Oakland Tribune from Oakland, California • 37

511 Section Sunday I September 1 4 200b A Luxury condos rise in landmark skyscraper investments 11 SilliilR I A K' il II KI is? MS iS 1 LOOKING OR MORE REAL ESTATE NEWS? Cliff PLETSCHET jlf CLASSIIED INSIDE Check the Property Lines blog at wwwibabuzzcom propertylines 4 developer Andrew Brog likes to think of up and com ing Uptown District neighbor hood The area is undergoing a revival with several new restaurants opening in the last year or two and the restoration of the nearby ox Theater almost complete I get out of the (19th Oakland developer builds high end condos in Cathedral Building most projects built recently have been moderately priced st By Eve Mitchell STA WRITER OAKLAND LITTLE BIT of Park Avenue has arrived here in the form of seven luxury full floor condominiums housed in a landmark flatiron design sky scraper built in 1914 Or Brooklyn West ac prnjprt See Condos Pace 2 LAURA A ODASTA PHOTOS AN OAKLAND DEVELOPER has transformed the historic 1914 gothic skyscraper known as the Cathedral Building below into seven luxury condos One of the finished condos on the 1 0th floor above has great views of downtown fi tail A Stick with the safest real estate Ah PIECE of HISTORY EAL ESTATE is often called the backbone of the American financial system More money has been made in real estate than in any other investment You have to use DonaldTrump as the prime example Everyday citizens who bought a house simply for shelter at right time and in the right location became millionaires in one generation when they totaled up their net worth statement But real estate fell on hard times last year It wasn just a matter of home prices finally being victimized by gravity It had to do with greed and irre sponsibility greedy lenders and irresponsible borrowers put home buyers in over their heads The turmoil became known as the subprime mort gage crisis and it spread like wildfire into every corner of the investment world Stocks bonds banks and brokerage firms were battered America got to know acouple of characters named reddie Mac and annie Mae who won more media expo sure than Britney and Paris or those who know reddie Mac (ederal Home Mortgage Corp) and annie Mae (ederal National Mort gage Association) are govern ment sponsored corporations that purchase mortgages from I lenders allowing the lenders Ho lend even more money The two bundle the mort i gages into exchange traded (mortgage backed securities and sell them to the public which ideally gives buyers an attractive dividend yield The monthly payments flow back to reddie andannie It was all designed to (make loans more accessible and affordable Good idea Since the government no longer simply a spon tsor but has taken them over completely as of Sept 6 and I since the dividend yields are relatively attractive and prices make them look like pennystocks should you buy shares in annie and reddie? No Rating agencies have dropped £them down dose to junk bonds They have been kicked out ot the Standard Poor 1 500 Stock Index The mini 4 mum market capitalization a company must maintain to be eligible for the 500 is $5 I billion At the close of trading last Tuesday market 1capitalization was $104 bil Ilion and was $614 i (million This is not to say thatreddie and annie demerge in some new andmore viable form but doubt ers abound Warren Buffett told The Wall Street Journal that the federal bailout was necessary but it could end up costing taxpayers billions of Two other real estateinvestments that I have toutedare mortgage funds like Owens Mortgage Investment Davis Mortgage Invest jment und Cal State Growthund and California Mortgageand Realty und (CMR) Owens and Davis arehumming along Stockton I Cal State Growth is a real estate operation that sells super safe securities similar to certificates of deposit but is currently closed to new money CMR is in financial trouble but still hopes to pull itself out I The best news this week is that Walnut Creek basedOwens has decided to openits fund to existing investors I See Pletschet Page 2 Sunday Business Your Business Week in Review on insidebayareacom 'b i 4 1 1 1 A A 3 'A a ff 7 fc £jBh A i sffgk a MEmflRglSfc irTiffiiwir '4 6 i i Mr 3 BB9BBsaa5 JR wbl 1 BBBBBb ws ik 3 fh fl 8 0 fW? I i tpMranT2ijm HUT fr niMKr5 JH fr 4 0Blip fl 1 1 111 I i ZS1C6' A gSSfw i oJ 1 La i' I 1 1 1 IWHIB WMtIM hn WHI 'Tiimii df 9 4 "iA Tr If 1 hbBBIt22? I i a i i Mriiteh 4 4 4 A A sit AW5.