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Essex affiliate gains 907 multifamily units

By Inman News, Thursday, December 2, 2004.

An affiliate of Essex Property Trust purchased a 3-property multifamily portfolio totaling 907 units in California.

The buyer, Essex Apartment Value Fund II, paid approximately $130 million for the properties.

Two of the properties are located in the San Francisco Bay Area – Harbor Cove, a 400-unit apartment community located in Foster City, and Carlmont Woods, a 195-unit apartment community located in Belmont. The third property, Parcwood Apartments, is a 312-unit apartment community located in Corona in Southern California.  more...

REIT dumps Georgia shopping plaza

By Inman News, Thursday, December 2, 2004.

Marcus & Millichap negotiated the sale of Roswell Village Shopping Center in Roswell, Ga. 

The value of the transaction was $15.5 million.

A South Florida-based real estate investment trust sold the property to a local private investor.

Roswell Village is located on 14.1 acres at 593 Holcomb Bridge Road in Roswell, a high-growth suburb north of Atlanta. The sale includes 145,334 rentable square feet with 26,618 vacant square feet. The center was originally constructed in 1973 and recently renovated.  more...

Irwindale Business Park sells for $14 million

By Inman News, Thursday, December 2, 2004.

GVA DAUM announced that San Diego-area investors have acquired the fully occupied Irwindale Business Park in Irwindale, Calif., for $14 million.

Solana Beach, Calif.-based McMahon Development Group purchased the 127,563-square-foot complex located on 11 acres near the intersection of Irwindale Boulevard and Arrow Highway. Addresses for the four-building property are 5312-5358 Irwindale Blvd.

Irwindale Towers Associates LLC sold the property.

Irwindale Business Park combines a high percentage of office area with light manufacturing uses.  more...

Real estate affordability gap widens in California

By Inman News, Thursday, December 2, 2004.

A report released today by the California Association of Realtors found that California households with a median income of $52,940 were $55,370 short of the $108,310 qualifying income needed to purchase a median-priced home at $462,510 in the third quarter.

The association's Homebuyer Income Gap Index is a quarterly analysis of the difference between the median household income and the qualifying income needed to purchase a median-priced, single-family home for the state and for select regions within the state.

The Homebuyer Income Gap Index for California increased 47.9 per  more...

Attorney blogs to prevent real estate fraud Premium Content

By Samantha Peterson, Thursday, December 2, 2004.

Nathan Slitcher of Bluffton, S.C., pleaded guilty to bank fraud. In one scheme, he altered the appraisal on his home in applying for a home loan.

In Vermont, the state Supreme Court issued an emergency suspension against Michael McGinn, a St. Albans, Vt.-based lawyer and former Franklin County state attorney.  more...

Moving to e-mortgages Premium Content

By Inman News, Thursday, December 2, 2004.

Editor's note: The paperless real estate transaction is back in vogue. Big companies, trade groups and entrepreneurs are investing in technology platforms, back-end systems and software to automate the home sale. This three-part series looks at new technologies that are streamlining various parts of the real estate process, making it less cumbersome, costly and time consuming.  more...

Economic uptick hikes real estate rates

By Inman News, Thursday, December 2, 2004.

Improving economic news helped push long-term mortgage rates higher this week, according to Freddie Mac's weekly mortgage survey.

Freddie Mac reported that the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 5.81 percent for the week ended today, up from last week when it averaged 5.72 percent. The average for the 15-year fixed-rate mortgage this week is 5.23 percent, up from last week when it averaged 5.15 percent. Points on both the 30- and 15-year averaged 0.6.  more...

Pacific states lead real estate price appreciation

By Inman News, Thursday, December 2, 2004.

For the sixth quarter in a row, the Pacific states – which includes Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon and Washington – lead the nation in annual house-price appreciation, growing at 20.9 percent, according to Freddie Mac's Conventional Mortgage Home Price Index.

During the third quarter, Pacific Division prices increased 6 percent (26.5 percent, annualized). During the last five years, home values have increased 76.8 percent.  more...

Congress seeks answers on fraudulent real estate loans

By Inman News, Thursday, December 2, 2004.

Three U.S. lawmakers have asked Fannie Mae to explain dealings with a North Carolina firm that led a court to order the mortgage giant to forfeit $6.5 million.

"We are very concerned that the U.S. taxpayers have been put at risk when certain loans were sold by First Beneficial Mortgage to Ginnie Mae after many of the same loans were determined to be fraudulent by executives at Fannie Mae," Republican Reps.  more...

Sarasota Realtor sues local real estate association

By Inman News, Thursday, December 2, 2004.

A Florida Realtor is suing the Sarasota Association of Realtors for allegedly forcing local real estate agents to buy memberships in the association as a condition of purchasing lockbox keys and multiple listing service data.

The suit, filed Wednesday in federal district court in Tampa, Fla., seeks $5 million and class-action status, amounting to $4,500 for each member of the class, and names 14 association directors as defendants. Lois M. Hekker, broker with Buyer's Agents International Realty in Sarasota, is the plaintiff in the suit.  more...

Los Angeles luxury homes more expensive than ever

By Inman News, Thursday, December 2, 2004.

Third-quarter real estate prices jump 13%

By Inman News, Thursday, December 2, 2004.

Average U.S. home prices increased nearly 13 percent from the third quarter of 2003 to the third quarter of this year, according to the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight's house price index.

Appreciation for the most recent quarter was 4.62 percent, or an annualized rate of 18.5 percent.

"The appreciation reflected in this quarter's report shows further acceleration from already rapid increases," said Armando Falcon Jr., director of OFHEO.  more...

New-home production declines in California

By Inman News, Thursday, December 2, 2004.

New-home production, although still near the high levels of the past few years, decreased in October compared to September 2004 and October 2003, the California Building Industry Association reported Wednesday.

New housing units as measured by permits issued for October 2004 totaled 16,738, down 3.3 percent from the previous month and 17.9 percent below October of last year.  more...

Overnight real estate rates stand ground

By Inman News, Thursday, December 2, 2004.

Long-term mortgage interest rates were flat Wednesday, and the benchmark 10-year Treasury bond yield rose to 4.36 percent.

The 30-year fixed-rate average remained at 5.39 percent, and the 15-year fixed-rate held at 4.83 percent. The 1-year adjustable was down at 3.4 percent.

The 30-year Treasury bond yield remained at 5.01 percent.

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