Pending home sales index rises again in June
...homebuilder D.R. Horton Inc. said its fiscal third-quarter losses shrank from the year-ago period, as it took smaller charges against the falling values of its land and unsold homes.
D.R. Horton's results followed similar numbers from Pulte Homes Inc. and Centex Corp., which reported quarterly earnings Monday that showed new-home orders picked up during the first half of the year.
Lawrence Yun, the Realtors group's chief economist said he expects existing home sales to gradually rise over the balance of the year, with conditions varying around the country.
"It appears home sales are on a sounder footing and inventory is gradually being absorbed," he said.
Regionally, the pending home sales index jumped 7.1 percent to 100.7 in the South and 2.9 percent to 100.4 in the West. The index inched up 0.4 percent to 81.2 in the Northeast, and up 0.8 percent to 89.9 in the Midwest.
Showing posts with label builders. Show all posts
Showing posts with label builders. Show all posts
State halts tax-credit program...
California is cutting off applications for a tax credit that was designed to promote sales of new homes.The Franchise Tax Board said it would stop taking applications for the tax credits at midnight Thursday.The program offered $100 million in credits to about 10,000 consumers who buy homes that have never been occupied. The credit is equal to 5% of the purchase price or $10,000, whichever is less.
Buyers must occupy the homes for at least two years immediately after the purchase.The tax board expects to have received 12,000 applications.
But help is on the way …
AB 765 (Caballero) Income tax credit: purchase: principal residence.
Analysis
The Personal Income Tax Law authorizes a credit against the taxes imposed by that law in an amount equal to the lesser of 5% of the purchase price or $10,000 in the case of the purchase of a qualified principal residence on and after March 1, 2009, and before March 1, 2010, but not to exceed an aggregate limitation of $100,000,000 for all credits allowable.
Existing law requires a certification that the residence has never been occupied be provided to the Franchise Tax Board within one week of the sale of the qualified principal residence. This bill would allow a taxpayer to reserve a credit with the Franchise Tax Board and would require that the certification be provided to the Franchise Tax Board within one week of the close of escrow of the qualified principal residence. This bill contains other related provisions.
California is cutting off applications for a tax credit that was designed to promote sales of new homes.The Franchise Tax Board said it would stop taking applications for the tax credits at midnight Thursday.The program offered $100 million in credits to about 10,000 consumers who buy homes that have never been occupied. The credit is equal to 5% of the purchase price or $10,000, whichever is less.
Buyers must occupy the homes for at least two years immediately after the purchase.The tax board expects to have received 12,000 applications.
But help is on the way …
AB 765 (Caballero) Income tax credit: purchase: principal residence.
Analysis
The Personal Income Tax Law authorizes a credit against the taxes imposed by that law in an amount equal to the lesser of 5% of the purchase price or $10,000 in the case of the purchase of a qualified principal residence on and after March 1, 2009, and before March 1, 2010, but not to exceed an aggregate limitation of $100,000,000 for all credits allowable.
Existing law requires a certification that the residence has never been occupied be provided to the Franchise Tax Board within one week of the sale of the qualified principal residence. This bill would allow a taxpayer to reserve a credit with the Franchise Tax Board and would require that the certification be provided to the Franchise Tax Board within one week of the close of escrow of the qualified principal residence. This bill contains other related provisions.
On-Line House Hunting Sites Developers Should Know!
Here's are a few:
DotHomes.com : Billing itself as a "real estate search engine," DotHomes scans the websites of agents and brokerages and returns listings in a way reminiscent of Google. The comparison is not accidental -- there's an "I'm Feeling Wealthy" search button that pays tongue-in-cheek homage to Google's "I'm Feeling Lucky" button; it returns listings by price. Much like a general search engine, it allows you to enter your parameters very efficiently in one box as if they were keywords, such as "Santa Monica, CA 3 bedrooms.
"FrontDoor.com: One thing that listings sites tend to lack is content that's broader than the listings themselves. That's not the case with FrontDoor, where the popular HGTV cable channel has leveraged its archive of home-improvement and real estate programming. Be warned, however, that if you're a fan of the channel, it might be tempting to kill a lot of time watching videos of "Designed to Sell" host Lisa LaPorta ripping out bad bathroom tile. Non-video content includes numerous brief articles on the ins and outs of buying and selling. On the listings side, the site helpfully breaks them down by neighborhood.
CyberHomes.com: This site also has easy-to-access content: a big library of articles on the nuts and bolts of real estate. CyberHome’s Explore Maps feature goes way beyond the usual mapping -- with this tool, you can zero in on neighborhoods where there isn't much crime or areas where there are likely to be a lot of toddlers.
Movoto.com: You may be able to make up the time you lost looking at the videos at FrontDoor.com when you get to the noticeably efficient home search at Movoto. Enter your search parameters, and it returns 20 listings at a time, shown in pairs. Click on one of them, and it delivers lots of information about that property, including detailed lists of local schools and community amenities, plus demographic information, all in one continuous scroll, without having to click on a lot of links.
OpenHouse.com: The name says it all. If you're setting out on a Sunday to stalk homes for sale, OpenHouse can be a useful tool for planning your itinerary. The details that are available for each listing vary quite a lot, depending on what the agent has included. There are also "virtual open houses," which translate into tons of photographs and videos of many properties.
Wal-Mart.com: Although it's too soon to say, "Look out, Craigslist," the retail behemoth’s recent entry into free classified advertising should not be dismissed. Wal-Mart, after all, is Wal-Mart. In addition to the free consumer-submitted listings, it aggregates broker ads through a partnership with Oodle.com. The number of listings that turned up in our searches in July was not huge, but the service is only a few months old. A search here can be broken down by the usual bedrooms, bathrooms, square footage etc., as well as by homes for sale by agents, via foreclosure or FSBO (for sale by owner).
Excerpts from LA Times Article By Mary Umberger, July 27, 2008
DotHomes.com : Billing itself as a "real estate search engine," DotHomes scans the websites of agents and brokerages and returns listings in a way reminiscent of Google. The comparison is not accidental -- there's an "I'm Feeling Wealthy" search button that pays tongue-in-cheek homage to Google's "I'm Feeling Lucky" button; it returns listings by price. Much like a general search engine, it allows you to enter your parameters very efficiently in one box as if they were keywords, such as "Santa Monica, CA 3 bedrooms.
"FrontDoor.com: One thing that listings sites tend to lack is content that's broader than the listings themselves. That's not the case with FrontDoor, where the popular HGTV cable channel has leveraged its archive of home-improvement and real estate programming. Be warned, however, that if you're a fan of the channel, it might be tempting to kill a lot of time watching videos of "Designed to Sell" host Lisa LaPorta ripping out bad bathroom tile. Non-video content includes numerous brief articles on the ins and outs of buying and selling. On the listings side, the site helpfully breaks them down by neighborhood.
CyberHomes.com: This site also has easy-to-access content: a big library of articles on the nuts and bolts of real estate. CyberHome’s Explore Maps feature goes way beyond the usual mapping -- with this tool, you can zero in on neighborhoods where there isn't much crime or areas where there are likely to be a lot of toddlers.
Movoto.com: You may be able to make up the time you lost looking at the videos at FrontDoor.com when you get to the noticeably efficient home search at Movoto. Enter your search parameters, and it returns 20 listings at a time, shown in pairs. Click on one of them, and it delivers lots of information about that property, including detailed lists of local schools and community amenities, plus demographic information, all in one continuous scroll, without having to click on a lot of links.
OpenHouse.com: The name says it all. If you're setting out on a Sunday to stalk homes for sale, OpenHouse can be a useful tool for planning your itinerary. The details that are available for each listing vary quite a lot, depending on what the agent has included. There are also "virtual open houses," which translate into tons of photographs and videos of many properties.
Wal-Mart.com: Although it's too soon to say, "Look out, Craigslist," the retail behemoth’s recent entry into free classified advertising should not be dismissed. Wal-Mart, after all, is Wal-Mart. In addition to the free consumer-submitted listings, it aggregates broker ads through a partnership with Oodle.com. The number of listings that turned up in our searches in July was not huge, but the service is only a few months old. A search here can be broken down by the usual bedrooms, bathrooms, square footage etc., as well as by homes for sale by agents, via foreclosure or FSBO (for sale by owner).
Excerpts from LA Times Article By Mary Umberger, July 27, 2008
KB Home takes top spot in survey on green practices
Major area home builders garnered high marks for policies geared toward green building practices in a report issued Tuesday.
Los Angeles' KB Home claimed the top spot among 13 publicly traded home builders in a report on the industry's sustainable practices. Clcik here for more.
Los Angeles' KB Home claimed the top spot among 13 publicly traded home builders in a report on the industry's sustainable practices. Clcik here for more.
Home Buyer Tax Credits Needed To Jump Start Housing And The Economy
February 28, 2008 - With the housing industry facing its greatest crisis since the Great Depression and the economy teetering near recession, the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) today called on Congress to move quickly to enact a second round of economic stimulus directed squarely at the housing sector. Specifically, NAHB believes the best policy is to create a tax credit for the purchase of a home.
“The biggest bang for the buck most likely would be provided by a temporary home buyer tax credit,” NAHB Chief Economist David Seiders told the Senate Finance Committee. “Tax credits for the purchase of a home are a means of eliminating excess inventory, relieving some of the pressure on falling housing prices and ending the waiting-on-the-sideline strategy some potential buyers have adopted in response to overly negative media stories concerning the future of the housing market.
”The recently enacted Economic Stimulus Act of 2008 could fall short of achieving its intended results because it does not address the problems posed by the housing contraction that are at the root of today’s economic and financial market problems, he said. “The U.S. housing market now is in the contraction phase of the most pronounced housing cycle since the Great Depression,” said Seiders.
“Single-family housing starts are already down by 60 percent from their peak at the beginning of 2006 and the bottom is not yet in sight. Congress can, and should, do more.” There are many models that Congress can look to when designing home buyer tax credits. The District of Columbia, for example, offers a $5,000 tax credit to first-time home buyers for the purchase of a new or existing home.
A national first-time home buyer tax credit would stimulate buyer demand for households who do not have a home to sell, who are waiting on the sidelines until prices stabilize and who now face greater housing affordability than a year ago. Furthermore, those who sell their existing home to a first-time home buyer will in turn purchase another home and spur additional economic activity.
A similar version of a home buyer tax credit was used successfully in the mid-1970s when Congress established a temporary tax credit for the purchase of a newly-constructed home to help clear off a then-record number of unsold homes on the market. NAHB applauds the efforts of several senators who are seeking similar solutions.
For example, Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) has introduced S. 1988, legislation that provides for a temporary, one-time refundable tax credit for first-time home buyers of 10 percent of the purchase price of a principal residence. Additionally, Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) introduced S. 2566, a bill creating a one-time $15,000 tax credit for purchasers of a single-family principal residence that is a newly constructed home or a home in default or foreclosure purchased within a one-year time period.
“What is common among these tax credits for the purchase of a home is that they represent policies that increase housing demand, thereby enabling home purchases for families and fight falling housing prices, which threatens the economy as a whole,” said Seiders.
“We recommend a targeted home buyer tax incentive in order to maximize induced purchases.”
Seiders also urged the Senate Finance Committee to consider the following changes to tax policy in order to get housing moving again:
- Expand the mortgage revenue bond program to be used for either home purchases or refinancing of existing mortgages to help strapped borrowers. This would be especially helpful for communities experiencing the possibility of a wave of foreclosures or an extreme excess of inventory, he said.
- Allow businesses to carry back net operating losses for five years. For home builders large and small, the importance of the ability to claim and carry back net operating losses deductions to years when significant taxes were paid cannot be overstated, said Seiders. “The inability to do so will result in the need to either increase high-cost borrowing or further liquidate land and homes, which will only compound the existing inventory problem.” Expanding the carryback of net operating losses to five years would help the home building sector, as well as all businesses, to weather the economic downturn.
- Designate housing as an eligible investment for tax-preferred retirement accounts. A downpayment remains the single largest hurdle for most first-time home buyers. Congress could increase capital available for a downpayment for the purchase of a home by allowing a downpayment to qualify as an eligible investment from tax-favored retirement accounts. This would enable buyers to use IRAs or 401(k) accounts to purchase a home without suffering tax penalties.
Conversion Conundrum
By W. Michael Howlett
During the recent residential housing boom, many apartment building owners converted their rental units to condominiums. Though the market has cooled a bit over the last year and a half, interest in condo conversions remains strong. But with the current downward pressure on prices and the increased expectation of seller assistance with closing costs, property owners need to reexamine the potential income tax cost associated with these conversions.
Structuring a condo conversion properly can yield capital gains instead of ordinary income, subjecting earnings to the 15 percent federal capital gains tax rate as opposed to the 35 percent top ordinary tax rate. When successful, these savings can restore much of the financial luster that has been lost due to softening market conditions.
However, capital gains treatment is available as an option only in those instances where individuals own a property either directly or indirectly via a pass-through entity (i.e., partnership, limited liability company [LLC], or S corporation). It also is important to note from the outset, especially with apartments, that the portion of the capital gain attributable to the depreciation taken is subject to a 25 percent tax rate.
Avoiding dealer status is generally the key to achieving capital gains treatment for the sale of property. Section 1221 of the Internal Revenue Code disallows capital gains treatment for the sale of property held by a taxpayer primarily for sale to customers in the ordinary course of business. Whether property is being held for sale in the ordinary course of business is very dependent on facts and circumstances. Over the years, published Internal Revenue Service (IRS) rulings and decisions rendered by the courts have developed several factors used to make this determination.
As with any planning technique driven by facts and circumstances, there are favorable as well as unfavorable rulings to consider, but the orderly liquidation approach receives support from some very favorable case law. The approach relies on the owner’s ability to show that the conversion to condominiums and the sale of the units can be classified as the orderly liquidation of trade or business assets (i.e., rental property) and not a change of status to being in the trade or business of selling condominiums.
The Goldberg v. the United States case from the 1950s was one of the first to explore this theory. During World War II, rental units were built to provide housing for defense workers.
After the war, the rental market dropped off and housing sales boomed with the return of the troops. Due to this significant change in market conditions, the property owner decided that it would be better to sell off its rental portfolio and, in 1946, 90 houses were sold.
In fact, demand was so strong that no sales or marketing activities were undertaken, the houses were sold by word of mouth, and there were no real estate commissions paid. The court agreed with the taxpayer that the sales were not a result of changing the nature of their business from rental to sales, but a strategy to exit from the business of rental real estate in light of changing market conditions.
A case that dealt directly with apartments being converted to condominiums is the 1987 Gangi case. In Gangi, two individuals formed a partnership and constructed a 36-unit apartment building as part of their retirement planning. After eight years of renting, the business relationship between the partners had soured and the two decided to part ways. An analysis of the property showed that the value could be maximized by selling condo units versus selling the building intact. The partnership went through the conversion process, listed the units, and sold 26 of them within one year.
The IRS argued that the conversion had changed the intent from investment and rental to holding property for sale in the ordinary course of business. The court, however, held that the taxpayers had merely liquidated their investment, a business decision based on market conditions and a desire to part ways. The conversion was just a step taken to effect the liquidation.
What these cases and others show is that it is possible to have a high number of sales and not necessarily be viewed as having sales in the ordinary course of business. As with any fact-based argument, extreme care must be taken to apply these cases to a different situation.
Another avenue to explore that may yield the desired result of capital gains treatment is to sell the apartment building to another entity prior to converting it to condos. A sale at market value will trigger the gain in the entity that held the property for rental purposes, and that gain will be subject to capital gains rates. This technique has been used successfully in connection with raw land in both the Richard H. and Patsy J. Bramblett v. Commissioner and Timothy J. and Deborah A. Phelan v. Commissioner cases. The key to this strategy is that there must be a business reason, aside from tax planning, behind the sale. Two of the most common reasons would be the de-sire to limit liability exposure and the involvement of different partners in the sales activity.
In addition to the normal issues faced whenever contemplating a sale to another entity, such as arm’s-length dealing, avoiding agency relationships, and establishing a business purpose, the sale of an apartment building to an entity that will convert it to condos and market them for sale has one additional hurdle—Section 1239 of the Internal Revenue Code. Section 1239 recharacterizes what would normally be capital gains into ordinary income when a related party acquires depreciable property. However, there are two possible ways to deal with this rule.
The first is to plan to avoid the related party designation. In this case, if more than 50 percent of the ownership of the two entities is under common control, then they are considered related.
Ownership by various family members will be attributed to each family member. For example, if a father owns 40 percent and his son owns 20 percent, they are each deemed to own 60 percent.
This keeps owners from spreading ownership across various family members to avoid the related party rules. Therefore, 50 percent of the entity buying the apartment building must be unrelated to the existing ownership.
At first glance, it would appear that this hurdle would be insurmountable. Why give away 50 percent of the profit to a new partner in order to get a better tax rate? Though a new 50 percent partner would have to be found to participate in the condo sales entity, that new partner would not be getting 50 percent of the overall profits. Most of the profit would be triggered in the existing entity that owns the property. In selling the building to the condominium sales entity, the price would normally capture most of the profit back in the rental entity.
In addition to how the pricing is set, another way to deal with the related party rules is to look more closely at who is considered related. Some family relations (e.g., stepparents and in-laws) fall outside the rule’s definition, so it may be possible to keep the ownership within the expanded family and not trigger the related party rules.
Another way to deal with Section 1239 is to look at whether the property fits the definition of depreciable property. A literal interpretation of Section 1239 implies that the property is depreciable in the hands of the acquirer. Since the entity acquiring the property intends to convert it to condo units and sell them, it can be argued that the acquiring entity is a dealer with respect to the condominiums. Therefore, the condos are dealer property and are not depreciable.
With this last approach, it is very important to be very clear that the acquiring entity is a property dealer. By choosing this approach, the related party rules under 1239 are rendered moot, making it possible to use identical or nearly identical ownership to the selling entity. While this strategy is consistent with the wording of Section 1239, there is no case law at present to either support or deny this position.
A conversion from apartments to condominiums does not automatically taint what would have been a capital gain and convert it to ordinary income, but preserving capital gains status cannot be assumed. Several avenues do exist that can be employed to structure your conversion either to preserve capital gains treatment or to claim most of the profits as capital gains. Each approach has its own strengths and pitfalls, so proper planning with a certified public accountant is essential in order to maximize the potential tax savings.
W. Michael Howlett is a tax partner with Cherry, Bekaert & Holland, LLP, and a member of the firm’s Real Estate and Construction Industry Group. He is licensed as a certified public accountant in Virginia.
During the recent residential housing boom, many apartment building owners converted their rental units to condominiums. Though the market has cooled a bit over the last year and a half, interest in condo conversions remains strong. But with the current downward pressure on prices and the increased expectation of seller assistance with closing costs, property owners need to reexamine the potential income tax cost associated with these conversions.
Structuring a condo conversion properly can yield capital gains instead of ordinary income, subjecting earnings to the 15 percent federal capital gains tax rate as opposed to the 35 percent top ordinary tax rate. When successful, these savings can restore much of the financial luster that has been lost due to softening market conditions.
However, capital gains treatment is available as an option only in those instances where individuals own a property either directly or indirectly via a pass-through entity (i.e., partnership, limited liability company [LLC], or S corporation). It also is important to note from the outset, especially with apartments, that the portion of the capital gain attributable to the depreciation taken is subject to a 25 percent tax rate.
Avoiding dealer status is generally the key to achieving capital gains treatment for the sale of property. Section 1221 of the Internal Revenue Code disallows capital gains treatment for the sale of property held by a taxpayer primarily for sale to customers in the ordinary course of business. Whether property is being held for sale in the ordinary course of business is very dependent on facts and circumstances. Over the years, published Internal Revenue Service (IRS) rulings and decisions rendered by the courts have developed several factors used to make this determination.
They are as follows:
- the frequency, number, and substantiality of sales;
- the taxpayer’s intent or purpose for the purchase of the property;
- sales and marketing activities undertaken by the taxpayer either directly or through the use of brokers or agents; and
- the extent of subdividing and de-veloping the property to increase its value.
As with any planning technique driven by facts and circumstances, there are favorable as well as unfavorable rulings to consider, but the orderly liquidation approach receives support from some very favorable case law. The approach relies on the owner’s ability to show that the conversion to condominiums and the sale of the units can be classified as the orderly liquidation of trade or business assets (i.e., rental property) and not a change of status to being in the trade or business of selling condominiums.
The Goldberg v. the United States case from the 1950s was one of the first to explore this theory. During World War II, rental units were built to provide housing for defense workers.
After the war, the rental market dropped off and housing sales boomed with the return of the troops. Due to this significant change in market conditions, the property owner decided that it would be better to sell off its rental portfolio and, in 1946, 90 houses were sold.
In fact, demand was so strong that no sales or marketing activities were undertaken, the houses were sold by word of mouth, and there were no real estate commissions paid. The court agreed with the taxpayer that the sales were not a result of changing the nature of their business from rental to sales, but a strategy to exit from the business of rental real estate in light of changing market conditions.
A case that dealt directly with apartments being converted to condominiums is the 1987 Gangi case. In Gangi, two individuals formed a partnership and constructed a 36-unit apartment building as part of their retirement planning. After eight years of renting, the business relationship between the partners had soured and the two decided to part ways. An analysis of the property showed that the value could be maximized by selling condo units versus selling the building intact. The partnership went through the conversion process, listed the units, and sold 26 of them within one year.
The IRS argued that the conversion had changed the intent from investment and rental to holding property for sale in the ordinary course of business. The court, however, held that the taxpayers had merely liquidated their investment, a business decision based on market conditions and a desire to part ways. The conversion was just a step taken to effect the liquidation.
What these cases and others show is that it is possible to have a high number of sales and not necessarily be viewed as having sales in the ordinary course of business. As with any fact-based argument, extreme care must be taken to apply these cases to a different situation.
Another avenue to explore that may yield the desired result of capital gains treatment is to sell the apartment building to another entity prior to converting it to condos. A sale at market value will trigger the gain in the entity that held the property for rental purposes, and that gain will be subject to capital gains rates. This technique has been used successfully in connection with raw land in both the Richard H. and Patsy J. Bramblett v. Commissioner and Timothy J. and Deborah A. Phelan v. Commissioner cases. The key to this strategy is that there must be a business reason, aside from tax planning, behind the sale. Two of the most common reasons would be the de-sire to limit liability exposure and the involvement of different partners in the sales activity.
In addition to the normal issues faced whenever contemplating a sale to another entity, such as arm’s-length dealing, avoiding agency relationships, and establishing a business purpose, the sale of an apartment building to an entity that will convert it to condos and market them for sale has one additional hurdle—Section 1239 of the Internal Revenue Code. Section 1239 recharacterizes what would normally be capital gains into ordinary income when a related party acquires depreciable property. However, there are two possible ways to deal with this rule.
The first is to plan to avoid the related party designation. In this case, if more than 50 percent of the ownership of the two entities is under common control, then they are considered related.
Ownership by various family members will be attributed to each family member. For example, if a father owns 40 percent and his son owns 20 percent, they are each deemed to own 60 percent.
This keeps owners from spreading ownership across various family members to avoid the related party rules. Therefore, 50 percent of the entity buying the apartment building must be unrelated to the existing ownership.
At first glance, it would appear that this hurdle would be insurmountable. Why give away 50 percent of the profit to a new partner in order to get a better tax rate? Though a new 50 percent partner would have to be found to participate in the condo sales entity, that new partner would not be getting 50 percent of the overall profits. Most of the profit would be triggered in the existing entity that owns the property. In selling the building to the condominium sales entity, the price would normally capture most of the profit back in the rental entity.
In addition to how the pricing is set, another way to deal with the related party rules is to look more closely at who is considered related. Some family relations (e.g., stepparents and in-laws) fall outside the rule’s definition, so it may be possible to keep the ownership within the expanded family and not trigger the related party rules.
Another way to deal with Section 1239 is to look at whether the property fits the definition of depreciable property. A literal interpretation of Section 1239 implies that the property is depreciable in the hands of the acquirer. Since the entity acquiring the property intends to convert it to condo units and sell them, it can be argued that the acquiring entity is a dealer with respect to the condominiums. Therefore, the condos are dealer property and are not depreciable.
With this last approach, it is very important to be very clear that the acquiring entity is a property dealer. By choosing this approach, the related party rules under 1239 are rendered moot, making it possible to use identical or nearly identical ownership to the selling entity. While this strategy is consistent with the wording of Section 1239, there is no case law at present to either support or deny this position.
A conversion from apartments to condominiums does not automatically taint what would have been a capital gain and convert it to ordinary income, but preserving capital gains status cannot be assumed. Several avenues do exist that can be employed to structure your conversion either to preserve capital gains treatment or to claim most of the profits as capital gains. Each approach has its own strengths and pitfalls, so proper planning with a certified public accountant is essential in order to maximize the potential tax savings.
W. Michael Howlett is a tax partner with Cherry, Bekaert & Holland, LLP, and a member of the firm’s Real Estate and Construction Industry Group. He is licensed as a certified public accountant in Virginia.
Rental Market May Reap Benefits from the Housing Slump
Today's multi-housingnews.com news included an item about California affordable housing builder AMCAL focusing efforts on market-value apartments.
The company plans to build two this year. Why? According to Sid Paul, AMCAL Equities' Vice President of For-Sale Housing, mortgage restrictions and dwindling loan options in California--which saw some of the greatest increases in property values before the housing slump and some of the biggest declines during it--are prompting more and more residents to rent.
"We're seeing a void for workforce earners who may not be low wage earners, but who may have a need for rental properties," Paul told multi-housingnews.com.
Although the Wall Street Journal reported this week that U.S. home ownership has declined just a touch in recent years--it was 68.2 percent in the second quarter of 2007, down from a record 69.2 percent in 2004--the rental market, it seems, stands to benefit as the housing decline drags on.
-full story-
Scooter steers buyer to condo
Developers dream up creative pitches to catch attention in the tough times
Marni Leff Kottle
Sunday, November 18, 2007
It was the promise of a motor scooter - probably candy apple red - that helped seal the deal for Jeanne George and her husband, who closed last week on a $1 million condo in San Francisco.
George, a 61-year-old retiree who lives most of the year in Lake Tahoe, said that she saw an ad promising a Vespa with the purchase of the condo at 733 Front St. in the newspaper and was drawn in.
"The last time I was in the city I had a brand new SUV and I swore I would never drive in the city again," George said. A scooter is "the perfect thing for me to zip over to the Ferry Building from Front Street and zip back again."
-more-
Marni Leff Kottle
Sunday, November 18, 2007
It was the promise of a motor scooter - probably candy apple red - that helped seal the deal for Jeanne George and her husband, who closed last week on a $1 million condo in San Francisco.
George, a 61-year-old retiree who lives most of the year in Lake Tahoe, said that she saw an ad promising a Vespa with the purchase of the condo at 733 Front St. in the newspaper and was drawn in.
"The last time I was in the city I had a brand new SUV and I swore I would never drive in the city again," George said. A scooter is "the perfect thing for me to zip over to the Ferry Building from Front Street and zip back again."
-more-
Public Relations-Real Estate Industry
The intent of this blog is to provide a temporary web presence while the official Amstutz Associates website undergoes construction. Enjoy!
Amstutz Associates (brief)
We are consultants and advocates on every phase of development including the initial inception, planning, entitlement and construction through sales and marketing.
Our Boutique Philosophy allows us to concentrate our business development efforts in developing partnerships with a limited number of clients, while controlling our growth to maintain a small and personable culture that anticipate our client’s needs.
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