“Markets with increasing foreclosure activity in 2012 took the first step in finally purging delayed distress left over from the bursting housing bubble,” said Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac. “Meanwhile, the underlying fundamentals in many of those markets are slowly improving, making it an opportune time to absorb additional foreclosure inventory this year — and that is particularly good news for buyers and investors hungry for more inventory to purchase in those markets.”

(Read More: Link Between Credit and Mortgages: Not What You Think)

RealtyTrac ranked the top markets for investors to set their sights in 2013, based on months’ supply of foreclosure inventory, percentage of foreclosure sales, the foreclosure discount and the percentage increase in foreclosure activity in 2012. Five of the top ten are in Florida, including Palm Bay, Tampa, Jacksonville and Orlando. Florida requires a judge in the foreclosure process and therefore has an extremely large backlog.

(Read More: Feds’ ‘Fixer-Upper’ Loan Helps Tidy Up Foreclosures)

New York, another judicial state, fills 4 of the top ten spots, with Rochester, Albany and the New York City area leading. Chicago rounds out the roster.

The worst markets to look for foreclosures are largely out West, where the foreclosure crisis hit first and where investors have already bought so many properties that they are now fighting for what is left. Low supplies have led to bidding wars in cities like Phoenix, Las Vegas, San Jose, CA and even Portland, OR.

(Read More: Best US Housing Markets for Buyers and Sellers)

It is truly a tale of east versus west, just as it was at the start of the foreclosure crisis with the west faring far worse than the rest of the nation. Now it is just the opposite, as demand for distressed properties continues to increase and supply determines the best bargain destinations.

(Read More: Facing Foreclosure? Don’t Just Sit There—Act Now)

Article source: http://www.cnbc.com/id/100423428

Kidder Mathews continues to grow its Bay Area commercial real estate group, and recently added 5 brokers to its downtown San Jose office, and 1 each to its San Francisco and Redwood Shores offices, bringing the firm’s Bay Area roster to 73 agents.

San Jose, CA (PRWEB) May 30, 2012

Kidder Mathews continues to grow its Bay Area commercial real estate group, and recently added 5 brokers to its downtown San Jose office, and 1 each to its San Francisco and Redwood Shores offices, bringing the firm’s Bay Area roster to 73 agents. All 7 brokers joined from Grubb Ellis, which is being purchased by BGC Partners.

“The agents we’ve hired bring a varied mix of specialties to enrich and expand our service lines in each of our offices,” said Reed Payne, Executive Vice President of Brokerage Services for Kidder Mathews.

Joining Kidder Mathews San Jose office are veteran brokers Joe Scuncio, an office/RD specialist, Nigel Keep, investment properties, Kristopher Blais, a retail specialist, along with James Viso and Shaun Enferadi, both industrial brokers. Mike McCormac, an office specialist, joins the firm’s San Francisco office and has been named Vice President, and Bill Kurfess, an office/RD specialist joins the firm’s Redwood Shores office and has been named Senior Vice President. “We are thrilled to have this caliber of brokers join our group,” says Payne.

Kidder Mathews is one of the fastest growing commercial real estate firms on the West Coast with over 400 real estate professionals and staff in 9 offices in California, Washington, and Oregon. We offer a complete range of brokerage, appraisal, property management, and consulting services for all property types. For more information go to http://www.kiddermathews.com.

For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/prwebkidder-mathews/adds-bay-area-brokers/prweb9554108.htm

Article source: http://www.virtual-strategy.com/2012/05/30/kidder-mathews-adds-7-brokers-its-bay-area-offices

San Jose, CA (PRWEB) May 30, 2012

Kidder Mathews continues to grow its Bay Area commercial real estate group, and recently added 5 brokers to its downtown San Jose office, and 1 each to its San Francisco and Redwood Shores offices, bringing the firm’s Bay Area roster to 73 agents. All 7 brokers joined from Grubb Ellis, which is being purchased by BGC Partners.

“The agents we’ve hired bring a varied mix of specialties to enrich and expand our service lines in each of our offices,” said Reed Payne, Executive Vice President of Brokerage Services for Kidder Mathews.

Joining Kidder Mathews San Jose office are veteran brokers Joe Scuncio, an office/RD specialist, Nigel Keep, investment properties, Kristopher Blais, a retail specialist, along with James Viso and Shaun Enferadi, both industrial brokers. Mike McCormac, an office specialist, joins the firm’s San Francisco office and has been named Vice President, and Bill Kurfess, an office/RD specialist joins the firm’s Redwood Shores office and has been named Senior Vice President. “We are thrilled to have this caliber of brokers join our group,” says Payne.

Kidder Mathews is one of the fastest growing commercial real estate firms on the West Coast with over 400 real estate professionals and staff in 9 offices in California, Washington, and Oregon. We offer a complete range of brokerage, appraisal, property management, and consulting services for all property types. For more information go to www.kiddermathews.com.

For the original version on PRWeb visit: www.prweb.com/releases/prwebkidder-mathews/adds-bay-area-brokers/prweb9554108.htm

Article source: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2012/05/30/prweb9554108.DTL

San Jose, CA (PRWEB) April 03, 2012

After the Federal Reserve’s March 2012 Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting, the future of the nation’s currently low interest rates could be at risk, says Bay Area mortgage broker AccessBanc Mortgage. And now is the time to lock in a good mortgage rate, since there is nowhere for them to go but up.

“There is a lot of room for mortgage rates to rise, but there is not much room for them to fall,” explains Greg Erny, Principle of AccessBanc Mortgage. “The safe play is to get a rate locked now.”

The Fed has said repeatedly that it intends to keep the Fed Funds Rate near 0.000% for an “extended period of time”-through 2014 at least. Unfortunately, this doesn’t mean that conforming mortgage rates and FHA mortgage rates will remain low as well.

Mortgage and FHA rates rise long before Fed Funds Rates in a recovering economy, because they are ultimately an indication of long-term Wall Street attitudes. This is different from Fed Funds Rates, which are usually the outcome of a short-term fix the Fed applies to try to regulate the economy.

“For those individuals who truly want to get a good rate on their mortgage, this is an important time to take advantage of low rates because the only way for rates to go at this point is up,” notes Erny.

The first step for those individuals, says AccessBanc Mortgage, is to make a plan and get a mortgage rate quote. Mortgage rates have remained consistent at historically low levels since 2011, and have only broken 4% within the past few weeks. Following the FOMC meeting, conforming mortgage rates throughout California rose by as much as 0.375%, says Daily Mortgage Advisor, and there is a big chance they will only continue to climb.

According to AccessBanc Mortgage, these rates are a response to the Federal Reserve comments that ignited a mortgage bond selloff by Wall Street, which controls the mortgage rates.

“Locking in mortgage rates now is going to be important because the mortgage rate arena could look drastically different in short order,” says Erny. “Mortgage rates get unpredictable after every FOMC meeting.”

And after the second meeting of the FOMC this year, it’s clear that the economic recovery the nation is seeing is good for stocks and bad for mortgage rates, but the experienced brokers at AccessBanc Mortgage are ready to help lock in loans for interested homebuyers.

For more information about mortgage rate trends, or for information about any of AccessBanc’s products or services, call them at (855) 262-6302 or visit www.accessbanc.com.

About AccessBanc

AccessBanc is a San Francisco Bay Area mortgage broker committed to offering the most seasoned, professional, and competent loan consulting talent available. Because AccessBanc Loan Consultants enjoy favorable lender terms, use state of the art technology, and apply innovative solutions to knowledgeably work the market, they can offer prospective borrowers extremely competitive mortgage rates and great service.

AccessBanc’s services include: refinance, home purchase, first-time homebuyers, conventional conforming loans, jumbo loans, second/vacation homes, investment/rental properties, pre-qualification and pre-approved letters, and home equity loans / lines of credit. From home finance in Marin to first-time homebuyers in San Jose, AccessBanc’s carefully selected Loan Consultant Team can help Bay Area borrowers find the right loan.

AccessBanc Mortgage is a Real Estate Broker licensed by the California Department of Real Estate, License #00892684. NMLS #311147.

For the original version on PRWeb visit: www.prweb.com/releases/prweb2012/4/prweb9361557.htm

Article source: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2012/04/03/prweb9361557.DTL

The San Francisco bay region is emerging as one of California’s fastest growing markets when it comes to the green building industry. Since the creation of Green-Real-Estate.com, the mission of the website has been to explore and bring to the forefront local green building projects, products and services. The site is excited to showcase the newest innovations, trends, and products coming out of the bay area today. Green-Real-Estate.com is shifting the spotlight to the San Francisco Bay area by utilizing social media, online video, and content curation to provide users with easy-to-use tools for learning more about the concepts, benefits, and how-to’s of green building and remodeling in California. The site is expanding to provide Californians with the green resources they need. Whether a user is looking for an energy auditor for a San Francisco home, an energy efficient home in Palo Alto, or are looking for an architect and contractor for a green retrofit project, Green-Real-Estate.com is now providing the information to help.

Currently, Green-Real-Estate.com curates over 1,300 green building videos representing most major U.S. markets, and that number is growing quickly. The website has made itself into a handy destination for learning about various local green building and development issues by collecting and filtering literally thousands of green building videos from all over the web, and publishing only the best videos for viewing, commenting and sharing by site visitors. “In fact,” jokes Craig Immel, Founder and Editor of Green-Real-Estate.com, “I’ve been thinking of creating a new tagline – “We screen thousands of crappy green building videos so you don’t have to.” Immel and a small team of local editors contribute their green building expertise and experience to serve as a “human filter,” ensuring that only relevant, reliable and high quality videos are published on the site. It has been estimated that on YouTube alone, over 35 hours of video are uploaded every minute, and with that deluge of video content streaming onto the web, it has become increasingly important that expert human filters collect, screen, organize and provide context to all of this new information.

Local green builders, material suppliers and service providers are invited to upload their videos to their local channels. “We’ve designed the site to provide a fast and easy way for property sellers and others in green building to easily upload high-quality videos to promote their green real estate, products or services to visitors on the website’s local channels,” explains Immel, a LEED Accredited Professional. “Green-Real-Estate.com is a highly targeted and affordable place to upload their videos and tell their story online.” Green-Real-Estate.com features a growing user base of real estate professionals, and earns revenue through limited local advertising and site sponsorships.

About Green-Real-Estate.com

Founded in 2008, Green-Real-Estate.com leverages the power of online video to showcase your favorite local green building projects, products and services. Connect with Green-Real-Estate.com on Facebook and Twitter. Green-Real-Estate.com is powered by Green Property Funds LLC, a provider of innovative real estate investment and consulting solutions designed to deliver superior financial and environmental returns.

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For the original version on PRWeb visit: www.prweb.com/releases/prwebgreen-building/san-francisco-san-jose/prweb8449501.htm

Article source: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2011/06/02/prweb8449501.DTL