If You’re Not Hitting It Right, Then You Have To Adjust, Not Everybody Wants To Hear It

It’s Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. “Since last summer, ABC Action News has covered what many say is a collapse in Florida’s condo market. Tuesday, we heard from retiree George Prybys, 84, who told us the price of affording paradise is becoming nearly impossible for condo owners. ‘It’s gone up ridiculously. My HOA went from $400 to $900,’ he said. That total does not include a $12,000 assessment imposed on him to replace and repair all the balconies in his building. George is relying only on Social Security and savings to survive. ‘I told them I retired on the SKI plan, S-K-I — which is, ‘spend the kid’s inheritance,’ he said, laughing. We spoke with his condo association president as well, Tom Schoeller, who is the board president for Casa Del Mar 1 within the Isla Del Sol condos in St. Pete. ‘At what point do I say, ‘Enough is enough, and then where do I go?’ Schoeller said. ‘So yeah, if they care about the citizens, if they care about the people that live here, they need to do something.'”

“In 2022, Tom Brady hired Kelly Losquadro, a real estate agent with Long and Foster, to help locate the perfect starter home. Brady said location was a big factor, wanting to be close to downtown Frederick. After over 30 months and several false starts with other places, he and Losquadro found a place that fit his needs in Ballenger Creek. The duo managed to bid below asking on the unit, because Losquadro had noticed it was overpriced by an out-of-state bank that had seized it on foreclosure. He said it will be an adjustment to live on his own for the first time and fill out the space that will house his future. ‘I’m looking forward to it,’ Brady said.”

“The Sedona City Council has passed a resolution declaring a ‘housing shortage emergency’ while urging state lawmakers to pass a law allowing local governments to regulate the number and location of short-term rental units. The resolution said the number of short-term rentals tripled from 400 units at the beginning of 2020 to approximately 1,203 units in October 2024. Sedona Mayor Scott Jablow said city leaders have urged state lawmakers to give back the authority to stem the rise in short-term rentals and make homes more affordable. ‘The prices are so astronomically high and artificially inflated because owners of short-term rentals are coming from corporations, and they’re buying up houses for cash,’ Jablow said. ‘In my neighborhood, I have three or four short-term rentals next to each other. I don’t have neighbors. There’s some blocks where one owner is the only person who actually lives (there) on the whole block. Is that a neighborhood?'”

“The shimmering office towers of the downtown Los Angeles skyline conceal a hard truth — much of the space is empty. In the years since the pandemic, which upended workplace norms and evaporated demand for office space, landlords downtown have watched in frustration as the value of their office buildings has plummeted. More than a few have faced foreclosure, leaving owners anxious about the need to get tenants back in their buildings or find another use for the millions of unused square feet. Restaurants and shops have struggled with the departure of many workers while homelessness and a sense that sidewalks aren’t safe has risen and helped lead to the departure of some office tenants. ‘Downtown is torn between believers in downtown and nonbelievers who say it’s gone downhill and isn’t coming back,’ said landlord and developer Garrett Lee. ‘We see a very big split between the two.'”

“The sense of order has not returned, said office investor John Sischo, who has worked in the real estate business downtown since the 1980s. The drop in pedestrian traffic caused by workers staying at home during the pandemic and continuing to work remotely has been a drain on the vibrancy and sense of security in the Financial District, which is depressing office leasing and hampering the neighborhood’s comeback, Sischo said. ‘Homelessness is out of control,’ he said. ‘People don’t feel safe coming downtown and you’ve lost all the momentum relating to the desire to live here.'”

“Downtown Denver had already been battered by COVID and the endless construction work along the 16th Street Mall, which put some businesses on life support and killed off others altogether. Then came the four stabbings over the weekend of January 11-12, which cut right to the heart of this city. Between those two deadly incidents, two more men were attacked, at Lawrence Street — right by the Clock Tower and Downtown Ice Rink — and Tremont Street. The violence stretched almost the entire length of the mall. But the ramifications have gone much further.”

“On January 13, after panic subsided (at one point, even Denver Police Chief Ron Thomas warned people not to go downtown alone), Mayor Mike Johnston held a press conference that sounded a little too boosterish considering that the second murder had occurred less than 24 hours earlier. He was like the mayor in Jaws, assuring everyone the water was fine. This was the time to assure residents that downtown was as safe as the city can make it — you can’t control crazy, as Las Vegas knows after its collision with another Colorado man on New Year’s Day. This was not the time to share rosy Chamber of Commerce stats about how ‘vibrant’ downtown is — as a heckler caught on camera pointed out.”

“Despite overwhelming public comment against two ordinances some referred to as ‘the criminalization of poverty,’ and others say may violate constitutional rights, the Reno City Council on Wednesday voted to approve a new ‘ordinance against public peace’ and to amend Reno’s loitering ordinance. Coleman Smith, owner of Eagle Window & Door, said he sees both sides of the issue, but his support of the ordinance comes down to the fact that he was ‘tired of being empathetic and not seeing a lot of change.’ After a decade of owning a business on West Fourth Street Smith said he feels like his customers and employees are in danger and stressed out and felt he needed to ‘pick a side.’ He said he’s seen people starting fires near his property, vandalizing property and harassing his customers, which he said happens regularly enough that ‘I’ve gone from feeling sorry for these people to having to stand up for the people I employ.'”

“In December, Mayor Hillary Schieve said the purpose of the loitering ordinance wasn’t about homeless individuals but, rather, is to combat child sex trafficking. ‘A lot of people think this is about homelessness,’ she said. ‘It’s not, it’s not at all and especially we see predators that loiter around businesses for young children. We see that a lot, and particularly, unfortunately, in Nevada as you know, we have high rates of sex trafficking and those kinds of things, so I am all for this.'”

“Many homeowners are starting 2025 with a new resolve: to sell the condo unit, house or country estate that lingered on Ontario’s real estate market through the slow patches of 2024. Elli Davis, real estate agent with Sotheby’s International Realty Canada, senses the Toronto market is going to see an injection of new supply. By mid-January she was busy with appointments for evaluations as new sellers prepare to launch their properties for sale. ‘Right now it seems like a lot of relists,’ Ms. Davis says of the inventory arriving on the market each day. ‘I believe in February we’re going to have a deluge.'”

“In some cases, sellers who weren’t able to find a buyer after many months will decide to try working with a different agent, but Ms. Davis cautions that often a property fails to sell because the homeowner is attached to an unrealistic price. ‘Sometimes if they’re not willing to listen, they could go through three, four or five agents before they see the light,’ she says. Ms. Davis adds that she is sometimes reluctant to take on a listing if she senses that the seller is not willing to take advice. ‘If you’re not hitting it right, then you have to adjust. Not everybody wants to hear it.'”

“An Ottawa judge gave Eastboro’s receiver the green light Thursday to sell the troubled Orléans development while offering 24 homebuyers a glimmer of hope they might hold onto their properties. Court heard Thursday that Ashcroft Homes spent most of the deposit monies from the 24 buyers to build their homes. Eastboro homebuyer Chantal Bergevin, who owns a partially constructed unit, told court Thursday that the fiasco had been ‘devastating to me and my family.’ ‘My entire life has been on hold for the past six years,’ said Bergevin, who also told court she was repeatedly lied to by Ashcroft about the state of the development.”

“Bergevin, a single mother and federal public servant, put down a 10-per-cent deposit on a $375,000 townhouse in November 2018 and later paid $11,000 for upgrades to the property. In an interview, Bergevin said she didn’t know yet if she’d terminate her contract or hold on in the hope that a new developer would honour it. She’s doubtful a new buyer will help. ‘We’re the real victims here, but nobody cares. We’re left to fend for ourselves,’ she said. ‘I don’t think it’s feasible for me to continue to hope that another builder will purchase Eastboro and be willing to sell me the house at the price I bought it for.'”

“Locals have objected to the project in Williamstown – on the basis of there being ‘no demand’ for housing in the area. HF Contracts is looking to build 15 new homes at a site beside the existing Bealach na Ceartan estate. 15 homes might seem like a modest development – but the core argument put forward is that it’s 15 homes too many, because there’s no demand for housing in Williamstown at all. They point to 14 vacant homes in nearby Loch na Corra, described as a ‘ghost estate.’ A stark lack of services in the area are also highlighted – such as no local GP, no childcare, no public transport, and no full-time Gardaí.”

“The latest QV House Price Index shows residential property values edged upward by an average of just 0.1% nationally in the December quarter, which was not enough to finish the year in the black. The average home is now worth $902,414, which is 0.3% less than at the start of 2024 and 15.2% below the market’s peak just over three years ago. Seven of New Zealand Aotearoa’s main urban centres will now start 2025 with their average home values sitting marginally higher than at the start of the year prior.”

“‘It’s been ‘steady as she goes’ throughout much of last year, and it looks like it’s going to stay that way for a while yet,’ said QV operations manager James Wilson. ‘It’s a new year, but the same restraining factors are still very much at play – including sustained weakness in the labour market, a high cost of living, credit constraints, and a surplus of properties for sale on the market today.'”