patrick.net

covid_shmovid says

Apple is starting to bring people back to the office starting next week. Allegedly.

Apple is a hardware company. Perhaps not the huge army of folks in manufacturing like back in the day. But they still have huge R&D operations scattered around the south bay where they actually build stuff. Not so easy to relocate all that stuff to "working at home offices", wherever home might be (other parts of the US or other parts of the world).

Now Google and FB have "discovered" they can operate their businesses without all those fancy schmancy office buildings in some of the most congested, expensive real estate in the world, including the whole freakin city-within-a-city Google plans for downtown SJ. Ad revenue is not so great in our Incredible Shrinking Economy right now. I've been getting weird ads for weird stuff lately. It's only a matter of time before they connect the dots about paying a premium for Bay Area "talent" who's all "working from home". Hopefully this will take some pressure off the rents and house prices.

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DR Horton trying to sell its Hathaway Townhomes in Panama City Beach about 2 miles from beach and a 1 mile to the Saint Andrews Bay.

All the well compensated Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc. employees and contractors can buy at Hathaway Townhomes.



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That's awesome all those drones wfh will reduce traffic substantially

BayArea says

I haven’t seen home prices affected by a penny... yet.

Here in San Diego County, it's been hitting the higher end homes. Maybe check out Zillow in your area's more expensive parts. The discounts I see are substantial in dollar amounts, but not yet in percentages.

Surburban home prices will be fine. It’s the high-density close to public transit housing that will be crushed. With work at home and home schooling being the future now... everyone will want a giant backyard with a pool to take a break without mingling with society. Our quarantine has been easy... my friends in studio apartments not so much.0

Our quarantine has been easy... my friends in studio apartments not so much.0
Listen to this:
www.youtube.com/embed/M5azNpTwVk8

https://www.zerohedge.com/economics/tidal-wave-delinquent-mortgages-set-surpass-great-recession

According to a new report from UK-based forecasting firm Oxford Economics, 15% of homeowners will fall behind on their monthly mortgage payments in a 'tidal wave' of delinquencies.

Stimulus legislation signed by President Donald Trump allows any borrower with a federally-backed mortgage to request forbearance for up to 12 months, meaning the homeowner can skip or make reduced payments during that time.

Given the risk mortgage companies are facing right now, many lenders have imposed more stringent requirements for loan applicants. “The uncertainty in the mortgage market has contributed to a significant tightening of lending standards that may persist even once a recovery is underway,” Oxford Economics wrote. -MarketWatch

An while the pace of requests for forbearance has slowed in recent weeks - however that could change. "Although the pace of forbearance requests slowed this week, call volume picked up — which could be a sign that more borrowers are calling in to check their options now that May due dates have arrived," said Mortgage Bankers Association chief economist, Mike Fratantoni.

Keep in mind that Oxford Economics' forecast is half of the potential mortgage bloodbath predicted by Moody's chief economics, Mark Zandi, who said that as many as 30% of Americans with home loans - or around 15 million households, may stop paying if the US economy remains closed through the summer or beyond.

We assume that a large percentage of Americans refusing to return to pre-pandemic consumption habits would have similar effects.

"This is an unprecedented event," said Susan Wachter, professor of real estate and finance at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in comments last month. She also points out another way the current crisis is different from the 2008 GFC: "The great financial crisis happened over a number of years. This is happening in a matter of months - a matter of weeks."