Everybody’s Dream Started To Scare Everybody
The Richland Source reports from Ohio. “An unusual, but optimistic trend is unfolding in the Richland County housing market, much different than years past. ‘It looks like what’s happened is there are so many buyers in the market that as soon as a home is put on the market, it’s taken,’ said Rich McCleery of Coldwell Banker Mattox McCleery Realtors. ‘It’s crazy what’s happening. I think people are seeing they need to get on the bandwagon and purchase a home before prices go higher.’”
“Jerry Holden of The Holden Agency, as well as Peter Haring of Haring Realty, have also noticed that if homes are reasonably priced, it’s not long before one or more offers are made. ‘Right now we have less than a two-month supply of homes on the market in Lucas,’ Haring said. Lexington is another area where demand is greater than supply. ‘That’s probably where we have the biggest shortage right now, and that’s for anything under $300,000,’ Haring said. ‘I’ve never seen a real estate market like the one we’re having now.’”
11 Alive on Georgia. “Luxury apartment buildings are taking over Atlanta. Nearly a 900 percent increase between 2012 and 2015 in the number of high-end high rise buildings according to a study by Rent Café. The question is, is the luxury market inching toward over-saturation and how are middle-income people supposed to live in a city of rising rents? ‘We have all of the housing being built for a tiny portion of the population,’ said John O’Callaghan, President and CEO of Atlanta Neighborhood Development Partnership.”
The Real Deal on New York. “The Real Deal counted it up, and the pessimists are right: Modern aristocrats’ appetite for en suite lap pools, members-only pet spas and penthouse views of New Jersey really seems to be on the wane. Luxury sales volume is down a stomach-churning 25 percent in the first 20 weeks of 2016 compared to the same period last year. Major developers such JDS Development and the Chetrit Group have either halted sales plans for marquee skyscrapers packed with luxury condos, or scrapped them altogether. Some condo builders are lowering their planned sellout prices, while others are aggressively cutting asks, notably on penthouse units, a StreetEasy analysis found in April.”
“Other developers say the slowdown in the luxury market is mostly about perception, blaming the press for sullying the mood. ‘There’s no liquidity issue, there’s a mood issue,’ said Michael Shvo, who’s in the planning stages of a high-rise condo at 125 Greenwich Street. ‘The only thing wrong with the market is an oversupply of overpriced, average apartments. Those are in buildings that should not have been built and they’ll suffer.’”
The Valley News in Vermont. “It’s generally accepted that the Upper Valley is sheltered from severe economic headwinds by the presence of two large, stable employers. Nevertheless, a trio of stories in the business section of this week’s Sunday Valley News served as a useful reminder that despite its good fortune, the Upper Valley economy does not operate in splendid isolation. The third story discussed home sales, which are in the doldrums, according to a biannual report sponsored by the Upper Valley Housing Coalition.”
“It found falling sales prices for existing homes during the first quarter, along with shrinking inventory (although there were also some bright spots, including that homes were selling more quickly). One of the authors of the report, Ned Redpath, owner of Coldwell, Banker Redpath & Co., pointed to stagnating middle-class wages as one possible reason: It’s hard for people to put aside enough for a down payment. ‘Everybody says the economy is strong, but it’s nowhere near as strong as they say it is,’ Redpath said.”
The Guardian on Texas. “Shawn Baker had an entrepreneurial epiphany years ago when she saw a group of young people outside a concert venue throwing junk out of a truck and pulverizing the trash with a bat. It looked fun. She wondered: could there be a way of monetizing our appetite for mindless destruction? She put the idea on hold. Then oil tumbled below $50 a barrel and in May 2015, after more than 20 years at the same company, the 45-year-old was let go from her job along with a quarter of her colleagues. ‘It was devastating. I had never been laid off or fired or anything,’ she said.”
“Baker now had spare time, little prospect of quickly finding another role in the energy industry, and a hunch that thousands of others could be sharing her sense of frustration. So she returned to her idea and started Tantrums LLC, one of a growing number of ‘rage rooms’ in America where her frustrated clients come and blow off steam with the help of a baseball bat and some inanimate objects.”
“The city’s economy is far more diverse and resilient than during the oil bust of the 1980s, but Houston is nevertheless feeling the hit of the slump. New high-end apartment complexes built to appeal to now-departed expats are so empty they are offering perks such as rent-free months, Apple watches and cruises, according to the latest economic report from the Greater Houston Partnership, which anticipates the city’s unemployment rate will soon rise above the national level.”
NPR News on Nevada. “For 26 years, Brian Burns watched Vegas grow. He saw the desert dirt roads transformed by construction projects. The land was available and cheap. By 2004, housing prices soared. Burns and his then wife had bought into the dream. They lived in a huge house he estimates was 3,500 square feet. ‘There were parts of the house you never even saw – that’s how big it was,’ he says.”
“When a realtor friend convinced him to sell, he was blown away by the profit he turned. ‘That house that I bought for $250,000, my friend sold for $645,000 three years later,’ he says. ‘I had never had remotely that much money in my life. Probably never had more than $10,000 to $15,000 in the bank before. And I took $40 out one time and I showed my friend my ATM receipt and it said $228,000 balance. And we just looked at each other and laughed, it was ridiculous. I didn’t know what to do with it.’”
“He decided to keep it in the bank and buy another, smaller house in a brand-new development in the town of Henderson, Nev. Sure, the tan, stucco tract-style housing didn’t have a whole lot of charm, but Burns didn’t care. He convinced some of his friends to buy other houses in the neighborhood. He had cash in the bank, excellent credit, and he put no money down.”
“‘I think everybody’s dream, when you are a normal person — not super rich, not super poor — is that your home is kind of your biggest asset,’ Burns says, ‘that you feel like, ‘I’m going to play by the rules, I’m going to pay my mortgage, it’s just going to continue to increase in value.’ Maybe not by leaps and bounds, but by no means should it be worth a third of what you paid for it. And it started to scare everybody.’”
“He found out that the house he bought for $320,000 was now worth only $140,000. At the same time, his work as a graphic designer was drying up. Eventually, he chose to stop paying his mortgage. He didn’t feel good about it. He could have used his savings to keep paying his mortgage payments, but he thought that was a bad idea. The decision destroyed Burns’ credit, he let the bank take his house and he moved to Oregon to start over again. ‘The analogy I use back then is, I’m not going to pay Mercedes prices for a Kia. Why would I pay $320,000 for a house that’s never going to be worth that?’”
“Today, Brian Burns is back in Las Vegas, where he rents an apartment with his fiancée. They feel really gun-shy about buying anything, mainly because it doesn’t seem like the housing crisis is over in Vegas. Roughly 20 percent of homeowners are still underwater there, and it doesn’t look like a recovery. ‘I drive up into suburbia, and there are streets still of empty houses. No curtains, no nothing, weeds in the yard,’ Burns says. ‘There are still a lot of empty houses in this town.’”
“I think people are seeing they need to get on the bandwagon and purchase a home before prices go higher.”
Unfortunately, the wagon is being driven by Thelma and Louise.
Are you familiar with Richland County? County seat is Mansfield (Shawshank Redemption was filmed there) and there are NO JOBS. You could commute an hour each way to Columbus and that’s about it. One of my college roommates grew up there and he never moved back for a reason.
Shawshank Redemption alternate ending:
http://www.funnyjunk.com/Shawshank+redemption+deleted+scene/funny-pictures/5487622
I was going to say. I had to Google it to see where it was. As of the 2010 census, Lucas, Ohio had a population of under 700. The population of Lexington, Ohio, a town which at least is roughly contiguous with the city of Mansfield, was 4,822. Everybody wants to live in north-central Ohio!
Go east 30 miles and you’re in Amish country, and you can shop at the factory store of the 2015 United States Cheese Grand Champion:
https://www.babyswiss.com/
But beware those Amish drive-by shootings…clip-clop clip clop BOOM BOOM BOOM!! clip-clop clip-clop clip-clop….
I was investigating a job in Ames… salary was 60k. I would be da pimp!
High-salary people in low-cost flyover towns have it made. My old company in the Midwest had plenty of middle managers pulling $120K-$150K+, in an area where you could buy a nice 1980’s ranch for sub-$120K. You could live modestly, let mom stay home to schlep the kids to soccer, and still pack away the $$ like a beeyotch.
Of course, these managers would have none of *that.* They *had* to have the newish $350-$500K McMansion in the exurbs and the car and lifestyle that went with.
“I make $120+k, of course I would not be caught dead in a Honda Civic” A lot of my engineer counterparts who were pulling $100+ for decades drove beat down cars/trucks. But their kids college was paid for in full and modest SFHs.
The spartan lifestyle appeals to the engineering mind. Management is all about appearances though.
I’ll never forget this salty marine engineer, toothless (from cigars), and just the epitome of sailor. He was talking about drinking a $200 bottle of wine with chunks of Wagyu beef on the beach. I was a intern, but I quickly realized don’t judge a book by its cover. Last I remember he was building a small house way out in the middle of nowhere New Mexico, living off the land.
“living off the land”
lolz. Let us know how that works out.
Me and you and a Donk named sue, travelin’ and a livin off the land.
So, what is better from a survivalist perspective? Living out west where there is sunshine to run the solar panels, or living back east to take advantage of the natural rainfall?
Lots of folk, including Kunstler, pinpointed the Middle South (roughly Gardening Zone 7) as the best place to live in a post-oil world. Kunstler’s main concern was that people migrating there would be met and repelled by evangelical rednecks toting loaded weapons.
Now oil is cheap, so Kunstler probably won’t live long enough to see a post-oil world.
I’ve read many of his books, follow his blog, and have heard him speak. I understood his prediction to favor towns and small cities on the Great Lakes or navigable rivers, because waterborne commerce would become important to our national life once again. Or smaller cities surrounded by productive agricultural land, because feeding ourselves through largely non-mechanized agriculture, without synthetic fertilizer, will resume in similar fashion.
I don’t recall him being too optimistic about the South in any way.
Kunstler’s main concern was that people migrating there would be met and repelled by evangelical rednecks toting loaded weapons.
You say that like it’s a BAD thing….
“Management is all about appearances though.”
It starts with hair coloring to ameliorate age, and it’s downhill from there… a $billion dollar industry.
Brian Burns, where did the $228,000 of cash go?
Lazy, irresponsible, realtorwhore media, why aren’t you asking where the $228,000 of cash went?
We know where it didn’t go:
‘He could have used his savings to keep paying his mortgage payments, but he thought that was a bad idea. The decision destroyed Burns’ credit, he let the bank take his house and he moved to Oregon to start over again. ‘The analogy I use back then is, I’m not going to pay Mercedes prices for a Kia. Why would I pay $320,000 for a house that’s never going to be worth that?’
The vast majority of foreclosures a few years ago were prime loans. One of the biggest reasons people stopped paying was the same as Brian’s. It is 2016.
Must be nice to have that wealth effect sitting in their bank, and just decide “You know, I’m not paying these filthy banksters because it’s not fair value”. All of that fraudulent wealth and they refuse to play the game on the downside, after all, it just isn’t fair.
Careful.
There likely is a dozen or two HBB regulars and passersby who did exactly the same thing.
Some might consider themselves both geniuses and justified.
Hell, it sounds like a pretty good idea to me. The system is completely corrupt… If you don’t take advantage, you are taken advantage of.
You know where you are?
You’re in the jungle baby!
Thanks to the HBB I did just that.
Bought in 2003 for 120k, sold in 2005 for $260k. Pocketed $140k. Figured I may never have a chance for that kind of windfall again in my life.
After selling, bought a car (50% down). Interest at the time in a MMA was 5+% and the interest rate on my loan was 1.9% so I took the spread. Once interest rates came down, I just wrote a check and paid it off. Still have the car and drive it to this day - 180,000 miles and still looks and runs great.
Also bought a 50″ TV ($3500 at the time) but still have that oh and $5000 for my invisalign to fix my teeth.
The rest sat there. When the economy took a tumble and I was reduced to underemployment, it was sure nice to have no mortgage, car payment and be able to pay the rent and have that huge cushion. Never had to tap in to it more than a few thousand though.
Would have liked to take advantage of the last downturn and bought something but didn’t have steady employment at the time. By the time I climbed back up, we were already shooting up again plus I still don’t feel completely secure in my still two jobs.
I’ve already watched two panicked friends dive in to the market and tried to talk a third one out of it last weekend. Of course they were telling me I was crazy, but that’s also what my neighbors told me when I sold my house.
Meh.. go against the herd.
I dont think you can walk away that easily. The irs will send you a bill and the debt will probably be sold to hounds.
Discharge of debt related to primary residence hasn’t been taxable since 2008 or so.
Even so, it pays to walk away from a depreciating asset at a grossly inflated price.
I remember a colleague in the 1990s who moved to Tucson in the early 90s, walked away from his San Bernardino house…the closure of March AFB and lots of defense jobs leaving…He told me last he knew, squatters took over his place. I felt bad for him but did not think that for me, instead of jingle mail, I sold my house for a loss and paid what I owed to the title company.
I was true to my contract and proud. But most people these days think I was stupid.
“The irs will send you a bill…”
Seems like the 1099-C went by the boards for the past ten years.
“…instead of jingle mail, I sold my house for a loss and paid what I owed to the title company.”
But you had a security clearance to protect, IIRC.
+1 rms. A security clearance that he milked for another decade or so, paid directly or indirectly by taxes “stolen” from producers.
Bill is not a saint, he just plays one online.
“I dont think you can walk away that easily. The irs will send you a bill and the debt will probably be sold to hounds.”
$228K of cash is under the $250/$500K tax exclusion. You can pocket the profit from a sale and not pay taxes on it. So no, the irs won’t send you a bill.
However, Nevada is a recourse state. If the bank knew about that $228K, they could have sued Brian for the $228K to pay off the $320K house.
This is what annoys me: The analogy I use back then is, I’m not going to pay Mercedes prices for a Kia. Why would I pay $320,000 for a house that’s never going to be worth that?
Oh, but you *thought* it was a Mercedes when you bought it. And why would you pay $320K for it? I dunno, why don’t you ask the man in the mirror?
And what do you play Donk?
You are not thinking. The guy who walked away from his SB house also had a security clearance. I know a guy who did the same in the late 80s/early 90s for his Houston house - security clearance. walked away.
Again, thank you Oxide for voting for Clowntoon in the 90s and O Bummer in ‘08 and ‘12. They gave me lots of money.
… but you didn’t make a dime off the wars of choice in Iraq and Afghanistan? Didn’t get a stimulus check from Shrub?
What was the flipping point of that NPR piece? Bragging about blowing $228K and leaving the taxpayer to pick up the tab to his bone headed decision “not to pay” even though he had the cash?!?
I hope some “taxpayers” take a baseball bat to his leased Kia. I wonder if “Brian” used an alias.
The story sounds like some dope who brags about insurance fraud to his friends.
Seems like the 1099-C went by the boards for the past ten years.
I can vouch that it does still occasionally happen; I’m in the process of getting my parents’ taxes caught up, so I recently got their transcripts. It does look like some banks reported forgiven debt for properties that they walked away from—though only a few out of a dozen or so properties, iirc.
Stimulus check? Unlike you? We all did. Roth IRAs and Roth 401ks have larger contribution limits because of Shrub’s 2001 or 2003 tax relief acts that he coaxed Congress to pass so he could sign.
I’m making out like a bandit on Roths. 2 and a half years to go before I can take tax free distributions.
So in Oxide’s opinion, I’m evil for the rest of my life because I used to work in the defense industry.
But she is not evil for voting for Obama twice? The guy who gave me 4 and a half years of lucrative defense contract gigs?
Thanks evil Oxide.
“And why would you pay $320K for it?”
This gets back to a point Mr Banker (or is it Mr Banker’s alter-ego and foil, Combo?) has been making of late: Because he didn’t pay for it. He *committed* to pay for it, which is different (because it gives him an unwritten option to walk, which he did) from actually paying for it.
Discharge of debt related to primary residence hasn’t been taxable since 2008 or so.
I think this ended in 2014:
https://www.irs.gov/uac/home-foreclosure-and-debt-cancellation
“The Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007 generally allows taxpayers to exclude income from the discharge of debt on their principal residence. Debt reduced through mortgage restructuring, as well as mortgage debt forgiven in connection with a foreclosure, qualify for this relief.
This provision applies to debt forgiven in calendar years 2007 through 2014.”
But she is not evil for voting for Obama twice?
Not so much evil as indescribably stupid.
he forgot to say the best phrase / excuse that losers say:
blah blah blah . . . hard times . . . blah blah . . whocouldaknowd . … blah . . never saw it coming . .. blah blah blah . . .
” LIKE EVERYONE ELSE. ”
success is personal but failure must be shared.
Don’t forget that the Feds also changed the rules to allow no taxes being paid on the loan forgiveness also.
$228,000 tax free. Although probably technically they all did need to pay taxes if there was a cash out and they just committed tax fraud, but no one cares.
“Don’t forget that the Feds also changed the rules to allow no taxes being paid on the loan forgiveness also.”
That was short term. Laws reverted back to mean after 2010 or 11.
As soon as I read how much money he had, I knew how the story would end. A windfall, sadly, does not make anybody any smarter. It may make people dumber. I’m reminded of Llewellyn Moss in McCarthy’s book “No Country for Old Men,” who found a satchel full of drug money, took it, and initiated a chain of events that ended up with he and his wife dead. And of the Anton Chigurh character, who uttered this phrase:
“The prospect of outsized profits leads people to exaggerate their own capabilities. In their minds. They pretend to themselves that they are in control of events where perhaps they are not.”
But they can paint the walls any color they wish.
SALEM — Every night, Shawn Meenan places a 12-foot piece of lumber against the main door of his third-floor condo, bracing it tight against intruders.
His girlfriend, Rachel Shellabarger, places a second board against another door. In a cubbyhole, a video monitor for a $1,700 surveillance system shows all activity outside the building — every car that pulls up, every three-minute visit, every mysterious packet that flutters from neighboring windows to people waiting below.
The couple bought the two-bedroom condo in January 2015 for its water views and affordable price. But instead of a fresh start, they say they feel under siege in a place where drugs are sold openly
http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2016/05/24/with-cameras-defiance-besieged-salem-couple-sounds-alarm-drug-trade-just-outside-their-door/sVqLx8zwIL5mImIsM2tjhN/story.html
Salem MA is a pit. It’s filled with college kids and drug addicts. There are some nice restaurants, pubs, and historical museums/tourism which is a real shame. But I’ve seen new/rehabbed apartments going for $2k+/mo. It has a MBTA commuter rail stop which is only 25 mins to Boston. That’s what drives that market.
Anything is an improvement over paying a 300% premium for a depreciating asset that you’ll never recover from.
Just how many apartment buildings are you invested in, anyway?
Why buy it when you can rent it for half the monthly cost?
Buy later after prices crater for 65% less.
He has dozens, placed around the model railroad in his basement lair.
Study the data my friend. Study the data.
Kirkland, WA Housing Prices Crater 15% YoY
http://www.zillow.com/south-juanita-kirkland-wa/home-values/
LOL….
Mmmm, it’s cherry season again!
And yet, if you look at the entire Kirkland region rather than a tiny slice, you realize:
Kirkland, WA Housing Prices Crater 15% YoYKirkland, WA Housing prices SKYROCKETING, up 19% YoY!!!
http://www.zillow.com/kirkland-wa/home-values/
Stop cherry-picking tiny statistically-meaningless regions, you Noise-Lover.
Lies, D@mned Lies, and Statistics
Don’t like the data? Blame the source.
Here are some more data for you that all point in the same direction.
Fremont(Seattle), WA Housing Prices Crater 7% YoY
http://www.zillow.com/fremont-seattle-wa/home-values/
Noise-lover.
Seattle Housing Prices SKYROCKETING, up 17% YoY
http://www.zillow.com/seattle-wa/home-values/
Don’t like the data? Then pick a tiny statistically-meaningless region that supports your narrative!
Blame the source my friend. Blame the source.
Here are some more data for you that all point in the same direction.
Beacon Hill(Seattle), WA Housing Prices Plunge 19% YoY
http://www.zillow.com/north-beacon-hill-seattle-wa/home-values/
The higher she climbs the harder she falls.
still have Asian gangs in Lawrence ?
That Art Museum in Salem with the Japanese House is way cool.
His girlfriend, Rachel Shellabarger…The couple bought the two-bedroom condo
Rings and papers you idiots. Rings and papers.
Brian Burns is back in Las Vegas, where he rents an apartment with his fiancée.
Better.
TradCon shaming, how cute!
Cats and boxed wine you idiots. Cats and boxed wine.
A couple I know is house shopping in the same area (North Shore) of Mass. I instantly thought “gee what could go wrong for an unmarried couple going halfsies on a mortgage”. They are experiencing the privilege of getting outbid on 100+ yr old houses that need $50,000 in work. Ahhh good old money and home equity in Massachusetts
Ha!
But they can bar the door with any kind of lumber they wish.
Or use recycled pallets from a Pinterest idea. “DIY door barracades from recycled pallets, painted cyan”
Darn witches!
Warmist Warming Wednesday linked from (where else?) the Huffington Post.
New Study Predicts an Intolerably Hot World:
“Our grandchildren and great-grandchildren may live on a planet even hotter than we feared if countries fail to slash carbon emissions now, according to a new study.
“Our key finding is that if we continue to burn our remaining fossil fuel resources, the Earth will encounter a profound degree of global warming, of 6.4 to 9.5 degrees Celsius [about 11 to 17 degrees Fahrenheit] over 20th-century averages by 2300,” said Katarzyna Tokarska, a climate scientist at the University of Victoria in Victoria, British Columbia, who led the study. The Arctic’s mean temperature could rise about 15 to 20 degrees Celsius (27 to 36 degrees Fahrenheit) over the next century if such trends continue.
Sea levels, which are on a trajectory to rise one to three feet by the end of the century, would increase catastrophically under such high temperatures, drowning coastlines and low-lying regions that are home to most of the world’s population. Food supplies and farming worldwide would be disrupted, potentially throwing tens of millions of people back into poverty.”
http://www.takepart.com/article/2016/05/23/high-heat-global-warming-fossil-fuel-renewable-energy
Children will not know what snow is, plus they will be born with webbed feet.
“We may evolve to have webbed feet, translucent eyes to adapt to sea level rise”
http://www.techtimes.com/articles/124245/20160114/climate-change-effect-on-humans-we-may-evolve-to-have-webbed-feet-translucent-eyelids-to-adapt-to-sea-level-rise.htm
Webbed feet?
I wonder….will these future generations be able to pick up pencils with their feet? Will they be able to pinch their neighbors with their toes?
Al Gore predicted environmental ruin in his movie over 10 years ago. None came true.
Now we have 100 year predictions.
Who knows what technologies we will have in 100 years. Mr Fusion may be a reality.
But remember, the answer to these predictions is ALWAYS:
Bigger and bigger government, more and more regulations and higher and higher taxes.
And if public schools taught actual science they could see historical over the course of millions of years, the Earth has seen many dramatic climate shifts. But they will teach that the climate only matters from 1880 - present and talk about the industrial revolution and all the smoke plumes.
The future kids, grandchildren, will be given iPhones/iPads in class, be taught by Govt sanctioned administrators, and most likely not taught real math, physics, chemistry. Everyone will get Bs and As. Wait, that’s the present, $h!t
“But they will teach that the climate only matters from 1880 - present and talk about the industrial revolution and all the smoke plumes.”
“1880 - present”
So, what were the conditions in 1880? Let’s take a look …
Wiki-up “Little ice age”:
“The Little Ice Age (LIA) was a period of cooling that occurred after the Medieval Warm Period (Medieval Climate Optimum). While it was not a true ice age, the term was introduced into the scientific literature by François E. Matthes in 1939. It has been conventionally defined as a period extending from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries, or alternatively, from about 1300 to about 1850, although climatologists and historians working with local records no longer expect to agree on either the start or end dates of this period, which varied according to local conditions.”
Here, let’s home in on this …
“It has been conventionally defined as a period extending from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries, or alternatively, from about 1300 to about 1850 …”
“… about 1850 …” The little ice age ended about 1850.
Again, there was a little ice age that began around 1300 and ended somewhere around 1850.
What should one reasonably expect to happen to glaciers that formed during little ice ages (or any other type of ice ages) after the ice age comes to a halt and reverses itself?
Do they still have Frost Fairs on the Thames? No? Why not?
Wiki …
“River Thames frost fairs were held on the tideway of the River Thames at London in some winters between the 17th century and early 19th century, during the period known as the Little Ice Age, when the river froze over. During that time the British winter was more severe than now, and the river was wider and slower, and impeded by Old London Bridge.
“Even at its peak, in the mid-17th century, the Thames freezing at London was less frequent than modern legend sometimes suggests, never exceeding about one year in ten except for four winters between 1649 and 1666. From 1400 to the removal of the now-replaced medieval London Bridge in 1835, there were 24 winters in which the Thames was recorded to have frozen over at London; if “more or less frozen over” years (in parentheses) are included, the number is 26: 1408, 1435, 1506, 1514, 1537, 1565, 1595, 1608, 1621, 1635, 1649, 1655, 1663, 1666, 1677, 1684, 1695, 1709, 1716, 1740, (1768), 1776, (1785), 1788, 1795, and 1814. So, of the 24, the by-century totals are: 15th 2, 16th 5, 17th 10, 18th 6. Frost fairs were far more common elsewhere in Europe, for example in the Netherlands. The Thames freezes over more often upstream, beyond the reach of the tide, especially above the weirs, of which Teddington Lock is the lowest. The last great freeze of the higher Thames was in 1962–63.
“During the Great Frost of 1683–84, the worst frost recorded in England, the Thames was completely frozen for two months, with the ice reaching a thickness of 11 inches (28 cm) in London. Solid ice was reported extending for miles off the coasts of the southern North Sea (England, France and the Low Countries), causing severe problems for shipping and preventing the use of many harbours. Near Manchester, the ground was frozen to 27 inches; in Somerset, to more than four feet.”
“Frost fairs were far more common elsewhere in Europe, for example in the Netherlands.”
Do they still have frost fairs in the Netherlands?
No? Why is that?
Unique cultural traditions, especially those with religious overtones, must be relentlessly stamped out by the globalists and replaced with multiculturalism. Forward!
And they won’t be taught how to use pills and raincoats either.
Future children will be working, just like they do in much of the Third World.
Future children born after our Permanent Democrat Supermajority establishes its kleptocracy will be born into a Third World banana republic.
Coppell(D/FW), TX Housing Affordability Improves As Prices Dive 5% YoY
http://www.zillow.com/coppell-tx/home-values/
What is a mania? What does it look like?
‘In Dallas we are seeing any home up to about the $2 million range being sold immediately. Homes that are priced well are snatched up before an open house can be held. The last three homes where I have represented the seller sold in less than seven days and went under contract well above asking price.’
‘The buzz among Realtors is that a shift is coming in 2016. It is only recently that we are starting to hear about more relaxed mortgage rules. The prices that are being slapped onto some homes are unsubstantiated.’
‘Recently a 2-bedroom, 1,400-square-foot home in the M-Streets was listed at $525,000. Less than one year ago you could have gotten a comparable home with well over 1,400 square feet and an extra bedroom in the same condition for under $500,000. This same home would have been listed in the $200,000 range during the Great Recession less than a decade ago.’
‘What about the ultra luxury market? Using Lakeside Drive in Highland Park as an example, where there is a total of about 30 homes, there are three active homes for sale and one that is pending. Here we have four homes on the market that are over $7.5 million. They have been struggling to sell these properties since there are multiple options.’
‘Much like the recent $100 million dollar home sale in Dallas, these sellers are noticing their once $3 million to $5 million dollar house, is now worth $7 million to $10 million. The summer approaches and while many people are forced into this rabid market because of a new job or an approaching school year, the market continues to push prices higher and higher. Without a doubt, it is a seller’s market and the buyers must beat out one another to gain some type of solid footing in this city.’
‘Texas has 1,200 people moving here every day. Half of those people are coming to the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. Dallas development has always progressed north. The suburbs, new-home developments, and population has been going north for over 20 years.’
‘But there has been an immense change in the last 5 years. With no more room to expand north (unless you wanted to go into Oklahoma), Dallas expands internally. Thousands of high rises and apartments are on the drawing board.’
‘There are 25,000 single-family homes being built in Dallas county and there are 35,000 apartments being built. Apartment builders are buying up every piece of available land and no one can compete. The interesting part is that these apartments and condominiums are owned by trusts and investors who have no intent to convert or sell off.’
‘With no more room to expand north (unless you wanted to go into Oklahoma)’
You know you are in Lala land when they start mentioning Oklahoma as an extension of Dallas. You could drive for a couple of hours before you hit the Red River.
‘The prices that are being slapped onto some homes are unsubstantiated’
Yeah, and when I visited north of Dallas in 2014, and was told a house I was in had appreciated 50% in two years, it was unsubstantiated. Now it’s a comp.
People commute from Maine and New Hampshire to work in Boston. It’s insane. Hell, I had some coworkers commuting from Portland Maine and further to the Naval shipyard near the NH border (1+ hr each way and $3 tolls)
The people that live in the house that went up 50% in two years already commute more than an hour to work, each way. And that is probably 45 minutes drive from Prosper TX, where I saw $700k houses being built advertised with 5% down.
The year is 2016.
Amazing the lengths people will go to chase “the dream”. No one seems to understand that making $20k less and not living in your car in traffic can be worth it.
I walked to that shipyard everyday, yes I paid higher rent than I would have out in the sticks, but it was 12 mins flat to my building.
The people that live in the house that went up 50% in two years already commute more than an hour to work, each way. And that is probably 45 minutes drive from Prosper TX, where I saw $700k houses being built advertised with 5% down.
If they work in downtown Dallas, it’s a 45 minute drive without traffic. In rush hour traffic? Yikes.
And they probably pay $10 per day (per car) for tolls. All the highways leading south from Prosper are toll roads.
why not oil is back up to 48$$$$$
It’s all clear in TX now
…… with a long way to fall.
Remember….. The globe is awash in excess oil capacity in an environoment of cratering demand.
Unemployed people don’t do much driving.
“Protests” against that who shall not be named turned violent in Albuquerque yesterday. Why does the totalitarian left hate free speech?
How come the hired protesters don’t know how to throw rocks?
It’s like they played soccer all their lives or something.
And why is nobody “protesting” this?
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/palm-beach/fl-jeffrey-epstein-victims-settlement-20160520-story.html
Epstein has equally unsavory “friends” in high places and was a major donor to the Democrat Party. As a member of the .1% a different legal standard applies.
“And why is nobody “protesting” this?”
“Sometimes, I guess there just aren’t enough rocks.”
Forrest Gump
Prince Andrew’s Friend Jeffrey Epstein ‘Tampered Witnesses,’ Paid Their Legal Fees: US Investigators
By Suman Varandani @suman09 On 01/06/15 AT 5:05 AM
Prince Andrew’s American friend Jeffrey Epstein “tampered witnesses” to hide the truth about claims that the Duke of York repeatedly had sex with an underage girl over a three-year period, The Telegraph reported, citing U.S. investigators. The allegations came to light in documents filed in a court in relation to a legal battle between U.S. prosecutors and Epstein.
Epstein, who allegedly trafficked an underage girl to the second son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, reportedly provided financial support to witnesses who later maintained silence when questioned by prosecutors if the girls were “provided for sex” to Prince Andrew. Lawyers of several women who alleged that they were victims of sex crimes perpetrated by Epstein reportedly said that they were facing trouble gathering evidence from key witnesses as their legal fees were paid for by the billionaire investment banker.
A court statement reportedly listed about 10 employees and associates of Epstein who were being represented by lawyers paid for by the convicted sex offender. Epstein, at one time a banker at Bear Stearns, was reportedly friends with Prince Andrew until the latter broke off contact in 2009, after the banker was sentenced to 18 months in prison for soliciting sex from a 14-year-old girl at his Florida mansion in 2008.
Buckingham Palace denied claims made in the court documents that Prince Andrew “sexually abused” a 17-year-old girl called Virginia Roberts.
In the court papers, Roberts alleges that Epstein sexually exploited her between 1999 and 2002. The documents also named Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz.
Epstein worked for Bear Stearns? I did not know that.
Did the girlz know they were underage?
Isn’t it a cherished tradition for the lord of the manor to get the “right of first night” with the peasant wenches? These serfs really need to learn their place.
How come the hired protesters don’t know how to throw rocks?
It’s like they played soccer all their lives or something.
This reminds me of a coworker when I worked at IBM. She did a stint at one of the IBM German sites. She told me that one day she and her coworkers got into a snowball fight: Germans vs. Americans. She said that the Americans wiped the floor with the Germans, who in her words “threw like girls”.
Of course, the German guys had never played baseball or softball, so they never learned how to throw.
The best of the German DNA fell on the Eastern Front.
I guess the Soviets must have had the better DNA.
‘For the first quarter of this year compared with Q1 2015: The City of Boston saw a 41.6% increase in listings for single-family homes and a 19.2% increase for condominiums; Brookline experienced a 119.4% increase in single-family listings; Dedham, a 29.3% increase; Dover, a 195.8% increase; Needham, a 92.2% increase; Norwood, a 33.3% increase; Weston, a 41.1% increase; Wellesley, a 52% increase in listings for single-family homes.’
In my town in the North Shore I have seen an increase in listings and longer sitting periods. Maybe it’s the typical spring uptick or maybe people are trying to cash out and move to Fl…
I don’t have a hard %, but definitely seeing more and more homes popping up on the “hot” market
The corruption goes deep.
——————-
Just when McAuliffe thought he was out, he’s pulled back in
Richmond Times-Dispatch | 5/24/16 | Jeff Shapiro
In his first campaign for governor in 2009 — he was badly defeated in a three-way Democratic primary — McAuliffe had to answer for his image as a Bill-and-Hillary confidant who amassed a fortune at the intersection of campaigns and commerce.
There were eyebrow-raising investments: a shaky bank in Washington; an insider deal for shares in a telecom that went spectacularly bust; financing through labor unions; and the job-killing collapse of an Internet startup in his hometown in New York state.
In his second campaign for governor in 2013 — he barely was elected in a three-way general election — McAuliffe had to answer for his stake in a Chinese electric-car company for which he and Hillary’s brother Tony lured wealthy immigrant backers through a federal program that trades favored consideration for U.S. residency for big-dollar, job-creating investments. Voters weren’t as alarmed that a Monty Hall might run Virginia as they were a Tomas de Torquemada, Ken Cuccinelli.
Here was a chance for McAuliffe to change the subject — from his conduct to official conduct. Little did McAuliffe know that less than three years later, after establishing ethics as the marquee theme of his administration, the subject would change again — from official conduct to his conduct. It is resurrecting a discomfiting caricature of McAuliffe.
McAuliffe now is the second consecutive Virginia governor to be investigated by the U.S. Department of Justice; specifically, the same Alexandria-based prosecutor who, in 2014, won a corruption conviction of McDonnell and his wife, Maureen, that could be overturned next month by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Initial reports are that the FBI is focusing on $120,000 in donations to McAuliffe’s 2013 campaign and to his inaugural fund from a Chinese billionaire, Wang Wenliang, through his American holdings.
The parameters of the investigation reportedly are wide and apparently touch on McAuliffe’s personal finances — he is a multimillionaire — as well as his ties to the Clintons’ charitable ventures, which have harvested millions from foreign countries and businesses, including $2 million from a Wang-controlled construction conglomerate.
That kind of money to those kinds of people suggests that China, among other nations, considers American politicians to be promising investments. No wonder the Justice Department has kept a close eye on China, the giant cash trove.
McAuliffe was an Obama sponsored Crony inserted into VA. He has no business being the VA governor. He’s a typical big business Democrat trying to change an old conservative southern military state.
no shot at VP now
Virginia is well stocked with Lifetime Democrat Entitlement Voters. Kleptocracy flourishes there, naturally.
‘is the luxury market inching toward over-saturation and how are middle-income people supposed to live in a city of rising rents? ‘We have all of the housing being built for a tiny portion of the population’
So how does this happen so widely at the same time? Artificially inflated prices have distorted the market.
There’s no city where this is happening more than Minneapolis:
‘John Rader’s Community Partners manages rentals, condos, and townhouses. Earlier this year, Rader struggled to keep up with demand as vacancies were snapped up almost as soon as they were listed. Within recent weeks, though, Rader’s noticed a lull in the action.’
‘He’s currently looking for a tenant for a one-bedroom condo on First Avenue South that rents for $1,050 per month. “Months ago, it would be a few days to a couple of weeks to get a unit rented,” Rader tells City Pages. “Now that might take an extra week. But it’ll getting roaring again like it always does.”
‘Rent prices in Minneapolis are experiencing a break, most likely a temporary one, in the bullish apartment market. According to the website Abodo’s most recent national apartment rental report, rent prices for one-bedroom apartments in the City of Lakes dropped 3 percent in May, the 10th-steepest fall of any market in the country.’
John, meet Brian:
‘But in this market there remains high demand for rentals, and I don’t see that changing.’
‘it’s just going to continue to increase in value.’ Maybe not by leaps and bounds, but by no means should it be worth a third of what you paid for it’
But it’ll getting roaring again like it always does
Roaring? That’s a new one. Whatever happened to “red hot?” Or is red hot over now?
Denver, Boulder could disrupt larger tech markets — but challenges exist
Lack of “collective identity” in tech world could be holding region back, says Apto CEO:
“Denver and Boulder’s distinct identities in the tech world could be holding the region back from being considered a true hub for innovation, a local tech CEO said at an event Tuesday.
“You think about the Bay Area, you think about Boston-495, you think about Raleigh-Durham, but here, it seems like there is separation,” Apto CEO Tanner McGraw said. “It’s absolutely an opportunity.”
“You’ve got Boulder Startup Week and Denver Startup Week and Fort Collins Startup Week,” he said. “In Austin, you’ve got South by Southwest. The notion of having a Round Rock South by Southwest is absurd, yet we do it here.”
Apto, a commercial real estate software company, moved its operations to Denver from Houston last year, drawn to the Mile High City’s startup sensibilities and deeper talent pool. Currently inside the Galvanize tech campus, the 50-plus employee firm is planning a move to Lower Downtown in the near future.
“It’s a really interesting opportunity to have a collective identity,” McGraw said of the Front Range tech community. “I’ve not been here long enough to know what it is, but there is a real opportunity to try to combine and become something together, as opposed to these disparate parts.”
http://www.denverpost.com/2016/05/24/denver-boulder-could-disrupt-larger-tech-markets/
Denver already has a “collective identity.” It’s a back office, low wage, flyover irrelevant to real decisions being made in Silicon Valley.
‘In Austin, you’ve got South by Southwest. The notion of having a Round Rock South by Southwest is absurd, yet we do it here’
Round Rock is a suburb north of Austin. SBSW is an over-hyped geek week.
Geekdom is so heavily promoted…..most of these geeky engineers are among the loudest and most appreciative whores around.
It used to be that engineers despised marketing. Now, they sniff each other’s crotches and salivate.
What happened?
“What happened?”
Outsourcing? Can’t a geek person do his geek-thing from just about anywhere on the planet?
Can’t a geek person do his geek-thing from just about anywhere on the planet?
Depends on what that “geek-thing” is that they’re doing. Some folks are solo-coders, sure; many are not. My current employer believes that there is a huge benefit in having everyone on a team co-located in order to improve collaboration and communication.
Essex County, MA Housing Affordability Surges As Prices Plunge 5% YoY
http://www.zillow.com/essex-county-ma/home-values/
And the median home price is still over $300,000 and a lot of the homes are 100+ yr old. Essex County Ma is an expensive Route 128 - Tech/Corporate “beltway” locale.
Agreed. Prices have a long way to fall indeed.
‘Texas Association of Realtors data shows that from mid-2014 to 2015, single women in the state were twice as likely to buy homes as unmarried men. Kristi Davis, a real estate agent for Ebby Halliday who recently made a solo home purchase herself, said she’s noticed an increase in single women homebuyers.’
“I think women are more able and more willing in the last several years to begin making that commitment, to feel like they’re not throwing money away on rent,” she said. “They could be the first woman that’s doing that for themselves in a family. … It’s a very empowering thing as a female to be able to have that ability to invest back into yourself and have a home.”
‘Jim Gaines, chief economist for Texas A&M University’s Real Estate Center, said that the uptick in unmarried homebuyers could reflect the influx of college-educated workers moving into the state’s metro areas for high-paying jobs. In metro areas like Dallas-Fort Worth, which make up most of the statewide home sales data, Gaines said, rising rents have prompted residents to rethink the traditional trajectory of life milestones: graduate from college, find a job, get married and buy a home.’
“In Dallas, the rental market has gotten to the point financially, economically, if you can afford to buy a house, it’s a good wealth builder,” he said. “But you’ve got to be able to hold a house for at least three years, preferably five, to make any real money.”
‘Maggie Lewis, 28, said that at age 24, she knew she had a job she liked in a community she loved. So, with advice from her dad, brother and sister-in-law — both of whom are in real estate — she took the plunge. She bought a three-bedroom townhouse for about $163,000, a price she says has jumped to the $215,000 range. At first, she rented space to a roommate.’
“I live alone now, and it’s no big deal,” she said. “I’ve got a security system and I know how to use a gun.”
‘Eventually, Lewis said, the house would be a good place for her and a future husband to start out. Then, she said, she could see the home becoming a rental property.’
“If it makes sense for you in the market, it’s really nice having your own place,” she said. “I’ll get married at some point, and I will make smart financial decisions in the meantime.”
‘with advice from her dad, brother and sister-in-law — both of whom are in real estate — she took the plunge’
Maggie, meet Brian:
‘He convinced some of his friends to buy other houses in the neighborhood.’
‘She bought a three-bedroom townhouse for about $163,000, a price she says has jumped to the $215,000 range’
24% in 4 years. And notice how she has the numbers zeroed in (zillow watcher?). That’s $52,000 in sweet equity, pretty enticing.
‘I think women are more able and more willing in the last several years to begin making that commitment, to feel like they’re not throwing money away on rent,’ she said. ‘They could be the first woman that’s doing that for themselves in a family. … It’s a very empowering thing as a female…’
The REIC wastes no angle.
“It’s a very empowering thing”
The irony is there is nothing more incapacitating than crushing levels of debt.
It may have been empowering back in 1980, but it’s not empowering now.
You are only “empowered” when you start with no power and then gain power. Women in the 50’s generally were dependent on the man and had no power. But any woman my age or younger starts off with roughly the same power as a man. Same high school grades and college degrees and earning power as men have. So we aren’t really “em”powered. We’re just plain ol’ powered. When I bought my house, I certainly didn’t sit down and say, “wow I feel empowered as a female.” I just felt like a human buying a house.
FWIW, I did feel empowered against my former LL. As a renter, I had no power over my monthly payment. When I bought, I gained power over my monthly payment. In that case, “empowered” is appropriate, even if it were a man buying the house.
Doubling your monthly shelter costs doesn’t sound like empowerment.
“With advice from her dad,…”
My dad was a Real estate developer in the 60s,and he advised me I could back out of the purchase agreement the week I signed for the stuck o box in 1990. How generations change. The greatest generation was smarter by many times on Real Estate than the boomers.
“You gotta roll with it”
- Caitlyn Vestal, newly minted Portland loanmoaner.
Lotsa Caitlyns with insecurity issues right now, it seems.
About that “boom” in auto sales….
http://wolfstreet.com/2016/05/24/this-sinks-auto-boom-negative-equity-loan-to-value-ratio-used/
I saw Toyota offering 0% APR for a 72 month loan…on a Corolla. 72 months for a frickn Corolla!?!
“72 months for a frickn Corolla!?!”
Better snap one up… 84-month loans are in the pipe! Hehe.
No one should be taking out a 72 month loan on any sort of automobile.
Racis.
FWIW, a Corolla will last a lot longer than that, and if it’s really 0% (as opposed to 0% vs. a rebate), why not? If you have the cash in the bank you can always pay it off if you must.
There’s a 2009 Corolla at a local dealership with over 120,000 miles for $10,900!!!! Seriously?!?!?!??
EVERYTHING is currently overpriced.
So a 72 month loan is not crazy if they depreciate so slowly.
72 months is crazy period. Pay cash.
If the interest rate is zero, it’s not so crazy.
A loan comes with full coverage insurance.
If you have to make payments you can’t afford it Mikey.
That’s why I bought a new Civic for $17,500. The 2012 leases returns/pre-owned “certified” were $13,000-$15,000 with 30-40k miles and less features. The pre-owned market is nuts.
2013 pre-owned Corolla with 80K is 13K here. 17K new.
Given how easy it is to get a new car loan, that makes zero sense.
Although maybe it proves how broke Americans are, that that small of a difference in monthly cost is considered a factor in the decision.
Also lets not forget the Govt subsidized the destruction of used cars just because you could get a few thousand $$ for having a car under 22 mpg….
that was 0’s big success
Cash4Clunkers was 7 years ago (July 2009) and only removed 700,000 cars from circulation. I don’t think it’s a factor anymore.
Although maybe it proves how broke Americans are, that that small of a difference in monthly cost is considered a factor in the decision.
This.
Also, many can only get financing at those shady “buy here, pay here” used car lots, at exorbitant interest rates. I’ll bet they could get a new car for a smaller monthly nut, if only they could qualify for those 0% interest loans.
C4C simply made autos even more unafforable.
That’s called failure.
‘blaming the press for sullying the mood. ‘There’s no liquidity issue, there’s a mood issue,’ said Michael Shvo, who’s in the planning stages of a high-rise condo at 125 Greenwich Street. ‘The only thing wrong with the market is an oversupply of overpriced, average apartments. Those are in buildings that should not have been built and they’ll suffer.’
Mike, (Can I call you Mike?) the thing is they will drag you down with them.
“there’s a mood issue,”
“The only thing wrong with the market is an oversupply of overpriced, average apartments. Those are in buildings that should not have been built”
I’m in a bad mood, they sold me an overpriced condo in a building that should not have been built.
‘The only thing wrong with the market is an oversupply of overpriced, average apartments. Those are in buildings that should not have been built and they’ll suffer.’
Wait, wait. Are we to believe that *your* building is different, and will truly earn the “luxury” tag and that we should pay top dollar for the honor of living there?
Keep doing it. Keep p!ssing on my leg and tell me it’s raining.
Arlington, VA Housing Affordability Balloons As Prices Crater 6% YoY
http://www.zillow.com/arlington-va/home-values/
89 months of ZIRP - a massive swindle against the 99%, yet the Fed need not fear ever being held accountable as long as 95% of the electorate are stupid.
http://davidstockmanscontracorner.com/just-stop-it/
Santa Barbara County, CA Housing Affordability Surges As Prices Plummet 8% YoY
http://www.zillow.com/santa-barbara-county-ca/home-values/
The sheeple of Europe are finally pushing back against their shafting by the .1% and their political adjuncts in the oligarch-captured Establishment parties.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/25/across-europe-distrust-of-mainstream-political-parties-is-on-the-rise
Get ready for NIRP, the next escalation in the Fed’s financial warfare against the 99%.
http://wolfstreet.com/2016/05/24/nirp-is-killing-us-spanish-bank-bbva-gonzalez/
Population growth forcing low-income families out of Denver neighborhoods:
“With an estimated 1,000 people moving to Denver every month, there is no doubt Denver is the place to be.
“Denver is the fastest growing city in the country,” said Denver office of Economic Development executive director, Paul Washington.
Washington says with that growth comes not just the benefits but problems.
“Low- and moderate-income families are being forced out because Denver has become so popular,” said Washington.
These issue are better known as gentrification. Just over the last four years, rent in Denver has gone up by 33 percent and home prices in the last year saw a 12 percent increase.”
http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/local-news/population-growth-forcing-low-income-families-out
Can’t all those pesky poors just disappear or something? Don’t they know that the only people who should live in Denver are millennial transplant STEM graduates?
The Dallas article I posted says 1,500 people are moving to Texas every month. There was a time when it was claimed 1,000 people moved to Florida every day. It cratered. Now people in Houston are paying to smash TV’s with a sledge hammer. Things change.
“It cratered.”
“Now people in Houston are paying to smash TV’s with a sledge hammer.”
I am astonished that a firearm isn’t involved. Shooting a tv showing the news with a 12 gauge is one of life’s sublime delights.
Here’s some info about Elvis shooting up the TV when Robert Goulet came on (he shot up lots of other things as well) …
(link to follow)
“Actress, songwriter, and former Miss Tennessee USA Linda Thompson dated Elvis during those days. In an interview with Andrew Hearn, she recounts a frightening incident when Elvis got a little trigger happy:
“I’d just happened to have come out of the shower at the Las Vegas Hilton, the presidential suite, and he [Elvis] was lying on the sofa. In those days, they had these huge bull’s eye advertisements. Vegas came alive when Elvis was there and they had these billboards, posters, and placards. So he had one of these enormous bull’s eye things in the suite and he decided that he would just shoot for the target. It was a kind of cardboard cut-out of his name with this bull’s eye…like hit the mark, come see Elvis…whatever. So, Elvis pulled out his gun and shot at the bull’s eye and the bullet went through the wall, which was adjacent to my bathroom. It went through the wall, then through the toilet paper holder, which was metal, out through a mirrored door and shattererd it. I was standing at the sink and I heard ting, ting, and the sound of glass breaking. I felt the air behind my leg. When I looked down, there was a bullet hole in the door behind me. I opened that door and there was another shattered glass door and a bullet lying there.
“I knew exactly what was happening. James Caughley came in and said, “Linda, are you okay?” and I said, Yeah, what the ____ was that?” and he said that it was just Elvis having a little target practice.” (1)
“These shootings were common occurrences. Elvis had a stockpile of weapons and liked to shoot things. He once shot his car when it wouldn’t start. He shot up small appliances, and, on occasion, large ones. He shot at chandeliers and light switches. But what he became well-known for was shooting at the TV every time the singer Robert Goulet came on a program, as some claim.”
Link …
https://lisawallerrogers.com/tag/elvis-shooting-tv-with-robert-goulet/
It’s an interesting read.
It’s good to be the king.
Can’t all those pesky poors just disappear or something? Don’t they know that the only people who should live in Denver are millennial transplant STEM graduates?
Move them to Pueblo. The section 8 rentals are cheaper there.
Pueblows!
What our coming hyperinflationary collapse will look like.
http://www.shtfplan.com/headline-news/expert-warns-of-venezuela-style-hyperinflation-this-will-not-end-well-for-the-united-states_05242016
Miami Beach, FL Housing Affordability Skyrockets As Prices Plunge 9% YoY
http://www.zillow.com/miami-beach-fl/home-values/
More extend-and-pretend for Greece.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/05/eurozone-ministers-reach-deal-greece-debt-relief-160525050007358.html
IMF is 18% funded by YOU mr US taxpayer
I don’t recall being asked if I was okay with bailing out Greece, or more accurately bailing out the banks that foolishly lent money to Greece.
How long will Americans turn a blind eye to crony capitalism and insider corruption?
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-05-25/feds-probing-potential-insider-trading-senator-bob-corker
For as long as they are fixated on “liberal” and “conservative” labels.
Don’t confuse cause and effect. 95% of the electorate are stupid. Stupid people are easily confused and manipulated by the use of labels.
“Lawmakers in San Francisco voted to uphold the “sanctuary city” policy on Tuesday, almost a year after San Francisco was flung into a national debate about immigration after an undocumented immigrant was charged in the fatal shooting of a woman.
The Board of Supervisors unanimously approved legislation that upholds the city’s policy on limiting law enforcement from providing assistance to federal immigration authorities aiming to apprehend or deport individuals.
The FREE SF Coalition, a collection of immigrant and minority activist and legal aid groups, called the ordinance “an important step forward for San Francisco’s immigrant communities.”
http://www.businessinsider.com/san-francisco-lawmakers-vote-to-uphold-sanctuary-city-policy-2016-5
And there is no advantage to the city whatsoever. SF is so insane. You’re either a really wealthy transplant, homeless crackhead, or immigrant living 8 deep in a tiny apartment in Chinatown or the Mission.
“And there is no advantage to the city whatsoever.”
The advantage arises outside the city; These people have to be somewhere, they might as well be in San Fran.
If they are in San Fran then that means that they are not here.
“SF is so insane.” And I am so glad.
Hamsterdam!
San Francisco = Hampsterdam.
Berkeley too.
Images …
https://www.google.com/search?q=berkeley+homeless&biw=1360&bih=651&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwih6KDztfXMAhVUzmMKHTWyCPYQ_AUIBygC
What fun is being wealthy if there aren’t rabble around to turn your nose up at?
Nuke SF plz
“The FREE SF Coalition, a collection of immigrant and minority activist and legal aid groups, called the ordinance “an important step forward for San Francisco’s immigrant communities.””
How? This is an issue for which I shift hard right. If you are now a legal citizen of this country, or can prove you’re on the path to citizenship, what’s to fear? What are you stepping forward from?
Just put a wall around the friggin’ city and annex it to Mexico. Make it their problem.
“Auto loan delinquency rates were very similar in energy-producing counties to the U.S. average between 1999 and 2007. Beginning with the financial crisis, though, the energy counties began to perform persistently better. Since mid-2014, though, energy-county delinquencies have risen sharply in both absolute and relative terms.”
http://www.businessinsider.com/auto-delinquencies-in-the-oil-patch-2016-5
“This sucker could go down” — George W. Bush
“In all 57 states” - Barack Hussein Obama II
“Vast portions of the tallest residential tower in London are unoccupied for the majority of the year because their wealthy owners live elsewhere, according to an excellent analysis by The Guardian.
Apartments in the Tower at St. George’s Wharf in Vauxhall are largely owned by overseas investors, with 130 of the 214 sold since the building’s completion being bought by foreign owners, the Guardian reports.
Many of these owners very rarely stay in their homes, with one owner telling the paper that “they spend as little as two months a year” in their flat. In 184 of the 214 flats nobody is listed on the UK’s electoral register, meaning occupants do not vote in the UK.”
http://www.businessinsider.com/st-georges-wharf-tower-development-lies-nearly-empty-2016-5
Central London, soon to be as soulless and empty as Midtown Manhattan.
Crook County, OR Housing Affordability Improves As Prices Nosedive 6% YoY
http://www.zillow.com/crook-county-or/home-values/
Crook County - hotbed for servers!!
MarketWatch realtorwhores provide the following narrative of realtorbabble propaganda that FAILS to mention median household incomes are still 10% below their 2007 peak:
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/housings-lost-decade-may-be-coming-to-an-end-2016-05-24
Yeah I keep noticing articles on MW touting the returned strength of the housing market. I believe there was an article yesterday about a surge in new construction of SFH.
“Baker now had spare time, little prospect of quickly finding another role in the energy industry, and a hunch that thousands of others could be sharing her sense of frustration. So she returned to her idea and started Tantrums LLC, one of a growing number of ‘rage rooms’ in America where her frustrated clients come and blow off steam with the help of a baseball bat and some inanimate objects.”
Sounds like a perfect place for underwater loan owners who got stucco to vent anger about their housing market victimhood.
Here in Denver they just take it out on every other driver on the road around them.
Your monthly mortgage payment might be fixed, and your commuting distance might be fixed, but your commuting time has gone up 50% in 5 years.
And it’s only going to get worse.
No way monthly mortgage payments are fixed with property taxes on a tear!
Property tax growth in Denver (and all of Colorado) is restricted by TABOR. If your house assessment growth matches the state wide average, the property tax should stay about the same (it might grow 1% for inflation), regardless of how much the actual assessment increase was.
TABOR is Prop 13’s big brother.
Yeah, when we lived in the Springs same deal. Where we live now (PacNW) not so much. And friggin’ voters here keep hitting the yes box on every single school bond, fire district increase, etc..!!
The endless rain and gray skies was enough to keep me away from the PacNW.
Once you get east of the Cascades it’s just like living on the front range.
Does she a offer a Luxury rage package: bank of old monitors, black mask, and red lightsabre?
Sounds like a great business opportunity for fabricators. Stainless steel bars and granite floors. The enraged DebtDonkeys won’t even known they’re in a HBB RageCage.
‘I’m going to play by the rules, I’m going to pay my mortgage, it’s just going to continue to increase in value.’
Real estate always goes up.
Rules are for fools. If you aren’t cheating, you aren’t winning.
Old Mexican proverb: “El que no tranza, no avanza”
tranza, tranzear: Mexican slang verb for cheating, swindling
The Mexican definition of chingar
The definition given by the Royal Academy of Spanish Language seems pretty lame compared to what Mexicans experienced in the formation of their country.
The most complete Mexican definition of chingar is given by the renowned writer Octavio Paz in the essay Hijos de la Malinche (Sons of the Malinche) where he wrote an in-depth study about La Chingada. These fragments that I have translated give the best explanation.
But the quantity of meanings doesn’t stop the idea of aggression in all its degrees, from a simple inconvenience, sting, hurt, to rape, rip up and kill… The verb denotes violence, removed from yourself and penetrate inside another by force. And also hurt, rip, rape bodies, souls, objects, destroy.
It is a cruel active masculine verb: itches, wound, rip, stains. And provokes a bitter, resentful satisfaction for the one who acts.
The “chingado” is the passive, inert, and open, opposed to the one who does the act of “chinga” that is active, aggressive and closed. The “chingón” is the male, the one who opens. The “chingada” is the female, the pure passive, unarmed…
For the Mexican, life is the possibility of “chingar” of being “chingado.” Meaning, to humiliate, punish, offend or the other way around.
Robert Shiller: “Housing Depreciates”
http://www.pragcap.com/robert-shiller-dont-invest-in-housing/
Okay, class, pay very close attention to this; This is The New Truth …
“During Toll Brothers (TOL) second quarter conference call on Tuesday afternoon, Chairman Robert Toll said that rate increases could actually spur demand.
“’What you have with a price increase is an increase in demand created because the price has gone up, which by the way may come to us in the summer months this year,’ he said. ‘If the Fed goes up and the mortgage rates go up an eighth or a quarter, it probably means price increases are coming soon, which spurs demand and spurs action. So it’s too early yet to tell, but we could be onto something good.’”
Da link to da New Truth …
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/toll-brothers-fed-interest-rates-good-housing-stocks-160759168.html
This is one of the soundbites they will play in the next movie they do after bubble 2.0 implodes.
“which spurs demand and spurs action.”
For lemmings it might. I’ll take Ace Ventura’s advice and “just wait longer,” for this “demand” is a very short term effect. Once the monthly cost goes up enough, demand will soften and prices will have to adjust lower to get back to the magic monthly number that works.
Kent, WA Housing Affordability Improves As Prices Fall 4% YoY
http://www.zillow.com/kent-wa-98030/home-values/
And yet, when you look at ALL of Kent, it is up by 6% YoY.
http://www.zillow.com/kent-wa/home-values/
Nice cherry-pick, Noise Lover.
Foxconn replaces 60,000 employees with robots:
http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-36376966
Apple and Samsung supplier Foxconn has reportedly replaced 60,000 factory workers with robots.
One factory has “reduced employee strength from 110,000 to 50,000 thanks to the introduction of robots”, a government official told the South China Morning Post.
Xu Yulian, head of publicity for the Kunshan region, added: “More companies are likely to follow suit.”
This brings up some interesting questions. If a $2/hr Chinese factory worker’s job can be replaced by a robot to save money, how will the low skilled/low IQ crowd around the globe be able to support themselves?
The Swiss are going to vote on a minimum guaranteed income for all its adult citizens of about $2500 USD a month. If you make less they will “top you off” to $2500 and if you make more than $2500 you won’t get anything. I suppose the Swiss can afford this because they are prosperous and have low unemployment. But what about other countries? What will they do when a huge chunk of their workforce is replaced by automation? If they aren’t rich and/or have high unemployment, what will they do when their masses are displaced? In some cases they might be able to go back to the family farm, but for many that won’t be an option either because the family farm can’t support the whole family, or there might not be a farm to begin with.
And how is China going to handle this? What will they do with the eventual multi million surplus of now unemployed workers.
We definitely live in “interesting times”
Will the nets hold the jumping robots?
Much like white men, robots can’t jump.
“how will the low skilled/low IQ crowd around the globe be able to support themselves?”
I have a different question. If all of this labor can be automated, why not bring manufacturing back stateside? We were told that labor costs are the reason for offshoring. If labor costs are going away why not bring it local instead of paying for travel, shipping, etc? Land has to be cheap in Kansas, Nebraska, Detroit. Hire a couple of maintenance folks and there you go…
From what I have been reading, manufacturing has been trickling back, it just isn’t generating a bunch of assembly line jobs because of automation.
Hence my question about how will the low skilled/low IQ crowd support itself.
How about the really, really low IQ toothless zombies in the south? A liability to even hire them to sweep the sidewalk in front of the Waffle House.
The really, really low IQs are the vast majority everywhere. Look at the results of the 2008 and 2012 elections.
Well, yeah, I meant bring back the manufacturing, not the jobs. You would at least have maintenance/support team jobs which I would think would be worth the price to have local control. The assembly jobs themselves are history.
I keep hearing there are 5M unfilled jobs. I’m curious how many are service related, because without the will for retraining that’s about all that will be available for the low skilled crowd.
Robots need high skilled software programmers and engineers to repair and build. And people to solve the pollution problem (see, or dont see China)
Look at Volvo and Mazda getting worse when Ford stepped in. Then getting better when Ford stepped out.
Stiff Little Fingers.
Logic 101???
During Toll Brothers’ (TOL) second-quarter conference call on Tuesday afternoon, Chairman Robert Toll said that rate increases could actually spur demand.
“What you have with a price increase is an increase in demand created because the price has gone up, which by the way may come to us in the summer months this year,” he said. “If the Fed goes up and the mortgage rates go up an eighth or a quarter, it probably means price increases are coming soon, which spurs demand and spurs action. So it’s too early yet to tell, but we could be onto something good.”
lol@lola
“Frisco Target ‘Peeping Tom’ identified”
http://www.fox4news.com/news/144442908-story
Is this our freaky friend from North Dallas?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-deIO_jdVQ
Any man caught in a girls dressing room should be um, oh that’s right I forgot. Some girl named Frank would be upset if men weren’t allowed to use girls rooms and the Trannies won’t hurt anyone.
“Police have identified the ‘Peeping Tom’ who allegedly used his cell phone to record video of an underage girl inside a Frisco Target dressing room earlier this month.”
“Frisco police say Charles Sidney McKissack III, 29, took off after the girl noticed the camera while changing clothes.”
We must all submit to Orwellian microchip implants…it’s for the children.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-05-25/someday-well-be-microchipping-all-our-children
I’m not crazy about microchips for pets. Hard decision.
cancer at site microchip pets
Once again, with feeling: Yellen the Felon will NEVER raise rates of her own volition. Either the bond vigilantes will force her hand, or her Goldman Sachs puppetmasters will go massively short and then give the word.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-05-25/dovish-fed-expectations-collapse-lowest-2015
Democrat influence-peddlers offer excellent value to Chinese billionaires.
http://www.breitbart.com/2016-presidential-race/2016/05/25/terry-mcauliffe-lied-meeting-chinese-donor/
The neocons know the middle class is less likely to oppose neocon wars if the poors are doing the bleeding and dying, instead of their own sons.
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/05/24/illegals-pentagons-backdoor/
America’s elitist class: millions of average Americans are irredeemably, hopelessly and unrelentingly stupid
It began with MIT economics professor Jonathan Gruber in 2014. Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes amplified it a couple of weeks ago. And now, in an equal opportunity bashing from the other side of the political dividing line, The Federalist senior editor David Harsanyi has offered yet another look at one idea that apparently unites America’s elitist class: millions of average Americans are irredeemably, hopelessly and unrelentingly stupid.
Gruber led the elitist charge, revealing the Obama administration’s behind-the-scenes efforts to get the Affordable Healthcare Act passed. “Lack of transparency is a huge political advantage,” he stated. “And basically, call it the stupidity of the American voter or whatever, but basically that was really, really critical for the thing to pass… “
http://canadafreepress.com/article/average-americans-are-stupid
crushing.housing.losses.