Regions

By Keat Foong, Executive EditorDenver–Panelists speaking at a session at Multi Housing World 2008 Conference and Exhibition encouraged the audience to recognize the characteristics of the children of the Baby Boomers and target their marketing appropriately. The title of the session was “Reader’s Choice: Apartments Benefit During Downturn.” Moderator Jennifer Cox Cyphers, president of Multifamily Edge, The Cyphers Group, noted that there are 70 million Echo Boomers who will be in the market over the next 10 years. Echo Boomers are collegial, civic minded, collaborative, have good manners and are close to their parents, said Jeffrey Adler, chief property operations…

By Keat Foong, Executive EditorDenver—The official word is that it is “business as usual” for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac multifamily financing despite the recent government takeover of the two agencies, said Cheryl Higley, director of real estate mortgage capital at RBC Capital Markets.Higley was speaking at the session titled What is Happening in the Capital Markets and How Does it Affect Your Business at the Multi Housing World 2008 Conference and Exhibition. “The media hype” about the housing problems for the agencies falls on the single-family, and not the multifamily side, said Higley. Multifamily agency lending is “still operating…

By Teresa O’Dea Hein, Managing EditorDenver–“Our world is changing fast and our customers are changing, but we as an industry are not fast to change,” pointed out Joe Peterson, president of Insight Real Estate Group, during Thursday morning’s Leaders Forum: The View from the Top. People sometimes blame market conditions for a lack of leasing activity, Peterson added, when they’re “just doing a crappy job, and still not doing the fundamentals” like first getting a prospect’s name and making sure they publish clear directions to a multifamily property.“The real key is marketing,” Peterson continued, “and that’s changed completely–today, we have…

By Erika Schnitzer, Associate EditorDenver—The winners of the 2008 Design Excellence awards were announced in September at Multi-Housing World. Projects were chosen based on a number of criteria, including overall composition, functionality, aesthetics, special attributes and sustainable elements, if applicable.Click here to see all the 2008 finalists.The panel comprised of five industry professionals, including Darin Schoolmeester, AIA, LEED AP and principal at MVE & Partners in Irvine, Calif.; Susan Slotkis, Allied Member ASID, author of Foundations of Interior Design and adjunct assistant professor at F.I.T. in New York; and Bruce Englebaugh, AIA, partner at Minno & Wasko in Lambertville, N.J….

By Erika Schnitzer, Associate EditorDenver–In this time of ever-increasing economic turmoil, is it time to buy, sell or hold? At a Multi-Housing World conference session on the apartment investment cycle, three expert panelists seeking to make sense of the past week advise that now is the time to buy.If there are no problems in your portfolio, now is not the time to sell, advised Ron Brock (pictured), president and CEO, Pierce-Eislen Inc. However, he cautioned against purchasing certain properties, particularly luxury apartments and those located in the suburbs. “Condo development is out,” he noted. The “hot areas” are student and…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorDenver–While there is plenty of bad news in the markets currently, panelists at the opening session of the 2008 Multi-Housing World Conference in Denver managed to find some good news to share with attendees. When Richard Green, Ph. D, professor and chair, University of Southern California Lusk Center for Real Estate, began his presentation this morning he confessed, “I find it hard to be optimistic at this time.”He painted a picture of the state of the economy and the way it relates to the multifamily sector. And though most of it was grim; spreads rising…

By Erika Schnitzer, Associate EditorDenver–With the growing concern over potential fair housing violations and the mounting number of lawsuits over such mistakes, it is crucial for the multifamily industry to be aware of a multitude of issues relating to the topic. At Multi-Housing World in Denver, a panel comprised of Anne Sadovsky, certified speaking professional; Nadeen Green, senior counsel, For Rent Media Solutions; and DJ Ryan, fair housing specialist, Kimball, Tirey & St. John LLP, discussed “what should keep you awake at night.”Whether or not you make all efforts at following fair housing practices, it is imperative that you have…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorDenver–The Multi-Housing World Conference kicked off yesterday in Denver with a series of workshops designed to tackle urgent issues facing the multifamily industry today. Green building, sustainable development, high-performance projects; whatever one’s term of preference may be, the issue at hand continues to garner growing interest in the industry. As four panelists with plenty of green credentials provided an overview of the various standards for green building today, they emphasized that those standards are tools to achieving the goal and not the goal itself. “Green is quality construction that is well thought out, planned and…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorMcLean, Va.–With the collaboration of Citi Community Capital and Municipal Capital Markets, Citi recently closed $548 million in its first Tax-Exempt Bonds Securitization (TEBS) with Freddie Mac. This is the second largest TEBS transaction in Freddie Mac’s history and one that will support more than 8,800 affordable housing units.The collateral to be securitized consists of a pool of predominantly fixed-rate, tax-exempt and taxable multifamily housing revenue bonds and is comprised of 79 tax-exempt bonds and nine taxable “tail” bonds.“The transaction is secured by 51 multifamily properties, all Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) properties,” says Mike…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorSan Francisco, San Ramon, Garden Grove, Calif.–NorthMarq Capital Inc.’s (NorthMarq) San Francisco regional office, recently arranged first mortgage financing of $7.5 million for 1055 California St., a 15-unit multifamily property, located in San Francisco while the Los Angeles regional office arranged a $53 million first mortgage financing for Mill Creek at Windemere Apartments (pictured), a 400-unit multifamily complex, located in San Ramon, Calif. and $12.415 million first mortgage for the acquisition and renovation of Westminster Arms, an 88-unit multifamily property, located in Garden Grove, Calif. Financing for the San Francisco property was based on a…