Your Triangle Real Estate Team: February 2013

Do not underestimate the power of the pictures when buying or selling a home

You know what they say — a picture is worth a thousand words.That may be a really old cliche, but it couldn’t be more true when it comes to buying and selling homes in this technology-driven 21st Century.Let’s face it: The days when people shop for homes by spending countless hours driving around neighborhoods to scope out “For Sale” signs are over, and they’re never coming back.Today, home buyers have access to nearly every active listing with the click of a button through housing…

Waukesha development with 209 apartments endorsed

A proposed 19-acre development with 209 apartments in Waukesha gained an endorsement from the city’s Plan Commission on Wednesday.Delafield-based Morgenson Realty Co. Inc. is proposing to buy the site from BMO Harris Bank for the six-building development dubbed “Broadway Commons.” The site formerly belonged to Bielinski Homes, of Pewaukee, which several years ago proposed a similar apartment development. The land is at 1910 E. Broadway near the intersection with Highway 164, also called Les…

Alabama foreclosures fall in 2012

Foreclosure-related sales dropped off across Alabama in 2012, but not enough for the state to avoid having one of the largest shares of distressed sales in the U.S.In the fourth quarter, Alabama's distressed sales dropped 16.9 percent to 1,103 – 17 percent of all sales in the quarter – from the same period of 2011, real estate researcher RealtyTrac reported today.That pushed the total number of foreclosure sales down 22.8 percent to 4,710 in 2012 compared to 2011, the report said.Including…

Councilman Lander proposes landmarking LICH

New York City Councilman Brad Lander has proposed giving landmark status to Long Island College Hospital as a way to encourage SUNY Downstate Medical Center to keep it open and serving the Cobble Hill neighborhood.The New York Observer reported that Lander’s proposal might be read as an attempt to prevent a developer from demolishing most of LICH, leaving part of the original complex intact, in order to develop the rest of the site with bare zoning limitations. Beyond landmarking the building,…

New CFO for Fannie Mae comes from within

District-based mortgage giant Fannie Mae has named one of its own, David Benson, to succeed departing Chief Financial Officer Susan McFarland.Benson, 53, has been with Fannie since 2002, when he joined the company as assistant treasurer. He has been promoted six times in the past seven years, and since September has been executive vice president of capital markets, securitization and corporate strategy.

Short sales account for 28 percent of Maryland residential sales

Non-foreclosure short sales accounted for about 28 percent of Maryland residential sales in 2012, according to a report released Thursday by foreclosure listing service RealtyTrac Inc.A short sale occurs when the sale price of a property comes in below the estimated amount of its outstanding loans. This type of sale accounted for about 22 percent of all U.S. residential sales in 2012, according to Irvine, Calif.-based RealtyTrac. That was a 4 percent increase over 2011.Maryland was one of 12…

Loudoun County hires new director of transportation, construction

Loudoun County has named Joe Kroboth as its new director of the Department of Transportation and Capital Infrastructure, the Lesesburg Today reports. The agency was created last year as a consolidation of two departments.Kroboth served as the director of public works for Washington County, Md. He starts work March 14.

More signs show housing slump is disappearing (slideshow)

Here is another indicator that the Central Florida housing market is back: The number of mortgages issued for new construction in 2012 rose 6.7 percent, according to data compiled by Springfield, Va.-based MortgageDataWeb.com.That’s the good news.Here’s the bad news: While the number of new construction mortgages issued in Orange, Osceola, Seminole and Lake counties rose during the past three years, the 1,938 new construction mortgages issued in the region were 47 percent less than the 3,661…

New Mexico has highest foreclosure rate in region

While showing signs of improvement, New Mexico has the highest foreclosure rate of any state in the region, according to new CoreLogic data released Feb. 28.The January 2013 data shows the state with a 3 percent foreclosure inventory, down 0.4 percent from January 2012. Completed foreclosures for the 12 months ending in January 2013 were 2,239. The number of mortgages per completed foreclosure during the same time period was 112.Among states in the Southwest, New Mexico had the highest foreclosure…

Your Triangle Real Estate Team

Thursday, February 28, 2013