TASE VP Ronit Harel Ben-Ze'ev: We hope to see more REITs on the TASE when the income tax code is amended.
Roy Meltzer 30 Dec 07 14:42
"The booming real estate industry and the international expansion of activity by many developers contributed significantly to the market caps of these companies and brought new large real estate companies to the TASE," says TASE Economic Department senior VP Ronit Harel Ben-Ze'ev.
The Real Estate 15 index of the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) had a yield of just 2% in 2007, rising from 650 points to 660, after outperforming the TASE's leading indices in the first two years after its launch in January 2005. The Real Estate 15 index was highly liquid and a popular investment instrument.
http://www.globes.co.il/serveen/globes/DocView.asp?did=1000291957&fid=1725
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Infinity Commercial Real Estate Group Moves to New Expanded Offices in Lakewood, CA
Infinity Commercial Real Estate Group (www.infinityspecialists.com) announced today that it was moving to new expanded facilities in the Washington Mutual Bank Building located at 4909 Lakewood Boulevard in Lakewood, California.
Infinity Commercial Real Estate Group was founded in 2002 by Tony Lee and has grown dramatically. Since its inception, Infinity Commercial Real Estate has been involved in more than 200 commercial transactions totaling an estimated $350 Million in transaction value.
Infinity Commercial Real Estate Group specializes in assisting individuals with investing in properties that are income-producing, as well as working with individuals on their 1031 tax deferred exchanges. Infinity Commercial Real Estate Group arranges all details of the transactions from acquisition to debt financing to equity placement.
The commercial real estate sector continues to be more robust than the residential sector at this time offering more opportunities for growth.
“We are very excited about our move to new offices in Lakewood. Our new location will allow us to better serve our clients, many of which are located in the Long Beach area. It will also allow us an opportunity to further grow and add new staff and resources,” said Lee.
Infinity Commercial Real Estate is also affiliated with Infinity Capital Funding which provides a variety of mortgage products in the Commercial and Residential arenas. Infinity Capital’s Residential Division will provide funding for traditional 1-4 unit rental properties and offer conventional and FHA approved loans. The Commercial Division will serve the needs for retail, multi-family units, industrial and commercial loans, unsecured business credit lines and jumbo commercial loans ranging from $5 Million to $200 Million.
About Infinity Commercial Real Estate
Infinity Commercial Real Estate Group was founded in 2002 by Tony Lee and has grown dramatically. Since its inception, Infinity Commercial Real Estate has been involved in more than 200 commercial transactions totaling an estimated $350 Million in transaction value.
http://www.pr-usa.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=54817&Itemid=9
Infinity Commercial Real Estate Group was founded in 2002 by Tony Lee and has grown dramatically. Since its inception, Infinity Commercial Real Estate has been involved in more than 200 commercial transactions totaling an estimated $350 Million in transaction value.
Infinity Commercial Real Estate Group specializes in assisting individuals with investing in properties that are income-producing, as well as working with individuals on their 1031 tax deferred exchanges. Infinity Commercial Real Estate Group arranges all details of the transactions from acquisition to debt financing to equity placement.
The commercial real estate sector continues to be more robust than the residential sector at this time offering more opportunities for growth.
“We are very excited about our move to new offices in Lakewood. Our new location will allow us to better serve our clients, many of which are located in the Long Beach area. It will also allow us an opportunity to further grow and add new staff and resources,” said Lee.
Infinity Commercial Real Estate is also affiliated with Infinity Capital Funding which provides a variety of mortgage products in the Commercial and Residential arenas. Infinity Capital’s Residential Division will provide funding for traditional 1-4 unit rental properties and offer conventional and FHA approved loans. The Commercial Division will serve the needs for retail, multi-family units, industrial and commercial loans, unsecured business credit lines and jumbo commercial loans ranging from $5 Million to $200 Million.
About Infinity Commercial Real Estate
Infinity Commercial Real Estate Group was founded in 2002 by Tony Lee and has grown dramatically. Since its inception, Infinity Commercial Real Estate has been involved in more than 200 commercial transactions totaling an estimated $350 Million in transaction value.
http://www.pr-usa.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=54817&Itemid=9
Real estate holds a lot of opportunity in 2008
The real estate sector has experienced a phenomenal growth over the past few years. According to Arvind Parakh, CEO, corporate strategy & finance, Omaxe, the ‘fragmented’ nature of the industry will change once more companies go public, thereby making promoters adopt a proper corporate structure. The year 2008, he feels, holds a lot of opportunity and challenging times in store for the realty industry.
RENT OR BUY
With real estate prices at all-time high, investors are unsure whether to buy a property or stay on rent. Mr Parakh feels this decision depends on your ability to service the debt. “Ideally, for your own occupation, you may aggressively borrow a little more as it is a life-time decision to have your own property. However, if it is an investment, you should take care in choosing the amount of investment and the location, which would be able to appreciate in value or give enough rental income to service the obligation,” he says.
CHECK-IN OR PRE-CONSTRUCTION
Parakh believes that if you are looking for an apartment/ house in the bracket of 6,000-7,000 per sq ft area, then ‘ready-to-move-in’ flats will be a good idea. However, if you are opting for a house in the lower bracket, then it is desirable to go for ‘pre-construction’ as higher specification material of your choice can be used. He cautions that as the prices have gone up in the last two years and have not seen a major correction, investment in property at today’s market rates should be done with an objective of a reasonable return in a period of at least three to four years.
VERIFY BEFORE BUYING
According to Parakh, while buying a house, you should verify the title of the plot and necessary approvals/ sanction of the plans. “You should also check on the necessary approvals required by the local authorities. These approvals should be carefully inspected and the decision should not be taken on hearsay, that is, if approvals are pending or applied for. Unless the approvals are in place, you should not take the decision of buying the house,” he says, adding as an investor, it is pertinent that you should check the developer’s track record.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/ET_Features/The_Sunday_ET/BizNext_Next_Reality/Real_estate_holds_a_lot_of_opportunity/articleshow/2661669.cms
RENT OR BUY
With real estate prices at all-time high, investors are unsure whether to buy a property or stay on rent. Mr Parakh feels this decision depends on your ability to service the debt. “Ideally, for your own occupation, you may aggressively borrow a little more as it is a life-time decision to have your own property. However, if it is an investment, you should take care in choosing the amount of investment and the location, which would be able to appreciate in value or give enough rental income to service the obligation,” he says.
CHECK-IN OR PRE-CONSTRUCTION
Parakh believes that if you are looking for an apartment/ house in the bracket of 6,000-7,000 per sq ft area, then ‘ready-to-move-in’ flats will be a good idea. However, if you are opting for a house in the lower bracket, then it is desirable to go for ‘pre-construction’ as higher specification material of your choice can be used. He cautions that as the prices have gone up in the last two years and have not seen a major correction, investment in property at today’s market rates should be done with an objective of a reasonable return in a period of at least three to four years.
VERIFY BEFORE BUYING
According to Parakh, while buying a house, you should verify the title of the plot and necessary approvals/ sanction of the plans. “You should also check on the necessary approvals required by the local authorities. These approvals should be carefully inspected and the decision should not be taken on hearsay, that is, if approvals are pending or applied for. Unless the approvals are in place, you should not take the decision of buying the house,” he says, adding as an investor, it is pertinent that you should check the developer’s track record.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/ET_Features/The_Sunday_ET/BizNext_Next_Reality/Real_estate_holds_a_lot_of_opportunity/articleshow/2661669.cms
Spain's real estate sector suffered a hard landing in '07
MADRID: With sales slumping, prices faltering and property developers despondent, Spain's housing market evidently failed to get the soft landing in 2007 that the government and experts had predicted at the start of year.
Some experts are alarmist, some cautiously optimistic, but all agree that the sector is in crisis.
The issue is all the more important as the housing market makes up 7.5 percent of gross domestic product, according to figures from the BBVA bank. The construction industry as a whole employs 13 percent of workers.
And all this as Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero is seeking a second four-year mandate in March general elections.
"There is a crisis in Spain's housing market," said Jesus Garcia de Ponga, the head of Metrovacesa, one of Spain's leading real estate companies.
Property developers, some of whom are also suffering a lack of capital due to the international subprime lending crisis, have sounded the alarm.
The G14 group, which represents the country's largest developers, says 400,000 jobs will be lost within two years due to the construction slowdown.
Studies by the BBVA bank are more reassuring. "There is too much talk of disaster on this subject," said BBVA chief economist Jose Luis Escriva. BBVA continues to talk of a "soft landing" but still predicts 250,000 less workers in the construction industry next year.
But one thing is certain: sales are way down. In early December, the office that registers property transactions noted a 12 percent drop between January and October.
The decline accelerated throughout the year -- 8.9 per cent in the first quarter, 11.5 in the second and 16 in the third.
And when sales slump, prices follow. A recent study by Deutsche Bank forecast that the average rise in house prices in 2007 would be identical to inflation, which was around 4.0 per cent in the 12 months to November.
This figure is far below that of recent years: 9.1 per cent in 2006, 12.6 per cent in 2005, and well over 150 per cent for the period 1996-2006.
For 2008, Deutsche Bank predicts a drop in prices of 2.0 to 8.0 per cent. Many blame the European Central Bank and its policies of monetary tightening, which have hurt Spanish borrowers as most of them have variable rates.
"The intensification of the process (of rate hikes) has progressively weakened the demand for housing, to which the sector, as usual, responded late," said the BBVA study.
With more choice for buyers, agents were forced to push harder to get a sale.
"The situation is terrible" for the whole property sector, said Javier Sierra of the Re/Max agency. "The smallest agencies are suffering," and "the secondary housing market has practically stopped."
Looking to the future, he noted "two criteria that are traditionally bad for the real estate -- interest rates and unemployment."
The first have sharply increased, but the return of inflation in the eurozone will make the ECB hesitant to reverse the trend.
As for unemployment, it is starting to head upwards, passing the 8.0 per cent mark in Spain in the third quarter.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/International__Business/Spains_real_estate_sector_suffered_a_hard_landing_in_07/articleshow/2661830.cms
Some experts are alarmist, some cautiously optimistic, but all agree that the sector is in crisis.
The issue is all the more important as the housing market makes up 7.5 percent of gross domestic product, according to figures from the BBVA bank. The construction industry as a whole employs 13 percent of workers.
And all this as Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero is seeking a second four-year mandate in March general elections.
"There is a crisis in Spain's housing market," said Jesus Garcia de Ponga, the head of Metrovacesa, one of Spain's leading real estate companies.
Property developers, some of whom are also suffering a lack of capital due to the international subprime lending crisis, have sounded the alarm.
The G14 group, which represents the country's largest developers, says 400,000 jobs will be lost within two years due to the construction slowdown.
Studies by the BBVA bank are more reassuring. "There is too much talk of disaster on this subject," said BBVA chief economist Jose Luis Escriva. BBVA continues to talk of a "soft landing" but still predicts 250,000 less workers in the construction industry next year.
But one thing is certain: sales are way down. In early December, the office that registers property transactions noted a 12 percent drop between January and October.
The decline accelerated throughout the year -- 8.9 per cent in the first quarter, 11.5 in the second and 16 in the third.
And when sales slump, prices follow. A recent study by Deutsche Bank forecast that the average rise in house prices in 2007 would be identical to inflation, which was around 4.0 per cent in the 12 months to November.
This figure is far below that of recent years: 9.1 per cent in 2006, 12.6 per cent in 2005, and well over 150 per cent for the period 1996-2006.
For 2008, Deutsche Bank predicts a drop in prices of 2.0 to 8.0 per cent. Many blame the European Central Bank and its policies of monetary tightening, which have hurt Spanish borrowers as most of them have variable rates.
"The intensification of the process (of rate hikes) has progressively weakened the demand for housing, to which the sector, as usual, responded late," said the BBVA study.
With more choice for buyers, agents were forced to push harder to get a sale.
"The situation is terrible" for the whole property sector, said Javier Sierra of the Re/Max agency. "The smallest agencies are suffering," and "the secondary housing market has practically stopped."
Looking to the future, he noted "two criteria that are traditionally bad for the real estate -- interest rates and unemployment."
The first have sharply increased, but the return of inflation in the eurozone will make the ECB hesitant to reverse the trend.
As for unemployment, it is starting to head upwards, passing the 8.0 per cent mark in Spain in the third quarter.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/International__Business/Spains_real_estate_sector_suffered_a_hard_landing_in_07/articleshow/2661830.cms
REAL ESTATE MAILBAG
Q:My elderly parents (dad is 90, mom is 86) had been living in Florida for the past 20 years, but due to bad health, I moved them to California. Do they need to change their wills or do the provisions still apply "as is?" I have power of attorney but would like to leave things as they are, if possible.
A: Wills should be updated periodically, even if you live in the same state. But since your parents have moved to California - where the laws may be quite different - I believe it is best that your parents contact a local attorney and have them sign new wills.
In my opinion, everyone over the age of majority should have at least four legal documents: a last will and testament, a durable power of attorney, a power of attorney for health, and a living will (also known as an advanced health care directive). Some people also have a separate power of attorney for financial matters.
Different states have different procedural rules to make sure that a will is valid. For example, in some states, three witnesses are required; in others, only two witnesses need to be present at the will signing. In some states, the witnesses and the personal representative must be residents of state in which the will is signed; in other states, there are no such requirements.
Accordingly, I strongly suggest that you arrange for your parents to meet with a California attorney who can update their legal documents consistent with your local laws.
I also want to point out that while I appreciate your concerns for your parents, it is ultimately their decision - in their sole discretion - as to what they will include in their will.
Q: There is no signed deed on the house that my mother has called home for more than 47 years. We hired a lawyer and he hired a private detective to try to learn the facts. My parents bought the house back in the 1960s. We have had absolute no luck resolving this matter. We have all of the papers when they bought the house, as well as the documents proving that she paid off her mortgage.
However, we cannot find the deed. How can a signed deed fall through the cracks? My mother is almost 90 years old.
A: Your situation is unusual, but not uncommon. Until the advent of computers, many legal documents were often misfiled or lost. Now, many recorders of deeds have computerized all of the legal documents, making retrieval very simple - even from your home personal computer.
Many people believe that when they sell their house, they have to produce the original deed. That is untrue. So long as the land records in the jurisdiction where the house is located show that your mother owns the property, that is all you need.
When a person buys a house, the title to that property is searched. Since most buyers do not pay all cash but obtain mortgage loans, the lender will insist on getting title insurance coverage. And the settlement attorney (or escrow company) that conducts the settlement will have to assure the lender that title is good and that there are no objections to title.
And even if you pay all cash, you still want to be assured that you are getting good title, and will want to purchase title insurance. The title company will not issue such a policy unless they are completely satisfied that good and clear title is in the seller's name.
But if you really want to track down a copy of the original deed, the first thing you should do is obtain a comprehensive title report, and go back as far as possible. You should hire a professional title examiner; don't do this yourself.
However, if the title report raises problems, there are other avenues to explore.
You said that the house is free and clear and that you have documents showing that your mother paid off her mortgage. Try to get a copy of that old mortgage (called a Deed of Trust in some states). I cannot believe that any legitimate lender would have made a loan to your parents unless they were absolutely satisfied that your parents owned the house.
If all else fails, your mother may have to go to court. She would file what is known as an action to quiet title. Your attorney will be able to give you guidance on this process.
And if for any reason someone else is claiming title to the property, she can also add a count to the lawsuit claiming adverse possession. In most states, if a person "openly, notoriously and hostilely" uses someone else's property for a period of time prescribed by state law, a judge will issue an order directing that title is now vested in the plaintiff. For example, in the state of Maryland, the adverse possession time is 20 years, while in the District of Columbia it is only 15 years.
But the bottom line is, you do not need a copy of the original deed in order for your mother to sell her house.
Q: I bought a condo at a foreclosure auction and there were many contract pages. On one of these pages, it says that I had received the condo association legal documents. In fact, I never did. After the auction and when I finally read the contract, I asked the title company to give me those legal documents.
They claim they do not have them, but that I will get them at closing. My intention is to rent out the unit. But right now, the whole building is vacant. I am not even sure that there is a condo association. Can I legally back out of the deal?
A: Your first mistake was to sign documents without reading them. But depending on your state law, and if it really is a condominium, you may be entitled to review the condo documents (it is called a resale package) and cancel the contract within a certain period of time. However, the party foreclosing on the property may not be legally obligated to give you the resale package.
The title company should be able to tell you if it is really a condominium. It either is or it is not. And the fact that no sales have taken place yet (or however the units became vacant) does not mean that it is still not a condo. A condominium is created when the documents are recorded among the land records, and that is why the title company should know its status.
If it is a condominium, you are entitled to receive a complete copy of the legal documents (which generally consist of the declaration and the bylaws. There may be restrictions on rentals which will impact on you.
Finally, I suggest that you immediately retain an attorney who understands and practices real estate law. He or she may be able to find a loophole whereby you maybe able to get your money back. Otherwise, I am afraid that you either have to go to settlement or forfeit your deposit.
Q: I just purchased a house in New Jersey. After moving in, I discovered an additional room of the basement that contains an abandoned well. The well was not disclosed and was missed by my home inspector. Can I get the seller to pay to remove it? The quote I got was for $5,000.
A: I cannot believe that both you and your home inspector just did not discover that additional room in the basement of your new home. I suspect that if you decide to file suit, that your seller will raise as a defense "contributory negligence."
I do not know what kind of disclosures are required in New Jersey. You would have to review any disclosure statement which your seller gave you to determine if in fact he was legally obligated to disclose the abandoned well, or if he lied about its existence.
Do you really need to take out the well? Can it just be filled in (or covered) so that you can avoid having to pay a lot of money for its removal?
Have you asked your inspector about this? I do know that New Jersey has good law regarding the negligence of home inspectors. Usually, these inspectors have exculpatory clauses in their contracts. This means that should the inspector be found negligent, the homeowner's only remedy is to get back the moneys that were paid to the inspector.
However, I recently read a very interesting court case from New Jersey where the court held that such clauses will be held unconscionable in home inspection contracts if the cap on liability (i.e. what you paid the inspector) is not sufficient to provide a realistic incentive to act diligently. In your case, if you only paid the inspector $300, a court might consider this too low and may hold the inspector liable for negligence.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/12/30/REB9TNHMN.DTL
A: Wills should be updated periodically, even if you live in the same state. But since your parents have moved to California - where the laws may be quite different - I believe it is best that your parents contact a local attorney and have them sign new wills.
In my opinion, everyone over the age of majority should have at least four legal documents: a last will and testament, a durable power of attorney, a power of attorney for health, and a living will (also known as an advanced health care directive). Some people also have a separate power of attorney for financial matters.
Different states have different procedural rules to make sure that a will is valid. For example, in some states, three witnesses are required; in others, only two witnesses need to be present at the will signing. In some states, the witnesses and the personal representative must be residents of state in which the will is signed; in other states, there are no such requirements.
Accordingly, I strongly suggest that you arrange for your parents to meet with a California attorney who can update their legal documents consistent with your local laws.
I also want to point out that while I appreciate your concerns for your parents, it is ultimately their decision - in their sole discretion - as to what they will include in their will.
Q: There is no signed deed on the house that my mother has called home for more than 47 years. We hired a lawyer and he hired a private detective to try to learn the facts. My parents bought the house back in the 1960s. We have had absolute no luck resolving this matter. We have all of the papers when they bought the house, as well as the documents proving that she paid off her mortgage.
However, we cannot find the deed. How can a signed deed fall through the cracks? My mother is almost 90 years old.
A: Your situation is unusual, but not uncommon. Until the advent of computers, many legal documents were often misfiled or lost. Now, many recorders of deeds have computerized all of the legal documents, making retrieval very simple - even from your home personal computer.
Many people believe that when they sell their house, they have to produce the original deed. That is untrue. So long as the land records in the jurisdiction where the house is located show that your mother owns the property, that is all you need.
When a person buys a house, the title to that property is searched. Since most buyers do not pay all cash but obtain mortgage loans, the lender will insist on getting title insurance coverage. And the settlement attorney (or escrow company) that conducts the settlement will have to assure the lender that title is good and that there are no objections to title.
And even if you pay all cash, you still want to be assured that you are getting good title, and will want to purchase title insurance. The title company will not issue such a policy unless they are completely satisfied that good and clear title is in the seller's name.
But if you really want to track down a copy of the original deed, the first thing you should do is obtain a comprehensive title report, and go back as far as possible. You should hire a professional title examiner; don't do this yourself.
However, if the title report raises problems, there are other avenues to explore.
You said that the house is free and clear and that you have documents showing that your mother paid off her mortgage. Try to get a copy of that old mortgage (called a Deed of Trust in some states). I cannot believe that any legitimate lender would have made a loan to your parents unless they were absolutely satisfied that your parents owned the house.
If all else fails, your mother may have to go to court. She would file what is known as an action to quiet title. Your attorney will be able to give you guidance on this process.
And if for any reason someone else is claiming title to the property, she can also add a count to the lawsuit claiming adverse possession. In most states, if a person "openly, notoriously and hostilely" uses someone else's property for a period of time prescribed by state law, a judge will issue an order directing that title is now vested in the plaintiff. For example, in the state of Maryland, the adverse possession time is 20 years, while in the District of Columbia it is only 15 years.
But the bottom line is, you do not need a copy of the original deed in order for your mother to sell her house.
Q: I bought a condo at a foreclosure auction and there were many contract pages. On one of these pages, it says that I had received the condo association legal documents. In fact, I never did. After the auction and when I finally read the contract, I asked the title company to give me those legal documents.
They claim they do not have them, but that I will get them at closing. My intention is to rent out the unit. But right now, the whole building is vacant. I am not even sure that there is a condo association. Can I legally back out of the deal?
A: Your first mistake was to sign documents without reading them. But depending on your state law, and if it really is a condominium, you may be entitled to review the condo documents (it is called a resale package) and cancel the contract within a certain period of time. However, the party foreclosing on the property may not be legally obligated to give you the resale package.
The title company should be able to tell you if it is really a condominium. It either is or it is not. And the fact that no sales have taken place yet (or however the units became vacant) does not mean that it is still not a condo. A condominium is created when the documents are recorded among the land records, and that is why the title company should know its status.
If it is a condominium, you are entitled to receive a complete copy of the legal documents (which generally consist of the declaration and the bylaws. There may be restrictions on rentals which will impact on you.
Finally, I suggest that you immediately retain an attorney who understands and practices real estate law. He or she may be able to find a loophole whereby you maybe able to get your money back. Otherwise, I am afraid that you either have to go to settlement or forfeit your deposit.
Q: I just purchased a house in New Jersey. After moving in, I discovered an additional room of the basement that contains an abandoned well. The well was not disclosed and was missed by my home inspector. Can I get the seller to pay to remove it? The quote I got was for $5,000.
A: I cannot believe that both you and your home inspector just did not discover that additional room in the basement of your new home. I suspect that if you decide to file suit, that your seller will raise as a defense "contributory negligence."
I do not know what kind of disclosures are required in New Jersey. You would have to review any disclosure statement which your seller gave you to determine if in fact he was legally obligated to disclose the abandoned well, or if he lied about its existence.
Do you really need to take out the well? Can it just be filled in (or covered) so that you can avoid having to pay a lot of money for its removal?
Have you asked your inspector about this? I do know that New Jersey has good law regarding the negligence of home inspectors. Usually, these inspectors have exculpatory clauses in their contracts. This means that should the inspector be found negligent, the homeowner's only remedy is to get back the moneys that were paid to the inspector.
However, I recently read a very interesting court case from New Jersey where the court held that such clauses will be held unconscionable in home inspection contracts if the cap on liability (i.e. what you paid the inspector) is not sufficient to provide a realistic incentive to act diligently. In your case, if you only paid the inspector $300, a court might consider this too low and may hold the inspector liable for negligence.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/12/30/REB9TNHMN.DTL
Real-estate anxiety: What's next in '08?
Three Decembers ago, Vulcan Real Estate erected a tent in Seattle's long-unfashionable South Lake Union neighborhood and invited the public to see plans for 2200, a luxury condominium project to be built there. Within days, 2200 was nearly sold out.
Today the neighborhood is awash in new housing and the amenities to support it. So Paul Kelly, the owner of a 17th-floor unit in 2200, should be sitting on top of the world. But it didn't quite work out that way.
What looked like a surefire winner — homeownership in Seattle — has taken on a tinge of uncertainty. Trying since September, Kelly has been unable to sell his one-bedroom unit with its unobstructed view. Hardly anyone has come to see it, he says.
As thousands of other sellers have also found out, the Seattle area's formerly stellar real-estate market has finally, slowly joined in the national downturn. That makes for anxious times, not just for sellers like Kelly, but also for buyers who wonder whether buying soon is buying too soon. Will prices drop?
And then there's the issue of getting a mortgage. Since the widely publicized August meltdown in that industry, buyers (and those hoping to refinance) have had fewer choices.
"Whether you're shopping for a mortgage or for a home, there probably has not been as challenged a year as this one in years," says Keith Gumbinger, vice president of HSH, a mortgage-information provider. "This year, home is where the anxiety is."
Now the question is: Will that spill into next year, or is the worst over?
Economists caution that predicting housing-market activity is always uncertain. But their general take on the situation is that Puget Sound-area home sales will continue their decline and appreciation will stall. However, home prices are not expected to drop significantly.
Until recently, Seattle-area homeowners could bask in the knowledge that their houses would appreciate handsomely. Median home prices rose 16 percent in 2005 and 21 percent in 2006, a Seattle Times analysis found.
When this year's final numbers are tallied, the median annual increase will probably be more like 2 or 3 percent, Seattle real-estate economist Matthew Gardner says. That puts Seattle ahead of many cities; still, it's the lowest appreciation rate in roughly a decade.
Looking ahead, the concern on economists' minds now is recession. Fifty-two economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal gauged the chances of the U.S. entering a recession at 38 percent — the highest response in more than three years.
Housing takes a hit in recessions. But even without formal news of a downturn, home prices nationally are expected to decline 3.5 percent next year, according to the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight.
Locally, economist Dick Conway acknowledges, "There's a lot more uncertainty for next year in what's going to happen to the economy. We could go into a recession, although no one is predicting it."
And recessions are hard to predict, says Conway, co-author of The Puget Sound Economic Forecaster newsletter. So hard, in fact, that the last national downturn, in the early part of this decade, was over before anyone realized it existed.
Further turmoil in the financial markets could cause one now, Conway says. "There's so much uncertainty among lenders that it's hard to tell where it will all end up."
If there is a recession, Conway predicts the Seattle area will weather it better than the nation. The main reasons, he says: local job and population growth, which are running twice the national average, plus high wages. Local per-capita income, expected to be $46,356 this year, is 19.7 percent above the national average.
All that's relevant because the health of the housing market is directly related to the health of the local economy.
That said, real estate is cyclical, and Conway anticipates average Puget Sound-region home prices will decline less than 1 percent next year, and sales will be down about 5 percent, before rebounding in 2008.
"Given that we had a pretty good run-up in prices, some downward adjustment shouldn't be surprising," he says.
It could also be good news for buyers. Recent double-digit home appreciation has outpaced wage growth and seriously undermined affordability. Negligible price increases, rather than being bad news, could actually be good by allowing wages time to catch up.
That, however, is probably not what owners want to hear. But Sam Pace, an agent with Bellevue's Executive Real Estate, says it's realistic.
"We've had double-digit appreciation for years in a row, and if you think you can't handle a little bit of a dip, you have a pretty special view of what your return should be," Pace says.
Conversely, buyers have their own quandary: whether to buy or wait for prices to fall. Many are "either trying to figure out what's going on or trying to time the very bottom of the market."
Pace considers attempts at timing futile. "If somebody tries to pick the very bottom of the market, they won't know if they got there until prices start climbing again, by which time they've missed the opportunity."
His advice: Pay attention to local rather than national real-estate news because "the important real-estate trends are local. If they read some national number, and don't look at what's happening with Washington's real-estate market, they wouldn't know that the accurate answer to 'How's the local real-estate market?' is 'Top 5 in the nation.' "
So the word for next year is patience. That's the approach Paul Kelly, the condominium owner, is taking.
Although he'd like to sell it now (and has reduced his price from $624,000 to $599,000 for buyers who purchase directly from him), he says that realistically it may be spring before he lists it again with a real-estate company.
"I think things should hopefully settle down by then; that's my plan anyway," Kelly says. "I know my buyer is out there. They just have to come see it."
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/realestate/2004099309_reanxiety30.html
Today the neighborhood is awash in new housing and the amenities to support it. So Paul Kelly, the owner of a 17th-floor unit in 2200, should be sitting on top of the world. But it didn't quite work out that way.
What looked like a surefire winner — homeownership in Seattle — has taken on a tinge of uncertainty. Trying since September, Kelly has been unable to sell his one-bedroom unit with its unobstructed view. Hardly anyone has come to see it, he says.
As thousands of other sellers have also found out, the Seattle area's formerly stellar real-estate market has finally, slowly joined in the national downturn. That makes for anxious times, not just for sellers like Kelly, but also for buyers who wonder whether buying soon is buying too soon. Will prices drop?
And then there's the issue of getting a mortgage. Since the widely publicized August meltdown in that industry, buyers (and those hoping to refinance) have had fewer choices.
"Whether you're shopping for a mortgage or for a home, there probably has not been as challenged a year as this one in years," says Keith Gumbinger, vice president of HSH, a mortgage-information provider. "This year, home is where the anxiety is."
Now the question is: Will that spill into next year, or is the worst over?
Economists caution that predicting housing-market activity is always uncertain. But their general take on the situation is that Puget Sound-area home sales will continue their decline and appreciation will stall. However, home prices are not expected to drop significantly.
Until recently, Seattle-area homeowners could bask in the knowledge that their houses would appreciate handsomely. Median home prices rose 16 percent in 2005 and 21 percent in 2006, a Seattle Times analysis found.
When this year's final numbers are tallied, the median annual increase will probably be more like 2 or 3 percent, Seattle real-estate economist Matthew Gardner says. That puts Seattle ahead of many cities; still, it's the lowest appreciation rate in roughly a decade.
Looking ahead, the concern on economists' minds now is recession. Fifty-two economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal gauged the chances of the U.S. entering a recession at 38 percent — the highest response in more than three years.
Housing takes a hit in recessions. But even without formal news of a downturn, home prices nationally are expected to decline 3.5 percent next year, according to the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight.
Locally, economist Dick Conway acknowledges, "There's a lot more uncertainty for next year in what's going to happen to the economy. We could go into a recession, although no one is predicting it."
And recessions are hard to predict, says Conway, co-author of The Puget Sound Economic Forecaster newsletter. So hard, in fact, that the last national downturn, in the early part of this decade, was over before anyone realized it existed.
Further turmoil in the financial markets could cause one now, Conway says. "There's so much uncertainty among lenders that it's hard to tell where it will all end up."
If there is a recession, Conway predicts the Seattle area will weather it better than the nation. The main reasons, he says: local job and population growth, which are running twice the national average, plus high wages. Local per-capita income, expected to be $46,356 this year, is 19.7 percent above the national average.
All that's relevant because the health of the housing market is directly related to the health of the local economy.
That said, real estate is cyclical, and Conway anticipates average Puget Sound-region home prices will decline less than 1 percent next year, and sales will be down about 5 percent, before rebounding in 2008.
"Given that we had a pretty good run-up in prices, some downward adjustment shouldn't be surprising," he says.
It could also be good news for buyers. Recent double-digit home appreciation has outpaced wage growth and seriously undermined affordability. Negligible price increases, rather than being bad news, could actually be good by allowing wages time to catch up.
That, however, is probably not what owners want to hear. But Sam Pace, an agent with Bellevue's Executive Real Estate, says it's realistic.
"We've had double-digit appreciation for years in a row, and if you think you can't handle a little bit of a dip, you have a pretty special view of what your return should be," Pace says.
Conversely, buyers have their own quandary: whether to buy or wait for prices to fall. Many are "either trying to figure out what's going on or trying to time the very bottom of the market."
Pace considers attempts at timing futile. "If somebody tries to pick the very bottom of the market, they won't know if they got there until prices start climbing again, by which time they've missed the opportunity."
His advice: Pay attention to local rather than national real-estate news because "the important real-estate trends are local. If they read some national number, and don't look at what's happening with Washington's real-estate market, they wouldn't know that the accurate answer to 'How's the local real-estate market?' is 'Top 5 in the nation.' "
So the word for next year is patience. That's the approach Paul Kelly, the condominium owner, is taking.
Although he'd like to sell it now (and has reduced his price from $624,000 to $599,000 for buyers who purchase directly from him), he says that realistically it may be spring before he lists it again with a real-estate company.
"I think things should hopefully settle down by then; that's my plan anyway," Kelly says. "I know my buyer is out there. They just have to come see it."
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/realestate/2004099309_reanxiety30.html
For the Bay Area real estate industry, 2007 went from boom to tizzy
As 2007 comes to a close, most people in the Bay Area real estate industry are happy to bid it farewell. And don't let the door hit you on the way out.
It became clear this year that the real estate boom of the first part of the decade had officially gone bust as lenders tightened standards, sending sales volume skidding and squelching price appreciation. The number of homes sold fell 23 percent through November in the Bay Area's nine counties compared with the same period in 2006, according to DataQuick Information Systems.
Although prices have yet to post the same kind of dramatic declines, appreciation has ground to a halt in most parts of the region. Last month, the median price for a home or condo in the Bay Area was $629,000, an increase of just 1.5 percent from November 2006.
"It was the beginning of the end of the great real estate boom of the (two thousand) zeros," said Christopher Thornberg, a founding partner of the consulting firm Beacon Economics. "What you're looking at is a meltdown in the housing market that is completely unprecedented, but completely understandable when you look at the abuses in the market in the last few years."
Still, real estate executives were quick to point out that the Bay Area is faring better than other parts of the country. And, even within the Bay Area, the market is uneven with some areas suffering considerably and others holding steady.
"When you look at the rest of the state and even the rest of the country, the Bay Area has held up quite well," said Larry Klapow, president of Coldwell Banker's San Francisco Bay Area region. "The market has shown incredible resiliency." But Klapow and others said that the median numbers don't necessarily tell the whole story. The region's housing market is uneven, showing strength in core markets such as San Francisco, Marin County and Silicon Valley and weakness in outlying parts of Contra Costa and Solano counties, where new construction flourished during the boom.
"There are still a lot of affluent people in the Bay Area who know where they want to live and are willing to pay over asking to live there," said Scott Kucirek, general manger of Prudential California Realty, which has 39 offices in the Bay Area's nine counties. "At the same time, look at how hard Solano County got punished."
Here, we'll take a look back at the good, the bad and the ugly of 2007.
The good
Real estate agents point to San Francisco, Silicon Valley and certain parts of the East Bay, with short commute times and good public schools, as sweet spots in the market. A scarcity of single-family homes in San Francisco and the strength of Google and other technology companies are propping up the markets in those locations, agents said.
"The economy is still strong, and in San Francisco and Silicon Valley the vast majority of housing has done well," said Ken Rosen, chairman of the Fisher Center for Real Estate and Urban Economics at UC Berkeley.
The median price of an existing single-family home jumped 9.5 percent to $799,000 last month in Santa Clara County and rose 6.9 percent to $855,500 in San Francisco, according to DataQuick.
And while Contra Costa, Alameda and Solano counties all saw a decline in median home prices last month, there are pockets within the East Bay that are thriving, according to agents at Prudential and Coldwell Banker.
"Real estate is all about supply and demand," said Coldwell Banker's Klapow. "In Orinda and Moraga, we can't get enough to sell. We're getting multiple offers."
High-tech job growth is fueling the high end of the housing market across a broad swath of the Bay Area, experts said. "The tech sector is very strong again, and office space has filled up in Emeryville, Berkeley and San Francisco," said Brad Inman, an industry pundit who founded the real estate news service that bears his name. "Where there's a shortage of supply, we continue to see demand."
The Santa Clara market in particular, experts say, is thriving. Greg Paquin, who runs a consulting company that advises home builders, said his projects in Silicon Valley sold rapidly as Google employees snapped up homes in Mountain View and Sunnyvale.
"We had one project where literally 50 to 70 percent of the buyers were Google employees," Paquin said. "They were buying two to four homes a week. It's slowed a little bit and we're now just above one a week, but that's way above anything else we're seeing any where else in the Bay Area and in all of California for that matter."
The bad
But move away from the region's urban cores, agents say, and the picture is dramatically different.
The first half of the year was relatively uneventful, but just as it seemed the market was on solid ground, the subprime loan crisis began to unfold.
"When you think back to the middle of 2007, in April, May and June, it seemed as though the housing market had stabilized," said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Economy.com. "Then it was totally upended when the subprime shock hit in July, August and into September."
Areas, particularly in the outer reaches of the East Bay in cities such as Pleasanton and Antioch, have suffered as lenders tightened standards and pushed would-be buyers out of the market.
Business is down significantly at Prudential's Pleasanton office, said Frank Cannella, who manages the branch there and characterized 2007 as the "shakeout year." "I don't think anyone believed that it would be as dramatic as it turned out to be," he said. "The subprime mess has really surprised a lot of people."
The median home price skidded 2.8 percent to $565,000 in November in Alameda County last month, according to DataQuick. Solano County suffered more than any other in the Bay Area last month as the median price tumbled nearly 15 percent to $375,550 for a home or condo.
"It's the far-flung areas with the toughest commutes and the lowest-cost housing and the most construction that are the markets that are being hardest hit," said Inman. Those areas also have seen the greatest number of foreclosures. As sellers go to price their homes, foreclosure activity is dragging down prices even for buyers who aren't in financial distress, said Prudential's Kucirek.
"We're resetting the values right, wrong or indifferent," he said.
The ugly
Yet experts say that nowhere has the shift from boom to bust been more dramatic than in the new-home market.
Developers who were dangling upgrades like free hardwood floors and fancier appliances changed their tune and instead began slashing prices by as much as $150,000 in parts of the Bay Area in 2007.
Markets such as Brentwood, Oakley, Antioch and Pittsburg are particularly suffering, according to the Gregory Group's Paquin. "There is an abundance of product available and prices were unsustainable and continue to be," Paquin said. "The credit situation has made it more of a challenge."
Economists say it will take awhile to work through the supply of new homes.
"Builders got carried away and put up way too many homes - they were caught up in frenzy and hype of the boom market," said Economy.com's Zandi. "Many of the markets in the East Bay are just overwhelmed with new homes, and that's a very significant weight on the new-home market."
While new-home developers pointed to statistics about the state's perpetual shortage of housing as they built, the homes that went up don't necessarily meet the region's needs, said Beacon's Thornberg.
"Don't confuse apples and oranges," he said. "We heard lots about the housing shortage during the boom and that had little to do with high-cost new houses and everything to do with low-rent apartments for immigrants."
But across the board - good bad or ugly - as real estate agents prepare for next year, they say they are happy to be done with 2007.
"We lived - we are all here," said Coldwell Banker's Klapow. "It was a year of major change. I would say first half of the year felt normal and then of course the credit crunch kind of threw everything into a tizzy.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/12/30/RE96U4RAF.DTL
It became clear this year that the real estate boom of the first part of the decade had officially gone bust as lenders tightened standards, sending sales volume skidding and squelching price appreciation. The number of homes sold fell 23 percent through November in the Bay Area's nine counties compared with the same period in 2006, according to DataQuick Information Systems.
Although prices have yet to post the same kind of dramatic declines, appreciation has ground to a halt in most parts of the region. Last month, the median price for a home or condo in the Bay Area was $629,000, an increase of just 1.5 percent from November 2006.
"It was the beginning of the end of the great real estate boom of the (two thousand) zeros," said Christopher Thornberg, a founding partner of the consulting firm Beacon Economics. "What you're looking at is a meltdown in the housing market that is completely unprecedented, but completely understandable when you look at the abuses in the market in the last few years."
Still, real estate executives were quick to point out that the Bay Area is faring better than other parts of the country. And, even within the Bay Area, the market is uneven with some areas suffering considerably and others holding steady.
"When you look at the rest of the state and even the rest of the country, the Bay Area has held up quite well," said Larry Klapow, president of Coldwell Banker's San Francisco Bay Area region. "The market has shown incredible resiliency." But Klapow and others said that the median numbers don't necessarily tell the whole story. The region's housing market is uneven, showing strength in core markets such as San Francisco, Marin County and Silicon Valley and weakness in outlying parts of Contra Costa and Solano counties, where new construction flourished during the boom.
"There are still a lot of affluent people in the Bay Area who know where they want to live and are willing to pay over asking to live there," said Scott Kucirek, general manger of Prudential California Realty, which has 39 offices in the Bay Area's nine counties. "At the same time, look at how hard Solano County got punished."
Here, we'll take a look back at the good, the bad and the ugly of 2007.
The good
Real estate agents point to San Francisco, Silicon Valley and certain parts of the East Bay, with short commute times and good public schools, as sweet spots in the market. A scarcity of single-family homes in San Francisco and the strength of Google and other technology companies are propping up the markets in those locations, agents said.
"The economy is still strong, and in San Francisco and Silicon Valley the vast majority of housing has done well," said Ken Rosen, chairman of the Fisher Center for Real Estate and Urban Economics at UC Berkeley.
The median price of an existing single-family home jumped 9.5 percent to $799,000 last month in Santa Clara County and rose 6.9 percent to $855,500 in San Francisco, according to DataQuick.
And while Contra Costa, Alameda and Solano counties all saw a decline in median home prices last month, there are pockets within the East Bay that are thriving, according to agents at Prudential and Coldwell Banker.
"Real estate is all about supply and demand," said Coldwell Banker's Klapow. "In Orinda and Moraga, we can't get enough to sell. We're getting multiple offers."
High-tech job growth is fueling the high end of the housing market across a broad swath of the Bay Area, experts said. "The tech sector is very strong again, and office space has filled up in Emeryville, Berkeley and San Francisco," said Brad Inman, an industry pundit who founded the real estate news service that bears his name. "Where there's a shortage of supply, we continue to see demand."
The Santa Clara market in particular, experts say, is thriving. Greg Paquin, who runs a consulting company that advises home builders, said his projects in Silicon Valley sold rapidly as Google employees snapped up homes in Mountain View and Sunnyvale.
"We had one project where literally 50 to 70 percent of the buyers were Google employees," Paquin said. "They were buying two to four homes a week. It's slowed a little bit and we're now just above one a week, but that's way above anything else we're seeing any where else in the Bay Area and in all of California for that matter."
The bad
But move away from the region's urban cores, agents say, and the picture is dramatically different.
The first half of the year was relatively uneventful, but just as it seemed the market was on solid ground, the subprime loan crisis began to unfold.
"When you think back to the middle of 2007, in April, May and June, it seemed as though the housing market had stabilized," said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Economy.com. "Then it was totally upended when the subprime shock hit in July, August and into September."
Areas, particularly in the outer reaches of the East Bay in cities such as Pleasanton and Antioch, have suffered as lenders tightened standards and pushed would-be buyers out of the market.
Business is down significantly at Prudential's Pleasanton office, said Frank Cannella, who manages the branch there and characterized 2007 as the "shakeout year." "I don't think anyone believed that it would be as dramatic as it turned out to be," he said. "The subprime mess has really surprised a lot of people."
The median home price skidded 2.8 percent to $565,000 in November in Alameda County last month, according to DataQuick. Solano County suffered more than any other in the Bay Area last month as the median price tumbled nearly 15 percent to $375,550 for a home or condo.
"It's the far-flung areas with the toughest commutes and the lowest-cost housing and the most construction that are the markets that are being hardest hit," said Inman. Those areas also have seen the greatest number of foreclosures. As sellers go to price their homes, foreclosure activity is dragging down prices even for buyers who aren't in financial distress, said Prudential's Kucirek.
"We're resetting the values right, wrong or indifferent," he said.
The ugly
Yet experts say that nowhere has the shift from boom to bust been more dramatic than in the new-home market.
Developers who were dangling upgrades like free hardwood floors and fancier appliances changed their tune and instead began slashing prices by as much as $150,000 in parts of the Bay Area in 2007.
Markets such as Brentwood, Oakley, Antioch and Pittsburg are particularly suffering, according to the Gregory Group's Paquin. "There is an abundance of product available and prices were unsustainable and continue to be," Paquin said. "The credit situation has made it more of a challenge."
Economists say it will take awhile to work through the supply of new homes.
"Builders got carried away and put up way too many homes - they were caught up in frenzy and hype of the boom market," said Economy.com's Zandi. "Many of the markets in the East Bay are just overwhelmed with new homes, and that's a very significant weight on the new-home market."
While new-home developers pointed to statistics about the state's perpetual shortage of housing as they built, the homes that went up don't necessarily meet the region's needs, said Beacon's Thornberg.
"Don't confuse apples and oranges," he said. "We heard lots about the housing shortage during the boom and that had little to do with high-cost new houses and everything to do with low-rent apartments for immigrants."
But across the board - good bad or ugly - as real estate agents prepare for next year, they say they are happy to be done with 2007.
"We lived - we are all here," said Coldwell Banker's Klapow. "It was a year of major change. I would say first half of the year felt normal and then of course the credit crunch kind of threw everything into a tizzy.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/12/30/RE96U4RAF.DTL
Real Etate Bank appoints NBAD to offer financing options for premium residential project
Real Estate Bank, the government-owned entity specialised in facilitating real estate credit for establishments and government organisations in the UAE, has signed a partnership agreement with National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD), a leading bank in the UAE, to provide financing options for Al Maha Tower in Abu Dhabi.
The agreement was signed by Mr. Abdul Aziz Abdullah Al Za'abi, General Manager of Real Estate Bank, and Mr. Saif Ali Munakhas Al Shehhi, Senior General Manager of Domestic Banking Department, NBAD.
Under the terms of the agreement, NBAD will provide up to 90 percent financing to investors and property buyers of the Al Maha Tower residential development located at the Marina Square on Abu Dhabi's prestigious Reem Island.
“Real Estate Bank has actively pursued its strategic objectives, which include providing high-quality real estate properties across the country in support of the UAE Government's strategy of achieving sustainable development and economic growth. Our collaboration with NBAD contributes significantly to the success of our initiatives as it allows us to provide flexible financing terms to a wider range of buyer and investor profiles,” said Abdul Aziz Abdullah Al Za'abi, General Manager of Real Estate Bank.
Al Maha Tower encompasses 428 spacious apartments of different sizes and styles, including studios, one and two-bedroom units, as well as penthouses. It is also equipped with a wide range of amenities, including a swimming pool, health and fitness facilities, 24-hour security, intercoms, taxi call buttons, remote control lighting, home security and entry control.
Mr. Saif Ali Munakhas Al Shehhi said: “Since its inception in 1968, NBAD remains committed to work with its distinguished business partners to underpin the development of the nation and finance various sectors to strengthen the diversification of UAE economy.”
“NBAD is committed to support the initiatives of Real Estate Bank as we believe in the strong market value of its projects, particularly the Al Maha Tower,” he added.
“The financial options and packages on offer are highly flexible and competitive, and will cater to the requirements of investors and buyers as we are constantly on the lookout for services that benefit our customers,” Al Shehhi concluded.
Al Maha Tower is expected to be completed in 2009. The project has been optimally conceptualised for comfortable home living, providing a tranquil yet cosmopolitan atmosphere and features an impressive external façade and elegant interiors.
It also provides easy access to important destinations in Abu Dhabi, and offers a highly strategic location at the Marina Square, one of the most prestigious areas on Reem Island. Marina Square is a 13.2 million square feet residential and commercial district comprising of a shopping arcade, marina, private beach access and sports facilities.
http://www.albawaba.com/en/countries/UAE/220442
The agreement was signed by Mr. Abdul Aziz Abdullah Al Za'abi, General Manager of Real Estate Bank, and Mr. Saif Ali Munakhas Al Shehhi, Senior General Manager of Domestic Banking Department, NBAD.
Under the terms of the agreement, NBAD will provide up to 90 percent financing to investors and property buyers of the Al Maha Tower residential development located at the Marina Square on Abu Dhabi's prestigious Reem Island.
“Real Estate Bank has actively pursued its strategic objectives, which include providing high-quality real estate properties across the country in support of the UAE Government's strategy of achieving sustainable development and economic growth. Our collaboration with NBAD contributes significantly to the success of our initiatives as it allows us to provide flexible financing terms to a wider range of buyer and investor profiles,” said Abdul Aziz Abdullah Al Za'abi, General Manager of Real Estate Bank.
Al Maha Tower encompasses 428 spacious apartments of different sizes and styles, including studios, one and two-bedroom units, as well as penthouses. It is also equipped with a wide range of amenities, including a swimming pool, health and fitness facilities, 24-hour security, intercoms, taxi call buttons, remote control lighting, home security and entry control.
Mr. Saif Ali Munakhas Al Shehhi said: “Since its inception in 1968, NBAD remains committed to work with its distinguished business partners to underpin the development of the nation and finance various sectors to strengthen the diversification of UAE economy.”
“NBAD is committed to support the initiatives of Real Estate Bank as we believe in the strong market value of its projects, particularly the Al Maha Tower,” he added.
“The financial options and packages on offer are highly flexible and competitive, and will cater to the requirements of investors and buyers as we are constantly on the lookout for services that benefit our customers,” Al Shehhi concluded.
Al Maha Tower is expected to be completed in 2009. The project has been optimally conceptualised for comfortable home living, providing a tranquil yet cosmopolitan atmosphere and features an impressive external façade and elegant interiors.
It also provides easy access to important destinations in Abu Dhabi, and offers a highly strategic location at the Marina Square, one of the most prestigious areas on Reem Island. Marina Square is a 13.2 million square feet residential and commercial district comprising of a shopping arcade, marina, private beach access and sports facilities.
http://www.albawaba.com/en/countries/UAE/220442
Friday, November 16, 2007
High Tension for the Buyer and Seller of Real Estate Can Be Reduced
Tensions can run high in both the selling and buying of real estate. After all, there is a lot of money and emotion involved! There are also time pressures and numerous privacy issues to deal with. The sale and purchase of real estate can be a lengthy process involving numerous professionals from many fields.
The Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University asked 3,000 Texas home buyers to describe their recent purchase, about 400 replied. Their responses showed how stressful buying a home can be, for buyers and sellers. The Realtors and attorneys who try to keep all tensions at bay in order to complete the transaction also feel the burdens of stress!
"The process is grueling in the best of circumstances, and the severe sellers' market of recent times only increased the stress," says Dr. Jack C. Harris, Center research economist. "In conjunction with Lawyers Title Company, the Real Estate Center asked recent home buyers about their buying experience and what changes they think would make the process more buyer friendly." (quote from Real Estate News Information Service Feb. 24, 2001)
The final question on the survey was, "If you could change anything about the home buying process, what would that be?" Almost a third answered the question, and most of them expressed dissatisfaction about some phase of the process.
Understandably some of the complaints were about circumstances beyond anyone's control. This included high prices, interest rates, the lack of listings in a specific area, where they wanted to buy, etc.
However, all of us Realtors can learn much from some of the things that WE can, and should, do something about. Many of the folks surveyed felt that the Realtor did not perform up to their expectations. They were especially miffed when the Realtor assumed too much, that they understood what was going on, and didn't keep them well enough informed. In such a pressure cooker of financial and time constraints, the unfamiliar territory of buying and selling a property can be nerve wracking!
Many buyers and sellers need to be reassured and comforted. It is sometimes hard for the Realtor to know which of the dozens or even hundreds of people they are working with at one time need the most attention. Some of the Realtors' clients felt the agent did not take enough time with them. This was true even for some buyers who had a Buyer's Agent under contract to work on their behalf alone.
We Realtors should alert and educate our clients, whether they be sellers or buyers, to the complexities and details of the real estate transaction. Some buyers feel that they are rushed through the looking, choosing, buying and settling process, and sometimes they are.
More and more buyers, especially the most savvy ones, are using Buyer's Agents. When there is a Buyer's Agency Agreement signed, most buyers expect far more service. Some feel that they don't always get it. In fact, according to the survey, 70% of those who had a Buyer's Agent wanted even more care, concern and service from their agent than they felt they had received.
The sellers, too, felt they had received too little service, care and attention in many cases, for the commission involved. Some seller's felt that the selling agent was not responsive enough to them, that calls were not returned promptly enough, or that not enough assurance, information, concern and communication was forthcoming from their agent.
Even though it is legally the seller who pays the Real Estate commission, it is really part of the overall transaction. Many buyers feel that they are the ones who are really paying that commission. They feel that the several thousand dollar commission is just tacked onto the selling price by the seller and thus it is they, the buyer, who is ultimately paying more for the property than they should! Buyers often feel that sellers inflate home prices to recover the cost of the commission.
Some purchasers want more contact with the sellers of the property; before, during and after they decide on the property and place a contract on it. Many wanted to develop a relationship with the seller of the property and have direct communication with them between the time of the contract and the settlement. Some felt that an agreement would have been more easily arrived at if the sellers and buyers could have hammered out details in person.
Other buyers had met with the sellers and considered that it had been the biggest error of the entire process. Most folks felt that the insulation of the Realtor(s), keeping the sellers and buyers apart and in communication only via written offers and changes to the contract was appropriate as it gave them the advantage of advice and discussion with their Realtor and time to think and discuss things before responding.
A huge part of the work and value that a Realtor or all the Realtors involved bring to the transaction is the mediation, conflict resolution, refereeing and monitoring of communications between buyer and seller. Often that is a huge and difficult task. Sometimes it is just too monumental to achieve satisfaction on the part of their client. Often it is those clients who are most difficult to work with that are the least satisfied with their Realtor. That is all part of the job we do. We do our best, from our own viewpoint, we try to satisfy the personality of our clients, and usually that is well appreciated!
After all, the natural flavor of a buying and selling transaction is adversarial. The Realtor is like a Gladiator in most cases; going to battle, in an honorable way and according to the rules, on behalf of their backer -- their client. There are many behind-the-scenes conflicts on behalf of clients that never are divulged and shouldn't be. It is the duty of the Realtor to put all parts of the transaction in the best, although truthful, light possible. A Realtor who transfers the natural adversarial animosities between buyer and seller does a disservice to his client no matter which side of the transaction is being represented.
Most buyers and sellers comments on the survey evidenced the importance and value of the agent in the transaction process. However, it is important that all of us Realtors learn from our buyers and sellers, especially to responses they give about our profession when they are being surveyed on our service.
Nearly every week in our office, at Long and Foster Realtors, Rehoboth Beach, our manager reads one or more glowing comment letters from our thankful, satisfied and sometimes elated clients and customers. In fact, Kate was the overall Service Award Winner for the entire year of 1999.
From the survey results of the Texas A&M University, we as Realtors, are well advised to learn that respondents praised especially helpful agents. It is reasonable to assume the majority who wrote nothing when asked to comment on any dissatisfaction, on this anonymous survey, were well satisfied with the service they received from their Realtor(s).
"We had a great experience," wrote one buyer. "The agent made all the difference. She kept us well informed almost daily. This was so important to us." While a majority of survey respondents had no comment regarding agents, 85% said they would use or recommend the agent again. (paragraph taken from Real Estate News Information Service Feb. 24, 2001)
According to the survey report, complaints about the complexity of the home buying process fell into one of three categories: too complicated, too time-consuming or too costly. Many felt the process involved too much paperwork. Undoubtedly, they were reacting to the numerous, lengthy legal forms they had to sign before, during and after the contracting of the property as well as the seemingly almost unconfrontable stack of documents requiring a signature at closing.
It can take a terrific amount of time to find and buy a home. We often work with buyers for months seeking the right home. Some of them we've been working with, staying in touch with, and showing properties to -- for years. Those with some particular interests may find that a "possible" choice for them might only come on the market once in a great while! It is not an easy or comfortable situation for anyone involved, but the finding and buying or selling of a home or property can be made a MUCH more comfortable process with open, full and honest communication between the agent and the client at all times.
Many of our sellers would like us to find a buyer in a week or less for their property. Interestingly enough, it is often the property that is most difficult to find a buyer for that has the most impatient seller.
Even after a property is chosen by a buyer, there is a lot of time and work still needed from all those involved. The time, the continued negotiations, the inspections, reports, and evaluations needed, all the calls and appointments that need to be made on behalf of all parties involved almost always take far more time than anyone not directly involved can realize. This is usually frustrating to everyone. The sellers as well as the buyers often feel they are stuck in quicksand, unable to move or do anything without sinking further into the mire. At the same time -- that same quicksand of details required to complete the transaction seems at times to be filled with alligators ready to bite and take them down anyway. In some ways, that is all too true. And, it is the duty of all the Realtors involved to keep our clients and customers as comfortable as possible during these trying times of details and difficulties.
The Realtor usually spends a good deal of time trying to manage the lender(s) and get the money required to bring the deal to closing. Often this is the most difficult part of the transaction, even when the buyers and sellers are easy to work with. Usually, the first contact with a lender is all roses and sunshine. All too often however, the clouds and thorns of problems are soon evident. We Realtors are often fully employed trying to get all the requirements fulfilled for the lender and the purchaser and when those are complete we work to make certain the promised funds are still available, approved and ready for closing, ON TIME.
At the closing, there is another 2% to 3% or, in some few cases, even more of the purchase price involved at closing for each the buyer and the seller. The long list of expensive items often seems too costly to both the buyer and the seller. Some folks find this irritating and feel it to be unfair. Some wonder why there are so many fees and services that find their way to the settlement table and may wonder if the fees and services were even necessary.
The myriad details involved with the finding, selecting, negotiating, contracting and transferring of ownership and funds at final settlement is time consuming, detailed, and often challenging.
People are accustomed to buying most things instantaneously and getting instant gratification for their decisions. Especially for those of us who use the Internet a lot. In a recent survey it was shown that most people who purchase via the Internet want the purchase delivered to them via overnight service. Although Kate and I do most of our promotion, marketing and communications via the speedy Internet -- we are not usually able to deliver the completed sale in less than a month or two.
Many (let's be more honest and blunt) actually MOST buyers do not appreciate the legal complexities of taking title to real estate. They most often, simply do not understand why it should be so complicated to buy a piece of land or a home, nor do they understand the complexities of getting them approved for the best rate and terms in the mortgage obligation -- even if they have done it before.
The real estate industry has made great and consistent accomplishments in speeding up the entire buying process; from searching via the Web to getting mortgage approvals in sometimes an hour (as is the usual case with our in-house broker). Even title searches, lien searches, judgment searches and the typing of the dozens of pages of legal documentation has been streamlined with modern devices and techniques. However, there is another bundle of issues that slow the process while the aforementioned have sped it up. The litigious society we live in, the relatively recent and growing list of written disclosure requirements and legal contingencies have adversely affected the time and ease involved. It has limited the progress and speed of the individual parts of the transaction steps at nearly every point.
We, as Real Estate Professionals should, in fact we must, pay special attention and take special care in helping buyers and sellers understand what is going on at each step of the selling and purchasing process. We need to make it clear why the various expenses incurred at closing are ordinary and necessary. We need to alert our clients and customers to the potential consequences of each place where they can be financially and legally harmed or put at risk by cutting corners. We do our best!
Based on every available survey, it is evident that the Internet is growing and soon to be of utmost importance to buyers searching for a home. For the month of January, 2001 a review of 37 major search engines showed that Real Estate related searching and use was the third major use of the Internet, world wide. In America, it was second except for a temporary flurry of interest in searching for information on digital cameras which barely put it in third place here also.
The Internet is, however, not the only factor in the overall search. At price ranges of $300,000 and more; about 90% of the first contacts are to a Realtor with an attractive, informative, workable and fast acting Web site. As the price of the home descends, the percentage of buyers using the Web decreases. For homes under $100,000, only about 25% of our personal response is a result of our Web site presence and expertise.
Simultaneously, fewer Realtors instead of more, are finding the Web useful according to our recent survey. The reason is obvious to some of us; most users want sites to be far more informative, more private, and want the sites to have a lot more content. They want more pictures, better descriptions, related sales, crime reports, etc. Some of these things are not even available yet for our market area but the buyers still want them. People would like to rule out those homes they are not interested in before they even contact a Realtor in most cases -- especially for the more expensive properties.
Users want the sites to come up faster and to be more intuitive of their interests and needs. People are also reluctant to show what they don't know as it makes them feel vulnerable. Thus we try to have lots of data on our site so the sellers and buyers can educate themselves before they contact a Realtor; hopefully us!
Some clients seem to realize and appreciate that Realtors are also dependent on other professionals to make the home buying transaction go more safely, more legally proper and in all ways more smoothly. Buyers do expect the agent to keep them informed about progress and to effectively, quickly and professionally handle any obstacles to their goals and purposes in the transaction.
The entire process of selling and or buying a property, especially a home, can be nerve wracking and full of tension for everyone concerned. Some problems are unavoidable, some are unpredictable, some are created out of nothing by some party to the transaction. Many problems can be resolved or avoided if the sales agent provides information, reassurance and support to the buyer.
In the final analysis, it is up to you, the buyer or the seller to be the "squeaky wheel in need of oil" and call, write, e-mail and otherwise let your Realtor know immediately when you feel needy of more communication, care, solace or help. Our job is about 98% invisible to our customers and clients. Even when we tell everyone what we are doing, it is almost always hard for them to believe the time it takes for what seems, to them, a simple task. We usually have a few dozen customers and clients at any one time that we are trying to service as if they were the only person in our professional lives.
If you are our customer or client, PLEASE let us know any time you need us! Simultaneously, we will attempt to anticipate your every need and difficulty and be working on solutions before you even tell us. We are partners in this profession with our customers and clients, and the success of every partnership is open and honest communication!
Now, please let us know how we can be of more service to you!
Copyright 2000-2005 by www.JodyHudson.com
Source Page for this article is: http://www.kate-jody.com/essays/hightensionreduction.html
Tax Deferred Exchanges of Investment and Business Real Estate
The Primary Residence taxation, the Residential Replacement Rollover, Sec. 1034 exception is gone. Previous capital losses still apply, if the property is held as investment property and sold at a loss and that loss can be carried over for up to 7 years. For those over age 55 the primary residence or residential sale exclusion of taxation is gone. Tax deferred exchanges remain a viable way of deferring taxation on investment real estate.
It is required to analyze and pre plan prior to transaction. That analysis must be done by an updated tax deferred exchange professional such as those we have on retainer. Not only do you need a tax attorney, but a real estate attorney, and an expert attorney working with them - that is a specialist in only tax consequences; especially those of tax deferred real estate transactions. There must be proper forms and written documents before the transaction is done. This requires planning and a review of limitations as well as a formal and professional critique of assumptions and decisions.
Most Realtors, Attorneys and CPAs do not have sufficient expertise to guide you in a legitimate and defensible tax deferred exchange. The key here is defensible, as the IRS will usually audit the tax deferred transaction and if it's done correctly so that it is easily defensible you will sail right through the audit for little or no money. Your personal tax profile and that of your other business and family identities must be factored in the decisions. It may be necessary to legally refigure, adjust, and compartmentalize your purchase or sale - and document that appropriately, BEFORE you begin to put any part of the transaction in writing. Planning is legally done BEFORE and if it is done after the transaction you can be liable for fraud. The IRS does not take kindly to fraud especially regarding real estate.
For instance you must know your straight line depreciation factor; for investment property that is currently 39 years. For instance: Any depreciation taken during the ownership of the property will be picked up in a recapture tax upon the sale of the property.
Federal and State taxations must be combined properly, according to numerous factors that must be researched by your team of advisors. Since the total taxation on the gain is approximately 35% of the gain plus the recapture tax - your fees to professionals can be well worth it to you if they better your tax situation. The tax deferred technique can defer till later or eliminate your tax payment and consequence. Of course the only real and usual way to eliminate the tax is to die. There are ways to defer the tax however until that death. Tax deferred strategies are sometimes called alternative strategies or alternative tax deferment strategies.
Note: if you are speaking with anyone and they speak of TAX FREE EXCHANGE or TAX FREE SALE of your property, they are not well informed and thus you should be wary of any other advice they give you. There is, effectively, no such thing as a tax free sale or tax free exchange of real estate.
Exchanging is an effective tax planning tool. Large potential tax liability can therefore be deferred. And, there are savvy investors who have deferred taxation on millions of dollars of properties for decades and thus given themselves many millions of dollars of additional investment money with which to leverage their wealth.
Like kind exchange can now be defined as: any kind of real estate in exchange for any other kind of real estate.
We hear of qualifying property or properties - yes there can be more than two properties involved, in some cases there can be several and you don't have to ever see or even know about the other properties involved. You will need good advice however, professional advice. This exchange of any kind of real estate for any other kind of real estate was not always true. This tax deferment alternative is not for everyone. Some owners should not defer.
We must realize, as well, that there is ALWAYS a risk of audit. The larger the dollars involved and the more suspect (according to the IRS) that the participants in the transaction are, the more likely an IRS audit of the procedure is. If there are several million dollars in tax deferment involved, and especially if one or more of the participants are considered audit targets by the IRS for any reason, you may become involved in an expensive tax audit. The cost of the audit, even if you are successful in defending your decisions, can be far greater than the tax deferments. And if the deferment is disallowed there WILL be penalties, fines, interest and even more substantial legal and accounting fees - plus an amended return in some cases which may trigger more consequences and even more audits. I hope I've made myself quite plain here - get good advice from legal and accounting specialists on these exchanges.
There is a time line, for several of the acts and consequences in exchanges according to the IRS. In addition to timing there are other qualifying or disqualifying situations and these situations include the use of the properties, before, during and after the transaction by those involved or their families, friends, associates, etc... In addition to the normal criteria for the exchanges, if Realtors, investors, attorneys, or those who buy and sell real estate frequently are involved in exchanges; the IRS makes special, more restrictive rules that will result in more scrutiny by the IRS. In fact the IRS can make up reasons why they think a person needs more scrutiny; that can include political affiliations, relationships to politicians, your social position, your affiliation with judges, and conspicuously wealthy or well known people and even your religious affiliations and charitable giving recipients. In fact, there can be a tax deferred exchange that will work for one side of the exchange and not for the other person or entity involved.
In addition the tax court looks at intent for use, investment, or purchase and sale -- not only the use; past, present and future; of the properties involved but what they think may be or could be the uses and consequences based on all sorts of criteria and even hunches they may have. They also have extensive rules on what like-kind exchanges are. The exchange must also be interdependent. There may not be any receipt or control of cash or other liquid assets from the sale by any of the exchangers. This can be inclusive of debt relief as well. Any of these things will be taxed. In fact, a refinancing of any property involved within two years or less will disallow the tax deferment as well. There are also several time limits and timing criteria involved which must be allowed for and honored.
There are some specific terms; relinquished property and replacement property are the most important terms; after the most important definitive phrase of all: Like Kind Property Exchange. Large potential tax liability can be deferred; that is: NO tax is due upon receipt of the proceeds; from your investment in qualifying real estate, whether buying or selling, can be maximized by deferring the tax liability, the consequences, and using the deferred expenses. That is; you are saving and have the use of the tax money you don't have to pay now, and you can invest that money in the next property, giving you a multiplied ability to invest and reap further benefits of appreciation and income. Therefore, you will have the additional money, and therefore additional down payment, to invest in an even larger property or pay cash for a more expensive property. This can change your life; your life as an investor, your business life, at least.
The exchange does not have to be simultaneous. You must in general; identify the property within 45 days and settle within 180 days.
There are also delayed exchanges, non simultaneous exchanges, which are sometimes called Starker Exchanges. There can be a buyer assisted, delayed, Starker exchange. This buyer assisted, delayed exchange, is done with the help of the buyer - by letting the buyer possess or even live in the property for a while. This is almost always a bad idea, a very bad idea. There is also such a thing as a reverse-Starker exchange. In a Reverse Starker Exchange the replacement property is acquired before the relinquished property is sold. These are rare, unusual, possible and legal - but not to be considered lightly without adequate counsel involved in your every planning facet.
For the protection of all involved; the contracts, all exchange documents and paperwork should be prepared by specialists in tax deferred transactions. The Realtor should never, ever, prepare the exchange documents!
There are some additional factors and rules. You can name up to three possible properties in that first 45 day period. There is also a rule called the 200% aggregate rule where you can name several
properties up to but not more than 200% of the value of the relinquished property. Property held by a person who deals in property does not qualify. Personal residential use property does not qualify. Partnership interest in property does not qualify. Refinanced property will not likely qualify if it has been refinanced in the last two years. The property must ordinarily be held for investment and generally acquired and held for appreciation and for production of income such as rental income.
Let's now look at the sale of personal residences. The gain on a personal residence has no tax due on the first $250,000 of gain for one person or $500,000 tax relief for a couple. A principle residence is one that a person resides in for 183 days per year or more and no other. Factors which determine a person's principle residence are four; each showing the same residential address of that being claimed: A Driver's License; Magazine, Newspaper, and Internet Subscriptions, Utility Bills such as Cable TV, Telephone, etc. that are mailed to and show the address as residence, credit card bills, checking and savings accounts, voter registration card, personal telephone listing in the white pages.
There are many pages of rules, regulations, code, determinations, tax code, rental and vacancy rules, abandonment according to prescription, determinations of intent, various capricious factors known only to particular IRS agents, time lines, divorce issues, temporary use, rental, vacancy, or abandonment issues, documented or discoverable intentions on the part of participants in the transactions, multiple dispositions in short periods of time, work related occupancy and vacancy requirements, personal business use of property, income streams, family uses, health related and documented residential move or vacancy requirements, court cases and other recorded facts, all manner of special requirements and issues, land installment contract provisions, miscellaneous extenuating and defensible contingencies - which will affect the bona fide legality and defensibility of a tax deferred transaction. There are many points upon which your planning should be based. There are some emergency planning techniques as well.
You can even take some improvement expenses and take a fix up expense for work done to sell the house. You MUST have: Written affirmation of necessary expenses that are needed to sell the property. Be able to prove the work was done within 90 days of the executed contract of sale. There is also, now, a maximum of 20% taxation on the taxable portion of the net gain on the home. Generally tax laws are applied separately to each individual owner or co-owner of the property and each must meet requirements separately and individually.
Take care. Be prepared. Educate yourself and ensure that your advisors are as well. Be legally and financially, well represented and very professionally and personally wary.
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End Note: The above article was written in the form of notes during a class I attended on exchanges that was delivered by SEVERAL full time professionals in the business of ONLY these types of exchanges. These notes are to be considered guidance in the form of alarming you to the point of getting proper counsel only. You may know the exchanges of Real Estate as Starker Exchanges, 1031 or 10-31 exchanges or even as "tax free" exchanges. They are NOT tax free, they are tax deferred! Be careful.
Do not use the information in this article to make your final tax or selling or buying decisions. This information here is to give you enough data to begin thinking about deferred tax - exchange of real estate.
Do not make any decisions or write any documents based on this information. Get specialized legal advice from experts in this exact business; not from unspecialized attorneys or accountants - and especially NOT from general Realtors such as myself.
Ask to see the credentials of anyone who seeks to advise you, they will have them or not, exact and specific credentials, in writing, of their professional ability to serve you. If not, chose another professional to help you. In fact feel free to contact me and I'll get you in touch with those senior professionals who are full time in this exact profession.
There are law changes frequently on these forms of transactions and as I write this 10-31-2001 there are several laws being discussed and perhaps voted on today that will change many of the factors involved here - hopefully for the best - in order to help bolster our economy even more and support the real estate business in which I work.
By<>
Thank you: Jody Hudson www.JodyHudson.com
Jody Hudson has been a Realtor for 35 years in America and Delaware
The source page for this article is: http://www.kate-jody.com/essays/taxdeferredexchanges.html
Real Estate, Real Property and Leased Land; Definitions, Discussion and Explanations
Delaware, and the rest of the original British Colonies, has some land that is leased rather than owned by the residents of that land. Much of it is not evident to the casual observer.
The land on Lewes Beach is leased, not owned by the home owners. The land of Lewes Beach is owned by the Town of Lewes. The lands of Rehoboth by the Sea and Dewey Beach include leased land too. Most of the leases on that land will NOT be renewed but will return to the owners and the homes on top of that land will be removed by the home owners at their expense. Much of the land in Riverdale, on Indian River Bay, adjacent to Oak Orchard is leased as well. In Riverdale the leased land is owned by Chief Clark of the Nanticoke Indians.
We have about half the inhabitants of Sussex County living on leased land; most of that leased land is found in what people call mobile home parks or communities. However, in those communities there are seldom any homes that are truly mobile and there are even two story stick built homes on some of the leased lands in those communities. Condominiums and town houses are sometimes found on leased land as well. Some folks find all this rather difficult to understand.
We Realtors and Attorneys use the term fee simple to describe land that is being sold as real property; that is real estate. We used the term leased land or leasehold interest to describe land that is not transferring as real estate.
This rather lengthy text is regarding Leased Land, Real Estate, Private Property, Chattels, Mobile Homes, Homes on Leased Land and a legal dissertation to define, describe and determine the differences.
Terminology is important when discussing Real Estate, i.e. real property.
Black’s Law Dictionary is the recognized, definitive source for legal definitions under our American Law; which is derived from English Law
PROPERTY: In the strict legal sense, an aggregate of rights which are guaranteed and protected by government. BL6, p. 1216.
PERSONALTY: Personal property; movable property; chattels; property that is not attached to real estate. BL6, p. 1144
PROPERTY: (personal property) - In broad and general sense, everything that is the subject of ownership, not coming under the denomination of real estate. A right or interest less than a freehold in realty, or any right or interest which one has in things movable. BL6, p. 1217
Therefore personal property, is that which can be easily removed from the real estate, and is not real estate. Personal property includes crops, trees, shrubs, trailers, sheds, cars, mobile homes, manufactured homes that have a Department of Motor Vehicle title instead of a deed, and the contents of a home or building. In a home or business the personal property includes drapes, lighting fixtures, rugs (not installed carpeting) free-standing cabinets and cupboards, furniture, and all the contents of closets, drawers and buildings. Buildings without a foundation, that is sheds that are just supported by blocks are chattel property, that is personal property, and not part of the real estate. Such chattel includes dog houses and particularly the little storage buildings that are so common outside of homes today.
LANDS: In the most general sense, comprehends any ground, soil or earth whatsoever... Black's Law dictionary 6th Ed. (BL6), p.877
PRIVATE PROPERTY: As protected from being taken for public uses, is such property as belongs absolutely to an individual, and of which he has the exclusive right of disposition. Property of a specific, fixed and tangible nature, capable of being in possession and transmitted to another, such as houses, lands, and chattels. BL6, p. 1217. Private property is land, houses, and chattels. Private property is protected from being taken for public uses. Private property is owned absolutely.
REAL ESTATE synonymous with real property" and p.1218 REAL PROPERTY ... A general term for lands, tenements, hereditaments (those things which are hereditary); which on the death of the owner intestate, passes to his heir." BL6, p1263
ESTATE: The degree, quantity, nature and extent of interest which a person has in REAL and PERSONAL property. An ESTATE in lands, tenements, and hereditaments signifies such interest as the tenant has therein. BL6, p.547 The definitions here all refer to: real estate = real property = estate = lands, tenements, and hereditaments. At first, one might think that ‘real property' is the proper term for 'all lands'. But it doesn't state the manner of ownership as clearly as the definition of estate. We just had a huge instance of this when the thousands of leased land lots under the homes of several thousand people, in Angola, Pots Nets, and Long Neck areas owned by the Robert Tunnel family was inherited by the children.
IN OUR AREA THERE ARE NUMEROUS LEASED LAND PROPERTIES AND THOSE PROPERTIES ARE THE REAL ESTATE OF THE OWNER OF THE LAND – NOT THE OWNER OF THE HOME WHICH IS UPON THAT LAND. If you examine the definition for ESTATE it refers to an interest in the same articles defined in real property and real estate.
What is this LAND and WHO owns it and HOW is it owned? Land can be private property OR estate, i.e. real estate. Estate is an interest in “real property" by a person or a tenant. Private property is owned absolutely by an individual.
INTEREST: More particularly it means a right to have the advantage of accruing from anything; any right in the nature of property, but less than title. - BL6, p.812. By this definition it's clear that INTEREST cannot be TITLE, since it is less than title. Interest may be a property right to land, but it's not a right to absolute ownership of land. Those who live on leased land, thus, have only an interest in the land; and that interest is a lease-hold interest. Is there a definition of property that says it's land held in absolute ownership, as does private property's definition? We can delve into this more.
ABSOLUTE TITLE - As applied to title to land, an exclusive title, or at least a title which excludes all others not compatible with it. An absolute title to land cannot exist at the same time in different persons or in different governments. BL6, p.1485
PRIVATE PROPERTY - ... is such property as belongs absolutely to an individual, and of which he has the exclusive right of disposition. BL6, p.1217
OWN - To have a good legal title; to hold as property; to have a legal or rightful title to; to have; to possess. BL6, p. 1105. To "own" is to have title. An interest is LESS THAN TITLE.
ESTATE: The degree, quantity, nature and extent of interest which a person has in real and personal property. An estate in lands, tenements, and hereditaments signifies such interest as the tenant has therein. - - BL6, p.547 From these definitions, it's plain that we can't absolutely "own" real estate. We can only have a qualified ownership of qualified and described ownership of Real Estate. Thus, we need that Deed Description to describe it and qualify it. That ownership is also qualified by various government rights, decrees and laws, from antiquity, such as rights against trespass. That ownership is qualified by taxation, zoning, rights of way, and a myriad of other entailments. We need, therefore, a title search to determine those entailments, some of which are invisible.
Therefore there is NOT as much difference in the rights and privileges of ownership and interest as one is led to believe. I have no problem with those who live on leased land instead of owning the land. Usually they are paying far less than it would cost them to own the same property. However, they don’t often get any appreciation of the land; the landlord gets the appreciation in real value, while the resident can appreciate the lifestyle for less cost per month or year.
However, since an interest in leased land is not automatically transferable and is NOT Real Estate and since the chattel property upon it, the mobile home is personal property, without a deed but instead has a title – Realtors are not by law supposed to be involved in the sale of such – but we are. We are supposed to only be selling real property. It gets all cloudy and foggy doesn’t it. That is why there are people and companies who sell mobile homes on leased land who are not realtors and don’t need to be. In fact, although no one will discuss it, Realtors are not supposed to sell mobile homes on leased land. We don’t need to engage in that battle any more than I just did by describing it.
OWNERSHIP: The complete dominion, title, or proprietary, including right in a thing or claim... Ownership of property is either absolute or qualified. The ownership of property is absolute when a single person has dominion over it, and may use it or dispose of it according to his pleasure, subject only to general laws. The ownership is qualified when it is shared with one or more persons, when the time of enjoyment is deferred or limited, or when the use is restricted. - BL6, p. 1106 Such sharing is common with husband and wife, partners, families and corporations, etc.
DOMINION - Generally accepted definition of "dominion" is perfect control in right of ownership. The word implies both title and possession and appears to require a complete retention of control over disposition. - - -BL6, p. 486 I think you'd agree that zoning, building codes, home owners association covenants, condominium documents of use and business licensing is a restriction on the use of land (if it's Real Estate). And there is obviously the fact that failure to pay property taxes on real estate will result in loss of said property. That's definitely not absolute ownership. But private property is defined as ABSOLUTE OWNERSHIP, not qualified (interest).
PROPERTY (tangible) - All property that is touchable and has real existence (physical) whether it is real or personal. - - BL6, p. 1218 In summation, it takes a good attorney, and one well versed and experienced in real estate to understand the complex definitions, rights, liabilities, and privileges of real estate ownership. I have been buying and selling real estate for myself and assisting others in the buying and selling of real estate for thirty years. I have taught courses on real estate and real estate law. And, I would NOT consider purchasing a property, or purchasing property on leased land without the professional and paid assistance of an attorney who is a real estate specialist in the exact county in which the property is located. Other attorneys from other areas are not valid choices at all.
Copyright © 2001 - 2005 by www.JodyHudson.com
Jody Hudson has been a Realtor for 35 years.
Source Page for the above article is: http://www.kate-jody.com/essays/realrealleased.html
Real Estate Local FAQs.
There are many frequently asked questions and any local real estate area. In our area here at the local Delaware Beaches, the most frequently asked questions are how to get a good deal and if there are any fixer-uppers available.
We are constantly asked if there any good deals available. The ironic part of this is the person who asked that would not have enough data or awareness or knowledge or information to know if a property is a good deal or not. In our area fixer-uppers are seldom good deal. Frequently the land value of real estate here is 75 to 100% of the price of the property.
We have a cute little cottage for sale now in the second block from the ocean for $1 million, and the land is worth $1 million. Ten miles west of the beach we have a home for sale a large lot for $180,000. The lot is worth $200,000. However, the house needs to be torn down, so we have reduced the price of a lot by the amount you will take to remove the house. Is either one of these homes, a good deal? No! In each case, the land is a good deal. In the first case, the home is worth zero and in the second case, the home is a liability.
Another question, I am asked us if we are buying at the top of the market now. I have been asked that question for 35 years, and I have heard it asked for 30 years before that. When I first heard the question, beach lots were selling for $25 that are now going for $1 million or more. Every year, there have been people who think the market has topped out, and they will wait and get a better purchase price.
My answer to the question of whether the market will go down or not is that it will not go down. And if you want a good deal the best deal is to buy now before the price goes up, because it will continue to go up, as it has in the past.
Copyright 2005 by Jody Hudson www.JodyHudson.com and www.Kate-Jody.com
Jody Hudson has been a realtor in America and Delaware for 35 years.
Maximizing Curb Appeal and First Impressions to Sell your Home
We all know that a home or property of any kind, in order to sell faster and at a higher price, should have what is known as curb appeal. Frequently, it is not the expensive things that make a difference. Here are some things that can be done.
Keep the grass cut, not too short, but well groomed and frequently - you never know what day a prospective buyer will drive by. Include edging along all sidewalks, driveway, and other trim items. Use the weed eater around all areas where the weeds grow up. Use hedge clippers on every possible hedge and bush. In particular, trim down any and all hedges that block views from any windows or cut down on light coming in the windows. Use lots and lots of thick, fresh, mulch. Mulch is inexpensive but does wonders in dressing up a home. If your yard or acreage has been let go too long, start with a professional service the first time and then keep up the property yourself if you want. If you have to hire a lawn and gardening service to keep the property in pristine shape, during the for-sale period, please do so. Well maintained grounds are key to best selling and a few hundred dollars during the sale period will bring you thousands more in price.
Make the property and the home inviting and showcase it by using bright colored flowers; red and yellow flowers of the brightest colors are the best. Keep the flowers well maintained and the beds well kept. Buyers won’t likely see other homes in your price range with similar floral treatments and your home will rise to the top of the buyer’s list.
Repair, paint, and renew, all outdoor furniture, porch furniture and decorations and all decorative items on the property. This includes the mailbox, if there is one. In fact, a bed of mulch, flowers, shrubs, to decorate the base of the mailbox can be a great first impression if it’s well done and well kept.
Open the windows daily or turn on all the vent fans in kitchen and baths to freshen the air in the home. Many people are allergic to perfumes, spices and aerosol sprays so don’t do the old tricks of potpourri, aerosol air fresheners, etc. Vanilla extract is usually safe. You can use some REAL vanilla extract, a few drops, on a piece of bread and put it in the oven on lowest (about 100 degrees) heat for 20 minutes or so before the house is shown. You can buy or rent electronic room deodorizers to freshen the air with filtration. If you have pets, a thorough cleaning and daily vacuuming and constant running of air cleaning units is a great idea. There are lots of people who are allergic to pet dander and the slightest smell of cats or dogs will kill the sale.
Rent a storage unit if needed, have at least one and better yet two or three yard sales and get rid of more and more of the stuff that you no longer need or use. Clean out the attic and TOTALLY organize it. Clean out the garage and out buildings and totally organize anything left inside. The more stuff you have OUT of the garage, attic, storage buildings and out of the yard (if it’s not a landscaping asset) and the more you get out of the closets the more spacious the home seems to buyers.
Even a cleaned out, emptied out and fully organized garage, looks far larger and better if the cars are out of it. Before the showing, move ALL of the cars to another location, down the street (not in front of the house) or to a neighbors house or driveway. There should be NO cars in the garage, in the driveway or in front of the house when the buyer arrives with the agent.
Go through the entire home and get rid of most of the nick-knacks and about three quarters of everything else. Go to a model home or a furniture show room and study, perhaps even take pictures, of how they are decorated. Clean the home, clean the shelves and tops of things – until your property shows like a model home. This goes for every room in the house! Clean off the counters in the kitchen, clean up or put in storage MOST of the stuff in the kids rooms (everything that they don’t use a lot) and get rid of any old paperback books or unsightly books on the book shelves. If the book shelves are packed, open up the shelves by putting over half of the books in storage, or sell them at the yard sale. Remove a lot of the furniture and sell what you don’t want to keep at the next home, or put lots of it in storage. Dust and polish everything!
Remove all of the family pictures from the walls and furniture tops. Remove all of the non-professional pictures and art from the walls. Mend the holes. Family pictures, a very few, in the master bedroom and in the kids rooms, however, make the home seem like a happy home.
If you have a fireplace. Clean it up. Clean it out with concrete and brick cleaners and clean all the bricks and the inside of the fireplace with the appropriate professional cleaners from the fireplace store or building supply stores. In the winter, especially if it’s cold or dreary and overcast outside, light the fire before the showing. In this case, stay with the fire until the Realtor gets there and then just go a short space away, to a neighbors house for instance, and return (for safety sake) as soon as the Realtor leaves. Just be certain that if you get ANY smoke in the home when lighting the fire, air out the home fully before the showing. It’s great to build and establish the fire a half hour before the showing.
Make certain to wash all the windows inside and outside the home, this includes second story windows, storm windows and pressure washing or brushing and soaping all the screens too. If there is a screened porch, make certain all the screens are in perfect repair, well stretched and well cleaned. Keep every piece of glass and mirror inside the home sparkling clean.
Flower boxes are a great and profitable touch. The perennial favorite is bright red geraniums in outside window boxes, under all the windows that can be viewed from the street. There is very little that can elevate the curb appeal of a home like geraniums in window boxes, and they are inexpensive to do!
Clean, organize and clean out all the cupboards, drawers and cabinets in the kitchens and baths. Buyers frequently pull out drawers in the kitchen and bath and open cupboards to better see the size and quality of construction as well as the quality of drawer runners, whether there are pull out shelves, etc. Wow them with the quality of your inside cupboards and drawers in the kitchen and baths.
Note: You should leave the home during the time the agent is showing the house. Leave just before they get there or immediately upon their arrival. Sellers in the home are deal killers. The prospective buyers are uncomfortable speaking about the property to the agent and uncomfortable even looking too carefully at the home, if the seller is present.
Fencing is another area where you get far more back than you spend, with increased sales price and reduced time on the market! The new white vinyl fencing is a great investment to increase the value of your home, above the cost of the fencing, and set your home apart from all the others on the market.
Even condos and townhouses need to have curb appeal. If there is no yard; make certain that every bit of the steps, sidewalk, and entrance is clean, neat and in good repair. Check with the condo association to see if they will immediately and professionally repair anything that needs to be done. It is to the advantage of every owner in the complex to have your home sell for as much as possible and as fast as possible; that increases the value and salability of every unit in the association. Make certain your entrance door and surrounding areas are LOOKING GOOD!
Check all around your unit; check the parking lot and surrounding grounds; check the community landscaping too. If something needs to be done, find out if the association will attend to it, or if you can do the work yourself in some cases. For instance, if edging and weed pulling need to be done, you may be allowed to do the work near your unit. If you have concrete sidewalk and steps, for instance, just brushing on and scrubbing them with bleach will do a lot to improve the looks and first impression.
Bleach does wonders. If there is ANY mold and mildew on the outside of the home, a pressure washing with bleach will clean it and kill the mold and mildew. In case of wood siding and shingles, pressure washing with bleach (consider the double or triple strength Sodium Hypochlorite, same as bleach but stronger) will clean up wood shingles and make them look renewed. You can also use oxalic acid wood bleach or one of the professional wood and shingle cleaners. Pay attention to the labels these are effective chemicals and strong!
Proper and efficient landscaping and image enhancing techniques like these will usually add at least 15% and as much as 25% to the perceived value and thus the sales price and appraisal value of a home. Most of these techniques will bring you at least $4 back for every $1 spent.
Curb appeal should be suitably powerful that it causes people driving by the home at ten to thirty miles per hour to stop or at least turn their heads to look at your property as they go by. With a sale sign from the Realtor on your property, and great curb appeal, you should get lots and lots of people stopping, writing down the sign information and picking up brochures from the brochure box attached to the sign. Curb appeal sells!
Maximize your curb appeal and improve your first impressions when you want to sell your property. Otherwise, you will be selling slower and for less money than you will with the use of these tips.
Copyright 2000-2005 by www.JodyHudson.com
Jody Hudson has been a Realtor for 35 years.
Source of this article is: http://www.kate-jody.com/essays/MaximizingCurbAppealandFirstImpressions.html
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
What We Do To Sell Your Property!
Once you have contracted us to sell your property we go to work for you to bring you the most money and best price for your property as quickly as possible. Some properties are faster selling than others based on the location, condition, size, price, of course, and type of the property.
Price is always a consideration but proper marketing and selling techniques will usually garner you, at least, an extra 15% to 20% and that is where we shine! We go into action quickly with all of the modern and traditional methods of marketing, promoting and advertising your property. Our purpose in doing what we do is to find YOU a number of willing and able purchasers in order to encourage at least one to purchase your property -- quickly and at the highest price.
We send out "JUST LISTED" postcards to 200 homes and businesses in the surrounding area about of your property. This card directs them to the web site we set up for your home with numerous pictures, a full explanation, and all the data they want to know about your home; including the price. Those folks who live close to a property are happy to pass the word on to friends about anything new on the market. They are also the most knowledgeable and the most interested in your home selling for the top price, possible. After all, they know that the more YOUR home sells for, the higher theirs will appraise and sell for.
We publish a professional brochure or flyer for your property; distribute them in numerous ways and keep them updated and fresh in numerous local businesses and in the local restaurants. We already have flyer holders in many locations. We will mail out and deliver these flyers to other Realtors by mail and in person. If there is another Realtor who is likely to have an occasional buyer for a property such as yours, they get our special attention; we invite them for a private showing, print up special flyers just for them to mail out to their prospects, in their name, or whatever it takes, and if appropriate we assign a courtesy key to them as well.
In fact, we even go so far as to let other Realtors send THEIR customers to us, we'll show the property, and still let them have the full commission. This is not done by anyone else in the business as far as we know. The advantage is YOURS!
Your property will be added IMMEDIATELY to the Multi-list computer search service for other Realtors to see and get all possible data from our listing. Our listings are known as the most informative in the area and that helps all the other agents sell your property too. That way if any of the Realtors have a customer for a property similar to yours they will find it.
The Internet and World Wide Web are the greatest single source of Real Estate business for those who use them effectively. Web sites are virtual-color-brochures which prospective buyers can view at their leisure; then call or write us when they are ready to see your property in person. Over 97% of our prospects come from our multiple award winning Web sites. Most Realtors get only a few % of their business from the Web, but they don't have sites like this one.
We advertise our web sites in thousands of other locations on the Net. We have spent many thousands of hours and thousands of dollars to get our site to come up in the major search engines especially www.Google.com the TOP search engine on earth. Google does over 95% of the search work done on the Web, but we also pay to use another 37 of the most popular search engines as well. People LOVE pictures, especially when searching the Web. We have more pictures than any other Realtor I can find.
Most other sites have one, or perhaps two or three pictures of homes and land (at the most) on the MLS and on their web sites. We have twelve or more for most of our properties. One of our properties, a 5.5 million dollar one, had over a hundred professionally taken pictures on several web pages. Internet and MLS submissions are done as soon as the property is listed for sale with us and while you are getting the work done in the real world. This puts your property in it's best appearance while you are doing the finishing touches.
One of our sellers was not quite certain that painting the entire inside of the home and putting in all new carpeting was really important to sell their home. We did the work first on a picture-fixing program on one of our computers and they agreed with us and got the work done right away. They saw how less than $20,000 in painting and carpeting raised the value of their home at least $50,000. The did a magnificent job and it was done in a couple of weeks AFTER we had all the work done on our site here.
Another seller had an motel-apartment complex that had a fire and was burned very badly, it was almost a complete loss. With picture fixing software and a lot of time, we repaired the burned off roof, rebuilt the walls, put in new windows and doors, new sidewalks, new grass and parking and made all the improvements, on our web site, before he could repair the damage. The pictures were done several months before the work was done. Before the motel was even complete in the real world, the seller decided he liked the looks of the property on our web site so much he decided to keep the property and raise the rents to get and keep a better class of tenant. Oh well, we lost the sale but our community was improved greatly.
We place digital classified ads in all manner of periodicals, to direct people to your property on our Web sites; these ads are placed in dozens of Real Estate On Line publications. Many people search the Internet for property in special locations and are interested in recreation, lodging and real estate in our area. We have numerous ways for them to find us in Web Searches in addition to the above: we have paid to have our sites listed under tens of thousands of different search criteria with the major search engines. This is done to help buyers find us and to help sellers get more exposure. Most web sites are only listed in the search engines under one, two or ten key words and search strings, instead of the nearly 900,000 terms and search criteria that we use!
Web based marketing is responsible for well over nine tenths of the calls we get each day and is the MOST EFFECTIVE WAY TO PROMOTE A PROPERTY. For properties over $300,000 about 98% of the e-mail and calls are from our various Internet marketing activities. We also send out periodic newsletters and entice those thinking of purchasing Real Estate in the future.
As other Realtors in the area develop more professional and workable Web marketing sites; we allow them to place your property on their sites also for even more exposure. Professional real estate advisors tell us to expect over 80% of ALL real estate business to come from Internet marketing within the next two years. Our experience is already well beyond that figure!
Print media advertising is certainly not dead, but far less effective than it was a few years ago. We use it a lot. We advertise extensively in the local publications. The print media have been, until the Web, the primary source of prospects for local real estate. And they are still an effective way to get people to our Web sites. Most people who are interested in real estate pick up the local papers for the area where they want to be, as they go TO the area first, usually several times, or are advised by friends who live there. Once people are convinced to live or buy in a particular area they often subscribe to the local papers of that area.
We keep you advised and informed on local market activity and changes. We also follow up with any other Realtors who show the property to ensure that they have our complete and speedy help in getting their purchasers to buy your property instead of some other one.
There will be a For Sale Sign on your property, a nice large one, with information and pictures on a professionally done flyer which will have copies kept in a clear plastic and waterproof box attached to the sign. Our web site is listed on the sign as well. As you can see, we consider our web site to be a huge color catalog that is far too large to print otherwise - and our web sites are available all the time not just one day.
We will personally call, deliver and mail flyers to the most successful Realtors in the area who have a track record of selling properties like yours. They will ordinarily find the property on-line anyway -- but these busy Realtors still get our special and repeated attention. Other Realtors are fully in every way possible, this is not usually done in this area. We owe and give our allegiance to YOU when you list your property with us, and we are always helping others to sell your property too.
All in all, we ARE The Cutting Edge Realtors, and we're far ahead of any other Realtors in our experience, ability and activity to promote, market and sell your property.
Your best choice is to have us represent you. Are you ready! If so E-mail us.
Copyright 2000-2005 by www.JodyHudson.com
Jody Hudson has been a Realtor for 35 years in America and in Delaware.
The source page for this article is: http://www.kate-jody.com/essays/whatwedo.html
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