It's Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. "The tight housing market is loosening, revealing a light at the end of the tunnel of fast-rising prices. More inventory means more potential for buyers to get concessions such as price discounts, covered closing costs, repairs and upgrades. 'I have two condos on the market and both of my sellers are willing to pay closing costs,' said Greater Nashville Realtors President Kevin Wilson. The shift is meaningful in the market. Just two years ago, the market routinely demanded cash offers above listing prices. 'Entry-level buyers are saying, 'I can rent for less than a mortgage,' Wilson said. 'But most Americans build wealth for themselves and their children through home ownership. If you choose to rent, you're building someone else's wealth.'"

"'A lot of our new generations are part of the gig economy — Uber drivers or working in restaurants, especially in the Latino community have different sources of revenue,' said Nashville Mortgage Bankers Association President Miguel Vega. 'A lot of lenders are building other programs with more relaxed guidelines. Some of these programs are as simple as showing bank statements.'"

"When it comes to the 2023 Colorado Springs housing market, local realtors used terms like 'anticlimactic,' 'stagnant,' and 'in hibernation.' Patrick Muldoon, broker-owner of Muldoon Associates, noted in his 30 years of experience, that he’d never seen a market with such high rent and buy discrepancies. 'I've gotten a number of buyers that I've said, ‘Rent and keep saving money.’ Because in price points they're in, they can save anywhere from $750 to $1,000 a month renting the same property in the same area that they otherwise would have to buy,' said Muldoon. 'So that's a lot of money nowadays.'"

"Neighbors in the east Columbus community of Pinecrest are demanding answers as property values have tripled in their neighborhood and property taxes are nearly doubling this year for many. 'I've been in my house since 1960,' said homeowner William Knopic. 'I'm not going to sell it. It's one of those that has never been upgraded. If they don't put down the taxes to where they were, they can have it,' said Knopic threatening a foreclosure on his property. 'That's over $2,000%, not 200%.' 'What's the end game?' asked homeowner Dave Riggs. 'They come and take the house at some point after you've lived in it for 20 to 30 years because you can't pay the taxes? That's insane.'"

"They’re under water. 'Below Deck' star Captain Sandy Yawn and her wife emptied their savings three years ago to build their Florida dream home. Instead, they contracted into a nightmare that has them on the financial brink. 'It’s been horrible,' Yawn told The Post from a book signing at the Miami Boat Show Thursday. 'We used all the money we had, and we still don’t have a home.' The reality show fixture is one of more than a dozen victims who purchased land in scenic Nocatee, a booming planned development near Jacksonville that regularly appears on lists of best places to live in Florida. Buyers paid Pineapple Construction to then build their homes — some of which cost well over $2 million. But the firm and its CEO, Spencer Calvert, suddenly went AWOL, leaving them with unfinished husks and debts mounting into the millions."

"The ordeal has left some in financial ruin, compelling them to seek out therapy to deal with their sudden destitution. 'We did everything right,' said one bilked buyer. 'We saved, we worked hard for years and years. But one bad move with one bad actor and we don’t know what we’re going to do. It’s hard to describe it to you.' One victim plunked down more than a million dollars for land and a deposit on their new home’s construction — but Pineapple has yet to even file permits on the empty property a year later. Contractors have also been scrambling in the wake of Pineapple’s collapse, telling homeowners that they completed hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of work and were never paid."

"It’s been a year-long saga for Jim Carrey and his attempts to part ways with his lavish California estate. Despite slashing its asking price not once, but twice, the Hollywood star finds himself grappling with the challenge of unloading the luxurious property. It began in February last year when Carrey first put the Los Angeles estate on the market for a staggering $29 million. Fast forward two months, to that April, a modest $2.4 million reduction was applied — yet no potential buyers emerged from the woodwork. 'In California, the real estate market is experiencing a dry spell. These multi-million dollar properties, if initially priced too high, can linger on the market for an extended period,' a Los Angeles-based broker told The Post."

"An Ottawa woman has had her life turned upside down and is now facing bankruptcy in a perfect storm of unfortunate events. 'I just feel like I’m tracking through the mud and swimming against the current. It just feels like a never ending nightmare,' said Vanessa Hartmann. It all started two years ago, when she purchased a home in Jasper, Ont. along the Rideau River. At the time, the property was listed for $465,000, but Hartmann says she paid $200,000 over the asking price. 'It was quite ludicrous, there were bidding wars and it was just really stressful,' said Hartmann."

"But just seven months later, she was laid off from her well-paying job at Microsoft and at the same time, soaring interest rates nearly doubled her mortgage. 'I said ok, I can’t afford this but then I started to default on my payments,' said Hartmann. Hartmann said she tried to sell her house through two different realtors and ended up handing the keys over to Scotiabank in November. 'I moved out of the property and to my knowledge the bank was changing the locks,' said Hartmann."

"A few months later, the bank served her with foreclosure papers. She said she was unable to afford a lawyer and did not qualify for legal aid. As a result, she’s now awaiting a default judgement and faces the possibility of bankruptcy. 'You literally go from owning a property and having a job with a great income, to being faced with homelessness in less than a year,' said Hartmann. Marc Rouleau, insolvency trustee at Doyle Salewski Inc., tells CTV News that stories like Hartmann’s are becoming more common with rising interest rates and historically high levels of household debt. 'There’s a lot of adjustment that’s going to happen. This is not a next week, next month, next year, it’s going to be for a long time that people need to adjust to the new reality,' said Rouleau."

"Nine London boroughs have been hammered by price plunges, with Kensington and Chelsea being the hardest hit area, according to new data and analysis by online estate agent Purplebricks. Homeowners just outside the capital have little to celebrate too, with homes in nine commuter belt areas losing an average of £35,000 in the space of a year. In the capital, the City of London and Westminster lost around £142,000 and £141,000 respectively, while Hammersmith and Fulham properties dropped £70,000, Waltham Forest homes lost £42,000 and Haringey shed £28,000."

"Outside London, the leafy stockbroker belt town of Tunbridge Wells took a bruising, with the average home losing around £47,000. Homes in popular commuter areas like Runnymeade, Surrey Heath, Welwyn Hatfield, Tonbridge and Malling and St Albans lost an average of £37,000 in the last 12 months."

"The number of company collapses has surged by 44 per cent as the bloodbath continues with construction industry insolvencies leading the way. New data from credit agency Equifax released to news.com.au this week painted a sobering picture of the reality of Australia’s flailing business landscape. In a surprise to no-one, the construction industry received the title that nobody wants — the worst hit industry. It comes as news.com.au previously reported that 8471 businesses went bust in 2023."

"Of that, a staggering 2349 construction firms collapsed in the past year — with fears more may fall soon. Mass collapses of construction companies are usually the first signs of a struggling economy caught in the throes of inflation, as they run on tight margins and rely on supply chain prices staying the same. Liquidator Nicholas Crouch previously told news.com.au that he was 'not surprised' that insolvencies in the construction sector had leapt over the past two years. He said the hundreds of billions in Covid-19 stimulus pumped into the economy by the Australian government helped prop up struggling businesses and resulted in long delays between an insolvent event and liquidators being called in, as business owners tried to hang on."

"Shamefully, in 96 per cent of cases where small and medium sized businesses go under, only between zero and 11 cents is recovered for every dollar owed to out-of-pocket creditors."

"The debt crisis at Redsun Properties Group is going from bad to worse as it has missed payments on several offshore bonds since mid-2022 as China's housing market struggles to overcome a three-year slump. Some bondholders have now moved to put the developer out of business. The Bank of New York Mellon (London branch) has filed a winding-up petition against the firm for failing to repay at least US$228.5 million, the company said in a Hong Kong stock exchange filing on Friday. The debt is related to a US$200 million two-year junk bond due in September 2023 plus unpaid interest."

"The litigation highlights the swift downfall of the developer based in Nanjing in eastern Jiangsu province, which only listed in Hong Kong less than six years ago. It also shows how some foreign creditors have lost patience with many Chinese builders as home sales have slumped after a liquidity crunch. Since its last repayment of offshore bonds in April 2022, Redsun has defaulted on some of its US$1.5 billion dollar-denominated bonds, including in April and September last year. Evergrande's demise has opened the door for more winding-up petitions against indebted developers, independent market analyst Louis Tse Ming-kwong said. 'Some banks are among the creditors, and they are also listed,' he said. 'What else can they do but seek recourse from courts?'"