The Investors Were Apparently Attracted To Potential Profits Through High-Interest, High-Risk Lending Schemes That Ultimately Were Unsuccessful

A report from WFTS. “Pressure is mounting on Florida lawmakers to address the rising costs for condo owners. Stories from Florida’s coast highlight the frustration of condo owners with increasing costs. One owner expressed concern, saying, ‘It’s going to put a pinch on a lot of people with fixed incomes…” Another from the Tampa area said, ‘Been here since about 2010 my condo fee was around $250, now it’s $670…’ The inability to sell condos is also a significant issue, with one realtor reporting, ‘I’ve had 10 showings, and I’ve done about 30 open houses, open houses nobody appears to come to see the properties.'”

“The root of the problem lies in still-rising property insurance rates and new rules implemented following the Surfside condo collapse in 2021. Florida Senate Minority Leader Jason Pizzo’s (D-Hollywood) reform ideas included establishing a uniform standard for condo repair assessments. He felt doing so would better ensure those assessments are not inflated with unnecessary costs. ‘When you’re seeing another association of mine, in Hallandale with a $51 or $52 million pending assessment,’ said Pizzo, ‘and there’s a separate line item for pool furniture— that’s not what we meant about keeping building structurally safe, right?'”

The Dallas Morning News in Texas. “You found a dream home for sale. But can you afford it? ‘There’s a world of difference between what someone can qualify for and what someone can actually afford,’ says James Miller, a mortgage branch manager at Cornerstone Home Lending with two decades of experience in the field. ‘In discussions with a loan officer, rather than asking ‘How much can I qualify for?’ a better question is often ‘How much can I actually afford to pay every month?’ Right now, most buyers end up putting down around 3-5%. If those percentages seem low, Miller notes that the mortgage industry has numerous safeguards in place against bad loans. A 2025 down payment of 3% may be stronger than 20% down 20 years ago, he adds, because of the protections and parameters that were initiated after the 2008 housing crisis. Miller adds that it’s not uncommon these days for people to receive financial gifts toward a down payment from family members.”

“Traditionally, ‘the farther away you get from the city center, the pricing is more affordable; you can get more for your money,’ says James Fairchild, an associate broker with Ebby Halliday Real Estate. ‘But that is changing, too.’ He has been surprised to see high prices of homes in areas like Celina and Prosper, which are considerably distant from central D-FW. Even if you’re not in a position to purchase what the home you really want, there’s value in the process of determining what you can afford. ‘If now isn’t the right time, you have a game plan to work towards, whether it’s improving credit scores [or] saving up,’ says MaryAnn Comparin Jones, senior loan officer at Fairway Independent Mortgage Corporation. ‘And your first home typically isn’t your forever home. It is a starting point to get you to where you dream of being, and building equity sooner than later will get you to your dream home faster.'”

Yahoo Finance. “‘Undocumented immigrants and non-citizens have several obstacles when trying to buy a home,’ said Rosa Galarza, a licensed real estate agent with eXp Realty. ‘There are usually more issues than when we work with U.S. citizens.’ Still, buying a home isn’t outright impossible for undocumented immigrants. Many loan programs require a Social Security number — something the undocumented do not have. (You generally need to be authorized to work in the U.S. to apply for an SSN). ITIN loans are mortgages that don’t require a Social Security number. Instead, they require an applicant’s ITIN, or Individual Taxpayer Identification Number. Anyone can apply for an ITIN with the Internal Revenue Service; you’ll simply need to fill out an ITIN application form and provide some supporting documentation, like your passport or national ID card. ‘When undocumented immigrants have an ITIN, it can help them tremendously,’ Galarza said.”

“You can also consider adding a co-signer to your loan application. This person agrees to make payments if you fail to, and adding a co-signer lessens the risk you present to lenders. It also allows the co-signer’s income, credit, and financial profile to be factored in when processing your loan. ‘If the amount of income you make is not enough to qualify, adding a cosigner may help,’ said Darren Tooley, loan officer at Union Home Mortgage.”

The Post Independent. “‘In her opening speech of the 2025 Colorado legislative session, re-elected Colorado House Speaker Julie McCluskie (D-Dillon) cast the state’s budget challenges as a defining issue for the 120-day lawmaking term. McCluskie said Democrats were prepared to take action in response to the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump and took aim at some of his most hardline campaign pledges. ‘Coloradans do not support mass deportations,’ McCluskie said, framing the proposal as one that would devastate communities and local economies. In a speech following McCluskie’s, El Paso County Republican and House Minority Leader Rose Pugliese said her caucus supports deporting ‘illegal immigrants who are violent criminals’ adding, ‘I think this should be a bipartisan issue.'”

The Los Angeles Times in California. “With more than 1,100 structures already destroyed by three wildfires that continue to rage out of control around Los Angeles, homeowners and business owners face a long road ahead to recoup their losses. Filing an insurance claim is one of the many tasks to take care of after the loss of a home or business. It is lengthy process that has become more fraught as insurance companies have canceled or scaled back coverage in fire-prone areas. What if I don’t have home insurance? ‘If you don’t have homeowner’s insurance, there is no clear path,’ said Annie Barbour, a coordinator for United Policyholders, a nonprofit insurance and consumer rights advocacy group . ‘It’s very difficult to recover.'”

KRON in California. “Daniel Lurie was sworn-in as San Francisco’s 46th mayor on Wednesday. In a lengthy inauguration speech, Lurie unveiled changes he will make to the city during his first 100 days in office. Lurie said, ‘I entered the Mayor’s race not as a politician, but as a dad who couldn’t explain to my kids what they were seeing on our streets. That has never hit me as hard as it did last month at San Francisco General Hospital. After meeting an extraordinary team of nurses, doctors, social workers, and addiction specialists — we ended our tour in the NICU. There I stood in the quiet of a nursery surrounded by babies in critical condition. Some of them recovering from fentanyl exposure. It was a heartbreaking picture of our city’s shortcomings in addressing the crisis on our streets.'”

“‘Today, what has been a temporary effort to deal with the increasing drug markets, will be a permanent fixture of this administration. The fentanyl crisis isn’t a 9-5 operation — it doesn’t take breaks — and neither will we. That is why I’m introducing a package of Fentanyl State of Emergency Ordinances. And to our Supervisors — I want to thank you for your shared commitment to defeating the scourge of fentanyl and untreated mental illness on our streets,’ Lurie said.”

KOMO in Washington. “Efforts to confront prostitution along Seattle’s Aurora Avenue will be getting a new infusion of resources this year, and many neighbors in the area said sex trafficking seems less pronounced but remains a problem. ‘I think it’s toned down just a little bit,’ said Paddy Walls, who lives near Aurora Ave N. ‘I used to see women walking up and down the street with virtually nothing on, and the school is right there, which makes it just disgusting, but it seems like it’s cleaned up a little.’ Darian Laughlin is a tow truck driver who spends most of his shift around the Aurora corridor. ‘Aurora is not what it used to be, that’s for sure. As a kid, I never saw what you see now,’ Laughlin said. ‘It sucks. I’ve got four kids, three of which are girls, and I don’t want them seeing that on the roads.'”

The Boston Herald in Massachusetts. “Sifting through the thousands of pages of ‘Serious Incident’ reports from the Bay State’s migrant-family shelter program is a brutal read. The huge trove of documents, which the Herald received through a public records request, detail heartbreaking and disturbing stories involving those in the state-funded emergency housing shelter system. A mother was ‘visibly distraught, sobbing,’ telling staff that her daughters were being ‘picked up in a blue SUV by several adult Haitian males.’ ‘… at least on two occasions, the girls were gone for 3-4 nights,’ the report reads. When staff went to the hotel room to speak with the daughters, one of them said if she has to live with her mother, ‘I’d rather be back in Haiti.’ When staff went to the room, the children opened the door and their mother — who had a baby 10 days ago — was in bed sleeping. ‘The children were in the room and on the floor was a huge knife and a gallon of milk,’ the report reads. ‘There were dirty dishes on stove, counter and sink. The fridge was wide open also.'”

“A neighbor reported that a resident ‘attempted to take his own life, by hanging himself from the ceiling on the 3rd floor porch. He also threatened to jump. The neighbor called 911, the police arrived immediately and talked him off the porch. The ambulance transported him to the hospital.'”

The New York Post. “New York faced a whopping 53% spike in homelessness last year — marking the highest per capita rate in the nation — thanks largely to the influx of migrants housed in Big Apple shelters, according to the feds. Migrants staying in emergency shelters throughout the five boroughs ‘accounted for almost 88% of the increase in sheltered homelessness in New York City,’ the HUD report released last month states. Other startling figures from the HUD report included a sickening 152% increase between 2007 and 2024 of homelessness in New York state.”

Bisnow New York. “Namdar Realty Group and Empire Capital have offloaded 345 Seventh Ave. for a nearly 21% haircut, less than a year after facing foreclosure at the office building. In 2021, Namdar, which has historically been known for its ownership of malls, and Empire Capital went on a buying spree, betting on the return of office. The investors bought 345 Seventh Ave., along with the three smaller properties, for $107M. The sale is an example of how far values have fallen for office buildings that are considered below Class-A quality.”

“‘Properties are now changing hands for a third of the cost per square foot compared to three years ago when Namdar Realty Group purchased 345 Seventh Avenue,’ Namdar Chief Operating Officer Dan Dilmanian told Commercial Observer in a July statement. ‘Many owners, Namdar included, are investing heavily in building improvements across their portfolios while appraisal valuations move in the other direction.'”

The Globe and Mail in Canada. “Legal challenges continue to mount for associates of a child actor who bought hundreds of homes across Ontario using more than $144-million in private mortgage debt and risky promissory notes before crashing into insolvency one year ago. In addition to mounting claims in civil court, The Globe and Mail has learned a team of investigators of the Ontario Provincial Police Anti-Rackets Branch has for weeks now been interviewing lenders and investors who lent money to companies controlled by Robby Clark and his primary mortgage broker and promissory note vendor Claire Drage.”

“On Jan. 23, 2024, a collection of companies connected to Mr. Clark filed for insolvency protection to reorganize a rental property portfolio of more than 400 homes spread mainly across the Northern Ontario cities of Sudbury, Sault Ste. Marie and Timmins. After a year of legal wrangling, as of December, 2024, the majority of those properties have been transferred out of Clark’s companies to the private mortgage lenders. Ms. Drage, who had not been covered by the stay of proceedings but whose companies filed for a separate bankruptcy in April, 2024, is also facing more than $250-million in civil damages claims from two separate lawsuits, one of which accuses her of running ‘a fraudulent Ponzi scheme’ and the mortgage brokerage company that formerly employed her – Mortgage Alliance Company of Canada Inc. – of negligence, breach of contract, fraudulent misrepresentation and unjust enrichment.”

“Natalie Leon, partner with Forbes, Chochla and Leon LLP, is defending Mortgage Alliance against the Milosevic action. ‘Mortgage Alliance is aware of certain claims being made by some investors associated with Claire Drage and her independent business known as Lion’s Share,’ Ms. Leon’s statement reads. ‘The investors were apparently attracted to potential profits through high-interest, high-risk lending schemes not related to Mortgage Alliance that ultimately were unsuccessful. Some of those investors are now looking to others not involved in those affairs to shift their losses.'”

“‘It’s a multiplaintiff claim, we represent at last count 436 individuals,’ said David Milosevic, of Milosevic & Associates, who is representing many of the lenders who were stung by the collapse of Mr. Clark and Ms. Drage’s businesses. ‘We do a lot of multiparty investment loss cases. … We put out the word we were interested in the file and hundreds of people dove in.’ According to Mr. Milosevic, evidence turned up in a securities or criminal fraud investigation or trial could add to the case for his clients, but he isn’t waiting for the police to finish their work.”

“‘Unfortunately, the OSC is overwhelmed; our criminal prosecution system is overwhelmed,’ he said. ‘I do fraud cases for a living. I have on average 40 people who call me a week; they are losing their homes. It’s an absolute epidemic and the police can’t do anything about it. I’m not pointing fingers or laying blame, it is just rampant victimization of Canadians and it’s terrible.'”

The BBC. “Immigration has long been a polarising issue in the West but Canada mostly avoided it – until now. With protests and campaign groups springing up in certain quarters, some argue that this – together with housing shortages and rising rents – contributed to Justin Trudeau’s resignation. At first glance, the single bedroom for rent in Brampton, Ontario looks like a bargain. True, there’s barely any floor space, but the asking price is only C$550 (£300) a month in a Toronto suburb where the average monthly rent for a one-bedroom flat is C$2,261. Inspect it more closely, however, and this is actually a small bathroom converted into sleeping quarters. A mattress is jammed up next to the sink, the toilet is nearby.”

“The ad, originally posted on Facebook Marketplace, has generated hundreds of comments online. ‘Disgusting,’ wrote one Reddit user. ‘Hey 20-somethings, you’re looking at your future,’ says another. But there are other listings like it – one room for rent, also in Brampton, shows a bed squashed near a staircase in what appears to be a laundry area. Another rental in Scarborough, a district in Ontario, offers a double bed in the corner of a kitchen. While Canada might have a lot of space, there aren’t enough homes and in the past three years, rents across the country have increased by almost 20%, according to property consultancy Urbanation.”

“In all, some 2.4 million Canadian families are crammed into homes that are too small, in urgent need of major repairs or are seriously unaffordable, a government watchdog report released in December has suggested. This accommodation shortage has come to a head at the same time that inflation is hitting Canadians hard – and these issues have, in turn, moved another issue high up the agenda in the country: immigration. ‘I would say it was very much taboo, like no one would really talk about it,’ explains Peter Kratzar, a software engineer and the founder of Cost of Living Canada, a protest group that was formed in 2024. ‘[But] things have really unfrozen.'”

“Under Trudeau’s administration, the Canadian government deliberately chose to radically boost the numbers of people coming to the country after the pandemic, believing that boosting quotas for foreign students and temporary workers, in addition to skilled immigrants, would jumpstart the economy. The population, which was 35 million 10 years ago, now tops 40 million. At one of the protests in Toronto, a crowd turned out with hand-painted signs, some proclaiming: ‘We want our future back!’ and ‘End Mass Immigration.'”

News.com.au in Australia. “A massive surge in migrants from India that has continued since Covid is hampering the government’s efforts to rein in overall numbers, while universities have emerged unscathed from failed efforts to put caps on international students. There were 300,000 Indians holding temporary visas in Australia in the September quarter — by far the biggest single group — up from 200,000 in the same period in 2019. The September figure included 115,000 Indians on student visas and 80,000 Indians on graduate visas.”

“Fuelling the surge in Indian students is an agreement signed in May 2023 by Prime Ministers Anthony Albanese and Narendra Modi, the Australia-India Migration and Mobility Partnership Agreement, which opened the doors to more Indian students as well as graduates and early-career professionals. The pact means Indians can apply for five-year student visas, with no limit on the number who can study in Australia, and graduates can apply to work in Australia for up to eight years without visa sponsorship. Jordan Knight, a former One Nation staffer who now runs one-man advocacy group Migration Watch, has described the Albanese government’s pacts with India as effectively an ‘open border’ agreement. ‘At the time when the government is supposed to be cutting immigration we’ve flung the door open to India,’ he said. ‘They’ve completely hamstrung themselves.'”

“Driven by concerns over housing affordability and cost-of-living, Mr Knight argued young people in particular were now raising concerns about immigration. ‘It’s a really interesting political phenomenon,’ he said. ‘For so long people expected young people to shift to the progressive left, whereas [the opposite] reaction has occurred in this environment of globalisation, immigration, free trade. I think young people just want their countries back and the living standards their parents enjoyed.'”