A report from Go Skagit in Washington. "A slowdown in the Seattle housing market is expected to bring about a similar cooling off for the Skagit County market, according to the North Puget Sound Association of Realtors. The region’s housing market is beginning to level out after several years of catching up from the 2009-2011 housing crash, Windermere Skagit Valley Realtor Jamie Yantis said in a news release."

"After two years as the hottest housing market in the country, Seattle was recently dethroned, according to the release. A 48 percent increase in the number of listings has caused the market to slow."

"Whatever happens in the Seattle housing market is usually felt in Skagit County about six months later, Windermere Skagit Valley Realtor Megan O’Bryan said in the release. With change on the horizon, O’Bryan advises sellers to temper their expectations. 'I feel the winds have shifted, and now we need to adjust our sails,' she said."

"Now, sellers will need to improve their home before putting it on the market and not expect to have inspections waived. Sellers will also have to lower their expectations on what they can get for their homes, O’Bryan said. A slowdown in the market does not indicate another housing bubble, according to the release."

The Washington Post. "Prices are up, interest rates are rising, and it's tough for a lot of people to qualify to buy a home. So what do some of them do? A growing number of them fake it."

"According to mortgage-fraud researchers, income misrepresentations on home-loan applications were up 22.1 percent in the second quarter of this year compared with the same period in 2017. Ominously, most of it is not traceable to criminals trying to bilk lenders out of tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars through traditional loan swindles. Rather it's increasingly what researchers call 'bona fide' borrowers who don't have the incomes to qualify but are determined to get a home mortgage, even if they have to mislead the lender."

"George Souto, a loan officer with William Raveis Mortgage in Middletown, Connecticut, says that although he doesn't see many applications containing outright fraud, he does encounter situations where applicants make overly generous estimates of their incomes."

"Other lenders say too many borrowers don't see scrupulous truth on mortgage applications as all that important. Joseph Metzler of Mortgages Unlimited in St. Paul, Minnesota, says they 'feel it's OK to pad information or leave it out, to improve their chances of getting approved.'"

From Crain's Chicago Business in Illinois. "Rocker and songwriter Richard Marx and his ex-wife, actress Cynthia Rhodes, cut the asking price for a Lake Buff mansion to below half of what they initially wanted for it in 2014."

"The listed price is now just below $9 million for the 29,000-square-foot mansion on a 5-acre lakefront parcel on Arbor Drive. When the couple first listed the estate for sale in November 2014, they were asking $18 million. There have been five subsequent price cuts."

From Berkeleyside in California. "Burned-out, uninhabitable structures have sold for over $1 million in Silicon Valley and San Francisco, but Berkeley buyers seem to have different standards. For one million dollars, they expect interior walls, hopefully a kitchen, possibly a bathroom, and even upgrades such as functioning plumbing and electricity."

"So when a dilapidated duplex at 1418 Northside Ave. (at Hopkins) showed up on the market with a gutted interior and plywood-covered windows — and an asking price of $1,099,000 — there was no collective rush to the bank. Buyers did not line up with suitcases full of cash, as they have in Fremont, San Jose and San Francisco. The house, in the coveted Westbrae neighborhood, continues to sit vacant after almost 150 days on the market. The price, mysteriously, has not been dropped."

"'Calling all investors and contractors,' the listing reads. 'Berkeley Duplex with plenty of potential. Bring your imagination and make it something truly amazing. Pull your permits and start construction. Easy SF commute! Convenient location, North Berkeley BART, Google shuttle, etc. A fabulous opportunity!'"

"Ning Sha, the property’s Green Valley Realty agent, based in Cupertino, did not return Berkeleyside’s calls or texts. According to Redfin, the property changed hands twice last year. It was first sold for $550,000 on Feb. 14, 2017, and then re-sold for $885,000 on Dec. 13, 2017. Hot as the Berkeley real estate market is, few if any Berkeley properties have doubled in price over the past 19 months. The median price for houses in the 94702 zip code is $896,500, according to Redfin. The vast majority of those houses are suitable for human habitation."

"An attractive single-family house on the same block as the duplex — 1407 Northside Ave. — is asking $950,000. The house has four bedrooms, all electrified; two baths and comes in at 1,864 square feet."

"'We’ve been seeing some unrealistic expectations in the market, just because people think it’s such a sellers’ market,' said agent Jodi Nishimura of Pacific Union International, who is marketing a duplex in South Berkeley. 'Some sellers have an inflated idea of value, but the market is proving this Northside Avenue property is priced too high.'"