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Commercial real estate poised for slower growth in '07

By Inman News, Sunday, August 20, 2006.

The Commercial Leading Indicator for Brokerage Activity, a leading indicator for the commercial real estate market, shows an improvement in commercial sectors will continue into 2007, the National Association of Realtors reported today.

During the second quarter, the Commercial Leading Indicator for Brokerage Activity was at an index of 119.4, up 0.4 percent from a reading of 118.9 in the first quarter. The index is 2.5 percent above the second quarter of 2005 when it stood at 116.5. The second quarter index was the fifth straight quarter of growth.  more...

Wells REIT II buys Siemens Building

By Inman News, Sunday, August 20, 2006.

Wells Real Estate Investment Trust II Inc. recently acquired the four-story Siemens Quadrangle II building in Orlando, Fla.

The value of the transaction was not disclosed.

The 226,548-square-foot building, built for Siemens in 2001, is one of three adjacent Siemens buildings located at 11950 Corporate Blvd. at The Quadrangle office park. It is fully leased to the company until 2011.

Falcon Real Estate Investment Co., which purchased the property from the developer in 2002, sold the property.  more...

Buena Park Promenade sells for $23M

By Inman News, Sunday, August 20, 2006.

Grubb & Ellis Co. represented Red Mountain Retail Group in the sale of a portion of Buena Park Promenade, a 103,973-square-foot retail property in Buena Park, Calif.

The transaction was valued at $23 million.

A private family trust purchased the property, which is located at the northwest corner of Lincoln Boulevard and Valley View Street.

The property was a former Kmart-anchored center that Red Mountain converted to a specialty neighborhood center anchored by Marshall's, Jo-Ann Fabrics and dd's DISCOUNTS.  more...

Massachusetts targets Lawrence-based mortgage brokers

By Inman News, Sunday, August 20, 2006.

Massachusetts regulators allege that two mortgage brokers inflated the incomes of borrowers so they would qualify for home loans.

The state's Commissioner of Banks on Aug.  more...

First American Real Estate expands internationally

By Inman News, Sunday, August 20, 2006.

First American Real Estate Solutions has purchased a 38 percent interest in privately held RP Data Limited, a provider of property information for Australia and New Zealand.  more...

Freddie Mac settles suit over retirement benefits for $4.65M

By Inman News, Sunday, August 20, 2006.

Secondary-mortgage-market giant Freddie Mac has agreed to pay $4.65 million to settle a class-action lawsuit over its retirement plan, which was allegedly damaged by the accounting and management scandals that led the company to restate financial results for the years 2000 through 2002.

The proposed settlement, in which Freddie Mac did not admit wrongdoing, is expected to bring a close to the Department of Labor's investigation of Freddie Mac's Thrift/401(k) savings plan.  more...

Indymac claims $20M in loans obtained through inflated appraisals

By Inman News, Sunday, August 20, 2006.

Indymac Bank claims 41 Ohio residents agreed to be straw buyers of overvalued properties in Florida as part of a $20 million scheme to defraud the bank.

California-based Indymac alleges in a lawsuit that VP Equity LLC submitted a series of loan applications to finance the purchase of lots in a Panama City, Fla., development, WatersEdge, that were priced at $350,000 to $590,000.

The lawsuit alleges appraisals of the properties were inflated, and that the straw buyers expected to profit from a property-flipping scheme without making loan payments, the Akron, Ohio, Beacon Jo  more...

Florida leads nation in housing growth

By Inman News, Sunday, August 20, 2006.

For the second year in a row, Flagler County, Fla., had the highest rate of growth in the number of housing units of any county in the nation, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates released today.

The estimates cover July 1, 2004, to July 1, 2005, and show that Flagler's housing stock increased by 14.8 percent, or more than 5,000 units.  more...

Real estate foreclosure activity rises in Q2

By Inman News, Sunday, August 20, 2006.

Foreclosure activity in several Western markets rose in the second quarter compared to second-quarter 2005 after a dip in the first quarter year-over-year foreclosure activity, according to Foreclosures.com, a foreclosure research company.

California has seen gains in foreclosure activity, and recently hot housing markets in Las Vegas and Phoenix were cooling off rapidly and defaults there were on the rise, too, according to Alexis McGee, Foreclosures.com president.

"Both Las Vegas and Phoenix were impacted by speculato  more...

Houston home sales, prices hit new highs

By Inman News, Sunday, August 20, 2006.

Houston, Texas, real estate sales climbed from their year-ago levels for the 10th consecutive month in July, setting sales and price records, the Houston Association of Realtors reported.

Total property sales, which include single-family homes, townhomes, multifamily homes, country homes, high-rise properties and lots listed on the MLS, totaled 7,975 last month, which was a 3.3 percent increase over July 2005 and the highest single-family sales total on record for July.  more...

Overnight real estate rates stand pat

By Inman News, Sunday, August 20, 2006.

Long-term mortgage interest rates were flat Friday, and the benchmark 10-year Treasury bond yield fell to 4.84 percent.

The 30-year fixed-rate average held at 5.99 percent, and the 15-year fixed-rate stayed at 5.72 percent. The 1-year adjustable was down at 5.32 percent.

The 30-year Treasury bond yield decreased to 4.98 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...

MLSNI board votes to move forward with MAP transaction Premium Content

By Glenn Roberts Jr., Sunday, August 20, 2006.

A group of real estate boards in Illinois is opposing plans for a new multiple listing service organization that would combine one of the nation's largest Realtor association-operated MLSs with a smaller broker-operated MLS that operates in a similar market area.

The group has representatives who are members of the board of directors for Multiple Listing Service of Illinois Inc., a large regional MLS that is considering whether to combine with broker-owned MAP, also known as the MLS of Mount Prospect, Arlington Heights, Palatine and Prospect Heights.

Jim Schaid, the MLSNI rep  more...

Is it time to refinance into fixed-rate loan?

By Jack Guttentag, Sunday, August 20, 2006.

Last year, I wrote an article advising borrowers on how to determine whether refinancing an adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) into a fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) was advantageous. On recently rereading that article, I winced with the realization that I had made the problem more complicated than it had to be. Since the question continues to confront many borrowers, this article attempts to make amends.

The problem with my previous article is that it implies that a borrower cannot conclusively determine whether refinancing will pay without using a calculator. That is not the case.  more...

Determining home's market value

By Dian Hymer, Sunday, August 20, 2006.

If only there was a foolproof method for figuring out what a property is worth on the open market. Then it would be easy to know how much to offer so that you wouldn't overpay, or risk losing out because you offered too little. Home sellers could price to sell without having to endure a series of price reductions and months on the market.

Some buyers and sellers turn to Internet sites like Zillow.com to help them through the valuation quagmire -- with varying degrees of success.  more...

Sound advice would have guaranteed real estate tax break

By Robert Bruss, Sunday, August 20, 2006.

DEAR BOB: I am selling a condo that is in my daughter's name. I have lived in the condo for the last seven years and paid the mortgage payments. The sale will close the first of next month. It will show up as a $120,000 capital gain for my daughter. Can she use the sales proceeds to pay for another house for me to live in and claim it as a gift?  more...