Home
Date

Crescent buys Chevron Tower

By Inman News, Monday, January 10, 2005.

Crescent Real Estate Equities Co. recently acquired 1301 McKinney, also known as Chevron Tower, in Houston, Texas.

The value of the transaction was not disclosed.

The 51-story, 1.2 million-square-foot, class A office property is located within the Houston Center complex. Constructed in 1982, the property was 49 percent leased at the time of sale.

The seller is a unit of ChevronTexaco, who announced earlier this year the consolidation of its employees to other buildings in Houston.  more...

Private investor bags San Francisco office property

By Inman News, Monday, January 10, 2005.

Grubb & Ellis Co. announced that Swig Burris Equities, a New York-based private investor, recently purchased a 131,462-square-foot office building in San Francisco, Calif.

The transaction was valued at $28 million.

The 16-story building, which was built in 1967, is located at 450 Sansome St. The property was 60 percent leased at the time of sale.

The seller was GMACCM.

Grubb & Ellis represented the seller in the transaction. The buyer represented itself.

Grubb & Ellis Co. is a global provider of integrated real estate services.  more...

Marcus & Millichap closes Moreno Valley deal

By Inman News, Monday, January 10, 2005.

Marcus & Millichap brokered the sale of the 342,032-square-foot Moreno Valley Plaza in Moreno Valley, Calif. 

The Vons Grocery-anchored shopping center commanded a $29 million sales price.

Passco Realty sold the property to an undisclosed buyer.  more...

From Main St. to Wall St.

By Jessica Swesey, Monday, January 10, 2005.

NEW YORK–HouseValues CEO Ian Morris has spent many months explaining to investors the deep change the real estate industry is about to undergo: the massive shift of marketing spend from print classifieds to online media. The transformation involves the $11 billion spent on real estate advertising annually.

Morris and his team have been successful in getting the point across, as evidenced by the company's extraordinarily successful IPO last month.  more...

Lifting the lid off New York real estate Premium Content

By Jessica Swesey, Monday, January 10, 2005.

NEW YORK–While most of the rest of the U.S. real estate world hangs on every word Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan speaks, the market here in Manhattan rarely pays attention. Consisting of some of the world's most expensive properties, all-cash deals often are commonplace.

A handful of Manhattan's top real estate players discussed the market's unique characteristics, problems and future this morning during Real Estate Connect NYC 2005.  more...

The race is on for L.A. real estate

By Julie Brosterman, Monday, January 10, 2005.

This was the shortest holiday break in recent memory with Christmas falling on a Saturday. Traditionally Hollywood shuts down starting around the 17th of December. Pretty typically, there's a full two weeks for out-of-town excursions but this year we all got gypped. In the long run, the shortened holiday was a good thing as many friends decided not to go too far away, which probably explains the low numbers of Americans who died from the powerful tsunami in the Far East.

The weather here has been unspeakable.  more...

Americans grow discretionary income

By Inman News, Monday, January 10, 2005.

About 57 million U.S. households now have discretionary income, up from nearly 54 million in 1997-1998, according to a new study released today by The Conference Board. But the percentage of the American population with discretionary income has edged down to 51 percent, compared with 52 percent six years ago.

The study shows that 82 percent of all discretionary income is held by those earning $100,000 and more. Average discretionary income for this segment – $62,110 – is nearly three times above the U.S. average of $21,657.  more...

Real estate rates slide on shaky job gains

By Lou Barnes, Monday, January 10, 2005.

A week of frights ended with mortgages improved Friday, slightly under 5.75 percent for the lowest-fee packages.

The worst scare each month is the wait for the first-Friday-of-the-month payroll data. This month we need not have bothered: December payrolls gained only 157,000 jobs, plus a 25,000-job upward revision for November, still far short of the sustained 250,000-300,000 necessary to work down the unemployment rate and provide opportunity for the under-employed.  more...

More Massachusetts home sellers enlist help of Realtors Premium Content

By Inman News, Monday, January 10, 2005.

A new report by the National Association of Realtors on the home buying and selling preferences of Massachusetts consumers revealed that use of a real estate professional during the home search and sale processes has risen across the Bay State in the past year, and that the public's satisfaction with the performance of real estate agents has improved as well.

The 2004 Massachusetts Profile of Home Buyers & Sellers also found that the number of first-time and minority buyers purchasing homes has climbed since 2003, despite steadily rising home prices in Massachusetts.  more...

Adjustable-rate loans comprise one-third of real estate purchases Premium Content

By Inman News, Monday, January 10, 2005.

Adjustable-rate mortgages accounted for 34 percent of the conventional purchase-money market in 2004, which is the second highest annual share since 1994 when the share was 39 percent, according to an annual survey released by Freddie Mac

Initial rates on ARMs rose by about 40 basis points over the course of the year because they typically are priced off of financial instruments with shorter maturities that match the length of the initial adjustment period, said Frank Nothaft, vice president and chief economist for Freddie Mac.  more...

HomeServices expands in Minnesota

By Inman News, Monday, January 10, 2005.

Edina Realty, a HomeServices of America company, recently announced the acquisition of the real estate brokerage business of Fahey Sales Agency Inc., which has offices in Belle Plaine, Hutchinson and New Prague, Minn.  more...

Overnight real estate rates sink

By Inman News, Monday, January 10, 2005.

Long-term mortgage interest rates were lower Friday, and the benchmark 10-year Treasury bond yield remained at 4.27 percent.

The 30-year fixed-rate average dipped to 5.34 percent, and the 15-year fixed-rate sank to 4.79 percent. The 1-year adjustable was up at 3.48 percent.

The 30-year Treasury bond yield dipped to 4.84 percent.

Rates are current as of 7:15 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.  more...

Traps all home buyers should avoid

By Dian Hymer, Monday, January 10, 2005.

At the beginning of a new year, it's natural to make resolutions. For instance, you may have been putting off buying a home. Now you've resolved to buy before interest rates rise and you're priced out of the market. Before forging ahead, consider the following tips and traps.  more...

Settlement cost do's and don'ts

By Jack Guttentag, Monday, January 10, 2005.

"I know you have written extensively about settlement costs in the past, but most of it is about the reasons why they are such a difficult problem for borrowers, which I don't really care about. Can you skip the BS and just tell me what to do?"

Wow, I consider that both a rebuke and a challenge.  more...

Determining principal residence for home-sale tax exemption

By Robert Bruss, Monday, January 10, 2005.

DEAR BOB: Over the last five years I have lived in three primary homes. My summer home at Cape Cod, Mass., has appreciated about 300 percent in market value. I have lived there more than 24 of the last 60 months (summers plus months between sale and purchase of my other homes). Because of knee and hip problems, my doctor recommends selling it due to the many steps. But my accountant says the IRS won't approve the $250,000 principal residence sale tax exemption because I never filed my income taxes from that address. What do you advise?  more...