Regions

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorWashington, D.C.–The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) has appointed John A. Courson as MBA’s new president and CEO. Courson, currently serving as MBA’s Chief Operating Officer, succeeds Jonathan L. Kempner who announced his departure from MBA last July. “Courson brings to MBA a wealth of experience and industry knowledge, and I am confident in his leadership both in terms of business savvy, political and advocacy skills,” says Kittle. Courson has previously served MBA as chairman in 2003 and as a member of MBA’s Board of Directors, the Residential Board of Governors (RESBOG) and the Commercial Real Estate/Multifamily Finance…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News Editor Ft. Lauderdale–In order to capitalize on the growing national and international demand for “opportunity investment” in the current real estate market, Adache Real Estate, a sales and marketing firm based in Ft. Lauderdale, has launched a Bulk Sales Division. The new division will be in charge of identifying opportunities and assisting investors looking for deeply discounted “bulk” purchases ranging from five to 500 units.  “The burst of the housing and the mortgage bubbles have caused severe problems in the U.S. economy”, says Adam Adache, president of Adache Real Estate. “At the same time, this crisis…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorOntario, Calif.–Sperry Van Ness Real Estate Services LLC has expanded its expertise in the Inland Empire commercial real estate market. Brad Freeman has joined the company as senior advisor in the firm’s Ontario, Calif. office located at 800 N. Haven Ave.  Irene Ryn, managing director for Sperry Van Ness Real Estate Services, oversees the region’s advisors and is responsible for the growth of the Inland Empire offices.“Freeman has consistently been one of the region’s premier investment brokers specializing in troubled assets and we are very excited to have him join the Sperry Van Ness team,”…

Multifamily Starts: You have to go back to January 1994 to find 5+ multifamily starts numbers that are lower than those for November 2008. So the near-15-year boom cycle is clearly slamming to a halt—helped along by banks that are either refusing to make construction loans, calling loans on work in progress, or refusing to lend to consumers who want to buy condos…or all three. The problem with this scenario is that the pipeline for 5+ multifamily construction is quite long, and the industry may find itself with sharply restricted supply in three years.CPI vs. Rent: Preliminary numbers show that…

By Linwood Thompson, senior vice president and managing director of the National Multi Housing Group for Marcus and Millichap Real Estate Investment Services Inc.San Francisco claimed the top spot of Marcus & Millichap Research Services’ National Apartment Index for the second consecutive year. While the metropolitan area’s large concentration of professional and financial firms is expected to result in job cuts, it ranked close to the top in almost all of the other measurements used in the index.The index, a snapshot analysis that ranks 43 apartment markets based on their cumulative weighted-average scores for a series of 12-month forward-looking supply-and-demand…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorVallejo, Calif.–Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Services recently arranged the sale of Blue Rock Village, a 560-unit multifamily community in Vallejo, Calif., for $54.4 million.Stanford Jones, an executive vice president and senior director of Marcus & Millichap’s National Multi Housing Group (NMHG) in Palo Alto, and Phil Saglimbeni and Sal Saglimbeni, both senior directors of the firm’s NMHG in Palo Alto, represented the seller, a publicly traded REIT. Marcus & Millichap also represented the buyer, a San Francisco-based private ownership group.“While capital markets turmoil has rendered it very difficult for most institutional buyers to…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorSt. Paul, Minn.–CommonBond Communities announces that Kelly Matter, former vice president of mission services for Goodwill/Easter Seals, has been named vice president of advantage services at the organization. CommonBond is a nonprofit affordable housing developer, manager and service provider in the Upper Midwest. “Kelly Matter provides the leadership and vision to sustain and strengthen the CommonBond ‘more-than-housing’ model of community development,” says Paul Fate, president and CEO, CommonBond Communities. “The department she manages serves the varied needs of the resident population, which includes seniors, families and people with special needs.” CommonBond residents, on average, earn less…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorWashington, D.C.–In an effort to accelerate the process of awarding grants to state and local governments, non-profit organizations and other community-based applicants, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) recently launched a new streamlined funding process.HUD will now announce funding notices on a program-by-program basis, which is expected to speed up the application process for prospective grantees that would otherwise be required to wait for the publication of HUD’s comprehensive funding notice.”This new process is intended to make certain HUD grants are awarded in a much more timely and efficient manner,” says HUD…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorNewark, N.J. — Despite a slowing economic cycle and troubles in the current housing market, TreeTop Development is reporting significant sales milestones at its two luxury condominium buildings in the historic Hudson County City of Hoboken, N.J.The developer has recently completed its sales and marketing program at Ariel Square (pictured), a collection of 21 residences in a four-story building at the corner of Jackson and Fifth Streets.  “Economic concerns and a lack in consumer confidence have been the main contributors to the decline in sales for luxury condominiums in housing markets throughout the country,” says…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News Editor MHN and Barbra Murray, Contributing Editor, CPNAtlanta–In its third quarter earnings report issued last month, Post Properties Inc. noted that it would sell six assets with the hope of pocketing approximately $360 million. With the latest disposition of Post Lenox Park (pictured) in Atlanta, the company has one down, five more to go.Post Properties sold the 206-unit apartment community to an entity formed by Greensboro, N.C.-headquartered Steven D. Bell & Co. for $22.7 million. Developed in 1995, Post Lenox Park is a Class A, garden-style multifamily property located at 100 Lenox Park Circle in Atlanta’s…