Monthly Archives: August 2011

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - August 19, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Attorney General Kamala D. Harris today announced that the California Department of Justice, in conjunction with the State Bar of California, has sued multiple entities accused of fraudulently taking millions of dollars from thousands of homeowners who were led to believe they would receive relief on their mortgages.

BOISE, ID - August 19, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Idaho Housing and Finance Association (IHFA) announced today the approval of Idaho’s State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI) application by the U.S. Department of the Treasury. The SSBCI pro...

CHICAGO, IL - August 19, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Ken P. Wilson, MAI, SRA, of Plano, Texas, was elected Thursday as 2012 vice president of the Appraisal Institute, the nation’s largest professional organization of real estate appraisers.

EUGENE, OR - August 19, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Jennie Ng and IDX, Inc. have joined forces to bring new levels of ease and accessibility to the Bronx, New York home search, by enabling a custom IDX solution onto her professional website. As a real estate broker, Ng has long had access to thousands of detailed property listings through the Westchester-Putnam (WPMLS)/Long Islan (MLSLI). Now, her clients can experience and view detailed proerty listings that were once solely reserved for real estate agents and brokers. Ng's IDX-synced website allows potential New York buyers to explore the database on their terms. Ng had made the right decision for her business and her clients by enabling an IDX solution for her website.

EUGENE, OR - August 19, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Today, IDX, Inc. announces Broker Jeff Smith of Presidio Real Estate has become the latest real estate professional to adopt a customizable IDX solution for his company website. Smith's IDX solution now seamlessly integrates thousands of Ventura County Regional (VCRDS) listings onto his search page, creating a comprehensive database of properties for his clients to explore online. Through his IDX solution, Smith also has access to myAgent by IDX, which gives real estate agents the ability to extend their online MLS search tools to the mobile web. This iPhone/iPad App is designed to give him an advantage in the field, and he can use it when touring neighborhoods with a client, or encourage his clients to download the app and with his Agent ID code, when his clients find a home they like, his contact information shows up over the top of every search

AUSTIN, TX - August 19, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- HomeAway, Inc. (AWAY)– the world’s largest online marketplace for vacation rentals – today announces the launch of its free HomeAway® Vacation Rental Search application for the iPad. This expands HomeAway’s mobile portfolio to include applications for iPhone, Android and iPad, giving more on-the-go travelers access to the 260,000+ global vacation rentals available on HomeAway.com™.

August 19, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- DEXUS Property Group today announced the sale of a LEED-certified 496,000 square feet freezer facility in Riverside, California. USAA Real Estate Company owned and sold the building as well as furnished all of the development capital for the facility. Developed by DEXUS and completed in only ten months, the specialized building was sold for $91.5 million and is one of the largest and leading state-of-the-art LEED-certified cold storage facilities in the world.

Atlanta, GA - August 19, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- USAA Real Estate Company and national developer JLB Partners, LP formed a joint venture to develop Buckhead Village, a Class-A multi-family community in Atlanta, Georgia. This constitutes the first transaction between the two companies, launching this relationship.

SACRAMENTO, CA - August 19, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Housing affordability in California decreased in the second quarter of 2011 as 16 of the state’s 28 metropolitan areas included in the report showed declines, the California Building Industry Association announced today.

Tampa, FL - August 19, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Trammell Crow Company (TCC) is pleased to announce it has initiated the rezoning process to support the development of a 450,000-square-foot office development and 350-room hotel in Tampa’s Central Business District (CBD).

PHOENIX, AZ - August 19, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Clifton Gunderson, ranked as one of the nation's largest certified public accounting and consulting firms, today announced it will relocate its Phoenix office. Effective January 1, 2012, Clifton Gunderson will become a new tenant at 20 East Thomas Road, Phoenix, Ariz. The new location will accommodate the expansion of Clifton Gunderson's Phoenix practice office.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - August 19, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- This is the message of 40 housing and community development organizations in a letter to the members of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, known as the “super committee.” This Congressional committee is charged with achieving further deficit reduction as part of the debt ceiling agreement enacted in early August.

Chicago, IL - August 19, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- A new survey in the August 15th issue of Chicago Agent magazine illustrates that more than half of all agents surveyed believe that online agent rating systems, such as those on Zillow.com, Trulia.com and Angie’s List, are beneficial to the industry. However, only 17 percent of agents surveyed are actively participating in agent rating systems.

Durham, NC - August 18, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Approximately 200 Durham homes will soon be saving energy and money thanks to the Durham Home Energy Savings Program. The Durham Home Energy Savings Program, overseen by the Durham City-County Sus...

Durham, NC - August 18, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Approximately 200 Durham homes will soon be saving energy and money thanks to the Durham Home Energy Savings Program. The Durham Home Energy Savings Program, overseen by the Durham City-County Sustainability Office and the City's Community Development Department, works to increase energy efficiency to save homeowners on their energy bills while reducing harmful greenhouse gas emissions into Durham's environment. The program, offered for a limited time on a first-come, first-served basis, is currently seeking 200 applicants who live in either the city or county.

Chicago, IL - August 18, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- RE/MAX Property Source, Rockford, which is part of the RE/MAX Northern Illinois real estate network, has expanded into Belvidere, Ill., where it has acquired the local office of RE/MAX Key and renamed it RE/MAX Property Source. The office has been relocated to 411 S. State St. in downtown Belvidere, the former office of State Rep. Ron Waite.

BOSTON, MA - August 18, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- MassHousing has honored seven of its 2010 top-producing home mortgage lending partners for their commitment to affordable homeownership.

SPRINGFIELD, IL - August 18, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- According to the Illinois Association of REALTORS® (IAR) latest report, statewide home sales (including single family and condominiums) in July 2011 totaled 9,708 homes sold, up 18.4 percent from 8,197 home sales in July 2010. The statewide median price in July was $153,000, down 3.8 percent from $159,000 in July 2010. The median is a typical market price where half the homes sold for more, half sold for less

PAISLEY, FL - August 18, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- The Lake County Board of County Commissioners is inviting the public to a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the three recently opened public lands properties of Ellis Acres Reserve, The Pasture Reserve and Lake May Reserve. The ceremony will take place at the Ellis Acres property, located at 25302 County Road 42 in Paisley on Wednesday, Aug. 24 at 9 a.m.

TEANECK, N.J./TORONTO, CA - August 18, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Encelium Technologies will showcase its innovative energy management and lighting control systems at IIDEX/NeoCon Canada, Booth #121, on Thursday, September 22 and Friday, September 23, at the Direct Energy Centre in Toronto, Canada.

Torrance, CA - August 18, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Lee & Associates, the nation’s largest broker-owned commercial brokerage firm, has been named the listing broker of the historic Brown Derby, the 14,000-square-foot retail-restaurant building at 4500 Los Feliz Blvd. in Los Angeles

Los Angeles, CA - August 18, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- HGA Architects and Engineers (HGA) has hired Joey A. Kragelund, AIA, as associate vice president and principal of Healthcare Design in the Los Angeles office. He will focus on client relations and new business development for HGA’s growing Healthcare Practice Group

August 18, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- According to the New York City Quarterly Housing Update (Q2 2011) released by NYU’s Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy, home sales volume declined 20 percent from the first to the second quarter of 2011, and is down 40 percent compared to March through June of 2010.

ALISO VIEJO, CA - August 18, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- CT Realty Investors Inc. (www.ctrinvestors.com) has acquired the Dowling Orchard Business Park which includes two new state-of-the-art industrial warehouse buildings totaling 572,143 square feet as well as 30 acres of land entitled for another 611,000-square-foot building. The property is located at 520 Fourth St. and 415 Nicholas Rd. in Beaumont, Calif.

Washington, DC - August 18, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Existing-home sales declined in July from an upwardly revised June pace but are notably higher than a year ago, according to the National Association of Realtors®. Monthly gains in the Northeast and Midwest were offset by declines in the West and South.

BISMARCK, N.D. - August 18, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Anyone who receives temporary housing assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and continues to have a housing need, must fill out an important form for additional short-t...

WASHINGTON, D.C. - August 18, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Nationwide housing affordability during the second quarter of 2011 hovered for the 10th consecutive quarter near its highest level in the more than 20 years it has been measured, according to National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index (HOI) data released today

New York , NY - August 18, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Rose Associates, Inc. recently signed a 15-year lease with Potbelly at the Metropolis, a property located at 150 East 44th Street in Manhattan. The popular sandwich maker is now open and operating in the 2,462-square-foot space, which was formerly occupied by Benvenuto Café and is adjacent to a Chipotle restaurant.

Newport Beach, CA - August 18, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Determined to dispose of residual REO properties and close the books on the third quarter, Columbia Bank, a Pacific Northwest community bank, has employed the auction marketing experts at the LFC Group of Companies to sell over $17M worth of REO properties on the Freedom Realty Exchange (FRE.com) by September 1st.

WASHINGTON, DC - August 17, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Serious delinquency rates for mortgages continue to stabilize across the largest 100 U.S. metropolitan areas, though they remain at historically high levels according to the latest data from Foreclosure-Response.org. Serious delinquency, defined as the share of loans in foreclosure plus the share of loans delinquent 90 or more days, fell 10% from the peak in December 2009 through March 2011. The 90+-day delinquency component of the figure fell from 5.5% of the mortgage market to 3.9% over the same period. However, the share of homes in foreclosure continues to rise, increasing 12% in that period.