Boise area office market shows slight uptick in February
POSTED: Friday, March 12, 2010 at 12:59 PM PTBY: IBR Staff
Tags: Commercial Real Estate, Thornton Oliver Keller
Two good things happened in the Boise area office space market in February: Vacancy decreased slightly, and lease rates picked up a bit.
This is according to new numbers from Boise-based Thornton Oliver Keller Commercial Real Estate, which notes in a report that although the average price increase was only small (up from $13.40 to $13.50 [...]
Sandpoint attempts to drive mixed-use projects 
POSTED: Thursday, March 11, 2010 at 10:11 AM PTBY: Dani Grigg
Tags: City of Sandpoint, Commercial Real Estate, Milltown Park, Sandpoint Title
The northern Idaho city of Sandpoint wants to go further than most cities have gone to get people living downtown.
A new zoning code would allow buildings over 35 feet in certain areas only if the building’s mass above that point contained a certain percentage of housing - 50 percent downtown and 100 percent in two [...]
The Cliffs planned community sold to Boise for wildlife preservation
POSTED: Wednesday, March 10, 2010 at 11:03 AM PTBY: Dani Grigg
Tags: Arbor Hills, City of Boise, Save the Plateau, Skyline Development, The Cliffs
Foothills land slated for a 1,300-home development has been sold to the city of Boise for wildlife preservation. The land is atop a plateau southeast of Boise often referred to as Hammer Flats.
Ada County had approved plans for The Cliffs back in December 2006, but the developer had yet to break ground.
On March 9, the [...]
Homebuilder sees sales triple in February
POSTED: Tuesday, March 9, 2010 at 10:58 AM PTBY: IBR Staff
Tags: CBH, Construction, Real Estate
Idaho homebuilder CBH Homes sold more than three times as many homes in February 2010 as it did in February 2009.
After two busy weekends with 35 and 34 homes were sold, respectively, this year’s February total hit 134, up from 43 in 2009 and 53 in 2008.
“The spring selling season has begun, traffic is up [...]
Recent federal rule changes aid mortgage industry
POSTED: Monday, March 8, 2010 at 03:45 PM PTBY: IBR Contributor
Tags: financing, first-time homebuyers, housing market
Good news: The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs have issued several new rules that will help loosen the tight credit markets.
1. Waiver of flipping restrictions
On Jan. 15, HUD announced a one-year waiver of the resale rules applicable to Federal Housing Administration-insured loans. [...]
Realtors try to get people in the mood
POSTED: Monday, March 8, 2010 at 02:58 PM PTBY: IBR Contributor
Tags: homebuyers, Real Estate
Selling is as much about psychology as it is about the product or price. Whether it was intended or not, the St. Charles County Association of Realtors’ recent news conference about the state of the real estate market in St. Louis, Mo., was choreographed in such a way to get people in the right [...]
When should I buy?
POSTED: Tuesday, March 2, 2010 at 03:08 PM PTBY: Dani Grigg
Tags: Residential Real Estate, state of Idaho, tax credit
When my husband and I started to consider the possibility of buying our first home last September, we consulted a mortgage banker. The advice we received was: “Hurry! Buy now! The tax credit will not be extended and interest rates are going up!”
Well, we didn’t buy then. Fast forward six months to today, and here’s [...]
Idaho developer takes insight to D.C.
POSTED: Monday, March 1, 2010 at 05:25 PM PTBY: IBR Staff
Tags: Brighton Corp., Commercial Real Estate, David Turnbull, state of Idaho, Walt minnich
Testifying before two U.S. House of Representatives committees Feb. 26, an Idaho developer urged for government action to help loosen the credit markets.
David Turnbull, president of Eagle-based Brighton Corp., told the House committees on Financial Services and Small Business that commercial real estate is in danger of further devaluation if the government doesn’t intervene to [...]
Southeast Idaho gets taste of foreclosure ills
POSTED: Monday, March 1, 2010 at 10:53 AM PTBY: Dani Grigg
Tags: Alliance Title, Bonneville County, foresclosures, National Association of Realtors, southeast Idaho, The Home Specialists
When it comes to home foreclosures, southeast Idaho is no Treasure Valley.
In Ada County, one in every 29 homeowners received a notice of default on a home loan in 2009 – that’s 3.4 percent.
In Bonneville County (southeast Idaho’s most populous county), 337 notices of default were filed last year. Translation: one in every 110 homeowners [...]
Negative equity soars in Boise metro area
POSTED: Monday, March 1, 2010 at 10:26 AM PTBY: IBR Staff
Tags: Boise metro, First American CoreLogic, Residential Real Estate
In the Boise metro area, 34 percent of homes are now worth less than what is owed on the mortgage.
Homes in this category are referred to as “underwater” or “upside down” properties, and their ranks have been growing as home values have declined.
The Boise area’s performance has been worse than both the national average and [...]
