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New England apartment communities bundled in sale

By Inman News, Monday, February 13, 2006.

CB Richard Ellis/New England brokered the sale of Windsor Brooke, a 280-unit apartment community, and Windsor Ridge, a 238-unit apartment community, both located in Middletown, Conn.

The total value of the transaction was approximately $73.3 million.

Fairfield Residential LLC purchased the class A properties from GID Investment Advisers LLC.  more...

'Procuring cause': Who gets paid in real estate deals? Premium Content

By Glenn Roberts Jr., Monday, February 13, 2006.

Home buyers may not realize that they can jeopardize their real estate agent's compensation in a real estate transaction by providing personal information to another agent at an open house, failing to formally end a working relationship with another agent, or even requesting information about a property through an agent's Web site.

The National Association of Realtors has for decades maintained policies to resolve disputes that relate to "procuring cause" – a determination of which real estate professional started an ongoing c  more...

Prudential real estate brokerages merge in Florida

By Inman News, Monday, February 13, 2006.

Sarasota, Fla.-based Prudential Palms Realty on Friday announced it has merged with another locally based real estate company, Prudential Cascade Realty, to strengthen the Prudential brand in Sarasota, Manatee and Charlotte counties.

In the agreement, Prudential Cascade and its sales agents will become part of Prudential Palms Realty, which will now comprise approximately 250 sales professionals.

"This conversation began when we were both trying to pu  more...

Freddie Mac extends hurricane foreclosure moratorium

By Inman News, Monday, February 13, 2006.

Freddie Mac said last week it will extend its foreclosure suspension until May 31, 2006, in 21 counties and parishes in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas that suffered the most severe damage due to hurricanes Katrina and Rita. At the same time, Freddie Mac said it would lift the moratorium on foreclosures in areas that experienced the least damage.

The announcement was made in a February 10 Guide Bulletin sent to Freddie Mac's seller/servicers.  more...

Data error inflates home value to $400 million

By Inman News, Monday, February 13, 2006.

Home-price appreciation has never happened this fast: A data-entry error on a county computer system in Indiana changed the value of a home to $400 million from its original value of $120,000, according to news reports.

The error led to an erroneous tax bill of about $8 million for the property, and a failure to fully correct the data problem has created a boondoggle for the city, county and area schools that have to pay millions of dollars that should have been collected in taxes but was not.

The  more...

National for-sale-by-owner service partners with USA Today

By Inman News, Monday, February 13, 2006.

ForSaleByOwner.com and USATODAY.com have partnered to provide a newly launched for-sale-by-owner real estate center on USATODAY.com, giving consumers the tools to buy and sell real estate without having to pay a broker sales commission, the companies said in an announcement today.

The deal is ForSaleByOwner's first alliance with a media company.  more...

Twin Cities endure real estate sales slump

By Inman News, Monday, February 13, 2006.

Home sales in the Twin Cities, Minn., metro area dropped for the fourth consecutive month in January, while the median home price eked out modest gains, according to the four metro Twin Cities Realtor associations.

Realtors reported 2,783 closed home sales last month, down 3.5 percent from the same month a year ago.  more...

ERA launches real estate marketing tool

By Inman News, Monday, February 13, 2006.

ERA Real Estate today announced the launch of a Direct Marketing Resource Center that is designed to help company affiliates keep in contact with their prospects and customers.

The ERA Direct Marketing Resource Center program, which can be accessed by ERA affiliates through the company's intranet site at www.teamera.com, serves as a "one-stop" online destination for ERA affiliates' prospecting and direct-marketing campaigns, according to a company announcement today.

Brokers and  more...

Overnight real estate rates move lower

By Inman News, Monday, February 13, 2006.

Long-term mortgage interest rates were back down Friday, and the benchmark 10-year Treasury bond yield climbed to 4.59 percent.

The 30-year fixed-rate average dipped to 5.81 percent, and the 15-year fixed-rate sank to 5.42 percent. The 1-year adjustable was up slightly at 4.56 percent.

The 30-year Treasury bond yield dropped to 4.55 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...

Using technology in a 'people' business Premium Content

By Glenn Roberts Jr., Monday, February 13, 2006.

Editor's note: Customer relationship management practices, or CRM for short, can be crucial in the Internet age, when many consumers are starting their real estate search 12 to 18 months before they're ready to work one-on-one with an agent. In this three-part report, Inman News looks into the meaning of CRM, best practices and an array of technology systems available to the real estate industry.  more...

Why RESPA has failed to prevent real estate kickbacks

By Jack Guttentag, Monday, February 13, 2006.

(This is Part 2 of a three-part series. See Part 1 and Part 3.)

Last week I made the point that referral power -- the power to direct a client to a specific service provider -- is pervasive in the home mortgage market. Referral power raises prices to consumers. Competition for the favor of referral agents raises the costs of service providers, which are passed on to consumers in higher prices.  more...

Satisfying home purchase requires the right team

By Dian Hymer, Monday, February 13, 2006.

Don't underestimate the time it takes to buy a home. Even if you work with a top-notch real estate agent, there are myriad details that need to be attended to if you want to make sure that you buy the right house at the right price.

While on the subject of working with an agent, don't even consider working with someone you don't trust. Mutual respect and good rapport are necessary elements of a good working relationship with a real estate agent.  more...

Collecting judgment from deadbeat tenant no easy task

By Robert Bruss, Monday, February 13, 2006.

DEAR BOB: About seven months ago, I had to evict deadbeat tenants from my rental house. He and his wife had been good tenants for more than six years. Then they suddenly started paying their rent late, and eventually they didn't pay at all. I had no choice but to evict them (although I felt sorry for their two cute kids). In addition to the eviction order, the court awarded me a judgment for $1,836 unpaid rent and costs. My lawyer turned the judgment over to an excellent collection agency, but they have been unable to collect anything. Now they report the tenants can't be found.  more...

Joint venture gains massive space in Las Vegas

By Inman News, Monday, February 13, 2006.

CIP Real Estate, an Irvine, Calif.-based real estate investment company, and its joint venture partner, Buchanan Street Partners of Newport Beach, Calif., have purchased 18 office/flex/industrial buildings within Hughes Airport Center in Las Vegas for $145 million.  more...

$12.5M retail asset sold in California

By Inman News, Monday, February 13, 2006.

Marcus & Millichap arranged the sale of the 12-acre Sinaloa Plaza in Simi Valley, Calif.

The value of the transaction was $12.5 million.

The Sinaloa Plaza is located at 540-690 West Los Angeles Ave., with a total gross square footage of approximately 60,139 square feet.

At the time of sale, the property was anchored by Vons and other tenants such as Goodwill, Frazee Paint, Denny's, Washington Mutual, County of Ventura, Subway, H&R Block, Fantastic Sams and Postal Annex.  more...