Buyers Are Looking For A Good Deal, And They’re Willing To Wait Until Sellers Figure That Out

A report from WPEC. “Florida’s condo crisis continues to worry homeowners. Despite the well-intentioned law to inspect and repair condo buildings, it’s become what many call a money pit for condo owners. The deadline for these inspections is Dec. 31, but for condo residents like Darlene VanRiper, that is not enough time. VanRiper helped start the ‘Treasure Coast Condo Alliance,’ a group focused on developing alternatives for these inspections and how to pay for them. ‘Zero-interest loans aren’t going to help you if you can’t even pay back the principal,’ said VanRiper.”

The Marco Eagle in Florida. “With twice as many condominium units as single-family homes, Marco Island is seeing the effects of a slow condo real estate market caused by past hurricanes, high interest rates and a new state inspection and safety law. Condos are staying on the market 120 days, up 79%, compared to 69 days for single-family homes, which is down 7%. Marco Island resident Marc Creach is a loan officer at Wesson Group’s Cross Country Mortgage who covers Marco Island, Naples and Bonita Springs. ‘The biggest issue here is a lot of condos have deferred maintenance from the storms,’ Creach said. Creach said he hasn’t been able to write a loan for condos at Riverside Club since before Irma. ‘They had issues for a while, and that was just due to Irma damage,’ he said.”

ABC 15 in Arizona. “Signs that read ‘Homes, Not Hotels’ are popping up in a neighborhood near Old Town Scottsdale. There are about 20 short-term rental properties in the neighborhood called Peaceful Valley. ‘It only takes one to really kind of ruin your day, literally, and night,’ John Washington, Scottsdale, said. Crime is also a concern. Homeowners say in the past few years, neighbors have called police to report theft, escorts, and illegal drug use at some of the short-term rentals. ‘You don’t feel safe, because you just don’t know who these people are,’ Meg Dingmann, Scottsdale, said.”

The Express News in Texas. “An ambitious plan to turn the shuttered Pecan Valley Golf Club and land around it on San Antonio’s Southeast Side into a community for military personnel, veterans and their families has hit another roadblock. A court-appointed receiver for a fund that loaned money to the company spearheading the project, called the Valor Club, is set to foreclose on about 50 acres, according to court and real estate records. The fund hired Harney Partners to analyze its operations and the consulting firm ‘unearthed significant issues … including a Ponzi scheme type fraud and numerous breaches of fiduciary duty,’ according to court filings. The fund’s value this past spring was about $20 million, one-third of the value fund manager Robert Buchanan and CCG Capital Group LLC represented to investors, and had hardly any cash to repay investors not to keep its loan obligations.”

KVVU in Nevada. “A Las Vegas Valley home targeted by squatters has been boarded up for a third time, and frustrated neighbors want the homeowner’s family to finally step in to take care of the property. Property records show that the home belongs to an elderly woman in her 80s. Last year, her family moved her out of state to care for her. The home is in a reverse mortgage; her son tells FOX5, they have been trying to give the home back, but are having trouble doing so. Neighbors tell FOX5 that they are skeptical about the urgency to get rid of the home. Neighbors are still dealing with a lingering smell and debris all over the property. Some believe that the home has attracted rats to the area. ‘Give it back to the damn bank, and let the bank clean it up and sell it, instead of torturing the neighborhood,’ a concerned neighbor tells FOX5.”

Cowboy State Daily. “Nationally home sales are on track to hit a 30-year low. But the picture in Wyoming is considerably more nuanced than the national trend. ‘We’re getting more homes on the market here, which is helping buyers out,’ said Casper area real estate agent Abby Reeder. ‘I think right now is the time to buy if you’re ready to upgrade in the Casper area. There’s a lot of choices now.’ Some prices have been dropping, Reeder added, but she’s also seeing many homes go under contract within their first week of listing. ‘I think you can get some good deals right now,’ she said. ‘There’s wiggle room. We’re not really increasing right now, just holding steady.'”

“Cheyenne real estate agent Kathy Scigliano is seeing some signs of cooling in her marketplace. ‘Houses are definitely sitting longer than I think some sellers are used to,’ she said. ‘And some of them are getting a little nervous seeing that.’ Part of the problem Scigliano sees is home sellers hanging onto pandemic-level pricing, and buyers who are holding out for lower prices. ‘Sellers, as always, want top dollar,’ she said. ‘They don’t want to come down on their sales prices or give closing costs and that kind of thing. But buyers are looking for a good deal, and I think they’re willing to just kind of wait a little longer until sellers figure that out.'”

“An earlier trend, meanwhile, that had lots of Coloradans seeking homes in Cheyenne where they could find more affordable options has cooled off dramatically. ‘We’re kind of catching up to Colorado (prices),’ Scigliano said. ‘So I don’t know that people are seeing the benefit of moving up here as much as they used to, because I feel like that price gap is closing in. I don’t know if they want to do the commute for just $100,000 or so difference.’ Sheridan is seeing a similar cooling trend, said Rhonda J. Burkhart with ABC Realty. ‘The median sales price for September 2024 was $393,000 compared to the median sales price of September 2023, which was $427,000, which indicates a negative 7.96% change,’ she told Cowboy State Daily.”

Mansion Global on California. “With a focus on glittery neighborhoods like Hollywood, Brentwood and Beverly Hills, Michael Nourmand heads one of the few family-owned brokerages in Los Angeles. ‘Our biggest sale of the year was a $12 million property,’ he told Mansion Global. ‘It’s actually the highest end of the market that’s taking longer to sell. You see a lot of headlines about big deals on the Sunset Strip or Malibu, but it’s a buyer’s market.’ How has the Los Angeles ‘mansion tax’ affected the market? ‘The tax is horrible. It’s punitive, very all-or-nothing, and it’s totally chilled the market. With interest rates, it’s been a double whammy. We also don’t talk about all of the people affected by this. Public schools are funded by property taxes, so less turnover means less money for schools. Real estate agents are affected, along with title officers, inspectors, escrow officers, to people who clean homes. All of them lose job opportunities because there’s less turnover in housing.'”

NBC San Diego in California. “Accessory dwelling units are becoming more popular in the San Diego area as housing costs continue to rise. Homeowners in Rolando and the College Area say the housing units are popping up everywhere. ‘There’s a two-story, four-unit ADU two houses down on that street. It used to bother me, but I can’t see it anymore because of this. There’s one being built behind the neighbors. It’s got to stop,’ homeowner Phillip Gibbins said. He says he worked hard to achieve his piece of the American Dream but that it’s not as attractive with large units emerging nearby. ‘A flipper bought it and remodeled it. The person that bought it immediately turned the living room into a bedroom, the garage into a bedroom, over the last few years, and this just started August 28th,’ Gibbins said. Some neighbors are also concerned about noise and parking issues that could arise from ADUs popping up in neighborhoods.”

From Bloomberg. “Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is pulling Canada’s welcome mat away from newcomers after record inflows damaged public support for immigration. On housing, the move will dampen price pressures and rents, just as a torrent of rental supply is coming online in some regions. Growth in average asking rent has slowed to just 2% annually, with outright declines in some markets, noted Robert Kavcic, senior economist at Bank of Montreal. ‘This policy change will be felt quickly, and will make other supply-side measures look almost like a rounding error.'”

The Brandon Sun. “Royal LePage communications director, Anne-Elise Cugliari Allegritti told the Sun there is a ‘standstill’ across parts of Canada’s housing market, as interest rates impact buyer and seller activity. ‘In cities like Toronto and Vancouver, which are some of the country’s most expensive markets, buyers are holding off, waiting for expected interest rate cuts from the Bank of Canada,’ she said. ‘We have this buyer mentality of trying to, quote, unquote, time the market.’ On the rental side, Allegritti highlighted that the recent decline in international student numbers has softened demand, especially in Ontario’s university towns. She attributed the increase in rental inventory and price moderation partly to the impact of ‘mom-and-pop’ landlords facing negative cash flows due to lower demand. The reduction in international students is ‘not the only reason,’ she explained, ‘but it’s certainly contributed’ to these trends in the rental market.”

Cornwall Live in the UK. “The owners of a luxury resort which has gone bust have been accused of ‘asset stripping’ ahead of a possible sale. Last week it was revealed that Una St Ives in Carbis Bay has gone into administration. The site closed last week but bosses planned to partly reopen with a skeleton staff this week, with those assets now under a new company named Carbis Club Limited. Investors who bought villas as part of the latest phase of expansion are angry as the site, still under the liquidated company’s name, is unlikely to be finished. The news that the firm went bust came days after one of the investors, among 17 who have spent up to £600,000 on villas which are now unlikely ever to be finished, leaving them out of pocket, warned this would happen.”

“The investor who first contacted us about Una St Ives’ troubles wondered where the money paid by investors had gone. At the time they said: ‘At the very least Kingfisher Una Resort Limited, as our agent, should be sitting on a significant sum of money. If we average the sale cost at £500,000, less £140,000 for the lease premium, and times that by 17 owners who paid up front then take 50 per cent of it – we have more than £3 million. So where is the money? If Kingfisher Una Resort Limited, as our agent, spent the money on something other than the build of the villas that they held the money for, what has it been spent on?'”

From ABC News. “Melbourne dog trainer Michelle McClurg was excited when she purchased her Punt Road home in 2007. She believed she had just secured a slice of prime, inner-city real estate. ‘The location is like nothing else. It’s so central,’ Ms McClurg told 7.30. That was until she was told by her broker that her newly acquired property in South Yarra sat under one of Australia’s longest-running public acquisition overlays. ‘I was like, ‘what are you talking about?’ she said. ‘Then he explained about how there was an overlay on the property, which meant VicRoads can come and purchase the property, and therefore you’ve paid too much money. It really shocked me that something so significant could be hidden.'”

South China Morning Post. “Hong Kong’s lived-in home prices fell by about 1.7 per cent in September to their lowest level since August 2016, as the impact of interest-rate cuts has yet to filter through to the faltering property sector, according to the latest official data. Home prices fell for a fifth straight month, taking the 12-month decline to 12.5 per cent, according to data from the Rating and Valuation Department on Tuesday. Since hitting an all-time high in September 2021, home prices have retreated by about 28 per cent. ‘The sales volume is improving, but prices are not,’ said Derek Chan, head of research at Ricacorp Properties. ‘As developers maintain their strategy of opening at low prices due to high unsold stock, this hinders the rebound of second-hand home prices.'”