REAE@UTA

Job Announcement: Real Estate Accountant

2010-09-10T19:01:00.002-05:00

Real Estate Accountant

JP Realty Partners is looking for an experienced real estate accounting person.

Most of the properties are office buildings, one apartment complex, a country club/golf course.
The candidate would conduct monthly reports, plus handle accounts receivables, accounts payables, and Yardi experience a must.

Please send resumes and correspondence to: Sarah Catherine Norris at snorris@jppartners.net

JP Realty Partners, Ltd.
14801 Quorum Drive, Suite 200
Dallas, Texas 75254

Dallas Hotel Investor Looking for a Student Intern

2010-07-06T00:42:00.000-05:00

A Dallas hotel investor contacted me this weekend. He is looking for a student intern. If anyone is interested, please feel free to contact me for some more details. Cheers! hansz@gazarian.info

Rethinking A Project Approach: Design/Build/Development Integration & its Possibilities

2009-07-24T22:40:00.020-05:00

In the building industry there are an abundance of roles carried out by many different professionals. A typical project may follow a conceptual outline similar to this: a group of visionaries may establish an idea, a designer will help to form the vision, and a builder will help to complete the vision. There are crucial rolls that must be filled whether a project is large or small, including specialists in fields ranging from financial analysts, brokers, developers, engineers, architects, contractors, city planners, to code officials, and many more. Implementing a Design Build Development approach integrates many of these professionals into one entity, providing services that will enable a faster, more quality controlled project for its intended use.

The Master Builder

Buildings have existed for centuries so this is not a new idea, but rather an implementation of an old one. One of the first notable design builders was Filippo Brunelleschi, an architect of the Renaissance time period often referred to as a master builder. (Battisti, 1981)

Brunelleschi was born in Florence, Italy where most of his existing work remains today. His career first began as a master goldsmith, and in the early 1400’s he began to study as an architect/master builder (Battisti, 1981). One of the great things about Brunelleschi was that he had technical experience as well as architectural knowledge, enabling him to fully grasp how things were constructed.
Brunelleschi’s most notable work was the dome he designed and built to complete the Cathedral of Santa Maria de Fiori in Florence, Italy. The construction of the church began in 1296 and was of the Gothic style, but the dome was never fully designed. In 1418 a competition was held and Brunelleschi won after presenting his model and drawings of the dome which was of Renaissance architecture in nature (King, 2000).

Brunelleschi was a mathematical genius and was able to design and present a functioning dome not yet achievable by any of the other designers under the requirements prescribed. He began work on the dome in 1419 and remained fully engaged as master builder on the project from design to construction which was complete in 1436 (King, 2000). The intricacies of this project are obvious and it proved advantageous to integrate design and construction, which made for a more successful outcome.

Contributors to the Process

Over the years roles became more defined between design and construction and the two became very specialized and separate. Recently firms have been dedicated to bringing the concept of the master builder back with the intention of producing a better overall product. The Jersey Devil Design Build (JDDB) organization is a good example of this as they are a group of grass roots architects that have been providing integrated design build services on all their projects over the past 25 years. (JDDB, 2009). Over the years JDDB has traveled from site to site while living in Airstream trailers during the construction of their designs. They dedicated their careers to executing the intricate detail incorporated in their designs, from vision to final completion of construction. As stated by the workshop, “Jersey Devil's architecture shows a concern for craft and detail, an attention to the expressiveness of the construction materials, and a strong environmental consciousness" (JDDB, 2009).

Another major contributor to this design/build movement was Samuel Mockbee, an architect that began the “Rural Studio” in the early 1990’s (Dean, 2002). The Rural Studio was a design initiative used as a vehicle focused on aiding impoverished rural areas across the country. Mockbee would design much needed structures in low income communities while assembling a team of people that would travel to sites and gather building materials. Mockbee also taught at Auburn University, where he implemented this initiative and involved the students as part of a curriculum. Today, many other universities have restructured their programs accordingly.

Each of these contributors had a specific reason for carrying through projects as an integrated approach. The majority of the time the key factor was linked to a faster turnaround time, a cost savings, or retaining an importance to detail. Regardless of their intentions we have learned that integrating various services in the beginning of a project will help to produce a more quality controlled, more aggressive timeframe, and ultimately more budget conscious project.

Possibilities

As an architect working in a Design/Build integrated firm I have experienced how technology has an abundant presence in terms of the design process. It is beneficial to use many programs and incorporate as much information as possible in the beginning of a project in order to avoid future complications. Due to this embraced effort the concept of Building Information Modeling, most often referred to as BIM systems or BIMS, has become very popular. The BIM systems will take a project from a three-dimensional model and use it for cost and phase modeling, while programs such as Revit, Navisworks, InnoVia, and DProfiler will begin to dissect a project design and offer cost analysis, clash detection, phase modeling, and many other visualization tools.

Revit is a three-dimensional software that replaces the standard drafting programs previously used by architects and engineers during the design process. Rather than drafting in a typical two-dimensional format, the project is physically built in the model early on. The model is then passed between consultants for evaluation. The model can also be sent to subcontractors that can easily produce quantity take-offs for their bids. The model can also be transferred to another program called Navisworks, which studies a building with all components assembled for quality control of architectural, structural, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and any other key components.

This model can be used further for 3D scheduling, where the components of the building are separated into phases. Animation that displays how a complicated project will be built in the time allotted taking into consideration issues of sequencing of materials, construction staging areas, and city ordinances can also be produced from this model. This type of phase model has been used heavily by contractors to forecast the schedule needed to get the project built as clients today are on tight budgets and strict schedules.

One of the most important components of 3D modeling is involving cost analysis in conjunction with early design. DProfiler is an additional program developed that will automatically associate a cost with each material. Its intention is to be used on a collaborative approach integrating the design and construction together.

In today’s economy it is beneficial to have information assembled on a project that will provide as much cost analysis as possible in the pre-design phase. Without this, it becomes impossible to forecast the future. Information established early in the process only enables the project to move further, assuring advancement to a successful completion. The initiative is to search for true hard information to provide the team in order to have better control over a project as it moves forward.

However, there are mixed feelings about this approach as clients are accustomed to the standard approach of the past where the developer hires the architect, the architect draws the building, the contractor prices it, and the building is value engineered until the developer is happy with the budget. Another past approach is when the developer hires the contractor, the contractor controls the architect and the design, and the project is driven by cost only. Both methodologies have caused projects suffer. With this new approach, the developer can come to a design build team and collaborate early on in the project. Communication between development, design, and pricing will eliminated many surprises.

Although old-fashioned clients may have concerns with this because they are giving up some control of the hard bid which usually occurs for the selection of the construction contract at the end of drawing phases, it is a different and more efficient way of understanding.

Integration is a plausible approach when circumstances will gravitate towards rejection if high budgets are not reduced. The projects of the Rural Studio are low income projects which are very cost sensitive, therefore, budget constraints need to be considered as much as the design. In the integrated approach, a project has a better chance of being built if the feasibility is presented properly enabling early secured financing.

With integration, intent of a low income project can be conveyed early in the schematic phase to consultants and subcontractors enabling collaboration on cost effective materials in strategic places for the design. An early bid/award process between subcontractors will provide a preliminary analysis of techniques and building components for the most economical performance. This approach is so efficient, nonprofit projects are moving to design build as an alternative to the traditional method as well.

In the building industry, the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) has become instrumental in promoting certification of energy efficient buildings and sustainable design (USGBC, 2009). The USGBC proposed the LEED rating system at the beginning of the decade, and it has grown immensely since its origination. The LEED certification, which means Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is a guideline to follow for building design and construction processes established to promote green practices. (USGBC, 2009)

Since its origination the amount of LEED certified buildings have grown annually (USGBC, 2009). Reasons for certification will vary from owner to owner; one may do it for operation savings, one for the good of the earth, and another for public recognition. USGBC has, however, emphasized the approach of design build integration for LEED certified projects promoting collaboration early on in the design process. A key element in LEED certification is not only regulating architectural components (slabs, walls, roofs), but also to reduce emissions and off gassing of mechanical equipment, energy consumption, demolition, and waste (USGBC, 2009). LEED also promotes energy efficiency and construction standards, which are to be collaborative between the designers and the builders (USGBC, 2009). Sustainability begins with design and ends in the construction and regular maintenance of building, and is naturally implemented much easier with an integrated team.

Another one of today’s building techniques receiving an abundant amount of attention is prefabrication. Prefab buildings incorporate many of the design initiatives discussed; budget, a time sensitive schedule, and a sustainable nature. Designed with the aspect of assembly and construction on the forefront, it is important that prefab buildings be designed and built as one element.

Prefabrication has actually been around for many years which is evident on most buildings. Typically, a pre-cast panel is prefabricated off site and shipped to the building location. Large window systems can also be built off-site and assembled on-site. This process is essential as it helps keep an efficient schedule and remain competitive. However, this is not the type of component we are talking about, but rather taking it one step further to prefab full buildings, portions of buildings, or room by room components.

Prefab buildings are “adaptable, modular, dismountable, light, and mobile” (Bahamon, 2002), and depending on the type of system chosen building components may come in an array of shapes and sizes. Establishing the intent of the prefab building will help to examine the desired performance. Most manufacturers provide full buildings, segmented portions of buildings, or room by room portions.

However, in Prefab, a major obstacle in design is size restriction due to transportation. Once at the building location, storage and assembly issues must be solved. The central plant location is also an important consideration which effects production components depending where an item will be shipped to. Each component of a prefab piece will include electrical, mechanical, and plumbing components that must be planned for as well. Because of these details it is advantageous to assemble a team of specialists to design and coordinate a system including preconstruction estimators, construction specialists, designers, engineers, and development coordinators.

Today, there are more and more companies that promote and rely on the integration between architecture, construction and development. Integrating these aspects is always an interesting path as it uncovers what it takes to get a project built: how to fund it, the various budget constraints, and the overall profits to be made. There are also many strengths provided by people of an array of backgrounds in this business model from architects, contractors, developers, financial analysts, real estate brokers, engineers, code consultants, project managers, site selection researchers, to market analysts, and many more depending on each project.

Integrating services in design, construction, and development will provide information for the client that once had to be sought out with a greater effort. With varying backgrounds, many facets in the building industry could be integrated, providing a more efficient service than the traditional approach over the last century. Knowledge of multiple variations of experience can be used as an advantage to the competitor. As can be seen there are many positive outcomes from the implementation of this integrated Design Build approach. The first step is convincing the client and getting them accustomed with the idea and conveying that it is not a new idea, but actually a recycled idea that has been around for centuries.

References

American Institute of Architects. “Design-Build Knowledge Community.” http://www.aia.org/practicing/groups/kc/AIAS075366?dvid=&recspec=AIAS075366 (20 July 2009)

Arieff, Allison. “Carlos Martin on the PATH Concept Home.” Dwell. April / May 2005, pg. 128

Bahamon, Alejandro. Prefab: Adaptable, Modular, Dismountable, Light, Mobile Architecture. New York: Harper Collins Pulishers, c2002

Battisti, Eugenio. Filippo Brunelleschi: The Complete Work. New York: Rizzoli, 1981.

Dean, Adrea Oppenheimer & Timothy Hursley. Rural Studio. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, c2002.

Dilworth, Dianna. “Ikea Enters U.K.’s Prefab Housing Market.” Architectural Record. http://archrecord.construction.com/news/daily/archives/070418ikea.asp (18 April 2007)

Jersey Devil Design/Build (JSDB). http://www.jerseydevildesignbuild.com/ (20 July 2009)

King, Ross. Brunelleschi’s Dome: How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture. New York: Walker & Company, c2000.

Novitski, B.J. “New AIA Agreements Support Integrated Project Delivery.” Architectural Record. http://archrecord.construction.com/practice/projDelivery/0807aia.asp (July 2008)

USGBC. “Educator Resource Center.” U.S. Green Building Council. http://www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CMSPageID=1878

Here Goes The Neighborhood!

2009-07-24T12:46:00.061-05:00

The Impact of Permanent Supportive Housing on Neighborhood Property Values in Fort Worth, Texas

REAE 5311
By: M. Otis Thornton

Introduction
This post reports a study of the impact of permanent supportive housing on neighborhood property values in Fort Worth, Texas between 2000 and 2008. The intent is to utilize the results of this study as one component of a public education piece aimed at increasing community acceptance of permanent supportive housing developments. (A second component will focus on design considerations and management controls.)

Background
With broad public support, in the summer of 2008 the City Council of Fort Worth, Texas adopted a ten-year plan to end chronic homelessness. The vision of the Directions Home plan is to make all homelessness rare, short-term and non-recurring experience in Fort Worth, Texas by the year 2018.

Based on positive, local experience and national best practices, a cornerstone of the Directions Home plan is increasing the supply of permanent supportive housing for chronic and v ulner able homeless people. Supportive housing is defined by a leading advocacy group as, “a successful, cost-effective combination of affordable housing with services that helps people live more stable, productive lives.”

Across the country, permanent supportive housing (PSH) is proving to be more cost effective than leaving chronically homeless people on the streets. Coupled with impressive retention rates and therapeutic outcomes, this—perhaps counterintuitive—fact has led to its increasing acceptance by policy makers and advocates alike.

A Production Program Model was developed for Tarrant County to guide efforts to bring an additional 1,088 units of permanent supportive housing online in the coming decade. The model calls for both expanding the use of existing housing units by providing rental vouchers and creating new units through rehabilitation and new construction.

The majority of existing units of PSH in Tarrant County are scattered-site—typically a small number of units (<7) dispersed in multifamily developments throughout the county. Larger, congregate facilities and clusters of units exist, however, and this exercise is an effort to explore what, if any, impact they have had on surrounding property values. In November 2008, the Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy at New York University published a policy brief on The Impact of Supportive Housing on Surrounding Neighborhoods: Evidence from New York City. This analysis employed a complex statistical model to study property values that fell within one of three zones around a permanent supportive housing development. The zones they employed examined properties that fell within a 500-foot radius of a PSH development, a 1,000-foot radius of a PSH site or within the same census tract.

The Furman study examined over 7,500 units in 123 developments. Their research indicated:

the values of properties within 500 feet of supportive housing show steady growth relative to other properties in the neighborhood in the years after supportive housing opens. Properties somewhat further away (between 500 and 1,000 feet) show a decline in value when supportive housing first opens, but prices then increase steadily, perhaps as the market realizes that fears about the supportive housing turned out to be wrong.

It is not possible in Tarrant County to reasonably approximate the sample size and longitudinal depth of the dataset employed in the Furman study. However, it was felt that the spatial framework could be employed to conduct a more cursory survey of available data.

Methodology

Subject Properties
1. In 1996, the Cornerstone Assistance Network opened the New Life Center on Fort Worth’s Near Southside. A remodeled nursing home, the New Life Center is an 18-unit SRO (Single Room Occupancy) supportive housing development situated in an established residential neighborhood in the Fairmount Historic District.

2. Pennsylvania Place Apartments were developed by Mental Health Housing in partnership with the Enterprise Foundation. The 152-unit multifamily includes 25 units of permanent supportive housing for persons with severe and persistent mental illness. On-site supportive services are provided by professionals from Mental Health and Mental Retardation of Tarrant County (MHMRTC).

3. Samaritan House operates two programs on their Near Southside campus that provide permanent supportive housing opportunities for homeless people with HIV: Samaritan House, a 60-unit SRO that opened in 2001, and; The Villages at Samaritan House, a 66-unit Low-income Housing Tax Credit development that opened in 2006.

Data
4. Property values for 2000, 2004 and 2008 were obtained from the Tarrant Appraisal District. For 2004 and 2008, “Appraised Value[s]” were summed and averaged on a per square foot of improvements basis for the geography under inspection. For 2000, “Land Value” and “Improvement Value” were combined to derive a stand-in for appraised value.

5. ArcGIS geographic information system (GIS) software was employed to generate two, roughly radial buffers around the subject parcels[1]. If more than 50% of the area of a parcel was inside the circle, the parcel was included the calculations of property values for the zone.

6. A United States Census Bureau GIS layer was employed to identify census tracts from the 2000 Census. Where 500 foot and 1,000 foot zones were not wholly contained within a single census tract, data from both contiguous census tracts were used.

7. From year-to-year the continuity of GIS parcel coding is sometimes lost due to subdivision and/ or re-platting—a function of changing property tax identification numbers. Parcel identities that could not be maintained for the duration of the study period, 2000 – 2008, were excluded from analysis.

8. Park land and unimproved land in the 100-year floodplain were excluded from tabulations of value.

Results
Results are presented in the table: Proximity to Permanent Supportive Housing and Annual Property Value Appreciation per sq ft

Each of the three permanent supportive housing developments examined appreciated in value between 2000 and 2004 as well as between 2000 and 2008. The largest property value increases for neighboring properties were for those parcels within 500-feet of a permanent supportive housing development.

Parcel level data is available on the map: Change in Appraised Value Of Parcels By Proximity To Permanent Supportive Housing in Fort Worth, Texas 2000 - 2008

On a per square foot basis, the appraised value of all properties inside I-820 and within the City of Fort Worth grew at an average annual rate of 10.6% between 2000 and 2008. Properties in all geographic zones near permanent supportive housing that were studied appreciated 49 – 122% more than the City at large.

Discussion
This study did not account for many variables that impinge on neighborhood values such as transportation access, school quality and proximity to jobs. Thus, it would be inappropriate in my estimation to read this data as supporting a causal relationship between handsome appreciation rates and the presence of a permanent supportive housing development within 500 feet. However, it does seem reasonable to conclude that the presence of permanent supportive housing neither detracts from nor flat lines the value of parcels in closest proximity.

The evidence that properties closest to permanent supportive housing have grown robustly and consistently with the neighborhoods in which they are situated is encouraging news for property owners who may be concerned by a proposed development. It is hoped that this data, along with evidence of management excellence and commitment to outstanding design, will go a long way towards increasing community acceptance of permanent supportive housing developments.
[1] GIS data extraction, mapping, and numerous, helpful technical comments were provided by Noah Heath with the City of Fort Worth’s Planning and Development Department.

Rhome, Texas--The ‘Rip Van Winkle’ of the DFW Metro Area

2009-07-23T02:00:00.059-05:00

By: Dee Brown
REAE 5311 Blog Post

This report is intended to enlighten myself and perhaps some readers on reasons I fail to understand why one small township, with a seemingly ideal location for access, fails to grow at the same rate or even close to the same rate of some similar townships that have seemingly less favorable conditions.

Rhome, Texas
Rhome is located approximately 25 miles northwest of downtown Fort Worth. This sleepy little town is located at the intersection of US 81/287 and SH 114. Upon first glance, one might think that this would have been an ideal location for growth explosion during the real estate and business booms of the 1990s and the early 2000s. For some reason, unbeknownst to me, it did not occur on the scale one would expect.

Why have businesses not taken advantage of the location? What makes it less attractive than an alternative town with less access? The railroad runs through town; does this make it more or less attractive? There has been some modest growth in residential areas but nothing substantial. The residential growth that has occurred is mostly lower to middle income housing. What will make it attractive to the higher income families? These are just some of the questions that I will attempt to answer during my research of the area.

Surrounding Area
Rhome is surrounded with the typical pre-suburban growth. Three miles to the south, down FM 3433, is the town of Newark. Newark is another sleepy little town with even less growth potential than Rhome but with a larger base of residents. I believe this is largely due to the proximity of the town to the local lake. On the way to Newark you’ll pass the local middle and primary schools along with a stretch of middle to lower income housing to the west of the road, and to the east of the road you’ll see mostly open pasture land.

South on US 81/287, there is a small truck/trailer business on the west side and on the east side of the highway there is a septic tank business and a few more trucking related businesses. These businesses are set amongst a small subdivision of starter homes. There is also a 230 acre mobile home community with the lots ranging from 1 to 5 acres. This area is considered in the Rhome extraterritorial jurisdiction but not in its city limits. Beyond the mobile home community are a few middle income homes scattered around the existing pastures. Most of these are of the original families that were raised in, or had family ties to, the area.

East of Rhome on SH 114, there is a small RV park on the south side of the highway and on the north side of the highway is a construction equipment company. Further out on the north side of the highway is another small mobile home community. This mobile home community appears to have better ordinances in place to control the size and age of the mobile homes allowed than the one south and east of town. Along this particular stretch of SH 114 along with the aforementioned property types is mostly sparsely populated pasture land.

Heading north on US 81/287 is open highway. Not much development at all, residential or commercial, has occurred just outside of town to the north.

Heading west out of town on SH 114 you’ll see country side scattered with older homes, farms and a few small private businesses set back away from the highway. In about 2 miles you will be in Aurora, famous for the space alien being buried there (not much else to speak of though). The one bright spot of the area is a small subdivision called Aurora Vista. The homes built here are of the upper middle income and possibly some of the lower upper income types.

Rhome Proper
Rhome itself has a few small businesses. Its core businesses, both of them, are in the manufacturing business. One of these is for building metal storage tanks and the other I believe builds tanker trailers for the trucking industry. There are three convenience stores, two liquor stores, two banks, a Subway sandwich shop, a Dairy Queen restaurant, and a Grandy’s Restaurant built on with one of the convenience stores. There is also a hamburger joint in one of the other convenience stores. The same person who owns two of the convenience stores also owns one of the liquor stores. Rhome is the proud home of a pharmacy, an insurance office, a real estate office, a water well digging company, a John Deere dealership, and four different denominations of churches. It does boast of a doctor’s office, a post office (which is closed 1½ hours for lunch), a brand new hotel/motel and new Dollar General store. There are a few, perhaps two or three, small private businesses that operate out of some of the older buildings “downtown” Rhome. Of course, no thriving rural metropolis would be complete without a volunteer fire department that uses the old school building as a fire house, a police department housed in a metal building and a city hall. Now that I’ve discussed the entire business aspect of Rhome, I’ll discuss the residential side.

Rhome’s residential area nearest the “downtown” area is older, wood sided homes mixed with a few brick homes. Just east of the downtown area are more of the older homes but also a few late 1970s and 1980s homes and a newer section of starter homes. At one point in time, some of these older homes were government sponsored low income houses. Rhome also presents one set of government subsidized apartments. The rent on these is based on the applicant’s income and in general has a cut-off amount of income to qualify; in other words if you make too much, you don’t qualify.

If you have ever been to an older section of a town in the size range of 15,000 people; the neighborhood that has two or three competing convenience stores; the section where our grandparents used to live; then you’ve been to Rhome. The biggest difference in the two is that the old part of the small town probably has more personality. Rhome is old, there’s not much else way to describe it and that’s the aura of the entire town.

The population as of July, 2008, posted by City-Data.com was 1051. That was close to a 91% increase over the 2000 census, meaning that Rhome in 2000 had approximately 550 residents.

Using Comparisons
When deciding to compare a few of the outlying towns of the DFW metro area I consulted with and interviewed Mark Schluter, a graduate of Texas A&M University with a degree in civil engineering. Mr. Schluter worked for the Texas Department of Transportation in the DFW area for 28 years and is currently employed as Regional Transportation Director for Halff Associates, a company whose services range from environmental assessments to multi-million dollar highway projects. During his tenure with TxDOT, Mark at one time worked in advance planning. He stated, “We would look at roadways 20 years in the future. We studied growth patterns to determine when and where roadways would be needed. As Area Engineer, I worked with a lot of developers to review their access.” Mr. Schluter also served as Planning and Zoning Chairman for Rhome from 1998 to 2004.

Some of the questions I asked Mr. Schluter were: “Why hasn’t Rhome grown any more than it has?” “What will it take for Rhome to expand?” “What makes Rhome different from the Friscos, the Argyles and the Roanokes?” Considering my inexperience in such matters, the information to follow was very enlightening. Mark began by explaining a few things which I was somewhat familiar with but had never put them all together. “For a city to grow it must have a good location. Along with location, as a subset, it must have access. The city must offer a reason for people to stop, an identity that people will relate to the town. This in turn will attract businesses to take advantage of the opportunity of the growth. Should a city begin a growth cycle, it must have the infrastructure to support such growth.”

Rhome has no identity. Mark’s opinion was, “There is an old run down feel to Rhome. For Rhome to expand, it has to find out what it wants to be known for, create that identity, that personality.” There has been a long standing rumor around some of the long-time residents that the city council was more of an anti-growth council than that of a progressive, forward-thinking one. Mark said that the mayor and council are attempting to find what Rhome’s niche might be. Most of the businesses in the general vicinity are industrial. Mark questions whether or not it would be in the best interest of the residents and the town for Rhome to have this sort of identity.

Rhome’s location isn’t as attractive as I once believed it to be. As stated earlier, Newark is approximately 3 miles to the south, or southwest. It is what I refer to as a dreary looking place. It strikes me as being dumpy from one end to the other. There are of course the nicer parts to it but for the most part, it’s old. When I asked Mark about the proximity of such a place having a bearing on Rhome’s fate he replied, “Unfortunately both Rhome and Newark are in Wise County. Wise County is known for the drug labs and rock trucks so that makes us all red-necks (or so they say). Newark has a lot of potential with recreation readily available. I’m not sure if they can ever establish themselves as the place to be because as you drive into town it looks old.”

Frisco
The first town I asked Mark to compare Rhome to was Frisco. Frisco is located north of Dallas off the Dallas North Toll way and Preston Road. Frisco’s population as of July, 2008 was 96,676, a growth of 187% since the 2000 census. Frisco hasn’t always been that big. The population in 1990 was approximately 6500. Frisco had a ten year growth of over 417% between 1990 and 2000 for a population of 33,700 in 2000. Mark described Frisco as “a whole different animal.” He had brought to my attention that the areas around Dallas were affected sooner by urban flight than the areas around Fort Worth. The population density of the immediate central business districts of Dallas was saturated which fueled expansion. Mark gave me a brief accounting of events, “Expansion to the north of the CMD (central meridian district) includes earlier growth in Carrolton, Farmers Branch, and Richardson. The upwardly mobile people, who typically want bigger and better, moved north to Plano, Allen, and Frisco. Along came the Dallas North Toll Way that terminated at SH 121 back in 1994.
This roadway connection took these yuppies from their plush mansions to the downtown Dallas, Las Colinas or IH-635 offices. A large mall, Stone Briar Center, popped up in Frisco followed by Stone Briar Country Club (very upscale). The identity was set. This was followed by the Plantation Resort Golf Club and Dr Pepper/7-Up Park (where the Roughriders play). While this looks like an amazing transformation you can still go to the old downtown and it looks like it did 30 years ago plus a few more shops.”

Argyle

The next town we discussed was Argyle. Argyle is a rural community located off of US 377, approximately 5 miles north of Roanoke. Its population as of July, 2008 was shown to be 3,525 an increase of 49% over its 2000 population of 2,365. I found the population of Argyle in 1990 to be 1,575. I’ve been in this area off and on since 1980 and I always thought of Argyle as just a post office on US 377 between Roanoke and Denton. “Strangely enough, Argyle’s focal point is its rural atmosphere. If you look at their web site they talk about the horse farms and proximity to Denton (which is less than 5 miles), Fort Worth and Dallas,” is how Mark begins to talk about Argyle. “They have virtually no tax base. They have a few shops, restaurants and a small business park near their new high school near US 377.” Mark goes on to state, “I feel that what separates Argyle from Rhome is they don’t have the baggage of no-growth thinking as Rhome does. Most of the residents in Argyle are transplants not lifelong residents or descendants. The new businesses in Argyle are upscale to match their new residents.” We can see the discrepancies in income by looking at the income levels of both towns
Rhome’s Income and Home Values
Estimated median household income in 2007: $56,729 (it was $40,667 in 2000)
Rhome:
$56,729
Texas:
$47,548
Estimated per capita income in 2007: $22,877
Rhome:
$22,877
Texas:
$23,938
Estimated median house or condo value in 2007: $146,001 (it was $79,500 in 2000)
Rhome:
$146,001
Texas:
$120,900
.

Argyle’s Income and Home Values
Estimated median household income in 2007: $111,350 (it was $91,161 in 2000)
Argyle:
$111,350
Texas:
$47,548
Estimated per capita income in 2007: $45,937
Argyle:
$45,937
Texas:
$23,938
Estimated median house or condo value in 2007: $333,944 (it was $236,800 in 2000)
Argyle:
$333,944
Texas:
$120,900
(Information found on http://www.city-data.com/)

Roanoke
Roanoke found itself in a unique situation several years back. As Mark and I discussed this thriving little area my eyes were opened to different explanations of how and why a city might grow. “Roanoke is one of those that just happened to be in the right place at the right time plus they had the foresight to take advantage of it. Back in the early 1990s, TxDOT had just completed SH 170 and the SH 114 bypass. In Rhome’s case, the bypass was completed in 1974. Being closer to a more dense population gave Roanoke the opportunity to attract large box retailers such as Wal-Mart and Home Depot. These anchors tend to bring in more people so the peripheral businesses came in to serve these masses. Mark adds further, “They have sufficient infrastructure to support growth but with the tax base they have acquired, they are able to enhance what it already had.” Mark almost seemed excited about the discussion we were having about Roanoke. You can tell he loves what he does. He continues, “Roanoke’s historic district exemplifies that once you have an attraction/destination, other like businesses like to feed on that economic energy. Babe’s Chicken developed a following and everyone else wanted to be a piece of that. Roanoke provided the climate for structured growth and the ball began rolling.”

After talking with Mr. Schluter, I feel like Roanoke will be the next Frisco. Roanoke’s population in July, 2008 was at 4,235 up 51% from 2,800 in 2000. I am beginning to see the pattern Mark mentioned at the beginning of our interview. Identity is important.

Justin
One other town we discussed briefly was Justin. Justin is located off of FM 156, northwest of Texas Motor Speedway. Its population in 2008 was 3,473, an increase of 84% from the count in 2000 of 1,890. One would think that with its proximity to the raceway that this little old country town would be thriving more so than it is. Mark’s comments were, “Justin wants to grow but doesn’t know how. They are like Rhome but without the freeway. They have begun to have a few businesses like Sonic and the businesses park south of town. The FM 156 corridor through there makes them seem old and less receptive to growth.” They have no identity yet. There is a Justin boot retailer there but from what I remember it isn’t much. I knew Justin from the feed store and the salvage store that used to be there.

Southlake

This description of what took place really surprised me. I didn’t know the history of Southlake’s development and never thought it was anything like Rhome. Mark’s response: “Southlake had many of the same early hang-ups as Rhome. They were an old town with the central business area long gone. They let mobile home parks come in and really trash up a great rural atmosphere. The same growth that we previously discussed in Dallas was moving westward and northward out of Fort Worth. They began to reexamine their ordinances and how they wanted to grow. Again, because of the population density they were able to attract the Wal-Mart, Home Depot and Lowes. In 2004, the expansion of SH 114 was completed which provided quick east-west connectivity. They came upon the brilliant idea of the Town Square. They had modeled this off of several cities around the country that had done the same. It is a great economic engine for them.”

My Conclusion
Rhome doesn’t have an identity at all, not even close to having one. With this being said, I want to look at what might be hindering the progress. In examining the needs for growth we find that Rhome has ample access. Its positioning to US 81/287 and SH 114 make it an ideal place for an eventual commerce center. Its location is lacking though. I at first struggled with the idea of location and access being different, but they are. Its location in Wise County goes against it. Also, through no fault of its own, the population density of Fort Worth has not forced the urban flight mode that we saw out of Dallas, at least not as of yet. It is happening but in all other directions besides Rhome. Next, we’ll consider the ‘if’ of growth. What if it grows? Can Rhome handle it? Rhome doesn’t have the infrastructure at the moment to handle growth. As far I know it still has outdated sewer systems. The water was just recently updated with a new water tower and the contracting of purchasing water from Lake Bridgeport through Walnut Creek Municipal Utility District. Rhome sells water to Aurora and New Fairview along with the Rhome residents. This does serve as some sort of income base for the city and it is a start.

From the interviews with Mr. Schluter I have concluded that Rhome is its own worst enemy. Mark applauded the mayor for his attempts to stimulate the growth of the town but felt that more was needed. The city council and the mayor need to be more realistic in their expectations of businesses looking to relocate in their area. They, at one point, were offering no tax incentives. The cost of doing business in Rhome would be the same as in Roanoke or Frisco. That doesn’t make sense. The city needs to be proactive in deciding what it wants and what kind of growth to promote. If it wants to be an industrial area, then they should not expect the nice neighborhoods and big anchor stores to come along with it. Rhome does have a few old attractions around town that could be rehabbed to look nice. However, it is highly improbable any investor is going to sink hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars in to an area without the city council knowing what they want and without all of them being on the same page. Another problem Rhome faces is its lack of size. The annexation laws prohibit any municipality with a population less than 5,000 from enforcing a general annexation for expansion. If Rhome wants to annex, they will have to build the population from within or get permission from landowners to do so. With this being said, Rhome needs to get busy doing something to make itself more attractive to businesses and residents alike. An industrial identity will not do this. Marketing the city would be easy, if it had its base, just by utilizing its name. The bottom line is, Rhome can control its destiny or let destiny control Rhome.

Rhome you’ve been asleep for forty years, it’s time to wake up.

I would like to sincerely thank Mark Schluter for his time and input.

http://www.texasescapes.com/CentralTexasTownsNorth/RhomeTexas/RhomeTxRockGasStation0207BG.jpg
http://www.halff.com/aboutus.php
http://www.city-data.com/city/Rhome-Texas.html
http://www.city-data.com/city/Frisco-Texas.html
http://www.halff.com/aboutus.php
http://www.infoplease.com/us/census/data/texas/frisco/
http://www.city-data.com/city/Argyle-Texas.html
http://www.localcolorart.com/Argyle,_Texas/encyclopedia.htm
http://www.argyletx.com/
http://www.ci.frisco.tx.us/Pages/Default.aspx
http://www.roanoketexas.com/

http://www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/?link=LG

Islamic Finance in Real Estate: Is it immune to the financial crisis?

2009-07-16T13:48:00.002-05:00

By: Yaqoub Alabdullah

REAE 5311 Blog Post

Introduction:

The area of Islamic finance is relatively new to the finance field. While it was commonly known among Muslims, Islamic finance has grown not only to include Muslims, but also to include non-Muslims. Now, Islamic banking is widely known in Europe and many Asian countries. It is growing in the United States as well, but it is in its first steps. That is primarily because of the attractiveness of many Islamic- compliant corporations who have enjoyed a relatively healthy financial position compared to other comparable corporations. Islamic finance now accounts for more than $500 billion worldwide, and it is projected that Islamic securitization will exceed more than $100 billion (Delaigue, 2009). Basically, Islamic finance prohibits the practice of “Riba”, interest earned on money. So how can Islamic corporations make profits if they do not deal with interest rates? And if they do not deal with interest rates, are they immune to the current financial crisis? And what is the relationship between Islamic finance and real estate?

This article tries to answer these questions. It should be noted that, because Islamic finance prohibits the practice of Riba, a major source of income for many Islamic financial institutions is in real estate. In fact, whenever two Muslims talk about an Islamic financial institution, they are primarily talking about the real estate sector of that corporation because of its importance to the corporation as a whole. In other words, real estate is the major source of income in Islamic finance but without dealing with interest rates, “Riba”, to earn revenue or to calculate mortgage payments.

What is Islamic finance?

Islam’s prohibition and condemnation of Riba is found in various places in the Quran (see 2:275–280, 4:161 and 30:39 for examples) and also in various Hadith (sayings of the Prophet Muhammad), which cite instances wherein the Prophet explained what qualified as Riba and what did not, such as ‘the selling of wheat for wheat is Riba, unless it is exchanged from hand to hand and is equal in amount. According to this traditional understanding of Riba, modern conventional finance is impermissible since it incorporates the lending of money for a later repayment that includes a premium (i.e. interest) for the time elapsed between disbursement and repayment (Nayeem, 2009). Many Muslim scholars developed models that do not include Riba but allow for profit to occur. Such models include “Murabaha”, “Musharaka”, “Ijara” and “Sukuk”. While the definition and implementation of each model is beyond this article, it should be noted that each model allows for risk to occur between the borrower and the lender. For example, in the Murabaha (cost-plus sales) contract, the seller acquires the desired product at a price known to both parties and then agrees to sell the product to the buyer for the original price plus an additional premium (Nayeem, 2009). This is different from the traditional way of financing in that the premium is not based solely on interest rates or Riba. In other words, if a person would like to buy a home for $200,000 and wants to finance it in the Islamic way, the Islamic bank will acquire the house for $200,000 and sell it back to the buyer with a premium. The installment payments are simply the lump-sum amount divided by the number of years. If the Islamic bank sold the house back to the buyer for $400,000 in 20 years, then the annual payment is simply $20,000. In other words, a Muslim may earn a profit, for instance, by selling an item for more than he paid for it, provided the two transactions are kept separate. An Islamic-compliant mortgage may involve a bank buying the property on behalf of the customer, who then pays off the principal loan along with “rent” or a “fee” for using the property until it finally transfers into his name when the loan amount is fully settled. (Goodenough, CNSNEWS.com, 2008). The payment on the mortgage is not based on future value of money or some kind of discount rate because Islamic finance says that money cannot grow by itself. It should grow by real output in the economy, which is that risk should be shared among all parties. One cannot simply lend someone money and expect to be paid back with interest. Instead, one would acquire the product and sell it to the buyer with a premium and in this way share the risk with him. There is nothing risk free. This is a crucial concept in Islamic finance and the whole Islamic financial real estate sector depends on it.

Moreover, when a person deposits money in an Islamic bank, there is no guaranteed interest earned on that money. In fact, the person may lose that money because he/she agrees to share the risk with the bank in their operations. Despite that, as noted earlier, Islamic banking continues to grow worldwide despite what seems to be their higher risk compared to other financial institutions. One of the models that has been growing enormously in the past couple of years is the “Sukuk” which is basically an Islamic bond. But again, there is nothing guaranteed and everybody is sharing the risk. In fact, some kinds of Sukuks do not even have fixed coupon payments because that depends on the profitability of the project in question. For example, a developer may want to build an apartment complex and issues “Sukuks”, Islamic bonds, to finance his project. The lenders in this case would agree to share the risk with the developer and also agree to share the profits together. The payments on the “Sukuks” would depend on the rents paid by the tenants and that is the only form of “Sukuks” that tend to be steady over time because of relatively small changes in rental rates.

In short, “financial systems based on the principles of Islamic law (shari’a) have been growing in popularity in the Islamic world and increasingly among Muslims in western societies too. Shari’a forbids Riba or usury – the collection and payment of interest – and also shuns excessive risk and heavy borrowing, thus helping to insulate parties from overexposure to risk. “Shari’a-compliant” banking and financial products aim to avoid companies that are heavily indebted or have links to products or conduct frowned upon in Islam, such as gambling, pork, alcohol and pornography.” (Goodenough, CNSNEWS.com, 2008).

Islamic finance and the financial crisis:

Many Muslim Academics argue that the current financial crisis would not have happened if Islamic finance principles were employed in the global economy. For example, Dr. Mohammed Mahmud Awan, a leading scholar and Dean at Malaysia-based International Center for Education in Islamic Finance (INCEIF), told the participants of a conference in Manama, Bahrain that the current global economic crisis has opened many windows of opportunities for Islamic finance. “This crisis is seen as a big opportunity for Islamic finance as it has the capacity and capability to bring stability to the market.” Dr. Awan said. The current global crisis which caused colossal financial losses running in billions of dollars, he said, would have not occurred if the Islamic principles regarding collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) were in vogue in the international financial market. “Islamic bonds, carrying unique structure features, cannot fall foul of a crisis such as subprime mortgage crisis. Subprime mortgages are backed by dubiously rated collateralized debt packages which subsequently precipitated a global credit crunch.” (Arab news, 2008). He added: “A crisis such as the mortgage one would technically be unthinkable in the Islamic capital markets sector because it would be against Shariah (Islamic law) principles to sell a debt against a debt.”

But many other scholars disagree with that. In fact, many Muslim scholars disagree with that as well. Their main point of view is that Islamic finance and Islamic financial institutions do not live in a separate world as other traditional financial institutions. The basic macroeconomic factors affect both equally and the recent financial crisis affected Islamic financial institutions just as much as it had affected traditional financial corporations.

Performance of Islamic finance corporations:

To judge the quality and performance of Islamic finance principles, I took data from data stream and analyzed the quarterly return of the Dow Jones Islamic Index from the period of 1/1/2002 to 6/30/2009. Then, this was compared with the Dow Jones Industrial average returns for the same period. The results are shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1:

Certainly, the overall performance of the two is very similar. But what is interesting is the beginning of the financial crisis (just about the 27^th quarter in the graph). It can be seen from the graph that DJ ISLAMIC Index was in the positive category at the beginning of the crisis while the DJ Industrial was at the negative side. But just after that, we can see a sharp fall in the Islamic index while the DJ Industrial started to recover (probably because of some confidence in the stimulus package). Finally, both of them are recovering but the Islamic index at a faster rate. This will certainly create a debate between Islamic finance scholars and those of traditional finance. Pro-Islamic finance scholars are arguing that since the financial world is governed by traditional finance concepts, the crisis brought the losses to the Islamic corporations’ assets as well, which are primarily in real-estate. And that the healthy industries, those who did not participate in all the derivatives and risky operations that started the crisis, will survive at the end and that is evident by the apparent recovery of the Islamic financial institutions. For example, Kuwait Finance House (KFH), one of the leading Islamic banks in the world in terms of market capitalization, has just distributed 4.5% on its deposits to its customers as a profit from their Islamic finance operations in Kuwait. That happened at a time when most of the Kuwaiti banks lost more than 50% of their market value.

Traditional finance scholars would argue that while the Islamic finance concepts are creative and new in the area of finance, they are not immune to the financial crisis. It would be interesting to add those concepts into the already existing financial system, but it is not an alternative model. The financial crisis affected both equally and that is a fact. It should be noted that the traditional finance scholars are not arguing against Islamic finance. In fact, many large financial corporations (like HSBC, Citi Bank, and many traditional financial corporations in the Middle East) have just opened Islamic banking units not just to attract Muslim customers but also to take advantage of this new concept, which is apparently very healthy. They are arguing that this new concept should not be used as an alternative to the existing system. Conversely, pro-Islamic finance proponents are arguing that it should be an alternative because of its reduced risk and rejection of money growing by itself without real output in the economy. Plus, many of the Islamic models like “Murabaha” and “Musharaka” eliminate many of the disadvantages of the traditional system. For example, in Islamic finance there is no buying debt by debt or many other risky operations simply because they are not allowed under Shari’a law. This would add greater efficiency to and reduce risk in the financial system.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, I think that time is needed to judge the new idea and concept of Islamic finance. As noted earlier, the introduction of Islamic finance is relatively new, and, in my opinion, it should take more time to mature, just like any other industry. While pro-Islamic finance scholars argue that this model is better than the existing one, it is not realistic, at least at this point in time, to present it as an alternative.

I think that Islamic finance added some interesting new models like “Murabaha”, “Musharaka” and “Sukuk” in real estate in order to eliminate Riba. The healthiness of the Islamic corporations in general is very evident and they had enjoyed a profitable position in the last couple of decades. That is primarily why many big corporations joined this new system. However, the global financial crisis did not leave the Islamic financial industry alone. It affected them just like it affected the traditional industries despite their totally different operations. Nevertheless, Islamic corporations apparently are recovering although that is debatable.

This financial crisis affected real estate markets around the world. And, since real estate is the primary asset to any Islamic-compliant corporation, they suffered heavily by the crisis even if they did not participate in the risky practices that started the crisis. But, as pro-Islamic finance proponents would say, the healthy ones will survive at the end.

References:

- Aidham, A, (2009), “Sukuk: Pushing Innovation”, International Financial Law Review, Vol. 28 Issue 3, p32-32, 1p.

- Delaigue, B and Reillac, A, (2009), “France Adopts Tax Measures to Promote Islamic Finance”, European Taxation, Vol. 49 Issue 5, p286-289, 4p.

- “Growth of Islamic finance”, International Financial Law Review, Mar2009, Vol. 28 Issue 3, p35-35, 1p.

- “How Islamic Bond Refinancing will work”, International Financial Law Review, Mar2009, Vol. 28 Issue 3, p17-17, 1p.

- Nayeem, O, Shiliwala, M and Shiliwala, W (2009), “A CONFLICT OF INTEREST: ISLAMIC HOME FINANCING IN AMERICA”, Economic Affairs, Vol. 29 Issue 2, p22-27, 6p.

- http://www.arabnews.com/?page=6&section=0&article=109247&d=24&m=4&y=2008

- http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/yazarDetay.do?haberno=156567

- http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/blog/eyeonasia/archives/2008/10/islamic_finance.html

- http://www.free-press-release.com/news/200902/1233484780.html

- http://www.cnsnews.com/Public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=37332

http://www.islamic-finance.com/indexnew.htm

Offer from Mark Kingston, CEO of Argus

2009-06-21T12:17:00.005-05:00

I just got back from a week of Argus training in Houston. The Argus group is a very nice bunch and last week the CEO of Argus, Mark Kingston developed a plan to expand their Argus Certification program and including a special offer to get people certified. Please note that this program is limited to 2,000 participants.

Program cost for each individual varies based on your specific circumstances. If you respond to this offer, the only thing that I ask is that you be truthful with Argus regarding your situation so they can offer an appropriate package.

The message from Mark Kingston and program details are copied below. Please note that contact with Mr. Kingston is through LinkedIn at the e-mail address cited below.

Cheers,
Dr. Hansz

Message from Mark Kingston, CEO of Argus:

Let me help you…My team and I are willing to invest in you…No questions asked...Well maybe one or two… Lost your job, starting up or in a position to hire...Please, Stop and Read This
Situation:

1. A large number of people have become unemployed and need help moving forward into new opportunities.

2. Over 1,500 email replies came back to me after my recent outreach indicating that the person no longer works for that company.

3. A Large number of individuals have expressed their desire to gain access to ARGUS Training, certification and license to ARGUS software as a way to get back on their feet. They have stated that ARGUS training and experience is a pre-requisite for many job opportunities.

4. Many lost their access to our tools when they were laid off. This limits their ability to maintain proficiency and or their ability to create income opportunities for themselves.

5. Many will need experience modeling in ARGUS that can be referenced as a way to strengthen their credentials for job search.

6. Many have expressed their desire for a job placement site for those seeking trained-experienced users of the ARGUS Software solutions.

7. Many emails requesting elearning-web based learning capabilities.

8. Many requests for demo or student copies of the software.

9. Many individuals are starting new ventures. They have limited capital. They have suggested that it would be extremely helpful to provide our software during their startup phase at a significant discount, or on a project by project basis.

10. Many are asking for case studies and examples of how the ARGUS solutions can be better employed for improving their decisions and outcomes.
Many want to change their situation but do not have the money. The choice is roof over the head, food on the table and gas in the car.
Posted 3 days ago | Reply Privately

Mark Kingston
CEO
See all Mark’s discussions »
Comments (13)

Mark Kingston
CEO
Target(s):

1. Assist recently unemployed real estate professionals and start-up companies in their efforts to enter the marketplace

2. The approach should satisfy the following objectives:

a. Prepare the unemployed real estate professional for reentry into the marketplace

b. Produce more “ marketable” professionals in the industry with education and certifications

c. Produce “ARGUS Software Certified” professionals that are prepared to be immediately productive in their new endeavors

d. Enable start-ups to spend their limited resources on employees while having access to the tools that enable them to thrive.

e. Create new opportunities
Posted 3 days ago | Reply Privately

Mark Kingston
CEO
Plan:

1. The program will be affordable to 100% of those participating.

a. This means, little or no cost

1. Eligibility will include:

a. Unemployed
b. Startup companies launched in 2009, or
c. companies hiring individual(s) that have been unemployed for more than six months
d. others, that I haven't identified but need an assist

1. The packaged offering includes a combination of training, software and experience as outlined below:

a. Access to DCF eLearning modules 1 through 10 (90-day access from the start of each module)

b. Perpetual license of ARGUS Lite (comes with 6 months of ARGUS Standard)

c. Advanced training documentation (mailed hardcopy)

d. ARGUS Certification

e. Opportunities to work with our services group on contract engagements as they become available

1. The cost will be $ 995 per package

a. We reserve the right to waive the cost to any individual.
b. We reserve the right to let any individual pay us when they can pay us (maybe never).
c. We reserve the right to make a difference for any person or company that will let us help.

1. What do we hope the benifits will be to you?

a. Learn ARGUS DCF and become certified in the solution at a fraction of the cost or no cost depending on your situation.

b. Use the full version of ARGUS for 6 months without limitations and then the Lite version perpetually.

c. ARGUS is investing a net value of $ 5,000 toward each person that needs help or will help (e.g. companies that hire), $ 6,000 if we wave the package cost.

d. You succeed in improving your position

e. Employers, you get a well trained professional that is able to make an impact from the moment they come through your door without the cost or need to send them off for ARGUS Training.

1. Our limitations:

a. We will need to limit this to the first 2,000 people that request this package. Unfortunately we are constraied by the need to keep our heads above water. For us to be able to help, we have to stay strong too. We do have to sell a few higher prices copies. In any, given period as we exceed our cash-flow requirements we will expand the number of packages that we make available and or give to those who can’t afford any payment.

b. For those who think this is a big marketing gimmick, please swim in another pond. Our employees have taken a 15% pay reduction and two furlough days a month. Six of our top executives have taken their pay down to zero. Yes, I am working my rear off for free. At this point, nothing in it for me but the ability to help. In addition, I have had to lay off 100 people in the last twelve months. We do understand the pain you are experiencing. But we are fortunate in that we have kept our head above water. So we can try to help. FYI, no employee is actually taking their furlough days because of their desire to help. This gives us the margin required so that we can absorb this effort without compromising our obligations.

c. We will accept the risk that a few in the world, that can afford to buy the solution at the market value, will try to take advantage of this effort. Our team decided this is an acceptable risk if we can make a difference for the people that need help. For those who might be so inclined, please reconsider. Make your decision knowing that you would be breaking a trust and hurting the caring employees of ARGUS Software.

1. What do you have to do to get your package?

a. Send me an invite to connect on LinkedIn: mkingston@argussoftware.com

b. Join the “ARGUS Commercial Real Estate Network” group site on LinkedIn.

c. Once I have accepted your invitation to connect, send me an email on LinkedIn regarding your situation. Within 24 hours you will have the tools you need.

d. Remember, if you cannot afford the price of the package or cannot afford to pay it all up front let me know. We will not shut the door on the ability to help you
Posted 3 days ago | Reply Privately

Mark Kingston
CEO
8. How can others help?

a. If you have jobs available, please post them in the job listings located in “ARGUS Commercial Real Estate Network” group site.

b. If you have contract work for analysis, modeling or reporting requirements please contact us. We are going to invest in training a lot of people here that can benefit from having that practical application on their resumes. We will provide the service at cost and guarantee that all work will be supervised and reviewed by our best consultants. Who knows you may find a superstar to add to your team.

c. If you are a solution provider to the real estate industry, get in the game. What are you waiting for? Help this industry, bend a few of your rules and give some software and training away that can make a difference. It’s a currency that you have an abundance of. Use it.

d. If you are an industry participant that is interested in joining our effort to make a difference, connect to me as outlined above and join the ARGUS Commercial Real Estate Network. Success is a choice, and so is your decision to make a difference. As a minimum, it cost you less than five minutes to see what it’s all about. Join us in breaking convention. We are going to ignite a new market direction with the launch ARGUS Zone and the new transaction zone (A global property exchange). Everybody that is plugged in to this initiative to help will have access to this platform as another way to succeed in this market. It’s your choice. Make a difference.

e. Last, for those who have already joined, send this to someone you know that may need the help.

Let’s change the outcome,

Mark Kingston

Valuation Job Opportunity

2009-06-14T23:27:00.000-05:00

The North Texas Chapter of the Appraisal Institute posted the follow job notice.

The Pinnacle Companies in Dallas is looking for qualified appraisal candidates for long-term contract work at Fannie Mae. The NUC Review Appraiser is responsible for conducting retrospective valuation reviews of appraisal reports used by seller/servicers to support lending decisions and determine if they meet Fannie Mae guidelines, the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) and other professional appraisal standards. Pay range is $40/hr - $45/hr. Please forward your resume and contact information to Clay Findley at clay@pinnaclestaffingjobs.com for immediate consideration.

Dr. Hansz's Summer Office Hours

2009-06-04T11:09:00.001-05:00

My office hours will be from 2 to 4 PM on Mondays and Wednesdays. Please note, I will not have office hours on June 15, 17, 22, and 24.

UrbanPlan Competition Comes to an End

2009-05-08T13:22:00.007-05:00

The Urban Land Institute (ULI) UrbanPlan competition came to a conclusion last night with the City Council event.

From UrbanPlan City Council

All teams did well this semester but the Council selected a plan by (left to right) Demarqus James, Irene Yang, Luz Henry, Paul Mehlmann, and Victoria Dick (not in picture).

From UrbanPlan City Council

Read about this year's UrbanPlan competition in the Shorthorn:

http://www.theshorthorn.com/content/view/17060/209/

and

http://www.theshorthorn.com/content/view/16870/209/

Thank you to all the ULI council members Steve Stamos, Kip Daniel, Mike Wadsworth, and Lindsay Allen. Finally, special thanks to organizers Philip Bankhead and Jon Molnoskey.

Archon Looking for Summer Real Estate Research Intern

2009-05-08T13:14:00.003-05:00

Research Intern – 2009

Primary Job Duties

Performs predetermined task/projects that are designed to benefit Archon's business needs while also contributing to the Intern’s business exposure. Serve as analytical support to Research Associates and Analysts on special assignments such as region/property type, national. economy, capital markets, international markets, etc.

Position will perform in-depth analysis of real estate and capital market data to provide Archon decision makers with critical, timely information to accomplish tactical and strategic goals. Will have the opportunity to work on Archon Group geographic systems to improve the reporting with proprietary Archon databases as well as work in economic databases to update Archon’s viewpoint by region.

Required Skills

Strong organizational and inter-personal skills with an understanding of real estate economics & analysis as well as an interest to learn about advanced real estate research. Aptitude for the art of discovery a plus. Excellent PC skills in Excel, Word and PowerPoint as well as some experience in conducting Internet research are required.

Preferred Skills

Some research experience and an understanding of RE market data terms and data products a plus. Strong writing and presentation skills preferred.

The ideal candidate will be a junior going into their senior year.

If interested, please send a brief cover letter and resume to:

Doug Prickett, CRE
Director of Research
Archon Group, LP
a Goldman Sachs Company
6011 Connection Drive
Irving, Texas 75039
Tel: 972-368-2586 | Fax: 972-368-4198
email: doug.prickett@archongroup.com

Josh Been's Summer Class Summer I

2009-05-06T14:50:00.001-05:00

If anyone is looking to register for Josh Been's summer class, this class is being held in the Summer I session. Just fyi.

Looking for Summer Real Estate Intern

2009-05-06T14:48:00.000-05:00

Hudson Peters Commercial

Commercial Real Estate Office Looking for Summer Intern

Dear Fellow Broker,

We are looking for a summer intern. The ideal candidate will have the following qualifications:

* Desire to work in a Commercial Real Estate upon graduation in BROKERAGE!!!
* Working on a Business, Finance, Marketing or similar degree with graduation in 2010 or later
* Good Computer Skills--Familiarity with Excel, Word, Publisher and PowerPoint

Position is 15-25 hours per week. 3-4 days/week

$10/hour

See Our Listings 24/7 at: www.HudsonPeters.com
Michelle Hudson, CCIM
HUDSON PETERS COMMERCIAL
972.980.1188 x202 | F: 972.980.1181 | C: 214.534.0226
4055 Valley View Lane, Ste. 260, Dallas, TX 75244
Hudson@HudsonPeters.com

UrbanPlan City Council This Week!

2009-05-05T18:07:00.004-05:00

The UrbanPlan City Council will be held this Thursday at 7:30 PM in room 633/634 Business Building. Anyone is welcome to check it out and see which of three UP student proposals the Urban Land Institute mock City Council will select.

Professional dress recommended (and required for presenting students).

REAL ESTATE 5311 BLOG: Sustainability For Real Estate Developments

2009-04-24T16:12:00.066-05:00

The images show night shot of Toronto during Earth Hour
Toronto Image source: Earth Hour 2008, Ivy Images

On March28, 2009 during Earth Hour, initiated by WWF ( http://www.earthhour.org/ ) between 8:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. the global lights-out event was observed. We all need to reduce the power we use at home to help save a planet threatened by the overproduction of energy. What we do during Earth Hour is not going to save the planet, but it is going to inspire people to make their lives and surrounding more ‘sustainable’.

The term 'sustainability' peaked on blogs, boards and discussion groups after Al Gore’s “Inconvenient Truth” took home the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature in February 2007. Per Nielsen Buzz Metrics reports, the buzz levels on this term went up by 169 percent in July 2007 versus one year ago. Innovations or actions to promote sustainability make up daily headlines, such as the following, for every newspaper or T.V. channels.

Greenest Computers Rated By PC Mag
300 Schools On Green Building Council’s Certification Waiting List
Dell To Favor Suppliers That Report GHG Emissions
NAHB Certification Program Will Compete With LEED
Target Targets Eco-Friendly Prototypes
or Mitsubishi Has Big Plans for Electric Vehicles

The question that comes to mind is whether ‘sustainability’ is for real or just another buzz word? I will like to share this educational video (click on the video below)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEFwaQej_0E

Sustainability — the ability to meet our needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs. Let us ponder for a moment and ask the question - are we really using our recourses wisely? The answer is no. The fast growth in the last few decades have left us with scarcity of natural resources, climate changes, and uncertainty for future generations. Argument here is not anti growth but how judicious we are while using our resources.

This calls for a dramatic change in our lifestyles and carbon habits to resolve this issue. As a real estate student and architect by profession, I know that real estate development has been a big contributor to this problem.

As per US Green Building Council (USGBC), buildings take up:

40% of total primary energy use
72% of total electricity consumption
32% of total CO2 emission
13.6% of total potable water consumption

Building sector leads the global CO2 emission followed by transportation and industrial
This is a huge strain on our eco system. The solution is our…. buildings need to be smarter in the use of these resources or in other words ‘GREEN’.

According to USGBC, green buildings can reduce
energy use by 25-50%,
CO2 emission by 33-39%,
water use by 40%, and
solid waste by 70%.

From the year 2006 to 2010, projected market value of green buildings is going to increase for new construction from $12 billion to $30-$60 billion and for renovations from $130 billion to $240billion.

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards established by USGBC has set the benchmark ( http://www.usgbc.org/ ) for certification programs related to buildings and neighborhood development. There are many such certification programs, few of which are:

NAHB national green building program
( http://www.nahbgreen.org/)
US department of energy ‘Energy Star’ program
( http://www.energystar.gov/)
Environmental Protection Agency Green Buildings
( http://www.epa.gov/)

Apart from this, many cities in America adopted their own certification programs. For example, the City of Austin's Green Building Program has been implemented very successfully.
( http://www.austinenergy.com/). In our own backyard, the City of Dallas recently adopted a standard that all new commercial buildings will have to be built to meet the sustainibility standards ( http://www.greendallas.net/).

USGBC, a non-profit trade organization, was founded in 1993. As mentioned earlier, it is best known for the development of LEED rating system and Greenbuild, a green building conference that promotes the green building industry. LEED is a third-party certification program and the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings. LEED gives building owners and operators the tools they need to have an immediate and measurable impact on their buildings’ performance. LEED promotes a whole-building approach to sustainability by recognizing performance in five key areas of human and environmental health: sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor environmental quality.

There are LEED projects in all 50 states and 91 countries and 81,155 LEED Accredited Professionals.

19,957 members of USGBC members includes building owners and end-users, real estate developers, facility managers, architects, designers, engineers, general contractors, subcontractors, product and building system manufacturers, government agencies, and nonprofits.

Now apart from tree hugger approach the million-dollar question for developers is does it cost more to build green and does it payback?
As per Peter Morris & Davis Langdon, the answer is yes. But most of the times the people who are green averse are happy to relate anecdotes of premiums in excess of 30% to make their case not to build green. These numbers are simply not, however, borne out by the facts, as evidenced by many studies of the cost of green building. Even though there is no one-size-fits-all answer to the cost question, it is clear from the substantial weight of evidence in the marketplace that reasonable levels of sustainable design can be incorporated into most building types at little or no additional cost.

Very frequently a comparison is made between the cost of the green project and the original project budget or the original anticipated cost of the project. Most of the studies that use this methodology report average green premiums in the range of 1% to 2% to achieve a moderate level of sustainable design, generally equivalent to LEED Silver rating. Higher levels of sustainability are usually linked to higher green premiums.

An alternative approach, also used in many green cost analysis, is to look at the cost of individual green features, effectively comparing the building to itself without the green features. Most of the studies that use this individual add-on methodology report somewhat higher green premiums, in the range of 2% to 6%, to achieve a moderate level of sustainable design (such as LEED Silver).

Keep in mind these are studies and they can be only used as a guidance in planning and budgeting the project. The real question should not be “How much more will this cost?” but “How will we do this?” Sustainability is not a below-the-line item.

But the cost of building GREEN is reducing every day mainly due to:

1.Bigger market for sustainable products, which help reduce the unit cost of these products due to, increased volume.

2.Also, new inventions and technology is making cost of the green product less. As per the studies published by Photon consulting cost of solar power is racing to be $1/W by 2012.

3. New changes at federal government has made it very clear that achieving energy efficiency is the one the main agenda of this administration. In addition, recently extended and announced tax rebates, grants and programs is the step in the right direction. Further information could be found on US Department of energy website (http://www.energy.gov/) and US EPA website ( http://www.energystar.gov/ )

4. Many state and local government run the incentive programs and tax breaks for building Green. More information is available at DSIRE (http://www.dsireusa.org/). Also many utility providers have rebates available for building sustainable products

5. Many financial institutes like retirement pension funds are asking developer to achieve certain sustainibilty standards to qualify for the funding.

6. Also private funding are demanding for green standards so that the value of their investments is maintained

All these incentives are definitely driving the cost of building green down and adding value to the real estate projects.

How does it pay back?
It pays back owner of the building by
- Reduced operating cost
- Energy savings
- Less maintenance cost due to higher standards in construction
- Owners can demand higher rents
- Fewer turnovers of tenants due to less utility bills and health benefits tenants
- Property retains more value at the point of turnover
- Marketing tool

Green buildings help the tenants or its end user in many ways. It increases the efficiency of the employees due to increased natural light, Better ventilations and less toxic material used for the construction. The students have shown better results in schools that are built based on sustainable principles. The patients have shown faster improvements in the hospitals those are certified by green building programs. The residents in the sustainable communities have shown significant improvement in their health and productivity due to change in their life styles use of environmental friendly materials during construction.

Blair Towns, Silver Spring, MD a development by The Tower Companies is a LEED Gold rated project completed in 2003.
You can visit their website, http://www.blairapartments.com/ and how developer is using the LEED certification as a marketing tool.
Natural Recourses Defenses Council (http://www.nrdc.org/) has conducted a case study for this project, which could be viewed online by visiting
http://www.nrdc.org/buildinggreen/casestudies/blair.pdf

All these benefits to the tenants or end users definitely pay back developers in increasing or retaining the value of their properties.

Apart from financial pluses and minuses, the government is making sure new developments meet sustainability standards. Federal government has made it mandatory for all federally funded projects to obtain some level of LEED certification. The number of state and local governments developing or requiring sustainability standards is increasing everyday. A report published by American Institute of Architects (AIA) in mid 2008, shows that there are 92 cities with green building programs -- or to put that in perspective, over 42 million people live in cities with green building programs.

With the increasing regulations and benefits, developers need to revaluate their spreadsheets. Even if developers do not want to pay the added cost, they will still be able to create sustainable developments with better design, construction and development practices such as:
Selecting site locations near to public transport
Orientations of the building to take advantage of natural light and ventilation
Using environmental friendly and local materials during construction
Emphasis on using right construction practice
Use of native landscape

And the list can go on........

To summarize sustainable development is need of the time and is here to stay, it is in developers’ interest to start practicing it and be a leader before the competition catches on it.

Post by Yogesh Patil, REAE 5311 student

Credits and resources:

http://www.usgbc.org/
http://www.energystar.gov/
http://www.nahbgreen.org/
http://www.dsireusa.org/
http://www.earthhour.org/
http://www.energy.gov/
http://www.greendallas.net/
http://www.austinenergy.com/
http://www.environmetalleader.com/

UrbanPlan Facilitation

2009-04-24T05:46:00.000-05:00

Check out Ali's story on the UrbanPlan facilitation:

http://www.theshorthorn.com/content/view/16870/209/

Job/Internship Posting

2009-04-21T16:19:00.002-05:00

Ali Samee wanted to pass along some job postings (one in Houston).

http://www.pky.com/hr/careers.aspx

Have you guys been following our two Interns this semester at http://reae5399.blogspot.com? It has been interesting to see the weekly experiences.

REAE 5311 Blog Post: Zoning 101

2009-04-16T15:39:00.004-05:00

As anyone involved in real estate can attest to, understanding zoning as it relates to the acquisition of any type of property, is of the utmost importance. This posting is meant to provide a brief overview of zoning and how nonconforming use can affect the property and what remedies exist in order to prevent a situation that is summarized at the conclusion of this essay.
Zoning is the mechanism municipal jurisdictions use to control desired growth and development, while trying to eliminate or at least minimize problems of crowding and land use conflicts. Zoning tells property owners what and how they can and cannot build on their land. Decades of court cases have shown that cities and towns have both a responsibility and a constitutional right to protect the public welfare by placing limits on the uses of private property.2

The history of zoning dates back many years. As cities grew larger and more complex in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, governments became increasingly involved in providing municipal services, promoting the development of public infrastructure, and regulating private real estate development. Also in the latter part of the 19th century, cities began to limit to certain areas within the city those hazardous but necessary business and industrial activities that might cause fires or expose people to disease, harm or noxious odors. Selective prohibition of these uses by geographic location was an early form of land use zoning. Overall, the private sector-not just community groups but also many real estate entrepreneurs-strongly favored the growing number of public laws and codes regulating urban development and land use. They supported zoning restrictions to stabilize real estate markets, increase property values, and encourage new investment because the understood that the restriction enabled them to build or buy property with less risk of unfavorable change on the adjoining lots and the surrounding neighborhoods.2

In order to first understand zoning as it relates to real property transactions the following is a brief overview of permitting, use classifications, and items that need to be collected to perform the necessary due diligence before an acquisition:

Use of property is permitted four ways:
· Permitted by right
· Permitted by conditional/special use permits
· Permitted by variance
· Permitted as an accessory use (manager’s residence within a mini-warehouse)

Generally there are five major types of use classifications:
· Commercial
o Retail, Restaurants, Personal service, Hotels, Office
· Agricultural
· Residential
o Multi-Family, Nursing Homes, Student Housing, Single Family
· Industrial
o Manufacturing, Warehouse, Research & Development
· Planned Development/Special Use
o A use that would not be appropriate generally, or without restriction throughout a zoning district or classification, but, which is controlled as to number, area, location or relation to the neighborhood in which it is proposed. Examples would include nursing homes, restaurants with patios and/or drive thru windows, communication towers, and gas stations
In a transaction, a list of necessary due diligence items should be reviewed:

1. The specific zoning designation of the site, as established by the current municipal code, as well as any prior designations
2. The uses allowed under the zoning designation established by the zoning ordinance and whether the present use of the subject site is legally permitted
3. The minimum yard or setback requirements, and a review of the survey for compliance
4. The building height requirement, whether by number of stories or actual height above ground level, and a review of the survey for compliance
5. The bulk or density restrictions of the property. The relationship of the square footage of the land area versus the square footage of existing buildings would be checked for proper ratio. Specific density per acre requirements based upon number of units, and floor area ratios based upon the total square footage of multistory buildings, would also be considered
6. The formula for determining the minimum parking requirement and the “mix” of existing units on the site. When calculated, comparisons of the required parking count to the actual site count, as shown on the survey. Handicap and compact spaces would also be addressed.
7. Special circumstances to be considered would include legal non-compliance of any of the above factors, the issuance of zoning compliance letters from the municipalities, the existence of variances, council minutes, certificates of occupancy, building inspections, the effect of site plan approvals, airport zoning districts, and businesses serving alcohol, just to name a few.
The variety of types and definitions can be overwhelming, even for professionals. That is why it is most important to pay attention to definitions. Much of the law of zoning is in the definition, in other words, how you can and cannot use the land.
To give an idea, of how definitions can rule the day, consider the movement to zone away fast food chain restaurants. Some towns, in the belief that this is not a good use, have simply banned all formula restaurants, generally defined as restaurants with a set architecture and set menus that have more than a small number of outlets. A developer could have paid big money for a great site at a prime intersection for a national franchise fast food restaurant and then have the zoning rug yanked out from under them with the adoption of a prohibition on formula restaurants.1

Zoning laws are constantly changing but are not enforced retroactively.1 A building in existence at the time a new zoning law is adopted is said to be “grandfathered” or “legally nonconforming” and cannot be declared illegally nonconforming. But if the legally nonconforming structure is destroyed beyond the threshold set forth in the Code, the owner may be allowed to rebuild only in accordance with present zoning laws. There are three zoning conformance status of the site: legal conforming, legal nonconforming, and nonconforming:

In legal conforming, the project meets all zoning district use, area, setback, height, density, and parking requirements according to the most recent zoning ordinance or land use requirements in your jurisdiction. The (legal) nonconforming rebuildability clause will not apply because your project is legal and has 100% right to rebuild in the event of any percentage of destruction.

In legal nonconforming, the project was conforming at the time of construction but due to changes in the zoning ordinance, the governing jurisdiction, or zoning designation, the project is no longer conforming. Jurisdictions have different rules governing legal nonconforming projects. Some allow 100% rebuild in the event of destruction while other require planning commission approval to rebuild, regardless of the percentage of destruction. All are subject to the nonconforming rebuildability clause of the zoning ordinance as they have been granted certain legal protections for rebuild. The following are a few causes constituting legally nonconforming:
· Built prior to the establishment of the zoning code
· Changes in the zoning code over time
· Annexation from one jurisdiction to another
· Subdivision of the property
· Condemnation proceedings (often affects building and parking setbacks)
· Rezoning of the property

The following are examples:
· Legal nonconforming buffer yards- A Florida café that has enjoyed patio seating for years, but current Code now requires a buffer between the property line and any improvements. If the patio area were to be destroyed by storm or fire, it would not be allowed to be rebuilt.
· Legal nonconforming setbacks and parking-An Arizona hospital that was built in the county and later annexed in the city. Differences in code requirements between the two jurisdictions caused setback and parking deficiencies.
· Legal nonconforming to height-A multi-family complex that was built prior to changes in the zoning code, which lowered the allowable building height from three stories to two stories.
In nonconforming status, the project does not conform to current zoning requirements, and did not conform to the requirements in place at the time of construction. In the event of destruction of any percentage or value, the project will require to be reconstructed according to the requirements of the current zoning ordinance. The nonconforming rebuildability clause of the zoning ordinance will not apply to a nonconforming project because the site does not have a legal status. Situations that could possibly lead to a property becoming nonconforming include:
· A change of use (retail to restaurant) done without approvals, which requires additional parking
· Illegal use (retail in residence)
· Re-striping of the parking lot which causes spaces to be lost
· Removal of landscaping to accommodate additional parking or structures
· Conversion of apartment, hotel or nursing home units that exceed the total number approved at the time of construction
· A structure built closer to the property line than what was originally approved
· Construction error
Examples of nonconforming uses include the following:
· Nonconforming to parking-A resort hotel in Michigan was approved with parking to be constructed on an adjoining lot also owned by the owner, the parking spaces were never built, the city never noticed, a certificate of occupancy was issued, and then the owner sold the land
· Nonconforming to density-An assisted living center in Arizona was approved for 85 beds, the certificate of occupancy was issued for 85 beds, and it now has 95 beds by converting other space in the building which was never applied for or approved in the zoning process
· Nonconforming to density and open space-A multi-family site in Georgia was approved and developed on 30 acres, the owner sold 10 acres of unimproved land which caused density, open space, and landscaping problems, which are not easily cured
There are gambles with a nonconforming use: (1) local zoning authorities can change their minds and take steps to gradually cancel the nonconforming use over time; (2) you can lose the right if you substantially change the existing use of the business (i.e., a garage becomes a Blockbuster video franchise), your building is damaged or destroyed (i.e., your garage has to be rebuilt because of a fire), you shut down operations for several months (the length of time varies with local law), you discontinue operations entirely, or you significantly expand your business operations (i.e., your garage now includes an auto parts store)
The following are remedies if the project is nonconforming:
· Fix the problem (example: stripe more spaces, move the encroaching accessory building)
· Apply for a variance or special use permit
· Draw up a reciprocal parking agreement with the adjoiner
· Purchase land from the adjoiner
· Apply for a change in the zoning district

Variances
Variances are a discretionary relaxation from the strict application of certain zoning requirements granted by the Board of Adjustment to alleviate conditions peculiar to a particular property which places an undue burden upon the individual landowner.2 In more simplified terms, a variance is a zoning approval granted by a zoning board of appeals to do something that is otherwise illegal. It is for this reason that in most communities there is real tension between the zoning board of appeals and the separate zoning authority, which may be a planning board, zoning board, or local legislative body. Variances, like special permits, run with the land and attaches to the property and is generally about the use and not the land.1
There are many examples of zoning violations: Overflowing dumpsters, proper landscaping not provided, dumpsters located on parking spaces, illegal banners and signs, loss of striped parking, tenants parking on neighboring property, criminal activity by tenants, i.e. prostitution/drug dealing, graffiti, etc., taking place on the premises with landowner disregard, abandoned vehicles, etc.
Building Violations can include: Building permits not being final, certificates of occupancy not issued usually due to lack of final inspection, elevator violations, tenant complaints for structural problems, such as leaking roofs, cracked walls, faulty plumbing, etc.
Some requests for a variance – such as the same request that everyone else nearby has already obtained -- are a simple matter that can be handled alone. However, if the variance is important, or time is important, and the person does not want to risk getting turned down, or the matter is sort of unique, they may need the assistance of an attorney familiar with local zoning laws and practices. In fact it may also be necessary to obtain an architect or other expert to assist the attorney.

Special Use Permits
In most jurisdictions, special permits are an administrative, not legislative type like variances are. Special permits command that great middle ground between the largely discretionary zoning amendment and the process with little or no discretion which includes not only the zoning enforcement review but other administrative approvals such as subdivision and site plan review.
Protection
When negotiating a contract there is language in the document that will protect the buyer and the seller. This language in the contracts is found under “Representations and Warranties” in order prevent the previous case from happening, assuming both parties are honest:

A. Knowledge
Sellers have become increasingly wary of making any meaningful representations and warranties, and any that are given are likely to be qualified by some degree of knowledge -- "to the best of Seller's knowledge", "to the best of Seller's current actual knowledge without inquiry" and statements that "Seller is aware of no..." are a few examples of the lengths Sellers will go to say very little. Most Purchasers are not looking to set the Seller up for a breach of warranty or misrepresentation suit; they just want to elicit information that is not readily available from other sources. The Purchaser would like to know if there are any lawsuits, condemnations, violations (environmental, building code, etc.), and other pertinent facts about the property, but the Seller is cautious to go on the line for any of these things. The courts interpret actual knowledge to refer to those things of which the one sought to be charged has express information and those things which a reasonably diligent inquiry and exercise of the means of information at hand would have disclosed.4
Therefore, to make a statement to one’s “actual knowledge” implies a duty of inquiry. One common solution that may satisfy both the Seller and the Purchaser is to define “knowledge” and identify a person or persons within the Seller's operations who knows about the Property and its operations. The Seller is then not in a position of having to conduct internal due diligence of its many employees to determine who might have knowledge, and the Purchaser has the person who is most familiar with the Property actually telling something about it.

B. Disclaimer – “AS IS, WHERE IS”
In 1995, the Texas Supreme Court determined that the agreement to sell and purchase commercial property "as is" effectively negates any cause of action for DTPA violation, fraud and negligence, because the disclaimer defeats the element of causation.5 This reasoning has been extended to residential contracts as well.6 To be successful in relying on an “as is” disclaimer, the Seller should verify that all of the following apply:
• The Seller must disclose all known defects to prevent the Purchaser from claiming it was induced to buy, due to Seller’s fraud, misrepresentation or concealment of information.
• The Seller cannot obstruct the purchaser's ability to inspect the property.
• The "as is" clause must be an important basis of the bargain. It cannot be an incidental provision or a part of the "boiler plate" of the provision.
• The Purchaser and Seller must have relatively equal bargaining positions.

C. Disclosures
Regardless of what representations and warranties are made and what amount of disclaimers are required by the Seller to give its concerns, the Seller needs to disclose to the Purchaser any known defects, violations or conditions pertaining to the property (especially environmental or building code violations). A Seller of real estate is under a duty of disclosing material facts which would not be discoverable by the exercise of ordinary care and diligence on the part of the Purchaser, or which a reasonable investigation and inquiry would not uncover.7 The duty to disclose arises when one party knows that the other party is ignorant of the true facts and does not have an equal opportunity to discover the truth.7 However, a Seller has no duty to disclose facts it does not know.8 And a Seller is charged only with disclosing such material facts as to put a Purchaser exercising reasonable diligence on notice of the condition of the property.9 The Seller has no duty to disclose the legal status of the Property (e.g. zoning) to the Purchaser.10
In Conclusion, it is essential that a Seller knows all of the facts about the Property that may be of concern to the Purchaser, and thus should be disclosed in writing to the Purchaser. This is particularly true with respect to environmental conditions of the Property, all of which should be thoroughly and carefully disclosed to the Purchaser. The simplest way to do this is in the Contract itself, or in an addendum attached there. Many lawsuits as well as additional money spent by the developer to remedy the situation can be avoided if the proper and necessary steps are taken by both the Purchaser and the Seller.

Posted by Josh Smith-REAE 5311 Student

References
1 Merriman, Dwight. The Complete Guide To Zoning. New York City: Mcgraw-Hill, 2004.
2 Miles, Mike PHD, et. Al. Real Estate Development: Principles and Process. Third edition. New York City: Urban Land Institute, 2003.
3 Prudential Insurance Company of America v. Jefferson Associates Ltd., 896 S.W.2d 156 (Tex. 1995).
4 Erwin v. Smiley, 975 S.W.2d 335 (Tex. App. – Eastland 1998, pet. denied); Larsen v.Carlene Langford & Associates, Inc., 41 S.W.3d 245 (Tex. App. – Waco 2001, pet.denied); Cole v. Johnson, 157 S.W.3d 856 (Tex. App. – Fort Worth 2005, no writ)
5 Oat Note, Inc., v. Ampro Equities, Inc., et al, 141 S.W.3d. 274, 280 (Tex. App. –Austin 2004, no writ).
6 Smith v. National Resort Communities, Inc., 585 S.W.2d 655, 658 (Tex. 1979)
7 Coldwell Banker Whiteside Associates v. Ryan Equity Partners, Ltd., Cause No.01571-CV (Tex. App. – Dallas 2006, no writ).
8 Robinson v. Preston Chrysler-Plymouth, Inc., 633 S.W.2d 500, 502 (Tex.1982); Prudential, supra at162 (Tex. 1995)
9 Cole v. Johnson, supra at 860 (Tex. App.-Fort Worth 2005). (Refers to a seller of a house)
10 Coldwell Banker, supra.

A Change This Fall

2009-04-09T14:27:00.005-05:00

Dear Graduate Real Estate Students,

For those of you who have visited with me at my office, you can see by the piles of projects, exams, and research papers that I have been at UTA for a very long time (10-years to put a number to it). North Texas and UTA have been great places for me, real estate, and REAE@UTA, but I will try a little different challenge this fall. In August, I will move to Central California to help run the Gazarian Real Estate Center.

I will keep my e-mail address ahansz@gmail.com if anyone needs to contact me. Also, as I promised, I will keep this blog active. I have really enjoyed the student blog posts this past year and I think the post topics and quality have been outstanding. Thank you to my bloggers for the good work. I know that others inside and outside of UTA have enjoyed your posts too.

David Gray will be handling questions and concerns about the real estate program going forward and Fred Forgey will officially run the program starting this Fall semester (see the post below for more details).

Cheers,
Dr. Hansz

Message from David Gray Regarding the Real Estate Program

2009-04-08T21:16:00.001-05:00

Dear MSRE Student:

The purpose of this message is to inform you that the MSRE program is alive and well and will certainly continue into the foreseeable future. Dr. Andy Hansz is leaving us but Dr. Fred Forgey is joining the College of Business in August 2009 to provide leadership for the program. No changes are contemplated in terms of degree requirements; however, starting Fall 2009 all graduate courses in real estate will be offered at the UT Arlington-Fort Worth campus. The new class schedule will adhere to a primarily Saturday based degree program with elective courses being offered evenings during the week. All courses needed for the degree will be offered at the Fort Worth Center. More details about the class schedule will be communicated to you in the coming weeks.

This course (class) re-location change is being made to better integrate the degree program with industry professionals and raise the profile of the program to a national level. Additional steps are being planned in this regard; information will be communicated to you during the next two or three months so that you can be more fully informed.

At this point if the class schedule and location changes become problematic for you, please contact me at gray@uta.edu or 817-272-3387.

David A. Gray

Associate Dean

Mineral Rights, Natural Gas, and Their Economic Effects.

2009-04-04T20:40:00.021-05:00

Mineral Rights: Natural Gas

By: Michael Sanchez

Real Estate 5311 Blog Post

According to the United States Census data, approximately 485,000 new one-family homes were sold in 2008. Of the 485,000 homes sold in 2008, 266,000 were sold in the South region of the United States alone, or over 50%. Usually when someone thinks of a family purchasing a home, they only consider the land and the structure on top of the land; rarely ever do they consider what may lie beneath the land they have purchased. Back before the days of drilling and mining; before natural resources such as oil, gas, gold, coal…etc… became a commercial process, owners would obtain a fee simple interest in the complete property. These would individually be called “surface rights” and “mineral rights”. This complete property ownership is called a “fee simple estate”. A person who owns mineral rights to a specific property may in turn sell, lease, or give the rights to the associated minerals to another entity. This is very common in the United States, and rights to real estate (mineral and surface), are often shared amongst multiple owners. This complete property ownership is unique to the United States, and a small amount of other countries. In most other countries, the rights to the natural resources beneath one’s land belong to the government and the property owner only receives the surface rights.

Mineral Rights: Local Impacts, the Barnett Shale.

Have you noticed the natural gas wells that have appeared sporadically around the area? Many of these have appeared alongside freeways and even around DFW airport. More than 6,000 natural gas wells have sprouted up in the North Texas area! This is largely a result of new technology that has enabled natural gas companies to started drilling into a huge natural gas reservoir called the Barnett Shale. The Barnett shale is huge source of natural gas that stretches over 16 to 21 North Texas counties! It covers about 6,000 square miles and is currently the second largest producing on-shore domestic natural gas field in the United States. Many North Texas residents, universities and commercial property owners are benefiting from associated mineral leases and royalties related to the Barnett shale mining. This lease gives the associated mining company the rights to test and (for a sum of money based on various factors) mine the minerals under the property owners land for a specified period of time. Payments to the owners of the mineral rights are known as royalty payments. This works in a similar way with owners who own the right to coal, oil…etc…

The impacts of the Barnett Shale to the North Texas area have been largely positive. The Barnett Shale has created about 70,000 jobs in the North Texas area, and the economic impact of the Barnett Shale to the North Texas area was significant. The estimated economic output in 2008 was estimated at $11 Billion. Even with the economic collapse this year, the impact remains strong for 2009 at $6.5 Billion. The main contributor to the decrease in oil production is the collapse in oil and gas prices; since reaching their peak in October of 2009, they have decreased around 70 percent. Although natural gas production and prices are forecasted to gradually increase through the year, they are still estimated to be around 40% lower by year end. The Barnett Shale is largely considered long-term resource in the North Texas area, one that will continue to create and maintain jobs through the region, which will contribute to the local economy for years.

Negative Issues: Externalities As a Result of Natural Gas Drilling

As with everything, there are always two sides – especially when it comes to natural resource exploitation. The drilling for natural gas does result in some negative externalities that the surrounding communities will have to deal with. North Texas Natural gas pipeline companies have received negative feedback from nearby property owners that are apprehensive about the impacts the oil rigs will have. Pipelines are often extremely intrusive and require a large amount of land to be laid properly. Furthermore, the pipeline companies are able to use eminent domain powers in order to seize property for the routing of pipelines, due to it being labeled as a “public good”. Other negative externalities include wastewater disposal, traffic from related vehicles, noise, property values, as well as many others. Steps are being taken by state legislation to limit to impact that natural gas exploitation will have. Over a dozen bills have been introduced to give cities and residents more power to deal with the eminent domain issues, pipeline placement, wastewater disposal, truck traffic and other issues stemming from drilling activities. These externality "costs", must be weighed against the associated royalties one may receive by owning a particular set of mineral rights.

Natural Gas: Present and Future

Obviously, natural gas shales exist in other parts of the world other than North Texas. Due to the variations of rock formations and density between the surface and the gas shale, it is often cost prohibitive to drill for natural gas. As new technologies are developed and perfected, the cost to drill and pump the gas out of the earth are becoming less and less. The spike in natural resource prices in 2008 also assisted in companies recouping their drilling costs due to the high price of gas and oil, and thus made the drilling of previously cost prohibitive gas shales more affordable from an economic standpoint. A good example of this can be seen with the Barnett Shale in the North Texas area. However, with the decline of oil and gas prices, coupled with the unprecedented economic collapse of 2008-2009, many oil companies were forced to scale back production. With the demand for natural gas being significantly less than it was last year, North America producers are currently facing a significant oversupply until the demand for natural gas returns to what it once was. This will undoubtedly have an impact on natural gas prices in the near future, which could have a positive or negative effect depending on who you are. Consumers always enjoy inexpensive energy prices, however the producers will be suffering from a loss in profits and having to scale back production and growth until the demand returns.

The Future of Natural gas production remains a mystery to many speculators. Even though it’s easy to say that it will undoubtedly increase due to the world becoming more industrialized; the consensus shift from natural resources to more renewable types of energy as a result of the spike in energy prices in 2008 are becoming more and more commonplace. Crude oil and natural gas, and the associated mineral rights to them may see itself as a dying industry in the near future.

References:

United States Census Data. New One-Family Houses Sold. 2008. <http://www.census.gov/const/soldann.pdf>

Picture of Barnett Shale obtained from: <http://blumtexas.blogspot.com/>

Picture of Natural Gas Rig obtained from: http://image.examiner.com/images/blog/wysiwyg/image/drilling_cropped.jpg

Picture of Stove obtained from: <http://images-cdn01.associatedcontent.com/image/A1369/136940/300_136940.jpg>

Picture of National Natural Gas Map obtained from: <http://www.aapg.org/explorer/2006/11nov/shale_playmap.jpg>

Jim Fuquay. “Barnett Shale impact forecast to be 40% lower in 2009”. Fort Worth Star Telegram. April 4 2009. <http://www.star-telegram.com/business/story/1253207.html>

Dave Montgomery. “Texas Legislature considers bill to allow drillers to use highway rights of way”. Ft. Worth Star Telegram. <http://www.star-telegram.com/business/story/1298748.html >April 3 2009.

Jim Fuquay. “Natural gas producers face North American oversupply until demand returns, study says”. Fort Worth Star Telegram. <http://www.star-telegram.com/business/story/1277322.html > March 29, 2009.

The Housing Crisis: Who Is To Blame?

2009-03-30T20:36:00.010-05:00

REAE 5311, Spring 2009 Blog

Hundreds to thousands of foreclosure signs have gone up in front of homes every week in the United States for the past several months; it’s amazing to think just a few years ago houses were being built and sold in this country at an alarming rate. Before a builder could even complete the foundation of a new home in some areas of the country like Arizona and Florida, eager owners were bidding on them. Now these once occupied dwellings are being put on auction blocks at the same fast rate they were being constructed and purchased, perhaps even faster. How could such a dramatic change of events occur in such a short time span? How could the American dream of owning a home become such a nightmare for millions of families? With billions of taxpayers’ money being spent to repair the damaged housing market, everyone is left searching for answers too so many questions. One question that will probably never be answered though is “Who is to blame?” The finger pointing began long before the problem reached its boiling point and yet no solitary cause has been identified, but many theories exist. Perhaps the fault belongs to the lenders and banks for loaning money to anyone who walked through their doors with their hands out. Maybe it’s the blunder of home builders for taking advantage of what seemed like a golden opportunity in their industry that would never come to an end, by building a new home in every nook and cranny of the country. Typically we blame the government for most of our country’s problems and maybe this is no exception. Obviously regulators fell asleep at the wheel and neglected the warning signs of what could happen. Considering it wasn’t too long ago we faced another bubble burst known as Dot Com, preventive measures could and should have been taken too avoid going down this path again. “We should have recognized a bubble when we saw it; just a few years before, another market bubble collapsed—in technology stocks and all the signs were there in housing,” (Bogoslaw & Steverman). Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are also easy targets; these government sponsored enterprises (GSE’s) were created during the Great Depression to securitize mortgages for lending financial entities. With so many banks going under of late because of the bad mortgages sitting on their books, I don’t think the GSE’s deserve a pat on the back for doing such a good job themselves. Perhaps though the responsible party for this mess is the hundreds of thousands of homeowners who couldn’t afford to rent a home, let alone buy one. Oh where to begin……

Let’s start with the government and its two once privatized, but now conservatory companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Until this past year, most citizens had never heard of these firms, but essentially they have a hand in almost every mortgage transaction that takes place in the U.S. oth corporations as mentioned earlier, were created by the federal government to purchase and securitize mortgages, ensuring funds would be available to financial institutions that provided loans to the home buyers. Basically, they were a safety net for banks should a borrower default on their loan. When these mortgages are bought by Fannie and Freddie, they are then combined into packages and sold to investors in the open market as mortgage-backed securities. Every mortgage lending institution does work with the two firms and “by 2008 investors around the world owned $5.2 trillion of debt securities backed by these companies. In fact, Fannie and Freddie themselves owned or guaranteed about half of the U.S.’s $12 trillion mortgage market, “(Duhgg). With so much money indebted in one industry, it’s no surprise investors and the government became concerned in the summer of 2008 when both companies stated they were facing financial troubles. Unfortunately however, the problems began a year earlier when the subprime mortgage crisis began and the root cause of the mortgage, financial, and economic crisis now plaguing the world, started to evolve. Where was the government to stop this madness? Many argue more regulation and intervention was necessary to control the trading of these financial assets and the lending practices being used to prevent the problem from becoming as large as it has. Others argue too much regulation employed by local and state governments was part of the problem, in that they caused home prices to rise to unsustainable levels. An example of this over-regulation occurred in the 1960s and 1970s when California and Hawaii employed Growth Management Planning to control and limit where home building took place. “These states effectively drew a line around a city, and allowed building inside the line, but not outside; over time, such regulation has spread dramatically,” (Hassett). With such constraints being placed on land usage and demand for new homes continuing to rise, the low supply level forced prices higher. This is where home builders become a factor.

Money is typically associated with the word inflation, referencing an increase in the money supply, but it can also means a rise in the price of goods and services, including real estate. In the years during the housing boom homes could not be built fast enough to keep up with the increasing demand of those who wanted to purchase them. This rise encouraged builders to raise their supply level, but the affect on prices by doing so can vary. Prices can increase, decrease, or not shift at all and remain at their current positions. For the housing market though, the equilibrium price rose and continued to rise as more and more future homeowners entered the market. So why would builders continue to put up new houses? Simple, to make more money because the more homes that were built and available on the market to sell, the more profits builders were able to attain. This favored Wall Street as well because the more houses that were bought and sold, the more mortgages Fannie and Freddie were able to purchase, package, and sell to investors who were eager to have them to sell around the world, yielding a profit for themselves. “It was music to the ears of Wall Street bankers whose business was to pool mortgages and sell them to investors who would then get the monthly payments those mortgages produced. The more mortgages lenders provided to homebuyers, the more product available to sell,” (Jacoby & Landers). In an effort to continue this revenue cycle much like what car dealerships do when they have a prospective buyer on their lot, builders strongly encouraged homeowners to finance through them, “an arrangement of the sort that helped fuel the long housing boom across the country,” (Hovanesian). It seemed at the time nothing could slow the money train down, but how quickly people forget. Like gravity, what goes up must come down and just like the event known as the Dot Com Bubble that not too long ago rattled our economy, we were about to face the same problem. If people didn’t believe in the phrase “history repeats itself” beforehand, they should now. Irrational and irresponsible behavior on the part of builders inflating the demand and prices of homes to unsustainable levels has helped burst another bubble and sent the housing market crumbling; still more blame can be passed around.

With all of the bailout money being given to so many financial institutions, many are now realizing how imperative these organizations are to our economic well-being. They flush money into our economy much like the heart pumps blood into the body. In fact, many economists and financial analysts have referred to banks as the “circulatory system” of our country. So why would an industry that plays such a crucial role in the health of our economy make so many mistakes and quite honestly, deceitful acts jeopardizing our well-being? Once again the answer is easy, to make money. Prior to 2000, the process to getting a home mortgage loan took forever with seemingly endless amounts of paper work. Personally I would not be surprised if many potential homebuyers were scarred away from buying a home because of the tedious process involved. Unfortunately, more people than ever wanted to buy at that time, but not all of these individuals qualified for a loan under the normal standards used by lenders. Banks then had to be creative in finding ways to get these prospective buyers into houses. Enter the subprime mortgages, no-document (no-doc.) loans, adjustable rate mortgages, and many more. Despite having different names, all of these loans have one thing in common, they were created and used to allow families to purchase homes they really could not afford. You have probably heard more than your fare share about how these mortgages work, so I won’t go into detail on what they all mean and how they operate. The thing you need to know is they are inappropriate means of lending money because they all break the rules of the normal home buying process. Being approved for a home despite having a poor credit rating or not providing documentation to prove your income or paying nothing in down payment are all against the traditional lending practices. With the introduction of these new methods of lending, a false impression was given to borrowers that these institutions were helping them. Now we have come to find out they have hurt them and are a major reason why so many foreclosures have occurred. No one would believe that managers, executives, and other officials at these banks did not know what they were doing and how risky their actions were. So it should be no surprise why so many Americans are furious at the idea of using taxpayer funds to keep these same banks from going out of business. Despite the irresponsible decisions made by so many individuals in these industries and the lack of oversight from the government, there’s still one group who deserves a good amount of blame, perhaps more than anyone else, the home owners.

Let’s face it, the lying and cheating was not just done by the investors on Wall Street or employees at the banks, those of us on “Main Street” bear some responsibility as well. Now personally, I place more blame on the groups of individuals I have previously discussed, those who are highly educated in the areas of finance and real estate. These are the people we expect to operate at higher standards and more hold more accountability for their actions because of the extensive knowledge they possess in these respective markets. With that being said however, the home owners now struggling to make their monthly payments and facing foreclosure did not have to do some of the things they did to purchase the home. Since when is lying about your income to buy something you know you can’t afford a good idea? The combination of low income and no assets equals disaster. It doesn’t end there for homeowners though, greed played a role in the decisions they made after they moved into their homes. Refinancing became an addiction because home prices were so high. Money was then used to shop, driving retail sales through the roof and further providing the false impression our economy was strong. Granted not every struggling homeowner falls into the category of being an irrational buyer who took on more debt than they could afford. There are those individuals who purchased homes they could afford using the standard mortgage loan procedures and those are the ones who should receive government/taxpayer assistance. But for those who can’t keep up with their monthly bills and already have a sizeable amount of debt they are struggling to pay down, purchasing a house should be the last item on your wish list, something many who are in foreclosure now are realizing. There’s nothing wrong with renting, I happen to think it has more advantages then owning a home. During the real estate boom though, people bought homes as if renting an apartment was something to be ashamed of and now they are where they probably should have been all along, renting.

Everyone in the categories I have mentioned thus far made mistakes that could have been avoided to prevent this from happening. There are however, many other groups of individuals I didn’t even discuss whose actions enhanced the problem as well. Let’s not forget about Loan Officers who made more money by approving more loans whether the borrowers could really afford them or not, credit rating agencies who rated mortgage backed securities at levels higher than they should have, inexperienced bankers who did not have the necessary education and training to perform their job, and many others. Accountability comes with mistakes and while ultimately for the good of our economy, we cannot allow this trend of foreclosures to continue, how will anyone learn from their mistakes if they don’t suffer the consequences of their actions? What’s most important though is for us to take the necessary steps to prevent this from happening again, by living within our means and the government doing more to regulate the actions of businesses involved in the real estate industry. Greed has such a profound affect on the decisions we make and the actions we take, as evidenced by what I have disucssed. The long term effects of those decisions and actions however, have consequences people don’t discover until it’s too late. We can no longer base our behavior solely on money; we must act more responsibly for the sake of ourselves, family, and communities. More importantly though, we all must use better judgment when making choices in our lives. We can’t rely on others to always do what is right, but we should always hold ourselves to higher standards and levels of accountability in the future to prevent another economic disaster such as this because I’m sure no one wants to encounter this again.

References:

Bogoslaw, David & Steverman, Ben. The Financial Crisis Blame Game. Business Week. October 2008.

Duhgg, Charles. Loan-Agency Woes Swell From a Trickle to a Torrent. The New York Times. July 2008.

Hassett, Kevin. Regulations Are At The Root Of U.S. Housing Mess. Bloomberg.com. March 2008.

Hovanesian, Mara Der. Bonfire OF The Builders: By rushing Into The Mortgage Business Big-Time, Homebuilders Helped Fuel The Housing Crisis. Business Week. August 2007.

Hovanesian, Mara Der. Builder Role In The Housing Crisis. Business Week. September 2007.

Jacoby, James & Landers, Jill. CNBC Special Report: House of Cards. Consumer News and Business Channel. February 2009.

UT-Arlington Special Events Center!!!!

2009-03-26T12:00:00.008-05:00

By: DeMarqus James

REAE 5311 Blog Post

In case you haven’t heard by now, our university is getting a new arena! On February 12, 2009, The University of Texas System Board of Regents held a meeting in Austin, in which they voted to permit The University of Texas-Arlington to go on with the development and design of a new special events center. The new special events center will accommodate UT Arlington men’s and women’s basketball and volleyball teams, commencements, concerts, conferences and much more.

Exterior Conceptual Rendering Picture courtesy of HKS sports & entertainment

Click Picture for Larger Image

BACKGROUND

As a former UTA men’s basketball member and current graduate student, I must say that the building of a new arena is long overdue. For over twenty years, UT Arlington and its surrounding community has anticipated what was recently announced. In the words of UT Arlington President James Spaniolo, “The realization of this center will create an instant landmark on campus and will represent a dream-come-true for an entire generation of UT Arlington students and alumni.”

The university currently uses Texas Hall, which is on the west side of campus, for all its special events. Texas Hall, or “The Stage”, is home to our men’s and women’s basketball teams and volleyball team. The university also uses this venue for graduation ceremonies, plays, concerts, guest speakers, etc. Texas Hall is a 76,000-square-foot combination special events center and theater. It holds a capacity of 3,600 with the seating consisting of bleachers on one side and theater style, plush seating on the other side. Those who sit on the theater side enjoy events from on elevated floor view. Texas Hall is possibly the most unique venue in the U.S. to watch a college basketball or volleyball game, which could be good or bad depending on the opinion. In 1997, Sports Illustrated named it "The Best Place in America to Watch College Basketball", which was pretty good considering the venues at that time. However, this is the year 2009, and the university was far behind in the advancement of the collegiate events venues amongst all universities until the announcement was made this February.

In December 2004, student congress had a chance to voice their opinions about the building of a new special events center through vote. The students overwhelmingly approved to have the student fee increased by six dollars per semester credit hour so that the arena could become a reality. Two dollars of the increase would be applied to the operating costs of the special events center project, the additional four dollars was for the improvement of what was formally known as the activities building, which is now called the Maverick Activities Center or the MAC.

DETAILS

The proposed new event center will cost an estimated $73 million. The financing of the special events center would be paid through local university funds, revenue financing system bond proceeds, unexpected plant funds and gifts/donations. To be exact, approximately $35 million from university funds, $28 million in revenue bonds from the UT System Office of Finance and $10 million from private donations. The proposed site of the center is located on the northeast corner of the campus, at W Second St. between S Pecan St. and S Center St.

Picture courtesy of The University of Texas-Arlington

Click picture for larger image

This ideal location is the center of expansion as the university continues to build residence halls and improves the college town community along the northern and eastern boundaries of campus. Also, the location is centrally located near the new Levitt Pavilion in downtown and connects the UT Arlington with the quality of redevelopment that is going on in the City of Arlington along Center St.

The proposed center is approximately 190,000 square feet with a seating capacity of 6,500. The new facility will consists of the arena, two full court practice gyms for the men's and women's basketball teams, new study rooms for student-athletes, a sports medicine center, and academic and computer center, a hospitality room and six suites overlooking the arena floor.

Interior Conceptual Rendering Picture courtesy of HKS sports & entertainment

Click picture for larger image

The anticipated completion date for the center is spring of 2012. The proposed construction time is approximately 30 months; at this point there has not been a groundbreaking date set but it has been proposed to be sometime in early 2010. UT Arlington has been committed to sustainable development by building green, and the center’s construction is designed to achieve LEED silver certification, which is Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. HKS, Inc. will be the architects of the special events center. HKS, Inc. portfolio includes mainly commercial construction as well as some residential developments. The notable HKS, Inc. sports venues are the new Dallas Cowboys Stadium, American Airlines Center (home of the Dallas Mavericks), and the new Lucas Oil Stadium which is home of the Indianapolis Colts. All proposals of the UT Arlington Events Center are conceptual renderings and more details will be given as the planning process moves forward. Over the next 10-12 months the final plans will be released including blueprints, costs, seating and amenities.

PARKING PROPOSAL

With the announcement of the proposed UT Arlington Events Center expected to locate in the northeast side of campus, there is a lot of buzz arising about the student parking. Currently the exact proposed location is home to Lot 42 and Lot 43 student parking lots, and the 7-eleven store. Many students are wondering what the university plans to do to replace the needed student parking. Well, the university is currently making plans to construct a large parking garage immediately north of the new proposed events center. Although the plans haven’t been finalized yet, the parking garage is expected to be used for daily campus parking, special event parking, and any downtown Arlington community events. As for the 7-eleven located on the Lot; it is expected the store will not be vacated any later than September 2010 according to 7-eleven public relations.

FUTURE IMPACT

Let the fight over the naming rights begin! The UT Arlington Events Center has been conceptually designed to be a state-of-the-art facility, and will certainly become one of the best college sports arenas in the nation. Compared to the other venues in the Dallas-Ft. Worth metropolitan, UT Arlington will be the “cream of the crop.” The new center will have the advantage of a new design and the newest innovative technology, which will make it the best of the best. The spring 2012 class will be the first to graduate in the new center. This will allow students to invite more family members to the commencement ceremonies. The new facilities will give a true home court advantage to the university basketball teams, as well as helping create a better college experience for students. The center should have a huge economic impact for both UT Arlington and the city. The city of Arlington will benefit from the center as it will attract mid-sized events with a capacity between 5,000 and 10,000 people. Such events may include mid-sized concerts, conventions, high school graduations, and high school sports playoff games. In conjunction with the new Dallas Cowboys Stadium and the redevelopment of Interstate 30 and downtown Arlington, the special events center will further enhance the City of Arlington, making it one of the most beautiful areas in the state if not the nation.

As a former UT Arlington basketball player, I have to say that I am a little jealous to not have a chance to play in the new arena, but I digress. This is a wonderful opportunity for university’s athletic department. I see UT Arlington becoming a household name with the likes of other mid major universities such Gonzaga and Davidson, etc. Hopefully in the near future, UTA will no longer be recognized as a commuter school, but instead be known for its unique college experience. I applaud President Spaniolo, the university community, and the UT Board of Regents for finally getting the deal done. Now students, faculty and alumni will have reason to have UT Arlington Maverick Pride!

References:

http://www.uta.edu/eventcenter/

http://www.uta.edu/eventcenter/news.html

http://www.uta.edu/eventcenter/president.html

http://www.uta.edu/eventcenter/gallery.html

http://www.uta.edu/eventcenter/faq.html

http://www.uta.edu/eventcenter/location.html

http://collegesportsblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2009/02/ut-arlington-to-get-new-basketball-arena.html

http://www.southland.org/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=90069&SPID=10821&temp_site=NO&DB_OEM_ID=18400&ATCLID=3668683

http://www.theshorthorn.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=16037&Itemid=62

http://www.ncaa.org/wps/ncaa?ContentID=45822

http://www.star-telegram.com/sports/story/1218645.html

http://www.utamavs.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/021209aac.html

http://www.utamavs.com/facilities/txar-facilities.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leadership_in_Energy_and_Environmental_Design

http://www.hksinc.com/index.html

First-Time Home Buying: Effects of the Subprime Meltdown and Opportunities for Buyers

2009-03-25T23:53:00.019-05:00

By Luz E. Monarez

REAE 5311

Buying a house for the first time is always nerve-racking, but trying to do it in an unstable economy can be even more harrowing for buyers. During the housing boom of the late 1990’s and early 2000’s, first-time home buyers had little to worry about. Even with bad credit history, loans were easily obtained, usually with no down payment, little to no upfront costs, and few income verifications. Credit was effortlessly being extended to high risk borrowers who wouldn’t have otherwise been able to afford a home.

Living the American dream was easier than ever to attain. But then the inevitable happened, the subprime mortgage collapse. As a result of the collapse, we have seen the supply of homes increase significantly, lenders have restructured their financing policies, property values have drastically decreased, and the economy has slid into a recession, which has prompted government involvement. All this has left first-time home buyers sitting on the sidelines wondering if they’ll ever have the opportunity to own their own home and live the American dream.

Strict Lending

By early 2007, foreclosures and interest rates continued to rise to the highest levels seen in years. Subprime lenders were no longer capable of financing new loans, which helped lead to their demise (Bianco 12). Subprime loans now are nearly unheard of. Nowadays, it is extremely difficult to obtain a conventional loan without a hefty down payment or excellent credit rating. Lenders are reverting back to the old way of doing things and requiring that buyers have a twenty percent down payment and a credit score above 680.

Even with substantial down payments and excellent credit scores, buyers must meet lenders rigorous income verifications. Because of the credit crunch, lenders are staying away from stated-income loans, which require little to no documentation. Now, in order to qualify for a conventional mortgage, lenders require extensive documentation such as a list of all creditors, the last two or three pay stubs, W-2’s and income tax returns for the previous two years, and bank statements going back two months.

Fence Sitters

Even though first-time home buyers accounted for 41 percent of buyers in 2008, according to the National Association of Realtors, the new painstaking lending standards coupled with a dwindling economy and mounting job losses are causing some to sit on the fence (Pilon D1). Buyers are afraid that the real estate market has not yet hit bottom and property values will continue to decline. They are fearful of purchasing a home only to end up owing more than the home is worth if their property value decreases (Lazo D01).

The fragile state of the economy has wreaked havoc on consumer confidence causing them to be afraid to buy, spend money, and/or invest. As Guy Cecala, publisher of Inside Mortgage Finance Publications said, “If people are scared to put money in the bank, they are going to be scared to make a big transaction like a house purchase” (Merle A01).

According to the National Association of Realtors’ housing affordability index – based on whether or not a typical first-time home buyer could qualify for a mortgage loan on a typical home – affordability is now at an all time high. Unfortunately, even though buyers can afford to purchase a home, they are still hesitating to jump into the real estate market. Nonetheless, if first-time home buyers do find the confidence to come back into the market, 2009 may be a great time to buy (Samuelson A17).

Buyer’s Market

At the end of December 2008, the National Association of Realtors reported that about 3.7 million vacant homes were listed for sale compared to 2.1 million in 2006. A large inventory of homes is a great advantage for first-time home buyers looking for a good deal on the right property. The U.S. Bureau of the Census reports that first-time home buyers usually buy smaller, older, and less-expensive homes. Therefore, finding the right home for these buyers usually tends to be a challenge, but that may not be the case anymore. At the moment, buyers have many options to choose from.

The influx of foreclosures in the marketplace has also helped drive house prices down. In fact, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, home prices have declined about 25 percent from their the highest point levels in mid-2006. This is great news for first-time home buyers because for example, a home that would’ve cost them $200,000 in 2006 can now be purchased for the much lower price of $150,000. Additionally, sellers are now desperate to sell and are willing to negotiate with buyers.

In addition, to low home prices and a large supply of homes, first-time home buyers can also take advantage of low interest rates, which have recently dropped to historic lows. With the Federal Reserve’s recent decision to print $1.2 trillion and push it into the economy, the national average rate on a 30 year, fixed-rate mortgage has fallen below 5 percent. This is the lowest rates have been in about 30 years. While it is difficult to predict when interest rates will change, many believe there has never been a better time to buy.

First-Time Home buyer Tax Credit

The government has taken some steps to help stimulate the economy and bring home buyers back into the market (Timiraos A4). In 2008, Congress approved a $7,500 tax credit for first-time home buyers, unfortunately that was not enough to help the housing sector since buyers were seeing it as just another loan given that the credit would have to be repaid. However, early this year the $7,500 tax credit was repealed and in its place is now an $8,000 tax credit that does not have to be repaid.

Here’s how the $8,000 tax credit works, according to the federal housing tax credit website:

The tax credit is equal to 10 percent of the home’s purchase price up to a maximum of $8,000.
Only available to first-time home buyers who have not owned a principal residence during the three-year period prior to the purchase.
All U.S. citizens who file taxes are eligible to participate in the program.
The tax credit does not have to be repaid, unless the home is sold within three years after the purchase.
Applies to all types of principal homes bought on or after January 1, 2009 and before December 1, 2009.
Single taxpayers with incomes up to $75,000 and married couples with incomes up to $150,000 qualify for the full tax credit.

Federal Housing Administration (FHA)

Economists believe that the tax credit in conjunction with low prices, large inventories, and low interest rates could be enough to lure first-time home buyers back into the housing market. Nonetheless, first-time home buyers typically have the most difficult time saving enough money for a down payment (Hoak). A few no-down-payment loans may perhaps still be available, but they will have a lot more restrictions than before and will require an excellent credit rating. Yet, there is hope for first-time home buyers with less than perfect credit who are unable to save for a 20 percent down payment.

Lately, many borrowers who aren’t qualifying for conventional loans are considering FHA backed mortgages. Though the FHA does not lend money to borrowers, it does insure loans made by private lenders against defaults; therefore, lenders will be more willing to make loans to riskier borrowers. FHA insured loans have competitive interest rates, are easier to qualify for, and only require a down payment of about 3.5 percent.

FHA backed loans are a great alternative for first-time home buyers, however buyers must keep in mind that along with this come some caveats. Normally, FHA borrowers pay an up-front mortgage insurance premium equal to 1.5 percent of the loan amount and an annual premium (divided into twelve monthly payments) of 0.50 percent of the average outstanding loan balance if the life of the loan is greater than 15 years; 0.25 percent if the life of the loan is less than 15 years. However, because of the current state of the economy and recent changes enacted by the government, I would advise that first-time home buyers verify mortgage insurance rates and restrictions and limitations of an FHA loan with their lenders.

Home Buying Assistance

For those borrowers who are unable to come up with the 3.5 percent down payment, there are other avenues of assistance they should take into consideration. Most states have housing-financing agencies that offer first-time home buyers low-interest mortgage loans or guarantee loans made by lenders. Unfortunately, because of the credit crunch, several states such as California, Texas and Wisconsin, have had to suspend their mortgage programs (Timiraos C1). Nonetheless, some of these agencies, such as the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs, have opted to restructure their programs and instead of financing or guaranteeing the loans, are considering making down-payment assistance available to first-time home buyers (Okada). There are many assistance programs that are offered at the federal, state, and local levels to first-time home buyers who are in need. It is important for buyers to do due diligence and review all their options when buying a home.

Conclusion

While the subprime mortgage meltdown has been devastating for some, others are finding that this is an excellent time to make the leap into homeownership. First-time home buyers who have excellent credit, cash reserves, and a secure income are in the best position to make a long-term investment in homeownership. In fact, because of favorable conditions in the housing market, we may start seeing a turnaround. According to the National Association of Realtors, sales of previously owned homes, “which make up about 85 percent to 90 percent of the total market, rose in February after a sharp decline in January. Sales jumped a seasonally adjusted 5.1 percent, the biggest one-month gain since late 2003, to a 4.7 million annual sales pace. Condominium sales were particularly strong, while sales of single-family homes rose 4.4%” (Evans, Lahart A2). First-time home buyers accounted for half of last month’s home sales.

Nevertheless, even though lending restrictions have become stricter in the last year, some first-time home buyers will find that there are still options available to them even if their financial situation may be less than perfect. As with any investment, buyers should be aware of their options and the risks involved, and ensure that this is the proper investment for them at this point in time.

Helpful Links

http://www.hud.gov/buying/

http://www.federalhousingtaxcredit.com/

http://www.realtor.org/

http://www.nahb.org/default.aspx

http://www.tdhca.state.tx.us/texans.htm

Works Cited

Bianco, Katalina M. “The Subprime Lending Crisis: Causes and Effects of the Mortgage Meltdown.” CCH Mortgage Compliance Guide and Bank Digest (2008).

Evans, Kelly, Lahart, Justin. "U.S. News: First-Time Buyers Lift Existing-Homes Sales 5.1%." The Wall Street Journal 24 March 2009: A2.

Federal Housing Administration

<http://portal.hud.gov/portal/page?_pageid=73,1&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL>.

First-Time Home Buyer Credit <http://www.federalhousingtaxcredit.com/>

Hoak, Amy. “100% More Difficult. First-Time Home Buyers Struggle to Find Down-Payment Money.” MarketWatch 9 March 2008 <http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/first-time-home-buyers-struggle-find/story.aspx?guid={4BF19BC0-C4EE-4107-ACFC-F6524E878D5A}>.

Lazo, Alejandro. “Prices Fall, But Home Sales Hit 12-Year Low.” The Washington Post 26 February 2009: D01.

Merle, Renae. “Recession Propels Skid In Housing Sales, Prices; Tight Credit Locks Many Out of Buyer’s Market.” The Washington Post 24 December 2008: A01.

Okada, Bryon. “Texas Program for First-Time Home Buyers Suspended.” Star-Telegram 18 March 2009 <>.

Pilon, Mary. “For Some, It’s Finally Time To Dive Into Housing Market.” The Wall Street Journal 11 February 2009: D1.

Timiraos, Nick. “State Housing Agencies Get Caught in Credit Crunch.” The Wall Street Journal 11 March 2009: C1.

Timiraos, Nick. “U.S. News: Real-Estate Sector Cheers Tax Credit.” The Wall Street Journal 9 February 2009: A4.

Samuelson, Robert J. “Wrong Turn on Housing.” The Washington Post 2 March 2009: A17.

S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices

<http://www2.standardandpoors.com/portal/site/sp/en/us/page.topic/indices_csmahp/2,3,4,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0.html>.

U.S. Bureau of the Census <http://www.census.gov/apsd/www/statbrief/sb93_9.pdf>.

Pictures

http://s.wsj.net/public/resources/images/NA-AW669_ECONOM_NS_20090323194052.gif

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/clipart/default.aspx

Scholarship Opportunity from PREA

2009-03-08T15:42:00.003-05:00

The Pension Real Estate Association (PREA) has a fantastic scholarship opportunity. Please check it out at: http://sms.scholarshipamerica.org/prea

Special thanks to Mark Roberst, Global Head of Research at INVESCO Real Estate, for letting us know of this program!

PS May 1, 2009 is the deadline.

House of Cards Special on CNBC

2009-02-28T16:02:00.000-06:00

CNBC has an excellent special called "House of Cards" which take you through the sub-prime mortgage crisis, housing bubble, and the Global economic crisis. Any real estate student or business major or consumer should see it.

You can check out the special at the following website:
http://www.cnbc.com/id/28892719/

Upcoming show times include
Sunday, March 1st 11 PM
Sunday, March 15th 8 PM

Little Good News for Texas...

2009-02-27T13:59:00.003-06:00

The Federal Housing Finance Agency release a report this week titled, "Record Home Price Declines in Fourth Quarter; Isolated Pockets of Strength." The good news is that Texas is generally included in the "Isolated Pockets of Strength" portion of this title.

Of 27 Texas cities, only five had price depreciation between the fourth quarter 2007 and fourth quarter 2008. During this same time period, 22 markets had price appreciation with an overall average price increase for the state of 2.1%. Dallas-Plano-Irving was up 1.9% and Fort Worth-Arlington was up 1.2%.

To view the entire 85-page report, please visit HTML clipboardhttp://www.fhfa.gov/webfiles/1280/4q08hpi.pdf.

COB Business Week: Economic Impact of the Cowboy's Stadium

2009-02-26T11:02:00.005-06:00

Mark Perry of the Dallas Cowboys Organization will speak on Wednesday, March 11th at 7:05 PM to 8:00 PM, or longer depending on questions. This Business Week event will be held in room 243 Business Building. This speaker and topic should be relevant to anyone interested in the North Texas real estate market. You are invited and help spread the word to others...

GSA Job Opportunity

2009-02-26T11:01:00.000-06:00

My branch is looking to fill a Realty Specialist position that we have available. The position is expected to be a federal intern at the GS-7 or GS-9 level, with promotion potential to the GS-12 level. The intern program provides comprehensive training to ensure that new associates become familiar with the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), their specific division, as well as their role within the organization.

The pay scale, as well as information regarding federal employee benefits, can be found at www.opm.gov.

Some of the duties of the position include, but are not limited to:
* Assisting with the disposal of excess federal real property
* Customer development activities
* Assisting federal agencies with environmental and historic compliance responsibilities
* Responding to congressional inquiries, and requests made under the Freedom of Information Act
* Assisting with various real property utilization studies including highest and best use studies, repositioning studies, retention/disposal studies, etc.

A general knowledge of business, marketing, finance and/or real estate is preferred, in addition to a Masters Degree completed or in progress.

Interested candidates can forward their resumes to me via email at jennifer.mollenshott@gsa.gov, or by mail to:
Jennifer Mollenshott
U.S. General Services Administration
Office of Real Property Utilization and Disposal
819 Taylor Street, Room 8A10
Fort Worth, TX 76102

Interested candidates may apply for this position at the following link:

http://jobsearch.usajobs.gov/ftva.asp?seeker=1&JobID=79582996

Anyone, anyone...

2009-02-25T16:59:00.004-06:00

I have four boxes of old CFA examination study materials and finance journals outside of my office (631). If anyone is interested, please stop-by to peruse the items. At the end of the week, I will take the boxes to the library for donation and recycling.

S&P U.S. Housing Teleconference Replay

2009-02-24T09:19:00.008-06:00

S&P released the Case-Shiller Home Price Indices updates this morning and held a teleconference to explain the updates and the review the general state of the U.S. housing market. You will hear about this index in the news but you might also want to hear directly from the source. You are invited to listen to the recorded teleconference.

Replays: Recorded replays of the call are available until Tuesday, March 3, 2009.

Replay numbers: 1-283-368-1822US/Canada: 1-866-501-0097
All Others: 1-203-369-1822

Streaming Audio: The call will also be available live in “listen-only” mode at www.mymeetings.com Under Participant, select join an event Conference ID#: 5354186 and Passcode: SANDP. The Streaming Audio playback is available at www.mymeetings.com/nc/join Conference ID#: PG5354186 and Passcode: SANDP until Tuesday, March 17, 2009. These features require listeners to have the Real Player™ software, sound card, and speakers.

If you have any questions about the conference call, please e-mail: eventsmarketing@standardandpoors.com.

ULI UrbanPlan Competition this Spring

2009-02-22T16:02:00.004-06:00

I am trying to complete a team and will take volunteers who would like to participate in the Urban Land Institute's UrbanPlan competition. The competition will be held this spring starting April 9th at 7:00 PM to 9:30+/- PM. The teams will meet five consecutive Thursday evenings (April 9, 16, 23, 30, and May 7) starting at 7 PM.

For some pictures from past competitions, please visit http://www2.uta.edu/real_estate/urbanplan.html. Please note, you must wear business attire on the final meeting date (May 7th). Most of the work will be completed during the meetings.

I will interview undergraduate and graduate business student who would like to participate. You don't need any prior real estate experience (or be a real estate major) but you do need to commit 100% to your team and be in attendance on all dates above.

If you have an interest please contact ahansz@gmail.com (include your phone number please in the e-mail). Thank you.

REAE 5319 Homework

2009-02-11T10:56:00.003-06:00

For those in REAE 5319 that have a question about the wording of Problem 4-14, the last two sentences can be reworded as follows: At reset the rate was reset to 8 percent. At original closing, your financing costs were 3 percent.

Please contact me at hayunga@uta.edu if you have any further questions.
Dr. Hayunga

DProfiler Training Days for REAE@UTA Students

2009-02-09T16:44:00.005-06:00

Doug Maiden is making a special offer to REAE@UTA students. He will allow one or two students to participate in the 2-day training sessions held at Beck Corporate Office in Dallas.

To participate, you must attend both days (for the full, all day session). Also, please remember that these sessions are for Beck's customers and we are invited guests (please be a good representative of UTA).

Classes fill up quickly, but the DProfiler session dates are below.

February 18 & 19

March 3 &4

March 18 & 19

April 7 & 8

April 22 & 23

May 5 & 6

May 20 & 21

If you are interested please contact Doug Maiden at douglasmaiden@beck-technology.com but carbon copy me at ahansz@gmail.com so I can keep track of attendance.

Appraisal Institute candidates? If so, see this scholarship opportunity:

2009-02-06T13:13:00.002-06:00

North Texas Chapter
2009 Education Scholarship Awards Criteria and Procedures

2009 Scholarship Committee:
The members of the 2009 Scholarship Committee are:
• Julius Blatt, MAI (Elected by the membership at the January 13, 2009 Chapter Meeting)
• Pam Bonds, MAI, SRA (Board of Directors’ appointment)
• Christi Glendinning, MAI (President’s appointment)

Scholarship Criteria and Award Guidelines:
The criteria and award guidelines for the scholarship shall be as follows:
• Scholarship recipients shall be limited to Associate Members of the Appraisal Institute, North Texas Chapter, who are in the process of attaining designation.
• Scholarships shall only apply toward North Texas Chapter sponsored designation track courses. Scholarship funds can be applied retroactively to courses taken in 2009, prior to the announcement of the scholarship awards.
• Scholarships shall be used during the 2009 calendar year, if at all possible.
• The maximum scholarship award an Associate Member can receive in any one year is $500.00.
• If the total scholarship funds are not expended annually, they carry over to the next year and accumulate.
• Associate Members serving on the Scholarship Committee are not eligible for a scholarship during their term of service on the committee.
• The Scholarship Committee’s work will be done in compliance with the Appraisal Institute’s policies and guidelines regarding non-discrimination.
• The Scholarship Committee shall consider the following criteria in determining scholarship award recipients:
1. Associate Member must be in good standing with the Appraisal Institute.
2. General background regarding the applicant’s membership.
3. Appraisal Institute courses successfully completed.
4. Educational background.
5. Experience credit earned and in which categories.
6. Anticipated date of designation.
7. Details regarding present employer or business and position in the company.
8. Indication of financial need and an outline of applicant’s general situation.
9. Involvement in chapter activities and the number of meetings attended.
10. Additional information that is pertinent in conjunction with the scholarship request.

Scholarship Procedures:
• The membership shall be notified that scholarships are available. The notification shall be made by broadcast email with at least two notifications sent to the Chapter membership. Other methods of notification can be used.
• The committee shall make a determination of the 2009 scholarship awards no later than Tuesday, February 10. The selection process will be based on the criteria listed above, and comments in the applications. The scholarship funds shall be equitably distributed.
• If there are no scholarship applicants, the scholarship fund shall be carried over to the year 2010. Should a 2009 scholarship recipient not use the scholarship award in 2009, they must show cause for a one-year extension.
• Applicants must complete the Scholarship Application and submit to the Chapter office (see below) no later than Friday, January 30, 2009 – EXTENDED THROUGH FEBRUARY 6, 2009.

Appraisal Institute, North Texas Chapter
P. O. Box 801807, Dallas, TX 75380-1807
972/233-2244 972/239-6857 (fax)
E-Mail ainorthtexas@sbcglobal.net
www.ainorthtexas.org

2009 Education Scholarship Application
Appraisal Institute, North Texas Chapter

Annual scholarships totaling $5,000.00 will be distributed to North Texas Chapter Associate Members to use toward 2009 Appraisal Institute, North Texas Chapter sponsored designation track courses.

The awards shall be announced and presented at the February 10 Chapter meeting.

If you wish to apply please complete the following questionnaire:

Name: ___________________________________________

E-Mail: ______________________

Phone: ______________________

Address 1: ___________________________________________________

Address 2: ___________________________________________________

Approximate Number of Years as Appraisal Institute Associate Member: ________________

Experience Credit Awarded to Date: __________

Courses Completed to Date and Approximate Date (Month-Year) Taken:

____________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________

Classes you are considering for the scholarship funds (no obligation):

____________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________

Comments you wish to share with the committee regarding the criteria used by the committee:

• Evidence of commitment to obtain designation (as shown through prior completion of classes, experience credits and other factors offered by applicant).
• Financial Need (evidenced by applicant’s comments on application).

____________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________

ULI Urban Design Team to Finish Today

2009-02-02T14:33:00.003-06:00

The UTA ULI Urban Design Team has until 5 PM today to finish and submit their final design for a Denver, Colorado neighborhood. The team presented a draft of their final design yesterday (no Super Bowl yesterday for this group of five student!) and it looked outstanding. If they can complete their eight presentation boards this afternoon, UTA should have a competitive submission. With 99 teams across the Nation competing and a prize of $50,000, this is an extremely competitive competition. Good work and good luck team!

From ULI competition

Beck's Dprofiler Student Competition

2009-01-28T15:10:00.004-06:00

Beck is holding its first ever Dprofiler student competition. Check out all the details at the following link:

http://www.beck-technology.com/docs/Student%20Competition%20-%20Spring%202009.pdf

Don't forget, our third floor computer lab is now fully stocked with Dprofiler on every computer. I would love to see a UTA student go for it!

Any interest in Argus Certification this semester?

2009-01-25T13:41:00.005-06:00

Argus has a Certification program which shows prospective employers that you have a certain level of competence with this real estate cash flow analysis software. Argus offers this certification program to anyone at a total cost of about $1,200. However, through Argus's University certification program, the cost to registered students in a real estate program is reduced (I can't determine precisely at this point but it might be around $500, but this depends the number of students participating).

The Argus Certification program consist of three parts:

1) Online training directly from Argus (and students sign-up and pay Argus, Inc. directly). The online training is very comprehensive and takes significant time and effort to complete. You would need to complete the online training before the one-day on-campus training.

2) One-day on-campus training (this is the part that I would setup). We need permission to use the University computer lab and due to scheduling issues, I think we would have to hold the one-day training on a Sunday. I am proposing Sunday, March 29th. The cost to hire an instructor for the one-day training (fee, travel, lodging, etc.) is the unknown variable. If Argus allows me to do the one-day training, there will be no charge.

3) Certification exam administrated on-line by Argus, Inc. (I have talked to a couple people who have taken the exam and I understand that it is extremely challenging.)

We would need significant interest and a critical mass to make this happen this semester. If you are an enrolled UTA student and have a strong interest in this program, please send me a note at reae.graduate.advising@gmail.com. Also, please check your calendar to make sure that you would be available on Sunday, March 29th (all day) for the one-day training.

If I get some interest, I will contact Argus, Inc. and the University computer lab to settle some of the pending details.

NCTCOG Internship Opportunity!

2009-01-20T12:01:00.000-06:00

Job Description:
The NCTCOG Research and Information Systems (RIS) department seeks an undergraduate or graduate student for an internship lasting up to one year. The primary purpose of this position is to monitor the status of major commercial, residential, and special use developments in the 16-county NCTCOG region.
Daily tasks include:
• Research duties utilizing local newspapers, business publications, real estate web sites, economic development newsletters, and other sources
• Email, phone, and in-person discussions with local economic developers, city planning personnel and real estate developers
• Use of ESRI ArcGIS to map and query regional developments
• Frequent update of Developmental Monitoring database
• Careful and efficient planning of periodic field work
• Independent field work and concise reporting of verified development status
• Creation of quarterly publication. To view prior publications: http://www.nctcog.org/ris/demographics/devmon/
The working results of this role are used to help project the regional population and employment growth. This position will also assist in the analysis of trends and impacts for specific types of activity, including transit oriented, infill, greenfield, and mixed use developments.
Other duties are widely varied and may include assistance with various technical and administrative assignments, data collection and analysis, basic research assistance, and assistance in other general office functions. Specific project assignments may include major employment tracking, basic census analysis, map creation using ArcGIS, and assisting with other research initiatives.
This position offers an individual the opportunity to gain a working familiarity with many of the major residential and commercial developments and developers in North Central Texas, as well as gain an understanding of urban planning and regional government processes.

Skills / Requirements
This position requires the individual be engaged in undergraduate or graduate studies at an accredited college or university. An emphasis in Real Estate/ Finance, Economics, Applied Economics, Geography, Public Administration, Urban Planning, or Architecture is desired
• A commitment of up to 31-39 hours per week. Schedule is flexible and can be adapted to work with school schedule.
• Geographical knowledge of the Dallas/Fort Worth region.
• Dependable transportation for periodic independent field work.
• Excellent time management and communications skills.
• Strong technical skills
• Proficient use of Microsoft Excel and Word.
• ESRI ArcGIS and Microsoft Access skills are desirable.

Apply online today by visiting, http://www.jobing.com/cc/nctcog.