It’s Turned Out To Be A Financial Disaster For Us, The Market Cratered

A report from Market Place. “George Kypreos, president of Las Vegas Realtors, said concessions are happening as much now as ever. At his firm, said Kypreos, ‘Most of the buyers are asking for something and they’re getting it.’ Realtor Tyler King helped a family get into a home in Portland, Oregon at the top of their price range. They offered below asking price, said King, and, ‘We asked for even a small credit of, I think, $5,600 or something, for some repair stuff that we wanted. And the seller agreed to it. I think buyers are getting a little braver and willing to ask.'”

“Even in a hot housing market like Denver, sellers are having to get their hands dirty. Realtor Amanda Snitker negotiated with one recently who at first refused to pay for repairs. ‘They were pretty expensive. It needed a new roof. It needed a new boiler,’ said Snitker. Repairs totaled around $100,000. But the buyers refused to continue without them — which had already happened with this seller twice before. ‘The seller ended up taking care of all of those costs prior to my clients purchasing,’ she said.”

From Reuters. “The number of Canadian ‘snowbirds’ planning to sell their second homes in sunny Florida and Arizona has surged this spring. Real estate agents say they are seeing more Canadians cashing out, further softening property prices in warm-weather states that have long attracted retirees and tourists from cold and snowy Canada. Last week, Tracy and Dale McMullen sold their vacation home in Buckeye, Arizona, a property they owned for five years. The Alberta residents, who usually spend four to five months in Arizona a year, said they are not planning to come back. ‘We decided to sell the property after the current POTUS took office,’ said Dale, referring to U.S. President Donald Trump. ‘It was time to leave. We felt we could not trust what he might do next to us as individuals and to our country. We no longer felt welcome nor safe.’ Laurie Lavine, a realtor in Arizona who helped the McMullens with their sale, told Reuters that he currently has 18 listings from Canadians looking to sell, compared with the usual two to four per quarter.”

“The sour feelings that many Canadians suddenly feel toward the U.S. are having a big impact on the property market in Florida. The first quarter is typically the peak buying season for condominiums in the region, coinciding with when many snowbirds are in town, said Andrea Hartmann, managing partner of the Sandy Hartmann Group, a real estate firm in the Tampa Bay area. ‘Since the beginning of the year we have not received an offer from a Canadian buyer even once, and normally we would,’ she said. ‘Now with the political issue, the cost of maintaining a place here in Florida and the insurance, a lot of them decided to sell and go,’ said Ken O’Brian, owner of Southwest Coast Realty in Naples, which has specialized in helping Canadians purchase properties in Florida for about 20 years.”

“‘There is no incentive to come to the States anymore,’ said Donny B., a native of Ontario who is looking to sell his two investment properties in Florida. He said he decided to sell because of the political uncertainty, the exchange rate and concern about whether Floridians would still welcome Canadians in the current climate. ‘I got down here on Wednesday and I was nervous. I’m like, ‘are people going to be ‘pissed off’ at me?’ Other states have started to see an exodus as well. Agents in Los Angeles and Palm Springs, California, are working with Canadian sellers who are quietly preparing to let go of their second homes, said Fatima Malik, global real estate advisor at Engel & Volkers Beverly Hills. ‘Some are holding back to see how things play out, but others are already shifting their sights toward places like Portugal, Mexico, and parts of France,’ she added.”

The Wall Street Journal. “The costs associated with owning a Florida condo have exploded. A combination of insurance increases, special assessments and limited financing options have elevated costs beyond what many are able to bear. That has sparked a wave of sales, flooding the market and straining prices. South Florida condominiums enjoyed one of the biggest real-estate booms in the country for years. The selloff is particularly concentrated in older properties. Even in South Florida, prices for buildings 30 years or older have depreciated 22% in the past 24 months, according to ISG World. To make matters worse, more than 1,400 Florida condominiums are on Fannie Mae’s ‘blacklist.’ The list includes condo associations that the mortgage finance giant thinks don’t have adequate property insurance or need to make critical building repairs. Being on the list can make it harder for potential buyers to get a mortgage, and Florida has the most blacklisted condos out of any state.”

“Bob and Barbara Maistros were unable to sell their condo in Palm Beach County, which they purchased for $75,000 in 2015. They spent an additional $90,000 on renovations. When costs began to escalate and the market flooded with units, they figured it was the perfect time to make an offer on a larger unit in a quieter part of the complex. ‘We put a contract down presuming that we would have no trouble selling our other place at a significant premium,’ Bob said. ‘Well, we were wrong.’ After months on the market, the unit received only one offer, at $30,000 below their asking price. He and his wife pulled $210,000 out of their retirement funds to pay for the new townhome, and held on to the condo as a rental. ‘It’s turned out to be a financial disaster for us,’ Bob said. ‘The market cratered on us.'”

Daily Mail. “Colorado Springs, once one of the most sought-after housing markets in the country, is undergoing a dramatic shift. Thousands of residents are now listing their homes — many worth over $1 million — as both residential and commercial real estate sectors face a reset. The shift is evident in the numbers. As of March 2025, Colorado Springs had more than 7,100 active home listings, according to a Realtor.com market report. Homes are now sitting on the market for an average of 75 days, a significant increase from the frenzied pace seen during the pandemic boom. The report notes that the city’s housing supply is now 58 percent more than pre-pandemic levels, tipping the scales in favor of buyers after years of bidding wars.”

“‘People are definitely more cautious now,’ veteran realtor Amy Williams told The Gazette. ‘A lot of sellers are chasing the prices of 2021, but buyers are simply not willing to overpay anymore. They know they have options. In a lot of ways, Colorado Springs is still a very stable market. We’re not in a bubble that’s about to pop. But we are in a period of recalibration.'”

KABC in California. “A woman in Inglewood says her dream home has become a nightmare after the city’s cleaning of sewage lines flooded her home with raw sewage. ‘The excitement is turning to me like a bad dream,’ said Patrina Miller, who told Eyewitness News she’s always dreamed of owning her own home. ‘I bought this house in July of 2024, excited — I’m going to have my first Christmas, my first Thanksgiving, my first New Year’s. I’m big on family and I love to cook. I couldn’t do any of it,’ Miller said. That’s because she says last September, crews were working on the city’s sewer lines and that’s when the problems started. ‘The toilets just started gurgling and just water everywhere,’ said Miller.”

“Documents from the adjuster claim the moisture was in a limited area and described it as water damage. ‘What they were telling me is that what blew back, it was clean water that blew back. And my response was clear water or not, clear water does not have a sewage smell. So if clear water has a sewage smell, it means it’s contaminated,’ said Miller. While neither the insurance companies nor the adjuster has responded to requests for information, Miller says she has been offered $5,500 to settle the claim. ‘I just want my house fixed. I’m not asking for an exorbitant amount of money. I just want what it says to fix my home and to replace my goods,’ Miller said. She has now hired an attorney and hopes that by talking about her story, it will help others who are struggling with a similar issue.”

From CBC News. “Canadians are spending more than ever on housing. In 2024, the average Hamilton home cost around $928,000, nearly double what it was just five years ago, according to a Hamilton Housing Market Report published by WOWA.ca. Shri Kulkarni, a tech worker and a father in Burlington, thought buying a home would offer his family security. Instead, he says they’re feeling the financial strain more than ever. ‘We bought during the peak,’ he said. ‘Now mortgage rates are way up, and home values are down. We’re stuck — can’t sell, can’t save, and every month costs us more.'”

“His mortgage payments have jumped by nearly $3,000 a month. ‘We went from $4,500 to $6,500 — and it’s not like we’re paying down the house faster. It’s all going toward interest.’ Kulkarni says they’ve already dipped deep into their savings to bridge the gap. ‘It’s bleeding us slowly. We never planned for this.’ To cope with costs, Kulkarni’s family has cut back on almost everything — outings, travel, even kids’ toys. ‘We’ve had to ask: do we really need this? Should we skip that visit to family? Is that club membership worth it?'”

News.com.au in Australia. “When Bonnie Hanson purchased a home in 2021, she felt an overwhelming sense of pride, but within a few short months, she was filled with regret and stress. The 35-year-old secured a $550,000 loan and bought a home in Newcastle using the Family Home Guarantee, a government initiative designed to help single parents purchase property with as little as a two per cent deposit. Ms Hanson bought a three-bedroom townhouse in Newcastle. She only had a five per cent deposit, but she figured it’d be okay because she had a good office job. She works in an industry where the average worker earns between $90,000 and $130,000, and you can earn extra if you do contract work.”

“‘Buying the house was a way to prove that I could do it on my own. But now …. It is annoying. Stupid house,’ she told news.com.au. ‘I bought at a bad time.’ Ms Hanson said she felt regret within months because her ‘mortgage doubled’ within six months and, suddenly, she couldn’t afford her home. ‘I couldn’t keep up with it,’ she said. It’s been a huge stress for most mortgage holders in Australia and, in Ms Hanson’s case, she went from paying $500 per week to over $900 a week, and her decent salary suddenly was eaten up by repayments. In the end, she moved out of her home and is now renting out the property to a relative, while she rents somewhere else because she couldn’t afford to stay in the house. ‘It was impossible,’ she said.”

“Ms Hanson stressed that having a tenant hasn’t saved her from financial stress. It has certainly helped, but the mortgage anxiety still looms. ‘It saves me about $100 a week and my tenant isn’t even close to paying off my mortgage,’ she said. The 35-year-old single mum explained that she thinks about money ‘every day’ and spends half her life worrying about how she’ll make ends meet. She’s also fuming. She feels like she never should have been approved for a loan and was set up to fail by a system that was meant to help her. ‘The thing that feels the most unfair is the irresponsibility of the bank that loaned a single mum that amount of money,’ she said. ‘They’ve set us up to fail, and in terms of home ownership, it is horrific.'”

“At this point, she is wondering if she should just sell her home. Ms Hanson said that because she bought at the peak of the market, the amount she owes is ‘so high’ and rates are still inflated. ‘I’ve paid $150,000 off in three years and I’ve only paid off $25,000 on the loan. Imagine what I could have done with that money if I hadn’t been sold a lie that I could afford a home,’ she said. ‘I want to live a life full of love and joy and work in a field that really supports that. Corporate pays the bills but at what cost?’ she asked. ‘I’ve missed so much of my kids lives already working to provide a home for them, and now I don’t even see the value in the stupid house.'”