Free Republic

On New Year’s Day of this year, Rochelle Walensky was just a college professor in Massachusetts. You’d almost certainly never heard of her. You definitely didn’t vote for her at any point, because Walensky had never run for office. As of January first, Walensky’s political power was precisely the same as yours and everyone else’s in this supposedly self-governing republic: she had one vote out of a nation of 320 million people. And then, just a few weeks later, everything changed, for her, and for the rest of us. Joe Biden appointed Walensky to run the Centers for Disease Control...

A federal court on Friday ruled that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) overstepped its authority by halting evictions during the COVID-19 pandemic.The Cincinnati-based U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously agreed (pdf) with a lower court ruling that said the CDC engaged in federal overreach with the eviction moratorium, which the agency has consistently extended for months. Several weeks ago, the CDC announced it would allow the policy, which was passed into law by Congress, to expire at the end of July.“It is not our job as judges to make legislative rules that favor one side...

<p>Blackrock is buying every single family house they can find, paying 20-50% above asking price and outbidding normal home buyers. Why are corporations, pension funds and property investment groups buying...</p><p>So who is Blackrock? Only the worlds largest asset manager and the leading proponent of The Great Reset. Theyre looking to redistribute -Get this- $120Trillion dollars. The entire wealth of the worlds middle class and poor combined several times over.</p>

So, you and your spouse are living in a medium-sized middle American community and after coming into a little extra money you decided you want to do some planning for your retirement. You come across an investment opportunity in a cosmopolitan city in another state — a six-unit apartment building where you can purchase a co-ownership interest with a plan to move into that building when you retire. The purchase agreement includes a provision that the co-owners will convert the six-unit building into separately owned condominium units by a specified date, and you and your spouse will obtain the right...

Tenants continue to take advantage, abuse GTA landlordsHarpreet Kaur rented out the two-bedroom basement apartment in her Mississauga home to a tenant in December of 2019 with rent paid up until September of last year.That’s when things started to fall apart.First the tenant — a WestJet employee who lost his job during COVID — moved in a friend and both refused to pay the $1,700-a-month rent. Kaur, an optician, said the tenant promised to pay “something” by Oct. 7 and when he didn’t, the friend answered the door ordering her to get in touch by text from that day forward....

Wave of Evictions ComingThe federal ban on evictions expires in January. For millions that's when huge problems start.Prepare for a Wave of Evictions in January as Federal Ban Expires.Millions of U.S. renters face the prospect of eviction in January unless federal officials extend protections put in place during the Covid-19 pandemic.That month is when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s ban on evictions is set to expire. The moratorium protects tenants who have missed monthly rent payments from being thrown out of their homes if they declare financial hardship. The CDC ordered the halt on evictions under the Public...

FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early), a flourishing lifestyle movement, has crept its way into mainstream culture throughout the past decade. As we've seen the pandemic spark a renewed push for people to create more autonomy in their lives, there is continued debate about the most sensible way to invest if FIRE is your goal. Real estate proponents advocate for potentially robust monthly cash flow, price appreciation, and tax advantages, whereas index fund adherents cite minimal expenses, a lack of constant oversight, and efficient trading as reasons to invest. In reality, there are benefits to both strategies, which might lead you...

Hertz, which started with a fleet of a dozen Ford Model T’s a century ago and became one of the world’s largest car rental companies, filed for bankruptcy protection on Friday after falling victim to its mountain of debt. The coronavirus pandemic has devastated Hertz by grounding business travelers and tourists, making it impossible for the company to continue paying its lenders. A sharp drop in used car prices has also decreased the value of its fleet. “They were doing quite well, but when you turn off the revenues and you own all these cars and all of a sudden...

It shouldn’t be a surprise to learn that rent prices are still rising consistently, across many areas of the country. As of March, the cost of rent was, on average, 3.7 percent higher than it was last year (according to the Labor Department, as reported by Realtor.com). Average wages grew about 3.2 percent during the same period, meaning rent is growing faster than wages can keep up with it. It’s estimated that there is currently a shortfall of 2.6 million housing units for Americans with low to moderate levels of income. Fast-growing urban areas are hit especially hard, with...

Paid-for "certification" of service animals — bought online or anywhere else — never passed the smell test, and now it doesn't pass the legal test in Oklahoma. Deanna Fields, executive director of the Manufactured Housing Association of Oklahoma, brought a new law to my attention after I'd reported difficulties surrounding service animals, federal fair housing law and the Americans with Disabilities Act. Gov. Mary Fallin signed H.B. 3282 May 1. It goes into effect Nov. 1. The law, by Rep. Chris Kannady, R-Oklahoma City, and Sen. Kim David, R-Porter, has received no media attention, despite recent violent dog attacks and...

If you thought that staying somewhere remote or quirky, or both, meant sacrificing luxury - think again. From a converted bus with comfortable beds, to an iron age roundhouse with extravagant interiors and even a luxury shipping container by a lake, MailOnline Travel presents unusual stays that still provide high levels of comfort. They can all be booked through Canopy & Stars, a glamping website that describes itself as marketing 'a wonderful collection of beautiful, quirky and special places to stay in the great outdoors in the UK and Europe'.

Politically, culturally, and ecologically, 2017 was a year of anxiety. Hurricanes and flooding ravaged the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and Texas. Political controversies dominated headlines and push-notifications. Relations with North Korea reached their lowest point in decades, raising fears of a nuclear standoff. Economically, though, things remained stable in 2017. The economy continued to recover from the market crash of 2008, with unemployment reaching its lowest point in 17 years. Although homeownership is rebounding from its nadir last decade, renting now far outpaces ownership. According to a new report by the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University, renting...

The home-sharing service Airbnb has “ghosted” or deleted the account of Las Vegas spree-shooter Steven Paddock, rented entire houses from around the desert city in the days before the Oct. 1 shooting, according to a source inside the company. The insider verified their access by sharing with Big League Politics personal and usage information from the site about other individuals that were not available in the public domain. Inside the company’s ghost report menu, there is no option for spree-shooting massacre, so whoever ghosted the account chose: “Physical Assault” as the reason for closing the account. As Airbnb does not...

Sin City’s projected 5,000 new apartment units for this year makes no noise nationally in the latest real estate craze. “In 2017, the ongoing apartment building-boom in the US will set a new record: 346,000 new rental apartments in buildings with 50+ units are expected to hit the market,” writes Wolf Richter on Wolf Street. That is three times the number of units that came on line in 2011.Richter continues, “Deliveries in 2017 will be 21% above the prior record set in 2016, based on data going back to 1997, by Yardi Matrix, via Rent Café. And even 2015 had set a...

This is the video of an interview after the close on CNBC by Kelly Evans of Dick Bove and Josh Rosner on the NYT story by Gretchen Morgenson that showed the Obama Administration changed the agreement between the US Government and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac by fiat ruling. Play the video at the link. If you think this isn't worth it, just note that the video has been buried off their front page . . . since it slaps the Obama people right in the face and heaven forbid that happens on an NBC property.

Global hotel operator Hilton Worldwide Holdings has revealed the discovery of malware in some point of sales systems in its hotels that targeted customer payment card information. A third-party investigation found that the malware targeted specific payment card information which included cardholder names, payment card numbers, security codes and expiration dates, Hilton said. It did not include addresses or personal identification numbers (PINs), according to the company. Hilton advised customers who used their card at any of the global operator's hotels during a 17-week period - from November 18 to December 5 2014 or April 21 to July 27 2015...

The poorest Americans, who can’t afford to buy property, are increasingly priced out of rentals. There were only 28 adequate and available to rent homes for every 100 extremely low-income renters in 2013, down from 37 in 2000, according to the Urban Institute, a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization that focuses on social and economic policy. “This gap between supply and demand leaves 72% of the country’s poorest families burdened by the high cost of housing,” it found. Extremely low-income renters are households with incomes at or below 30% of the median income in that region. Not one county in the...

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Minnesota cities have circled the wagons in a controversial property rights case that pits municipal authorities against homeowners who are challenging the constitutionality of Winona’s rental ban before the Minnesota Supreme Court.

There is an old program called "Section 8" housing where the US taxpayer gives welfare folks a voucher to rent houses or apartments. In many states (and everywhere, if Obama's HUD prevails), landlords have to accept Section 8 tenants or they get sued or even criminally prosecuted. The link is a video showing what happened to a lovely restored home whose landlord was forced to accept a Section 8 tenant. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAzDaKsBUk0

Looks Like The 'Smart Money' Is Already Exiting The Housing Trade Tyler Durden, Zero Hedge May 30, 2013, 12:06 PM Last September, one of the original institutional investors in the housing-to-rent strategy, multi-billion hedge fund Och-Ziff called it quits on the landlord business. The reason: "the New York-based hedge fund is looking to sell now because the returns it is generating from rental income are less than expected and it is looking to take advantage of a recent rebound in home prices in northern California." As a reminder, the REO-to-Rental subsidized investment program, which led to an epic surge in...