People Were Thinking This Was Just A Little Blip, But Now They Realize There’s No End In Sight

A report from Gulf Coast News in Florida. “Off the mainland in Charlotte County, there’s a remote, two-and-a-half-mile stretch that makes up Little Gasparilla Island. Chris Roederer owns a condo on the island. The very location that makes it so serene also makes it susceptible if a hurricane strikes. Over the past few years, the island has been hit by three of them. The only thing worse than Ian’s fury has been dealing with his insurance company. He said the initial payout for his claim was only about $2,900. ‘It’s almost disbelief. It’s before you get to frustration and anger,’ he recalled. ‘It’s like, ‘You got to be kidding? Where’s the rest of it? You’re buying insurance as protection. If they don’t want to insure you and they don’t want to pay out, they shouldn’t sell the insurance.’ After rebuilding after Ian, storm surge from Hurricane Helene caused major damage to David Haynes’ home. A few weeks after that, Milton cleared out what was left. Between his two FEMA-backed flood claims for Helene and Milton, Haynes said insurance paid out only a third of what it’ll actually cost to rebuild. ‘It’s a tough pill to swallow,’ he said. ‘When you make your payments on time and you take care of paying your premium, you kind of expect there to be that contract there. That they’re going to honor their side of the deal.'”

From WUFT. “A proposed development near the edge of Paynes Prairie Preserve is igniting fierce backlash from residents who say it would bulldoze not just wildlife habitat, but the heart and history of their community. Maronda Homes, LLC has filed a request to rezone 73 acres just off Southwest 13th Street in Alachua County to make way for 134 single-family homes. For many, the broader issue lies in how growth is managed across Alachua County. Brett Saunders, a former county planning commissioner and current land trust board member, said the project sets a dangerous precedent. ‘There are thousands of unsold homes in Florida already,’ Saunders said. ‘Why put one more subdivision right next to one of our most important natural areas?'”

The Brooklyn Paper. “Dozens of New Yorkers rallied on the steps of Brooklyn Borough Hall this week to support a new bill that would ease the city’s strict short-term rental regulations. The legislation aims to roll back key provisions of Local Law 18, which hosts say has devastated their incomes and made it nearly impossible to rent out their homes on platforms like Airbnb and VRBO. Many small-property owners say they rely on short-term rental income to pay their mortgages and that Local Law 18 stripped them of a vital financial lifeline. Airbnb host Kerri Patterson, of Jamaica, Queens, told the crowd that she achieved the American dream of homeownership in 2016 when she bought a two-family home — a goal she said would have been out of reach without Airbnb. Patterson has hosted short-term rentals for nearly seven years. ‘Hosting gave me something I hadn’t felt in a long time — financial security,’ Patterson said. ‘With the new rules, I went from having a steady income to wondering, ‘Would I be able to pay my mortgage on time under these new rules?’”

“Whitney Hu, member of the Tenants Not Tourists coalition, said that Intro 1107 would ‘decimate’ the housing supply and drive rents to new record highs. ‘Across the world, Airbnb and its allies are bankrolling dark money astroturf campaigns like this one to spread lies to advance their affordability-killing, anti-tenant agenda. But New Yorkers aren’t falling for Airbnb’s sham tactics, and no new ‘poll’ faking support for their dangerous legislation will change that,’ Hu said in a statement.”

Flagstaff Business News in Arizona. “My number one piece of advice to any buyer and seller in any market is then to make mid- to long-term decisions as best you can and don’t get caught trying to day trade. Examples of this would be thinking to wait to sell right now and move up because you might have to give $20,000 in price reductions when, in reality, you could hopefully buy that move up house with $40,000 in concessions? We can, with confidence, say that 2020-2021 represented a peak for real estate values and we have had slower movement and growth in that market for the last three to four years. The big question is, then, how much further can the market contract or slow before it begins the reverse direction and begins again to expand? Though it’s just an old market saying, I believe the following helps most buyers and sellers understand the sentiments and emotions that typically align with the different aspects of these cycles. ‘Expanding markets are born on pessimism, grow on skepticism, mature on optimism and die on euphoria.'”

From WCPO in Ohio. “It’s been two months since the Cincinnati City Council authorized $400,000 in emergency repairs at a Kirby Avenue apartment complex where basements were flooded with sewage. It’s been nearly a month since Hamilton County Judge Christian Jenkins declared the property a public nuisance, assigning Prodigy Properties to correct more than a dozen different defects. But those interventions have done little to help tenants of the 112-unit complex, caught up in the collapse of the real estate investment firm, Vision & Beyond LLC. Dozens of properties were forced into foreclosure, while investors alleged fraud and court-appointed receivers lack funding to properly manage the real estate left behind by the company. In the meantime, the property is getting worse. During the I-Team’s 90-minute visit Wednesday, Cincinnati police showed up to investigate a complaint that a squatter was occupying a townhome on the property. New people are moving into the complex regularly without permission, according to Kathy Peeks, a Kirby Apartments resident since 2018, who said one new resident lets her dog defecate in the hallway.”

Bisnow on California. “New York’s Chehebar family has lost the last of its San Francisco holdings after defaulting on two Union Square properties, according to the San Francisco Business Times. The family founded the Rainbow fast-fashion chain and later became real estate investors through The Jackson Group. The Chehebars acquired the first two retail floors of the Grace Building at 166 Geary St. and a three-story building at 46 Geary St. in 2014 and 2015 for a combined $67.8M. The Grace Building, in receivership since 2022, is expected to hit the market in the coming weeks. The three-story building was auctioned off on July 24 to Citigroup Global Markets Realty Corp. for a $4.8M bid.”

“The Jackson Group had purchased the building for $21.8M. At the time of the default notice in June, the firm was just $258K behind on the loan, but penalties, fees and accrued debt brought the total to $14.4M. Both properties have seen dramatic valuation drops since their purchase. The Grace Building’s retail floors, appraised at $46M in 2016, fell 62% to $17.3M this year. Union Square’s retail market has been uneven since the pandemic, with a slew of retail exits, including Old Navy, the Gap and Nordstrom. Saks Fifth Avenue shuttered its flagship location in May.”

CBC News in Canada. “Greater Vancouver Realtors said residential sales in the region totalled 2,286 last month, down from the 2,333 sales recorded in July 2024 and 13.9 per cent below the 10-year seasonal average. Total active listings rose 19.8 per cent year-over-year to 17,168, which was 40.2 per cent above usual levels for the month. The Fraser Valley Real Estate Board (FVREB) in Surrey, B.C. says that while market conditions are ideal for home buyers this summer, that price expectations between sellers and buyers remain a barrier in sales. Tore Jacobsen, chair of the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board, says that ‘home sellers are having to work harder than they did a year or two ago. In a market where buyers are cautious and have ample choice, successful sellers are going the extra mile to meet buyers where they’re at — staging their home, handling repairs up front, and most importantly, pricing their homes realistically for the current market conditions.'”

The Globe and Mail in Canada. “The vast majority of homes that sold in the Greater Toronto Area in July did so at levels below their asking prices, according to a new report. The data analysis, released this week by digital real estate platform Wahi, found that 76 per cent of homes sold under their asking price in July across the GTA. Underbidding was at its highest level in 18 months, said Ryan McLaughlin, an economist with Wahi. Casa Loma in Toronto was the most underbid neighbourhood, with a median selling price of $3-million and a median underbid amount of $485,000.”

“The increasing number of homes selling below asking, paired with home sales increasing in recent months, means owners are finally coming to the terms with the fact that their homes have lost significant value from their pandemic peaks and are finally selling at lower prices, said Nasma Ali, a Toronto realtor and founder of One Group Toronto Real Estate. ‘Back in 2022 and 2023, sellers were holding on and not coming to grips with a declining price,’ Ms. Ali said. ‘People were thinking this was just a little blip, but now they realize there’s no end in sight.’ Ms. Ali said she is noticing that many homes are selling below asking price, even after they were relisted multiple times with lower listed prices each time.”