New Trend in Real Estate

A new trend I have been seeing lately concerning real estate would be independent living for seniors. The key difference between independent living and other housing options is the level of assistance offered for daily living activities. There are many types of independent living facilities, from apartment complexes to separate houses. Perhaps your home has a large yard which requires constant maintenance, or maybe it’s becoming more and more difficult to clean those extra rooms that are rarely used, these complexes will do those things for you. You are also able to be around people your own age and most of the facilities host social events in their "club house."

The Stratford at Phoenix includes All-day dining in the Victorian Dining Room allows residents to dine on their schedule, not ours, leaving more time and flexibility to enjoy the many activities and amenities offered at The Stratford. These Community amenities include Cut-N-Curls, the beauty/barber shop, the library/computer center, activity rooms, private chapel, and a fitness center. 

http://www.thestratford.org/

Which Property Type To Invest In

If I were to invest in San Antonio right now I would invest in apartments. According to the graph above, The market took a big hit in 2008 and 2009, but now rental rates are increasing and there has been a huge spike in occupancy rates.

Foreclosure

When the economy crashed and his business slowed down, Wells Fargo offered to modify Steve Bailey’s loan to lower his payments. After making a series of trial payments, Wells Fargo notified Steve that his modification was on the way.

A few days later he received a letter stating that his modification had been denied. The Wells Fargo representative he spoke with reassured him that they had made a mistake and that he should keep making the payments, which he did for seven months.

Steve then started to receive foreclosure notices. Again, the bank representative assured him that the notices had been sent in error.

Then Steve checked his credit. Wells Fargo had reported him delinquent on his mortgage for the last six months. The reduced payments that Steve had agreed to pay for the previous months had been put into a separate trust by Wells Fargo, and they had not gone towards his mortgage.

 The case went to court but Steve lost despite mountains of evidence in his favor, making this a judicial foreclosure. 

My Hometown

San Antonio, Texas is the seventh most populous city in the United States and the second most populous city in the state of Texas, with a population of 1,359,758. The racial composition of the city based on the 2010 U.S. Census Bureau is as follows:
72.6% White (Non-Hispanic Whites: 26.6%)
63.2% Hispanic or Latino (of any race)
6.9% Black
0.9% Native American
2.4% Asian
0.1% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander
3.4% Two or more races
13.7% Other races


Payaya Indians originally lived near the San Antonio River Valley. In 1691, a group of Spanish explorers and missionaries came upon the river and Native American settlement on June 13, the feast day of St. Anthony of Padua, and named the place and river "San Antonio" in his honor. Early Spanish settlement of San Antonio began with the establishment of the the Alamo in 1718 as a means to reassert Spanish dominance over Texas from the nearby French in Louisiana. The continued to build four other Catholic missions, San jose (1720), San Juan (1731), Concepcion (1731), and Espada (1731). After Texas entered the Union, growth became rapid, as the city became a servicing and distribution center for the western movement of the United States, and continued to grow as railroads were introduced. These missions are now in the downtown area of san antonio and the city has grown outwards from them.

Along with the five missions that are famous tourist spots, san antonio is also famous for the River Walk, the Tower of the Americas, the Alamo Bowl, and host to SeaWorld and Six Flags Fiesta Texas theme parks, all of which account for approximately 26 million tourists per year. 

My favorite part of San Antonio is that we are home to four-time NBA champion San Antonio Spurs,

 the annual San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo, 

and amazing Tex-Mex food.

Guest lecture

The other day in class we had two guest speakers, Dr. Samuel Harris and his attorney Mike Gentry, talk to us about their journey trying to develop a piece of real estate that Harris owns. The land in located in Bryan and has been in Harris' family since his great-grandfather won it in a poker match. They are currently in the process of building a hotel on this land, but have run into many problems. The biggest challenge was moving a oil pipeline underneath the ground where some of the oil spilled out. The ended up having to spend a big chunk of money for the soil replacement, but was able to resolve the issue. They also plan to build a gas station and a retirement community on this land. 

The topic of rollback struck my interest during this lecture. Dr. Harris' land was taxed as agricultural land, which meant the land was idle, making the tax very cheap each year, but once Harris sold that land the rollback was applied, causing him to pay taxes for the previous five years based on the market value of the land. In addition, 7-percent interest is charged for each year from the date that the taxes would have been due. 

There are so many rules along with problems that come with developing real estate, making each developing process unique. I have been thinking about attending law school and this lecture has sparked my curiosity in real estate law.

Private & Public Restrictions on Real Estate

Private restrictions are enacted by a private individual or business that put limitations on the owner’s rights. The most common forms of private restrictions are easements, adverse possession, encroachments, and liens. In public restrictions there are four basic powers of government over real property, taxation, escheat, eminent domain, and police power.


Easements are rights to use the property of another for particular purposes. There are two main types of easements: easement in appurtenant, and easement in gross. An easement in appurtenant is when two properties are in a dispute or agreement. One of the properties ”gives up” a right, and the other property benefits from the agreement. Easements in gross are when there is only one property or estate, the other party often being a utility or electric company. 

Power of eminent domain is the right of the government to take private property for public use upon the payment of just compensation. The two requirements are it must be for a valid public use and property owner must be compensated fairly.

One recent article describes the mounting legal battles in Texas, Nebraska, and Oklahoma, from the “Keystone Pipeline”. The issue, as the article describes, is that to construct the massive cross-country pipeline, Keystone will pass-through over 2,150 pieces of private land. Each of which requires a custom agreement allowing special land-rights to TransCanada, the company building Keystone. The company met with each property owner, offering a cash bid for the right to build their pipeline. This method has been a great success, leaving Transcanada “all but 19 of the 1,200 easements it sought in Oklahoma and Texas.” The company is trying to seize the rest of the easements by using eminent domain laws. This article tells the story of the people who are refusing to grant the easements.

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-03-08/ranchers-tell-keystone-not-under-my-backyard

My Favorite Piece of Real Estate

My favorite piece of real estate would have to be friends grandmother's house. It is located in Houston, Texas in the woodlands. It is so fascinating to me because I saw stage of them building it. I was able to see all of the blue prints and the empty land before they started building. The next time I went to see it, they had started putting the wood framing up and they took me through all the rooms, telling me what each was going to be. It was hard to imagine the final product because to me it just looked like a bunch of boards sticking up. The final time I went back to the property, it was all complete with the furniture and everything. Through this process I was able to see how much work and detail goes into designing and building a house, it took them 5 years total. Also, as you can see from the video it is the most extravagant house that I have ever been in. It was a great experience and is what sparked my interest in real estate.