Revamping Oakcliff

Growing up, Oak Cliff was always one of those "never-go" there place. It was dangerous. It had crime. It was old. It had drugs. It had gangs. It had shoot outs. Stay away from Oak Cliff. 

But now, the environment is changing. It is no Uptown Dallas. But it does have its quirks. And it is making progress on becoming one of the more trendier areas in the Dallas metroplex. Don't get me wrong, there is still A LOT of work to be done in the area. And I would never stumble into Oakcliff without a fully charged phone, GPS working in tact. It is not somewhere I recommending freely exploring. I usually have it in mind where exactly I am going. But in 5 years, possibly.

One of my favorite redevelopment projects within Oak Cliff is the Kessler Theatre.  There is the before on the left and the after on the right. And the sound. And the natural wood. It is absolutely beautiful. 

Plus the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge is doing wonders to help people get over there. 

Plus, it holds one of my favorite bars called The Foundry which was a decrepit old building before.

Anyways if you are ever in Oak Cliff check out! 

Property To Invest In...

In my nighborhood of Murphy, Texas I would opt to invest in retail due to the increasing number of residential households in the area. The reason I would choose retail opposed to going into the growing residential field is because based on my experience within the area, I know that there are so many new developments it would be hard to resell my investment if I needed to quickly change my liquidity position. In addition, the trend between residential households and the success of retail space are positively correlated. The median household income of the area of Murphy is 101,372 which indicated a favorable consumer market for retail space if I chose to invest.

Murphy is also considered 18 on the list of "Top 100 fastest growing cities from 2000 to 2008." And according to research, many of the residents are looking for more retail within the area so that theydo not have to drive as far. This direct demand for retail would make for an excellent investment.

John's Foreclosure Story

Summary: This is the story of John and his family who live in Minnesota and are facing a foreclosure on their property. The foreclosure is of a typical nature in that the family fell behind on their payments and were two months behind. Although they are now in a much more stable financial situation and they are currently able to pay their mortgage, the banks is still pursueing the foreclosure
due to the family's debt. John has tried to negotiate with the bank, offering to make partial payments o cover the previous two months of rent but the bank has denied his request. The whole thing is quite sad and really has a negative portrayal on the banks in this region.

Type of Foreclosure: Non-Judicial. Although not specified I am assuming this will be a non-judicial foreclosure since there is no mention of the family taking the bank to court.

Reason for Foreclosure. John and his family are facing foreclosure because they fell 2 months behind on their mortgage. This was due to some relationship issues John and his partner faced in previous months. When the couple separated, John's partner was unable to make the mortgage payments due to lessening of the family's income.

Type of Loan. Although not specified, the family did refinance their house for a lower monthly payment.

 

 

 

My Favorite Town- Silverthorne, Colorado

You probably have never heard of Silverthorne, Colorado, but if you have ever been skiing in Summit County in areas such as Veil/Keystone/Copper Mountain areas you have definitely driven by it.

I am familiar with the town of Silverthorne because my grandparents live in the most wonderful house there. It is absolutely the perfect place to visit in both the winter and the summer because it so close to ski resorts there is always something to do. In addition, the entire community is very close knit.

Growth Patterns. The population of Silverthorne is 4,061 according to their public website. This is quite a significant growth considering that the town only came into existence in 1967. In the last decade alone, it is said that the town has grown by 95%.

Demographic. Although the town is small it's population is extremely well educated with over 48.3% of the population holding a Bachelor's Degree of higher. According to
City Data, the town of Silver thorne is 54% male and 46% female with the median age being 37.1 years. The median household income is $69,360. The town is 67.4% white, 27.6% hispanic, and 2.3% black. Other races include Asian American, Native American, and Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander. The crime rate is also notably low.

Economics. According to their public website, the working class is divided into the following sections:

Retail Trade 31.6%

Accommodations and Food Service 14.5%

Construction 12.6%

Administrative and Waste Services 8.5%

Finance, Insurance, Real Estate, and Rentals 6.5%

Government 6.4%

Transportation and Warehousing 5.8%

Prof, Tech Services, Health Care, Social, Education, and Arts 4.3%

Mining 3.4%

Other Services 3.0%

Information 1.7%

Wholesale Trade 1.7%
The unemployment rate is currentl at 3%. The high percentage of people working in retail is attributed to the large number of outlet stores tha are in the town. That is Silverthornes main way of stimulating their local economy is capitalizing on the large amounts of people traveling through Summit County to reach their ski destinations.

Pyschographics.  The town is rather outdoorsy and has a very active lifestyle. Because of its close location to the ski slopes, many within Silverthorne are active skiiers. The town also participates in hiking, biking, sailing and fishing. Fishing is especially popular in the near by Blue River.

Our Lovely Guest Speakers

The other day in class (January 28th) we had two lovely guest speakers come and talk to us about real estate development in the Bryan/College Station Region. Because I am particularly captivated by real estate development I knew that the lecture from Dr. Mike Gentry and Dr. Sam Harrison would be especially exciting! And I cannot wait to tell you all about my favorite parts of the lecture

But first... some background information.

Dr. Mike Gentry and Dr. Same Harrison both live and work in the College Station area. Both men went to Texas A&M, were in the Corp of Cadets, and love the Fighting Texas Aggies. Mr. Gentry is a lawyer in the college station area and works at a nearby law firm where he specializes in a variety of different areas including real estate. Dr.  Harrison is a practicing doctor at Texas A&M and also owns quite a bit of land that he is currently trying to develop.

Currently...
Dr. Harrison is trying to develop a large piece of property in the College Station area including building a hotel, a living center for the elderly, various retail stores, and our very own Bucky's style gas station. Although the development holds quite a bit of promise, Dr. Harrison and Dr. Gentry were explaining that developing land comes with its own unique requirements and challenges that can make the project a little bit time consuming. Some of the things that they have had to face include zoning, building roads, city planning, historic artifacts,TXDOT and enviromentally toxic soil. Regardless! Their hard work is literally buidling the new face of Bryan/College Station and we should be expecting awesome new business additions to the area thanks to them!

Anyways...
One of the things that I found the most interesting about their lecture is how Dr. Harrison was struggling with the environmental factors of moving the pipe on the land. I honestly had very little idea how expensive it really was to clean up contaminated soil. Being a bit of an environmentalist myself I was quite pleased that these sort of requirements are in place, but still! Cleaning up the mess of someone 60 years ago is a tough hand. I was also pretty intrigued that EXXON will actually clean up the mess for free, it's too bad that they take their sweet time though.

It was an awesome lecture and I hope that we get more like them in the future!

Public Restriction on Real Estate

A public restriction on real estate is an encumbrance created by a governing body or public authority. Some examples of public restrictions on real estate include property tax, power of eminent domain, police power, the comprehensive general plan, zoning, building codes, subdivision regulations and escheat.

Property taxes are taxes on your property by the goverment. They create a steady flow of revenues for state and local governments.

Eminent Domain is the right of the government to claim your property. It is a given right of the government found in the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution.

Police Power is the power of government to regulate activities to promote the public health, safety, and general welfare.

Comprehensive General Planning is a statement of a community's long-range policies covering its predictedp hysical needs for 15 to 25 years.

Zoning divides land into different sections and puts regulations on each portion relation to the type and intensity of use. These are in place so that cities can be well organized and not sporatic like ahem Houston.

Building Codes are regulations on the construction of new buidlings and the alteration of existing ones. They are in place for the safety of the general public, and most specifically to prevent fires.

Subdivision Regulations are another tool in implementing the community planning process. The purpose is to protect residents from poorly planned and executed developments.

Escheat is the governements taking of land that occurs when the owner of the property dies without leaving the property to any living person.

In the article "How Houston Gets Along Without Zoning" from Businessweek, Peter Coy explains that although Houston has very few zoning laws, the city is still relatively maintained and organized naturally. Coy explains that although theoretically a major oil company could create a rig next to a residential neighborhood, real estate developers would never place a residential neighborhood next to an oil rig (for obvious reasons). Thus, Houston really is not as bad as it may seem.

No offense to the respectable Peter Coy, but he obviously has never been to Houston. I am not saying that there is a huge warehouse next to a mansion, but if I owned a 5 million dollar house I would be a bit distressed if I lived next to a bunch of low-cost efficiency apartments. This is not an uncommon sight in Houston. Although I do like a little bit of variety within areas, Houston is a bit too unorganized for my tastes.

Private Restrictions on Real Estate

Private Restrictions on Real Estate are the limitations on property owners of what they can and cannot do with their property.

This can inlcude covenants,conditions, and restrictions (CC&Rs) which limit the way a property owner can use a property. These restrictions are usually listed in the form of a deed or a plat associated with the property and are put upon the property by the original property owner. The goal of these CC&Rs is to protect the land of certain property to hopefully increase the value of the property and the surrounding properties.

Another example of a private restriction on real estate is liens. A lien is a claim on a property as either a secuirty for a debt or fulfillment of some menetary charge or obligation. Normally a lien is in the form of a mortgage, but it can also take the form of a mechanic's lien (construction lien) or a judgement lien (won in a lawsuit).

Easements are the rights given to one party by a landowner to use the land in a specified manner. The landowner shares the land with the holder of the easement. Easements normally come in two types. An easement appurtenant is an easement is legally connected to an adjoining property. This type of easement typically has a dominant estate, or a benefitted party. An example would be your sewar pipe that runs along your neighbors property. An easement with gross would be an agreement with a utility company, the basic idea that there is no dominate estate.

Adverse Possession or "land squatting" occurs when a non-owner of a property claims a property and maintains it for an extended period of time until the land becomes his. The squatter must maintain continuous presence, improve the land, and make sure that there are not any trespassors.

Homeowner's Associations are give jursidiction from CC&Rs. Although normally HOA's are relatively acceptable and practical, in some cases the rules are take to extreme measures.  The article  "Top 7 Insane Homeowner Assocaition Rules" describes some very interesting, and sad, uses of CC&Rs on different homeowners. One example is of a handicapped woman who was fined 25$ because she could not pick up her dog in the public areas. The fines became so cumbersome to the woman that she eventually had to move out of the neighborhood. Although I do see the need for a HOA, it is obvious that these patrons are not acting in the spirit of CC&Rs.