Real Estate Investments

From the eager anticipation and lively conversations emanating from the crowd in Anaheim's Marriott Hotel ballroom, it seemed like a rock star was en route. But when a side door opened, controversial TV real estate investment adviser Tom Vu bounded toward the podium. "Hi! You ready to make big money?" Vu, 34, asked as the crowd of about 1,000 people leapt to their feet in applause. "Motivating folks is in my blood. You wanna be rich don't you? Well if you make no money with me, you a loser!"

MPG Office Trust Inc., the largest office landlord in downtown Los Angeles, turned a profit in the third quarter as it continued to shrink its property portfolio. The Los Angeles real estate investment trust, which also owns buildings in Glendale and Cerritos, continued to sell heavily indebted properties while hanging on to most of its trophy buildings in L.A.'s financial district. MPG reported third-quarter net income of $88 million, or $1.57 a share, up from $25.6 million, or 51 cents, in the same period last year.

California is the most popular place for real estate investments by U.S. insurance companies, a study by the American Council of Life Insurers showed Tuesday. Of the $212 billion in commercial mortgages held by insurance companies, a major source of funding for real estate purchases, $35 billion were made on properties in California. Texas was second with $15 billion, followed by New York at $14 billion.

A Torrance office building called South Bay Tower was sold for $52 million Tuesday to real estate investment firm Bixby Land Co. The purchase is part of a strategy by Bixby to acquire underperforming or financially troubled commercial properties during a low point in the real estate cycle. In the last two months, the Irvine company also bought two office buildings in Silicon Valley. "Given the downturn that we have just had, there are throughout California a number of good-quality assets that either have a broken capital structure or have occupancy that is substantially lower than would be attractive to many investors," said Bill Halford, chief executive of Bixby.

The California Public Employees' Retirement System has started a $500-million fund to invest in real estate, real estate services and infrastructure related to computer and communication companies. The largest public employee pension fund, with about $174 billion in assets, plans to ally with and invest in telecommunications firms, online commercial property listing services and energy management companies.

Capitulating to new federal rules governing thrift industry investments, Downey Savings & Loan Assn. said Monday that it will sell nearly $600 million worth of real estate investments over the next five years. And as it unloads its real estate holdings, Downey will begin acting "more like a commercial bank than a thrift," stressing short-term commercial and consumer loans and downplaying residential mortgage lending, said Maurice L. McAlister, president and co-founder of the 33-year-old thrift.

If you are thinking about investing in real estate, first read William H. Pivar's "Real Estate Investing From A to Z." It is not a get-rich-quick book but rather a get-rich-soundly read. As the title of this third edition indicates, the author includes virtually all the basics that real estate investors need to know. He begins by explaining the primary reasons for investing and why property is usually superior to such other investments as the stock market. He believes in using leverage (i.e.

Superb real estate books such as "Secrets of a Millionaire Real Estate Investor" by Robert Shemin come along too infrequently. This basic how-to-do-it realty investment guide cannot be recommended too highly. It shows, step by step, how to get started and earn a fortune investing in real estate, while doing good along the way. Shemin, now in his 30s, was formerly an investment advisor.

The first trial in what has become one of Orange County's bulkiest court cases is set to start Tuesday as teachers statewide try to recoup some of the $100 million they lost in real estate deals. The class action stems from the 1994 collapse of Teachers Management & Investment Corp., a Newport Beach firm that invested teachers' money mainly in undeveloped land that lost value during the real estate depression of the early 1990s.

Los Angeles made some unwise investments in private commercial real estate projects in the 1990s, partly because officials paid too little attention to whether tens of millions of dollars in tax subsidies would lead to creation of quality jobs, a cost-benefit analysis of redevelopment has concluded. The subsidies yielded many jobs paying $6.50 per hour or less.

MPG Office Trust Inc., the largest office landlord in downtown Los Angeles, narrowed its loss in the fourth quarter even as occupancy in its buildings continued to slip. The Los Angeles real estate investment trust also faced rising costs of office space improvements required to keep and attract tenants. "The downtown L.A. market continues to bounce along the bottom, and MPG faces considerable leasing challenges," said analyst Michael Knott of Green Street Advisors. "Tenants hold the upper hand, as MPG's leasing costs increased to even higher levels, and its occupancy is now below 80%. " MPG, which also owns buildings in Orange and San Diego counties, finished the quarter with a net loss of $31.5 million, or 62 cents a share.

An asking price of $78.8 million will make a splash in any neighborhood. And the fact that this one includes a temperature-controlled trout pond with a two-story waterfall doesn't hurt. Donald Abbey , the founder of a commercial real estate investment and management firm bearing his name, has listed a recently completed estate in Bradbury, in the San Gabriel Valley. More than nine years in the making, the Palladian-style compound occupies an 8-acre promontory with city and ocean views.

In one of the largest real estate sales since the last boom, investors have purchased the Pasadena headquarters of engineering company Parsons Corp. for $320 million. The 22.7-acre campus on the northern edge of Old Pasadena was bought from Parsons by Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing and Lincoln Property Co. The international engineering firm has agreed to remain in its signature 12-story headquarters tower as a tenant for 15 years. The sale was the largest office transaction in Los Angeles County since Aon Center in downtown Los Angeles sold for $327 million at the peak of the real estate cycle in 2007, according to real estate brokerage statistics.

Los Angeles real estate investor Ezri Namvar, the former owner of such high-profile properties as the Marriott hotel in downtown Los Angeles and the Cal Neva hotel and casino near Lake Tahoe, was convicted on wire fraud charges stemming from allegations that he stole $21 million from investment clients. A federal jury in Los Angeles convicted him Thursday on four wire fraud charges related to his company, Namco Financial Exchange Corp., which held proceeds from real estate sales until clients needed the money for new transactions.

The downtown Los Angeles apartment building know as the Pegasus has been sold to Chicago real estate investment trust Equity Residential for $100 million. It was one of the largest residential property sales ever in the central business district and a sign that downtown's revitalization has caught the attention of national institutional investors, said real estate broker Marc Renard of Cushman & Wakefield. "Equity Residential's purchase is a tremendous endorsement of downtown L.A.," Renard said.

CB Richard Ellis Group Inc. has agreed to buy ING Group's real estate investment management business in a $940-million deal that would make CB Richard Ellis the global leader in that business. Los Angeles-based CB Richard Ellis, already the world's largest commercial real estate brokerage, said that the proposed transaction, announced Tuesday, would substantially increase its footprint in Asia and Europe by taking over ING Group's 20 investment offices and 760 employees. Investment managers raise money from pension funds, universities and other institutional investors and buy commercial real estate such as offices, warehouses and shopping centers on their behalf.

Plans for a 4.3-million-square-foot mixed-use office development in downtown Dallas have been announced by Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. and Lincoln Property Co. To be built in several phases, the project is expected to cost $800 million to $1 billion when completed and was called "one of the largest real estate investments ever made by Metropolitan," by Glen Coverdale, executive vice president responsible for real estate investments.

After losing 42% of the value of its extensive real estate portfolio during the recession, the state's biggest public pension fund has approved a formal plan to pursue a less risky investment strategy. Board members of the $229-billion California Public Employees' Retirement System endorsed a plan to shift away from residential properties, raw land and highly leveraged real estate investment trusts to so-called core holdings, mainly commercial office buildings. "We're lowering the risk profile," said Ted Eliopoulos, CalPERS' chief real estate investment officer.

The Sheraton Delfina Santa Monica Hotel has been acquired for $102.8 million by a Maryland real estate investment trust. Pebblebrook Hotel Trust said Monday that it bought the upscale 310-room hotel on Pico Boulevard and will spend an additional $9 million to refurbish the guest rooms and common areas. The 10-story inn was built in 1972 and expanded in 1984. It was remodeled at a cost of $11 million in 2005. Pebblebrook bought the property from Regis Properties, an investment group headed by Los Angeles real estate developer and hotelier Brad Korzen.