Washington RealEstateRama

Vancouver, WA - April 26, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- International Code Council recently selected Clark County’s Building Safety program as winner of the group’s 2011 Raising the Profile Award in conjunction with Building Safety Month in May. The national award recognizes efforts to raise public awareness about work to improve public safety in the built environment

April 26, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Doug Lasher, Clark County Treasurer, stated that first-half property taxes are due on Monday, May 2 due to April 30 falling on the weekend. “If you have not received your 2011 first-half tax statement or have lost it, you can visit our web site at www.clark.wa.gov/treasurer or contact the Treasurer’s Office at 397-2252 for a duplicate statement.”

OLYMPIA, WA - April 26, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- The Washington State Department of Financial Institutions (DFI) is pleased to announce the five-year extension of the Mortgage Fraud Prosecution fund with the Governor’s signature earlier this week of HB1191, signing it into Chapter 129, Laws of 2011 62nd Legislature 2011 Regular Session

Seattle, WA - April 14, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- King County Executive Dow Constantine and Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn today announced a long-term agreement in principle for use of the King County Jail as the primary provider of bed space for the City's misdemeanor inmates over the next two decades."With the County jail next door to the City's courts, it just makes sense for us to provide space for City inmates awaiting trial," said Executive Constantine.

SEATTLE, WA - March 23, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Bellingham Whatcom Housing Authorities, Representative Rick Larsen (WA-2), Beacon Development, Enterprise and residents today celebrated the grand opening of Walton Place Two, the second and final phase of a newly constructed mixed-use workforce housing community in downtown Bellingham. Located at 1511 North State Street, Walton Place Two has 2300 square feet of commercial retail space available on the ground floor and 40 green affordable apartments for larger families and families with special needs on the upper levels.

Washington, DC - March 15, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- U.S. Senators from across the country stood with advocates for homeless veterans to oppose a provision in Republicans’ reckless spending proposal that would cut 10,000 housing vouchers that would keep homeless veterans off the streets next year

Seattle, WA - March 15, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- The Seattle Department of Planning and Development is hosting an open house this Thursday, March 17, for building owners and others interested in learning more about the City’s building energy benchmarking and reporting ordinance. Partner organizations will be on hand to share resources available to help building owners lower energy use and costs.

March 15, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- "We laid out a timeline that would establish a homeless encampment in SODO before winter weather sets in later this year. That timeline assumed that the Council would begin their review and discussion of the legislation at the same time as we continued through the SEPA process, which is expected to be complete in June. We never expected that Council could take action on this package until SEPA was done. Waiting until June to even begin a review of the full package will jeopardize setting up the encampment before next winter.

SEATTLE, WA - March 10, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Today Mayor Mike McGinn announced he is appointing Rick Hooper as the director for the Office of Housing. Hooper was previously serving as the interim director. Hooper's appointment is subject to Council confirmation.

March 7, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Doug Lasher, Clark County Treasurer, announced that a Property Tax Foreclosure Auction will be conducted on Friday, March 18, 2011, at 9 a.m. in the 6th Floor Hearing Room, Clark County Public Service Center Building, 1300 Franklin Street, Vancouver, Washington. Lasher stated, “As of March 7, there are 13 parcels subject for sale this year; however, this number may be reduced if payment is made by 5 p.m. on Thursday, March 17.”

March 3, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Doug Lasher, Clark County Treasurer, announced that first-half 2011 property statements have been mailed. Property statements include property tax levy amounts and special assessments. There were 108,796 statements mailed. “Taxpayers whose taxes and assessments are not paid through a mortgage company and have not received their statement within ten days should visit the web site at www.clark.wa.gov/treasurer or call the Treasurer’s Office at (360) 397-2252.” Taxpayers are responsible for paying their first-half property taxes by Monday, May 2, in order to avoid interest and penalties.”

Seattle, WA - March 2, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Seattle City Council unanimously adopted legislation Monday to address overgrown vegetation and junk storage on Seattle's residential properties by streamlining enforcement. The new changes create a consistent set of standards to help negligent property owners understand the rules and clean up their yards.

Vancouver, WA - February 16, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Clark County property owners soon will receive their 2011 property tax statements in the mail, and the Department of Assessment wants to inform them about the impact ballot measures approved last year will have on their tax bills.

Washington, D.C. - February 11, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Today, Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman, Senator Patty Murray, released the following statement on the Department of Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development’s joint report on veterans homelessness which was released today.

Washington, D.C. - February 9, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Yesterday, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, sent a letter to Holly Petraeus, head of the Office of Servicemember Affairs in the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau at the U.S. Treasury Department, in response to concerns that some financial institutions were not offering protections to servicemembers provided under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act. Among the safeguards in the SCRA, which is under the jurisdiction of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, are a number intended to ease concerns over financial situations at home for servicemembers. Recently, however, it has come to light that some servicemembers have been improperly overcharged on their mortgages or even been foreclosed upon by lenders

SEATTLE, WA - February 4, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) --A power outage this morning in Ballard affected nearly 5,400 homes and businesses. The outage started about 10 a.m. when a wire fell during maintenance work near Ione Place and Tallman Avenue. Crews expected to have most customers back in service by 10:45 a.m. and estimated full restoration of service would happen about 1 p.m.

SEATTLE, WA - January 19, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- The Office of Housing today announced nearly $23 million in capital funding, divvied up amongst eight nonprofit housing developers, to create and preserve affordable apartments. The investment will help create 375 new units for seniors, homeless individuals and low-income working families, plus rehabilitate another 291 apartments currently home to seniors and people with disabilities

Vancouver, WA - January 10, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- The Washington Homelessness Housing and Assistance Act mandated in May 2005 the creation of 10-year homeless housing plans for each of the state’s counties. Clark County’s Homelessness Plan Task Force invites neighborhood leaders, elected officials, landlords, educators, low-income people and all other interested citizens to attend a planning session on Wednesday, January 12, 6-7:30 p.m. at the Center for Community Health, 1601 E. Fourth Plain Blvd., Bldg. 17, Vancouver

BEVERLY HILLS, CA - December 28, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- International real estate investment and services firm Kennedy Wilson (NYSE: KW) today announced that the company has refinanced The Onyx Apartments, a 400-unit multifamily community in Redmond, Washington. The Onyx is owned in a partnership with the LeFrak Organization. The partnership, which is a 50/50 venture between Kennedy Wilson and the LeFrak Organization, includes a total of 2,912 apartment units, all of which were purchased in 2010. The $42.5 million Onyx financing has a seven-year term and carries a fixed interest rate of 4.67%. Wells Fargo Multifamily Capital, through its Fannie Mae DUS lending program, served as the lender on the transaction

Olympia, WA - December 24, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- The Washington State Department of Financial Institutions (DFI) is pleased to announce a settlement has been reached in a consumer protection case regarding Countrywide Home Loans (CHL) that has been ongoing for more than two years