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Feb

4
2008

Thanks, but no thanks

By Matt Carter, Monday, February 4, 2008.

Mortgage servicers aren't modifying the loan terms of troubled borrowers fast enough to prevent another wave of foreclosures this year and next -- but they may not be entirely to blame. Prices are falling so fast in some markets that...  more...

REOs, CMAs and OMGs

By Glenn Roberts Jr., Monday, February 4, 2008.
Several months back, I spoke with a real estate professional who said she didn't include properties in a foreclosure process when preparing a report on comparable properties that sold recently -- also known as a Comparative Market Analysis or CMA...  more...

Banks tighten lending standards at record pace

By Inman News, Monday, February 4, 2008.

More banks tightened standards on residential and commercial real estate loans during the final quarter of 2007 than at any time in the 17-year history of the Federal Reserve's quarterly survey of loan officers.

A record 55 percent of loan officers at domestic banks surveyed in January said they'd tightened standards on prime residential mortgages in the fourth quarter of 2007, compared with 40 percent in the previous survey in October.  more...

Foreclosure problem too large to be ignored

By Glenn Roberts Jr., Monday, February 4, 2008.

The credit crunch and plague of home foreclosures are too large to be ignored, said representatives for a liberal think tank who today detailed plans for a new program that draws from the Depression-era Home Owner's Loan Corp.

Laura Tyson, a senior fellow for the Washington, D.C.-based Center for American Progress, said she was "struck by the unanimity of views" during the World Economic Forum last month in Switzerland about the need for action to jump-start the U.S.  more...

Sale closes on new 680,000-square-foot facility

By Inman News, Monday, February 4, 2008.

Rockefeller Group Development Corp. and IDI have sold a newly constructed, 680,000-square-foot distribution facility in Cranbury, N.J., for an undisclosed price.

San Antonio, Texas-based US Industrial REIT II purchased the class A property located at 324 Half Acre Road, which features cross docking and 36-foot clear ceilings.

Logistics company Kuehne & Nagel Inc. has already leased 443,803 square feet at the property, which left 237,000 square feet vacant at the time of sale.  more...

TIC investors pour cash into Midwest office complex

By Inman News, Monday, February 4, 2008.

Tenant-in-common investors recently paid an undisclosed amount for the purchase of Washington Park Office Center in Dayton, Ohio.

The property consists of two three-story, class A office buildings (Washington Park I and II) totaling approximately 154,000 square feet. Both buildings were constructed between 1988 and 1990 on more than nine acres.

Washington Park I and II each feature a three-story atrium, interior plantscapes, swipe-card access systems and a shared 714 space surface lot, which provides 4.5 spaces per 1,000 square feet.  more...

Sacramento tops list for home-price declines

By Inman News, Monday, February 4, 2008.

Home prices fell in 20 of 25 U.S. metro areas in November compared to the same period in 2006, according to a housing market report.

The RPX Monthly Housing Market Report, released this month by research and analytics firm Radar Logic, revealed year-over-year price drops ranging from -18.6 percent in Sacramento, Calif., to -1.4 percent in Columbus, Ohio, and price gains ranging from 5.6 percent in Milwaukee to 1.1 percent Charlotte.

The report is based on a 28-day aggregation of daily index prices that reflect price-per-square-foot data.  more...

'Capital disruptions' stifle commercial, multifamily loans

By Inman News, Monday, February 4, 2008.

Commercial and multifamily mortgage bankers' loan originations sank by double digits in the fourth quarter of 2007 when compared to a year earlier, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported today in a quarterly survey.

Total fourth-quarter originations dropped 16 percent below the level recorded in fourth-quarter 2006, with the decrease seen across most property types and investor groups, according to the MBA's Quarterly Survey of Commercial/Multifamily Mortgage Bankers Originations.  more...

Miami Realtor's condo blog landed him a job -- for 5 weeks Premium Content

By Matt Carter, Monday, February 4, 2008.

Miami Realtor Lucas Lechuga's popular blog on Miami's tumultuous condo market helped him land a position as an associate at one of south Florida's most prestigious real estate brokerages.  more...

Overnight real estate rates slip again

By Inman News, Monday, February 4, 2008.

Long-term mortgage interest rates continued lower Friday, and the benchmark 10-year Treasury bond yield held steady at 3.59 percent.

The 30-year fixed-rate average dipped to 5.47 percent, and the 15-year fixed rate slipped to 4.95 percent. The 1-year adjustable rate sank to 5.1 percent.

The 30-year Treasury bond yield was down at 4.31 percent.

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

Continuing education: Is it relevant?

By Alison Rogers, Monday, February 4, 2008.

I don't sell mobile homes, but I could if I wanted to.

That's one of the many takeaways from my 22.5 hours of continuing education, required by New York State every two years to renew my real estate agent's license. I was initially licensed in New Jersey, where standards are rigorous, so my first training in New York felt laughably easy.

Now, two years later, it feels laughably irrelevant.  more...

New mortgage underwriting rules will be tough to enforce

By Jack Guttentag, Monday, February 4, 2008.

(This is Part 1 of a three-part series.)

On Dec. 18 of last year, the Federal Reserve Board released its long-awaited proposals for curbing abuses in the home mortgage market. In this set of three articles, I examine board proposals to curb lax underwriting rules, unfair practices by mortgage brokers, and abusive practices by loan servicing agents.  more...

Home insurer won't fix existing roof damage

By Benny Kass, Monday, February 4, 2008.

DEAR BENNY: Recently, five out of seven of our neighbors in our cul-de-sac had their roofs replaced due to hail damage. The insurance companies involved verified hailstorms in the area. At our request, our insurance company sent someone to inspect our roof who confirmed that it also has hail damage. The problem is that we purchased our house after the hailstorms. Our homeowners insurance will not cover damage that occurred before the policy was in place. The inspector we hired to inspect our house before we purchased did not notice any roof damage.  more...

Things to know before writing home-purchase offer

By Dian Hymer, Monday, February 4, 2008.

There is no foolproof strategy for buying a property at just the right price. There are several reasons for this. In the first place, although the listing inventory is high in most places, sellers are not equally motivated to sell.

There are sellers who would like to sell, but who don't have to sell. If they don't get their price, they either stay put or rent out the property until the market turns. Sellers who don't need to sell are often resistant to negotiating the price.  more...