A report from Wicked Local Brewster in Massachusetts. "Laura Clements, owner/broker of Cove Road Real Estate in Orleans, said high end shoppers have more to choose from at the moment. Clements noted the list price isn’t the sale price. 'A lot of the time homeowners want to try out a higher price and end up settling for less than they’re hoping to get. We’re up to 92.5 percent of the original list price (in Orleans). In Eastham it’s 91 percent. In Brewster 92.5 percent,' she said."

From Newsday on New York. "Brookhaven houses whose owners have fallen behind on mortgage payments will be required to be registered with the town starting next year. The mortgage-in-default registry is Brookhaven's latest effort to deal with the proliferation of abandoned and foreclosed houses — known as zombie houses — that has plagued Long Island for the past decade. The town board voted 7-0 on Sept. 12 to establish the registry, which goes into effect on Jan. 1."

"'The whole purpose is to protect the neighborhoods from becoming blighted properties,' Supervisor Edward P. Romaine said. 'This will give us another weapon, another tool to improve the face of Brookhaven Town, because these blighted houses really are a scar that we are trying to put an end to.' Lenders will be required to pay a fee of about $200 to register, and must re-register and pay the fee every six months as long as the property remains in arrears, Romaine said."

"Officials across Long Island have said they struggle to identify owners of abandoned properties because real estate records often are out of date or incomplete. Banks sometimes transfer mortgages to other entities without reporting the changes to governmental authorities. ' It’s a challenge when they change hands,' Romaine said. 'It’s a challenge when they put someone in charge who isn’t the bank. They have an agent or a holding company or something of that nature. It’s not the mortgagee.'"

From My San Antonio in Texas. "Two unique properties in the North Central region of San Antonio are now available at a substantial price drop of more than $7,000 – and present a golden opportunity that no home buyer should want to miss. Located at 2815 Monterey Street, a three-bedroom, one-bath single-family home – 1,160 square feet – situated on nearly one-fifth of an acre beckons to anyone in search of an excellent investment or to flip in future."

"Listed for only $81,900 – an $8,000 price drop –the home is at an accessible price point and holds an immense amount of promise."

From Socket Site in California. "With the number of homes newly listed for sale over the past week roughly matching the number of homes sold, the inventory of homes on the market in San Francisco held at an 8-year high of 1,010, which is 6 percent higher than at the same time last year. Overall inventory levels have likely peaked for the year while the share of listings with an official price cut, which currently measures around 7 percent, not including homes which have been formally withdrawn from the MLS and then re-listed with a lower 'original' price, should continue to tick up to around 25 percent by the end of the year."

From Tulsa World in Oklahoma. "A dispute between the University of Oklahoma and its partners in a campus housing development has drawn in two hard-hitting law firms from opposite ends of the country and could have long-term implications for OU, the state of Oklahoma and public financing nationally."

"It’s a complicated story, one in which lawyers from Los Angeles and New York call each other liars long distance and threaten multimillion-dollar lawsuits because a new residential complex called Cross Village sits mostly empty on the south side of the OU campus."

"At stake are more than $250 million in bonds issued through a state trust, the Oklahoma Development Financing Authority, or ODFA. Neither the state nor the university are legally responsible for the debt, but OU’s partners argue the university’s — and the state’s — credit and reputations could be significantly damaged if what they call a 'moral obligation' to investors, amounting to about $7 million a year, is not met."

"In mid-September, S&P downgraded the Cross bonds for a second time, to CC negative — meaning S&P considers default 'a virtual certainty.' 'The university has failed to honor its commitments,' insisted Steve Hicks, whose nonprofit company partnered with OU on the Cross Village project."

"The apartments, ranging from 300 to 875 square feet and renting for as much as $30,000 (split four ways) per school year, did not find much of a market. Occupancy has never exceeded 35 percent, and the commercial space is almost empty. OU says it brought in only $40,000 from its $7 million investment during the first year of Cross Village’s operation."

From Forbes. "Masayoshi Son, the CEO and founder of SoftBank said he is 'embarrassed' by his track record following big bets on loss-making businesses like Uber and WeWork. Son struck a conciliatory tone in the interview with Japan’s Nikkei Business magazine: 'I'm embarrassed and impatient. After all, looking at the growth of companies in the United States and China, there is a strong feeling that this is not enough.'"

"SoftBank’s own shares have slipped more than 30% since April as other key Vision Fund investments like Uber’s share price dropped to below the IPO price as losses-mounted. 'Companies like WeWork and Uber are criticized for being in the red, but in 10 years they’ll be making substantial profits,' said Son, according to Reuters."