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Mass. retail deal tops $136 a square foot

By Inman News, Thursday, March 29, 2007.

NAI Hunneman Commercial negotiated the sale of a 71,000-square-foot retail building in Lexington, Mass., for approximately $9.7 million.

Boston-based Cresset Lexington LLC purchased the property from APCA Lexington LLC.

The property, located at 475 Bedford St., was net leased to Boston Sports Clubs at the time of sale.

Seattle-area retail plaza sold to Californian

By Inman News, Thursday, March 29, 2007.

Everett Village Center, a 121,557-square-foot retail plaza in Everett, Wash., has sold for $21.7 million.

A private investor from Southern California purchased the asset from Irvine, Calif.-based Steadfast Cos.  more...

Residential construction spending drops for 11th month

By Inman News, Thursday, March 29, 2007.

The rate of residential construction spending in January fell 15.1 percent in February compared to the same month last year, the U.S. Census Bureau announced today.  more...

Bernanke's take on economy

By Lou Barnes, Thursday, March 29, 2007.

Upward pressure continues on long-term rates: the 10-year T-note at 4.65 percent has jumped the March range, and mortgages are at risk to lose the 6.25 percent level.

The economy has slowed to growth near 2 percent, but shows no sign of serious impact from the housing recession. This morning, personal income and spending each rose by .6 percent in February. Construction spending, expected to drop, instead rose .3 percent.

Weekly applications for mortgages are holding in a steady band. If a mortgage credit crunch were beginning to bite, we would see a decline by now.  more...

Shareholders approve Realogy buyout

By Inman News, Thursday, March 29, 2007.

Realogy Corp. today announced that its shareholders approved the company's acquisition by an affiliate of private-equity firm Apollo Management L.P. in a deal worth about $9 billion.

The company's stock is expected to cease trading on the New York Stock Exchange on or about April 10, the company announced, when the deal is closed. The transaction is subject to other "customary conditions to closing," the company announced.  more...

Hello, my name is 'LetMeIn YourSite'

By Inman News, Thursday, March 29, 2007.

Editor's note: The following post 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.

To attach a lead form or not to attach a lead form -- believe it or not that's still a pretty hot-button issue in the real estate industry.  more...

Renting the beach house

By Alison Rogers, Thursday, March 29, 2007.

In 2001, I was flush with cash, and I went home-shopping. I love the beach, and thought about buying a condo there, but my broker Gil said, "Buy a two-family home instead. That way, you can live in half of it and rent out half of it, and if you're ever broke, you can rent the whole thing out."

Now I work for Gil, and I spent yesterday doing a direct-mail drop on New York's wealthiest ZIP code. Hand-address, stuff, lick envelope, lick stamp, repeat. Sometimes I daydream about how differently my life would turn out if I could just stop listening to Gil.  more...

Beazer Homes subpoenaed by U.S. Attorney's Office

By Inman News, Thursday, March 29, 2007.

Beazer Homes USA Inc. said Thursday it has received a grand jury subpoena from the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Western District of North Carolina seeking documents related to the company's mortgage origination services.

In a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, Atlanta-based Beazer Homes said the U.S.  more...

House committee approves GSE reform bill

By Inman News, Thursday, March 29, 2007.

A bill intended to prevent a repeat of the accounting and management scandals that shook Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac has been approved by the House Financial Services Committee, with a provision to create a $500 million-a-year affordable-housing fund intact.

The committee approved the bill, HR 1427, Thursday in a 45 to 19 vote. But the affordable-housing fund could prove to be an obstacle to passage in the Senate, where a similar bill became bogged down last year.

Rep.  more...

Uptick in overnight real estate rates

By Inman News, Thursday, March 29, 2007.

Long-term mortgage interest rates were up Thursday, and the benchmark 10-year Treasury bond yield rose to 4.64 percent.

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

The 30-year Treasury bond yield increased to 4.84 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...

Realogy buyout decided on today Premium Content

By Glenn Roberts Jr., Thursday, March 29, 2007.

Realogy shareholders are scheduled to vote this morning on whether to approve a buyout deal worth about $9 billion by an affiliate of private equity firm Apollo Management L.P.

The vote, to be held at 10 a.m. Eastern Time at the Hilton Parsipanny, 1 Hilton Court, Parsipanny, N.J., comes less than a year after Realogy Corp. launched as an independent, publicly traded company through a spin-off of Cendant Corp.'s real estate division.  more...

Lend an ear, save your career Premium Content

By Bernice Ross, Thursday, March 29, 2007.

I recently attended the Luxury Conclave, an annual conference where the stars of luxury real estate come together to network and share strategies. Anne Murray Randolph, the editor of LORE magazine, and Jennifer Cummings of Keytura Inc. shared their perspectives on what these superstars needed to know to market even more effectively to the ultra-high-end clientele they serve.  more...

America's traffic engineers need to wake up

By Arrol Gellner, Thursday, March 29, 2007.

The other day, as my car juddered over constellations of potholes, past tenuously maintained schools and bus stops done up in graffiti, I got to wondering. The California county where I live has some of the highest taxes in the nation. Our sales tax is 8.75 percent. It costs $4 to cross the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. Yearly property taxes can easily reach five figures -- and no, I'm not including pennies.  more...

New-home moisture raises red flag

By Paul Bianchina, Thursday, March 29, 2007.

Q: We're having some serious problems with the windows in our new house. They sweat, let dust blow in, freeze up, and are drafty -- even the picture windows. In cold weather, water is running down the windows, and they won't open. Our heating bill went from $30 dollars in December to $295 in January. The contractor has been out a couple of times, and I also had a representative from the window company come out. They are trying to tell me that this is "normal new-home moisture" and that the house needs a few more months to dry out.  more...

Protect yourself when buying home 'as is'

By Robert Bruss, Thursday, March 29, 2007.

Whether you are a home buyer or seller during the peak 2007 spring home sales season of April through June, you will probably encounter the term "as-is" sale. Just as used-car dealers sell thousands of automobiles "as is" without any warranty or representations, houses and condominiums are sold using the same term.

But an "as is" home sale is different. Thanks to state laws and court decisions, a real estate "as is" sale is far more complicated than the sale of an "as is" used car.  more...

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