Am I Going To Be Able To Afford The Four Homes That I Bought And The Three Kids In The Private School?

A report from Fox 13. “According to a new Redfin study, Tampa is the sixth-hottest buyer’s market, April data shows. Since some time has passed since Florida’s big boom during COVID, some sellers may still be living in the past, local real estate agents told FOX 13. ‘It’s a much more relaxed time for a buyer to buy a home than it was three, four years ago. It used to be five days on market on average — and in very hot markets, sometimes two: it didn’t even make it past the weekend,’ Ali St Cyr with Tomlin St Cyr Real Estate Services said. ‘They believe that their property has increased in value over the last year. So they’re pricing it higher than what they should, and that’s where you’re seeing that price decrease, homes are staying on the market a little bit longer, and buyers are able to negotiate a little more.'”

“When talking to clients selling their home, Mia Annibale with RE/MAX Collective said coming to an agreement on the list price can sometimes be difficult. Annibale told FOX 13 about a recent conversation she had with a client as they discussed the listing price. ‘I said, just to give you statistics, there are 182 single-family homes for sale in a two-mile radius — two miles! — of your home,’ Annibale said.”

From WINK. “The housing market in Southwest Florida is experiencing a significant decline in interest from Canadian buyers. For years, Canadians represented a large portion of buyers in Cape Coral. Now, local agents are noticing a rapid cooling of this trend, and the reasons extend beyond just real estate prices. Kevin Bartlett, a broker and owner of KBRE, said he has seen a 30% decrease in Canadian clientele. ‘Canadians made up a good market share of buyers that would come seasonally. And you know, since our tourism is our main market share down here, you definitely are seeing that being affected by what’s going on,’ said Bartlett.”

Hawaii News Now. “Sharilyn Tanaka, Atlas Insurance Agency senior vice president, estimates hurricane insurance rates have gone up about 50% in the past year. ‘This is across all islands and it’s affecting all homeowners, and this would be for single-family homes, even for condominiums,’ she said. ‘We’ve had some carriers withdraw from our market. I’ve never been in a time, in all my years of doing this, which has been over 20 years, of being the agent to tell someone I’m not able to find you insurance.’ If you live in a condo, there’s a good chance the building is not fully insured. A recent study showed 400 Honolulu condos are underinsured for the replacement value of the building, which likely means maintenance fees will go up significantly. And if you’re trying to buy or sell your home, it’s an especially troubling situation. Realtor Pam Maeda with Marcus Realty said, ‘It’s a struggle for everyone, and anyone that thinks it’s not affecting them is just not looking. It affects every single person.'”

Fox 4 in Missouri. “A recent order from the State Tax Commission caps how much Jackson County property assessments can increase. Brian Stephens said the county didn’t seem to follow the order on his assessment. While other homeowners are doing the math and figuring out Jackson County set their assessments as high as they possibly could. ‘It went from $255,000 to $588,000,’ a shocked Stephens said. That’s a 132% since the last assessment and a value he says there’s no way he could sell the condo for. ‘No wishful thinking. If it was worth that I would sell it. There’s no way,’ he said. Denise Scott says says Jackson County set her assessment at the absolute max under the order. ‘Things are getting up there and I know I need to do some work. But if you haven’t done it how can you just hit people with the max and the max?’ Scott said.”

From Fox 13. “FOX 13 has told you about other Utah homebuyers who have complained of poor craftsmanship, or, in the case of one Draper neighborhood in 2023, saw their dream homes slide down a mountainside and crumble. Within 30 days of moving into their brand new home here, Neal Schmidt says he and his wife started seeing drywall cracks. About two months after they moved in, ‘our doors are not able to open and close,’ said Jessica Schmidt, Neal’s wife. The Schmidts, who by then had three young children, had to move out of their house and into a rental. ‘We thought we’re going to be gone three months – like tops,’ Neal Schmidt recalled. ‘And it ended up being over a year and a half.'”

“The Schmidts were living in Chicago in 2022 when they decided to move to Utah. They found the house they wanted in a new development in Lehi. The builder was Pennsylvania-based Toll Brothers. The Schmidts paid $860,000 for the 3,080-square-foot home. The Schmidts’ home was still under warranty when problems emerged. The warranty didn’t dictate the speed of the repairs, and the Schmidts lived in a series of short-term rentals for the 18 months Toll Brothers spent making the fixes. ‘We’re building tunnels under oceans,’ Jessica Schmidt told FOX 13. ‘How hard is it to make sure this house doesn’t slide down a river?’ His wasn’t the only family in the neighborhood having trouble. Property records show a Toll Brothers subsidiary bought back the home belonging to one of the Schmidt neighbors. Neal and Jessica Schmidt say that house was experiencing settling, too. When the Schmidts asked Toll Brothers to buy back their home, ‘They completely refused,’ Jessica Schmidt said.”

From Calmatters. “Like thousands of other families, in January we lost our Pacific Palisades home to wildfire. Five months later, the harsh realities of recovery have set in. We are entangled in a bureaucratic maze: FEMA, the EPA, Army Corps of Engineers, IRS and a patchwork of state and local agencies. Our home was covered by two insurance policies — one through California’s FAIR Plan and one through a private company — but the multiple federal, state and private agencies don’t coordinate. Even getting someone on the phone can take hours. It’s turned seeking information into a part-time job. For example, we’ve been approached by opportunists offering to file simple forms that require no negotiation — for a 10% cut. In our case, there’s nothing to negotiate: The home is gone and the settlement is fixed.”

“Our worst experience, however, has been with our mortgage company. Soon after the fire, the insurer issued a settlement check, but it was made out to us and the mortgage lender. Following instructions, we endorsed the check and mailed it in for co-signing. Instead, the lender cashed it and kept the money. Now they’re demanding a mountain of paperwork before releasing any funds. They refuse to let us use our insurance settlement to pay for the very services required to begin rebuilding. Meanwhile, they earn interest on our money. The longer the delay, the more they profit. We’re not alone. Many fire victims are trapped in the same situation. Like many homeowners, we signed a flurry of complex documents while refinancing — a clause naming the lender as a co-payee on insurance claims buried among them. It was not made clear to us that this allows them to hold the funds in escrow and release them at their discretion. Losing your home to wildfire is devastating. Losing your insurance settlement afterward is unconscionable.”

Axios Washington DC. “Divorce is already stressful. But add federal layoffs, a saturated job market, an uncertain real estate landscape and a possible recession? Buckle up, divorce lawyers tell Axios. Trump’s fast-paced decision making is particularly impacting Washingtonians’ finances — and money is a big sticking point for couples who are splitting. ‘When the income takes a dip, how do you calculate alimony? How do you calculate child support? How long is the decrease in income going to last? Nobody knows,’ says lawyer Jessica Markham, whose client list includes many former and current federal employees. Some of Markham’s clients who’ve been fired from the federal government, forced to retire early, or are scared of layoffs are now requesting short- or long-term alimony from their exes — something she says wouldn’t have happened a year ago. ‘It’s such a new dynamic to their relationship,’ she says. ‘They were previously in a very secure position, and in those cases, it’s harder to settle, because it’s so shocking.'”

“Other wannabe-divorcés are delaying the process because they want more security about their employment status before they put themselves on the hook for something they can’t afford. Housing is another issue. Some divorcing feds are worried about buying a new single-person pad because they’re unsure of their future. One of Markham’s federal clients initially had trouble getting a mortgage because the lender was worried they wouldn’t be a safe borrower — their agency employer was doing layoffs, Markham says. Others are holding onto homes to see if Washington’s real estate market dips, making it cheaper to buy their former spouse out, says lawyer Maria Simon. Lawyer Cheryl New says her Washington power-player clients are worried about how Trump’s policies are affecting the valuation of their assets, businesses and investments, and how that will affect their divorce settlements. ‘[They’re thinking,] ‘Am I going to be able to pay my employees? Am I going to be able to afford the four homes that I bought and the three kids in the private school?’ New says.”

Bisnow Washington DC. “Many office buildings in D.C. are now worth no more than the land they sit on. Properties have traded for far below what local real estate executives had ever previously envisioned. The bright side for the city, investors said Thursday at Bisnow’s D.C. State of the Market event, is that values can’t fall any further. ‘I think we’re at the bottom,’ Bernstein Management Corp. Senior Vice President of Investments Terra Weirich said at the event. ‘When office values are closer to land value, even lower in some cases than what we thought land used to be worth, I think we’re at the bottom.’ A series of sales starting in 2023 showed many older buildings were trading for about a third of their prior sales price, and pricing was reaching as low as $150 per SF, according to a Bisnow analysis in January 2024.”

“At the time, brokers said some buildings were on the market at an even lower level of $100 per SF. Investors at Thursday’s event said sales have now closed around that level. That is a fraction of the 2019 average for Class-B and C office sales in D.C. of $406 per SF, according to Newmark. Hines Senior Managing Director Andrew McGeorge also suggested the city could raze buildings to create more open, green space downtown. ‘There are going to be the groups that do the conversions, or it could be a really nice park,’ he said. ‘Those are the options. It’s going to be a very slow getting rid of that part of the market.'”

Real Estate Magazine in Canada. “Toronto’s real estate market is full. So why does it feel so empty? There are more homes for sale in the GTA than we’ve seen in years. Mortgage rates are edging lower. Prices have slipped. In theory, this should be a buyer’s moment, one of those rare windows where lower prices and broader selection align. But that moment isn’t materializing. Instead, May 2025 delivered a market that’s swelling with supply, starved of urgency, and frozen in place. Buyers aren’t showing up. Sellers are clinging to expectations forged in the fever of past booms. And no one seems quite sure what happens next. At the heart of this is psychology and hesitation. TRREB’s own Chief Market Analyst, Jason Mercer, alluded to it directly: ‘The issue is a lack of economic confidence.’ It’s the absence of clarity, on trade policy, on job growth, on inflation. In short, buyers are waiting for direction.”

“Detached homes in the 416 still hover around $1.72 million. Townhomes in the 905 are asking over $860,000. The belief that peak pricing is still achievable lingers, even as properties sit unsold for weeks. But this strategy is failing in the face of buyer leverage. Properties that don’t adjust are being passed over. Pricing, presentation, and negotiation flexibility are essential. Until buyers believe the floor is real, until sellers accept the ceiling has lowered, and until the broader economy sends a clear signal that stability is returning, the market will remain exactly where it is: in limbo.”

1 News in New Zealand. “The council valuations (CVs) for Auckland’s 630,000 homes have decreased by an average of 9%, alongside an average rates increase of 5.8%. Property experts said the drop was unnerving and a tough pill to swallow for many – especially after the highs of 2021 – but that the CV was just a taxation tool and homeowners should not let it influence their decisions. Waiheke Island resident Amanda Wright said the value of her home had dropped $50,000 – down from $1,150,000 to $1,100,000 – about a 4.5% decrease. ‘I don’t like that it’s gone down, but I thought it would have gone down more, so I’m happy that it’s not gone down that much,’ she said. ‘But it is a worry. There’s that underscore of worry that the valuation’s not going to come back up. It’s stressful, but I think it’s going to be OK.'”

“Others had seen a much sharper decline in their valuations, with the council delivering more muted figures after the last round in 2021 when the market was considered to be at a peak. Homeowners and Buyers Association of NZ president John Gray said there was no reason to panic. Gray said his own home had its CV lowered by a whopping $250,000. Property Investors Federation spokesperson Matt Ball said he was not worried about the valuations for his two properties, and expected most investors and landlords to feel the same. ‘It’s only really going to have an impact if you’re selling right now. If you are, like most property investors, a buy and hold investor, then you’ll be thinking long term,’ he said. But Wright said her valuation had given her pause. ‘Before, perhaps, the pandemic we were feeling optimistic about our investment and our intention to renovate and possibly sell at some point,’ she said. ‘But now it feels, ‘oh gosh, have we overcapitalised’? You know, we’re a bit more nervous.'”