Questions and Answers Surrounding Short Sales

Questions and Answers Surrounding Short Sales

http://www.greatwestgmac.com/real-estate-blog-article-Questions-and-Answers-Surrounding-Short-Sales-Sunday-19-April-2009_302.html

As homeowners grapple with declining home values, and in some instances, mortgage payments that have dramatically increased, GreatWest GMAC Real Estate professionals are increasingly be queried about Short Sales.Often a seller will become concerned because they are unable to make house payments, but do still have an ability to make all or part payment of the negative equity. They may hope to also hope to preserve their credit score. They wonder if a short sale will be right for them. The answer is, probably no. Sometimes if a seller is able to pay back all or part of the negative equity, usually to the 2nd lien holder, they may be able to work out a repayment plan. The lender will likely release the lien and allow the home to close escrow.One seller wondered why mortgage insurance wouldn’t cover any deficiency amount, if the seller defaults on the loan. The answer is that mortgage insurance is for the mortgage lender’s protection, not the seller’s protection. Ironically, mortgage insurance doesn’t usually kick into gear until the property has been defaulted on, or is close to default.During the "Short-Sale" process, one of the things which can make negotiation with all parties so long and arduous, is the fact that if the seller is current on payments, but having difficulty, the mortgage lender may in the early stages be reluctant to negotiate aggressively. After all, the bank has not yet lost money, and is somewhat in the "cat-bird" seat if mortgage insurance is in place on the property. In many instances, any "short-sale" offers, which are acquired, may be looked upon with some hesitance, unless the seller has began to get significantly behind in payments. Eventually, the mortgage insurer may enter the negotiations, and it becomes a poker game between the seller, the mortgage lender, and the mortgage insurer, and sometimes even potential buyers, to see who is going to absorb most on the difference between what is currently owed on the property, and what the property is actually now valued. During this process, any potential buyers may see their offers countered with an increase price as well.Often buyers will become excited when they see a property marketed as an "approved" short sale. It is important to understand that technically, there is no such thing as being "Short Sale Approved." If all parties to the sale come to an agreement via accepted offer, than that would be an "approval."

Latest Statistics For 4 Counties

Latest Statistics For 4 Counties

The charts linked below provide sales statistics for the counties of Sacramento. and the surrounding counties of: El Dorado, Placer and Yuba. They compare March 2009 to the year prior (March 2008), as well as data for February 2009 vs. February 2008. In most areas the number of sales posted was significantly greater to the previous year. However, prices have declined for the same time period. The Sacramento MLS 24 Hour Watch has demonstrated a significant number of days reporting more homes transitioning to "Pending Sale" compared to the number of "New Listings" entering the market. Many bank owned properties are receiving multiple offers from Buyers, as prospective homeowners, see opportunity in the marketplace.Related Links: www.webstarmagic.com/gmac/stats_4_counties.htm

Opportunities and Strategies for Real Estate Investing in the Coming Decade

Goodbye, McMansions

Book review: 'After the Fall'By Patrick S. Duffy, Friday, April 24, 2009.
Inman News
Cover image courtesy John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Book reviewTitle: "After the Fall: Opportunities and Strategies for Real Estate Investing in the Coming Decade"Author: Steve BergsmanPublisher: John Wiley & Sons Inc., March 2009, 201 pages, $24.95 list ($16.47 on Amazon.com).
Audio interview: Click here for an audio interview with Steve Bergsman.
http://www.inman.com/news/2009/04/24/goodbye-mcmansions?page=0%2C0

With the housing market still in tatters but showing some signs of life and the commercial markets starting their own freefall, many investors continue to consider real estate one of the last places to put their dollars to work.
In his new book, "After the Fall: Opportunities and Strategies for Real Estate Investing in the Coming Decade," veteran real estate and travel writer Steve Bergsman argues that now is precisely the time to start considering what types of real estate sectors -- whether residential, commercial or leisure -- should be on your shopping list, both today and in the future.
Bergsman, who has also written "Maverick Real Estate Financing: The Art of Raising Capital and Owning Properties Like Ross, Sanders and Carey," "Maverick Real Estate Investing: The Art of Buying and Selling Properties Like Trump, Zell, Simon, and the World's Greatest Land Owners," and "Passport to Exotic Real Estate: Buying U.S. And Foreign Property In Breath-Taking, Beautiful, Faraway Lands," certainly seems to know his niche, having written on the subject for 25 years.
In this latest work, he carefully examines specific types of real estate for updates and provides unvarnished gut checks on their relative health based on scores of interviews with a variety of industry experts.
While many authors of books on real estate focus on housing, Bergsman instead starts out by analyzing the commercial sector, including the markets for office, industrial, retail and multifamily residential space.
For each chapter, the author takes us through a brief business journey beginning with an overview, followed by "Where We Are Today," "Where We Were," "Where We Are Headed" and "Fundamentals."
Readers can easily thumb through to whichever chapters they deem most relevant for analysis on the past, present and future for their sectors of interest. In addition, a "Bonus Box" at the end of each chapter focuses on a recent trend for a particular land use sector, such as "The Office Condominium," "Flex Space" (for industrial uses) or "Locations for Knowledge Workers" (for retail uses).
In the case of the commercial real estate markets, Bergsman paints a future portrait of haves and have-nots, in which the largest investors will favor larger urban, international centers such as New York, Washington, D.C., or Los Angeles, while largely ignoring tertiary, largely domestic markets such as St. Louis or Minneapolis.
By 2012, however, the author thinks it will actually be the sleepy, stable apartment market that will be one of the best places for institutional dollars, having likely rebounded from several years of weakness in that sector's underlying fundamentals and a dearth of new construction.
No matter the specific commercial market sector, however, one key trend expected to keep expanding is sustainability, especially for new office developments. Although the certification for LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) has been online only since 2000, its impact has been enormous, with experts predicting future premiums for LEED-certified projects -- and future upgrades for existing buildings wishing to remain on the radar screens of many investors.
Over time, as the cost for green building declines and is more palatable for value-conscious consumers, residential builders will also start offering more robust and complete energy-efficient features and options -- especially in urban locations where consumer awareness of green building techniques is higher, Bergsman suggests.

Area's foreclosed homes sell briskly, for less, at auction

Area’s foreclosed homes sell briskly, for less, at auction

By Jim Wasserman jwasserman@sacbee.com

http://www.sacbee.com/business/story/1795749.html

Published: Tuesday, Apr. 21, 2009 - 12:00 am Page 6B
A pair of out-of-town auction giants sold 190 more foreclosed homes in Sacramento on Sunday, earning $21 million for lenders that repossessed them for lack of payments, the firms said Monday.
Irvine-based Real Estate Disposition Corp. said it sold 162 Sacramento-area homes for $17.1 million. It was the latest event in a series of nine company auctions since June 2007 that have sold 1,912 capital-area foreclosed homes for $261.4 million, said REDC spokesman Rick Weinberg.
The firm's high-energy Sacramento auctions, attracting an estimated mix of 70 percent owner-occupant buyers and 30 percent investors, have pulled in $66.9 million for lenders in 2007, $158.7 million in 2008 and $35.8 million so far in 2009, said Weinberg.
Sunday, Dallas-based Hudson & Marshall also sold 30 capital-area homes for $4 million. Its auction at the Radisson Hotel was the firm's eighth in the capital since the foreclosure crisis began. Last year the company auctioned 200 homes in Sacramento, said spokeswoman Crystal Wright.
Weinberg said REDC has auctioned more than 6,500 bank-owned homes across Northern California in less than two years as defaults on subprime and other loans have combined with rising unemployment to drive up foreclosures. Hudson & Marshall auctioned 1,000 Northern California homes in 2008.
More than 34,000 households have surrendered keys to lenders in the past two years in Amador, El Dorado, Nevada, Placer, Sacramento, Sutter, Yolo and Yuba counties, according to researcher MDA DataQuick. The firm is expected to release statistics this week showing a sharp rise in new notices of default, the first warnings of foreclosure issued when homeowners miss several monthly payments.
REDC's sustained series of auctions reveals how home prices have declined. The firm's first event at Cal Expo in June 2007 sold 107 homes for $26.5 million – an average of nearly $248,000. Sunday's event sold 162 homes for an average of about $106,000.
Weinberg said prices vary with the types of homes.
"Some houses we've done in Sacramento and surrounding areas are just gorgeous. Others that we have, the properties aren't as nice," he said.
Yet the general direction of bidding is obvious.
"Prices are going down," said Dave Webb, owner of Hudson & Marshall. His auctioneers averaged about $133,000 per house Sunday. The auction was part of an eight-city event that sold $42.5 million worth of Northern California real estate, said Wright.

Bold business owners get in position early for economic upswing

Bold business owners get in position early for economic upswing

By Dale Kasler dkasler@sacbee.com
http://www.sacbee.com/business/story/1791340.html


Published: Sunday, Apr. 19, 2009 - 12:00 am Page 13A
From retailing to real estate and beyond, some businesses are starting to gear up for the next economic growth cycle.
In the face of an epic slump in consumer spending, Dimple Records is nearly doubling the size of its flagship store in Sacramento. Auto dealer George Grinzewitsch Jr. just built a $22 million Mercedes-Benz dealership in Rocklin, a community rocked by foreclosures. Ethan Conrad, a Sacramento real estate investor, has spent millions in recent months buying vacant residential lots throughout the Central Valley, the epicenter of the housing meltdown.
And even after getting burned on a $922 million land deal, CalPERS is looking at investing in a small piece of the project as it emerges from bankruptcy.
This isn't a mass spree. Most businesses are still hunkering down or just starting to sniff out opportunities. But a few have stepped in and made deals, albeit at discount prices, knowing the payoff might take years.
"If you're buying (at) 10 or 25 cents on the dollar, and it's decent real estate, it'll come back," Conrad said of his land purchases stretching from Yuba County to Merced. "The question mark is not, will I make money on them? The question mark is, how long will it take?"
Investing in something now takes some guts. Most experts believe the overall economy won't begin to improve for at least several more months.
But timing the market is nearly impossible, and a business investor should jump in now if he or she can pull it off, said Sanjay Varshney, dean of the College of Business Administration at California State University, Sacramento.
He said waiting too long can be counterproductive. Once the recovery becomes obvious, prices for everything will have shot up.
"If this (economy) turns in late 2009 or early 2010, if you wait until 2010, it's already too late," Varshney said.
That helps explain the recent run-up in the stock market, and the feeding frenzy among speculators for inexpensive foreclosed homes in the Sacramento area: Maybe things haven't hit bottom yet, but waiting too long carries its own risk.
"You can get a lot of things right now at a very cheap price," said Dilyn Radakovitz, co-owner of Dimple Records. "There's a lot of opportunity out there right now."
The family-owned chain is taking over 12,000 square feet of space next to its Arden Way store later this spring, and the recession helped make the deal pencil out. Dimple is getting nice deals on rent, store fixtures and other trimmings, saving tens of thousands of dollars, she said.
Expanding in a downturn is a gamble, "but that's life," she said. "We've been through a few of these."
A gamble on luxury
Building a Mercedes dealership in Rocklin seemed like a no-brainer to Grinzewitsch, who's owned a Mercedes service center there since 1998. Planning has been under way for years.
But when Rocklin became one of the region's hardest-hit real estate markets, Grinzewitsch, who owns a dealership in El Dorado Hills, thought about hitting the brakes.
Last summer, he talked to some of his staff about delaying the dealership. "It clearly crossed my mind," he said.
Instead, he went ahead with it. Not only that, he stuck with his vision of a $22 million "destination" dealership including a two-story showroom, rooftop parking and, in a daring move for a car dealer, a 75-seat Bistro 33 restaurant and bar.
"We decided to move forward because of my confidence in the brand, and our customer base and our employees frankly, and just the feeling like you can never time a market," he said.
A lot of people are still ducking for cover. Not a single bid was made when the Cal Neva Resort, the Lake Tahoe casino-hotel once owned by Frank Sinatra, went on the auction block recently. It remains the property of the Los Angeles lender that foreclosed on it.
Commercial real estate people remain mostly conservative, particularly when it comes to retail space.
"The current phrase I'm hearing is, 'I don't want to be early on this one, I'd rather be late,' " said Scott Crowle of real estate investment firm Marcus & Millichap in Roseville. "There are tremendous deals out there, but we're not seeing them because there isn't very much demand."

Sacramento region's repossessed home sales boom hits lull

Sacramento region's repossessed home sales boom hits lull

By Jim Wasserman jwasserman@sacbee.com
http://www.sacbee.com/business/story/1789794.html

Published: Saturday, Apr. 18, 2009 - 12:00 am Page 1B
Months of foreclosure moratoriums, stepped-up loan modifications and bank decisions to keep repossessed homes off the market are biting hard into a slice of the economy that has come to depend on sales of distressed homes.
Sacramento-area real estate agents who sell bank-owned homes and the contractors who fix them before and after sales say business has slowed 30 percent to 50 percent since late last year. The lull, following a yearlong burst of foreclosure sales, coincides with a recent shift by banks to slow the stream of repossessed homes to market.
That's not expected to last. But the lull has dampened incomes in an entire niche industry tied to selling bank-repossessed homes.
"There's definitely a trickle-down effect on everybody," said Carey Covey, a Cook Realty agent who specializes in listing homes foreclosed by banks.
Warren Adams, a Security Pacific Real Estate broker and another specialist in bank-owned listings, said his own business is off by "practically half" in recent months.
"It's impacted every one of the little fingers that go off repossessed houses," Adams said. "That's landscapers, contractors, house cleaners, trash haulers. A lot of people have reduced staff and employees as a result of that."
John Kukis owns Sacramento-based Kukis Home Repair. He does basic fix-ups for repossessed homes – typically to $10,000 – to get them in shape for banks to sell.
"We've slowed down maybe 30 percent since the beginning of the year," Kukis said.
But he calls the lull a welcome breather after a year that saw about 23,500 foreclosures in Amador, El Dorado, Nevada, Placer, Sacramento, Sutter, Yolo and Yuba counties.
The slowdown in business can be seen in the most recent figures about the number of foreclosed homes on the market.
According to Sacramento-based Lyon Real Estate, there is only about a one-month supply of repossessed homes for sale in El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento and Yolo counties. That means it would take roughly 30 days or so to sell them all at current sales paces.
A little more than a year ago, it would have taken buyers nearly five months to snap up all the repossessed homes on the market.
In the first three months of the year, the share of bank-owned homes sold in Sacramento County has declined, researcher MDA DataQuick reported Thursday. Repossessed homes accounted for 66 percent of sales in March compared to a high of 71 percent in January.
With the spring sales season heating up, many real estate agents say there are more buyers in the market than repossessed homes.
"The stuff under $200,000 is just selling, getting multiple offers," said Adams, the Security Pacific agent. He said low prices and historic low interest rates assure that the buyers will be there when the supply inevitably begins to expand again.
"Lenders have indicated this is going to change," he said. "I'd say easily in the next 30 days we'll start to see an increase based on rising defaults and foreclosures."
Changes in the market began late last fall. Starting in November as the holidays neared, numerous banks, as well as federal mortgage giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, announced foreclosure moratoriums that would extend well into 2009.
"We started to see it (business) dying off about mid-December," said Phillip Connell, president of Connell Construction.
The Sacramento-based contractor repairs bank-owned homes throughout one of the top U.S. foreclosure belts: Merced, Modesto, Stockton, Sacramento and other cities north of the capital.
Many of those lender moratoriums appear to have now ended.
"We're expecting it to ramp back up again," Connell said. "That's what the banks are telling us."
Lenders have also held some of their already foreclosed properties off the market, creating a so-called "shadow inventory" that doesn't show up in statistics.
"I've been told banks are holding them, waiting for some of these government programs to kick in," said Covey, the real estate agent. "There will be more buyers to scoop them up."
Among those programs: an $8,000 federal tax credit for first-time buyers, the principal market for bank-repossessed homes.

February sales of new California homes weak

February sales of new California homes weak

State tax credit for new homes in demand
http://www.inman.com/news/2009/04/15/february-sales-new-california-homes-weak

By Inman News, Wednesday, April 15, 2009.

Inman News
February sales of new homes in California were down 54 percent from a year ago, but showed modest improvement from January, the California Building Industry Association said.
Sales of single-family homes and townhomes were both down 55 percent from a year ago, while sales of condominiums were off 51 percent. That's still an improvement from January, when sales in new-home communities of 10 units or more were down 64 percent from a year ago.
Some of the non-seasonally adjusted 42 percent increase in new-home sales from January to February was expected, as new-home sales typically pick up in February. But the increase was larger than the 11 percent gain seen from January to February 2008, CBIA said.
Median base price was down 15 percent from a year ago and 6 percent from January, CBIA said, noting that the reduced sales volume in recent months can produce price volatility.
CBIA President and CEO Robert Rivinius said he expects California's newly enacted $10,000 tax credit for buyers purchasing newly constructed homes will produce a "significant increase" in March sales.
As of April 8, the California Franchise Tax Board said it had received more than 3,100 applications for the tax credit, which is available to qualified buyers making purchases during the year beginning March 1, 2009, or until the $100 million allocated for the program runs out. Applications for $30.6 million in tax credits, or nearly one-third of the program's capacity, have been received so far.

Home-tour interest is still blooming

Home-tour interest is still blooming

By Debbie Arrington darrington@sacbee.com
http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=1550991182109662953

Published: Saturday, Apr. 11, 2009 - 12:00 am Page 5D
In real estate-mad California, beautiful weather and beautiful homes used to sell tickets to home and garden tours.
But facing a housing downturn and a dire economy, organizers of these annual tours – a staple of the Sacramento area's spring calendar – fretted about a lot more than wet paint or unfinished plantings.
"We started wondering, maybe this wasn't such a good idea to do a wine- country home tour this year," said Kelly Trottier, a volunteer helping to organize the Amador chapter of the American Association of University Women's annual home tour set for next Saturday. "With the economy, it's a concern. Half of our audience is from out of the area. But so far, (advanced) ticket sales have been surprisingly good."
These tours will go on, however, because they are major fundraisers for nonprofit organizations of all kinds, supplying money for such big-ticket expenses as college scholarships, gallery renovations and garden upkeep.
Millions of dollars have been invested by homeowners and designers to create these showpieces. Although times are tight, there was no shortage of remodelers willing to open their houses and gardens to visitors.
Here are some of the best-known regional tours:
A slice of history
East Sacramento Home Tour (Six homes on 38th Street)
• When: 10 a.m.-4 p.m. April 26
• Presenter: McKinley East Sacramento Neighborhood Association
• Tickets: $15 advance, $20 day of tour
• Information: www.eastsac.org or (916) 736-3450
• Proceeds benefit: Community-improvement projects such as computers at an elementary school, benches at McKinley Park and other beautification projects.
About the tour: Showcasing six homes on 38th Street, the McKinley tour draws about 500 people – many of them from the neighborhood – who want to see the blend of architectural styles in homes built between 1910 and 1929.
"Ours is (not only) a remodeling tour but also a historical tour," noted Claudia Bordin, who chairs the McKinley East Sacramento Neighborhood Association tour.
"I've seen this one house go through such a metamorphosis. These homes have retained their character but have been updated for family life in the 21st century. What we want people to see is that you can have a grand old house but make it a modern home."
Bordin, a designer, worked on several homes on the tour while coordinating the event's 60 volunteers. Besides stellar gardens, the homes also feature such indoor renovations as remodeled kitchens and baths.
Roses and advice
Woodland Library Rose Club Garden and Home Tour
• When: Noon-5 p.m. April 26
• Presenter: Woodland Library Rose Club
• Tickets: $20 general, $10 youths
• Information: (530) 662-4020
• Proceeds benefit: The library's public gardens
• About the tour: The Woodland Library Rose Club is presenting its 20th anniversary garden tour with a trek through two public and seven private gardens.
Highlights include more than 500 roses in bloom at the Woodland Library garden and a vintage fashion show at Gable Mansion.
"The homeowners are wonderful and very willing to talk with you about what's worked and not worked in their gardens," noted Maryellen Mackenzie, president of the club.
Wine and scenery
AAUW Amador Home Tour
• When: 11 a.m.-4 p.m. next Saturday
• Presenter: Amador chapter of the American Association of University Women Home Tour
• Tickets: $22 advance, $25 day of tour
• Information: www.aauwamador.org or (209) 245-6052
• Proceeds benefit: Last year, the group gave eight community college scholarships and two upper-division and graduate school scholarships. The group also sent three girls to science camp at Mills College.
• About the tour: The Amador University Women flaunt their region's assets in a tour that includes 30 wineries and four unique homes in the Shenandoah Valley.
Now in its 37th year, the Amador tour ranks among the longest-running events of its kind in the foothills. It usually attracts 700 to 900 people every year, depending on the weather.

Fewer empty new homes means supply, demand in balance

Home Front: Fewer empty new homes means supply, demand in balance

By Jim Wasserman jwasserman@sacbee.com

Published: Friday, Apr. 10, 2009 - 12:00 am Page 1B
The first quarterly report on new-home sales in the Sacramento area during 2009 is in – and there's one good sign amid a new low of 699 sales in January, February and March.
Excess supply – houses built or almost built without buyers – are back to lows last seen in mid-2004 and early 2005, the height of the buying frenzy.
The tally as March ended was 1,159 empty houses in El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento, Sutter, Yolo and Yuba counties, says the report being released today by the Folsom-based Gregory Group.
That's far less than 3,226 the same time last year – and a peak of 4,598 in the third quarter of 2006.
It's evidence that builders and their bare-bones construction and sales staffs are finally getting supply and demand back in balance.
"That's not very much inventory," said Gregory Group President Greg Paquin. "If there's any uptick in sales the second quarter and certainly, the third, it's going to put more stress on what's available in the marketplace."
That would mean competition and higher prices. But builders aren't there yet.
Their $336,683 median sales price – where half the homes sold for more and half for less – fell for a 12th straight quarter to a six-year low.
The average new home price: $380,786.
The region's excesses, soft prices and abundance of buyers choosing bank repos gave ample negotiating power to early 2009 buyer Jay Cook.
Cook, an account executive with CitiMortgage, moved from Chicago to Sacramento, and last week into a Natomas house built by New Jersey-based K. Hovnanian Homes.
"What prompted us off the fence was the $10,000 (state) tax credit," he said. It gives new homebuyers like him up to $3,333 off taxes each of the next three years. Builders are hoping $100 million in state tax credits that went into effect for escrows closed after March 1 will help sell 10,000 excess houses statewide.
California's Franchise Tax Board counts Cook among 2,624 applicants statewide so far for $25.6 million in the credits after buying new homes.
Paquin said January and February sales were dismal, but builders reported many more visitors in March.
Overall, Sacramento and Placer counties accounted for 76 percent of first-quarter sales, he said. Which city sold the most? Roseville, with 22 percent of the region's sales.
More feel homes affordable
The crash in housing prices has hugely changed public sentiment on whether it's a problem finding a house they can afford in Sacramento.
An estimated 23 percent of area residents say it's a big problem. Just three years ago with home prices at their peak, 51 percent felt that way.
"Always, it's been a big problem, complaining for years and years. This is the first time it's been so low," said Amy Liu, director of the sociology graduate program at California State University, Sacramento. "It's because the prices have dropped so much."
The findings are in the eighth annual Sacramento State Annual Survey of the Region being released today.
In the past, the survey has shown how one-third of Sacramento-area residents considered leaving to find less-expensive housing. But with median prices down more than 50 percent from 2005 highs in Sacramento and Yolo counties and down 40 percent in Placer and El Dorado counties, almost six in 10 believe buying this year would be a good investment.
Only 30 percent believe buying stocks in 2009 would be a good investment.
As always, affordability depended on the respondent's vantage point. Seventy percent of area residents earning less than $30,000 a year say affordable housing remains a problem for them.
"A big segment of the population in our region can't afford a house even with these reduced prices," said Liu.
The telephone survey of 1,353 adults from Feb. 14 to March 4 in El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento and Yolo counties has a margin of error of three percentage points. To see the full survey, go to www.csus.edu/ssis/. Click on the link to the Sacramento State Annual Survey of the Region.
House winner to get keys
Readers may remember Jennifer Draa, the state worker from Citrus Heights who won a free house in Lincoln last October.
Today, she gets her keys. Arizona-based home builder Taylor Morrison has scheduled an 11 a.m. media event to show off the $250,000 house, which features lots of new technology and free furnishings.
Draa beat out 638,000 entrants in a Taylor Morrison contest promoting its Innoventions Dream House at Disneyland last summer.

No bids at foreclosure auctions for Cal Neva Tahoe

No bids at foreclosure auctions for Cal Neva Tahoe

By Dale Kasler dkasler@sacbee.com

Published: Wednesday, Apr. 8, 2009 - 4:06 pm Last Modified: Wednesday, Apr. 8, 2009 - 4:32 pm
Unable to find a buyer for the ailing Lake Tahoe casino once owned by Frank Sinatra, the resort's reluctant owner said it will keep the place open anyway.
The Cal Neva went up for sale Wednesday at dual courthouse auctions in Roseville and Reno, but there were no bids. The 83-year-old property lies in both California and Nevada, on Tahoe's north shore.
The failure of the auction means ownership remains with an affiliate of Los Angeles real estate investment firm Canyon Partners. Canyon foreclosed on the Cal Neva last month after its former owner, a beleaguered Los Angeles businessman named Ezri Namvar, defaulted on a $25 million loan.
"We're going to assess the property and its future," said Canyon spokesman Steve Sugerman. "We have no intention of closing it." He said Canyon will likely install new management soon; the Cal Neva has been run by a court-appointed receiver since February.
Yet Bill Eadington, a gaming expert at the University of Nevada, Reno, said the Cal Neva's future is clouded by a weak economy and other factors.
"It's not likely to be viable as a casino, not likely to be viable as a destination resort," said Eadington, who lives about a block from the Cal Neva.
Court records show the Cal Neva has been losing money. Tahoe's north shore has long been a weak casino market, and the recession has been devastating. Gaming revenue on the north shore fell 24 percent in February from a year earlier, according to the Nevada Gaming Control Board.
Canyon was insisting on a minimum bid of $15 million for the Nevada side of the property, which includes the casino, at the auction. It wasn't clear what the minimum bid was for the California side.
Canyon accused Namvar, who bought the Cal Neva for $30 million in 2005, of running the place into the ground. It seized control of the Cal Neva after Namvar, facing $1 billion in debt, was dragged into personal bankruptcy.
Namvar was the latest in a series of owners who tried to recapture the glamour of the Sinatra era. Sinatra lost the Cal Neva after mobster Sam Giancana, who was barred from Nevada's casinos, was spotted on the property in 1963.

Tracy mourns, seeks answers in gir's death

Tracy mourns, seeks answers in girl's death

By Cynthia Hubert and Stan Oklobdzjia chubert@sacbee.com

Published: Wednesday, Apr. 8, 2009 - 12:00 am Page 1A
Under a somber gray sky, it seemed as though the entire town of Tracy was in mourning Tuesday.
Sandra Cantu's face still smiled from "missing" posters plastered in windows and on telephone poles across the neighborhood where she disappeared on March 27. But a day after farmworkers found the 8-year-old girl's remains in a suitcase floating in an irrigation pond, fear and grief replaced hope in this bedroom community of 80,000 people.
Police refused to disclose leads or name suspects in the case. But three men, including a pastor who lives in the mobile home park from which Sandra disappeared, have been the subjects of recent search warrants. Police searched the pastor's church Tuesday night but maintained that he is not a suspect.
"Whoever did this is still out there, and that's my biggest fear," said Doreen Duarte, who placed a bouquet of flowers at a shrine to the girl that grew minute by minute, even in the pouring rain. "I'm scared to death for my nieces," ages 8 and 10, Duarte said.
Police said they are combing through hundreds of tips and are "heading in a direction" in the case, but refused to be specific. Tracy Police Sgt. Tony Sheneman said that Lane Lawless, pastor of the Clover Road Baptist Church – a short distance from the Orchard Estates mobile home park where he and Sandra lived – is just one of numerous people questioned and is not necessarily suspected of any involvement in the girl's death.
"We have not closed our interest on any particular person," Sheneman said.
Lawless has been a pastor at Clover Road Baptist since 1981, according to a church Web site. FBI and Tracy police investigators began searching church grounds at about 4:30 p.m. Tuesday. Several large evidence trucks parked along the back of the church as investigators combed the ground between the building and the back fence. Inside, FBI agents dressed in white sterile suits poked through boxes stacked on shelves.
Neighbor Charlie Correia said there usually isn't a lot of action at the church.
"The congregation was real small," Correia said. "If there were five cars there (on a Sunday) I'd be shocked."
Correia said he never met the pastor or any of the congregation.
Sandra was last seen skipping through the mobile home park in a working-class neighborhood in central Tracy. A massive search of the area turned up no clues until Monday, when farmworkers found a suitcase in a collection pond two miles from Sandra's home. Police identified the girl based on the black leggings and pink shirt that she was last seen wearing.
An autopsy on the girl's body was completed Tuesday, but it could be as long as eight weeks before coroner's officials get the results of toxicology and tissue tests needed to establish a specific cause of death, said San Joaquin County Sheriff's Deputy Les Garcia.
As police vowed to solve the case, hundreds of brokenhearted men, women and children made a rainy pilgrimage to the makeshift memorial in front of the mobile home park. Most of them knew the Cantu family only from news reports about the case, but still felt a personal loss.
"When I heard that they had found her body, my heart just sank," said Duarte. "I didn't want to believe it. I had been hoping and praying every day that she would be found safe."
Duarte was among hundreds who arrived by car and on foot, pushing strollers and clutching the hands of young ones to pay tribute to Sandra. They brought bunches of calla lilies from their gardens, vases of roses from the florist, toy bears and dogs, red Mylar balloons in the shapes of hearts, and angels of all shapes and sizes. As the afternoon wore on, dozens of stuffed animals grew soggy from the drizzle.
It is the second time in recent months that a criminal case has shined a national spotlight on Tracy, an otherwise quiet San Joaquin County town about 60 miles south and west of Sacramento. In December, a youth with a chain shackled to his ankle fled a Tracy home where police said he had been held captive and tortured for more than a year. Four people have been arrested and charged with various crimes in the case.
Now, as then, television satellite trucks, cameras, microphones and hordes of reporters are converging on the area.
"This is a very closely knit community," said Steve Torres, assistant manager of a Best Western hotel across the street from where Sandra vanished. "It's a country type of town. Usually these types of things are associated with big cities. When something like this happens in Tracy, it affects all of us."
Monique Agenter brought her 5-year-old son William to the memorial, setting down some flowers and a Piglet doll and then quietly hugging the boy to her chest as rain soaked their sweat shirts.
"I want my son to know about strangers," she said after they stepped away. "I don't want to scare him, but I want to teach him about what he needs to do" if a stranger tries to lure him into a home or car, she said.
Was the person who harmed Sandra a stranger? Police declined to discuss the subject, but the girl's mother has told reporters that her daughter would never trust someone with whom she was unfamiliar.
Officers prevented reporters from entering Orchard Estates on Tuesday. Lawless, the pastor who lives in the park, could not be reached for comment. But The Bee spoke by telephone with his wife, Connie. She said she and her husband have "cooperated fully" with police but declined to discuss specifics of their interviews.
"They are not leaving anything untouched and not leaving any stone unturned," Connie Lawless said.
Sandra was playmates with one of the Lawless' great-granddaughters, she said, and the girl spent many hours inside the couple's mobile home.
Connie Lawless said her family was devastated to learn of Sandra's death.
"We loved her so much," she said. "She had been in many of our church's prayers."

Banks Plan to Auction almost 1,200 houses

Banks plan to auction almost 1,200 houses

Published: Saturday, Apr. 4, 2009 - 12:00 am Page 6B
Nearly 1,200 more Northern California bank-owned homes are headed for the auction block during a five-day sale, the Real Estate Disposition Corp. in Irvine has announced.
An estimated 252 Sacramento- and Fairfield-area homes will be auctioned at 9:30 a.m. on April 19 at Cal Expo.
Another 205 homes in the Stockton, Modesto and Merced areas will be auctioned at 9:30 a.m. on April 18 in the Stockton Memorial Auditorium.
Open houses are scheduled today and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. A follow-up open house is scheduled for the same hours on Saturday, April 11, said REDC officials.
In 2008, the firm said it auctioned 32,799 bank-owned properties for $3.4 billion. Go to www.auction.com ("Upcoming Auctions") for details.

– Jim Wasserman

Anti-sprawl rules to steer Sacramento development

Anti-sprawl rules to steer Sacramento development
By Jim Wasserman jwasserman@sacbee.com
Published: Wednesday, Apr. 1, 2009 - 12:00 am Page 8B

When Sacramento gets past the housing crash, its next wave of growth will play out under stricter rules that limit greenhouse gases and clamp down on cars, area real estate officials were told Tuesday.
Panelists at a real estate forum peering beyond the region's current downturn said state legislation to curb emissions from cars and far-flung-residential living will push more growth into existing area neighborhoods.
It's an idea that runs counter to a capital-area housing boom that spread 80,000 new houses, mostly single-family detached residences, onto empty suburban-area land between 2002 and 2007.
The region's next housing boom will – and must – rely more on trains, buses and alternatives to cars, said William Hudnut, an advocate for cities and former Indianapolis mayor credited with reviving his Midwest state capital.
"The less driving there is the less carbon dioxide that is being emitted into the air," he told a gathering of nearly 100 public- and private-sector architects, city planners, land-use attorneys, real estate consultants and elected officials. "The challenge is to reduce dependence on the car."
The notion is central to implementing the state's Assembly Bill 32, which aims to lower greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020, and SB 375, which ties that goal to new housing and commercial development.
Hudnut spoke at a forum organized by Sacramento's affiliate of the Urban Land Institute, a research arm of the U.S. real estate development industry. He praised the two bills and the Sacramento Area Council of Governments' regional Blueprint for higher-density growth through 2050 as models for the nation.
"You seem to get it," said Hudnut. "A lot of the country doesn't."
Longtime Sacramento redevelopment attorney Joseph Coomes Jr., said that while the Blueprint is voluntary, "we're now getting mandatory imperatives in AB 32 and SB 375. And more imperatives will be coming down the line."
Sacramento County Supervisor Roger Dickinson told the gathering the county aims to put most of the 53,000 new homes it will need by 2030 into existing neighborhoods.
"We are very dedicated to revitalizing a lot of those older first-tier suburbs," he said. But he said the idea worries home builders and developers who find it easier to build on empty land. Also raising concerns are existing residents who don't want up to 20 percent more people living in their areas.
Nonetheless, Hudnut said the new century will be a "gargantuan business opportunity," with half of all U.S. and European growth income to come from "restorative development" in built-up areas.
"Reinvesting, rebuilding, revitalizing, redeveloping and re-engineering. We live in the 're-century,' " he said.