Grace Street is fast becoming downtown Wilmington’s hotel alley.

CN Hotels, a Greensboro-based developer, officially announced Wednesday plans to build a seven-story, 125-room Courtyard by Marriott at the corner of Second and Grace Streets. That’s just up the road from another 160-room hotel planned near the corner of Third and Grace.

Mitul Patel, a partner in CN Hotels, said the company expects to break ground during the second-quarter of 2009 and plans to start accepting guests in summer 2010 – an opening that will coincide perfectly with the opening of the Wilmington Convention Center. The hotel also will include a bistro with a bar, an outdoor pool and meeting rooms. Parking will be provided at the county parking deck across the street.

Downtown Wilmington has boomed with hotel a Continue reading →

The National Association of Realtors^® has stepped up its challenge to lawmakers encouraging them to take new, decisive actions to address the continuing problems in the housing industry, as well as the ongoing economic crisis.

“Our members see firsthand the impact that an unstable housing market is having on communities all across this great country,” said Richard F. Gaylord, NAR president. “The U.S. Treasury and Congress need to work together to ensure that the American people – not Wall Street and large banks – benefit from the economic recovery plan.”

NAR sent a letter last week to U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson calling on him to refocus the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s efforts on restoring strength to the mortgage-backed securities market, which would help lower mortgage rates for all home buyers and for those who need to refinance. Continue reading →

Falling prices and rampant foreclosures are not the stuff of healthy housing markets. But to some real estate investors, the dismal market can signal that it is time to invest.

So what if cities like Phoenix and Las Vegas have regularly appeared on RealtyTrac’s list of top 10 foreclosure markets quarter after quarter? Or if the National Association of Realtors is reporting that more than one-third of all existing homes for sale in America are “distressed,” meaning they’re in foreclosure or approaching it?

To some investors, the persistent price declines and prolonged sales downturn signal something positive: The possibility of future profits.

Just ask Christopher Yates, president of CM Yates Real Estate Investment. Yates, who is based in Colorado, has invested in residential real estate since 2003. He bought a Las Vegas home for $226,000 in 2003 and sold it about a year later for $370,000, making a tidy profit. He’s avoided Las Vegas since 2005, but is now planning a return — by way of Phoenix, another hard-hit market.

“It’s time,” he says. “The Las Vegas area is really landlocked, and prices have to go back up eventually.”

A house in Las Vegas similar to the one he sold for $370,000 three years ago now fetches just $200,000, he says, happily. Because the rental market in Las Vegas is relatively healthy, it’s possible for him to buy a house like that now with a sizable cash down payment and operate it profitably as a rental. Had prices not fallen, this wouldn’t be possible. Continue reading →