RealEstateRama

WASHINGTON, D.C. - November 26, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- Mayor Richard M. Daley today appointed Andrew J. Mooney as interim head of the City’s new Department of Housing and Economic Development, which will be formed through the consolidation of the City’s Department of Community Development and the Department of Zoning and Land Use Planning as of January 1, 2011.

Pittsburgh, PA - November 25, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- Rent Jungle (www.rentjungle.com) unveiled an industry-first web site, allowing apartment and rental-house hunters to search the contents of listings from thousands of other web sites – using spidering and indexing technologies similar to that of a search engine, but dedicated exclusively to the rental housing industry.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - November 24, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- With Thanksgiving approaching, and millions of homeless and poor Americans struggling with hunger and the cold, the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty today announced it has received a $75,000 from the Bank of America Charitable Foundation. This support comes at a critical time, as the Law Center works to help implement the first-ever Federal Plan to End Homelessness.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - November 24, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- Fannie Mae's (FNMA/OTC) most recent nationwide housing survey finds that Americans are less certain that the housing market has bottomed, and continue to be wary of buying a home. The Third Quarter 2010 Fannie Mae National Housing Survey polled homeowners and renters between July 2010 and September 2010. Findings were compared to similar surveys conducted in June 2010, January 2010, and December 2003.

MINNEAPOLIS, MI - November 24, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- United Properties announces that the Ford Center* has signed a lease with HGA Architects and Engineers for 80,000 sq. ft. in its historic office building in the Minneapolis Warehouse District. To ready the Ford Center for 2011 renovations, United Properties also recently received historic renovation design approval from the National Park Service and the Minneapolis Heritage Preservation Commission, and approval for a building addition from the City of Minneapolis Planning Commission.

PITTSBURGH, PA November 23, 2010 – The Board of Directors of the Federal Home Loan Bank (FHLBank) of Pittsburgh today declared the results of the recent election to fill seats vacated by Directors whose terms expire on December 31, 2010. The election includes two member director positions for Delaware, one member director position each for Pennsylvania and West Virginia, and two non-member independent director positions

Detroit, MI - November 23, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- Quicken Loans Inc., the nation’s largest online lender and a top-five retail mortgage lender, announced it ranked highest in “customer satisfaction” among all home loan lenders in the United States in a benchmark study of the mortgage industry by J.D. Power and Associates, the global marketing information services company.

WASHINGTON, DC - November 22, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- Today more than 15,000 walkers joined together on the National Mall to participate in Fannie Mae's 23rd Annual Help the Homeless Walkathon, raising awareness and funds to prevent and end homelessness.

SAN ANTONIO, TX - November 22, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- The Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas (FHLB Dallas) and Jefferson Bank are pleased to announce they have awarded a $176,445 Affordable Housing Program (AHP) grant to St. Peter-St. Joseph Children’s Home to assist with the construction costs of a 32-bed emergency center for adolescents between the age of 12 and 18 years old.

WASHINGTON D.C.- November 22, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- More than 6,000 environmental and economic development officials, finance and insurance providers, risk managers, planners, attorneys, civil engineers and students are expected to attend the U.S. EPA co-sponsored National Brownfields Conference, April 3-5, 2011, at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia.

WASHINGTON, DC - November 22, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Department of the Treasury today released the November edition of the Obama Administration’s Housing Scorecard (www.hud.gov/scorecard). The latest housing figures show continued signs of stabilization in house prices and high home affordability due in part to record low mortgage interest rates. The housing scorecard is a comprehensive report on the nation’s housing market.

WASHINGTON, DC - November 19, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- Senior U.S. District Judge Jack T. Camp Jr., pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Atlanta to possession of controlled substances and conversion of government property, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division, Special Agent in Charge Brian D. Lamkin of the FBI’s Atlanta office and Director Vernon Keenan of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

WASHINGTON, DC - November 19, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- Exemplary achievements in the development of workforce housing are being celebrated tonight by the Urban Land Institute (ULI) Terwilliger Center for Workforce Housing. Four developments --33Comm in Chestnut Hill, Mass.; Capitol Quarter: Phase 1 in Washington, D.C.; Fire Clay Lofts in Denver; and Miller’s Court in Baltimore have been selected as the winners of the ULI Terwilliger Center’s Jack Kemp Workforce Housing Models of Excellence Awards.

NORFOLK, VA - November 19, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- Erica Campbell, former senior manager of new media marketing for For Rent Media Solutions, a leading resource for searching apartments nationwide and a division of Dominion Enterprises, has been promoted to director of marketing. As director of marketing, Campbell will oversee business to consumer marketing initiatives for For Rent Media Solutions and its sister site

HELENA, AR - November 19, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- Helena National Bank and the Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas (FHLB Dallas) are pleased to announce that they have awarded a $4,000 Partnership Grant Program (PGP) award to Main Street Helena. Representatives from the banks joined Main Street Helena officials for a check presentation Tuesday in historic downtown Helena

San Antonio, TX - November 18, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- USAA Real Estate Company announces the purchase of Patterson Court, a Class-A multifamily community located at 8112 Patterson Wood Drive in Little Lake Bryan, a master development in Orlando. The property was purchased from Atlanta-based Woods Partners. Details of the transaction have not been disclosed.

WASHINGTON, DC - November 18, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- Improving financial conditions and recent encouraging signs from the labor market should set the stage for an above-par growth trend by mid 2011, according to the November 2010 Economic Outlook released today by Fannie Mae's (FNMA/OTC) Economics & Mortgage Market Analysis Group. Despite challenges, including uncertainty on the domestic fiscal policy and international fronts, improvement in economic activity will likely occur at a gradual pace moving into 2011. The economy showed a slight pickup in growth in the third quarter to 2.0 percent at an annualized pace, up from 1.7 percent in the previous quarter, and consumer spending posted the best showing since the end of 2006. Even with stronger than expected economic growth in the third quarter, the group forecasts continued sluggish growth at least through the first quarter of 2011.

PLEASANTON, CA and LA JOLLA, CA - November 18, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- Ellie Mae®, the enterprise mortgage origination technology provider for mortgage bankers, mortgage brokers, community banks, credit unions and other mortgage lenders, and Closing.com, the largest one-stop-shop for real estate closing services on the Web, have announced the launch of Encompass Assured GFE™ service powered by Closing.com’s SmartGFE® Service. With Encompass Assured GFE, Encompass360™ users can now create Good Faith Estimates, which are backed by a ClosingCorp compliance guarantee, directly from their Encompass360 systems.

CHICAGO, IL - November 17, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- A national listing of energy efficient commercial buildings in the United States that are included in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) ENERGY STAR program is now available on a new mobile phone application offered by LessEn, an Urban Land Institute (ULI) initiative to help lessen energy consumption in commercial buildings around the globe

WASHINGTON, DC - November 17, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- Commercial real estate visionaries from both academia and industry painted a fairly optimistic picture of what the industry will look like in the next ten years during 2020: A Vision for Commercial Real Estate, a thought leader symposium presented by the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) Foundation and the Georgetown University School of Continuing Studies and its Masters of Professional Studies in Real Estate Program held last Tuesday in Washington, D.C. Their predictions point to a future in which property management is increasingly important, buildings are carbon neutral and shifting demographics create a greater demand for real estate.“Our inaugural Thought Leader Symposium was an inspiring glimpse of what our industry will look like a decade from now,” commented BOMA Foundation Chair Marilyn Wilbarger, director of property management, City of Key West, Fla. “Attendees heard from the best and brightest minds in real estate, finance and sustainability and walked away with a better idea of how to prepare for future success.”

WASHINGTON, DC - November 17, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- Today Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-CT) held an oversight hearing investigating problems in the mortgage servicing industry. The Committee heard testimony from state officials, industry executives, and experts in law and consumer protection, and explored how mortgage servicing practices may have prevented modifications and even resulted in unjustifiable foreclosures.

NEW YORK, NY - November 16, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- J.P. Morgan Worldwide Securities Services today announced that it has been appointed by True North Management Group LLC to provide real estate fund administration services for its True North High Yield Investment Fund II which closed in April 2010 with $330 million of equity commitments and is expected to finish with $500-$600 million of equity commitments.

New York, NY - November 16, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- SL Green Realty Corp. (NYSE: SLG) announced today that leases covering 141,887 square feet with new or expanding tenants have been signed within the past 30 days

November 16, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- Mortgage Cadence, LLC, a leading provider of Enterprise Lending Solutions (ELS), Loss Mitigation Technology and Document Services for the financial services industry, announces the direct integration with EarlyCheck in support of Fannie Mae’s Loan Quality Initiative (LQI). EarlyCheck provides users with access to Fannie Mae’s data checks at any point in the lender’s business process. Validating critical data prior to delivering a loan to Fannie Mae provides increased certainty for the lender and ultimately reduces funding and pooling delays after submission

FAYETTEVILLE, AR - November 16, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- A $55,000 Affordable Housing Program (AHP) grant from Bank of the Ozarks and the Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas (FHLB Dallas) will assist the Fayetteville Housing Authority with much needed repairs to apartments for very low-income residents.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - November 16, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- The Congressional Oversight Panel today released its November oversight report, "Examining the Consequences of Mortgage Irregularities for Financial Stability and Foreclosure Mitigation." The Panel reviewed allegations that companies servicing $6.4 trillion in American mortgages may in some cases have bypassed legally required steps to foreclose on a home. The implications of these irregularities remain unclear, but it is possible that "robo-signing" may have concealed deeper problems in the mortgage market that could potentially threaten financial stability and undermine foreclosure prevention efforts

NEW YORK, NY - November 15, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- Chase announced today that it more than doubled its Small Business Administration loan volume in fiscal 2010 to become the nation's largest SBA lender, helping 250 more businesses than the next largest lender.

OCEAN SPRINGS, MS - November 15, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- The first home in the new Savannah Pines subdivision is complete, and Savannah Pines, LLC, will host an open house and celebration event on Saturday, November 13, 2010, from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. The event welcomes the public and will provide a tour of the new home and information about the subdivision

November 15, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- USAA Real Estate Company is pleased to announce that the Renaissance Tower, a multi-tenant, class A, high rise office building located in Sacramento, California has earned a Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design for Existing Buildings (LEED EBOM) certification from the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) at its highest, Platinum, level.

CHICAGO, IL - November 12, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- New Haven, Connecticut real estate executive John J. Leary, CRE®, has assumed the role of 2011 Chair of the Board of The Counselors of Real Estate® , an international organization of top-level commercial real estate advisors headquartered in Chicago. Leary began his one-year term on October 20 at the 2010 CRE Annual Convention in Philadelphia.