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Another entrant debuts to track movement in property values

By Stephen Bedikian, Tuesday, August 14, 2007.

Last week, another player launched a set of residential property indices in the race to enable trading in derivative instruments and financial products. Morgan Stanley, Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch signed licensing agreements with New York-based Radar Logic Inc. for its Residential Property Index, or RPX.

Radar Logic uses proprietary modeling techniques to create "daily prices" derived from actual prices paid for U.S. residential real estate.  more...

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Real estate conference ventures to cyberspace

By Glenn Roberts, Jr., Tuesday, August 14, 2007.
OpenMLS, an open multiple listing service that features property information from the real world and the three-dimensional virtual world of "Second Life," has announced the first-ever Real Estate Metaverse Conference and Expo, scheduled Oct. 26-28. "Second Life" participants are represented...  more...

I'm changing the climate! Ask me how!

By Matt Carter, Tuesday, August 14, 2007.
Michigan Democrat John Dingell, who chairs the House Energy and Commerce Committee, wants to cut greenhouse gas emissions by raising gasoline taxes by 50 cents per gallon and eliminating the mortgage interest tax deduction for homes 3,000 square feet and...  more...

Dude, my grandma is on YouTube

By Glenn Roberts, Jr., Tuesday, August 14, 2007.
YouTube is not just YouthTube. A grandma-grandson pair has created a popular cooking show, "Feed Me Bubbe," using video podcasting technology. Bubbe is the Yiddish word for grandma. The show was featured on ABC News last week in a segment...  more...

This road looks familiar...

By Matt Carter, Tuesday, August 14, 2007.
Disruptions in the secondary market for mortgage loans constitute "a liquidity crisis of a force and magnitude not seen in decades." Says who? No, it's not PIMCO manager Bill Gross this time. The quote is from a letter by real...  more...

Georgia apartments bought in $13M deal

By Inman News, Tuesday, August 14, 2007.

Lane Co. on Monday announced it has purchased the Oakwood Village Apartments in Chamblee, Ga., for a price of $13.2 million.

The 184-apartment community, located at 3200 Oakwood Village Lane, will be renovated and renamed Aviara Oaks Apartment Homes.

Lane Investment & Development Services LLC, with the assistance of Lane Strategic Renovation, will renovate the community inside and out, including new landscaping, new siding, appliances, kitchen cabinets and bathroom fixtures. Cost for the improvements is expected to be $4.2 million.  more...

STAG Capital grows in Upstate New York

By Inman News, Tuesday, August 14, 2007.

STAG Capital Partners added another industrial building to its holdings with the recent purchase of a 149,657-square-foot warehouse and distribution facility in Farmington, N.Y.

West New York LLC sold the property for an undisclosed price.

The building is situated on approximately 19.5 acres of land at 5786 Collett Road and was fully leased at the time of sale to Unisource Worldwide Inc., a marketer and distributor of paper products, packaging materials, and facility supplies in North America.

Vantage Point sale completed near Orlando

By Inman News, Tuesday, August 14, 2007.

Windsor Realty Fund-VII LLC recently acquired the Vantage Point Business Center in Sanford, Fla., for an undisclosed price.

The property is a four-building, 110,000-square-foot flex/industrial project that was completed in July.

The property, situated on 9.5 acres along Monroe Road, was 35 percent occupied at the time of sale. The project's lead tenant at closing was General Works Roofing, a division of national roofing company Tecta America.

The housing boom legacy

By Inman News, Tuesday, August 14, 2007.

Editor's note: The following post written by Inman News Publisher Bradley Inman comes from the Inman News Blog.  more...

Countrywide loan production falls 14% in July

By Inman News, Tuesday, August 14, 2007.

Mortgage loans funded by Countrywide Financial Corp. fell below the $40 billion-a-month mark in July for the first time since February, the company said Tuesday, while foreclosures as a percentage of principal balance surged through the 1 percent threshold.

The $39 billion in mortgage loans funded in July by the Calabasas, Calif.-based lender represented a 6 percent increase over the same month last year, but a 13.7 percent decline from the $45.3 billion loans funded in June.  more...

Industry groups push to raise caps on GSEs' loan portfolios

By Inman News, Tuesday, August 14, 2007.

Trade groups representing realtors, builders and mortgage lenders Monday urged federal regulators to temporarily increase caps on the loan portfolios of mortgage repurchasers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

"The nation's mortgage markets are facing a liquidity crisis of a force and magnitude not seen in decades," the groups said in a letter to James Lockhart, director of the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, or OFHEO.  more...

Stockton, Calif., scores highest U.S. foreclosure rate Premium Content

By Inman News, Tuesday, August 14, 2007.

Foreclosure data provider RealtyTrac today reported that Stockton, Calif., had the highest foreclosure rate among all metro areas in the nation during the first half of 2007, with one foreclosure filing for every 27 households.

The company's Midyear Metropolitan Foreclosure Market Report found that Detroit was second on the list, with one foreclosure filing for every 29 households, and Las Vegas was third with one foreclosure filing for every 31 households.

Riverside-San Bernardino, Calif., was fourth on the list with a ra  more...

Fed survey shows subprime lenders tightening standards

By Inman News, Tuesday, August 14, 2007.

The ranks of federally chartered banks making subprime mortgage loans didn't shrink during the second quarter, but most tightened their standards, and demand for such loans did not grow.

A Federal Reserve survey of senior loan officers at 50 banks found that 16 were still making subprime mortgage loans -- the same number reported during a survey in April.  more...

Real estate rates up overnight

By Inman News, Tuesday, August 14, 2007.

Long-term mortgage interest rates gained Monday, and the benchmark 10-year Treasury bond yield fell to 4.76 percent.

The 30-year fixed-rate average edged up to 6.26 percent, and the 15-year fixed rate rose to 5.93 percent. The 1-year adjustable, however, dipped to 5.63 percent.

The 30-year Treasury bond yield was down at 5 percent.

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

Newbie home inspector, don't blow it!

By Barry Stone, Tuesday, August 14, 2007.

Dear Barry,

I'm a newly certified home inspector. I am very detail-oriented and am striving to learn as much as possible about my new profession. But I'm concerned as I begin this new career that many real estate agents will be reluctant to refer my services because I'm so new in the industry and have no official inspections under my belt. How should I approach the topic of "field experience" when I network with real estate agents? I want them to know that I am a continual learner, an overachiever, and someone whom they can count on for their clients. --Keith  more...

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