Business Shark

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Bankers, lawyers, and leasing agents work through lunch in the lobby of One Commerce Square to prepare the documents necessary for the sale of the building to investors who will refurbish it as the new headquarters for Pinnacle Airlines.

Downtown’s biggest office deal in 15 years closed Thursday as investors bought One Commerce Square and locked in Pinnacle Airlines Corp. headquarters as anchor tenant.

By next Nov. 1, about 650 employees of Pinnacle’s regional airlines will breathe new life into a building that had slipped to about 30 percent occupancy.

Fittingly, it was a deal that never would have happened without the involvement of AutoZone founder J.R.

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Mortgage rates saw mild improvement this week after running up for weeks, mortgage financier Freddie Mac reported today.

The popular 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 4.81 percent during the week ending December 23, down from 4.83 percent last week, and just below the 5.05 percent average seen this time last year.

The 15-year fixed fell to 4.15 percent from 4.17 percent, and is now just 30 basis points below the 4.45 percent average seen a year ago.

Meanwhile, the five-year adjustable-rate mortgage dipped to 3.75 percent from 3.77 percent and is well below the 4.40 percent average of last year.

The one-year ARM was the only loser of the bunch, rising to 3.40 percent from 3.35 percent, but remains about a point below the 4.38 percent average seen in late 2009.

“Mortgage rates were little changed this week following significant increases over the prior several weeks,” said Frank Nothaft, in a release.

“Economic reports in December have suggested the economy began regaining momentum towards the end of the year, with consumer spending, industrial production and exports all posting solid gains.

“Treasury yields backed up as this stronger growth outlook caused an improvement in risk appetites and the likelihood of deflation to recede further.”

The interest rates above are good for conforming loan amounts at 80 percent loan-to-value; pricing adjustments may increase or lower the rate you ultimately receive, and mortgage points must also be paid.

Jumbo loans continue to price a half percentage point or more higher than conforming mortgages.

In 2010, we’ve seen a significant expansion of cloud computing as the adoption rate increased and cloud became the computing model of choice for organizations across various industries. Cloud computing had a lot of presence in the media and numerous studies and articles outlined cloud computing as the biggest trend in technology that will change the way IT services are delivered. As the new year is approaching, studies from research firms are coming out to support the notion that in 2010 there has been an increase in cloud adoption among businesses of all size.

In his recent blog, Forrester analyst James Staten wrote how 2011 could be a landmark year for Infrastructure as a Service as foundations were laid in 2010 by variety of cloud providers. He wrote that the moves made by cloud providers might transform cloud computing into a “vibrant, steady market” rather than a market dominated by big players, such as Amazon.com. “Not

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Housing industry experts have reported that the escalating foreclosures statistics all over the U.S. are giving potential home buyers pause and causing the nation’s homeownership rate to remain at its lowest level for the whole decade. Based on housing reports, homeownership rate in the country was at 66.9% during the third quarter of 2010.

Despite the low priced residential properties on offer, including Los Angeles HUD houses and other cheap residential properties here in California, most buyers are not seeing enough reason to invest in homeownership. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the 2010 third quarter rate equals the previous quarter’s level, with both quarters recording the lowest homeownership rate in the country since 1999.

Rate of homeowner vacancy also remained the same in the third quarter compared with the second quarter at 2.5%. This includes vacant homes and empty dwellings that are up for sale. The

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During the third quarter, the wholesale/mortgage broker channel accounted for 11.6 percent of loan origination volume, according to figures compiled by National Mortgage News.

That was up from a record low 10.5 percent in the second quarter, but nowhere near the 24 percent share brokers held three years ago, before mortgage boom turned to mortgage crisis.

The top three wholesale mortgage lenders during the quarter were Wells Fargo ($9.7 billion), Provident ($7.1 billion) and U.S. Bank Home Mortgage ($6.9 billion).

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Dr. Edward Perez, director of orthopedic surgery at the Regional Medical Center at Memphis, talks with patient Tim Brahm about his progress after recent surgery in The Med’s newly renovated orthopedic unit.

The competitive noise coming from the Regional Medical Center at Memphis can be heard in the laughter of Tim Brahm and his wife, Judy.

“He told his brother that in the other rooms you had to go outside to turn around,” Judy joked and laughed.

The Brahms are from Dumas, Miss., and have seen many rooms at The Med. Tim has had four surgeries there in two years after a car wreck left him with a compound femur fracture that won’t heal.

But this time, the Brahms were brought to The Med’s new orthopedic unit, which opened in November. There, orthopedic patients are grouped together, rather than being mixed with the general population, so they can be cared for by a medical staff with experience and expertise in orthopedics.

The 14-room unit has been completely renovated.

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