Home

Labor group fumes over home builder 'bailout' Premium Content

By Glenn Roberts Jr., Wednesday, April 9, 2008.

The Laborers' International Union of North America, a union of mostly commercial construction workers that claims about 500,000 members in the United States and Canada, has been anything but quiet about the U.S. housing market downturn that has devastated the residential building industry.

LIUNA is kicking some major home builders when they are down -- the group has openly attacked management practices, including executive compensation, and has released a report that details the contributions of the corporate home building industry to the nation's mortgage crisis.  more...

Bush administration beats Dems to the punch on FHA expansion Premium Content

By Matt Carter, Wednesday, April 9, 2008.

The Bush administration today announced it will expand the FHASecure loan guarantee program to allow an additional 500,000 families to refinance into more affordable mortgages, as Democrats kicked off a two-day hearing on a more ambitious, $300 billion FHA expansion plan.

The Bush administration's plan to expand the FHASecure loan refinancing program would give the Federal Housing Administration the ability to insure loans made to refinance borrowers out of loans in which they have missed a few payments or received principal write-downs from lenders.  more...

Tenants say security deposit increase is illegal

By Janet Portman, Wednesday, April 9, 2008.

Q: Our one-year lease expired four months ago and we defaulted to a month-to-month tenancy. Our landlord recently gave us notice of a rent increase (11 percent more!) and a security deposit increase. I realize our landlord can increase the rent (with proper notice), but I question his ability to increase the security deposit, too.  more...

Longtime tenant not happy paying market rent

By Robert Griswold, Wednesday, April 9, 2008.

Q: I have been a renter for many years and I have noticed a recent trend among the larger local management companies where they are now seeking to renew a long-term tenant's lease at the market rate rather than continuing to give them some sort of price break compared to brand-new tenants. Is this a new strategy that is being implemented throughout the country or just my imagination?  more...

Apr

9
2008

Forums 2.0

By Glenn Roberts Jr., Wednesday, April 9, 2008.
Lefora.com offers some new tools for an Internet staple: forums.

The site "aims to transform an often-overlooked part of the Internet which has remained unchanged for over 10 years, as well as introduce new users to these vibrant communities," according to a promotional announcement today.  more...

ZipRealty improves to 5th in real estate Web rankings Premium Content

By Glenn Roberts Jr., Wednesday, April 9, 2008.

Real estate brokerage company Web site ZipRealty.com improved its ranking to fifth among the top-20 most-visited industry Web sites in March -- the company ranked seventh on the list in February and ninth in January, metrics company Hitwise reported.  more...

TIC investors pick up multifamily community

By Inman News, Wednesday, April 9, 2008.

Grubb & Ellis Realty Investors LLC has acquired Enclave on Golden Triangle, a 273-unit multifamily community, in the Dallas-Fort Worth suburb of Keller, Texas, on behalf of tenant-in-common investors.

The value of the transaction was not disclosed.

The property is located at 5001 Golden Triangle Blvd., and totals more than 285,000 rentable square feet on approximately 16.7 acres.  more...

LoopNet acquires REApplications

By Inman News, Wednesday, April 9, 2008.

LoopNet, a large online commercial real estate marketplace, has acquired privately-held REApplications, a provider of on-demand brokerage operations software.

LoopNet purchased REApplications for an aggregate cash consideration of $9.4 million, according to a company announcement.

San Diego-based REApplications offers products for managing market research including property inventory, listings & comparables, commission management, customer relationship management, project tracking and transaction management.  more...

Private mortgage insurers lose ratings required by Fannie, Freddie Premium Content

By Matt Carter, Wednesday, April 9, 2008.

Worries about rising unemployment and falling home prices prompted Standard and Poor's analysts to downgrade the financial strength ratings of three companies that provide most of the private mortgage insurance for loans purchased by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.  more...

Roost moves into Phoenix

By Inman News, Wednesday, April 9, 2008.

Roost, one of the newest search engines for homes to launch, has opened for business in the Phoenix market area, expanding its overall reach to 16 market areas.

The San Francisco-based company launched in January as a site that brings together a network of individual real estate broker IDX Web sites into one search engine. IDX, which stands for Internet Data Exchange, is the method by which brokers can display MLS property listings online.  more...

Mortgage applications up

By Inman News, Wednesday, April 9, 2008.

Mortgage loan and refinance applications increased last week, while average rates on long-term mortgages also increased, according to an industry survey released today.

The market composite index, the Mortgage Bankers Association's measure of mortgage loan application volume, was 725.6, up 5.4 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to the trade group's survey today.

The MBA's refinance index increased 3.4 percent to 2,724.7 from 2,636 the previous week and the seasonally adjusted purchase index increased 8.1 percent to 384.7 from 356 one week earlier.  more...

Overnight interest rates slip

By Inman News, Wednesday, April 9, 2008.

Long-term mortgage interest rates slipped Tuesday, and the benchmark 10-year Treasury bond yield increased to 3.56 percent.

The 30-year fixed-rate average decreased to 5.66 percent, and the 15-year fixed rate fell to 5.24 percent. The 1-year adjustable rate also fell to 5.53 percent.

The 30-year Treasury bond yield was up at 4.35 percent.

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