From HousingWire:
Looking for a 30% profit? Flip a house
Despite the percentage of flipped homes shrinking to 3.7% of the total homes sold, the profits from flipping a house are up to 30%. The share of flipped house sales was down from 4.1% in the fourth quarter of 2013 and down from 6.5% in the first quarter of 2013.
While the share of flipped homes is shrinking, the average sales price of single-family homes flipped in the first quarter was $55,574 higher than the average original purchase price. That’s up from a year ago when the average gross profit per flip was $51,805, according to the Q1 2014 U.S. Home Flipping Report from RealtyTrac.
That gross profit provided flippers with an unadjusted ROI of 30% of the average original purchase price. The average gross profit per flip a year ago was an unadjusted ROI of 28%.
…
Slowing home price appreciation early this year in many of the most popular flipping markets put some investors in danger of flying too close to the sun,” said Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac.“But investors appear to have recalibrated their flipping strategy, accounting for the slower home price appreciation even if that means fewer flips. This is another good sign that this housing recovery is behaving much more rationally than the last housing boom, which was built largely on unfounded speculation rather than fact-based calculations.”
The average time to complete a flip rose to 101 days, up fro an average of 92 days in the previous quarter and up from an average of 79 days for flips completed in the first quarter of 2013.
The major cities that had the highest share of flips in the first quarter were New York (10.2%), Jacksonville, Fla., (10.0%), San Diego (7.1%), Las Vegas (6.7%) and Miami (5.9%).
The cities that provided the highest average gross ROI percentage were Pittsburgh (89%), Philadelphia (56%), Memphis (51%), Detroit (48%), and Seattle (48%).
…
Other major metros with year-over-year decreases in flipping as a share of all sales included New York (down 37%), Phoenix (down 39%), Riverside-San Bernardino (down 22%), Atlanta (down 57%), Chicago (down 29%) and Las Vegas (down 9%).The cities that recorded the most total flips in the first quarter were New York (1,791), Phoenix (894), Los Angeles (828), Miami (749), and Riverside-San Bernardino (627).
Is everyone keeping dry? The lake in our back yard is back, but the tripled pumping capacity of my French drain seems to be keeping up with it.
Sump pump was coming on about every 4 or 5 minutes late last night, seems to have slowed at this point.
Just gotta love the mayor of Toronto.
Rumor has it that Sterling is going to hire Ford to run the Clippers. Magic Johnson too busy pounding Stiviano to be reached for comment.
How mind boggling is this “tenure” system? You can burn down a school by smoking inside which probably violates several laws, lie about it to your superiors, and then when you’re busted, rather than being dismissed, you go to a suspended status(not sure if it’s paid), and then the school has to spend another big pile of money to get rid of you.
Just staggering, it should be abolished completely.
http://www.nj.com/middlesex/index.ssf/2014/04/edison_james_monroe_elementary_fire_jerome_higgins_tenure_charges_filed.html#incart_m-rpt-1
4 – It’s required to keep talented individuals on staff, because otherwise they would take fat cat jobs in the private sector. God knows that Higgins would have received a massive bonus and promotion for burning down his place of employment.
#5 I like the justification that it’s needed to keep nepotism, favortism, etc. out of hiring and promotions.
Give me a f-ing break, it’s to keep deadwood and malcontents on the payroll which ensures the need to hire even more.
@njdotcom: Good morning, New Jersey. There’s lots of flooding across the state this morning. How are things where you are? #njweather
And let me know where that guy could possibly get private sector employment at the $70k a year he gets now.
Schools in the Chadds Ford school district closed due to flooding. The Brandywine Creek is now the Brandywine Ocean, and closed part of Route 1 last night. Most area state highways also have partial closures. If George Washington had this kind of weather, Cornwallis never would have made it to my neighborhood.
The Deplumes are dry but I am sure plenty of folks aren’t. Got a new gully running along the edge of my front yard. Hope the lawn guys are paying attention or they’ll ground a ZTR.
@NWSMARFC: Major flooding in NJ, DE and southeast PA. Moderate flooding in MD. Your river forecast is at http://t.co/Ti3MsaukNt @NWS
Thank god the twitter chimp is here to tell us about the weather conditions somewhere else.
Tenure protects those that don’t do their job and senior staff. That’s it. Just about every teacher who does their job well is against tenure and can’t stand it.
Lincoln tunnel is backed up to route 3/46 intersection. Thats got to be 3 hours min.
am trying to be nice but you have to be an asswipe. here, let’s talk about your hero then
@BillMoyersHQ: Is Cliven Bundy merely a racist crackpot or an avatar of modern conservatism?
Answer: Both http://t.co/cILi5R5VpA writes @IanHaneyLopez
The creek next to my land is high, but no threat whatsoever. Raritan river at Manville and Bound Brook flood yet again.
Flooding won’t peak in many areas until later this evening through Saturday. Was surprised that the Pompton Lakes Dam floodgates were open on Sunday, but not yesterday. Suspect they may have drained early (although their “studies” indicate this should have no effect on Passaic River flooding). As of this morning, Passaic River in Fairfield doesn’t look like an issue.
Why can’t an idiot like anon drown in one of these big storms?
Hadn’t received a death wish from you like in 6 months. Was beginning to feel ignored
[17] Clot,
I wasn’t going to feed the troll but since you already did.
There is a very small handful of people in this world who almost make me wish for a SHTF/WROL scenario. anon is one of them.
[11] nwnj
Oh, come on, not fair. That’s the only truly useful thing he’s posted in a week.
“The Fed’s QE efforts were – if one is to believe the words spewed from their ever-lying mouths – designed to aid the man on the street, to lower interest rates, and enable another refinancing-led housing boom/bubble which would maintain the status quo and confirm the ‘happily-ever-after’ dream of every taxpaying (and non-taxpaying American). Today’s data from the Mortgage Banker’s Association confirms – QE’s work is done and the refi boom is over. A 7% plunge on the week has pushed the refinancing activity index to its lowest levels since September 2008 – just before Lehman.”
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-04-30/refi-boom-dead-applications-drop-lowest-lehman
Game over.
[10] anon
That was actually useful. Thank you.
Now go crawl back under your rock.
Which orefice though?
grim says:
May 1, 2014 at 8:00 am
Magic Johnson too busy pounding Stiviano to be reached for comment.
fukc.
“There appears to be a bit of a SNAFU on this morning’s PATH train. Due to “an earlier medical emergency,” there have been delays of a half hour or more for trains connecting Newark and Hoboken to the WTC station. Occurring as they are in the dark, brutal heart of the morning rush hour, the delays are causing severe overcrowding on train platforms as commuters wait to board. There are also ominous reports of “no air”:
plume (19)-
Imagine anon’s iPhone getting fused to his forehead by a blast from a flamethrower.
These are the things that inspire me to carry on.
Dude….you posted at 12:07AM …..it was the beginning of the day…..ignorant!
Ascent of the Robots says:
May 1, 2014 at 12:07 am
It is the end of days.
[21] Clot
FWIW, that was the massive reset that was supposed to happen. IMHO, history will show that the private sector, by refinancing hundreds of thousands of mortgages, will have done more to alleviate the crisis than any gov. program.
It would have been more effective had the Feds shown regulatory flexibility for all the underwater RE on the bank’s books. But just as with FIRREA, they went the opposite direction with predictable results.
[25] clot,
You are always more proactive than I am . I am content to let the End of Days result in the wandering packs, looking to redistribute the stores of the prudent. Then I will find his pack and share some of my stockpile with him.
[10] anon
Damn, we came close to setting a new flood record!
don’t worry clot, I’ll stick around to give meaning to your life
How would anyone have been able to refi without the Federal Reserve? In my opinion, the massive reset was supposed to be bankruptcies and write-off’s as far as the eye could see…. soem prison sentences woudl have been a welcome add-on as well.
27.Comrade Nom Deplume, Guardian of the Realm says:
May 1, 2014 at 9:16 am
[21] Clot
FWIW, that was the massive reset that was supposed to happen. IMHO, history will show that the private sector, by refinancing hundreds of thousands of mortgages, will have done more to alleviate the crisis than any gov. program.
There are two takeaway’s from the Bundy Ranch situation.
1. Cliven Bundy is a welfare rancher and an ignorant racist
2. Harry Reid is a scumbag politician who uses his position in government to enrich himself and his friends.
You can choose to ignore issue number two, but the a$$hole is getting away with it right in front of our eyes.
The “publicly owned” property sold to the chinese solar developer appraised at $24million dolloars. Purchase price $6 million dollars. The property the Chinese bought is land set aside to protect the desert tortoise. If you are going to build on land that is set aside for a protected species, you need to set aside a remediation area to compensate for the habitat that the protected species will lose. Guess where the BLM decided that land would be?
anon (the good one) says:
May 1, 2014 at 9:01 am
am trying to be nice but you have to be an asswipe. here, let’s talk about your hero then
@BillMoyersHQ: Is Cliven Bundy merely a racist crackpot or an avatar of modern conservatism?
Answer: Both http://t.co/cILi5R5VpA writes @IanHaneyLopez
“The study, for example, found that a supermajority (22) of the 30 corporations paying the HIGHEST tax rates created 200,000 jobs between 2008 and 2012, while only 8 of those 30 had any reductions in the number of employees. IN contrast, the 30 profitable corporations paying no or very little taxes in that period had an aggregate loss of more than 51,000 jobs–half created a few jobs and half reduced jobs between 2008 and 2012.
Here’s the introductory text to the report:
The American corporate tax system is badly broken. Some corporations pay a third or more of their profits in federal taxes, while others pay nothing at all. Still others legally claim large sums as refunds even though they’ve generated sizeable profits in the United States. The responsible corporations that pay their fair share of taxes – companies like Smuckers, Nordstrom, Hershey, and Automatic Data Processing – are helping to fund the schools, infrastructure, national parks, and public protections that benefit all Americans. And the taxes they pay don’t stop them from investing in their businesses and adding new jobs for U.S. workers.
Many corporate leaders agree the U.S. corporate tax code is broken, but they argue that the core problem is that the tax on corporate profits (35 percent) needs to be lowered. Verizon’s CEO Lowell McAdam and 16 other CEOs who are members of the RATE Coalition wrote in a joint letter to the leaders of the House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee: “Our competitors in the OECD have lowered their statutory tax rates while the U.S. rate has remained relatively constant. This has resulted in an uncompetitive tax environment that discourages investment and job creation here at home…a lower corporate rate will boostinvestment in the U.S., bringing more American jobs, innovation and growth.” …”
“Folks, it is quite clear that there cannot be a sustainable good-for-all economy if productivity gains constantly drift upwards (redistribution from the many to the few) as they have been in this country for the last two decades while at the same time tax policies “reward” the elite with lower taxes (another form of redistribution from the many to the few). One has to wonder just how tone-deaf Congress must be, to continue to listen to economists whose policies rest on mathematical silliness and the lobbyists for big corporations and their wealthy shareholders and managers.”
http://ataxingmatter.blogs.com/tax/2013/12/does-lowering-corporate-tax-rates-create-jobs.html
Yogi Berra’s Montklair house up for sale. Modest $29k in taxes.
http://www.nj.com/essex/index.ssf/2014/04/yogi_berras_montclair_home_is_for_sale.html#incart_m-rpt-1
Which orefice though?
Doesn’t matter, it’s Magic Johnson, either way it looks like a rotisserie.
Keep this up and I’ll have the Polocks banned from the Staples Center too.
I’ve been consumed with work – very complicated role. Anyway, someone said two days ago that I was biased for asking why this Sterling guy has been banned for life for a private conversation while other individuals have said things that appear just as inappropriate – often in public. I’m not defending this guy, it was deplorable but I’m legitimately asking: Why is this guy being crucified when I hear athletes, commentators and entertainers saying stuff all the time that’s equally appalling?
Since it hasn’t been mentioned yet:
Al Feldstein (Mad Magazine) < Abe Vigoda
Gator,
Did he really spend much time living there. That’s a much more modest house and in a different location than I expected.
Gator used to run into Yogi at jackals games all the time when he was still in very good health. Very very nice man, I’m assuming the burden of the taxes, age and area are the reasons for the sale.
I agree with you. It’s his private life. Like Mark Cuban said, what’s next, kicking out people in the nba for their religious beliefs, or sexual preference? They just opened up a can of worms.
If he was publicly broadcasting his racist remarks, then kick him out. If it was on a recorded private conversation, this evidence should be thrown out. It was PRIVATE. What beliefs people hold in their private lives, should have nothing to do with their public lives.
Fast Eddie says:
May 1, 2014 at 10:07 am
I’ve been consumed with work – very complicated role. Anyway, someone said two days ago that I was biased for asking why this Sterling guy has been banned for life for a private conversation while other individuals have said things that appear just as inappropriate – often in public. I’m not defending this guy, it was deplorable but I’m legitimately asking: Why is this guy being crucified when I hear athletes, commentators and entertainers saying stuff all the time that’s equally appalling?
Michael,
I’m sort thinking the same thing and Mark Cuban is right. Why stop there? But the other issue that I can’t understand is where is the line between “it’s just a stupid comment” and “that’s despicable.” I hear things all the time and I’ve been on the other side of some of it personally.
Michael, Sterling’s misstep just happens to be the straw that broke the camels back. This guy has been known to sit court side and make derogatory comments to players during games.
Perhaps the most striking fact about One Hyde Park and the London super-prime property market is what it tells us about who the world’s richest people are. Many people think the greatest winners of globalization today are financiers. A decade or so ago, that may have been true. But today another class sits above even them—the global commodity plutocrats: owners of mineral rights, or dominant players in mineral-rich countries in sectors such as construction and finance that benefit from commodity booms. Hollingsworth notes in Londongrad that the oligarchs he studies became rich “not by creating new wealth but rather by insider political intrigue and exploiting the weakness of the rule of law.” Arkady Gaydamak, a Russian-Israeli oilman and financier, explained his elite view of accumulating wealth to me in 2005. “With all the regulations, the taxation, the legislation about working conditions, there is no way to make money,” he said. “It is only in countries like Russia, during the period of redistribution of wealth—and it is not yet finished—when you can get a result. . . . How can you make $50 million in France today? How?”
Russia’s former privatization czar Anatoly Chubais put it less delicately: “They steal and steal. They are stealing absolutely everything.”
London real-estate agents confirm that these commodity plutocrats dethroned the financiers some time before the financial crisis hit. “I can’t remember the last time I sold a property to a banker,” says Stephen Lindsay, of the real-estate agency Savills. “It’s been hard for anyone to compete with the Russians, the Kazakhs. They are all in oil, gas—that is what they do. Construction—all that kind of stuff.”
Even the Arab money has taken a backseat to the new buyers, says Hersham. “The wealth of the ex-Soviets is incredible,” he says. “Unless you are talking about [Goldman Sachs C.E.O. Lloyd] Blankfein or [Stephen Schwarzman], the head of Blackstone, or the head of one of the very big banks, there is no driver from the City of London at these levels anymore.”
http://www.vanityfair.com/society/2013/04/mysterious-residents-one-hyde-park-london
Re:Sterling
In today’s world many seem to think that joining a lynch mob to hang a “racist” proves that they aren’t one. I think today you could be labelled an arsonist without striking a match.
Case in point…….Shaq…..
Fast Eddie says:
May 1, 2014 at 10:07 am
I’ve been consumed with work – very complicated role. Anyway, someone said two days ago that I was biased for asking why this Sterling guy has been banned for life for a private conversation while other individuals have said things that appear just as inappropriate – often in public. I’m not defending this guy, it was deplorable but I’m legitimately asking: Why is this guy being crucified when I hear athletes, commentators and entertainers saying stuff all the time that’s equally appalling?
Here you go….
http://www.mlive.com/entertainment/detroit/index.ssf/2014/04/shaquille_oneal_calls_detroit.html
How about this gem where he received a COMPLETE pass?
http://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/Shaq-s-Apology-Not-Good-Enough-2640506.php
Shaq was talking about Yao Ming, the 7-foot-5-inch center from Shanghai, China, now playing with the Houston Rockets.
Said Shaq, “Tell Yao Ming, ‘Ching-chong-yang-wah-ah-so.”
[36] eddie,
Take my advice. Never, Never, Never express an opinion on race or gender. Anywhere. With anyone. Unless you can be assured of complete anonymity. There is a double standard; whether its the price we pay for our palefaced forefathers’ bad behavior or what, I can’t say. Accept it and move on. If you must fight it, fight it anonymously.
Heed the words of Berke Breathed, lest you get the Sterling Treatment:
“There’s a much longer discussion to be had about this, but I’m going to duck the issue, so I can explain why a white boy like myself didn’t write about race: You can’t. You couldn’t then. You can’t now. Don’t touch it. Run. Hide. Smile and say you love everybody equally, and don’t make any jokes as you back out of the room. Race and humor only work in a comedy club with exclusively black comedians. That’s it. There isn’t a shade of a chance for anything resembling a real discussion about race occurring publicly in this country for another… well, ever. Tirades, yes. Conversations that don’t become tirades after the first sentence spoken? No. Clinton, the big idiot shmiberal, started tiptoeing down the path. Funny how we never heard about the big “National Discussion On Race” again. Once bitten.”
http://www.avclub.com/article/berkeley-breathed-13819
Is anyone interested in this session? I hate going alone, and I am not in the mood to schmooze with people at this thing. I want to pay attention. I’ll pick up the tab…..
Event title: Cornell Professor Suzanne Mettler MA ’92 PhD ’94 in conversation with Joy Reid
Event date: May 13, 2014 6:30 PM ET
New York, NY
Join Cornellians to hear College of Arts and Sciences Professor Suzanne Mettler MA ’92 PhD ’94 discuss her new book with with host of MSNBC’s The Reid Report, Joy Reid. Degrees of Inequality: How the Politics of Higher Education Sabotaged the American Dream dissects the higher education policies that provide aid to students by calling attention to problems of tuition prices, high student loan debt, and weak employment prospects. Mettler outlines what has gone wrong with our system of education over the last thirty years—and what lawmakers on both sides of the aisle must do to bring about reform.
Date: Tuesday, May 13, 2014
Time: 6:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.
6:30 p.m. – Doors open
6:45 p.m. – Conversation begins
7:30 p.m. – Q&A
8:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. – Reception
Scholastic Auditorium – 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012
Nom,
Understood. Nothing more can be said.
re: #49 – double standard? Nah….it’s a “different” standard. Friend of mine is a basketball referee at the high school level. He has strict instructions to report the use of the “trash talk”. Does he report it when it is people of the same race using slurs against each other? No way.
If the player drops the “N-word” they are supposed to be ejected for that game and the next, then the referees are supposed to report the infraction to the state’s governing body for high school athletics, and they are then supposed to pass the player’s name and the violation on to the New Jersey Division on Civil Rights in the Attorney General’s Office.
Here is the statement they must read before each game.
http://www.njsiaa.org/sites/default/files/document/SPORTSMANSHIP%20POLICY%20DEALING%20WITH%20BIAS%20INCIDENTS_0.pdf
Sad, but true.
Comrade Nom Deplume, Guardian of the Realm says:
May 1, 2014 at 11:17 am
[36] eddie,
Take my advice. Never, Never, Never express an opinion on race or gender. Anywhere. With anyone. Unless you can be assured of complete anonymity. There is a double standard; whether its the price we pay for our palefaced forefathers’ bad behavior or what, I can’t say. Accept it and move on. If you must fight it, fight it anonymously.
Heed the words of Berke Breathed, lest you get the Sterling Treatment:
“There’s a much longer discussion to be had about this, but I’m going to duck the issue, so I can explain why a white boy like myself didn’t write about race: You can’t. You couldn’t then. You can’t now. Don’t touch it. Run. Hide. Smile and say you love everybody equally, and don’t make any jokes as you back out of the room. Race and humor only work in a comedy club with exclusively black comedians. That’s it. There isn’t a shade of a chance for anything resembling a real discussion about race occurring publicly in this country for another… well, ever. Tirades, yes. Conversations that don’t become tirades after the first sentence spoken? No. Clinton, the big idiot shmiberal, started tiptoeing down the path. Funny how we never heard about the big “National Discussion On Race” again. Once bitten.”
http://www.avclub.com/article/berkeley-breathed-13819
53- and good advice
43- Wow, this article really brings to light how out of touch these billionaires are with society. This is crazy.
“Designed by the architect Lord Richard Rogers, who also designed London’s iconic Lloyd’s building, One Hyde Park has divided Britain. Gary Hersham, managing director of the high-end real-estate agency Beauchamp Estates, says it is “the finest building in England, whether you like the style or you don’t,” while investment banker David Charters, who works in Mayfair, says, “One Hyde Park is a symbol of the times, a symbol of the disconnect. There is almost a sense of ‘the Martians have landed.’ Who are they? Where are they from? What are they doing?” Professor Gavin Stamp, of Cambridge University, an architectural historian, called it “a vulgar symbol of the hegemony of excessive wealth, an over-sized gated community for people with more money than sense, arrogantly plonked down in the heart of London.”
The really curious aspect of One Hyde Park can be appreciated only at night. Walk past the complex then and you notice nearly every window is dark. As John Arlidge wrote in The Sunday Times, “It’s dark. Not just a bit dark—darker, say, than the surrounding buildings—but black dark. Only the odd light is on. . . . Seems like nobody’s home.”
That’s not because the apartments haven’t sold. London land-registry records say that 76 had been by January 2013 for a total of $2.7 billion—but, of these, only 12 were registered in the names of warm-blooded humans, including Christian Candy, in a sixth-floor penthouse. The remaining 64 are held in the names of unfamiliar corporations: three based in London; one, called One Unique L.L.C., in California; and one, Smooth E Co., in Thailand. The other 59—with such names as Giant Bloom International Limited, Rose of Sharon 7 Limited, and Stag Holdings Limited—belong to corporations registered in well-known offshore tax havens, such as the Cayman Islands, the British Virgin Islands, Liechtenstein, and the Isle of Man.
From this we can conclude at least two things with certainty about the tenants of One Hyde Park: they are extremely wealthy, and most of them don’t want you to know who they are and how they got their money.”
There is a russian oil czar in Alpine that built a house for something like $30 million.
Red leather couches everywhere, like it was decorated by Donald.
grim,
What’s the word on the spring market? Dead? No inventory? Stronger than last year? Weaker? What’s the talking heads saying?
Eddie, Nom & Mike as per your discussion
Could you imagine if Mel Brooks created a Blazing saddles Part 2 or History of the World Part 2 Today.
Or If Tanner Boyle was cast for a new bad News Bears movie today I could just imagine how outraged all the politically correct pukes would be. We would have rioting in the streets. I”m surprised these movies are even permitted on TV today, Problem is nobody to has or should I say is permitted to have a sense of humor anymore, touch the race, religion or sexual orientation subjects and people come apart, especially if your white and say anything, your a bigot, a racist,
re # 56 – Then it is only time before some criminals ransack the place. That house will be collecting dust for a while. Most of those czars are on the sanctions list, meaning no US travel and perhaps no way they can sell the assets in the US either.
Joyce, does this not highlight what I was talking about with hording money. It is unproductive for the world economy. Buying mega expensive property and letting it sit idle is the definition of hoarding. Such a waste. Waste of resources.
Worst part, all they do is drive up the price of real estate so that ordinary people can’t buy it. Is this the positive effect of billionaires? Increasing prices to unrealistic levels because they can, and leaving everyone else to fight over the left over properties, while all these billionaire properties sit idle, getting no use whatsoever.
Best part, now the poor people that were living there, have to move, the property went up in value and the landlord just sold to a developer that is going to develop more billionaire properties that will never be used. Soon sections of the city will become a desert of billionaire properties, with no one living there. This is the reality of real estate in super cities across the world, thanks to the current trend of all the money going to the billionaires. They have to do something with the money, so they just buy things that they will never use. Tell me again the point of having billionaires?
“The really curious aspect of One Hyde Park can be appreciated only at night. Walk past the complex then and you notice nearly every window is dark. As John Arlidge wrote in The Sunday Times, “It’s dark. Not just a bit dark—darker, say, than the surrounding buildings—but black dark. Only the odd light is on. . . . Seems like nobody’s home.”
That’s not because the apartments haven’t sold. London land-registry records say that 76 had been by January 2013 for a total of $2.7 billion—but, of these, only 12 were registered in the names of warm-blooded humans, including Christian Candy, in a sixth-floor penthouse. The remaining 64 are held in the names of unfamiliar corporations: three based in London; one, called One Unique L.L.C., in California; and one, Smooth E Co., in Thailand. The other 59—with such names as Giant Bloom International Limited, Rose of Sharon 7 Limited, and Stag Holdings Limited—belong to corporations registered in well-known offshore tax havens, such as the Cayman Islands, the British Virgin Islands, Liechtenstein, and the Isle of Man.”
The last paragraph is hilarious.
“Tevor Abrahmsohn, a U.K. real-estate agent, remembers London before the modern property boom began. “London was as Paris is today: an interesting, quirky souvenir town. We had the Tower of London, the Queen, the palace, and the Changing of the Guard,” he says, adding Scotch whisky as an afterthought. “That is what we stood for. London was not a tax haven.”
Starting in the 1960s, new buyers began to fire up the market: crises of the Greek monarchy brought a significant influx of Greeks, pockets of which endure today. Next came the first wave of Americans, a trickle of bankers lured by London’s unregulated Euro-markets, and West Coast buyers, often from Hollywood. “They swarmed in,” remembers veteran London real-estate agent Andrew Langton, of Aylesford International. “They turned Chester Square into Little L.A. and tidied up all these properties, at enormous expense, with American kitchens, bathrooms, and showers.”
The OPEC oil crisis, of the 1970s, lit the big fire under this market. Arab money surged into the so-called golden triangle of Knightsbridge, Belgravia, and nearby Mayfair, to buy high-end properties. Real-estate agents remember it as a tidal wave: “They came as a force,” says Hersham. “When they wanted to buy, there were no hysterics or reticence.” The fall of the Shah of Iran brought a surge of Iranian money, followed by buyers from the biggest African ex-colony, newly oil-rich Nigeria.
The market paused for breath in the 1980s, with Britain’s economy in the doldrums and as sagging world oil prices sapped wealthy foreign buyers’ demand. But Margaret Thatcher’s financial reforms, notably her “Big Bang” of Wild West financial deregulation, in 1986, caused the stream of bankers to turn into a river, then a deluge. “We would wait for those e-mails ending in ‘gs.com’ to come rolling in,” remembers Jeremy Davidson, a Belgravia-based property consultant. “Goldman [Sachs] partners, Morgan [Stanley] partners: they were the top of the market, and we had lots of them.”
The fall of the Soviet Union, in 1989, and the vast, corrupt post-Soviet privatizations, brought the biggest, most reckless wave of foreign buyers London had ever seen, with often questionable money sluicing in via the secretive British-linked stepping-stone tax havens of Cyprus and Gibraltar. “There is no real accountability of these guys coming in—the cops don’t really investigate them,” says Mark Hollingsworth, co-author of Londongrad, a 2009 book about the Russian invasion. “They see the capital as the most secure, fairest, most honest place to park their cash, and the judges here would never extradite them.””
43- Wow, this article is insane.
James Henry, a former McKinsey chief economist, watched at close quarters the recycling of petrodollar wealth into Third World loans via London’s unregulated Euro-markets, which among other things enabled Wall Street to avoid New Deal-era banking regulations. Henry saw a global private-banking network emerge, following the money, “helping Third World elites abscond with hundreds of billions in diverted loans, illicit commissions, and corrupt privatizations, and park it in London and other tax havens.”
Grim, can you unmod my post. It won’t go through.
Grim, can you put my post through, it won’t go through for some reason.
“There’s a level of harshness in our debates mostly coming from the people who are actually doing very well,” Krugman tells Moyers. “We’ve had a parade of billionaires whining about the incredible injustice that people are actually criticizing them. And then comparing anyone who criticizes them to the Nazis. It’s almost a tic that they have.” Krugman recently wrote about the billionaires — including Home Depot co-founder Ken Langone — who have spoken out and surmised that the idea that income inequality is the result of a systemic problem and not a lack of sufficient effort on the part of those struggling to get by “is anathema” to them.
@BillMoyersHQ: Do you think the debate over income inequality has become mean-spirited? Paul Krugman thinks so: http://t.co/hbhVpnsnun
Michael.
You have too much time on your hands.
No debate is more mean-spirited than being offered an ultimatum to either hand over 40% of my income, or go to jail.
http://www.nj.com/bergen/index.ssf/2014/05/more_than_60_students_arrested_in_teaneck_high_school_prank.html#incart_m-rpt-1
Should be interesting to see if they allow them to graduate and what the colleges will do.
Ragnar/Pain 38/39 – His wife passed away recently and I think he is not in the best of health. I think he “downsized” to this place 40 years ago. He used to own a house on Stonebridge in the estate section. His son Dale still lives in that part of town. Yogi and his wife Carmen were pretty active in the community, so yes, I believe they spent a decent amount of time there.
Dale’s kid goes to the same elementary school that Lil Gator attended for Kindergarten, and they were both in the same year. Each kid got to be recognized as the “Star Student” of the week. My kid showed a collage of his family and had Lib share a PowerPoint of cool places he has gone to on family vacations. Dale’s kid goes first in her class and trots out Yogi in a Yankees uniform to hand out baseballs and other Yankees memorabilia. I sure would have been pissed if I had to be the parent to go second in that class.
First we have to paint our jockey statues white and now we cant tell our mistresses not to bring Magic Johnsons to games?
Market Post: Puerto Rico Yields Plunge
by Hillary Flynn and Maria Bonello
MAY 1, 2014 11:12am ET
Yields for Puerto Rico’s March $3.5 billion general obligation issuance’s bonds fell Thursday.
CHIFI TBTF 4EVR PLAYA$
Joyce, from that same article….. This isn’t hoarding?
“Many in London are uncomfortable not just with the flagrant display of super-wealth but also with the rising number of absentee residents who are based in foreign countries. “Those people who do buy these houses, particularly the bigger ones, in many cases don’t buy them to live in permanently: they are part of a portfolio,” said Bendixson. “That doesn’t add much jollity to your street: houses with the shutters down and nobody there.” Edward Davies-Gilbert, of the Knightsbridge Association, sees the area gaining the flavor of “a ghost town, peopled by ghost blocks.””
72- Nobody sees anything wrong with this? If that’s not a sign of something wrong, I don’t know what is. They are buying 100,000 million dollar houses not to live in, but as a part of the portfolio. Jesus, we are screwed. It just hit me. This is a major sign of the economy being sick. I don’t know why nobody is questioning this. You have people that have amassed so much wealth, that they don’t know what to do with it, they are just buying 200,000 million dollar properties for the sake of their portfolio. This can’t keep going, this is going to lead to a huge crash, those properties are not being used, hence, they really are not worth anywhere near what these people paid. Only reason they are worth 200,000 million, is from competing billionaires fighting each other on price. What happens when they take a step back and stop buying this real estate, since they really are just buying it for the sake of buying it. This is not good at all.
Really? I feel like I don’t have enough!
Xolepa says:
May 1, 2014 at 12:56 pm
Michael.
You have too much time on your hands.
73- I’m hyped, sorry about all the posts.
This proves the point I have been trying to get through to you guys. Why do you need that much money? Why? You are buying 200,000 million dollar properties to let sit. That’s sickening and wrong in so many got damn ways. Just wrong! That money could be helping some starving kid grab a bite to eat, instead it’s wasted on bs.
The most maddening part, that house is not even worth that. Who is going to buy it, if you decide to sell? Who? How many people can afford 100,000 to 200,000 million dollar properties. These billionaires are idiots.
What number system are you using?
I’ve always been against the prescribing of Xanax for children, but Michael may change my opinion on the topic.
I’ve always been against the prescribing of Xanex for children, but Michael may change my opinion on the topic.
Houses or paintings…seems same….if they want to spend $100 million on some piece of art work or a “trophy” condo..I do not think it impacts the price of a 4 bdrm here
I dislike wasted capital, but if someone wants to build a pyramid with money they honestly made, I may make fun of them, but recognize that it’s their own money to waste. Similarly, rich environmentalists like to buy uninhabited land just to prevent economic activity from occurring on it (e.g. The Nature Conservancy). That bothers me from my perspective as a person in favor of human economic progress, but I respect their right to spend their money and use their property as they like.
why don’t you get off the grid, seriously?
you seem to have little use for society and claim to only need yourself.
why don’t you abandon society, live tax free and retain 100% of your income?
stop being such a fukcer and stand up to your ideals
Ragnar says:
May 1, 2014 at 1:02 pm
No debate is more mean-spirited than being offered an ultimatum to either hand over 40% of my income, or go to jail.
Only when Michael had a billion dollars in real estate he would suddenly sign up for the giving pledge to give away his wealth. how about know Michael? You are worth what 1/1000 of a Billion now why not head on down to the nearest shelter and give away some loot?
Like I said, I’m really sorry. This article has me fired up.
Condo, it does affect the price. Same thing is happening in NYC. I read an article describing the same thing, 50 million dollar apartments left idle. Describing buildings as ghost buildings. Reason I bought that up, is to make my point. Both London and NYC have sky rocket prices. The price of real estate goes through the roof, because these ghost units buy up large amounts of sq footage in crowded cities. This leads to less sq footage for everyone else, which will naturally drive up the price.
Spending money does not equal hoarding money. How is that a hard concept to grasp?
Stockman: Inside the low-flation myth
Pretty good dissection of the Fed’s use of deflation fears to excuse propping up banks and asset prices. Part one considers the rent vs own pricing.
http://davidstockmanscontracorner.com/memo-to-dr-yellen-on-the-low-flation-myth-inflation-seen-and-not-seen/
http://davidstockmanscontracorner.com/inside-the-low-flation-myth-a-disquisition-on-inflation-that-is-seen-and-not-seen-part-2/
77
Hilarious, I was wondering myself.
@SenSanders: If you work 40 hours a week you should not have to live in poverty.
We must raise the minimum wage: http://t.co/t6SX6FX5AH
Although I think the impact of money flowing into real estate in NYC dominates, it is somewhat mitigated by the creation of new condo units to fulfill the demand. The problem is that all the market statistics get warped. It would be interesting to see the numbers for NYC if all the new units were removed that were clearly created to sell to foreign nationals to park cash that were expatriated to avoid the potential for devaluation or confiscation.
Michael says:
May 1, 2014 at 3:16 pm
Like I said, I’m really sorry. This article has me fired up.
Condo, it does affect the price. Same thing is happening in NYC. I read an article describing the same thing, 50 million dollar apartments left idle. Describing buildings as ghost buildings. Reason I bought that up, is to make my point. Both London and NYC have sky rocket prices. The price of real estate goes through the roof, because these ghost units buy up large amounts of sq footage in crowded cities. This leads to less sq footage for everyone else, which will naturally drive up the price.
chicagofinance says:
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
May 1, 2014 at 3:35 pm
Although I think the impact of money flowing into real estate in NYC dominates, it is somewhat mitigated by the creation of new condo units to fulfill the demand. The problem is that all the market statistics get warped. It would be interesting to see the numbers for NYC if all the new units were removed that were clearly created to sell to foreign nationals to park cash that were expatriated to avoid the potential for devaluation or conf!scation.
Michael says:
May 1, 2014 at 3:16 pm
Like I said, I’m really sorry. This article has me fired up.
Condo, it does affect the price. Same thing is happening in NYC. I read an article describing the same thing, 50 million dollar apartments left idle. Describing buildings as ghost buildings. Reason I bought that up, is to make my point. Both London and NYC have sky rocket prices. The price of real estate goes through the roof, because these ghost units buy up large amounts of sq footage in crowded cities. This leads to less sq footage for everyone else, which will naturally drive up the price.
chicagofinance says:
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
May 1, 2014 at 3:35 pm
Although I think the impact of money flowing into real estate in NYC dominates, it is somewhat mitigated by the creation of new condo units to fulfill the demand. The problem is that all the market statistics get warped. It would be interesting to see the numbers for NYC if all the new units were removed that were clearly created to sell to foreign nationals to park cash that were expatriated to avoid the potential for devaluation or confiscVtion.
were = was
re # 88 – on that note apparently Dubai is rocking again.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/30/world/meast/dubai-scorpions-drummer/
Re: PNC Arts Center
I’ve never been down there, but I see Holmdel just passed an ordinance banning tailgating. That should be a kill shot to the venue. I wonder if the town and residence are anticipating that.
Hopefully it shuts down and something more to the north becomes a Summer venue. I’d like to be able to see some of the shows that PNC attracts but it’s a traffic nightmare trying to get down there after work.
concerts at PNC have degraded into a 15 to 19 drinking/drug fest for any band. It’s pretty annoying. I tried to see the Chili peppers years back and all the teenyboppers running around just ruined it.
Arts Center was always a drink fest. Gone are the good ol’ days where if you were busted for underage drinking, all the troopers would do is take your beer and let you go.
PNC is easy to get to…..just take local roads…..15 minutes max…..
nwnj says:
May 1, 2014 at 3:55 pm
Re: PNC Arts Center
Hopefully it shuts down and something more to the north becomes a Summer venue. I’d like to be able to see some of the shows that PNC attracts but it’s a traffic nightmare trying to get down there after work.
You’ve hit bottom when you get ranked on by the Biebs……sucka…
Rob Ford may have finally hit rock bottom, and Justin Bieber was there to greet him.
The controversial Toronto mayor, 44, was furious after the “Baby” singer, 20, made fun of him at a Toronto club in March, reports the Toronto Star.
According to the paper, the embattled mayor ran into the bratty pop star at Muzik nightclub on March 15. The hard-partying Ford went to shake Bieber’s hand, and the singer greeted him by jokingly asking, “Did you bring any crack to smoke?”
Enraged by the jibe, Ford reportedly disappeared into the club’s bathroom an hour later. When he finally exited, the mayor, who looked out of it, is said to have been talking about how his wife and children do not like him and saying, “I am in over my head.”
The incident is just the latest in a string of embarrassments for Ford. It was revealed Thursday that the mayor would take a break from his re-election campaign and head to rehab, a day after a video of him allegedly smoking crack in his sister’s basement surfaced.
“I have a problem with alcohol, and the choices I have made while under the influence. I have struggled with this for some time,” Ford said in a statement late Wednesday.
Anon [81];
Society == government, huh? Good little leftist. Baaah, baaah.
Thanks for share. Brilliant article. Need some time to analyze it and take it all in.
Ragnar says:
May 1, 2014 at 3:24 pm
Stockman: Inside the low-flation myth
Pretty good dissection of the Fed’s use of deflation fears to excuse propping up banks and asset prices. Part one considers the rent vs own pricing.
http://davidstockmanscontracorner.com/memo-to-dr-yellen-on-the-low-flation-myth-inflation-seen-and-not-seen/
http://davidstockmanscontracorner.com/inside-the-low-flation-myth-a-disquisition-on-inflation-that-is-seen-and-not-seen-part-2/
That makes sense. It def doesn’t make up for it all, but def helps.
I agree, I would love to see those #s.
chicagofinance says:
May 1, 2014 at 3:40 pm
chicagofinance says:
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
May 1, 2014 at 3:35 pm
Although I think the impact of money flowing into real estate in NYC dominates, it is somewhat mitigated by the creation of new condo units to fulfill the demand. The problem is that all the market statistics get warped. It would be interesting to see the numbers for NYC if all the new units were removed that were clearly created to sell to foreign nationals to park cash that were expatriated to avoid the potential for devaluation or confiscVtion.
so you need society to fukc them, but don’t want a government to keep you straight.
ain’t you grand?
Anon E. Moose says:
May 1, 2014 at 6:08 pm
Anon [81];
why don’t you get off the grid, seriously?
you seem to have little use for society and claim to only need yourself.
why don’t you abandon society, live tax free and retain 100% of your income?
stop being such a fukcer and stand up to your ideals
Society == government, huh? Good little leftist. Baaah, baaah.
Joyce (84)-
The dolt does not understand the difference between money and wealth.
Anon (87)-
Actually you should, if you’re a sucktard.
It is End Of Day in 47 minutes….
Just dropping in so you can remember the significance of this glorious day.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zk69e1Vcmvg
Pity the atmosphere of the comments in this place hasn’t changed
#81 anon
Can’t lay off the fast balls.
The answer is that he can’t fcuk off to the Gulch because the Gulch is not sustainable. It will fail faster than a Nompound.
As I always ask “Which titan of industry will shovel the Sh1t out of the Gulch?”
[104] Fabian
We would hire democrats for that. They can even live in the company housing.
[103] Fabian
“Pity the atmosphere of the comments in this place hasn’t changed”
Actually, it got worse about 15 minutes ago.
#36 Gary
Because the Basketball Owners Association is just that, as association. Just like the Home Owners Associations we all hear about. It is governed by the bylaws and the CBA they signed off on. The fact he made the comments in private is irrelevant, he made them, they are public and the HOA is going to kick him out Del Boca Vista phase III.
#105 Eddie Ray
Your ignorance is bliss, but you do bring up a good question.
Ragnar,
Is there company housing in the Gulch? I though all those titans of industry took themselves off to the Gulch on their own!
/sarc
I’m done, its refreshing being out of this place.
SoulUrge Quantity: 5 People with this particular title possess a heavy internal desire to have journey as well as experience, as well as wish to arranged their very own speed within existence without having to be ruled through custom. Expression Quantity: 1 People with this particular title often start occasions, to become frontrunners instead of fans, along with effective personas. These people are usually centered on particular objectives, encounter an abundance associated with innovative bran