I’ve Lost So Much Money, I Don’t Know What I’m Doing, This Was Supposed To Be A Safe Investment, What Went Wrong?

A report from Gulf Coast News. “In just three years, Florida’s Gulf Coast has turned from a Category 5 situation, homes bought seemingly before hitting the market and builders can’t keep up. Today, the wind has stopped, homes are staying put with concerns of future powerful hurricanes, rising insurance costs and growing repair bills. Charlotte County homeowners like Glenn Martin, who lives in a Punta Gorda home located just across from Charlotte Harbor, were swamped during Hurricane Helene last September. He is gutting and repairing the house not for himself, but for a future buyer. ‘It blew out the windows in the front. It blew out these doors,’ he said, pointing to the damage. ‘I’m probably going to spend tens of thousands, but I don’t know what they’re going to give me if I try to sell it like this.'”

“Many of his neighbors have already left or are preparing to. Across the region, the scars of the 2024 hurricane season remain visible with thousands of ‘fixer-upper’ listings lining the market, and a growing inventory is signaling a shift from a seller’s market to a buyer’s dream. Redfin reports that Florida currently has more than 220,000 homes listed for sale—a more than seven-month supply. More than a thousand of those listings, from Tampa to Marco Island, are labeled as needing major repairs. Even move-in-ready properties are lingering. Realtor Cindy Marsh-Tichy, who represents the Punta Gorda, Port Charlotte, North Port and DeSoto areas, said many homeowners are still working on post-storm repairs, but some homes are ready to go. The median home price in the area has dipped to $389,000, Marsh-Tichy said, down from over $400,000 just two years ago. About a third of sellers are slashing their asking prices, according to Redfin. ‘Things are changing,’ she added. ‘And you have to remember that real estate is a cycle.'”

National Public Radio. “The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, as of Thursday, has ended a new mortgage-rescue program that so far has helped about 20,000 veterans avoid foreclosure and keep their homes. And it comes at a time when nearly 90,000 VA loans are seriously past due, with 33,000 of those already in the foreclosure process, according to the data and analytics firm ICE. Kevin Conlon and his wife live in upstate New York, not far from where he was stationed with the Army at Fort Drum. Getting a VA loan meant that they could buy a house with no down payment. And they’ve been there ever since. While they’ve been waiting to get into VASP, the Conlons have been told not to make payments, so they’ve been falling further and further behind, and they say their family has nowhere to go if they lose this house.”

“‘The Trump administration rightfully put an end to VA’s VASP program,’ said a joint statement from Rep. Mike Bost, an Illinois Republican and chairman of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, and Rep. Derrick Van Orden, a Wisconsin Republican, when VA announced its plan to end VASP. At a recent House Veterans’ Affairs Subcommittee hearing, Rep. Van Orden criticized VASP this way: ‘I understand the whole developmental process of this, and it was moronic,’ Van Orden said. ‘It gets rid of a bum loan, and it passes it off to the American taxpayers.’ That comment did not sit well with fellow Iraq veteran Conlon and his wife, Jenny. ‘That was so hurtful because these are not bum loans, and they’re making the veterans and their families out to sound like irresponsible people,’ his wife added. ‘The level of just mistrust I have — I mean, I get they’re trying to cut spending and all that, but it’s like, how do you justify cutting something that is to help the vets who were basically put in this position because of you?’ Conlon said.”

From 9 News. “Colorado on Wednesday became the 10th state to sue a real estate company that signed homeowners into confusing, decades-long listing agreements. In a lawsuit filed in Adams County District Court, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser alleged MV Realty used deceptive marketing and high-pressure tactics to sign homeowners into 40-year listing agreements that promise the company a commission whether or not it lists a home. ‘They targeted the most vulnerable people who were financially insecure and needed money, and they misrepresented the product,’ Weiser told 9NEWS Consumer Investigator Steve Staeger after the lawsuit was filed. ’Here’s some easy money with no strings attached, and we won’t put a lien on your property.’ There were strings. There was a lien, and those people who took this deal, they all regretted it.’ The lawsuit comes after a nearly two-year investigation by Steve On Your Side that found more than 900 Colorado homeowners had signed MV Realty’s Homeowner Benefit Agreement (HBA).”

“The lawsuit points to MV Realty’s marketing, which seemed to target people in financial struggles following the 2020 COVID pandemic. The complaint points to language used in MV Realty’s marketing, like ‘Hey homeowners. We know it’s been a tough year. MV Realty can help,’ and ‘With everything going on, we understand finances may be tight right now. MV Realty can help.’ The lawsuit alleges MV Realty used high-pressure sales tactics to get homeowners to sign up, teaching sales representatives to call homeowners four times within the first 24 hours of an inquiry. ‘Often, they were met by a notary at say a McDonald’s and given limited amount of time to even read the document, no ability to have questions answered, and they were outgunned,’ Weiser said. ‘When you give someone a 15-page legal document and you say, I need you to sign it now to get $300, that’s a unfair thing to do.'”

ITV News on California. “When wildfires swept through Los Angeles in January, they left behind more than scorched earth and charred ruins. Across town in the affluent coastal enclave of Pacific Palisades, Ray and Mandy Church are also trying to piece life back together. Their plumbing business was destroyed in a single night. Ray lost all his trucks, tools, and equipment. ‘It’s very worrying and stressful,’ Mandy said. ‘It’s put a lot of strain on us as a couple. I think I lost it at the beginning — I was just spinning in circles. But I had nowhere else to go but up. And that’s what I did.’ Like many others, the Church family were not fully insured — never imagining fire would be the disaster to hit them on the coast of the city. Across Los Angeles, thousands of homes were either uninsured or underinsured.”

The San Francisco Examiner. “San Francisco home values are down five years on from the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Zillow. Within The City itself, the average home was worth around $1.3 million when data was most recently available in March. That’s down 5% from the same month five years ago. The trends underscore how remote work and out-migration have undercut demand for the Bay Area’s densest and most expensive housing.”

Bisnow Philadelphia in Pennsylvania. “Buccini Pollin Group’s loan for the Fairfield Inn Philadelphia Valley Forge/King of Prussia and Crowne Plaza Philadelphia King of Prussia entered special servicing in December amid concerns of an ‘imminent default,’ according to a report from Morningstar Credit. ‘Borrower is cooperating with return of keys to Lender,’ the financial services firm said in an April 7 update. ‘Counsels have been retained. … Lender is reviewing viable options for next steps.’ In a statement, Buccini Pollin co-founder Dave Pollin said the company considered refinancing or extending the loan and selling the properties, according to the Philadelphia Business Journal. Ultimately, it decided to hand over the properties, Pollin said. ‘Hundreds of hotels, offices buildings, etc across the country have been returned to lenders due to the impact of covid, the slow recovery of certain markets, dramatically higher interest rates today and loan maturities that occur before assets have fully recovered,’ Pollin said in a separate statement to Bisnow.”

From USA Today. “Canada’s embattled auto workers are bracing for impact. ‘We’re holding our breath,’ said Jeff Gray, president of Unifor Local 222, a union representing 5,000 workers and suppliers in Oshawa, home to a General Motors assembly plant. ‘We have earned these jobs. These are not Donald Trump’s jobs to take.’ Chris Waugh, Local 222’s chairperson and a 23-year worker at the plant, said Oshawa autoworkers were keeping the focus on their daily work in the face of possible job losses. ‘They’re mad, angry,’ Waugh said. ‘There’s fear. They have mortgages, they have bills.’ Economists say Canada’s auto industry − with 125,000 workers − is on the verge of collapse. ‘It’s not clear that the industry will survive in Canada,’ said Douglas Porter, chief economist at BMO Financial Group.”

“Union leaders said they hoped an internal redirection could save Canada’s auto industry. With around 1.8 million cars sold in Canada last year, the country’s internal auto market is ‘substantial,’ according to Porter. Still, ‘it’s debatable whether it’s a large enough market for a factory to continue producing just for the Canadian market,’ he said. By comparison, nearly 16 million cars were sold in the U.S. in 2024. The U.S. is, by far, the biggest market for Canada’s auto factories. Last year, Canada exported $28 billion worth of cars to the U.S. − 94% of its total annual auto exports. Gray said the union won’t allow General Motors to move jobs out of Oshawa. ‘It’s clean and simple,’ Gray said. ‘Once those jobs leave, they’re never coming back, so we’re not going to allow them to leave.’ ‘Not one piece of equipment is going to leave that plant,’ Waugh said.”

The Globe and Mail. “Jittery potential buyers in Canada’s real estate market may be more willing to concentrate on house hunting now that the federal election is in the past. Still, in cities around Ontario’s Greater Golden Horseshoe, move-up buyers are rare and first-time purchasers are wary, real estate agents say. In Hamilton, tariff talk halted the momentum that started in the opening weeks of 2025, says Melissa Carrington, real estate agent at Keller Williams Complete Realty. ‘It just died,’ she says. The question became, ‘do I qualify for a passport to where my parents were born?’ In the Hamilton-Burlington area, many more expensive properties have been languishing. ‘We see price reductions happen every week,’ she says.”

“The trade war has cast a gloom in Durham Region because heavyweight General Motors employs thousands at its assembly plant in Oshawa, Ont. GM workers live throughout the area in towns as far as Port Perry, Blackstock, Lindsay and Peterborough, says Shawn Lackie, real estate agent with International Realty Firm. ‘Fall in love with the house when the cheque clears,’ he says. ‘You have to be prepared to walk away.’ Some sellers are still stuck in 2020, he says, looking for prices that their neighbour received when buyers were motivated by ‘fear of missing out.’ ‘Bill made off with an extra $300,000 because someone came along who was willing to throw that at him,’ he says. ‘They had buyer’s remorse, but it was all covered up with the relief.'”

“One weak spot in the area’s housing market is the category of recently completed homes that were purchased in preconstruction in 2020, 2021 and 2022, says Faisal Susiwala, broker at Re/Max Twin City Faisal Susiwala Realty. Some purchasers paid around $1.4-million, but values have fallen and interest rates have risen since they agreed to that amount on paper. Some tried to forfeit their deposit and walk away, Mr. Susiwala says, but the builders threatened to sue and place a lien on the property or a principal residence. To make matters worse, the builders then became competitors by selling their remaining inventory in the same subdivisions at lower prices. That in turn led to appraisals that came in at $1.1-million or $1.2-million compared with the $1.4-million some purchasers had agreed to pay a few years earlier. Many of the purchasers, unable to sell the property for the price they paid, turned to the rental market, Mr. Susiwala says. In order to cover carrying costs of $12,000 to $15,000 a month, some homeowners are putting 10 or 12 students into each property. ‘They’re unfortunately turning these subdivisions into rooming houses,’ he says. ‘It’s an act of desperation on the part of the homeowner.'”

Domain News in Australia. “House prices in exclusive Melbourne suburbs have dropped. Blue-ribbon Toorak experienced a deep yearly fall, dropping by 26.7 per cent to a median house price of $4.25 million, Domain figures from the 12 months to March show. South Yarra (a new median of $1.8 million, after an 18 per cent decline), Armadale ($2.1 million, a drop of 16.7 per cent), Prahran ($1,555,000, down 13.1 per cent) and Brighton ($2.75 million, a 10 per cent slide) are among the select city suburbs that are much cheaper now than a year ago. Domain’s latest House Price Report also showed steep median reductions in highly sought Mornington Peninsula enclaves of Sorrento ($1.75 million, down 23.9 per cent) and Blairgowrie ($1.34 million, a fall of 15.7 per cent).”

“‘The buyer pool, where there is a median over $4 million, is quite shallow,’ said LJ Hooker head of research and economics Mathew Tiller. ‘But this time last year, we saw the affordable end of the market lead, and opportunistic buyers will take advantage of the price drops that we have seen at the top end. The supply and demand imbalance, in terms of the number of listings on the market, still leans towards a buyer’s market.'”

Opes Partners in New Zealand. “If you bought an investment property in 2021, you might be wondering: ‘What the hell did I do?’ You’re not alone. Because if you bought a $1 million property in November 2021 (and it dropped by the average amount) it might be worth just $850k by March 2025. You were probably proud when you first bought that property, but those big property price falls are enough to turn pride into shame, regret and, in many cases, serious financial stress. Many investors I work with feel things like: ‘I’m stuck in this property … I’ve lost so much money … I don’t know what I’m doing. This was supposed to be a safe investment – what went wrong?’ I get the anger. I get the frustration. Because I am right there too.”

“In 2021 my husband and I bought not one, but two investment properties in Auckland. It was right at the top. We bought for all the right reasons: Auckland looked undervalued. The bank was willing to lend us the money. Cashflow stacked up at the time. But then: Our two properties dropped in value by $500,000. The cashflow tanked and we had to put in over $1,500 a week (across 4 properties) of our own money. One of our other properties suffered a rent fall from $730 to $650 a week. So when things started to slide, I felt like I’d failed – not just financially, but in our relationship. Our dream of retiring at 60 suddenly looked like wishful thinking. I felt hopeless, like I was throwing money into a pit.”

“Being an investor is hard when things go wrong. Nobody talks about their financial failures. We all share the highlight reels, never the lowlights. But I’ve had dozens of clients reach out in the past year – angry, confused and ashamed. They say: ‘I feel stuck. I’ve lost so much. I don’t know what I’m doing.’ To them I say: You made the best decision you could with the information you had. The only way to guarantee a loss is to sell now. Time in the market matters more than timing the market. And most importantly – know that better days are coming. Maybe not tomorrow, maybe not next year, but they are coming.”