It’s Not Easy To Lose $200,000 Or $500,000, But They Have To Come To Terms With The Loss

A report from 10 Tampa Bay in Florida. “New data from Redfin reveals a shift in the Tampa housing market with home prices declining and homes lingering on the market for longer periods. Overall, Tampa has experienced a 6% year-over-year price drop but some areas, such as downtown, are feeling an even greater impact. In downtown Tampa, the median home sale price has plummeted by more than 25% compared to last year, now averaging $423,000. ‘We’re seeing that we’re able to get some of those buyers who don’t have a lot of money up front for a down payment or for closing costs,’ said Kelly Mothershead, a local realtor. ‘We’re able to negotiate some of that into the deals now. So that makes it really good, especially for the buyers at a lower price point that have really been struggling.'”

Cuba Headlines. “The real estate sector in Florida is undergoing one of its most challenging periods in recent history. ‘Inventory levels haven’t been this high since the 2010 bubble,’ stated Maria La Rosa, a real estate agent specializing in Broward County, in remarks collected by Telemundo 51. In Broward, sales plummeted by 46.9% in January. The tightening of immigration policies and deportations are also affecting the market dynamics. ‘Last year, 13% of homes for sale were owned by Canadians. In the southern part of the state, this number has doubled,’ noted La Rosa. Canadian buyers account for approximately 13% of foreign real estate investments in the U.S., with Florida attracting 41% of these investments, according to the National Association of Realtors.”

“The market saturation has led to a wave of price reductions, especially in cities that were overvalued in recent years. In Naples, for instance, out of 8,043 homes for sale, 2,731 have had their prices lowered. In Fort Lauderdale, 830 of 3,249 listed properties have also seen price cuts, according to Zillow data. Bryan Carnaggio, a real estate agent with Redfin Premier in Jacksonville, explained that ‘bidding wars are infrequent nowadays. With so many homes on the market, a property must be magazine-worthy and competitively priced to attract multiple offers.'”

KHOU TV in Texas. “Houston’s real estate landscape is experiencing a notable transformation, with housing market conditions gradually tilting in favor of homebuyers after years of seller-driven price increases. ‘We’re going to see a little bit more opportunity for buyers to get a discount or more repairs done by the sellers, or credit for those repairs,’ noted Kat Robinson, Vice Chair of the Houston Association of Realtors. The prolonged sellers’ market had previously created considerable challenges for homebuyers. Many potential buyers experienced what Robinson termed ‘negotiation fatigue,’ with some ultimately choosing to rent instead of purchase. This trend led to an unexpected increase in housing inventory.”

Daily Mail. “A federal mortgage blacklist is making it nearly impossible to buy and sell condos in California. The list is compiled by Fannie Mae. If a building crops up on the government-sponsored underwriters’ list it can be hard for a potential buyer to get a Fannie Mae-backed mortgage to purchase a condo there. California currently has the second most of any start after Florida, which has a staggering 1,438 blacklisted buildings, according to law firm Allcock & Marcus who have access to the list. As of March 2025 California has 733 ‘blacklisted’ properties, up from 174 in May 2023, according to the firm’s latest data shared with DailyMail.com.”

“Buildings can end up on the list due to insufficient insurance coverage, structural problems or overdue maintenance issues. It is not yet known exactly which buildings are on the blacklist, but Mercury News reported that 168 Bay Area properties are affected, including 21 in San Francisco. ‘In this past two years 3,401 Condominiums have been added to the list, a 191.714 percent increase!’ Kake Marcus, managing partner at Allcock & Marcus told DailyMail.com. ‘The blacklist has real-world consequences for homeowners, lenders, and the broader real estate market. Homeowners are finding themselves trapped in unsellable properties, while potential buyers face financing roadblocks.'”

The Tribune in California. “Building a home in San Luis Obispo County may become even more costly in the next few months — but not entirely for the reasons you might expect. In California, the rising cost and lack of availability of homeowners insurance in the wake of the Pacific Palisades wildfire is already turning up the heat on buyers, who may face unexpectedly higher costs for their home purchases, said Atascadero-based builder and CEO of Z Villages Max Zappas. On the builder side, however, increased arrests and deportations of undocumented immigrants by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement at the direction of Trump are a ‘hotter topic with (subcontractors) than materials,’ Zappas said. ‘A lot of the subcontractor pool around here has people who may be undocumented, or are somewhat in the cross hairs of those efforts,’ Zappas said. ‘If labor goes, their ability to complete projects goes.'”

The Oregonian. “A lender who helped finance the Block 216 tower, home of Portland’s Ritz-Carlton hotel, alleges it’s being cut out of a deal to avoid a foreclosure on the property. Broadway EB-5 Fund loaned $49 million of the $600 million to $650 million project to build high-end offices, hotel rooms and condos at the site of a former food cart pod in downtown Portland, according to a lawsuit filed March 19 in New York Supreme Court. But the fund is suing another lender on the project, Ready Capital, and a host of entities tied to Block 216 developer BPM Real Estate Group. Broadway claims they worked behind Broadway’s back to render its ‘rights and interests’ in the property worthless.”

“Ready Capital said earlier this month it planned to take control of Block 216 after only about a dozen of the building’s 132 condos had sold and only 23% of its office spaced had been leased. Broadway, the smaller mezzanine lender, says in court records that the borrowers and Ready Capital are planning a deed in lieu of foreclosure — effectively handing over the keys without the auction and uncertainty of foreclosure proceedings. That proposed transfer, Broadway alleged, ‘will improperly foreclose out Mezzanine Lender’s position and render valueless its 100% indirect ownership interest in the Project, deprive Mezzanine Lender of any ability to enforce its contractual rights and available equitable remedies, and preclude Mezzanine Lender from recovering the substantial damages resulting from Defendants’ wrongful conduct.’ In other words, Broadway alleged, Ready Capital acted ‘in the hope of ultimately rendering valueless and squeezing out Mezzanine Lender’s $49 million position.'”

Bisnow Boston. “As the federal government’s massive portfolio of owned and leased office space has been thrown into uncertainty, Massachusetts has a series of major properties that could be at risk. The state has 115 federal office leases totaling 1.7M SF in privately owned buildings and another 4.3M SF of federally owned buildings, according to Bisnow’s analysis of General Services Administration data. Among the sizable canceled leases are ones for 21K SF in Northborough, 37K SF in Lowell and 72K SF in Hadley. The Northborough building is owned by Carruth Capital, the Lowell building is owned by Anchor Line Partners, and the Hadley building is owned by The Pearson Cos. ‘We’ve been DOGE-ed,’ Christopher Egan, president of Carruth Capital, told the Worcester Business Journal about the Northborough lease.”

The Globe and Mail. “Condominium developers in the Toronto-area have seen an explosion in the number of unsold units in recently completed buildings, driven largely by people who are defaulting on purchase contracts. ‘The defaults are very high, and many people cannot close,’ said David Feld, a lawyer with Feld Kalia Professional Corp., who said many of his clients are staring at contracts asking them to pay 20- to 30-per cent more than the current fair market value for resale condos. ‘Some don’t even want to close,’ he said. ‘I’ve spoken to wealthy people with money who don’t want to close. They calculated it’ll take five to seven years to recoup those losses, so let’s take the hit now,’ he said.”

“The Zadegan Group currently has three assignments listed on Facebook groups and other online marketplaces for 11 Yorkville, a luxury project by Metropia and Capital Developments closing in the next few months. One two-bedroom, one bathroom, 610-square-foot unit is being marketed with the original buyer accepting a $590,000 loss. That means the buyer isn’t just losing their entire deposit; they will have to pay several hundred thousand dollars extra just to get someone to take on the contract at close, at current market rates.”

“For high-end condos, the losses can be dramatic. Ari Zadegan, broker of record for Re/Max Hallmark Ari Zadegan Group Realty, said she spoke to one preconstruction investor who lost $700,000 trying to get out of a contract to buy a luxury condo for $3-million. According to her, the hardest part for most preconstruction investors is accepting they are going to lose more than just their deposit. ‘It’s rough,’ she said. ‘It’s not easy to lose $200,000 or $500,000. But they have to come to terms with the loss. Mentally, they need to be prepared.'”

“‘The going rate in Yorkville, at most, is around $1,400 per square foot, and that is pushing it,’ said Ms. Zadegan. She notes that, for 11 Yorkville, the units on the highest floors were selling for as much as $2,400 per square foot at the peak of the condo market in the early 2020s. For the seller, it’s a disaster. But for a new buyer, it could work out okay, she said. ‘When there’s that much loss, and it’s deflated to a price that it should be, they are buying a good deal.’ As developers face the prospect of holding on to more and more inventory, Mr. Feld and Ms. Zadegan are finding increasing intransigence about working with buyers trying to avoid financial catastrophe. ‘There are some [developers] that will work with you,’ said Ms. Zadegan. ‘[But] there are many actually gouging the buyers when they are down on their knees. Honestly, that’s unethical.’ She refers to developers that add extra fees for contract extensions, for adding more buyers to the title and, in some cases, developers that refuse to agree to a sale if the price is below their initial contract price, even if there are no takers at a higher price.”

The Jamaica Observer. “Prime Minister Andrew Holness on Tuesday made an appeal to home developers to keep the price of housing within an affordable range for Jamaicans seeking to acquire homes. ‘We notice each time we increase the loan limit, developers increase the price. I don’t believe in price control; I believe in a transparent market. The market will self-regulate, but the market works when there is an option for supply so that I don’t have to go to a high price. We are working to expand the supply. I am appealing to the developers — keep the prices as they are. We have managed to keep inflation down; come on, man, have some conscience,’ Holness said.”

From ABC News. “A Michigan couple have been held in a maximum-security prison in Mexico because of a timeshare billing dispute. Chisty and Paul Akeo, both 60, were arrested shortly after they landed at the airport in Cancun for a family vacation. Mexican authorities told ABC News they arrested the Akeos for ‘fraud to a hotel chain.’ The two have been held for 22 days by state police. ‘[My mom is] terrified,’ daughter Lindsey Hull said. ‘She tells us every single day, every single phone call how scared she is. She obviously cries a lot.'”

“Family attorney John Manly said the couple signed up for a timeshare with Palace Resorts. The hotel chain has resorts in Mexico and an office in Florida. However, they said when the resort didn’t allow them to use their time as promised, they disputed the contract and reached out to their credit card company to dispute the charges. ‘American Express found for the Akeos, found for Lindsay’s parents, and refunded them over $100,000 of wrongful charges,’ Manly said. But Mexican authorities saw the refund instead as ‘the cancellation of 13 transactions,’ which were done ‘maliciously by not recognizing the charges.'”

“Referencing a Facebook post obtained by ABC News – in the post, Christy walks other timeshare owners through how to get out of the charges. Mexican authorities said this post ‘described how they committed fraud.’ ‘There is clearly no length that they are not willing to go to make an example,’ Hull said. ‘That is exactly what is happening here. On top of corruption and extortion and the fact that, you know, this has gone on now for three full weeks, it’s time for it to be done.’ A judge gave the timeshare company six more months to gather evidence to make their case while holding the couple behind bars.”

“The Palace Company issued a statement, saying: ‘The Palace Company subsidiary, Palace Elite, filed a criminal complaint with Mexican authorities after Paul and Christy Akeo fraudulently disputed legitimate credit card charges and publicly encouraged others to do the same. Mexican prosecutors reviewed the evidence and, following failed attempts to serve notice, obtained a court-approved arrest warrant. INTERPOL validated the case and issued a red notice, leading to the Akeos’ detention at Cancún Airport on March 4, 2025. A judge has since ruled there is sufficient cause for the case to proceed to trial and ordered the preventive detention of the Akeos.'”