A report from Boston.com on Massachusetts. "Anyone who’s paid even just casual attention to the Boston residential real estate market knows that home values continue to rise, and out of that a phenomenon has emerged: the $1 million one-bedroom, one-bathroom condominium. 'Some of them just stay vacant because they’re an investment property, and people have parked their money there. And they’re waiting for it to be worth more money so they can turn around and sell it,' said Cassidy Norton, media relations director of The Warren Group."

"'They keep building these giant luxury towers,' Norton said. 'Part of it is a blessed increase in supply that we are not seeing in other sections of the market, and part of it is that real estate just continues to get more expensive.'"

From Bloomberg on New York. "Manhattan home prices fell in April by the most in almost a decade. And buyers have pounced. 'Sellers are finally getting that many of their price expectations were not realistic,' said Grant Long, senior economist at StreetEasy. 'They’re lowering their prices to a point that’s attractive to buyers.'"

From Arlington Now in Virginia. "The Arlington County Board denied developer Penzance permission to extend construction hours on a luxury condo project in Rosslyn. Susan Miller, a 30-year resident of the Atrium, said she has 'never seen anything like the horror that this project has brought to this community that we are in,' citing noise and dust and dirt that permeate her balcony."

"'I apologize and thank the community on behalf of the county for what sounds like pure hell for some of you, and I can appreciate that that’s no fun,' said Board member Erik Gutshall, after listening to their testimony. 'So stick with us. Nobody sell your unit. No one leave.'"

From The Real Deal on Florida. "A handful of condos in Miami were frozen by the U.S. Department of the Treasury as part of an Argentinian drug trafficking and money laundering scheme that centered around the online sale of illegal opioids in the U.S."

"In recent months, federal authorities have uncovered a number of high-profile money laundering cases tied to Miami real estate. In March, the FBI announced it was opening a new task force in Miami to focus on corruption in South America. A TRD investigation last year found that developers and real estate agents have minimal obligations to perform due diligence on their buyers or the source of their money."

From The Buffalo News. "One of the nation's largest commercial banks is now trying to foreclose on two of Robert C. Morgan's apartment complexes in upstate New York – including the Raintree Island Apartments in the Town of Tonawanda – even as a federal grand jury indicted Morgan and his finance director on mortgage and insurance fraud charges."

"Similar papers were also filed Wednesday in state court in Onondaga County, targeting the Brookwood on the Green apartments in the Syracuse suburb of Liverpool because of default on a $16 million loan from Arbor Commercial Mortgage in February 2014."

"The foreclosures come as Morgan faces both the criminal charges and a separate Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit accusing him of securities fraud for allegedly operating a Ponzi scheme. That follows a multiyear investigation by the FBI and U.S. Attorney's Office in Buffalo, along with the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac."

"The U.S. Bank filings also come six months after another lender, SteepRock Capital of New York City, filed its own foreclosure cases against both properties, where it had provided secondary 'mezzanine' loans for Morgan. SteepRock also cited fraud following an independent' audit of financial statements that showed Morgan Management and its companies 'consistently overstated revenues and operating income' for the properties."

"Attorneys for SteepRock even alleged that the Morgan companies 'outright lied' to the lender about key financial metrics for each of the properties to convince SteepRock to make loans that it otherwise would not have. U.S. Bank, in its filing, also sought to emphasize that its rights to the properties trump any other claims."