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STAG Capital enters Texas market

By Inman News, Wednesday, March 28, 2007.

STAG Capital Partners recently purchased two large warehouse facilities in El Paso, Texas, for an undisclosed price.

The subject properties, consisting of 269,245 square feet, are located adjacent to each other at 12 Leigh Fisher Blvd. and 47 Butterfield Circle. Rated class A, they are situated on approximately 13 acres and were fully leased to Yazaki North America Inc. at the time of sale.

BK Fisher LP sold the buildings.

STAG Capital Partners actively acquires warehouse, flex, manufacturing and office buildings nationwide.

Another Wells REIT II purchase

By Inman News, Wednesday, March 28, 2007.

Wells Real Estate Investment Trust II Inc. on Wednesday announced it purchased the Eagle Rock Executive Office Center IV in East Hanover, N.J., for an undisclosed price.

Invesco sold the three-story, 178,000-square-foot building, which is located in Eagle Rock Executive Park.

The property, built in 1990, was 95 percent leased at the time of purchase, with multinational human resources and payment solutions company Ceridian among the tenants.  more...

Indiana luxury apartments find buyer

By Inman News, Wednesday, March 28, 2007.

The Fields, a 285-unit luxury multifamily community in Bloomington, Ind., has sold for $34 million.

A partnership sponsored by Abodes, a Bloomington-based developer of residential and commercial real estate, sold the property to Inland American Real Estate Trust Inc.  more...

A view of the U.S. housing market: It's raining knives and stones

By Inman News, Wednesday, March 28, 2007.

Editor's note: The following posting appears on the Inman News Blog. The blog enables readers to comment on postings and respond to other readers leaving comments in real time. Click here to join the discussion stemming from this post.

A columnist for MoneyWeek, a financial publication based in London, said the U.S.  more...

New Century Financial cuts ties to Freddie Mac

By Inman News, Wednesday, March 28, 2007.

Subprime lender New Century Financial Corp. said it has voluntarily severed its ties to Freddie Mac, and will no longer sell or service loans to the government-chartered mortgage repurchaser.

In a Securities and Exchange Commission filing this week, New Century also said it has signed consent agreements with officials in Idaho, Iowa, Michigan and Wyoming formally agreeing that the company will stop lending in those states.  more...

Connecticut pursuing criminal charges against MLN exec

By Inman News, Wednesday, March 28, 2007.

A top executive at bankrupt subprime lender Mortgage Lenders Network USA Inc. is seeking to avoid arrest and criminal prosecution on charges that his company failed to pay up to $3 million in commissions to its sales force.

MLN President Mitchell L.  more...

Clarification

By Inman News, Wednesday, March 28, 2007.

On Jan. 31, 2007, we published an article entitled, "Fraud kills $75 million hotel deal/Buyer sued for allegedly 'manipulating' agreement," in which we reported on legal proceedings pending in California state court. It has come to our attention that the article has been misread as suggesting that the allegations made by the plaintiffs in that case regarding the alleged actions of Los Angeles businessmen Richard Alter and Eddie Chan are true or have been established to be true, which is not correct.  more...

Mortgage rates mixed on home sales, inflation

By Inman News, Wednesday, March 28, 2007.

Mortgage rates posted mixed movement this week as sales of new homes and higher-than-expected inflation offered an unclear economic outlook, according to surveys conducted by Freddie Mac and Bankrate.com.

In Freddie Mac's survey, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage held at an average 6.16 percent, while the 15-year fixed fell to 5.86 percent from 5.9 percent last week. Points, which are fees lenders charge for loan processing expressed as a percent of the loan, averaged 0.4 on the 30- and 15-year loans.  more...

Job market prospects weaken

By Inman News, Wednesday, March 28, 2007.

The expected pace of job growth through early summer has been downgraded from "moderate" to "modest," as The Conference Board today reported that its Help-Wanted Advertising Index sank another point in February.

The index, which measures job offerings in major U.S. newspapers, now stands at 31, down from 32 in January, and is well below the 39 reading recorded a year ago.

"The forward indicators of labor market activity were positive at the end of 2006.  more...

Another calm night for real estate rates

By Inman News, Wednesday, March 28, 2007.

Long-term mortgage interest rates were mostly unchanged Wednesday, and the benchmark 10-year Treasury bond yield rose to 4.62 percent.

The 30-year fixed-rate average remained at 5.7 percent, and the 15-year fixed rate slipped to 5.42 percent. The 1-year adjustable held at 5.32 percent.

The 30-year Treasury bond yield increased to 4.83 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...

Neighborhood data powers home-search site Premium Content

By Glenn Roberts Jr., Wednesday, March 28, 2007.

FindaHome.com is a site for home buyers who are seeking a low-crime, predominantly white and Republican neighborhood where Portuguese is spoken, there are a bunch of well-educated young couples who make lots of money, and there is a nearby Montessori private school, Safeway grocery store, Peet's coffee shop and Thai restaurant.

It's also a site for people who want to live in a bay-side neighborhood with average rainfall and plenty of golf courses, condos and health clubs, or a sunny, ethnically diverse place with a plethora of par  more...

Kiss your security deposit goodbye

By Robert Griswold, Wednesday, March 28, 2007.

Question: I am a homeowner and look for your column regularly. I have a garage in-law (a legally converted garage that is a rental unit) that is very cute and cozy. I have a married couple renting at the time, and they have been here nearly a year. Without going through all the gruesome details, "Dumb" and "Dumber" overstuffed my washer and dryer until they finally wore them out and now are out of order. It is very expensive to get them repaired and very expensive to replace.  more...

The installment-sale advantage

By Robert Bruss, Wednesday, March 28, 2007.

DEAR BOB: I own some land purchased in 1943 for $50,000. It is now worth about $600,000. How can I sell it and keep federal and state taxes to a minimum? I have three adult children and two grandchildren. --Sabena M.

DEAR SABENA: There is only one way to fully avoid tax on the sale of property held for investment, such as your land. That method is an Internal Revenue Code 1031 tax-deferred exchange for another investment or business property of equal or greater cost and equity.  more...

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Starts slowwwwing down

By Glenn Roberts, Jr., Wednesday, March 28, 2007.
Total housing starts dropped 42.4 percent in California in February compared to the same month last year, according to statistics compiled by the Construction Industry Research Board Board, a nonprofit research center, and starts were down 32.8 percent in the...  more...

California Realtors: masters of technology

By Matt Carter, Wednesday, March 28, 2007.
This is the last week members of the California Association of Realtors will be able to call (800) 773-8630 when stumped by a computer software issue. CAR's Tech Hotline is being deactivated on April Fools Day, "due to declining demand...  more...
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