It's Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. "Some buyers may look for deals, thinking all sellers are desperate to sell. But if this isn't you, there's no reason to cave or whittle down your home's price. 'Regardless of the events, there will always be buyers who will write a lowball offer,' says Ressie Krabacher, a residential broker in Chicago. You’ll want to at least be open to all offers on your home, even if they aren't as high as you'd like. 'As a seller, if buyers in your area have decided to put the brakes on their home searches, you may want to entertain offers that you hadn't previously considered, especially if you need to sell quickly,' says Danielle Hale, chief economist at realtor.com®."

"Former Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Rich Cordray warned that in an absence of the CFPB’s aggressive actions, bad actors could emerge. 'Consumers will be harassed by debt collectors, consumers won't have credit reports that are inaccurate, that don't reflect the true creditworthiness,' he explained. 'And the most immediate to me [is] if mortgage servicers are allowed to have leeway and they don't answer the calls, they don't follow through… and people won't get the relief on their mortgages. They will fall into foreclosure they will lose their house.'"

"The Covid-19 pandemic and ensuing economic downturn is already reminding some Houston realtors of the Great Recession. 'Zombie foreclosure is just a fancy way of referring to a house in foreclosure that is sitting vacant, and has been sitting vacant for some time,' says Mark Bloom with Networth Realty. 'You are seeing foreclosures start to uptick, and you are seeing an increase in the number of houses that are sitting vacant in neighborhoods.' Vulture investors a.k.a. 'zombie hunters' often circle. 'These properties in many instances, if not most, are going to sell to an investor or some kind of a hunter for these types of properties,' says Bloom."

"Local real estate experts say there’s no doubt Central Texas’ 10-year hot streak for housing has come to an abrupt, unanticipated and shell-shocking halt, dashing hopes for early spring’s usual peak home-selling season. 'There have been so many deals that have fallen apart, mostly due to the job situation,' said real estate agent Clayton Bullock. 'People who have lost jobs or been furloughed or had their salaries cut, can no longer get financing. I’m hearing about it all over town, and in all price points.' Austin real estate broker Derrick Jones said he is also seeing sellers reduce prices. 'In a normal market, you would see a price reduction because the home is overpriced,' Jones said. 'Now, you’re seeing price reductions because you’re trying to draw attention to your listing, because traffic is very slow.'"

"California house sales plunged 11.5% in March from February levels, the first double-digit, month-to-month drop in more than nine years and the largest since August 2007, the California Association of Realtors reported. And since the outbreak didn’t fully hit the local economy until the middle of the month, April sales and price figures are likely to show even deeper declines. 'The fast deterioration of the economy, the steep decline of the financial market and record-setting job losses have not been factored into March’s closed sales, but will become obvious in coming months,' said said CAR Chief Economist Leslie Appleton-Young."

"Some Long Island homeowners said they were surprised to learn that if they get a loan reprieve, they would be required to make up the missed payments in a lump sum at the end of the forbearance period. Tony Giametta, 64, who lives with his wife in Oceanside, said was 'taken aback,' he said, to learn that if he were to miss any payments due to the pandemic, all the missed payments would be due in a lump sum in August. 'When I heard that I said, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me, how can you even pass that off as a relief program?,’ said Giametta, a retiree. 'I’m not looking for a handout, nobody’s looking for that, but at least work with the people.'"

"'We're not really thinking about how we're going to get them to catch up or resume making mortgage payments down the road. And that's going to be problematic,' said Guy Cecala, publisher of Inside Mortgage Finance. Two-thirds of mortgage loans are bundled into securities and sold to investors who are guaranteed timely payment of principal and interest, Cecala said. It can be difficult to get large groups of investors -- typically hedge funds and institutional investors -- to agree to give homeowners a break, he said."

"Even before the coronavirus pandemic hit, Nassau and Suffolk county homeowners faced some of the highest levels of housing distress in the country, a new report shows. In Suffolk County, the typical resident would need to pay 55% of their annual income to afford a home valued at $415,000, the median sale price in the first three months of 2020. Nassau County residents needed an even higher share – 65% -- of their income to afford a median-priced home valued at $535,000, Attom reported. 'If we're talking about individuals that were paying roughly 45% of their actual income towards their mortgage and their income has been decimated… there's no way for people to make those payments,' said Gwen O’Shea, chief executive of the Community Development Corp. of Long Island in Centereach."

"One million Canadians lost their jobs in just one week in March. Millions more have applied for the Canadian Emergency Response Benefit, or CERB. That overhang of debt could make Canadians less likely to spend in the coming months. As a result, people could change their approach toward savings and spending after this crisis, according to researcher David Rosenberg. 'Because the one thing that we found out is that nobody had any cash on hand. So the old saying about saving up for a rainy day. Well all of a sudden, we had not just a rainy day. We had a hurricane and there is no cash to draw from.'"

"Italy, Spain, Portugal and France — historically our locations of choice for second and holiday homes — have been among the nations hardest hit by the Covid-19 pandemic. Luca Dondi, chief executive of the research institute Nomisma in Bologna says that this loss isn’t likely to be matched by a reduction of prices. 'It’s a cultural barrier — Italians won’t sell at a discount,' he says. Dondi concedes that homeowners in financial distress may be forced to sell their properties quickly, enabling lucky buyers to secure a good deal."

"Which perhaps explains why a bargain-hunter from Austria wasn’t well received when earlier this month he asked an estate agency in Italy for a 55 per cent discount on a country home in Tuscany. The agency declined his offer, saying that it didn’t deal with 'jackals and vultures.' 'This type of buyer is seen as callous and has been criticised by the Italian press,' says Gemma Bruce of the Italian estate agency Casa & Country. 'However, to some sellers, who now find themselves in dire need of selling, these offers could be a lifeline.'"

"Economists have predicted a world of pain for property owners: house prices dropping by double digit percentages and a rental market that doesn't look much better. New Zealand Property Investors' Federation President Sharon Cullwick said she had also given this stark warning to fellow investors: 'Make a decision now on whether you can afford to keep your investments,' Cullwick said. Property manager David Faulkner said many landlords were in denial about the extent to which incomes, rents, Airbnb demand, and house prices would be affected by Covid-19. Some had even suggested domestic tourism demand would take the place of international demand."

"'I won't say they're delusional but they haven't grasped what's happening yet,' Faulkner said. In Queenstown, one company experienced a steady stream of tenants coming into its office the day after the borders closed. They handed in their keys and walked out. 'Queenstown literally became like Greymouth overnight. You know, it was that bad.'"

"Confidence in the Australian housing market has collapsed, with a Westpac consumer survey recording the single biggest monthly fall in its 47-year history. 'The GFC low took 18 months to get to, 18 months of constant deterioration. Whereas this happened in a month,' said Westpac chief economist Bill Evans. 'That qualifies for the term of collapse most definitely.'"

"With the dramatic downturn in the economy due to the shutdown of entire industries and subsequent mass job losses, Australians’ sentiment around the time to buy property and house price expectations had taken a steep fall. 'This one is out of the box. It’s probably indicating prices are too high in this current environment,' he said. 'You’ve got the double whammy … this time you’ve got both moving down, which is a general ‘get me out of here response’"

"Companies invested billions of dollars in algorithms that were built to snap up real estate bargains and put cash offers on the table while homeowners avoided the fuss and expense of repairs, stagings, showings, and often prolonged appraisal and escrow periods. Zillow’s chief executive officer Rich Barton sounded positively evangelical about the prospects last year. 'Fundamentally, we are following consumers who have been Uberized and have grown to expect magic to happen with a simple push of a button,' he said. '…The time for real estate is now.'"

"Over the past few years, venture capital dollars have flooded into the space. Today, competitors include Opendoor, Offerpad and Knock, among others. Opendoor, which was founded in 2014 on the premise of iBuying, had raised over $4 billion as of last month, according to PitchBook. Zillow’s initial plan was to purchase 5,000 homes a month. Today, amid the coronavirus pandemic, it isn’t buying any. Redfin, which last year did just under a third of its revenue in iBuying, said it was the first to pause that business in mid-March, citing unpredictable economic conditions. Within a week, iBuying ground to a virtual halt industrywide."

"Redfin’s chief executive Glenn Kelman said that there is likely to always be a place for an instant offer in the market, though he is hopeful the pandemic will rationalize unsustainable competition in the industry. 'There was a time that there was so much venture money pouring in here that people were selling dollars for 95 cents,' he said."