A report from Seven Days in Vermont. "Signs of the times were impossible to miss along the Church Street Marketplace in Burlington. 'For lease' signs hung in windows once occupied by retailers. Uncommon Grounds coffeehouse, Half Lounge speakeasy, David's Tea, Sweet Thing,and Scuffer Tap & Table were shuttered. The Five Guys burger restaurant, normally serving lunch midday, was inexplicably closed. Church Street, the crown jewel of Vermont's retail sector, looked a little rough around the edges. Tony Blake, cofounder of V/T Commercial in Burlington, a real estate and business brokerage firm, said he has lowered rents on two Church Street properties by 30 percent since March as he tries to retain tenants hit hard by the pandemic."

"'Retail is obvious. You can walk up and down Church Street and see some carnage already,' Blake said. As he's been telling landlords who call him with new vacancies, 'It really doesn't matter what you're asking for in terms of rent. What we need to do is get activity.'"

The DCist on Washington DC. "For the last 20 years or more, downtown Washington has been riding a wave of prosperity. But the COVID-19 pandemic has put a stop to that. The new analysis notes that federal unemployment benefits and the Paycheck Protection Program were 'very helpful' to workers and businesses in downtown D.C. But even these factors won’t be enough to fill the smoking crater in downtown D.C.’s economy."

From Variety. "Mariah Carey decamped her plush mansion-sized penthouse in lower Manhattan sometime in March to sequester at a grand Westchester County country estate. The property last sold in 2012 for $4.8 million. The renovated estate first came for sale over the summer of 2015 at nearly $10 million. With no takers, it was taken off the market a year later before it was re-listed with the exact same price. There were still no buyers, and the next July the estate got a staggering 30% price reduction, to just under $6.9 million. Alas, it also languished at the hugely discounted price until the summer of 2019, when it was taken off the market."

From Business Insider on New York. "The former NYC home of a jetsetting Iranian princess has sold for $11.5 million after a $40 million price cut and 6 years on and off the market. A controversial New York City townhouse has sold for a fraction of its original $50 million asking price after six years on and off the market."

From Variety on New Jersey. "The Real Housewives of New Jersey star Teresa Giudice has put her giant Towaco, N.J., mansion on the market at just under $2.5 million. This in not the first time Giudice has attempted to sell the leafy 3.75-acre suburban spread. In 2010, the year after they filed for chapter 7 bankruptcy with almost $11 million in debt, the estate popped up for sale at almost $4 million. The palatial pad came back up for sale, again at almost $4 million, just before they were each sentenced to federal prison on bank, mail, wire and bankruptcy convictions in 2014, and the price dropped to slightly less than $3 million before it was pulled from the market in 2015."

From The Oregonian. "'A trend we’ve seen is people moving out of cities,' says Scott Halligan, vice president of residential operations in Oregon and Southwest Washington for John L. Scott Real Estate. Residential properties listed under $500,000 are selling quickly and often receiving multiple offers, he says. 2909 S.W. Upper Dr. in Portland is listed at $499,000. The property was first listed for $200,900 more on Sept. 20, 2019, and has been pending twice but is back on the market, according to public records."

"30621 S. Oswalt Road in Colton is listed at $488,750. The bungalow, built in 1930 on 14.90 acres, has two bedrooms, one bathroom and 1,152 square feet of living space. 'Appears that the property is mostly level, fenced and cross fenced with some outbuildings. Cash only. Property is occupied and occupants are not to be disturbed or contacted under any circumstances. Interior inspections not available; property is being sold as occupied and as-is. Property sold through auction,' says listing agent Jim Doak of John L. Scott RE Portland South."

From Bizwest in Colorado. "Cover your ears if you don’t want to hear this, but some experts in the real estate and financial sectors are starting to drop the F-bomb: foreclosures. It’s not a word that has been expressed much in recent years, what with a booming economy. But, for a number of reasons, many experts are expecting an uptick in the coming months, perhaps a big uptick. The moratorium is intended to alleviate pressure on homeowners during the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, federal stimulus programs, such as the recently ended $600 a week additional unemployment benefit, enabled many homeowners to remain current on their loans."

"But that extra unemployment benefit has ended. All of this could simply be delaying the inevitable. A recent examination of Notice of Election and Demand filings — the first step in foreclosure — for Boulder, Broomfield, Larimer and Weld counties, found some interesting data. Through August 2019, the four counties had seen 219 such filings. Through Aug. 25 — an abbreviated time frame due to BizWest’s press date — the number totaled just 100. That means that even foreclosures that we would see in a normal economy are being prevented — or, rather, postponed. It’s likely that we’re just delaying the inevitable on homes that would have gone into foreclosure even when times were good. So 2021 could be brutal in terms of residential foreclosures."

"Some landlords, in turn, have negotiated workout agreements or restructuring of loans with lenders. But no one expects those arrangements to last forever. Landlords do not have as much rental income coming in, and some will have difficulty making mortgage payments. Lenders’ patience will last only for so long. Bankers already are working to build up their loan-loss reserves in anticipation of problems down the road. Commercial foreclosures remain few in number, but we are beginning to see them crop up, from a hotel in Johnstown to a business park in Broomfield to an under-construction apartment complex in Old Town Fort Collins. So the next time you hear someone drop the 'F-bomb,' cover your ears, and go 'la-la-la-la' until they stop."

The Colorado Sun. "A new owner is taking the reins at Granby Ranch, but the mayhem continues for the beleaguered ski and golf community. Following a complicated foreclosure sale, the new owner of Granby Ranch — Granby Prentice Granby Holdings — sent a letter early Wednesday to the roughly 800 owners of property at the 5,000-acre Grand County resort explaining that the company was terminating a 2005 deal that had the owners paying $10,000 each to eventually take control of the ski area and golf course."

"Those five deeds involve promissory notes between lenders and former Granby Ranch owner Marise Cipriani. Cipriani borrowed more than $62 million since 2005 to fund her failed 25-year dream of more than 4,000 homes in a year-round destination resort. Cipriani for two years tried to sell the resort, but walked away earlier this year after Granby Prentice concluded she owed more than it was worth, telling a Grand County District Court in January that 'the property is inadequate security for repayment of the loan.'"

The Press Democrat in California. "Megan Rhodes, 65, who works for a credit union in Capitola near Santa Cruz, recently paid about $840,000 for a new 2,300-square-foot home in Windsor. She relocated north after her company allowed her to continue working indefinitely from home. Erika Rendino and her husband, David, who together work as a real estate team, said they have seen a number of area buyers purchasing second homes to use as their primary residences during the pandemic."

"'We have Google buyers, and they’ve been told that they’ll work from home until July of next year,' David Rendino said. 'If they have to go back, they’ll do some kind of (vacation rental service).' With interest rates for mortgages remaining near historic lows, and a glut of backlogged properties still waiting to hit the housing market, the Rendinos expect the county’s homebuying trend to extend well into the fall."

From Elite Agent on California. "Justin Bieber and wife have scored themselves a massive six-bedroom mansion in Beverly Park for a cool $25.8 million. The property was built in 1988, and first went on the market in April, 2018, with an asking price of $42m. To grasp just what a bargain Biebs scored himself, an empty lot in his neighbourhood listed in 2015 for $30m."

From Heavy on California. "The agents on Million Dollar Listing are known for thinking outside the box in order to sell distinctive properties. On tonight’s season finale, Josh Altman and Tracy Tutor team up to sell a historic home that, despite its iconic status, has struggled to attract buyers. The home featured on the season finale of MDLLA once belonged to Hollywood icon John Barrymore. It has been put on the market several times since 2015. The Barrymore Estate was once listed for as high as $42.5 million."

"But the price has come down significantly since then. In 2016, the price was lowered to $29.95 million. According to records on Compass, the price first dropped below $20 million in October 2017. After nearly another year without any buyers, the price changed again to $19.5 million. The seller agreed to yet another price reduction in February 2019, to $17.9 million. Altman and Tutor took over the listing in November 2019 with a $16.995 million price tag. The listing was canceled just before Christmas before it was put back on the market in February 2020. Altman again described the house on social media as a brand new listing."

"Since MDLLA wrapped filming, the stars put Seabright Place back on the market on August 14 but the price has once again been lowered. The home is currently available for $15.995 million."

The Davis Enterprise in California. "Potential housing effects of the viral crisis became noticeable almost immediately after shelter-at-home orders first came from county governments in the San Francisco Bay Area, quickly followed by similar statewide decrees by Gov. Gavin Newsom."

""White collar workers for companies large and small were suddenly ordered to work from home, as companies from Internet giants like Twitter and Facebook to law firms, insurance companies, stock brokerages and many more provided technology for workers to work wherever they like. Vacancy signs proliferated in the densest of business districts from San Francisco to Santa Monica to Fresno, San Diego, Orange County and beyond. Said a stock brokerage vice president in Pasadena, 'We spent $2 million over the last two years refurbishing our offices to accommodate more than 100 workers. Now we get five people a day working there. We don’t need all that space. Our people are as productive as ever; they’re just not in the office very often.'"

"Realtors report record levels of vacancies, but a building boom propelled by previous state demands for more and more mixed-use office and commercial buildings has continued. As empty space appeared within existing buildings, spurred strictly by non-political events, state lawmakers kept pushing the most ambitious housing construction plan the Legislature ever saw."

"If the lawmakers behind these measures paid any heed to what’s going on in their own districts, they might not have proposed these things, despite the strong support they quite predictably got from developers and building trade unions. Twitter’s building in Wiener’s district now stands mostly empty. Office towers in Atkins’ San Diego district are nowhere near filled and 'for-lease' signs abound in downtown Santa Monica, barely a mile from Bloom’s home."

"These empty spaces and many more like them will likely produce more than 1 billion vacant square feet that can be turned into apartments and condominiums in all price ranges with far less work, in far less time and with far fewer lawsuits to fight them than pushing for new construction. Yes, it will take some rezoning to accomplish this. But those changes are inevitable: cities and counties would otherwise stand to lose large amounts of property tax money as massive vacancies reduce the value of commercial buildings."

"If legislators are really interested in solving the housing problem, and not merely in self-aggrandizement or feathering the nests of their campaign donors, they will leave well enough alone, allowing the market forces to play out over the next two to three years."