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Windsor buys Siena

By Inman News, Monday, March 26, 2007.

The 224-unit Siena luxury apartments in Houston, Texas, have been sold for an undisclosed price.

GID Investment Advisers LLC acquired the property on behalf of an affiliate, Windsor Realty Fund-V LLC, which is a joint venture between GID and the California State Teachers' Retirement System.

The property, which will be renamed Windsor at Siena, is located in the Inner West Loop submarket. Comprising four stories and constructed in 2003, it features a swimming pool, hot tub, fitness center, business center and movie theater.  more...

JV sheds class A Jersey space

By Inman News, Monday, March 26, 2007.

A joint venture between Normandy Real Estate Partners and Wafra Investment Advisory Group recently sold a 139,000-square-foot office building in Fort Lee, N.J., for $44.4 million.

A local investor bought the class A property, which is located at 2100 North Central Road. Built in the early 1980s, it comprises seven floors of office space atop six levels of parking.  more...

Brightstar adds 131,980 square feet

By Inman News, Monday, March 26, 2007.

Wireless communications provider Brightstar US Inc. recently signed a 131,980-square-foot lease for industrial space in Libertyville, Ill.

The value of the transaction was not disclosed.

Located in Libertyville Business Park at 2000 USG Drive, the space includes 10 exterior docks and 4,000 square feet of office space, and is located within a 242,200-square-foot, modern pre-cast warehouse facility completed in 1999.

The current owner is CalSTRS.

With this lease, Brightstar now occupies a total of 238,067 square feet in Libertyville Business Park.

IBM launches new mortgage software division

By Inman News, Monday, March 26, 2007.

IBM is getting into the mortgage lending software and services business just as Fair Isaac Corp. is leaving.

IBM this week announced the formation of a new business unit, IBM Lender Business Process Services Inc., which will specialize in mortgage origination services.

In an unrelated development, Fair Isaac Corp. said it would sell its mortgage software division to ISGN, the Indian-based parent company of MortgageHub Inc., which plans to "significantly expand" its U.S. operations.  more...

Coldwell Banker goes virtual with property sales Premium Content

By Glenn Roberts Jr., Monday, March 26, 2007.

Coldwell Banker has put up a shingle in the Second Life digital frontier, and is among the first real-world real estate companies to sell virtual homes in cyberspace.

Second Life is a three-dimensional virtual world with its own currency, Linden dollars, that can be purchased for real money.

There are about 5 million registered Second Life users, or "residents," and about 1.7 million of them are more active users who have participated in the virtual world -- or "metaverse" -- within the past 60 days. Residents are represented by customized characters called avatars.  more...

It's a mad mad mad mad real estate world

By Marc Davison, Monday, March 26, 2007.

There's a case buried somewhere under a big "W" containing a large cache of real estate fortunes, with a cast of some racing to locate it. Executive offices point left, brokers and Realtors go right. Franchises affiliate one way, franchisees go another. We have up markets, down markets and bizarre markets. Interlopers, outerlopers, discounters and for-sale-by-owners. Pretty soon a business model will launch that pays home sellers for their listings.

It's a mad mad mad mad real estate world.  more...

Home-price index falls to negative territory in January

By Inman News, Monday, March 26, 2007.

A monthly home-price index that tracks price shifts in 20 metro areas fell to a negative annual return in January, with 11 of 20 areas experiencing year-over-year declines.

The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller 20-City Composite index reached 202.03 in January, which is a 202 percent gain compared to the index base value of 100 in January 2000 but represents a year-over-year decline of 0.2 percent.  more...

Consumer confidence weakens

By Inman News, Monday, March 26, 2007.

Recent stock market volatility and rising gas prices may be behind the strong decline in consumer confidence in March, The Conference Board reported today.

The consumer confidence index retreated to 107.2 this month from 111.2 in February, and Lynn Franco, director of The Conference Board Consumer Research Center, said in a statement that the direction of financial markets and oil prices "bears watching to determine whether this decline is just a bump in the road or something more substantial."  more...

Renters say they can't afford a home or get a loan

By Inman News, Monday, March 26, 2007.

The biggest factor deterring renters from making the plunge into home ownership is not the fear of falling property values, but that they simply can't afford to buy, according to a Bankrate Inc. poll released Monday.

In a nationwide poll of 1,004 adults taken this month, less than 2 percent of renters said fear of falling prices was keeping them out of the market.

The National Association of Realtors has maintained that consumer psychology contributed to the housing slowdown that began in 2006.  more...

Overnight real estate rates advance

By Inman News, Monday, March 26, 2007.

Long-term mortgage interest rates moved higher Monday, and the benchmark 10-year Treasury bond yield dipped to 4.6 percent.

The 30-year fixed-rate average gained to 5.71 percent, and the 15-year fixed rate inched up to 5.44 percent. The 1-year adjustable was up at 5.33 percent.

The 30-year Treasury bond yield stayed at 4.8 percent.

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

Blogs rise as glue to real estate social networking Premium Content

By Jessica Swesey, Monday, March 26, 2007.

Editor's note: The rise of social media has come to define the new Internet, or Web 2.0, and many in the real estate industry are embracing it with open arms. The age of Internet participation and instant and widespread communication is here. In this three-part report, Inman News dives into the social media craze and uncovers what's working, what's not working and what's just plain fun.  more...

Not up to code, not worth my money?

By Barry Stone, Monday, March 26, 2007.

Dear Barry,

The home I'm planning to buy has a bizarre history. It was built about five years ago but was never completed. The owner fired the contractor and obtained a temporary occupancy permit that allowed him to live in the house while completing the work. The property was later foreclosed by the mortgage company and is now being sold by a trustee. The house has still not been approved by the city, and I'm told that there are many code violations. If I buy this home and more violations are found, who will be responsible for repairs? --Lisa

Dear Lisa,  more...

How to profit from real estate bubbles

By Robert Bruss, Monday, March 26, 2007.

Only serious real estate investors, brokers, sales agents and homeowners will read "Beyond the Bubble" by Michael C. Thomsett and Joshua Kahr. This is a serious thinking-person's book explaining so-called local "real estate bubbles" and how individuals can profit from them.

The "media," such as some newspaper writers, TV and radio commentators and other book authors, have loosely used the term "real estate bubble" to refer to escalated prices that may or may not be justified by sustainable demand.  more...

Spouse's death means a trip to recorder's office

By Robert Bruss, Monday, March 26, 2007.

DEAR BOB: A year ago my husband died unexpectedly at age 55. He did not have a will or any life insurance. We lived in our home more than 25 years and have a large amount of equity in it, but I am thinking of relocating to a lower-cost area. Title to our home is in both names as joint tenants with right of survivorship. Should I hire a lawyer to transfer the title to my name alone and will I have to go through probate court? --Annie G.  more...

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The White Stripes are unZillowable

By Matt Carter, Monday, March 26, 2007.
Apparently the world does not care if your name is Jack White and you recorded your hit album in the foyer. Or that the photographer sprayed down the driveway with a garden hose. That house you bought in 2002 for...  more...
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