A report from the Seattle Times in Washington. "'Spring 2020 is going to be a perfect time to sell your house!' That’s the advice public-school employees Kristine Nelson and her husband, Will, received when they decided late last year to sell their Vashon Island home. They planned to list it in the mid-$500,000s, a competitive price point. Then the pandemic hit, and early 2020’s white-hot housing market cratered. The Nelsons might be stuck with two mortgages if they can’t find a buyer for their Vashon Island home."

"In late March, near the apex of the spring buying frenzy, they put a successful offer on a new house, in Tacoma’s Point Ruston neighborhood, after being outbid on nine other homes. 'The minute a house dropped, we would drop everything and go see it,' Nelson said. 'We would make offers on houses we hadn’t even seen yet. It felt like a frenzy. We would wake up at 3 a.m. and think, ‘What are we doing?'"

"But by the time they listed their Vashon Island home, for $550,000 on April 2, buyer interest had tanked, according to NWMLS data on home showings. Despite lowering the price, they haven’t had any offers. Only one potential buyer has toured. If the market doesn’t pick up, come July, they might be stuck with a double mortgage bill, nearly $6,000. 'For us, that’s a car,' Nelson said."

"It’s become harder to get any type of mortgage as lenders tighten underwriting standards to hedge against the rising risk of borrower default — but the availability of jumbo loans, which in King County start at $741,750, has been especially reduced, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association, as lenders shy away from issuing mortgages not guaranteed by the government."

"Linda Sikora bought her Bryn Mawr house in 2017. When the pandemic hit, most of the clients at her market research firm backed out of their contracts. Sikora’s wife has been furloughed from her job as a pet groomer. Until Sikora is approved for a federal small business loan, 'we have no income coming in,' she said. Her lender, First Savings Bank, agreed to defer her mortgage payments for three months, but told her that 'on the first day of that fourth month, I would owe all three months of mortgage plus the current balance,' Sikora said — $11,000, an amount she knows she can’t pay."

"'I’ve got this impending date. I keep looking at it, then not wanting to look at it,' she said. 'We’re in this black void.'"

The Washington Post. "When it launched condominium sales in February, the Towers of the Waldorf Astoria in Manhattan was already girding for market headwinds. After years of excess, home sales on the island were slipping, declining in eight of the past nine quarters, according to housing data from Miller Samuel Real Estate Appraisers & Consultants. Amid a glut of new luxury towers and a shrinking foreign-buyer pool, sales in the fourth quarter of 2019 reached its lowest level in the past decade."

"But just weeks after its sales launch the coronavirus struck the United States and dealt a shock to the global economy. Since then millions of Americans have lost their jobs, millions more are staying home and wealthy New Yorkers are seeing their stock portfolios dwindle."

"'It’s virtually impossible for something like this not to severely impact every facet of the luxury sector of the housing market,' says Jonathan J. Miller, the president of Miller Samuel. 'And the longer this goes on the longer it will take to see anything resembling a recovery.'"

"Brokers from expensive pockets across the country say they are already seeing signs that wealthy buyers are pausing as the pandemic unfolds. The Los Angeles real estate market started strong this year, but as the pandemic grew in Southern California, sales shrank as a flood of buyers pulled out of the market. Fifty-four percent of real estate agents in California had clients back out from a home purchase in March due to the coronavirus outbreak, according to a survey by the California Association of Realtors. Forty-five percent of those surveyed said they had a client back out from a home sale."

The San Francisco Chronicle in California. "In early March, Bay Area shelter-in-place orders did not include real estate as an 'essential' business and all showings came to a halt. 'Buyers seem to enjoy private showings more than open houses,' said Bebe McRae, who sells properties in the East Bay. They are also enjoying the more 'transparent' pricing that realtors are now recommending to their clients, McRae said. The thought is that if open houses are out, the chances of multiple offers dwindle. So, pricing a home low in order to elicit a bidding war no longer makes as much sense."

"'Since we are trying to limit the access, I have recommended to all of my selling clients to raise the price closer to a price they are willing to accept,' agreed East Bay realtor Deidre Joyner."

"It’s too soon to tell how sales prices will ultimately be impacted by the new restrictions. But, looking back to the last financial crisis of 2008, Neal Ward, who specializes in selling such homes in San Francisco, said his well-heeled sellers would likely just sit out the spring season rather than rush to sell in a down market. 'I do not feel that we will see properties coming onto market on the northside due to financial distress of the sellers. We did not see this in 2008 and I feel we won’t see it now,' he said."

From Business Den in Colorado. "After a full month of stay-at-home order restrictions, Denver’s residential real estate market is feeling the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. Total home sales volume in April was $1.8 billion, down 25 percent from March and 30 percent from April 2019, according to the Denver Metro Association of Realtors’ monthly market trend report. At month’s end, 3,280 homes were under contract, down 45.8 percent year over year."

"Only 17 luxury condos sold in April, in comparison to the 32 sold in April 2019. The sold volume dropped 32 percent month over month from $38.3 million to $26.2 million, the report reads. 'We have lost a lot of sources for jumbo loans, as those were what lenders started to drop and tighten up right away, which is a huge impact,' said Jill Schafer, chair of the market trends committee at DMAR. “And as the economy has gotten a little bit insecure, people are realizing they don’t need to spend as much, and so perhaps, they’re not looking at these higher-end properties as much.'"

The Houston Chronicle in Texas. "Houston home sales plunged more than 20 percent in April from year-ago figures as sellers took properties off the market and buyers stayed home through the coronavirus-induced shutdown, a housing economist said Tuesday, citing an early estimate. 'It does look like buyers are anxious to buy, but they're just delaying it,' said Jim Gaines, chief economist of the Texas A&M Real Estate Center."

"Lenders, though, are being more stringent. JPMorgan, for example, said last month it would increase its minimum lending standards requiring borrowers to have at least 20 percent to put down and a credit scores of at least 700."

The Pensacola News Journal in Florida. "Caleb Leitch's wife passed away unexpectedly in 2013, six months after they bought a new home in Beulah. Leitch, now 31, has spent the last few years putting himself through school, working as a counselor for folks trying to quit tobacco and raising his elementary school-aged son. The last thing on his mind was his homeowners association fees."

"Now, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, he is about to lose his $230,000 home over an $8,800 debt to his HOA and its attorneys. According to Leitch's attorney, the First Judicial Circuit appears to be one of the few court systems in Florida that is proceeding with lien foreclosures despite an executive order from Gov. Ron DeSantis suspending foreclosures and evictions while more than one million Floridians are out of work."

"Christine Kelly Fausel, a senior attorney for Legal Services of North Florida, is representing Leitch in his foreclosure case. Kelly Fausel said she believes this case and others are moving forward based on a hyper-literal interpretation of the governor's order, an interpretation she thinks is both legally flawed and contrary to the spirit of the document. 'Obviously the intent is not to have people homeless during COVID-19,' Kelly Fausel said."

"However, the governor's order contains no explicit prohibition on 'lien foreclosures.' That process allows homeowners' associations and condominium associations to place liens on the homes of members with unpaid fees and assessments. The process can ultimately result in a 'lien foreclosure' where the home is auctioned off to pay the HOA or COA."

"In a press conference Friday, DeSantis said that he was not aware lien foreclosures were happening, and that he would have to find out more details before addressing any specific case. Speaking generally, however, DeSanits said, 'We obviously put that in, in order to give people a reprieve. It didn't mean that they never have to pay their mortgage again. We were very clear about that. But just given the circumstances, you may have had people who all of a sudden, if the economy stops, they didn't have the ability to put food on the table. So we wanted to be doing things that recognize that hardship and weren't compounding it.'"

"When Leitch and his wife, Amy, bought their home in quiet, idyllic Blackberry Ridge, they knew it was probably a bit more than they could afford. 'We were young, so we were a little bit above our means, but hopefully growing into it,' Leitch said. 'I was finishing up school within the next year and hopefully getting a better job. So we knew we were going to be in a little bit of a bind for little while, but we'd be able to get our bills paid.'"

"His house is going up for auction Thursday, and with COVID-19 social distancing cutting his hours as a smoking cessation coach, Leitch said there's virtually no chance he'll be able to pay off what he owes in time. 'I'm honestly not getting almost any hours at all,' Leitch said. 'I did file for unemployment, but because I'm considered a personal contractor, they denied me for employment. … So it's been it's been a rough couple months, that's for sure.'"

The New Orleans Advocate in Louisiana. "Loree Stickles, who lost her Lafayette-area job and whose husband's hours were drastically cut, sought delayed payments on her mortgage as a precaution amid the coronavirus crisis. But she's still paying on the loan to avoid being hit with a lump-sum bill for $4,212 in July when the three-month forbearance period is over."

"For New Orleans resident Cristina Sanchez Tyson and her husband, the lump sum would have been $6,000, so they decided against mortgage forbearance and are continuing payments to a lender that refused to move the payments to end of their loan. In Baton Rouge, yoga teacher and massage therapist Noura Skakri has been making partial mortgage payments as best as she and her husband can, even though forbearance was approved by their lender. She's doing some online sessions but mostly is out of work because of the state-imposed shutdown of nonessential businesses and stay-at-home order issued in mid-March to contain the spread of the coronavirus pandemic."

"To keep mortgage payments going, the homeowners are cobbling together savings, unemployment checks or federal relief funds they've received to prevent being hit with a huge lump-sum bill, which could potentially be avoided if lenders eventually are willing to alter the terms of their mortgages. 'This seems to entirely defeat the purpose and does not offer financial relief. If I were to not have the amount for one month, what makes them think that I could come up with the amount for three months if the hardship continued?' said Tyson, who works remotely in her job but whose husband's restaurant hours were severely cut. 'If we had really lost our second income completely, it would have been very stressful and challenging to afford the balloon payment.'"

"An estimated 3.8 million homeowners across the country are living not only on borrowed money but also borrowed time. About 7.5% of home mortgages across the U.S. were in forbearance as of April 26, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association national survey, a big jump from the less than 1% of mortgages in forbearance in early March before the onslaught of the coronavirus pandemic. And that number is expected to grow in May."

"State-level data was not available, but the two largest independent mortgage servicers in Louisiana — GMFS LLC and Assurance Financial — estimate that more than 5% of their loans have been approved for forbearance so far. The issue for most homeowners is that despite efforts from the federal government to help ease the burden of mortgage payments amid stay-at-home orders and shuttered businesses, many are worried about what happens in weeks or months when the forbearance periods end. Even if borrowers are off the hook for payments right now, the money is still due."

"'Those payments are contractually still due at the end of the 90 days. The borrower either pays all three months or they are evaluated for further forbearance and various loan modification options,' said Tee Brown, chief financial officer of Baton Rouge-based GMFS LLC."

"Money is already tight and many of the Stickleses' bills, ranging from flood insurance to groceries, are getting put on credit cards. Loree Stickles said she recently started receiving unemployment benefits and the couple received federal stimulus checks of $1,200 each. The couple has been making mortgage payments to avoid the lump-sum option using the stimulus money. Loree Stickles is looking for another job in the meantime."

"Just in case, she's already thinking of other options in a worst-case scenario, including tapping her retirement accounts. 'I’m not even thinking foreclosure at this point,' Stickles said."

"The naturalist educator, who doesn’t expect to go back to work until August, and her husband, a crane operator in the hard-hit offshore oil and gas industry, actually have two mortgages right now. The other is on an old house the couple has been trying to sell, but the market has been down. Fortunately, the delayed mortgage payments for that house are being moved to the end of the loan by its mortgage servicer."

"GMFS’ leadership expects the coronavirus pandemic to cause more borrowers to seek forbearance than after the 2016 flood in Louisiana, when about 7% of its mortgages were in forbearance. That’s the trend Assurance Financial is seeing as well. 'We are seeing more demand for forbearance relief today than during that disaster,' said Kenny Hodges, CEO of Assurance Financial. 'We are expecting numbers between 12% to 18% when it’s all said and done.'"