It's Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. "Stacy Levey, a real estate broker who primarily sells in Westchester County, New York, says the bidding wars this time around are different from boom times past. One of her clients paid $300,000 above asking on a house listed for $1.065 million. 'What is different is the people's appetite to go crazy,' says Levey. 'Now everyone's like, 'I don't care that I'm overpaying. …. Just sign me up anyways.'"

"The number of homes for sale in Ada County surged in April, if you can call it a surge. There were 361 homes listed: 212 existing and 149 new. 'I tell buyers that I work with they have to have patience,' said Julie Cendejas, an assistant broker with Keller Williams Realty Boise. 'You’ve got to be in it for the long haul. You can’t just want to buy a house, you have to be serious. You have to realize you’re probably going to pay over asking price, and you have to be willing to do what it takes right now to get a house, until the tides change.'"

"Another client from Washington state put in an offer above the $450,000 asking price for a house in Meridian based only on a video tour Cendejas showed her. 'She won’t even see the house until she’s closed on it and moves here,' Cendejas said. 'She had to trust her real estate agent.'"

"Matt Leprino, a spokesperson for the Colorado Association of Realtors, said the practice of offering an 'appraisal gap' or an 'appraisal waiver' can be a challenge. 'It’s risky, but you know, maybe a little less risky than it used to be,' Leprino said."

"Leprino said this process can be intimidating to buyers. 'The prospect of being under water on day one is a very scary and very daunting task. But if you’re buying a house for $500,000, (and) you’re paying $550,000, you’ve got that risk of $50,000,' Leprino said. 'But once that closes, and you’re the newest comparable in the neighborhood, and the next day, your neighbor sells for $555,000 or $560,000. Now, all of a sudden, your negative equity that you started with on day one vanishes. And that’s scary, right? Because we don’t know when that’s going to end.'"

"As we outlined in October of last year: Purchased from the sales office for $3,149,500, or roughly $2,003 per square foot, back in June of 2016, the two-bedroom, two-bath unit in the Lumina tower at 338 Main Street, unit #35A, was then listed for $3,449,000 in March of 2017. The re-sale of 338 Main Street #35A, the HOA dues for which have been running around $1,200 a month, has now closed escrow with a contract price of $2,650,000, down 15.9 percent ($499,500) from mid-2016 on an apples-to-apples basis but 'within 8 percent of asking' according to all industry stats and market reports on account of its reduced list price."

"At the same time, the index for Bay Area condo values is up 14.7 percent from June of 2016 and the 'median sale price' is up as well."

"Mortgage servicers took their sweet time last spring advising customers affected by the pandemic about their right to hit the pause button on making payments with no documentation required, and no penalty charged to get back on track. Now that most of those borrowers are preparing to resume making payments, mortgage servicers are again facing criticism for not being straight with their customers about their options."

"With more than 2 million borrowers still in forbearance and planning to exit, mortgage servicers probably aren’t purposely spreading bad information, said Andrea Bopp Stark, an attorney at the nonprofit National Consumer Law Center. 'I think they’re bombarded and overwhelmed with the amount of forbearance and post-forbearance options. There are probably hundreds of thousands coming off forbearance every week.'"

"Despite robust growth in home prices over the past several months, homeowners in the Chicago area can't afford to sell their homes more than in any other major U.S. city, according to a new report. In the Chicago area, 8.6 percent of homeowners with a mortgage were seriously underwater at the end of the first quarter of 2021, according to Attom. Homeowners are considered seriously underwater if they owe at least 25 percent more on their mortgage than the home is worth in the current market."

"Chicago therefore has the smallest share of homeowners who can easily afford to sell and the largest share of people who can’t afford it. This goes a long way toward explaining the super-low inventory of homes on the market: A lot of people just can’t afford to put their home on the market."

"Mortgage hardships are up 10% according to credit reporting firm Centrix, as the Covid pandemic continues to impact borrowers across New Zealand. New Zealand Bankers' Association data reveals 103,000 households are on repayment holidays or reduced mortgage payments as of April 29. About 50,000 have asked to delay payments completely. While many people are struggling, buyers continue to pile into the housing market at a record pace."

"'In the last year, we have seen a new resurgence in housing in Estevan no different than across the country,' said Lynn Chipley with Century 21 Border Real Estate. 'If you drive around town, you'll still see those notices in the window and the little blue lockbox that tells you it's a vacant property,' she said. 'There are still a few of those that I can see driving by that have yet to reach the market. So unfortunately, we are still seeing bank repossessions coming back on the market. That's what's keeping the prices down.'"