Archive for August 8th, 2008
Continue Reading August 8th, 2008
It seems that more and more Americans faced with foreclosure are renting out rooms in their homes to help pay the mortgage. Of course, this is a trend that is difficult to quantify, but it’s something that a bunch of newspapers and television stations have picked up on in the last month.
When the cold weather arrives this fall, I’m guessing that the idea will gain favor with Bostonians, Minnesotans, Rhode Islanders and others with high heating bills and weak housing markets.
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Continue Reading August 8th, 2008
I like this blog by Barry Ritholtz. Lots of news media reports were encouraged by the Realtors’ report on pending home sales, which showed a monthly gain. Some even said it looked like a sign of a market bottom. Ritholtz begs to differ. And he takes a shot at Lawrence Yun, the ever-optimistic chief economist of the National Assn. of Realtors.
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Continue Reading August 8th, 2008
Hoping to score a house on the cheap by buying a foreclosed property? There are good deals out there, but the process is complicated and risky. Here’s what you need to know.
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Continue Reading August 8th, 2008
If your kid is heading off to college this fall, does it make sense to buy him a place to live? In many cities the answer is yes, according to website Cyberhomes.com. The site studied home prices and rents in fifteen college towns. In thirteen of them, the monthly mortgage payments and taxes are less than the local rents. For real estate investors, that’s called positive cash flow.
Now, honestly, nobody should buy a home just to avoid dorm fees for four years. But as a long term investment college towns can make sense. They have a steady source of tenants and are less dependent on the economy. The downside is high tenant turnover and a good chance they’ll trash the place on Saturday night. I remember a Realtor in Santa Barbara telling me that he bought a special (cheap) kind of carpet for the rental properties he owned near the state university. I think he called it campus carpet.
In any case, here are some college-oriented cities you might want to buy in:
• Oklahoma City, OK – Home Payment $764, Rent $1088
• Tampa-St. Petersburg- Payment $1074, rent $1506
• Lawrence, KS - Payment $1074,Rent $1506
And three to avoid:
• Los Angeles, Payment $3163, Rent $2270
• Eugene-Springfield, OR – Payment $1384, Rent $1272
• Fresno, CA – Payment $1432, Rent $1352
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Continue Reading August 8th, 2008
TechSpace will be able to call the buildings at 65 and 75 Enterprise in Aliso Viejo, Calif., home for quite some time now that the company has signed a long-term lease with property owner RREEF. Read more »
Continue Reading August 8th, 2008
Ground has broken on Waltham, Mass.-based Constant Contact Inc.’s new 50,000-square-foot office building in Loveland, Colo. Located near the intersection of Rocky Mountain Ave. and Test Dr. in Precision Office Park at Centerra, the build-to-suit facility will mark the e-mail marketing provider’s first foray beyond its corporate headquarters home in Massachusetts. McWhinney is on board to oversee development activity, and Dohn Construction is serving as general contractor. Work is scheduled to reach completion in early 2009. Read more »
Continue Reading August 8th, 2008
A financing deal valued at $27 .4 million has closed for a group of five office buildings totaling 226,000 square feet in Needham, Mass. Read more »
Continue Reading August 8th, 2008
City officials and community activists can’t wait to get their hands on nearly $4 billion the federal government is about to inject into blighted neighborhoods suffering from record foreclosures.
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Continue Reading August 8th, 2008
The joint venture buyer has agreed to purchase College Business Park in Upland, Calif., just east of Los Angeles. The 314,000-square-foot business park sold for $39.9 million to Koll/PER, a limited liability company owned by Koll and the Public Employee Retirement System of Idaho. Read more »
Continue Reading August 8th, 2008
CB Richard Ellis Inc. has promoted Ken Rapp, a commercial real estate veteran known for his prolific leasing work with some of Manhattan’s biggest corporations and other high-profile clients, to vice chairman for CBRE’s New York Tri-State region. Read more »
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