We Weren’t Insulted, But We Certainly Were Not Going To Give The Property Away

A report from NBC Washington DC. “The Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond told Virginia lawmakers Wednesday that D.C., Maryland and Virginia could see significant economic challenges in the near future amid the mass federal layoffs. ‘This is gonna be catastrophic to our economy, and we have to figure out a way to replace it or a way to make up for it,’ said Virginia State Sen. Scott Surovell. ‘I don’t think we’ve seen a lot of this data play out yet. Even the 75,000 people that took the early retirement, they got paid out, but they’re probably getting ready to sell their house or whatever. We haven’t seen the full impact of all this stuff in northern Virginia.’ Fairfax, Prince William, Arlington and Loudoun Counties are home to the highest concentration of civil federal employees in the state.”

From WFLA. “‘I live here six months. This is my home, but I’m leaving April 2nd,’ a Canadian woman named Susan told NBC affiliate WBBH. She wasn’t comfortable giving her last name, fearing Canadians could become targets amid escalating tensions with U.S. leadership. Susan was just one of several Canadians who said they’re selling their properties with no plans to return to Florida. ‘We don’t want to be the 51st state, but we just want to be very good allies and wants things to go back to the way they were,’ Canadian Janet Rockefeller said. One family had plans to put down permanent roots in Florida, but have been eyeing other sunny locations like Mexico. ‘The truth of the matter is, if I hadn’t prepaid everything and wasn’t here and your weather wasn’t so damn nice, I’d go home now,’ Canadian Barry Presement told WBBH.”

NBC Dallas. “There may be some hope on the horizon for Texas homebuyers who’ve been waiting for a better deal. Builders are offering more incentives to attract buyers. Inventory levels have reached their highest point in a decade, giving buyers more options than they’ve had in years. With more time on the market, some realtors are finding that more sellers are willing to negotiate, giving buyers more leverage than they’ve had in a while. ‘I’m finding from my buyer clients that once a home has been on the market for about 60 days, sellers are starting to realize we’re not in the market from several years ago,’ said Dallas-area real estate broker Terry Hendricks. ‘This is a new market. Sellers do not have all the control.'”

Review Journal in Nevada. “Las Vegas Valley home sellers are cutting prices on their listings at an increased rate compared to last year, however it doesn’t appear buyers are biting, according to Zillow. Total inventory is up 40.5 percent from the same time last year. But Craig Tann, a broker and owner of Huntington & Ellis real estate agency said he is hopeful the spring will bring a rebound in sales. ‘When you pair that with the seasonal uptick in buyer activity, we’ve got a real opportunity to absorb some of the excess inventory that’s been sitting,’ he said. ‘Pricing is everything right now. Sellers who are dialed in and understand where buyers are at are seeing results. Those who overshoot may need to adjust expectations and recalibrate. The market rewards realism.'”

The Los Angeles Times in California. “Los Angeles City Councilmember Traci Park made her way through an auditorium filled with Pacific Palisades residents who had lost homes, schools and churches. Every few steps, Park stopped to offer hugs or advice. ‘Don’t sell in haste,’ she told one resident. ‘We’re government, so we’re probably going to screw up along the way,’ she told the crowd at the Westside YMCA charity event. Park cited the LAPD’s long-standing policy against its officers acting as immigration agents and told The Times that city employees were already barred, through an executive order, from immigration enforcement. ‘I didn’t think it was the right time and the right message to send,’ she said, adding that ‘nobody is about ICE raids’ or ‘ripping abuelas away from their families.'”

“Still, Park’s popularity could have a shelf life. The rebuilding slog will take years. She and other leaders are also facing questions about whether the city could have done more to lessen the destruction. Chad Comey, 31, who lost the family condominium where he lived and cared for his disabled parents, wants answers from Park and others. Why were the roads out of the Palisades gridlocked? Why weren’t there more fire trucks? he asked. ‘I blame the city, and she’s part of that,’ Comey said of Park. ‘Everyone should be fired — scorched earth.'”

ABC 7 in California. “People who depend on the federally funded Emergency Housing Voucher program to keep a roof over their heads will soon have to find another way to afford rent. ‘Without these vouchers these people could be loose on the streets and homeless, and suffering,’ Orange County Board of Supervisors Chairman Doug Chaffee said. The American Rescue Plan Act in 2021 established the voucher program during the COVID pandemic to help people at risk of homelessness. In March the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced it would make their final funding allocation to the program this month. ‘I know we’re sometimes thought of as a rich county,’ he said. ‘Maybe they’ve visited the beaches or some of the resort areas and you get an impression that the whole county is that way. It is not.’ Cities like Santa Ana, Anaheim and Garden Grove have their own housing authorities which also use the Emergency Housing Vouchers.”

From Bisnow. “Commercial real estate distress has been on the rise as more property owners struggle to stay current with their loans. But the rising cost of insurance is adding a new threat for small landlords: having coverage forced on them by their lenders. Insurance brokers and lenders expect to see more borrowers be subject to force-placed insurance — also known as collateral-protection, creditor-placed or lender-placed insurance — which is used by lenders to safeguard their investment when a borrower’s coverage lapses or doesn’t meet their requirements.”

“Force-placed insurance can be up to 10 times more expensive than coverage bought on the open market, blowing open the budgets of smaller owners, in particular, with less margin for error on their loans. ‘It’s a real serious situation that as a commercial business you want to avoid,’ said Mark Friedlander, senior director of media relations at the Insurance Information Institute. ‘I mean, realistically, they’re going to default on their loan.'”

The Globe and Mail. “The upheaval of the United States-Canada trade war has economists on Bay Street revising their forecasts while home buyers and sellers rethink their plans. Robin Pope, a broker at Pope Real Estate, says many potential buyers in the Toronto area are also watching prices and wondering if they will continue to slide. ‘No one wants to catch a falling sword.’ Many buyers are in no mood to be decisive, he says, because they figure the economic uncertainty will lead to downward pressure on prices. ‘Sellers understand that now,’ he says. Mr. Pope sees many consumers who are anxious because the impact of the trade war is so unpredictable. He understands the fear surrounding what for many is their largest asset. ‘Why would you make the biggest purchase of your life if you don’t have to? It’s a good time to be buying but not a great time to be selling,’ he says.”

“Another pair of owners are contemplating selling a beautiful condo apartment they purchased two years ago for a price north of $2-million. Mr. Pope advised the couple to wait if they can because they may end up selling at a loss if they go to the market now. In another instance, he listed a two-bedroom, two-bathroom condo in a coveted neighbourhood with an asking price around the $1-million mark. By Christmas, the sellers agreed to trim the price by 10 per cent. An offer landed, but the buyer was offering 10 per cent below the revised price and worried the sellers might feel insulted.”

“‘We weren’t insulted, but we certainly were not going to give the property away,’ says Mr. Pope, who signed back a counter-offer. ‘It was a price to signal to the buyer we were interested in a negotiation but they had to come up significantly. I did not leave that to interpretation,’ adds Mr. Pope, who explained the sellers’ position to the buyer’s agent. The buyer did not return to the table. Some sellers are feeling financial pressure, Mr. Pope says, and buyers are often trying to suss out which ones. ‘If a buyer senses any type of panic or desperation, they’re going to exploit you,’ he says.”

BBC News in the UK. “Prospective buyers say they feel ‘lied to’ and ‘angry’ after losing thousands of pounds reserving unfinished flats. People paid up to £5,000 as a ‘reservation deposit’ for apartments in Tollesbury House, Ipswich, with some being told it was expected to be finished in November 2022. The development remains uninhabited and, after losing the fee when she pulled out, one buyer has been left asking ‘how long do you wait for something to be built?’ In 2022 – and with the flats still not completed – Janeane Slinn paid a £5,000 reservation deposit for an apartment. Ms Slinn pulled out in March 2023 with the building still unfinished, but has been left out of pocket despite asking for her deposit back. Ms Slinn added: ‘You just feel a bit stupid, don’t you? You think ‘how gullible can you be to give £5,000 to people you don’t even know who they are?'”

Radio New Zealand. “New Zealand’s housing market has turned a corner, but not everyone will be happy about it, property research firm CoreLogic says. Chief property economist Kelvin Davidson said it confirmed that the market was now in its ‘next phase of growth,’ prompted by lower interest rates and the improved affordability of housing since prices had fallen. Values are still down 16.3 percent compared to their peak in January 2022. ‘The abundance of listings has been an extra limiting factor for property values, while some households on higher fixed interest rates from a year or two ago have also had to be patient before seeing their debt repayments drop.That said, a fresh boom in house prices seems unlikely, given additional restraints that are now in place, such as caps on debt-to-income ratios for mortgage lending.'”

“He said buyers still had the upper hand when it comes to negotiating on price, benefiting from the elevated number of listings that persists across the market. ‘In the context of past upturns and given that we’re still down around 16 percent from the post-Covid peak, the expected growth in values this year is fairly modest. If we’re right the upturn is not that fast, some people might be disappointed by that – there’s a perception that rising house prices equals good. But there always two sides to the market. Others will be pleased to see a more subdued upturn because house prices won’t get out of reach so quickly. As an economy it’s not the worst thing if we have a period of flatter house prices. As a country we don’t get materially wealthier by trading houses amongst ourselves.'”