A report from Hamptons.com on New York. "'The housing market continues to soften across the country -- particularly in some of the most expensive areas like the Hamptons and New York City. With so many homes for sale right now, and listings lingering on the market for longer than in the past, it's a tough time to be a seller,' Out East GM, Matt Daimler reflected. 'If you're patient, persistent and price your home correctly, the right buyer will come along.'"

The Wall Street Journal on Connecticut. "A hedge funder’s 27-room Georgian estate in Greenwich, Conn., has sold for $17.5 million, half of its original asking price, according to people familiar with the deal. The property first came on the market for $35 million in 2015, and had been on and off the market with several price cuts, according to Zillow."

The Arizona Republic. "Renting a U-Haul truck to move to metro Phoenix is a lot pricier than it was last year. But if you want to move from the Valley to San Francisco, Los Angeles, Denver, Seattle, Chicago or Houston, renting a truck is a bargain."

"'It costs eight times as much to rent a truck to Phoenix from Los Angeles as it does to rent one going the other way,' said Greg Vogel, CEO of Scottsdale-based Land Advisors Organization."

"The average cost to rent a moving truck from Los Angeles to Phoenix is $735, according to the research. It only costs $90 to rent a truck from the Valley to Los Angeles. People leaving San Francisco will pay about $1,200 to rent a one-way truck to haul their stuff to the Phoenix-area. Anyone who wants to rent the same truck for the return route only pays $120."

"The moving truck cost is $1,730 from Seattle to Phoenix, and only $700 for the reverse trip. And renting a moving truck from Denver to the Valley costs $650, while it’s $300 from here to Denver."

"So all the moving trucks headed to metro Phoenix are likely a welcome sight to the area’s many developers. There are about 20,000 apartments under construction or planned."

From Variety on California. "The last home of late singer, actress and ordained minister Della Reese, an unassuming, low-slung 1970s contemporary notched into a hillside at the end of a cul-de-sac in the affluent foothills of Encino, Calif., is now listed at $1.775 million after first coming to market about four months ago at $1.925 million. The 'Touched by an Angel Star' and her husband had long resided in Bel Air, but decamped to Encino sometime after their $1.79 million purchase of the property in late 2014."

From Variety on Florida. "Shaquille O’Neal has re-listed his super-sized south Florida mega-mansion with a hugely reduced asking price of $21.99 million after first setting it out for sale earlier in the year amid much publicity and hullabaloo with an in-hindsight pie-in-the-sky asking price of $28 million."

From Weather.com on Louisiana. "For decades, Derek Bowman and his neighbors didn’t see many strangers walking around their area of New Orleans’ 7th Ward. But about a decade ago, speculators flush with cash became a frequent sight, tucking business cards into front doors, with small notes, asking residents to call if they wanted to sell."

"More recently, in the last several years, visitors with the rolling suitcases started showing up, usually arriving at short-term rentals in the neighborhood on Friday and leaving on a Sunday."

"There’s a scattershot approach to housing in the city that has left New Orleans with a shortage of affordable housing at the bottom and middle tiers. There’s a glut of top-shelf housing and empty condos. In the Central Business District, there’s a 30 percent vacancy rate."

From The Garden Island on Hawaii. "The public has until 5 p.m. on Monday to provide testimony to the State Land Use Commission on the up-zoning of 97 acres of agricultural lands, next to Kapaa Middle School, to an urban center zoning designation to accommodate the building of 769 new residential units called Hokua Place."

"Here is what you should know: First of all, Kauai does not actually have a housing shortage. As stated in both the Hokua Place Draft Environmental Impact Statement and the county’s General Plan, we actually have a high vacancy rate when it comes to housing."

"This means a house is largely unoccupied for a good portion of the year (as in second home or investment property), or it is an illegal transient vacation rental (TVR), so considered unoccupied until otherwise shown to be in violation of the law, and in any case not in the inventory pool for long-term rentals (one of our areas where we do have major housing shortage)."

"Additionally, as of today, there are 661 houses for sale on the MLS. That does not include for-sale-by-owner listings, or 'FSBOs.' Not only that, currently, an approximate 41 percent of residential sales on this island are either to mainlanders or foreigners."

"Now, Hokua Place developers want to add 769 residential units to the mix with a price point starting at $650,000, with the qualifier that these prices are subject to change. $650K is beyond the reach of low- and middle-income families, even when many of these individuals have multiple jobs just to make ends meet."

"The net effect is we are continuing to build houses primarily for mainlanders and foreigners — is this who we should be converting our agricultural lands into urban lands for?"