This Is Madness, Is It Not?
It’s Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. “Since the beginning of this year, data from the CoStar Group shows investors and developers have traded a little over $4 billion worth of multifamily properties in South Florida alone, and most of those deals were struck in suburban parts of Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach and Miami. ‘Right now it’s a tale of two different markets,’ Greg Ward, the managing director of the Atlantic | Pacific Real Estate Group told TRD. Apartments in dense urban cores like downtown Miami are fetching rents of $2 per square foot and up, he said, while communities in more suburban areas are in the $1.50 per square foot range. But there are much larger differences in those two markets than just rents. Ward said there are ’significant’ oversupply issues in many core markets.”
“The latest numbers from Marcus & Millichap show 6,740 new apartment units are set to open in Miami-Dade County by the end of this year, the largest annual influx of new inventory in the last 17 years. Much of that new construction is in the Greater Downtown Miami area.”
“McWhinney’s newest apartment community in Fort Collins will have all the Class A features renters have come to expect, plus a host of amenities revolving around it. Although Fort Collins is seeing increased multifamily construction, David Jaudes, McWhinney VP-multifamily, said McWhinney’s other community within the city, Trails at Timberline, ‘is performing extremely well.’ Absorption of new units, while not quite keeping pace with deliveries, also has been very strong.”
“‘We understand that there is a, perhaps temporary, oversupply in the market, but McWhinney is a long-term owner, and that’s how we approach all of our projects,’ Jaudes said, noting the new supply includes a number of student, affordable and senior apartments in Fort Collins.”
“Dave Stockert, president and CEO of Post Properties joined REIT.com for a CEO Spotlight video interview at REITWeek 2016. ‘Certainly there is more supply of apartments than we might typically see in other housing cycles, but it’s more than offset by the fact that the rest of the housing business is really undersupplied,’ he said. He noted that Houston is Post’s most challenging market. While the company is bullish on Houston long-term, ‘it’s going to be a tough couple of years,’ he said.”
“Manhattan apartment sales are tumbling, according to new market data, and several brokers said it is a sign that a significant correction is underway as buyers hold back. Sales in the second quarter were down more than 10% compared with the same quarter in 2015, the slowest pace since the recession year of 2009. Sales of co-ops fell by 26% and sales of lower priced apartments going for less than $1 million were down 20%, according an analysis of city records by The Wall Street Journal. ‘I think it is a correction, a serious correction,’ said Hall F. Willkie, president of brokerage Brown Harris Stevens.”
“The slowdown, which began in the second half of last year among high-price apartments, deepened and widened this year. Many brokers said asking prices were set too high after a run-up in prices a few years ago. ‘The luxury market has been choking on quite a bit of overpriced inventory,’ said broker Donna Olshan. ‘Fantasy and aspirational pricing just doesn’t cut it.’”
“A Chinese bank is suing to freeze and recover the Metro Vancouver property assets of a Chinese citizen who allegedly ‘fled China’ with an unpaid $10-million dollar loan. A petition filed in B.C. Supreme Court by China Citic Bank alleges that Shibiao Yan and his family lied to the bank about managing a business and owning assets in China when they applied for a loan in June 2014. The suit alleges that Yan and his wife were living in Vancouver and buying B.C. homes without disclosing the information to Citic. Citic’s suit says that the bank located four B.C. homes worth $7.2 million.”
“Property records obtained by Postmedia in connection to the lawsuit show that Yan bought a number of homes in the summer of 2014, and that Yan obtained mortgages from Canadian banks including Bank of Montreal and HSBC. Two of the mortgages Yan took out from HSBC appeared to be for about 100 per cent of home purchase prices, land title records indicate.”
“Lim Guan Eng (LGE), if he’s a kopitiam boss or a roast pork seller, would not get the attention (and trouble) he’s getting now. In fact, nobody would care that he had struck a good deal getting himself a bungalow for RM2.8 million – a crazy discount to market value. At 10,161 square feet, his bungalow in Jalan Pinhorn, Penang, was a steal at RM276 per square foot.”
“Unfortunately, Mr. Lim is no ordinary Chinese Ah Pek but the Penang Chief Minister. The worse part – he’s the leader of an opposition party DAP (Democratic Action Party) who commands 90% of Chinese votes. Therefore, whenever he buys or sells something, the price must be ‘ngam-ngam (precise)’. He can neither buy a bungalow below nor above market price.”
“If he buys a real estate ‘below’ market price, then he is being rewarded for helping the seller on certain project. If he buys a property ‘above’ market price, then he is cleaning dirty money through money laundering. That’s how the perception game is being played. Heads Guan Eng loses, tails Guan Eng also loses. This is madness, is it not?”
“The Hong Kong government is expanding land supply amid muted demand from the city’s biggest developers, signaling that prices have more room to drop. Builders including Sun Hung Kai Properties Ltd., the city’s largest by market capitalization, Cheung Kong Property Holdings Ltd. and Henderson Land Development Co. have been absent from the list of winning bidders for the eight parcels of land tendered by the government in the first half, as average land prices fell.”
“The rising supply comes as Hong Kong’s home prices have declined 12 percent from a peak in September. Developers have been offering discounts of up to 20 percent on new developments and other enticements including mortgages of up to 123 percent to help spur sales. In an indication of the pressure on land prices, a parcel in Tai Po, in the New Territories district, in February sold for 70 percent less per square meter than a similar transaction in September. ‘Now that we have seen the peak of residential prices, sitting with too much land on the balance sheet is not the ideal strategy,’ said Cusson Leung, a property analyst at JPMorgan Chase & Co.”
“Foreign workers are leaving Indonesia at an increasing rate due to the slump in commodity prices that has forced resource companies to slash jobs at a time when the government has also introduced tighter regulations on expatriates in Southeast Asia’s biggest economy. As a result, rents on upmarket homes in Jakarta have plummeted and enrollment at international schools has fallen.”
“The gloom is evident on the streets of Kemang, a ritzy neighborhood in south Jakarta where opulent homes are now festooned with ‘for-rent’ signs. The rental price of one house there, with a garden and swimming pool, has fallen by a third to $3,000 per month, says property broker Julizar. ‘I’ve been trying to market this house for six months but there has been no taker.’”
“The value of South Hedland’s taxpayer-underwritten Osprey Village has plunged $42 million in a year, prompting a fiery debate in Parliament on the involvement of Government in the property market. Parliamentary figures reveal the affordable housing project, which the Government spent $115.3 million acquiring, was valued last July as $51.3 million, down from $93 million in 2014. The figures also reveal the village is less than half full, with 123 of the 293 units currently tenanted.”
“Shadow housing minister Fran Logan said the investment loss was scandalous. ‘A scandal of epic proportions on the basis that nearly $300 million of taxpayers money invested into service worker and key worker accommodation in South Hedland, most of which are empty,’ he said. ‘We’ve now been left in South Hedland alone with three investments that are now worth less than half of what taxpayers put into it. We will never get a return. We won’t even be able to sell them.’”
‘Spanish police arrested 22 persons in Barcelona on Tuesday on suspicion of being members of a Chinese mafia group. The mafia network was allegedly dedicated to drug trafficking, the extortion of Chinese citizens in Catalonia, and money laundering. They are also suspected of beating people on behalf of clients.’
‘Police raided 16 buildings, including three jewelry stores, where the transactions were analyzed and the computers were looked at in search of evidence of the alleged money laundering. One of the jewelry stores was already searched in 2012 during an investigation around a political corruption network linked to drug trafficking.’
‘In the 2012 search, the investigating judge assigned to the case attempted to follow the trail of 77 watches and luxury items worth over 400,000 euros ($442,000) that an alleged drug trafficker had purchased over the course of eight years.’
‘That search led the judge to open an investigation around suspected laundered drug trafficking money. The judge leading the investigation imposed a gag order, and more arrests are expected in coming days.’
‘China Citic Bank alleges that Shibiao Yan and his family lied to the bank…when they applied for a loan in June 2014…living in Vancouver and buying B.C. homes without disclosing the information to Citic. Citic’s suit says that the bank located four B.C. homes worth $7.2 million.’
‘Property records obtained by Postmedia in connection to the lawsuit show that Yan bought a number of homes in the summer of 2014, and that Yan obtained mortgages from Canadian banks including Bank of Montreal and HSBC. Two of the mortgages Yan took out from HSBC appeared to be for about 100 per cent of home purchase prices, land title records indicate.’
So now it’s not just a Chinese bank that got burned, but some Canadian banks. I’m sure this guy and his wife were careful not to pay too much. Still, one has to wonder just how many shenanigans this is going to open up into since we’ve had these supposedly cashed up Chinese buying houses like crazy for years, all over the world.
In this case, he doesn’t have any money, or he didn’t use it to pay for the houses.
‘The Hong Kong government is expanding land supply amid muted demand from the city’s biggest developers, signaling that prices have more room to drop…The rising supply comes as Hong Kong’s home prices have declined 12 percent from a peak in September…a parcel in Tai Po, in the New Territories district, in February sold for 70 percent less per square meter than a similar transaction in September.’
I mentioned this the other day. In Hong Kong, the government is actually trying to stop the bubble. Singapore too.
ranked # 1 and # 2 for business
as USA falls
‘Luxury home sales in the East Bay took a breather in May, edging lower from year-ago levels…based on Multiple Listing Service data of all homes sold for more than $1.5 million last month in Alameda and Contra Costa counties. Meanwhile, the median sale price of a luxury home last month was down fractionally from a year ago, dipping 1.8% to $1,780,000. May’s median sale price was also down slightly from April, when it stood at $1,797,500.’
“The East Bay’s luxury market is starting to come back into a bit more balance between supply and demand as a few more listings come on the market,” said Mike James, president of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage. “Although sales were down from a year ago, overall the luxury market continues to be healthy with ongoing demand for good, well-priced properties.”
A UHS says the same thing in the Manhattan article:
‘healthy…demand for…well-priced properties’
‘Gwyneth Paltrow knocks nearly $2 million off minimalist Manhattan pad she owns with ex’
And the price slashing accelerates.
“The 43-year-old actress who has children Apple (12) and Moses (10) with singer Chris, bought the 3,892 sq ft property with her then husband for just over $5 million.”
Difficult for anyone to make-up this stuff.
It takes a true control freak to paint and decorate everything white when that person has two small children. And is there a more overused word right now than “artisanal”?
“curated” is overused quite a bit too currently, and usually in an obnoxious context, much like “artisanal”
If she can sell it for $10M she will clear a cool $5M in profit.
Not bad, assuming it sells.
“Conscience uncoupling” from pie-in-the-sky asking prices. Gotta love it.
‘Although Fort Collins is seeing increased multifamily construction, David Jaudes, McWhinney VP-multifamily, said McWhinney’s other community within the city, Trails at Timberline, ‘is performing extremely well.’ Absorption of new units, while not quite keeping pace with deliveries, also has been very strong. ‘We understand that there is a, perhaps temporary, oversupply in the market’
There’s McWhinney again. These Class A articles spend many paragraphs on all the fancy do-dads these apartments have. I’m reading it and thinking, overhead!
‘While the company is bullish on Houston long-term, ‘it’s going to be a tough couple of years,’ he said’
It sucks to be you. Keep us posted.
‘there are much larger differences in those two markets than just rents. Ward said there are ’significant’ oversupply issues in many core markets’
Thirty miles that way, those guys are screwed, but out here we’re buying all we can.
Just like an oversupply in Class A will eventually also effect rents of Class B and C, and oversupply in core markets will eventually effect markets farther out.
As a Bay Area example, people are moving to East Bay and Marin, and South Bay if they can’t afford rents in SF, driving rents higher in those places…but if rents fall in SF, the opposite will be true.
The farther out you are, the more muted the effects.
McWhinney’s business model has been to NOT own the projects it develops. For instance, they developed this outdoor mall:
http://www.thepromenadeshopsatcenterra.com/
But they have no skin in the game. The suckered investors into paying for it while McWhinney built it and collected plenty of fees to build it. They made out like bandits while the investors got caught being the bagholders when they defaulted on their loans and the mall was foreclosed.
I strongly suspect that once again, McWhinney has positioned itself into not being the bagholder when these apartment complexes don’t pencil out.
‘The real test is to determine the month’s supply for the particular neighborhood or price range in which you intend to buy or sell. In the Sonoma East and Sonoma West areas, where the average sales price over the past three months was $217,323, a total of 76 homes, or 25.3 per month, were sold, according to the Las Cruces Association of Realtors as of June 13. When juxtaposed with the 134 homes currently for sale in the area, the result is a 5.2-month supply – indicating that sellers hold a bit of an advantage.’
‘Las Cruces-area homes selling in the $100,000 to $200,000 price range enjoyed an average pace of 84 sales per month over the past 90-days. When compared to the 362 listings currently for sale, the supply dwindles to 4.3 months – giving sellers a noteworthy advantage. On the other side of the coin, the month’s supply for homes priced in the $250,000 to $350,000 range, in which 145 homes are currently for sale, is 8 months. Buyers have a slight advantage here.’
‘In the $400,000 to $600,000 price range, where nine sales took place over the past quarter-year and the current inventory of homes totals 79 active listings, the supply is a buyer-pleasing 26.3 months. Raise the price to $600,000 and above, where one sale was booked in the past 90 days and 37 homes remain, and the supply rises to a disheartening 112 months (that’s three and three-quarter years for those of you who don’t have a calculator handy).’
‘Results vary in other price ranges and neighborhoods, such as the Las Colinas subdivision, 3.3 months; the Alameda area, 7.2 months; the Telshor area, 5.3 months; Picacho Hills, eight months; and the Mesilla area, 26 months. The supply of homes priced below $120,000 is currently 3.2 months, while the inventory priced between $100,000 and $150,000 will last only four months at the current sales rate.’
‘So what’s compressing the supply, particularly in the $250,000-ish and under price ranges? The same malady that’s been plaguing buyers around the country – a lack of inventory.’
Just build houses under $150,000, problem solved. What’s that? The land costs too much? You can’t unbuild these high end houses? Again, sucks to be you.
Oooph.
Wagering on depreciating assets like a house using borrowed money is never a good idea. Alot of someones are going to lose their ass. Contractor, mortgage payers, banks, lenders, etc.
‘Raise the price to $600,000 and above, where one sale was booked in the past 90 days and 37 homes remain, and the supply rises to a disheartening 112 months’
I saw one of these luxury price categories in Tucson that had no sales. Beside it in the months on market was “NA”.
Japan’s debt was discussed yesterday and among some high-profile economic pundits, it’s seemingly treated as being consequence-free. It’s about 230% of GDP and when it gets too large, the BOJ will simply buy it all up and cancel it, according to Bill Gross.
However, others are not so sanguine.
On whose authority?
A mysterious article prompts a flurry of speculation
May 21st 2016
The Economist
WHEN a newspaper bases an entire story on a single, anonymous source, you would expect doubts about credibility to arise. Yet there were no questions about the credibility of an “authoritative person” who opined at length about the Chinese economy in the People’s Daily earlier this month. Not just any old source gets front-page treatment in the Communist Party’s mouthpiece. In this case, it is the third time in the past year that this “authoritative person” has had an outing to discuss the state of the economy. On this occasion, he delivered a stark warning about relying on debt to fuel economic growth. That, he said, could lead to crisis and to a collapse in growth.
Speculation is rife over who the person might be. For Pekingologists, it is a fine parlour game. There are two dominant theories. Both see the fingerprints of Liu He, a Harvard-trained economic adviser to Xi Jinping, China’s powerful president.
http://www.economist.com/news/china/21699163-mysterious-article-prompts-flurry-speculation-whose-authority
maybe Draggi and herr Junker will buy it !
achtung
And for some high comedy, Mugabenomics is back.
There are limits to Operation Borrow and Print. In this case, Mugabe is more about printing and less about borrowing.
Who wants to be a trillionaire?
Lock up your dollars right now; Mugabenomics is back
May 14th 2016
LIKE the governors of the Reichsbank, who kept on speeding up the printing presses as Germany plunged into ever-steepening hyperinflation in the 1920s, insisting that the real problem was a shortage of banknotes, Zimbabwe’s government claimed to have overturned the laws of economics during its own bout of hyperinflation nearly a decade ago. Gideon Gono, then governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, claimed that “traditional economics do not fully apply in this country,” and said “I am going to print and print and sign the money…because we need money.”
Zimbabwe finally tamed inflation in 2009, when it abandoned the Zim dollar and started using American dollars and other foreign currencies instead. (It converted bank balances to US dollars at a rate of $1 for every 35 quadrillion Zim dollars.) That brought instant relief. But the government of Robert Mugabe, a 92-year-old who has held power since the end of white rule in 1980, has again been spending more than it collects in taxes, and importing more than it exports. It does not help that Mr Mugabe destroyed the country’s main source of foreign revenue when he chased mainly white farmers off their land and handed it to ruling-party bigwigs.
http://www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/21698658-lock-up-your-dollars-right-now-mugabenomics-back-who-wants-be
The difference between Gideon Gono and Western central bankers is only a matter of degree.
Did the Brexit spook you into dumping your stocks?
The Financial Times
Brexit
Investors rush for havens after initial post-Brexit shock
Equity funds suffer outflows of more than $20bn, the largest one-week exit since August 2015
yesterday
by: Joe Rennison and Nicole Bullock in New York
Investors stampeded out of stock and bond funds over the past week, moving into haven assets reflecting the initial shock surrounding the UK’s vote to leave the EU.
Equity funds suffered outflows of more than $20bn for the week ending Wednesday, according to data from EPFR, its largest one-week outflow since August 2015 when concern about China’s economy rocked global markets. Bond funds saw almost $1.4bn of outflows in the week.
Equity outflows were largest in the US, where investors withdrew $11.5bn, while European equities lost more than $5bn and UK equities lost more than $600m.
Equity markets had more than $3tn wiped off their value over the two days following the UK’s vote for Brexit on June 23. Turmoil hit markets, with indicators of financial volatility rising sharply, prompting some investors to seek out assets deemed to be less risky and able to weather the storm.
US money market funds had inflows of $14.86bn, according to data from the Investment Companies Institute, while EPFR said gold funds received $2.5bn. Utilities, mortgages and inflation-protected securities also had inflows.
…
I have yet to begin buying lots of stocks. But for stock funds, it’s same old same old dollar cost averaging, as I have done so the last 27 years.
Gold is a slam dunk. GDXJ at another high today.
Same here.
I goosed my stock allocation a little on the Brexit panic, on the presumption that buying the dips translates into a discount.
Will buy more index funds as more post-Brexit panic ensues.
I’m also a dip lo docus,but didn’t score this time around
Brexit -”we’re all gonna die”
I picked up more of my favorite water utility. (wtr) and have a few others that are close to my buys. My IRA has too much cash in it.
I like the idea of investing in water. But those utilities are sky high right now. AWK is also sky high. Like most stocks, I’d limit buy them until they are 40% of the peak, but that’s my personal style that does not fit all…
I like the idea of 40% off. But you would never have a shot at (WTR) with that program. I have it in a DRIP and buy monthly…. so far no complaints.
I think precious metals have left the barn. The metals and mining stocks have been hammered too much the last few years that they have far more upside, compared to many stocks on the S&P 500.
The S&P 500 is like the housing market. Kept aloft by a flood of fiat or realtards. Some selected non-mining stocks have drifted down from overpriced to high priced.
I’m looking for 2010, maybe 2011 prices on selected stocks outside mining. But if the market goes “sideways” for a few years I might adjust my limit buys to 60% of peak instead of 40% of peak.
Also, houses are waaaaaaaay overvalued in coastal areas. Unlike stocks, you cannot find a decent house that has not fallen from overpriced to “high priced,” not in the coastal areas - areas with actual habitable climate, high paying jobs, lots of education, great restaurants…
Which is why HBBers should have been buying up gold mining stocks six months ago. It’s probably not too late because I can see gold going up the next few years in price.
In a few years you sell the stocks and buy depressed RE. In coastal areas.
“In a few years you sell the stocks and buy depressed RE. In coastal areas.”
The less the mass of sheep-minded thinkers believe this, the more likely it is to happen.
Today I looked at the total unrealized gains in one of my brokerage accounts and the amount is equivalent to one year of rent at my place “just south of Irvine.” GDXJ and AUY make up most of it.
It Gets Real: Manhattan Apartment Sales Plunge
by Wolf Richter • June 30, 2016
Share on FacebookTweet about this on TwitterShare on LinkedInShare on Google+Share on RedditPrint this pageEmail this to someone
And Manhattan condo prices plummet 14.5% in 3 months.
Real estate is local. And so housing bubbles are local. When enough of them happen, they coagulate into a national phenomenon. This has already happened. In March 2013, we started calling this phenomenon Housing Bubble 2, and we’ve watched in awe how it bloomed, nurtured by ultra-low mortgage rates, government subsidies, the Fed that is relentlessly “healing” the housing market, yield-desperate investors, private equity firms, Wall Street, a surge of foreign buyers who want to get their money – however they’d obtained it – out of harm’s way, and a million other factors. All of it has been accompanied by a national boom in hype.
Now there are signs that our awe-inspiring Housing Bubble 2, like all housing bubbles, is beginning to unravel. This too is local, here and there, while still booming in other places. It shows up in some key markets. Then it spreads. When it spreads far enough, the unraveling of Housing Bubble 2 becomes a national phenomenon.
It has now started to unravel in some markets that were among the hottest and craziest until last year: Miami, San Francisco, and Manhattan. All three are bogged down in a condo glut.
So here’s Manhattan. Sales of apartments in the second quarter dropped 10% year over year, to 2,281 units, the lowest since crisis-year 2009 (when 1,482 unit were sold), according to The Wall Street Journal, which had dug up the data from city records…….
http://wolfstreet.com/2016/06/30/manhattan-apartment-sales-condo-prices-plunge/
Wither liftoff?
Sovereign Bonds
Government bond yields fall to fresh record lows led by UK Gilts
US Treasury 10-year yield approaches level of July 2012
43 minutes ago
by: Michael Mackenzie, Michael Hunter and Jamie Chisholm
Global government bond markets began the second half of the year extending their record-setting run, led by the UK and Japan, while the US Treasury benchmark yield also approached a fresh all-time low.
The prospect of global central banks keeping interest rates lower for an extended period, led by a likely easing from the Bank of England this month, has spurred strong buying of top-tier sovereign debt by investors.
Against a backdrop of UK political turmoil and with economists expecting a recession in the coming months, the 10-year gilt yield fell a further 6 basis points early on Friday to a record low of 0.81 per cent. That came after BoE governor Mark Carney spoke of “some monetary policy easing” in the next few months on Thursday.
The rally in Gilts was accompanied by firmer US Treasury prices, with investors concerned that Brexit will slow global growth prospects and spark bouts of financial market volatility over the summer.
The 10-year Treasury yield fell 12bp to 1.382 per cent, just above July 2012’s record low of 1.381 per cent, according to Reuters. Bond investors have ruled out the prospect of an interest rate rise this year by the Federal Reserve in the wake of Brexit.
“We believe this is one of those key moments in global fixed income,” said Luis Costa, a strategist at Citi. “It looks to us we are at the tipping point, very close to another large leg down in US Treasury yields.”
…
Attribution: The Financial Times
Without over thinking the situation, massive recent flows of money into safe havens like high quality government bonds and gold suggest stock markets are due to take a. major dump.
This is the most hated stock rally in history. The fear of losing money on overpriced sh@t has kept me out. Its almost like some people knew the outcome in advance to take on that much risk.
It’s more fun to set buy limits without worrying that you will lose cash. The 2 year note yields on new issues are at around where 52-week yields were a year ago.
I had enough of those meager yields, so might as well get into position for grabbing stocks at bargain prices when the crash hits. And it could be a two year long stock market crash to the bottom…soon…with gold and other PMs going up, and also mining stocks.
“Manhattan apartment sales are tumbling, according to new market data, and several brokers said it is a sign that a significant correction is underway as buyers hold back.”
I’m telling ya, one of those swanky $30,000,000 5th Avenue apartments will be marked down to $15,000,000 and I will pounce!
And the $15 mill falls to $5 mill and so on.
It’s the way the world works.
we have been in a bull market for home prices for 10 years. If janet yellen has her way prices wont go down that much. Welcome to central planning. Getting people to overpay for stocks and homes!
Remember…… I can ask $50k for my 10 year old Honda Civic and still not come up with a buyer at that price in 10 years.
So it is with all depreciating assets like houses.
If I ever see a $50,000 Honda Civic in my life, I’m done with this world haha. I bought my first used 2005 Civic for $7500 and my brand new 2015 for $17,500….
Liberace is a Honda Civic mechanic.
From yesterday:
——————–
Comment by oxide
2016-06-30 13:39:48
The newest thing in Maryland: craft brew farms.
Comment by Captain Lou Albano
2016-06-30 14:37:18
They’re just manifestations of YellenBucks looking for a place to die.
Comment by GuillotineRenovator
2016-06-30 19:48:57
I want to see the profit. I don’t believe it.
——————
Locavore farming of any kind was never that profitable, and I don’t expect this to fare any better. I remember watching a documentary about small wineries in VA, and the main takeaway is that such wineries are usually founded as a dreamy retirement project by someone who is already rich. As HA says, Yellen bucks fizzling out.
But here’s the article in the Baltimore Sun about brew farms:
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/bs-md-co-farm-brewery-20151023-story.html
Donk,
They’re simply more manifestations of YellenBucks looking for a place to die. No different than grossly inflated housing prices.
and yet not a dime to the average American with thousands or tens of thousands 18+% credit card debt.
http://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/interest-rate-report-062916-unchanged-2121.php
Credit cards are how YellenBucks are disbursed.
The last part of that article is pretty funny.
——————
For example, 31 percent of consumers between the ages of 25 and 34 owe between $1,000 and $4,999 on their cards each month. Fewer than 23 percent of consumers in other age groups, by contrast, reported similar balances. Millennials were also more likely than other age groups to carry a balance between $5,000 and $9,999, said FICO…
… Like older generations, millennials are attracted to cards with substantial cash back, lower interest rates and no annual fees. But unlike earlier generations, they expect more from their credit cards, FICO’s survey found, and they want safer cards, easy-to-use mobile banking and more guardrails that keep them from overspending.
For example, the survey found that most millennials want account notifications to help guard against fraud and want their cards to offer “enhanced security.” Nearly half say they also want more control over their budgets and spending limits – a rare perk not typically offered on contemporary cards. For example, 47 percent say they want to be able to “turn on or off” their ability to shop at selected merchants. Meanwhile, 45 percent also want to be able to decide ahead of time what purchases are allowed.
———-
Evidently, Millenials can’t “turn off” their desire to walk into the store in the first place.
This should be a new unicorn app — Credit Mommy.
The article doesn’t say whether those balances are paid off every month. My guess is no. $5 grand is too much to spend in a month.
I think I made one cc payment in my life-otherwise have used it as a debit card
38 years old here so a little bit out of the demo. However, I spend at least $2-3k on my credit card every month and pay it off - I do it for the miles. Almost everything goes on it except rent and minor expenses ($10 and under) for which I carry cash
I’m one of only two of my friends (ranging 26-50) that I think uses a real credit card - the rest all use debit cards.
They tell me the use debit because it keeps them from spending too much money. I honestly don’t understand because it’s not that hard for me to keep a running total of my credit card in my head (rounding up every transaction). I’m usually within $50-75 either side of what I’ve spent when the bill comes. But then again, I’m talking to people who live paycheck to paycheck coming up short $50-75 will put them in to overdraft situations.
Sigh.
I’m one of only two of my friends (ranging 26-50) that I think uses a real credit card - the rest all use debit cards.
I once heard Frank Abagnale speak (the real life person behind “Catch Me if You Can”). As someone who was a professional fraudster, and now works with the FBI, he would say your friends are crazy.
If someone gets ahold of your credit card information, and charges a bunch of stuff on your account, you are only liable for $50 by law.
If someone gets ahold of your debit card information, and buys a bunch of stuff, and you don’t notice and notify the bank fast enough, you’re f___d.
OT
dj Didn’t you say you graduated from Brien McMahon High School?
I don’t know what year but I wouldn’t want you to miss a 30 year reunion.
Brien McMahon High School to celebrate Class of 1986 reunion
Submitted by Lynda Falcone Published 1:31 pm, Monday, June 27, 2016
The 30th Brien McMahon High School class reunion is right around the corner.
The Class of 1986 is invited to the Norwalk Inn on July 16, 2016, for a fun time to celebrate their 30th and a walk down memory lane with classmates.
Event details:
RSVP by June 24, 2016, at bmhs1986@hotmail.com.
Event: Saturday, July 16th 2016; 6:30-10:30pm at the Norwalk Inn, 99 East Avenue, Norwalk, CT 06851
Three hours open bar- beer, wine, mixed drinks, and soda
Three hours passed appetizers
Pasta Station
Filet Station
Dessert
Cost: $100.00 per person — Limited Availability
Checks ONLY, made out to: “BMHS Class of 1986″
Mail to: 9 Lindenwoods Road, Norwalk, CT 06851
No money will be taken at the door!
thanks…..i have done many a gigs in the norwalk inn…they must have gotten plenty of rsvp’s since a lot of the HS reunions i’ve done since the crash combine 2,3 or even a 4th class year
notice the $100 a ticket used to be about half that before the crash
My 20th is this year but not even sure I want to go.
In talking to a friend who was class of ‘95 and tried to organize their reunion it was a bust - so much so they were trying to open it up to other classes and he was trying to get me to go.
I think Facebook/Social Media allows us to stay in contact with people we actually wanted to see and we make our own reunion plans with each other independently. Reunions are on their way out.
$100 is steep per person so if you bring a sig other you’re talking $200. MUCH rather take my sig other out to a nice dinner for that kind of cash.
Because, we don’t have enough beer choices already /s
MarketWatch dot com
Commodities are crushing it in 2016: Here’s why
By Myra P. Saefong
Published: July 1, 2016 6:02 a.m. ET
Commodities aiming to end 5-year streak of annual declines
MarketWatch photo illustration/Getty Images
Halfway through the year, commodities are enjoying a broad advance and are on track to break a five-year streak of annual losses.
Analysts said the climb is likely to continue through the end of the year, but some don’t expect the second-half rally to be quite as impressive as the gains seen over the last six months.
Upside moves this year have been led by sugar and lean hogs with futures prices for crude and gold also rebounding sharply after big declines over the past two years or more. Cattle and coal meanwhile are among the biggest decliners.
Commodities are likely to continue to perform well through the next several months, said Adam Koos, president of Libertas Wealth Management Group
“Commodities have been a laggard asset class for so long, it was just a matter of time before we’d see them in first place again,” he said. “I think that time has come and it’s early yet, so investors shouldn’t feel as if they’ve missed the party.”
The moves mark a turnaround for an asset class that ended 2015 with its largest yearly loss since 2008.
The Bloomberg Commodity Index (BCOM, +0.26%) a broadly diversified commodity-price index, has climbed about 13% year to date. It lost nearly 25% in 2015, marking a fifth-straight yearly decline.
…
Noting that after five straight years of losses, commodities were finally a screaming buy last year raises a question of whether U.S. housing prices are destined to reach a similar state in the foreseeable future?
Or will the next unwind more closely resemble Japan’s recent experience, with housing unable to find a firm bottom after decades of losses?
CRICKETS
I’m all in on Chinese garlic and Forever stamps.
Forever stamps just went down.
They did!!! G-D-IT!!! I was long Forever stamps. Screwed again!!!
This economist thinks China is headed for a 1929-style depression
By Sue Chang
Published: June 30, 2016 2:23 p.m. ET
Andy Xie is among the loudest voices warning of an inevitable implosion
Andy Xie isn’t known for tepid opinions.
The provocative Xie, who was a top economist at the World Bank and Morgan Stanley, found notoriety a decade ago when he left the Wall Street bank after a controversial internal report went public. Today, he is among the loudest voices warning of an inevitable implosion in China, the world’s second-largest economy.
…
“Therefore, whenever he buys or sells something, the price must be ‘ngam-ngam (precise)’. He can neither buy a bungalow below nor above market price.”
“If he buys a real estate ‘below’ market price, then he is being rewarded for helping the seller on certain project. If he buys a property ‘above’ market price, then he is cleaning dirty money through money laundering. That’s how the perception game is being played. Heads Guan Eng loses, tails Guan Eng also loses. This is madness, is it not?”
Then this…..”…..At 10,161 square feet, his bungalow in Jalan Pinhorn, Penang, was a steal at RM276 per square foot.”
The whole article is a contradiction!!!
‘If he buys a real estate ‘below’ market price, then he is being rewarded for helping the seller on certain project. If he buys a property ‘above’ market price, then he is cleaning dirty money through money laundering’
I think that’s pretty clear for an English translation paper.
Fraud on both sides of transaction. Fraud on both sides of price.
“Mr Grylls said the median rental price in South Hedland was now $421, down from as high as $1900 in 2012.”
per week!
A circle of houses surrounded by a vast emptiness.
Connect the globalist-oligarch dots to “fundamental transformation” and the resettlement of millions of Muslim refugees from neocon “regime change” adventurism in the US.
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2016/06/30/goldman-sachs-to-lead-effort-in-settling-mid-east-refugees/
How many will get resettled in the Hamptons and become their new neighbors?
how about resettling them in Detroit Baltimore Cleveland Gary Camden you know in cheap violent areas they are used to…..bet the locals will get might upset.
Our permanent Democrat supermajority of dependency voters is not going to build itself, you know.
Nobody cares what those locals think.
exactly but the locals in Idaho will be out in the streets protesting with their legal firearms
I saw a gaggle of those marching around in Coeur D Alene last summer. I think it was about solidarity with the Dildonians or somethign. Pasty, pudgy basement dwellers, to a man, they were looking, sweaty, sunburned, winded, and wishing they didn’t have to tote so much steel.
They were soundly ignored.
Cool narrative brony. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could somehow get rid of all these, the sight of which admittedly has you triggered? Maybe put them all on trains, sent to the East, and some kind of “final solution” be devised to get rid of them?
Oh quit yer cryin’, cowboy Bob. You aren’t going to step up to defend your second amendment rights, let alone join an armed insurrection against the government. The best you’ll do is waddle around sweatily with a misspelled cardboard sign and an unloaded AR-15.
There has been an established Arab-American community, largely of Lebanese descent, in southeastern Michigan for decades. It is thoroughly Americanized and even produced a rather attractive Miss America a few years ago. Not sure how it would react to this particular group of newcomers, though.
I’ll bet those Lebanese immigrants who assimilated were Christians and not Muslims.
The Maronite Christians, Syriac Orthodox, and Catholics coming out of Lebanon have first hand knowledge of the Religion of Peace. They are not about to be subjected to what they had to deal with back in Lebanon.
yes, Casa$Loco is BACK nigh on 10 years to let you know Housing Bubble 2.0 is upon us! Starting out the same way it did back in 2007: Price reductions and the change in mentality of “Housing prices can only go up” to “Housing prices can only go down”. Chandler AZ, is where I’m seeing houses sitting on the market and price reductions: Stage one. And we’re in summer, wait until school starts. My sister bought 3 houses at the tip top of the 2007 market, now she’s trying to sell 80 days on the market 3rd price drop.
Gambling.
It’s an addiction, whether with cash or with houses.
Debt Donkeys and Degenerate Gamblers.
Taxpayers, get used to bailing out corrupt, maladministered Democrat-run states, territories, and municipalities.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-07-01/puerto-rico-defaults-2-billion-debt-payments
its only paper. The only thing that really matters is how other people view the bailout and how confident in fiat they remain. Do those people continue to make payments on their debt? When people see no consequence of a default why should they keep paying?
To mark “D” on a ballot means your moral compass has long since ceased functioning. People who vote for benefits someone else has to pay for - the essence of the Democrat Party’s “appeal” - have already shown that they are morally bankrupt. Not honoring their financial obligations isn’t a big stretch for such scum.
So you’re gonna mark all R and prove your moral superiorority?
Voting a racist Republican into the Presidency could result in Honest Abe turning over in his grave.
Everybody’s racist, PBear. We just suppress it with varying degrees of success.
So you’re gonna mark all R and prove your moral superiorority?
The GOP base, in marked contrast to the Establishment GOP, rejected crony capitalist Wall Street salad tossers like Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, and the rest of the clown car occupants. The GOP rank and file, whatever its faults, still shows a strong aversion to corruption, unlike their Democrat counterparts who embrace it. So yeah, marking all R is definitely one way to show my moral superiority by rejecting corrupt, incompetent (is there any other kind?) Democrat candidates.
The dem base did too…. But the lizard queen had control of the primary system.
Had Jeb or an Establishment GOP co-optee of his ilk been the designated candidate, I would’ve refused to vote for him, just as I voted for Ron Paul rather than McStain, and wrote his name in rather than vote for Romney. Rejection of the Lizard Queen is always an option, you know. And voting for the lesser of two evils is still voting for evil.
“We just suppress it with varying degrees of success.”
Truer words never been spoke.
they just keep borrowing money and handing out beni’s. 19 trillion tab so far.
now u have to pay your fair share of their debt by getting zero % on your savings and be forced to buy sh@t like facebook to get any yield.
They cant let it fall apart.
There’s no going back now. If we get to a point where all production is automated before it blows up, the money won’t mean anything anymore.
Even the oligarchs who have been the exclusive beneficiaires of the Fed’s “No Billionaire Left Behind” monetary policies are getting nervous about the housing bubble.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-luxury-market-20160608-snap-story.html
But…but…I thought the Eurozone financial crisis was “contained” and all the banks had passed their stress tests.
http://wolfstreet.com/2016/06/30/italian-banks-get-e150-billion-bailout-of-empty-promises/
the Brits were crazy to leave
who will pay for PIGS ?
Draghi will hit Ctrl + P, as always.
Precious metals surging (especially silver) as the flight to quality accelerates ahead of a new binge of Fed/central bank “qualitative easing” (deranged money-printing).
http://www.kitco.com/market/
When is platinum going to recover? Maybe never, since its more of an industrial metal than an investment metal?
Platinum is 10X more rare than gold and has much higher (and growing) industrial usage. It’s only lower than gold because the sheeple do not know those facts and are stampeding into gold. The intelligent people are buying platinum hand over fist at these prices. Oh, and the primary supply sources are Russia and South Africa - not exactly the most stable of suppliers.
Have the sheeple finally had enough of bending over for the Oligopoly status quo?
https://mishtalk.com/2016/06/30/explaining-social-anger-brexit-donald-trump-in-one-chart/
Key West, FL Housing Prices Tank 11% YoY As Vacancy Rates Surges
http://www.zillow.com/key-west-fl/home-values/
Silver spikes to 22-year high as the flight to safety (and out of Fed asset bubbles) accelerates.
http://www.shtfplan.com/headline-news/silver-spikes-to-22-year-high-driven-by-heightened-volatility-lingering-uncertainty_07012016
The condo above me just sold for more than asking price by someone who DIDN’T LOOK AT IT before making the offer. There were already multiple over-asking price offers on the table, so he also paid for the title work for the seller and let her take the fridge, washer and dryer (the others wanted them).
This is madness, is it not? Perhaps I should check out Oil City, Pa…
The house down the road from me sold 50% under asking.
the house across the creek, around the corner just sold for above asking with multiple offers.
Now those people have cash to buy stuff in the consumer driven economy.
lol@az_donk
…and a monkey flew out of your butt. You named him Herman, and he’s your best friend now. Mom even said you could keep him.
I realize my story is only anecdotal, but it’s the truth. And I’m not happy about it — been waiting for a long time to purchase again.
I’m with Scrutinizer on this one.
No… that was YOUR monkey, HA… and mom says to clean up the poop.
Falling housing prices my friend. Falling housing prices.
Seattle, WA Housing Prices Plunge 5% YoY As Rental Rates Slip Lower
http://www.zillow.com/seattle-wa-98102/home-values/
This shack went under contract the other day. I guess lowering the price $500 did the trick
http://www.zillow.com/homes/for_sale/13887843_zpid/globalrelevanceex_sort/40.400247,-105.128257,40.397649,-105.132414_rect/17_zm/
06/20/16 Price change $368,500-0.1% $141
06/15/16 Price change $369,000-1.6% $141
06/10/16 Listed for sale $375,000+97.5% $144
02/17/98 Sold $189,900 $72
Two price cuts in the first 10 days.
So true, but it did sell, after dropping the price 6500 altogether. I just thought it was funny that it finally sold after the final $500 price drop.
Not bad though, they resold a 20 year old ranch with a basement in podunky Loveland, a town with no real employment base to speak of, for a 178K profit (minus closing costs, heh heh). Of course, the sale could fall through, but I’ve seen a couple of other houses in the subdivision sell fairly quickly. Not many house for sale now in the nabe, don’t know why.
One house I expect to come on the market soon is one where its lone occupant, a widower who was suffering from terminal cancer, committed suicide a month ago. He kept that place pristine, like a model home. I saw a couple of realtors futzing around the place no too long ago, but no “For Sale” sign has popped up yet. The guy shot himself, so maybe there is some cleanup to do.
Remember. Nothing accelerates the economy like falling prices.
That place would be $700k in my hood
Loveland going up 4%
Guaranteed !
Read that as “Marijuana Butte” at first. Sounded like a lovely place.
LOL! FWIW, Loveland chose to not allow dispensaries within city limits. Nearby Berthoud does.
Glad to see Loveland has stayed uptight. Used to play in a bar called The Far Side, and the cops were always there at 2am to make sure things closed down on the dot.
Mariana Butte is very uptight
If I had to guess, I would say that it votes at least 80% Republican. Then again, so does most of Loveland.
Mount Vernon, VA Housing Prices Tumble 16% YoY On Surging Housing Inventory
http://www.zillow.com/mount-vernon-va/home-values/
The airbnb thing is unraveling all over the country:
‘HOLLYWOOD, Fla. - Condo owners say the illegal renting of units in violation of by-laws is wreaking havoc on HOA dues and quality of life. Condo owners who reached out to the Call Christina team said their building is overrun with tourists that are not just soaking up the sun, but their HOA dues, and claim the board and the management company is not doing a thing to put a stop to it.’
“We have tried everything else to protect our rights and we have not been able to be successful,” Ellen Hassman, who owns a condo at The Tides, said. “They think they are getting around it because they call them guests. We never get answers and no one is helping us anywhere.”
“It is not their fault,” another Tides condo owner, Jeff London, said about the visiting tourists. “It is the fault of the association and the management company that lets it go on.”
“We have to go asleep at 10 p.m. because we have to work the next day. They are first partying and having dinner. There are greeters and cleaners. It is not just when they are illegal renting, it is in the preparation of the rentals that our peace is being disturbed,” Hassman said.’
‘Other communities across South Florida are also struggling with the impact of the vacation rental industry.’
‘The view of sun-kissed tourists hanging poolside on a gorgeous South Florida day wouldn’t seem out of place unless you knew The Tides isn’t a hotel, it is a condominium with by-laws provided to Local 10 News by condo owners that say in no event shall any lease be for a period less than 90 days.’
“If you look at VRBO, there are 143 listings. You wouldn’t think of that as a condo, you think of that as a hotel,” London said. “There are so many short-term renters here it just makes life difficult, challenging.”
“People are using our HOA funds to pay for extra garbage pickup,” Hassman said. “All our money is being enhanced to make it look like a hotel. I would say somewhere I am being taken.”
‘More than 100 units are advertised on sites like Airbnb, VRBO, and Booking.com, with some advertising a minimum stay of just one to three nights with rates up to $200 a night or more. In one post, a host brags that you can “enjoy the exclusive residents’ beach club and pool.”
‘Other hosts boast about The Tides 5-star amenities and communal laundry room. “The washing machines and dryers are always broken,” London said.’
‘Nearly everyone the Call Christina team encountered while Hassman and London took our crew for a tour of the grounds said they were visiting. Several large groups said they were visiting from Argentina. The Call Christina Team found more than 40 units listed on an Argentine-based website called Viajo a Miami Beach. Canadian based Somil Corporation advertised 14 Tides units on its website. Broward County property records confirm the company owns several units at the waterfront condominium.’
‘In an email exchange between London and a Somil representative provided to Local 10 News by London, a company representative confirmed a rental unit reservation at The Tides for a period of eight days, which London points out is much less than the 90-day minimum as per the condo’s own rules and regulations.
“That type of activity causes so much wear and tear on the building,” London said. Some of the advertised rentals say a 1-bedroom fits four; in another listing a 2-bedroom is said to sleep 6. “Water has gone sky high, because you have six to eight people in an apartment,” Hassman said.’
‘The condo owners who spoke with Local 10 News also pointed out a tiki hut erected near one of the pools and a lobby café selling tourist sunglasses and sunhats. “Towels, mugs, everything an owner would need right?” Hassman said.’
‘London explained how visitors are given resort-style temporary plastic bracelets. The moment our crews walked into the management office to inquire about the residents’ concerns, like the concierge desk of a hotel, a staff member was snapping those resort-style bracelets on a couple who said they were “guests” for a couple of nights.’
‘The Tides executive manager Eveline Smythe said she would need to get permission from her bosses for an on-camera interview, and then never returned a follow-up inquiry. Calls and emails to the Akam management company and association attorney Marci A. Rubin went unreturned.’
‘Also not willing to talk was resident board member and real estate broker Joe Cimino, who not only shut the door on Local 10’s Christina Vazquez, but then promptly locked the door. Requests for comment sent to Somil, Viajo a Miami Beach and VRBO were unreturned. Airbnb tells Local 10 News that they ask all hosts to follow their local regulations to include the rules of their HOA’s.’
‘”You should not be renting to people for a one night’s stay,” said Hollywood Commissioner Patricia Assefff. “That is ridiculous.” The American Hotel and Lodging Association recently called short-term rental platforms an “illegal business,” accusing them of dodging taxes and ducking rules.’
‘The associates said a growing number of commercial landlords are using rental platforms to run “illegal hotels.”
‘Hassman and London said they continue to watch vans full of tourists arrive and depart from their condo building, continue to struggle finding a spot by the pool, continue to worry that their HOA dues are being siphoned to support a rental operation in violation of their association’s rules, continue to deal with a board and management company seemingly unwilling to reign in the people making money from breaking the rules.’
‘They want state regulators to step-in and take a look. “It is a mess,” Hassman said. “It is completely frustrating,” London added.’
‘I would say somewhere I am being taken’
This being a family friendly blog, I’m not going to point out exactly where you are being taken, Ellen, but I would like to point out it’s cheaper than renting.
‘Nearly everyone the Call Christina team encountered while Hassman and London took our crew for a tour of the grounds said they were visiting. Several large groups said they were visiting from Argentina. The Call Christina Team found more than 40 units listed on an Argentine-based website called Viajo a Miami Beach. Canadian based Somil Corporation advertised 14 Tides units on its website. Broward County property records confirm the company owns several units at the waterfront condominium.’
…
‘The condo owners who spoke with Local 10 News also pointed out a tiki hut erected near one of the pools and a lobby café selling tourist sunglasses and sunhats. “Towels, mugs, everything an owner would need right?” Hassman said.’
‘London explained how visitors are given resort-style temporary plastic bracelets. The moment our crews walked into the management office to inquire about the residents’ concerns, like the concierge desk of a hotel, a staff member was snapping those resort-style bracelets on a couple who said they were “guests” for a couple of nights.’
_____________________________/
This is the funniest post I have read here in some time!
But this is innovation! Tech even. Why the guys running these websites are rich and they have lawyers.
If the mafia was doing this it would be front page news. These companies haven’t invented anything. All the money they are making just comes out of the pockets of existing businesses and people like these condo owners. What’s really going to be funny is when these guys in Silicon Valley realize they spent billions on just what it looks like; illegal, black-market hoteling.
Every day I read of at least one city making all or part of it illegal. When those fat envelopes stop going to the politicians, uber is going to get shut down too.
I hope Uber doesn’t get shut down. Uber was a free market response to monopolistic taxi companies charging more than the market would bear.
Uber was also a response to terrible service.
How many times have you called for a taxi where they told you it would be 5 minutes, only to have it be 35 minutes, or NOT AT ALL? For me, it was seemingly at least 25% of the time.
If you call Taxi/Uber/Hired Towncar the same thing, “paying for someone else to drive you around”.
The price/convenience of Uber has caused me to pay someone to drive me around a LOT more than before, and caused me to pay less for parking, and more on wine at dinner.
Uber may end up being more regulated, but it, or services like it, won’t go away.
‘How many times have you called for…’
It’s better than what’s legal so it should happen. Hmm, we can follow that to its logical conclusion in a lot of areas but I doubt that without a bunch of VC-cashed up lawyers it would go far. It’s petrocks with wore out car, low pay and uninsured drivers.
I’m not making a comment on “should or should not”, “legal, or illegal”. Strong public demand will dictate public policy.
It’s hard to unring the bell.
The public has tasted alcohol…there will be outcry against prohibition.
I believe the question will be how Uber/Lyft are regulated (which might over time drive the cost closer to the cost of taxis), not whether they exist.
Pet Rocks have no tangible use.
Uber provides more reliable transportation than existing taxi services. That is useful.
Taxi companies know this…thus the introduction of Flywheel. Basically Uber for Taxis. If you don’t like the nature of the Uber/Lyft drivers and whatever insurance rules they have, you can’t say you wouldn’t use the Flywheel app to hail a cab if it makes existing taxi services better.
Those that are being hurt are not condo owners (they are whiners). They should expect loud parties when they share walls. It’s part of the deal.
The real losers are hotels and motels. Especially the moms and pops.
‘It’s part of the deal’
It sound like many parts of the deal are being broken. If I was sore-butt Ellen, I’d get a lawyer and sue.
like UBER, the overloads can’t stop it.
The market rules !
AirBNB is suing the city of San Francisco, looks like it could get very messy…
http://www.businessinsider.com/bradley-tusk-startup-political-strategist-airbnb-created-unfixable-mess-2016-6
More of Jeb Bush’s “acts of love.”
http://www.kxl.com/breaking-woodburn-shooter-deported-six-times-since-2003/
CHARLIE ROSE: Clinton, Lynch Just ‘Two Politicians’ Getting Together
“Seems on the face of it simply to be an innocent meeting of two politicians saying hello, but…”
American Mirror - July 1, 2016 80 Comments
If you believe CBS, there was absolutely nothing to the mystery meeting between Bill Clinton and Loretta Lynch on her private plane on the tarmac of the Phoenix airport Monday.
“CBS This Morning” host Charlie Rose said it was little more than “two politicians” getting together to shoot the breeze about grand kids and Brexit.
“Just not smart, right?” guest John Heilemann interjected. “Not a smart thing to do.”
He added it was bad optics.
Why did Rose characterize the top law enforcement agent in America as a “politician”?
ABC 15 — a local news outlet, not the national media — broke the story that Clinton and Lynch met in private on her plane Monday.
PBS’s Charlie Rose Runs Away From Bilderberg Questions - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jP6l39I47QA - 193k -
‘With two major hotels in downtown Ketchum in the works and Sun Valley Co. having recently remodeled its historic lodge, the Ketchum City Council saw no urgency Monday in forcing a massive development at the former Warm Springs Ranch site to move forward.’
‘The development company behind the Warm Springs Ranch Resort, Helios Development Co., requested an extension of its agreement with the city government until 2024. Warm Springs Ranch Resort would be huge—a 728,000-square-foot development that would include a hotel, homes and villa estates over 80 acres between downtown and the Warm Springs base area of Bald Mountain. The project would also include a golf course and public parks.’
‘While it was initially approved in 2009, it never was built because of the economic recession.’
‘Attorney Ed Lawson, representing Helios at the council meeting, said it’s unrealistic to expect lenders and investors to come forth any time soon with the hundreds of millions of dollars that Warm Springs Ranch will require.’
“There’s no possibility for attracting the investors and the lenders for this scale of a project,” Lawson said. “It’s a phased development on the scale of the Sun Valley Resort … currently used as a neighborhood dog park.”
‘Lawson said building the resort now would be a detriment to the Limelight Hotel, which is under construction on Main Street in downtown Ketchum, and the Auberge Resort Sun Valley hotel, which is planned to go in across the street from the Limelight. He also cited the remodel of the Sun Valley Lodge, which reopened last spring.’
‘Lawson said the market for luxury accommodations in Ketchum and Sun Valley will have to adjust with those three projects. Warm Springs Ranch Resort would result in a major supply glut that would outpace demand, he said, forcing down the prices that Sun Valley Co., Limelight developer Aspen Skiing Co. and Auberge could charge for their rooms.’
“The prices come down to a point where the operations of the hotels and the levels of service start to suffer,” he said.’
‘Councilman Jim Slanetz also supported an extension, but said eight years is too long. He said the property could be sold, and a new owner would look to change the agreement and revise the project’s entitlements. “I don’t see it fitting as far as what it will be going forward,” Slanetz said. “I don’t think that project is going to get developed as it was designed eight or nine years ago.”
I have been to Ketchum; the small cemetery is where Hemingway is buried. I was trying to figure out where local people actually lived. The newspaper suggested that they lived in Hailey.
‘it’s unrealistic to expect lenders and investors to come forth any time soon with the hundreds of millions of dollars…’It’s … currently used as a neighborhood dog park.’
Well Ed, you earned your $500 an hour.
The whole point of hiring “experts” (i.e. consultants) is to get them to back up what you wanted to do in the first place. In this case “Ed” was lobbying for an extension.
I like overpaying for a house to keep other people in their home.
‘Losses for the world’s biggest pension fund likely deepened in the quarter just ended, extending what may be its worst annual loss since the global financial crisis, brokerage estimates showed.’
‘Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund will probably post a 4.4 trillion yen ($43 billion) loss in the April-June quarter, according to calculations by Yohei Iwao, executive director of the institutional equities division at Morgan Stanley MUFG Securities Co. That follows what he estimates was a 5 trillion yen decline in the fiscal year ended March 31, which would amount to the worst performance since fiscal 2009 when the fund lost 9.7 trillion yen.’
‘The calculations come amid criticism the government has put the public’s pension money at risk after the fund known as the whale for the size of its assets increased its equity allocations in 2014.’
‘GPIF has been hurt after global stock routs in mid-2015 and early this year helped wipe about $7.4 trillion off world equities in the past 12 months. Japan’s Topix index has tumbled 19 percent in 2016 to be the second-worst performing developed stock market as the yen strengthened, reducing returns from overseas holdings.’
“They can’t start buying domestic bonds, so there’s no turning back” said Suezawa. “They should keep buying risk assets when they fall, with a long-term view to gradually increase their assets again.”
‘hurt after global stock routs in mid-2015′
Sparked by the Chinese devaluation. But Brexit is Hitler.
‘and early this year’
Sparked by a .25% Fed increase.
‘They can’t start buying domestic bonds, so there’s no turning back’
Well sure they can. But the yield is negative, so it looks like somebody isn’t going to retire.
‘They should keep buying risk assets when they fall, with a long-term view to gradually increase their assets again’
Make it up on volume!
Californias budget is highly correlated to tax revenue from stock gains. Prices must go up or the schools suffer!
Right,only gov and utility workers a (same thing) can retire
4th of July Fails - Americans Don’t Know Why We Celebrate Fourth …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-Be9f7Ovgg - 210k - Cached - Similar pages
3 days ago …
that is amazing
No, what’s amazing is that after the 2008 and 2012 election results showed that 95% of the electorate are functional retards, you still think mass ignorance is “amazing.” Stupid is the new normal.
“Americans Don’t Know Why We Celebrate Fourth”
How silly. Of course we know. Barbeque and beer. Day off for government and the banks. Retail and automotive sales! Fireworks! Boo-YAH!
Honoring Veterans This Independence Day With 100% Financing, No PMI
http://themortgagereports.com/21144/va-home-loan-veterans-and-military-usage
Dow erases all brexit losses, who would have thunk? LMFAO
I figured it would be Thursday, so an extra 14 hours. Will the Hillacaust have a news conference announcing that 2 trillion yellen bucks reappeared?
The globalist media is fundamentally dishonest, case in point:
‘How Trump-style tariffs benefit the shareholder class’
‘Trade protections aren’t designed to benefit shareholders, who tend to be the elites many working-class voters have been rebelling against.’
(Now the shareholders are the elites.)
‘Since 2014, steel production in China has more than doubled, while China’s own demand for steel has plummeted on account of overbuilding and a sharp slowdown in Chinese construction. Many Chinese steel producers are state-owned enterprises able to operate at a loss to keep their own workers employed. But they have to sell their steel somewhere, and that has led to the flood of cheap Chinese steel on global markets.’
‘US employment in the steel industry has dropped by about 9% since the beginning of 2015, to 140,000 workers. That decline may be due, in part, to the glut of cheap Chinese steel.’
So they double production, operate at a state sponsored loss and we lose jobs. Oh, and they devalued their currency a bunch in the past year too. Boy, isn’t Trump a meanie for saying these guys are screwing us on trade. Wait, there’s more:
‘In May, the Commerce Department finalized a rule slapping a whopping tariff of 513% on cold-rolled steel products imported from China to the United States. You read that right: The Obama administration, generally friendly to free trade, imposed a draconian tariff raising the cost of every $1 of Chinese steel to $6.13. And it will be in place for at least five years. The tariff came after five domestic producers complained about China dumping steel into the US economy at below-market prices, a charge the US government upheld in imposing the duties.’
So why isn’t the article called Obama style tariffs? One would think there are no tariffs, but if you look into it there are a lot. All this whining about free trade is just a matter of degree. Trump’s saying we don’t have the right balance and we need to do something about it. Isn’t that better than just letting the Chinese laundering dirty money in our real estate?
I know for a fact some naval ships are built using Chinese steel despite the fact we have “made in the US” laws regulating materials put in critical systems for the military. Our Govt’s desire for “cheaper” more “efficient” acquisition programs and hand chosen contractors has led to this.
I wonder how much of this interest homeowners pay on home loans ends up as campaign contributions?
Golden, CO Housing Prices Tank 4% YoY As Speculators Race To Dump Properties
http://www.zillow.com/golden-co/home-values/
“Another video of people behaving badly on the 16th Street Mall led Denver Mayor Michael Hancock to blame marijuana for an increase in “urban travelers” and to renew his message that assaults and other violent behavior will not be tolerated.
“This is one of the results of the legalization of marijuana in Denver, and we’re going to have to deal with it,” Hancock said.
The latest incident involved a man swinging a large pipe at pedestrians near the McDonald’s at the intersection of Cleveland Place and the 16th Street Mall. A video of the wild behavior was posted online and received hundreds of thousands of views.
On Thursday, police identified the man arrested in connection with the attack as 32-year-old Clarence Seeley of Indiana. He was being held for investigation of aggravated assault.”
http://www.denverpost.com/2016/06/30/16th-street-mall-video-attack/
I’ll never understand why people think living in or near downtown is so great. Even before mj was legalized the place was crawling with bums.
Other than my local King Soopers parking lot and its adjacent bus stop, my neighborhood in South Denver doesn’t have many problems like this. And my rent is less than half of what I’d pay downtown.
Not only little issues like that, but you pay 3Xs for the privilege of the pleasure of walking 2-3 blocks with a handful of groceries and trekking them to your 5th floor apartment/condo once a week. That and car horns.
It was like that when I lived there 20 years ago.
Since when does weed make you want to swing a pvc pipe at people and rant/rave on a street corner? It made me want to eat a bag of funyuns and watch documentaries on netflix…I think the dude would test positive for bath salts, not maryjane
Question: every once and a while I take a look at the ’sold’ homes in Palm Beach County, Florida on
Realtor.com Lately on a daily basis I am seeing about 8 homes ’sold’. This is out of a total listed homes and condos of over 20,000. To me this seems like a very small number of homes that are being sold if we are supposed to be in ‘bubble’ territory.
I am always hearing that there are ‘jump bids’ and that property is being snatched out of the hands of potential by several buyers with higher bids.
Are these numbers ‘normal’ for other areas of the country? What am I missing?
‘if we are supposed to be in ‘bubble’ territory’
You could say the same thing about ’supposed to be a hot, hot, HOT market!’
Ben: I’m not sure what that means? And I’m not trying to be a ‘wise ass’. I’m simply trying to figure out what those numbers mean and where we are at in ‘bubble’ terms in Palm Beach County.
I don’t follow Palm Beach much because the local paper went subscription a long time ago. I do read headlines saying “it’s on fire!”
I also don’t know what the methodology for realtor.com is. I get some automated MLS listings from around Arizona and one thing I’ve noticed is a bunch of de-listing and re-listing.
Not every gets on the same page at the same time. Yesterday I was reading an Australian report that said a SFH had resold for a $300k profit in 18 months while condo prices had plunged - in the same city.
The Sun-Sentinel website is still free.
Yeah, I get 5 free views a month from them. So if I look at the article, then go back and post on it, that’s two views. So I have to ration. Palm Beach Post isn’t free, except for their blog.
Well if pension funds and 401k returns are drying up, would you expect West Palm Beach homes to be selling? Sure folks might get a decent deal on a WPB condo for $100,000, but those HoA fees are always a variable, along with ever rising utility bills. Lets be real, not too many times will folks open there windows for a cool FL breeze to justify no A/C. Maybe in December? Either way, not ideal for fixed income pensioners…but thats just me. Oh and I hate the beach
Just use Chrome and view the articles in Incognito Tabs. They can’t track your page views that way.
“The sickest people living on San Francisco’s streets are not only the most noticeable, but the most vulnerable and hardest to reach. Public health experts believe roughly a third — and maybe many more — of all homeless people in San Francisco are mentally ill, many of them battling severe conditions like schizophrenia, post-traumatic stress and bipolar disorder.
So intertwined are homelessness and mental health that it is impossible to resolve one without addressing the other. But on this fundamental issue, San Francisco is struggling at every level, unable to keep the most needy people from cycling between the street, emergency rooms, shelters and jail cells, at great expense and often without real progress.
“We have to look at this as a public health crisis,” said Jacob Kaminker, president of the San Francisco Psychological Association, who has worked with homeless people throughout the Bay Area. “At some point we have to ask: Are we going to offer better services to these people? Or are we going to spend that money on law enforcement and prison and emergency room bills? Are we just going to leave these people untreated?”
http://projects.sfchronicle.com/sf-homeless/mental-health/
The crazy ones always seem to want to have a conversation with me when I’m down there. They gibber at me, I gibber back, and they wander off happy that somebody paid attention to them.
I can’t tell a schizophrenic from a crackhead though, so not sure how many are genuine mentally ill.
As one of the HBB’s resident progressives, you share a special affinity with schitzos, crackheads, and loons of every persuasion.
Progressive is defined as “calls me on my illogical bullshit and hurts my feelings” in your dictionary.
No, progressive as “internalizes DNC talking points and regurgitates them faithfully, ignoring their blatant contradictions and detachment from objective reality” while not appreciating the good shepherd Raymond’s attempts to free him from mindless dogma.
Thomas Szasz “The Myth of Mental Illness”
Haight-Ashbury in the late 1990s was the one place I’ve visited where people justified their panhandling by giving a bluntly hedonistic reason: “will you give me some money so I can go get drunk?”
I cant count the homeless having arguments with themselves or a street pole in SF. Its wild. If they arent doing that they are yelling at passerbys. Once I was heading into a restuarant, this hobo was passed out by a trashcan, he just started screaming at me “it not what you want, its what I want!!!!” another time a homeless guy asked for money for a burger, I politely declined, he just said “F#ck you man, piece of $h!T!”….SF has the most hostile homeless I’ve ever experienced out of NYC, Boston, and Portland.
entitled! It pisses them off when u tell them to get a job.
OT
turbotax- I’m self employed and always seem to generate a small error leading to a penalty
anyone else?
tia
You forgot to enclose a tip.
Fed I turn out ok.. State of California I always seem to get some kind of penalty - $15-25 bucks or something that seems to increase slightly every year.
When Turbotax asks me if I want to pay the penalty or let the state bill me, I opt to let them bill me. May as well make them work for it.
even gov christie can double speak largest tax cut with largest tax hike
New Jersey may hike gas tax by 23 cents a gallon
http://money.cnn.com/2016/06/30/pf/taxes/new-jersey-gas-tax/index.html
Donald’s stoogeboy raising taxes? What doth this portend?
Gotta keep the gas pumpers employed. I hate getting gas in NJ. Such a hassle, oh and a majority of the stations advertise the cash price, so when you get to the pump its $0.10-0.20 higher with credit card.
Our national descent into banana republic is complete.
http://www.businessinsider.com/attorney-general-meeting-with-bill-clinton-2016-7
A Comrade of Proven Worth, Debbie Wasserman-Schltz, is served with a class-action lawsuit by Sanders sheep who evidently are too delusional to recognize that their Oligopoly betters are literally above the law.
http://observer.com/2016/06/debbie-wasserman-schultz-served-class-action-lawsuit-for-rigging-primaries/
Trump should chose Sanders as VP and beat the system.
Trump-Clinton, or is it Clinton-Trump?
Astonishing - a judiciary that actually upholds the law.
http://www.breitbart.com/london/2016/07/01/presidential-vote-annulled-anti-mass-migration-candidate-gets-second-chance-postal-vote-fraud/
David Bowie and the Spiders from Mars perform “Width Of A Circle” at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium 1972, their first show in Los Angeles, after making their USA debut in Cleveland, obviously:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtUP5A1l0fQ
“Stupid is the new normal”
Raymond K Hessel
Hawthorne, CA Housing Prices Crater 6% YoY As Vacancy Rates Surge
http://www.zillow.com/hawthorne-ca/home-values/
I like to overpay for houses to help debt donkeys stay in their homes and get principal reductions.
Rock me on the water
The wind is with me now
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAXl4kYZyoA - 203k -
crushing.housing.losses.
Oh joy.
This private equity giant wants to give landlords millions — here’s how
Diana Olick
Thursday, 30 Jun 2016 | 11:17 AM ET
http://www.cnbc.com/2016/06/30/this-private-equity-giant-wants-to-give-landlords-millions–heres-how.html
I love it; I admire their chutzpah.
The Carbdashians
The picture below, the girl in the clear vinyl skirt, well…
crater