A report from the Globe and Mail. “About 500 investors, many from South Florida’s Venezuelan American community, were taken in by Efrain Betancourt Jr.’s sales pitch of high-interest returns on their investments in his short-term loan operation Sky Group USA. Mr. Betancourt spent a portion of the US$66-million raised from promissory notes on a lavish lifestyle that included a Miami waterfront condo and a wedding to his fourth wife in Monaco, the SEC complaint charges. It also accuses him of transferring money to his ex-wife and friends and of using at least US$19-million from a Ponzi-style scheme to make interest payments to some investors to keep them at bay.”
“Mr. Diaz’s client, Andres Zorrilla, told the newspaper he became suspicious when Mr. Betancourt wouldn’t take his calls and ignored his e-mails when he tried to withdraw US$30,000. ‘The guy was just stealing money, said Mr. Zorilla, 38, who added that he also referred his wife, her brother and several other business associates to Mr. Betancourt’s company. All together, Mr. Zorrilla and his immediate family invested US$150,000 in the company. They received some interest payments, but lost all of their principal. ‘He made a lot of money and went a little crazy with the money,’ Mr. Zorrilla said.”
The Los Angeles Times in California. “After a half-decade of criminal charges and court battles, the half-finished mega-mansion of developer Mohamed Hadid has sold at auction for $5 million. Next, it will be destroyed. The company tied to Hadid was eventually forced to put it on the market for $8.5 million. With no takers, the price was eventually lowered to $5.5 million before it was auctioned off.”
“Records show the buyer is Sahara Construction Co. Proceeds from the sale were originally supposed to fund the property’s demolition, but because the winning bid came in short of the listing price, Sahara agreed to foot the bill.”
From My South Texas. “Houston-based Commercial Real Estate Firm McLeod Sears, who has also developed the old Kmart area in Portland, is looking at 44 acres of vacant retail property at the northeast corner of U.S. 181 near Walmart. Portland resident Antonio Chia spoke during the public hearing and said, ‘I recently bought a home about three years ago and I’m very, very happy where I’m at and I know Portland is growing and I love it. But the people that live here have noticed a big problem, especially on the exit coming out of Walmart and putting more traffic lights like the images show will just cause more of a bottleneck. And flooding is a problem in that area. A few years ago, we had a tremendous amount of rain and everything flooded, so that’s a major issue.’”
“He also said that with more retail stores come more shoplifters and more foot traffic to the area which may lead to more break-ins to the homes already in the area. ‘I don’t know much about property value, but with all that noise and business coming, who’s going to want to buy my home later on if I try to move. Who’s going to want to put up with all that noise?’”
From Mortgage Professional America. “Searching for resources to avoid foreclosure against a backdrop of pandemic can be a daunting and humbling task for a typical homeowner. Now, enter the aptly named Cakeforms software to make the process a little sweeter. The Cakeforms Automated Underwriter for Mortgage Assistance is designed to let vulnerable homeowners know immediately if they are pre-approved for the new COVID-19 mortgage recovery programs created by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and FHA.”
“There are still more than one million – some 2.7 million at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic – locked into forebearance agreements, a temporary program that put a stop to mortgage payments to allow people to recover economically from the corrosive economic effects of the pandemic. But those programs are about to end for many.”
“‘Their lender can only pause the foreclosure and those payments for so long, and usually that period of time is between 12 to 18 months, max,’ Cakeforms CEO Allan Robinson told Mortgage Professional America. ‘Once the forbearance nears expiration, something has to be done. Either the lender forecloses, or the homeowner is transitioned into a long-term, loss mitigation option.’”
“Sadly, not all will weather the storm – with or without his software: ‘When they declared the COVID emergency on March 01, 2020, you had to be less than 60 days delinquent. So, you could only have missed one payment or you didn’t qualify for the program,’ Robinson explained. ‘So there’s going to be lots of people that fall through the cracks, basically.’”
From AFP on China. “Shares in embattled Chinese property giant Evergrande tumbled 10 percent in Thursday morning trade in Hong Kong, after a report the group had failed to meet two more offshore payments. Both payments, dollar-bond coupon payments worth a combined $250 million, have a 30-day grace period. Earlier struggles to pay suppliers and contractors due to the debt crisis led to sustained protests from homebuyers and investors at the group’s Shenzhen headquarters in September.”
From News.com.au. “It has been a year from hell for Chinese property juggernaut Evergrande, with its billionaire founder losing a staggering $US17.2 billion as the firm nears collapse. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Chinese real estate tycoons lost $US46 billion this year. ‘If any investor still had hopes then that Evergrande was too big to fail, those are far gone now,’ Bloomberg’s Venus Feng wrote, noting the developer’s ‘debt and shares are trading near record lows.’”
“It comes as Chinese creditors have sued Evergrande for more than $US13 billion in allegedly overdue payments, the Financial Times reports. According to documents seen by the publication, a Chinese court has accepted a whopping 367 cases against Evergrande. Insiders claiming it is one of the biggest indicators yet that local creditors have lost confidence in the firm’s ability to handle the ongoing crisis.”
“IG markets analyst Kyle Rodda told news.com.au it had been a horror year for the property juggernaut. ‘Basically, as we’ve been expecting, the company is going through a controlled collapse, and it’s technically defaulting on its debt now,’ he said. ‘Via various channels, many of which are a little opaque, the company has been able to meet some of its obligations, and isn’t completely illiquid yet. But the writing appears on the wall.’”
“Mr Rodda predicted moving forward, there would be a co-ordination by Chinese authorities to ‘sell-off the company’s good assets, pay back bond holders with quite a hair cut, and ensure that incomplete projects are largely finished’ to avoid putting too much stress on the property market.”