A report from Spectrum News on California. "Saving and budgeting might be the best approach for aspiring home owners in LA County, where the average house costs over $700,000. Richard Green, director and chair of the USC Lusk Center for Real Estate, said prices are skyrocketing without signs of slowing down. 'House prices have gone up by an insane amount, almost 16% nationally,' he said. 'Here on the west coast, even more than that.'"

"'When you are a new buyer entering the market, you want to put your foot in the door,' said realtor Kevin Stewart. 'You want to negotiate, and it’s not working like that. When you find a property that you love, you have to step up to the plate and just give them that godfather offer in order to make the deal happen.'"

From Lookout Santa Cruz in California. "Housing prices in Santa Cruz paused their historic upward surge in June, with the median sale price of single-family homes across the county dropping 9.6 percent from unprecedented highs reached in May, according to Aculist. The median price countywide for single-family homes dropped to $1,175 million in June, down from $1.3 million in May."

"Aculist noted that a recent expansion of the data pool it uses to calculate its monthly real estate report may have had a small downward effect on the median numbers, but not enough to account for the nearly 10-point drop countywide. The slackening of prices is rare good news for beleaguered local home shoppers, possibly indicating that the price run-up may have peaked."

From Cap Radio in California. "Ravi Kahlon and her husband Raja Jagadeesan owned six rental homes — including some duplexes in Sacramento and the Bay Area — before the pandemic. After the economy shut down, four of their nine tenants stopped paying rent entirely due to job losses or other hardships brought on by the COVID-19 crisis. 'Every month we were taking money out of our personal savings,' said Jagadeesen, who also works as a physician. 'Mortgages never changed. Our monthly expenses didn’t go away. Our utility payments didn’t change. Our monthly expenses went up.'"

"For Kahlon and Jagadeesen, the resulting loss of revenue put pressure on their ability to stay afloat as landlords. They estimated they’ve lost $28,000 from two properties in Vallejo alone. Their rental business was becoming unsustainable. The loss of rental income at several properties during the pandemic proved too much for Kahlon and her husband Raja Jagadeesen. They’ve ended up selling half their properties. 'You know, we’re not getting any revenue from property X. But we are bleeding money every month,' Jagadeesen explained."

From Bloomberg on New York. "Condo sales are surging in New York City. But fewer of those buyers are tapping a once-popular investment strategy: leasing out their units for income. The idea fell out of favour as rents dropped during the pandemic amid a mounting pile of apartment vacancies. Of all New York City condo units purchased in 2020, just 2.7 per cent were listed for rent within six months of closing, according to data compiled by StreetEasy. In 2017, the share was a record 11 per cent."

"'It's a strategy that has a lot of risk right now,' said Nancy Wu, an economist at StreetEasy. 'Renting it out is very notably not-profitable because of how much rents have been dropping.'"

"In June, despite a 38 per cent drop from the previous month, there were 11,853 available apartments in Manhattan alone. 'No investor wants to go up against a landlord who has a hundred or 200 vacancies,' said Stephen Kliegerman, president of Brown Harris Stevens Development Marketing, who oversees sales in new condo buildings. 'They think, 'Great, I have to give away six months free, well then why am I buying this now?'"

From Forbes. "Many landlords aren’t happy. Many have lost money, and some say they’re on the point of bankruptcy due to unpaid mortgages. Large-scale property owners were largely able to 'weather the storm because they have a cushion to cover monthly expenses like taxes, heating oil, electric, employee wages,' according to Michelle Quinn, a partner at New York City real estate law firm Gallet Dreyer & Berkey. But smaller-scale landlords — even those who 'have five, six, seven units where they live in one and rent out the others,' said Quinn, simply don’t have those resources. 'Really the landlords are the party taking the brunt of the effect of the pandemic,' she argued."

"Quinn said while rental moratoriums may have been necessary to stem COVID, little thought was paid to what landlords should do, with banks still expecting mortgage payments. Many owners, she said, were in fact left in the lurch after missing months of payments. 'I have two cases in high-end coop and condo where the tenants just left,' Quinn said. 'They’re giving tenants a break, but not giving landlords a break.'"

The Pahrump Valley Times in Nevada. "'Housing prices are starting to exceed what many citizens of this community can afford, and any sign of slowing down aside from a seasonal adjustment is likely attributed to not as many buyers being able to afford a home at these prices or having the cash to come out of pocket due to lagging appraisals,' Las Vegas Realtor President Aldo Martinez said. 'We warned this would happen the closer we get to a median price of $400,000.'"

"LVR reported that at the end of June, 2,454 single-family homes listed for sale didn’t have any offer on them. This number was down by 51.7% over the same time in 2020, but Martinez noted that the number of homes listed without offers increased for the fourth straight month in June. For buyers, Martinez says to be patient and persistent, as many homes with multiple offers usually end up back on the market and 'are then awarded to the next buyer in line.'"

The Center Square. "According to the latest monthly figures from the Colorado Association of Realtors, housing inventory increased by 24% in June. On the Front Range, Boulder realtor Kelly Moye said the fast-paced market has caused some buyers to exit because of burnout. In turn, homes that haven't sold are seeing slight price reductions. 'This is typical for July and into August so the real question of whether the market is changing will be determined in the fall,' Moye said. 'Buyers have an opportunity now to take advantage of the price reductions and slower pace and still get into the market.'"

From DS News. "While loss-mitigation tools today are far better than those available in the wake of the Great Financial Crisis, researchers at the Urban Institute have determined that there is room for improvement. Their first area of focus is the Federal Housing Administration's partial claim program, which defers the repayment of mortgage principal through an interest-free subordinate mortgage that is not due until the first mortgage is paid off. The Institute research team proposes a more flexible partial claims program."

"Their proposed change, they explain, 'would front-load the benefit of a second lien/partial claim to provide a deeper temporary payment reduction than is possible today ... a portion of the partial claim amount would be used to reduce the monthly payment ... [which] would increase after a few years when the borrower has regained their financial footing.'"

"The researchers say use of this option would maximize the number of FHA delinquencies that can be cured. The second area of focus is homeowner equity. Most borrowers today have positive equity. The existing toolkit is tailored for negative equity situations, and that, they note, means some changes are needed. his chiefly comes into play when foreclosure, home loss, or distressed sales become inevitable."

"The level of home equity impacts the process, an experience that will affect not only the homeowner, but also mortgagees, secondary lenders, the surrounding neighbors, and more. Thus, the facilitation of efficient move-out is exceedingly relevant, the researchers suggest. 'When borrowers have exhausted the home retention toolkit and cannot remain in the home, it is important to sell the home as quickly and as efficiently as possible, consistent with maximizing its value,' they explain. 'This prevents distressed properties from falling into disrepair and bringing down neighborhood home value. It also maximizes recoveries for the entity on the hook for credit losses, typically the GSEs, the FHA, or the VA.'"

"They recommend the insurer or guarantor on the mortgage foot the bill for a housing counselor that can facilitate a smooth exit while maximizing recovery for the borrower and/or the provision of reasonable relocation allowances. Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the FHA offer up to $3,000 in relocation allowance to borrowers who complete a short sale or a deed in lieu of foreclosure, but the researchers suggest the amount should increase in line with increasing house prices and rents."

"Another, longer-term solution suggested in the paper: a 40-year mortgage, something the government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac offer, they point out. The FHA, however, faces two hurdles to this, they report."

"'It does not have a portfolio to hold whole loans, and it relies on servicers to modify delinquent loans, which are then securitized again and sold to Ginnie Mae mortgage-backed securities (MBS) investors at the prevailing secondary price,' they explain. 'The secondary market for 40-year MBS is small and less liquid. Ginnie Mae recently announced a new pool type to support securitization of modified 40-year loans, but MBS pricing for loans with 40-year terms is less competitive relative to pricing for 30-year terms.'"

"They touch on the risks and potential economical issues related to a 40-year loan, adding that developing this market will likely require a certain degree of government subsidy for investor, servicer, and borrower economics to work. Although a 40-year secondary market is desirable, they say, 'it is not something that can be expanded in time for the current crisis.'"