SAN FRANCISCO — Wells Fargo & Co. is eliminating more than 500 jobs — including about 170 in Tempe — in a division that makes home loans to high-risk borrowers, adding to the economic distress caused by the decaying subprime mortgage market.

Most of the cutbacks, concentrated in South Carolina, Arizona and California, stem from Wells Fargo’s recent decision to make it more difficult for borrowers with blemished credit records to qualify for subprime mortgages.

Wells Fargo’s purge already has wiped out 70 jobs in a Tempe office.

Many of the area’s most prestigious office buildings are about to be sold for the second time this year, and the chain of transactions likely won’t end there. As a result, commercial real-estate brokers are warning businesses to brace for higher rental rates.

Beacon Capital Partners, a Boston real-estate investment company, will become the area’s largest office landlord when it buys a portfolio once owned by Equity Office Properties Trust in Chicago. Equity Office was sold last month for $39 billion to New York’s Blackstone Group. Blackstone now is selling the Seattle-area portfolio for an undisclosed amount to Beacon Capital, which in turn plans to sell 15 of the 29 properties to the Archon Group of Irving, Texas, say people familiar with the negotiations.

My sister is a single mom and can’t fully provide for her kids.  She
is receiving housing benefits where the government pays for most of
her rent.  She purchased a car with no money down. The payment with
insurance is about $500/mo.  When housing found out, she was told to
get rid of that car or she would lose her housing benefits.  She
asked me to put the car in my name which means that I would have to
put the financing in my name as well so it does not show on her
credit.  She would still drive the car. I’m afraid to make that kind
of commitment. She refuses to give the car back to the dealer because
it’s going to ruin her credit.  My other sister  gave her $4,000 to
buy a used car when returns her new car, but she does not want an old
car.  What should I do? My heart tells me help her, but my head tells
me NO!  I love her dearly, but she’s always broke and I am afraid
she’d get into an accident and I would be totally liable.
Confused Sister