My Clients Were Hoping To Get More Money, But They Realized It Wasn’t Going To Happen

A report from Click Orlando in Florida. “With a deadline of Dec. 31 just around the corner, over 150 condo associations along Volusia County’s coast still have not turned in their ‘milestone’ inspection reports. Many leaders News 6 spoke with think timing and money are the main holdups for submitting reports. ‘Insurance is up about 600% and then when we started getting the ‘milestone’ and the SIRs that’s when we started seeing more folks putting their units up for sale,’ Becky Carpenter said. Carpenter manages five condo properties in Daytona Beach Shores and is the president of the county’s Building Association Managers group.”

New York Post. “Florida’s sun-soaked southwestern coast is grappling with the steepest home price drops in more than a decade. From Sarasota’s luxury listings to Punta Gorda’s booming developments, property values have fallen at rates not seen since the post-recession days of 2011. The Punta Gorda area witnessed a 6.5% price drop this past quarter, pulling the median down to $350,000. North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton wasn’t far behind with a 5.8% fall, pushing median prices to $485,000. Cape Coral-Fort Myers also recorded a 3.7% dip, adding to earlier declines this year.”

KWQC in Illinois. “A Quad Cities real estate group said the number of houses for sale has increased in Galena, local officials disagree on how much. In their fall 2024 report, Ruhl & Ruhl Realtors claim the number of homes for sale in Galena has increased by 76% since last year. ‘Galena did have the highest months of inventory of all the markets that we do track, and they have for quite a while,’ company president, Chris Beason said. ‘And all that means is that there is an oversupply of properties on the market compared to what demand is for those properties.'”

The Brattleboro Reformer in Vermont. “Three years ago, Mike Gilman and his Green Hills Real Estate purchased a number of multi-family buildings in Brattleboro, and as part of the package deal, they received the Sportsmen’s Lounge on Canal Street. On Nov. 7, in what investigators are characterizing as a ‘human involved’ blaze, the Sportsmen’s was destroyed by a three-alarm fire. Gilman said the plan after demolition called for putting up a couple of townhomes on the spot, but he is hesitating and is looking for some reassurance from town leaders and the community. ‘Since 2021, what we’ve noticed is there seems to be more crime, more lawlessness, more and more homelessness, and there’s been no consequences,’ he said. Over two years, he said, he and his partners have been rehabbing and retenanting their local properties, which include 55 South Main St., 29 Canal St., 101 Clark St., and 1046 Western Ave., as well as a parcel at the corner of Canal Street and Clark Street. ‘All the tenants were in some kind of delinquency, some of them on drugs, unfortunately. We’ve had units taken over by squatters and it’s taken a year and a half to two years to get them out.'”

The Philadelphia Inquirer in Pennsylvania. “An influx of new apartments in Philadelphia and across the country has controlled rent increases and forced landlords to work harder to attract residents. In the Philadelphia metropolitan area, a third of rental listings in October offered some concession, such as a period of free rent or deals on parking, to attract renters and fill vacancies, according to Zillow. That’s up almost 8% from last year. Across the country, the share of rentals offering concessions has more than doubled over the last five years — from 16% in October 2019 to a record of almost 38% in October 2024, according to Kara Ng, a senior economist at Zillow. An increase in concessions means the rental market is getting looser and more favorable to renters, who now have ‘much more bargaining power,’ Ng said. Especially going into the holiday season when fewer renters are looking to move, ‘if I’m a rental manager with an empty apartment, I’m very motivated to fill it,’ she said.”

“Some markets are relying more on rental concessions than others. In the Washington metro area, for example, more than half of rental listings in October had concessions, according to Zillow. About 61% of rental listings had them in the Raleigh, N.C., metro area. This year, across the Philadelphia region, 8% of rental homes were vacant during the typically more robust summer season than at the same time last year.”

Bisnow on California. “LA County’s apartment market saw a slight dip in rents and a slip in vacancy rate in the third quarter of 2024. NAI Capital Executive Vice President Tim Steuernol chalked the market moves up to higher-cost new apartments that have come on the market since 2020, indicating renters are unwilling or unable to pay for fancier apartments. Steuernol noted there is evidence that in the top of the market — the newer, higher-end units — there is not as much demand. Among the 65,809 units delivered since 2020, 8,510 remain vacant, translating to a 13.1% vacancy rate for these new units. ‘A lot of the newer construction apartments have been sitting on the market for longer periods of time,’ Steuernol said. ‘Developers that are hoping to get these high rents haven’t been able to get them … they’re having to offer up some concessions to get tenants in.'”

CBS 8 in California. “Residents in multiple San Diego neighborhoods are expressing frustration over persistent street light issues, with some areas left in complete darkness for years while others deal with lights that never turn off. In North Pacific Beach, entire blocks have been without functioning street lights for years. John Maloney, a local resident, describes the situation. ‘It’s truly pitch black on some of these blocks. You can’t see. You need your phone flashlight just to make sure you don’t trip.’ Maloney also voiced concerns about pedestrian safety and potential crime risks.”

“CBS 8 reached out to the City’s Transportation Director, Bethany Bezak, for answers. ‘Unfortunately, the average Get It Done response time right now for street light outage is around 350 days,’ Bezak admitted. She explained that her department has only 18 electricians to maintain and repair over 60,000 street lights, some of which are more than 70 years old. In South Park, residents face the opposite problem. Mike Gruby reports that the lights in his neighborhood have been on continuously for nearly nine years. ‘It’s probably been on, almost all that entire time and it’s day and night.. it’s 24 hours a day,’ Gruby said, expressing concern about energy waste.”

The Globe and Mail in Canada. “19 Yorkview Dr., Toronto. Asking price: $1,395,000 (September, 2024). Previous asking price: $1,395,000 (July, 2024). Selling price: $1,375,000 (October, 2024). This 75-year-old bungalow was stylishly renovated, but it had only one bedroom when most bungalows north of the Queensway near Royal York Road usually have two or three. Despite that disadvantage, it received three offers over the summer, though none were to the liking of the sellers, who had seen properties sold in bidding wars just months prior.”

“‘There were multiple offers in the spring market,’ said agent Ed Allan, but ‘the market has changed substantially.’ Finally, in October, a fourth offer came in, and though it was $20,000 less than their $1.395-million asking price, the sellers accepted. ‘My clients were hoping to get more money, but they realized it wasn’t going to happen,’ said Mr. Allan. ‘A lot of people don’t qualify for financing any more, and the government is very tough on financing. It’s not like it used to be.'”

Durham Region in Canada. “For many years, power of sale properties were only found in the history books. However, with our real estate market being active for both sellers and buyers, we are starting to see properties coming to market with mortgage lenders as the agents managing the sale. From Whitby to Clarington, 13 properties are currently being marketed as power of sales. When buyers agree to the mortgage terms when purchasing a property, they make several promises. These are called personal covenants. When any of these promises are broken, a lender can begin a power of sale process. The covenants that typically apply here are payment of mortgage payments, payment of property taxes and the payment of condo fees. (I have sold one condo townhome that had been taken back under power of sale for non-payment of condo fees.) “

From DPA International. “Crime goes up in neighbourhoods where short-term apartment lettings are plentiful, with robbery and burglary more likely, according to researchers from the University of Cambridge and the University of Pennsylvania. The team found that in places where Airbnb bookings are common, there is an increase in ‘predatory’ criminality due to the presence of ‘suitable targets, likely offenders, and the absence of capable guardians.'”

“‘Airbnb activity is positively related to robbery, burglary, theft, and violence,’ the researchers found, saying the links are ‘attributable to lettings for entire properties rather than for rooms.’ ‘We tested for the most plausible alternative explanations, from changes in police patrols to tourist hotspots and even football matches,’ said Cambridge’s Charles Lanfear. ‘Nothing changed the core finding that Airbnb rentals are related to higher crime rates in London neighbourhoods,’ Lanfear explained. Research published in the journal PLOS One in 2021 pointed to an increase in crime related to short-term renting in Boston. ‘Large-scale conversion of housing units into short-term rentals undermines a neighbourhood’s social organization, and in turn its natural ability of a neighbourhood to counteract and discourage crime,’ the Northeastern University team said.”

Radio New Zealand. “A Taranaki building company has gone into liquidation owing creditors hundreds of thousands of dollars and leaving families with unfinished projects. JT Construction trading as Level Build New Plymouth went into voluntary liquidation last week. Cass Gray and her husband Darren contracted Level Build to do a $400,000 fixed-price extension and renovation of their Vogeltown property in New Plymouth. She said they first got wind something was up when a friend they had organised to do the kitchen cabinetry had not been paid and began asking more questions.”

“The couple thought they had bought $15,000 worth of appliances from Harvey Norman Commercial through Level Build and paid $4500 for variation on the contract in May. ‘So, we called the Harvey Norman contact we had met with, and they [Level Build] never placed the order. So they’ve taken that $15,000 and spent it on I don’t know what as well as the kitchen joinery. So there’s probably close to $30,000 there. We haven’t done the full sort of forensic analysis yet, but we reckon there we’re $50,000 plus out of pocket.'”

“Cass Gray said the couple could not live in the home. ‘There’s no kitchen. There’s no flooring. So, we’re still living with my parents with a 14-month-old baby with no real avenue to be living in a close to finished home.’ She said the couple were gutted to be left high and dry by builders who they thought they had developed a good relationship with. Mark Pollard and Jess Lawn had a contract with Level Build for the construction of new home in Ōākura about 12 kilometres southwest of New Plymouth. They reckoned they had lost about $140,000 in total. ‘We’ve been burned. We’ve had no procurement of materials and they’ve pretty much walked away with that last $43,000 straight out of our hands and they obviously didn’t have a chance of paying that back.'”

“He was angry. ‘I’m pissed off that this can even happen in New Zealand. You know, we’ve had people look through it and they say there is nothing we can do. You’ve got to wait, but I don’t know how you can get away with it getting so out of hand.’ Hamish Scott is from Re-Lume Electrical and his company was down $30,000. Scott knew of about eight projects Level Build was involved with and felt for the property owners. ‘Business is business, it is what it is, but taking people’s money a week or two weeks before going into liquidation, you must be able to see the shit is hitting the fan really. That’s what hit us. Clients are people, you know, and they work hard and it’s been a couple of tough years, so why would you think it’s okay to invoice people and make them pay.’ Level Build’s website and social platforms were closed and Jarom Tipene phone contact was also dead.”