A report from WGME. "Several towns across Maine are considering rent control policies, and some are looking to Portland's experience for insight. Portland landlords say the policy puts them under financial strain. Andrew Doukas, who owns a three-unit building in the city, says he’s kept his tenants’ rent almost the same since he acquired the building seven years ago, despite rising costs. 'My electric bill over the last several years has almost doubled,' Doukas said. 'I’m not making any money off that building. I think my benefit will come when I sell it.'"

The Olympian in Washington. "The relationship between buyer and seller is much better than it was because both parties are negotiating again, said Mitch Dietz, owner of Coldwell Banker Evergreen Olympic Realty in Olympia. They are negotiating on the price of the home, closing costs, contingent sales and repairs, he said. Sellers need to get the house ready and price it right, he added. Buyers are making larger down payments to buy a home, Dietz said. 'The seller has to be willing to work with them,' he said."

Hernando Sun in Florida. "Deanna Overkamp, 63, who moved to Hernando Beach in the early 2000s, said her homeowners insurance bill had doubled compared to last year, causing her to have to shop around for a new policy. 'A lot of people out here really got hit with homeowners insurance, it like doubled,' she said. 'So, from $2500, it went to like $5000.' During Hurricane Milton, Overkamp’s home was severely impacted, with about six feet of water flooding the inside.'The whole house was pretty much underwater,' Overkamp said. Lex Barker, an independent insurance agent, said that 20% of the policies he writes are through Citizens. 'If the insurance company doesn’t want to write in Miami, they’re not going to write in Miami because they can’t get enough premium to cover losses.'"

"Danielle Healis, general manager of Killingsworth Insurance, who has been working at the agency for about 36 years, said fraud and price gouging are significant causes of the rise in homeowners insurance. 'The normal cost of hurricane losses is one thing that insurance companies can handle,' Healis said. 'It’s the fraud and, unfortunately, the price gouging that makes it difficult to stay competitive.'"

From Islander News. "The State of Florida remains an attractive destination for real estate and the Realtor.com’s recently released September 2024 Housing Overview of the 50 Largest Metros report, shows there might be some bargains on the Sunshine State as homeowners seem to be trimming prices to revive buyer interest. The Miami DMA Metro area, which encompasses Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, topped the list, with the median listing price dropping 12.4% in a year-over-year (YOY) basis. On a per square footage basis, the Miami DMA dropped 9.5% from the same period last year. Jacksonville at #6 with the Media Listing price of $399,000 now 6.1% lower. Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford area at #8 with Media Listing price of $429,950 dropping 5.6%. Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater market ranked #9 with Media Listing prices of $414,948 dropping 5.5%. While Miami the Median Listing price in Miami has dropped, it is still 31.5% higher than pre-pandemic prices (42.8% higher on a per square footage basis)."

Fox 13 News in Utah. "Their dream turned into a nightmare. It’s been less than 10 days since a couple closed on their home in South Salt Lake. Since then, it has been broken into and vandalized three times. Andrew Strong and his wife closed on their home and got the keys last Wednesday. 'I got back here on Friday to continue working on this and that’s when we noticed someone had been into the garage and took the minifridge,' explained Andrew. The following Tuesday, their dream and home were shattered. 'I noticed that they’d broken into the house and took all my tools, and smashed everything,' said Andrew. On Friday — 9 days after closing on their home, Andrew said someone broke in again. This was the third time. His family has been stepping up to help. 'My brother and his wife and just distraught,' said Andrew’s sister, Randi Strong. 'Can’t even put into words what that would feel like.' 'You obviously have to be in a dark place to do this to someone, I wish them the best,' said Andrew about the person or people breaking in. 'It was out goal to move into it. We don’t know what we're going to do now.'"

From Realtor.com. "Cayden Harry, an agent with Family Tree Realty in Yucaipa, CA, has noticed election chatter at open houses in recent months, with many prospective buyers in the Republican-leaning area claiming they want to see Trump win before signing a contract. Harry was surprised after listing a home in Beaumont, CA, in late September, and waiting 24 days before getting a single call or request for a showing. The five-bedroom home was listed for $680,000, which he believed was competitive after an identical model in the development was quickly sold for $695,000 in August. But as the weeks ticked by with no offers, he began to wonder if election jitters were to blame."

"Andrew Fortune, who runs the real estate brokerage Great Colorado Homes in Colorado Springs, says that two of his agents have had buyers who want to wait until after the election to look at more homes. 'One buyer is younger and believes that if Trump wins, home prices will drop next year. The other buyer is older and believes that if Harris wins, the housing market will crash, so they want to wait,' he says."

The New York Post. "Casa Encantada, touted as the most expensive residence in Los Angeles and in California overall, just received a significant price cut — dropping from an eye-watering $195 million to $165 million, according to a release from the listing brokerage. In today’s market, where $100 million price tags no longer command eager lines of buyers, experts remain cautiously optimistic. 'If this was 2017, the house would be sold by now, but given the state of the market, there aren’t buyers lining up around the block for any house over $100M,' Compass agent Josh Flagg said in a statement."

The San Francisco Chronicle in California. "Opendoor, the San Francisco startup that redefined how homes are bought and sold online, announced that it will lay off 300 employees, or about 17% of its workforce. This round of layoffs is the latest in a series of workforce reductions for the company, which previously cut 550 jobs in November 2022 and 550 more in June 2023. Despite these efforts, Opendoor continues to struggle with profitability. For the first nine months of 2024, the company reported a $78 million loss. Opendoor also exceeded its expectations for home acquisitions, purchasing 3,503 properties, up 12% from the same period last year, despite ongoing challenges in the housing market. As of the end of the third quarter, Opendoor’s inventory included 6,288 homes, valued at $2.1 billion, down 4% from the previous quarter. The company has accumulated $3.61 billion in losses since its debut, including a staggering $1.35 billion loss in 2022, which prompted major cutbacks, including a slowdown in home purchases and the layoffs. This year, however, Opendoor has managed to reduce its losses to $275 million."

KTNV in Nevada. "If you live in Spring Valley and live or work near Buffalo and Flamingo, you may be used to seeing homeless encampments that have built up in different spots at Spring Valley Community Park. However, the issue for Spring Valley High School principal Tara Powell is that it's right next to–sometimes coming into–her school, and trash and property damage is being left behind. 'The kids deserve better,' Powell said. 'They deserve a safe learning environment, and right now this is a concern.' Powell walked us around the baseball field on the campus' south side bordering the park, where she says they've seen the most issues. Powell said one staff member even found someone living inside a press box shack, built by donors to the baseball program."

"'It was filled with human excrement, alcohol, there was a meth straw,' Powell said. 'It was just disgusting, and was completely covered in urine.' The shack had to be torn down because of it: 'hard earned money, they built it with their hands, and now it's gone,' Powell said."

From Bisnow. "The number of borrowers defaulting for a second time on property loans nearly doubled over the past year, a potentially ominous warning sign for banks with a high concentration in commercial real estate. The value of loan 're-defaults' on banks' books in September was up 90% from a year prior, according to industry tracker BankRegData data reported by the Financial Times. Around $1B of loans have been added to the list of those at risk of re-default in the last quarter alone, with the total value of loans at risk sitting at $5.5B. The level of borrowers receiving relief for modified, nonperforming commercial real estate loans only to once again become delinquent is the highest it has been since 2014, the FT reported."

"The double defaults show that 'extend and pretend' strategies lenders have used to avoid taking write-offs on property loans could backfire as interest rates remain elevated. Banks have roughly $2T in commercial real estate loans, but the value of delinquent loans has increased by 25% to hit $26B in the first three quarters of 2024 — spelling potentially heightened difficulty in the near future. 'They are kicking the can down the road,' Ivan Cilik, a principal with accounting firm Baker Tilly’s financial services group, told the FT. 'I think lenders are trying to work out the problems with these loans, but if rates don’t come down borrowers are not going to be able to make payments.'"

Insauga in Canada. "While the latest real estate numbers show sales activity increasing in October, overbidding activity remains low in the GTA. October saw many buyers get homes for below the asking price. Some 70 per cent of all homes that changed hands across the GTA in October sold for less than the seller’s asking price, according to Wahi’s report. Overall, 88 per cent of GTA neighbourhoods with at least five home sales in October were in underbidding territory last month. That’s roughly flat from September — when 86 per cent of neighbourhoods were underbid — but up seven percentage points compared to a year ago (81 per cent), the report states. The top five neighbourhoods for underbidding were once again concentrated in upscale neighbourhoods, including in Mississauga and Oakville, with price points between $2 million and upwards of $4 million. Eastlake has been among the most underbid neighbourhoods in 16 of the past 17 months. Eastlake’s regular presence on the list may have something to do with the type of homes for sale in the neighbourhood. Previous Wahi research suggests that a greater number of unique custom homes — which could be harder to price due to a lack of comparable properties — may lead to unintentionally inflated list prices."

The Globe and Mail. "The federal foreign buyer ban has been operating since January, 2023, but foreign buying in British Columbia spiked in dollar value this year, according to new data analysis. Using property transfer tax data provided by the B.C. government, Simon Fraser University associate professor Andy Yan showed that residential purchases categorized as 'foreign involvement transactions' had a total dollar value of nearly $664-million from January to September, 2020. In that same period this year, 834 foreign involvement residential transactions added up to nearly $824-million. The dollar value of foreign residential transactions in 2023 was $744.5-million. The total number of foreign transactions, including commercial, increased from 1,018 in 2023 to 1,020 in 2024. Foreign purchases are transactions that involve at least one non-resident of Canada."

"In the past, Canada exacerbated the issue when it had a long-standing immigration program that basically traded real estate investment for citizenship, he said. 'What’s clear is that the foreign buyer ban was marketed as bullet-proof Kevlar, when in fact it’s more like cheese cloth,' he said. 'It shows you the complexity of the globalization of residential real estate in British Columbia. The debate should be what gets built, and for whom. Foreign buying could have a role, but what kind of role? We know that real estate in Canada may not always appreciate, but it’s a safe haven for people who are willing to pay for it.'"

ABC News in Australia. "A property owner could tell things were about to go terribly wrong with their GJ Gardner Homes Hobart build in early 2023, but it seemed like no one was listening. The agricultural drain — meant to move water away from the house – had not been installed at all, despite the slab already being poured. Then things got worse. When the drain was finally installed, it was at a lower level than the next drains in the system. The owner spotted a range of other problems with the external plumbing. Their fears were realised. Extensive wet patches started to emerge around the outside of the house, despite no rain, and the ensuite toilet started to back up before it was even used. Not only had the external drainage failed, the sewer pipe had been cracked during construction."

"This is just one out of 19 house builds by GJ Gardner Hobart that CBOS was aware of that had increasingly poor works and long, unexplained delays. As the years passed, the different home owners across southern Tasmania were becoming increasingly exasperated: July 2022: 'We have been practically begging … and he is giving us nothing back. We have literally had our own toilet waste coming back up and filling our sinks … we are so tired of fighting.' September 2022: 'Even if they do come back and fix the bricks like they have said they will, it will never look the way we want it to.' July 2023: 'I hadn't realised how extensive the problems are, nor the extent of re-work that will be necessary … we are now at a loss as to what we can do.' April 2024: 'I am a single mum that has really battled to get into my dream home and this has all brought me to my knees.'"

"Remy Sedelaar's GJ Gardner house construction in the Hobart suburb of Lenah Valley was beset with defects and delays. He was entitled to $150 per week as compensation, despite having to pay $550 a week in rent while he waited. But he was at least able to move into the house in 2021. 'I've got posts underneath my house which have got no piers underneath them,' he said. When GJ Gardner Hobart went into liquidation, he tried to find slab and frame certificates for his house. 'They turned around and said to me that I didn't have an occupancy permit,' Mr Sedelaar said. 'I was like, what do you mean I don't have an occupancy?'"

"It turned out the building surveyor had revoked the occupancy permit four days after issuing it in 2021, because GJ Gardner Hobart had completed subfloor frame work that was contrary to the approved plans. The surveyor copied CBOS into the email — but nobody told Mr Sedelaar. 'We've been living in the house now for three and a half years without occupancy, which means that our insurance is void … it's a bit of a debacle to be honest,' he said."

"The collapse of GJ Gardner Hobart was not the end of the problems for some of its customers. About 30 houses were still being constructed, including for the Ekundayo family, who had earlier had their retaining wall collapse, along with extensive delays and cost blowouts. They were among those directed to the state government's Financial Assistance Package for people affected by builder collapses. They received the maximum amount. 'We received $200,000, and our losses at the moment are about $700,000,' Akinola Ekundayo said. 'We feel nobody has been held responsible.'"