HBA Newswatch
February 26, 2008
HANKIN GROUP FRETS LEGAL ADVISER
DEVELOPER’S REQUEST SPARKS CONVERSATION ABOUT AN ALTERNATE TOWNSHIP SOLICITOR IN WALLACE
By DANIELLE LYNCH, Staff Writer
WALLACE — Attorneys representing the Hankin Group asked Township Supervisors to choose an alternate solicitor or a conflict counsel for any future legal issues relating to its land-development plans in Wallace.
At the township’s January reorganization meeting, the board changed the township’s legal advisory firm to Siana, Bellwoar & McAndrew.
Siana, Bellwoar & McAndrew also represented neighboring West Vincent during litigations with the Hankin Group until a Chester County judge ruled an alternate counsel must step in. County Judge Anthony Sarcione wrote a final opinion on this issue last February.
As a result, West Vincent hired James M. McMaster, of the Bucks County law firm Smith and McMaster, to handle legal issues dealing with the Hankin Group.
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SOME HOUSES STILL FIND EAGER BUYERS
By Alan J. Heavens
Inquirer Real Estate Writer
Home sales continue to skid nationwide, and the current real estate climate surely has created a buyer's market.
Yet for certain houses, the days of multiple bids and bidders are in no way a thing of the past.
Buyers are banging down the doors, Long & Foster Real Estate agent Phyllis Weinstock said, "when the house and the property warrant the money."
And location helps, too. Take Media, for example.
Dale Lippart's first flip house, a three-bedroom, one-bath twin in the borough, went under agreement of sale just seven days after going on the market. Four prospective buyers battled for the right to pay the $296,500 the property was listed for, or more.
"I wanted to break even, or make a little money," said Lippart. She had used the proceeds from the sale of her last house, in Cranbury, N.J., to buy the Media house, which she described as "neglected," for a below-market price in November.
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HOME PRICES DROP 8.9 PERCENT IN 3 MONTHS
The Associated Press
NEW YORK - U.S. home prices lost 8.9 percent in the final quarter of 2007, Standard & Poor's said Tuesday, marking a full year of declining values and the steepest drop in the 20-year history of its housing index.
"We reached a somber year-end for the housing market in 2007," said one of the index's creators Robert Shiller. "Home prices across the nation and in most metro areas are significantly lower than where they were a year ago. Wherever you look things look bleak."
The S&P/Case-Shiller home price indices, which include a quarterly index, a 20-city index and a 10-city index, reflect year-over-year declines in 17 metropolitan areas with double-digit declines in eight of them.
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FORECLOSURES UP 57 PERCENT IN THE PAST YEAR
Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Fla., leads U.S. with highest rate of any metro area
LOS ANGELES - The number of homes facing foreclosure jumped 57 percent in January compared to a year ago, with lenders increasingly forced to take possession of homes they couldn’t unload at auctions, a mortgage research firm said Monday.
Nationwide, some 233,001 homes received at least one notice from lenders last month related to overdue payments, compared with 148,425 a year earlier, according to Irvine, Calif.-based RealtyTrac Inc. Nearly half of the total involved first-time default notices.
The worsening situation came despite ongoing efforts by lenders to help borrowers manage their payments by modifying loan terms, working out long-term repayment plans and other actions
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