Emeritus Corporation (NYSE: ESC) announced this week that they have entered into a non-binding letter of intent to lease 26 senior living communities from HCP as part of the Sunrise / HCP restructure and settlement agreement.  Emeritus will lease the facilities for an initial term of 15 years with two available extension options of 10 [...]

[Read more →]

Sunrise Senior Living, Inc. (NYSE: SRZ) has entered into a settlement and restructuring agreement with HCP (NYSE:HCP) to transition Sunrise from management of 27 HCP-owned senior living communities for an aggregate cash payment of $50 million to Sunrise, and to settle the lawsuits between the Company and HCP pending in Virginia and Delaware.  HCP paid [...]

[Read more →]

In an effort to combat fears over the costs of reverse mortgage, FHA is proposing a variation of the traditional reverse mortgage product aimed at seniors looking for options to access home equity with lower costs.  The proposed HECM Saver will have a upfront mortgage insurance premium (MIP) of .01% of the maximum claim amount [...]

[Read more →]

Financial reform was touted as a way to further protect consumers but it appears that those protections are coming through as increased costs for mortgage transactions.  According to Bankrate’s 2010 Closing Cost Survey, closing costs are on the rise.  The study found the average origination and title fees on a $200,000 mortgage in 2010 totaled [...]

[Read more →]

The 2009 American Housing Survey, recently released by the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, provides detailed information on the characteristics of the nation’s current housing profile.  The survey covered a wide range of housing and lifestyle topics and some of the highlights include:

[Read more →]

The housing market can’t seem to catch a break.  The existing-home sales numbers were sharply lower in July according the National Association of Realtors®.  The number of sales dropped 27.2 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.83 million units in July from a downwardly revised 5.26 million in June, and are 25.5 percent [...]

[Read more →]

Holy Family Senior Apartments in Buffalo, New York recently celebrated its groundbreaking marking the start of its conversion from a former Catholic elementary school.  The three-story building will be rehabilitated and transformed into 35 affordable, energy-efficient apartments and is being sponsored by the Diocese of Buffalo and developed by Delta Development of WNY, Inc. and [...]

[Read more →]

New data released by NIC MAP for second quarter 2010 shows that senior housing occupancy rates fell for independent living and rose for assisted living.  Occupancy rate stabilization has improved because of a return to positive absorption rates with a reading of 1.7% in second quarter 2010.   The data also showed a rise in trailing-twelve [...]

[Read more →]

The latest data released by the National Association of Homebuilders (NAHB) shows that builder confidence for both newly constructed single family homes and the 55+ market segments continues to be weak.  The NAHB Housing Market Index (HMI) for the broader market decreased to its lowest level since March 2009 and the mature-market housing index for [...]

[Read more →]

Kandu Capital, LLC, along with its operating company, Bloomfield Senior Living, recently announced the acquisition of two assisted living facilities located in Indianapolis, Indiana.  Kandu acquired Autumn Glen and Autumn Park as part of a 363 bankruptcy sale from estate of Sunwest Management.  These purchases are Kandu’s third and fourth transaction in the past 7 [...]

[Read more →]

The Obama Administration is putting a full court press on public relations for housing reform as it announced last week a series of new initiatives to help troubled homeowners and a new web site to assist distressed homeowners just before it convenes a summit on ideas for restructuring residential housing finance.  Last week, the U.S. [...]

[Read more →]

Who says Boomers aren’t interested in reverse mortgages?  The reverse mortgage industry is seeing trends that show the typical age of a reverse mortgage borrower decline more rapidly than in previous years.  Historically, the average age of reverse mortgage borrowers has trended lower over the years since the inception of the program but that trend [...]

[Read more →]