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Ketchup giant relocates Chicago plant

By Inman News, Thursday, August 24, 2006.

Grubb & Ellis Co. recently announced the sale of a 250,000-square-foot food manufacturing plant formerly occupied by H.J. Heinz Co. in Northbrook, Ill.

The value of the transaction was not disclosed.

Pittsburgh-based Heinz is consolidating its various operations into other regional facilities, freeing up space in this single-story industrial building constructed in 1971. Heinz manufactured bouillon soup at this location.  more...

1970s office center sells in Orange County

By Inman News, Thursday, August 24, 2006.

Lee & Associates has negotiated the sale of a 172,000-square-foot office building in Tustin, Calif., for $32 million.

The five-building complex known as Meredith Financial Centre is located at 17772-17862 E. 17th St. Built in 1973, the property includes 52 units ranging in size from 550 square feet to 14,000 square feet.

The property was 90 percent occupied at the time of sale. Notable tenants include State Farm Insurance, General Nutrition Corp. and the corporate offices of Mimi's Cafe.

The Meredith Trust sold the facility to Greenbrier Partners LLC.  more...

Millwork co. expands business with Texas acquisition

By Inman News, Thursday, August 24, 2006.

Binswanger recently represented IMI Cornelius in the sale of its 92,000-square-foot industrial building with acreage in San Antonio, Texas.

The value of the transaction was not disclosed.

Dimension Millworks Inc., a manufacturer of various types of millwork, including doors, sashes, flooring and cabinetry, purchased the property, which is located at 702 San Fernando St. It was already leasing a portion of the building at the time of purchase and is expanding its operations with the acquisition.  more...

Gulf Coast real estate one year after Katrina Premium Content

By Glenn Roberts Jr., Thursday, August 24, 2006.

Jon Ritten, president and broker for Coldwell Banker Coast Delta Realty in Diamondhead, Miss., said he is still haunted by the heavy hum of helicopters, and the utter devastation that left his community in tatters.

"This place truly looked like Beirut. I can still hear those helicopters coming," he said.  more...

Colorado settles captive reinsurance claim with LandAmerica

By Matt Carter, Thursday, August 24, 2006.

LandAmerica Financial Group has agreed to refund title insurance premiums to 922 Colorado residents who state regulators said were victims of captive reinsurance practices that provided kickbacks to lenders and home builders.  more...

Economy allays fears of huge home-price declines

By Lou Barnes, Thursday, August 24, 2006.

Mortgages are stuck in a happy place, near 6.5 percent for the low-fee deals, the 10-year T-note's decline to 4.79 percent not enough to move the mortgage market.

At the moment, this whole six-week decline in rates rests on the assumption that the housing market is in a progressive collapse that will soon take the whole economy with it. The bond-betting housing bubblers have one big risk: the only bubble may be in the froth on their own Kool-Aid.  more...

Real estate blog pioneer dies

By Inman News, Thursday, August 24, 2006.

Florida real estate agent John Mudd passed away of natural causes at his Tampa home last month.  more...

H&R Block expects mortgage loan losses

By Inman News, Thursday, August 24, 2006.

H&R Block Inc. said Thursday it's setting aside $102.1 million to cover anticipated losses on loans by its Option One Mortgage Corp. unit.

About half the money -- $46.1 million -- is to cover defaults and repurchase requests from loan buyers in the previous quarter, while the rest of the provision of losses is related to loans sold before that.  more...

East Coast real estate sales: Gloomy

By Inman News, Thursday, August 24, 2006.

The real estate slowdown along the East Coast worsened in July, as sales activity plummeted and prices were either declining or stifled in Florida, Massachusetts, Virginia and North Carolina, according to statistics provided by Realtor associations in those states.

In North Carolina, sales dipped 2 percent in July compared to a year ago, marking the first year-over-year drop in sales activity in several years, the North Carolina Association of Realtors announced.

Existing-home sales in North Carolina totaled 13,652 last month, down from 13,977 posted in July 2005,  more...

Three-fourths of agents on vacation

By Alison Rogers, Thursday, August 24, 2006.

There are around 1.2 million Realtors in the U.S., and three-fourths of them are on vacation.

August is like this in many fields; on Wall Street, where I used to work, it was dead. My shrink goes off to Tuscany or wherever he goes, and my husband threatens to follow. My sponsoring broker spends his time at the beach, but I actually like that, because it gives me the opportunity to show his listings.

And you figure the customers who are going to drag themselves to an open house on a sunny Sunday afternoon are pretty serious customers.  more...

SEC probes KB Home stock-option practices

By Inman News, Thursday, August 24, 2006.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has launched an inquiry into KB Home's stock-option grants, the home building company announced.

Staff of the Los Angeles regional office for the SEC on Wednesday notified the company of an "informal inquiry," KB Home reported.

"KB Home has informed the SEC staff of the status of an internal review being conducted by members of the Audit and Compliance Committee of its board of directors in conjunction with outside legal counsel.  more...

Another dip in overnight real estate rates

By Inman News, Thursday, August 24, 2006.

Long-term mortgage interest rates were down Thursday, and the benchmark 10-year Treasury bond yield dipped to 4.8 percent.

The 30-year fixed-rate average slipped to 5.96 percent, and the 15-year fixed-rate sank to 5.68 percent. The 1-year adjustable was down at 5.32 percent.

The 30-year Treasury bond yield decreased to 4.94 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...

Condo share to decline as rentals rebound Premium Content

By Glenn Roberts Jr., Thursday, August 24, 2006.

The share of condominium units among all multifamily housing starts rocketed from just above 20 percent in 2003 to about 48 percent at the end of 2005, though that share is expected to fall back as the condo market cools, the economist for the National Association of Home Builders said this week.

David Seiders, the builder trade group's chief economist, said he expects the share of condo starts to dip to about 35 percent by late 2007.  more...

Future of real estate: Lead Conversion 2.0 Premium Content

By Bernice Ross, Thursday, August 24, 2006.

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

There's been lots of press about "Internet 2.0." Internet 1.0 was about content and creating "stickiness" on your Web site (i.e. having people stay on your site to read your content.) Internet 1.5 was about lead generation.  more...

Big Florida houses exude soul, comfort

By Katherine Salant, Thursday, August 24, 2006.

In recent years, architects and media alike have denounced big houses. These behemoths, they say, are ugly, vacuous and without soul; in short, "there's no there there."

While such criticisms certainly characterize some big houses out there, they do not describe every big house built today. Many are well designed, with soul oozing from every corner.

This truism came to mind as I toured six large furnished models at the Founder's Club, a new subdivision in Sarasota, Fla.  more...

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