Kathleen Pender
Thursday, February 2, 2012
The Obama administration on Wednesday detailed its new proposal to let some homeowners with mortgages not owned by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac refinance into a new loan backed by the Federal Housing Administration, even if they are underwater and have low credit scores.
The proposal, if approved by Congress, would slap a government guarantee on a lot of risky mortgages that are not government-guaranteed today. The White House says it would impose a “small” fee on large financial institutions to cover the cost of the program, which it estimates at $5 billon to $10 billion. Continued…



EAGLE ROCK, CA-The newly built Oxy Lofts condominiums at 4547-4555 Eagle Rock Blvd. have traded in a lender-assisted short sale in this week’s roundup of commercial real estate news in the West. Marcus & Millichap executive vice president Ron Harris and associate director Paul Darrow in the company’s Downtown L.A. office, who represented both the buyer and the seller, tell GlobeSt.com that the buyer paid $8.6 million in the all-cash transaction. Harris and Darrow point out that the property, which includes 32 residential units and one commercial space, features loft and townhome style floorplans designed by architect Jay Vanos to appeal to young professionals who have begun moving eastward to Eagle Rock from areas like Silverake and Los Feliz. “Although the units were individually parceled for condominiums, the buyer will lease the apartments and consider selling the units as condos in a future market cycle,” Harris said. Darrow noted that, “This is the second transaction that Eagle Rock has seen this quarter in which an institutionally profiled buyer purchased a site from a local developer.