The number of default, auction and seizure notices sent to
homeowners in April totaled 188,780, down 14 percent from a year
earlier and 5 percent from the previous month, according to
RealtyTrac Inc. It was the lowest tally since July 2007, before
the onset of the biggest housing crash in seven decades, the
Irvine, California-based data seller said today in a report.

The “gradually rising foreclosure tide” forecast by
RealtyTrac after a February settlement by the nation’s biggest
mortgage servicers over faulty practices has yet to materialize,
limiting the number of properties on the market and propping up
prices. Banks are finding alternatives to home seizures, selling
distressed property for less than the amount owed on the
mortgage, known as a short sale, or modifying loans for
borrowers struggling to keep up payments while an improving
economy is helping to ease defaults.

“Things are getting better and the number of vulnerable
households is going down,” Paul Willen, senior economist at the
Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, said in a telephone interview.
“The pool of borrowers is much more stable than it was two or
three years ago.”

The U.S. mortgage delinquency rate fell in the first
quarter to 7.4 percent, the lowest level in more than three
years, the Mortgage Bankers Association said yesterday. The rate
peaked at 10.1 percent in the first quarter of 2010 and was last
lower in the third quarter of 2008, at 6.99 percent.

Tighter Inventories

Home prices in the U.S. rose 0.6 percent in March from the
previous month, the first sequential advance since July and the
third straight month-over-month gain excluding short sales and
foreclosure sales, said mortgage data company CoreLogic Inc.
Prices fell 0.6 percent from a year earlier, according to the
Santa Ana, California-based firm’s index of home values.

National home-price data belies improvements in many
markets where “tighter inventories are beginning to lift home
prices,” CoreLogic Chief Executive Officer Anand Nallathambi
said in a May 8 statement.

Short sales have been the preferred means for lenders to
dispose of distressed real estate in California, where they
totaled 11,397 in January, compared with 8,821 foreclosure deals
in that state, according to RealtyTrac. The tally in Arizona was
3,217 short sales to 2,776 foreclosures, while in Florida it was
5,014 to 3,959.

There were 35,816 short sales in the U.S. in January,
compared with 38,443 foreclosure deals, RealtyTrac said.

Vegas Short Sales

In the Las Vegas area, the share of short sales in April
rose to 30 percent of existing-home purchases from 27 percent in
March, while foreclosure deals fell to 37 percent from 41
percent, the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors said.

Ben Hirsh, owner of Hirsh Real Estate Specialists Inc. in
Atlanta, said he and his staff have completed nine short sales
this year. An additional 15 deals are in process, the same
number he did in all of 2011, as lenders reduce the time it
takes to close a short-sale transaction, he said.

“There’s more pressure on lenders to approve them,” Hirsh
said in a phone interview.

A drop in properties for sale may also be reducing
foreclosure deals, and helping to put a floor under prices. Home
listings in the U.S. fell 22 percent to 2.37 million in March
from a year earlier, a 6.3-month supply at the current sales
pace that’s considered a balanced market, National Association
of Realtors data show.

Miami Area

In the Miami area, March listings declined 34 percent from
a year earlier and prices rose for the fourth straight month,
with condos jumping 46 percent and single-family homes gaining
13 percent, according to the Miami Association of Realtors.

The $25 billion settlement over foreclosure practices
between the five largest mortgage servicers, including Bank of
America Corp. and JPMorgan Chase Co., and attorneys general
from 49 states has made servicers leery of incurring further
legal action, said Daren Blomquist, a RealtyTrac spokesman.

The share of home loans in the foreclosure process
increased to 4.39 percent in the first quarter from 4.38 percent
in the previous three months, indicating that lenders are
limiting repossessions, according to the Mortgage Bankers
Association data released yesterday.

No Rush

“Lenders are proceeding with caution and want to avoid
risk,” Blomquist said. “They’re not in a rush to foreclose
right away.”

The housing market may see “further gradual improvement”
as homeowners take advantage of current federal aid plans and
new policies are introduced, Elizabeth Duke, a governor of the
Federal Reserve, said May 15 in Washington. In markets such as
Miami and Phoenix, where foreclosure rates have been among the
highest in the U.S., price declines have halted, even with a
“steady supply” of new problem loans, she said.

“This calls into question the notion that housing prices
cannot stabilize until the foreclosure pipeline is worked off,”
Duke said in prepared remarks at a National Association of
Realtors meeting. “Mortgages that were originated using the
tight underwriting that has prevailed since 2008 would
presumably have lower delinquency rates, and recent vintage
loans now make up an increasing share of outstanding
mortgages.”

Housing Affordability

Affordability for homebuyers increased to the highest on
record in the first quarter, based on the combination of low
mortgage rates, low prices and improved incomes measured in a
Realtors index. A family earning a median income of about
$61,000 could afford to buy a $325,500 residence, more than
double the $158,100 median cost of an existing single-family
home in the U.S., the Chicago-based trade group said May 15.

Greater purchasing power by consumers has risen along with
builder confidence, which increased every month this year and
reached a five-year high in May, according to Barry Rutenberg,
chairman of the National Association of Home Builders and a
builder from Gainesville, Florida. That’s a harbinger of new
jobs for the construction industry, he said.

“Housing demand is slowly beginning to recover,”
according to Joseph LaVorgna, chief U.S. economist at Deutsche
Bank Securities Inc. in New York. “Banks are showing increasing
willingness to lend to consumers, which should bode positively
for the mortgage market. In turn, this would help shift the
housing recovery into a higher gear.”

Housing Starts

Housing starts increased by 2.6 percent to an annual pace
of 717,000 in April, beating economists’ estimates, the Commerce
Department data reported yesterday.

Foreclosure filings fell year-over-year in U.S. states
hard-hit by the housing crisis, and where steady investor
purchases have contributed to price rebounds or stabilization,
according to RealtyTrac. Short sales likely outnumbered sales of
bank-owned properties in the first quarter in California,
Arizona and 10 other states, the company said.

Among the 20 largest metropolitan areas, filings in April
fell 54 percent in Seattle; 44 percent in Phoenix; 34 percent in
San Francisco; 30 percent in Riverside-San Bernardino,
California; and 28 percent in Los Angeles.

Filings plunged year-over-year in the 24 states where
lenders record actions at the county level, without court
supervision, while they rose in the 26 so-called judicial states
that had “artificially low” filings during the national legal
probe of lender practices, Blomquist said.

Nonjudicial states and the District of Columbia saw filings
drop 29 percent from April 2011, with declines in Arizona,
California and Nevada accounting for much of the decrease, and
judicial states showing a 15 percent increase, RealtyTrac said.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Dan Levy in San Francisco at
dlevy13@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Kara Wetzel at
kwetzel@bloomberg.net;
Rob Urban at
robprag@bloomberg.net;

Article source: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-05-17/foreclosures-plunge-to-five-year-low-in-u-dot-s-dot-recovery-mortgages

Realtors rally for home ownership

By KIM COOPER/Special to The Press

The Coeur d’ Alene Press

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Last Thursday, more than 10,000 Realtors met on the lawn near the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C., in an attempt to get the attention of government. The message; Home ownership matters.

The Federal Flood Insurance program is set to expire again in just a few days. This may create another standoff as the parties in Washington use the opportunity to leverage other agendas. The problem is that, like it did six months ago when the program last expired, it will bring many home sales to a grinding halt. Banks won’t lend money to buy homes that appear to be in danger of flooding according to maps drawn by FEMA.

Private insurance carriers have been unwilling to offer such insurance except at exorbitant rates that drive the monthly payment for homes high enough to eliminate the opportunity to own a home within many buyers’ budgets. The new maps delineating the 100-year flood plain include more properties than before and experts argue that they are exceedingly inaccurate at best. These new proposed flood plain maps put 28 percent of all Idaho homes within the flood danger area. The lack of flood insurance will delay any pending sales of these homes and drive up the monthly payments for those who do find flood insurance.

How important is this to our fragile economy? When you consider that real estate sales account for 15 percent of our Gross National Product, it is very important. To allow the expiration of this insurance program will be very damaging indeed to the fragile and gradual recovery currently under way in many parts of the country including here in North Idaho.

This recovery repeats a historic cycle for real estate but the recovery period will be longer than past recessions by all accounts. Even with government flood insurance it will take awhile to dig out of the depths to which we had fallen at the end of the boom.

Should the flood insurance program be renewed the future of real estate is once again looking good. As we have reported here before, as a long-term investment, real estate has always paid off for those who have invested their hard-earned money for the long term while short-term “flippers” often get burned as many did in 2008.

In reality, the next few years is likely to see a housing shortage as the children and grandchildren of the baby boom generation reach the age where they want to become homeowners. Many are already there. They are buying their first homes and competing with savvy investors who are pouring cash into distressed properties that otherwise provide opportunities for first timers. As the last of these descendants reaches their 30s they too will seek permanent housing, driving up demand and further stimulating a lackluster economy.

The National Association of Realtors says that the average economic impact to a community when a home is sold is between $50,000 and $60,000 due to ancillary services and remodeling projects as the new owners make the home their own.

Driving up the cost or making financing even more difficult through the loss of the flood insurance program, particularly in the face of the newer, more restrictive zoning could deal a blow to the housing industry that could cost this nation dearly.

As we all have learned to say, “Home Ownership Matters.” Tell your Congressmen.

Trust an expert… call a Realtor. To find a Realtor to represent you visit the Coeur d’Alene Association of Realtors website; www.cdarealtors.com. There you can also search available properties in the Multiple Listing Service.

Kim Cooper is a real estate broker, Realtor and the spokesman for the Coeur d’Alene Association of Realtors. Kim and the association invite your commentary and feedback. You may contact them by calling 667-0664 or by writing to them at 409 W. Neider, Coeur d’Alene, ID 83814.

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Sunday, May 20, 2012 12:00 am.

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Article source: http://www.cdapress.com/real_estate/article_fd99a178-bf76-5b31-b045-c188244d7177.html

A real estate agent near California’s Silicon Valley seeks sellers by combing property records for people who’ve owned their houses for at least 40 years. A Denver-area broker offers half his commission for a listing, while a counterpart in South Florida hosts happy hour gatherings at bars to loosen up homeowners reluctant to sell.

Real estate agents, who spent the six-year U.S. housing collapse coaxing buyers off the fence, are now hunting for sellers as home inventories hover near lows last seen in 2005. A scarcity of properties signals the housing market’s uneven recovery as purchasers trying to take advantage of record affordability run up against homeowners choosing to stay put in properties that aren’t worth as much as they owe.

“It’s a sign of transition from a slow slide down to what hopefully will be a solidly improving market,” Susan Wachter, a professor of real estate and finance at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, said in a telephone interview. “We’re not going to have a healthy market until we can have move-up buyers purchase homes and not simply stay in place.”

The number of homes listed for sale in the U.S. fell 22 percent to 2.37 million in March from a year earlier, according to the National Association of Realtors. That’s a 6.3-month supply at the current sales pace, which is considered by the association to be a balance between buyers and sellers. In April, inventories fell to less than a three-month supply in markets including San Francisco, Silicon Valley, Denver, Phoenix, San Diego, Los Angeles, northern Virginia and Seattle, according to online brokerage Redfin.

Lack of Sellers

“The places where the market is most competitive — like Washington, D.C., Phoenix and San Francisco — are where sales volume is actually declining,” Glenn Kelman, Redfin chief executive officer, said in a telephone interview from Seattle, where his company’s based. “The limiting factor on sales volume isn’t a lack of buyers. It’s a lack of sellers.”

Silicon Valley homes were on the market for a median 49 days in April, down 29 percent from a year earlier, according to Altos Research LLC. That compares with a median 107 days in 30 metropolitan areas tracked by the Mountain View, Calif.- based real estate data company.

Phyllis McArthur, a Realtor in San Mateo, Calif., sent letters to 18 homeowners who bought their properties more than four decades ago, asking if they were willing to sell to families who want to put their children in the school system.

“I got a call back from one gentleman who said, ‘They’ll have to carry me out feet first,’ ” McArthur said. “I said to him, jokingly, ‘When you feel yourself slipping away, will you call me?’ ”

Record Affordability

A housing affordability index that’s based on a combination of resale prices, household income and mortgage rates reached an all-time high in the first quarter, the National Association of Realtors reported. The index shows that a family with the median income of almost $61,000 could afford a $325,500 house, which is more than double the median existing single-family home price of $158,100 in the U.S.

Finding a seller takes work. The average person who bought in the last decade would lose money on a sale, because home prices have plunged to October 2002 levels, the SP/Case-Shiller index of home prices in 20 U.S. cities shows. About 11.1 million homeowners have negative equity, or owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth, which limits their mobility, according to a March 1 report by real estate data provider CoreLogic Inc.

Prices haven’t recovered even as demand rises. Existing home sales this year through March were the highest for a first quarter since 2007, the National Association of Realtors reported on May 9. The median price in 146 metropolitan areas tracked by the group fell 0.4 percent from a year earlier to $158,100.

Time to Buy

While it’s unclear when prices will increase, rising rents and record-low interest rates make now a good time to buy, Mark Kiesel, a Pacific Investment Management Co. managing director, said in a May 4 research note about his decision to become an owner again six years after selling his last house at the peak of the market in 2006.

The inventory has tightened as investors, drawn by bargain prices and rising rents, bought 22 percent of homes sold in the first quarter, according to the National Association of Realtors. That’s up from 21 percent of deals a year earlier.

Most home sellers list only if they must move because of financial distress, a new job or a lifestyle change, such as divorce, death, growing children or an empty nest, said Cari Linn, president of the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors.

Letters to Homeowners

Linn sent letters last month to 28 owners in a town house development in Eagan, about 15 miles south of Minneapolis, where one of her clients was looking for a house, a prospecting technique she has used rarely since becoming a Realtor in 1982. She received responses from owners of two units, neither of which her client wanted.

Fewer bank-owned homes are coming to market as lenders comply with terms of a $25 billion February settlement to resolve allegations that the five-largest loan servicers seized homes without proper documentation. In the first quarter, foreclosure filings in the U.S. fell to the lowest level since 2007, RealtyTrac Inc. said last month.

Resales of foreclosures by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored mortgage buyers, fell to 77,104 homes in the first quarter, down 18 percent from a year earlier, according to company filings.

Seemingly Vast Iceberg

In Florida, the state with the largest share of homes in the foreclosure pipeline, median prices are rising and transactions have declined for bank-owned homes. That defies predictions the state would face a flood of distressed properties, according to John Tuccillo, chief economist for the Florida Association of Realtors.

Another source of supply, the inventory of new homes, fell to 144,000 in March, the fewest on records dating to 1963, the Commerce Department reported April 24. Homebuilders, still reeling from the construction and land-buying spree of the past decade, have cut the number of so-called spec homes, which are built without a buyer already lined up. PulteGroup Inc., the largest U.S. builder by revenue, reduced its inventory of such homes to 1,039 as of March 31, down 30 percent from the end of last year.

Stronger Market Position

As sellers sit on the sidelines, bidding wars are flaring up in Denver, Miami, Minneapolis, Phoenix, Seattle and Washington, where bargain hunters, sensing a market bottom, have stepped up shopping.

“The sellers are not willing to move because they don’t perceive that their house today is worth as much as it might be a year from now,” Jay Brinkmann, chief economist for the Washington-based Mortgage Bankers Association, said in an interview.

Stressed Shoppers

Troy Springston of Denver sent an email to more than 6,000 fellow agents on May 1 asking for homes yet to be listed for sale and offering half his commission for a deal reached by May 11 for the couple he represents. His clients, who have a baby on the way, were scheduled to complete the sale of their current house that day and couldn’t find the right property to buy for less than $125,000, Springston said. They arranged an extension of the move-out date to May 18 because they hadn’t yet found a home to buy, he said.

In Florida’s Miami-Dade County, the number of listings fell 35 percent in April from a year earlier, to a 5.7-month supply, according to Esslinger Wooten Maxwell Inc., a Coral Gables, Fla.-based brokerage owned by Berkshire Hathaway Inc. In neighboring Broward County, the inventory fell 31 percent to a 4.2-month supply, Esslinger Wooten said.

Monthly Happy Hours

Patti Reid, an Esslinger Wooten agent, hosts monthly happy hours at bars in central Broward County near the city of Davie, where she owns a house. She invites empty-nesters who might be interested in selling a single-family home and buying a condominium near the coast. The parties have helped Reid find four homes to sell, all of which landed buyers within a week.

Phoenix Listings Fall

In the Phoenix area, listings fell 64 percent in March from a year earlier, according to an April 25 report by Michael Orr, director of the Center for Real Estate Theory and Practice at Arizona State University. Properties marketed by traditional sellers dropped 31 percent while distressed listings — including foreclosures and short sales, in which lenders accept prices lower than the mortgage balance — plunged 81 percent.

“It’s hard to convey how difficult it is to find and buy a home that’s under $150,000,” Orr said in a telephone interview. “We’ve got a two-week supply.”

Absentee owners, including investors and vacation-home buyers, purchased 46 percent of Phoenix area houses in March, paying a median $116,900, up from $100,000 a year earlier, according to a May 4 report by DataQuick.

The inventory of homes in Minnesota’s Twin Cities area sank 29 percent in April from a year earlier to 17,312 listings, a 4.6-month supply, the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors reported May 10. For homes with an asking price below $120,000 — those most attractive to investors and first-time buyers — the supply shrank to 3.1 months in April from 7.6 months a year earlier as the inventory fell 43 percent to 3,802 listings.

Near Good Schools

The shortage seems magnified because move-up buyers are looking in the “safe zone,” near good schools, for three- bedroom, two-bath houses priced at less than $250,000, said Travis Callstrom, an agent with Re/Max Advantage Plus in the Minnetonka, about 12 miles west of Minneapolis.

“It’s like the shoe store where everyone wants the size 7,” said Callstrom, who sold about 125 houses last year with his partner, Laura Scott. “That’s the one they run out of first.”

Discouraged Sellers

That’s an indication that sellers in those markets are becoming discouraged, akin to a decline in the unemployment rate when job seekers lose heart, said Jed Kolko, chief economist for Trulia Inc., a San Francisco-based real estate information service.

In recovering markets, owners need to be persuaded that it’s worth taking a step back by selling for less so they can take two steps forward to buy more, said Greg Anderson, the broker at Re/Max Advisors West in Chaska, Minn. It’s the same as selling a stock at a loss to buy shares of a growing company, he said.

“It’s an old real estate adage: You always buy up in a down market,” Anderson said. “If you buy up in a down market, you make money on arbitrage.”

Twice the Size

His clients Steve and Lee Ann O’Sell sold their home of 18 years in March for $200,000, about $60,000 less than it would have fetched in 2006.

When it took only eight days to find a buyer, Lee Ann O’Sell worried the asking price was too low.

Waiting for a higher offer might have allowed another buyer to grab the house they wanted to buy, Steve O’Sell said.

The O’Sells paid $450,000 for a 4,124-square-foot home, almost twice the size of the old one, with individual bedrooms for each of their three children and a golf course outside the backyard where they can walk their two dogs when the course isn’t busy.

“It’s a major, major upgrade,” Steve O’Sell, a salesman for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota, said as he sat in his living room overlooking the second hole of the Chaska Town Course. “Two or three years ago, it would never have crossed our minds as a possibility.”

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Article source: http://www.telegram.com/article/20120520/NEWS/105209769/1002/business

A: REITs got clobbered during the late 2000s bear market but they have come roaring back. Examining Vanguard’s REIT Index fund (trading symbol VGSIX), which is a low-cost, highly diversified REIT fund with a solid track record, you would find that after peaking in early 2007, it dropped about 68 percent in value until it bottomed finally in early 2009. You are correct that the REIT index essentially is back to its 2007 peak (which is true of other funds that have a healthy helping of small to mid-cap companies as the REIT index does).

The change in market values seen in local residential real estate markets don’t correspond to the valuation changes in REITs. Vanguard’s REIT Index fund invests in many different types of properties and invests around the world. Take a look at the largest holdings in the fund along with a brief description of what type of property each REIT company invests in:

• Simon Property Group: retail REIT investing globally in regional malls, premium outlet centers and international properties.

• Public Storage: self-storage REIT in U.S. and overseas as well as commercial properties.

• Equity Residential: apartment REIT, mostly in larger U.S. cities like New York, D.C., Los Angeles and Boston.

• HCP: healthcare properties including senior housing, medical offices, lab space, skilled nursing and hospitals.

• Ventas: healthcare REIT primarily in senior housing, skilled nursing and medical offices.

• Boston Properties: diversified REIT with office buildings, office and technical properties, one hotel, retail properties primarily in New York, Washington D.C., Boston and San Francisco.

• ProLogis: owns and manages industrial space in North America, South America, Europe and Asia.

You probably have some money invested in REITs and don’t realize that you do. Most diversified stock funds have a small amount invested in REITs.

Article source: http://www.timesunion.com/business/article/REITs-have-come-roaring-back-3571048.php

Dean Graziosi is also an author and has written two books about real estate investment. These books are “Be a Real Estate Millionaire” and “Profit from Real Estate Right Now!” These books have been made available over his personal website and can be purchased at an economical price. Individuals can also read Dean Graziosi review which has been posted by his students and other followers, impressed by these books. The reviews clearly state that he is a genius at what he does and has also helped many people turn into professionals in the field of real estate investment. Dean has also been making daily appearances on TV since 1999, which has made him an internationally known personality. He is one of America’s foremost experts on helping people achieve their goals in regards with financial security.

A great number of real estate investors have come and gone, but Dean Graziosi remains the most consistent. Many investors have been termed as scam artists, but Dean’s foolproof strategies in real estate investment have earned him a great deal of audience and competitors’ respect. He believes in delivering value to people and is an active investor today. Unlike other investment moguls, he is truly dedicated to help others make money through real estate investing. By following the guidelines offered by Dean, individuals can experience the kind of financial freedom, he has found through real estate investment.

Today, Dean has succeeded in helping many people achieve their financial goals and this can be confirmed by a reading of the Dean Graziosi review. No matter what cycle the real estate market is in, if individuals implement Dean’s strategies, they will be able to make wealth instantly. People can gain access to his methods and profile by visiting his personal website http://deangraziosi.com. It can offer them more information and clear misconceptions.

For further information visit: http://www.deangraziosi.com/

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Article source: http://www.prsafe.com/new_press_releases/view/8650

By
Bruce Kelly

May 20, 2012 6:01 am ET

The nation’s largest nontraded real estate investment trust, the $11.2 billion Inland American Real Estate Trust Inc., is working through a fact-finding investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission and intends to replicate last year’s dividend of 50 cents a share.

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Executives of the REIT, which revealed the SEC inquiry May 7 in its quarterly report, held a conference call with investors Friday to review first-quarter developments, which included the acquisition of five hotels, and to stress that regulators haven’t accused the company of any wrongdoing.

As its size indicates, Inland American is the most widely distributed nontraded REIT among independent broker-dealers, the only sales channel for such REITs. Registered representatives and clients have been watching their investments in such REITs anxiously as some of the larger ones have announced sharp reductions in estimated valuations and cuts in dividends.

TOP OF THE AGENDA

At the top of the agenda of the Inland American conference call was the SEC investigation.

After his opening remarks, Inland America chairman Robert Parks said that he wanted to address the SEC’s inquiry before other executives discussed the REIT’s financial details.

“We are cooperating fully with regulators,” he said. “We’ve not been accused of doing anything.”

According to the presentation, Inland American last year paid $428.7 million, or 50 cents a share, in distributions. The source was cash flow from operations and joint-venture distributions.

“We believe our dividend in 2012 is sustainable,” said Thomas McGuinness, president of Inland American Business Manager and Advisor Inc.

The REIT’s shares are valued at $7.22, and there are more than 185,000 stockholders.

Inland American’s real estate portfolio is divided into six segments.

The largest is retail, at 38% of the REIT’s assets, followed by lodging at 28%. Next come office buildings, at 17%, followed by industrial, at 9%.

Finally, the REIT owns apartments, at 6% of the portfolio, and student housing, at 2%.

Typically, nontraded REITs are illiquid investments, which offer to buy back from investors only a small number of shares per quarter.

During the credit crisis, some nontraded REITs eliminated those share buyback programs. That left investors who wanted to sell their shares with limited options, aside from selling in a secondary market that routinely offers investors 20% to 30% of the REIT’s initial purchase price, typically $10 per share.

LIQUIDITY OPTIONS

At the moment, liquidity for Inland American Investors is limited to shares held by those who have died or are disabled.

But the company is exploring other liquidity options, said Jack Potts, principal financial officer.

When asked about the REIT’s plans for a public offering, he said that three parts of the portfolio — retail, lodging and student housing — could be in the best position for a liquidity event.

“We are positioning each segment for potential listing, merger or portfolio sales in the future,” according to the company presentation. “Our short- to medium-term strategy is to improve the overall quality and position of these segments for long-term growth through selective asset sales.”

bkelly@investmentnews.com

Article source: http://www.investmentnews.com/article/20120520/REG/305209991

The Florence housing market is coming back to life thanks to low interest rates, industry presence and growing consumer confidence shown in current data from local realtors.

Seeing 2011 as a real bottom for the local market, it is on track to do slightly better than last year, with the average price for a single-family home in the Florence School District 1 increasing to $175,627 — bucking the slide of prices during the past four years, and 3 percent below the 2008 average.

With 61 transactions in the first quarter, Florence RE/MAX branch owner Adam Crosson’s office sees a 15 percent increase year-to-date in home sales over last year in the Florence market — a sign that has him cautiously, but firmly, saying the Florence housing recovery is under way.

“It’s a stable market, always has been, and we did have some unrealistic things happen in the boom. But we feel like we’re close to correcting ourselves, and I feel confident in saying the worst is over,” Crosson said.

With the top market share in the area since 2006, Crosson is confident the local market will continue to grow.

“They come in and they (agents) cannot find what they’re looking for. We do have a lot of inventory but it seems to be that we’re having trouble now, in the most recent months, finding the right inventory for our clients,” Crosson said. “So strangely enough, it’s a good time to sell because of the market conditions.”

Improvement all over

Florence isn’t the only RE/MAX market seeing such a rebound. The March 2012 RE/MAX National Housing Report showed that for the first time in 18 months, homes sales in the 53-market survey were up an average of 8.7 percent over 2011.

“We’re seeing more buyers and more serious buyers,” Crosson said “As opposed to people just looking, we could never get them to make a decision; they were scared to make a purchase because the market was so volatile and not knowing. … That’s changed.”

Nancy Ferguson, CEO of the Realtors Association of Greater Pee Dee, sees the market optimism, but says consumer confidence is a good indicator of how things will continue to play out.

“We’re hoping this uptick will continue. It might not be in leaps and bounds, but consumer confidence will help it turn around a bit more,” Ferguson said. “People are waiting to see what happens.”

Other indicators are stubborn, but slowly growing.

For the first quarter of 2012, the Consumer Financial Distress Index pegged South Carolina at 66.5 out of 100 points, with a score under 70 indicating financial distress. This is the highest score the state has received since the fourth quarter of 2008; it’s 2.2 points higher than the previous quarter, but is 8 points below the first quarter of 2007. The index, published by CredAbility, measures employment, housing, credit, how families manage household budgets and net worth. Employment and net worth were main drags on the state’s score — which is 4.5 points below the national average.

Jean Leatherman, owner of ERA Leatherman Realty Inc., is optimistic like Crosson and credits industries such as Otis Elevator and the medical field for stabilizing the market.

“With low interest rates and great prices on real estate, we should be selling a lot of houses and we are, and the market has increased, but we still have a ways to go to get back to where we were a few years ago,” she said.

The sales volume by price, a better guide for measuring the market than homes sold, has shown 28 percent decrease, $41.7 million, from 2008 to 2011. Average days on the market for Florence School District 1 is 109, down from 2011’s 129.

Lending changes

Leatherman said the down market changed everyone’s outlooks, from buyers to lenders.

“Everybody’s looking for assurances that we’re on track and moving forward and aren’t going to have any hiccups in the future market,” Leatherman said, which has led to tighter lending. “Now they are giving a very difficult time to people who have great credit, who pay their bills and intend to pay their mortgage, but are still putting them through a very difficult time.”

By plugging in a good credit score, a mortgage for $140,000 after 20 percent down on the average Florence home price and other criteria, FHA.com found a 15-year fixed mortgage rate at 2.75 percent with a 3.1 percent APR and a 30-year fixed mortgage rate at 3.5 percent with an APR of 3.73.

Steven Ateyeh’s Florence-based real estate appraisal company, the Alliance Appraisal Group, is also busy and not just with refinances and foreclosures like last year.

“In the last five to six months, purchases have started picking up around here, and I have realtors telling me purchases are picking up, too,” Ateyeh said. “It’s picked up for everybody.”

Alliance Appraisal is contracted by an appraisal management company (AMC) to appraise homes for banks, a new rule that was created in the wake of the housing crisis, breaking up relationships with lenders and appraisers — an influential relationship that believed to have partially led to the market bust by appraising homes for more than they were truly worth.

Ateyeh says the new system creates new problems — including the middle man, the AMC.

“It’s absolutely more difficult for us and has hurt the housing market more than they thought it was before,” Ateyeh said. “It took personal relationships out of it. Now AMCs get a cut and it’s in their best interest to find the cheapest appraisers, and a lot of appraisers are hurting and looking for business so they charge low fees and travel far.”

Even with a tight home rental market, with few new houses being built on the market and foreclosures continuing, the three believe the market is getting better and agree it’s a good time for sellers as well.

“What you can expect over the next couple years will still be an above average amount of foreclosures. That’s going to continue for a couple years. There’s still too many of them, but not what they once were, and I think that you’re going to see the market here in Florence and statewide a increase 1 ½ to 3 percent in sales,” Crosson said. “Is it great? No. Is it getting better? Yes.”

Article source: http://www2.scnow.com/business/2012/may/19/florence-real-estate-market-showing-signs-life-ar-3821931/

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Fifth Third Center has been sold and another uptown skyscraper, One Wells Fargo Center, is under contract, real estate sources say, underscoring the city’s appeal to large investors.

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Article source: http://www.wcnc.com/news/local/One-uptown-tower-sold-another-under-contract--152141555.html

Washington Real Estate Investment Trust (WRIT) (NYSE: WRE) has amended
one of its two unsecured credit facilities, to extend the maturity from
July 1, 2014 to July 1, 2016, with a one-year extension option. In
addition, the amendment lowers the interest rate to LIBOR plus a margin
of 107.5 basis points (previously 122.5 basis points) based on WRIT’s
current credit rating and eliminates the requirement for guarantees from
WRIT’s subsidiaries under certain circumstances. The facility retains
its initial committed capacity of $400 million with an accordion feature
that allows WRIT to increase the facility to $600 million, subject to
additional lender commitments.

The bank group and commitments remain unchanged from the prior facility.
The lead arranger and bookrunner for the facility is Wells Fargo
Securities, LLC. Wells Fargo Bank, National Association, is
administrative agent and issuing bank. The Bank of New York Mellon,
Citibank, N.A., and Credit Suisse AG, Cayman Islands Branch serve as
documentation agents. Additional participants include Royal Bank of
Canada, U.S. Bank, N.A., JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., Branch Banking
Trust Co., and Raymond James Bank, FSB.

“Our strong, conservative balance sheet enables us to negotiate more
favorable terms with our lenders when appropriate. In this case, we
improved the legal flexibility, extended the term, and lowered the
interest rate spread and fees of our credit facility to better align
with recent market deal metrics. We appreciate all the effort that our
bank group and legal team devoted to this transaction to make it a
success,” said William T. Camp, Executive Vice President and Chief
Financial Officer of WRIT.

WRIT is a self-administered, self-managed, equity real estate investment
trust investing in income-producing properties in the greater Washington
metro region. WRIT owns a diversified portfolio of 71 properties
totaling approximately 9 million square feet of commercial space and
2,540 residential units, and land held for development. These 71
properties consist of 26 office properties, 18 medical office
properties, 16 retail centers and 11 multifamily properties. WRIT shares
are publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE:WRE).

Certain statements in this press release are “forward-looking
statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995. Such statements involve known and unknown risks,
uncertainties, and other factors that may cause actual results to differ
materially. Such risks, uncertainties and other factors include, but are
not limited to, the potential for federal government budget reductions,
changes in general and local economic and real estate market conditions,
the timing and pricing of lease transactions, the effect of the current
credit and financial market conditions, the availability and cost of
capital, fluctuations in interest rates, tenants’ financial conditions,
levels of competition, the effect of government regulation, the impact
of newly adopted accounting principles, and other risks and
uncertainties detailed from time to time in our filings with the SEC,
including our 2011 Form 10-K and first quarter 2012 Form 10-Q. We assume
no obligation to update or supplement forward-looking statements that
become untrue because of subsequent events.

Washington Real Estate Investment Trust
William T. Camp
Executive
Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Tel: 301-984-9400
Fax:
301-984-9610
bcamp@writ.com
www.writ.com

Article source: http://www.4-traders.com/WASHINGTON-REAL-ESTATE-IN-14907/news/Washington-Real-Estate-Investment-Trust-Amends-and-Extends-Credit-Facility-14335680/

Posted on 19 May 2012. Tags: investing scam, New Jersey, real estate investing

An alleged Real Estate Investment scam was discovered by the SEC and have since charged David Connolly of Watchung, New Jersey.  The SEC alleges that Mr. Connolly operated a phony scheme that duped clients into more than $2 million of real estate investment shares.  Mr. Connolly operated Connolly Properties Inc. which was suppose to supply real estate investors monthly dividends from cash-flow profits from shares purchased.  The profits were would come from rental income from apartment buildings as well as property appreciation growth profit.

Connolly Properties did initially hold real estate investments in both Pennsylvania and New Jersey.  However, after quickly figuring out that these real estate investment properties would not produce the promised dividends to investors he chose to make Ponzi-like payments to his early investors by using money from his new investors.  During that time the SEC alleges Mr. Connolly took at least $2 million in his investor funds and used them for his own personal use.

What probably caught the SEC’s eye and really brought the heat on Mr. Connolly was the fact that the security offerings in the real estate investment vehicles were never registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission.  Registering these real estate investments is required by federal law.

Connolly Properties originally began offering real estate investment in 1996, having raised over $50 million in 200 plus investors.  The SEC claims that Mr. Connolly told investors that all of their investments would be used only for properties related to the real estate investment vehicle chosen by the investor.  However, it became a mess when the funds were also mixed with other funds from various other investments including payments to made out to himself.  To continue the scheme real estate refinancing was utilized to boost the cash flow.

Mr. Connolly has been indicated on one count of securities fraud among several other criminal charges.

Article source: http://www.therealestatemedia.com/real-estate-investment-scam-discovered-sec-charges-nj-man-2458.html