A report from the Vancouver Star in Canada. "With its slightly kitschy but homey pine-panelled interior, stunning view of the ocean and backyard swimming pool, it’s easy to imagine a family living in the four-bedroom home on Russet Way in West Vancouver."

"But today the house is empty, a court notice affixed to the door, the pool holding just a few inches of slimy green water."

"Like many houses in West Vancouver, this house’s value has dropped dramatically since a series of government interventions, in response to a price spike in 2016, let air out of the market."

"Real estate market watchers say this home is also an example of how borrowers and private lenders are scrambling to recoup their investments in several high-priced neighbourhoods where home prices are rapidly deflating."

"A recent analysis shows private lending has been growing in Toronto, but a dearth of data in Vancouver makes this area, and its potential impact on the wider housing market, a mystery."

"Two private lenders have registered a total of $4.47 million against two West Vancouver homes owned by Sherrin Lim, including the one on Russet Way. While the two properties together have an assessed value of $5.85 million, one of the homes sold for $2.4 million in a court-ordered sale in July, while the Russet Way home is currently listed at $2.1 million. The owner has seen $1.35 million in value disappear."

"'It’s much more vulnerable right now, and we’re already starting to see some very distressed sales in the Vancouver market where the lenders were private lenders,' said Ben Rabidoux, the owner of North Cove Advisors, an investment research firm in Ontario."

"B.C.’s government has put in place a suite of measures targeted at rampant speculation in the province’s real-estate market, including higher taxes and stricter data collection rules. In response for a request for comment for this story, B.C.’s Ministry of Finance sent a statement that said the province has 'secured a permanent federal-provincial table on white-collar crime and information sharing, where we will be discussing how to improve data collection on the mortgage market.'"

"In the Greater Toronto Area, private lending provided funds for 20 per cent of second mortgages in the second quarter of 2018. This is a 67 per cent increase compared to two years ago, according to an analysis published in October by John Pasalis of Realosophy and Paul McGowan of Teranet. The same study found that private lending was most heavily concentrated in areas of the GTA where there had been a lot of real-estate investment activity."

"Steve Saretsky is a Vancouver realtor who has been approached by companies like Neighbourhood Holdings to invest with them. The companies usually pitch investors a guaranteed investment return of eight or nine per cent, Saretsky said."

"'I think there’s a need, but it’s concerning how much they’re growing,' Saretsky said. 'We saw this in the U.S. in 2006 and 2007. A lot of the lending growth started to turn more into the shadow lending sector, and that’s kind of what’s happening here.'"

From the Vancouver Sun in Canada. "A B.C. man connected to the Wolf Pack gang alliance has been sentenced to two years in a U.S. prison after admitting to international money laundering. Omid Mashinchi, a former Vancouver realtor who was leasing high-end condos to Lower Mainland gangsters, pleaded guilty in July to moving cash across the border for Canadian drug gangs."

"On Wednesday, he was sentenced in a Boston courtroom to 24 months in jail and ordered to pay almost $30,000 US in fines and damages. U.S. court documents said that Mashinchi transferred funds from a bank in Vancouver to a bank in Boston over several months in 2017, knowing that the money — almost $240,000 US — was derived from drug trafficking."

"Postmedia revealed in June that Mashinchi was facing money laundering charges and had been linked to condo leasing to gangsters. One of the those condos, a penthouse in North Vancouver, was leased to Brothers Keepers boss Gavinder Grewal, who was murdered in the suite at 1550 Fern St. last December."

"No one has been arrested in Grewal’s murder, but in June, the Integrated HomicideInvestigation Team released images of suspects from surveillance videos near the apartment building."

"Other condos and houses Mashinchi, 35, had leased out to unsavoury clients were targeted in drive-by shootings or were being used as stash houses for drug trafficking, police told Postmedia."

"In announcing the charges, VPD Staff Sgt. Lisa Byrne spoke about the underworld leasing service that Mashinchi had been operating. 'My team found this really disturbing because we had rival gang members housed within dozens of metres of each other and the potential for spontaneous violence and gunplay was obviously something that was super concerning to us.'"