BRIEF: Open house allows public to view OHS students’ work on houses
TEST ADVERT 468x60 - www.reviewmylife.co.uk
By Mark Newman, Ottumwa Courier, Iowa
May 18–OTTUMWA — Ron Downing and his Ottumwa High School students don’t obsess about the real estate market. So while the recent sale of two student built houses is good news, the students are still sawing, hammering and measuring under Downing’s supervision.
“We’re not in competition with anybody out here. We’re in the business of educating and providing well-educated graduates who can [be successful] in our community.”
Despite the instructor’s insistence on each aspect of the project being near perfect, even that isn’t about marketing a house. Those structures off of Mary Street are classrooms for “building trades” students.
But because those houses will be sold, there are no failing grades allowed. Downing said if something doesn’t go in right, it comes out — and the students start over.
The community will get to see the work: There’s an open house tonight at house at 88 Traxler Drive, off Mary Street.
___
(c)2012 the Ottumwa Courier (Ottumwa, Iowa)
Visit the Ottumwa Courier (Ottumwa, Iowa) at www.ottumwacourier.com
Distributed by MCT Information Services
A service of YellowBrix, Inc.
Read More»South Florida is marked down for companies looking for a new home
By Douglas Hanks, The Miami Herald
May 18–The recession hammered South Florida’s housing and labor markets more than most, leaving at least one bright side amid the damage. Companies now find the region a cheaper place to do business.
Thanks largely to cheap labor, a new survey of business costs gives South Florida a favorable ranking.
With an average weekly wage of about $870, South Florida boasts some of the country’s lowest payroll costs, according to a new study by the Boyd Company, a corporate-relocation firm in Princeton, N.J. And with real estate far more affordable than it was before the bust, executives can afford bigger homes in nicer neighborhoods than they could in past years when nothing seemed hotter than a Miami condo.
“One of the biggest benefits of having this adjustment we’ve all been through is that we are now on the radar of these companies,” said Ron Shuffield, of Esslinger-Wooten-Maxwell, a residential brokerage with one of the area’s leading relocation outfits. “They say we’ve wanted to look at Miami for the past 15 years, but we couldn’t afford it.”
In 2005, at the height of the housing bubble, South Florida finished 15th on the list of the country’s most expensive housing markets, according to the National Association of Realtors. Now it’s down to 35th. In the Boyd ranking of 35 large metropolitan areas seen as potential headquarter sites, South Florida finished fifth in terms of cheap labor costs.
“Miami and South Florida are one of three or four markets most severely impacted by the recession. It has proportionally made Miami particularly attractive right now,” said John Boyd, the company’s founder.
South Florida finished sixth out of 35 major markets in Boyd’s latest ranking of the cheapest places to move a company, mostly thanks to its score in the heavily-weighted labor category, Boyd said..
A rough economy hasn’t brought a surge of new companies looking for affordable digs in South Florida, though local economic agencies say they’ve seen more inquiries from companies considering a move.
As a locale best known for vacations and retirement homes, South Florida has long struggled to recruit corporate headquarters.
Read More»Builder: Oil boom best opportunity in decades
By Amy Dalrymple, The Dickinson Press, N.D.
May 18–WILLISTON — During the Bakken Housing Summit, Salt Lake City real estate developer Michael Milner sent this text to his colleague: “Think big! Think real! Think fun!”
Milner, managing member of American Landmark Group with 40 years of experience in the building industry, said the long-term development opportunities provided by the oil boom in western North Dakota are exciting.
“Without federal interference, this will be one of the most significant economic opportunities this country has had in the last 50 to 100 years,” Milner said.
Milner and representatives from his firm are among the more than 350 people from 33 states who attended the Bakken Housing Summit in Williston this week.
American Landmark Group, which has done major developments in Utah and Nevada, began working in North Dakota and Montana about a year ago.
The group has properties in Glendive and Sidney, Mont., and is tying up some properties this week in Watford City and Dickinson, Milner said. The firm also has joint ventures with property owners in Williston.
Milner’s firm does residential, commercial and industrial development, but one of the group’s major goals is developing family housing in the Bakken oil producing region. The projects are financed with private equity because it’s difficult to get bank loans, Milner said.
Barry Rutenberg, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders, told conference participants that one challenge to financing projects is that many lenders aren’t convinced that the oil boom is not a temporary phenomenon.
Rutenberg said he thinks it’s going to take a collaborative effort to meet the housing needs in western North Dakota. Organizers of the summit call for 5,000 homes in 24 months.
“I think you have the players here,” Rutenberg said. “Let’s let them work.”
Builders and developers spoke about the difficulties finding enough licensed electricians, plumbers and other contractors in North Dakota, and the need to do a lot more planning to get
materials.
“Building up here is kind of like building on the moon,” said Clint Wilson of HybridCore Homes, a California-based company. “If you haven’t brought it with you, you’re going to have a delay for trying to complete your project.”
Read More»Tampa Tribune, Fla., Tom Jackson column
By Tom Jackson, Tampa Tribune, Fla.
May 18–Timing, the saying goes, is everything. The exaggeration is ever so slight. An adequate supply of oxygen probably trumps timing. But all things being equal, we’ll take timing — karmic punctuality — as the pivotal ingredient in most of life’s pivotal pursuits, from humor to love to employment to real estate development.
Regarding this, it appears the time has come (again) in Pasco County for developments to develop. Saks Fifth Avenue, one of retail’s ritziest brands, declared its plans to plant a foothold in Wesley Chapel. OK, so it’ll be a store in Saks’ discount division, OFF 5th. So what?
If there’s anything Americans love, it’s swanky stuff at cut-rate prices. We call it “value,” an old concept enjoying new life in post-meltdown America. Bargain-hunting is chic. We don’t go to Target or J.C. Penney, we shop at Target and Jacques Penne.
I mean, nothing says retail therapy like Filene’s Basement (“Where Bargains Were Born”), right? And visiting Nordstrom Rack is like a voyage on the Odyssey Explorer (without Madrid claiming the spoils).
Our acquired appreciation for deep markdowns is likely to continue unabated, even if rumors of an economic recovery prove true. Everybody’s clipping coupons these days; it’s the 21st century version of family game night. Buy one, get one — BOGO? It’s the only way to shop.
Given that, the timing has never been quite so right for the long-anticipated central Pasco outlet mall to take shape. Other gossip has ranged from hopelessly premature to indulgently speculative, the product of leapfrogging imaginations.
This no longer seems to be the case. Indianapolis-based Simon Property Group, having long eyed Pasco opportunities, including the abandoned State Road 52 project, is by all accounts raring to go. Excellent. Simon has become the gold standard in the field of developing and managing designer outlet malls, surfing on that tsunami of consumer sentiment noted above.
Reports are that the company has been, since January — when it reached an agreement with the Richard E. Jacobs Group on a portion of the delayed and problematic Cypress Creek Town Center property — wooing clients.
Read More»DNR signs Wisconsin’s largest land conservation deal
By John Myers, Duluth News Tribune, Minn.
May 18–The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources announced Thursday plans for the largest land conservation deal in state history — an agreement to purchase conservation easements on 67,346 acres of forest in Douglas, Bayfield, Burnett and Washburn counties.
The purchase from the New Hampshire-based Lyme Timber Co. is to be known as the Brule-St. Croix Legacy Forest. It is at the headwaters of the St. Croix and Bois Brule rivers and contains 80 small lakes and ponds, 14 miles of streams and globally unique pine barrens habitat. About 20,000 acres of the purchase are within the Brule River State Forest.
The deal will cost about $17.3 million.
“It’s really spectacular,” said Thomas Duffus, Upper Midwest director for the Conservation Fund, which had a hand in the transaction. “It’s a vast landscape of nearly unbroken forest for as far as the eye can see.”
The land will remain privately owned by Lyme Timber and on the tax rolls, but it will be forever undeveloped and open to public access, including hunting, fishing and hiking. The forest also will be open for sustainable forestry, including logging.
Keeping large tracts of undeveloped land is also considered critical to maintain habitat for many bird and wildlife species.
The move is an effort to stop the land from being divided and sold for recreational property such as cabins and second homes.
“This purchase forever opens access to hunting, fishing, trapping, hiking, skiing, bird-watching, ATV and snowmobile trails, portions of the North Country Trail, and extensive habitat for deer, bear, wolves, woodcock, migratory songbirds and grouse,” DNR Secretary Cathy Stepp said in a news release. “At the same time, the land remains in private ownership, on the tax rolls and will be managed sustainably for forestry purposes. It’s a win-win for everybody that will help maintain the celebrated forested character of the north.”
Two phases
The transaction is to occur in two phases. In the first phase, the state Natural Resources Board on Wednesday will review the purchase of an easement of 44,679 acres for $11.3 million. If approved, the department will forward the proposal to lawmakers and to the governor for final approval. The money would come from the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Fund for public land acquisitions.
Read More»Facebook wealth is in the air
From fancy restaurants to fast cars, limousines and luxury homes, the San Francisco Bay Area is awash in wealth again, local business owners say.
With Facebook as the new mascot for Silicon Valley’s high-tech high rollers, fancy restaurants are booked solid and luxury showrooms are having trouble keeping cars on their lots, the Los Angeles Times reported Thursday.
The major wealth generator for the moment is Facebook, set to go public Friday, making many of its employees very wealthy overnight.
A spending spree is already under way, but 180 days after Facebook goes public those who have not already sold their shares can cash in their paper wealth. A second wave of luxury spending is expected then.
The anecdotes already sparkle with wealth.
“Charles Schwab was in the restaurant the other day, and I asked him to hook me up with some Facebook shares. He told me he can’t get Facebook shares,” said Jamis MacNiven, a restaurant owner in San Mateo County.
For the year ending March 2012 an unheard of 21 percent of new car registrations in San Francisco, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties involved luxury cars, about twice the national average, the newspaper said.
Anecdotes concerning home sales have also gone from the sublime to the ultra-ridiculous.
A recent home listed for $849,000, a 1903 three-bedroom one-bath home not in the greatest shape, attracted 51 bidders, real estate agent Jeff Appenrodt said.
One of his clients with tech wealth in his wallet offered 50 percent more than the asking price — and lost out. It sold for $1.4 million to someone else, Appenrodt said.
Silicon Valley is likely one of only a few areas in the country where a high-tech lawyer can quit his job to go into real estate.
Ken DeLeon did that and has already sold properties worth a total of $100 million in 2012.
“Everyone feels confident again. Everyone has the mindset that their net worth will be higher next year,” DeLeon said.
A service of YellowBrix, Inc.
Read More»