Home

Sporting goods, pet stores purchased for $63M

By Inman News, Thursday, October 19, 2006.

Jones Lang LaSalle negotiated the sale of the Dick's Sporting Goods portfolio and one PetSmart store located throughout the eastern half of the United States, for approximately $63.3 million.

Berkshire Development sold the portfolio, which includes 10 retail properties, to NorthStar Realty Finance, a real estate investment trust.  more...

Grocery centers sell in Deep South

By Inman News, Thursday, October 19, 2006.

BridgePointe Advisors negotiated the sale of two shopping centers totaling more than 150,000 square feet in Alabama and Georgia.

The sales prices of the transactions were not disclosed.

The first deal, Three Notch Plaza, is a 45,899-square-foot property located in Andalusia, Ala. Anchored by Winn Dixie and Burkes Outlet, the center, built in 1983, was fully occupied at the time of sale.  more...

Travelport signs global headquarters lease

By Inman News, Thursday, October 19, 2006.

Travelport, a travel services company that operates the Orbitz and GTA brands, signed a long-term lease agreement for 114,000 square feet of office space in Parsippany, N.J.

The value of the transaction was not disclosed.

Travelport will use the space at Morris Corporate Center III as its new global headquarters after relocating from the nearby Mack-Cali Business Campus.  more...

Fed pause likely next week

By Lou Barnes, Thursday, October 19, 2006.

Long term rates stabilized this week, near 4.8 percent for the 10-year T-note holding low-fee fixed-rate mortgages at 6.375 percent.

Stability is likely to persist for another week. The Fed meets next Tuesday, but two weeks before election day will keep the lowest-possible profile, and there is no significant economic data due until the first days of November.

Last week and this, rates have been a bit higher than at the end of September on the theory that the economy is in pretty good shape, the Fed focused on inflation worry and not thinking at all about a rate reduction.  more...

Chicago MLSs move closer to merger Premium Content

By Inman News, Thursday, October 19, 2006.

Despite a rift among shareholders of the Multiple Listing Service of Northern Illinois, its board of directors this week approved a consolidation with a rival Chicago-area MLS.  more...

Home improvement market weakens

By Inman News, Thursday, October 19, 2006.

Homeowner remodeling spending continued to show signs of easing through the third quarter of 2006, with homeowners spending an estimated $160.5 billion on home improvements and repairs over the past four quarters, according to a survey released today.

The Remodeling Activity Indicator, devised by Harvard's Joint Center for Housing Studies, showed only a 1.6 percent increase in remodel spending in this period compared to the previous four quarters.

"The softening housing market, including a reduced volume of home sales, h  more...

Relaxed lending standards concern regulators

By Inman News, Thursday, October 19, 2006.

Comptroller of the Currency John C. Dugan is voicing concerns that many retail lenders have relaxed their underwriting standards, offering borrowers more home equity loans with high loan-to-value ratios and longer interest-only periods, and backing piggyback loans to avoid mortgage insurance requirements.  more...

North Carolina home sales slip

By Inman News, Thursday, October 19, 2006.

Existing-home sales in North Carolina dropped 4 percent in September compared to a year ago, while the average home price gained modestly, the North Carolina Association of Realtors reported.

According to statistics compiled by NCAR, 11,763 units were sold last month, down from 12,194 in September 2005.  more...

Prominent real estate firms send listings to Google

By Inman News, Thursday, October 19, 2006.

Two prominent real estate brokerage companies this week announced content partnerships with Google to provide property listings and agent information to the search-engine company.

Columbus, Ohio-based Real Living, with nearly 4,000 agents in 12 states, and Prudential California/Nevada/Texas Realty, which has about 5,000 agents in 139 offices, will make property listings available to Google Base, a free online classified listings service that will also be searchable via the mai  more...

The three-hour closing

By Alison Rogers, Thursday, October 19, 2006.

DONE!

The first listing that I took waaaay back in the spring just closed today, and I got a check for $6,000 and everything.

This must be the fun part.

It doesn't normally take six months to sell something here; in fact, we had our meeting of the minds much earlier. The problem was that the intended purchaser was a grad student without terribly high assets. Mom and dad, instead of making a gift of the down payment to their academically minded son, wanted to be co-buyers.  more...

Overnight real estate rates get boost

By Inman News, Thursday, October 19, 2006.

Long-term mortgage interest rates were higher Thursday, and the benchmark 10-year Treasury bond yield increased to 4.79 percent.

The 30-year fixed-rate average rose to 5.93 percent, and the 15-year fixed rate gained to 5.63 percent. The 1-year adjustable was up at 5.37 percent.

The 30-year Treasury bond yield rose to 4.91 percent.

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

Mortgage rate figures are according to Bankrate.com, which publishes nightly averages based on its survey of 4,000 banks in 50 states.  more...

Blogging 101 for real estate Premium Content

By Bernice Ross, Thursday, October 19, 2006.

(This is Part 2 of a four-part series. Read Part 1, Part 3 and Part 4.)

Have you visited a blog and wondered what all those strange links are at the end of many posts?  more...

Home builder reinvents communal California living

By Katherine Salant, Thursday, October 19, 2006.

Ask almost anyone in America to draw a picture of a house, and they will show you the familiar square with a triangle on the top -- the universal symbol for a single-family house with a sloped roof. But if you ask the same person what it feels like to be inside a house, which is really the more important question if he or she is looking to buy one, you'll get a variety of answers that have nothing to do with exterior appearance.  more...

Make a cozy fire without the firewood

By Paul Bianchina, Thursday, October 19, 2006.

If you've been thinking about how nice it would be to have the warmth and ambience of a fireplace but without all the hassles associated with cutting, storing and hauling firewood, it might be time to consider the benefits of installing a gas fireplace.

Freestanding and built-in gas fireplaces are available in a surprising number of sizes, styles and colors. They are powered by natural gas and if you don't have that available most can be easily converted to burn propane.  more...

Top ways to save on homeowner's insurance

By Robert Bruss, Thursday, October 19, 2006.

Everyone, no matter how rich or poor, enjoys saving money. For example, a few weeks ago a multimillionaire real estate investor friend took me to a lavish lunch, which must have cost him at least $100. As we were leaving the restaurant, he saw the city "meter maid" coming down the street.  more...