If A Buyer Misses Out On A Property, They Can Easily Find A Similar One For Sale

A report from ABC 11 Raleigh in North Carolina. “George Vaughn’s son lives in Toronto and Vaughn has been managing his investment properties over the year. His son has decided to unload some of properties and Vaughn is selling them himself to save some money in this economy. They just listed a ranch along Marlborough Road. Vaughn says you must be creative and flexible in this economy. ‘We are willing to come down,’ he said. Realtor Erica Sizemore says it has not been a typical, busy spring market. Home are sitting longer and there’s more inventory. There is a 42 percent rise in homes on the market from this time last year. ‘It’s stressful for everybody,’ said Sizemore. ‘Things are taking longer to sell.’ Vaughn says in this economy, he knows he’ll have to work with buyers. ‘I think if you have a fair price, you still can have interest,’ said Vaughn.”

News 4 Jax in Florida. “A Jacksonville woman said she’s been living out of suitcases and sleeping on couches for months, all while her fire-damaged townhome sits unfinished. Now, the City of Jacksonville has issued a stop work order, citing improper permits and licensing by the contractor hired to restore her home. The contractor, OneRestore, was assigned through a ‘Managed Repair Program’ by Homesite Insurance, the company providing the homeowner’s coverage. But city officials now say the company didn’t hold the correct license to work on a multi-unit townhome. ‘I have paid for homeowners’ insurance every year for 17 years. This is not how somebody should be treated, not just from a contractual standpoint, but as a human being,’ homeowner Andrea Shilhavy told the News4JAX I-TEAM. ‘As of November 7, my insurance company stopped paying my additional living expenses,’ Shilhavy said. ‘They had exhausted my limit, and I’ve essentially been homeless ever since.'”

Denver 7 in Colorado. “Historically, April and May have been peak buying and selling season for the Denver housing market, but that was before mortgage rates began to rise in 2022. Denver Metro Association of Realtors (DMAR) market trends committee chair Amanda Snitker told Denver7 Monday the current uncertainty over tariffs, the stock market, and a possible recession could have an impact on behavior this year. ‘Uncertainty is almost worse than a bad market in some cases, because it’s really hard to plan,’ Snitker said. According to DMAR’s March report, home prices are down almost 4% from their peak in April of 2022. The median sales price in March was $599,000. Inventory is higher than spring of 2024 — but Snitker said that’s only because homes are staying on the market longer.”

Phoenix Business Journal in Arizona. “After grinding to a halt in September 2023, one of the most ambitious multifamily projects in downtown Phoenix could soon face a court-ordered sale. The 25-story second phase of the X Phoenix luxury apartment project was set to feature 592 beds upon completion, complementing the 506-bed, 20-story first phase of the project, which is already fully stabilized. But the second phase remains unfinished, and a wave of lawsuits was filed in 2024 by contractors affiliated with the project — including by general contractor Clayco Inc. The incomplete project encompasses a full city block bounded by Second and Third avenues and Van Buren and Monroe streets.”

In Maricopa in Arizona. “Katrina Sandoval moved to Maricopa in 2010. She rented a home on Cahill Drive in The Lakes at Rancho El Dorado. Her rent payment was $1,800 per month. No one disputes whether the mom of 10 was rightfully evicted Feb. 17 — she was. Her husband, the breadwinner, lost his job in the finance sector and couldn’t pay the rent. But was holding her belongings for ransom at $2,500 — the landlords cited ‘storage fees,’ although they did not store the items — fair enough? Eviction filings in Maricopa and metro Phoenix more broadly set records that month even though the rental market had been cooling for years.”

“‘Rental prices are down from 2022,’ said Dayv Morgan, a prominent Maricopa real estate agent. ‘The first Maricopa apartments were completed in 2021 and there’s been a lot more since then, so I think that is also a factor.’ Evictions have ballooned since the advent of apartment living in Maricopa, according to William Lee ‘Bill’ Griffin, the constable for Western Pinal County. ‘I want to be able to help somebody who’s got two mortgages that they’re now paying because somebody’s not paying their rent,’ Griffin said. ‘At the same time, I want to help somebody who’s having a rough time. I don’t want to see you living out of your car.'”

Bisnow Atlanta in Georgia. “A New York-based lender has taken back the keys to 2000 RiverEdge Place at a 70% drop in value from the original loan. The Lightstone Group foreclosed on the 240K SF high-rise overlooking Interstate 75 in the Cumberland/Galleria submarket from MainStreet Capital Partners via an $8M credit bid, according to Cobb County records. MainStreet purchased the tower in 2016 for $24M. Six years later, Lightstone provided a $27M mortgage to MainStreet. Lightstone advertised to foreclose on 2000 RiverEdge Place last month after MainStreet missed payments on the loan, Bisnow previously reported. The loan was set to mature on Aug. 31. Bull Realty founder Michael Bull told Bisnow that the steep dive in the per square foot price from $112.50 to $33 could provide a big opportunity for potential buyers, especially since the tower is more than 60% leased. ‘That’s a bargain number. It should be worth more than that at that occupancy,’ Bull said. ‘We’re seeing a lot of larger buildings like that, that are half empty, trading at $60 to $70 SF range.'”

Silicon Valley in California. “One of the highest costs of living in the country. The least affordable housing. The highest unemployment rate. The worst homelessness problem. In two newly published books — ‘Abundance’ by self-described liberal journalists Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson, and ‘Califailure: Reversing the Ruin of America’s Worst-Run State,’ by former Fox News commentator Steve Hilton, who is considering a Republican run for governor — the authors chart the history of environmental regulations and bureaucracy they say has paralyzed progress in the Golden State. ‘People are moving to red states because it’s easier, more affordable, life is better and to me, that’s an absolute crime,’ Hilton said during an interview Thursday at a Menlo Park restaurant. ‘We should be the best place to live in America. To me, the answers to that don’t lie in what happens with the stock market. It lies in what we do to make it easier to build the homes that we need, to improve the education that kids get in schools, to make it easier to start and run and grow a business, so we create jobs and to lower taxes so people keep more of what they make.'”

The Globe and Mail. “The weakening Canadian dollar and rhetoric from U.S. President Donald Trump about annexing Canada and his trade war has made it clear for many Canadians that it’s time to leave Florida. As Salmaan Farooqui writes, in the past two months, some Florida realtors say they’ve been inundated with Canadian sellers who are hoping to offload their properties as quickly as possible. Farooqui told me it’s a hard time for Canadians to own their own vacation home in the U.S. — insurance and condo premiums have increased dramatically following last hurricane season — and coupled with the weakening Canadian dollar, it’s no longer financially feasible for many snowbirds. ‘And that’s before you get to the sense of shame that many Canadians in Florida felt for being there right now,’ Farooqui said. ‘Some were considering Portugal or Costa Rica as their new winter destinations.'”

“Buyers in the Greater Toronto Area buyers haven’t vanished this spring, but many are hunkering down amidst a trade war, stock market gyrations and an impending federal election, writes Carolyn Ireland. Sellers are still putting properties up on the market, causing supply to grow. Ireland told me the swelling supply gives buyers better negotiating power, but most people won’t move ahead with a purchase if they are worried about their job security. ‘Uncertainty’ has become such an over-used word lately that I’ve been checking the thesaurus for new ways to describe the overwhelming anxiety that is permeating all markets, including real estate,’ she said.”

Radio New Zealand. “Nationally, the median price dropped 1.4 percent year-on-year in March, to $790,000. Outside Auckland, the median price was down 2.1 percent, to $700,000. There was also an increased number of new listings coming on to the market in March, up 5 percent. That meant national inventory levels were up 10.9 percent year-on-year. But more houses were selling. The 7640 properties sold in the month was up 12.8 percent compared to a year earlier. That was a positive sign that activity was improving, and sellers were meeting the market, Real Estate Institute acting chief executive Rowan Dixon said. But he said the large number of properties available for sale meant buyers did not have the same sense of urgency. ‘If a buyer misses out on a property, they can easily find a similar one for sale.'”

ABC Business in Australia. “Since becoming a single mum three years ago, Angela Ramsey said buying a property for her and her daughter became her number one priority. But, despite working overtime as a nurse and receiving an early inheritance from her mum — which secured her more than $60,000 for a deposit — Ms Ramsey said the banks wouldn’t loan her enough for a property in Sydney. ‘Because of my single income … I could only borrow $500,000,’ she said.”

From Reuters. “When a Chinese pork producer filed for bankruptcy in 2019, the news came as a jolt to Alan Hill. The retired Apple executive from Albuquerque had invested about $100,000 last decade in Dalian Chuming Meat Processing through a U.S.-listed holding company, Energroup Holdings. Chuming had not paid dividends for many years, but it supplied pork to Walmart and had been profitable at least as recently as 2016. A decision by a Chinese court in Dalian to place Chuming into liquidation in 2021, a three-year process during which the company auctioned off assets and repaid debt, meant U.S. shareholders had to drop their pursuit of unpaid dividends.”

“For Hill, who turns 86 in May, the loss of his funds has been painful. ‘I feel cheated,’ he said. ‘I would have liked to have that money to pass on to my children.’ But a bigger surprise greeted Hill and other shareholders in June 2024: They learned from China’s food regulator that Chuming was still operating, almost four months after the court had declared its liquidation complete. Bankruptcies are increasing in China, where a protracted economic slowdown and property slump have triggered high-profile collapses, including developer China Evergrande Group and shadow bank Zhongzhi.”

“Zhou Jianmin was left dismayed by his experience of China’s bankruptcy law, following the fate of Hunan United Real Estate Development, of which he was chairman and key shareholder. In 2019, a creditor, Fangtai Construction Group, following a payment dispute alleged Hunan United was insolvent, public company records show. Zhou alleges Fangtai, which didn’t respond to questions, took the step to strip his company of its assets. A court in Huaihua placed Hunan United into bankruptcy in December 2019 because its assets didn’t cover its debts, court records show. In an echo of the Chuming case, Zhou says Hunan United wasn’t insolvent. He told Reuters he argued unsuccessfully in court that the firm’s asset value exceeded its debt. The court didn’t respond to questions about the case.”

“For investors and company owners, the lack of transparency during bankruptcy proceedings can be galling. Foreign investors face even greater difficulties in engaging Chinese courts to enforce foreign judgements and obtaining information in accordance with the law. ‘The local, regional courts in China always favour their local citizens and seem to ignore the rights of U.S. shareholders,’ said Hill.”