WASHINGTON — Bank of America is suing itself for foreclosure.

“It’s crazy,” housing data analyst Michael Olenick told HuffPost. “They shouldn’t be suing themselves.”

via Bank Of America Sues Itself In Unusual Foreclosure Case.

Jack Nicholson was once one of the top actors in the world.  In the past 10 years he has pulled back a bit. Perhaps he is just getting older and making this decision, or maybe Hollywood is done with him.  Either way, he isn’t getting the screen time that he once was.

With age, we become set in our ways and for many, travel become a chore when it was once a joy.  Jack Nicholson looks to be lightening his real estate load. Just last September he sold a Malibu property but he still owns a sizable property portfolio.

Nicholson’s Aspen property is a rather regular looking Victorian home that is located in one of the most desirable areas of the town.  If you were to show me this picture and ask where it is located, I might have guessed Wisconsin.  Aspen certainly doesn’t come to mind with a property like this.  However, the price tag on the home certainly screams Aspen.

Asking Price: $15,000,000
5,780 square feet
5 bedrooms
6 full and 2 half bathrooms

You can view the complete listing detail for Jack Nicholson’s home at the Joshua & Co web site.

Justin Bieber has arrived…in the Hollywood Hills to the tune of $10,800,000!

To be a fly on the wall in the Bieber house:

Step aside Mom and Dad, I am 18 now.  Time to let me write my own checks tell my manager to pay my bills, make my own mistakes have my publicist tell some lies, mow my own lawn hire my own lawn service, take care of my own pool hire my own pool company, pay my taxes, and have some parties.

Bieber seems like a nice kid, but we are all cavemen and there have been a couple of glimpses of Bieber’s inner caveman slipping out of his carefully crafted PR bubble.  A year in which he earned a reported $53 million dollars will swell his head to the point that he feels he can do no wrong.  This kid has experienced more before his 18th birthday than most of us do before the age of 35.  Money, fame, woman, travel, drugs, alcohol, etc.  For some in that position, they mature quickly and live a fruitful life with a long career (insert celeb name here, can’t think of one). For others, the stress gets to them and they turn into complete head cases (Michael Jackson, Prince, Howard Hughes).

I have to admit, hearing Justin Bieber speak is a surprise.  He is clearly a bright guy who has opinions with some substance.   I just hope that he can deal with the fame and fortune better than others in his peer group (Demi Lovato | Miley Cyrus).

In any event, take a look at the Zillow Blog post regarding Justin Bieber’s house purchase.

Justin Bieber Buys $10.8 Million Home for 18th Birthday | Zillow Blog – Real Estate Market Stats, Celebrity Real Estate, and Zillow News.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs has submitted plans to build a new 150-acre campus in Cupertino, California, saying it could create “the best office building in the world.”  This building would hold 12,000 people in one location.  The total square footage would be 3.1 million!  They are after an environmentally friendly 12,000 square foot structure that is more desirable than a traditional campus.

Steve Jobs Presentation

Jobs presented the concept of the new campus yesterday at Cupertino City Hall. It seems a little odd that that he would be the one in front of the city council. My hunch is that there might be a little push back for approval of this project. The appearance of Steve Jobs at the meeting will very likely help the approval of this. Jobs seemed rather nervous at the start of his pitch. This is obviously a project that means a lot to Steve Jobs. He took the opportunity to tell a nice story of reaching out to Bill Hewlett (yes, of Hewlett-Packard) and Mr. Hewlett gave the teenage Steve Jobs a summer job.

Jobs also took the opportunity to throw a subtle dig in towards the current HP. I quote: “…as Hewlett Packard has been shrinking lately, they decided to sell that property, and we bought it.”.

Jobs states that they are using their retail experience to build the structure. He claims they “know how to make the biggest pieces of glass in the world for architectural use”.

They are converting this piece of land that is covered with structures and asphalt.  The intention is to move parking underground and create a space that is 80% landscaping rather than the 20% landscaping that it is now.

The building will include an energy center that will provide the primary source of power (cleaner and cheaper) and then will use the grid as their backup.

Jobs discusses that they put on presentations and that they have to go to San Francisco to do them.  They will include an auditorium in this complex.  I would have to assume that this would mean that Apple’s future conferences and presentations will happen on their own campus.  This will surely peek the interest of the tourism board in Cupertino.  5,000 developers at the WWDC probably provide a nice bump for any municipality.  Keep in mind, 5,000 is where they cap it. They sell out nearly instantly and could expand this.  Apple holds a number of events each year.

The video below is about 20 minutes long, but it is much more fascinating than the public access town board meetings that you might normally see.   Jobs must have had his iPhone in his pocket because there is some feedback that comes in at around the 5:08 mark.  I know this sound all too well.  I thought it was just my iPhone after being dropped 42 times.

Apple's futuristic campus

I was discussing Apple’s cash hoard with a colleague the other day.  With around $80 billion in cash and marketables, they are able to spend money on projects like this.  It is hard to question Jobs’ vision. Look what they beautiful Pixar campus puts out. Hit, after hit, after hit.

During the Q&A jobs addressed a few points.

Apple is the largest taxpayer in Cupertino and would like to remain that way. He insinuated that Apple could leave Cupertino if this was not approved.  It wasn’t a threat, but he made it clear that the biggest taxpayer in town could leave.

Apple has 20 biodiesel buses running currently to help move their employees.  Affluent employees who make Cupertino their personal home.

One council member mentioned free WiFi from Apple for the people of Cupertino. In classic jobs form he threw it back stating that he is a simpleton and feels that we pay taxes and the City should do those things. That is why we pay taxes. He stated that if we could get out of paying taxes, he would be glad to provide free WiFi. “I think we bring a lot more than free WiFi”.

One of the members was a 35 year HP employee.  This project certainly hits home with him and he would like to see this former HP space put to use.

Employees at infinite loop will remain at that location.

Timeline for this building would be as follows. Breaking ground in 2012 an completion in 2015.

During the meeting, the fact that there is not an Apple store in the Cupertino community.  Jobs mentioned that the location simply doesn’t have the traffic.  You have got to love the way Jobs answers questions that he doesn’t really feel are worthy of a thorough response.

With the applause at the end of the meeting, I felt like I was watching a presentation at a conference.  A lot of fans in that room, and rightfully so.

Apple's Cupertino Campus

To make room for all of the recent hires, Facebook is moving its offices to Menlo Park.  They are leasing (with an option to purchase after 5 years)  the former Sun campus at the corner of Williow Road and Bayfront Expressway.

This office campus is comprised of 57 acres with 11 buildings and 1 million square feet of space. This complex should accomodate about 3,600 Facebook employees.

New Facebook Campus - Thank for being early on the NetPC, Sun

Facebook clearly has non-stop expansion in mind since they have purchased to adjacent parcels located at 312 and 314 Constitution Drive.

Moving day is coming soon. Who’s in?

As I write about this and realize that Sun has been swallowed up by Oracle, I am reminded about how early Sun was to the thin client, networked PC, game.  ”The network is the computer”!

Facebook makes it official: Its moving to Sun campus in Menlo Park – San Jose Mercury News.

This makes the purchase of the HP campus by Apple look like a bargain at $300 million.  The NYC building stands 15 stories tall, but carries more square footage than the Empire State Building.  Google currently houses more than 1,800 employees at the location.

Google Office Building NYC

It is interesting to see that Verizon and Sprint also have offices in the location.  They must feel even more threatened by the push by Google into their space (literally this time).

In the biggest real estate deal of the year, Google signed a contract on Thursday to buy one of the largest office buildings in Manhattan for more than $1.8 billion, according to two real estate executives who have been briefed on the deal.

Taconic and its partners bought the property in 1998 and began stocking the building with telecom companies like Verizon and Sprint

via Google Signs Deal to Buy Manhattan Office Building – CNBC.

IRA Real Estate Investments

Back in 2003 my business partners and I looked into purchasing a commercial property and were going to finance the acquisition via self-directed IRA accounts.  The deal never went through, but the thought of acquiring real estate with funds from an IRA stuck with me.

A few months back a reasonably priced property, located a stones throw from my office, was brought to me by a Realtor that I am friends with.  Depending on how a minor renovation works out, I might hold the property as a 2 unit rental, or sell the property outright.  In either case, I didn’t want the tax implications of a gain and didn’t have a pressing need to generate taxable income from the property.  The thought of owning a property in an IRA appealed to me in this situation.  I decided to pursue and move forward.

The process of purchasing real estate in my IRA was incredibly straightforward.  Once your attorney is on board with the process, they should be able to take it from there.

I am sure that there are a number of companies offering Real Estate Investments via an IRA, but I explored two.  The companies that I looked into were:

• Equity Trust: http://www.trustetc.com/
• Guidant Financial: http://www.guidantfinancial.com/

I elected to move forward with Equity Trust Financial and did a partial roll of funds from an existing IRA.  The account was established and provided me with a simple back office interface to manage.  The one major drawback that I see with Equity trust is that their brokerage partnership charges $29 per trade when investing funds into equities. Not a big deal, but every little bit helps. Certainly not the type of account to become an active stock trader with.

When you are handling funds for your real estate investment, you can use a simple online interface to request the funds.  Your attorney and/or real estate agent should be able to assist with these.  The key thing to remember with this investment is that you CAN NOT use funds outside of the IRA. Even your earnest money deposit for the real estate purchase must be done with funds from within the IRA.   There are many rules to ensure that your real estate transaction remains qualified.  A list of the basic rules can be found here: http://www.trustetc.com/new/real-estate-ira/real-estate-ira-rules.html.

One interesting twist that I didn’t expect is that you can mortgage a property within your IRA real estate trust. This is strictly for investment property and probably not likely for a commercial property. However, when taking a mortgage on an investment property in your IRA, traditional lending rules will apply for the property, not the person.  Since this is a trust account the mortgage will be in the name of the trust and will be a non-recourse loan.  They won’t/can’t tie this property to your SS# or personal credit. The underwriting decision is based strictly on the property.  Expect your down payment amount to be about 30% (70% LTV).  You can see the power that your retirement funds could have for you if managed properly.   As with any property in your IRA, there are many rules.

When you hold real estate in your IRA, you will be paying any bills directly from the IRA account.  In my case, I have a simple interface with Equity Trust. Any bill due that falls below $1000 can be issued using an online form. There is no need for further paperwork. When you are above $1000, you will be required to fax a request for funds document.

When receiving income from the property, either rents or proceeds from a sale, all funds must go back into the IRA.  Your tenants will make their checks payable to the trust account.

Overall a very interesting way to invest for your future.  You can gain quite a bit of leverage within this account and if managed properly should be able to afford you a terrific return.