If You Were Underfunded You’d Want To Roll The Dice
A report from the Tennessean. “Nashville’s public pension system invested city workers’ retirement funds in the nation’s largest share of risky, high-priced investments among its peers. The city has placed 57 percent of its $2.8 billion fund into alternative investments, including real estate. Among its peers, Nashville had the highest share in fiscal year 2015, according a Tennessean analysis of National Association of State Retirement Administrators data for funds with $1 billion to $5 billion in assets. The national average among all public funds, by contrast, is 17 percent.”
“Only the Dallas Police and Fire Pension System had a higher share of alternative investments in fiscal 2014. Today, the Dallas system is staving off insolvency, retirees are concerned they won’t be paid, and fund managers are dumping alternative assets. Dallas managers bet heavily on real estate, in particular. They bought undeveloped land in the Arizona desert and luxury resort housing in Hawaii, said Keith Brainard, the research director for the National Association of State Retirement Administrators, tying up about 35 percent of its portfolio with real estate. Nashville has allocated about 8 percent to real estate.”
“In Dallas, managers overstated the value of the properties, and, once the actual value was revealed, the pension was precariously underfunded. Alternative investments aren’t typically traded on open markets like stocks and bonds, with values that can be easily tracked. One of the reasons public officials might chose alternative investments is because a pension system is underfunded. But Nashville is 92 percent funded, higher than the vast majority of the nation’s pension systems. ‘You think that if you were underfunded you’d want to roll the dice,’ said Charles Jeszeck, director of education, workforce and income security issues from the U.S. Government Accountability Office.”
From Finance & Commerce in Minnesota. “The stock of affordable apartments in the Twin Cities region is shrinking as investors turn around older properties and hike rents, according to a new Minnesota Housing Partnership report. Apartment sales in the seven-county metro increased 165 percent between 2010 and 2015, according to the report. Many units – often in Class B or Class C buildings – are being refurbished, rebranded and leased for more than the average renter can afford. The average purchase price per unit in those sales increased 56 percent from $56,088 in 2010 to nearly $88,000 per unit in 2015.”
“The Twin Cities area has seen a sharp increase in residential construction in recent years. The Metropolitan Council in 2014 tallied more than 11,000 units built that year, but just 759 of those or 7 percent were affordable. The trend also comes as more people making more than $50,000 annually are opting to rent and they’re looking for amenity-rich units. Even so, the average metro area renter makes a little more than $36,000 a year, according to a recent report by the National Low Income Housing Coalition.”
The Chicago Tribune in Illinois. “Rents in the Chicago Loop have begun to fall, suggesting relief may be at hand as a record number of new apartments continue to come on the market. Meanwhile, a building spree of luxury apartment high-rises continues. This year and in 2017 a record number of new apartment units will enter the Chicago downtown market, according to Ron DeVries of Appraisal Research Counselors.”
“‘We’re in the stage where you might see some softening,’ said DeVries. This year there will be 4,000 new apartments downtown, and next year a record 5,000, he said. Already apartment managers are offering concessions, sometimes waiving move-in fees or offering a month or two of free rent, he said.”
The Columbus Dispatch in Ohio. “In a rare sign that the Columbus rental market may be cooling, a study released today showed rent for a one-bedroom Columbus apartment dropping this fall. The report suggests for the first time that the rocketing Columbus apartment market may be returning to earth. ABODO spokesman Sam Radbil said the construction of new apartments over the past few years in Columbus is finally starting to soften rent increases. ‘We anticipate that the rent price boom might begin to slow in large cities like Columbus, because of the large increase in multifamily construction,’ he said.”
From Bloomberg on New York. “Manhattan apartment rents fell last month as landlords’ pricing power was hurt by a wave of new listings and tenants who shopped around for better deals. A surge of construction is adding thousands of new apartments in Manhattan, slowing momentum for landlords, who had pushed up rents as much as 20 percent since the end of the recession in June 2009. Price-weary renters now have the power to push back and search for more attractive leases, and landlords are working harder to offer them.”
“The inventory of available listings at the end of September climbed 35 percent from a year earlier to 7,392, Miller Samuel and Douglas Elliman said. It was the biggest increase for the month since the firms began tracking the measure in 2009. The boroughwide vacancy rate rose to 1.8 percent, the highest for any September since 2009, Citi Habitats said. Concessions were included in 28 percent of new leases the firm brokered last month. ‘Many building owners have to rely on incentives to give tenants the sense of ‘value’ they seek,’ Gary Malin, president of Citi Habitats, said in the report. ‘Savvy owners will do what it takes to move their available inventory as fall progresses.’”
From Silicon Beat in California. “For the second month in a row, rents have fallen in San Jose and San Francisco. Mind you, renting still costs a fortune, but any hint of a downward trend in the Bay Area rental market is news. According to new data from Abodo, the apartment search web site, rents dropped 7 percent between September and October in San Jose — from $2,455 to $2,293 for a one-bedroom apartment. Percentage-wise, that was the fifth largest drop in the nation.”
“During the same period, San Francisco rents fell 6 percent for one-bedroom flats, from $3,698 to $3,483. That decline was the sixth largest among the nation’s markets.”
‘To the editor: I am flabbergasted to read that “more than 10,000 residential units are under construction, with thousands more planned” in downtown Los Angeles. Based on a recent article in The Times, there are promotions to rent luxury apartments already built downtown because they cannot be rented. (“Developer plans Pershing Square condo tower with balcony lap pools,” Oct. 7)’
‘Let’s not forget there are people leaving our city because of the cost of living. Let’s not forget there are more than 47,000 homeless people in L.A. County, a number that is growing because of the lack of affordable housing. Least of all, let’s not overlook all the promises of Mayor Eric Garcetti to provide more housing for these people.’
‘An additional 10,000-plus lavish apartments is the last thing this city needs.’
Falling rents and falling housing prices. . . All very positive developments for the economy.
Remember…. Nothing accelerates the economy and creates jobs like falling prices to dramatically lower and more affordable levels. Nothing.
Unless your pension is invested in these air boxes:
‘rents dropped 7 percent between September and October in San Jose — from $2,455 to $2,293 for a one-bedroom apartment. Percentage-wise, that was the fifth largest drop in the nation.’
‘During the same period, San Francisco rents fell 6 percent for one-bedroom flats’
Rents have been falling out there for months now. Any of you CA real estate wunderkinds want to guess at what point they start losing money?
they r in the hole already probably. they overpaid for sh@t shacks and now they will go upside down and start pulling from cash reserves.
They are riding a crazy high down there.
My pint tonight out was 6.50. I could have stayed home and drank a lot of natty lite.
These rent cuts don’t include incentives. They are probably down around 14% counting those, like Denver.
‘rents dropped 7 percent between September and October in San Jose — from $2,455 to $2,293 for a one-bedroom apartment. Percentage-wise, that was the fifth largest drop in the nation.’
‘During the same period, San Francisco rents fell 6 percent for one-bedroom flats’
This is great news, but it makes me wonder: What continues to hold San Diego rents aloft, given that our neighbors to the north are seeing affordability improvements?
We have good weather in San Diego, so the laws of supply and demand don’t apply.
‘Muricans are falling further into debt and are missing more payments. But given our roaring economic recovery, I’m sure that’s just a temporary blip.
http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/drowning-in-debt-35-percent-of-all-americans-have-debt-that-is-at-least-180-days-past-due
I will call some BS on this 35% stat.
I know many people dealing with corrupt businesses that were charged for services never agreed to or not completed per contract.
They refuse to pay and the business eventually sells thier bogus “debt” to a collection agency.
Then it is a standoff and a waiting game.
How obama and ZIRP destroyed pensions in America. Taking massive risks looking for yield.
Public union goons, of course, won’t see it that way and will demand a bailout.
It is for the children.
——-
“Only the Dallas Police and Fire Pension System had a higher share of alternative investments in fiscal 2014. Today, the Dallas system is staving off insolvency, retirees are concerned they won’t be paid, and fund managers are dumping alternative assets. Dallas managers bet heavily on real estate, in particular. They bought undeveloped land in the Arizona desert and luxury resort housing in Hawaii, said Keith Brainard, the research director for the National Association of State Retirement Administrators, tying up about 35 percent of its portfolio with real estate.”
“Dallas managers bet heavily on real estate, in particular. They bought undeveloped land in the Arizona desert and luxury resort housing in Hawaii, said Keith Brainard, the research director for the National Association of State Retirement Administrators, tying up about 35 percent of its portfolio with real estate.”
Genius! How’s that land in the Az desert working out for them?
Most of Arizona is a desert. I’d like to know where this was.
“I’d like to know where this was.”
They’d probably like to know, too.
most likely maricopa county somewhere.
I wonder if the tribes can split off land and sell it? The natives own a sh@tload of prime land in the az valley.
Hah! Not that it probably matters much. Desert land tends to be worthless no matter where it is situated.
The land of ZIRP?
It is right next to the county of too big to fail or jail.
From what I recall reading about this fiasco, the investment advisors shared a building with the pension mgmnt, some nepotism, etc. The pension mngr had to resign, he should be in jail. A real sh!t show for sure.
I think the fund just asked the city for $36M.
“In the third quarter of this year, the average rent in the Loop declined 1.2 percent to $2,176, according to apartment tracker MPF Research. And for the year, Loop rents fell 1.8 percent. That decline was in contrast to the full Chicago metropolitan area, where rents rose 2.2 percent to an average of $1,372 over the last 12 months, said MPF.”
http://chicago.suntimes.com/news/13-shot-5-fatally-in-first-3-hours-of-weekend/
“Police: 7 killed, 14 wounded in Chicago weekend shootings”
Jeebus, and we’re just barely into Saturday night. Y’know, when you depopulate an area, that means less demand for housing. Just sayin’.
Who in their right mind is going to sign for a 30-year mortgage in a Democrat-maladministered city sinking inexorably into dystopia?
Special snowflake true believers?
Heh, one thing I’ve learned from this election cycle is how truly vicious the City of Chicago is. I’ll never forget those mobs and circling helicopters and that weirdo Bill Ayres grinning like a death’s head. I guess it’s always been this way, though. Al Capone and all that.
This is not good news for Florida. You can’t survive here without AC, unless you’re fully acclimated and have a very specific kind of house in a certain area. And even then…
http://time.com/4532377/climate-change-kigali-agreement-air-conditioners/
And just for the record, John Kerry is a true, murderous, horse’s arseface.
John Kerry walks into a bar. Bartender says, “Why the long face?”
Good one.
Remember when we had presidents who followed the constitution and submitted treaties to the Senate for ratification?
Now we have “agreements” which are like Executive Orders but for dealing with other countries.
“Remember when we had presidents who followed the constitution and submitted treaties to the Senate for ratification?”
Gee, when was that? Help me out here, my memory is a little fuzzy.
The rule of law has been busted out, thanks to dirty cop Comey and the Clinton-Bush-Obama axis of evil.
We don’t have a functioning government, really. One thing I learned from the Podesta Files is that Obama intimidated Roberts into ruling for the ACA.
I just dropped $10k last month on a new variable speed heat-pump and air-handler with the newer R-410A refrigerant. Few parts and no new heat pumps using R-22. No choice in the Columbia Basin with the miserable summer heat.
How long does that heat last? Here in Fla, it’s from May through October at least.
“How long does that heat last?”
Mainly from July through mid September. Usually a dry heat, mostly clear skies, few trees out here… like being broiled, not “wet-bulb” cooked. However, we’ll be snowy cold here in a few weeks now. Too hot or too cold!
Our old R-22 system did its job, but it had a bad expansion valve, which caused the system to repeatedly freeze solid, which causes damage to reed valves in the compressor. The R-22 refrigerant is very expensive to buy now, $45 plus, and my system needs 7-lbs. I was faced with tossing lots of money at an old system, or just buy new, and the R-410A upgrade meant a full system replacement. Yeah, it sucks, but that’s home ownership.
I will add that I bought a high-end variable system with humidity control. It’s awesome… no more waking up with a dry mouth and throat. We always kept water bottles next to the bed… never drink from them now. The old system was on 100% or off whereas the new variable-speed system looks at the dew point, humidity, and has a WiFi thermostat for weather data. They’re complex though, so I bought a 10-yr labor and parts warranty too; skilled labor trouble-shooting can get really expensive.
In California we opened our windows each morning for 90-minutes, 10-months a year. Only used heat for 2 or 3-months in the winter. No HVAC required.
At least you don’t need bars on those opened windows where you’re at now. Have you seen CA crime statistics lately?
I just looked up the Columbia Basin. That’s a huge area. Does all of it have nasty heat in the summer? Or just certain parts?
It’s the entire region… too hot or too cold. Extremes.
And wind swept too!
Thanks for the info, rms. I’m not too familiar with that part of the country. Also like the info on air conditioner. I don’t have to worry about that right now, but my landlord might.
we have full employment people! LMFAO
Hope n’ change, Bitchez….
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-10-15/obamacare-gives-middle-class-choice-buy-house-or-get-health-insurance
“I will sign a universal health care bill into law by the end of my first term as … and cut the cost of a typical family’s premium by up to $2500 a year.”
– obama 2012
And the sheeple bleated their approval.
‘In a rare sign that the Columbus rental market may be cooling, a study released today showed rent for a one-bedroom Columbus apartment dropping this fall. The report suggests for the first time that the rocketing Columbus apartment market may be returning to earth’
Rocketing. In Columbus Ohio.
Hard to believe.
What IS it with these Cyber War cries? First of all, it’s stoopit, no one is EVER gonna win a cyber war against Russia. Seriously, Russia’s got that one knocked.
And if they try, the Silly Valley boyz are gonna be in a world of hurt. What’s Jazzy Jeff gonna do when Amazon goes down and no one can buy his Chinese widgets and toilet paper on line? What’s gonna happen when the airlines get all their electronic communications knocked out? When no one can log on to Twatter and Faceplant? Wait, lemme google that for you…what, where’s google?
Seriously, these folks are snortin’ their shorts.
Cyber war against Russia, you gotta be kidding me.
What could possibly go wrong?
LOLZ! Everything I’ve outlined above and more. It would be miserable, but almost worth it to see Obama’s “legacy” in flaming tatters.
I’d miss the blog, though.
This is so wacked. And they trotted out Biden today, claiming that it was justified because they are messing with our election (which hasn’t even happened yet).
Yet having millions of illegals registered to vote, not to mention the usual dead people voting, garners not a single mention . . .
“Messing with our election” translates into exposing the collusion between the media, the DNC, and Camp Clinton, and exposing what the Clintonistas really think of the rubes. In other words, the truth the captured MSM will never reveal.
Delivering a toast on the twentieth anniversary of the Bolshevik seizure of power, Stalin declared: “We will destroy each and every enemy, even if he was an old Bolshevik; we will destroy all his kin, his family. We will mercilessly destroy anyone who, by his deeds or his thoughts—yes, his thoughts!—threatens the unity of the socialist state. To the complete destruction of all enemies, themselves and their kin!” Even when the tsars imprisoned or executed revolutionaries, they never thought of arresting their spouses, children, grandparents, and cousins as well. And note Stalin’s insistence that not just wrong actions but improper thoughts merit “destruction.” Georgy Arbatov, adviser to five general secretaries of the Soviet Communist Party, observed that “the main code of behavior” was “to be afraid of your own thoughts.”
Sounds like the democrat platform.
All collectivist regimes must ultimately rely on force, coersion, and terror to forcibly extract the wealth of producers and to suppress Thought Crimes that could lead to dissent and resistance.
“They bought undeveloped land in the Arizona desert and luxury resort housing in Hawaii, said Keith Brainard, the research director for the National Association of State Retirement Administrators, tying up about 35 percent of its portfolio with real estate.”
I don’t know much about the market value of undeveloped land in the Arizona desert, except that it sounds sketch.
Having recently visited the Big Island of Hawaii, I can say that real estate investing there is not exactly a sure road to riches. We saw entire subdivisions constructed on the flanks of active volcanoes (e.g. Mauna Loa). I suppose the prospect of a future lava flow running through your living room isn’t all that great for sales, as at least one huge development on the seaward side of Mauna Loa was finished decades ago but remains largely unoccupied. In a nearby area, we walked around on a lava flow that wiped out an entire community that existed in the area pre-1990.
One of the stories I read was that some Japanese developers bought land in Kohala (the northwest corner of the island) three decades ago to build a golf course development, based on an aerial survey (i.e. they never even explored the area they planned to develop on the ground). Three decades later, the project remains on indefinite hold.
welcome to perpetual serfdom.
The Dallas fire and police pension mngr had the foresight to lock up lots of real estate investments in the 2005 to 2007 period. I think his strategy was buy high, sell low.
ah, I love the smell of another Wikileaks Podesta Files dump, on a lovely Sunday morning:
https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/787625546461175808
In this one we learn, yet again, that Doug Band of the “global” consulting firm Teneo, formerly personal assistant and counselor to Slick Willy, creator of the Clinton Global Initiative (raping countries everywhere) and bigwig at the Clinton Foundation, doesn’t much care for Chelsea Clinton:
https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/emailid/11472
Hey, Dougie Boy, lemme tellya something: Chelsea Clinton passed on a compliment and that’s what decent people do. Nasty creeps like yourself don’t do that. And as far as stabbing people in the back, who is doing the stabbing, Dougie? Who’s doing the stabbing?
But, I’m curious, Dougie, which tree are you saying the apple doesn’t fall far from? Bill or Hillary? I’m guessing Hillary.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doug_Band
But, I’m curious, Dougie, which tree are you saying the apple doesn’t fall far from? Bill or Hillary? I’m guessing Hillary.
Webb Hubble.
NY Post: Leaked E-mails Reveal Clinton’s Life of Deceipt.
http://nypost.com/2016/10/15/the-hillary-emails-reveal-a-life-full-of-deceit/
Well, this guy’s career is over. It’s not so much what he said about Chelsea, but that future clients are going to consider that he’s a bit indiscreet and something of a snake in the grass. Even if he gets a job in gubbermint again, people won’t trust him and the long knives will be out.
On the contrary, this is exactly the sort of shape-shifting lizard and amoral, scheming sociopath destined to rise to the top echelons of the next Clinton Administration.
I would say that’s true, except for one thing: He’s dissed Chelsea more than once. He would never be in the regime because of that.
Secondly, I’ve always felt that Hillary Clinton will never, ever be president of the US for whatever reason. Like many people, I have, from time to time, attempted to peer into the future and somehow I’ve never even been able to envision a scenario where she is president. That doesn’t necessarily mean I think Trump would end up as president, although that is something I actually can envision.
I’m not a soothsayer, but this is something everyone does to some degree, try to envision the future, whether they realize it or not. Frankly, what I do see, is a vacant spot, an empty WH. Not sure why.
Podesta is disappointed that the shooter wasn’t a white guy. Confirmation of “the narrative”.
https://www.wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/emailid/11500
“Better if a guy named Sayeed Farouk was reporting that a guy named Christopher Hayes was the shooter.”
All this rate hike jibberish has got me thinking of the boy who cried wolf too many times.
like bernkae said, 90% of monetary policy is talk.
Got to keep the dollar levitating.
Yellen knows that if she raises rates by even .25%, she’ll crush the Fed’s asset bubbles and Ponzi markets. End of story. She won’t raise rates unless the bond market forces her hand.
Anyone who calls out the role of the banksters in subverting American democracy is going to be called an anti-Semite.
http://wallstreetonparade.com/2016/10/new-york-times-writer-suggests-donald-trump-is-an-anti-semite-for-his-reference-to-banking-conspiracy/
exactly my thoughts.
Take the money! Who cares if it comes from foreign registered agents?
https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/emailid/11915
These people are really, really sickening.
The Saudis wanted a pipeline through Syria. Assad said no. Time for regime change again! It wasn’t enuf to stage 9/11 as a pretext to take out Saddam Hussein. Not enough to have an Arab Spring and mess up
Egypt. Not enough to take out Quaddafi.
Right there in that wikileaks is the reason why the conflict in Syria. Because when the Saudis contribute money and say “jump”, their Washington minions like the Bushes and the Clintons say “How High?”
Oh, btw, dooya have children, relatives in the armed forces? Are you yourself in the armed forces? This is what you’re fighting for. There’s just no other way to put it, unfortunately.
Sunday funnies from TBP. Enjoy!
http://www.theburningplatform.com/2016/10/16/sunday-funnies-134/
BWAHAHAHAHA! CNN telling viewers it’s illegal to possess “these stolen documents”, but it’s different for the media. So it’s OK for the viewers to learn about it from CNN. Seriously, you can’t make this stuff up.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DcATG9Qy_A
something for the false prophets of housing to be proud of. Such failure. Utter market economy failure.
‘Obamacare Gives Middle Class A Choice: Buy A House Or Get Health Insurance’
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-10-15/obamacare-gives-middle-class-choice-buy-house-or-get-health-insurance
Drowning In Debt: 35% Of Americans Have Debt That Is At Least 180 Days Past Due
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-10-15/drowning-debt-35-americans-have-debt-least-180-days-past-due
Where did the money go? They paid massively inflated prices for depreciating assets like houses and borrowed to do so.
Groundhog Day.
Obama, he who promised the Most Transparent Administration in History, wants to “curate” alternative media that speaks truth to power and refuses to purvey The Narrative. The mask slips a little more each day from these collectivists - yet they wonder why the bitter clingers fight so tenaciously for their Second Amendment rights, the ultimate check on tyranny.
http://www.fitsnews.com/2016/10/14/barack-obama-wants-to-curate-your-news-feed/
More cracks appearing in the housing bubble.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2016/10/14/mortgage-lending-and-business-borrowing-fall-as-britons-delay-bi/
While Crooked Hillary rakes in donations from the likes of Goldman Sachs and Saudi Arabia, Trump is getting record donations from ordinary Americans. This certainly doesn’t fit The Narrative….
http://www.lifezette.com/polizette/trump-sets-gop-record-individual-donors/
While Bernie Sanders was always the controlled opposition, Jill Stein just MIGHT be the genuine article.
http://www.breitbart.com/2016-presidential-race/2016/10/13/green-partys-jill-stein-tells-progressives-dont-waste-vote-corporate-democrats-who-betray-you/
Dabiq in Syria falls not with a bang, but with a whimper, Koranic prophecies notwithstanding. Sorry, folks, no apocalyptic end-time battles this weekend after all. Back to your regularly scheduled viewing….
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/isis-dabiq-loses-apocalyptic-prophesy-town-of-dabiq-to-syria-rebels-short-battle-a7363931.html
If you are fed up with open borders and millions of Democrat-on-Arrival entitlement voters flooding in from south of the border or as embittered refugees from neocon wars, you are “fundamentally un-American” to Hillary and her globalist-bankster masters. Into the Basket of Deplorables you go!
http://www.breitbart.com/2016-presidential-race/2016/10/15/wikileaks-reveals-hillary-clinton-to-goldman-sachs-americans-who-want-to-limit-immigration-are-fundamentally-unamerican/
Hillary and her pimp-in-chief, Lloyd Blankfein of Goldman Sachs, talk about scrapping the current political system in order to install a more easily subverted and pliant plutocracy. Forward!
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/10/15/goldman-sachs-ceo-asks-hillary-clinton-should-we-throw-away-the-american-political-system-and-start-over/