Eco Friendly Housing

The foreclosure crisis is causing hardship, not just for homeowners but for an unknown number of renters. The Houston Chronicle today tells the story of a contractor who rebuilds Louisiana homes damaged by Hurricane Katrina, now facing eviction because the house he rents in Houston was foreclosed on.

Sapna Aiyer, a Houston legal aid attorney, told the Chronicle that new owners in Texas aren't required to continue leases that previous owners signed. Even tenants who are up-to-date on payments can be given just 30-days written notice to vacate.

Brookwood Financial Partners L.P. sold three office buildings totaling 355,269 square feet in Denver's Tamarac Square to Parmenter Realty Partners for $41 million.

The New York City real estate market -- though real estate tax revenues fell during the first nine months of the budget year.

Real property transfer taxes fell 12.7% and mortgage recording tax collections dropped 20.1%, Reuters reported. The New York City, which has already lost jobs on Wall Street in the wake of the subprime crisis, could lose another 36,000 jobs, the city's labor department reported last week.

One out of every 194 U.S. households received a foreclosure filing in the first three months of 2008, according to the latest figures released Tuesday by RealtyTrac.

Eli Broad, the co-founder of KB Home, told Bloomberg TV yesterday that home prices could fall another 20%. Here's a link to the story. That is an absolutely enormous amount when you consider that prices have already fallen a bunch. Today the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller Home Price Index for February was released. It showed that the 20-city index fell 12.7% from a year earlier and is down 14.8% from its all-time high in July 2006.

I'm guessing that the execs at KB Home aren't real happy with Eli Broad, because who's going to buy a house now if they think that Broad is right about where prices are heading? I don't know how many shares of KB Home that Broad himself still owns, but it can't be too many because he doesn't appear on the list of holders of 5% or more of KB Home shares in the latest SEC filing.

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Trivia: KB Home was founded in 1957 in Detroit as Kaufman & Broad Building Company

James Shea, Jr. has been named partner at Choate, Hall & Stewart L.L.P., the law firm, according to the Boston Herald.

Robert Maguire III, chairman & CEO of Maguire Properties Inc., has proposed a plan to privatize the REIT. The proposal represents the latest chapter in the company's efforts to resolve its debt problems, which is being spearheaded by a special committee of independent directors.

Home production in California is grinding to a halt. The number of single-family home permits dropped 61% to 8,189 during the first quarter of this year compared to the same period in 2007, according to an April 25 report from the California Building Industry Association.

To put it in perspective, 35,329 single-family home permits were issued in california during the 1st quarter of 2005.

These days building new homes makes little sense with so many foreclosed homes competing for buyers. Builders are waiting for the market to turn around, said Alan Nevin, the builder group’s Chief Economist.

“It basically is a case where builders have more or less decided not to build," Nevin said. "They are almost viewing this as being custom home builders to the extent that they almost won’t start a new home until somebody has bought it.”

A year after paying a record $1.8 billion for 666 Fifth Ave. in Midtown Manhattan, Kushner Cos. may sell a partial interest in the trophy tower’s coveted retail space to The Carlyle Group in order to retire short-term debt from the transaction, according to local sources.

Mediaedge has taken a 160,335-square-foot lease at 825 7th Ave. in Manhattan, New York City, according to CB Richard Ellis Inc., which arranged the lease.