Green Homes - Real Estate Weblog

The Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority, owner of Uncasville, Conn.'s Mohegan Sun, a 3 million-square-foot casino entertainment destination and one of only two authorized gaming operations in New England, has just completed the first phase of its $925 million Project Horizon expansion endeavor. The new addition to the 240-acre property is the 64,000-square-foot Casino of the Wind, which cost $116 million to complete.

Hot on the heels of New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg’s call to install wind turbines on the city’s high-rises and bridges as part of a green-energy plan, a California company has offered to donate a wind turbine to the city to demonstrate that the idea is indeed workable.

First the good news.
Home sales in July jumped by 3.1%, the highest level in five months, the inventory of unsold single-family homes declined slightly, and home prices in the Midwest climbed 1% compared to a year ago.
But the National Association of Realtors July report released Monday also has plenty in it to worry about.
Single-family home prices fell 7.7% compared to a year ago when the credit crunch was just beginning. In the west, prices fell 22% compared to a year ago, though sales during the same period were up 0.9% on a seasonally adjusted basis (Sales are increasing because first-time home buyers and investors have been jumping on foreclosures and other bargains).

We're a long way from recovery, I'm afraid. Interest rates are creeping up and the foreclosure crisis isn't letting up in California, Florida, Nevada, and Arizona. And even in the relatively strong Northeast market, Connecticut, Massachusetts, abd Rhode Island are in tough shape and could weaken further when homeowners get their winter energy bills.

It could be a while before we see a really positive home-sale report.

Sales of existing homes rose more than expected in July, but prices continued to fall and inventory increased. That's according to the latest reading on the battered housing market by an industry trade group released Monday.

Spend 27 years in Congress and you're bound to encounter more than one financial train wreck. But as Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., sees it, the meltdown in the U.S. housing market poses as much of a threat to the nation's economic well-being as anything he's encountered during his time on Capitol Hill.

A $30 million loan has been put in place for the refinancing of Carmel Mountain Ranch Town Center, a 172,300-square-foot retail property in San Diego.

Shares of mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac plunged and then rebounded in early trading on Thursday after new reports that the federal government may have to take over the troubled firms.

The FDIC, six weeks after taking over mortgage lender IndyMac Bank, said Wednesday that it will start systematically modifying some of the bank's most troubled loans to keep borrowers in their homes.

Pacific Office Properties Trust Inc. and an institutional co-investor have acquired a portfolio of seven Southern California office complexes for $195 million. The combined properties contain more than 1 million leasable square feet across 15 office and flex buildings.

ROEL Construction Co. Inc. has completed construction of The Agua Caliente Casino Resort Spa located on Bob Hope Drive in Rancho Mirage, Calif.