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NAR: Credit crunch hits commercial real estate Premium Content

By Inman News, Wednesday, March 12, 2008.

Commercial real estate market fundamentals are fairly stable, although investment is waning following a record year in 2007, according to the latest Commercial Real Estate Outlook of the National Association of Realtors.  more...

Manhattan mid-rise sale tops $54M

By Inman News, Wednesday, March 12, 2008.

Muss Development LLC has acquired a 17-story, 130,000-square-foot office building in the Rockefeller Center area of Manhattan for $54.5 million.

Muss will reposition the building at 64 West 48th St. as a first-class boutique office building. A buildingwide multimillion-dollar capital improvement program is already underway, including a restored lobby, new elevator cabs and common areas, new windows, upgraded façade and roof, new HVAC systems, electrical system upgrades, new bathrooms, upgraded security systems and keycard access.  more...

Bixby buys manufacturer's headquarters

By Inman News, Wednesday, March 12, 2008.

Bixby Land Co. has acquired an 80,297-square-foot manufacturing facility in San Marcos, Calif., for $14.8 million.

The property, located at 237 Via Vera Cruz, represents Bixby's fourth acquisition in San Diego County in the past 14 months.

The single-tenant, two-story property serves as the corporate headquarters for Veritek Manufacturing LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of NuVision Manufacturing LLC and a recognized leader and innovator in contract electronics manufacturing services. Veritek is currently signed to a long-term NNN lease running through 2017.  more...

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Brokers, buyers ride 'Magic Bus' to REO Land

By Glenn Roberts Jr., Wednesday, March 12, 2008.

Every day I get in the queue (Too much, Magic Bus)

To get on the bus that takes me to you (Too much, Magic Bus)

I'm so nervous, I just sit and smile (Too much, Magic Bus)

Your house is only another mile (Too much, Magic Bus)

-- "Magic Bus" lyrics, Pete Townshend.  more...

Foreclosure property tours catch on across the country Premium Content

By Glenn Roberts Jr., Wednesday, March 12, 2008.

Busloads of home buyers are hopping aboard the foreclosure bandwagon in search of bargains, and real estate agents and brokers are supplying the wheels and deals in markets across the country.

Ruth and John Ahlbrand, who own and manage RE/MAX Central, a Las Vegas brokerage company, bought a 40-seat luxury coach and wrapped it with advertising that features their TourVegasHomes.com Web site and the company's phone number.  more...

Fitch has negative outlook on title insurance industry Premium Content

By Matt Carter, Wednesday, March 12, 2008.

The nation's five biggest title insurers saw operating revenue from title operations fall 12 percent in 2007 and may experience another 20 percent drop this year, analysts at Fitch Ratings said in issuing their first-ever negative rating outlook for the industry as a whole.

The negative rating outlook -- the first since Fitch began covering the industry in the early 1990s -- was prompted by expected declines in mortgage originations, and expectations that mounting losses will eat away at capital levels, analysts said.  more...

New blog network connects women Realtors Premium Content

By Inman News, Wednesday, March 12, 2008.

California members of the Women's Council of Realtors are participating in a new blog network that combines content at a single Web site from bloggers throughout the state.

The new portal, at WCRblogs.com, is the latest in a series of aggregated blog sites planned by Domus Consulting Group and Realivent, a company that offers tools for collaboration and marketing.  more...

NAHB survey finds decline in condo confidence

By Inman News, Wednesday, March 12, 2008.

A National Association of Home Builders quarterly index that measures builder and developer confidence in the condo market dropped 11 points in the final quarter of 2007 compared to the same quarter in the previous year.

The Multifamily Condo Market Index, based on a survey of builders, stood at 18.8 in the fourth quarter on a scale of zero to 100. A score below 50 indicates more negative responses than positive responses.  more...

Rising rates put dent in refi plans

By Inman News, Wednesday, March 12, 2008.

An abrupt rise in interest rates helped cut mortgage application volume by 1.9 percent last week, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported today.

According to MBA, the seasonally adjusted decline was led by a 4.7 percent decrease in the index that tracks refinancings, despite a 1.4 percent gain in the purchase-loan index. As a result, the refinance share of applications fell to 50.6 percent from 52.4 percent two weeks ago, and the adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share dipped to 15.5 percent from 17.3 percent.  more...

Nightly real estate rates barely budge

By Inman News, Wednesday, March 12, 2008.

Long-term mortgage interest rates were up slightly Tuesday, and the benchmark 10-year Treasury bond yield gained to 3.6 percent.

The 30-year fixed-rate average rose to 6.08 percent, and the 15-year fixed rate inched up to 5.5 percent. The 1-year adjustable rate climbed to 4.75 percent.

The 30-year Treasury bond yield increased to 4.51 percent.

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

Foreclosure protestors disrupt... PowerPoint presentation

By Matt Carter, Wednesday, March 12, 2008.

From an Associated Press story on a protest organized by ACORN at a Mortgage Bankers Association convention at Chicago's ritzy Palmer House.

"... activists, wearing red T-shirts, chanting with megaphones and carrying signs, disrupted a PowerPoint presentation and presented a list of demands, including a foreclosure prevention bill.

'Save our homes!' the protesters, who were from Illinois, Ohio, Minnesota and Michigan, yelled while circling dozens of bankers in suits."  more...

HUD: Ad seeking single female tenant discriminatory

By Inman News, Wednesday, March 12, 2008.

A Chicago landlord who ran an advertisement on craigslist seeking "young college students or single females" faces charges that he violated the Fair Housing Act.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development claims the ad posted by the landlord, Cesar A. Lopez, discriminates against men and families with children.  more...

Prepaying loan on second home pays off

By Tom Kelly, Wednesday, March 12, 2008.

Big-ticket items have been relegated to the back burner for now. The reduce-your-debt environment continues -- just ask the major home-improvement contractors who have taken on more and more jobs.

Consumers clearly are pulling in the financial reins. One of the reasons Congress has passed a stimulus package is to get Americans to loosen their grip, spend more cash and begin to turn the economy around.  more...

Home's crawl space needs vapor barrier

By Bill and Kevin Burnett, Wednesday, March 12, 2008.

Q: I would appreciate your opinion on whether I should hire a company to line the crawl space of my house. It's about 2,400 square feet, and I suspect the work would be pretty pricey. Is it worth it?  more...