A report from Fox 35. “The president of Florida’s Senate has confirmed that no special session will be convened to reconsider condominium safety legislation. ‘For many years, people have elected to kick the can down the road,’ said John Cadden, who runs the Condominium Advisory Group. ‘It was pay now or pay later, and later is here.’ Deborah Alejandro, a condo owner in Kissimmee, is facing a $3,000 special assessment from her HOA. ‘No one has that type of money!’ Alejandro, a single mother working two jobs, exclaimed. Real estate attorney Karen Wonsetler warns that many condo owners could face similar situations. ‘If you can’t afford it, you’ve got to sell your condo or watch it go through foreclosure. There’s not much in between.’”
WRAL in North Carolina. “You might notice more ‘For Sale’ signs in your neighborhood staying up longer than they might have in recent years. The end-of-month total inventory was the highest it has been in 5 years in July compared to the same time in 2023, according to real estate appraiser Stacey Anfindsen. I’m seeing more inventory,’ said real estate professional Tammie Harris. ‘We used to put a house on the market. Zero days on the market, we got multiple offers,” she said. ‘Now that interest rates are up and job security is a question, people are saying, ‘Wait a minute. Do I want to do this?’”
“The median sales price for the market was $475,000 in July, according to Triangle Multiple Listing Services. Anfindsen also found a 74% increase in end-of-month listings with at least one price drop compared to last year. ‘Some, such as myself, view it as a positive. If sellers did not adjust prices downward to meet market expectations, in theory, there would be fewer listings with a status change to ‘sold.’ ‘There are still too many sellers and listing agents who are unaware of market conditions within their sub-market, and thus set initial list price above market,’ Anfindsen wrote in his report.”
The New York Post. “A record 60,000 homebuyers pulled the plug on their deals in July, shattering previous records, according to a new report. This mass exodus, accounting for 16% of all contracts inked that month, is the highest July cancellation rate since Redfin started tracking this data in 2017. The carnage was most brutal in regions where builders have been going gangbusters in recent years, flooding the market with new homes. Tampa and Fort Lauderdale in Florida, and San Antonio in Texas, led the charge with the highest rate of busted deals, according to Redfin.”
“With inventories swelling, sellers were forced to swallow their pride and slash prices. Zillow reported that over 26% of homes on the market in July saw price cuts, the most significant share since 2018. For those still in the game, this oversupply spells opportunity — not just in negotiating prices, but even squeezing out lower commissions. So, what’s driving this buyer’s remorse? ‘When rates finally dropped, buyers got excited, and we saw more activity,’ said Nicole Stewart, a real estate agent with Redfin in Boise, Idaho. But now, she says, many are hitting pause because ‘a lot of people are also concerned about the political climate.’”
The Wall Street Journal on California. “In 2020, tech mogul Elon Musk agreed to sell one of his Los Angeles homes to filmmaker Jordan Walker-Pearlman and his wife, Elizabeth Hunter, for $7 million. Walker-Pearlman had grown up in the Bel-Air house—the longtime home of his uncle, the late actor Gene Wilder—and Musk agreed to loan the couple most of the money they would need to buy it. Four years later, an entity tied to Musk has filed a notice of default on the property, the first formal step in the foreclosure process, property records show. Meanwhile, the couple has listed the house for $12.95 million with Drew Meyers of Westside Estate Agency. The filmmaker said the prolonged writers’ and actors’ strikes in Los Angeles last year played a role in the couple falling behind on the payments. The property is held in Hunter’s name, and she felt particularly uncomfortable missing payments, he said.”
The San Francisco Chronicle in California. “The number of Bay Area homes sitting on the market for more than 30 days is increasing, a new real estate report shows. Real estate agents refer to these properties as ‘stale’ homes because sellers struggle to find buyers quickly in several Bay Area counties, according to Redfin data viewed by SFGATE. San Francisco had 69.7% of homes remaining on the market for more than 30 days, according to the data. Janice Lee, a real estate agent in a San Francisco office for Coldwell Banker, told SFGATE that condos in the city often take longer to sell because of high inventory, especially in downtown areas such as SoMa.”
The San Francisco Examiner. “While some San Francisco buildings have recently sold at fire-sale prices, private valuations of numerous other distressed properties in The City have plunged, according to real-estate market experts. ‘It gives you a feeling as to how much pressure the owners are under, in that because of the way the economy has moved, the value they have in these buildings has been seriously eroded,’ said Nigel Hughes, senior Bay Area director of market analytics at CoStar Group. The distress has been most acute in sectors reliant on traffic in downtown San Francisco, said Hughes, who did a recent survey of strained commercial mortgage-backed security loans in which the loan servicers asked for appraisals and found resulting valuations that had fallen between roughly 20% to 80%.”
“Among major markets, the San Francisco metropolitan area had the third-highest percentage of distressed loans tied to commercial mortgage-backed securities, 35% of $21.9 billion, KBRA reported this month. Chicago and Denver had the top two positions, said the company, which includes loans in default as well as loans exhibiting other signs of stress. In dollar terms, Hughes said the largest single decline in appraised value — $930 million since 2016 — was recorded at the downtown mall and office complex now known as the Emporium Centre San Francisco, which was placed into receivership last October after the owners stopped loan payments.”
The Baltimore Banner in Maryland. “The only criminal case against a real estate investor accused of running a Ponzi-style international investment scheme that affected thousands of homes in Baltimore and Philadelphia is underway this week in Baltimore District Court. Jay Walsh, who ran ABC Capital until it filed for bankruptcy, looked on as a former client testified that he purchased a home in West Baltimore with the promise that $20,500 of his investment would be used to renovate the property. ‘Did the defendant complete the services that he was contracted to?’ asked Assistant State’s Attorney Samantha Danzinger. ‘No,’ replied the investor, Fernando Iacomacci, an engineer who works in Colombia and Venezuela.”
“ABC Capital sold more than 1,000 homes in distressed areas of Baltimore to far-flung investors with the promise of fixing them up and generating guaranteed income. In dozens of civil lawsuits, Walsh has been accused of not following through on promised repairs, leaving his investors — many of them in foreign countries — grasping for help and causing city neighborhoods to fall into further disrepair.”
The Denver Gazette in Colorado. “Denver officials identified 15 apartment complexes with a high concentration of immigrants with tenants facing eviction — the latest focal point in a city whose finances have been stretched thin to pay for the influx of people from America’s southern borders. Last week, Aurora officials evicted more than 50 families from an apartment complex on Nome Street and Colfax Avenue with a history of health and safety code violations. The landlord of Aspen Grove Apartments — a 98-unit complex operated by CBZ Management — has blamed the shoddy conditions on the presence of the Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua, also known as TDA, saying it poses a danger to staff and residents.”
“After originally pushing back on the Aurora landlord’s narrative about the Venezuelan gang, Ryan Luby, a spokesperson for the Aurora Police Department, said Tuesday that he had ‘never denied the possibility of gang activity’ but that it was ‘immaterial’ to the living conditions. Tuesday’s presentation also included a tally of the number of bus, plane and train tickets purchased for immigrants looking to settle down elsewhere. This year alone, Denver has bought nearly 6,000 tickets, according to a report released Tuesday.”
Richmond News in Canada. “Ontario is revamping its approach to the drug crisis by banning consumption sites that are close to schools, introducing a number of treatment hubs and ending the practice of safer supply, Health Minister Sylvia Jones said Tuesday. The province will shut down 10 consumption and treatment sites – more than half of the provincially funded locations. ‘People are not going to die. They are going to get access to treatment,’ Jones said. ‘I do not call watching someone inject an illicit drug to be health care in the province of Ontario. We need to do better, and we can do better.’”
“Karolina Huebner-Makurat had been walking through her southeast Toronto neighbourhood of Leslieville shortly after noon on July 7, 2023, when she was shot as a fight broke out between three alleged drug dealers. The pending closures are welcome to those living near South Riverdale Community Health Centre, where Huebner-Makurat was shot, said Derek Finkle. Finkle, who lives across the street from the site and is a journalist who has written about the issue, said he has seen open drug use, fights, drug deals and tons of used needles. There are two schools nearby and six daycares, he said. ‘One inevitable consequence of these sites is that it draws a number of drug dealers, some of whom carry guns and some of whom get into fights and then kill innocent passersby,’ he said. ‘It makes no sense that South Riverdale exists at an address that the province would prohibit from having a license to be a cannabis dispensary.’ Provincial regulations state cannabis shops must be no closer than 150 metres to a school.”
The Globe and Mail in Canada. “People who complain to the Law Society of Ontario about lawyers alleged to have acted unethically, unlawfully or who were incapable of providing proper counsel can wait more than 2½ years before their case is argued in front of a panel. A law society committee report provided to The Globe and Mail shows that serious and complex cases can take 940 days on average to be referred for regulatory action, which can involve a hearing and may include disbarment. The law society’s disciplinary procedures are in the spotlight in the wake of the death of Arash Missaghi, whose killing in June uncovered decades of alleged mortgage fraud schemes. The law society eventually disciplined five lawyers for assisting Mr. Missaghi, but a Globe investigation revealed that he quickly found new ones to work with.”
“Alisa Pogorelovsky, whose husband Alan Kats killed Mr. Missaghi after her family was allegedly defrauded by him of more than $1-million in life savings, filed a complaint with her husband about the two lawyers earlier this year. Christian Leuprecht, a security expert at Royal Military College and Queen’s University, said the delays in resolving complaints provide incentives to bad actors. Regulators ‘want to ensure due process, but this is too long,’ he said. ‘This is what the bad actors count on: to outrun the administrative clock.’”
From Interest New Zealand. “Construction giant Fletcher Building is seeking partners for its residential development business as the company reports a $227 million loss for the financial year ending June 2024. ‘Following a challenging FY23, New Zealand housing market conditions showed initial signs of improvement through HY24. In the second half, record market house listings, elevated interest rates and broader economic uncertainty adversely impacted buyer sentiment and urgency,’ the company said.”
Western Australia Today. “More than 150 Nicheliving clients trying to claim insurance for incomplete home builds remain in limbo after a marathon seven-hour hearing over the company’s registration status failed to yield a resolution. Lawyers for the embattled builder gathered at the State Administrative Tribunal on Wednesday in an 11th-hour bid to stop the cancellation of its building registration. The Building Services Board ruled not to renew Nicheliving’s registration over its growing debt, which the tribunal was told was now almost double the value of the group’s assets.”
“Willetton resident Kathy Ellis told this masthead the tribunal’s inability to come to a timely decision on the registration matter was ‘a slap in the face,’ especially given she had been rendered homeless by the saga. Ellis claims her incomplete Canning Vale home remains in lockup, as it did almost two years ago, with mould now spreading to every room due to water damage. ‘I am exhausted,’ she said. ‘I’m going to sleep in my caravan tonight without a heater, so I hope they’re really comfortable with that.’”
“In response to comments by that clients could choose to terminate their contracts and change builders, 27-year-old Brayden Munroe told media outside the tribunal that would not be possible without the insurance money. ‘We can’t afford to fix all the defects, afford to fix our home and get it to completion,’ he said. ‘The banks won’t give us an extension in the loan to do so, so we’d be completely stuck without [the insurance] kicking in.’”