Foreclosure Halt may only Delay the Inevitable

Houston Chronicle

A possible moratorium on foreclosures may help some distressed borrowers, but for the overall housing market, it will just delay the loss of homes for some Texans, real estate experts say.

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott asked 30 lenders this week to put foreclosures and sales of foreclosured properties on hold and to review the way they document repossessed properties.

The request came after lenders halted some foreclosures in 23 other states amid allegations of "robosigning" — processing documents without proper review and notarization. The federal government is now looking into the allegations.

"The AG demand, especially if he sues in court, will only cause a substantial delay in getting this default backlog cleared out, therefore extending the high volume on into 2011," said Amanda LeCureux, managing partner of The Woodlands-based Foreclosure Information & Listing Service.

Government programs to help borrowers stay in their homes have already delayed large numbers of foreclosures, said Kevin Riles, a Houston-area real estate agent who specializes in foreclosures.

A moratorium may only prolong the pain.

"I'm starting to be of the opinion that we need to go ahead and release some of these properties to the market so we can move forward," Riles said.

In addition to suspending foreclosures, the attorney general asked lenders to halt the sales of properties previously foreclosed on and the evictions of people living in those properties.

Stopping sales and foreclosures will "throw a monkey wrench in the housing market" by creating a backlog of properties for sale, said Jim Gaines, an economist with the Texas A&M Real Estate Center.

"It will take the market a long time to work through and will play havoc on prices," he said.

On the other hand, some distressed borrowers might benefit from a moratorium by getting extra time to pay their mortgages or look for jobs if they're unemployed.

"I think it's going to be a great thing, because it's going to pull the tide of foreclosures from hitting the market," real estate agent Paul Silverman said.

While Houston hasn't been hit as hard by defaults as other parts of the country, foreclosures have affected home values because those houses typically sell for less than comparable properties that aren't in foreclosure.
 

Restraining orders

Consumer advocates were cautious in assessing Abbott's actions.

Attorney Natasha Gransberry has sought temporary restraining orders on behalf of clients who were being foreclosed on despite having modified loans.

She described cases in which loans were sold to new servicers that moved ahead with foreclosures because they didn't know the borrower had a modification in place.

She's urging clients not to rely on Abbott's actions to keep them in their homes.

Richard Tomlinson, director of litigation at Lone Star Legal Aid, said he was happy to see the attorney general take action but isn't sure how much it will help consumers since compliance with the moratorium is voluntary.

"The proof's in the pudding. Based on what he learns, it will be interesting to see what Abbott does," Tomlinson said.

He urged struggling borrowers to seek help from Lone Star or get other legal counsel to stave off foreclosure before their homes are set for sale at auction. Before a foreclosure is complete, an attorney can help qualified homeowners file for bankruptcy or look for legal violations in the foreclosure that could thwart it, Tomlinson said.
 

Business as usual

So far, just one lender, Ally Financial, has agreed to suspend foreclosures in Texas. Disclosures several weeks ago that an Ally employee rushed documents without reviewing them triggered the nationwide attention on robosigning.

Wells Fargo said it isn't planning a moratorium. JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America have declined to comment on the request.

On Tuesday, the day after Abbott's action, the monthly foreclosure auction in Harris County went off as usual.

There were 4,035 properties posted for auction and 1,268 that were actually foreclosed.

"That's about average," LeCureux said. "It looks like they foreclosed the same number they would have any other month."

Postings in September totaled 4,691 - the highest since October 1987, when 4,773 properties were posted.

September totals were up because of the sluggish economy as well as a five-week posting period that gave lenders an extra week to post properties for sale.

"Since the downturn started in late 2008, more and more Houston homeowners have been affected, and as more time passes and with the recovery so anemic, the numbers of late payers are starting to pile up, even in Houston apartments," LeCureux said.

Notorious Houston Apartment Complex to be Razed

Houston Chronicle

 

A blighted Houston apartment complex that has been vacant for 20 years is scheduled to be demolished at 9 a.m. today.

"This is one of the worst examples of neglectful ownership that I have seen," Mayor Annise Parker said in a statement today, adding that the owner of the property had failed to improve its condition despite receiving numerous chances. "The property is a neighborhood eyesore and a public safety risk."

The 43-unit complex, located at 7410 Park Place Blvd., was the subject of an extended story in the Houston Chronicle in February that showed the apartment in Houston to be a magnet for crimes involving drugs and prostitution. It is one of thousands of abandoned properties all over Houston that city officials and police have found to be dangerous and in need of demolition.

Since 2005, the city has demolished more than 3,000 such Houston apartments, but nearly three times that remain, despite the hiring in recent years of additional inspectors who can issue citations and begin the process of establishing evidence of abandonment that can be used in court to justify demolition.

More than 800 Houston apartment buildings the city has deemed "unsafe" have been demolished in the past 12 months, a record set largely through the use of "Demolition Day" in May, when 185 structures were torn down in one day with the help of private contractors.

Timing the Housing Market in Houston

The Wall Street Journal / June Fletcher

Q. My husband will retire in December. Our plan is to sell our family home, which we've owned for 19 years and is almost paid off, and move to a retirement community near our daughter in Atlanta. Because it takes a long time to sell homes these days, we figure we should put our house on the market now if we want to have it sold by Christmas. But we read that real estate prices may start improving next year, so we wonder whether it would be better to wait until next spring's selling season. What should we do?
—Houston

A. Normally I'd suggest that you not try to time the real estate market or let its cycles dictate when you move. But since you don't seem to be under any compelling financial pressure to relocate, I recommend that you wait.

I wouldn't necessarily give this same advice to everyone: Overall, the expiration of tax credits for home purchases, coupled with an expected rise in foreclosures and short sales and higher mortgage interest rates, is likely to keep home prices weak over the coming year. So for most people who want to sell, there isn't much to be gained from holding out for more favorable market conditions.

But given where you live, and where you want to move, procrastination is likely to pay off for you. According to FirstAmerican Core Logic, which forecasts home price trends based on a repeat sales index that tracks prices of the same homes over time, Houston apartment and home values have been rising—they were up 4% in February from a year earlier, and are expected to rise an additional 3% by February 2011. Meanwhile, prices in Atlanta, where you're headed, dropped 2.3% in the year ending in February and are expected to fall an additional 4.5% over the next year.

Moreover, it may not take as long to sell your home as you expect. According to Altos Research and Real IQ, the average time a home takes to sell in Houston has been shrinking: Down 10.9 %, to 122 days, from January to March. If you put your house on the market now and it sold in four months time, and closed a month later, you'd have to find another place to live for at least three months before your husband retires. According to ads on Craigslist, furnished one-bedroom apartments in extended-stay hotels can easily run upwards of $2,000 a month in Houston; add to that the cost of keeping your belongings in storage. Then there's the incalculable cost of living in limbo, a state of anxiety that puts pressure on you to find a new house in a new neighborhood quickly, even if it isn't quite what you wanted.

There just doesn't seem to be any upside to your listing your home now. You'll be better off if you use the time before your husband's retirement for de-cluttering, landscaping and prettying-up your home so that it draws top dollar next spring.

Are Houston Apartment Dwellers Getting the (Water) Shaft?

CultureMap Houston

 

 

Calling "halfsies" isn't always such a good deal. For people living in apartments in Houston, it looks like there will be a 50-percent increase in water rates for those who call multi-unit digs home. The hike stands in sharp contrast to the projected slight increase of 12 percent for single-family customers.

According to City Councilman Ed Gonzalez, the jump is the result of a $100 million deficit in the city's water and sewage budget, and renters are going to have to pay. Andy Icken, deputy director of Houston Public Works Department has suggested that research states that single-family homes conserve more water than multi-family units.

"They have a big study that hasn't been released yet," Houston Apartment Association (HAA) executive vice president Jeff Hall told CultureMap. "There's an executive summary from their consulting firm, but that doesn't tell much." Icken did not respond to phone calls inquiring about the research.

HAA feels the increase unfairly punishes apartment renters, many of whom cannot afford to take on a ballooning bill. Hall argues that apartments are cheaper for the city to maintain, and that the cost is lower to provide water and sewage utilities to an apartment complex than to an equal number of single family homes.

This isn't the first proposed infrastructure change under new mayor Annise Parker, who has questioned the financing of  two Metro light rail lines and overseen the weekend closure of neighborhood libraries —  making residents wonder if basic city amenities are going down the drain. Parker has been frank in saying how the city's current budget crisis is going to cause hard cuts and tough times for Houstonians. Rather than try to sugarcoat the projected $140 million budget shortfall with a typical politician's sweet talk, Parker said, "The pressure is going to be immense" in her first state of the city address on April 8.

Hall argues that putting an extra burden on apartment renters is not the way to go to meet shortfalls. When asked if this method has been tried in other cities, Hall responded, "No, we're dealing with a local issue here."

City Council is set to announce a final, revised proposal next week. Until then, foreclosed McMansions are looking more and more practical.

Gables Residential Sells Dallas Apartments to California Investor

Dallas News

A California real estate investor has made its first push into the North Texas apartment market.

CIM Group's purchase includes two properties in the popular West Village neighborhood in Dallas' Uptown district: the 103-unit 3636 McKinney apartments and the 75-unit West Village apartments, at 3839 McKinney Ave. CIM also purchased the 334-unit Knoxbridge apartments, near the corner of Knox and Travis streets.

The investor, which specializes in urban-style real estate projects, bought the rental units from Gables Residential, which owns or manages more than two dozen apartment communities in the Dallas-Fort Worth apartments area.

The West Village properties were built in 2005 and are on top of retail space. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed, but the units are valued for taxes at almost $22 million.

The Knoxbridge, constructed in 1993 and 1995 at 4649 Cole, is listed on the tax rolls at more than $27 million.

As part of the deal, CIM also bought a Gables project in Houston apartments.

Gables will continue to manage all the Texas properties, which total 820 units.

Gables senior vice president Doug Chesnut said the developer decided to sell the properties because it was "overweighted" with Dallas-area apartments and had more in the works.

"We took the opportunity to move assets," Chesnut said.

CIM said in a statement that the apartments it bought are all in "districts positioned for economic expansion."

The investor also owns a mixed-use development called Penn Field in Austin.

CIM is a real estate fund manager that makes both private equity and debt investments in urban communities across North America. It has offices in Los Angeles, Oakland, Calif., and Bethesda, Md.

The Gables Dallas apartments sale is the second recent transaction involving high-end North Texas rental properties.

In December, Nebraska-based Slosburg Cos. purchased the five-story Delante Las Colinas apartments.

Denton Developers Want Input on Fry

Denton Record-Chronicle

A public meeting Wednesday could help shape the proposed redevelopment of Denton’s once-vibrant Fry Street area.

The company behind a proposal to build student housing on a mostly vacant block bordering the University of North Texas is inviting residents to offer their views on the area’s fate. The meeting is set for 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at City Hall.

 “We have ideas on what we want to see,” said Josh Vasbinder, a vice president with The Dinerstein Companies, a Houston apartments, real estate and development firm. “But I want to make sure our ideas align with what the community wants to see long-term for that property.”

Company officials plan to mostly listen during Wednesday’s meeting, Vasbinder said. They’re planning a second gathering, tentatively set for Feb. 17 at City Hall, to present revised plans incorporating feedback they receive, he said.

Company officials are already talking with community leaders to gather their views on the project, said Patrice Lyke, who leads the Denton Neighborhood Alliance, a consortium of local neighborhood groups. By contrast, the developer behind Fry Street Village — the doomed development planned for the same block in 2006 — didn’t reach out to neighborhoods until its plans were set in stone, she said.

“Time will tell, but this early willingness to listen to the neighborhoods is a really good sign,” said Lyke, who also serves on the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission.

The Dinerstein Cos. and Dallas-based Winkelmann & Associates Inc. filed a pre-application with Denton city officials last month to build 210 Dallas apartments for students in Denton with 586 beds in a four-story complex split by a multistory parking garage.

When the plans became public, some area residents said they’d rather see a mix of housing and retail uses at the site, a 3.8-acre lot bordered by Fry, Hickory, Welch and Oak streets. Others raised concerns about increased traffic on Oak and Hickory — two roads already stressed beyond their capacity.

City staff members reviewed the application and issued a report Dec. 31 listing potential conflicts with city codes. For example, buildings in the Fry Street district can’t exceed three stories, according to the report.

“What was submitted doesn’t meet city standards on a number of levels,” said Mark Cunningham, the city’s planning and development director. “My understanding from the applicant is that he just wants to … get feedback from the community and then factor that into the design of the site” before offering new plans.

The submitted plans were preliminary, and the company is open to changing them, Vasbinder said.

“People want to see more of a mixed-use concept,” he said. “We’re pushing to try to figure out what the best utilization of that mixed-use concept is, how that new urbanism can be done correctly.”

The block has been a center of attention since Houston-based United Equities Inc. bought most of it in 2006 and announced plans for new retail shops and eateries.

An opposition group, Save Fry Street, formed to fight the project, and nearly 9,500 people signed a petition supporting preservation of existing buildings and Denton apartments, some of which dated to the 1920s.

United Equities ultimately demolished five buildings, including one that housed The Tomato, but not before someone set fire to the iconic restaurant in an apparent protest of the project.

In December 2007, a divided City Council rejected a drive-through lane in the proposed Fry Street Village, derailing plans to build a shopping center anchored by a CVS pharmacy. A chain-link fence has surrounded most of the block since then.

United Equities still owns the land. Tim Sandifer, the project manager for Fry Street Village, did not return a call seeking comment.

If The Dinerstein Cos. can win city approval of its project, it likely would buy the block from United Equities, Vasbinder said. It also plans to develop and manage the property, he said.

“It’s our name on the building; it’s our reputation,” Vasbinder said. “We want it to be a long-term benefit to the community.”

Drop in Construction Could Lead to Apartment Shortage

The Dallas News

A dramatic decline in U.S. apartment construction could lead to a shortage of rental housing in the years ahead.

This year, developers are expected to start about 87,000 units – less than a third of what they build on average each year. And the outlook for 2011 isn't much better.

"We will be facing a severe shortage of apartments in the next few years, which will increase the cost of housing for consumers," Sharon Dworkin Bell, senior staff vice president of the National Association of Home Builders, said at this week's convention in Las Vegas. "We believe we should have 300,000 starts every year to have a stable market."

That's not likely in the foreseeable future.

"We have a combination of limited supply coming on and increased demand when the economy recovers," Bell said.

Michael Costa, a partner in McFarlane Costa Housing Partners of California, said, "We know that the demand for housing – especially rental housing – is going to be there. Each month we are not able to get our starts going, we fall further and further behind."

At some point, a lack of rental units will take a bite out of consumers' pocketbooks. "We are predicting now we may see upwards of double-digit rent increases," Costa said.

His firm, which typically starts up to 35 rental communities nationwide each year, has just four projects in the works.

The slowdown has been even sharper for developer Jerry Durkin, whose Wood Partners builds rental units across the country, including several recent projects in the Dallas area.

In 2006, Atlanta-based Wood Partners started about 6,500 units.

"We closed one start in 2009 – a 150-unit deal," Durkin said. "I don't know how 2011 ramps up unless capital frees up."

Over the last couple of years, the Dallas-Fort Worth area has been one of the country's top rental housing construction markets. But startups of new Texas apartments have virtually stopped.

More than 11,000 Houston and Austin apartments were under construction in North Texas at the start of 2010, however, and there are lots of new units on the market, so rents have been falling and vacancies increasing.

The same is true in other U.S. markets, which makes apartment analyst Greg Willett of MPF Research skeptical about a shortage.

"To get back to an essentially full occupancy rate of about 95 percent, we've got to absorb about 600,000 apartments nationally and about 30,000 Dallas-Fort Worth apartments," Willett said.

"The builders are overestimating the number of kids in the basement" who will move out of their parents' homes when the economy rebounds, he said.

Dr. James Gaines of the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University also says a shortage is a ways off.

"An offsetting factor is the number of foreclosures and other distressed properties being bought by investors and turning into rentals," he said.

Dallas apartments analyst Ron Witten predicts apartment markets around the country could be full by 2012, but that doesn't mean building would start right away.

"Developers have to find and entitle sites, then begin construction," he said. "It could easily be 2014 and possibly later before a meaningful number of new apartments are available for residents."

Another Down Year in Housing

Houston Chronicle

The Houston-area real estate market took another hit last year, as credit remained tight, unemployment rose and wary consumers kept their distance from the housing market.

Home sales declined for the third straight year, falling 7.3 percent in 2009, according to figures released Tuesday by the Houston Association of Realtors.

While sales were down 25 percent from their peak in 2006, last year's decline wasn't as steep as in 2008.

And as long as unemployment doesn't rise, the association sees better times ahead.

“2010 surely is going to have lots of challenges, but there is so much opportunity out there,” said Margie Dorrance, the association's chair, referring to low mortgage rates, a healthy stock of houses for sale and the federal housing tax credit.

But even though a modest amount of job growth is expected later this year, rising mortgage rates could dampen the recovery.

Houston economist Barton Smith expects rates to reach close to 6 percent when the Federal Reserve stops buying mortgage-backed securities — as it has been doing to help stem the housing crisis by keeping rates low.

“Rising interest rates are going to give the Houston market another dose of reality,” said Smith, a University of Houston economics professor and director of the Institute for Regional Forecasting.

Higher mortgage rates will cause prices to fall in the lower end of the market where buyers are more sensitive to price, he said.

For now, values have held steady overall.

The median price for a single-family home last year rose slightly to $153,000, according to the housing group, which tracks sales through the Multiple Listing Service across greater Houston.

At $152,550, the December single-family home median price — the figure at which half of the homes sold for more and half sold for less — rose 5.2 percent from one year earlier, representing the eighth consecutive monthly increase, according to the report, which also included monthly data.

But sales fell 2.1 percent last month compared with December 2008.

It was the first monthly decline since August, and a more accurate reflection of the housing market.

Hurricane Ike brought home buying to a standstill in the fall of 2008, so gains toward the end of last year were skewed.

There are other potential storm clouds.

Foreclosures are still high in the lower end of the housing spectrum, Smith said.

And the number of pending sales — those listings expected to close within the next 30 days — was down at the end of last month by 17.9 percent, signaling another decline in sales volume for January.

Throughout 2009, sales and home prices were down across most of the regions tracked by the realty association.

Values fell in Brazoria County and northern parts of the Houston area where demand wasn't as strong and foreclosures were more prevalent.

Even the Inner Loop saw declines as sellers took their homes off the market and slashed prices on luxury homes.

But home shoppers expecting to get bargains in close-in areas like Montrose, the Heights and Garden Oaks were disappointed, said broker Robert Searcy of Texas Real Estate & Co.

“The deals in those established markets weren't there,” he said.

Searcy said there were bargains in what he calls “emerging markets,” neighborhoods on the fringe of Loop 610 with housing stock similar to that inside the Loop.

Areas that saw price increases included parts of Fort Bend County, Montgomery County and Katy south of Interstate 10.

On another positive note, listings aren't rising.

The number of homes on the market at the end of last year declined 1.3 percent from December 2008 to 43,185.

That represents 2,267 fewer active listings of Houston apartments and other properties than one month earlier and reflects what the industry considers a healthy absorption of housing inventory from the marketplace, the association said.

Dorrance said she's seen good activity in the $150,000 to $300,000 range.

The lowest end of the market has slowed, but showings have started picking up in the higher prices, she said.

While it's a small slice of the home sales pie, sales of properties priced at $500,000 and higher were up 48 percent last month.

Some Major Real Estate Assets Have Worked Out Of Distress

Houston Chronicle

Houston's commercial real estate market is ranked ninth among 57 U.S. markets in distress, according to Real Capital Analytics.

In its latest report, the New York research firm said this area had 211 properties in default, bankruptcy or foreclosure as of Dec. 1.

The value of the buildings, which spanned all property types, was $4.8 billion.

Las Vegas ranked at the top of the list of markets in distress as a percentage of total property investment volume.

While the number of troubled properties in Houston has been growing, some of the larger assets have worked their way out of distress and have new owners.

Last week, an investment group purchased the 44 units that were put into bankruptcy at the Endeavour condominium tower on Clear Lake.

Last month, the owner of Greenway Plaza gave the keys back to its lender, Barclays Capital. The investment bank formed a joint venture real estate firm to own and operate the project.

And the Mosaic high-rise near the Texas Medical Center recently was acquired out of foreclosure by a group led by Starwood Capital Group.

Real Capital broke down the distress in Houston by property type.

The office sector had the highest amount of capital at risk with $2.4 billion in distress in 19 properties.

The Houston apartments and retail sectors each had more than $1 billion worth of properties on shaky financial ground.

Regionally, Houston had the highest volume of distress among the top Texas markets, but Dallas wasn't far behind with $4.5 billion.

Nationally, the volume of troubled properties totaled $161 billion.

Retail remains the hardest-hit property sector with $37.5 billion in distressed situations, with hotels second at $32 billion.

Small-scale remodeling

Home improvements that pay off don't have to be major investments.

Small-scale exterior home remodeling jobs can be the most profitable when selling a house, according to a survey of real estate agents.

Door and siding replacements, as well as wood outdoor deck additions that cost less than $14,000 were some of the top projects in terms of costs recouped in the 2009 Remodeling Cost vs. Value Report.

A steel entry door replacement returned nearly 130 percent of costs, followed by upscale fiber-cement siding replacements at 84 percent. Wood deck additions returned 81 percent of costs.

The study, produced by Hanley Wood and Realtor Magazine, compares construction costs with resale values for 33 midrange and upscale remodeling projects, including home addition, remodels and replacements in 80 markets.

Attic bedroom additions moved up in terms of profitability in this year's study.

They recouped 83 percent of home remodeling costs compared with 74 percent in 2008, the report says.

The least profitable jobs were home office redos and sunroom additions.
Market Square Park

City boosters hope the renovation of Market Square Park will spur property owners in the northern end of downtown to develop their empty parcels.

“With the renovation of Market Square Park, we will further our goal of helping create a true urban neighborhood in the north end of downtown and encourage property owners in the area to develop their properties, many of which are large tracts of parking lots and Houston apartments,” said Jaime Mize, board chair of the Downtown Houston Redevelopment Authority.

It certainly happened to a few of the lots around Discovery Green, the 12-acre park on the eastern edge of downtown.

A high-end office building and hotel are going up adjacent to the park, and a residential tower was recently completed.

Construction on Market Square Park is expected to begin by year-end, with its completion scheduled for the middle of 2010.

Lauren Griffith Associates, a local landscape architecture firm that was involved in Discovery Green, is designing the park. Ray + Hollington Architects and Tribble & Stephens Constructors are also involved.

A central lawn will anchor the park, which will include a dog run, performance area and a cafe. The Downtown District is in negotiations with Niko Niko's Greek & American Cafe to operate an eatery there.

Older artwork like James Surls' Points of View sculpture will be moved or updated and newer installations will be added.

The park will also include a memorial to honor the victims of 9/11, including Houstonian Lauren Catuzzi Grandcolas.

Bankruptcy Court Approves Condo Sale

Houston Chronicle

A bankruptcy court has approved the sale of 44 condominiums in the Endeavour high-rise on Clear Lake.

The winning bidder was a partnership named Wonmore Ltd. The group agreed to pay $9.5 million plus past-due taxes and interest, according to Houston attorney Walter Cicack, who represented Wonmore. The group also said it would pay normally budgeted homeowner assessments for 2010 for any condo owner current on their assessments for 2009. An official from the company could not be reached.

The closing on the units that were unsold when the property went into bankruptcy is scheduled for Dec. 15.

The closing on the units that were unsold when the property went into bankruptcy is scheduled for Dec. 15.

“Everyone expects a renewed interest in the project,” said attorney Deirdre Carey Brown, who represents one of the condo owners.

A backup bid for $9.25 million was assigned to a group including Andrew Rosenberg, who owns property in the area.

The 30-story Endeavour, at 4821 NASA Parkway, had been in legal limbo since earlier this year when its developer filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection the day before the Houston apartments were scheduled to be sold in a foreclosure auction.

Regions Bank was listed as a creditor in the bankruptcy with a claim of $20.8 million.

Brook Furniture Rental Joins Houston Apartment Association

PR.com

As part of its overall plans in Houston Texas, Brook Furniture Rental has joined the Houston Apartment Association. "The Houston Apartment Association is an important organization in Texas, and we are proud to have joined it" said Rob Pruim, Manager of Brook Furniture Rental in Houston. "We have already attended one event and we were able to meet some great people who work in many apartment communities and property management companies across the greater Houston geography.

These individuals are excited to have a new choice for their furniture rental needs, especially a company focused on high quality furniture and reliable service. Our rental furniture services are perfectly situated for the needs of the Houston apartments and housing market." Brook Furniture Rental operates throughout many markets across the country including the major Texas cities of Dallas, Fort Worth, and Austin. The company is proud to be a member of local apartment associations across the country, including in Texas the Apartment Association of Greater Dallas, as well as the Austin Texas Apartment Association.

"Apartment communities play a critical role in moments of transition for many people" said Bob Crawford, President of Brook Furniture Rental. "We have found that building strong relationships with apartment communities and apartment associations enables apartment communities to be responsive to individuals that find themselves requiring short term housing immediately. These occasions can be business related or personal related, and include traveling business executives, those people working on short term projects that are IT related or involve restructuring or integrating business units, professional athletes or those who have suffered a home loss due to natural disasters. In Houston, we are ready to collaborate with apartment communities to assist people in their individual transitions. We have a proven track record of meeting the discerning requirements of our customers."

Founded over 30 years ago in the Chicago area, Brook Furniture Rental expanded into Texas  apartments in 1999 first to the Dallas / Fort Worth Metroplex and later into Austin Texas. As the largest city in Texas, and with a large diverse economy, Houston is one of the larger furniture rental markets in the US. 

Brook Furniture Rental specializes in providing temporary furniture for individuals who are moving to new locations, have been displaced through fire or water damage and have lost their homes, or who are in the process of staging their homes.

Post Investment Group, LLC, Acquires Distressed Apartment Units

PR Newswire

HOUSTON, Post Investment Group, LLC, a Los Angeles based opportunistic real estate investment firm recently announced the acquisition of two distressed multi-family projects: the 438 unit Serrano Apartments in Houston, Texas and the 300 unit Longhorn Station Apartments in Austin, Texas. These latest acquisitions serve to expand Post's distressed real estate platform. Post acquired the assets through separate joint ventures with two existing equity partners.

The two assets, though purchased separately, carried similar transaction structures characteristic of both the current real estate environment and Post's strategic directive. The properties were acquired directly from or through the special servicers, in both circumstances requiring the lender to substantially discount the outstanding principal balance of the notes and amend financing terms in favor of Post. In each case, Post will infuse significant rehabilitation and renovation capital through a focused, individualized investment thesis tailored toward short term stabilization and long term operational viability.

This method of distressed investment is a transactional direction Post has been pursuing over the past calendar year. However, until recently lenders were either unwilling or unable to discount the outstanding balance of their holdings to levels that were both in-line with market and operationally accretive. "These two acquisitions signify a discernible shift in lender expectations," remarks Jack Ehrman, Principal of Post, "in that expanded consideration is now given to the active preservation of remaining equity in lieu of blindly pursing an exit at par, an argument we have been touting for some time." In contrast to the bandwagon flock to direct note acquisition, Post has identified the foregoing as a way to capitalize on the depressed real estate market while avoiding the intangibility of loan purchases consistently void of solid underlying collateral and absent of direct operational oversight at the entity level. Mr. Ehrman goes on to add that, "While this approach may not be as lucrative on exceptional assets, it enables us to significantly reduce an investments risk-coefficient and still attain market leading returns."

The acquisitions of Houston apartments and Austin apartments increase Post's collective holdings to over 6,200 units, 1,400 of which were acquired in the second half of 2009. Jason Post, President of Post comments, "The next two to three year period will provide multiple unique and opportunistic prospects for our company." He went on to emphasize the increased importance of developing strategic relationships with lending institutions and special servicers, stating, "The processes and protections Post employs from both an operational and transactional standpoint have enabled us to further access these entities and produce constructive conversations unthinkable in prior years".

About Post Investment Group, LLC

Post Investment Group is an opportunistic real estate investment firm focused on the acquisition of multi-family assets nationwide. The company specializes is both core plus and distressed investment opportunities capitalized through private and institutional investors.