The Real Deal

Biggest price cut of the day

July 30, 2010 05:00PM

10225 Collins Avenue

The South Florida home to see the biggest price cut today is a four-bedroom, four-bathroom unit in the Bellini Condo at 10225 Collins Avenue in Bal Harbour, according to data from Condo Vultures Realty. The $1.85 million Miami-Dade County home saw a $725,000, or 28 percent, price cut. It was originally listed for $2.575 million when it hit the market earlier this month. The 2,918-square-foot, oceanfront unit has marble floors, a private elevator, wrap-around balcony and comes furnished. It is also available for rent. Vivian Klepach of Harding Realty has the listing. (Condo Vultures data includes condos and single-family home listings in the main metropolitan areas of Miami, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach and Key West that are priced at $1 million and above, and that include photographs. Listings are taken from the South Florida MLS.) TRD

Brookfield to exit the housing business

July 30, 2010 04:00PM

Brookfield Properties, the New York-based landlord and subsidiary of Toronto's Brookfield Asset Management, plans to depart from the housing market entirely to focus exclusively on office properties, Bloomberg News reported. The company, which just invested billions in bankrupt shopping mall owner General Growth Properties and also has $1.2 billion in residential assets, is currently in talks to merge its Carma Development home building unit with Brookfield Asset Management's Brookfield Homes. It plans to then sell its home building operations, which it said produced $33 million in revenue in the second quarter, in order to free up capital to invest in more office buildings, particularly in the U.S., Canada, Australia and the U.K. The company has also changed its name to Brookfield Office Properties to affirm its new focus. [Bloomberg] Tags: brookfield asset management brookfield homes brookfield properties

Foreclosure stats for the week

July 30, 2010 03:00PM

As of today, the number of foreclosures in South Florida year-to-date is 38,822, down from 61,031 at the same time last year, based on the most recent data available from Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties. Broward County records are not current through July 30. The graph below shows foreclosure activity in South Florida's three counties. TRD

Source: Condo Vultures

The return of "zero down" mortgages?

July 30, 2010 02:15PM

Legislation that would restore a Department of Agriculture homebuying program is headed to President Barack Obama's desk for signature, one of the nation's last sources of no money down financing for home loans, the Wall Street Journal reported. According to the National Association of Realtors, the legislation makes the department's Single-Family Housing Guaranteed Loan Program self-sufficient. Borrowers will have to pay a higher "guarantee fee" of 3.5 percent, but the fee can be folded into the mortgage. Agriculture department loans were particularly popular this year as first-time homebuyers tapped the government's federal homebuyer tax credit, which expires Sept. 30. Despite the last-minute save for borrowers in the program, industry watchers haven't stopped criticizing these zero-down deals, given the role they played in the housing crash. But, the program is considered safer because up to 90 percent of the purchase amount is guaranteed, meaning the agency will pay if the borrower defaults. [WSJ] Tags: department of agriculture homebuyer tax credit

What will Obama's new consumer bureau do for real estate?

July 30, 2010 01:30PM By Kenneth Harney

The financial reform bill signed into law by President Obama may look like a giant cornucopia of helpful changes for homebuyers and loan applicants -- not the least of which will be the creation of a powerful Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to ride herd on the mortgage lending industry. But how soon will anyone see hard, tangible results of the law? When will the bureau begin writing new rules and cracking down on problems and abuses in everything from home real estate settlements to credit scores to "truth in lending" and equal credit opportunity? At the moment, it looks like it will be a while, even if the president nominates a director for the consumer protection bureau quickly and the Senate confirms her or him without partisan bloodletting or a filibuster. On the other hand, mortgage industry leaders say some of the core changes promised by the legislation are either already in effect -- such as stricter underwriting and documentation practices -- or should be soon. More Tags: barack obama consumer financial protection bureau ken harney kenneth harney

Mortgage rates continue to set new record lows: Freddie Mac

July 30, 2010 12:45PM

Mortgage interest rates have reached record lows for the sixth week in a row, according to data from government-sponsored mortgage giant Freddie Mac for the week ending July 29. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged a 4.54 contract interest rate, down from 4.56 percent last week and 5.25 percent during the same week last year. It was the lowest interest rate for the 30-year mortgage recorded in the 30-year history of Freddie Mac's survey. Its 15-year counterpart averaged 4 percent, down from 4.03 percent last week and 4.69 percent last year. Freddie Mac began tracking the 15-year fixed-rate mortgage in 1991, and its interest rate has never been this low since then. Frank Nothaft, vice president and chief economist for Freddie Mac, noted that the mortgage rate dips come amid mixed reports on the housing market this week. The S&P/Case-Shiller Housing Price Index showed that more cities are seeing price increases and new home sales rose nationwide, while existing home sales slowed. TRD Tags: frank nothaft freddie mac

Health care bill includes real estate sales tax

July 30, 2010 12:00PM

There have been rumors of a 3.8 percent sales tax on all real estate transactions in Florida having been inserted by Democrats at the last minute in the health care overhaul bill. A portion of those rumors are true. Inside the health care legislation is, indeed, a federal real estate tax of charge 3.8 percent, though it will apply only to sellers making more than $200,000 per year, or $250,000 per year for couples. A recent Washington Post article noted that a fictitious couple with a $300,000 income, making $600,000 in profits on the sale of their home could be charged around $1,900 in new taxes. [Sun Sentinel]

Winn Dixie, Publix heading in different directions

July 30, 2010 11:15AM

Publix is winning the supermarket battle in South Florida

Jacksonville-based Winn Dixie has been financially wobbly for years, leading few people, like Allison Cassidy, to be surprised that the Lake Worth store where she works is closing, along with 12 others in South Florida. Winn Dixie has been losing the battle for supermarket supremacy for several years now to Publix, with just 24 stores in Palm Beach County to Publix's 73. In 2005, Winn Dixie filed for Chapter 11, closing a third of its 913 stores. In a Consumer Reports rating of national and regional grocery stores last year, Publix ranked third among 59 companies in satisfaction; Winn Dixie was 55th. [Palm Beach Post] Tags: publix winn dixie allison cassidy consumer reports

Casa Bella in Hialeah sells 128 units

July 30, 2010 10:30AM

Casa Bella in Hialeah

A Delaware corporation called DREA Group 29 has acquired 128 units, or nearly 130,000 square feet of salable space, in the Casa Bella condo at 440 W. 16th Avenue in Hialeah for $7.5 million, according to a Condo Vultures report based on Miami-Dade County records. The deal represented a 54 percent discount, after the loan on the property valued the units at approximately $126 per square foot. The seller was 4400 REPH, which is controlled by Ocean Bank, which took ownership of the property last month. TRD Tags: casa bella condo vultures ocean bank

Public Storage sells Pompano industrial site for $4.9 million

July 30, 2010 09:45AM

Cushman & Wakefield represented Public Storage

Public Storage has sold the industrial site at 3001 Center Port Circle in Pompano Beach for $4.9 million to buyer Rexall Sundown. Public Storage was represented by Cushman & Wakefield in the transaction. The 62,000-square-foot property is located in Center Port Industrial Park, which is immediately west of I-95 between Sample and Copans roads. It was built by Public Storage in 2001. Rexall Sundown intends to relocate its manufacturing, packaging, warehousing and distribution facilities from Boca Industrial Park after doing some renovations. TRD Tags: cushman & wakefield public storage rexall sundown

Six charged in mortgage-to-marijuana scheme ... and more

July 30, 2010 09:00AM

1. Six charged in mortgage-to-marijuana scheme [SFBJ]
2. Top Chef's Curto-Randazzo to move restaurant to SoBe [TVGuide.com via Eater.com]
3. AT&T activates two new 3G cell phone sites [SFBJ]
4. Guest drowns at the Breakers [Palm Beach Daily News]
5. "Green tea party" protests climate change bill slowdown [Sun Sentinel]
6. Are HOA foreclosures necessary? [Real Estate Channel]
7. Flights to Fort Lauderdale among America's cheapest [Sun Sentinel]
8. Goldman Sachs, Citigroup try to sell fourth offering of commercial mortgage-backed securities [Bloomberg]
9. A theory on why banks defraud their investors [Zero Hedge via Patrick.net]
10. Retail leasing improves, but investment activity struggles to recover [CoStar]
11. National Association of Realtors seeks federal ban on private transfer fees [Inman]
12. Hequembourg Home headed for destruction [River Cities Gazette via Miami Herald]