Sellers Have To Be A little More Realistic And Take A Lower Price Than What They Are Asking

A report from the Boston Herald in Massachusetts. “President Donald Trump’s plan to dismantle the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will leave the $18 trillion consumer lending market without guardrails and could result in the same sort of financial catastrophe that saw the agency created, U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren said. The CFPB came about in response to the financial crisis of 2008, when the nation’s real estate bubble burst. The Bureau was created to protect consumers from the sort of shady banking practices that led to the market collapse, and to fill a void barely covered by a patchwork of state laws and federal regulations, Warren said. Norbert Michel, vice president and director of the Cato Institute’s Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives, told the Herald that the Trump Administration’s move to close the agency make sense, since, he said, it shouldn’t exist in the first place. ‘It is an unnecessary agency. You don’t need, for example, the FTC and the CFPB. The DOJ and state governments also have a role in consumer protection.’ he said.”

“Special Government Employee Elon Musk, whom Trump has tapped to lead the ‘Department of Government Efficiency,’ said in social media postings last week that the agency does ‘above zero good things,’ but still needs to go. ‘CFRB RIP,’ he wrote.”

From NPR. “The Trump administration is asking employees at the Department of Housing and Urban Development to justify hundreds of contracts across the agency. During his first term, President Trump repeatedly proposed dramatic cuts to HUD’s budget, though they did not pass Congress. Antonio Gaines, president of American Federation of Government Employees National Council 222 knows the stereotype that federal workers are lazy and said front-line employees take the blame for a slow bureaucracy. But often, he said, they are hamstrung by decisions made higher up. One such decision, he said, was implementing a new tool for inspecting public housing that has been disastrously slow and clunky to use. ‘The app is woefully dysfunctional, but we spent $40 million on it already,’ Gaines said.”

From WGN TV. “More than a decade has passed since the global housing market crash pushed thousands of Illinois homeowners into foreclosure. But WGN Investigates found many across the state are still struggling to stay in their homes. Take the case of Faye and Alan Lovitsch. The couple, now both in their 80s, fell behind on the mortgage payments for their home in west suburban Wheaton. In 2017, their lender filed a foreclosure lawsuit in DuPage County Circuit Court. ‘It was terribly frustrating,’ Faye Lovitsch said. ‘All that money was gone. It became difficult for us.’ At a bench trial, the Lovitsch’s attorney, Daniel Khwaja, fought the foreclosure, claiming, among other things, that the lender sent legal notices to the wrong address. The judge, however, sided with the lender.”

From News 8. “A new home purchase has turned into a nightmare for a New York couple after they were unable to move in due to an unwanted guest refusing to leave the premises. Rochester homeowners Ryan Folts and his girlfriend Caitlin Pitts told News 8 they bought the home at an auction last January that was in foreclosure and knew it was occupied when they bought it. But they didn’t know the terror they would face. ‘I offered him $500 a month [to let the squatter stay in the house], and he told me that if I came back, he was going to take my life,’ Folts explained to News 8. Folts added that they had contacted Rochester Police, who had gone to the home. But when officers tried to enter the home and were ‘greeted’ by the squatter, Folts claimed the officers ‘walked away and said it’s not their job.’ The couple said that if they are unable to get the squatter out, they do not see themselves ever moving into the home. ‘I don’t see us ever living here, because I feel as though there would definitely be a target on our back, and it would be way too dangerous. And we would never be able to relax. So, we’re just going to try and sell it at some point, if we can even do that,’ Folts said.”

From 10 Tampa Bay. “It may not look like much, but an empty lot in Moore Haven is supposed to be home for Wendy Aguiar. ‘I’ve owned it for more than 2 years,’ Aguiar said. Not to mention she’s been paying HOA fees on the vacant property. It’s where Rebuild Florida was supposed to set up her new mobile home. Back in 2019, Wendy signed up for the Hurricane Irma Repair and Replacement program after her home was damaged by the 2017 storm. She says after the back-and-forth with Rebuild officials and the owners of the community where her home was damaged, the owner of the park didn’t want Rebuild to replace her home there. That’s when she searched for a lot she could afford. The lot though, is in Moore Haven, Florida. It’s hours away from where she lives and works in Davie. ‘I had to empty out my 401k,’ Aguiar said. Wendy feels like she’s pursued all her options. ‘Contracts are one-sided. I don’t see what is happening is okay. I see what’s happening is a fraud,’ Aguiar said.”

WFTS in Florida. “The price to live in paradise may be dropping as the Tampa Bay housing market starts to cool. Now, inventory in the area is increasing and more homes are selling below the asking price. Local real estate experts said this will be a year of price correction, and it may be time for you to make a move. ‘We are in a year of correcting, so the market has been correcting. Florida was hot for so long so it was inevitable to have to slow down a bit,’ said Emma Pardo with Compass Real Estate. Pardo said the Tampa Bay region is officially in a buyer’s market, which means there is more inventory available than there are people who want to buy. ‘I think there’s more options for buyers more options means more competition for sellers. So sellers have to be a little more realistic on pricing and take a lower price than what they are asking,’ Pardo said.”

48 Hills in California. “The Land Use and Transportation Committee will hear two critical housing measures Monday/10, in both cases pitting developers against the affordable housing community. Emerald Fund, one of the city’s most successful housing developers, supports the measure—and the developer’s letter says a lot about the current crisis: ‘Today, new market-rate housing development in San Francisco is not financially feasible. Construction costs and fees are among the highest in the world while, on the revenue side, rents are still 15% below pre-COVID rents. It costs more to build new housing in San Francisco than the housing is worth once complete. As a result, it is not possible to attract the necessary debt or equity, as a potential project would be unable to illustrate how the investment or loan funds will be paid back. This is why San Francisco has no tower cranes up today and is producing less housing than any major city in the country.'”

“Yes: the problem isn’t ‘obstacles,’ it’s construction costs, financing, and—imagine—rents not high enough. The developers won’t build until they can charge higher rents–which undermines the entire concept that more housing will bring prices down.”

The San Francisco Chronicle in California. “The historic Warfield building in San Francisco’s Mid-Market neighborhood was supposed to be the first downtown office-to-housing conversion in the wake of the pandemic. But, last week, the building sold to new owners with a different vision for revitalizing the troubled block surrounding it at Market and Sixth streets. The 988 Market acquisition was made possible with the support of the Kenneth Rainin Foundation and Community Vision Capital & Consultants, who served as guarantor and lender on the deal, and provided below-market rate-financing. But a lot has changed since then. Downtown office vacancy hit 37% last year — a historic high — after many companies adopted remote work policies and let go of office space in the years following the pandemic.”

“The Warfield building is no different. When developer Joy Ou’s Group I purchased the property in 2011 for $6 million, it was vacant. Group I then spent $9 million on an extensive renovation effort on the historic building and eventually landed tech companies including Match.com, Benchmark and Spotify as tenants. By 2017, the building was 100% occupied. But crime and public safety issues began impacting leasing in the area years before the pandemic emptied offices, according to Ou. The ‘financing market just isn’t there,’ Ou said. ‘I was waiting for the equity market to come back. And I’m at a point where the value has plummeted and I have to exit to pay my lender.'”

Bisnow Washington DC. “Directly across the Anacostia River from RFK Stadium, a complex of 51 three-story brick buildings has become the latest symbol of D.C.’s worsening housing crisis. E&G Group has owned Meadow Green Courts for more than 25 years, and most of its 435 units are reserved as affordable to low-income residents. The Northern Virginia-based, mission-driven housing provider has spent decades operating and preserving affordable housing in D.C., but it is now hanging on by a thread. The tenants at the 12-acre complex have racked up more than $6M in unpaid rent, an issue plaguing housing owners across the District. E&G principal Tom Gallagher said he and his partners have paid more than $4M out of their own pockets to pay the bills. But they have now run out of money. ‘My net worth has been wiped out,’ he said. ‘My partners’ net worth has been wiped out. The liquidity has all been put into the properties.'”

The Bay Observer in Canada. “Frustration was on display Friday as members of Hamilton council struggled to understand how a number of their suggestions to save taxpayers money were nonetheless out of order for discussion at a budget meeting. When Doug Ford introduced the strong mayor powers he said it was to accelerate housing starts, which his government insisted were being held up by restrictive municipal planning processes. He sweetened the pot by offering cities who went along with strong mayor to share in extra housing cash if they met certain targets. The problem today, is that there are no buyers for houses because of affordability issues and a glut of condominiums that people don’t want to live in, and municipalities are no longer qualifying for the extra money.”

The Globe and Mail in Canada. “Residents in the district of Saanich on Vancouver Island are gearing up for a battle against density that they believe will overwhelm their lovely streets and undermine what makes their municipality a suburban oasis. Towers are always a contentious building form outside of downtown areas, but Saanich councillor Karen Harper, who has sat on council for eight years, says the district is taking community concerns into consideration. ‘My house is worth a lot to me, and not just personally but also this is potentially a legacy for my kids and for my grandkids,’ said Save Our Saanich member Kevin Neary. ‘So, if the value of the house deteriorates because you have a six-storey building across the road from you, I kind of feel like a developer’s hand is going into my pocket and taking money out and putting it into theirs. That’s just how it feels.'”

Stoke On Trent Live in the UK. “Residents are continuing to fight plans for 150 homes in fields outside their village – after their council abandoned its opposition to the scheme. Gladman Developments applied for outline permission for the development on farmland off Eccleshall Road, Loggerheads, last February, but Newcastle Borough Council never made a decision. Parish councillor Jeff Love said Loggerheads had been subject to ‘speculative development’ due to the lack of an up-to-date local plan in Newcastle. Cllr Love claimed that developers were struggling to sell new homes in Loggerheads, in contrast to the sold-out Hamptons development next to Walleys Quarry in Newcastle. He said: ‘Houses in Loggerheads are not selling. Our view is that they’re too far away from the urban core of Newcastle. It appears that people would rather live next to a smelly landfill site in Newcastle than in Loggerheads.'”

From Vietnam Net. “Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has directed the Ministry of Finance to develop policies to limit real estate speculation and improve oversight of construction projects. Reports have indicated that some regions have seen prices rise beyond residents’ financial capabilities, driven by speculative behaviour that distorts market information. Certain developers have taken advantage of limited property availability, inflating prices significantly, he said. Many regions are facing an imbalance, with an oversupply of shophouses and villas alongside a critical shortage of affordable housing, particularly in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.”

The New Indian Express. “Hundreds of investors in Narasaraopet have been left distressed after falling victim to a large-scale financial fraud involving the Sai Sadhana Chit Fund Company. The firm’s owner, P Pullarao, surrendered before Guntur police recently in connection with a real estate scam case. Among the victims is K Madhava Rao (name changed), a retired government employee from Narasaraopet, who had been saving for his daughter’s wedding for 15 years. Another investor from Santhamaguluru lost `40 lakh after depositing his chit fund savings as a fixed deposit with the firm. His dreams of owning a house have now been shattered. According to reports, out of 619 customers, over 510 investors have lost their money, with the fraud amounting to approximately Rs 45 crore. However, local sources suggest the total scam could be as high as Rs 150-200 crore, including funds from both the chit fund and a real estate business operated by Pullarao and his family.”

“Speaking to TNIE, Narasaraopet DSP K Srinivasa Rao stated that the total number of victims and the full extent of the scam are still being verified. ‘People from Guntur, Palnadu, and Bapatla districts are approaching us daily. Only after verifying documents can we confirm the total loss,’ he said.”