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It’s Frustrating For Sellers Right Now Because They Look Around And Say, What’s Wrong With Me?

A report from Reuters. “Sales of new U.S. single-family homes fell to a seven-month low in June. For now, the housing market remains on the back foot. Data from the National Association of Realtors on Tuesday showing existing home sales slumping to a six-month low in June. The inventory of new homes increased in June to 475,000 from 472,000 units in May. At June’s sales pace it would take 9.3 months to clear the supply of houses on the market up from 9.1 months in May.”

From WCBI. “The median cost of a home in Mississippi is about $263,000, which is 1.7% higher than last year’s market. ‘It is turning into a buyers’ market to where sellers are maybe not getting the prices they have been over the past couple of years, buyers can be more selective and certainly we see buyers being choosier about the homes that they really want. Those inventory levels are getting back to where we need them to be,’ said said Jody Davis, Hometown Realty Broker/Owner in Columbus.”

From Fox 4. “Trevor Caldwell, a Cape Coral Real Estate agent, says the market is starting to correct itself. ‘There are as many price reductions as there are, you know, new listings,’ said Caldwell. A Redfin study found median sales prices for homes in Cape Coral are down over 5% from last year. ‘I think we needed a correction because it was pricing people out of homes. Affordable housing is a huge issue in southwest Florida,’ said Caldwell. ‘If you have two properties that are priced, the same ones brand new ones, you know, a little bit older and these may need some work or the roofs at the end of its useful life or something like that. Obviously, you know the new construction is going to win.'”

“For first-time home buyers, Caldwell says it’s a difficult time, but there are homes available. ‘What we tell people is you’re going to marry the house and date the rate, so when you marry the house, you find the house that you want, and you buy it and then as interest rates come down, you can always refinance,’ said Caldwell.”

Honolulu Civil Beat in Hawaii. “Mayor Richard Bissen’s bold and controversial proposal to turn more than 7,000 short-term rentals into much needed long-term housing took a major step forward Tuesday night. Steve Baker, the board president of the Realtors Association of Maui, resigned via a letter to members in which he said he and the organization’s staff had been threatened in relation to its stance against the proposed bill. When Justin Kekiwi, a supporter of the proposal, was testifying about the comments online ‘getting nasty,’ economist Paul Brewbaker, who also was online in the virtual meeting, put up his middle finger. ‘They are being bullies,’ Kekiwi added. ‘They’re trying to trick you guys with lawyers and fast action lawsuits. You guys have your own attorneys. … Don’t be scared.'”

From CBS News. “Jose Arzate once dreamed of a peaceful retirement in a quiet neighborhood in his hometown. A 24-year veteran of the county probation office, Arzate thought he had achieved the American Dream when he purchased a three-bedroom ranch house in Santa Maria, California, 20 years ago. But while he thought he was building a future for his family through equity in his home, a hidden financial nightmare was eating away at his dream. ‘I woke up one morning to find sheriffs outside my door,’ Arzate said. ‘I had no idea this was coming. I was in bed, starting my day, and suddenly, I was being evicted.’  What Arzate was dealing with was a zombie mortgage. Arzate had modified his loan 13 years earlier, taking out a second mortgage to manage expenses. He assumed his monthly payments covered both mortgages. Unknown to him, he says, the second mortgage had been sold to a different servicer. Arzate said he never got a separate monthly statement for that second mortgage until it was too late.”

“More than a decade later, that unpaid loan was resurrected with interest and late fees, inflating the debt from $65,526 to $139,211.  ‘ If you owe money on a credit card, they send you a bill every month,’ Arzate said. ‘They didn’t do that. They just evicted me.'”

“After years of combat, Iraq War veteran Laverne Simmons found solace in her modest Inglewood, California, home. Yet, after more than a decade of timely mortgage payments, she was blindsided by a default notice.  Simmons took out a second mortgage in 2014 to help make ends meet. Just like Arzate, she believed her monthly payment covered both mortgages. She said she never received statements for the second loan. ‘They just laid dormant until there was a time that I had enough equity, and then things started building over here, like the SoFi [Stadium], the Clippers [arena], and then that’s when,’ she believes, ‘they were ready to strike, like a snake, just waiting for the right moment.'”

“‘It’s the mortgage you thought that was dead that has come back from the grave to come and haunt you,’ said Rich Szerman, a Realtor in California. Szerman is also working with Los Angeles single mother Teresa (who asked that her last name not be used). ‘Back in 2009, I had to modify my [mortgage] loan,’ she said. ‘I was going through a divorce. I had 2-year-old twins.’ Teresa says she never received a monthly statement for her new second mortgage, and assumed it rolled into her primary loan payment. In January, she discovered she’d been mistaken, and learned her loan had been sold to a new servicer. ‘I received a letter from Statebridge Company notifying me that I owed them over $180,000, with an initial payment due of over $50,000, and that I was behind by over 5,000 payments,’ she said. ‘It’s beyond scary. To know that there might be a moment where we may have to move. And given the real estate prices and the rental prices in Southern California, I’m not looking at relocating to the house next door or to an apartment next door. I’m looking at — I can’t afford to live in California anymore if I can’t stay in my current home.'”

The Charlotte Observer in North Carolina. “The median rent price in the Charlotte metro area dropped by 5.2% from June of last year to this past June, according to the report. The city’s rents have declined the sixth most of any major metro in the country. Nancy Braun, owner of Charlotte-based Showcase Realty, said that apartment construction in Charlotte spiked during the pandemic and that you ‘could hit almost any corner in Charlotte and see a new apartment building.’ Now, most of those apartments and other rental sites are available, Braun said. This heightened supply creates competition among rental properties, forcing owners to lower their rents. ‘They need tenants in there, otherwise they could default on their loans,’ Braun said. ‘So they’re probably offering a lot of good deals.'”

The Review Journal in Nevada. “Pandemic-era, variable rate financing is pushing some Las Vegas Valley apartment complex owners into tough financial situations, according to a several area commercial brokers. This is a nationwide issue that is hitting Sun Belt cities particularly hard, said Jeffrey Swinger, an executive vice president for multifamily investment sales with Colliers International in Las Vegas. ‘What this really boils down to is interest rates and COVID,’ he said. ‘Particularly starting in 2021, a lot of the lenders (within the multifamily market) because interest rates were zero, were able to offer these short-term floating rate loans, and they were typically three years. If you fast forward to today, a lot of these loans are coming due at today’s interest rates and it’s crushing them.'”

“Swinger said some of the projects could be refinanced, however he could see scenarios where lenders take the properties back from investors at a loss and either manage them or try to sell them. ‘But a lot of these lenders don’t want to take the loss,’ he said. ‘They don’t want to foreclose, so they’re kind of doing the extend and pretend thing.'”

The Globe and Mail in Canada. “Sellers in the Toronto-area real estate market are tussling with tough questions in a summer of slow sales. Deciding whether to slash their asking price is at the top of the list. Many homeowners start out with an asking price that allows room for negotiation if an interested buyer comes in with a lower offer. If they cut that price, they fear they’ll have to haggle down from there. In many cases, they’re right, agrees Andre Kutyan, broker with Harvey Kalles Real Estate. In today’s challenging market, he is encouraging them to do it anyway. ‘I’ve been actively talking to sellers,’ he says. ‘After a certain amount of time, we should come down in price.'”

“Gillian Oxley, agent with Royal LePage RES Oxley Real Estate, says prices are an industry preoccupation these days. ‘This is the conversation all the agents are having.’ If a property has been sitting, ‘I’m absolutely pushing for a price ‘improvement,’ which is the new lingo,’ Ms. Oxley says. ‘It’s frustrating for sellers right now because they look around and say, ‘what’s wrong with me?’”

“In the condo segment, swelling supply means sellers need to be especially sharp with their price or buyers won’t even be willing to book an appointment, Mr. Kutyan says. He recently listed a condo unit at 125 Redpath Ave. in the Yonge and Eglinton area with an asking price of $849,000, then trimmed that to $829,000. Currently, the asking price is $799,000 in an area with about 200 competing units. ‘There’s a lot of choice,’ says Mr. Kutyan. ‘You have to be right on the money or even lower.'”

BBC News in the UK. “A man who says he felt trapped in an ‘excessive’ mortgage after Northern Rock’s collapse is taking his fight to the High Court. David Riley, 76, from Yeovil in Somerset, sold his home at financial loss after being unable to keep up with mortgage repayments when his contract was taken over by TSB Whistletree. ‘It’s been a struggle. It was like being in a prison,’ Mr Riley said. Mr Riley is one of 2,500 former customers fighting for compensation against TSB Whistletree. Their mortgages were sold to the bank after the 2007 collapse, when some claim they were ‘stuck’ with rates 10% higher.”

The Sydney Morning Herald in Australia. “Three BGC Housing Group entities are at the centre of a $100 million class action being spearheaded on behalf of thousands of frustrated homeowners who entered building contracts with the trouble-plagued construction giant. BGC customer-turned-plaintiff James Buck alleged BGC’s conduct had left him and his family both financially and emotionally devastated. Zoe-marie Masters and her husband Joel signed a preliminary works agreement with Commodore Homes, owned by BGC, in December 2020. The family did not move into their new home in Mandogalup’s Apsley Estate until October 2023. Zoe said she was paying in excess of $5000 a month on rent and interest payments on her new build as well as around $7000 in cash payments to entice tradies to finish the house quicker. ‘It seems like no one has the power to hold BGC accountable for what they have done to so many people building a home,’ she said.”

Related Posts

Months Of Price Gains Erased

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_T--NNwgB3U https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7KAEU7t27w https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3dNsAkXnBo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CgTdQzPXps

This Post Has 72 Comments

  1. “After years of combat, Iraq War veteran Laverne Simmons found solace in her modest Inglewood, California, home. Yet, after more than a decade of timely mortgage payments, she was blindsided by a default notice. 

    No female soldiers endured “years of combat” in Iraq. Almost all were in rear-echelon jobs in bases well protected from insurgent attacks. Yet the rate of PTSD and mental disorders among female troops is astronomical, since they were too emotionally fragile to be deployed as service members into an active conflict.

  2. ‘What we tell people is you’re going to marry the house and date the rate, so when you marry the house, you find the house that you want, and you buy it and then as interest rates come down, you can always refinance,’ said Caldwell.”

    Lots of indescribably stupid people are going to learn the hard way that realtors are liars.

  3. Teresa says she never received a monthly statement for her new second mortgage, and assumed it rolled into her primary loan payment. In January, she discovered she’d been mistaken, and learned her loan had been sold to a new servicer.

    Fear not, hapless FB! Sen. Fauxahontus will surely learn of your plight and descend with all her fury on the shylocks who took advantage of stupid people who “assumed” 2nd mortgages were rolled into their primary loan payment. This financial chicanery will not stand!

      1. Or at the very least, they should have noticed that the monthly payment was no higher than the original payment.

    2. “….stupid people who “assumed” 2nd mortgages were rolled into their primary loan payment….”

      Legal defense:

      Your honor, my stupidity was caused by too much sugar in all those sodas I drank. Also, my family has a history of inbreeding.

  4. This heightened supply creates competition among rental properties, forcing owners to lower their rents. ‘They need tenants in there, otherwise they could default on their loans,’ Braun said. ‘So they’re probably offering a lot of good deals.’”

    Oh my – how the worm has turned! It would be a darn shame if millions of wanna-be real estate moguls discover they can’t collect enough in rent to cover the mortgage & holding costs of their “investments.”

  5. Deciding whether to slash their asking price is at the top of the list.

    No decision to be made, FBs. Either get to sawin’ and slashin’ like the villain in a Jamie Lee Curtis movie, or chase the market down.

  8. Prediction: Every leg down in the stock market will only lead to predicted future gains. Permanent price declines are unpossible.

    1. Prediction: Nvidia’s Stock Correction Will Lead to Outsized Gains in the Second Half of 2024
      By Howard Smith – Jul 24, 2024 at 7:30AM
      Key Points

      – There appears to be continued strong demand for Nvidia’s H100 GPUs even as it gets ready to sell a more advanced Blackwell chip.

      – If Nvidia can satisfy prodigious customer demand, its high valuation will be justified.

      – Nvidia will report its next quarterly financial report on Aug. 28.
      …
      https://www.fool.com/investing/2024/07/24/prediction-nvidias-stock-correction-is-over/

    2. Financial Times
      Equities
      Global tech stocks sink as sell-off spreads to Europe and Asia
      Chip sector bears brunt of selling as investors punish companies for missing earnings targets
      A woman holding an umbrella walks past an electronic board displaying prices of stocks on the Tokyo Stock Exchange
      The broad Topix index of Japanese stocks fell 3% on Thursday, wiping out its gains for July
      © Kazuhiro Nogi/AFP/Getty Images
      George Steer in London, Leo Lewis in Tokyo and Song Jung-a in Seoulan
      hour ago

      Global tech stocks sank on Thursday as a Wall Street sell-off spread to Europe and Asia, deepening the pullback for a sector that has led market gains this year.

      The Nasdaq Composite fell 0.8 per cent after the opening bell on Wall Street, extending its recent slump following the worst day in 18 months for the tech-heavy index on Wednesday.

      Chipmakers, which have been rattled by a combination of disappointing earnings, geopolitical tensions and a rotation to unloved smaller stocks, led the declines. Nvidia was down 3.2 per cent and Arm Holdings fell 6 per cent, as stronger than expected US growth data failed to arrest the wave of selling.
      …

    3. MarketWatch
      THE RATINGS GAME
      Buy the dip on Nvidia and other chip stocks? Not quite yet, says this analyst.
      Wait for more earnings reports to roll in as issues with Meta, Microsoft or Amazon results ‘would not go over well,’ according to Mizuho
      By Emily Bary
      Published: July 25, 2024 at 11:11 a.m. ET
      …

    1. Cutting rates will likely increase holding costs more than P^I rates will go down. And in some places holding costs are already nightmarish.

  10. ** “This heightened supply creates competition among rental properties, forcing owners to lower their rents. ‘They need tenants in there, otherwise they could default on their loans,’ Braun said. ‘So they’re probably offering a lot of good deals.”

    Need tenants!? Well, 20 million “Newcomers” need housing.
    I suggest you contact any Indian-owned motel for info on how/where to get on that Govt. gravy train.

    Failing that, if you happen to be in Northern CA. our idiot mayor in Sacramento will gladly dole out large amounts of tax dollars . .
    as soon as he’s done kneeling for BLM, Antifa, Gaza, DEI, the Homeless Industry/Poverty Pimps, or whatever latest social cause that occupies his time . . .

  13. Demand PLUMMETS in Florida | Aging Homes Left with No Buyers!

    Ben Grieco

    18 hours ago

    Home and Condo sales in Florida dropped sharply year-over-year state-wide for the month of June. Increased housing supply and stifled demand has left older homes in need of updating on the chopping block as new construction dominates with price and incentives.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugPMKUm37lY

    17 minutes.

    1. Who dresses these news anchors? That sleeveless black top with fringe looks like it came from Forever 21. Women of a certain age need to cover those saggy arms, if only with a thin flutter sleeve. But anything other than sleeveless. And nobody should wear black in summertime during daylight hours.

  16. A reader sent these in:

    Blackstone Mortgage REIT is cutting its dividend as distress rate increases

    https://x.com/MacroEdgeRes/status/1816084622368809195

    Where in cycle?

    The “I wasn’t paying attention for last 12 months stage”

    https://x.com/DonMiami3/status/1816082081685831995

    “For the year end 3/24, foreigners purchased 54,300 homes, down 36% Y-o-Y… Florida was #1 with 20% of purchases.”

    https://x.com/JohnWake/status/1816243733882659286

    We did it! 🇨🇦’s number one!

    Reasons Bank of Canada cited to support rate cuts:
    – rising unemployment

    – weak household spending

    – 🇨🇦’s GDP projected to be 1/3 of global average

    – economy failing to keep up with aggressive population growth

    https://x.com/StephenPunwasi/status/1816166929301659756

    Conn’s HomePlus now plans to wind down its business, including shuttering its entire fleet of stores, resulting in nearly 4,000 job cuts

    https://x.com/MacroEdgeRes/status/1816279373294563648

    Nate Deseline III of Retail Dive: “The company plans to wind down its business, including shuttering its entire fleet of over 550 stores. Prior to filing for bankruptcy, Conn’s started going-out-of-business sales at about 105 stores under its two banners, Conn’s HomePlus and Badcock Home Furniture & More.”

    https://x.com/MacroEdgeRes/status/1816279746679890113

    2. economy failing to keep up with aggressive population growth

      Wait a minute! I thought the invaders were supposed to stimulate the economy and make it grow. You don’t mean to tell me that they are all on welfare?

  17. Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Wednesday that Elon Musk’s comment on the possibility that Tesla will not invest in Mexico “is not serious.”

    In his acceptance speech at the Republican Party’s convention last week in Milwaukee, U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump said his administration would slap tariffs of 100% to 200% on cars made in Mexico to make them “unsellable” in the United States.

    Musk said on Tuesday the EV maker has paused plans for a plant in Mexico and would reassess investing in a new gigafactory in the country after the U.S. presidential election.

    That prompted Musk to say that it makes no sense to invest in Mexico if Trump returns to the White House and imposes heavy tariffs on vehicles produced in the Latin American nation.

    In his daily news conference, Lopez Obrador questioned Musk’s assertion, arguing that the costs of automobile production in the United States are “very high.”

    “It’s not serious, they must have another business plan,” Lopez Obrador said.

    https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-mexican-president-says-musk-not-serious-about-possibly-not-investing/

    1. slap tariffs of 100% to 200% on cars made in Mexico

      Isn’t there a free trade agreement?

      1. Via Fortune/Finance/Electric Vehicles: Trump invites Chinese automakers to build cars in the U.S.—and says ones they build in Mexico will be hit with tariffs up to 200%. Given Tesla’s ties to the CCP, Musk would have reason to worry.

  18. All Alan Pedrick wants is affordable monthly student-loan payments.

    Pedrick, 41, has been making payments on his student loans since 2003 after receiving an associate degree to become an aircraft electronics technician. While he’s now using that degree in his current career, he said it took him some time to land a well-paying job in his desired field, requiring him to put his payments on forbearance, during which he was not making payments, but interest was still accruing.

    Throughout his repayment, Pedrick has been on an income-driven repayment plan, which calculated his payments based on his five-figure salary. When President Joe Biden’s SAVE income-driven repayment plan rolled around last summer, Pedrick qualified for $0 payments, according to documents reviewed by Business Insider — and he was grateful for the relief.

    “With inflation, it was harder and harder to pay bills,” Pedrick told BI. “And I was really thankful not to have to pay my student loan payments at that point.”

    However, a series of lawsuits filed by GOP state attorneys general threw Pedrick and 8 million other student-loan borrowers on SAVE for a loop. Earlier this year, two separate groups of attorneys general filed lawsuits to block the SAVE plan. Federal courts initially blocked parts of the plan, an appeals court then allowed it to move forward, but a different appeals court most recently blocked the plan from moving forward in its entirety.

    While a final decision from the court has yet to be made as the legal process continues, borrowers enrolled in SAVE have been placed on an interest-free forbearance. That means bills aren’t due, and the months on forbearance won’t count toward their loan forgiveness progress. Pedrick said the lack of certainty about the future of the SAVE plan is weighing on him and his finances.

    “I’m going to have to rebudget all over again,” Pedrick said. “And this is probably the most difficult time of my life as far as finances go with the cost of housing, the cost of vehicles, gas, food has shot up and now they want to go back and make us start repaying. It’s kind of depressing, really.”

    Pedrick said that if losing SAVE forces his monthly payments to be higher, he’ll have to reconsider the amount of after-school programs he can afford for his two kids and adjust his everyday expenses to make ends meet. He’s not feeling too optimistic.

    “I’ve still got some hope, but it’s dwindling just by how long they’ve been dragging this out,” he said. “And with the elections coming up and Biden stepping out of the race, I don’t see this getting much of a priority from any politicians.”

    Top Republican on the Senate Education Committee, Bill Cassidy, said in a statement after the plan was most recently blocked that the ruling was “another rebuke to President Biden’s illegal student loan schemes.”

    “This is an abuse of power before an election in an attempt to buy votes at the expense of American taxpayers,” Cassidy said.

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/careersandeducation/a-millennial-dad-s-0-student-loan-payments-gave-his-family-some-breathing-room-then-courts-blocked-biden-s-repayment-plan-leaving-8-million-borrowers-like-him-in-limbo/ar-BB1qBdRY

    2. he’ll have to reconsider the amount of after-school programs he can afford for his two kids and adjust his everyday expenses to make ends meet. He’s not feeling too optimistic.
      An other example of “Stupid should hurt.” Why should everyone else pay for your stupid decisions?

  19. Shares of commercial real estate finance company Blackstone Mortgage Trust fell 10% on Wednesday as the firm cut its dividend 24%, facing continued strains from vacant offices.

    It is the latest sign of mounting woes in commercial real estate. Analysts are predicting more weakness for lenders and owners in the sector as American workers maintain their pandemic-era remote work habits.

    The shift has left broad swaths of office space empty, while elevated interest rates have left many borrowers struggling to make timely payments on their loans.

    “For Blackstone to have to come out and cut dividends, I have to imagine that’s going to weigh on some people’s minds,” said Stephen Buschbom, research director at Trepp, an industry data provider. “It wouldn’t surprise me to see ripple effects throughout the industry when the biggest player is having to cut.”

    Blackstone Mortgage Trust set aside an additional $140 million in reserves for expected credit losses. Of its holdings in U.S. office space, 55% is “watch-listed or impaired,” according to an earnings presentation.

    https://www.msn.com/en-ca/money/topstories/blackstones-battered-mortgage-fund-slumps-as-empty-offices-intensify-pressure/ar-BB1qyZ78

  20. Blackstone Mortgage Trust said it expects near-term earnings to “continue to be encumbered” by assets categorized as non-accrual, which are loans that are not expected to be paid back.

    Chief Executive Katie Keenan said the firm is seeing signs of green shoots in the office real estate market, as well as increased acquisition and financing activity across the market.

    But potential interest-rate cuts by the U.S. Federal won’t do much to help office loans, given that assets in that bucket have seen a 50% drop in value.

    “Obviously, lower rates are helpful on the margin,” Keenan said on the firm’s quarterly call with Wall Street analysts. “But I think that what we’re seeing in office is really a secular reset that is not really rate related….I don’t think that 100 basis point lower rates are going to…significantly change what’s generally going on in the office market.”

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/savingandinvesting/blackstone-mortgage-trust-s-stock-falls-as-it-signals-more-earnings-impact-from-office-exposure/ar-BB1qyEyU

    1. “…green shoots…”

      Taking a line from Ben Bernanke’s cheerleading playbook….

  21. Although the peak of hurricane season is over a month away, homeowners struggle with their insurance.

    Floridians are receiving notices left and right that their homeowner’s insurance is suddenly unaffordable — or worse, they’re being dropped altogether.

    There’s no question about whether it’s happening; the question now is why.

    FOX 35 News posed that question to Jonathan Rivera, the Vice President of Risk Management and Insurance for Ballatore Insurance Group in Orlando.

    “As painful as it may be for homeowners, it’s a business decision to essentially say, ‘Hey, like, we’re just going to pull out altogether because even if we charge more, we’re going to lose money,’” Rivera explained.

    He isn’t immune to this. His property insurance went up 50% in January.

    Meanwhile, the Insurance Information Institute says insurers have lost money in Florida for eight years straight.

    “Florida is more prone to hurricane loss than any other state in the country,” said Rivera.

    However, he explained, it isn’t just hurricanes that cause problems; even our day-to-day summer storms can lead to insurance claims.

    And we Floridians are a notoriously litigious bunch.

    “Florida accounts for roughly 75 to 80% of all homeowners’ litigation in the entire country,” said Rivera. “I don’t think it’s any secret that some folks in Florida can be sue-happy.”

    https://www.yahoo.com/news/why-many-insurance-companies-dropping-214300446.html

    1. “Meanwhile, the Insurance Information Institute says insurers have lost money in Florida for eight years straight.”

      Hmm, is that a trend?

  22. WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Turning a home storm-ready is a big task — especially for older Florida homes like James Nelson’s.

    “I have hurricane awnings all the way around then on the side of the house those are panels,” Nelson said.

    He said he paid for the repairs out of pocket thanks to a rainy day fund.

    “What project are you considering doing at your house?” asked WPTV reporter Joel Lopez.

    “Probably the roof next,” Nelson replied.

    He said he didn’t apply for the My Safe Florida Home (MSFH) program and possibly can’t now that a portion of their funds have run out.

    “It’s really disappointing, especially for someone who’s been waiting over a year like me,” homeowner Jessica Pittman said.

    She said she applied for the grant last year and was set for an inspection before she said funds ran out.

    “Now I’m just curious to see if they’re actually going to fund everyone that’s been waiting for a year,” Pittman said. “And the insurance companies are really raising everybody and I worry in a year I’ll be raised again.”

    She said she applied for My Safe Florida Home again, but her application has been pending.

    “We really need that money,” Pittman said. “My husband is a veteran, so he’s on a fixed income.”

    https://www.wptv.com/money/real-estate-news/homeowner-with-pending-my-safe-florida-home-application-says-we-really-need-that-money

    2. “She said she has a 22-year-old roof with leaks.”

      She’s probably 2-yrs past the OEM design life.

    3. My husband is a veteran, so he’s on a fixed income.”
      I don’t understand. Since when aren’t veterans allowed to get a job after they retire from the military? Or a second job if on active duty?
      Because I worked with a few retired veterans in the 1990’s and 2000’s and knew of several active duty marines working second jobs as well.
      So, this sounds like a typical “I am a victim” phrase.

        1. Andrew Branca is the expert on the law of self-defense. His tagline is “Carry A Gun So You’re Hard To Kill, Know The Law So You’re Hard To Convict.” Some of you may be interested in his book and other offerings.

        2. FWIW: Like MSM, “legal” networks are trash. There’s plenty of legal commentary to be found on YouTube, although only a handful of them are truly worthwhile. Andrew Branca and Andrea Burkhart are the two I most respect. Andrea Burkhart’s coverage of State of Idaho v. Bryan Kohberger is EXCELLENT. Spoiler alert: he didn’t do it!

  25. ‘The inventory of new homes increased in June to 475,000 from 472,000 units in May. At June’s sales pace it would take 9.3 months to clear the supply of houses on the market up from 9.1 months in May’

    Remember the Pulte guy yesterday saying 9 months made him worry about southwest Florida? The whole country is nine months and has been for a while.

  26. ‘There are as many price reductions as there are, you know, new listings’

    Let’s be clear Trevor, it’s still a red hotcakes sellers market in Cape Coral.

    ‘If you have two properties that are priced, the same ones brand new ones, you know, a little bit older and these may need some work or the roofs at the end of its useful life or something like that. Obviously, you know the new construction is going to win’

    When new is cheaper than existing, loanowners are fooked. Happens over and over.

  27. ‘When Justin Kekiwi, a supporter of the proposal, was testifying about the comments online ‘getting nasty,’ economist Paul Brewbaker, who also was online in the virtual meeting, put up his middle finger. ‘They are being bullies,’ Kekiwi added. ‘They’re trying to trick you guys with lawyers and fast action lawsuits. You guys have your own attorneys. … Don’t be scared’

    Another snap shot of commie urban hoa living hell. Throw in the STR dogs with their lawyers and you got pure joy!

  28. ‘I woke up one morning to find sheriffs outside my door,’ Arzate said. ‘I had no idea this was coming. I was in bed, starting my day, and suddenly, I was being evicted…If you owe money on a credit card, they send you a bill every month,’ Arzate said. ‘They didn’t do that. They just evicted me’

    What’s funny about that Jose is lots of people think everybody gets to live free in a foreclosure year after year. Sound like you were out on yer a$$ lickety split.

    ‘Simmons took out a second mortgage in 2014 to help make ends meet. Just like Arzate, she believed her monthly payment covered both mortgages. She said she never received statements for the second loan. ‘They just laid dormant until there was a time that I had enough equity, and then things started building over here, like the SoFi [Stadium], the Clippers [arena], and then that’s when,’ she believes, ‘they were ready to strike, like a snake, just waiting for the right moment’

    Yer right Laverne, you were schlonged by the bankers good, boo hiss!

    ‘It’s the mortgage you thought that was dead that has come back from the grave to come and haunt you’ …working with Los Angeles single mother Teresa (who asked that her last name not be used). ‘Back in 2009, I had to modify my [mortgage] loan,’ she said. ‘I was going through a divorce. I had 2-year-old twins.’ Teresa says she never received a monthly statement for her new second mortgage, and assumed it rolled into her primary loan payment. In January, she discovered she’d been mistaken, and learned her loan had been sold to a new servicer. ‘I received a letter from Statebridge Company notifying me that I owed them over $180,000, with an initial payment due of over $50,000, and that I was behind by over 5,000 payments,’ she said. ‘It’s beyond scary. To know that there might be a moment where we may have to move. And given the real estate prices and the rental prices in Southern California, I’m not looking at relocating to the house next door or to an apartment next door. I’m looking at — I can’t afford to live in California anymore if I can’t stay in my current home’

    The saying is Teresa, I don’t care where you go but you can’t stay here.

  29. ‘They need tenants in there, otherwise they could default on their loans…So they’re probably offering a lot of good deals’…‘Particularly starting in 2021, a lot of the lenders (within the multifamily market) because interest rates were zero, were able to offer these short-term floating rate loans, and they were typically three years. If you fast forward to today, a lot of these loans are coming due at today’s interest rates and it’s crushing them…But a lot of these lenders don’t want to take the loss…They don’t want to foreclose, so they’re kind of doing the extend and pretend thing’

    I could swear I’ve seen this movie before.

  30. ‘Sellers in the Toronto-area real estate market are tussling with tough questions in a summer of slow sales. Deciding whether to slash their asking price is at the top of the list. Many homeowners start out with an asking price that allows room for negotiation if an interested buyer comes in with a lower offer. If they cut that price, they fear they’ll have to haggle down from there. In many cases, they’re right, agrees Andre Kutyan, broker with Harvey Kalles Real Estate. In today’s challenging market, he is encouraging them to do it anyway. ‘I’ve been actively talking to sellers,’ he says. ‘After a certain amount of time, we should come down in price’

    So do the sawin and a slashin before the poor bashtard next door does?

    ‘prices are an industry preoccupation these days. ‘This is the conversation all the agents are having.’ If a property has been sitting, ‘I’m absolutely pushing for a price ‘improvement,’ which is the new lingo’

    They are like scared kittens Gillian, you have to gently coax them outta that tree.

    ‘It’s frustrating for sellers right now because they look around and say, ‘what’s wrong with me?’

    To start with yer would-be movers.

    ‘In the condo segment, swelling supply means sellers need to be especially sharp with their price or buyers won’t even be willing to book an appointment, Mr. Kutyan says. He recently listed a condo unit at 125 Redpath Ave. in the Yonge and Eglinton area with an asking price of $849,000, then trimmed that to $829,000. Currently, the asking price is $799,000 in an area with about 200 competing units. ‘There’s a lot of choice,’ says Mr. Kutyan. ‘You have to be right on the money or even lower’

    I like yer approach Andre, yer all about screwing up the comps and let the blood flow, commissions!

  31. ‘David Riley, 76, from Yeovil in Somerset, sold his home at financial loss after being unable to keep up with mortgage repayments when his contract was taken over by TSB Whistletree. ‘It’s been a struggle. It was like being in a prison’

    You’ve been through a lot Dave, I can see that. But take comfort in the fact that it was way cheaper than renting.

  32. ‘James Buck alleged BGC’s conduct had left him and his family both financially and emotionally devastated. Zoe-marie Masters and her husband Joel signed a preliminary works agreement with Commodore Homes, owned by BGC, in December 2020. The family did not move into their new home in Mandogalup’s Apsley Estate until October 2023. Zoe said she was paying in excess of $5000 a month on rent and interest payments on her new build as well as around $7000 in cash payments to entice tradies to finish the house quicker. ‘It seems like no one has the power to hold BGC accountable for what they have done to so many people building a home’

    Jim, Zoe-marie, you are the winnahs! here. Just give it time, pay whatever you have to.

  33. Is Every Seller A Desperate Seller? (York Region Real Estate Market Update)

    Team Sessa Real Estate

    9 minutes ago VAUGHAN

    In this episode we take a look at the current Vaughan Home Prices, Richmond Hill Home Prices & Markham Home Prices and real estate market trends for week ending July 17, 2024. We also discuss why, as a seller, it’s important that you properly strategize about how your home is perceived because first impressions last.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DbtwKSo2RQ

    12:11.

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