Real Estate Blog

The Land Title Association of Colorado has rejected a request from Denver Mayor Michael Hancock to make compliance with the city’s affordable housing rules a requirement for obtaining title insurance.

But it did hold out an olive branch that other solutions could be found, including adding the addresses of the city’s affordable homes to a database that title workers could use in their research.

“(The association) is ready and willing to work with the city of Denver to find ways to ensure that this problem does not continue in the future,” Kelli Klein, the president of the industry trade group, said in her response.

Hancock, in a March 30 letter, requested that title insurers list the city’s affordable housing program covenants under the “requirement” section of a title policy rather than treating it as a less visible “exception” that doesn’t weigh on title insurance.

Without title insurance, lenders won’t finance a buyer, which creates a market-based way to enforce program requirem..

As Toys R Us inches closer to bankruptcy oblivion, Denver-area independent toy store owners aren’t licking their chops, awaiting hordes of new customers. They’re not placing big orders for Barbies or the latest superhero movie action figures in an attempt to woo shoppers.

They’re selecting items from specialty and local suppliers; scheduling game nights and other in-store events; and studying their merchandise so they can provide informed recommendations to shoppers. In short, doing the things that differentiated them from the home of Geoffrey the giraffe in the first place.

And, industry veterans and analysts say, it’s that thoughtful, experience-oriented approach that has set independent toys stores up for stability and success as larger retailers die out or lose market share to online sellers.

“Frankly, there is no change,” Rohit Meher, the owner of Wonderland Toys in Highlands Ranch, said last week when asked whether he has noticed any differences in traffic or customer behavior..

A Denver judge on Friday awarded more than $1.9 million to attorney Larry Castle and two associated businesses, who successfully defended themselves against state allegations of price gouging during the nation’s foreclosure crisis.

The judgment for attorneys’ fees is small compared with the $26 million the state sought against Castle, his lawyer wife, Caren, the Castle Law Group and the two companies, Absolute Posting & Process Services and Colorado American Title, for allegedly puffing fees and other expenses while handling the bulk of the foreclosure work across the state over several years.

The judgment is to be reduced by $119,500, the amount the state was awarded earlier against the Castle firm on a charge it had failed to tell federal mortgage insurers about a financial relationship it had with Absolute.

In Friday’s order, Denver District Judge Morris Hoffman chastised Attorney General Cynthia Coffman’s office for complaining that defense lawyers’ fees were excessive while ass..

Competition for homes in the Denver metro area has been fierce for years. Early activity in 2018 demonstrates the local commercial real estate market could be a battleground in its own right.

The Pauls Corp. recently sold 14 Class A buildings in its DIA-area Gateway Park industrial development to real estate investment firm Clarion Partners for $206.1 million. The sale, totaling 1.93 million square feet of space, was the single largest industrial deal on record for the Denver metro area, according to real estate services firm CBRE.

It was hardly the only industrial transaction to close in the first three months of 2018. CBRE tracked 49 properties that changed hands over the period. The sales totaled $402.2 million. Dating back to April 2017, $966 million has been spent acquiring industrial buildings in the metro area, according to CBRE research, a 22 percent increase over the prior 12 months.

“What that sale did is it had enough scale and size to it that it made a bunch of groups u..

The deal closed at a nearly $20.55 million markup from three years ago, highlighting the strengthening downtown San Jose commercial real estate market as tech companies continue to flock to and expand in the area.

The 18,130-square-foot Longs Drugs store is opening this weekend in the old Cornet building at the Makaha Gateway center at the corner of Farrington Highway and Makaha Valley Road.

Eighteen startups founded by former military members competed April 13-14 in the 2018 Veterans Business Battle at Rice University in Houston — and one from Austin left with quite a few cash and noncash prizes.

Tenavox Corp. won $25,000 from the Houston chapter of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization; a $500 cash prize with the potential of an investment offer from Houston-based Amegy Bank; and a mentorship package with an opportunity of extended financing by the women’s investment group nCourage…

There's a thin margin to be made in flipping individual homes, but Zillow Chief Marketing Officer Jeremy Wacksman said it will add up when done on a large scale.

A judge for the U.S. District Court for D.C. on Friday sided with the owner of a Shell gas station who wants to redevelop the property into a 57-unit residential project in Petworth.

The decision by Judge James Boasberg comes three months after owner John Formant filed a lawsuit against city officials over legislation that prohibits stations from being redeveloped into other uses.

Boasberg ruled that Formant has a viable claim that the government effectively took his gas station property at 4140…

The contractor adds senior living communities and industrial facilities to its capabilities with the acquisition.