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Big New Mexico retail sale

By Inman News, Sunday, June 17, 2007.

A California investor recently purchased a six-property retail portfolio in Albuquerque, N.M., for $37.6 million.

The portfolio consists of six locations with a cumulative 84,383 square feet on 12.8 acres.

A private investor in Orlando, Fla., sold the portfolio at an average of $445.5 per square foot.

Occupancy at the time of sale was not disclosed.

Connecticut deal tops $80M

By Inman News, Sunday, June 17, 2007.

The sale of the Danbury Corporate Center, a 1 million-square-foot office complex in Danbury, Conn., has closed for approximately $80.8 million.

A wholly owned subsidiary of Grubb & Ellis Realty Advisors Inc. purchased the class A property from an unidentified seller.

The acquisition of Danbury Corporate Center follows the subsidiary's earlier 2007 acquisitions pursuant to its warehousing strategy of the 325,000-square-foot Abrams Centre in Dallas for $20 million and 6400 Shafer, an 180,000-square-foot office suburban Chicago office building, for $21.5 million.  more...

Parkway Towers purchased

By Inman News, Sunday, June 17, 2007.

Tenant-in-common investors recently sold a 203,371-square-foot office building in Nashville, Tenn., for an undisclosed price.

Northeastern Security Development purchased the 21-story property, Parkway Towers, which was 89 percent leased at the time of sale to 14 tenants, including the State of Tennessee, Bart Durham & Associates, and Stillman & Friedland.

The TIC investors held the property for more than four years.

Agency issues are a legal hotbed for real estate Premium Content

By Glenn Roberts Jr., Sunday, June 17, 2007.

Commission disputes, property-condition disclosure and agency issues are the most common source of lawsuits for the real estate industry, according to a report prepared for the National Association of Realtors trade group.

The 2007 Legal Scan also found that cases involving fraud and deceptive practices, breach of fiduciary duty and breach of contract were the source of the most damage awards.  more...

Subprime lender rises from the ashes

By Inman News, Sunday, June 17, 2007.

Subprime lender ResMAE Mortgage Corp. has emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as a wholly owned subsidiary of RMC Mortgage Holdings.  more...

Moody's downgrades subprime investment securities

By Inman News, Sunday, June 17, 2007.

Moody's Investors Service has downgraded 131 investment securities backed by subprime, second-lien mortgage loans, saying loans of that type securitized in 2006 are "defaulting at a rate materially higher than original expectations."

The loans were "originated in an environment of aggressive underwriting and lack protection from homeowner equity," Moody's said in a press release.  more...

FTC study finds mortgage disclosure forms confusing

By Inman News, Sunday, June 17, 2007.

Mortgage disclosure forms fail to convey key mortgage costs and terms to many consumers, according to a Federal Trade Commission study that tested forms with 819 mortgage customers.

Both prime and subprime borrowers misunderstood key loan terms, and both groups benefited from better disclosures, the study found. Better disclosures provided the greatest benefit for complex loans in which borrowers had trouble understanding the terms.  more...

First American CEO named to Specific Media's board

By Inman News, Sunday, June 17, 2007.

First American Corp.'s Chief Executive Officer Parker S. Kennedy has been named to the board of directors of Specific Media, an Internet advertiser that claims its targeted ads reach 105 million consumers a month.  more...

Overnight real estate rates end 11-day climb

By Inman News, Sunday, June 17, 2007.

Long-term mortgage interest rates fell Friday after a week and a half of increases, and the benchmark 10-year Treasury bond yield sank to 5.16 percent.

The 30-year fixed-rate average slipped to 6.37 percent, and the 15-year fixed rate dipped to 6.07 percent. The 1-year adjustable was down to 5.57 percent.

The 30-year Treasury bond yield dropped to 5.26 percent.

Rates and bonds 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...

Sellers: Iggys House offers free MLS listing Premium Content

By Glenn Roberts Jr., Sunday, June 17, 2007.

Brian Lund, a resident of Orange County, Calif., has participated in real estate transactions but hadn't tried the do-it-yourself route until he learned about a company called Iggys House that offers free multiple listing service exposure for sellers in 20 states.

His wife, Pam Tran, read a news article about the service, which was launched in April as a counterpart to BuySide Realty, a company that offers cash rebates to buyers in six states. "We hadn't done anything by ourselves before.  more...

Asia's influence on U.S. interest rates

By Lou Barnes, Sunday, June 17, 2007.

The interest-rate rocket ride concluded at the middle of last week, the definitive 10-year T-note one night reaching 5.34 percent in Europe -- versus 4.6 percent one month ago. The mortgage rate apogee did not quite touch 7 percent.

The 10-year on Friday was trading a hair under 5.2 percent, and I think there are excellent reasons for faith in stability near here, low-fee mortgages about 6.75 percent.  more...

Can FHA step in to fill subprime's shoes?

By Jack Guttentag, Sunday, June 17, 2007.

(This is Part 5 of a five-part series. See Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4.)

Previous articles in this series emphasized that the subprime market remains open for business, with more realistic underwriting rules than before the house-price bubble broke.  more...

Best ways to attract fixer-upper buyers

By Dian Hymer, Sunday, June 17, 2007.

Buyers tend to want listings that are in move-in condition. For that reason, sellers often put a lot of time and money into prepping their homes for market to realize the largest profit possible from the sale. But, is it worthwhile to fix a property up before selling if it is in a dismal state?  more...

Homeowner's mistake creates probate delays

By Robert Bruss, Sunday, June 17, 2007.

Editor's note: Robert Bruss is temporarily away. The following column from Bruss' "Best of" collection first appeared Sunday, July 2, 2006.

DEAR BOB: About two years ago, I set up a revocable living trust and placed my checking, savings and stock brokerage accounts in it. But I recently realized the title to my condominium is not in my living trust. What must I do to place my condo into my living trust to avoid probate when I pass on? --Larry T.  more...