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BPG lands Mass. office park

By Inman News, Thursday, August 10, 2006.

BPG Properties Ltd. recently purchased Totten Pond Office Center in Waltham, Mass., for $45.1 million.

CH Realty II sold the 296,641-square-foot office park, which is comprised of three buildings located at 400-1, 400-2 and 460 Totten Pond Road. Property amenities include two cafes, a fitness center with game room, shower and locker facilities, and a shared conference room.

The property, which was 90 percent leased at the time of sale, is home to BMC Software, Texas Instruments, Archivas, Verispan and Med-I-Bank.  more...

Distribution warehouse purchased outside Chicago

By Inman News, Thursday, August 10, 2006.

Grubb & Ellis Co. recently represented CenterPoint Properties Trust in the purchase of a 138,085-square-foot distribution facility in Franklin Park, Ill.

The value of the transaction was not disclosed.

The property is located at 10701 W. Belmont. Built in 1970, the single-story, class C facility features 24-foot clear ceiling heights, 10,000 square feet of office space, 22 loading docks, one drive-in door, and parking for 100 vehicles.

GCC Drum, a nationwide manufacturer of plastic and fiber drums, sold the property.  more...

Seattle developer adds multifamily, office space

By Inman News, Thursday, August 10, 2006.

Mastro Properties recently purchased an apartment complex and an office building in the Seattle metro area for a combined price of $34.7 million.

Mastro acquired the Waterview Apartments in Kirkland for $18.7 million and the Plexus Office Building in Bothell for $16 million.

"We're planning an upgrade of the Waterview Apartments, creating 45 high-end units," Mastro's CFO Gary English said. "This is the fifth apartment complex purchased by Mastro Properties in less than 12 months representing a total of 392 units."  more...

Inman News real estate conference to target luxury market

By Inman News, Thursday, August 10, 2006.

Real estate and Wall Street trends will converge at an Inman News conference set for Oct. 15-17 in Miami.

The conference, Connect High Net Miami 2006, will bring technologists, luxury real estate brokers, and wealth management and financial experts together to network, form partnerships, find new customers and better reach high-net-worth real estate investors, according to Bradley J.  more...

Not everyone's happy with Fed's pause at 5.25%

By Lou Barnes, Thursday, August 10, 2006.

All long-term rates have risen gradually since the Fed's pause at 5.25 percent, the 10-year T-note from a 4.89 percent bottom to 4.96 percent, mortgages edging up from 6.5 percent.

Some of this rise is a natural rebound from a straight-line decline. A more ominous upward push has come from the Revolt of the Old Guys, a most unusual group saying the Fed's pause is a mistake. Beyond mistake: delusional.

On Monday, the day before the pause, Martin Feldstein, certified old-hand, calm, disciplined, finalist for Fed chairman, wrote an editorial for the Wall Street Journal.  more...

HUD looking at Freddie, Fannie investments

By Inman News, Thursday, August 10, 2006.

As Congress debates whether to strip it of much of its role overseeing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the Department of Housing and Urban Development is launching a "comprehensive review and evaluation" of the government-sponsored lenders' investments.

Investigations into accounting and management scandals at Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae led the companies to restate earnings by a combined $16 billion and pay more than $500 million in fines.  more...

Think tank sees more consolidation in real estate finance

By Inman News, Thursday, August 10, 2006.

The real estate finance industry will become increasingly consolidated even as integrated financial services companies take advantage of convergence to sell a wider range of financial products to their customers, an industry think tank says in a new report.

The report, which attempts to analyze the forces that will drive change in the real estate finance industry over the next 10 years, also predicts that recent immigrants will make up a larger share of borrowers, and that entitlement programs like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security could make capital scarce.  more...

Take the kitchen cabinets and I'll scream

By Alison Rogers, Thursday, August 10, 2006.

One of the things that makes New York different from the rest of the country is that co-op boards, with their need to approve new tenants, slow down every transaction. For example, I listed a property in April, went to contract in July, and will be lucky to close in September.

This long cycle has a number of consequences; I think one of them is that it's tougher for a seller to detach from the property because no one is ripping off the Band-Aid.

I didn't think about this until I went to clean out my seller's property.  more...

Twin Cities home sales plummet

By Inman News, Thursday, August 10, 2006.

Home sales in the Twin Cities, Minn., area fell in July for the fourth straight month as rising inventory significantly slowed home-price growth, according to reports from three Twin Cities-area Realtor associations.

Realtors recorded 4,872 home sales last month, down 18.7 percent from 5,995 sales in July 2005.  more...

ERA Real Estate adds 51 offices in Q2

By Inman News, Thursday, August 10, 2006.

ERA Real Estate this week announced that it added 27 residential real estate brokerage companies to its international franchise network during the second quarter.

The ERA network includes about 39,700 brokers and sales associates and 2,989 offices in the United States and in 29 other countries and territories, the company announced. Some offices are owned and operated by NRT Inc.  more...

NRT acquires Hamptons-area luxury real estate firm

By Inman News, Thursday, August 10, 2006.

NRT Inc., a subsidiary of Realogy Corp., a company formed as a spin-off of Cendant Corp.'s real estate services segment, has acquired the assets of Allan M. Schneider Associates Inc., a luxury residential real estate brokerage company with 12 offices in the Hamptons, Shelter Island and North Fork areas in New York.

Based in Bridgehampton, N.Y., Allan M.  more...

Overnight real estate rates steady

By Inman News, Thursday, August 10, 2006.

Long-term mortgage interest rates were unchanged Thursday, and the benchmark 10-year Treasury bond yield dipped to 4.93 percent.

The 30-year fixed-rate average held at 6.07 percent, and the 15-year fixed rate remained at 5.79 percent. The 1-year adjustable stood at 5.41 percent.

The 30-year Treasury bond yield increased to 5.07 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...

Vertical, classified search key to lead gen Premium Content

By Bernice Ross, Thursday, August 10, 2006.

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

During the last week of July, the movers, shakers and innovators of our industry met in San Francisco for Real Estate Connect. You may have been reading about all the amazing new trends and technologies -- now it's time to examine how those innovations can improve your bottom line.  more...

Bankrate survey finds 43% spread in U.S. closing costs

By Inman News, Thursday, August 10, 2006.

New York has the highest closing costs in the United States and Missouri the lowest, with a 43 percent spread between the two states, Bankrate Inc.  more...

Options abound for creating backyard storage

By Paul Bianchina, Thursday, August 10, 2006.

There are lots of options for creating the perfect storage shed to store and organize anything from riding lawnmowers to outdoor tools and supplies. Possibilities range from small, prefabricated sheds that are virtually preassembled, to larger, site-built sheds that can be custom designed to any size, shape and architectural look.

The first step is to decide what it is you want to store. Will you need drive-in access for a riding mower or yard tractor? Will you want an area for hanging shovels, rakes and other items?  more...

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