Sunday, May 31, 2020
Stock Market Rebound Put to Test Again With Street Unrest Raging - Yahoo Finance
(Bloomberg) -- An equity market bounce that has weathered a pandemic, shut-down economies and tens of millions of lost jobs now must navigate spiraling civic unrest with the potential to exacerbate all of it.
American stocks enter June more than two-thirds of the way back from a rout that erased $12 trillion from share values, thanks to a 36% rally since March that has defied every bearish prognostication. An astonishing display of resilience, the rally has pushed S&P 500 valuations to the highest in 20 years as it spread to industries like banks and airlines.
Along with central bank support, prospects of a speedy reopening to the U.S. economy and the avoidance of a second virus wave fueled the comeback, by some measures the fastest of its kind ever recorded. Those hopes are being tested by violence in dozens of cities following the death of George Floyd, the black Minneapolis man killed by police last week.
After falling as much as 1.1% earlier, futures on the S&P 500 pared the decline to 0.2% as of 9:21 a.m. in Tokyo, while contracts on the Nasdaq 100 fell 0.3%. Stocks gained 4.5% in May, buoyed by signs the economy is stirring.
“Given everything that happened over the weekend, that’s a pretty bullish open,” said Max Gokhman, Pacific Life’s head of asset allocation. “We’ve had riots that forced many major cities to impose curfews and send in National Guard. We can reasonably expect that this won’t help the coronavirus curve bend in the right direction just as we seemed to have gotten momentum in our favor.”
Peter Tchir, the head of macro strategy for Academy Securities, whose bullish pronouncements have borne out amid the rebound, said he was “at a loss for words” when considering the scope of anguish gripping the country.
“I’ve expressed concern that shuttering businesses could lead to social unrest, but the ongoing protesting has nothing to do with that,” Tchir wrote in a note Sunday. “How long will they last? Will escalation occur? Will something good come out of it that changes the underlying issues that seem to have caused it? I don’t know what the impact for the economy and markets will be.”
Several companies whose businesses have held up during the pandemic announced steps to cope with the virus. Amazon.com Inc. will curtail deliveries and shut down stations in Chicago, Los Angeles and Portland. Apple Inc. kept some stores closed, citing employee health and safety concerns. Chicago is considering a delay in starting to relax restrictions after weekend protests caused damage.
At the same time, scenes of chaos in dozens of U.S. streets were broadcast alongside data showing a continued flattening in the outbreak’s curve. Deaths in New York dropped on Sunday to 56, the lowest since the outbreak’s peak. U.S. cases increased 1.1% from the same time Saturday, to 1.78 million, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University and Bloomberg News. The national increase was below the average daily increase of 1.3% over the past week, and the lowest since May 26.
“We’re not sure how much of an immediate impact it will have on the economy or the markets,” said Matt Maley, chief market strategist for Miller Tabak. “As we saw in the 1960s, social unrest does not always have a negative impact.” However, it could easily have an impact on the election, he said. “We should all watch these developments closely going forward.”
President Donald Trump leads Joe Biden 51% to 44% in the so-called “red states” he won in 2016, according to an ABC News/Washington Post survey released on Sunday. Biden had a wide, 65% to 32% lead in the states won by Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016.
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Stock Market Today: Dow, S&P Live Updates for June 1, 2020 - Bloomberg
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How much of the bear market losses have been recovered? - Fortune
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Winner and Loser of the week in Florida politics — Week of May 24 - Florida Politics
We devote this particular space to choosing the winners and losers of the week in Florida politics. And we’ll get to that in a moment because on that front there actually was some good news.
Actually, on Saturday there was extraordinary news (spoiler alert in T-minus: 10-9-8 …)
But we also know what else is going on, and it’s far from good.
Just when we all thought COVID-19 might be leveling out, with people headed back to work and the stock market trending in the right direction, rage erupted across the land.
It shows no signs of stopping, and we know why, too.
The death of George Floyd at the hands — well, knee — of Minneapolis police led to riots, fires, and destruction across the land. That former cop was arrested Friday and charged with murder, but the destruction in multiple cities continues, and it’s outrageous.
That’s not an acceptable way to protest, and there’s no “but” about that.
I mean, rioters trashed downtown Atlanta, where the civil rights movement started. The College Football Hall of Fame there was smashed and looted. That’s outrageous, and, even worse, it obscures what the protest is about.
Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody and the Florida Sheriff’s Association properly condemned the actions of the Minnesota cops, and we all should.
Coming on the heels of the murder of Ahmed Aubrey in Georgia and other incidents of blacks being attacked for being black, this demands a long-overdue reckoning coming about the kind of nation in which we want to live.
This garbage with targeting blacks has to stop, but so does the rioting and looting.
Winners
Normally, we choose three winners and three losers, but this week we’ll make it four winners and two losers. That’s how we roll here sometimes but just deal with it.
Second honorable mention: Gov. Ron DeSantis. The Governor is feeling feisty these days as Florida methodically reopens, but we can understand why. Seize the moment. He took a pounding in the media for what many believed was a too aggressive plan, but about a month into this, things are working as well as can be hoped.
Theme parks have plans to reopen, and behavior on the beaches seems relatively tame. Universities are planning in-person classes this fall. And professional sports are mapping out plans to resume play.
He has turned this into a victory tour of sorts, but we probably shouldn’t begrudge him that.
That is, at least as long as the virus that caused all this havoc doesn’t decide to be a pain again.
First honorable mention: Val Demmings. She appears to be on a shortlist of possible Vice President choices for Joe Biden. Her profile has been steadily rising in recent months and, oh yeah, she comes from a state with 29 electoral votes and a history of close presidential races. Choosing her might just be enough to tip Florida into the blue column in November, and that’s what it’s all about for Democrats.
Almost (but not quite) biggest winner: A gaggle of Florida GOP lawmakers. What, you say? We’re talking about the 2024 election already? Can’t we get through this one first?
I guess not because Rick Scott and Matt Gaetz aren’t waiting, and we shouldn’t be surprised. Scott is throwing sharp elbows about what he calls the failure of Democratic governors throughout the country. He also has a well-oiled organization that is setting him up for a national run, and it’s looking increasingly likely that he has that in mind.
Gaetz, meanwhile, jumped on the Twitter controversy with President Donald Trump. He filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission against Twitter, and then doubled down on the specifics of that in his new “Hot Takes with Matt Gaetz” podcast.
And we can’t forget Wilton Simpson. The incoming Senate President didn’t see eye-to-eye with fellow Republican Tom Lee, and everyone knew that. On. Friday, Lee formally announced his resignation from the Senate, effective in November.
Simpson quickly endorsed Danny Burgess to succeed Lee, and that should lower Simpson’s blood pressure and make for a better working environment.
But there can only be one outright winner, and this week it’s easy.
The Biggest Winner: SpaceX. If there wasn’t a lump in your throat when the Falcon 9 rocket lifted off right on time Saturday from Launch Pad 39-A at Cape Canaveral, then you need to get out more. It was the start of a new era in space travel for the United States, and that’s beyond awesome.
Astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken became the first Americans launched into space from the U.S. since 2011. And, considering what’s going on in the country today, we needed this.
Oh man, did we need this. It opens up a universe of possibilities for future space exploration, and we need that too.
And that’s called winning.
Losers
Dishonorable mention: Margaret Good. She’s back in the wrong part of this “winner-loser” thing for the second time in recent weeks. The Sarasota Democrat is trying to unseat Republican incumbent Vern Buchanan in Florida’s 16th Congressional District, but her campaign stepped in it when it retweeted a video that mentioned Good.
The problem is that it showed footage of Good over the Nikki Minaj track “Yikes.”
Yikes, indeed,
The lyrics include just about any racist remark you can think of, and even insults the memory of Rosa Parks.
What were they thinking?
Or, not thinking?
The biggest loser: China. It’s game-on in the big chill between the U.S. and China, and Florida lawmakers are getting in their punches. It sounds like they’re just getting warmed up, too.
Scott opined on the Fox Business Network that “every citizen of Communist China by law has to spy on behalf of their country.”
Scott labeled this the “new Cold War.”
Marco Rubio took his shot as well.
He demanded that Florida divest itself of investments in China that help fund the state pension program.
U.S. Rep. Michael Waltz, a former Green Beret who represents Florida’s 6th District, co-signed a letter with Rubio that read in part, “Florida’s hardworking civil servants may not suspect that their publicly administered or managed retirement account invests in firms owned or controlled by the Government of China or the CCP (Chinese Communist Party).”
Brrrrrrrr.
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Winner and Loser of the week in Florida politics — Week of May 24 - Florida Politics
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Will the Spokane housing market weather the storm? Homebuying during the pandemic remains competitive and continues to favor the seller - The Spokesman-Review
Beth and Larry Belcher found the perfect home in Spokane, but it wasn’t easy.
The Belchers, who sold their home in California in October, were drawn to Spokane because of friends in the area and Larry had been stationed at Fairchild Air Force Base several years ago.
The couple was aware of Spokane’s housing market dynamics: low inventory, rising prices and high demand. But they didn’t expect to overcome an additional hurdle of searching for a home during a pandemic.
The couple looked at nearly 100 properties via virtual tours and in-person before closing on a home this month.
“Looking for homes during COVID-19 was a little more difficult, but it helped to have sellers who were receptive,” said Beth Belcher, adding the seller allowed them to tour the home, one person at a time, wearing a mask, gloves and booties. “The home we found is in an incredible area and it’s everything we wanted.”
The Belchers are among several homebuyers who had to adjust to the “new normal” of the real estate market brought on by COVID-19, which hit at the peak of the spring homebuying season.
But the new normal may not be that much different than the old normal, some local market observers say. They believe the Spokane area will continue to attract buyers, such as retirees and teleworkers, looking to escape larger metros in search of affordability and quality of life – now and post-pandemic.
The statewide stay-at-home order, which went into effect in March, placed limitations on how Realtors can conduct business during the pandemic, forcing them to sell homes through virtual tours and close deals electronically.
Nationwide, the housing market had significant momentum entering 2020, but COVID-19 affected buyer and seller willingness to moves toward sales because of social distancing concerns and economic uncertainty, according to Realtor.com.
In the Spokane market, real estate agents are seeing a higher rate of contracts failing to close, mostly attributable to financial instability among buyers, some of whom were laid off from their jobs or are concerned they will be during escrow, said Ken Sax, designated broker at Keller Williams Realty.
And there are some sellers who didn’t want to move out of their homes after closing on a sale because they didn’t feel safe doing so during the stay-at-home order, Sax said.
However, Spokane’s housing market has shown little signs of slowing during the pandemic.
“It’s still a very strong sellers market and some are saying ‘I am going to wait to sell,’ ” said Sax said, referring to the real estate market during the stay-at-home order. “But for sellers putting houses on the market – assuming it’s priced competitively – we are seeing multiple offers.”
Spokane’s median home price rose 9.9% to $280,091 in April, compared with $254,950 in April 2019, according to the Spokane Association of Realtors. More than 508 single-family homes and condos on less than 1 acre sold in April, compared to 575 homes in April 2019.
The county had a 1.2-month supply of available homes on the market in April. A healthy housing market usually contains a six-month supply.
April’s housing market reflects sales that went under contract in March and because there’s a 30- to 60-day backlog of sales, it’s likely that housing market statistics in May and June could post more dramatic declines, said Rob Higgins, executive officer for the Spokane Association of Realtors.
Higgins anticipates a reduction in the number of sales, but home prices will remain relatively stable throughout the year, primarily fueled by low inventory and high demand for homes in the low- to mid-price ranges.
Nationally, home prices are projected to decline slightly by the end of 2020. Buyer demand is expected to seesaw throughout the year and low inventory will persist, according to Realtor.com.
While mortgage rates are favorable, qualifying criteria will be tougher than in recent years as lenders seek to protect against risks amid economic uncertainty. Some lenders are requiring larger down payments in addition to higher credit scores, said James Young, director of the Washington Center for Real Estate Research at the University of Washington.
“Lenders are doing what they need to do,” Young said. “They want to see the payments coming in and they want their expected return.”
That scenario puts first-time homebuyers in a predicament because they will continue to compete with cash buyers, such as retirees selling their homes in higher-priced markets and using the equity to purchase a home in a more affordable area like Spokane, Young said.
“This was happening before the pandemic. I think the pandemic will speed it up temporarily,” said Young, adding it will be a big trend in the real estate market this year. “They can buy a home, pay cash and have $200,000 left over to buy an investment property.”
First-time homebuyers may fare better by purchasing fixer-upper homes and completing repairs over time, Young said.
Another trend to watch in the real estate market, Young said, will involve people previously on the fence about moving from larger cities before COVID-19 who will now be definite in their choice to relocate.
Part of that is the shift to telecommuting and a desire to live in an area with less density, a condition precipitated by COVID-19, he said.
“In the next three to six months, that’s going to be very big driving factor in secondary markets in this region,” Young said.
Higgins agrees telecommuting will continue to draw interest from out-of-area residents.
“I think the future looks bright as far as Spokane real estate, and part of that equation is working remotely,” he said. “That was happening regardless and with COVID-19, it’s been an accelerator to that and we are going to see that happening much more rapidly.”
Although the nation has experienced unemployment levels exceeding that of the Great Recession, Spokane has a diversified mix of industries that could lessen the economic impact from the coronavirus pandemic, Young said.
The Amazon fulfillment center is slated to open this year on the West Plains, bringing more than 2,000 jobs to the area. Spokane also is strategically placed with decent transportation networks to spur business growth, Young said.
Sax echoed that Spokane may be better poised to sustain coronavirus-related impact and said he doesn’t anticipate any huge swings this year in housing market dynamics.
“I feel like Spokane is going to come out of this situation very well,” he said. “I attribute it to new infrastructure and businesses, such as Amazon and our average sales price is a lot less than other major metro areas.”
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Real time power market to go live on Sunday night, delivery at midnight - Economic Times
The RTM enables consumers, including distribution companies (discoms) and captive users, to buy power on exchanges just an hour before delivery.
"IEX is all set to launch RTM today evening. The first RTM trading session will be held at 10.45 PM on 31 May 2020 with delivery at 0000 Hrs on 1 June 2020 (Sunday midnight)," Shruti Bhatia, Head - Corporate Communications and CSR of IEX, told PTI.
She said the market will feature 48 auction windows of half-an-hour each during the day, with delivery of power within one hour of trading (session close).
Currently, consumers, including discoms and captive users, can buy power a day prior in the Day Ahead Market (DAM) on the power exchanges where trading is done for two hours daily from 10 am to 12 noon.
The main purpose of introducing a real time power market is to deal with renewables interference and better portfolio management by power generation companies (gencos), discoms and other consumers.
With more and more renewable energy capacity being added to power grids, there would be need for sudden ramp-up and downsizing of supply.
Consumers can plan their energy supplies in a better way and gencos would be able to increase or decrease their output accordingly using the RTM facility.
RTM will optimise generation resources and facilitate generators and discoms to sell surplus power efficiently with next day payment cycle, Bhatia added.
Apart from IEX, Power Exchange of India Ltd (PXIL) has also planned to launch RTM on its platform from June 1.
At present there are two power exchanges in India -- IEX and PXIL.
The commencement of the new market segment is in line with power regulator CERC's commitment to deepen the power market and offer new and innovative products to further the efficiency and savings for the market participants, Bhatia added.
Earlier in March, the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) had decided to defer the implementation of real time power market till June 1 amid the coronavirus outbreak.
Initially, RTM was scheduled to start from April 1 this year. The government had imposed the coronavirus lockdown from March 25.
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Jim Fossel: Gov. Mills has most to lose in COVID politics - Press Herald
As Maine, along with the rest of the country, begins to slowly edge in to summer, we’re also beginning to slowly reopen our economy – despite the ongoing pandemic.
When she announced her reopening plan in late April, Gov. Mills originally envisioned keeping all of the state on roughly the same schedule. She quickly re-evaluated that approach, though, and decided to allow restaurants and retail establishments in less-affected rural counties to reopen earlier. Right now, that seems like the right call from both a political and a policy perspective: Most of the state doesn’t have community spread of the disease, and many counties have only a handful of cases.
Hopefully, Mills’ approach works, allowing Maine to gradually and safely resume economic activity.
If it doesn’t work out, the situation could become very complicated very quickly, not only for the state’s economy and public health but for its politics as well. Most of the political pressure on Mills has been to reopen more quickly, since Maine hasn’t been overwhelmed by the disease thus far. There haven’t been many people urging her to slow down her reopening plans from either side of the aisle: Her fellow Democrats have largely gone along with her, while both Republican legislators and conservative activists have pushed for a faster reopening.
That means that if her plan falters and Maine does see a resurgence following a reopening, Mills might take the blame for it, but it will be hard for many of her fellow politicians to attack her for it. In states with Republican governors who are listening to Trump’s advocacy for a quicker reopening, the political blowback is sure to fall squarely on the Republican Party, but that’s not the case here. While Mills might not be in the far left wing of her party, she’s hardly one to kowtow to President Trump. Regardless of where they align politically, no Democratic governor in the country is going to change their plans based solely on Trump’s advocacy.
If Maine reopens too quickly, it might not have much of an impact on this year’s elections at all. While voters might blame Mills for making the wrong decisions, she’s not going to be on the ballot, and the rest of the races are pretty much set. We already know who all of the major-party candidates will be in the primaries, and while candidates unaffiliated with a party don’t have to turn their signatures in until Monday, it’s far too late for anyone to be launching a new campaign. Some of those independents who make the ballot for legislative races could make an issue of it, but there aren’t likely to be many of them.
Where a failed reopening would have a greater political impact is on Mills’ re-election prospects in 2022. That race has already been upended by the pandemic, as Mills – like Trump – will almost certainly not be running for re-election on the basis of a booming economy. Before the pandemic, Trump frequently liked to take credit for the country’s economic prosperity. Now he won’t have that as a fallback position, making his already narrow path to a second term much more challenging.
Mills, similarly, was probably hoping that even if there were an economic downturn, it would happen sooner rather than later and be relatively short and mild, allowing the state to recover well before 2022. If that had been the case, or if there hadn’t been a recession at all, she could have run on her record of enacting a progressive agenda without hurting the economy. Now she faces the prospect of guiding the state through difficult economic times that will force her to re-think her budgeting priorities and possibly her whole approach to governing.
She’s sure to face criticism over spending and the economy from her eventual Republican opponent, no matter who that is. If there’s a resurgence of the disease, though, that might encourage the entry of an independent candidate who could not only criticize her for reopening the state too quickly, but also criticize both parties for mismanaging the crisis. All over the country, the pandemic and resulting economic downturn will have significant political impacts, but in a state as independent-minded as Maine, those impacts could be unpredictable indeed. Regardless of whether Maine recovers quickly from the pandemic and the recession, it’s sure to have lasting impacts on our politics for years to come that we can barely begin to fathom.
Jim Fossel, a conservative activist from Gardiner, worked for Sen. Susan Collins.
He can be contacted at: [email protected]
Twitter: @jimfossel
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Saturday, May 30, 2020
Short-term rental market faces consolidation as start-ups and small landlords offload properties - CNBC
Sonya Carp and her husband own two short-term rental properties in Florida, and they have decided to list one for sale as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
Courtesy of Sonya Carp
Consolidation is hitting the market for short-term home rentals as the coronavirus pandemic has curtailed travel dramatically this year.
Small landlords and venture-backed companies that collected properties to rent out as short-term vacation rentals are offloading them in an effort to cut their losses. Meanwhile, large property owners and managers are seeing opportunities to expand as desperate sellers and landlords seek new business.
These deals come as the coronavirus pandemic and the shelter-in-place orders that followed have devastated the travel industry. The U.S. travel economy has lost more than $195 billion since the start of March as a result of Covid-19, according to a Thursday report from the U.S. Travel Association.
Although numerous states are starting to re-open their economies, the damage has already been done for many of these businesses that rely on a steady flow of travelers from Airbnb and other short-term rental sites to pay their monthly mortgages and leases.
Although Airbnb does not own or manage properties, the coronavirus pandemic has taken its toll on the company as well. Airbnb raised $2 billion in new debt funding at a valuation of $18 billion and announced major cost-cutting initiatives, including plans to lay off 25% of its staff, or nearly 1,900 employees. Airbnb competitor TripAdvisor has also undergone layoffs as a result of the coronavirus.
Nonetheless, the company remains optimistic as travel slowly begins to return.
"There are more hosts on Airbnb today than there were on January 1, and the vast majority of Airbnb hosts have only one listing," a spokesman for Airbnb said in a statement. "We have announced our industry standard-setting Enhanced Cleaning Initiative and are seeing demand and bookings for shorter trips continue to increase."
Who's bailing?
Many venture capital-funded apartment rental companies have endured layoffs, lost properties or seen their valuations cut since the coronavirus pandemic hit. These companies typically rely on master leases to secure numerous units from apartment buildings. They pay landlords set leases for those properties and capture the difference they earn from guests who book the units for short-term stays.
For example:
- Stay Alfred, based in Washington state, announced on May 21 that it will shut down. The company had raised $62 million in funding, according to Crunchbase.
- Zeus Living, which counts Airbnb as an investor, raised $15 million in equity and debt in May at a valuation of $110 million, according to Short Term Rentalz -- a down-round that cut its previous valuation of $205 million nearly in half.
- Lyric, also partially-backed by Airbnb, has gone through multiple rounds of layoffs and had to get rid of units in its portfolio, according to The Real Deal.
- Sonder, based in San Francisco, laid off or furloughed more than 400 employees, according to The Information. Sonder also decided to offboard numerous units after reviewing its portfolio in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, a source familiar told CNBC.
Individual landlords are also feeling the pinch.
Lynn Prehm has been in the short-term rental business for six years, renting her properties in Cave Creek, Arizona, and La Porte, Indiana. After the coronavirus hit in March, Prehm said she lost most of her bookings. That made things particularly difficult for the Indiana property, which gets most of its business in the summer.
Facing uncertainty as to when the vacation market would resume, and with looming mortgage, utilities and maintenance payments, Prehm and her husband decided to put the property up for sale. The home was sold within a week, along with the furniture Prehm used to house guests. Though the sale was quick, Prehm and her husband lost money on the sale.
"We put a lot of work into making it perfect," Prehm said. "To walk away and not make anything, it's devastating, but at some point you have to be happy that you're walking away and not losing a ton."
In Vero Beach, Florida, Sonya Carp decided to sell one of the two properties she uses for short-term rentals after the state temporarily banned them during the coronavirus crisis. (That ban was finally lifted last week.)
Ideally, they will sell the property to someone who is interested in doing short-term rentals, Carp said, then apply the money to their own home.
"Someone who wants to do short-term rentals and doesn't want to have to lift a finger and just be able to go ahead and start booking people," she said.
Who's doubling down?
The downturn has presented an opportunity for others in the market.
Vector Travel, which provides services for short-term rental owners, has expanded during the economic downturn, said CEO Mickey Kropf.
The company operates with a revenue share business model. Instead of owning units and leasing them out directly, it provides services to landlords who want to do short-term rentals: Vector furnishes the properties, handles marketing and takes care of guest communications in exchange for 25% of revenue from bookings. The property owners keep the rest.
"It hit me that this was going to be a massive problem for the other operators with a different business model who had leased their inventory," Kropf said. "I knew that was going to create a lot of problems and test their balance sheet."
Vector Travel survived April by pivoting toward a focus on mid-term rentals. Prior to the coronavirus, the company capped stays at 29 nights, but now, Vector Travel is allowing guests to book properties for up to 90 nights. The company also received support from multiple federal government relief programs, Kropf said.
The company was able to expand by reaching out to property owners who have been struggling to find tenants, Kropf said. This includes running Google ads targeting landlords as well as reaching out to landlords near college campus.
Prior to the coronavirus, Vector Travel managed hundreds of units, Kropf said. Vector Travel expanded its portfolio by 10% in May, and Kropf predicts the company will double if not triple its portfolio in 2020.
"First it was frankly survival mode," Kropf said. "But parallel processing with that, we tried to identify where we could expand and grow."
FrontDesk, a short-term rental company is Milwaukee, Wisconsin, has added more properties to its portfolio since the coronavirus brought a halt to the travel industry.
Courtesy of FrontDesk
In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, FrontDesk has also capitalized on the downturn in the short-term rental market.
FrontDesk has been around since 2017, and it leases or manages approximately 500 units across 28 markets, said Jesse DePinto, co-founder of FrontDesk. The majority of those units are on master leases, but the rest are revenue share units. All new units that FrontDesk acquires are under revenue share agreements, DePinto said.
Although the company laid off 35 employees in April, or about 16% of its workforce, it was also able to raise a $6.8 million funding round, DePinto said.
DePinto said FrontDesk has been able to weather the coronavirus due to its focus on maintaining operational profitability throughout its existence, meaning that the company ensures each individual market remains profitable. The profits from those markets are then reinvested into the company in the form of new furniture which the company buys for the units.
That focus on operational profitability and its timely funding round has allowed FrontDesk to expand its portfolio. This month, the company acquired 18 units in Pittsburgh that had previously been a part of Stay Alfred's portfolio, DePinto said. It acquired an additional four units in St. Petersburg, Florida, from a property management company.
Ours "peers followed the traditional Silicon Valley scaling and growth-at-all costs playbook. We followed a more sustainable approach toward growth," DePinto said. "We're a Midwest-based startup. We just see the world a little differently than our peers on the coasts do."
As the coronavirus shakes up the market and some companies offload properties while others expand, DePinto said he remains bullish on short-term rentals and he expects more change.
"We're still coming out of the eye of the storm. It's still very early into this," DePinto said. "We're starting to see the deck being reshuffled right now. It's only begun."
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Emporia Farmer's Market begins 38th outdoor market season Saturday - KVOE
Downtown Emporia was bustling Saturday morning thanks to the kickoff of the 2020 outdoor season for the Emporia Farmer's Market.
Local vendors and residents alike filled the parking lot at 7th and Merchant for an event that saw some vendors sell out of their products within the first 30 minutes of the market's opening. Farmer's Market Director Jessica Hopkins says large and sudden turnout was a welcomed surprise.
Hopkins attributes the steady turnout to a combination of great weather and the significant community push over the past few months to support local businesses.
Hopkins says the market has implemented some preventive measures given the COVID-19 pandemic including encouraging social distancing of six feet or more in lines and providing all vendors with hand sanitizer at their booths. Shoppers and vendors are also encouraged to wear masks and use small bills or exact change to limit the potential for disease spread through contact.
The outdoor market season will not be limited just to the Emporia community as Hopkins tells KVOE News, weekly markets will be taking place five times a week in four different communities.
This includes the Saturday markets at 7th and Merchant in Emporia from 8:30 am to 10:30 am as well as markets on Mondays in Olpe from 5 pm to 6:30 pm, Wednesdays in Emporia from 5 pm to 6:30 pm, Thursdays in Allen from 5 pm to 6:30 pm and Fridays in Americus from 5 pm to 6:30 pm.
For more information contact the Emporia Farmer's Market by calling 343-6555.
Photos by Tagan Trahoon/KVOE News
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Emporia Farmer's Market begins 38th outdoor market season Saturday - KVOE
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