By Inman News, Thursday, October 6, 2005. Triple Net Properties facilitated the acquisition of the 383,168-square-foot Woodside Corporate Park in Beaverton, Ore. The value of the transaction was not disclosed. Tenant-in-common investors purchased the properties from PS Business Parks. Woodside Corporate Park consists of eight office buildings, which were approximately 86 percent leased at the time of sale to a number of tenants, including IBM, Grass Valley Group Inc. and Watermark Paddlesports Inc. *** more...
By Inman News, Thursday, October 6, 2005. Grubb & Ellis/BRE Commercial LLC negotiated the sale of Monte Viejo, a 480-unit apartment complex in Phoenix. The value of the transaction was $50.5 million. Monteviejo Associates LLC purchased the class A community, located at 2220 East Beardsley, from MonteViejo LLC. Grubb & Ellis/BRE Commercial LLC is an independently owned and operated full-service commercial real estate firm serving metropolitan Phoenix and secondary Arizona cities. *** more...
By Inman News, Thursday, October 6, 2005. Though employment fell in September, the loss was far less than expected in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the government reported this morning. The news suggests that the economy might be bouncing back from the hurricane better than expected, though a government economist said it was difficult to accurately quantify the disaster's effects because it's hard to survey the evacuees and inoperative Gulf Coast businesses. more...
By Inman News, Thursday, October 6, 2005. Two Missouri men were sentenced Wednesday to pay more than $1.3 million apiece in restitution, and one of the men was sentenced to prison, in connection with an $18 million mortgage fraud scheme, officials said. Anthony Edward Long, 35, of Blue Springs, Mo., and Mitchell David Medlin, 43, of Lee's Summit, Mo., were sentenced in separate hearings Wednesday before U.S. District Judge Ortrie D. Smith, the U.S. attorney's office for Missouri's Western District said. more...
By Inman News, Thursday, October 6, 2005. After years of steady growth in its workforce, home loan lender Countrywide is planning a corporate expansion into Florida, the company said Thursday, with the purchase of two buildings in Tampa. The financial services giant added nearly 20 percent to its workforce in 2004 and has continued at that pace this year, bringing its total headcount to about 50,000. Countrywide also plans to nearly double its employees over the next five years. more...
By Inman News, Thursday, October 6, 2005. After years of steady growth in its workforce, home loan lender Countrywide is planning a corporate expansion into Florida, the company said Thursday, with the purchase of two buildings in Tampa. The financial services giant added nearly 20 percent to its workforce in 2004 and has continued at that pace this year, bringing its total headcount to about 50,000. Countrywide also plans to nearly double its employees over the next five years. more...
By Inman News, Thursday, October 6, 2005. The U.S. House of Representatives Thursday passed three bills that would provide direct housing relief to survivors of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The bills, introduced in late September, grant waivers of some eligibility requirements under the Section 8 voucher program; empower the Rural Housing Services to convert voucher funds for rural housing projects destroyed by Katrina and Rita into temporary housing assistance; and temporarily remove the public services cap on Community Development Block Grant funds. more...
By Inman News, Thursday, October 6, 2005. Major home builder MDC Holdings Inc. today announced a growth in net orders during the third quarter this year, a 21 percent year-over-year increase. The company, with subsidiaries that build homes under the name Richmond American Homes, received orders, net of cancellations, for 3,551 homes and 12,929 homes, respectively, during the third quarter and first nine months of 2005, compared with net orders for 2,925 homes and 11,586 homes during the same periods in 2004. more...
By Alison Rogers, Thursday, October 6, 2005.
Week 5: I'm still in start-up mode, waiting for the contracts with my partners to go through. I look forward to cruising around looking at houses, but for now I spend my time researching cars, since it's not clear to me whether I'll be better off leasing or getting a Zipcar. And, of course, I have to learn to drive. If you live anywhere but New York City, you may wonder how a person could possibly hit the age of 38 without driving. The answer is a sad memory: when I was 15, my dad contracted a rare paralytic disease (imagine a fast-acting multiple sclerosis). more...
By Inman News, Thursday, October 6, 2005. Calling it a victory for free trade and housing affordability, the nation's home builders on Thursday applauded a unanimous decision by a North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) panel finding that Canadian lumber exports into the U.S. are not subsidized. U.S. law allows countervailing duties to be imposed only upon two conditions: that a foreign supplier is benefiting from subsidies, and U.S. producers are being injured, or threatened with injury, as a result. An earlier unanimous NAFTA ruling found that there was no injury or threat of injury. more...
By Inman News, Thursday, October 6, 2005. Long-term mortgage interest rates retreated Thursday, and the benchmark 10-year Treasury bond yield climbed to 4.39 percent. The 30-year fixed-rate average slipped to 5.51 percent, and the 15-year fixed-rate sank to 5.09 percent. The 1-year adjustable was down at 4.12 percent. The 30-year Treasury bond yield increased to 4.61 percent. Rates are current as of 7:15 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. more...
By Bernice Ross, Thursday, October 6, 2005.
Word-of-mouth marketing is a powerful tool to spread the word about your real estate business. According to the Word of Mouth Marketing Association, WOMMA.org, there are 11 primary ways to spread the word about your business. How many of these strategies are you using in your business? 1. Buzz marketing more...
By Katherine Salant, Thursday, October 6, 2005.
What makes a house purchase a 10? It rapidly increases in value, and it makes you feel great every day you live in it. If you only get money out of the deal, I'd give the purchase a five. What's so great about a feel-great house, and why should you want one? It fits your lifestyle, its colors ebb and flow through the house in a calming fashion, the room shapes and openings have a logic that makes furniture arranging easy, and it still looks good five years after you bought it – a period that also brought two more children and a dog into the household. more...
By Robert Bruss, Thursday, October 6, 2005.
A few months ago I refinanced my home mortgage to lower the interest rate and combine my old first mortgage with my home equity credit line and lower my payments. I figured it was time to get rid of that adjustable-rate home equity credit line because it looks like interest rates are heading up. more...
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