Every Two Weeks They’re Lowering The Price, The Only Thing You Reach With That Is The Buyers Saying ‘Oh I Wonder How Low They Will Go’

A report from ABC 7 in Illinois. “The I-Team was in federal court following the plight of a Chicago-area family still waiting for their loved one’s release from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody. Abel Orozco was taken into ICE custody in January in an arrest his attorneys say was illegal, as well as 24 other people recently arrested under increased ICE enforcement efforts. Orozco a father, husband and undocumented immigrant, is the only plaintiff in the class-action ‘Castanon Nava’ settlement lawsuit against the federal government. He is still in custody. ‘Abel Orozco, he’s been here 30 years, owns his own business,’ said Mark Fleming with the National Immigrant Justice Center. ‘As he’s in custody, his wife is battling breast cancer, and the family is potentially going to lose their home in foreclosure. If these are the worst of the worst. We’re in trouble as a country.'”

Talking Points Memo. “Melissa Harris had her future meticulously planned. But after more than 37 years in public service, those plans fell apart when President Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) ravaged her workplace at the National Institute of Health (NIH). So Harris took an early retirement at the end of April, packed up her Gaithersburg, Md. home, and relocated to North Carolina. The unexpectedly rushed retirement pushed her to leave the area sooner than planned and buy a home in North Carolina before she had the chance to sell her Maryland property. ‘[I] am paying for two homes until I get my other one fixed up to sell,’ Harris said.”

“Two months later, Harris says she hasn’t been paid and isn’t sure when exactly she’ll receive her first check. ‘Nobody’s gotten in touch with me,’ Harris said. ‘It’s kind of scary.’ The radio silence, she said, has forced Harris and her partner to cut costs amid the financial uncertainty. ‘We just got a new house,’ she said, ‘and we’re just going to pretend to be house poor for a while before we find out what’s going on.’ Sam Medvene is the president of the D.C. Association of Realtors and has seen the consequences of federal job loss in real time. Medvene said realtors in his association have worked with buyers who had to abruptly rescind contracts when their probationary government job offers were revoked. ‘We had a lot of under-contract individuals lose jobs,’ Medvene said. The shakeups are also impacting sellers who wanted to sell their homes, came under contract, and then had those offers pulled because of the fallout from federal job loss.”

Yahoo Finance. “Builders are now cutting back after a boom period that started during the pandemic. In Orlando, Fla., Realtor NyAsia Baker says rate buydown offers to 3.99% to 4.99% for the life of the loan are now common, when in years past those types of offers were temporary — only good for the first few years of a typical 30-year loan. Some builders are also offering up to $35,000 into so-called ‘flex cash,’ which buyers can apply to closing costs or upgrades, compared with $5,000 or $10,000 a few years earlier. ‘Deals right now are kind of out of this world,’ Baker said. She primarily works with buyers and stayed busy this spring as Orlando’s market shifted in their favor. ‘New construction incentives are definitely helping with that.'”

“In Atlanta, Realtor Worrell Thomas has seen a similar pattern, especially among first-time buyers who often find themselves discouraged by the high prices and stubborn sellers they find on the resale market. ‘A lot of sellers right now are still stuck in the pandemic pricing,’ Thomas said. Builders, meanwhile, are more willing to negotiate. ‘It’s definitely weak. They’re throwing all types of incentives out there to attract people to purchase,’ he added. Erin Hill, 27, and her husband recently closed on a new construction home in Fort Worth, Texas. Recently, she’s been keeping track of the other homes for sale on her street to see when they might be welcoming new neighbors. She’s watched some listings linger for a month or longer, and Lennar cut prices in response. ‘A lot of the houses on the street were up for week after week after week,’ she said. ‘They would knock the prices down and down. They just want them sold.'”

Tampa Bay Times in Florida. “‘The days where you stick a sign out there and in two hours you have fifteen offers? They’re gone,’ said Manuela Hendrickson, a broker and owner of the St. Petersburg real estate company Global Lifestyle. For the first time in years, sellers are having to make concessions. Some may even end up selling for less than what they paid for. For those who are on the fence, ‘if you don’t have to sell it right now, you might want to just sit tight,’ said Hendrickson. But experts say if you need to sell right now, don’t panic. The worst thing you can do is price a home too high in hopes that you’ll be able to get what your neighbor got a couple years ago, she said. ‘We see so many properties that go on the market where the sellers want some ridiculous amount of money and then every two weeks they’re lowering the price,’ Hendrickson said. ‘The only thing you reach with that is the buyers saying ‘oh I wonder how low they will go.’”

Boston 25 News in Massachusetts. “Boston 25 News recently reported that the South End is seeing a more than 50 percent increase in littered needle complaints compared to last year. ‘This is the worst start to the summer that I can recall,’ said John Pegnato, father of a 17-month-old. Pegnato said he’s never seen the drug dealing and activity to this extreme on Worcester Square since purchasing a condo there seven years ago. Boston 25 News has reported on fed up families selling their homes in the area since the pandemic. ‘I find people across the street, looking at them right now. They congregate in groups of 10 to 15,’ he said. ‘I don’t know what else there is to do but pick up and move, but that’s not an option for everybody.'”

2 Urban Girls in California. “The City of Inglewood has gone into damage control mode after issues within a condominium complex spread across social media. The issues derive from a resident living at Inglewood Crossroads after she appeared during the June 17 city council meeting calling for a federal investigation into the complex’s Homeowners Association (HOA). Felecia Ford alleges fraud and mismanagement of the complex’s association dues (read the forensic audit here) and alleged ‘city employees’ (presumably building & safety) were ‘in on’ defrauding the complex’s insurance provider, which puts homeowners at risk. Crossroads resident Florine Hill, 84, filed a lawsuit against the HOA last month, alleging uninhabitable conditions due to water damage that has forced her to sleep on her couch.”

“A lawsuit was filed by another resident, Richard France, who was elected to the HOA’s board of directors in June 2023, after those election results were overturned due to a lack of quorum. France filed a second lawsuit against the HOA citing failure to upkeep the common areas after his unit was rendered uninhabitable due to water damage, which resulted in an estimated $55,000 in loss of rental income. ‘We don’t have until 2027. We can’t get insurance and don’t have a reserve account to make repairs and could incur fines from the city for missing deadlines related to inspections of our balconies under Senate Bill 326,’ said a Crossroads resident who requested anonymity. ‘You wrote about Carlton Square not being zoned residential but Crossroads is. It doesn’t stop the City from inadvertently acquiring our property or a rogue developer, with deep pockets, from buying us out and building something more aesthetically pleasing to the City. All of these emergency assessments and whatnot could expedite foreclosure proceedings if a resident is unable to pay the fees and any penalties or interest if unpaid. Or in our case, the City could condemn us and then what?'”

The Western Standard. “New arrivals to Calgary, and more broadly to Alberta, who sold their homes in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) are not likely to be second guessing their decisions to leave, as Toronto’s once red-hot condo market looks more like the Antarctic landscape. Canadian Mortgage Professional (CMP) reports prices and sales of condos in the GTA continued to plummet as a glut of supply had flooded the market. At the height of the pandemic-induced housing crisis, sellers took bids from those lined up to buy, and hundreds of millions of dollars were invested by developers to take advantage of the buyer’s pool. That’s all over now.”

“‘Sellers are making steep cuts to original listed prices as they attempt to offload their properties,’ says CMP. ‘Condo sales were down by a combined 25.1% in the city centre 416 area code and surrounding 905 area code in May, contributing to a year-over-year dip of 6.4% in condo prices across the GTA.’ ‘ What we’ve found is if you’re selling a condo in this market, it’s been quite a challenge,’ Taz Zaide a mortgage agent with 6ix Mortgage Group, told CMP. ‘A lot of people are listing them on price ranges that they expect but aren’t getting any offers, so they have to further cut their listing price just to get more traction. And a lot of sellers of condos are desperate to just get rid of them because they’re sitting in the market at certain price points. I’ve noticed a lot of these condos are just being relisted at lower price points multiple times because they’re not selling for the amount that the sellers are hoping for.'”

Cornwall Live in the UK. “Locals in a picturesque village in Cornwall are being compelled to drastically reduce their property prices due to a tax crackdown on second homes. A homeowner in Golant is struggling to sell her waterside cottage even after slashing the price by a staggering £100,000, although reaction to this has been mixed, with feelings running high against second homes. Debbie Pugh-Jones, 69, has reduced the asking price of her home three times in 10 months but has yet to find a buyer. Properties in the vicinity of Golant fetched up to £425,000 during the Covid-19 pandemic. With this in mind, Debbie put her home on the market for £400,000 last August, only to realise that her two-bedroom house was now priced similarly to a small flat in a dilapidated part of some cities.”

“She believes potential buyers have been deterred by doubled stamp duty for second homes and also pointed fingers at Cornwall Council’s decision to double tax rates on them. Debbie expressed her frustration, saying: ‘When you come down that much in price you would expect to get a viewing but I’ve had three in nearly a year. Nobody at all looked around between November and April. Around half of the houses in this village are second homes and the rest are retired people, there are very few people working in this village. It’s making them struggle but even if they wanted to sell they wouldn’t be able to.’ Bradley Start, from Newquay’s Start & Co estate agents, explained: ‘They’ve received these demands for twice as much council tax and that’s prompted a lot of people to think about selling.'”