American Mortgage Specialist

Second Quarter Highlights:

Arbor Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE: ABR), a real estate investment trust focused on the business of investing in real estate-related bridge and mezzanine loans, preferred and direct equity investments, mortgage-related securities and other real estate related assets, today announced financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2010. Arbor reported net income attributable to Arbor Realty Trust, Inc. for the quarter of $129.1 million, or $5.05 per diluted common share, compared to net loss attributable to Arbor Realty Trust, Inc. for the quarter ended June 30, 2009 of $48.6 million, or $1.92 per diluted common share.

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Interest rates for home loans fell to yet another record low this week — the seventh consecutive week in which rates either set a record low or held firm, according to Freddie Mac’s weekly survey.

The 15-year loan rate fell below 4%.

This week’s rates:

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• Thirty-year fixed rate loan with 0.7 point: 4.49%, the lowest in records dating back to April 1971.  Thirty-year rates have fallen to fresh lows in six out of the last seven weeks. In one week, the rates remained unchanged, meaning that rates have either held steady or gone down for seven consecutive weeks.
• Fifteen-year fixed rate loan with 0.6 point: 3.95%, the lowest in records dating back to August 1991.
• Five-year adjustable rate mortgage (ARM) with 0.6 point: 3.63%, the lowest in records dating back to January 2005.
• One-year ARM with 0.7 point: 3.55%. That’s

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A waterfront Newport Beach home that reverted to the lender in May at $7,790,000 and went back on the market at $10,900,000 has sold for $9,050,000. 

The 5,000-square foot, Cape Cod-style house at 2706 Bayshore Drive has 4 bedrooms and 6 baths and sits on a 7,026-square foot double lot.

The property is behind a guard gate and 2 doors down from Bayshore Beach. The home, built in 1941, has docks that can accommodate 65-foot and 38-foot yachts, plus a Duffy.

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An old listing for this house I found on the Web shows it once was offered at $23.9 million.

What other interesting or pricey bank-owned properties we should be writing about? Drop

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China Redstone Group, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: CGPI) (“China Redstone” or the “Company”), the largest private provider of cemetery products and services in Chongqing, China, today reported it sold 627 cemetery plots in June.

In June, China Redstone sold 627 cemetery plots, representing an increase of 57.7% from June, 2009 and an increase of 3.5% from May, 2010. The average selling price in June was $6,737, which was 3.3% higher than May and 17.1% higher than the average for fiscal 2010.

For the first fiscal quarter of 2010, which ended June 30, the Company sold 1,854 plots, representing a 1.2% increase from the first quarter ended March 31, 2009 and up 12.3% sequentially for the three months ended March 31, 2010.

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