Monthly Archives: January 2010

Jackson, MS - January 29, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- EastGroup Properties (NYSE-EGP) today announced the acquisition of the Ocean View Corporate Center in San Diego, California for a purchase price of $17,000,000. Located in the Otay Mesa submarket, Ocean View contains 274,000 square feet in three, multi-tenant business distribution industrial buildings. Constructed in 2005, the complex is presently 87% leased to 14 customers. Ocean View is projected to generate an annualized yield of 9.6% at its current occupancy and rents.

NEW YORK, NY - January 28, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- The boards of the New York State Affordable Housing Corporation (AHC) and the State of New York Mortgage Agency (SONYMA) today approved $38.9 million in grants and mortgage insurance commitments to preserve 296 units of housing in New York State.

WASHINGTON, DC - January 25, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- The Federal Housing Administration’s Mortgagee Review Board (MRB) today immediately and permanently withdrew the FHA approval of Premium Capital Funding, LLC, a Jericho, New York-based lender doing business as TopDot Mortgage.

BALTIMORE, MD - January 29, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler announced today that David Young Park, 43, the former president of Capital City Financial Group in Ellicott City, entered a plea of guilty to one count of felony theft in Baltimore County Circuit Court. Judge John J. Nagel, III sentenced Park to five years in jail with all but 18 months suspended. Park was also ordered to complete five years of supervised probation and make restitution to the victim in the amount of $116,556.

A statewide count of homeless Kentuckians of all ages living in shelters, on the streets, and other places not meant for human habitation is being coordinated by Kentucky Housing Corporation. The count will also include precariously housed Kentuckians, defined as people living in substandard housing conditions, doubled- or tripled-up with family and friends, or expecting eviction within seven days.

January 29, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- Southeastern Kentucky’s black bears are in their dens for the winter. Now is the perfect time for area residents to bear-proof their property before bears re-emerge in spring.

Washington, D.C. - January 29, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- Congresswoman Dina Titus of Nevada's Third District released the following statement today on the news that the economy grew 5.7 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009, the fastest pace since 2003.

TALLAHASSEE, FL - January 29, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- Florida CFO Alex Sink is urging Florida taxpayers to find out if they may be one of the estimated 10,000 Floridians who qualify for the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), a federal tax credit for low-income working individuals and families, on Earned Income Tax Credit Awareness Day 2010. Eligible Floridians are due back an estimated $15 billion, on top of what they already may be claiming on their taxes, if they all claimed the EITC.

Voucher Requests Exceed Funding Available; Applications No Longer Accepted. Topeka, KS - January 29, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- Kansas Housing Resources Corporation (KHRC) has committed approximately $2.7 million in funding for the State Energy Efficient Appliance Replacement Program (SEEARP). As of today, voucher requests received by KHRC exceed funding available. Because of that, new applications for SEEARP can no longer be accepted

CINCINNATI, OH - January 29, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- A two-year investigation by the Greater Cincinnati Mortgage Fraud Task Force has resulted in a seven-count indictment charging two Cincinnati area home builders, a former Huntington National Bank vice president, and a self-employed tax preparer and interior designer with participating in a mortgage fraud scheme to sell four high-end luxury properties to “straw buyers.”

CONSHOHOCKEN, PA - January 29, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- Metro Commercial announced today that they have been selected by GIANT Food Stores to sublease five of their surplus locations in Pennsylvania. The Giant-Carlisle Division of Ahold USA, headquartered in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, is a leading supermarket chain in Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maryland and West Virginia with grocery stores operating under the names of GIANT Food Stores and MARTIN'S Food Markets.

BEDFORD, N.H. - January 28, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- At its recent meeting, New Hampshire Housing Finance Authority’s Board of Directors approved funding for two rental housing projects: Bow Highlands in Bow and Lochmere Meadows in Tilton.

New York, NY - January 28, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- PREET BHARARA, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that Manhattan real estate developer MICHAEL HERSHKOWITZ was sentenced today to four years in prison for his participation in a $27 million Ponzi scheme involving fraudulent loans secured by nonexistent mortgages.

Westfield, MA - January 29, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- Four preserved farms in New Jersey ranging in size from 29 to 84 acres will be sold at auction next month. Max Spann Real Estate & Auction Co., a national auctioneer of elite properties, has scheduled an auction at 1 p.m. on Feb. 26 at the Readington Municipal Building, 599 Route 523, Whitehouse Station, N.J.

NEW YORK, NY - January 28, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- The board of the State of New York Mortgage Agency (SONYMA) today approved a commitment to insure a $37.5 million mortgage on a 144-unit apartment building in Brooklyn that was originally built to be sold as condominium units.

Albany, NY - January 28, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- It’s never been easier to find out how to cut your energy costs and make your home more environmentally friendly than at this year’s Great Northeast Home Show.

FORT WORTH, TX - January 27, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development today awarded at total of $824,707,000 to three fair housing organizations in Texas to assist people who believe they have been victims of housing discrimination.

NEW YORK, NY - January 27, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- Senator Jeff Klein (D-34th Senate District), Senator William Stachowski (D-58th Senate District) and Senator Antoine Thompson (D-60th Senate District) were joined by officials from the Town of Cheektowaga and City of Buffalo

More than half of home buyers in the 2009 Profile of Illinois Home Buyers and Sellers were first-time buyers, due in large part to the first-time homebuyer tax credit stimulus and increased affordability in home prices in the last year. The survey results released by the Illinois Association of REALTORS® (IAR) found 51% of buyers were first-time buyers, compared to 47% nationwide (a figure which has averaged closer to 40% nationwide since 2001). When asked about the primary reason for timing of the home purchase, 46% of first-time buyers said it was just the right time.

DEKALB, IL - January 28, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- Governor Pat Quinn today announced that Northern Illinois University (NIU) will get $8 million to renovate Cole Hall, which on Feb. 14, 2008 was the tragic scene of an unprovoked attack where five students were shot and 19 were wounded. An additional $2.3 million will be used to plan for the renovation of Stevens Building.

January 28, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- Today the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System & Registry (NMLS)—a mortgage licensing system operated by state financial regulators, including Idaho—is launching “NMLS Consumer Access.” NMLS Consumer Access is a fully searchable website that allows the public to view information concerning state-licensed mortgage companies, branches, and individuals currently licensed through NMLS

Atlanta, GA - January 28, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- On January 25, 2010, the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance (“Department”) entered into a Consent Order with Lenox Financial Mortgage, LLC, mortgage lender’s license number 19100, located at 6 Piedmont Center, Suite 500, 3525 Piedmont Road, Atlanta, Georgia, 30305, as well as its members, Jon M. Shibley and Stefen Shibley,to resolve allegations that they violated the Georgia Residential Mortgage Act and the Georgia Fair Lending Act.The terms of the Consent Order include a series of requirements that Lenox Financial Mortgage, LLC, among other things, shall develop and implement policies, procedures and best practices that will ensure compliance with state law and related Department rules regarding Georgia residential mortgage activity. Lenox Financial Mortgage, LLC shall pay fines and make a contribution to the State Regulatory Registry, LLC to support the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System.

WASHINGTON, DC - January 28, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- The Joint Economic Committee (JEC) – a bicameral Congressional Committee composed of ten members from the Senate and House of Representatives – today released a new economic snapshot report on Florida. The report provides a comprehensive overview of how the nation inherited the current Recession from the previous Administration and Republican Party and shows where growth and recovery have begun to take hold in areas such as home prices and personal income.

Sioux City, IA - January 27, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- The Inspection Services Division would like to remind property owners who have rental property within the city to register the property before it is to be rented or leased.

WASHINGTON, DC - January 27, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- Senator Chuck Grassley today said that $1,045,000 from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development was released to Council Bluffs and Marshalltown through the regular appropriations process.

CHICAGO, IL - January 27, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) today announced it had indefinitely suspended the licenses of Edward Kent, a Real Estate Broker and Associate Appraiser who had been convicted of a crime that caused his name to be placed in the Illinois Sex Offender Database. After receiving a complaint about Mr. Kent, the Department undertook to compare its more than one million licensees against that database.

January 27, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- Delaware State Housing Authority (DSHA) Director Anas Ben Addi , along with Secretary of the Department of Services for Children, Youth, and Their Families (DSCYF) Vivian Rapposelli, today announced that DSHA has been awarded fifty (50) Family Unification Housing Vouchers through the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development’s competitive application process. In addition to helping bring families together, these vouchers can now also be used to provide housing assistance to youth between 18 and 21 years of age who have left foster care and need affordable and decent housing in a safe environment.

WASHINGTON, DC - January 27, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- Congressman Dennis Cardoza said today he had lost confidence in the top housing official in the Obama Administration, U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan.

PORTLAND, Ore. - January 25, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- Lee Moore has been elected chair of the Housing Authority of Portland’s (HAP’s) Board of Commissioners for 2010, and Brian Lessler and Amie Pico have been appointed to the nine-member citizen commission.

FRANKFORT, KY - January 26, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- Kentucky consumers considering a mortgage now have a new online resource to make sure their lender is licensed.