Scholarship Opportunity from PREA

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

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...

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 http://www.fhfa.gov/webfiles/1280/4q08hpi.pdf.

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

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

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...

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

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

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

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

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:

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

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

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?

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!

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.