The Nearly Unanimous Sentiment Is Fear
London SE1 reports from the UK. “Neo Bankside was a joint venture between developers Grosvenor and Native Land. The scheme’s four hexagonal towers were designed by Rogers Stirk Harbour and Partners. The penthouse at the top of pavilion B went on sale 18 months ago with an asking price of £22.5 million. The price tag soon dropped below £20 million and was until recently at the £17.75 million mark. This week the same penthouse has been advertised for sale at £15 million, a one-third reduction on the original price.”
“Research by Private Eye magazine into UK property acquired by foreign businesses shows that 44 of the 217 homes at Neo Bankside are registered to offshore companies. 36 flats are owned by firms registered in the British Virgin Islands and 4 to Singaporean companies. Others are owned by companies in the Netherlands, Panama, Malta and Hong Kong.”
From ABC News. “The former head of Australia’s anti-money laundering agency has called for tough new rules to force solicitors and real estate agents to report suspicious transactions and prevent Australia from becoming a safe haven for foreign corrupt funds. Despite highly credible warnings that large volumes of illicit money leaving China were being laundered in Australia, a Four Corners investigation found no Australian agency was charged with identifying the true source of foreign funds being invested into the economy.”
“Head of Washington DC-based Global Financial Integrity Raymond Baker said many governments did not want to ask the questions and simply wanted the money to flow in. ‘Well, I’m sorry, you do that and you expose yourself to a great many risks, not only in your own country, but you’re also damaging the countries out of which that money is coming,’ Mr Baker said.”
“As a FIRB board member of 10 years and former Tasmanian Liberal MP, Chris Miles said the organisation needed a more investigative approach, particularly with regard to the reach of the Chinese government. ‘I think you have to be cautious of the state-owned companies,’ Mr Miles said. ‘There was one operation I was involved with [while on the board of FIRB], the information there was that the company involved was totally independent … but in actual fact the information didn’t come back through the commercial side of the company, it came back through the foreign affairs side of the country … basically through the embassy, and that’s a concern for us.’”
The Australian Financial Review. “Demand from Chinese investors for loans to invest in Australia property is proving more than some lenders can handle. Firstmac, an Australian-owned financial services group managing about $7 billion of mortgages, has put the brakes on loan applications from mainland Chinese investors. A letter sent to its network of 100 brokers warns that to ‘decrease the risk of investors from China becoming over-represented in our lending portfolio we will temporarily halt non-residential transactions.’”
“In his letter, James Austin, chief financial officer, said the lender was worried investors in its securitised mortgage portfolios might become concerned about over-concentration of loans to overseas Chinese investors. Mr Austin said it also feared breaching a regulatory 10 per cent ’speed limit’ on the growth of mortgage portfolios. ‘To keep the confidence of our backers, we cannot have concentration of applications from any one area,’ Mr Austin said.”
“It follows earlier moves by Westpac Group to also clamp down on lending to overseas property investors from buying residential property in popular suburbs.”
The International Business Times on Australia. “On the first auction day of October, Sydney vendors’ expectations have come crashing down as they had to drop their prices much below their expectations. Although more than a thousand houses were hammered in the auction, the dropping of prices has hit them hard. ‘Clearly sellers are more motivated to sell given the weakening market over recent months,’ Dr Andrew Wilson, a senior economist at the Domain Group said.”
“Damien Cooley, of Cooley Auctions, conceded that vendors or agents need to set realistic prices in order to sell their houses this year. ‘We are telling owners not to hold out for that extra AU$5000 to AU$10,000 – they need to get it done before Christmas,’ he added.”
The Business Standard on India. “Suraj Parmar, who killed himself on Wednesday, was promoter of Cosmos, a Thane-based realty group. In a 15-page suicide note, he has cited being subject to a series of approval delays for his projects and a stuck decision making system for the step he would take. ‘Parmar used to fight politicians and officers over corruption. Most of us settle the matter and close it (but) those kind of margins are no more left in real estate to pay politicians and officers,’ said the managing director of a Mumbai-based developer. He declined to be identified.”
“Builders, he said are caught between stagnant sales on the one hand, and corruption and delay in approvals on the other. The housing market in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region has recorded its worst half-yearly performance since the financial crisis of 2008, with sales weakening even as 200,000 units remain unsold, according to property consultant Knight Frank. New housing project launches fell by 47 per cent in the first half of this year.”
“‘Politicians and officers are exploiting and squeezing developers. It has become difficult to run the business. Most of the developers are under distress and the balance sheets of developers are under stress due to delay in approvals,’ said the founder of another large group in Mumbai. This person, too, declined to be identified. ‘Like farmer suicides, soon you will hear of developer suicides,’ he predicted.”
From Fortune. “Since landing in San Francisco on Wednesday, I’ve met with an assortment of senior venture capitalists, bankers, entrepreneurs and crossover investors. All of them have, in one way or another, been involved with so-called ‘unicorn’ companies. As in the past, they are nearly unanimous in sentiment. The difference now is that their sentiment is fear.”
“The reality is that record-high private market valuations have been driven by two things: Wall Street’s lust for growth at all costs, and relatively high tech multiples in the public markets (and, more specifically, applying the former to the latter). But a variety of macro economics factors (China, the inscrutable Fed, etc.) have cut public equity prices and moved the spotlight to unit economics, which means some pretty large biz model disruption for the disruptors.”
“‘This shift is only five or six weeks old, so most companies haven’t felt it yet,’ a senior tech banker explains. ‘But I know of many companies who raised money at $1 billion valuations last year that are now being told that, to raise money now, they need to take around $700 million or $800 million. Probably with some serious structure that protects investors, like ratchets, on top of it.’”
“This isn’t to say that the bubble is popping so much as to argue that the ever-rising valuation peak is in the rear-view mirror for later-stage companies. For now, all I see is wistful sadness, like children at the end of summer vacation.”
The price tag soon dropped below £20 million and was until recently at the £17.75 million mark. This week the same penthouse has been advertised for sale at £15 million, a one-third reduction on the original price.”
Unlike the last several crashes in London real estate, when these prices dip 50% they will still be absolutely unaffordable except to corporations and individuals who are more likely than not trying to launder ill gotten gains. London is toast for the working/middle class. Hope you don’t mind a 2 hour ride each way on the Great Western RR to get to work in the city.
“Demand from Chinese investors for loans to invest in Australia property is proving more than some lenders can handle. Firstmac, an Australian-owned financial services group managing about $7 billion of mortgages, has put the brakes on loan applications from mainland Chinese investors. A letter sent to its network of 100 brokers warns that to ‘decrease the risk of investors from China becoming over-represented in our lending portfolio we will temporarily halt non-residential transactions.’”
Whatever became of the mythical Chinese investor with a massive hoard of accumulated savings to blow on all-cash purchases of foreign real estate? Turns out we are merely witnessing the latest generation of soon to be submerged subprime debt donkeys.
Coming soon to a neighborhood near you: Chinese debt donkeys…
Marketwatch dot com
Chinese all-cash buyers of U.S. homes have tripled since 2005
By Daniel Goldstein
Published: Oct 10, 2015 8:26 a.m. ET
Mandarin-speaking Chinese are buying mostly high-end homes with a median price of over $500,000
Xiāoshòu. That’s how you say “For Sale” in Chinese. And if you’re selling to an all-cash buyer in a U.S. real estate deal, you may need to find a real-estate agent who speaks Mandarin.
A joint analysis by Irvine, Calif.-based realty research firm RealtyTrac, and New Jersey-based multicultural marketing company Ethnic Technologies, found that 46% of Mandarin Chinese-speaking buyers who purchased U.S. homes in the 17 months ending in May 2015 paid all cash, more than triple the number paying all cash in 2005. Overall, Mandarin speakers are the second largest non-English speaking cash-paying group, totaling nearly 18% of all cash deals, second behind those buyers speaking Spanish at 43%.
…
‘Five months. That’s how long before house prices start to fall, according to the latest major investment bank to call the peak in Australia’s housing cycle. “Credit growth, auction clearance rates, house prices, settlement volumes and the dollar value of settlements are all showing signs of slowing, albeit from lofty levels,” analysts from investment bank Macquarie said in a note today, The Australian reports.’
‘It said the issue was easing population growth just as housing supply surged well above trend, raising the risk of “rapid adjustment”.’
‘Credit Suisse has also warned about the deterioration in buying conditions, particularly in NSW. “Macro-prudential tightening, out-of-cycle rate hikes on investor mortgages, and weakness in Chinese buying are having a clear impact on sentiment and demand,” it said.’
I thought Australia was already melting down. The Housing market is so sticky. No one wants to face market pressures and “give it away”!
” Ethnic Technologies”
I see an Eddie Murphy bit here…
Got gold?
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-10-12/why-gold-surging-bofa-says-expect-massive-policy-shift-2016
‘You don’t have to lay down a 30% deposit to buy property in Mackay. That’s just one option and an option real estate agent David Fisher thinks sends the wrong message given investment opportunities are ripe for the picking around Mackay region right now.’
‘During the past three years, house prices have dropped 20%, which Mr Fisher said should boost investor confidence.’
‘But last week NAB Bank lumped Mackay and Moranbah in a group of mining towns with a “Group A restricted postcode”, where buyers would need a 30% deposit to secure a home loan. This was after the bank deemed the towns as “areas where significant deterioration in credit risk has been observed”.
‘Mr Fisher said the news sent a shockwave. “The last thing Mackay needs is for people to get spooked about the economy,” Mr Fisher said. “If people think they need a 30% deposit to buy a house, it’s going to make it pretty much impossible to sell a house. This is just one bank, all the other banks (don’t require deposits) anywhere near that.”
‘With coal mines exporting record amounts in the last year, Mr Fisher said there was no reason for property prices and the economy not to bounce back.’
‘The threat of a housing bubble stoked by an oversupply of apartments has receded as the big banks heavily rein in lending to developers, according to Mark Steinert, chief executive of Stockland, the nation’s biggest residential developer.’
‘The banking regulator’s requirement that investor home loan growth be kept below 10 per cent a year had seen financing dry up for mid-tier developers and projects begin to stall, Mr Steinert said. Last week HSBC quietly cut loans to buy investment property for new customers, while AMP has scrapped lending to landlords and other major banks have raised investor mortgage rates as the banks move to comply with the Australian Prudential Regulation Authorities guidelines.’
‘In the last two months, Stockland — which will develop 32,700 dwellings and lots in the next two years — has seen partly built or stalled apartment projects become available to buy.’
‘Mr Steinert, who before taking the role at Stockland in 2013 headed global research for UBS in New York, argues that there will be no housing bubble, and “definitely no recession”. He said: “Our outlook for Australia is benign. We operate in every market in the country and they are all showing some level of growth, so I don’t see what would create this recession in Australia without some external shock.”
‘China was one wildcard, though economic growth there was still expected to be 5-6 per cent, he said. Another was population growth. “If there was a collapse in migration, that would cause a challenge. This is what underpins the economy,” he said.’
‘But Mr Steinert, who is also president of peak property industry body the Property Council of Australia, sounded a note of caution on some apartment sectors, saying the nature of high-rise towers with many apartments meant that oversupply could happen more quickly, as was likely to be the case in inner Melbourne.’
‘More homes are selling at a loss than last year, with vendors incurring a $66,000 deficit in the average loss-making resale. According to CoreLogic RP Data, 9.1 per cent of home resales that occurred in the June quarter sold for less than the previous purchase price.’
‘In the capital cities, homes that were sold at a loss had been owned for an average of 5.3 years. Homes that were sold for a gain had been held for 9.9 years, while homes that yielded a gross profit of at least 100 per cent had been held for 16.4 years.’
‘In the regions, homes sold for a loss had been owned for an average 6.4 years, while homes sold for a gain had been owned for 10.2 years and homes sold for a 100 per cent gain had been owned for 17.6 years. The average loss incurred in loss-making resales was $66,000 throughout Australia, or $79,000 in the capitals and $55,000 in the regions.’
“Across Perth and Darwin, in particular, there has been a fairly rapid lift in the proportion of loss-making resales over recent months,” according to CoreLogic RP Data. “This is mirroring broader housing market conditions where value growth has stalled, listings are rising, sales are falling and rental rates are reducing.”
Sounds like the Australian housing bubble may have encountered a giant pin.
‘It seems like only yesterday that the biggest threat to the Australian economy was slowing growth in China, by far our largest trading partner, and the related decline in mining-related investment and commodity prices.’
‘Now, a growing number of commentators say bigger risks are accumulating in the overheated property markets of Sydney and Melbourne, where record low interest rates have fuelled robust demand from first home-buyers and buy-to-let and buy-to-flip investors. This, in turn, has encouraged developers to build new apartments and houses, and consumers to spend on furniture and other household goods and services.’
‘However, recent auction clearance rates and other indicators suggest demand for new and existing housing is slowing, as prices drift out of reach for many and the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority makes it harder for banks to lend to property speculators. In effect, APRA is being asked to apply the brakes after the Reserve Bank of Australia has turbo-charged the engine by cutting the cash rate to a record low 2 per cent.’
‘Those who have borrowed heavily to speculate by selling on or letting out might suddenly find themselves working in an over-supplied market, making it harder for them to cover mortgage costs. Those who bought to simply live in their house or apartment could feel that they’ve paid too much once prices start to soften.’
‘The feeling that one’s paper worth is shrinking rather than growing can discourage consumption in other areas, such as holidays, dining out and life’s other little luxuries. This, in turn, may affect many of the businesses that are supposed to be benefiting from record low interest rates.’
‘With the commodity boom well and truly over, Australia can ill afford an abrupt end to the housing boom.’
encountered a giant pin ??
That giant pin is China’s (and others) lack of purchases of mining & ag. and the collapse in their prices…That then rolls over to services which is the main driver in the Aus. economy…
It also sounds as though the all-cash Chinese investors are dwindling to a trickle in Oz. But don’t worry, this could never happen in California, cuz it’s different here.
all-cash Chinese investors are dwindling to a trickle in Oz ??
Yeah….Maybe…What I have often thought about though is the shear mass of liquidity thats out there looking for a place to go…
It’s all dumb.borrowed.money, my friend.
What I have often thought about though is the shear mass of liquidity thats out there looking for a place to go…
US Treasuries.
‘A transportation bill in Congress has put the U.S. well on the road to socialism, Dick Bove said Monday. The bipartisan Senate bill, announced in July, would cut the dividend paid by the Federal Reserve to banks each year from 6 percent to 1.5 percent, and the difference would go toward funding highway projects.’
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/10/12/dick-bove-us-banks-have-been-nationalized.html
Who gets paid a dividend? The owners.
And 6% of what?
San Fran and San Jose could be in big twouble.
‘Baker said many governments did not want to ask the questions and simply wanted the money to flow in.’
That’s the case in the US and Canada. “OH, that might result in a crash and foreclosures later?” Who cares, says the government.
‘the organisation needed a more investigative approach, particularly with regard to the reach of the Chinese government. ‘I think you have to be cautious of the state-owned companies,’ Mr Miles said. ‘There was one operation I was involved with [while on the board of FIRB], the information there was that the company involved was totally independent … but in actual fact the information didn’t come back through the commercial side of the company, it came back through the foreign affairs side of the country … basically through the embassy, and that’s a concern for us’
Now this is very interesting.
‘Russian expansionism is going into reverse, at least on the London stock market. Three of Russia’s major commodity-related companies are already preparing to withdraw their listings after the bursting of the raw-materials boom and a slump in share sales by the nation’s companies from more than $30 billion in 2007 to below $1 billion this year.’
‘More may follow as their owners’ interest in using foreign shares as a route to expansion wanes in tandem with overseas investors’ appetite for raw-material and emerging-market stocks, said Kirill Chuyko, head of equity research at BCS Financial Group in Moscow.’
“Each company has a specific reason, but the common one is that investors’ appetite for commodities-related stocks, especially from the emerging markets, is exhausted,” Chuyko said. “At the same time, the owners see that the companies’ valuations don’t reflect their hopes and wishes, while maintaining the listing requires some effort and expenditure.”
“When the Russian companies were selling shares to investors in the past, they were hoping to use the equity either as a source of financing or for mergers and acquisitions,” BCS’s Chuyko said. Now, “companies do not see the equities market as a potential source of capital. It can’t be excluded that some other delistings may follow.”
Look for Vlad to initiate more military excapades going forward to help keep the Russian peoples’ minds off their collapsed commodities-extraction based economy.
War is great for empoyment… open positions after every battle.
Also stimulative to munitions manufactures.
Oh yeah, Vlad’s military interventions. Russia has all of 2 military bases outside of Russia (and those are in countries that lie between Russia & Afghanistan) while the US has bases in 106 countries. On top of that, Syria actually invited Russia to help them against rebels who want to overthrow the legitimate government of Syria while the US just strolls in and starts killing people wherever & whenever they want. And if you want to talk about economies; just throw out the military industrial complex from the US economy and what’s left? Don’t know what any of this has to do with real estate.
I agree with you, but would add that military adventures are going to look attractive to a whole lot of countries once this global, central-bank-driven, all-asset-classes bubble pops, people become restive, and failed elites seek a scapegoat lest popular anger be turned on them. We already can’t help ourselves. We’d have military bases in every country in the world if we could. I suspect China, with its huge imbalance of young men, will be more overtly aggressive, and even Japan, which should know better, wants to expand its military beyond self-defense. I don’t think any country anywhere in the world will be immune to the impulse. As Hedges wrote, for better or worse — and usually for worse — war is a force that gives people meaning.
+1
‘The reality is that record-high private market valuations have been driven by two things: Wall Street’s lust for growth at all costs, and relatively high tech multiples in the public markets (and, more specifically, applying the former to the latter). But a variety of macro economics factors (China, the inscrutable Fed, etc.) have cut public equity prices and moved the spotlight to unit economics, which means some pretty large biz model disruption for the disruptors’
‘Funding for tech start-ups appears to be going strong, but there’s a looming concern that it could be too strong — strong enough that it’s already fueled the next tech bubble.’
‘The market for tech start-ups today may be just as speculative as it was during the first bubble, suggested Nick Bilton, technology and business columnist at The New York Times. “The valuations of companies are just completely out of whack and no one has any idea where these numbers are coming from,” Bilton said in an interview with CNBC, adding that the existence of billion-dollar start-up “unicorns” in tech, is a major sign that we’re in a tech bubble.”
‘Bilton points to the skyscraper index as further evidence of a new tech bubble. “At the beginning of every bubble burst or every recession, there’s always been a race to build the biggest skyscrapers in the world. And it’s usually from money that has come in from bubble-gotten gains,” he said. “Often when you have these buildings built, there isn’t anyone to fill them and it starts to be one of the things that causes the bubble to burst,” Bilton posited.’
‘The skyscraper indicating a bubble this time around, according to Bilton, is the Salesforce Tower, which is currently under construction. That skyscraper is expected to stand 200 feet higher than the Transamerica Pyramid, which is currently the tallest building on the San Francisco skyline.’
If true, you can say buh-bye California real estate.
Oh dear…
Twitter (TWTR) Stock Plunges Despite Cost Cutting, Downsizing
‘Starting this week, San Francisco-based Twitter is reportedly laying off staff, and the ones to be likely affected will be engineers, Re/code.net noted.’
‘Since Jack Dorsey officially took on the title as Twitter’s permanent CEO, he has been planning to revamp the company and start the turnaround efforts. “There is a huge desire for more efficiency and there’s a huge opportunity to really raise the bar on our execution,” Dorsey stated, according to Bloomberg.’
I hope none of those engineers won a multiple offer situation on a shack.
‘Amid the clinking of champagne glasses around the state, most of all in the Capitol in Sacramento, there are strong signs that the current boom is about to run out of steam. Many of the potential reasons can be found in the very unusual nature of this run-up, which was fundamentally driven not by a broad-based recovery across the economy, but rather by a steep run-up of asset prices.’
‘California has become a state addicted to Asian investment, cheap credit and nest-feathering of the ultra-rich. Stock and property speculators have thrived, particularly at the high end, but manufacturing and other industries, such as construction, remain well behind 2007 levels and, in the case of manufacturing, are on course to decline this year.’
‘This tale of two states can be seen most clearly in poverty levels that are the highest in the nation. A third of Californians can barely pay their bills. And, although California has outstripped Texas in the past year in creating jobs, the comparison misses the extreme damage left behind by the recession. Since 2007, Texas has created 1.4 million net new jobs to California’s 574,000; the Lone Star State’s percentage increase is roughly four times that of the Golden State.’
‘And now the pillars of this recent boom may be cracking, likely made worse by state policy. Our dependence on asset inflation – of both stocks and property – has become so severe that any downturn, even a relatively mild one, threatens state finances.’
‘This means our state’s “balanced budget” – which does not factor in massively underfunded long-term pension obligations – is about to become unbalanced, suggests economist Bill Watkins, a longtime observer of the state’s finances. With much of the state’s middle and working classes still facing enormous challenges, notably sky-high housing prices, California’s finances have become hostage to the fortunes of the rich, and when they suffer losses, as has been happening on Wall Street, so does the state. Watkins calls this “a self-reinforcing boom-and-bust cycle of ever increasing revenue volatility.”
‘Now there are clear signs that this massive bubble may be slowing down. Silicon Valley job growth has slowed recently, notes a recent Wells Fargo report, a slowdown now spreading to other parts of the Bay Area. An economy driven largely by tech companies may soon face something of a repeat of the prior dot-com bubble, a downturn so deep that, even now, Silicon Valley has barely as many jobs as it had in 2000.’
‘Particularly vulnerable this time will be the many “unicorns” – startups with billion-dollar valuations but often little in the way of profits. The tech startup space, notes Techcrunch, increasingly “resembles the story of the emperor with no clothes.”
‘Outside of Silicon Valley, the other big bubble has grown around high-end real estate. Property prices in the state, particularly in the coastal counties, have skyrocketed. This looks like a market that is slowing down as consumers’ inability to buy, or even rent, grows. Under current regulatory conditions, notes a recent UCLA study, there is little prospect of relieving the affordability crisis. The notion, proposed by some developers and the state’s planning ideologues, is that that we can vertically “build up” in order to lower prices. Yet, high-density housing turns out to be far more expensive to build than single-family or townhouse developments.’
‘So, instead of providing what families need, we are building a potential surplus of expensive, multifamily units. Most of all, what is not being built in sufficient numbers are the “starter homes” ubiquitous during the postwar era, which would meet the needs of younger families.’
‘The lack of affordable supply also boosts rents as traditional buyers are forced out of the market. In Los Angeles and San Francisco, renters typically spend 40 percent of their incomes on rent, well above the national average of less than 30 percent.’
Does anyone want to congratulate Bernanke?
‘driven not by a broad-based recovery across the economy, but rather by a steep run-up of asset prices’
Bubbles are no substitute for a sustainable economy.
‘Many of the potential reasons can be found in the very unusual nature of this run-up, which was fundamentally driven not by a broad-based recovery across the economy, but rather by a steep run-up of asset prices.’
Yep…it’s another bubble (typed to the background sound of my neighbors chattering in Chinese…).
I see your Chinese chatterers . . .
and raise you MY Mexican neighbors small yappie dogs that bark at effin’ ANYTHING that moves or makes a sound, and the latest meth-head tweaker white trash rotating into the rental behind me!
Glad I bailed out of California.
I’ve thought about bailing years ago, to maybe move up north but spouse employment/relatives keeps us here a bit longer. And what’s really sad is that I’m a native Californian . . . lived around the world as an Air Force dependant … yep Ben, even your sacred Texas (go Warhorses!)….. moved back here by choice for the great landscape/weather . . . but the state has gone downhill since the 70s so badly it’s just a cesspool of Mexico North, Asia East, and Russia West.
(if you think about it, there’s really nowhere to move. the entire world wants-in on where stability thrives. It’s happening now in Europe and it’s BEEN happening in the US for decades. but that’s another topic. btw, the hacking attempts didn’t work. Ha! Amateurs)
‘your sacred Texas’
What? I don’t really even like to go back there nowadays cuz of all the GD Californians.
Stupid Startups:
“Wakie: To use it, you set a time for a wake-up call, and the app then hooks you up with a random user who will call you at that time to wake you up.”
http://www.cnet.com/news/a-stranger-in-my-bed-testing-the-wakie-app/
“Washboard: Every month they’d mail you $20 in quarters for use in your laundromat’s washer and dryer. Oh, and they’d charge you $27 for the convenience.”
http://valleywag.gawker.com/the-laundry-quarters-startup-is-dead-1596481798
“Yo: Somehow, this moronic concept managed to garner $2.5 million in venture capital financing, but just a few months after it hit the public eye everybody stopped using it, for obvious reasons.”
http://www.businessinsider.com/whats-happened-to-7-million-app-yo-now-that-the-hype-has-died-2014-9
‘Earlier this summer, an app called “Yo” swept the Internet. Even its founder, Moshe Hogeg, admitted the concept was “stupid.” Yo is a one-tap notification app that sends a one-word message —”Yo” — to other users. There’s no nuance to responding to an incoming “Yo”; users can merely “Yo” back.’
‘The app soared to millions of users in a matter of weeks. It was first app featured on discovery site Product Hunt. But an article in Financial Times, which claimed Yo had raised $1 million, led to the app’s virality.’
‘In mid-June, Yo became the #1 social networking app in the US App Store and the #4 app overall. Shortly after, Yo closed a $1.5 million round of financing that valued the app at $5-10 million.’
I’d never heard of that one. But it doesn’t hold a candle to the grilled cheese truck fiasco; they lost $7 million in one quarter. Real money - gone.
Yo is right up there with facebook. Useless.
Um, no.
Useless and unprofitable too much like Google.
George Monbiot started a Twitter hashtag called “extreme civilization” where people posted examples of products and services like that — a device that lets your dog take a selfie, a toddler potty with a built-in iPad tray (the “iPotty”), an egg tray that synchronizes with your phone so that you always know how many eggs you have left.
‘It’s almost impossible to quantify just how much of Chinese investment comes from illicit sources, since there are no official checks, but credible sources claim large amounts of money are being laundered in Australia. “China (is) by far the biggest exporter of illicit capital,” one money laundering expert told Four Corners inThe Great Wall Of Money, which airstonight at 8.30pm on ABC.’
‘It’s estimated that $1.7 trillion of corrupt and criminal proceeds from China have been spent around the world in the decade to 2012, with tax evasion one significant problem. “China is really a black box, not dissimilar to Russia,” ABC reporter Linton Besser told news.com.au. “Similar issues face the UK with Russian money. There are no proper figures, but well-credentialed people are saying this is ‘capital flight’.”
‘With a corruption crackdown by the government in Beijing shaking the Chinese economy, Australian real estate is a highly attractive market in which to invest ill-gotten gains. While we presume foreign nations will do their own checks on their super-rich, China lacks transparency in business and the legal system.’
“It’s not just China,” Mr Besser told news.com.au. “We have on our doorstep Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Thailand and Papua New Guinea, which have major issues with corruption.”
“There is a legitimate public interest issue in the extent to which Australia should welcome funds from other nations where the proceeds are corrupt,” said Linton. “When people invest in Australia with the proceeds of corruption, it’s not a level playing field, and it can provoke massive distortions to the economy.”
Easy credit itself is “illicit”. It should be no surprise that corruption follows the rivers of illicit money. When it splashes back then cry “oh my, it smells like s…!” Thanks Central Bankers around the world.
How do you get $10 million? Give $100 million to these guys:
http://www.otcmarkets.com/stock/GRLD/quote
LOL…That was funny Ben…
At one time that sold for $6 a share!
por que?
why the run up in Zillow predictions?
realtor pressure?
Falling housing prices is far more productive for realtors and everyone else for that matter.
8,431 nearby properties found Portland, OR Real Estate and Homes for Sale
http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-search/Portland_OR?ml=4
3,034 nearby properties found Portland, OR Price Reduced Homes for Sale
http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-search/Portland_OR/show-price-reduced?ml=4
35% of all Portland, OR sellers reduced their price at least once
Anybody care to comment on how they are positioning their portfolios?
no