Government must step in to prevent rental housing shortage
Rents are starting to rise dramatically and in every major metropolitan area are expected to rise from 3 percent to 10 percent in 2011 and beyond. That means a family paying $1,700 a month...
Builder be nimble
Apartment REITs, despite their ability to finance development projects on their own balance sheet, were not the first out of the gate. Instead, it was privately held real estate company Wood Partners, which has a...
Ending the American malaise
She was sweet and sovereign, and had the divine ability to cause me to snap into accordance with a single glance. With all her ecclesiastical presence, Sister Timothy bestowed upon me the social power...
Home Builders urge Fannie, Freddie to get behind mixed-use
The mortgage giants currently require that projects they finance be no more than 25 percent commercial (20 percent for Fannie and for multifamily HUD projects.) The intention is that these lenders remain true to...
New sheriff in town
Mark Sadosky took the helm in November as the company readies itself for its next stage of growth. CallSource, multifamily's largest provider of call tracking, sales and marketing performance analytics, and learning management systems,...
Home values fall across the U.S.
Falling prices are a reflection of weak demand and tight credit conditions that reduce the number of potential buyers. "There are just not a lot of renters with confidence, with a down payment, with good...
HUD and gays
HUD has unveiled a series of proposed rule changes that would prohibit lenders from using sexual orientation or gender identity as a way of determining a borrower's eligibility. The rule change would state that eligible...
Green machine
He would rather operate his apartment business in the Midwest markets, where there is a controlled amount of supply and flat to small population and employment growth, than in over-supplied markets with more robust...
Design solutions advance development when there is no money
Development, design, construction, housing are all in a period of deep stagnation. The housing bubble and subsequent crash has precipitated the most difficult debacle most of us have ever seen. Traditional forms of lending...
Energy zappers
What are these terrible thieves that steal our limited resources? Some of them may actually surprise you. Tight Clothes No doubt, the way we dress can have a powerful impact on how we're viewed by...
Green fatigue
A new Harris Poll has found that participation in a wide range of environmentally-friendly activities had declined by a small but significant percentage in 2010 versus 2009. The poll found that 39 percent of Americans...
My social media resolutions
I will be original. Plagiarism has always been a crime, but the Internet has made it much easier to commit. The ease and speed with which we can share things through social media makes...
Renters’ inception
Since owners of 10.8 million homes owe more on their mortgage than their homes are worth, a decline from 11 million in the second quarter, they act more like renters than homeowners, suggests the...
The state of communities of color in the U.S. economy
This also means that, as the economic recovery deepens and the labor market recovers, communities of color will have to climb out of a deeper hole to regain the same level of economic security...
Cruising condos
The developer, who is targeting retirees, is showing a model condo at the Marina Del Sol in Kemah through Feb. 6. The boat, which will be 600 feet long and called the Marquette, would spend...
