Jabong Mailer (CPA)
Showing posts with label real estate broker. Show all posts
Showing posts with label real estate broker. Show all posts

Thursday, 17 December 2015

Data Centers: Where Big Data Meets Real Estate

Which of the many technology companies should you bet on as an investor? As the next big thing becomes outdated faster than you can swipe a smartphone, it’s not always easy to predict which specific company will have staying power.

But one thing we can probably agree on is that high-tech, including cloud computing, is a pretty solid bet, given that it undergirds pretty much everything we do these days — and it can even be an environmentally friendly move as well.

I recently wrote about how Big Data is changing finance. Now I’m here to tell you that Big Data isn’t just a way to come up with smarter investment strategies through, for instance, transparency and risk analysis, two of the issues I discussed previously. Big Data can also be an investment strategy itself.

Saturday, 12 December 2015

Real Estate Pros Try Their Hand At Purple Prose In Selling The Priciest Homes

Some real estate agents are now trying a different method in getting the priciest homes out of their inventory, and it's not home staging, nor offering crazy incentives, Stefanos Chen of The Wall Street Journal reports.

Real estate website realtor.com conducted a listings language analysis and found out that the property's price tag greatly affects the listing's property description. The analysis has shown that the pricier the home, the more flowery verbiage are used to describe the property, and that luxury agents are penning purple prose to close deals.

"Majestically poised along the shimmering Gulf of Mexico," were the introductory words for a 222-word property description for a $10.9 million beach home in Sarasota, Fla. It also cites the "unique harmony" of this "haven of serenity" suitable for "undisturbed reflection."

Using a 1970's algorithm used for school-grade levels called Flesch-Kincaid scale, the Fla. Listing scored at the 12th-grade reading level.

Premier agent spotlight: Bill Baldwin believes in strength of city, real estate market

Bill Baldwin is a firm believer in the strength of Houston both economically and as a viable place to live.
As the local real estate market is realigning from the soaring prices in 2013-2014, there is uncertainty in the minds of buyers and sellers.
"Houston is not just an oil town. The city has become economically diverse with medical research, information technology, aerospace and manufacturing, all of which are producing a number of jobs and stabilizing our economy," Baldwin said.
The market has been headed toward stabilization since the end of last year.
Baldwin is not worried about the market in the long term.

He has been in real estate long enough to know that the market will have its ups and downs.
"Newer real estate agents have only known the great market of the past couple years. Yet, a changing market is part of real estate. The stabilization we are seeing now was bound to happen. Knowing how to advise our clients and navigate through is part of the real value of a Realtor," Baldwin said.
Baldwin is confident in what Houston has to offer. He sees a city full of great neighborhoods, a strong sense of community with a broad and diverse range of attractions.

Friday, 11 December 2015

Dubai real estate firm removes Donald Trump's name from project

Golf has a Donald Trump problem. This shouldn't be that difficult to explain given his integration in the sport and his recent comments to the media about various groups of people as he tries for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination.

These two things coincided this week when Trump's name was removed from a project he is working on in Dubai. Trump stated that all Muslims should be banned from coming to the United States. Here's Reuters on the backlash in Dubai from Trump's real estate partner.

A Dubai real estate firm building a $6 billion golf complex with Donald Trump on Thursday stripped the property of his name and image amid a backlash over the U.S. presidential candidate's proposal to ban all Muslims from entering the United States.

A spokesman for DAMAC Properties, Niall McLoughlin, declined to comment on why Trump's image had been removed from a billboard outside the project construction site, along with that of his daughter, Ivanka Trump.

10 Incredible Numbers from Canada’s Real Estate Bubble

Canada’s Real Estate Bubble Is Jaw-Dropping
Canada’s housing market is overpriced and the nation’s real estate bubble is due to burst at any moment. At least, that’s what we’re told.
This message has been repeated so often that many Canadians have tuned out the conversation altogether. But lately, the country’s housing market has defied reason. Despite years of stagnant wages and a slowing economy, real estate prices continue to soar at a nearly double-digit clip.

Regardless of your views on real estate, the nation’s two-decade-long housing boom has produced some jaw-dropping statistics. Here are 10 incredible numbers from Canada’s real estate bubble.
1. $1,226,300
A shortage of listings and intense demand is driving up prices beyond any bounds of reason. In Calgary, the average detached house sold for $509,392 in November. In Toronto, just a semi-detached home will set you back $750,608.
However, Vancouver’s real estate market really takes the cake. According to the Real Estate Board of Vancouver, the benchmark price for a detached house in the Metro Area increased 22.6% year-over-year in November to $1,226,300.

People Walking Away From Deposits; Real Estate Agent Predicts

In 2016, it won't come as a shock if people will be willing to walk away from the deposit they place on pre-selling apartments, Phil McCarroll of Your Investment Property reports.

Douglas Driscoll of Starr Partners real estate agency is predicting that an addition from the present concerns with this year's off the plan sales will be that buyers will begin to find their prospective purchases as overvalued.

"In 2015, we saw a lot of developments granted planning permission but I think heading into 2016 we will see them feel a bit of pain because some purchased their sites on such narrow margins.  As market levels fall away slightly, some developers might struggle to cover costs," Driscoll said.

"Towards the end of 2016 we might start to see some investors potentially walk away from their deposits because they perceive that they paid too much for it in 2015 and see that it's no longer worth the risk," he said.

According to Driscoll, this tendency is a "knee-jerk" action which he doesn't recommend, but Mark Mendel of iBuyNew off the plan consultancy firm would like to disagree with Driscoll's forecast saying that it is a little off target.

"I think we would only see that if prices in Sydney had a rapid fall. If you look at the history of Sydney property cycles we have a period of strong growth for three or four years and then a period of six or seven years where things slowdown a bit," Mendel said.

"I don't think people are at the point where they're ready to lose their deposits, I mean something like $70,000 or $80,000 is a lot of money. I think people will be more likely to take the rental return and wait until capital growth picks up again," he said.

For Mendel, the walking away is a nonissue, but he recognizes the possibility that some projects may never eventuate.

"I think we'll see a drop in the level of activity. A lot of the developers who bought sites on option aren't going to go through with it and they'll hand the land back.

"We'll see construction drop off, but the bigger boys in areas like Green Square will keep going though."

Real estate reaps smart technology paybacks

Smart buildings could be characterized as a venue for colliding cultures as real estate moves away from a tradition of proprietary systems and IT takes on a growing role in operations. A seminar at last week’s PM Expo in Toronto even presented that theme in an energy management vs. building automation context, albeit largely as a teaser for a discussion of the broader linkage of technologies to deliver high-performance buildings.

“I think we’re at a point where it is no longer a conversation about a building automation system or an energy management system or about water management. It’s a conversation about the environment,” observed Chris Piché, a principal with the engineering and green design firm, Integral Group, and one of the seminar presenters.

Elsewhere at PM Expo, real estate owners/managers and IT service providers likewise explored how smart technology and innovation are transforming buildings, as part of a panel discussion sponsored by the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) of Greater Toronto. They pointed to the efficiencies and savings that can come with real-time monitoring and operational responses, which also support asset value and competitiveness in the marketplace through enhanced ability to attract and retain tenants.

“I suspect the evolution of technology in our buildings is going to come rather quickly,” mused the discussion moderator, Lachlan MacQuarrie, vice president, real estate management, with Oxford Properties Group. “My advice would be: you probably don’t have as much time as you think you have.”

Network infrastructure figures prominently in the first steps to get open systems converged on a platform for collection, integration and dispersal of data. From there, it becomes something of a discovery process for data applications — ranging from the obvious, such as energy-use monitoring and verification, to the perhaps more esoteric.

An anonymous short-seller called a company a 'Ponzi-like real-estate scheme' and the stock has crashed 65%

An anonymous short-seller called a company a 'Ponzi-like real-estate scheme' and the stock has crashed 65%

Read Full Story: An anonymous short-seller called a company a 'Ponzi-like real-estate scheme' and the stock has crashed 65%

Residents of posh Paris island rake in cash on Airbnb

PARIS: Homeowners on the Ile Saint-Louis in central Paris, which has some of the city's most expensive real estate, are being kept in style by Airbnb rentals, a survey showed Thursday.
Conducted by a tourism industry association it showed that nearly two thirds -- 63 percent -- of the 214 buildings on the tiny island of film stars, scribes and sheikhs "have at least one Airbnb apartment or similar".

A total of 314 residential units, representing 17 percent of the island's stock, are available for rental on Airbnb or other home-sharing websites, the survey said.

Only about one-third of dwellings on the smaller of two islets in the Seine river, next to the Ile de la Cite where Notre-Dame Cathedral is situated, were inhabited by the owner.

The survey took place as Parisians express growing frustration with the never-ending stream of Airbnb tenants carting luggage up the stairs of their apartment buildings.

Damaged homes change real estate market

No-one thought it would be anything other than just a temporary thing.

Christchurch's earthquake-damaged homes would be fixed or rebuilt, and things would return to normal.

But with insurers cashing out claims and repair work expensive, the real estate landscape has changed.

Many damaged homes are not just liveable but saleable, and are selling and re-selling. Insurance payouts are bankrolling windfalls for both buyers and sellers.

There is no public database and details of damage and quake claims are privately held. So authorities, valuers, insurers and real estate agents are having to adjust.

"This is going to be an on-going problem that Canterbury will have for years to come," says property valuer Natalie Edwards, who owns Urban Edge Valuations.

Many of the homes are being "legitimately and properly" repaired, she says. Buyers include builders, landlords, and homeowners excited by a cheap purchasing option.

But some people will plaster over the cracks, and those houses may catch later buyers unawares, Edwards says.

"The problems come about when someone doesn't know the history of the home — where there's no transparency of information.

"It will just get worse as time goes on. There are large parts of the city with homes that will never get repaired — they're not worth the money to repair." 

 She recommends buyers take nothing for granted and get an an engineering report, not just a building report.

"People can be very devious. If you can sell something for reasonable money and don't have to disclose information and that's to your advantage, then people will do it."

Red flags for valuers that a home may not be what it seems, Edwards says, are a discounted previous price, references to damage in previous advertising, or a lack of detailed paperwork or consents.

Real Estate Investment: When Do You Buy And When Do You Sell?

Sam Zell knows more about real estate investing than anyone else and according to him, it is all about timing. Zell sold his real estate firm Equity Office to Blackstone Group for $39 billion during the peak of the market in February 2007. This was just months before real estate credit markets begin to plummet.

Timing is really important and it pays to know when to buy and when to sell. Zell did this not just once but twice! At the end of October, his Equity Residential real estate fund sold more than 23,000 apartment units to Starwood Capital for $5.4 billion. His company plans to see another 4,700 units sometime soon. Most of the proceeds will be returned to investors next year in the form of dividends, an article from Business Insider revealed.

Zell's technique is to cash out of non-core assets and rather than re-invest, most of the cash is given to investors.

So how does Zell know when to sell?

REITs (real estate investment trusts) are considered to be lucrative sectors after the 2008 credit crisis. REIT prices are up 286 percent from their March 2009 low, compared to 209 percent for the S&P 500 over that same period.

According to Real Capital Analytics data commercial property values reached an all-time high on record in August--up 14.5 percent and even surpassing the previous numbers.

Q&A: David Behin, CEO of CityFunders, Talks Title III And Real Estate Crowdfunding

For David Behin, co-founder and CEO of CityFunders, proving real estate investment opportunities for accredited investors, his goal was to help bring real estate investing to the masses. Fast forward to now, and the pool of real estate investors has noticeably increased, with the passage of the JOBS Act, Title III. The new law contributes to CityFunders’ purpose: enabling the majority of people to invest in what was once only available to the elite.CityFunder

With a potential outpouring of money coming into the marketplace–Title III just received the SEC’s approval in October–David believes that regulation will beneficial for the industry. But Title III’s benefits are, of course, not limited to the real estate crowdfunding; Pensco Trust Company’s CEO believes Title III retail crowdfunding may benefit from IRA money retail crowdfunding may also benefit from IRA money. Steve Wallman last month shared his thoughts on Title III’s equity crowdfunding rules, informed by his background as a former SEC Commissioner.

Recently, Crowdfund Insider caught up with David about his thoughts on what the passage of Title III means for the future of real estate investing and crowdfunding.

Midori Yoshimura: Following the recent passage of Title III, how do you see regulation as benefiting the crowdfunding industry?

David Behin: The new regulations will vastly expand the number of eligible investors.

Midori: What do you see as the short-term and long-term effects of Title III?

David: I don’t expect much to happen in the short term, as these regulations won’t become actionable until mid-2016. Further down the line, I do expect increased regulatory involvement on the industry at large.

Midori: Given the expansion of eligible investors, how much of a bump might we expect to see in funding in the equity crowdfunding marketplace?

David: I think a significant bump will come, but it’s important to remember there will be a learning curve which will affect adoption. On the platform side, this consists of new processes and paperwork, as well as significant fees associated with opening portals up to non-accredited investors. Investors will have to research the different platforms and deals available to find what works best for them.

Calgary a buyer's market for at least 6 months, says real estate analyst

Lowell Martens, owner and broker at Re/Max Real Estate Mountain View, says it's a challenging time for the industry right now, especially in higher-end properties.

Lowell Martens, Calgary realtor
Realtor Lowell Martens say sales are down in the high-end real estate sector but remain steady in more affordable homes. (Dave Gilson/CBC)

"When we see some light at the end of the tunnel, we'll be back into this market fairly quickly," Martens said.

"But at the moment we don't see any light."

He says his office has seen sales drop between 20 and 30 per cent "for just about the whole year."

Reasonable demand in some sectors

Martens says more reasonably-priced homes, however, are standing their ground.

"There's a reasonable demand for those and if they show well and are priced reasonably in line with where the market currently is, we find that they sell reasonably well," he said.

House prices in Calgary and Edmonton to drop in 2016: Remax

A Re/Max Western Canada housing market report says sales of existing properties are expected to drop by four per cent in Calgary in 2016, but others say the situation could be much more gloomy.

10 per cent drop possible

Don Campbell, a senior analyst with the Vancouver-based Real Estate Investment Network, says the worst is yet to come in the Calgary market.

"Our numbers are showing that the average sale price should drop … in that 10 per cent range at least," Campbell predicts for the coming year.

He says supply is beginning to show in prices.

"Those that need to sell are starting to move their price and we haven't seen that for a long time in the Calgary market," Campbell noted.

Invest for the long run

Paul Varella, the associate dean at Mount Royal University's Bissett School of Business, says the current volatility could be a reminder of one of the first rules of investing.

"Anybody who invests in real estate has to be in the game for the long run," Varella said.

Reactions to the Real Estate Bill

The recent Cabinet approval for the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill has been hailed by developers and industry experts, saying the move would set the benchmarks in consumer rights protection. But the ‘good’ cannot go with imperfections in its smaller details. So it is pointed out that if speedy project approvals are not brought into its ambit, it could lead to project delays and even rise in costs. The Union Cabinet approved the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill, 2015, and it will now be taken up for consideration by Parliament.

Industry reactions:

Shishir Baijal, CMD, Knight Frank India

It is a welcome move for the entire industry and the amendments are likely to lift overall sentiments. The amendments are in the right direction, but they should be implemented within the time frame and we should not lose the momentum now. With the Cabinet nod, the Bill is very much ready to become an Act, post which the onus will be with the States on how they adopt and implement it.

Anshuman Magazine, CMD, CBRE South Asia

The Bill will prove a game changer, protect the consumer and encourage every buyer. However the ease of doing business needs to be implemented in the real estate sector through a time-bound approval mechanism by the government/local/ urban bodies. The government bodies also need to be held accountable for ensuring reforms in laws and timely project approvals.

Farook Mahmood, President, FIABCI, World Council of Brokers, & CMD, Silverline Realty

It’s a positive step that would offer a fillip to the market. But having taken a closer look at the details, I would think it would need a little tweaking with respect to broker penalty. In the event of builder/promoter not adhering to rules, how can a penalty of nearly 10 per cent be slapped on the broker community? We hardly get 2 per cent in our dealings, where is the reason for such high penalisation for brokers?

Wednesday, 9 December 2015

Bahrain's Investcorp moves further into US industrial real estate

Investcorp, a leading provider and manager of alternative investment products, has announced that its US-based real estate arm, through four separate transactions, has acquired a portfolio of office and industrial properties in the metropolitan areas of Atlanta, San Francisco and Boston for $400 million.

These acquisitions are consistent with Investcorp’s strategy to invest in well-occupied properties with healthy cash flows located in major US markets displaying strong economic fundamentals and employment growth, said the company in a statement.

The entire industrial portfolio and one of the three office properties are located in the greater Atlanta area, and should be set to benefit from its highly diversified and growing economy, it stated.

As the business capital of the Southeast, Atlanta boasts some of the highest job and population growth projections in the country. The remaining properties are located in the high-performing sub-markets of San Francisco and Boston, which benefit from strong technology, biotechnology, and healthcare driven office demand.

On the acquisition, Mohammed Al Shroogi, Investcorp’s co-chief executive, said: "Atlanta, San Francisco, and Boston are top business destinations with some of the most compelling job and rental growth stories of recent years. All of the properties in this portfolio are well-occupied with strong, stable cash flows and diversified tenant bases, and thus are well aligned with our investment strategy of working with local operating partners to add value to properties that already provide an attractive current yield."

Real Estate Agents in Varanasi Residential apartment in Varanasi Varanasi residential project

Friday, 4 December 2015

Sales of Elite Real Estate Boom in Moscow After Year of Stagnation

After a slow year on Russia's housing market caused by the country's economic crisis, Moscow is starting to see a growth in sales of elite property, the Kommersant newspaper reported Friday, citing a recent report.
In November, the demand for elite real estate in Moscow rose by 25 percent compared to the same period last year and by 50 percent compared to October, according to the report by elite real estate consultancy Kalinka Group, Kommersant reported.
The experts attribute the growth in sales to the discounts for new housing being offered by developers and the amendments to the Tax Code — which increase the period of time after which the owner can sell the purchased property without having to pay taxes from three to five years.
The changes will come into force on Jan. 1, 2016.
This means that those who purchase the real estate before the end of the year can sell the property in 2018 without paying any taxes, or else will have to pay 13 percent tax on the cost of property or postpone its sale until 2021, Yekaterina Rumyantseva, chairperson of Kalinka Group's board of directors, told the newspaper.

Monday, 30 November 2015

Xander bets big on India real estate

After a decade of investing in real estate in India, global investment firm Xander Group Inc. is actively looking at fresh investments across retail, commercial office and residential sectors even as the country’s property market reels under a slowdown.

Over the past 10 years, Xander has invested over $2 billion in equity in real estate in India from its various platforms. Xander, which builds retail shopping malls under its development arm Virtuous Retail, has financed residential projects through a series of real estate funds and engages in debt lending through its non-banking financial company (NBFC) Xander Finance.

With the National Democratic Alliance government relaxing foreign direct investment (FDI) norms earlier in November, international investors such as Xander are finding newer and easier ways of investing in real estate.

“We are very excited about it. FDI rules with regard to smaller projects make it very interesting because they allow us to do more retail. Size is no longer a constraint so I can now do community centres. Instead of a 1 million sq. ft project, which takes 6-7 years or more, now we can do 100,000-150,000 sq. ft city centre community spaces. That can be the rollout strategy across the country, and not just the top 10 markets. We can also buy existing assets, which is small, because there isn’t much to buy from,” Siddharth Yog, founder of Xander Group and chairman of the investment committee, said.

Acquire Real Estate Completes Crowdfunding at Pompano Marketplace in Florida Initiative

Acquire Real Estate, a real estate crowd investing platform, recently partnered with full-service real estate investment company, Katz Properties, to provide an investment opportunity in Pompano Marketplace, a 238,800 SF fully occupied retail center located in Pompano Beach, Florida.

Acquire Real Estate LogoThe crowd investing project closed quickly, attracting more than 15 Accredited Investors from across the U.S. that contributed between $10,000 and over $125,000 in investments. Acquire Real Estate pre-funded a $369,000 investment in the property, a $52-million retail center fully occupied by Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market, Stein Mart, Beall’s Outlet Store and Ross Dress for Less. Acquire investors are projected to receive average annual returns of between 7 and 8 percent paid quarterly over a 5- to 10-year term. 

Steven Bettinger, CEO of Acquire Real Estate, stated:

“Acquire pursues stable, income-producing investment opportunities managed by top national Sponsors. In Pompano Marketplace we found exactly that, and were able to offer a smart long-term investment to our Members.”    
Pompano Marketplace 1Katz Properties purchased Pompano Marketplace in March of 2015 for $46.8 million. The company primarily focuses on the acquisition and operation of grocery-anchored shopping centers and currently has under management more than 3.2 million square feet of commercial property.

Pompano Marketplace is considered a popular community shopping center located along Florida’s South Federal Highway. Investors were drawn to the strong-performing center due to its mix of anchor, restaurant and shop tenants as well as its location in the highly developed South Florida market. Anchor tenant Wal-Mart, whose lease runs through 2026, achieves over $35 million in sales at the property each year, making Pompano Marketplace one of the strongest-performing shopping centers in the area.

Friday, 27 November 2015

Even Hong Kong property bears are bullish on real estate stocks

While home prices are poised to fall as much as 10% by the middle of 2016, Mr Kan reckons publicly-traded shares have baked that in and more.

The analyst at Daiwa Securities Group’s Hong Kong unit sees the stocks rallying at least 20% over the next year. With Sun Hung Kai Properties and its peers all trading at valuations below the global average, Mr Kan says as long as the property market cools rather than crashes, there’s plenty of room for stocks to rally.

"This kind of discount you can’t find anywhere in global property," said Mr Kan, whose calls over the past three months delivered almost twice the gains of the average strategist tracked by Bloomberg.

"In the past, when the actual decline in prices turned out not as large as the stock market has discounted, share prices usually do quite well after that."

He’s not the only analyst who’s bullish: price targets compiled by Bloomberg imply a 23% average rally for Hong Kong’s biggest developers and landlords in the next year. That’s with Bocom International Holdings, Barclays and CLSA all forecasting a slump in residential prices amid concern about higher mortgage rates, increasing supply and China’s economic slowdown.

The city’s nine biggest real estate shares slid an average 8.4% in 2015 through Wednesday, with Wharf Holdings leading declines. Cheung Kong Property Holdings, which spun off in June, is down 30% since then. A measure of property companies on the Hang Seng Index gained 1.4% at 9.53am in the city, with Sino Land and Cheung Kong Property leading the advance.

Investors have overreacted to fears of a plunge in home prices before, according to Mr Kan.

In 2013, the city’s property stocks tumbled amid government efforts to curb house-price growth and as global financial markets braced for a reduction in stimulus from the US Federal Reserve. The Hang Seng Properties Index climbed 7.2% the following year as home-price declines projected by a long list of brokerages never materialised.

San Francisco Real Estate Giant Douglas Shorenstein Dies At 60

Douglas Shorenstein who is known as the second-generation leader of one of San Francisco’s real estate, died of cancer at his home.

The 60-year-old real estate tycoon owns Shorenstein Properties that has sponsored 11 closed-end real estate investment funds of $7.9 billion in almost 60 million square feet of property over the last 20 years.

Prior to joining the real estate company that was founded by his father Walter Shorenstein in 1983, he was an attorney at the law firm Shearman & Sterling in New York. When he became executive officer in 1995, the firm branched out wherein they develop both old and new properties like the global headquarters of Twitter.

The company owns iconic structures including San Francisco’s Bank of America Building at 555 California, Chicago’s John Hancock Tower, Hamilton Square in Washington, D.C., Park Avenue Tower in New York, and 1201 Third Avenue in Seattle.

Aside from that, he was also well known for his philanthropic contributions like his investment in Aim High, which is a “Bay Area nonprofit that provides no-cost summer academic programs in San Francisco, Oakland, Marin County and San Mateo County,” Biz Journals wrote.

“Education is an organization in transition where our involvement would make a real difference in the neighborhoods where we were doing business and where our employees could participate as volunteers or clients of the service,” Shorenstein told the Business Times back in 2011.

Shorenstein also did many remarkable decisions during his leadership of the Shorenstein Properties like how he invested heavily in tech-friendly warehouse-style buildings such as the Western Furniture Exchange and Merchandise Mart in San Francisco.

He is also remembered as generous, kind and “had this unbelievable instinctive intelligence for real estate,” Len Baker, a partner with financial consultants Sutter Hill Ventures and board member of Shorenstein Properties said.

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