Everything We’re Looking At Is $100,000 Less Than It Was Last Year

A report from CBC News. “Just before retiring in 2013, Brian Jamieson, who now lives in Brandon, Man., bought a home in Florida. But he says the sense of safety he and his wife once felt living in the U.S. crumbled after Trump’s election last year. The couple decided to put their park-model home up for sale in November, shortly after the results of the U.S. election. The couple closed the deal with a buyer this year, with the new owner taking possession about a week ago. ‘We took on a loss on the sale, and it was worth it just to leave,’ Jamieson said. ‘We didn’t know … how the political situation was going to flesh out.'”

“Betti and Ross Reinhardt dreamed of having a home in the United States where they could spend winters, but nine years after achieving that goal, the snowbirds are putting their Arizona property on the market, saying they feel pushed out by an unstable political climate — and they aren’t the only ones. The Manitoba couple bought a property in Mesa, Ariz., and remodelled it to make it their dream home. Tariffs, counter-tariffs and threats of annexation have brought a shift in hospitality for snowbirds like them, easily singled out on the streets by their Canadian licence plates, the couple said. ‘It’s nothing physical … but usually sharp comments, [like] ‘it’s time for you to leave’ or ‘you can go anytime you want,’ ‘north is your way home,’ Ross said. Among their friends, the Reinhardts aren’t the only Canadians listing a winter home, with others talking about selling too.”

The Miami Herald. “A secretive quasi-governmental condo blacklist is growing exponentially, making it difficult for owners in scores of troubled buildings in Miami and South Florida to sell or get loans for repairs even as their associations face a fiscal and time crunch to meet stringent new state safety regulations. Owners in those buildings, which typically end up on the list because of financial, insurance or critical maintenance issues, will find it nearly impossible to sell to buyers seeking conventional mortgage financing. ‘I think it’s the perfect financial storm for condominiums in Florida,’ said Jake Marcus, a Miami attorney for Allcock Marcus . ‘There is just a lot happening in Florida with all the new requirements.'”

“Non-conforming mortgages that don’t need Fannie or Freddie backing are available, but can be significantly more expensive and harder to qualify for. His firm has been able to obtain the Fannie Mae list thanks to a source, but doesn’t have access to Freddie Mac information, he said. Typical reasons why the corporations won’t back mortgages at a condo include inadequate reserves or insurance, structural or construction issues, too many delinquencies, and too high a percentage of rentals. Another common factor is being set up as a condo-hotel, because that can raise questions about financial stability or commercial uses that make a building ineligible for Fannie Mae-backed financing.”

“Another repercussion, he and other condo experts say, is that the financial pressure on condo associations to sell in bulk to developers will probably increase. Though some prominent sales have happened in Miami and South Florida, the floodgates haven’t opened yet because bulks purchases remain a hard deal to pull off, Marcus said. That’s in part because a small percentage of owners can effectively veto a sale under Florida condo laws.”

From WAVY. “Pending home sales are down in the Virginia Beach metro area, according to new data released by Realtor.com. Experts believe part of the reason for the drop in pending home sales in the Hampton Roads area is because of federal workforce layoffs. The Hampton Roads region has seen the second-biggest decline in pending home sales in the country behind only Jacksonville, Florida. Since Hampton Roads is home to a large presence of federal workers, experts believe it’s one of the reasons the region saw a decrease in pending home sales. Jeremy Caleb Johnson, an associate broker with Long and Foster Real Estate, explained some of the impact he has seen firsthand. ‘I’ve had a number of clients just within the last month or two who have pulled back on their plans to purchase or they have reduced their budget,’ Johnson said, ‘and some have even canceled their plans to relocate because of the return to office orders for federal workers, as well as their uncertainty of if they’ll have a job.'”

From NPR. “Tens of thousands of veterans were left facing foreclosure after the VA abruptly cancelled a key part of a pandemic-era mortgage relief program that allowed vets to skip mortgage payments if they had trouble paying. When NPR first uncovered the VA’s move in late 2023, there were about 40,000 vets in danger of losing their homes. The VA responded by halting foreclosures for a full year while it rolled out a rescue plan. That rescue plan, called VASP, has now put 17,109 veterans and their families into new, low-interest-rate, affordable mortgages, according to the VA. In a statement to NPR Thursday, the VA said it was ending the VASP program. ‘Beginning May 1, 2025, VA’s Veterans Affairs Servicing Purchase Program [VASP]… will stop accepting new enrollees,’ it said. ‘This change is necessary because VA is not set up or intended to be a mortgage loan restructuring service.'”

“At a recent hearing before the House Committee on Veterans Affairs, a representative of a trade group that works to advance the interests of real estate lenders said that would be a disaster. ‘Without VASP, VA would have foreclosed on tens of thousands of borrowers,’ said Elizabeth Balce, representing the Mortgage Bankers Association. Balce said scuttling the VASP program, especially before VA stands up an alternative, would have one clear result. ‘Foreclosure. Period,’ she said, ‘That’s really where it’s gonna come to. The short answer is foreclosure.'”

KESQ in California. “Canadian snowbirds have long been a cornerstone of Palm Springs economy, bringing seasonal buzz to local businesses and boosting tourism during the desert’s peak months. But in the wake of escalating political tensions and heated rhetoric out of Washington, that dependable migration has begun to slow — leaving city leaders and business owners concerned about what the future holds. ‘We are hearing from some business owners… that have house vacation rentals here in Palm Springs… they are noticing some drop off from that,’ said Joy Meridith Brown, owner of Crystal Fantasy in downtown Palm Springs. ‘And I think that that was our first real alert.'”

From CBS News. “As more people in California lose private insurance, the state’s FAIR plan is filling up with homes in places the industry itself has classified as low-risk for wildfire. For Ken Cavalli and Lisa Fine-Cavalli, their new home in West Roseville is their dream home. It’s about halfway between Sacramento and the Sierra Nevada foothills. Down their street, flat open fields are filling in with new housing developments without a tree in sight. When the Cavallis applied for a new policy with their same insurer, they were denied. ‘I thought, ‘Are you kidding me?’ Lisa said. ‘Ken’s been on their insurance for 30 years, and we’ve never had any problems. We never had any claims.'”

“The problem is doubled for the Cavallis because it means not only are they without good options for their home, but the buyers of their old home won’t be able to find a plan either. According to wildfire reporting mandated by the state regulator, the industry gave Ken and Lisa’s ZIP code an average risk class of ‘negligible.’ Yet, like nearly half a million other Californians, the Cavallis have found themselves facing a choice between a risky, unregulated out-of-state insurer or the California FAIR Plan, the low-coverage insurer of last resort.”

“Rex Frazier, president of an insurance advocacy organization, calls the FAIR plan’s size ‘a canary in the coal mine,’ indicative of larger problems in the market. ‘Insurers are not renewing policies,’ Frazier said. ‘Because we have a system that has not allowed companies to earn enough money to do business everywhere.’ Frazier said that home insurance rates are objectively underpriced in California, a point of view that’s become increasingly mainstream even if leaders are loath to say it out loud. In national comparisons, Florida and New York have the highest premiums, while California ranks much further down at 20th place below Kansas and Wyoming.”

The Epoch Times. “A Michigan couple who were arrested last month in Cancun, Mexico, following a dispute over a payment with a resort company have been released and are returning to the United States, U.S. special envoy Adam Boehler confirmed on April 3. Paul Akeo and his wife, Christy, had been held in a Mexican prison since their March 4 arrest following the disagreement with Palace Resorts, a Florida-based company that owns multiple luxury hotels, resorts, and vacation clubs worldwide. The couple was accompanied on the flight by Rep. Tom Barrett (R-Mich.). In an April 2 post on the social media platform X, Barrett said the two were being held in ‘horrific conditions’ that included ‘rubbled walls, overcrowded cells, toilets that don’t flush, and disgusting food. This has left them scared, frustrated, and struggling to find hope,’ Barrett wrote.”

“According to a criminal complaint filed by Palace Resorts with Mexican authorities in 2022, the Akeos canceled 13 credit card payments to the hotel chain, totaling more than $116,500. The payments were canceled after the couple made use of various benefits they were entitled to as part of their membership with the resort, the complaint states. The couple were ‘not only publicly sharing the benefits granted through the Affiliation Program on social networks but were also illegally selling those membership benefits to third parties,’ the complaint states. Palace Resorts alleged the couple’s actions constituted fraud. The couple was released after The Palace Company and the Akeos came to an agreement whereby the amount contested and ultimately refunded to the Akeos by American Express would be donated to a nonprofit in Mexico benefiting orphan children.”

The Globe and Mail in Canada. “90 Trinity St., No. 401, Toronto. Asking price: $679,900 (September, 2024). Previous asking prices: $699,900 (June, 2024); $719,900 (April, 2024); $769,900 (February, 2024); $599,900 (October, 2023); $784,900 (September, 2023); $799,900 (Late July, 2023); $819,900 (Mid July, 2023). Selling price: $655,000 (February, 2025). Previous selling prices: $725,000 (June, 2019); $475,000 (November, 2016). Property days on market: 434. This one-bedroom suite with a den had an offer days after it came to market in the summer of 2023 priced at $819,900, but when the seller signed back the offer with a minor price change, the erstwhile buyer balked. ‘One week we’d get five showings, then weeks would go by with nothing,’ said agent Jenelle Cameron. ‘That’s been happening with all condos I’ve been trying to sell.'”

“Last fall, the seller removed dated wallpaper, lighting, and a kitchen island crowding the entertaining area, and reset the price at $679,900. This year, the seller agreed to a sale at $655,000, determined to redirect their energies to their next move. ‘It was the only offer we’d seen since the first offer, which was substantially higher,’ Ms. Cameron said. ‘But the seller will buy something and get a good deal on the other end. Everything we’re looking at for her is $100,000 less than it was last year.'”

ABC News in Australia. “When rain first started gushing through Annouchka de Jong Heybroek’s faulty balcony door, she expected the issue would be quickly resolved. Instead, she’s been immersed in an ugly four-year dispute with her neighbours, strata manager and the apartment block’s developer over who is responsible for the common area defect. In 2021, Ms de Jong Heybroek sank her retirement savings into the purchase of three units in the complex. NSW Building Commission inspectors last year found 44 serious defects in the complex, including on Ms de Jong Heybroek’s balcony. In 2024 she tried to sell one unit, listing it for almost $200,000 less than her original purchase price. It didn’t sell.”

“Development company Mittagong Central Developments has been ordered to fix the issues identified by the building commission but is disputing the work rectification order in the Land and Environment Court. Meanwhile, those with damaged apartments are watching their issues grow worse. Recently, Ms de Jong Heybroek’s bathroom fan fell out of the ceiling. Mittagong Central Developments owner Jeff Knox lives on the ground floor with his wife. The pair own two apartments in the building. When Ms de Jong Heybroek tried to sell one of her units, Mr Knox contacted her real estate agent unhappy he had described the apartment as being sold ‘warts and all’ in the property listing.”

“In texts to the agent, sighted by the ABC, he claimed Ms de Jong Heybroek’s water ingress was due to ’50 dead pigeons’ and their eggs blocking drainpipes, which was not his responsibility. As the fight to have the defects rectified gets bogged down in legal action, apartment owners’ strata fees have risen, in part due to increasing insurance premiums. The building’s insurance broker has struggled to find a strata underwriter willing to take on the risk due to the defects, work rectification order and NCAT proceedings. ‘My fees used to be $800 a quarter and are now $4,600 a quarter per unit,’ Ms de Jong Heybroek said. She has been issued a notice of recovery action after falling behind on her levies, which is the first step in potential bankruptcy proceedings. The notice was issued by her compulsory strata manager Jeff Facer, who was appointed by the tribunal to manage the dysfunctional strata scheme.”

“Grandmother Judith McGhee recently joined Ms de Jong Heybroek’s legal battle against the owners corporation at NCAT. The 77-year-old had also been issued a notice of recovery action and has taken out a reverse mortgage to cover the debt. Ms McGhee told the tribunal she had ‘become a psychological and financial prisoner’ in her own home. She described the experience as ‘devastating’ and said she’d been left with ‘a unit that I cannot rent, sell, nor live in safely.'”