Buy Raw Land Cautiously to Avoid Raw Deals

Daily Real Estate News July 27, 2006

Buy Raw Land Cautiously to Avoid Raw Deals

Increasingly, people are buying raw land while it’s available and affordable. Are there pitfalls? In the face of rising demand, prices for undeveloped land are shooting up. Last year, farmland values rose at 11 percent, their highest year-over-year rate, according to the Agriculture Department.

Akron Innerbelt Construction Options

View the different Alternatives for Innerbelt Options in the future.

Nice web page.

COLUMBUS, OH-Retail REIT Glimcher Realty Trust is putting up for sale 11 community shopping centers

Last updated: July 27, 2006 08:47pm

COLUMBUS, OH-Retail REIT Glimcher Realty Trust is putting up for sale 11 community shopping centers and the Eastland Mall in North Carolina as part of the company’s strategy to sell non-core assets. Glimcher officials intend to redeploy those revenues into upgrading the quality of its existing assets, as well as acquiring well-located properties.
“With our portfolio size, one or two acquisitions can provide meaningful growth,” said CEO Michael Glimcher during the company’s second-quarter earnings call Thursday. “Although the acquisition market is extremely competitive, we continue to pursue closed- and open-air properties.”

Sales of existing homes fall in June

By MARTIN CRUTSINGER, AP Economics Writer 58 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - Sales of existing homes fell in June for the eighth time in the past 10 months while home prices edged up at the slowest pace in more than a decade — more signs that the housing market has slowed dramatically.

The National Association of Realtors reported Tuesday that sales of previously owned homes and condominiums dropped 1.3 percent in June to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.62 million units.

Builders break ground for new office park

By Stephen Huba Staff Writer
Feb. 23, 2006
FAIRLAWN — City officials here are celebrating what they say will be a luxury office condominium development right off the Interstate 77 interchange with Cleveland-Massillon Road.
"We think it will be a great fit for the area," said Fairlawn Mayor William J. Roth Jr., "and will help with the revenue stream."
Groundbreaking for the first of five buildings on the prime 12.5-acre site took place at 11 a.m. Monday at 721 S. Cleveland-Massillon Road. The Signature of Fairlawn office building should be ready for occupancy in about a year, said David Yedidsion of Yedidsion & Westover Architects.

Port Authority buys Flats property

By LESLIE STROOPE3:07 pm, July 24, 2006
The Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority has closed its deal to purchase the site of the old Jimmy’s Bar in the Flats from Telecom Acquisition Corp. — a move that puts developers a step closer to revitalizing the Flats as an entertainment, retail and housing district.

The port in April reached an agreement to purchase the property, at 1061 Old River Rd., for the Flats East Bank redevelopment project. A port authority statement did not provide the dollar amount for which it purchased the property.

Some Nearby States & Counties Commercial Real Estate News

South Side Pittsburgh Community Wants Proposed $1B Casino Development DEVELOPMENT The South Side Local Development Co. in Pittsburgh has endorsed a proposal by Cleveland-based Forest City Enterprises and Harrah's Entertainment in Las Vegas to develop the South Side's Station Square into a $1 billion gaming enterprise. - July 20, 2006
http://www.cpnonline.com/cpn/specialties/index.jsp


Village Green Completes Recent Expansion of Presence in Midwest
By Keat Foong, Executive Editor
JULY 21, 2006 -- Farmington Hills, Mich. -- Village Green Cos. has finalized its joint ventures with two companies, bringing its apartment management portfolio to more than 38,000 units.
http://www.multi-housingnews.com/multihousing/headlines/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002877307


Insiders Offer Remedies for Troubled Properties
By Maria Siakavellas, Contributing Editor
JULY 01, 2006 -- Some of the most attractive and rewarding multi-housing industry experiences are those that enable investors and developers to uncover a diamond in the rough. But the repositioning process is most certainly not for the faint of the heart. Experience, discipline and across-the-board cooperation are essential to a successful turnaround and getting all those components together can be more difficult than it may often seem.
http://www.multi-housingnews.com/multihousing/reports_analysis/feature_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002728778

Rent, Occupancy Increases Seen for Cleveland Apts.
The average asking monthly rent for Cleveland apartments will increase to $700/ month this year, a 1.7 percent gain from last year's average monthly rent of $688, according to a forecast from Marcus & Millichap. Cleveland's apartment vacancy rate is expected to drop two-tenths of a percentage point to 6.4 percent in 2006. The median sale price of Cleveland apartments rose 8 percent to $33,050/unit last year. - Via LOOPNEWS



Major Interest Rates
21-Jul-06
Last
bps
5-Year Treasury
5.02%
-8
10-Year Treasury
5.06%
-7
IR Swap 5-yr
5.62%
-4
IR Swap 10-yr
5.70%
-3
USD 1M LIBOR
5.385%
-2
USD 3M LIBOR
5.485%
-3

Real Estate Agent Stabbed to Death

Monday, July 17, 2006 - By Staff Writer, Originator Times


STUART, FL – Sarah Anne Walker was found face down on the kitchen floor of a model home last Saturday. She had been stabbed at least 27 times.

Walker was working by herself at an open house in McKinney, Texas - about 32 miles north of Dallas. Police report that Walker made a cell phone call to a friend at 12:30pm and she was found dead at 1:23pm. Walker’s phone call was a normal friendly chat and she did not mention plans to meet a client or anyone else. Her body was discovered by a couple looking to buy a home in the neighborhood of Hemingway at Craig Ranch, developed by D.R. Horton and Craig International.

Foreclosure Activity Heating Up in Florida, Georgia and Midwest

Kristin Campbell 07.17.06

Rising interest rates and a cooling housing market are driving foreclosures up in Florida and Georgia, according to data released today by ForeclosureS.com.

Nearly 30,000 Florida properties are currently in some stage of foreclosure, said Alexis McGee, president of ForeclosureS.com. Nearly a third of those properties are in south Florida, she said.

In Georgia, the foreclosure pace is almost double what it was in May 2005, according to the foreclosureS.com research. Since home sales are slowing, homeowners are not able to quickly unload adjustable rate mortgages they can no longer afford, which leads to more foreclosures.

Akron in a nutshell <--- Insert goofy Austin Powers joke here

City stats - top (akron)
Best places average - bottom (national best place avg)

Median household income(per year)
$34,957
$62,555

Purchasing power(annual, cost-of-living adjusted)
$35,097
$43,961

NMHC Quarterly Survey of Apartment Market Conditions (April 2006)

NMHC Quarterly Survey of Apartment Market Conditions:
Market IndexesApril 2006

Note: The April 2006 quarterly survey was conducted April 24-May 1, 2006. Seventy-five CEOs and other senior executives of apartment-related firms nationwide who serve on NMHC’s Board of Directors or Advisory Committee responded. The January 2006 quarterly survey was conducted January 23-30, 2006; 80 responded. The April 2005 quarterly survey was conducted April 20-27, 2005; 83 responded.

Streetsboro Commons land bought

By LESLIE STROOPE1:12 pm, July 14, 2006

An unidentified affiliate of Fort Worth, Texas-based Woodmont Co. has purchased 54 of the 125 acres slated for the first phase of the Streetsboro Commons mixed-use development.

The commercial real estate investment and brokerage firm bought the property from the Defer family, which owns the 125-acre property, for an undisclosed sum, according to a Woodmont statement.

Central Ohio Industrial Market Improves

Industrial space in Central Ohio is filling up with only 10.7% of the area's total space remaining vacant, according to a report by Grubb & Ellis Adena Realty Advisors. The vacancy rate is a decrease from the 13.2% recorded in the same period last year. The report predicted the positive trend will continue throughout the year, stabilizing between 8 and 10%.

Plan for the rising cost of construction materials

Costs for copper, gypsum and other materials have skyrocketed; make sure you're prepared for escalating construction costs before starting your project.

By MAYA PAYNE SMART

Once upon a time, contractors gave construction project estimates that were good for weeks, and owners could take their time negotiating contracts.

Calif. man pays $1.7 million for Akron's Rolling Acres, plans mixed-use facility

Anchors' role in plan is unclear
By Mary Ethridge
Beacon Journal business writer

Rolling Acres, Akron's beleaguered mall, has been sold to a Beverly Hills lawyer and developer for $1.7 million.

Invest Commercial LLC, formed by Michael Mirharooni in late June, bought the property from the Whichard Group of North Carolina.

Mortgage giants avert potential disaster

By MARCY GORDON, AP Business Writer 34 minutes ago
WASHINGTON - A potential financial disaster that could have shaken the housing market was averted because regulators discovered accounting failures at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the new head of the agency that oversees the mortgage giants said Monday.

Grocery chain to go

Tops Friendly Markets will sell all 46 stores in Northeast Ohio. Roughly 3,800 employees to keep jobs. Same brands to be available.

By Mary Ethridge and Sandra M. Klepach
Beacon Journal staff writers

40-Year Mortgage Gaining Proponents

(July 3, 2006) -- The 40-year mortgage is gaining moment, says Keith Gumbinger, vice president of financial industry research and publishing firm HSH Assoc."These loans have really come back in the last six, seven months," Gumbinger says. "And for certain borrowers, they can help improve affordability."The payment difference between a 30-year mortgage and a 40-year mortgage isn’t huge. For instance, a $300,000 loan at 6.5 percent, amortized over 30 years, costs about $1,896 per month, while the payment for a 40-year loan is $1,756.

Source: The New York Times, Bob Tedeschi, 07/02/2006)

Rolling Acres to lose Dillard's

Rolling Acres to lose Dillard's

City planners seek ways to spur redevelopment around the Akron mall

By Sarah Filus and Dave Scott
Beacon Journal staff writers

Struggling Rolling Acres Mall will take another hit next month when Dillard's closes its clearance store.
The move will leave three major department stores at the mall in southwest Akron: J.C. Penney, Kaufmann's (now part of Macy's) and Sears. Target left the mall this year, opening a new store in Wadsworth