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Subprime

Chicago hotel set for Jan. 30 opening

From the Chicago Tribune:

The Trump International Hotel & Tower Chicago will debut Jan. 30, almost two months later than originally targeted by developer Donald Trump.

Initially, five floors will open in the luxury hotel, which will occupy floors 14-27 of the 92-story mixed-used tower at Wabash Avenue and the Chicago River. The remaining floors will opening gradually, with completion expected in the spring.

This "soft opening" had been planned for Dec. 3, but Trump experienced a delay in getting a city occupancy permit while fire safety work was completed. On Dec. 28, the city issued a partial occupancy permit up to the 23rd floor.

Beat-up mortgage lender offered a new home

Becky Yerak writes:

Bank of America, which made a big splash in Chicago last October with its $21 billion purchase of LaSalle Bank, struck another blockbuster deal Friday when it agreed to buy distressed Countrywide Financial Corp. for $4 billion.

The proposed acquisition of Countrywide -- the biggest mortgage lender both nationally and in the Chicago area -- averts what could have been another major setback for the housing and financial markets. Rumors swirled this week that Countrywide was heading for bankruptcy court.

While banks and brokerages continue to write down bad mortgage investments, the failure of a brand as synonymous with mortgages as Countrywide would have dealt a psychological blow to investors and put further pressure on real estate markets nationally.

Foreclosures, tax liens risky as investment alternatives

Janet Kidd writes:

Worried about stocks, some investors are putting their retirement money into something they're convinced will be plentiful in 2008: foreclosures and tax liens.

Using self-directed individual retirement accounts, investors are buying depressed real estate, making loans to private companies and buying up tax lien certificates on properties, which give the investors a government-determined yield that the homeowner pays to release the lien. If the homeowner doesn't do that within a prescribed time period, the investor receives the property.

A handful of firms specialize in helping clients make alternative investments in their IRAs, but industry players say it's still a tiny fraction of the overall IRA market.

Macerich Arm Buys Property

From the WSJ: Macerich Partnership LP, the operating arm of Macerich Co., and the Alaska Permanent Fund Corp. agreed to acquire a mixed-use development in Chicago from a partnership for $515 million. The purchase is the first foray into Chicago for Macerich, a Santa Monica, Calif., real-estate investment trust. The partnership consists of Chicago real-estate developer John Buck Co., Morgan Stanley real-estate funds and retail-property manager Westfield Group.

Vultures wait for commercial property repricing

From the Chicago Tribune:

The vultures are circling.

In an abrupt reversal, the commercial property industry that started 2007 giddy about its prospects enters 2008 facing falling property values, a seized-up credit market and concerns that a slowing economy could dampen future leasing and rental rates.

While only several months ago investors expected to sell and resell office buildings at escalating prices regardless of their financial performance, vulture investment funds are raising money to pounce on bargains when lenders start unloading real estate that owners can't afford to hold.

"In 2008, I expect to see (lenders) repricing properties on a grand scale, saying you can have this at 30 or 40 cents on the dollar" for certain buildings in some markets, said Christopher Carroll, managing director of Cohen Financial LP, a Chicago-based financial-services firm. "Now, investors are putting together funds they'll use when they think values have hit bottom."

With the credit market crippled and underwriting criteria tightened, commercial property prices and sales volume have fallen steeply in the past few months, according to a mid-December report from Real Capital Analytics, a New York-based real estate research firm. Exactly when the floor for commercial property prices will be reached is anybody's guess.

Foreign buyers snapping up U.S. real estate bargains

From the AP:

Mia Wilkinson, a transplanted Englishwoman who works for Rubloff Residential Properties in Chicago, deals often with British and other foreign executives transferred to the United States for a few years. "Before, people would stay in corporate rentals," she said. "But now these same people are turning around and buying properties."

Wilkinson, who has been in the United States for six years, has bought property in Chicago.

The expansion of foreign real estate investment also means that areas that once were not popular with international buyers are now receiving interest. Doug Aitkin, who works for North Carolina's World Trade Center, said the Research Triangle area, which includes the cities of Durham, Raleigh and Chapel Hill, is now getting inquiries from French and Scandinavian home buyers, a new phenomenon.