A report from Red Bank Green. “The three townhomes for sale at Red Bank’s Cedar Crossing affordable housing development seem like a potential godsend for a working-class family. Two of the units, both foreclosures, have sat empty for a half decade with apparently no nibbles. And the third? Well, the owners have listed it for sale but say finding a buyer has so far proven impossible. Lending agencies that typically serve low-income buyers through the New Jersey Mortgage Finance Housing Agency will not issue mortgages for properties at Cedar Crossing. For Nathalia Schmidt-Muller and her husband Michael Muller, it’s left them stuck. They have listed their unit for sale, but no buyers have come forward. ‘It’s bad for us because we want a bigger house,’ said Nathalia Schmidt-Mueler. As many as ten homeowners may had been in arrears for monthly association dues. The failure to pay has left the ten-year-old complex with ‘large debt and no reserve funds (until this year)’ according to minutes from the May meeting of the RBHA.”
From WUFS. “‘I grabbed the mail on my way in, and I opened a letter and a few expletives came out of my mouth, and it was a notice from the insurance provider basically saying that you’re no longer going to be covered,’ said Sarah Haverstick of Bradenton. Just like that. No warning. Haverstick’s home insurance was canceled. ‘Just a few years ago, I was paying around $5,000 a year for my homeowners insurance. It’s now over $15,000 per year,’ Jeffrey Phillips of St. Petersburg said. Maria Lopez wants to stay in Tampa. Her daughter lives next door. She loves her little home, but …’I think it’s a mess,’ she said. ‘When I spoke to friends, is that I have many, many friends that don’t have insurance anymore. And this is not like the very poor people, it’s everybody.’ And it’s not just Maria’s friends. One in five Floridians are now going without home insurance.”
House Digest. “When ‘Fixer Upper’ homebuyers Ken and Kelly Downs married in 2013, they weren’t all that familiar with Waco, Texas. The couple featured in the Season 3 picked a property with a long list of foundation, electrical, and plumbing problems, so Chip and Joanna Gaines extensively remodeled the Craftsman-style home, getting it in working order and giving the exterior a facelift. Although it was dramatically improved by a new front door and antique brick skirt, the front porch still overlooks the Alexander Express Mart. In sharp contrast to the couple’s new linen shades, its shop windows are covered by large posters advertising discount cigarettes and frozen shrimp.”
“‘There’s been a lot of commotion coming from the bars and the store across the street. It’s been a problem from the beginning,’ Kelly complained to the Waco Tribune-Herald after a suspected drunk driver famously crashed into the house while she and Ken were sleeping. ‘We’ve lived here a year and a half and we feel deceived by the city of Waco and Magnolia Realty.’ The unhappy clients no longer live in the home, which is now a highly-rated Airbnb.”
Reason on California. “A pair of two-story, two-unit apartment buildings. A skinny three-story block rising above the single-story homes around it. Rows of two-story complexes going up in the backyard of a low-slung bungalow. These are allegedly examples of ‘monster ADUs’ taking over San Diego since the creation of the city’s ADU Bonus Program. Now the local news outlet OB Rag is collecting reader-submitted images of these new homes as part of its ‘worst ADU’ competition. ‘We thought this was a way for people to be heard,’ says Kate Callen, a reporter at OB Rag, of the contest. ‘A lot of people who have these monster ADUs [next door] feel like collateral damage.’ Callen says the original idea of the humble granny flat has been hijacked by for-profit developers pushing the ADU Bonus Program ‘to the extreme’ and San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria who ‘wants housing on steroids.’ The Worst ADU Contest, she says, is a way of highlighting how the program has ‘gone off the rails.’”
Bisnow Los Angeles in California. “The 44 remaining available condo units at the Shvo-owned Mandarin Oriental Residences Beverly Hills will go up for bulk sale Wednesday after the project’s lender filed a notice of default. ‘The ownership group had arranged financing with JP Morgan but chose instead to work with the lender to market the remaining units in a bulk sale,’ a spokesperson for the ownership group told Bisnow in statement.”
Silicon Valley in California. “An Oakland housing tower lauded as an eye-catching addition to the ciy’s skyline has been seized by its lender due to a delinquent real estate loan for the high-rise. The residential high-rise at 1700 Webster Street in downtown Oakland was seized by its lender through a process known as a ‘deed in lieu of foreclosure,’ according to documents filed on Aug. 28 with the Alameda County Recorder’s Office. The apartment complex’s amenities include a roof deck pool, indoor and outdoor lounge, a lobby with outdoor access, an outdoor terrace with fire pits and grilling stations, a boutique fitness center, outdoor play spaces for pets, and a pet spa. ‘Our rooftop pool and lounges bring people together and our location in downtown Oakland supports an active lifestyle, both within our walls and out around Lake Merritt,’ states the website for the ZO Oakland Apartments.”
The Real Deal. “Two owners of an Oregon-based real estate investment firm stand accused of committing widespread fraud, allegedly bilking lenders and investors out of more than $18 million. Robert Christensen and Anthony Matic are facing 21 counts in a federal indictment unsealed this week, Oregon Live reported. The pair are accused of wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering. While Christensen and Matic said money was going towards buying and renovating undervalued Midwest properties — which would then be rented out — they actually used new investments to pay off earlier investors, the indictment stated. Behind the scenes, the business was ‘underwater’ and in ‘survival mode,’ the indictment stated.”
New York Daily News. “Linda Sun, a former aide to Gov. Kathy Hochul and ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo, has been arrested alongside her husband for working as an agent of China a month and a half after the feds raided their $3.6 million home in Manhasset. Sun, 41, and her husband Chris Hu, 40, were taken into federal custody early Tuesday morning and accused of helping shape state policy in exchange for millions in kickbacks and gifts — including specially cooked salted ducks for her parents. Sun was charged with violating and conspiring to violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act, visa fraud, alien smuggling, and money laundering conspiracy, while her husband was charged with money laundering conspiracy, as well as conspiracy to commit bank fraud and misuse of means of identification.”
“While working in the governor’s office, she blocked representatives of the Taiwanese government from having access to the governor and changed Cuomo and Hochul’s messaging regarding issues important to the Chinese government, the feds allege. The proceeds of her scheme were laundered to pay for her Manhasset home, a $1.9 million condo in Honolulu, and luxury vehicles, including a 2024 Ferrari Roma, the feds allege. In one episode in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, Sun texted a Chinese consulate official, according to the indictment, boasting, ‘I’m still in charge of all Asian affairs. A few weeks (ago) when we released a press release for international travel — I almost had a heart attack when we referred to Taiwan as a country. Thankfully I had the press team correct it immediately.’”
The Hamilton Spectator in Canada. “A longtime Hamilton builder whose stalled developments created a ‘nightmare’ for dozens of homebuyers in Brant County, Haldimand, and beyond, has had his building licence revoked by the Home Construction Regulatory Authority (HCRA). In a notice to revoke, the regulatory authority said Mike Bettiol of Mariman Homes entered into agreements of purchase and sale of 108 homes without proper authorization, ‘among other things.’ In January, lender MarshallZehr put Bettiol into receivership for his Grand York Estates development in Haldimand, leaving around 54 buyers unsure of the state of their purchases. ‘He messed up our life,’ homebuyers from the development told The Spectator earlier in the year. They described the ordeal of closing on their new-build home as ‘nothing short of a nightmare,’ after they were told the sales would not close unless they came to an agreement with Bettiol’s lenders.”
The Globe and Mail. “For the last 10 years, Amélie Brack’s property-management company had no trouble renting out both halves of a duplex near St. Lawrence College in Kingston, one of Canada’s most notable student-dominated cities renowned for its high proportion of out-of-town students. ‘Up until last year, we would get 25 to 50 inquiries per week in August. This year, it’s been crickets. It’s quite a surprise,’ said Ms. Brack. Other rental brokers and property managers in major Canadian university cities are noticing the same downturn. ‘We have noticed a reduction in enquiries. There’s definitely a decline and drops in traffic from other countries,’ said Matisse Yiu, a marketing manager whose Vancouver-based company liv.rent acts as a broker between landlords and students for about 3,500 units primarily in Ontario and B.C. ‘On the landlord side, they’re definitely a little more desperate.’”
“Ms. Brack said it looks as though federal government policies are having the effect that was intended: reducing rent. But it is proving difficult for those who bought properties, intending to rent to students. ‘It’s putting those people who invested years ago into a difficult position.’”
The Mirror in the UK. “One resident of a high-rise block of flats in East London is clinging onto hope that the flammable cladding surrounding their building is going to be removed, but plans keep being postponed. Peter Petropoulos, 45, is the owner of a three-bedroom apartment in the Altius complex in Bow. He bought the fifth-floor flat in 2011 when it was first constructed, at a time when it was deemed safe. He is desperate to sell his apartment but still holds out hope that issues will be resolved. He says his only option is to sell at a cheaper rate to a cash buyer, who would ultimately rent it out. ‘We’re going to make a big loss,’ he explained. ‘I’m losing 7k on service charges each year anyway. Losing on the mortgage. Lose on the money we get back. But it’s the least of my worries, I just want to sell and go as quickly as possible. And most people are like that.’”
From ABC News. “Along a suburban street in Australia’s Top End, Sukhpreet Kaur’s house stands out alongside a row of new project homes. Unlike the others, it sits unfinished, with no roof, windows or doors, having been abandoned 18 months ago by its Darwin builder. Ms Kaur had paid more than $134,000. Then, in May, she was asked to pay a further $62,000. Ever since, her single-income family has been paying a mortgage on their partially-built house, plus rent on a home to live in. Ms Kaur believes her best option, considering the home’s derelict state, may be to knock it down and rebuild. ‘Then we will have to start from scratch,’ she said. ‘I think it will cost me $200,000 more now … to finish this house. It was my dream to have a house in Australia, but it’s been a nightmare.’”
“Jessica and Ryan Fuss have been living a similar nightmare. They signed a contract with Kassiou Constructions in March 2022 and were promised their house would be built by Christmas that year. By April 2023, after several delays, the Fusses received an invoice for 90 per cent completion. ‘We looked around and there was no way [it was 90 per cent completed],’ Jessica said. ‘We still had no ceilings, wires were hanging out, no concrete, no cupboards.’ Jessica and Ryan subsequently chose to engage another builder to complete the home. ‘It’s cost a lot more money … probably close to $200,000,’ Jessica said. The couple are pursuing financial compensation, but the nightmare has also left a psychological toll. ‘The stress – I can’t even begin to tell you,’ Jessica said. ‘It’s been terrible.’”
News.com.au in Australia. “Customers have revealed they are ‘scared’ and ‘distressed’ after claims that tradies threatened their homes would be damaged unless they paid thousands of dollars — just days before a major Victorian builder collapsed. News.com.au broke the news on Monday that construction firm Grandeur Homes had gone bust with 108 projects left in limbo and had previously revealed that some customers were facing a ‘nightmare’ as building on their dream homes had stalled. Gurwinder Singh had signed up to build his home with Grandeur Homes for almost $295,000 in 2022, with building commencing the following year. The Melbourne man’s house is still not finished but he told news.com.au that he has been left ‘really distressed’ after receiving what he claims were threatening phone calls from multiple tradies demanding money be paid just a day before the company’s collapse. ‘The company has shared my personal contact details with the all the trades (and) I was getting threatening calls from the trades who were not paid for their jobs,’ he claimed.”
“While Mr Singh only heard from three of the trades, he described the experiencing as leaving him ‘numb.’ He said the first call he got the tradie initially demanded $10,000. But Mr Singh told him: ‘Look mate I don’t have any money. My family basically is being forced to live in India as I can’t afford $2000 in rent and electricity and gas bills and $2500 in mortgage all at once,’ he added. ‘It’s hard to maintain all expenses and be paying $2500 in mortgage repayments. I’m living in shared accommodation at the moment and trying to keep up with this mortgage.’”
“Another Grandeur Homes’ customer, Pradeep Yallaula, and her partner, said they were also met by two tradies at their house who demanded money from the couple. She claims the couple were told by one tradie that they were owed $10,000, but would accept $4000 and if they didn’t pay up that their home would be ‘vandalised.’ She said the tradies were not aggressive but very firm, while the couple had already paid around $320,000 to Grandeur Homes for their build. ‘I said: ‘This is not going to work, you are a victim and we are victim, you might get your money but slowly – we are in the middle,’ she said.”