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Date

Dec

19
2007

Spinning the Wheel of Recession

By Glenn Roberts, Jr., Wednesday, December 19, 2007.
David Seiders, chief economist for the National Association of Home Builders, forecasts a 40 percent chance that the U.S. will slump into an economic recession -- Seiders estimates Gross Domestic Product growth of 0.5 percent in the current quarter and...  more...

Foreign investment funds: vultures or St. Bernards?

By Matt Carter, Wednesday, December 19, 2007.
China -- through government-controlled China Investment Corp. -- will soon own a nearly 10 percent stake in the U.S.'s second-biggest investment bank, Morgan Stanley, thanks to $9.4 billion in writedowns on investments linked to bad mortgages. China Investment Corp --...  more...

Manhattan's Citi Towers deal tops $1.5B

By Inman News, Wednesday, December 19, 2007.

A joint venture between SL Green and SITQ closed on the acquisition of two downtown Manhattan, N.Y., office buildings – at 388 and 390 Greenwich St. -- for $1.575 billion, or $598 per square foot.

The buildings, which are adjacent and total over 2.6 million square feet, were 100 percent occupied at closing by Citigroup, which will remain in place under the terms of a 13-year triple-net lease that provides for annual rental increases.  more...

Local developer buys L.A. retail complex

By Inman News, Wednesday, December 19, 2007.

A Southern California developer recently purchased Culver Plaza, a 49,986-square-foot retail/office property in Los Angeles, for a price of $20 million.

The two-story building, which is located at 9901 Washington Blvd. on 41,953 square feet of land, was 35 percent leased at the time of sale to a mix of office and retail tenants. The major tenants are Curves and El Pollo Loco. The second floor, which encompasses approximately 26,000 square feet, was recently vacated by Mann Theatre. The property also includes 360 subterranean parking places.  more...

Food maker leases 250,000 square feet in Nashville

By Inman News, Wednesday, December 19, 2007.

B&G Foods Inc., which produces, sells and distributes such brands as Ortega, Cream of Wheat and Emeril's, has leased approximately 250,000 square feet of a recently completed facility in Nashville, Tenn.

The value of the transaction was not disclosed.

The property, Logistics Way, is a 570,000-square-foot bulk distribution building in the Southeast/Interchange City submarket that was developed through a joint venture between DCT Industrial and Logistics Way Investors LLC.  more...

Nevada tops U.S. rate of foreclosure filings

By Inman News, Wednesday, December 19, 2007.

Nevada continued to lead the nation for its rate of foreclosure filings per household in November -- a position it has held for the past 11 months, foreclosure data company RealtyTrac reported today.

The company reported a 67.8 percent nationwide gain in the volume of foreclosure filings in November 2007 compared to the same month last year, though filings declined 10 percent compared to October 2007.

The national rate of foreclosure filings in November was 1 for every 617 households -- Nevada had a rate of 1 filing for every 152 households during that month.

Next on th  more...

California, Florida top list with local market price declines

By Inman News, Wednesday, December 19, 2007.

Home prices fell in 21 states from October 2006 through October 207 and dropped in 21 of 31 major metro areas reported in a study released today by First American Corp.'s LoanPerformance.

The price of single-family detached homes tumbled 15.7 percent in the Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, Calif., market area from October 2006 to October 2007, according to the LoanPerformance Home Price Index, which analyzes data for repeat sales transactions.  more...

Builder Hovnanian takes $469 million net loss in Q4 Premium Content

By Inman News, Wednesday, December 19, 2007.

Builder Hovnanian Enterprises reported a net loss of almost half a billion dollars for the three-month period ending Oct. 31.

Hovnanian recorded a $469 million net loss for the fourth quarter of the 2007 fiscal year, or $7.42 per share. That compares with a net loss of $118 million, or $1.88 per share, in the fourth quarter of the 2006 fiscal year.  more...

Home loan apps plunge 19%

By Inman News, Wednesday, December 19, 2007.

Mortgage application volume last week posted the sharpest drop in recent years as interest rates continued higher, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported today.

The group's market composite index, a measure of home loan application volume, tumbled 19.5 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from the first week of December.  more...

Frontdoor gets more property listings

By Inman News, Wednesday, December 19, 2007.

Leading Real Estate Companies of the World, a global network of real estate companies, has struck a deal with Scripps Networks' HGTV to provide property listings for the cable network's new real estate Web site, Frontdoor.com, launched just last week.

The deal aims to get the home listings inventory of LeadingRE's members, which include 700 companies and 145,000 sales associates, in front of HGTV's consumer audience.  more...

Congress OKs tax relief on forgiven mortgage debt

By Inman News, Wednesday, December 19, 2007.

Congress has passed legislation that would open up a three-year window during which homeowners who end up in foreclosure -- or negotiate workouts or short sales with lenders -- won't have to pay taxes on up to $2 million of forgiven debt.

The House has approved the Senate's amendments to HR 3648, the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act, which eliminate provisions of the bill opposed by the Bush administration.  more...

Real estate rates fall overnight

By Inman News, Wednesday, December 19, 2007.

Long-term mortgage interest rates were lower Tuesday, and the benchmark 10-year Treasury bond yield dropped to 4.12 percent.

The 30-year fixed-rate average sank to 5.84 percent, and the 15-year fixed rate dipped to 5.4 percent. The 1-year adjustable rate held at 5.59 percent.

The 30-year Treasury bond yield edged down to 4.54 percent.

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

Goodbye shingles, hello stucco

By Bill and Kevin Burnett, Wednesday, December 19, 2007.

Q: We have cedar shingles on our home and love them. We had a difficult time finding someone to restore them until I mentioned it to a retired contractor. He had leftover oil preservative, which his son-in-law used to paint the shingles for $800. Now it's time to do it again.

However, our daughter and son-in-law are buying our home, and their friends said the ugliest thing about this house is the wood shingles. They think they will take the shingles down and put up stucco. Is that possible?  more...

Holidays have potential for wooing buyers

By Tom Kelly, Wednesday, December 19, 2007.

The neighborhood kids all arrived, bundled in holiday scarves and hats, plus patent leather shoes usually reserved for weddings and Sunday Mass at St. Theresa's.

Our old house, a large in-city place jammed with the craziness and crayons brought by four young people, was the designated gathering spot -- especially for one famous day each year. And, on that day, we were more than the most popular house in the neighborhood.

We got to host Santa ... before Christmas Eve.

Why us?  more...