A report from the New York Times on Connecticut. "In late November, there were 206 houses and 17 condominiums on the market in Darien. According to the SmartMLS, the median sale price of a home in 2018, through Nov. 27, was $1.385 million, down from the median sale price of $1.42 million during the same 11-month period in 2017. Suzanne Okie, an agent with Halstead Real Estate, said housing inventory is currently plentiful, and sellers are willing to negotiate on price. She attributed this buyers’ market to the uncertainty surrounding the recent elections, among other things."

"'People are not jumping to buy their next house,' she said. 'It’s been a wait-and-see environment, as everyone’s looking to see how the new tax laws will affect them.'"

The Colorado Springs Gazette. "In November, Colorado Springs-area home sales totaled 1,096, down nearly 13 percent from the same month last year, says a new report by the Pikes Peak Association of Realtors. Sales now have fallen for nine straight months on a year-over-year basis."

"The city had 2,153 homes listed for sale in November, a 31 percent increase from a year earlier, the report showed."

"A tight supply of homes available for purchase has contributed to a months-long decline in sales, as has a traditional late-year slowdown in buying and selling, said Joe Clement, broker-owner of Re/Max Properties in Colorado Springs."

"'It’s winter, it’s snowing, I’m not buying a house,' he said of the mindset that takes hold late in the year."

"'If you look back at 2012 or 2010, we’re looking good,' Clement said. 'It’s strong. The last couple of years have been extremely strong; 2017 was phenomenal. So to say we’re off from 2017, it’s not like it’s a time to panic because we’re not that far off.'"

The Seattle PI in Washington. "While Seattle's real estate year came in like a lion, it's going out like...well, a still-expensive lamb. 2018 started with Seattle on its way -- and eventually setting -- records for leading the market, whether by Northwest Multiple Listing Service standards, which found historic low inventory in the market, or by the Case-Shiller Home Price Index, where the city had the longest climb and steepest drop this year."

"It's more what Jay Morrison, CEO of the Tulsa Real Estate Fund, calls a 'neutral market.'"

"'In general what we're seeing is a lot of the market has settled, and it is providing an opportunity for homeowners to be able to purchase at reasonable prices -- reasonable meaning not escalated or inflated, like in a seller's market,' Morrison said. 'It's a great time or opportunity for newbie homeowners or an investor to get involved.'"

The Arizona Republic. "A day after Katie Lebowitz and David Dronning closed on their newly renovated north Phoenix house last summer, they found water all over their kitchen floor. A plumber scoped the sewer and told the couple it had collapsed, and the house would flood if they ran water. It was just the beginning of the problems."

"The former foreclosure house that government-backed Fannie Mae had fixed up and sold to the couple also had hidden mold, asbestos and electrical problems that cost more than $100,000 to fix. 'It took five painful months of living out of storage units and spending all of our money to fix the house,' Dronning said. 'It's been a nightmare.'"

"A record number of Valley homes have been renovated and flipped during the past few years. But the rush to fix up bargain homes and sell them for a profit has led to big headaches and costs for some buyers."

"'Some flippers just want to put enough lipstick on a house to sell it,' said metro Phoenix home inspector Tim O'Neall, who teaches classes to the real estate industry about disclosing home problems to buyers. 'About 85 percent of my examples of bad work in homes come from flips.'"

"Many recent Valley homebuyers, signed an 'AS IS' agreement to buy their home because of the competitive housing market. But the couple is suing Fannie Mae because neighbors and others have told them their house's problems were known about and not fixed as part of the renovation."

"Fannie Mae said it doesn't comment on pending litigation. 'I haven't ever seen this many lawsuits for home flips,' said Valley real estate attorney Patrick MacQueen. Almost 70 percent of his cases now are homeowners suing over bad flips."

"I had one client who bought a flipped home and then tried to put in a pool,' said MacQueen, who is representing Lebowitz and Dronning. 'As their contractor started digging, he found the house had a pool that had been filled up with an old toilet and other stuff from the house's renovation. It was bad.'"

"Homeowners can sue contractors that aren't licensed over bad work and can sue real estate agents who knew about a house's problems and didn't disclose them during the sale. 'Suing is the only recourse some homeowners stuck with badly fixed up homes have,' MacQueen said. 'It's not an easy process, but some homeowners are so mad they are doing it.'"