Originations

G REIT Inc., Santa Ana, Calif., has announced the approval by its board of a second special liquidating distribution of approximately $131.76 million, or $3.00 per share of common stock, to its stockholders.G REIT said the special distribution will be paid on April 20. The real estate investment trust said this will bring the total amount of special liquidating distributions to $6.90 per share. The special distributions do not include monthly liquidating distributions, which the company said will continue at the annual rate of 7.5%. G REIT's adviser and operational manager is Triple Net Properties LLC, Santa Ana, which can be found on the Web at http://www.1031nnn.com.

Write Way Solutions, Phoenix, has announced the introduction of a new service to help lenders create more effective mortgage marketing letters.Company owner Tom Trush said many such letters "are focused more on trickery" than on providing useful information. "My objectives are focused on writing results-oriented copy that stresses a lender's capabilities using honest offers that are targeted toward a specific consumer," he said. As part of the launch, the company is offering two free reports: "9 Hidden Secrets to a Powerful Mortgage Marketing Letter" and "8 Sure-Fire Tips for Enticing Readers in Your Mortgage Marketing Letters." The company can be found online at http://www.writewaysolutions.com.

The Market Composite Index, an overall measure of mortgage applications, fell from 671.0 to 649.5 on a seasonally adjusted basis during the week ended March 30, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association's Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey.On an unadjusted basis, applications decreased 3.2% on the week but were up 5.3% from the level recorded a year earlier. The Purchase Index fell from 411.1 to 402.9 on a seasonally adjusted basis, while the Refinance Index fell from 2197.7 to 2098.3. Refinancings represented 44.5% of total applications, down from 45.1% the previous week, while adjustable-rate mortgages accounted for 19.2%, the MBA said. The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages rose from 6.04% to 6.13%, and points (including the origination fee) fell from 1.33 to 1.25 for loans with 80% loan-to-value ratios, the association reported. The MBA can be found online at http://www.mortgagebankers.org.

Sales of Manhattan residential real estate surged 73% in the first quarter compared with the level recorded a year earlier, running counter to the trend seen virtually everywhere else in the United States, according to the Prudential Douglas Elliman Manhattan Market Overview.The increase in demand has been fostered by record bonus income and stabilizing mortgage rates, the company said. "Manhattan's real estate market has been very good, and these numbers are even better than we had anticipated," said Dottie Herman, president and chief executive officer of Prudential Douglas Elliman. "Real estate in Manhattan doesn't mirror anything else we're seeing in the rest of the country." The author of the report, Jonathan J. Miller, is president and CEO of Miller Samuel, a Manhattan-based residential real estate appraisal firm.

The Southern California apartment market will get a boost this year from various factors, including the "subprime mortgage meltdown," according to a forecast released by the Lusk Center for Real Estate at the University of Southern California.Other factors include steady job growth, high home prices, strong investor interest, and favorable long-term interest rates, said Delores Conway, director of the Casden Real Estate Economics Forecast. "Stricter lending standards following the subprime mortgage meltdown are causing many potential homebuyers, who now face a larger downpayment and higher monthly payments, to find renting more affordable," Ms. Conway said. The Lusk Center can be found online at http://www.usc.edu/lusk.

Civil rights group are calling for an immediate six-month moratorium on foreclosures so that borrowers with subprime hybrid mortgages can transition to a more affordable loan product."If lenders, servicers, Wall Street, and policymakers allow the flood of subprime foreclosures to continue rising unchecked, years of economic progress in communities of color will be wiped out," NAACP Washington bureau director Hilary Shelton said. The Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, the National Fair Housing Alliance, the National Council of La Raza, and the Center for Responsible Lending joined the NAACP in calling for a moratorium. These groups contend that subprime lenders targeted minority communities with reckless and unaffordable adjustable-rate 2/28 mortgages, and now the borrowers are losing their homes on a massive scale. "Those responsible for these mortgages have a duty to fix the broken product they sold just like everyone else," CRL president Mike Calhoun said. "The industry must work quickly."

Ramco-Gershenson Properties Trust, Southfield, Mich., has announced that it will redeem all 1.888 million outstanding shares of its series C cumulative convertible preferred shares of beneficial interest on June 1.The shares will be redeemed at $28.50 per share, plus accrued and unpaid dividends to the redemption date without interest, the real estate investment trust said. The shopping center REIT can be found on the Web at http://www.rgpt.com.

CBRE Realty Finance Inc., Hartford, Conn., has announced the closing of a $1.0 billion collateralized debt obligation collateralized in part by mortgage loans and mortgage-backed securities.The CDO, CBRE Realty Finance CDO 2007-1 Ltd., is collateralized by first mortgages, B notes, mezzanine loans, and CMBS. The company said the structure contains a five-year reinvestment period during which the company can use the proceeds of loan repayments to fund new investments. CBRE Realty, a commercial real estate specialty finance company, can be found online at http://www.cbrerealtyfinance.com.

Collateralized debt obligations issued in 2005 and 2006 will come under greater ratings pressure as stresses continue in the subprime market because they have substantially larger concentrations of subprime residential mortgage-backed securities, according to Fitch Ratings.Ratings volatility stemming from later-vintage subprime RMBS will likely occur in 12-18 months as the actual loss experience becomes clearer, according to Fitch senior director Derek Miller. "Though 2006 performance will be very poor, Fitch's more immediate concerns focus on near-term ratings volatility that will arise from earlier vintage subprime RMBS," Mr. Miller said. "Negative selection among borrowers due to prepayments is occurring simultaneously with the release of credit enhancement due to RMBS performance triggers passing, against the backdrop of a slowdown in the U.S. housing market." The rating agency can be found online at http://www.fitchratings.com.

Greystone Residential Funding Inc., Middleton, Wis., has introduced a customizable marketing tool kit designed to help financial institutions promote their mortgage programs during the spring buying season.The kit includes a step-by-step playbook on planning, prioritizing, implementing, and monitoring a mortgage marketing campaign, Greystone said. Greystone is a residential mortgage banking company that specializes in providing single-family mortgage programs to credit unions, community banks, and thrifts nationwide. It can be found on the Web at http://www.greystonerf.com.

The senior unsecured debt and preferred stock ratings of New Century Financial Corp. have been downgraded to D by Standard & Poor's Ratings Services.The debt had previously been rated CC, and the stock had been rated C. New Century's counterparty credit rating was lowered from CC to D on March 12, S&P said. "The latest rating action follows New Century's announcement that it has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in light of continuing financial difficulties," the rating agency said. "Upon a bankruptcy filing, the 'D' category is used when we believe that payments on an obligation are jeopardized even though no payment default has yet occurred." S&P can be found online at http://www.standardandpoors.com.

America First Apartment Investors Inc., a real estate investment trust based in Omaha, Neb., has announced the retention of Lazard Freres & Co. to assist in exploring the company's "strategic alternatives."The equity REIT said it does not intend to disclose developments relating to the exploration of its options unless its board of directors has approved a course of action. The company can be found on the Web at http://www.apro-reit.com.

Winston Hotels, Raleigh, N.C., has decided to go with an offer from Inland American Real Estate Trust, a part of the Oakbrook, Ill.-based Inland Capital Markets group of real estate companies, to acquire the real estate investment trust for $15 per share in cash.In this connection, Winston has also terminated its previous merger agreement with Wilbur Acquisition Holding Co., in which the consideration was $14.10 per share, the hotel REIT reported. Winston's board of directors has approved the Inland merger proposition, and the merger is expected to close in the third quarter, subject to shareholder approval. The companies can be found on the Web at http://www.winstonhotels.com and http://www.inland-american.com.

CharterMac, a New York-based lender, investor, and manager of capital for the real estate industry, has announced the renaming of the company as Centerline Holding Co. and of its wholly owned subsidiary, CharterMac Corp., as Centerline Capital Group.Centerline Holding will continue trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol CHC, and the company's other subsidiaries, including Centerbrook Financial, ARCap REIT Inc., CharterMac Mortgage Capital, and CharterMac Capital, will operate under the unified brand name, Centerline Capital Group. "Over the past 15 months, we completed several major transactions that transformed our company from a firm focused mainly on affordable and multifamily housing to a full-service real estate finance and investment company," said Marc D. Schnitzer, chief executive officer and president of Centerline Capital. He said CharterMac had concluded from a rebranding process that it is "critical to operate as one company." Also announced was a new organizational structure consisting of four business groups: affordable housing, commercial real estate, credit risk products, and asset management. Centerline can be found online at http://www.centerline.com.

A leading indicator of existing-home sales was down 8.5% in February from the level recorded a year ago, signaling that the prime homebuying season in March and April will be less than robust and could be disappointing for sellers.The National Association of Realtors reported that its pending sales index rose 0.7% in February to 109.3 -- but the index level was down 8.5% from that of February 2006. NAR chief economist David Lereah blamed the decline in the index, which tracks sales contracts that are expected in close in the next 30-60 days, mainly on "unusually bad weather" in February. He noted that the contraction in subprime lending could be a factor, too. "We also may be seeing some fallout from decline in subprime lending, but a slight improvement in the more volatile month-to-month index is encouraging," Mr. Lereah said. "The data suggests an underlying stabilization is taking place in the housing market, but it will take another month or two to clarify." NAR economists estimate that tighter underwriting of subprime loans could reduce new- and existing-home sales by 100,000 to 250,000 annually over the next two years. The NAR can be found online at http://www.realtor.org.

Eleven tranches from five deals issued by Option One Mortgage Loan Trust have been downgraded by Fitch Ratings, and five classes have been placed on Rating Watch Negative.In addition, Fitch has affirmed the ratings on 156 classes from 18 Option One deals. The negative rating actions were attributed to a deterioration in the relationship between credit enhancement and loss expectations. The transactions consist of fixed- and adjustable-rate, conforming and nonconforming mortgage loans secured by first or second liens.

The Eleventh Federal Home Loan District Cost of Funds Index fell less than 2 basis points in February, bringing it to 4.376%.COFI stood at 4.392% in January. The index is a weighted average calculation of the cost of mortgage money for thrifts that belong to the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco. The FHLBank can be found online at http://www.fhlbsf.com.

The subprime default rate rose to 10.52% in January, up 40 basis points from that of December, and the foreclosure rate on securitized subprime loans hit 4.33%, according to researchers at the investment banking firm Friedman Billings Ramsey.The default rate increased from 6.83% in January 2006 to 10.12% in December, with a monthly surge of 101 bps in November. FBR managing director Michael Youngblood said he does not expect to see another similar urge. "We expect rather a slow upward drift of default rates to 10.97% by December 2007," he said. FBR defines defaults as loans 90 days or more past due, foreclosures, and real estate owned. The investment banking firm is based in Arlington, Va.

Tighter underwriting of subprime loans could reduce new- and existing-home sales by up to 3% over the next two years, according to new projections by economists at the National Association of Realtors."I would expect home sales to fall by 100,000 to 250,000 annually during the next two years due to tighter underwriting practices -- slowing the nation's housing recovery," NAR chief economist David Lereah said. He also noted that a projected flood of foreclosures is "problematic," contributing to already higher inventories of unsold homes on the market. Previously, NAR economists projected that the turmoil in the subprime market would reduce home sales by 40,000 a year. The NAR can be found online at http://www.realtor.org.

First NLC Financial Services LLC, a nonprime mortgage originator based in Deerfield Beach, Fla., has announced the closing of several wholesale operations centers and an unspecified number of employee layoffs, according to Market Wire.First NLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Friedman, Billings, Ramsey Group, also announced the consolidation of its wholesale operations into its facilities at Deerfield Beach and Anaheim, Calif., the news service reported. The restructuring was attributed to lower origination volumes industrywide and an effort to align the company's cost structure with the current operating environment.