Smokin' real estate markets during a recession? Yep. Kwak Bros. look at L.A., Austin, and Charlotte, NC right now

Looking for good info on what real estate is doing these days, in this crazy time period, I ran into the Kwak Brothers videos on YouTube.  I've watched a few now now, and I've become a fan.  They share solid information and good insights, at a time when things are changing fast, and good info is hard to come by.  Here's their look at three cities, ranging from my area in L.A., to the ever popular tech hub of Austin, to mid-Atlantic region metro Charlotte, North Carolina.

The first takeaway I have is... WOW.  We ARE in a textbook depression (10%+ GDP drop in Q2), but L.A. and Austin real estate markets are smokin' hot, and Charlotte is very solid.  Why?  For that answer we need to go to Uncle Powell at The Fed.  They've pumped trillions of newly created dollars into the economy to keep it from imploding since last September.  This took us down the economic rabbit hole.

We have horrific economic problems in places, like 20 million or more people still newly unemployed, more layoffs coming, and tens of millions of people who are struggling to pay their rent or mortgages.  But at the same time, the upper end of the wealth spectrum is awash in money that needs to go into some investments.  Ultimately this is buying time to try to find some fix of the underlying issues, and the several speculative bubbles we have will pop, at some point.  But for right now, lots of people who have good incomes, after 2 or 3 months stuck inside, are charging out to buy homes and investment properties, since interest rates are a bit lower, and there's euphoria in the markets.  There seems to be a Millennial FOMO thing happening, driving some of this.  We are truly in an economic Never Never Land, a place we've never been as a society in the business and investment worlds. And weird shit is happening.  Like rent strikes and overheated real estate markets at the same time.  

Personally, I think these hot markets are short-lived, and we'll see bubbles popping in the next few months.  Looks like Robert Kwak feels the same, particularly about Austin.  Anyhow, some good, and unexpected, real estate info on three major cities, and a feel for where the country is, to some degree.  I recommend checking out other videos on the Kwak Brothers channel, every one I've watched is solid, and well worth the time to watch.

Big Banks set billions aside to deal with bad consumer loans

In this Bloomberg article, "A $35 Billion Bite From U.S. Banks May Be Only The Start," the spin doctors seem like they're trying to make you dizzy.  One one hand, the article explains that major banks have set about $35 billion aside to deal with delinquent loans that may be coming their way.  On the other hand, comes the "everything's fine" spiel you get form mainstream outlets.  Unemployment is up, but "seriously delinquent loans" are down in the last couple months.  Um... yeah, because The Fed has thrown over $3 trillion or of created money into first the repo market, then many other aspects of the economy, in the past 9 months, something never done in history.  At the same time, because of the intense nature of the virus shutdown, banks and lenders have been going to great lengths to offer forbearance and other terms to help the millions of people laid off, with lowered pay, and struggling to pay all kinds of debts. 

This article reminds me a lot of the early rumblings of the subprime mortgage mess in 2008.  We have at least three major forms of debt that have been packaged and sold as investments, very much like the subprime mortgage backed securities and CDO's in 2008.  The three main ones I'm aware of are Student Loan Asset Backed Securities (SLABS), Commercial Lending Obligations (CLO's), and Commercial Mortgage Backed Securities (CMBS).  We'll see where this leads...