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South Brunswick deal fetches $16 million

By Inman News, Thursday, February 1, 2007.

McMaster-Carr, a supplier of home, office and automotive products, sold its 307,000-square-foot office/warehouse facility in South Brunswick, N.J., for $16 million.

The property, built in 1981, is located at 473 Ridge Road on a 28.2-acre land parcel. It comprises 40,000 square feet of single-story office/call-center space and 267,000 square feet of warehouse space.

Freeze Inc. purchased the property, which also features 26-foot clear ceiling heights, 27 dock doors, a full-service cafeteria and 582 parking spaces.

Inglewood Business Park sold

By Inman News, Thursday, February 1, 2007.

MTM Builder/Developer Inc. recently sold the Inglewood Business Park portfolio in Largo, Md., for $69 million.

The complex is a seven-building, 536,197-square-foot office/flex portfolio consisting of two class A office buildings and five class A office/flex buildings.

New Boston Fund purchased the business park in keeping with its strategy of acquiring and implementing value-added improvements to middle-market properties along the Eastern Seaboard.

KBS REIT buys in San Francisco

By Inman News, Thursday, February 1, 2007.

KBS Real Estate Investment Trust today announced it has acquired an office building in San Francisco's South of Market neighborhood for $51 million.

The 134,847-square-foot, brick-and-timber property, located at 625 Second St., was fully renovated and improved with a full seismic retrofit in 1999. Built in 1906, the four-story building also features below-grade parking.

At the time of sale, the property was 100 percent leased to online media and technology firm LookSmart Ltd. through November 2009.  more...

Blogging tips

By Inman News, Thursday, February 1, 2007.

Editor's note: The following article was created and uploaded by InmanWiki user Sellsius. It appears on InmanWiki.com, a new online real estate encyclopedia from Inman News. You can find the article and join a discussion about it by clicking here.

Here is a handy acronym to help you blog to atttract clients: B.E.E.P.

B: Build your brand.  more...

Inman News wants to hear from you

By Inman News, Thursday, February 1, 2007.

Inman News is conducting an online survey of readers to help us continue to provide the best service possible.

We appreciate the 5-10 minutes this may take to complete. If you complete the survey and provide contact information, you'll be entered in a drawing for a free full conference registration to your choice of Real Estate Connect San Francisco 2007 or Real Estate Connect NYC 2008.  more...

Utah considers stiffer fines for unlicensed real estate pros

By Inman News, Thursday, February 1, 2007.

Utah lawmakers may give regulators more leeway to investigate and fine unlicensed real estate agents, brokers, appraisers and mortgage officers.  more...

Third-largest independent brokerage formed in New England

By Inman News, Thursday, February 1, 2007.

Mortgage rates up again this week

By Inman News, Thursday, February 1, 2007.

Long-term mortgage rates rose steadily this week to highs not seen since October on news that the economy grew better than expected in the fourth quarter, according to surveys conducted by Freddie Mac and Bankrate.com.

In Freddie Mac's survey, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage this week jumped to an average 6.34 percent from last week's 6.25 percent, while the 15-year fixed-rate mortgage rose from 5.98 percent to 6.06 percent. Points, which are fees lenders charge for loan processing expressed as a percent of the loan, averaged 0.4 on the 30- and 15-year loans.  more...

New York home sales, prices fall by double digits

By Inman News, Thursday, February 1, 2007.

Although the decline in existing-home sales and prices across New York state deepened in December, sales for the year posted their third-highest level on record, according to preliminary data accumulated by the New York State Association of Realtors.

There were 7,462 existing single-family home sales recorded in December, down 19.2 percent from the 9,238 sales in December 2005. The statewide median home price lost 14.2 percent during that period, falling from $265,000 to $227,500.  more...

New valuation site relies on wisdom of crowds Premium Content

By Matt Carter, Thursday, February 1, 2007.

A new real estate valuation Web site developed by a former commodities trader will rely on the collective wisdom of users to estimate the value of individual homes and generate price indexes by ZIP code and neighborhood.

If enough people participate, My-Currency.com would be better at predicting the true market value of properties than sites that rely on public records, comparable sales and other factors to generate estimates using mathematical formulas, said Karim Tahawi, founder and chief executive officer.  more...

Pending real estate sales index falls 10% in '06

By Inman News, Thursday, February 1, 2007.

An index that measures pending home sales dropped 10.1 percent in 2006 compared to 2005, according to preliminary data released today by the National Association of Realtors.  more...

TenantMarket.com pairs owners with prospective renters

By Inman News, Thursday, February 1, 2007.

A new Web site, TenantMarket.com, allows apartment owners and managers to search through a national database of prospective renters -- it's like "the rental industry equivalent of Match.com," says founder and CEO Jeremy Bencken.  more...

Slight change in overnight real estate rates

By Inman News, Thursday, February 1, 2007.

Long-term mortgage interest rates barely moved Wednesday, and the benchmark 10-year Treasury bond yield fell to 4.81 percent.

The 30-year fixed-rate average held at 5.9 percent, and the 15-year fixed rate edged up to 5.66 percent. The 1-year adjustable stayed at 5.41 percent.

The 30-year Treasury bond yield decreased to 4.91 percent.

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

Where and how brokers partner online Premium Content

By Glenn Roberts Jr., Thursday, February 1, 2007.

Editor's note: Online marketing in real estate is quickly moving forward as brokers test new methods for reaching consumers on the Internet. Marketing choices have grown more complicated with a larger selection of Web sites to promote property listings and a growing list of lead generation and management technologies to choose from. In this three-part series, we take a look at new broker strategies and where new partnerships are cropping up.  more...