A report from DS News. "Nearly every metro area in America is experiencing peak seriously delinquent mortgage loans, according to a report from Nationwide economics. Levels are approaching the severity of the 2010 housing bust, economists say. 'The spike in mortgage delinquencies would normally have had a significantly negative impact, but delinquencies in the current environment should not be viewed as they have been in the past due to government policy changes,' said Nationwide Chief Economist David Berson."

The Puget Sound Business Journal in Washington. "It's been nearly nine months since Gov. Jay Inslee put a moratorium on apartment evictions. But it has put landlords like Robert Akhtar in a bind. Tenants at his 18-unit Angle Crest Apartments in SeaTac were $91,686 behind in rent, leaving him unable to pay his overdue $15,000 property tax bill, thousands in utility fees and some $42,500 on his mortgage."

"Akhtar said he never imagined he would ever struggle to pay his mortgage and taxes. He worries about the damage to his credit rating. 'We have obligations,' he said. "The government should start looking at ways of helping us, otherwise our property will be foreclosed. We can't do that.'"

From Spectrum News 1 on California. "Jacqueline Thompson is in danger of losing the home she grew up in. It’s a saga she said began after her father was diagnosed with cancer. The home went into foreclosure in 2017, and she was told about a nonprofit organization called Phil Anthropy House. They promised to buy the home and she would pay rent for a year, with the promise they would sell the house back. However, Thompson said that was never contractually written."

"'The treasurer and tax collector sent taxes to the house, and it’s under the name of Phil Anthropy House,' she said. 'We found out that the property was in default $29,000.' Phil Anthropy House is no longer in operation. Their attorney said it is because they helped save so many homes from foreclosure, with many of them going into default, thereby causing them to run out of funds."

The Wall Street Journal on California. "After over five years on and off the market, the longtime Los Angeles home of television writer and producer Norman Lear is finally in contract. The sales price is close to the home’s most recent asking price of $27.995 million—but less than half of its original listing price, according to a person familiar with the deal."

From Socket Site on California. "As we outlined last month: Purchased for $2.6 million in August of 2014 and then completely remodeled, the 2,400-square-foot, single-family home at 3020 Scott Street sold for $4.255 million in August of 2018. And having returned to the market priced at $3.98 million in June, reduced to $3.68 million in September and then dropped to '$3.38 million' two weeks ago, a sale at which would be considered to be 'at asking' according to all industry stats, the Cow Hollow home is now in contract."

"And while the Case-Shiller index for Bay Area single-family home values is up 4.0 percent over the same period of time, and the oft quoted 'median sale price' is up as well, the re-sale of 3020 Scott Street has just closed escrow with a contract price of $3,188,888, down 25 percent on an apples-to-apples basis."

From Curbed New York. "New York State Democrats are again pushing for a 'pied-à-terre tax' on second homes in the city — causing everyone in real estate to freak out. The proposed annual tax on second-home condos and co-ops with an assessed value of $300,000 or more would bring in $390 million annually, according to the Independent Budget Office. But the bill isn’t quite the blanket tax-the-rich measure it would appear to the casual observer: What it would actually do is tax those never-slept-in superluxury properties selling for $5 million or more, and not the Lincoln Center–adjacent studio where your suburban aunt and uncle stay after catching a play. Really what it needs is a better name — call it the Oligarch Tax."

"The ongoing deflation of one the most overheated housing markets in the world is not necessarily a bad thing for would-be buyers, and when the pandemic passes, the market is almost sure to recover. And if an extra property tax on extremely wealthy globe-trotters (who contribute to the city’s affordability crisis) prompts them to sell the staggering apartment in a gigantic skinny tower at a loss — well, that’s just more available inventory for people who actually live here."

From Yahoo Finance. "Airbnb and DoorDash will have to come out of the gate blasting financially as public companies, given the borderline insane valuations giddy investors afforded both on their respective IPO days. Airbnb finally opened for trading Thursday at $146 a share, dusting the initial public offering price of $68. The opening trade on Airbnb valued the company at $101.6 billion. For some perspective on the real-life market mania, that’s more than the combined market caps for Airbnb’s established rivals Marriott, Hilton and Hyatt of $80 billion. That’s more than the $62 billion market for 112-year-old auto giant General Motors."

The Wall Street Journal. "In the dozen years since it was founded, Airbnb Inc. has moved into hundreds of U.S. cities, transforming many of them into vacation-rental meccas. In response, residents across the country have ratcheted up grass-roots efforts aimed at keeping authority over short-term rentals in the hands of towns and cities. In Arizona, the one state that passed a law removing the authority of cities to police short-term rentals, at least two state lawmakers are aiming for bills next year to counter the 2016 law."

"The law was sold to the legislature as 'an old couple making a few extra bucks by renting their spare bedroom,' said John Kavanagh, the only state senator to vote against it at the time. 'That’s not what ended up happening.'"

"Investors poured into affluent neighborhoods like Paradise Valley, Ariz., a suburb of Phoenix, where they snapped up townhouses to rent on Airbnb, Mayor Jerry Bien-Willner said. Data compiled for the city show that 94% of short-term rental listings in Paradise Valley are stand-alone houses without owners living on-site."

"Tensions grew, Mr. Bien-Willner said, after a flurry of complaints from neighbors over noisy house parties and crime at the short-term rentals. Cities can do little because they have no say over leasing the properties, he said. Some Arizonans complained their homes declined in value because no one but investors wanted to buy a house next to a short-term rental, according to Mr. Bien-Willner. 'You don’t know your neighbors anymore,' he said."

"In Scottsdale, Ariz., Marjorie Pennock woke up to the sound of gunfire in mid-October, she said. A group of partygoers at the short-term rental property next door drew weapons and fired. One person was shot in the arm. Five homes were struck in the crossfire, according to a police report, and more than 100 shell casings were recovered outside Ms. Pennock’s home. 'I’m in my bedroom thinking I’m going to die,' she said."

From KTTH on Oregon. "The family behind the Red House Autonomous Zone in North Portland owns a second home just two miles away. Even more disturbing is that Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler’s office is negotiating with the new homeowner. The goal is to come to a compromise, which would appease the criminal activists. It’s the latest twists in a bizarre, dangerous, and absurd story."

"While the news of a second home should change the narrative from the Antifa agitators and other criminal agitators who are holding a neighborhood hostage, it likely won’t. When dealing with fringe activists, they seldom let facts get in the way of their narrative. As for Wheeler’s involvement, it’s another reminder that he’s a feckless coward."

"The so-called Red House was foreclosed in 2018 after failure to pay their mortgage. Since then, they’ve been living in the home illegally and causing all sorts of criminal problems for the neighborhood. The narrative was set by Antifa and other criminal agitators: the Black and Indigenous family is a victim of gentrification and will be rendered homeless in the middle of a pandemic. It’s outrageous! It’s also false."

"The Kinney Family took out a mortgage to help pay legal bills associated with then 17-year-old son William’s legal problems. After speeding through a red light, he struck a car, killing one of the occupants. Since then, he’s had some other legal issues, as the family got into a back and forth with the loan servicer."

"Court documents reveal the Kinney family argued they believe themselves to be sovereign citizens who are not subject to the laws of Oregon or the United States. I suppose it makes sense, then, that an autonomous zone is set up to protect them from the years-long battle from the home they have no legal right to."

"Negotiating ensures this exact scenario will unfold the next time activists want to forward a scam narrative about gentrification. Not that Wheeler learns from mistakes. After their own 'summer of love' in Portland, Wheeler routinely enables and empowered Antifa criminals. It’s why their criminal, deadly behavior intensified. It’s exactly what helped create an environment where an autonomous zone could be set up around the red house in the first place."