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2008

To Feed or Not Feed

By Joel Burslem, Tuesday, March 11, 2008.

We've had a few inquiries about the recent problems with the full RSS feeds from our blog.

By problems, I mean of course, there are no full feeds.

I just wanted to let all our readers know it's an issue we're aware of and are actively looking to fix. I expect them to be restored sometime in the next couple of days.

This time, hopefully, I won't even have to bust out my sparkly tights.

OK, you write the headline

By Matt Carter, Tuesday, March 11, 2008.

Britain's Telegraph:
Fed takes boldest action since the Depression to rescue US mortgage industry

Reuters:
Fed plan not a housing, mortgage market cure  more...

Economic forecast: 'There could be blood'

By Glenn Roberts Jr., Tuesday, March 11, 2008.

The latest Anderson Forecast, a quarterly forecast released by University of California, Los Angeles, economists, offers some cautious optimism that the train wreck of the housing and credit markets will not completely derail the U.S. economy.  more...

$20M Louisiana apartment deal

By Inman News, Tuesday, March 11, 2008.

Diamond Lakes Apartments, a 312-unit multifamily community in Lafayette, La., has sold for $20.1 million, or $64,423 per unit.

A locally based private investment group purchased the asset from a Massachusetts-based investment group.

Located at 2700 Ambassador Caffery Parkway, the 249,100-rentable-square-foot apartment community consists of 16 two-story buildings on a 13.17-acre lot. The garden-style buildings offer one- and two-bedroom units, ranging from 650 square feet to 1,000 square feet.  more...

Kimco sheds Sharpstown property

By Inman News, Tuesday, March 11, 2008.

Kimco Realty Corp. has sold Sharpstown Court in southwest Houston, Texas, for an undisclosed price, brokerage Holliday Fenoglio Fowler L.P. recently announced.

The property, which comprises 84,188 square feet of retail space, was purchased by Wu Investments in a 1031 exchange.

Sharpstown Court is located on a 5.6-acre site at 6900-6904 US 59/Southwest Freeway in Houston.

At the time of sale, the property was fully leased to tenants that included Office Depot, Metropolitan Furniture, Exclusive Furniture, Quizno's and Today's Vision.  more...

300,000-plus square feet sold in Virginia

By Inman News, Tuesday, March 11, 2008.

Brokerage Marcus & Millichap recently brokered the sale of Beaufont Center, a 314,898-square-foot shopping center in Richmond, Va.

The value of the transaction was not disclosed.

The Bond Cos., a Chicago-based mixed-use developer that recently opened an office in Richmond, purchased the property from GSC/Jon Perel.  more...

Allan Dalton resigns from Move Inc.

By Inman News, Tuesday, March 11, 2008.
Allan Dalton

Allan Dalton, the former president of home-search site Realtor.com, has "voluntarily resigned" his position with a secretive venture at Move Inc. and will serve as a senior advisor to the company, according to company documents filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Move Inc. officials offered no comment about Dalton's resignation.  more...

Regulators say Fannie, Freddie adequately capitalized

By Inman News, Tuesday, March 11, 2008.

Mortgage financer Freddie Mac briefly fell short of its minimum capital requirements last fall, but quickly came back into compliance by issuing $6 billion in preferred stock in December, federal regulators said today.

Freddie Mac and its sister company, Fannie Mae, managed to build capital surpluses well above the stricter requirements put in place following accounting and management scandals that forced both companies to restate several years of earnings.  more...

Reports: FBI probes Countrywide, other lenders

By Inman News, Tuesday, March 11, 2008.

Countrywide Financial Corp. is reportedly one of more than a dozen companies under investigation by the FBI as it looks into the packaging of subprime loans as securities sold to Wall Street investors.  more...

Fitch lowers ratings of banks with home-equity exposure

By Inman News, Tuesday, March 11, 2008.

Citing deteriorating performance of home-equity loans, Fitch Ratings has lowered the debt ratings of some big name banks including Washington Mutual, Wells Fargo, National City, Providian Financial and First Horizon, while warning it may take similar action toward Bank of America, Citigroup, Fifth Third Bancorp and SunTrust.

Home-equity delinquency rates are rising at "a far more rapid pace than even most bankers' and analysts' grim outlook for 2008 had anticipated," Fitch analysts said.  more...

Fed taking mortgages as collateral in $200B Treasury auction

By Inman News, Tuesday, March 11, 2008.

In a new program intended to ease the credit crunch, the Federal Reserve today announced it will lend $200 billion in Treasury securities to banks and investment firms, allowing them to pledge mortgage-backed securities as collateral.  more...

Forecast: Perfect storm of financial problems, but no recession Premium Content

By Glenn Roberts Jr., Tuesday, March 11, 2008.

Fear of imminent economic recession may be a self-fulfilling prophecy, according to the latest Anderson Forecast report by University of California, Los Angeles forecasters.

While the report by Edward Leamer, director for the forecast, clings to earlier predictions that the U.S. economy will avoid a recession in the short term, it also details the dangers that are stressing consumers and challenging the economy.  more...

Real estate rates mostly flat

By Inman News, Tuesday, March 11, 2008.

Long-term mortgage interest rates were mostly flat Monday, and the benchmark 10-year Treasury bond yield was down at 3.45 percent.

The 30-year fixed-rate average slipped to 6.07 percent, and the 15-year fixed rate was unchanged 5.49 percent. The 1-year adjustable rate decreased to 4.63 percent.

The 30-year Treasury bond yield decreased to 4.46 percent.

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

Allan Dalton resigns from Move Inc. secret project

By Glenn Roberts Jr., Tuesday, March 11, 2008.

The management team that took the reigns in 2002 when Realtor.com operator Homestore Inc. (now known as Move Inc.) suffered from a major management and accounting scandal is dwindling.

Move Inc. announced in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings this month that Allan Dalton, hired as Realtor.com president in 2002 and reassigned to a secret Move Inc. project last year, has resigned but will continue to serve as an adviser to the company (see Inman News<.a>).  more...

Two-day, $2,000 room makeover not reality

By Paul Bianchina, Tuesday, March 11, 2008.

Q: When I watch those TV reality shows about room makeovers, I wonder if there is anything "real" about them. Can you really do a complete makeover in two days with $2,000? --Gayle K.

A: Yes and no -- and therein lies the problem of the contradictions and false expectations of some of these phenomenally popular reality home-improvement shows.  more...

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