Monthly Archives: December 2010

West Hartford, CT - December 6, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) Nuts & Bolts Of Real Estate Investing Series: Webinar 2 Tom Ackman - Inspecting Your Deals For Profits

December 3, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- Loudoun County Treasurer, H. Roger Zurn Jr. reminds taxpayers that the deadline for payment of the second half real property tax is Monday, December 6, 2010. Payments postmarked after December 6, 2010 will incur a 10% late payment penalty. The penalty date will not be extended for bills where assessment questions have been filed with the Board of Equalization. Additional interest at the rate of 10% per annum will be assessed

LIMA, OH - December 3, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- Many Lima residents are familiar with the sight of Michael Muhammad sitting in front of the local post office soliciting donations to assist veterans. Today, Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray filed a lawsuit in Allen County seeking to shut down Muhammad's nonprofit organizations and the homeless shelter he claims to operate for the benefit of veterans."This is a bad situation on several levels," said Attorney General Cordray. "The conditions inside this home are appalling and hazardous to the residents. Standing water in the basement, exposed electrical wires, rotting carpet, unsafe bathroom facilities and roaches, mice and rats – the place is a mess and we need to shut it down.

WASHINGTON, DC - December 3, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- Calling it a significant response to Pompton Lakes residents concerned about groundwater affected by a DuPont works facility, U.S. Senator Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) and U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ-8) today lauded an agreement reached by the EPA, NJDEP and the DuPont Company that enables residents outside of the soil vapor plume area to test for and mitigate a total of 61 possible contaminants at their properties. Previously, those residents could only receive help in testing and mitigating their properties if the 10 chemicals attributed to DuPont’s contamination were found.

WASHINGTON, DC - December 3, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- A former residential sales manager at a Florida property management company pleaded guilty to wire fraud in connection with housing repair contracts for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the Department of Justice announced today.

December 3, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- At the invitation of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan traveled to Vermont to address the need for greater access to affordable housing in rural states.

December 3, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- Industry icon Richard L. (Dick) Schlott, Chairman & CEO of Gloria Nilson, REALTORS®, Real Living and RLS, REALTORS®, Real Living, was honored recently with the 2010 RISMedia National Homeownership Award, sponsored by Bank of America Home Loans. Schlott was presented with this prestigious award at RISMedia’s 15th Annual Power Broker Dinner, held last week during the annual NAR Conference & Expo in New Orleans. The Power Broker Dinner honors the industry’s top brokers, as determined by the results of RISMedia’s annual Power Broker Report & Survey.

Tampa, FL - December 3, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- With one of the most active Atlantic Hurricane seasons on record now over, the Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS) is encouraging home and business owners to use the cooler months ahead to add hurricane-resistant features to their homes and commercial buildings.

December 3, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- California's Building Standards Code will change in 2011, and all development project and permit applications that are submitted to the City of Long Beach on or after January 1, 2011 must comply with the updated code.

December 3, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- USAA Real Estate Company is pleased to announce that the Colonnade Centre, a multi-tenant, class A, office building located in San Antonio, Texas has earned a Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design for Existing Buildings (LEED EBOM) certification from the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) at the GOLD level.

Washington, DC - December 3, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- Today, House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.) led a full committee hearing on "Foreclosed Justice: Causes and Effects of the Foreclosure Crisis," in which the Committee discussed with invited witnesses the government’s response to the country’s foreclosure crisis.One of the witnesses, a New York bankruptcy judge, testified that he had routinely encountered in his court foreclosure attorneys who: failed to know who they represented, lacked the underlying note evidencing their entitlement to seek foreclosure, failed to establish the legal chain of title establishing the standing of their client-mortgagees, and submitted to the court false affidavits attesting to the ownership of the note and mortgage

WASHINGTON, DC - December 3, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- All across the country, there are environmentally challenged areas called ‘brownfields,’ contaminated properties that often require substantial cleanup before they can be reused for another purposes. In the latest issue of Cityscape, an independent journal published by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, several scholars are calling for new policies and approaches that could significantly accelerate stalled brownfield redevelopment.

CINCINNATI, OH - December 3, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Ohio, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today announced two settlements against landlords for failing to inform tenants that their homes may contain potentially dangerous lead. The agreements require the landlords to replace windows and cleanup lead-based paint hazards in 31 residential properties containing a total of 294 units (see attached list). In addition to the $480,000 worth of lead abatement work being performed, the landlords also agree to pay civil penalties totalling $12,500.

Los Angeles, CA - December 3, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- The Los Angeles County NeighborWorks® Center for Foreclosure Solutions (CFS) coalition has been helping families facing foreclosure since the beginning of the mortgage crisis. As families head into the holidays, the significance of having a home is more important than other times in the year. As foreclosure activity and joblessness remain historically high, helping families to stay in their home or prepare to purchase a home is critical this holiday season

Las Vegas, NV - December 3, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- Lori Ballen of Keller Williams Realty Las Vegas Real Estate creates Dynamic Team of Las Vegas Real Estate Agents offering Buyer Services and Seller Services including Las Vegas Short Sales.

WASHINGTON, DC - December 3, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- Apartment firms benefited from lower insurance costs in 2010, according to the National Multi Housing Council’s annual

Torrance, CA - December 3, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- Colliers International, the second largest real estate services organization globally, has recruited Jeff Smart, Josh May, Blake Tippett and Kyle Degener to its Torrance, Calif. office. Specializing in the representation of industrial landlords and tenants throughout the South Bay and Mid-Counties markets, the team will add additional strengths to Colliers’ industrial platform in Greater Los Angeles

EUGENE, OR - December 3, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- Today, IDX, Inc. announces Carlene Kucera is the latest real estate professional to adopt a customizable IDX solution for her online realty solution. Now, the website Kucera supports can quickly match Sacramento, California home seekers with properties, through her incredibly thorough property search page. Metrolist-Sacramento listings were once only available for agents and brokers to sort through. Kucera has made these properties accessible to almost everyone through her website, where her IDX solution displays the detailed listing data of thousands of Metrolist homes. Never before has such a comprehensive online property search been so simple and easy-to-use.

EUGENE, OR - December 3, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- Real estate broker Nancy Fredericks has enabled a customized IDX solution for her realty website, thanks to IDX, Inc. Now, thousands of Sullivan County MLS (SCMLS) listings are available with the click of a mouse for those searching for property in and around the famous Catskill area of New York. With the amazing IDX technology, it is no wonder Fredericks and her real estate website are a trusted name in local realty.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - December 3, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) has launched a newly-designed consumer-oriented website, www.SaveMyMortgageInterestDeduction.com, to provide up-to-date information on the threat to the mortgage interest deduction.

HARRISBURG, PA - December 2, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- The Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency today applauded the signing into law by Governor Edward G. Rendell of legislation enabling creation of a Pennsylvania housing trust fund

WASHINGTON, DC - December 2, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- Beazer Homes USA Inc., a national residential homebuilder, has agreed today to pay a $925,000 civil penalty to resolve alleged Clean Water Act violations at its construction sites in 21 states, the Justice Department and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - December 2, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- DOE announced on November 30 that 24 projects are receiving a total of $21 million in technical assistance to reduce the energy used in their commercial buildings. This initiative, supported with funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, will connect commercial building owners and operators with multidisciplinary teams including researchers at DOE's national laboratories and private sector building experts. The teams will design, construct, measure, and test low-energy building plans, and will help accelerate the deployment of cost-effective energy-saving measures in U.S. commercial buildings.

SEATTLE, WA - December 2, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- The start of the wet season has begun in Seattle and heavy rain can increase the chance of landslides due to soil saturation, which reduces slope stability. Property owners of landslide-prone sites are advised to clear drains and take other simple preventive measures, such as: checking downspouts, to make sure they are functioning and routed to a safe location; and inspecting sloping areas of their property for indications of slope movement (such as cracks in the ground, and newly tilting trees) and erosion.

New York, NY - December 2, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- Yesterday, United States Senators Charles E. Schumer and Richard Durbin (D-IL), introduced a five-year moratorium on the requirement that New York homeowners purchase expensive new flood insurance policies if they live in a community designated as a flood zone since September 30th, 2007. Schumer has been highly critical of Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) flood mapping techniques and has been pushing the agency to go back to the drawing board to devise a flood map plan that reflects the on-the-ground realities of communities now being impacted by new flood elevation requirements.

New York, NY - December 2, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, Deputy Mayor for Economic Development Robert K. Steel and Alexandria Real Estate Equities CEO Joel S. Marcus today opened the Alexandria Center for Life Science – New York City, a state-of-the-art science park on Manhattan’s East Side. The new 310,000-square-foot, 15-floor facility, the first of three buildings to be developed as part of Alexandria’s newest life science cluster campus, will connect and foster unique and innovative collaborations among New York City’s world-renowned academic and medical institutions, preeminent scientific talent, access to venture capital funds, and the commercial life science industry.

New York, NY - December 2, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- In the latest sold-out session of The Real Estate Board of New York’s (REBNY’s) New York Residential Specialist (NYRS) course, 29 leading real estate agents earned the esteemed NYRS designation last month. The elite set with the credential, which denotes that a broker has received the highest level of education available, is made up of a powerful peer group committed to ethical behavior and professional excellence in sales and marketing. The growing numbers of NYRS graduates, which now total more than 150, demonstrates REBNY brokers’ commitment to raising the bar

HOUSTON, TX - December 2, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- Four employees of Central Capital Financial Group have been sentenced to prison for running a mortgage fraud scheme, United States Attorney José Angel Moreno announced today. United States District Judge Nancy F. Atlas handed down the sentences in federal court in Houston on Monday and Tuesday of this week.

PELLA, IA - December 2, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- The Sun., Dec. 5, episode of ABC television network's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" (EMHE) will include energy-efficient Pella windows and doors windows donated by Pella Corporation. The episode will air at 8 p.m. Eastern/7 p.m. Central on ABC-TV

AUSTIN, TX - December 2, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- Spending time with a cranky uncle or an overbearing mother-in-law during the holidays has long been a source of discomfort for hosts and guests alike, but a new survey from HomeAway®, Inc. – the world’s leading online vacation rental marketplace – finds some relatives can overstay their welcome in less than a day.