A report from Boston.com in Massachusetts. “The median sales prices for single-family homes and condominiums in Greater Boston broke records for July but were less than what buyers paid in June, according to the Greater Boston Association of Realtors. ‘What we are experiencing at the moment is not a price correction, but rather a softening in prices,’ said Jared Wilk, the association’s president. ‘With the prime selling season behind us, we’re seeing fewer bidding wars, more offers under asking price, and homes that are taking longer to sell. As a result, sellers have become more flexible, with some agreeing to price reductions in order to sell.’”
From the Oklahoman. “Homes for sale are pouring onto the market compared with the trickle of recent months, and the increase in supply was enough to move OKC-area July home prices down slightly year over year and somewhat more month to month, Realtors reported. ‘I don’t see a price downtrend, simply overpricing occurrences and reality hitting. We aren’t in the season of 16+% (interest rates) any longer, which is good,’ said Jennifer Arsenault, managing broker at Flotilla Real Estate Partners in OKC. In OKC and its suburbs, July ended with 4,033 homes listed for sale with Realtors, a jump of 55.4% compared with July 2023. The increase in supply caused a relative decrease in demand, as it does, softening sales prices.”
“‘Sellers are starting to have to do more concessions and repairs to get deals to close, and buyers are much more cautious and prone to cancel contracts for less significant issues than we’ve seen the last four years. I think this is normal,’ said Kacie Kinney, an agent with Keller Williams Elite in Yukon. She added, ‘Nobody is moving because they feel like it. They either need the money out of the house or life circumstances necessitate it. Or both. Emotions are high.’”
The Nevada Appeal. “Home sales across Northern Nevada remain relatively flat due to high interest rates, but median prices continue to creep upward. ‘Twenty-four days is quick for property to get into contract,’ said Robert Bartshe, president of Sierra Nevada Association of Realtors. ‘Properties that are in good condition and are priced right go into contract quickly. Sellers who are priced a little bit high, those properties tend to sit, and that’s why we’re seeing more price reductions across the marketplace than we have in the last couple of years. With inventory on the rise, buyers have more options, so they’re taking a little bit more time to choose a property to make an offer on,’ he added.”
KTVU in California. “The median sale price of homes actually dropped in some Bay Area counties compared to last year. While the Bay Area has always been a ‘hot’ sellers’ market, there are signs that factors like high interest rates, low supply, and the ability to get insurance are impacting sales. Several factors could be contributing to these trends. Interest rates remain high. Insurance issues may also be a factor. According to the California Association of Realtors, nearly 7% of recent real estate transactions statewide fell out of escrow due to insurance problems. For buyers in high-risk wildfire zones, such as Marin and Sonoma counties, the inability to find homeowners insurance may also play a role in these market dynamics.”
Silicon Valley in California. “Claims of unsafe living conditions — including a lack of hot water, heat and air conditioning, along with thefts and poor security — have surfaced through a contentious legal battle over a San Jose housing tower. The allegations — filed in a civil complaint in Santa Clara County Superior Court — stem from delinquent maintenance fees involving a downtown double-tower residential complex at 188 West St. James Street. In April, nine condominium units were auctioned for a head-spinning price of $31,900 to help the homeowner’s association recoup unpaid maintenance fees owed by the site’s developer. PP MB, an affiliate of China-based Z&L Properties, has sued some HOA members living in the tower, seeking to block the final sale of the condos involved in the foreclosure auction.”
“On Aug. 9, some HOA members living in the high-rise filed documents alleging several problems with the western tower, where condo owners are living and condos remained unsold. The eastern tower has never been occupied. The homeowners also claimed the developer failed to secure the building’s lobby doors or garage doors, preventing them from closing properly. ‘There have been many thefts, including theft of bicycles from the bicycle room, packages from the package room, and personal items from residents’ storage areas,’ according to the legal filing. Many doors were installed incorrectly, allowing them to be opened from the outside with ease, the court papers state.”
“The homeowners also asserted that some non-residents have occupied empty condos from time to time. ‘The police have been called to the building many times for security reasons, including thefts, outsiders sleeping in the halls, and outsiders squatting in unoccupied units,’ the homeowners stated in the court filing. The homeowners complained that some of the problems have been ongoing for a considerable time. ‘About 20 to 30 homeowners have complained that they have not had heat, air conditioning, or both for more than two years,’ the residents stated in the court papers.”
From Fox 13. “A group of homeowners from Laurel Meadows, remained outside as the governor spoke about the resources it’ll bring to Floridians. After the governor left, Simona Lela tried to get a word with Sarasota County Commissioner Joe Neunder. Her concerns were not heard. There are a lot of homeowners left with barely a shell of their home, repairs will likely cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. ‘We are devastated. Where do we start? What do we do? All these things to fix your home. This is your biggest investment,’ said Lela.”
“Laura Wallace agreed. ‘We were all peacefully standing out here for hours, just wanted to get some answers. Want to know our county and government would support us. We feel really violated,’ she said. The inside of Wallace’s home has been gutted. ‘We are all trying to clean out our homes, some of us can afford a remediation company but we can’t afford to rebuild. People are walking away from their homes and our beautiful community,’ she said. Her home was the first built in Laurel Meadows 24 years ago. The home that brought her happiness for so long, now leaves her in despair. ‘ Heartbroken, defeated. We need help,’ she said.”
My Northwest in Washington. “Kevin Corbett, the CEO of Plus Investment (USA), waited over eight years for a master-use permit to build a 46-story residential tower near Pike Place Market. But he’s indefinitely paused the construction over the Seattle crime crisis. ‘Unfortunately, I don’t see us going vertical anytime soon with the continued public safety concerns in the neighborhood,’ Corbett told the Puget Sound Business Journal. ‘Open-air drug markets are still visible day and night on Second and Third Avenue. I know the city needs more resources, but I don’t see much new downtown commercial development happening until there is a stronger crackdown on these illegal activities.’”
“Homeless addicts openly buy and use their drug of choice, usually fentanyl but sometimes meth, across the downtown core. Some stand tall, swaying back and forth, stuck in their high. Others have bodies contorted into shapes and positions you didn’t think possible. Others are so blissfully high, they don’t even notice the oozing, festering wounds on their arms or legs. There’s trash everywhere. The smell of urine near on 3rd between Pike and Pine is so pungent you can taste it in the back of your throat. It’s what tourists first experience if they walk to Pike Place Market or take the light rail from the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. Locals don’t want to even walk near the area. Why would they want to live there?”
“Normally, news of such a high-profile project being put on pause would generate media coverage. For this one, not so much. It’s been relegated to business and real estate outlets. Local media, like The Seattle Times, have gone out of their way to not blame the crime crisis for the problems in downtown Seattle.”
From Barron‘s. “There’s too much office space in every city, says Paul Dougherty. That didn’t stop him from buying a pair of Washington, D.C., office buildings in March for $323 million. It’s one of the largest office deals this year. Burdened by a stack of debt, the sellers had written the Market Square office complex down to zero. But it sits on Pennsylvania Avenue between the White House and Capitol, so it is popular with lawyers and lobbyists. Paying half what the sellers paid a dozen years earlier, Dougherty’s firm can now charge competitive rents. ‘We can buy an amazing piece of real estate at 40% of replacement cost,’ says Dougherty.”
“Dougherty’s firm bought Market Square from a joint venture of Blackstone and Pacific Investment Management’s Columbia Property Trust, which had paid $615 million in 2011 for the 750,000-square-foot project. In April, Isaac Hera’s Yellowstone Real Estate Investments bought the Deco-style tower at 1740 Broadway and 56th Street in Manhattan—once known as the MONY building—for $185 million. Blackstone’s EQ Office had paid $600 million in 2014 for the 75-year-old office tower. The Covid pandemic foiled Blackstone’s plans to raise rents after renovating the building. In 2022, it defaulted on its $300 million loan. Andrew Segal of Boxer Property in Houston made his fortune buying older ‘Class B’ buildings and renovating them for smaller tenants. He is staying on the sidelines for now. ‘I still think it’s early,’ Segal says. Suburban buildings could become interesting buys, but he says downtown districts are troubled by big homeless populations.”
The Globe and Mail. “The owner of the boutique Hotel Julie, star of a 2023 Crave television series based in Stratford, Ont., is one of a dozen borrowers facing demands for millions of dollars in unpaid debts amid one of the largest private lending collapses in Canadian history. In recent weeks the couple Jacob Norris Tayler (also known as Jake Tayler or Taylor) and Paula Rae McFarlane have been ordered by Ontario courts to pay back more than $452,000 owed to five different lenders who accepted promissory notes from their real estate investment businesses based in London, Ont.”
“The couple is just one of about a dozen borrowers who are also identified in court documents related to the receivership of The Lion’s Share Group Inc., a promissory note lending business run by former mortgage broker Claire Drage. Ms. Drage was the primary broker of close to $130-million in private mortgage and promissory note loans for the insolvent real estate company controlled by former child actor Robby Clark, who bought more than 400 houses in Ontario.”
“Many real estate investors have turned to promissory notes as a form of short-term loan. But they exist in a grey area of lax oversight and permissive regulations. That makes it difficult for individuals to get their money back if a buyer defaults; unlike a mortgage, a promissory note isn’t registered against a property, so the lender can’t attach a lien to a house and recoup their loan as a proceed of its sale. Harold Geller, a lawyer who focuses on investment losses, has said promissory notes are ‘a guarantee of nothing, of air.’”
BBC News in the UK. “A woman has said she is living in ‘limbo’ because she cannot sell her home due the condition of some roads and sewers in her housing development. Catherine Cooke, who lives in Ivy Mead Mews is Londonderry, said key infrastructure had not been adopted, meaning the roads and sewers are not maintained by statutory bodies. More than 70 homes in the development are affected, BBC News NI understands. ‘The house has been sold four times, it has never gone through and it won’t go through either,’ Catherine told the North West Today programme. ‘It has been a nightmare,’ she added. Fyth Ltd built the homes about 20 years ago.”
“Catherine said pushing to have the sewers adopted was like a ‘ping-pong game.’ ‘The balls are getting fired back and forward. The only people that are suffering are people who have invested their money into these properties, and they are now worthless,’ she added. ‘This house is my retirement, it was a big investment at the time. Now we are ready to downsize, we don’t need a five bedroom house anymore but I am stuck. We have been in limbo land for the last 12 months.’”
The Indian Express. “In 2022, Anita Kundu’s family pooled their retirement funds to buy a flat at Gurgaon’s Chintels Paradiso housing society. The upscale residential complex was in the news earlier that year when two women were killed after a portion of an apartment collapsed on them. ‘We knew of the collapse in Tower D, but we were made to believe that Phase 2 towers (A, B, C, and J) were safe. I even carried out a renovation worth Rs 20 lakh,’ she says. Recently, Tower C, where Kundu stays, was declared unsafe in a report by the Central Building Research Institute (CBRI).”
“‘If the builder knew the material used was corrosive, why would he sell the flats despite an incident? We saved our income and invested in the house. And when it was time to finally start building a life here, this happened,’ says Kundu. For over two years now, buyers of Chintels Paradiso flats have been going through a range of emotions — stress, anger, panic — as one tower after the other was declared unsafe for habitation. Tower C is the seventh tower, out of nine on the premises, to have been declared unsafe.”
“A few years ago, Jasmine Kaur had purchased a flat in the society; this apartment was the same one where she was staying on rent. Last year, she had to move out after her tower — Tower G —was declared unsafe. Kaur said reconstruction does not seem to be in sight. ‘The demolition has been at a standstill for long. We have to pay the price for amending a mistake the builder committed; we are being punished for buying a house,’ she said.”