"Every night before I rest my head; See those dollar bills go swirling ’round my bed."
So sang Patti Smith in the composition Free Money on her critically acclaimed 1975 debut album, Horses.
That’s a tune that cash-desperate real estate developers and project owners may have found themselves humming during the current credit crisis. But
As I mentioned in an earlier post, Ohio Governor Ted Strickland recently signed legislation creating a new “land bank” in Cuyahoga County. Like a dose of cold medicine, Senate Bill 353 is not a cure for the foreclosure crisis, but it should help solve one of its primary symptoms – abandoned and vacant housing.
More than any other area in the state, Greater Cleveland has struggled with vacant properties due to its dramatic population decline over the past fifty years. In 1950, Cleveland’s population stood at 914,808, making it the seventh largest city in the U.S. Today, the population is estimated at 438,000. In other words, the city was built for twice as many people, leaving Clevelanders with easy commutes and plentiful abandoned properties.
Continue Reading Cuyahoga County’s New Land Bank – A Step Toward a “Sustainable Cleveland”
After much wrangling, the House and Senate came together in Conference Committee and each subsequently passed President Obama’s Stimulus Bill in record time. President Obama has now signed this historic legislation. The Stimulus Bill provides in part for a refundable tax credit for first time home buyers (who are defined as buyers who have not owned their
The impact the aging baby boomer class affectionately known as “Boomers” is having on many segments of the economy has been discussed in the media for some time now. As life expectancy expands the type of home the “Boomer” wants to live in needs to fit their life style and physical demands. A
The Stimulus Plan is supposed to create jobs. In the retail sector, jobs will be created only if consumers start spending again. Some of you may remember the eighties when consumers were able to deduct credit card interest from taxable income. With the need to motivate consumers to spend, reinstituting this kind of tax credit
Mortgage lenders scored a victory at the Ohio Supreme Court in the recently decided Wilborn v. Bank One Corporation, 2009 Ohio 306 (2009). In Wilborn, eleven borrowers brought suit against their lenders. Ten of the eleven cases (the eleventh did not
involve a reinstatement provision and was decided differently) went like this: Lender brought
In March 2007, Governor Strickland created the “Ohio Foreclosure Prevention Task Force” to address the ever-increasing number of foreclosures plaguing the state. The group’s final report, issued in September 2007, identified 27 recommendations for state action. Since the rise in foreclosures likely won’t be going away anytime soon, perhaps it’s appropriate to take stock of
Many counties in Ohio, Hamilton and Franklin included, have just completed their triennial valuation of real property. In this day and age of falling real estate values and 401(k) balances, saving money is on everyone’s mind. That makes today a good day to review the Auditor’s new value of your property and ask yourself, “Am I paying taxes based upon my property’s correct value?”
Many factors influence property values, and the Auditor’s appraisers, despite their best efforts, are all too often not privy to all the information. The burden therefore falls on the shoulders of the property owner to provide additional information to the Auditor when necessary. In order to do this, a properly completed Complaint Against the Valuation of Real Property form (see links for Hamilton County, Franklin County, and Cuyahoga County forms) must be filed with the Auditor’s office on or before March 31st of the following tax year. This means if you are filing by March 31st of this year, you are actually challenging the valuation of your property as of January 1, 2008. And each county typically has its own set of procedural rules for filing a complaint, so be sure to familiarize yourself with the correct process to avoid dismissal of your case.
Continue Reading Fact Check: Is Your Property Correctly Valued?
In the past 20 years or so, China’s real estate market has experienced phenomenal growth. Hundreds of skyscrapers bursted into the sky during the two decades and many more are coming. This dramatically changed the landscape of many cities in China. All these skyscrapers and other real estate developments are built on a unique land ownership system. The system is still in its primary state of formation, thus uncertainties exist in many crucial areas. In 2007, the first Property Law of People’s Republic of China was enacted and clarified some of the uncertainties but it is far from eliminating them all. Many land ownership issues are still left undefined. The following is an overview of some aspects of China’s unique system.
In China a private party cannot “own” land. All land is either “owned” by the State or by the Collectives. The State owns most of urban area land (i.e. commercial land) and the Collectives are the owners of most rural land (i.e. farm land). Under the current system, even though the land itself can not be transferred, the State may pass the right to use its land to private parties through the granting of “Granted Land Use Right” (“GLUR”) or “Allocated Land Use Right” (“ALUR”). In contrast, Collectives are not allowed to transfer the use right of the land they own. Collectives’ land must be converted from Collective ownership into State ownership before the use right of the land can be transferred. There are efforts, including legislative and administrative, to “free” the land owned by Collectives. The general purpose behind these efforts is to give farmers more “property right” to energize the rural economy in China. Continue Reading Introduction to China’s Real Estate Ownership System
Have you ever asked the question when researching a property: "Where did the tanks go ?" or "What were the prior improvements ?" Now Google Earth can help you out with the recent release of Google Earth v.5.0(beta). A new tool will display satellite images for a parcel for as far back as satellite