A report from Bloomberg. "A decade ago, Angelo Mozilo was the face of the housing bust that preceded the financial crisis. Now the former chief executive officer of Countrywide Financial Corp. is predicting another drop, and for some homeowners it may be even worse. High-end properties in coastal U.S. states may fall as much as 40% from their peak value because many people can no longer afford them after losing deductions in the U.S. tax overhaul that passed in late 2017, Mozilo said."

"'There’s too much inventory in the market, and there’s going to be more inventory because this tax bill was devastating to the middle-to-higher-income homeowner who can’t deduct anything except $10,000,' said Mozilo, who’s attending the SALT Conference in Las Vegas. 'The volume of sales has dropped dramatically, and values are coming down dramatically, particularly on the upper end.'"

"While wealthy residents in the Northeast and on the West Coast may be directly affected by a drop in high-end home prices, Mozilo also predicted that the impact will reverberate throughout the economy. Housekeeping staff and gardeners will be fired, restaurants will lose business and the banks that own those mortgages will have to take writedowns and begin foreclosures, he said."

"'The moral of the story is when you see things inflated and things look so good, it’s time to pull back and worry,' Mozilo said. 'When you sense it, if that’s one of the options, get out.'"

From Mansion Global on Florida. "Jorge Pérez, the billionaire real-estate developer widely referred to as Miami’s 'condo king,' is having a bit of trouble selling his own: He is relisting his Miami condo for $10.95 million, or 45% off what he first sought three years ago."

"Mr. Pérez, CEO of the Related Group, said he first listed the property at One Ocean for $20 million in 2016, when the rise of the Miami market looked unstoppable. He received an offer of $15 million, which he rejected. 'My expectations were way too high, I admit,' he said. 'But I was responding to what I saw in that moment in the market, without any immediate need to sell. Now, I’m saying, 'Boy I should have sold.'"

"Mr. Pérez is not the only big-name owner to get caught by the Miami downturn. Art dealer Larry Gagosian and investor Leon Black, both of whom owned at nearby Faena House, recently suffered losses selling their units, The Wall Street Journal reported."

From Chicago Magazine in Illinois. "In many ways, the recession catalyzed an awakening about using homeownership as a stand-in for financial security — and a greater debate regarding what types of residences younger generations will value. No other structures illustrate this cautionary tale quite like the McMansion."

"The homes weren’t just a showcase of wealth, but the owner’s piggy bank. Of course, when the market crashed, the inflated prices on these newly constructed structures plummeted."

"In South Barrington, home to swathes of McMansions, the market has been slow to recover. There, large single family homes regularly hit the market at the same prices they sold for in the ’00s, indicating an enduring lack of demand in the northwestern suburb."

The Orange County Register in California. "Homebuying in what we’ll call the 'Beach Blvd. Corridor' — in and around Huntington Beach, Fountain Valley, Garden Grove and Westminster — fell 21% in what was Orange County homebuying’s slowest start to a year since 2009."

"CoreLogic stats show the lowest countywide sales count for any first three months of a year since the Great Recession. It also was the third-slowest-selling first quarter in the real estate tracker’s database that dates to 1988. At the community level, sales rose in only one-sixth of Orange County’s 83 ZIP codes. With the slump, prices fell countywide, too."

From Realtor.com. "When Michael J. Bennett decided to buy a $350,000 condo for his retirement in the Gulf beach town of Placida, FL, in 2006, he saw nothing but blue skies ahead. After all, he had good credit, experience investing in real estate, and 20% in cash to put down. What could go wrong?"

"Then the bottom fell out of the housing market and Bennett was left holding the bag. He struggled to rent out the place, about an hour south of Sarasota. But empty apartments glutted the market, and there were no buyers. Bennett lost his condo as well as his primary residence, about 40 minutes away in Punta Gorda, FL."

"And, sadly, he had plenty of company in his misfortune. Vacation destinations were particularly hard-hit during the past recession. While the nation's housing market has made a roaring comeback in recent years, an overall slowdown has now taken hold, marked by lower annual price acceleration and more properties on the market. With some forecasters predicting a recession on the horizon, buying a second home in an idyllic location may seem like a dicier-than-ever prospect."

"The crash was especially hard on some of the most alluring vacation spots. In Pensacola, FL, median annual condo prices fell as much as 62% from 2007 to 2010, according to ATTOM Data Solutions. They fell 40% in just one ZIP code in Sedona, AZ. Meanwhile, in Bennett's Placida community, foreclosure filings soared to 16% of all housing units in 2010. That was more than seven times the national average."

"'You keep thinking it will level out, like the stock market,' says Bennett, a retired firefighter who's now 59 and living outside Nashville, TN. 'And it kept going down and down and down.'"

"Some vacation hot spots still haven’t recovered. A condo in the building where Bennett once owned a similar unit was recently sold for about $100,000 less than what he had paid 13 years ago."

From Housing Wire. "It’s getting harder and harder for smaller lenders to make money in the mortgage business, as independent mortgage banks and mortgage subsidiaries of chartered banks recently reported that they lost $200 per loan on every loan they originated in the fourth quarter of 2018."

"Earlier this week, it was Live Well Financial that announced it was terminating its mortgage origination business. Now, for the second time in less than a week, another lender is abandoning their mortgage business as well. Bank 34, which operates nine loan production offices in the western part of the U.S., announced this week that it is shuttering its mortgage business."

"According to the bank, the move will include shutting down its nine loan productions offices, which are located in El Paso, Texas; Scottsdale, Arizona; Gilbert, Arizona; Tubac, Arizona; Albuquerque, New Mexico; Medford, Oregon; West Linn, Oregon; Puyallup, Washington; and Lynnwood, Washington."