It's Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. "The expanding choices of new homes appealed to Steve Hawthorne, a co-owner of a shoe store in Hudson, Ohio. After owning older homes for most of his life, he said, he was burned out by maintenance costs. Plotting a move west, he bought a two-bedroom house in Summerlin, a planned community outside Las Vegas. Hawthorne said he was able to negotiate a new washer and dryer and epoxy flooring in his garage. 'In the grand scheme of things, they were not big-money items, but they were nice amenities,' he said. And by opting to buy a new home when he did, Hawthorne said, he encountered less jockeying from rival buyers. 'When money was cheap, competition was immense,' he said. 'When I closed at the beginning of September, there was hardly anyone looking.'"

"An Upper East Side home owned by the estate of a late oil heiress has been hit with a massive $10 million price cut. The eight-bedroom dwelling of the late Anne Bass, ex-wife of Texas oil billionaire Sid Bass, first hit the market for $70 million in May. It’s now down to $60 million. She passed away in 2020 at age 78. Some top brokers have speculated that this price drop reflects a certain reality — that, as one said, 'buyers care about real estate, not the names of the people who lived there, no matter how wonderful they were.' The broker, requesting anonymity, cited an Upper East Side home formerly owned by the late Joan Didion, the legendary author of 'The Year of Magical Thinking' as another example of 'wishful, magical thinking' when it comes to real estate pricing."

"Squatters have taken over a multi-million dollar mansion on the border of Beverly Hills. Squatters have occupied the four-bedroom Beverly Crest mansion — listed on Zillow for nearly $4.6 million — for several months, outraging neighbors, ABC7 reported Tuesday. The squatters not only appear to be living in the home, but even charge admission for advertised late night parties, the neighbors told the local outlet. The house was most recently owned by MDRCA Properties LLC, but the company filed for bankruptcy last year, NBC4 reported. Los Angeles Police Department Senior Lead Officer James Allen, who's handling the investigation into the alleged squatters, told the Daily Mail that the house's ownership is in question and entering foreclosure, but people living there claimed to know a former owner who invited them to stay there."

"'I guess we can say they're squatters,' Allen told the Daily Mail. 'But they're squatters to the owner that's in foreclosure to the bank. We're working on a plan with the bank to evict the individuals because there's no one at this point to evict them and say they're there illegally.'"

"Bondholders of the debt secured by 62 San Francisco apartment buildings are likely to see a return of less than 50 cents on the dollar now that the transfer of the buildings from former owner Veritas to new owners Brookfield and Ballast Investment has gone through. The commercial mortgage-backed securities debt on the 1,700 units, which Veritas defaulted on early last year, sold in two tranches. They faced a $200 million holdback for 'fees, advances and expenses,' according to the servicer, so the net was only about $200 million — a 56 percent loss."

"It’s 'rare' for even a portion of a holdback to be released later, which likely means a 'huge loss for investors' on the debt, said Daniel McNamara, chief investment officer at CMBS investor Polpo Capital. His firm did not invest in the deal. 'It’s devastating,' he said, adding that those with C-rated bonds got paid back even less and D bondholders went to zero. 'As a CMBS credit investor, you get a pit in your stomach because it’s just a massive loss.'"

"Jorge Abreu’s Elevate is the latest Texas syndicator to face foreclosure. The Dallas-based investor defaulted on a $38 million loan tied to the Selena, a 446-unit apartment building at 250 Uvalde Road in Houston, after falling delinquent on loan payments late last year, according to Morningstar. This month, Arbor Realty Trust, a lender with exposure to the struggling multifamily space, filed to foreclose. Arbor also foreclosed on a portfolio owned by Jay Gajavelli’s Applesway Investment last year after the syndicator defaulted on a $229 million loan."

"The filing follows months of trouble at the Houston property, according to an investor in the deal. The investor, who requested anonymity, said Abreu had made a capital call on the Selena and another Texas deal in the first half of 2023. The investor had already put $100,000 into both properties and declined to put up more cash. One of the properties was struggling with occupancy, he said — a common problem for syndicators who rely on renovations to raise rents. Some have struggled to complete planned work and weathered the hit to revenues as their monthly debt payments have soared."

"Two other Houston deals sponsored by Abreu — the Milo and the Peri — have also been hit by higher rates. Both properties were watchlisted last year. The Selena foreclosure follows similar troubles for Austin-based syndicator GVA. The multifamily investment firm, headed by Alan Stalcup, has defaulted on properties across the Texas Triangle. Lender LoanCore Capital has filed to foreclose on a handful of them. Stalcup has similarly struggled with cash flow amid rising debt payments on his floating-rate loans."

"A recent appraisal for 1670 Broadway, a 690K SF office building in downtown Denver, pegged the building's value at about $131M, or roughly 55% of what it was appraised for in 2018 when it was last purchased, according to Morningstar. The building’s new value comes as Denver’s downtown office market struggles to recover from the pandemic. 1670 Broadway’s struggles are happening as a glut of loans secured against Denver commercial properties is coming due. About $4.7B of commercial real estate loans in Denver will come due by the end of the year, representing about 26% of the $18.4B in outstanding loans, according to data from CommercialEdge."

"Meanwhile, several of Denver’s most famous buildings remain under significant financial pressure. The Wells Fargo Center at 1700 Lincoln St. was placed in receivership in August following news that coworking company WeWork would leave the building. It is unclear how much debt is still attached to the 1.2M SF building. Other prominent properties like the Denver Energy Center at 1625 and 1675 Broadway and 410 17th St. have gone into foreclosure as well. The Denver Energy Center was sold in 2022 by its lender, JPMorgan Chase, at a foreclosure auction for $88.9M, property records show. 410 17th St. was placed in foreclosure in July after a joint venture between Miami-based investment firm Rialto Capital Management and Denver development firm Steelwave defaulted on a balance of more than $96M."

"210 Simcoe St., No. 2211, Toronto. Asking price: $769,000 (September, 2023). Previous asking price: $782,000 (September, 2023). Selling price: $722,000 (October, 2023). This one-bedroom-plus-den suite in a 25-storey tower near Toronto City Hall tried to outshine competing units for sale with sleek home furnishings and what it supposed was a low asking price of $782,000. A few buyers took notice – until a neighbouring seller slashed their price below $700,000. '[The other seller was] super motivated, dropped the price all the way to $699,000 and were holding back offers, which would generate some buzz,' said agent Munira Ravji. 'They ended up selling for $730,000 with parking, and that blew everyone out of the water. No one could compete.'"

"Ms. Ravji’s unit had no parking – and no choice but to relist for less as well. They posted a new asking price of $769,000 and cut a deal for $722,000 a few days later. 'They could flip it renting, but they decided it was something they absolutely didn’t want to do,' Ms. Ravji said. 'Our rental market is such a mess. If we didn’t sell now at this price, there was potential we could go under $700,000.'"

"At least two customers of a collapsed building company are set to lose their deposits totalling $30,000 as new details emerge about the dire state of the firm’s financial situation. Jessica* and her mum bought land in the Melbourne suburb of Doreen side-by-side, with plans to build their dream homes on the respective blocks. They both signed up to Montego Homes as their builder 18 months ago. But unfortunately for the family, last week, Montego Homes went into voluntarily administration and ceased trading immediately, plunging the fate of 100 homeowners including them into jeopardy."

"Jessica does not appear to be covered by domestic builders insurance because as she was checking her and her mum’s paperwork, she realised they had never received a policy number. 'They (the building company) appear to have breached their responsibilities. They were supposed to purchase this insurance,' Jessica told news.com.au. A total of 63 homeowners affected by the collapse didn’t have insurance. At the creditor’s meeting, which finished on Thursday afternoon, the administrators revealed that their investigations had found that Montego Homes had taken out a $200,000 loan just before they went under."

"There was only $21,000 left in its bank account when external administrators were appointed and there appears to be minimal assets. Administrators have already started selling company property like iPads and phones at auction. It’s understood company cars were on leases so they are unlikely to generate any additional recovery money."