Bank of America files foreclosure suit against builder Sterling Communities [South Florida]

Bank of America files foreclosure suit against builder Sterling Communities [South Florida]

Bank of America is eager to recover $20.5 million it lent to Boca Raton-based developer Sterling Communities to build a luxury community of single-family homes in Lake Worth.

But the giant lender, which filed a foreclosure suit in Palm Beach Circuit Court, is only the biggest of dozens of creditors seeking payment from Sterling.

Sterling, headed by president Paul W. Asfahl, owes money to numerous subcontractors who worked at Talavera, a community northeast of State Road 7 and Lake Worth Road with 77 single-family homes with starting prices

No one wins in foreclosure

No one wins in foreclosure

Banks losing money; others losing their homes

Economic analysis of the current wave of mortgage foreclosures must now yield to the overwhelming feelings of grief and blame as Charlotte County’s construction-dependent economy prepares for a tough 2008.

Charlotte County homeowners are being tossed out of their dwellings in record numbers, victims of a lending system that gave, then took away.

Southwest Florida’s circuit courts are reporting foreclosures at triple their 2006 levels and actually getting momentum as 2007 draws to a close. For example, the Charlotte County Clerk of the Circuit Court reports 1,992 foreclosure filings compared with 664 in 2006. These figures would be slightly higher if a relative handful of foreclosures filed in County Court were also included, although these are normally over sums of money less than $15,000.

Georgia real estate firm buys Southside office complex

Georgia real estate firm buys Southside office complex

Georgia-based Melaver Inc. has purchased an office building at 2101 Highland Ave. on Birmingham’s Southside.

Melaver, a sustainable real estate developer, is based in Savannah, Ga., and has an office in Birmingham.

The company said in a news release this is the third property in its Birmingham portfolio. A purchase price was not disclosed.

The building’s tenants include AG Edwards; Anderson Pewitt & Associates; Blankenship & Seay Consulting Group Inc.; Brock Investment Group; Business Interiors; Lusk Lusk Dowdy and Caldwell PC; Medical Staffing Network Inc.; SPM Inc.; Stephen Bradley & Associates LLC; Turner & Associates LLP; and Wettermark Holland and Keith LLC.

European buyers make December a busy month for Manhattan real estate

European buyers make December a busy month for Manhattan real estate

The sidewalks of Manhattan are crammed this month with European tourists on shopping sprees, picking up gifts that cost far less in the United States than they do at home because of the weak dollar. But they are not just crowding into boutiques and department stores. Some of them are also shopping for condos.

“There’s bargains to be had,” said Kerry Miller, who with her husband, Marty, was working through her Christmas gift list by buying sweaters at Abercrombie & Fitch and makeup at MAC, as well as touring 29 apartments. The couple searched for a one-bedroom condo they liked for about $650,000, and were close to making an offer for one in the Chelsea section of the city.

While locals remain wary about real estate and worry about bonuses and the economic climate, tourists are keeping brokers busy with their eagerness to buy up Manhattan apartments.

“The exchange rate is like a gift from God for Europeans,” said Danielle Grossenbacher, the Coldwell Banker Hunt Kennedy broker working with the Millers. “Everybody is feeling they have an opportunity to purchase a piece of Manhattan.”

Real estate market emerges as top issue in South Korean election

Real estate market emerges as top issue in South Korean election

In 30 years as a real estate broker, Chung Doo Hyun says, he has never seen a market behave the way the one in South Korea is behaving today.

First, there was the wave of feverish buying that drove housing prices up across the country, including in skyscraper-studded Seoul financial district, Yoido, where Chung’s tiny office is located. Then, about a year ago, buyers and sellers became scarce, he says. Real estate prices stopped moving. The entire market came to a near halt, as if someone had hit the pause button on a remote control.

“The whole real estate market is frozen,” Chung said. “Everyone is just waiting.”

It is an unusual predicament at a time when increasing volatility in real estate markets elsewhere has emerged as one of the biggest challenges to global growth. In the United States, a housing-market meltdown has strained the economy, shaken Wall Street and spread to Europe; while in fast-emerging China and India, runaway property values threaten to spur inflation or, worse yet, plummet.

Canadian real-estate markets clinch early record

Canadian real-estate markets clinch early record

With one month’s activity still unaccounted for, the Canadian Real Estate Association said Monday that listed residential real-estate transactions in most major markets are already at record levels.

Data from the country’s 25 biggest markets show 345,577 sales of existing homes in November through the Multiple Listing Service (MLS), which is 2.7% ahead of the previous record of 336,646 sales in 2005.

There was a seasonally adjusted level of 29,992 sales last month, up 3.2% from October. This was driven by increased activity in Vancouver, Toronto, Edmonton, Calgary and Saskatoon, CREA said. On an unadjusted basis, November sales were up 7.6% from a year earlier.

A monthly record for sales was reached in Newfoundland and Labrador, the second-highest number of monthly sales was recorded in Saskatoon and Regina, and Vancouver and Toronto both had their third-most sales ever in November.