Reframing Neighborhood

The real estate appraisal industry, like most industries, is stuck in old thinking. Perhaps the worst of this thinking is the term and concept of Neighborhood. Most people correctly understand neighborhood as a collection of homes and perhaps businesses near their homes. Google images of neighborhood and you get what most people imagine a neighborhood [...]

By |2017-10-24T09:12:21-04:00October 24th, 2017|Change, Industrial, Market, Office, Real Estate, Residential, Retail|Comments Off on Reframing Neighborhood

The Appraiser Prosperity Coalition is seeking to level the playing field. I think they should just change fields.

I recently received an email request for a donation to the Appraiser Prosperity Coalition. I was not familiar with the organization, but I took some time to read up on who they are and what they are trying to accomplish. What I found was a group of well meaning residential mortgage appraisers fighting their latest [...]

By |2016-01-07T10:46:29-05:00January 7th, 2016|Bubbles, Business, Creativity, Economics, Financing, Freedom, History, Professional Development, Professional Growth, Profitability, Real Estate, Residential, Risk, Skills, Small Business, Success, Value|Comments Off on The Appraiser Prosperity Coalition is seeking to level the playing field. I think they should just change fields.

Modern Tranquility

Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry's standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived not only five centuries, but also the leap into [...]

By |2015-06-30T17:09:50-04:00June 30th, 2015|Concepts, Interiors, Residential|Comments Off on Modern Tranquility

San Fransisco Leisure

Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry's standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived not only five centuries, but also the leap into [...]

By |2015-06-29T23:00:37-04:00June 29th, 2015|Landscapes, Residential|Comments Off on San Fransisco Leisure

History Schmistory

It is sometimes astonishing how often human beings fail to learn from history. For example: This Monday's Wall Street Journal featured an article entitled, Dodgy Home Appraisals Are Making a Comeback. The article by Annamaria Andriotis opens, "Home appraisers are inflating the value of some properties they assess, often at the behest of loan officers [...]

By |2014-12-04T09:06:41-05:00December 4th, 2014|Bubbles, Business, Economics, Financing, History, Humor, Residential, Risk|Comments Off on History Schmistory

Wisdom

There was a boatload of wisdom in Wilson Hall Monday night, words from three true leaders in New Jersey Real Estate at the Monmouth University Kislak School of Real Estate's Stephen B. Siegel Lecture Series. The featured speakers included: Ara K. Hovnanian, CEO and Chairman of Hovnanian Enterprises, Inc., a national homebuilder; Ronald S. Ladell, [...]

By |2014-04-29T10:34:38-04:00April 29th, 2014|Demographics, Economics, Multi-Family, Planning, Real Estate, REITs, Residential, Success, Value|Comments Off on Wisdom

Looking for a Place to Live? Think Like a 17th Century Farmer.

The housing market is making a comeback. Hard to miss after seven straight years of grinding losses. Perhaps you have noticed a pattern. Certain areas come back first, and often don’t lose as much value as other areas. The answer is often in the land itself. The first settled and built areas were first settled [...]

By |2014-01-28T09:51:47-05:00January 28th, 2014|Future, History, Humor, Residential, Taxation, Value, Waterfront|Comments Off on Looking for a Place to Live? Think Like a 17th Century Farmer.

McMansions are Back. And They Have Their Place.

Roughly three years after Trulia declared McMansions dead, the New York Times announced that they were back and bigger than ever. I never cared for the term McMansion for two reasons: (1) I really don't understand what it means and (2) the term wreaks of elitist snobbery. After all, why go right for the pejorative? Let's [...]

By |2013-12-04T07:20:26-05:00December 4th, 2013|Children, Real Estate, Residential, Terminology|Comments Off on McMansions are Back. And They Have Their Place.

The Art and Science of Making People Feel Special

I am endlessly fascinated by creativity in the real estate world. I had the opportunity to spend some time recently with John Sims, Chairman and CEO of Marketlogics, a firm that provides creative real estate market advisory services for residential home builders. John's personal philosophy is simple, "People want to feel special. We figure out how [...]

By |2013-12-02T14:07:45-05:00August 23rd, 2013|Art, Creativity, Customers, Demographics, Marketing, Niche, Real Estate, Residential, Skills, Success|Comments Off on The Art and Science of Making People Feel Special

What is Mount Laurel Housing?

Mount Laurel Housing comes from the lead 1975 New Jersey Supreme Court case Southern Burlington County NAACP v. Mount Laurel Township which spawned what is now known as the Mount Laurel Doctrine. The plaintiffs challenged Mount Laurel's zoning ordinance (which favored large lot residential development) on the grounds that it excluded low- and moderate-income families. [...]

By |2013-12-02T14:09:34-05:00June 25th, 2013|Affordable Housing, Real Estate, Residential|Comments Off on What is Mount Laurel Housing?

What is Section 8?

I was talking to Joanne Dennison, a consultant friend of mine about my business. And I starting using jargon she didn't understand. She is a very smart person, so if my goal is to make real estate simpler and more accessible for people, this is bad, very bad. So we decided that I should create [...]

By |2013-06-18T06:33:34-04:00June 18th, 2013|Affordable Housing, Multi-Family, Public-Private Partnerships, Real Estate, Residential|Comments Off on What is Section 8?

Big Artie and Little Artie and Cash on Cash Return

I had lunch with my pal Big Artie the other day. His son Little Artie, recently home from college, joined us. Big Artie has been investing in real estate lately and he wanted to tell me about his latest potential acquisition that he planned to do in partnership with Little Artie. "It's a two family [...]

By |2013-05-22T12:31:17-04:00May 22nd, 2013|Financing, Real Estate, Residential, Value|Comments Off on Big Artie and Little Artie and Cash on Cash Return

A Little Flexibility Could Go A Long Way

The concept of eminent domain contains two parts: public purpose and just compensation. Certainly the idea of public purpose has gotten fuzzy lately. In Kelo v. The City of New London apparently viable private property was condemned and turned over to a redeveloper. But most issues of public purpose are much more mundane and settled: the [...]

By |2013-05-17T15:18:23-04:00May 17th, 2013|Environment, News, Politics, Real Estate, Residential, Risk, Value, Waterfront|Comments Off on A Little Flexibility Could Go A Long Way

So Where Is Jersey Shore Real Estate Going After Sandy?

I have received a number of inquiries about appraising Jersey Shore properties that were damaged by Hurricane Sandy for casualty loss under Internal Revenue Service Rule 165. Thus far, I have not taken on any of these projects. I am not going to lie to you, this has ticked off some clients. Let's start from [...]

By |2023-10-18T15:39:26-04:00May 1st, 2013|Real Estate, Residential, Risk, Uncategorized, Value|Comments Off on So Where Is Jersey Shore Real Estate Going After Sandy?

Housing Prophecy

As more and more people are working from home, the effects on existing office space and office development are well-known: vacancy has increased and stayed stubbornly high and the rural corporate campus design has fallen out of favor. Desk- and job-sharing are now commonplace. But if all of these people are working from home, what are home [...]

By |2013-07-19T11:37:43-04:00April 12th, 2013|Creativity, Customers, Demographics, Office, Real Estate, Residential|Comments Off on Housing Prophecy

Another One for the Anecdote Piggybank

I was dubious about the reports of a tightening housing market, but this morning a friend of mine stopped me on the street. He asked, "do you know someone with a house for sale in Shrewsbury or Little Silver? I listed my house for $559,000 and got a contract for $555,000 in two weeks. These people want to [...]

By |2013-04-09T08:59:38-04:00April 9th, 2013|Real Estate, Residential, Value|Comments Off on Another One for the Anecdote Piggybank
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