A report from the Palm Beach Post in Florida. "It's actually a buyer's market in condo world right now. There was about an eight months’ supply of condos and townhomes available in October. That’s a 90% increase from the same time in 2023. A Breakers Row condo with its own cabana sold for $12.5 million, which is down from its last sale in April 2021 when it went for a recorded $13.75 million. But before you start rending clothing or turning on the Hallmark Channel for a binge cry, there is one magic word that will make it all better — divorce. Sad but true. So, don't read into the price cut."

WPEC in Florida. "Beachfront condos are an attractive place to live. But for some people they are proving to be costly. 'They're substantial. Hopefully that'll go down. But there's really no telling right now,' said Will Perryman, a retiree from Maryland. Perryman owns two condos on Singer Island. He says he's been hit with HOA assessments after inspections were done, and he says it's a lot of money. 'It's a big concern. Why? Because you don't know how much it's gonna be and whether you've got the savings for it and I own two units so I'm gonna be hit twice,' said Andrea Trevino, a Singer Island resident."

"One Singer Island condo resident told us several weeks ago she had been hit with a $70,000 special assessment. 'It was $70,000 for concrete work, plumbing work, all that and it's still going on,' said Mona Guynn, a Dunes Towers resident."

Fox 5 on Virginia. "A Warrenton woman has been sentenced to two years in prison for wire fraud of over a million dollars from homeowner associations she managed. The suspect, 60-year-old Rose Kasande Bailey, formed Rosewood Management and Consulting Services, LLC, a property management company in Fairfax that specialized in property management for HOAs, according to court documents, in 2012. As of March 2023, Rosewood provided management services to over 70 HOAs in Virginia, including properties in Lorton, Reston, Falls Church, and Leesburg. According to documents, in May 2018, Bailey began transferring funds from certain HOA bank accounts to Rosewood bank accounts to cover expenses that were not approved by the HOA boards. The transfers, totaling approximately $1.1 million, were used to cover Rosewood payroll and business rent expenses, credit card payments, Bailey’s personal expenses, and payments on business loans associated with Bailey acquiring a new HOA management firm."

KLAS in Nevada. "The residents of Rock Springs Vista are now left trying to figure out their next move as their HOA voted in favor of increasing their community’s fees by 168%. Long-time resident Kara Jones said since the meeting was canceled, she and the others want a recall. 'The jump that we are experiencing from $278 to $416 is enormous,' Jones added. 'I want our monthly assessment to be reasonable and I also want it to be able to fund our community. About 80% of the people who live in our community are retired or disabled and on a fixed income.' Rock Springs Vista HOA President, Marcus Gafter shared his side, acknowledging that things got out of hand at the meeting but insists that this increase is warranted. 'Most of our expenses are unavoidable,' Gafter shared with 8 News Now. 'Republic services, water, plumbing, we inherited an absolute disaster of plumbing from our previous board.'"

The San Francisco Chronicle in California. "A former San Francisco real estate broker and two of his aides were sentenced to federal prison and ordered to pay more than $3 million Tuesday for fabricating documents that inflated homebuyers’ apparent incomes and helped them qualify for loans. The broker, Tjoman Buditaslim, 52, was sentenced to two years in prison by U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer. Jose De Jesus Martinez, 59, of Daly City, a former real estate agent, was sentenced to 14 months, and Jose Alfonso Tellez, 27, of San Jose, was sentenced to a year in prison. All three men had pleaded guilty in July to conspiracy to commit wire fraud."

"Prosecutors said Buditaslim, without his clients’ awareness or permission, obtained more than 100 home loans worth over $55 million for them between 2018 and 2022 by submitting false bank statements, fictitious checks for child support and alimony, and other documents that inflated their income. The Federal Housing Administration, which insured many of the loans, spent $486,000 to protect some of the borrowers from foreclosures when they were unable to make their payments, prosecutors said."

"The men did not dispute their guilt, but Buditaslim’s lawyer argued for a sentence of eight years’ probation without imprisonment. Assistant Federal Public Defender Candis Mitchell said the broker was motivated by 'a desire to obtain an income stream while (helping) deserving people obtain home ownership.' 'He did not appreciate the financial harm to the mortgage companies upon resell of the fraudulently obtained mortgages,' Mitchell said in a court filing. She also said Buditaslim, an immigrant from Indonesia, is a volunteer worker in low-income neighborhoods and has suffered from HIV/AIDS for many years."

KTLA in California. "The COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on commercial real estate — especially office space — has been well-established. Even so, some of the numbers coming out of downtown Los Angeles are staggering. Take the 55-floor Bank of America Plaza, which was appraised at about $605 million a decade ago. But now? It’s $188.9 million, meaning the tower has lost two-thirds of its value, as reported by Bloomberg. And the tower is relatively full, with 79% of space leased as of July. In contrast, downtown Los Angeles, which Bloomberg said is 'among the hardest hit areas' post-pandemic, was 38% vacant in the third quarter."

CBC News in Canada. "A private investigator who deals in white collar crime said buyers need to take steps to protect themselves against real estate fraud, which he said has grown in Ontario in recent years. 'Since COVID, it's like an epidemic in real estate fraud,' said Brian King, a private investigator and owner of King International Advisory Group. King said his Richmond Hill-based business typically takes on four to six new cases of real estate fraud in a month. 'In the past two years alone, we've been involved in cases where at least eight lawyers have been implicated in frauds and suspended by the Law Society,' he said."

"King said he increasingly receives calls from investors in real estate projects gone wrong. Many are trying to get their deposit money back. A big part of his business is 'developer fraud' in which someone acquires a property and begins to sell units for a future construction project that will never see a shovel in the ground. Eventually it collapses and the person involved with that development has made away in some instances with several million dollars in investors' money, he said. King recently represented clients in a real estate project in Scarborough where more than $8 million in investors money was lost."

"Also, he said if the purchase price for pre-construction units seems well below market value, it could be a warning sign that a fraudulent developer is trying to draw investors in. 'Sometimes less-than-scrupulous project developers will make the price very low,' he said. 'In other words, they're looking for multiple investors at a low price point, one that seems reasonable for buyers to invest without getting independent legal advice, which they should always do.'"

The Daily Record on Scotland. "Angry residents have been left fuming after having to put up with tankers pumping raw sewage at the bottom of their gardens due to nearly 100 houses being built with no mains link. The waste collections take place on land which is supposed to be a children's play area. However, as reported by Edinburgh Live, it is now used as access to the local sewage tank, after housing developers Bellway were unable to link their new homes to a mains sewage system as initially planned. Residents on Waterloo Place in Elphinstone, East Lothian, say the smell caused by the regular trips is unbearable at times while the noise generated by the tankers can go on for hours."

"Graham Drummond, whose home backs onto the collection site, said some Mondays the visits go on all day. He said: 'After the weekend, in particular, they make several trips and can be here from 9 in the morning until late afternoon pumping out the sewage. It can create a smell and is noisy, it makes using our garden impossible and we are concerned it will carry in until the summer as there seems to be no solution coming forward to solve the problem. It beggars belief that houses on this estate were signed off and people allowed to move in without all of them being connected to a mains sewage.'"

News.com.au in Australia. "SQM Research director Louis Christopher said housing demand would be subdued in Sydney, despite strong population growth and a shortage of housing, until banks dropped their lending rates. Sydney’s market has already been slowing for much of the spring selling season, with prices falling in regions such as the inner west and parts of the eastern suburbs. About 50 per cent of city suburbs recorded a fall in prices over the three months to October, PropTrack reported. Part of the reason for the falls was an increase in housing stock, but there were also signs the economy was getting weaker and prospective buyers were becoming more hesitant, Mr Christopher said."

"'Our two largest capital cities (Sydney and Melbourne), along with Canberra and Hobart, will start 2025 off in the red. Indeed, we are currently recording dwelling price falls in each of these cities,' he said. Adrian Tsavalas, the founder of real estate group Adrian William, said this year’s spring had offered the best buying conditions since late 2022 – after rates had risen in quick succession. Home sales had typically attracted four to five interested buyers over the winter, but this dropped to one to zero in spring as listing volumes rose, while buyer demand remained unchanged. 'Home seekers had a wealth of choice and didn’t make offers unless they saw value,' he said."

Hindustan Times in India. "Standing atop the terrace of a 13-storey tower in sector G7 in Narela – a vast expanse of seemingly endless rows of residential high-rises – a sense of desolation and melancholy is inescapable. In this 184-acre area, people are a rare sight. The silence is punctuated only by barking dogs or the occasional hum of passing vehicles and e-rickshaws from a nearby road. To one side, a towering garbage mound looms over the complex, while the wind howls through the corridors of unoccupied towers. As the sun sets, the solitary lives of a few residents becomes glaringly visible with one or two isolated windows glowing with dim white light – a rare sign of habitation in the 'ghost town.'"

"PT Selvam, a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel and the sole occupant of a tower in the F block, says he never ceases to get startled with the noises of footsteps echoing in the empty corridors. 'Drug addicts often roam these buildings at night, stealing pipes, wires, switches — anything they can find,' Selvam says. The vandalism has caused frequent disruptions to water and power supplies. Arun Joshi, an entrepreneur and the only resident in his tower, has installed three layers of iron gates for security. 'I’ve been here for two years. The building’s structure is fine, but fixtures are missing, and connectivity is a nightmare. It takes 1.5 hours to reach central Delhi,' he laments. Even renting out these flats yields only ₹4,000- ₹5,000 per month, making them an unappealing investment, Joshi laments."

"A security guard stationed at the entrance explains that the proximity of a massive garbage mound and a JJ (jhuggi-jhopri) colony has deterred prospective buyers. 'People visit to see the flats, but almost always leave disappointed, even though the flats are being offered at a discount,' he says. Selvam captures the sentiment shared by the handful of people there: 'This place had potential, but at this price, in this location, who would choose to live here?'"

Sinar Daily in Malaysia. "Frustration and financial strain are mounting among Residensi Hektar, Gombak homebuyers left in limbo as the housing project faces years of delay. Single mother Normalia Mahat, 24, was among those grappling with the double burden of paying housing loans for uncompleted homes while juggling mounting living expenses, leaving their dreams of a secure and stable future shattered. The healthcare assistant, who was the sole breadwinner for her family, shared that she has been paying RM1,550 monthly since 2022, with no progress on the house, under the Federal Territories Affordable Housing Project (Rumawip). 'I am now extremely worried about the condition of the house I bought. I have been paying RM1,550 since 2020 and next year will mark the fifth year without any progress. Where can I report my problem?,' she told Sinar Daily. 'I have served the government for 32 years and in 12 years, I will retire. Where will I stay after retirement? I was willing to sacrifice unnecessary purchases to own a house, but what have I gained?,' she lamented."

"Another buyer, assistant accountant Mohd Sobrie Bin Md Noor, 39, echoed Normalia's frustrations highlighting the financial and emotional toll of the delays. He said he had been paying a total of RM1,500 monthly for three years while also paying rent for temporary housing. Sobrie also shared how the delay has disrupted his carefully planned life. For him, it was not just a financial burden but an emotional ride too. 'With the rising cost of living, I’ve had to make many sacrifices just to keep up.'"