A report from CNBC. "Robert Giametta, 33, and Christopher Luquer, 31, were living in a two-bedroom apartment in Kingston, New York, and paying $850 a month in rent when the covid-19 pandemic struck. Interest rates were low and 'I thought if we don't buy a house now then we probably won't be able to buy one in the future.' Giametta tells CNBC Make It. Eventually, they decided on a three-bedroom one-and-a-half bedroom one-level house in Cairo, New York for $195,500. The two closed on the house in January 2021 with a down payment of about $6,000. They secured a monthly mortgage of $1,300 with a total FHA loan of $192,000. But by the summer of 2022, the couple started regretting their purchase."

"This October, Giametta shared his home-buying regret on TikTok, and the clip racked up over 55,000 views. 'There's not really anything to do around here and it's becoming really depressing,' he says in the video. Giametta and Luquer say the ultimate goal is to finish renovations and then try to sell the house in two years. 'It's not going to be pleasant but I think if we don't take it slow on the next step, we'll end up with another regret,' Giametta says. 'I think we kind of have just to bite the bullet and relax with the lower mortgage rate we have now and embrace being a hermit.'"

From News 4 Jax. "Across Northeast Florida, the number of condos listed for sale surged by 118% year-over-year in October. At the Summerhouse condominiums in St. Augustine Beach, condo association president Malcolm Fabre was preparing for a Dec. 31 deadline to assess the condition of the complex and estimate repair costs when News4JAX spoke with him earlier this year. Fabre noted that many owners are concerned about potential assessments, leading some to sell their units. 'I’ve had several people call me and say they’re doing that,' Fabre said."

"Bill Hughes, the research director for the Kelley A. Bergstrom Real Estate Center at the University of Florida, explained that many condo owners have been paying less than the annual cost of living due to unrecognized asset deterioration. Now, they are forced to address these issues and save for future repairs, which may cause significant financial hardship for some. 'They’re stuck in the middle with that,' he said. According to Hughes, the collaborative nature of condo maintenance creates challenges not faced by hotels or apartments, which he says usually have a single owner. 'When you get groups together, they have a really hard time agreeing, particularly if what they’re having to agree upon is to make a substantial payment. If this was your individual home and you needed a new roof, then, then you would put a new roof on, particularly before or after it starts leaking. When you’re in the condominium, you don’t see it as directly, because, you know, the roof’s not right over your head necessarily.'"

The Boston Herald in Massachusetts. "A Natick native who lived in San Jose for nearly 40 years but moved back to her hometown after she said the California city deteriorated because of its sanctuary commitment fears that the same could happen here if a town board approves a similar policy. Kathryn Kelly, born and raised in Natick before moving to California in high school, told the Herald that she saw the quality of life in San Jose decline after enacted sanctuary city status in 2007. Kelly said she and her family moved back to Natick, a town of roughly 36,500, three years ago after experiencing declining schools and an explosion in crime and the homeless in San Jose, a city of more than 1 million."

"'San Jose, the most beautiful city, turned into a ghetto,' Kelly told the Herald. 'It just got so out of control. The bottom line is these policies definitely attract illegals to come to your town because they feel safe there,' she added, 'they know they’re not going to be arrested for being illegal, they know they’re not going to be reported, and they know that they can put their kids in good schools.'"

KGTV in California. "Escondido Creek has a homeless encampment so large, neighbors have dubbed it 'the jungle.' Every few steps is a new tent or canopy. Each property covered in people’s belongings and trash. Local churches and nonprofits also bring them food and resources. But homeowners in the surrounding area say this encampment is a safety hazard and has caused an uptick in crime. 'Camping in public spaces like this is not legal,' Jason Farr said. 'It has been bringing crime to our neighborhoods.' One man shared these photos from a surveillance camera outside his home. He says they show people taking items from his backyard. 'They trash everything, they steal stuff from my property,' Esteban Diego said. 'This thing on the top of my light and they take the top off my hose and get water when I'm not home.'"

Mansion Global. "A new airport and a just-opened train station are making Tulum easier to reach and laying the groundwork for another real estate boom in this former fishing village on Mexico’s east coast Yucatan Peninsula. For the moment, however, the boom is working in buyers’ favor. Developers have flooded the hugely popular tourist destination with vacation properties but run up against a global slowdown in home buying and disruptions caused by those big infrastructure projects. The glut of new properties, many of which were built as tourists and potential home buyers faced travel disruptions during the airport and railway construction, has also contributed to a 'buyer’s market,' according to Joanne Forkin, owner of Joanne Forkin Real Estate in Tulum. 'The initial impact of the airport and Mayan train was hurting both lifestyle and tourist impressions of Tulum, with construction and dust, and potholes galore,' Forkin said."

"Nearly 80% of buyers in Tulum are investors who live in their homes a few weeks a year and generate income through short-term rentals, said Carlo Toluzzi, license partner of Engel & Völkers Riviera Maya in Tulum. There is no official data for property transactions in Mexico, and real estate is unregulated. At the top end of the market, detached homes and condos are priced 'much lower than Miami or comparable destinations,' he said. 'It’s almost like Black Friday in Tulum.'"

"While there is still ample land for sale around Tulum, buyers will get 'more bang for their buck' with resale homes, Forkin said. 'A lot of the sellers I represent built their houses years ago, when a high-quality build cost a lot less than it does now,' Forkin said. 'Some of them are willing to break even, not to make a ton of money on resales. For the price, you would never be able to build a high-quality house now. It’s not the time to buy land or resell your land because construction costs are so high.'"

From CBC News. "A lawyer for a mortgage company accused the embattled developers of three debt-ridden Lower Mainland condo projects Friday of misappropriating funds meant for the Canada Revenue Agency. But under questioning from a judge who has now placed three Thind properties projects into receivership in the span of a month, Kingsett Mortgage Corporation lawyer Emma Newbery said her client wasn't alleging 'criminal connotations' against the developers. 'When I see that word, it has a connotation on the far end — it suggests something where you need to go to police,' Justice David Masuhara told the lawyer. 'I do not think that's the intention,' Newbery responded."

"The exchange was one of only a few bumps in an otherwise smooth 30-minute proceeding that ended with Masuhara appointing a receiver for unsold units in Burnaby's Highline completed condo building and Richmond's Minoru Square — a project which appears to have stalled. Newbery said the projects carry mortgages worth a combined $250 million — and defaults dating back to September are now accruing interest at a rate of about $70,000 a day. Friday's order came just weeks after Masuhara put Thind's District Northwest project — a two-tower, 1,023-unit yet-to-be-built complex billed as 'Surrey's new growth centre' — into receivership after Thind defaulted on an $80 million mortgage related to that project."

"The fate of the three projects has drawn a great deal of media attention and questions from pre-sale purchasers wondering about the implications of a receivership for their units. Newbery stressed that about 40 units at the Highline are currently occupied, whereas 163 units are held in the name of the developer. The receiver was not seeking control of the occupied units. The Highline's strata corporation claims the developer owes the strata more than $1.1 million in unpaid fees registered in liens against the building last summer. The strata corporation claims their liens rank in priority over the mortgage. Beyond the battle over financing, a series of lawsuits related to the Highline has been filed in recent months by workers, contractors and a real estate agent claiming commission for consulting on a deal to sell $47.2 million worth of units in the building to a hotel company. Other claimants include a company seeking nearly $1.7 million for the installation of steel stud and drywall systems at the Highline, a firm claiming nearly $600,000 for electrical work, and a glazier allegedly owed nearly half a million dollars."

From CNN. "'I’ve been thinking in the past few years: Will I die away from my country?' Abdulaziz Almashi said, reciting the question that he and millions of displaced Syrians have asked themselves. 'Will I be able to go back and see my mum and dad again?' For years, they had seemed distant hopes. But hours after Bashar al-Assad’s brutal regime collapsed, Almashi braved stormy weather to celebrate in his new home of London, surrounded by hundreds of ecstatic compatriots. Almashi has lived in Britain since 2009, unable to return to Syria due to his political activism and his outspoken opposition to the deposed dictator. He gained refugee status, now holds British citizenship, and has set up London’s Syria Solidarity Campaign (SSC)."

"But Almashi’s enthusiasm was punctured quickly. Amid uncertainty over the future of Syria’s government, Britain – along with Germany, Austria, Ireland and a host of other European countries – said they would suspend decisions on Syrian asylum claims. Austria also said it would look at deporting people back to Syria. And it comes just as governments across Europe harden their stances on migration in an effort to quell surging support for populist and far-right forces, who have linked increases in migration to the availability of housing, health care and public services."

"'They really ruined the happiness of so many Syrians across Europe,' Almashi of the continent’s leaders. 'What shocked me most is how quick this decision was.' In Germany, which took in more than a million Syrian refugees after 2015, the coming weeks feel particularly tense. Asylum processing there is paused; the country’s opposition leader, expected to take power in February’s election, has in the past raised the prospect of returning Syrians in the country. Neighboring Austria went a step further. 'I have instructed the ministry to prepare an orderly repatriation and deportation program to Syria,' Interior Minister Gerhard Karner said this week. Family reunions have also been suspended, the ministry said. Roughly 95,000 Syrians live in Austria, according to the ministry. So far this year, almost 13,000 asylum requests have been lodged."

"The conversations are 'incomprehensible,' said Tareq Alaows, a Syrian-German who came to the country as a refugee in 2015. 'Emotionally, many Syrians long to return and actively participate in the reconstruction of their country. But rationally speaking, the situation remains extremely uncertain. There are great hopes for a democratic Syria, but for this we need the support of the international community – including from German politics,' he added. 'Instead, we are confronted with deportation debates that greatly unsettle and sometimes even retraumatize many Syrians.'"

"But inflation, housing shortages and strained services have fueled frustration at migrant and refugee populations in many European countries, and the unrest has manifested itself at the ballot box in Britain, France, Germany, Italy and several others. 'The situation with migration in Europe at the moment is quite dire,' said Kay Marsh, a community engagement coordinator at British charity Samphire. Her group works with refugees in the coastal town of Dover, the landing spot for many of the small boats that carry asylum seekers across the Channel to Britain. 'There will be people that will be looking at (Assad’s fall) as a way to get rid of people,' she predicted."