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Pocatello housing market could be slow
The housing industry's recovery in the United States and Eastern Idaho will be slow with lenders and investment trusts owning 1.1 million foreclosed properties as of March, up 20 percent from a year ago, and 4.8 million households 60 days past due on their mortgage payments nationwide, up 30 percent from a year ago, a credit union official told the Greater Pocatello Chamber of Commerce. Brian R[...]
Commentary: Smoking and medical oxygen: What’s a landlord to do?
Landlords face a bad choice. If they stop tenants from smoking around medical oxygen, they'll face claims of breach of contract, handicap discrimination and violation of civil rights. If they ignore a known danger and someone gets hurt, they may be liable. Oxygen isn't flammable, but it accelerates fires. In an oxygen-rich atmosphere, an ember - like the one on the end of a cigarette - will bur[...]
Commentary: Know your landlord and gain some real estate advantages
By Mike Norris Dolan Media Newswires One of the reasons that commercial real estate is a process - not a commodity - for end-users is that one of the key steps to the process is understanding the landlord. Who is the landlord? It could be a single individual who's owned the property outright for a long time. More likely, it's an entity, as small as an LLC consisting of local partners or as[...]
Ada County home supply approaches healthy region
It's been a long, slow drop in Ada County, but the volume of homes on the market is getting closer and closer to what is considered a healthy level. After peaking at 15 months of supply in February 2009, the number of homes on the market has fallen to a level that would take about 5.1 months to clear out if no more homes were added, according to an analysis of Intermountain MLS numbers done by [...]
Home sales in the West surge 17% in March
Home sales surged 17 percent in the West last month, as buyers scrambled to take advantage of low mortgage rates and qualify for tax credits that expire at the end of this month. The median price in the 13-state Western region was $209,400, down almost 8 percent from a year ago, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday. Nationwide, by contrast, sales of previously occupied homes ro[...]
Boise’s Adelmann opens for corporate and social events
[caption id="attachment_22022" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="The Adelmann building in downtown Boise has been restored and is open."][/caption] While most other media reported on the restoration of the Adelmann for its historic values and preservation, owner Karen Buich is stressing its location. "Being from Eagle, I had no experience with the Boise work community," she said. "Being[...]
Boise-area tenant market not expected to improve soon
Business is not expected to improve for Boise-area landlords in the coming year, according to a new First Quarter Outlook report from Boise-based commercial real estate firm Colliers Idaho. The most commercial real estate agents are hoping for in 2010 is some stabilization in lease and vacancy rates. Office In the office market, vacancy settled down for the first time since mid-2007, decl[...]
Commentary: F is for financing – among other things
Commercial real estate pros are no strangers to "the F word" these days. For developers and investors, "the F word" is "financing." (What? Were you thinking of a different word?) Financing is the magic word for just about everyone in the business: developers hoping to build again, investors looking to buy property, or owners who are looking to refinance. These days, financing is much talk[...]
New home, existing home prices equalize in Ada Co.
[caption id="attachment_21657" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="A new home in Ada County now costs a median of $165,000, a 40 percent drop from the first qtr. of 2007."][/caption] Back in 2006 and 2007, homebuilders were scrambling for lots in Ada County. Some savvy investors bought up lots for $35,000 to $40,000, then turned around and sold them for $100,000. At that price, builder[...]
Developers Diversified to use offering to pay debt
Developers Diversified Realty Corp., a real estate investment trust, said it plans to use about $300 million from a public offering of senior notes to repay debt. The shopping center owner said in a release the underwritten public offering of 7.5 percent senior unsecured notes due April 2017 is set to close on April 19. The company intends to use proceeds of about $296.8 million to repay sho[...]
Commentary: Be careful before investing in foreclosures
By Gary S. Williams RealtyTrac, a leading online market for foreclosure properties, reported last month that February 2010 foreclosures were actually down 2 percent from the previous month. Yet RealtyTrac indicates this break might not last long. Even though the 6 percent year-to-year increase in February foreclosures was "the smallest annual increase" RealtyTrac recorded in 50 straight mont[...]
Apartment rents to keep sliding in 2010
While projected rising employment numbers should help chip away at high apartment vacancy levels in the Boise area in the coming year, the vacancy rate will still be high enough that rental prices will keep falling, according to research from Marcus & Millichap. The firm's first quarter market update predicts employers will add 4,500 jobs to payrolls after erasing 27,000 local positions sin[...]
