Monthly Archives: March 2011

WASHINGTON, D.C. - March 10, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Two quarterly indices produced by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) indicate a return to healthy market conditions for both new and existing apartment and condominium buildings.The Multifamily Production Index (MPI), which tracks developer sentiment about new construction on a scale of 1 to 100, is at 40.8 –up more than 5 full points since the previous quarter and the highest number since the fourth quarter of 2006

WASHINGTON, D.C. - March 10, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) will host a media teleconference on March 16 to unveil its new technical guidance document providing Chinese Drywall testing and remediation guidelines. This new resource addresses techniques for determining whether problematic drywall is present in a home and if so, how to remediate the issue. The guidelines are a result of extensive research, testing and analysis conducted by Marsh Risk Consulting and Building Health Sciences, Inc., under the direction of the NAHB Chinese Drywall taskforce. During the teleconference, Barry Rutenberg, first chairman of NAHB, Katherine Cahill, global product risk practice leader at Marsh Risk Consulting and Dr. Barbara Manis, chief medical officer at Building Health Sciences Inc. will walk listeners through the details of new guidelines

WASHINGTON, D.C. - March 10, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- An improving job market should help boost home sales and housing production later this year, but the ongoing problems that builders are facing in acquiring construction credit threatens to significantly slow the fragile housing recovery, the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) told Congress today.

Mount Laurel, NJ - March 9, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Metro Commercial Real Estate, Inc. is pleased to announce that Perry S. GraBois has joined its full-service brokerage team where he will expand the firm’s presence in Central and Northern New Jersey.

BURLINGTON, VT - March 9, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Executive Director Sarah Carpenter announced Robin Howe of Colchester has joined Vermont Housing Finance Agency (VHFA) as Multifamily Operations Specialist

CHICAGO, IL - March 9, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- At a time when the world is searching for facts about the stability of property markets, The Counselors of Real Estate professional association will offer an unbiased and realistic view of the U.S. property markets this week at MIPIM. MIPIM, held in Cannes, France, is the world's largest global real estate conference

March 9, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Mayor Chris Beutler said the City today sent dangerous building notices to the owners of two "O" Street buildings damaged by fire December 12. The notices give the owners 10 days to repair or demolish the buildi...

DENVER, CO - March 9, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Ann Kerr and Chrissy Graham, two of Colorado’s leading real estate professionals, have joined Kentwood Real Estate in the Denver Tech Center as Broker Associates. Kerr and Graham are working together ...

WASHINGTON, DC - March 9, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- The U.S. Department of Labor's Veterans' Employment and Training Service today announced the availability of $600,000 in "Stand Down" grants that will provide an estimated 10,000 homeless veterans with opportunities to reintegrate into society. The grants are being awarded under the department's Homeless Veterans' Reintegration Program

MANHATTAN, NY - March 9, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Salmanson Capital, LLC, a Manhattan-based real estate firm that specializes in the acquisition and repositioning of student housing assets, has acquired an off-campus student housing complex serving U...

WASHINGTON, D.C. - March 9, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Mortgage applications increased 15.5 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association's Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending March 4, 2011.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - March 9, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- At $9.4 billion, Los Angeles County, Calif. leads the country for counties spending the most money on remodeling, according to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB).Rounding out the top 5 list is Cook County in Illinois, Orange and San Diego counties in California, and Maricopa County in Arizona

Destin, FL - March 9, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Driven by swelling local job markets, the best housing markets for investors in 2011 are spread across the U.S. with many markets located in areas that have a huge number of government jobs. The nation’s capitol, Washington, D.C. leads the annual just released list by Housing Predictor.

Washington, DC - March 8, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- A new Consumer Federation of America (CFA) survey has found that the public overwhelmingly believes that improving the energy efficiency of home appliances is critically important and strongly supports appliance efficiency standards. In a report released today, CFA reveals that home energy costs now take an equal bite out of consumers’ pocketbooks as gasoline expenditures. And similar to their support for fuel economy standards, Americans want energy efficiency standards for home appliances. With oil prices skyrocketing, reducing home energy costs has become critically important to American consumers.

Los Angeles, CA - March 8, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- CB Richard Ellis Group, Inc. (NYSE:CBG) today announced that it has raised $800 million of new term loans under its credit agreement to finance the acquisition of the real estate investment management businesses it is acquiring from Netherlands-based ING Group N.V.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - March 8, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Efforts to combat mortgage fraud against lenders have proliferated into a number of initiatives including state and federal legislation criminalizing mortgage fraud and increased synergy between law enforcement and lenders. Hear from industry experts as they review the current status of the industry, law enforcement and government’s efforts in combating mortgage fraud.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - March 8, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Peter Polhemus, president and CEO of Polhemus Savery DaSilva Architects Builders in Chatham, Mass, has been named the Custom Home Builder of the Year by the National Association of Home Builders."We are honored to be the first company in New England and also the first truly integrated architectural and building firm to receive this prestigious award," Polhemus said.

Upper Marlboro, MD - March 8, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- High-performance green homes don't happen by chance. Green homes achieve their above-code efficiencies and improvements for homeowners as the result of taking an integrated, whole-house approach to the entire building process. To help educators convey these important green construction concepts to construction students, the NAHB Research Center recently unveiled a new resource that is available online.

Las Vegas, NV - March 8, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- RE/MAX Chairman and Co-Founder Dave Liniger told a gathering of more than 5,000 real estate agents that the worst of the housing crisis has passed. At the annual convention of the global real estate franchisor, Liniger said that the industry must continue to pursue the training that will help homeowners in distress, but should also start planning for a post-crisis environment.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - March 8, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- A recent study by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) shows that while consumer hesitation on home buying is waning, the recent housing downturn has changed what Americans are looking for in their next home.The survey research on consumer preferences, which is presented annually at the NAHB International Builders’ Show, suggests that the severity of the recession has left an indelible mark on prospective home buyers, who have shifted their perspective on the housing they want and need.