housing costs threaten financial security and put homeownership out of reach for many
April 19, 2018
Financial Security and Mobility
…
Now that’s a politically correct photo.
Mr Market sure has been plungy as of late. What ever happened to the Plunge Protection Team?
We’re in the process of selling our home right now. We had one offer and were going to take it (no realtor, buyer/seller and our attorneys), and then started getting interest from owners in the neighborhood and a realtor. Ended up with 5 offers (we never listed, never advertised), and it escalated. We’re contracted for 80K more than we originally expected to get. The realtor who brought us a buyer had originally said he could get us 60K more in our pockets if we signed and let him field offers.
I said, “I don’t want to own during another hurricane season. I had 25K damage from Irma and insurance only covered 11K. I believe we’re probably in another bubble and who knows when this will pop. I don’t want to wait six months or a year and hope 60 to 100K more. I’ll take it now and if it pops, I have cash in the bank while I rent and everyone freaks at being underwater.”
I simply do not have faith this is in any way sustainable (though I’m not God and may be making a poor decision.) The prices in Miami are insane. No one in any sort of normal middle class income can afford the homes in good shape.
Go on take the money and run!