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Forget 'What are your strengths and weaknesses?' If you want to get the real dope on prospective employees, ask job candidates these seven questions.
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The Real Deal
The buzz on deals and dealmakers in Central Texas real estate.
- Foreclosures climb in Central Texas
Foreclosure postings for the upcoming Jan. 9 auction are up in four Central Texas counties, with double-digit spikes in Travis, Bastrop and Wiliamson counties..
The elevated numbers for those and some other Texas counties are “somewhat surprising, since (mortgage giants) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac had pledged to suspend foreclosure sales on occupied single-family homes until Jan. 9,” said George Roddy Sr., president of Foreclosure Listing Service Inc., the Addison-based firm that tracks the numberst.
Postings for January are up 73 percent in Bastrop County compared with a year ago, followed by increases of 58 percent in Travis County, 50 percent in Williamson County and 9 percent in Hays County. Roddy said recently that he thinks foreclosures have “pretty much peaked in Texas.”
Bonnie Brown, vice president of Foreclosure Listing Service, said she is at a loss to explain the spikes. She said about 75 to 80 percent of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac foreclosure postings involve owner-occupied homes, leaving only 20 to 25 percent that could be foreclosed with the moratorium in effect.
“There’s obviously been no easing in the postings regarding the delinquent loans,” Brown said.
Brown said one theory is that lenders may be overloaded.
Although lenders have been encouraged to work with homeowners who are falling behind on their mortgages, and many are trying to, she said, “there’s simply such a large number of homeowners requesting loan modifications that the lenders, I think, are overwhelmed. And instead of being able to get answers to the borrowers about their loan modification requests, it’s taking six months and longer in many cases.”
In one case, a homeowner in the Denton area requested a loan modification in May, Brown said. The owner sent in all the required documentation, but didn’t hear back from the lender until October, with a letter saying her request had been accepted and paperwork outlining the new terms. A new loan was to go into effect Nov. 1, Brown said.
Yet, Brown said, the homeowner ” is still getting letters dunning her for the old monthly amount.”
“These lending institution are geared to make new loans, not to have these high delinquency rates,” Brown said. “And now they’re having to handle a large volume of requests to modify loans,” which she said involve ” a tremendous amount of paperwork.”
- Austin area home sales fall 40 percent
Sales of existing homes fell 40 percent last month from a year earlier, and the median price fell 3 percent, the first drop in years.
In Central Texas, 990 homes sold last month, according to the Austin Board of Realtors. The median price was $180,000, and it took almost three months, on average, to sell a house.
The Austin area had been holding up relatively well compared to many other real estate markets. But the worsening economy and credit crunch last month has hit several sectors, including home and car sales.
New listings fell 17 percent in the month, as prospective sellers decided now was not the time to put their homes on the market.
But with the falling sales rate, total active listings rose 15 percent to 9,243.
- Highland Mall co-owner gets loan extension
General Growth Properties, the co-owner of Highland Mall, won an extension on more than $900 million of loans on Las Vegas malls.
The deal gives the Chicago-based company until Feb. 12 to repay the loan.
In the worst-case scenario, General Growth might have had to file for bankruptcy if it did not get the loan.
However, analysts said lenders were more likely to work with the company, which owns more than 200 malls in 44 states.
The company will try to raise new capital or sell some assets to meet the Feb. 12 deadline.
- Roberston Hill apartments are sold
An unnamed institutional investor has bought the Robertson Hill Apartments, a new 290-unit apartment complex on the Interstate 35 access road at East Ninth Street.
Martin Fein Interests developed the complex, which is part of the residential boom that has brought scores of apartments and condominiums to East Austin in recent years.
Hal Holiday and David Aaronson of Houston-based Live Oak Capital brokered the sale on behalf of the owner, Robertson Hill Apartments LP.
- Endeavor delays retail projects at the Domain
In another casualty of the recession, major retail projects at the Domain in North Austin have been pushed back for a year.
Endeavor Real Estate Group said a Nordstrom and Saks, along with 450,000 square feet of additional retail space, 490 apartments and 125,000 square feet of office space, won’t open until fall 2012. The delay will push the opening of a Whole Foods Market to May 2012.
Kirk Rudy, managing principal at Austin-based Endeavor Real Estate Group LLC, said the company had not started to seek financing. Given the state of the retail and capital markets and the economy, he said, it was wiser to hold off.
“Though Austin is faring relatively well in the economic downturn, we’re mindful of the uncertain climate,” Rudy said. “We feel a revised timeline for the retail district is appropriate given today’s economic environment.”
He said all three retailers agreed to the revised schedule.
The department stores are to be anchors in a project that will include condominiums, apartments, offices and hotels.
An office building and an Aloft hotel, a Starwood brand, hotel are under construction.
Endeavor is developing 176 acres east of the Simon Property Group’s Domain shopping center. The Endeavor land is bordered by Burnet Road, Braker Lane, North MoPac Boulevard and Domain Drive.
In Simon’s project, work has started on a Westin Hotel and new stores including Dick’s Sporting Goods.
Dillard’s had planned a store there as well. Simon wasn’t immediately available for a comment on the status of that project.
The Simon project already includes a Neiman Marcus and Macy’s.
The credit crunch has delayed projects nationwide, including a planned 1,000-room Marriott hotel on Congress Avenue and several retail centers in Central Texas.
- Seaholm powering forward
Construction could begin by late next year on the $117 million redevelopment of the former Seaholm Power Plant.
The public-private venture is expected to transform the decommissioned power plant on West Cesar Chavez Street into a mix of shops, offices, condominiums, a boutique hotel and special-events space.
The Austin City Council last week approved a new taxing district to support the redevelopment project.
The taxing zone will capture new property and sales tax revenue generated within the 7.8-acre project for 30 years. The new revenue will be used to pay future payments on debt issued to finance $8.1 million worth of streets, restoring the power plant and other projects to be funded by the taxing district.
The taxing zone “is a way for the city to participate in the Seaholm project without having to come up with out-of-pocket funds,” said John Rosato, principal with Southwest Strategies Group, the lead developer in Seaholm Power LLC, which the city chose to redevelop the site after a competitive selection process.
“As a government-owned property, Seaholm has yet to contribute a cent to the tax base. But that will change dramatically in the coming years, and this vehicle enables future funds to pay for the city’s participation,” Rosato said.
The focal point will be the preservation of the landmark power plant, a 136,000-square-foot building with more than 110,000 square feet of useable floor space. Once renovated, the building will house an events center plus offices, shops and restaurants.
Jeff Trigger and his La Corsha Hospitality Group will oversee the construction, management and operations of a 180-room hotel planned for the project. Trigger is the former managing director of the historic Driskill Hotel in downtown Austin,
Trigger said there’s keen interest from “Austin-centric retailers” who want to be part of Seaholm.
“We’re not going to be generating a whole lot of electrical power, but we sure w