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Multifamily investor Patrick Carroll was seen in LA Court on Tuesday in connection with a felony charge that dates back to the beginning of July, The Real Deal reported.

The Llorrac Holdings founder was charged with evading a police officer and carrying a loaded firearm in public after being arrested on July 1, court records show.

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Carroll appeared before LA Superior Court judge Francis Bennett II on Tuesday and agreed to waive his rights to be present for court dates in the future, given his residency out-of-state (Carroll lives in Florida), and to medical testing, according to his lawyer.

The investor’s next court date is scheduled for Sept. 10.

Criminal defense attorney Blair Berk of Berk Brettler is representing Carroll in the case. Berk’s past celebrity clients have included Kanye West, Johnny Depp, Leonardo DiCaprio and Channing Tatum.

Carroll did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Before his arrest on July 1, Carroll led LAPD on a chase, first by car on the freeway, and then on foot, WSVN 7News reported. LAPD reportedly recovered weapons from him at the scene and charged him with a DUI. Carroll was released from custody on July 3 on a $75,000 bond, according to court records.

Carroll has taken to Instagram to share updates on his progress following his arrest. One such update included sharing a letter from the Recovery Management Agency in Beverly Hills from July 7 that stated it is working with Caroll on his mental health and post-traumatic stress disorder.

The post included a circle around a paragraph stating that the agency was conducting a full psychological assessment, with text added from Carroll that read, “I always land on my feet …”

Carroll has undergone other mental health evaluations in the recent past as well, including a court-ordered evaluation in Florida after gunshots were reportedly heard coming from his home this past spring. The investor was also arrested last October after being accused of assault by a pair of Gold Rush Cabaret employees.

Carroll has been in LA for about two months now, according to his social media activity, but it is not known why he’s spending time in the West Coast entertainment hub. Earlier in July, Carroll said on social he was “looking at doing a massive redevelopment” in Miami’s Edgewater neighborhood that might include bringing “entertainment business out there.”

Last year, Carroll sold Carroll Organization for $80 million to RMR Group. As part of the transaction, he relinquished his equity in the company he founded in 2004 and severed all ties.

Email Lillian Dickerson

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Although the deadline for enacting the National Association of Realtors commission settlement rules is 15 days away, a Redfin report published on Friday revealed the typical buyers’ agent is already beginning to feel the crunch.

The typical buyer’s agent started the year with a commission of 2.62 percent; however, that average has dropped by 2.67 percent to 2.55 percent as of July. Although the commission percentage has declined, robust home sale prices mean the typical buyers’ agent is earning 1.64 percent more in commission dollar amounts ($15,124 in January vs $15,377 in July).

Redfin said buyer’s agent commissions have been on the decline for years, but it’s not unreasonable to believe that heightened conversations about NAR’s settlement terms — which include removing offers of compensation to buyer’s agents in Realtor-affiliated multiple listing services and requiring buyers’ brokers sign representation agreements with buyers before taking them on a home tour — have led to greater negotiation.

Daryl Fairweather

“Redfin agents are reporting that commissions have been top of mind for clients since the NAR settlement was announced, and some sellers are asking about what it would mean to offer no commission or a relatively low one,” Redfin Chief Economist Daryl Fairweather said in a prepared statement. “Still, even before the blitz of publicity around the class-action lawsuits and NAR settlement, commissions were coming down.”

“That’s partly because of the competitive housing market before and during the pandemic — which motivated some sellers to offer a low commission because they knew they could still attract buyers — and greater fee transparency,” she added.

On a local level, Redfin found that buyer’s agent commissions have dropped in 47 of 50 of the largest U.S. metros.

Commission percentages declined the most in Detroit, with the typical buyers’ agent’s commission declining from 3.18 percent in January to 2.87 percent by July. Cleveland (2.62 percent to 2.39 percent) and Miami (2.84 percent to 2.63 percent) rounded out the top three markets with commission percentage declines of 8.77 percent and 7.39 percent, respectively.

Cincinnati was the only market to experience growth in commission percentages, with the typical buyers’ agent’s commission inching up 0.68 percent from 2.93 percent in January to 2.95 percent in July.

When it comes to commission dollar amounts, California unsurprisingly leads the pack. The typical buyer’s agent in San Francisco ($50,734), San Jose ($43,159), and Anaheim ($39,877) earned double the national average in July. Meanwhile, the typical buyers’ agent working in the Rust Belt region — Cleveland ($5,280), Detroit ($7,054), and Pittsburgh ($7,918) — earned four figures per deal.

Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman addressed the commission crunch at Inman Connect Las Vegas on Wednesday, saying brokerages and portals need to do more to help real estate agents on both sides of the transaction increase their productivity and earn fair wages.

“More than a third of [agents] have to work a second job just to be able to stay in real estate. But I’m not trying to be down about this industry. I’ve been doing it for 18 years. It’s the industry that I love,” he said. “And the thing that I have learned by coming to this conference is where that love comes from: people love being their own boss.”

“People worry about the unpredictability of income, and it’s hard for them to find customers,” he added. “This is the challenge that we have been trying to address. It shouldn’t be so hard to be a real estate agent and make a living.”

Email Marian McPherson

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New York developer Jeffrey Levine and his wife, Randi Charno Levine, U.S. ambassador to Portugal, have sold their Greenwich Village townhouse for nearly $22 million, the New York Post reported Thursday.

According to Zillow, the property at 81 Barrow Street in the West Village neighborhood of New York, is no longer on the market. The multi-family residence sold on July 31 for $21.5 million. Limited details were available for the listing.

The couple purchased the 4,925-square-foot, three-story residence in 2011 for $12.7 million.

The townhouse was built in the early 1850s by James Vandenbergh, the master mason tasked with the construction of the Trinity Church. The historic residence features an Italianate Style with paneled roof cornice, ironwork and a rusticated basement, according to historical marker database HMdb.org.

An 81 Barrow Street plaque by the Bedford Barrow Commerce Block Association that once sat on the property read “This house is the lone survivor of a row of three built on Trinity Church Land.”

Levine’s sale of the Greenwich Village property isn’t the only reason that he’s making headlines. As the founder and chairman of real estate company Douglaston Development, Levine has a long list of developments underway.

In June, The Real Deal reported Douglaston’s purchase of a 90-unit rental building on the Upper East Side of The Bronx at 1450 Third Avenue. The company purchased the property from longtime owner Majorie Nesbitt for $114.5 million.

Levine’s plan for the rental building includes the construction of a 39-story, 478-foot-tall building with 72 units at 175 East 82nd Street.

CetraRuddy Architecture is designing the project, which will include retail locations on the ground floor, parking on the second floor, and apartment units on the residential floor. Amenities will include a swimming pool, yoga studio, and a media room, according to PincusCo.

Email Richelle Hammiel

Inman Connect is moving from Las Vegas to San Diego in 2025 and it’ll be bigger, better, and bolder than ever before. Join us for Inman Connect San Diego on July 30-Aug. 1, 2025 with the brightest minds in real estate to shape the future of the industry. Reserve your spot today for an exclusive discount.

Home prices are steeply declining across some U.S. metros due to high mortgage rates, according to a report.

Although CoreLogic reported last week that overall home price appreciation was 4.9 percent in May year over year, these five markets paint a different picture.

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Five U.S. metros saw home prices plummet year over year in May, including Austin, Texas; San Francisco; New Orleans; Cape Coral, Florida; and North Port, Florida.

In these markets, home prices and sales have declined as buyer demand, including that from investors and buyers interested in building homes, has cooled. High mortgage rates during the traditionally hot spring selling season created an imbalance between buyers and sellers and had a chilling effect on home prices.

Austin led the way with a 3.5 percent decline, while famously high-priced San Francisco was just behind, dropping 2.6 percent. New Orleans home prices declined 0.9 percent.

Two Florida cities also saw prices move lower, with Cape Coral declining 0.6 percent and North Port down 0.2 percent.

According to the New York Post, a spring spike in mortgage rates to approximately 7 percent for a 30-year fixed-rate loan put a damper on the market. In May, 16 of the 100 largest metros also saw price declines, including El Paso, Texas; Gary, Indiana; and Buffalo, New York.

On the other hand, 34 percent of homes sold over asking price in June, a major increase from the 23 percent averaged prior to the pandemic, due to high demand in markets with high prices and low inventory.

According to CoreLogic, approximately 100,000 borrowers were six months or more past due on their mortgages, which hasn’t been the case since the Great Financial Crisis in 2009. During this time, however, mortgages in foreclosure fell to 0.2 percent.

Many borrowers in the last stages of delinquency rebounded, however, avoiding foreclosure.

The ARM share of total outstanding and outstanding conventional mortgages has reached 5 percent. Following the Great Financial Crisis when there was an influx of ARM originations, ARMs totaled nearly 20 percent of outstanding mortgages, but the pandemic brought the share to a low of 4 percent.

The appraisal gap for homes under contract has returned to pre-pandemic levels with homes being appraised at 8.6 percent below their value in June, down from 10.7 percent the previous year. According to CoreLogic, there’s a higher appraisal gap for starter homes, which may reflect a higher incidence of overpayment by inexperienced, first-time homebuyers.

The sale of newly built homes is down year over year by 17 percent for the first half of the year. Of the top 30 U.S. metros, Portland, Oregon, and Las Vegas are the only metros to show an increase in newly built homes this year, up 2 percent.

In June, investors made 23 percent of all single-family home purchases, down five percentage points from January, the lowest investor share in two years.

While existing home sales were down 19 percent year over year, pending home sales showed improvement in June, up 9 percent from last year, which indicates that the market could be heating back up.

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