A candidate for president talks about the housing market, a hospitality group does not want Los Angeles homeless people in the city’s hotels, and an old Iowa jail is up for sale. From the wild and wooly world of real estate, here are our hits and misses for the week of Oct. 2-6.
Hit: A Presidential Candidate Finally Acknowledges Housing. Since the 2024 presidential election race began, the subject of the housing market was never acknowledged by the leading candidates, let alone discussed in any great depth. Thus, praise should be given to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for putting forth a plan that he believes will reanimate the homebuying activity and expand homeownership. Whether or not you agree with Kennedy on this topic or any other issue is a matter of personal taste, and it is not our business to tell you how to vote. However, we are glad to see at least one presidential candidate stepping forward on his own accord to address an issue that is metastasizing into a crisis. Which leads us to our next entry…
Miss: Mortgage Rates Surge Anew. Another big story this week was Freddie Mac’s announcement that the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage spiked again, averaging 7.49% as of Oct. 5 – last week it averaged 7.31%, and a year ago at this time, it averaged 6.66%. Would it be excessively pessimistic to imagine it will pass the 8% mark by Halloween?
Hit: Saying No to a Very Bad Idea. Next March, Los Angeles voters will consider a referendum that would require the city’s hotels to house homeless people next to paying guests. The American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) is rightfully worried about such a cockamamie plan, and the organization released a survey this week that polled 2,200 Americans on whether they would stay in a hotel where homeless people were housed next to paying guests. The result: 72% of respondents said they would not stay at Los Angeles hotels if that policy took effect, while 71% said they would be deterred from visiting Los Angeles for leisure or vacation and 70% said they would be deterred from attending a business conference in Los Angeles. The homeless crisis is out of control in Los Angeles and the answer should not involve destroying the hotel sector. Kudos to the AHLA for lobbying against this awful idea.
Hit: No Complaint from Portnoy. Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy made real estate history in Massachusetts this week with his $42 million purchase of a Nantucket compound, the highest price paid in the state for residential real estate. Portnoy is something that we don’t see every day: a colorful personality who calls it like he sees it and doesn’t suffer fools lightly (as the Washington Post found out in their bungled attempt to run a hit piece on him). We’d like to wish Portnoy the best for his new home – and, hopefully, he can invite us over some weekend for pizza and watching a football game on television.
Hit: Could You Sell an Old Jail? Now, here is a type of property that rarely turns up in listings: a century-old jailhouse. According to a report in The Hawk Eye, the former Louisa County Jail in Wapello, Iowa, has been empty for eight years, and a public hearing is scheduled for Nov. 8 the county board of supervisors to consider a possible sale. The county tried to sell the jail in 2014, but at the time no one was interested. Today, at least two parties expressed interest – a couple that wants to set up a ghost museum and accommodate overnight visitors, and another party who is choosing to remain anonymous for now. The property was listed for $35,000 in 2014 and it is uncertain what is being planned for today’s asking price. Here is a question for our real estate professionals reading this: How would you go about marketing this property? And as you can see in the photo at the top of this article, the property isn’t exactly Riker’s Island – but at the same time, it’s not exactly a cozy Iowa B&B either.
Phil Hall is editor of Weekly Real Estate News. He can be reached at [email protected].
Cover photo by Jimmy Emerson, DVM / Flickr Creative Commons
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