A report from Builder Online on New York. "The number of homes for sale reached new highs in Brooklyn and Queens and jumped to near-highs in Manhattan, according to the Q3 2019 StreetEasy Market Reports. In Manhattan, the index fell 4.4% to $1,093,562 — its lowest level since 2015. 'Most sellers are still refusing to bow to the buckling market, causing would-be buyers to turn to the rental market, where they are finding a lot to like,' said StreetEasy Senior Economist Grant Long. 'Until sellers recognize that prices are not what they once were, those with the means to buy will continue to play the waiting game from the comfort of their rental.'"

From Curbed Boston on Massachusetts. "Conditions have the realtors association suggesting the once unthinkable: That the Boston-area housing market—so long the domain of ceaseless escalating prices, vicious bidding wars, and often paltry inventory—might be turning in favor of buyers."

"'The sellers’ market is likely over, or at least the balance has shifted,' Jim Major, president of the Greater Boston Association of Realtors and an agent with Century 21 North East in Woburn, said in a statement. 'With sale prices having begun to stabilize, more homes and condos available for sale, and properties sitting on the market longer, home values have most likely peaked in many areas.'"

The News Press in Florida. "Eminent domain and the housing market crash of the Great Recession have placed a 74-year-old widowed woman into an unenviable position with the City of Cape Coral. Thereza Dean was asked in July by Cape Coral to sell her vacant lot for $96,000. Since then, negotiations have been ongoing. This month, the city has increased its offer to $100,000 after Dean spent $200 on an appraisal that valued the land at $105,000."

"For Dean, even the increased offer still posed an economic challenge. She purchased the parcel for $183,000 in October 2004 in northwest Cape Coral, just south of the Charlotte County line, a little before the real estate market bubble burst in 2006. One year prior to her purchasing it, it sold for $85,000, property records show. Counting the property taxes she has paid over the past 15 years, Dean looks to lose more than $100,000 of her investment by selling it."

"Dean acknowledged she made a bad investment. She said she was upset to be forced finally to reckon with it. The city also gave her the option of doing a land swap for it, but she just didn't want to be stuck with any more land. 'I just don’t want to deal with it anymore,' said Dean, who was contemplating this week whether to hire a lawyer. 'The whole situation was making me feel sick.'"

The Post and Courier in South Carolina. "For the first time in two years, rents across the nation and in Charleston and North Charleston dropped in September, if ever so slightly, according to RentCafe. Last year, rental rates were projected to fall slightly this year because of the glut of new apartments coming on the market throughout the region. More are on the way, especially on Charleston’s upper peninsula."

The Springfield News Leader in Missouri. "A California-based company's request for nearly $5 million in local property tax incentives isn't sitting well with local developers. Tim Roth, the president of the Springfield Apartment Housing Association, cited a recent survey of the Heers building, Park East, 800 South Bear Village, the Beacon properties, Aspen Heights and the new Vue project, which found just 84 percent of the 2,700 spaces for students were filled."

"Craig Wagoner, who owns several loft apartments in historic buildings downtown, said the city is already getting 'overbuilt' with large-scale student housing projects, and this one could be particularly dangerous for the market and the city.  Wagoner said for an out-of-state developer getting all that financial help, building a sustainable project won't matter. 'He's not worried about occupancy. He doesn't have to worry about that, but it's going to saturate the market and take a long time for it to pick up,' he said. 'When you look at all the credits and the incentives ... some guy in California doesn't care.'"

From Colorado Politics. "Renters in the Denver metro area saw some relief in average rent during the third quarter of 2019. After accounting for inflation, the metro area’s annual rent has fallen either at or somewhere below 2 percent since 2016, said Mark Williams, the executive vice president of the Apartment Association of Metro Denver."

The Sentinel Record in Arkansas. "A North Little Rock developer said he plans to build luxury apartments on the tract he recently acquired between Higdon Ferry and Twin Points roads. Keith Richardson said he intends to dedicate 35 of the roughly 100 acres he bought from Bank OZK to a Class A multifamily apartment complex in the vein of upmarket units his company built and manages in the Little Rock metropolitan area."

"A deed recorded earlier this month showed the company paid Bank OZK $2 million for the land. According to property records, ownership devolved to the bank in 2016 after developer Robert Malt defaulted on a $2 million revolving line of credit secured by the property, one of numerous Malt-owned properties that backed millions of dollars in nonperforming loans."

"Simmons Bank completed foreclosure proceedings the following year on Malt-owned properties in the nearby Forest Lakes Garden Homes neighborhood after it was awarded a more than $1.8 million judgment for loans Malt had defaulted on. 'It will be resort-style and high on amenities,' Richardson said. 'There will be 15,000 to 20,000 square feet of amenities: golf simulators, virtual workout rooms, a pool and a spa.'"

From Bakersfield.com in California. "If the owner of Sundale Country Club was looking for financially stable business partners, he chose the wrong guys. But if the goal was to buy time, his choices were effective. All three of the men Sundale owner Young Ohr gave a minority stake to in June 2018 have since filed for bankruptcy protection. The result has been repeated postponement of the golf course's sale at public auction."

"The 18-hole golf course is the central feature of Kern City, the surrounding retirement community where residents have eyed the foreclosure process warily. Whoever ends up owning the property will have the option, starting in 2022, of turning all or part of the course into new housing, which many residents there oppose."

"Bakersfield bankruptcy attorney D. Max Gardner, who is not connected to the Sundale case, observed that bringing in new part-owners who then proceed to file for bankruptcy protection can be regarded as a strategy to buy time. 'It can be a desperate tactic that's utilized to invoke the automatic stay (of a foreclosure auction) so that the creditor can't proceed with the trustee sale,' he said."

"Gardner added that such legal maneuvers don't happen often, and that people facing bankruptcy often do feel a sense of desperation because of the nature of their financial predicament. Song's Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing, dated Oct. 15, says he owes fewer than 50 creditors a total of between $50,001 and $100,000. It says his assets are worth no more than $50,000."