This House Was Supposed To Be My Dream Home, Now I Just Feel Like I’m Living In A Nightmare

A report from WEAR in Florida. “Sellers are slowly losing their leverage in the housing market. WEAR News spoke to a Pensacola realtor about the shift. Last month, more than 40,000 home purchase agreements fell through across the country according to Redfin. ‘It’s a lot of things, I think that they’re sometimes on the fence when they’re buying to begin with,’ Christina Leavenworth said. ‘Then they get an inspection report back and they’re going, ‘Oh gosh, I don’t think I want that.’ So buyers are more nitpicky than ever, they’re more critical, so we are seeing a lot of cancellations.’ In this market, buyers can be as fickle as they want. ‘There are more homes than there are buyers right now,’ Leavenworth said.”

Suncoast News in Florida. “By April, Pinellas County could kick off a program that provides greater control, regulation and tracking of short-term rentals in unincorporated neighborhoods, with violators facing hefty code enforcement fines. Many residents attended the Feb. 25 public hearing. ‘Since I’ve been elected, this is the No. 1 concern that I get from constituents,’ said Commission Chair Brian Scott. ‘The No. 1 touch point that I get from my constituents is what are you going to do about the short-term rental that is destroying the sense of community in my neighborhood.’ He added that he is also impacted by the issue. ‘I live two doors down from one that has been a frat party, after frat party, after frat party, weekend after weekend.'”

KHOU TV in Texas. “A La Marque home built less than three years ago sits vacant after its owner says it has been deemed uninhabitable. Ashley Fraizer decided on a one-story, new construction built by Lennar in a subdivision in La Marque, not far from her parents and close to work and school. ‘I was 25 years old getting my dual doctorate, I had been a critical care nurse for five years, I was just ready to move out of my parents’ house and get a home of my own,’ Fraizer said. ‘I thought it was a good price, but looking back, maybe it was a good price for a reason.’ But after less than two years, strange things started happening. Fraizer said the light fixtures in her ceiling started filling with water. Fraizer decided to go up into the attic to investigate, and that’s when she discovered everything was wet. ‘The only dry spot in the attic was the drip pan,’ she said. ‘The only thing that’s supposed to be wet.'”

“She then contacted the builder, Lennar, because the house was still under warranty. She said Lennar first sent out an HVAC technician to check out the air conditioning unit and then the company sent a mold inspector. ‘And so I asked, ‘Are you all going to check behind the walls, because it seems like the condensation is coming down the walls and the mold is growing out of the cabinets,’ she said. And he said, ‘Oh no, that’s not part of the protocol.’ And that’s when the red flags started going off.’ Fraizer said she decided to get a lawyer. Fraizer said this is not how she planned to start her life on her own. ‘This house was supposed to be my dream home, my starter home; it was supposed to not have any problems,’ she said. ‘Now I just feel like I’m living in a nightmare.'”

The Oregonian. “A lender is considering foreclosing on a more than $500 million construction loan backed by Block 216, the opulent home of Portland’s Ritz-Carlton hotel. Ready Capital said while reporting its fourth-quarter earnings it might seize the 35-story tower, which opened in late 2023 to include hotel guest rooms, upscale offices and for-sale residences. But the office and residential components have failed to make much of a splash since then, according to Ready Capital, which told investors this week that only about a dozen of the 132 condos had sold and just 23% of the office space leased.”

“The tower, whose total cost was estimated at $600 million, was the brainchild of developer Walter Bowen, head of BPM Real Estate Group. Ready Capital CEO Thomas Capasse said on his company’s earnings call that the lender had considered refinancing but ultimately decided taking possession and selling the building off would be best. Bowen announced his plans to build the skyscraper to house the Northwest’s first Ritz-Carlton hotel in 2019, a time before a pandemic, crime and relentless negative headlines turned the city’s urban core into what some fear could be fuel for a ‘urban doom loop.’ Bowen also had to contend with billowing resentment from some residents, frustrated that the building was replacing a beloved food cart pod they considered more aligned with Portland’s ethos than a swank high-rise.”

“But for BPM, money troubles have seemingly persisted. As The Oregonian/OregonLive reported in December, the lender for another BPM property in Portland, specifically a portion of downtown’s Broadway Tower that houses a hotel, filed a lawsuit alleging borrowers had defaulted on that note and seeking a foreclosure sale.”

NBC San Diego in California. “This week, city council will meet to discuss if they will rollback or eliminate the Bonus Accessing Dwelling Unit or ADU program. ‘Encanto is like the dream we were able to realize as a young couple,’ Becca Batista, an Encanto resident said. Batista and her husband bought their home in Encanto eight years ago and they love living here. The couple worries the charm that drew them to buy a home in this quiet neighborhood may soon be gone because of the city’s ADU program. ‘It’s like every turn that you make, we’re finding properties that have sold to these developers and are going to be Bonus ADU Apartment complexes,’ Batista said. Becca said just next door to her, there are plans to build 43 ADUs, where a vacant single-family home now stands.”

“Saige Gonzales Walding also lives in Encanto. She worries the unlimited ADUs will make her neighborhood more crowded, create parking problems, and damage the look of the neighborhood. Since learning about one project, she started digging a little deeper. ‘We’ve found 69 different properties, 714 units all around us,’ Gonzales said. She said she wants the city to end the bonus ADU program and to stop all the projects that are currently in the pipeline. A sentiment echoed by Batista. ‘We feel that’s taking away the opportunity for a young family to grow generational wealth and really build people up in a way that my husband and I have been able to do,’ Batista said.”

Silicon Valley in California. “A big tech campus in Santa Clara has landed a new owner in a property purchase that suggests office market values continue to wobble during the early stages of 2025. The office hub on Jay Street in Santa Clara was bought for just under $21.2 million, according to public documents filed on Feb. 28. This real estate deal suggests that economic maladies still afflict the Bay Area office market, even years after the end of government-mandated business shutdowns to combat the spread of the deadly coronavirus. Why? The price that Four Corners Properties paid was just one-fourth of its prior value. As of January 2024, the tech campus had an estimated value of $80.1 million, according to documents on file with the Santa Clara County Assessor’s Office. This means Four Corners paid a price that was 73.6% below the most updated assessed value for the office campus.”

Global News in Canada. “Ontario Premier Doug Ford is condemning Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs, saying their imposition will mean the auto sector ‘will shut down within 10 days.’ The Ontario Home Builders’ Association (OHBA) said Tuesday that just the threat of tariffs over the past few months has created ‘considerable uncertainty and hurt the industry. Now that they have been implemented and the Canadian response is coming, these measures will be ‘effectively pulling the rug out’ from under the housing sector. ‘I spoke to a builder recently who sold two houses in all of 2024. The market is already in a bad place, and there’s no saying how bad the fallout from this additional threat will be,’ Scott Andison, CEO of the OHBA, said. ‘Builders across the province are struggling to survive, and this unwarranted act of economic aggression is going to be even more devastating for them.'”

“Richard Lyall, president of the Residential Construction Council of Ontario, echoed the OHBA’s concerns. ‘The residential construction industry on both sides of the border is already in dire straits due to a perfect storm of issues and this completely unwarranted and reckless act will only cause more economic hardship for builders on both sides of the border. The U.S. National Association of Home Builders shares our view that tariffs and affordability are bad on both sides of the border,’ Lyall said in a statement.”

The Globe and Mail in Canada. “23 Carluke Cres., Toronto. Asking price: $1,525,000 (September, 2024). Selling price: $1.45-million (December, 2024). Previous selling prices: $1.4-million (July, 2017). Some visitors to this three-bedroom bungalow shared their concerns about living across from several mid-rise rental towers, although it did compare well against another competing property that backed onto the 401 highway. A first offer from one buyer failed to complete, but a second offer was accepted after negotiations brought it to within $75,000 of the asking price, though that was just shy of the price paid for the property in 2017. ‘Its strength is its location in a good school zone,’ said agent Bill Thom. ‘But it’s across from a few rental buildings and a TTC bus route on that road. The other [bungalow] had a similar price, but another problem; backing onto the fence of the 401. This was the lesser of two evils.'”

Interest New Zealand. “The value of non-performing housing loans rose by $165 million in January – the biggest monthly surge since June 2020 during the pandemic, according to the latest Reserve Bank (RBNZ) loans by asset quality figures. The total of non-performing housing loans was $2.328 billion* as at the end of January. That 0.64% non-performing loan ratio figure is the biggest for housing loans since 2013, but is still some way below the 1.2% figures seen between 2009-11 in the post-global financial crisis period. The latest spike in non-performing loans comes as bank mortgage rates are going down. About 55% of outstanding mortgages are due for an interest rate reset in the first half of this year, with over 82% of the total mortgage book due to be reset during 2025. Relief is coming, but obviously not quickly enough for some.At the end of 2022 the non-performing loans figure was $850 million. However, since then it has risen by $1.478 billion (174%) to the current $2.328 billion.”

News.com.au in Australia. “The boss of a collapsed building company appears to have vanished despite vowing to sell his properties to pay back more than 50 creditors. Sydney-based residential builder Willoughby Homes went into administration in 2022 owing $5.7 million after a news.com.au investigation revealed building sites had stalled for months, the company’s insurance had not been reinstated and staff were not being paid. More than 40 of its creditors were aspiring homeowners who had paid deposits to Willoughby Homes later learned they were not covered by insurance, totalling $709,000, causing their dream of home ownership to go up in smoke.The report revealed it’s unclear if Steve Willoughby has sold all the properties he said he would – and that most creditors won’t get back a cent.”

“It’s a particular gut punch for Marice Hartono, who handed over $38,000 to Willoughby Homes thinking she was building her family’s future. Instead, she lost the money and couldn’t get it back on insurance. Her last hope was Mr Willoughby’s property sales going well. ‘I never had much hope,’ she added. Mr Willoughby had six properties dotted around NSW, including in outer western Sydney and along the state’s north coast, as well as another property in tropical Queensland. Unfortunately, six of the properties ended up selling for much less than they were valued at.”

“News.com.au previously reported the mansion had five bedrooms and four bathrooms as well as a pool, and was bought by Mr Willoughby in 2018. Parts of the property were under renovation at the time Willoughby Homes collapsed, and Mr Willoughby told administrators he had run out of the funds to continue the building works and wanted to sell it in its current state. Unfortunately, it then sold for $400,000 less than expected. Mr Willoughby’s property in Lethbridge Park in greater western Sydney sold for $100,000 less than administrators had estimated, while the unit he had in Narara on the Central Coast sold for $145,000 less. A one-storey house in the western Sydney suburb of Hebersham sold for $120,000 less than administrators were hoping. Overall, only employees are expected to regain any money, estimated to be between 11 and 44 cents for every dollar they are owed. Other creditors will receive nothing.”

The Hindustan Times in India. “As the Mumbai real estate market shows signs of moderation, prospective buyers are now better positioned to negotiate property prices. To stimulate demand, developers are increasingly offering subvention schemes—also known as buy now, pay later, or flexible payment plans—which allow homebuyers to pay in instalments. In this market, real estate experts advise homebuyers to negotiate aggressively while considering the demand-supply dynamics in their preferred locations. For instance, in an under-construction project in Goregaon, a developer is selling a 700 sq. ft. 2BHK apartment for ₹2.40 crore (all-inclusive), while a broker is facilitating the same deal for ₹2.30 crore. In the coming months, as investors look to exit, prices could drop further to around ₹2.10– ₹2.20 crore, according to a Goregaon-based real estate consultant.”

“‘There are three key reasons developers are more open to negotiation right now,’ said Ashish Boria, a real estate consultant based in Borivali. ‘First, sales have slowed down; second, few developers facing a cash crunch due to the reduced sales volume; and third, with the end of the financial year approaching in March, many developers are eager to close deals to service debt and demonstrate sales figures to banks and investors. Keeping the demand-supply dynamics of the area in mind, homebuyers can secure favorable deals by negotiating effectively.'”

“Boria also emphasized that if buyers struggle to find suitable options in the primary market, they should consider exploring the secondary market. ‘There are plenty of opportunities in the resale market, where investors and those looking to upgrade their homes may offer attractive deals,’ he added. Consultants note that developers have started offloading inventory by becoming more open to negotiations, even for ready-to-move-in units, rather than holding firm on prices. ‘Earlier, developers had multiple offers from homebuyers. However, with rising prices, the pool of genuine buyers has shrunk. Some developers are now willing to negotiate, particularly for OC-ready buildings and unsold apartments,’ said Ravi Kewalramani, director at RK Mumbai Realtors.”