A report from Buzz Feed. “‘I almost feel like it’s a scam or a trick to get me more into debt. I worked so hard to get my credit up to even be able to apply for a mortgage,’ Christen Riggins said. Homeownership is ‘almost another way to keep people under. I remember calling her the next morning and was like, ‘I’m thinking about backing out; maybe I should just find a place to rent.‘ Riggins said that the agent reminded her that a home is an investment, that when rates were lower she could refinance, and suggested she ‘cut corners somewhere’ or ‘try to pick up a part-time job. ‘I feel like I was really screwed over and put in a really bad space.’”
“‘Our realtor pushed us to increase higher than we wanted to win the home, and now we are stuck with $80,000 in repairs and homeless.’ —Oklahoma. ‘The house is a lemon,’ said Joshua Wingett, who bought a four-bedroom home 40 minutes outside of San Diego in April for $730,000 ($31,000 over asking) after losing out on seven other houses. Wingett and his husband are now dealing with about $20,000 in repairs. ‘Did we have a choice?’ he said. ‘We did what we could to get the best we could,’ he said. ‘It’s costing us 55% of our income and it sucks to have no free spending money, but at least we have a roof over our head.’ Wingett plans to refinance if mortgage rates decline and is considering renting out rooms to make ends meet.”
“Many people who bought a house in 2020-2022 are likely to be underwater with their mortgages for some time as interest rates quickly go up, forcing home prices to come down in order to make up for that, said Jeremy Bohne, a financial advisor. ‘They may not be able to sell for a number of years, until prices will presumably recover.’”
“Riggins said she is the first person in her family to own a home, which she is proud of, although she regrets not having anyone to guide her through the process. She has put her mortgage into forbearance, and while her payments are on hold now, interest is still accruing. Homeownership, she said, may still be upheld as a central part of the American Dream, but ‘I don’t think it’s a dream. I honestly think in my situation I was set up for failure.’”
From KUTV in Utah. “The Salt Lake Board of Realtors said it has made for a more balanced market, but it means things are moving slower for sellers like Ari Danelian. ‘Its been on the market for about a month and a half I believe,’ Danelian said. She thinks it would have sold by now if it were listed a few months back. ‘I think I definitely dropped the ball in terms of timing. I should have listed the house before the federal reserve raised the fed funds rate,’ she said.”
The Orlando Sentinel in Florida. “Home sales in Orlando dropped dramatically in September, bringing prices down and inventory up. ‘A lot of sellers are still trying to capture what was happening in the earlier part of the year,’ said agent Dracheka ‘Buffy’ Barrott. ‘That’s not going to happen again.’”
KSAW TV in Wisconsin. “What used to be multiple offers and thousands above asking prices is a thing of the past. RE/MAX Excel real estate consultant Lora Bladow said there’s less competition for buyers. ‘Which has allowed some negotiation to kick in on offers instead of coming in at or above the asking price. There have been sales happening under asking,’ said Bladow.”
KXAN in Texas. “The number of homes for sale in the Austin metro area is the highest in more than a decade. Homes within the City of Austin remain the most expensive in the metro area, with a median listing price of $555,000, compared to $470,000 in the metro as a whole. That’s a drop of more than $100,000 since a peak of $667,000 in May. ‘Homes are selling at 95% of their original list price,’ said ABoR President Cord Shiflet. ‘Sellers need to know that the days of multiple offers way over asking price are a thing of the past.’”
The Daily Mail. “‘A year ago, people were buying homes sight unseen, multiple offers,’ Los Angeles real estate agent Craig Strong told CBS News, comparing the pandemic-era boon to the current slowdown, which she said will continue into the coming months. ‘It’s a good time to put an offer on a house at a lower number,’ she advised.”
The Globe and Mail in Canada. “Banks are contacting many clients with variable mortgages to inform them that they’re reaching their trigger rate, signalling higher monthly costs for a growing number of homeowners and a longer payback period. Most people who signed onto variable-rate mortgages more than a couple of years ago wouldn’t have given their trigger rate a second thought, said Ron Butler, a broker with Butler Mortgage Inc. After all, interest rates have been on a generally downward trend for more than a decade.”
“Mr. Butler and other industry participants said banks have started to issue notices to clients whose variable mortgages are hitting the trigger rate. Nasma Ali, founder of One Group Toronto Real Estate, said clients and people in her community are afraid of what comes next. That fear is compounded by the fact that there isn’t an easy exit from homeownership right now, with weakness in the real estate market. Inflated rental markets in many major cities are also not a financially appealing option right now.”
“At the moment, Ms. Ali said there isn’t a sense of panic among homeowners – she thinks many people will take the next few months to consider their options as the environment around interest rates plays out. However, with rates expected to rise, she thinks more people could move to sell by next year. ‘Next year is going to be an interesting year and it’s not going to look pretty for a lot of people,’ said Ms. Ali.”
From Derbyshire Live in the UK. “Residents of a new Derbyshire housing estate say a very friendly new community of close-knit neighbours has been founded, but many have been left disappointed and stressed after moving into what they describe as “unfinished” houses costing around half a million pounds. Those who have moved into their new homes have complained of a ‘horrific experience’ after being confronted with ill-fitted windows, rough doors that could be used to ‘strike a match’ on and which some claim to have re-installed and sanded down themselves. Chipped windowsills, underfloor and ceiling leaks, and a ‘collapsed’ garden have also been reported.”
“Another resident, who moved into her new house in September 2021, wished to remain anonymous. She said: ‘They’re a nightmare to deal with. We’ve not had the best of times, it’s been really stressful actually. We’ve had to sort out a lot of stuff ourselves. Our garden’s just dropping away at the end, and when we first moved in water was coming up through the floor of our ensuite. After two weeks it got really bad. They took one look at it and said you’ve got a leak. I said, ‘I know I’ve got a leak!’”
From Bloomberg. “A worsening crisis in China’s property market is dragging junk dollar bonds from the nation’s borrowers deeper into distress, as the implosion of what was once one of the world’s most-profitable bond trades sends ripples across trading floors. ‘The only way out is to have a heavy government involvement – for local governments to buy assets from private developers, for instance,’ Raymond Yeung, chief Greater China economist at ANZ Bank, told Bloomberg TV.”