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Feb

12
2007

Blogging: what’s in it for

By Inman News, Monday, February 12, 2007.
Blogging: what’s in it for me? If you’re not blogging yet, you are probably wondering what’s in it for you. I know that’s the first question I would ask if someone told me I needed to devote at least 3...  more...

When signs and balloons fall

By Inman News, Monday, February 12, 2007.
When signs and balloons fall flat In some slowing real estate markets, its common to see Re-Open House Syndrome: multiple open houses (in some cases every weekend) for the same house that isn't selling. What's the best strategy when the...  more...

$51 million West L.A. office complex sale

By Inman News, Monday, February 12, 2007.

Broadreach Capital Partners recently acquired a 204,612-square-foot, class A office complex in Culver City, Calif., for $51 million.  more...

Florida self-storage portfolio deal completed

By Inman News, Monday, February 12, 2007.

Marcus & Millichap negotiated the sale of ASAP Storage Florida Portfolio, a three-property, 2,175-unit self-storage portfolio located in the cities of Sarasota, Fort Myers and Lehigh Acres, Fla.

The buyer, whose identity was not disclosed, purchased the buildings for $26.5 million from an unidentified seller.

Combined, the three properties total 254,602 rentable square feet, including a recently completed expansion of 23,740 rentable square feet and 183 units. The combined occupancy at the 25.2-acre portfolio was 94 percent at the time of sale.  more...

S.F. Bay Area industrial assets sold

By Inman News, Monday, February 12, 2007.

NAI BT Commercial arranged the sales of two San Francisco Bay Area industrial buildings in separate transactions totaling approximately $12 million.

In the first deal, Encinal Real Estate purchased a 98,726-square-foot industrial building in Union City from Mango King LLC. Encinal paid $8.6 million for the single-story building, which was constructed in 2000 and includes 14 loading docks and 6,000 square feet of office space. The Macfarlane Group leased the entire property at the time of sale.  more...

The rise of real estate bubble blogs Premium Content

By Glenn Roberts Jr., Monday, February 12, 2007.

Editor's note: This article is the introductory piece to a series looking at housing-bubble bloggers. Following this article, Inman News will publish several Q&A interviews with individual bubble bloggers throughout the week.  more...

Inman Blog Challenge: Who loses if DOJ wins?

By Inman News, Monday, February 12, 2007.

Editor's note: The following excerpt from the Inman News Blog asks readers to weigh in on the outcome of the Justice Department lawsuit against the National Association of Realtors.  more...

Bear Stearns completes purchase of subprime lender

By Inman News, Monday, February 12, 2007.

Bear Stearns Companies Inc. has gone from being a creditor of subprime lender Encore Credit Corp. to owning it. 

Bear Stearns announced today it has completed its purchase of ECC Capital Corp.'s subprime lending platform, which it will continue to operate at a separate division of Bear Stearns Residential Mortgage Corp.

About 660 Encore Credit employees are now working for Bear Stearns as part of the $26 million deal.  more...

RealEstate.com expands brokerage operations

By Inman News, Monday, February 12, 2007.

RealEstate.com has expanded its local brokerage operations with the launch of offices in four new markets, including Tucson, Phoenix, San Diego and Las Vegas, the company said today.  more...

Colorado, Michigan lead nation in new foreclosures Premium Content

By Inman News, Monday, February 12, 2007.

New U.S. foreclosure filings increased 19 percent from December to January and increased 25 percent compared to January 2005, according to RealtyTrac, an online marketplace for foreclosure properties.

The January 2007 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report found that 130,511 new foreclosure filings were reported in January, which is a rate of one new foreclosure filing for every 886 U.S.  more...

South Carolina home sales fall 12.4%

By Inman News, Monday, February 12, 2007.

Home sales continued to drop in South Carolina, falling for the seventh straight month in December, while the overall median home price eked out growth, according to statistics provided by the South Carolina Association of Realtors.

According to SCAR statistics, there were 5,065 home sales in December, down 12.4 percent from a year ago when 5,780 sales were recorded. Sales encompass single-family homes, condos and villas. Sales for all of 2006 were down 5.4 percent from 2005 to 68,900.  more...

Uptick in overnight real estate rates

By Inman News, Monday, February 12, 2007.

Long-term mortgage interest rates moved higher Friday, and the benchmark 10-year Treasury bond yield climbed to 4.78 percent.

The 30-year fixed-rate average rose to 5.8 percent, and the 15-year fixed rate inched up to 5.58 percent. The 1-year adjustable held at 5.38 percent.

The 30-year Treasury bond yield increased to 4.86 percent.

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

How to handle junk fees when mortgage shopping

By Jack Guttentag, Monday, February 12, 2007.

For some reason, I have received a number of letters recently that criticized some articles I had written back in 1998-99 on lender junk fees. These articles are on my Web site, and since nothing about junk fees has changed since they were written, I have never had occasion to revise them.

In response to the criticism, however, I took a fresh look at the articles and realized that something had changed since they were written: me. My take on junk fees is a little different now than it was eight years ago, I hope because I'm smarter but perhaps only because I'm older.  more...

Future neighborhood construction may hurt resale value

By Dian Hymer, Monday, February 12, 2007.

It doesn't take much to throw a buyer off track. Prospective sellers should keep this in mind as they prepare their home for sale. It's easy to concentrate on making your home look good but overlook other factors that could impede the sale.

Fear of the unknown will send buyers running in the opposite direction. For example, you may take pride in the fact that your home is located next to a vacant lot. There's no building adjacent to yours to obstruct the view or the quality of light.  more...

Will canceling mortgage insurance boost my property taxes?

By Robert Bruss, Monday, February 12, 2007.

DEAR BOB: Thank you for the article on your Web site about getting rid of PMI (private mortgage insurance). Upon my request, my mortgage lender sent me the paperwork to cancel my PMI payments of $72.56 per month. I have owned my home about eight years. However, I am concerned the lender's appraisal will cause my property taxes to go up. Or should I leave everything alone and continue paying PMI? --Geri S.  more...