Progressive Urban Real Estate

Up on Euclid Creek ... How Tearing Out Dams Can Improve the Water Quality in Our Rivers and Streams

2011-01-06T21:49:00.003-06:00

Removal of small dam on Euclid Creek key to stream restoration, water quality

Monday, December 20, 2010

By Michael Scott, The Plain Dealer

Euclid -- News of another dam coming down in any one of Ohio's hundreds of streams is practically intoxicating for water quality proponents.

So they're partying now up on Euclid Creek -- although in moderation.

Workers with Great Lakes Construction this month ripped out a 40-foot wide, 6-foot high concrete barrier in the stream just below the Highland Road bridge near Euclid Creek Reservation.

That's reason enough for conservationists to celebrate.

"It's just great and shows how we have changed the way we look at the importance of free-flowing streams," said Kyle Dreyfuss-Wells of the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District, which is supporting the project as a construction manager.

"Because we're so rich in water resources in our region, however, we have a lot of dams which essentially create what some call 'inline ponds' on our streams and that creates sediment accumulation problems upstream and erosion problems downstream."

But once a dam goes, fish can better migrate up a free-flowing stream, increasing the number of species traveling several miles from Lake Erie into the upper watershed, biologists say. That, in turn, increases recreational fishing opportunities and improves water quality.

"A free flowing Euclid Creek is really good for everyone," said Claire Posius of The Euclid Creek Watershed Council, a group which formed in 2002 to address flooding in the 24-square-mile area which drains into the creek."

But Euclid Creek isn't close to free flowing yet.

The sobering reality is that there are still five more dams left choking the creek --and it took half a decade and a the support of a dizzying mosaic of funding sources and partners to get this one $526,000 job done.

"That's true, it took about five years and five major funding sources just to get here," Posius said. "It's really tough to scrape together the money to do even just this one job and the remaining dams may each take five to seven years, though I think we can go much quicker."

A spillway under Interstate 90 would be the next likely target from an ecological -- though not an economic -- perspective, Posius said.

"Basically, they straightened out Euclid Creek there and stuck it under a highway," she said. "But it's also a job that will probably cost $2 million, so that's going to be a tough one from a cost standpoint."

Instead, watershed supporters are considering trying to put in a "fish ladder," or way for fish to get around the I-90 dam to get upstream.

But for now, their focus is the successful removal of the barrier known as the East Branch Dam under Highland Road.

'About $382,000 of the total cost is going to Great Lakes Construction for demolition of the dam and stream restoration. The remainder, about $145,000, went to Ohio architects Burgess & Niple for design and engineering.

Workers are now putting large rocks in the stream to direct stream flow away from the Highland Road bridge footers. The rocks will also slow down the water and provide places for fish to spawn and hide.

Workers will then plant native plants along the disturbed creek banks next spring.

'The 77-year-old barrier was originally put in to provide water for swimming at a YMCA camp, but is no longer necessary. Sediment has also built up behind the dam itself, further slowing stream flows.

The dams in Euclid Creek range from small dams built in the old mill days to others built as part of roadway improvement projects in the 1960's.

"It had its use in its day," Posius said. "But that hasn't been for about 50 years and it has instead caused problems for the environment."

Among them, are that most dammed streams in flood more easily during heavy rains or ice melt, river experts say.

"But slowly, with each dam removed, restoration is happening, Dreyfus-Wells said.

"We got into this position one dam at time," she said. "And we're going to get out one dam at a time."

Ugly Christmas Sweaters Flying Off the Shelves this Holiday Season!

2010-12-15T10:12:00.002-06:00

Ugly Christmas sweaters are suddenly all the rage

Andrea Simakis
The Plain Dealer, 12/15/10

The price tag says it all: "Butt-ugly patchwork Xmas sweater -- $18.50."

"We can't keep 'em in the store," says Rita Pahl, bustling around behind the counter at Flower Child, a vintage store on Cleveland's Clifton Boulevard.

"They're flyin' outta here like hot cakes!"

In an inexplicable twist of sartorial fate, the tasteless Christmas sweater, an item as reviled and ridiculed as the holiday fruitcake, is having something of a renaissance.

The tackier the better.

Local resale shops -- staffed with workers who remember the days when they couldn't give away the pilling, polyester nightmares festooned with applique snowmen and reindeer and candy canes -- are experiencing something of a drought.

"Last year, you could find 'em all over the place," Pahl says. "This year, for some crazy reason, they took off."

Pahl had to plumb her "untapped resources" to outfit Fox 8's Kenny Crumpton for his emcee duties at an ugly-Christmas-sweater happy-hour party held at the Garage Bar last week. In addition to drink specials -- $5 martinis! -- the event boasted prizes for "the most obnoxiously ugly Christmas sweater!"

Pahl's secret stash paid off: Crumpton played host in a tomato-red, eye-stinging wonder covered with Dalmatian puppies.

"Fit him like a glove," she says with pride.

Fashion trends come and go, and come again, but the modern-day origins of the godawful sweater can be traced to Bill Cosby. As Dr. "Cliff" Huxtable on his 1980s hit sitcom "The Cosby Show," the avuncular comedian favored knitted pullovers with clashing colors and Rorschach test patterns. "Cosby sweater" entered the country's vernacular and came to mean a garment so loud and nauseating that those encountering it would be tempted to reach for earplugs and Dramamine.

The Cosby sweater -- and the holiday version of the look -- eventually went into donation bags along with the electric-blue leg warmers, acid-washed jeans and Huey Lewis cassettes.

"In the mid-to-late '80s, they were really, really big," remembers Flower Child's Pahl. "And then they kinda died off a little," she says, especially after landing on countless "what not to wear" segments on the "Today" show" and similar arbiters of middle-class style.

Once the province of dowager aunts, clueless dads and craft-fair-loving grannies, the festive, "made in China" monstrosities are chic again, thanks to high school and college students with a taste for the ironic. And now, as they did with the Honda Element and Facebook, adults have co-opted the trend, throwing their own kitschy sweater soirees for grown-ups.

At the Salvation Army store in Strongsville, three 18-year-olds peruse the offerings in the "seasonal" rack with a concentration usually reserved for sussing out winter formals, rejecting finds deemed not hideous enough. Two weeks before Christmas, the pickings are slim.

Jackie Dileno, a freshman at Ohio State University, liberates a long, black knit vest and holds it aloft, inspecting it in all its gruesome glory: It is ornamented with applique hats and gloves topped off with long tassels made of yarn. If you wore the sweater near a cat, the animal would climb your leg and bat at the ornamental trim.

Her friends, Allison Barwacz and Kelley Burch, gasp and nod in approval, while a nearby shopper, clearly in the market for such a treasure, looks on with naked envy.

They're expert at finding the worst of the worst, as they've been going to ugly-sweater parties "probably since junior year [of high school]," Dileno says, meaning about three years ago.

Another customer unearths a brown cardigan dotted with every iconic Christmas image imaginable -- snowflakes, Santas, stockings, snowmen, reindeer, gloves and ice skates. It was made, according to its label, at "Studio Fa La La." Barwacz, at home in Parma from Ohio University, eyes it appreciatively. "It's great," she says.

While high-end vintage stores are reaping the benefits of the demand and charging as much as $25 per, bargain hunters will find the best deals at the Salvation Army and other charity shops, where sweaters won't run you more than five bucks.

Barwacz and her posse, purists all, pass on a maroon button-down featuring Winnie-the-Pooh and Tigger, the words "Let Your" stitched over the right breast pocket, "Light Shine" threaded into the left.

They also leave a fuchsia T-shirt, priced to move at $2.99, decorated with a baby Rudolph dressed in a hat and scarf and the line, "dashing through the snow" written in pink and green lettering. Better still, the "O" in the word "snow" is a plastic snowflake that lights up whenever the wearer moves.

A holiday fashion tip: Grab it before it's gone.

10 Things Your Landlord Won't Tell You

2010-12-10T13:46:00.002-06:00

10 Things Your Landlord Won't Tell You
By Kelli B. Grant
Smart Money, Wall Street Journal

1) “This building is in foreclosure.”

In late 2009, Melody Thompson called her landlords to ask about the well-dressed picture-takers outside her four-bedroom Portland rental home. “Oh, we’re refinancing,” she remembers them telling her. Then in late April, a formal bank notification arrived in the mail, stating that the home was in foreclosure and would be put up for sale in late August. “I was immediately angry,” says Thompson, the executive director of Financial Beginnings, a financial literacy nonprofit. “They lied.” The sale has been postponed twice as the landlords apply for a mortgage adjustment, but Thompson is still hunting for a new place.

Renters accounted for 40% of families facing eviction from foreclosure in 2009, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition. And unfortunately, they often hear about it as Thompson did -- from the bank, just weeks before the sale, says Janet Portman, an attorney and the managing editor of legal book publisher Nolo. “The landlord wants the tenant in there, paying rent,” she says. The lack of notice was so pervasive that last year Congress passed the Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act, which gives tenants at least 90 days from the foreclosure sale to move out. (Previously, they had as few as 30 days, Portman says.) Provided the new owner doesn’t want to live there, the law also lets legitimate tenants -- those who signed a lease before the sale and pay a market value rent, among other qualifications -- stay through the end of their lease.

2) “You should complain more.”

When a steady drip, drip, drip of water from the ceiling led a third-floor tenant to complain, Adam Jernow, a principal at property management firm OGI Management in New York City, assumed they were dealing with a leaky pipe. It wasn’t until a week later, when the tenants on the top floor two flights above that apartment finally called, that he realized they were dealing with a big roof leak from heavy summer rains. Had upper-floor tenants complained sooner, Jernow says, they could have limited the damage, and that third-floor tenant might not have had a problem at all. So while renters often assume quirks like hot-then-not showers or moisture on the walls is just part of big-city living – or that complaining to the landlord will just open up a can of worms – keeping a property owner informed can actually help a problem get fixed faster. Besides, most states require landlords to keep the property in good repair, with home systems and appliances in working order.

3) “There’s more to negotiate than the rent.”

Rental markets in many cities around the country have improved this year, which means landlords have less incentive to cut you a break. Just 31% of landlords lowered rent in 2010, versus 69% in 2009, according to property marketplace Rent.com. All the major real estate investment groups are asking for higher rent on new leases, and about half are doing so on renewals, says Peggy Abkemeier, the president of Rent.com.

But the market hasn’t improved so much that landlords don’t have incentive to keep good tenants, she says. The survey found that 44% of landlords are willing to lower security deposits, and 22% will offer an upgrade to a fancier unit (think better views, quieter neighbors, newer kitchen) without raising rent. And there’s still that 31% of landlords who will offer a price break. “It never hurts to ask,” Abkemeier says. In markets where vacancy rates are still high, such as Atlanta, Las Vegas, Orlando and Phoenix, tenants have a better chance.

4) “Your neighbor is not my problem.”

Loud music. Late-night parties. More foot traffic than a mall on Sunday mornings. Kevin Amolsch, the owner of real estate investment company Advantage Homes in Denver, Colo., has heard all of these complaints and more from the tenants in the buildings he manages. Trouble is, there’s not much he can do. States’ tenant rights laws make it tough for landlords to intervene when there isn’t a clear violation of the lease. Even when a “right of quiet enjoyment” is in the lease, those noisy neighbors usually have time to mend their ways. “Two weeks later [when they are free and clear], it’s going to start up all over again,” Amolsch says. And so does the clock on their grace period to pipe down.

The best bet is to reach out to the other tenant and try to smooth things over directly, Amolsch says. If that doesn’t work, report problems to the police as well as the landlord, so the situation is well-documented. That makes it easier to initiate eviction proceedings, he says.

5) “You may have more rights than I do.”

Brianne Vorse, a longtime renter, knows the number to her local tenant rights group by heart. Vorse first sought help four years ago to force her landlord to fix windows that wouldn’t shut all the way, letting in cold air and the San Francisco fog. She called again after a sub-letter offered a higher rent if the landlord would break Vorse’s lease and let him take over. “I found that [the landlord] couldn’t legally do this,” says Vorse, who sent the landlord an official tenant petition she found on the web site of the San Francisco Rent Board. “In the end, I got the apartment and kept the original lease.”

Tenant rights vary widely by state, says attorney Portman. Arkansas doesn’t even require landlords to provide “fit and habitable housing,” but that’s extreme. In the most renter-friendly states, including California, New York, Illinois and New Jersey, renters without say, hot water, can withhold rent until it is fixed (or pay to fix it and deduct that from the rent). “If the landlord tried to evict you for that, you would win that lawsuit,” she says. Landlords aren’t necessarily any better informed about what they can and cannot do, so it’s up to the tenant to figure it out. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development maintains a database of tenants’ rights by state, including groups that offer assistance with disputes.

6) “I don’t know about your problems – and I like it that way.”

Tenants who think they have a beef with the property owner may actually find their true discontent with the management company hired by the landlord. The Better Business Bureau logged 5,297 complaints about property managers last year, a 13% increase from 2008. They’re among the most-complained about industries, ranking 37th of the 3,024 the BBB tracks. “You would hope that the person who owns the property has done their due diligence, but that just may not be the case,” says Kimberly Smith, the co-founder of short-term furnished rental site CorporateHousingbyOwner.com. Inexperienced or incompetent property managers may not have a good system in place to handle repairs -- especially emergencies – or neglect to keep your security deposit in a safe place, she says.

While a landlord is ultimately responsible for providing habitable housing, they hire management companies precisely so they don’t have to deal with the day-to-day decision making and every tenant request. This is a case where the squeaky wheel definitely gets the grease (see No. 2, above). If there’s a pervasive issue, try to reach the landlord directly, Smith says. Public records will list the property owner. You might also consider paying by credit card if that’s an option, she says, which can make it easier to file a dispute if requested repairs or other complaints aren’t resolved.

7) “I never wanted to do this.”

The recession has generated plenty of “accidental” landlords -- property owners who wanted to sell, but can’t find a buyer. At first glance, the surge seems like a boon for renters. Inexperienced landlords’ biggest and most common mistake is not asking for enough rent, says Steve Dexter, who operates more than a dozen properties throughout Southern California and teaches real estate investment seminars. But that poor financial management can also mean a substantial rent increase upon renewal, or worse, living in a poorly-maintained home at greater risk of foreclosure.

A tenant’s best defense is to ask questions about the landlord and the property’s history, Dexter says. Among the important ones: how long has the property been a rental? Why is the landlord renting it out? If the answers involve anything that reflects on the recession or the landlord’s need to increase his cash flow, be cautious. Look for foreclosure and sale notifications on sites such as RealtyTrac, StreetEasy and Zillow.com.

8) “If you smoke, you can’t rent.”

The Fair Housing Act prohibits landlords from discriminating against a number of groups -- but smokers aren’t one of them. So discriminate they do. Although smokers account for 20% of U.S. adults in most cities, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a search of New York City apartment listings on Craigslist turned up just six explicitly allowing smoking. Nearly 700 explicitly prohibited it. Their reasoning: once a rental property is occupied by a smoker, it’s tough to rent to non-smokers without a thorough, expensive cleaning that includes repainting the walls and professionally cleaning the carpets, says Matt Kuhlhorst, who rents out four single-family homes in Allen, Texas. “Even if the tenant doesn’t get their deposit back, that’s still not enough to cover the cost,” which can easily top $2,000, he says.

Laws in several states require landlords to disclose smoking policies upfront, so if it’s important for you to be able to light up indoors check the details before signing a lease. Policy violators could find themselves facing loss of their security deposit or eviction, if their smoke wafts into a non-smoker’s domain. And if a chain-smoking neighbor is in violation, your landlord will be glad to take your complaints—it’s one thing that will allow him to evict a tenant.

9) “What you see is what you get.”

The rusty, cracked stove was nearly a deal-breaker for an otherwise great apartment in Boston’s North End. But the landlord promised to replace the clunker and make other repairs, so Joanna DiTrapano and her roommate signed a one year lease in March. Suddenly, the landlord’s tune changed -- although the gas company documented the dangerous stove leaking gas, he insisted it wasn’t damaged enough to warrant replacing. It took six months, numerous phone calls and finally, a formal letter citing city tenants’ rights laws to get a new stove, DiTrapano says. The smaller repairs the landlord promised? She’s simply given up.

Some landlords were never good about making necessary repairs, but the recession has forced many to postpone anything that isn’t absolutely vital, says Dave Zundel, a co-founder of Arizona property management firm HomeLovers. The firm has seen a 70% drop in maintenance projects, and just 13% of landlords are still spending on regular upkeep and cosmetic improvements such as replacing worn carpets or repainting. Your safest bet is to assume the condition of the apartment you’re viewing is about what it will be when you move in, Zundel says. If the landlord promises to make repairs, get it in writing.

10) “You’ll pay for my rebellion.”

The building or community homeowners’ association may have it in for you. Some renters -- and owners – learn this the hard way, Abkemeier says. During the downturn, many associations have taken steps to limit owners’ ability to rent out property, or require extensive screening before a lease can be signed. And owners who try to avoid or ignore the rule-changes end up making it difficult on tenants who suddenly find themselves faced with lengthy rental applications or fines for a litany of association rules they never knew they had to uphold. The extra layer of administration can also make it tough for tenants to get damage repaired, because they’re dealing with the building and not just the landlord.

Check the association rules (aka covenants, conditions and restrictions, or CCRs) before signing a lease, she suggests. Also check whether the association will fine the property owner or reach out to you directly, to better head off problems.

Flats Project Inches Closer to Becoming a Reality

2010-12-03T10:37:00.004-06:00

Cleveland's Flats East Bank project gets $32 million loan guarantee from HUD

Wednesday, December 1st, 2010

Michelle Jarboe, The Plain Dealer

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development will provide $32 million in long-anticipated loan guarantees to support development on the east bank of the Flats.

The federal agency has agreed to provide a $30 million loan to the city of Cleveland and a $2 million loan to Cuyahoga County, as part of a complex financing package for the Flats East Bank project.

The low-interest loans, known as HUD 108 loans, will help the Wolstein Group and Fairmount Properties build the $275 million first phase of their long-delayed development.

HUD's role in the project is not new. In fact, the developers have factored these loans into their elaborate funding scheme for more than a year. But the deal was not certain until Wednesday, when U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown's office announced the formal approval - a necessary step to move the Flats financing toward closing.

"We are getting there, and this is a very important piece to have in place so that we can close,"said Steve Strnisha, a financial consultant working on the Flats East Bank project.

The HUD 108 loans will pass from the federal government to the city and county, and through to the developer. The loans will be repaid using parking revenues from the project, which includes a parking garage, and a tax-increment financing agreement, which taps increased property-tax revenues from development.

"We appreciate HUD's approval and the assistance of our Congressional delegation," Mayor Frank Jackson said in an e-mailed statement. "This will be an unprecedented project that will help revitalize our river and lakefront and will keep two major employers in the city of Cleveland."

The initial phase of the Flats project includes an office building, an Aloft hotel, parking, retail and restaurant space. Accounting firm Ernst & Young, law firm Tucker Ellis & West and the CB Richard Ellis brokerage - all tenants in downtown Cleveland buildings - plan to move to the office tower.

The Flats project stalled when the economy collapsed, but it appears close to re-emerging, thanks to a web of public and private support. The developers hope to close on their financing this year and start construction soon, with an anticipated opening date in spring 2013.

"This news will keep over a thousand good-paying jobs in Cleveland and create hundreds more construction jobs," Brown said in a written announcement about the HUD guarantees. "The Flats East Bank development is just the latest sign that our state is ripe for business development, and this project signals a major turning point for the revitalization of downtown Cleveland."

What Should a Sustainable House Look Like - an Old House?

2010-11-19T10:10:00.002-06:00

What should a 'green' house look like?

By Philip Langdon, 11/12/10
Source: USA Today

On 24 acres overlooking the San Juan Islands in Puget Sound, an enclave of Nantucket-style cottages shows just how charming and traditional a green home can be built.

The quaint seaside homes have steeply pitched roofs, deep covered porches, gracious columns, second-floor balconies and, in some cases, a white picket fence. They are far from the minimalist modern aesthetic often associated with eco-friendly living.

'Sustainability doesn't need to look sustainable,' says Donald Powers, founder of the Rhode-Island based firm -- Donald Powers Architects -- that designed the 100-home community in Anacortes, Wash., about 90 miles north of Seattle. 'You can build a traditional home with very progressive features.'

The first cottage -- chosen as 'This Week's Green House' -- earned the basic level of certification (there are four levels) from the private U.S. Green Building Council's LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) program.

Powers says it wasn't that hard to do. His firm's partner, Douglas Kallfelz, who was the project architect, focused on cost-effective measures --what many in the building industry call the "low-hanging fruit" -- such as high-performance windows and mechanical systems, native landscaping as well as Energy Star lighting and appliances.

Each home is landscaped to provide an active wildlife habitat, earning a 'Backyard Wildlife Habitat' distinction from the National Wildlife Federation. The enclave has tree-lined sidewalks and four neighborhood parks with trails that wind to the sea.

Kallfelz, who has been principal in charge on the project for the past two years for Powers, credited the master plan and landscape design to GCH of Seattle, under Jerry Coburn, that firm's principal in charge. Builder was Gilbane Development Company, based, like the Powers firm, in Providence, Rhode Island.

2010-11-10T15:33:00.002-06:00

Giving the Man Cave a Makeover

Once Relegated to the Garage, Rooms Get So Nice, Wives Muscle In; Pool Table or Quilting Table?

By GWENDOLYN BOUNDS

Craig Schuelke's Forest Hill, Md., basement is a testament to manliness. There's the Arnold Schwarzenegger pinball machine and about $30,000 of signed Michigan and Maryland sports memorabilia the construction superintendent has enshrined on the walls. An air-hockey table commands one corner, flanked by a pool table, shot-glass collection and dart board.

It's a quintessential "man cave," except for one feature: Mr. Schuelke's wife, Melanie.

"He doesn't know what we're doing when he's not home," says Mrs. Schuelke. "My female friends, we shoot pool, drink beer and throw darts down there."

The man cave has a secret: Women use them, too. Their new interest comes as these spaces have morphed from cold garage outposts into tricked-out comfy spreads, complete with flat screens TVs, fully stocked bars, arcade games and plush (clean!) furniture.

As a result, men are learning to share with the family while combating the inevitable intrusion of scented candles, flowers and kiddie toys. While couples often cozy up together or party in caves with friends, a growing number of women say they retreat there—even holding the occasional quilting party—without the guys.

The struggling housing market is partly behind the evolution of the man cave into a multipurpose space. Rather than trade up or build on, more homeowners are squeezing the most out of their existing living quarters—but splurging on the decor. As a result, today's man caves are desirable and even luxurious pads that the whole family wants to enjoy.

An entire marketplace has emerged in recent years to outfit these spaces. There's Man Cave LLC, modeled after Mary Kay cosmetics, where guys hold barbecue parties dubbed "meatings" to sell steak and cave accoutrements, such as bacon-scented candles and beer pagers to locate lost brew. Online retailers mancavemarket.com and themancaveoutletstore.com hawk essentials, such as beer kegerators, pool tables and Skee-Ball games.

Higher-ticket items make women feel more proprietary over caves, originally intended as spots where guys could be alone or hang with pals, says Mike Yost, who runs cave community site mancavesite.org. "If the guys spend on the big-screen TV and chairs, the wife typically is going to have to sign off on it, too."

Further stoking female cave envy is cable TV's "Man Caves" show on the DIY Network. Episodes feature bling such as a pool table that rises out of the floor. "These are really, really nice spaces, and when the guys want to spend time there, the family wants to spend time there," says Andy Singer, DIY Network's general manager.

That's the case in Robert Butterfield's Sierra Vista, Ariz., home. His retreat is a 400-square-foot homage to Nascar racers Dale Earnhardt and his son. It also sports a 50-inch TV, couch, hundreds of Diecast model cars, even a Christmas tree decked in Earnhardt ornaments—about a $50,000 investment. Mr. Butterfield, 43, calls it "my space," but it's often where his wife Maria and sons also congregate when he's home from his overseas government-contracting job.

Says Mrs. Butterfield, 45: "I enjoy being in there because it's kind of like a little getaway from the rest of the house. When I'm in there, I'm not reminded about dishes or laundry." That's cool with her husband: "Sure, I like time to chill alone, but I started a family because I wanted to be with them."

Still, the gender cohabitation raises a nettlesome question: When does a man cave stop being a man cave and become just a family room? "There's a real blurring of the line between man cave and family room," warns Minnesota decorator Sue Hunter, who runs mancaveinteriors.com. "I think guys are going to start taking charge back in that area."

And certainly purists remain, such as Tommy "Buck Buck" Sattler of Islip, N.Y., who rigged his 325-square-foot getaway with New York Giants football paraphernalia, seven TVs, a red-oak bar top, and urinal in the bathroom.

Mr. Sattler flips on an outdoor blue light to let the neighbors know when his "underground lounge" is open, but jokes that women, including his wife, typically stop by only if "they are dropping off food or bringing cleaning products."

Most guys, however, seem game for co-ed caves—so long as there are ground rules, such as no potpourri or decorative pillows. Ms. Hunter, the man-cave decorator, steers clear of big glass vases and baskets in favor of art, she says, that means something to a man, such as "I want to go kill the buck in that picture."

Then there's the "no touch" rule that's reigned in Mr. Butterfield's Nascar sanctuary since he found his 4-year-old son's fingerprints on the display cases with his model cars. "It's a little bit of an ownership thing," he says. "I'm really detail oriented, and this is the way I want the room."

Other regulations are trickier to enforce. Karen Dixon gladly turned over her Friendswood, Texas, garage to husband Shawn, even though parking outside means unloading groceries in the rain. "I'm not controlling, and it makes him happy," she says. Inside, he's stationed his Harley Davidson motorcycle, a 1967 Cavalier Coca-Cola machine, pay phone painted Harley orange, and heavy-weight punching bag.

The Dixons, both 38, often play cards together in the cave, but she balks at his suggestion that usage is by "invitation" only. "Really? I think that he doesn't own it," says Mrs. Dixon, who believes her husband would be secretly "flattered if I brought my friends in there to have crafts and a book club." Mr. Dixon's concern: "I'd be afraid something would be moved and I'd never find it."

The stickiest time can be during cave construction. Mrs. Dixon advises other women to negotiate time limits. "When Shawn is focused on something, it consumes him. Looking back, what I should have done is said, 'Spend as much time with your family as with the man cave. If you work out there for an hour, then come inside for an hour.' "

Indeed, compromise is critical in any man cave negotiation. Married 36 years, Steve and Pam Flaten, both 56, share space in AutoMotorPlex Minneapolis, a compound of high-end garages ranging from 1,000- to 6,500-square feet for fixing up and storing specialty vehicles.

In the loft living area the Flatens constructed inside their garage, Mrs. Flaten typically quilts while her husband tinkers with his race cars below. Recently she held a quilting party.

Despite the domestic influence, Mr. Flaten has stood his ground on certain points. The racing flames on the toilet seat, those get to stay. The flowers she wanted for an end table, those got moved outside.

Women's interest in the man cave phenomenon is sparking a logical next step: woman caves. The DIY Network is exploring development of a new show around the concept. Retailer HomeGoods just launched a campaign to outfit what it dubs "Mom Caves."

To some, that's redundant. "A chick cave?" sniffs Dan Cunningham, owner of the Monroe, Mich.-based mancavemarket.com, "That's what the rest of the house is."

Living Cities to Invest $80 for Poor in 5 Cities - Including Cleveland

2010-11-04T19:59:00.003-05:00

By Haya El Nasser, USA TODAY

Imagine investing in cities but only if public, private and philanthropic groups work together on long-term strategies to help low-income residents.

Living Cities, a philanthropic collaborative of 22 of the world's largest foundations and financial institutions, will do that Thursday when it announces $80 million in grants, loans and investments.

Nineteen urban centers competed for the money, but five won for programs that challenge conventional wisdom: Baltimore, Cleveland, Detroit, Newark and Minneapolis-St. Paul.

"The underlying principle of our initiative is that to do this work, you have to have the public sector, the private sector, local philanthropies and the non-profit community all at the same table talking about solving the problem," says Ben Hecht, CEO of Living Cities. "None of those, on their own, will make a long-term change."

It's a bold initiative that requires disparate groups to work under one umbrella on many missions. Until now, grants focused on one goal, such as affordable housing or jobs or transportation.

Leaders of the effort hope that the funding — about $16 million per city — will generate more funding to keep the programs alive long after the grant money dries up.

"It's not about funding projects but about funding systems," Hecht says. "We hope it's going to be a model for other cities."

The winning cities' projects, to be unveiled at the Museum of African American History in Detroit:

•Baltimore. Coordinate a series of unrelated projects to create jobs and affordable housing and use the construction of a subway line to galvanize the efforts.

•Cleveland. Create a biotech corridor between the city and Youngstown, Ohio, by building laboratory space and continue the work of the Cleveland Foundation, which has been creating work cooperatives that give workers a piece of the business.

Hospitals and schools buy lettuce for patients and students and "they found out they buy lettuce that goes 2,500 miles to get to Cleveland," Hecht says. "If you grow this lettuce locally, they said we'll buy it locally."

•Detroit. The shrinking city has twice as much land as it uses. The aim is to concentrate population to revitalize neighborhoods. The focus is on the Woodward Corridor, home of Wayne State University, Detroit Medical Center and the Detroit Institute of Arts.

"How do you use those assets to connect to neighborhoods where there have been so few opportunities?" says Rip Rapson, president of the Kresge Foundation near Detroit and a Living Cities board member.

The goal is to link institutions and local workers and suppliers and attract people to live along the corridor.

•Newark. The New Jersey city that has battled corruption and crime wants to change its image to that of a healthy and safe place to live.

The Center for Collaborative Change, created two years ago, is working with corporations and medical centers to create housing and increase access to fresh foods in supermarkets and neighborhood corner stores.

•Twin Cities. Civic leaders in Minneapolis and St. Paul want to build a new economy along a transit line that will connect the two by 2014.

They're pushing for transit stops in poor areas it will run through to create jobs "so that they benefit from the line rather than having a transit line cutting through their neighborhoods," says John Couchman, vice president of grants and programs at the Saint Paul Foundation.

2010-10-27T14:50:00.003-05:00

Back to Fundamentals: How do I know how much mortgage payment I qualify for?

By: Evan Vanderwey
Michigan Mortgage

The answer to this question defines the “simple but not easy” category of mortgage education if ever there was such a category.

Simply put – you take your gross monthly income, multiply by around 40% (0.40), subtract from that number the amount of the minimum payments on all of your other debts, and the resulting number is the amount of your maximum house payment. Lastly, the house payment must include the principle and interest amount, property taxes, home owners insurance, and association dues if you are buying in a condominium complex.

Simple.

Except for one thing: What does the lender consider to be your gross monthly income?

Here’s a little help if you’re trying to calculate your gross monthly income. But if you are serious about putting in an offer on a home, there is no way a seller or your REALTOR® will trust your own calculations. In this market, if you’re using a mortgage, you will be required to talk with a lender who will sign off on your math ahead of time.

If you are employed and are paid a salary then you take your gross annual salary and divide by twelve. This is your monthly income.

If you are paid a bonus annually – you take the last two years’ amounts, add them together and divide by 24. Unless your most recent year’s bonus is less than the one you got two years ago – in that case, you take the last year’s amount and divide by 12.

If you earn overtime, consider ignoring it when it comes to setting your personal budget. But if you need to include it to qualify for the mortgage, then it must be increasing from year to year and then you take a 24-month average of the amount of overtime you earned.

Commission-type income must be taken as a 24-month average as well and can be used only if the income is increasing over the past two years. Under certain circumstances, declining income may be used, but only the lower of the two years is used in the calculation. Tax deductible expenses that are deducted on the person’s tax return (form 2106) must be removed before calculating the “gross taxable income.”

Self-employed borrowers must be able to show two years of income as well. We must see an increasing income pattern in most cases. Depreciation can be added back into this number. I cannot stress enough the importance of working with a knowledgeable loan originator if you are self employed. Your income must be calculated accurately up front or even the most well-qualified borrowers can find themselves with a difficult situation during the loan process.

For bonuses, overtime, commissions, and self-employment income, the borrower must have been in the same exact job for the past two years. You can’t move from GM to Fiat for example and average the last two years’ overtime over two separate employers.

Rental income from a tenant can be added in at 75% of the amount of the rent once there is 12 months of history of the tenant paying on time. We can also use the schedule E of a borrower’s tax return to verify rent – this takes the income from tenants and subtracts the expenses from that investment property. The net income on schedule E can be used after one year of having received the rent. Depreciation again is a non-cash expense and can be added back to net income.

Fixed income from settlements or awards, like child support and disability, pension or social security income, is all usable income. We use the full amount as gross monthly income so long as it can be proven that there are three years left for child or spousal support payments. There must be at least 12 months of proof that the payments have been received.

The above list is not meant to be exhaustive but instructive. Calculating income correctly for a lender is no easy task. Take this seriously and work with a qualified lender ahead of time.

Affordable Housing That's Green, Too

2010-10-20T15:15:00.002-05:00

Green Building Goes on a Budget

Thanks to tax credits and cost cutting, more affordable housing projects are turning eco-friendly

By ROBBIE WHELAN
Wall Street Journal, 10/18/10

Casa Feliz, an apartment building that opened last year in San Jose, Calif., was built with modern finishes and the latest in trendy, environmentally friendly materials: bamboo floors; organic, linseed oil-based linoleum tiles; and ergonomic chairs in the lobby made from sustainably farmed wood.

But in what might come as a surprise to some, no Prius-driving, Dwell magazine-reading, upper-middle-class professionals reside there. The project was built for people who earn less than 35% of San Jose's median income of $103,500 for a family of four, or suffer from developmental disabilities.

Casa Feliz is one of a growing number of affordable-housing projects nationwide that have been built "green"—that is, with nontoxic materials, highly energy-efficient appliances, and features such as green roofs and solar panels. Thanks to tax credits designed to attract private capital and aggressive cost-cutting on other construction features, affordable-housing developers are embracing eco-friendly building features that were once the purview of high-minded designers and wealthy developers with money to spare.

A Better Deal

Dana Bourland, a vice president with Enterprise Community Partners Inc., a Columbia, Md.-based nonprofit that helps finance affordable-housing projects, predicts that the affordable-housing industry will be 100% green by 2020. Not only are green buildings better for the environment, but they make better financial sense, too, she says, because they come with lower water and energy bills and lower tenant-turnover rates.

As such, investors view them as safer investments than buildings without such features, she says.

"The underwriting is changing," she says. "I think there's a growing recognition that these are better deals."

Most affordable-housing projects, including green ones, rely on the federal Low Income Housing Tax Credit, a Reagan-era program that provides incentives for corporations to invest in housing for the poor. Corporations purchase the credits—which are administered through a state-by-state allocation—and use them to take a credit against corporate taxes on their profits. Big investors over the past decade have included banks, insurance companies and the government-supported mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

After the housing crash and the collapse of Fannie and Freddie, the market for these tax credits softened considerably, and affordable-housing developers were forced to offer investors higher yields. Some corporations paid as little as 60 cents on the dollar for the credits, which meant developers had less money to put toward energy-saving features that earn buildings green plaudits.

But builders and investors say the market is coming back. Jeff Oberdorfer, executive director of First Community Housing, the San Jose-based nonprofit developer that built Casa Feliz, says investors are paying about 75 cents for each dollar of tax shelter now, and they are eager to underwrite green buildings because of the energy cost savings.

Investors are "starting to become more sensitive to the lower costs, the higher cash flows from energy savings," Mr. Oberdorfer says.

MetLife Inc., the big New York-based insurance company, is one of those investors. Matt Sheedy, who invests funds from MetLife's $325 billiongeneral account, says MetLife and other large institutional investors are eager to invest in green affordable-housing projects because they have a safer risk profile than more traditional housing projects.

"Investors commonly accept moderately lower returns for lower risk profiles, and green features are more in demand," he says. "I don't think we're back to peak prices, [but] this year, investor demand has picked up."

MetLife bought $14.3 million in credits on First Community Housing's Fourth Street Apartments project, a 100-unit affordable-housing building going up in downtown San Jose, and has also invested in Bay Avenue, a 109-unit senior-housing project in Capitola, Calif. Both projects are green. All told, MetLife has invested more than $1billion in affordable tax-credit projects since 1995, many of them green, Mr. Sheedy says.

Freeing Up Funds

Developers are going full speed ahead on green affordable-housing projects elsewhere across the U.S.

Enterprise Community Partners, for example, has invested more than $500 million in green tax-credit projects and recently launched a $50 million investment fund geared toward renovating low-income projects with eco-friendly features. In Utah, Enterprise is close to a multimillion dollar deal with American Express Co. to invest in green affordable tax-credit deals, according to Ms. Bourland, the vice president. American Express didn't respond to requests for comment.

New York builder Jonathan Rose Cos., meanwhile, is building $750 million of green affordable-housing projects and manages about $1.3 billion in completed green projects. It opened its latest apartment building in September.

Castle Gardens, an energy-efficient rental-apartment complex for former inmates and other low-income tenants in New York's Harlem neighborhood, was financed in large part by $16 million in tax-credit equity from Capital One Bank N.A. and other investors. Still, Jonathan F.P. Rose, the builder's founder and director, says his company had to work hard to free up money to make the complex green.

Up on the Roof

Rose saved almost $100,000 by putting gas-fired hot-water boilers on the roof rather than in the basement of the building, as is typical. That allowed it to avoid building a pricey flue that would have had to run from the ground to the top of the structure to pump out exhaust fumes. In addition, the windows in each room have "trickle vents" that encourage airflow and cool the apartments in summer, but are cheaper than a central venting system. The money saved allowed the builder to add features that made Castle Gardens 30% more energy-efficient than other buildings of comparable size in Harlem.

"In the early to mid-1990s, as a few voices were beginning to emerge and push for the greening of affordable housing, the affordable housing community's response was, the need for affordable housing [is] so great that we cannot defer any money from the quantity of the units to the quality of the project," Mr. Rose says.

That was excellent discipline, he adds, because "the green affordable housing had to grow up with no money to spare."

Mortgage Rates Would Lose at Limbo - They're About as Low as They Can Go

2010-10-13T15:44:00.003-05:00

Wall Street Journal, Oct. 12 2010
By PRABHA NATARAJAN

Mortgage rates have hit another record low—4.27% on average for 30-year fixed-rate loans, according to Freddie Mac—but analysts and others say home-loan rates are much higher than they should be.

Don't bet the house, however, that they will drop too much lower. Rates haven't fallen further, analysts and bankers said, because banks are unwilling to lower rates and lose profit margins, and because of uncertainty in the market that makes it difficult for them to predict the number of home buyers.

Instead of moving the rate lower to 4%, which banks might have done at "normal times" when bond yields are as low as they are, "illiquidity and unusual situations are causing originators to hold rates at this level rather than risk losing money on new loans they have difficulty hedging," said Paul Jacob, director of research at Banc of Manhattan Capital, in Manhattan Beach, Calif.

Based on the yields of mortgage-backed securities traded on secondary markets, David Cannon, head of mortgage trading at Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC, says that the mortgages in Freddie Mac's weekly survey should come with interest rates between 3.75% to 4%.

At those lower rates, a homeowner could lower his monthly payments on a $200,000 loan by $30 to $60—saving nearly $22,000 over the full life of a 30-year mortgage.

Moving toward the theoretically lower rate isn't a simple matter, however. There is a convoluted scenario at work that goes at the heart of how mortgages are bundled together and packaged into securities that are sold to investors.

Typically, local and regional banks lend to homeowners, then sell those loans to larger banks or aggregators, such as Citigroup Inc., Bank of America Corp., Wells Fargo & Co. and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. These firms pool loans from across the U.S. into mortgage securities.

Normally, small banks would push rates as low as they could go in order to make more loans and thus make more money. But they have found that while lower rates may bring in more home buyers, there is little guarantee that many of these consumers will qualify for a loan under today's austere borrowing standards.

Further, these originators make money from the rates at which they can sell these loans to aggregators. Lower rates mean narrower margins for them, while the aggregators who buy these loans at lower rates stand to gain from selling them at higher rates in the secondary market.

Because there are so few new mortgages and so many investors eager to buy them, "the system now allows large aggregators to control the price on a loan and an interest rate the borrower gets," said Mike Delehanty, president of Apex Analytics in Wildomar, Calif., which advises banks on selling their loans to larger mortgage-finance companies.

Mortgage rates usually are based on the yield investors are paid for the risk of purchasing securities backed by home loans, and the premium that the lender charges to service the loan.

Currently, the yield on government-guaranteed mortgage security is 3.206%, and the primary mortgage rate is 1.064 percentage points higher. Historically, the difference is in the range of 0.50 to 0.70 percentage point, according to Amherst Securities Group.

That unusually wide gap indicates that banks continue to make it tough for consumers to get really low rates on loans, as they fiercely protect their gains.Representatives of the country's largest mortgage lenders, including Citigroup, Bank of America, Wells Fargo and J.P. Morgan Chase, declined to comment or didn't return phone calls seeking their views.

Mortgage rates aren't likely to drop significantly even if the interest rate on the 10-year Treasury bond and corresponding yield on mortgage securities drop further.

"Even if interest rate drops to 2%, mortgage rates are going to stay right here," said Paul Norris, a portfolio manager at Dwight Asset Management in Burlington, Vt. "Originators don't expect mortgage supply to be robust and will want to keep rates in the 4.25% to 4.625% range for the next few months."

Should You Pay Off Your Mortgage? The Answer May Surprise You

2010-10-07T16:40:00.003-05:00

The following article from the WSJ reveals that it may make sense for you to pay off your mortgage. Here's one reason why: With today's volatile stock market, you can't necessarily guarantee that any funds you have invested will outperform the interest rate you're paying on your mortgage.

* *

Should I Pay off the Mortgage?

By June Fletcher
WSJ, Oct. 5th 2010

Q: We have a mortgage worth $177,000 on a house that we've owned for 21 years. We've refinanced our loan twice, and now have a 30-year mortgage at 6.48% that we took out in 2002.

My husband and I are now six years from retirement, and we are trying to figure out the best use of our money. We have enough to pay off the mortgage without dipping into our IRAs, and we'd sleep better if we didn't have a mortgage hanging over our heads. Is this a good idea?

—Washington, D.C.

Given the economy's continuing weakness, the fact that you have cash that's not tied up in IRAs and how close you both are to retirement, I think it's a fine idea to pay off your mortgage.

Here's why: You should always try to get the best return possible on your money. So you shouldn't keep the loan unless you can find another investment that, before taxes, can reliably earn more than the 6.48% that you're currently paying on it. With the stock market still volatile and certificates of deposit and other relatively safe investments paying less than the rate of inflation, I wouldn't count on that.

What's more, paying off a mortgage loan is risk-free—no matter what happens to the general economy, you'll be left with an asset that you can live in or rent out.

A downside is that you'll lose the mortgage interest tax deduction if you pay off your loan. But as a new report from the National Association of Home Builders points out, those benefits largely go to those buyers who are younger than 45, who typically have the largest mortgages and the most itemized expenses.

Meanwhile, if you pay off the loan, you'll have plenty of company. According to the latest American Community Survey released by the U.S. Census, there are approximately 50.7 million owner-occupied homes with a mortgage in 2009, compared to about 51.6 million in 2008. Folks are paying off second mortgages and home equity lines of credit, too. Those have dropped to about 12.1 million in 2009 from roughly 13.3 million the year before.

Of course, you do have other options. You can refinance your relatively expensive current loan to today's lower interest rates—but doing so will incur thousands of dollars in closing costs. Or, while you are both still working, you could simply add extra principal payments to your current mortgage and pay it off more quickly.

But if you pay off your mortgage completely, you'll not only sleep soundly, you'll be in a position to get a reverse mortgage should you need to tap into your home's equity at a later date. The way reverse mortgages are structured, the older you are when you take out a reverse mortgage, the more you'll be able to withdraw while still remaining in your home, since your life expectancy declines with each passing year. That's a good fallback should you outlive the funds you manage to put away before retirement.

What to Know About Home-Sale Tax Rules

2010-09-27T15:56:00.001-05:00

By TOM HERMAN
Wall Street Journal, Sept. 19th 2010

Q: What are the chances that Congress will ease the rules on how long you have to own your home and live in it in order to qualify for the most favorable capital-gains tax treatment when you sell it?

—K.M., Prior Lake, Minn.
A: Slim to none. Naturally, anything is possible if Congress ever decides to overhaul the entire tax system. But don't count on that happening any time soon.

Even if lawmakers do consider major tax-law changes after the November elections or next year, don't expect them to ease the home-sale rules. I haven't heard any significant discussion of this issue among congressional leaders in many years.

Here is how the basic rules work: In the late 1990s, then-President Bill Clinton signed legislation that officials said at the time would eliminate capital-gains taxes for most people who sell their primary home for a profit. That legislation generally allowed most sellers to exclude a gain of as much as $500,000 (if married and filing jointly) or as much as $250,000 (if single).

To qualify for the full exclusion, you typically must have owned the home -- and used it as your primary residence -- for at least two of the five years prior to the sale. For more details, see IRS Publication 523 ("Selling Your Home") on the Internal Revenue Service website (www.irs.gov).

But don't assume you're out of luck if you can't meet the ownership and use tests I mention above. You still might be eligible for a partial exclusion that could greatly reduce -- or even eliminate -- capital-gains taxes on the sale of your primary home.

For example, you may qualify for a partial exclusion if you had to sell your home because of "a change in place of employment" or if you moved for "health" reasons. IRS Publication 523 has other examples.

Here is what the IRS says it means on the health issue: "The sale of your main home is because of health if your primary reason for the sale is: To obtain, provide or facilitate the diagnosis, cure, mitigation or treatment of disease, illness or injury of a qualified individual," or to "obtain or provide medical or personal care for a qualified individual suffering from a disease, illness or injury."

Conversely, the IRS says the sale of your home isn't because of health if the sale "merely benefits a qualified individual's general health or well being."

You also might qualify for a partial exclusion if you had to sell for certain "unforeseen circumstances," such as "natural or man-made disasters or acts of war or terrorism resulting in a casualty to your home, whether or not your loss is deductible."

Credit Scores May Hamper Housing Comeback

2010-09-27T15:41:00.002-05:00

By Phil Izzo

Homeownership is potentially out of reach for nearly a third of Americans, according to a new report that highlights the difficulties in the housing market in the wake of the Great Recession.

Potential home buyers may be among the hardest hit by the recession. People with a credit score below 620 who went searching for a loan were unlikely to receive even one quote, according to real-estate web site Zillow.com, even if they offered a down payment of 15%-25%. Zillow notes that 29% of Americans has a credit score this low, according to data provided by myFICO.com.

“Today’s tighter credit is a predictable response by banks after the foreclosure crisis, but also keeps a cap on housing demand, which is important for the greater housing market recovery,” said Zillow chief economist Stan Humphries.

While banks may be right to try to avoid repeating mistakes made during the housing bubble, an over-reliance on credit scores could create problems for the real-estate market. Banks shouldn’t be giving mortgages to borrowers who can’t afford to pay them back, but if people with sizeable down payments and solid sources of income are being turned down because of credit scores, that’s not healthy, either.

Many factors influence credit scores. A temporary spell of unemployment and the resultant hardship can easily push them down. According to a new report from the Pew Research Center, the majority of Americans may find themselves in this situation. Pew separates its respondents into two groups, one that “held its own” — 45%, a number similar to myFico’s estimated 47% of Americans who have the best credit scores (over 720) — during the recession and another that “lost ground” — 55%.

The Pew report’s demographic breakdown may be even more troubling for housing. Those who “held their own” tended to be older people who already owned homes. Real Time Economics recently noted a potential “shadow demand” for housing from people who postponed plans to form new households in the wake of the recession, but that pool of potential homeowners was also more likely to have lost ground during the recession. According to Pew, 69% of people age 18-49 and 60% of those 30-49 lost ground.

It’s likely that those groups, who are the most likely first-time and move-up home buyers, took a hit to their credit scores during the recession. Zillow’s data indicate that even if they’ve recovered from the worst, the may not be able to get a mortgage, and if they do, they also are more likely to face higher interest rates.

Refinancing: Here's What You Need to Know

2010-09-22T15:03:00.003-05:00

Refinancing: Whom Can You Trust?

From Conflicts of Interest to Simplistic Formulas, the Web Is Awash With Dubious Mortgage Information. Here's What You Need to Know

By M.P. MCQUEEN

Sept. 18th, 2010

With mortgage rates falling to record lows this summer and the housing market showing signs of a pulse, refinancing activity is perking up.

It's too bad that so many people are relying on oversimplified advice and bad numbers to decide when to pull the trigger.

The refinancing equation has never been more complicated. While some borrowers are desperate to reduce their monthly payments, others are looking to build equity. Some are even treating their mortgage as an investment vehicle, sinking excess cash into their homes in order to secure a lower rate and cut future payments.

Yet most personal-finance resources these days don't account for situations like these. Even essential factors like tax rates and inflation expectations are often ignored in favor of simplistic calculations.

Many popular Web resources, in fact, are financed by lenders, mortgage brokers or "lead generators" that connect borrowers with banks. At times, their advice can be downright harmful.

That's because of the risk involved. Refinancing generally costs 3% to as much as 6% of the outstanding principal of the loan, with banks levying fees on everything from application fees and title searches to appraisal costs and legal expenses.(Mortgage "points" can add to the total, though they typically help reduce the interest rate and lower overall costs.)

Fees are often murky, too, making comparison shopping difficult. The best way to compare deals, says Melinda Opperman of Riverside, Calif.-based Springboard Nonprofit Consumer Credit Management Inc., is to consult with a housing-counseling agency approved by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Given such costs, you don't want to refinance often. Yet the advice coming from the mortgage world suggests you should be doing it regularly.

One particularly dubious idea gaining prominence is the "1% rule," which used to be the 2% rule when rates were higher. The gist: Refinance when you can knock a full percentage point off your rate.

A lead-generation site called Supermortgages.com says the following in a piece called "When to Refinance a Mortgage": "Are the current mortgage interest rates at least 1 point less than your existing mortgage interest? If so, refinancing your home mortgage might make sense."

Wells Fargo & Co.'s website goes further. In an advice article titled "Deciding to Refinance," it writes: "If interest rates are 1/2% to 5/8% lower than your current interest rate, it may be a good time to consider a refinance."

Yet people who followed the one-point rule could have refinanced five or six times in the last 15 years, paying so much in fees that the savings would likely be wiped out.

Supermortgage.com's content largely comes from mortgage brokers, lenders and other industry sources, says Andy Shane, a spokesman for parent company SuperMedia Inc. In this case, he says, the author is a freelance writer with a law degree and a background in real estate who used a mortgage calculator and determined that a one- to two-point cut in rates "made a pretty significant difference in monthly payments" compared with closing costs.

Wells Fargo spokesman Jason Menke says the bank's website has a wide range of information available to help borrowers. "The rate difference cited is just a point where a borrower may want to consider looking into a refinance," he says.

The 1% rule could translate into big business if it catches on. About 71% of outstanding fixed-rate mortgages guaranteed by Fannie Mae or other government-sponsored entities are at least a point above current rates, according to Walter Schmidt, senior vice president at FTN Financial Capital Markets in Chicago.

Bills.com is another lead-generation site that offers personal-finance advice. Its new refinance calculator is among the most basic around: It asks users for some data and their reason for wanting to refinance and then spits out a yes/no answer.

The answer, however, is usually "yes." And sometimes it comes with a suggestion for a risky interest-only loan. It also provides a way for users to sign up for a quote.

Ethan Ewing, president of Bills.com, says the calculator's simplicity and ease are virtues. Most users say they are looking for a fixed-rate loan or a lower monthly payment, he says. "If [users] can save more than $100 a month on the payment with a new mortgage, the calculator says 'yes.' "

Another flawed concept is the standard break-even test. Many mortgage sites suggest that borrowers should calculate how many months it would take to save enough on mortgage interest charges to break even on the closing costs, and then to pull the trigger when the payoff goes below three to five years.

But such analyses often ignore important factors, such as how long the borrower plans to stay in the house or the borrower's tax rate, which determines a loan's after-tax cost.

Consider LendingTree.com, a lead generator, broker and lender. In an article called "When Does It Pay to Refinance a Mortgage?" it warns: "There are other things to consider when you refinance, too, including taxes and private mortgage insurance. For a break-even estimate that takes many of these factors into account, use the LendingTree refinancing calculator."

The problem: The refinance calculator doesn't take taxes into account. It merely calculates your break-even point based on your current payment, the hypothetical new-loan payment, and the closing costs. Right below the results is a button to "start request"—meaning it will start to hook you up with a lender.

"This is a simple calculator that gives you a straightforward break-even equation," says Nicole Hall, a spokeswoman for LendingTree. "You should speak to a loan officer to thoroughly evaluate your options.... Generally, if you can lower your interest rate by 1%, you are saving enough to justify the refinance if you are staying in the home a certain number of years."

Versions of the same calculator appear on the sites of mortgage brokers or lead generators such as Domania.com and Calculators4Mortgages.com.

There are, to be sure, plenty of websites whose advice is unbiased and sound. The Federal Reserve, for example, offers a refinance resource page on its website that includes a better break-even calculator with tax-rate considerations.

A more-sophisticated calculation of the merits of refinancing would include other factors: the borrower's tax rate, inflation expectations, how long the borrower plans to live in the house, the opportunity cost of paying closing costs rather than investing in stocks or bonds, and so on.

One obscure calculator comes close. Instead of plugging in today's mortgage rates and determining how long it would take to pay back the closing costs, it uses "optimization theory" to conjure up a person's ideal refinance rate regardless of where rates are now. If you can find a rate that is equal to that rate or lower, it's time to refinance.

The bad news: Its results tend to flash the green light much less often than other calculators.

The calculator, posted on the National Bureau of Economic Research's website at http://zwicke.nber.org/refinance/index.py, is based on a 2008 paper by two economists at the Federal Reserve and one from Harvard University. Using stochastic calculus, they devised a formula based on the loan size, the homeowner's marginal tax rate, the expected inflation rate over the life of a loan, how long the borrower plans to remain in the house and other factors.

"These ideas are really old hat among economists; our contribution is deriving a simple formula that anyone can plug into their calculator or computer," says Harvard professor David Laibson, one of the authors.

The Optimal Refinance Calculator spits out tougher numbers than many other calculators in part because it factors in the benefit of waiting beyond the break-even for the chance that rates could fall further. Refinance now and you reduce your ability to refinance later.

According to the calculator, a borrower in the 35% tax bracket who has 20 years left on a $400,000 mortgage at 5.88% isn't advised to refinance until rates hit 3.92% (assuming low closing costs of 3%). By contrast, a three-year break-even analysis of those parameters would suggest that today's 4.5% rate is the time to make a deal.

"Some people mistakenly think [the break-even] is a recommendation to refinance," Prof. Laibson says. "You want to wait until things get better than the break-even point. Refinancing is irreversible and really costly."

Another way to benefit from falling rates in the future is via an adjustable-rate mortgage, the norm in places such as the United Kingdom and Australia. People with a strong conviction that deflation will unfold over the next several years can take out an ARM now and refinance later if rates start to head upward, though the transaction costs could add up.

Be warned: The Optimal Refinance Calculator doesn't account for refinancing into shorter-term loans, such as 15- or 20-year mortgages. It also doesn't work for "cash in" refinance deals, which investors increasingly are viewing as investments unto themselves. The bet: With stocks in a 10-year slump and bonds looking bubbly, the best investment they can make is to cut their future mortgage payments.

A new cash-in mortgage refinance tool, launched on Aug. 25 at www.mtgprofessor.com, calculates the "internal rate of return" on the cash a borrower puts into an underwater home loan to pay off the balance and cover closing costs. The money saved each month and the balance reduction is treated as a return on the cash invested. Compare that with your expected returns on stocks or bonds to see if a refinance makes sense.

Jon Krieger, 34 years old, and wife April, 32, of Blairsville, Ga., didn't need to invest extra cash—they simply wanted to cut their mortgage payment. Mr. Krieger says he tried several times last year to refinance but couldn't because bank lending standards were too tight.

It's a good thing they didn't refinance last year. Rates have since fallen even lower—precisely the possibility the Optimal Refinance Calculator considers.

In August the couple refinanced their $416,000, 6.75% loan they took out in May 2007 with a new loan at 4.75%. It lowered their monthly payment by more than $500. The total closing costs were about $5,500, says Mr. Krieger.

The deal easily satisfies the 1% rule and the three-year break-even. It also survives the Optimal Refinance Calculator, which put the Kriegers' ideal rate at 5.63% or below.

"We just kept plugging away and finally this came along, and it worked out real well," says Mr. Krieger. "I was very pleased."

Write to M.P. McQueen at mp.mcqueen@wsj.com

Government launches plan to help 'underwater' borrowers

2010-09-15T15:39:00.002-05:00

Tues. Sept. 7th 2010
AP Staff

WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration is trying to jump-start its sputtering attempts to tackle the foreclosure crisis with an effort to assist homeowners who owe more on their properties than their homes are worth.

Starting Tuesday, the Federal Housing Administration will permit lenders to give these borrowers refinanced loans backed by the government. The lenders will be required to forgive at least 10 percent of the original mortgage amount. Investors who have control over the mortgages as part of their large portfolios will select which borrowers are invited to participate.

The plan was first announced in March. Its rollout represents the latest of numerous efforts by the administration to address the housing bust. So far, the government has only nibbled around the edges of the crisis, as its programs have run into numerous problems.

The lending industry was ill-prepared for a crush of distressed homeowners, the economy worsened and millions of homeowners had taken on so much debt that their financial woes have been nearly impossible to resolve.

Nearly half of the 1.3 million homeowners who have enrolled in the Obama administration's main mortgage-relief program -- overseen by the Treasury Department -- have already fallen out over the past year.

Many borrowers say the government program is a bureaucratic nightmare, with banks often losing their documents and then claiming borrowers did not send back the necessary paperwork. Banks say borrowers often didn't return the required documents.

The new refinancing program takes a different approach. It allows investors in mortgage-backed securities to evaluate their holdings and select borrowers that will be offered refinanced mortgages guaranteed by the FHA.

The theory is that there are some loans that investors simply want to unload because they have a high risk of default.

However, when faced with the choice between slashing the amount borrowers owe on their home loans and foreclosing, lenders have generally chosen to foreclose on borrowers. Many experts doubt the new program will persuade investors to change their minds.

Government officials acknowledge that getting the plan going will be complicated. FHA Commissioner David Stevens said in a statement that it "requires significant coordination and operational execution by several parties to be successful."

The government estimates that between 500,000 and 1.5 million homeowners could be helped. But Stevens said the number of borrowers who actually benefit will likely be toward the low end of that range.

Even so, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Inc. analyst Bose George called the government's estimates "extremely optimistic." George said investors are likely to only offer refinances to borrowers who have seen their home values plunge to the point where they owe 40 percent more than their home's current value. Those homeowners, he said, are in danger of walking away from their mortgages.

"We're assuming that the impact is minimal," he said.

To qualify, borrowers must be up-to-date on their mortgages, though many people who have already received loan modifications through other programs are still eligible. The plan is limited to loans in which homeowners owe at least 15 percent more than their home's current value.

Analysts at Barclays Capital estimated last month that the refinancing program would only aid between 200,000 and 300,000 homeowners. If it reaches that many, it would be a small share of the number of Americans with so-called underwater mortgages.

As of the end of June, about 11 million U.S. homes, or 23 percent of those with a mortgage, were in this position, according to real estate data provider CoreLogic.

No Money Down Programs Creep Back Into the Marketplace

2010-09-08T11:58:00.003-05:00

NY Times, 9/4/10

When the housing bubble burst, one of the culprits, economists agreed, was exotic mortgages, including those that required little or no money down.

But on a recent evening, Matthew and Hannah Middlebrooke stood in their new $115,000 three-bedroom ranch house here, which Mr. Middlebrooke bought in June with just $1,000 down.

Because he also received a grant to cover closing costs and insurance, the check he wrote at the closing was for 67 cents.

“I thought I’d be stuck renting for years,” said Mr. Middlebrooke, 26, who earns $32,000 a year as a producer for a Christian television ministry.

Although home foreclosures are again expected to top two million this year, Fannie Mae, the lending giant that required a government takeover, is creeping back into the market for mortgages with no down payment.

Mr. Middlebrooke’s mortgage came from a new program called Affordable Advantage, available to first-time home buyers in four states and created in conjunction with the states’ housing finance agencies. The program is expected to stay small, said Janis Smith, a spokeswoman for Fannie Mae.

Some experts are concerned about the revival of such mortgages.

“Loans that have zero down payment perform worse than loans with down payments,” said Mathew Scire, a director of the Government Accountability Office’s financial markets and community investment team. “And loans with down payment assistance” — like Mr. Middlebrooke’s — “perform worse than those that do not.”

But the surprise is the support these loans have received, even from critics of exotic mortgages, who say low down payments themselves were not the problem, except when combined with other risk factors like adjustable rates or lax underwriting.

Moreover, they say, the housing market needs such nontraditional lending, as long as it is done prudently.

“This is subprime lending done right,” said John Taylor, president of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, an umbrella group for 600 community organizations, and a staunch critic of the lending industry. “If they had done subprime this way in the first place, we wouldn’t have these problems.”

At Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, Eric Belsky, the director, said the loans might be the type of step necessary to restart the housing market, because down payment requirements are keeping first-time home buyers out.

“If you look at where the market may get strength from, it may very well be from first-time buyers,” he said. “And a very significant constraint to first-time buyers is the wealth constraint.”

The loans are the idea of state housing finance agencies, or H.F.A.’s, quasi-government entities created to help moderate-income people buy their first homes.

Throughout the foreclosure crisis, the state agencies continued to make loans with low down payments, often to borrowers with tarnished credit, with much lower default rates than comparable mortgages from commercial lenders or the Federal Housing Administration. The reason: the agencies did not offer adjustable rates, and they continued to document buyers’ income and assets, which many commercial lenders did not do. In 2009, the agencies’ sources of revenue dried up, and they had to curtail most lending.

Then they created Affordable Advantage. The loans are 30-year fixed mortgages, with mandatory homeownership counseling, available to people with credit scores of 680 and above (720 in Massachusetts). The buyers have to put in $1,000 and must live in the homes.

All of these requirements ease the risk, said William Fitzpatrick, vice president and senior credit officer of Moody’s Investors Service. “These aren’t the loans that led us into the mortgage crisis,” he said.

So far Idaho, Massachusetts, Minnesota and Wisconsin are offering the loans. The Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority has issued 500 loans since March, making it the first state to act. After six months, there are no delinquencies so far, said Kate Venne, a spokeswoman for the agency.

The agencies buy the loans from lenders, then sell them as securities to Fannie Mae. Because the government now owns 80 percent of Fannie Mae, taxpayers are on the hook if the loans go bad.

The state agencies oversee the servicing of the loans and work with buyers if they fall behind — a mitigating factor, said Mr. Fitzpatrick of Moody’s.

“They have a mission to put people in homes and keep them in homes,” not to foreclose unless other options are exhausted, he said. The loans have interest rates about one-half of a percentage point above comparable loans that require down payments.

Ms. Smith, the spokeswoman for Fannie Mae, distinguished the program from loans of the boom years that “layered risk on top of risk.”

With the new loans, she said, “income is fully documented, monthly payments are fixed, credit score requirements are generally higher, and borrowers must be thoroughly counseled on the home-buying process and managing their mortgage debt.”

For Porfiria Gonzalez and her son, Eric, the loan allowed them to move out of a rental house in a neighborhood with a high crime rate to a quiet street where her neighbors are retirees and police officers.

Ms. Gonzalez, 30, processes claims in the foreclosure unit at Wells Fargo Home Mortgage; she has seen the many ways a mortgage holder can fail.

On a recent afternoon in her three-bedroom ranch house here, Ms. Gonzalez said she did not see herself as repeating the risks of the homeowners whose claims she processed.

“I learned to stay away from ARM loans,” or adjustable rate mortgages, she said. “That’s the No. 1 thing. And always have some emergency money.”

When she first started shopping, she looked at houses priced around $140,000. But the homeownership counselor said she should keep the purchase price closer to $100,000.

“They explained to me that I don’t need a $1,200-a-month payment,” she said.

The counselor worked with her real estate agent and attended her closing. On May 28, Ms. Gonzalez bought her home for $90,500, with monthly payments of $834. After moving expenses, she has kept her savings close to $5,000 to shield her from emergencies.

“If I had to make a down payment, it would have wiped out my savings,” she said. “I would have started with nothing.”

Now, she said, she is in a home she can afford in a neighborhood where her son can play in the yard. A neighbor brought her a metal pink flamingo with a welcome sign to place by her side door.

“My favorite part is the big backyard,” said Eric, 10. “And that’s pretty much it.”

“You don’t like it that it’s a quiet, safe neighborhood?” his mother asked.

“Yeah, I do.”

“He didn’t go out much with kids in the old neighborhood,” she said.

“Because they were bad kids,” he said.

Ms. Gonzalez said that owning a house was much more work than renting, and that when the basement flooded during a heavy rain, her heart sank.

“But I look at it as an investment,” she said, adding that a similar house in the neighborhood was on the market for $120,000.

Prentiss Cox, a professor at the University of Minnesota Law School who has been deeply critical of the mortgage industry, said the program met an important need and highlighted the track record of state housing agencies, which never engaged in exotic loans.

“It’s not a story people want to hear, because it won’t bring back the big profits,” Mr. Cox said. “The H.F.A.’s have shown how the problems of the last 10 years were about having sound and prudent regulation of lending, not just whether the loans were prime or subprime.”

He added, “One of the great and unsung tragedies of the whole crisis was the end of the subprime market.”

How to Navigate Short Sales

2010-09-03T11:21:00.002-05:00

How can you get in on a good short-sale deal? It takes a certain amount of fortitude and patience, plus a lot of luck.

What's a short sale?

Selling a home for less than the amount the current owner owes the mortgage company is called a short sale.

Buying a home that is a short sale is different from buying a property that is actually owned by the bank, known as an REO, or real-estate owned property, or a property that is in foreclosure.

All of this sounds arcane, but it's lingo that anyone shopping for a home needs to understand to navigate today's marketplace.

A short sale can be a good deal for a buyer, and it can help the seller avoid having a full foreclosure on his or her credit record. Although a short sale and a foreclosure negatively affect the seller's credit score, in a short sale the damage can be minimized if the homeowner can persuade the lender to report the debt to credit bureaus as "paid in full."

In a short sale, the proceeds from the transaction are less than the amount the seller needs to pay the mortgage debt and the costs of selling. For this deal to close, everyone who is owed money must agree to take less -- or possibly no money at all. That makes short sales complex transactions that move slowly and often fall through.

An extension of the government's housing rescue plan could make it easier to buy short-sale properties. The new version of the Making Home Affordable plan will pay lenders up to $1,000 if they allow a short sale of a property when the owners don't qualify for loan modification because they owe too much money on the home. The program will spell out a short-sale process and provide standard documents, the U.S. Treasury says.

The government's plan probably still won't help if there are multiple liens on the property, but it should encourage lenders holding the first mortgage to move the process along.

Keep your eyes wide open

If you're house hunting and spot what seems like a great deal, chances are good that you are considering a short-sale property.

Most of the time, the seller has already fallen behind on the mortgage, but occasionally the seller is current but unable to continue to pay because of ill health or job change. This is particularly true in parts of the country where home prices have fallen significantly.

Before you rush in, consider the issues. The advice below comes from Scott Thompson, senior vice president of Mortgage Resolution Services, a distressed sales consulting company, and Vicki Vidal, associate vice president of government affairs for the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Know what you are getting into. Under the best circumstances, short sales take a long time to close and may require extra effort on the part of the buyer. Walking blindly into a short sale can be a losing and distressing proposition, so push for disclosure before you get involved, Thompson says.

This is not a do-it-yourself project. Find a real estate professional who understands the territory. Having a real estate agent on your side who knows how short sales work and who has negotiated others will increase the chances of closing the deal.

"I would ask the agent to provide references, specifically on an REO or a property that was in short sale," Thompson says. "You certainly don't want someone who is a shrinking violet."

Thompson and Vidal advise staying away from "short-sale counselors," those who say they can jump in and expedite the deal. Their game often involves negotiating a low price with the lender, charging the buyer more money -- often significantly more money -- and pocketing the difference. This "counselor" probably won't make the deal go any more smoothly for you and certainly won't do you any favors pricewise.

Be wary of the condition of the property. If the seller is in financial distress, chances are the home may not be well-preserved. The seller also may be reluctant to reveal serious maintenance issues. Proceed cautiously and get the property inspected by a knowledgeable person before you commit.

Make sure the deal has a prayer of closing

If you've decided to go for it, the first step is to have your real estate agent talk to the real estate agent representing the seller and determine the status of the short sale. Below are items that most lenders require from a short seller. If the seller is unable or unwilling to provide this information, the short sale won't close and any buyer is wasting his or her time. Your real estate agent should push for candor from the seller's agent.

A hardship letter. The seller must explain why he or she cannot continue making payments. The sadder the story, the better. A seller who is simply tired of struggling probably won't be approved, but a seller with cancer, no job and an empty bank account may.

Proof of income and assets. If the seller has money in the bank, including retirement funds, it is unlikely that the lender will let the debt slide. This package of information must include income tax and bank statements, going back at least two years. Sometimes sellers are unwilling to produce these documents because they conflict with information on the original loan application, which may have been fudged. If that's the case, this deal is unlikely to close.

Comparative market analysis. This document shows that the price of the property has declined and that the property won't sell anytime soon for the amount owed. This packet of information should include a list of comparable properties on the market and a list of properties that have sold in the past six months or have been on the market in that time frame and are about to close. This packet of information is similar to what's known as a Broker Price Opinion, which is less formal but often more informative than a property appraisal. The prices should support the seller's contention that the property is worth no more than the short-sale price.

A list of liens. There may be more than one, so determine how many liens are on the property. The good news is that since late 2008, the IRS has been willing to release a federal tax lien. The IRS is not forgiving the back taxes that homeowners owe; it is just no longer requiring that the lien be paid off before the property can be sold. And a single mortgage lien is an easy problem to solve.

If there are first and second mortgage liens, the question becomes: What's the plan to satisfy these lien holders? The seller and the real estate agent should have a plan that is more sophisticated than crossing their fingers, Thompson says. In the best of all possible worlds, the seller will be willing to contribute to paying off the second lien, so the first lien holder gets the full amount from the sale.

If there is a third mortgage lien, reaching any deal is very iffy. Deal killers include child support liens, state tax liens and homeowners association liens. If they exist and there are no obvious solutions, walk away, Thompson says.

Here's one more deal killer, something that can be difficult to sleuth out, says Thompson. Because a short sale generally doesn't cover the whole amount owed or other liens, it can trigger mortgage insurance. If the property is covered by a mortgage insurance policy that doesn't have to pay off until the home has been in foreclosure for 150 days or some similar length of time, chances are the insurer will hold up the sale because it won't want to pay any earlier than necessary and hopes the foreclosure will just disappear. Often the mortgage insurer will simply go silent. Thompson says: No response, no approval.

Be realistic

The bottom line: Don't choose a short sale if you're in a hurry.

"It's a waiting game," says Vidal.

Part of what slows down short sales is buyers' insistence on making really lowball offers, she says. "You get really crazy, ridiculously low offers -- and they are rejected."

Another factor is the increasing number of government programs aimed at keeping people in their homes -- about 50 percent of defaults never go as far as foreclosure, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. So lenders see short sales as potentially the least attractive option and aren't willing to expedite them.

How can a potential short-sale buyer be protected from getting involved in an extended negotiation that doesn't go anywhere in the end? Thompson says you should negotiate an agreement with the seller and the seller's real estate agent that your offer will be the only one presented to the lender. If the lender isn't flooded with offers, it will be more motivated to move forward. If the lender turns down the offer without countering, then the restriction disappears.

Once you've crafted a deal, you better know where the money is coming from to close. If you're getting a loan, you need bank approval in advance.

As is true with any of these deals -- REOs, short sales, foreclosure auctions -- make sure you have money lined up. Cash is the best financing alternative in these cases.

Mortgage Rates Hit Low of 4.36 Percent

2010-08-26T21:10:00.004-05:00

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Associated Press business staff

NEW YORK -- Mortgage rates fell to the lowest level in decades for the ninth time in 10 weeks as concerns grow that the economy is weakening.

Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday that the average rate for a 30-year fixed loan was 4.36 percent this week, down from 4.42 percent last week. That's the lowest since Freddie Mac began tracking rates in 1971.

The average rate on 15-year fixed loan dropped to 3.86 percent from 3.90 percent the previous week. That's the lowest on records starting in 1991.

Rates have fallen since spring as investors shifted money into the safety of Treasury bonds, lowering their yield. Mortgage rates tend to track those yields.

The low rates have fueled borrowers to refinance their home loans. Refinancing is at its highest level since May 2009 and made up 82.4 percent of all new loan activity.

However, low rates haven't budged home sales, Those have been stymied by high unemployment, slow job growth and strict credit standards, and have dropped sharply since the expiration of home-buying tax credits in April.

To calculate the national average, Freddie Mac collects mortgage rates on Monday through Wednesday of each week from lenders around the country. Rates often fluctuate significantly, even within a given day.

Average rates on five-year adjustable-rate mortgages were unchanged at 3.56 percent. Rates on one-year adjustable-rate mortgages fell to an average rate of 3.52 from 3.53percent.

The rates do not include add-on fees known as points. One point is equal to 1 percent of the total loan amount. The nationwide fee for loans in Freddie Mac's survey averaged 0.7 a point for 30-year and 1-year mortgages. They averaged 0.6 of a point for 15-year and 5-year mortgages.

Tremont Valley Turnaround: New Townhomes Aim to Bridge the Gap Between Trendy Tremont and its Wilder Side

2010-08-19T19:50:00.003-05:00

On a sunny June morning, the clatter of construction rings out across a once-forgotten Tremont hillside as crews finish up four new townhomes in time for the summer home-buying season.

This part of Tremont used to be famous for much less desirable activities. Up until a few years ago, car thieves dumped stolen vehicles here and set them on fire. The street was home to one of the largest illegal cockfighting rings in Ohio until the city came in and tore the coops down in 2006, when a raid rescued more than 400 chickens.

David Sharkey, a former resident of West 12th Street and one of the developers of the Tremont Valley Townhomes, remembers when West 11th was something of a walk on the wild side.

“I used to walk across the pedestrian bridge over the highway to get to Lincoln Park,” says Sharkey. “Heading back home, I never knew what I’d find when I got to the other side.”

Even then, it was obvious to Sharkey that the location had tremendous potential, if the land could be assembled into a contiguous site. This part of West 11th Street is close to the heart of Tremont and offers unobstructed views of the Cuyahoga Valley and Tremont Field.

Today, West 11th is the site of the new Tremont Valley development, which broke ground earlier this year. The project aims to bring affordable townhouse living to Tremont’s south side. So far, the developers have built one four-unit building, and one townhouse is sold.

“Tremont is a very popular place to live, and it’s well known for the Tremont Art Walk and as the home of Michael Symon’s Lolita,” says Sharkey. “We have an opportunity to create a substantial new community of homeowners on West 11th, and to connect this area with central Tremont.”

“With the creation of the dog park at Tremont Field, improvements to the park itself, and the promise that the Towpath Trail will eventually run right in front of the townhomes, we knew it was time,” he adds.

The Tremont Valley Townhomes are being developed by David Sharkey and Keith Brown, the principals of Progressive Urban Real Estate, a real estate brokerage with offices in Ohio City and Cleveland Heights, as well as David Fragapane of Civic Builders LLC in Tremont.

The project, which fits in with the community redevelopment plan for the Tremont neighborhood, has received support from the local block club, Tremont West Development Corporation and Ward 3 Councilman Joe Cimperman.

“The area in and around Clark Field is the next big thing in Tremont,” says Chris Garland, Director of Tremont West Development Corporation. “The Tremont Valley Townhomes are a key part of the redevelopment that’s taking place there.”

Village Capital Corporation (VCC), a nonprofit lender whose mission is to help revitalize the neighborhoods of Cleveland by lending to catalytic projects, provided the construction financing. Cleveland Action to Support Housing (CASH), a nonprofit organization, partnered with VCC to lower the interest rate on the construction loan. This subsidized rate increased the lender’s confidence in the project and helped make it possible for the developers to break ground. The total cost of the first four-unit phase is approximately $650,000.

“We’re confident that we’ll sell more units over time, but due to the low interest rate, we can afford to float the debt for now,” says Sharkey. “This is only possible because of the involvement of CASH. It’s tough right now, but we know we’ll be successful over time.”

The townhomes are priced from $180,000 and offer one- and two-car garage units. The project is set against a steep hillside, a natural feature that presented a design challenge and required additional retaining walls. Building the units against this backdrop, however, also offered an opportunity, opening up space for small yards. The rear patios are nestled into the blooming hillside. The fronts of the units have broad second-story decks with quintessentially Tremont views of trees, parkland and steel mills.

The townhomes’ narrow footprint, Sharkey says, is no deal killer – the units offer a surprising amount of space. The first floor has an open floor plan, with a handsome kitchen that opens up to a great room. The second floor has two bedrooms, including a large master with a spacious closet. The two car garage units have two full baths on the bedroom level, while the one car units have a single bath with shower and bathtub.

All of the units offer 15 year 100% tax abatement on the improved value of the property, and include a one year builders’ warranty.

Sharkey is a realist about the market, but he claims the project will succeed because of location, design, and price point. “There isn’t much new construction available in Tremont at this price,” he says. “These townhomes offer a lot of value for the money.”

Interested in Purchasing Investment Property? Tips to Get You Started

2010-08-12T15:26:00.002-05:00

How to find good investment property

If you're cut out for it, life as a landlord can be quite profitable. But success isn't assured. Here's what you need to know before diving in.

By Liz Pulliam Weston

The idea of owning rental real estate seems to be gaining popularity as investors tire of the swoops and swoons of the stock market. As I pointed out in a separate column, not everyone has what it takes to be a landlord. But those who do may find rentals to be a good way to build wealth.

Once you've made the decision to buy rental property, your real work begins. Finding a profitable rental property usually takes time, connections and plenty of research.

Here's what you need to know to get started:

Know your time horizon

As with any other investment, you should have a good idea how long you plan to own a rental property before you buy it, says Robert Cain, publisher of the Rental Property Reporter newsletter.

The longer you plan to own the property, the more you'll probably need to invest in maintenance, repairs and improvements, Cain said.

"If you're keeping it for 20 years, at some point you're going to be putting a new roof on that property. You're going to be putting in new appliances and doing some major repairs," Cain said. If you're only planning to own a property for five years, by contrast, you'll probably want to avoid making any major improvements unless you're sure you can recoup the cost with a higher sale price.

You also may face more investment risk with a shorter time horizon. Although your rental will almost certainly appreciate over 20 years, it could easily lose value in the next five, particularly if you're buying in an overheated market. You'll need a bigger potential annual return to make up for that risk.

For many small investors, long-term ownership makes the most sense, said Pat Callahan, an attorney, landlord and founder of the American Association of Small Property Owners. You'll have plenty of time to ride out any swings in the market, and rental income can make a nice supplement to your day job. Find enough rental properties, and being a landlord may become your day job.

Develop a network

Experienced landlords find their properties in a variety of ways. Some hunt for foreclosures, making friends with city hall clerks or bank employees who know which properties are about to be sold. Some run ads in local newspapers. Others work with real estate agents who keep their eyes peeled for possible buys.

Several landlords recommended joining a local landlord or property owner's association to make contacts. Callahan's Web site offers links to local groups, as does the National Real Estate Investors Association.

"When you begin to own rentals, all the other investors start coming out of the woodwork," said Sean Hoppe, a landlord in Pottsville, Pa., who owns 11 properties. "Through investor meetings, networking, etc., I can find out what is for sale."

You also can try approaching landlords directly to see if they're willing to sell, by calling the numbers listed on rental ads in the classifieds, by cruising neighborhoods looking for "for rent" signs or by talking to any landlords you know personally.

That's how Bob, who asked that his last name not be used, bought his rental property near Albany, N.Y. The landlord of the three-unit building where Bob had rented for 15years was tired of the hassles and ready to sell.

"We love (the area) and jumped at the chance to buy it," Bob said.

So far, Bob and his wife have been pleased with their purchase. They raised rents and required security deposits, which caused the property's less desirable tenants to leave. He also has a backup plan for the building in case he starts to feel like the prior owner.

"If being a landlord got to be too big a hassle," Bob said, "we would just get rid of the tenants and make it our own place."

Get your finances in shape

The better your credit, and the less credit card and other consumer debt you have, the better your prospects for getting a decent loan, Callahan said. Lenders usually require bigger down payments, higher interest rates and generally stronger finances when you're buying rental property. That's because they know people are more likely to default on investment property than they are on their own homes.

Landlords say it also pays to have a substantial cash reserve left over after buying a property.

This can help pay for unexpected repairs and vacancies. Although there are few rules of thumb, setting aside at least one month's rent for each unit is a good start. CPA Paul Berning suggests having a line of credit, secured either by the property or your own home, to cover larger costs.

You also should make sure you can save enough for retirement and other goals before investing in rental real estate. While rental income can supplement your retirement kitty, most people shouldn't count on it to replace other investments or allow themselves to be entirely exposed to the whims of the local real estate market. Rents and property values can fall as well as rise, and those who are adequately diversified with investments in stocks, bonds and cash will be better able to endure the bad times as well as the good.

Avoid overpaying

As one experienced landlord put it: "You make your profit when you buy a property, not when you sell it." Pay too much, and you'll never recoup as much as you could have had you driven a better bargain.

The rental real estate market is generally tougher on investors who overpay than on homeowners who do the same thing, several landlords said. While a home is often an emotional purchase, which can lead to "I must have it!" offers and bidding wars, most landlords look strictly at the numbers to see if their investments will pay off. If you pay too much for a rental, you can't count on a "greater fool" coming along later to bail you out.

Not overpaying can be tough in a hot market, however. Apartments in New York, for example, currently sell at a 60% premium over their "inherent" value. In other words, they're selling for much more than the income streams the apartments generate, according to Reis, a national real estate research firm. In San Francisco and Los Angeles, the premium is 10%.

Some landlords use formulas, such as not paying more than six to eight times the rents they expect to make the first year. Others try to estimate what the property could be worth after needed repairs and upgrades are made, and they don't pay more than 70% of that price, less the cost of those repairs, CPA Berning said.

Every real estate market is different, however, and these formulas may not work in your area.

What's key is to make sure your rental income will cover your out-of-pocket costs, Berning said. That includes the mortgage payment on the property, as well as taxes, insurance, maintenance, repairs and a vacancy rate of around 5%. (If you have five units, for example, you should expect at least one unit to be empty three months each year. Here's the math: 5 units times 12 months equals 60; 60 times .05 is 3.)

If you can at least break even, you'll be able to profit from any price appreciation as well as from tax breaks available to rental property. Cain's Web site sells software to help you make these calculations.

When crunching the numbers, you should know that there's a big difference in how repairs and improvements are treated for tax purposes. You can typically deduct the cost of a repair, such as patching a roof or fixing a leaking pipe, on your tax return for the year in which the repair is made, Berning said.

Replace that roof or those pipes, however, and it's typically considered an improvement, which means the cost can't be deducted. Instead, it's added to the amount you paid for the property to determine your tax basis when you sell. The higher the basis, the lower your taxable profit. But if you have to wait 20 years after making a major improvement to recoup any of the cost for tax purposes, you may think twice about buying a property that needs a lot of upfront work, Berning said.

Longtime landlords say all this work pays off in profitable properties that build their net worth while providing a steady income stream. Callahan, whose family started investing in rental real estate in the 1940s, says it's a way of life she recommends.

"It doesn't matter if you're a professional or a laborer," Callahan said. "It's the equal-opportunity wealth builder."

Go Green: Reduce Air Pollution - and Save Money - While Mowing Your Lawn

2010-08-05T20:56:00.003-05:00

Mowing the lawn is a weekly chore for many this time of year. What you probably don’t realize is that your gas-powered mower is also contributing to bad air quality, right there in your own backyard. Until recently, gas-powered lawn mowers were not required to regulate emissions. The good news is that new regulations and a selection of greener alternatives can help you do your part to reduce air pollution so close to home.

Gas powered lawn equipment produces roughly 5% of the air pollution generated in America—that’s quite a lot for such a little engine. The exhaust sends tiny particles into the air creating conditions that are especially unhealthy for young children or anyone with a respiratory illness or disease. Fumes from the engine also contribute to the formation of ground level ozone and smog, another hazardous air pollutant. A study conducted at the University of Florida in 2005 found that gas-powered mowers cause as much as 1,500 times more carbon monoxide, 31 times more nitrogen oxides and nearly 20 times more carbon dioxide than mowers powered by electricity. New regulations will go into effect in the next two years that will reduce emissions from newly-built models, but gas powered mowers aren’t your only option.

Electric mowers also generate pollution but at drastically lower levels and not in your backyard. Electric mowers are more expensive than their gas-powered cousins, but they are a lot less expensive to operate and maintain. An electric mower will cost you about $5 a year to operate, which is the cost of electricity to power or charge the mower. If you opt for the more convenient cordless electric mower, you should know that the rechargeable battery contains lead and should never end up in a landfill. Fortunately, there are many resources available for recycling rechargeable batteries of all shapes and sizes.

For ease of operation, electric wins hands down. It starts with the push of a button and you never need to fill up the gas tank or replace the oil. Most come with a mulching feature and some models have the ability to add on accessories for trimming or edging. The electric mower is lighter than its gas-powered alternative and it’s much quieter too. But the biggest benefit is that you’ll be inhaling the sweet smell of freshly-cut grass instead of pollution-causing gas fumes.

Of course, a human-powered reel mower is the greenest option of all and is a practical solution if you have a small area to mow. Today there are many styles to choose from; some even include an attachment to catch grass clippings.

When it’s time to choose your next mower, do your part and select a model that won’t add to the air pollution problem near your home, your neighborhood or around the planet.

2010, The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, N.C.).

2010-07-29T16:03:00.001-05:00

Blast from the Past – Vintage Appliances Add Unique Twist in Today’s Kitchens

By Jamie Knodel

July 24, 2010 — Long before granite and stainless steel dominated kitchens, chrome mixed with high-gloss, playful color was the look. These kitchens and their appliances of years past have droves of fans. The owners of vintage appliances are a proud lot, quick to show off a refrigerator’s special features, discuss the steps they take to keep a stove shiny or share a charming story about a previous owner.

Many aren’t afraid to fiddle with this or that part to get their equipment back in prime working order, and the ones who leave repairs to the experts have had little trouble finding a professional to get their appliances humming once more.

While all of the vintage appliances we found are in older homes, there are plenty of collectors who put vintage appliances or reproductions in new construction.

Meet three homeowners who live with appliances that have sailed past the half-century mark.

A red showstopper: 1950s-era Chambers high-back stove

The proud owners: Van and Elsa Moushegian of northwest Dallas

Its colorful past: When the Moushegians bought their house, the seller was sure to tell them about how, when he was a boy, his father gave his mother the stove to mark a special occasion. The seller had moved the stove to a couple of other houses throughout the years, but didn’t have a spot for it in his next home, so it stayed and became the Moushegians’.

Bells and whistles: Instead of four burners, the stove has three. In the place where the fourth would go is a deep well, which works like a built-in slow cooker.

“I’ll do tamales or beans in there,” Elsa says. “I can put them in before I go to bed and cook them overnight or start cooking them before I go to work in the morning.”

There’s also a broiler and griddle. The oven has a retained-heat cooking option that the Moushegians rave about. After preheating the oven at a very high heat, such as 500°F, they’ll put a roast or some other type of meat in and keep it on for about 20 minutes before turning it off. The meat stays in the oven and the door stays shut for several hours. “Steam comes out when you open the oven,” Van says. “Because it’s so well-insulated, it all comes out steaming and super tender.”

Up and running: “The real beauty of the stove is the way that it’s so easy to clean—it all comes apart easily,” Van says.

Sticking with vintage: “The first time I saw it, I thought it was just decoration. I didn’t realize it would still work,” Elsa says. Once she started cooking on it, it was love. “It cooks better, and I’m happier with this stove than I was my previous modern one.”

Pretty in pink: 1956 or ’57 General Electric refrigerator and oven

The proud owners: Lee and Melissa Higginbotham of northwest Dallas

Its colorful past: Lee Higginbotham inherited the pink appliances when he bought the 1957 house from a friend’s grandmother in the ’80s. It was a model home when the neighborhood was first developed. The pink sets the tone of entire kitchen; Melissa’s mother, an artist, painted the cabinets to complement the pastel appliances.

Bells and whistles: “It was the latest and greatest that 1957 had to offer,” Lee Higginbotham says. The refrigerator features a foot pedal beneath the door that opens the door for cooks who have their hands full. The pastel appliance, complete with turquoise lining, has a copper lazy Susan for shelves, and the shelf height is adjustable.

Up and running: Though the oven is 30-50 degrees off and its clock no longer works, the Higginbothams have learned to adjust. The fridge, which Lee’s partial to, has required only normal maintenance, he says. That includes defrosting it every so often and cleaning the back coils.

Sticking with vintage: Lee says he’ll cry when the fridge no longer works. He keeps an even older fridge, which isn’t running, in case he needs to mine it for parts for his beloved pink GE.

History’s in the bag: 1950s-era Electrolux pull canister vacuum and 1954 O’Keefe & Merritt stove

The proud owners: Mitchell and Kristen Kauffman of Lakewood, Texas

Its colorful past: The 500 series stove, which is white with yellow knobs and handles, was in the 1920s East Dallas bungalow when the Kauffmans moved in 15 years ago. The vacuum’s been in the family since Kristen’s grandmother owned it.

Bells and whistles: The maker of the vintage vacuum, Electrolux, keeps up with the Kauffmans and calls to schedule regular in-home tune-ups and to sell replacement bags. The Electrolux folks have replaced the vacuum’s retractable cord.

The stove, with a couple of storage drawers, electrical outlets and a lamp on the high back, also features a griddle. There’s also a “grillevator,” which lets you adjust how close you want your broiler pan to the flame. Under each burner is a crumb tray that slides out from the front for easy cleanup.

Up and running: “The inner workings of a stove haven’t changed much in the last 50 years,” Mitchell says. Anything that has gone wrong with the stove has been easy to fix.

Sticking with vintage: Vintage goes with the look of the Kauffmans’ bungalow, and while there have been plenty of updates, they like the way their vintage appliances fit in. “At the end of the day, you’re just cooking over a flame,” says Mitchell, a restaurateur. “There’s not much difference cooking over a flame coming out of a Viking vs. a flame coming out of my O’Keefe & Merritt.”

(c) 2010, The Dallas Morning News.

A Potential Cure for the Appraisal Blues

2010-07-21T15:55:00.001-05:00

A potential cure for the appraisal blues
By Ken Harney

WASHINGTON - Picture this: You've signed a contract to sell your house. Your buyers say they've nailed down the right mortgage. All is well. But then the appraisal comes in low - $25,000 to $50,000 under what was agreed in the contract.

The lender insists on cutting the mortgage amount to reflect the lower appraised value. You refuse to negotiate anywhere near the price indicated by the appraisal, and suddenly - poof! The whole deal is off. You, the buyers and the realty agents involved are all left sputtering over the appraisal that scuttled the transaction.

This scenario is not unusual in many markets across the country, say homebuilders, realty agents and appraisers. One little-publicized reason why: Lenders unilaterally may be lowering the numbers on the appraisals submitted to them in order to avoid accusations that the loans they sell to giant investors Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac are based on inflated appraisals - even slightly inflated. Such value inflations can expose lenders to dreaded "buyback" demands, forcing them to repurchase loans at huge costs.

The vice chairman of the National Association of Realtors' Appraisal Committee, Frank K. Gregoire of St. Petersburg, Fla., says it's a widespread problem - large numbers of legitimate home sales "sabotaged by lenders and underwriters arbitrarily reducing the value estimate" provided by the appraiser.

Typically, Gregoire says, the lender orders a low-cost electronic valuation - based on publicly available statistical data with no on-site inspections - to review the accuracy of what was submitted by the appraiser. If there's a discrepancy between what the computer says and the appraiser's report, the lender's underwriters sometimes simply cut the number - even if this means knocking the real estate transaction off track. Or they demand an immediate explanation from the appraiser.

But all this may be about to change. Effective Sept. 1, Fannie Mae is prohibiting lenders who sell it loans from changing appraisers' numbers. In guidance issued June 30, Fannie Mae said lenders must contact appraisers to "resolve" any disagreements about the valuation. If that's not possible, they should order a second appraisal - not just chop the value supporting the real estate contract.

Appraisers applauded the new rule. "This is huge," said Gary Crabtree, president of Affiliated Appraisers of Bakersfield, Calif., and a member of the national government relations committee of the Appraisal Institute, an industry group. Pat Turner, an appraiser in Richmond, Va., said Fannie's new requirement "is great news for consumers" because loan underwriters hundreds of miles from the property "no longer will be able to change the appraiser's valuation" simply because they pulled a lower number off a computer.

Turner said these electronic models "are often inaccurate," and provide no information on property condition. He said an appraisal completed recently in Virginia was challenged by a review company based in California using a proprietary electronic valuation system. The reviewer wanted to know why Turner hadn't used a specific property in the area as a "comparable" in doing his appraisal on the house. Turner checked out the suggested "comp," and it turned out to be a vacant lot, worth far less than the house - not a true comp "by any stretch of the imagination."

Fannie Mae's new guidelines also attempt to clarify other issues that have arisen during the past year, including the widespread use of inexperienced appraisers who are unfamiliar with local market conditions. Realtors, builders and mortgage brokers have complained to Congress that rules adopted by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in 2009 encouraged lenders to use "appraisal management" companies to value properties.

Those companies, in turn, often pay appraisers deeply discounted fees - half off traditional prevailing rates in some cases - and require them to complete their assignments far faster than normal turnaround times. Critics have charged that low-budget appraisers working for management companies frequently travel long distances to do their valuations, have minimal access to local realty data, and make excessive use of foreclosures and short sales as comparables - thereby depressing the values of non-distressed sales in the area.

Fannie's letter attempts to clarify its "appraiser selection" standards. Tops on the list: Appraisers should be experienced, "have the requisite knowledge" about local market conditions, plus access to all local data sources. Fannie also emphasized that the demonstrated experience of an appraiser should always trump fees or turnaround times - a clear swipe at management companies who literally bid out their work on the latter two criteria.

Asked whether Freddie Mac plans to issue similar rules on appraisal quality standards, a spokesman said "we're definitely looking at it."

• Write to Ken Harney at P.O. Box 15281, Chevy Chase, MD 20815 or via e-mail at kenharney@earthlink.net.

© 2010, Washington Post Writers Group

What Was the Real Impact of the Housing Tax Credit?

2010-07-15T20:27:00.002-05:00

Home buyer tax credit fails as a turbocharger for Savannah market

By Adam Van Brimmer, Savannah Morning News, Ga.

Hindsight reflects poorly on Version 2.0 of the federal homebuyer tax credit.

The credit -- established Nov. 6, 2009, and redeemable for up to $8,000 off the income taxes of first-time homebuyers and $6,500 for eligible repeat buyers -- failed as a turbocharger for the local housing market.

The credit expired April 30, although buyers with homes under contract as of that date have until Sept. 30 to close and occupy the new residence.

All but a few of those deals are complete. And the numbers lead local real estate professionals to use words like "bust," "flop," and "disappointment" to describe the credit's impact.

Sales of single-family homes, modulars, townhouses and condos through the first six months of 2010 were flat compared with the same period in 2009, when only first-time buyers were eligible. And many of those buyers waited until late summer and early fall to take advantage of that initial program.

But proponents of the credit point to what the statistics and hindsight fail to show: How much worse the housing market might have been without the incentives.

Treading water is better than drowning, they say, and if the credit kept the market afloat, then it was far from a failure.

Labels like success and failure aside, the credit's impact -- and the factors behind it -- demonstrate housing's economic complexity.

A sensible idea

Extending and expanding the tax credit seemed logical last fall.

The initial program for first-time buyers carried the market in 2009. First-timers accounted for as much as 70 percent of home purchases nationwide last year.

Locally, the percentage of first-time buyers was lower, but not by much. Exact figures are not available, but financing data for local sales reveals more than 50 percent of purchases made last year were secured using FHA and VA loans, which require little money down and are the loans of choice among first-time buyers.

Extending the credit for those predominantly young buyers meant more new blood for the market -- vital considering the number of homeowners who lost their houses to foreclosure and became renters last year. The more first-timers buying now, the earlier they will shop for bigger or better houses and aid the market down the road.

Plus, a good percentage of first-timer buyers purchased newly constructed homes, helping homebuilders weather the recession.

Expanding the credit to include repeat or "move-up" buyers would further stimulate the housing market, proponents claimed, especially in higher-priced neighborhoods. The first-time buyers gobbled up houses priced under $200,000 -- the so-called "starter homes" -- but the initial tax credit did little to boost activity outside that price point.

Offering a $6,500 incentive to current homeowners would expand the credit's impact to include the higher-priced addresses, the thinking went. Young families are always looking to trade in their two-bedroom for a three- or four-bedroom or move into a better school district.

An expanded credit would do for the market what shifting from second gear into third does for a car.

Bumps in the road

Yet the tax credit's ability to accelerate the local housing market depended on the navigation of several obstacles.

-- Labor market growth. Unemployment needed to shrink and employed Americans had to feel more secure in their jobs. Job insecurity is synonymous with financial uncertainty. Few make six-figure purchases when wondering from where their next paycheck may come.

-- Increased demand. For move-up buyers to move up, most needed first to sell the homes they currently owned.

-- Continued first-time buyer interest. First-timers would buy the homes the would-be repeat buyers were selling and keep the homebuilders busy and the market growing.

The Savannah area fell short on all fronts. Unemployment remained above eight percent. Would-be repeat buyers struggled to sell without significantly cutting their prices, and lower prices meant less equity to invest in an upgrade.

As for the first-timers, their numbers dropped precipitously. FHA/VA-backed purchases were down 24 percent in the first six months of 2010 versus 2009.

Many local real estate professionals believe the reason for the drop was the initial tax credit, which was scheduled to expire Nov. 30 until the government extended it, coaxed many spring 2010 buyers to purchase early to ensure themselves of the $8,000 bonus.

Lingering effects

The focus now shifts to the credit's impact on the Savannah market post-deadline.

Just as the initial credit borrowed first-time buyers from spring 2010, the expanded credit may have stolen move-up buyers from the second half of this year.

The number of pending deals has dropped since the credit's contract deadline on April 30. But there are extenuating circumstances that could help the market maintain its current levels and possibly even grow:

-- Mortgage rates: Stock market uncertainty has led to heavy investment in the bond markets, which in turn have kept mortgage interest rates down. Interest rates are tied to bond yields, and the higher the demand for bonds, the lower the yields.

The average 30-year fixed rate currently stands at 4.62 percent after hitting record lows last week. Each tenth of a point change in interest rate equates to thousands of dollars over the life of a loan.

For example, a borrower would pay about $17,000 less in interest on a $200,000 loan at 4.6 percent than he would on the same loan at 5 percent.

-- Home prices: Sluggish sales have kept prices in check as well. The overall average sales price for the first six months is unchanged from a year ago, although prices are down significantly in several Savannah neighborhoods.

Single-family homes on the Southside are down 10 percent, West Chatham has seen a 3 percent decrease, and Skidaway Island is off by 9 percent.

And overall, prices are down more than 10 percent from where they were through the first six months of 2008, which marked the eve of the housing slump locally.

Local real estate professionals agree a housing recovery here goes deeper than a tax credit. A strengthening economy and all that comes with it -- more jobs, more retiring baby boomers, more tourism and ports activity -- will be the spark for the housing market.

Financial Overhaul and You! Mortgages, Debit Cards and More

2010-06-30T15:06:00.002-05:00

Financial overhaul and you: Mortgages, debit cards and more ...

By Sandra Block,, USA TODAY

You're not a bank president and you wouldn't know a derivative if someone served you one for dinner. No matter. There are several provisions in the financial overhaul bill that could affect you, especially if you plan to buy a home.

"Consumers have been pounded by the financial crisis, not just from job losses, but from punishing credit card fees and skyrocketing interest rates," said Pamela Banks, senior policy counsel for Consumers Union. "The bill gives consumers a fighting chance."

Here's a rundown of consumer measures in the bill that's headed to the House and Senate for final votes:

Mortgages

• Lenders would no longer be allowed to pay mortgage brokers a commission based on the interest rate for a home loan. Critics have charged that this fee, known as the yield spread premium, encourages mortgage brokers to steer borrowers into risky loans with high interest rates. The law would bar brokers from receiving any compensation tied to the terms of the loan, other than the principal amount. The yield spread premium "is sort of a secret deal between the lender and the broker" that often ends up hurting the consumer, says Ruth Susswein, deputy director for Consumer Action.

The National Association of Mortgage Brokers opposed the provision, arguing that it would prohibit low-cost financing, a popular option for home buyers and refinancers.

The provision would prevent borrowers from paying a portion of their closing costs upfront and rolling the rest into the loan in the form of a higher interest rate. Under the bill, loan originators will be required to collect all of their fees upfront or roll the entire amount into the loan, says Jim Pair, president of the NAMB.

• Prepayment penalties would be limited or prohibited, depending on the type of loan. Lenders won't be allowed to impose any prepayment penalties on certain types of risky loans, such as loans with a large balloon payment. For 30-year, fixed-rate loans, penalties would be limited to the first three years of the loan.

• Lenders would be required to determine that borrowers can afford the monthly mortgage payments, along with insurance, taxes and assessments. For adjustable-rate mortgages, lenders would have to ensure that borrowers can afford the highest rate under the terms of the loan.

This may sound like something lenders are supposed to do, but during the housing boom, many lenders were cavalier about borrowers' ability to repay loans. Stated income, "no-doc" and "liar loans," which allowed just about anyone with a heartbeat to buy a house, were rampant. The credit crunch led lenders to tighten their standards, so in some respects, "Many of these reforms are going to be locking the barn door after the horse is gone," says Keith Gumbinger, vice president of HSH Associates.

Still, lenders have short memories, and without the legislation, there's no guarantee they won't loosen their standards when the real estate market recovers, Gumbinger says. Real estate markets "burn down every 15 or 20 years or so, and the market doesn't seem to learn from past mistakes," he says.

Credit scores

Consumers who are turned down for a loan would be entitled to receive a copy of the credit score that the lender used to make that decision. Consumers would also be entitled to a free credit score if they were offered a loan at a rate that's higher than the one provided to borrowers with excellent credit. You'd have the right to a credit score any time it results in an "adverse action," which could include everything from a job rejection to a higher insurance rate.

However, you won't get a free credit score when you order your free credit reports. Since 2005, all consumers have had the right to a free annual credit report from all three credit bureaus through www.annualcreditreport.com. But the only way to get a credit score is to buy one from one of the credit bureaus or through www.myfico.com.

Mandating free annual credit scores is impractical because lenders and others use many different types of credit scores, says Mark Greene, chief executive of FICO, developer of the widely used FICO score.

For example, some credit scores are tailored for use by credit card issuers, while another is designed for mortgages, he says. "The way out of these woods is to say that the score used in making a lending decision is the score to be provided," he says.

Credit and debit cards

The bill includes a provision aimed at reducing some "interchange fees" — fees banks charge retailers when consumers pay with debit cards. Here's how you could be affected:

• The Federal Reserve Board would be required to determine what constitutes "reasonable and proportional fees" for debit card transactions, which currently run about 1% of the transaction. The National Retail Federation says lower fees could lead to lower prices for consumers, but other analysts doubt consumers will notice much of a change.

Banks have warned that if interchange fees are reduced, they may have to eliminate debit card rewards programs and increase other fees to make up for the lost revenue.

Debit cards issued by banks and credit unions with less than $10 billion in deposits are exempt from the rule. Prepaid debit cards used by government agencies to issue unemployment and other benefits are also excluded.

• Retailers would be allowed to offer consumers a discount for using cash, a check, or a debit card instead of a credit card. However, lawmakers removed a proposal that would have allowed retailers to give consumers a discount for using a card brand that charges a lower fee than a competing brand.

• Retailers would also be allowed to require a minimum purchase before they'll accept a debit or credit card. Currently, retailers are typically prohibited under card associations' rules to set minimums. So if you're used to using your credit card for everything, including a $2 cup of coffee, you may need to start carrying cash.

Consumer loans

A new agency, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, would have the authority to regulate mortgages, credit cards, payday lenders, check-cashing companies and lenders that provide private student loans. However, auto dealers' financing and insurance arms would be exempt from the agency's jurisdiction.

The auto industry argued that auto dealers aren't banks and didn't play any role in the financial meltdown. The National Automobile Dealers Association also contended that the additional bureaucracy would drive up the price of auto loans.

Consumer groups maintained that placing auto dealers under the consumer agency's jurisdiction would protect consumers from abusive lending practices by unscrupulous dealers. In addition, exempting auto dealerships' finance departments from regulation could give them an unfair advantage over credit unions and small banks, according to the Cambridge Winter Center for Financial Institutions Policy.

Fannie Mae Tightens Up on Loan Defaulters to Discourage Homeowners from Walking Away

2010-06-25T09:03:00.002-05:00

Thinking about walking away? You may want to think again. Government-sponsored mortgage purchaser Fannie Mae is trying to encourage distressed homeowners to find alternatives to foreclosure by banning those who walk away from getting new loans for seven years.

A strategic default occurs when a homeowner stops making payments on a mortgage despite being able to do so. It has become increasingly common in communities where housing values fell sharply and homeowners are "underwater," or owe more than their houses are worth.

Fannie Mae said that in locations where the law allows, it also plans to take legal action to recoup outstanding mortgage debt from borrowers who strategically default.

The wave of foreclosures affecting Fannie and Freddie has caused a major problem for the U.S. government, which effectively guarantees the loans. The government seized control of Fannie and Freddie in September 2008, a rescue that has cost taxpayers $145 billion so far. The two companies show no signs of being self-sufficient.

In announcing the new policy, Fannie Mae said homeowners who make a good faith effort to resolve their situation with their mortgage companies, and those who have extenuating circumstances, will be eligible for new loans in a shorter time period.

Foreclosure Rate Steadies, But It Ain't Over Yet

2010-06-17T21:42:00.001-05:00

WASHINGTON -- The foreclosure crisis appears to be leveling off.

The number of people facing foreclosure is nearly flat from a year ago, according to the latest report from a private foreclosure listing service. A third fewer people are receiving legal warnings that they could lose their homes. And foreclosures are receding in some of the hardest-hit cities.

Still, the number of foreclosures remains extraordinarily high. Experts caution that a big reason for the stabilization is that banks are letting delinquent borrowers stay longer in their homes rather than adding to the glut of foreclosed properties on the market. New consumer protection laws, which vary by state, have also meant borrowers can spend more time in their homes.

A new wave of foreclosures could be coming in the second half of the year, especially if the unemployment rate remains high, mortgage-assistance programs fail, and the economy doesn't improve fast enough to lift home sales.

"It's not anything like a recovery yet," said Rick Sharga, a senior vice president at RealtyTrac Inc., a foreclosure listing service.

RealtyTrac reported Thursday that nearly 323,000 households, or one in every 400 homes, received a foreclosure-related notice in May. That was up 0.5 percent from a year earlier but down 3 percent from April. The report tracks notices for defaults, scheduled home auctions and home repossessions.

But in a sign that the crisis is far from over, the number of homeowners who lost their homes to foreclosure hit a record of nearly 94,000 in May. That number may finally peak next year, as lenders try to work their way through millions of delinquent loans.

Economic woes, such as unemployment or reduced income, are the main catalysts for foreclosures this year. Initially, lax lending standards were the culprit. Now, homeowners with good credit who took out conventional, fixed-rate loans are the fastest growing group of foreclosures.

A record high of more than 10 percent of homeowners with a mortgage had missed at least one payment as of the end of March, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. But the number of homeowners just starting to show trouble is trending downward as the economy improves.

"That's a very good thing," said Thomas Lawler, an independent housing economist in Virginia. But he noted that even with that positive trend, "you are highly likely to see an acceleration in the number of actual completed foreclosures."

Lenders are offering to help some homeowners modify their loans. But many borrowers can't qualify or they are falling back into default. The Obama administration's $75 billion foreclosure prevention effort has made only a small dent in the problem.

About 25 percent of the 1.2 million homeowners who started the program over the past year had received permanent loan modifications as of April. About 23 percent of those enrolled dropped out during a trial phase that lasts at least three months. Many more are in limbo.

Among states, Nevada posted the highest foreclosure rate in May. One in every 79 households there received a foreclosure notice. However, foreclosures there are down 16 percent from a year earlier.

Arizona, Florida, California and Michigan were next among states with the highest foreclosure rates. Rounding out the top 10 were Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Utah and Maryland.

Las Vegas continued to be the city with the nation's highest foreclosure rate, but activity there was down 18 percent from a year earlier. And nine out of the top 10 cities with the highest foreclosure rates posted annual declines. The exception was the Vallejo-Fairfield area in California, where foreclosures were up 1 percent from a year ago.

Foreclosed homes are typically sold at steep discounts, lowering the value of surrounding properties. That's a concern for local communities, and a drag on the economic recovery.

In recent months, home prices have started to sink again after stabilizing last summer. Economists at Goldman Sachs predicted in a report last week that prices will fall about 3 percent nationally over the next year, with the largest declines in cities where mortgage defaults are rising.

"The housing market remains plagued by enormous excess supply," wrote Goldman economist Sven Jari Stehn.

Gourmet Food Carts Come to Cleveland

2010-06-10T21:16:00.003-05:00

Recently, Cleveland Public Art, Zygote Press and other partners held an event to celebrate the launch of a new "food cart" program in Cleveland. The idea is to bring healthier alternatives to Cleveland neighborhoods, most notably downtown and University Circle. One of the first of the food vendors in Cleveland (albeit in a truck, not a cart, and not officially in the city's program) are Dim and Den Sum. Stay tuned for more info about the city's new food cart program - and look for expanded food options on the street next time you're about town!

* * *

Q&A: The guys behind Dim and Den Sum

Duo brings first food truck to Cleveland

By Janet Nguyen
Metromix
April 27, 2010

Two long-time friends have reunited to bring a popular food concept on both the East and West Coasts to Cleveland.

Three years ago, Jeremy Esterly, 34, and Chris Hodgson, 24, met while working at Fire Food & Drink in Shaker Square. They became fast friends and stayed in touch even after Hodgson moved to New York City to work at The Spotted Pig. But an idea—now a reality—recently brought Hodgson back home to work with Esterly on this new concept—and when we say new, we mean new to Cleveland.

We're talking food trucks.

What is a food truck? It's exactly that. A truck that serves food. And nothing on the Dim and Den Sum menu is more than $6. The truck is slated to start serving food next month. What kind of food, you ask? Locally-sourced comfort food with an Asian twist to the lunch and late night crowds in and around Cleveland. Where in Cleveland? Well, you'll need to follow them on Twitter and Facebook to find out their exact location on any given day. Just look for the brightly-colored truck with a red, maniacal-looking octopus painted on the side.

When did you two come up with the idea of bringing a food truck to Cleveland?

CH: It was probably about four months ago when we decided to team up. We had ideas about it separately probably half a year ago. When I came back to visit, we talked about it and decided to go with it.

JE: We worked together previously for like six months about three years ago and we hit it off pretty well and had a bunch of ideas then. It was really crazy. We were both talking about it at the same time. It's a good way to start up a restaurant. You get capital from this and work your way up. We were tired of working in a kitchen, tired of putting in long hours for somebody else and we wanted to do something for ourselves.

CH: It was kind of a new territory for both of us and for Cleveland because they don't have any food trucks. We looked into all the codes and everything ... Cleveland's trying to start a food cart program. We've been in contact with the city getting this going. We wrote a business plan, we found a truck and got the truck here to Cleveland. I moved back to Cleveland about three weeks ago. We've just been focusing all on this and doing menu testing and everything like that so that when we open, we can hit the streets with some awesome food.

How did you come up with the name "Dim and Den Sum?"

CH: Jeremy was drunk. [Jeremy laughs in the background]. He called me up and was like, "Dim and Den Sum" and at first, I was like, "I don't know about that." But then, once I started doing research on dim sum, it became a very playful thing for people to say.

JE: I was drinking a lot and I was throwing a bunch of ideas at him. [Looks at Chris]. What else did we have? Flavor Wagon? It was a bunch of stupid, random things and I was drinking heavily and that's what came out of it. The octopus—everything.

How did you come up with the menu?

CH: The menu took a long time. It's in its fourth iteration, fifth iteration. We started just throwing ideas out there and once we actually saw the truck and bought the truck and saw the equipment, we had to tweak it a little bit more. We wanted to stick with the locally-sourced, still going with the best product, but able to get the food out of the kitchen quick enough so people aren't standing around for 10 minutes. We want to run like four to five minutes. We came up with a fun menu that's got a lot of different ideas, an Asian flare to it, but quick enough that people can order and be gone in three to four minutes.

JE: I spent a lot of time in the South with a lot of comfort food, a lot of soul food. So that's what we tried to stick with—things that would make people comfortable. There's a lot of Midwestern comfort foods—tributes to the Polish boy and stuff like that.

CH: I love Asia. It's my favorite continent I've ever been to. Japan, Korea—all those places—I think the way they cook, their techniques, their attention to detail, the different flavor combinations they do ... it has always influenced me and been an awesome part of my cooking.

JE: We're both really into Asian food. Specifically, I think Korean. There's a lot of Korean stuff on the truck like kimchi slaw, and then we make ketchup out of ramp kimchi that we forage. We forage our own ramps. We're making a huge batch of that now, so that's cool.

Is your menu going to change with the seasons?

CH: Absolutely. Whatever we can get that's the freshest and is being produced at that time, we're going to use that to fill our menu up with new creations.

JE: The Dim of the Day is going to change depending on what we can find seasonally. We'd definitely like to feature ramps because I love ramps. And we're featuring them anyway and that's seasonal, and (spring) is such a short season. It's going to change based on what we find at the market. We'll probably do it on Saturdays—go to the farmer's market in Shaker Square and hit up whatever we can find.

When can we expect to see the truck cruising around Cleveland?

CH: May 10 is our official launch date. There is an event we're doing in the Warehouse District on the 7th. Lunchtime on the 7th we'll be in the Warehouse District if people find their way down there. We want to switch off between University Circle and downtown for lunches. 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. (for lunch) and we want to do late night in Coventry, Ohio City, Tremont and downtown from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. We have iPhone applications coming out, Blackberry applications coming out. We Twitter, Foursquare and Facebook all of our locations and you can also go on our Web site (coming soon) and we'll have a map on there showing our exact location.

Do you think this concept will catch on in Cleveland?

JE: I think it's going to be huge real fast. We're not pioneers, but we're definitely the first to do it here. I think it's going to catch on real quick and hopefully we can partner up with other people in the future too and help them get going. Nobody moves around (in trucks)—we're different with that. Everything we make ourselves ... that's different too.

CH: I think it's going to catch on. If you go downtown or University Circle, you've got thousands and thousands of people right there. If we're offering food that's a lot better than getting a hot dog or something like that at a lower price that's fast, I think it's going to catch on really well.

What are your future plans for Dim and Den Sum?

CH: We hope to have three (trucks) within three months. All three will be different concepts. We're looking at a couple different trucks right now and a couple different ideas that we got. You should see different concepts coming up pretty soon.

JE: Extending the brand and using it and expanding it to do other things. We'd like to do a restaurant at some point. Just basically using this to fund that.

Whoah! Mortgage Rates Drop to 4.78%, the Lowest Level This Year

2010-06-04T15:45:00.002-05:00

WASHINGTON -- Turmoil in the stock market and the European debt crisis are making life easier for American homebuyers and families looking to refinance: Mortgage rates are inching closer to a record low.

The window of opportunity may close soon. Home loan rates will rise if investors grow more confident and shift money out of the safety of government bonds, which influence mortgage rates.

For now, though, rates are tantalizingly low. The average 30-year fixed-rate loan sank to 4.78 percent this week, the lowest this year and barely above the record of 4.71 percent set in December. And 15-year loans are at their lowest rates in two decades.

"Strike now," suggested Greg McBride, senior financial analyst at Bankrate.com.

Some homeowners are doing just that. Applications to refinance surged this week to the highest level in seven months, the Mortgage Bankers Association said.

Anxiety over the European crisis has caused global investors to snap up Treasury bonds, which they view as much safer than other investments. Treasury yields have fallen as a result, taking mortgage rates down, too.

When the crisis eases, and especially if the American economy recovery stays on track, expect investors to move out of bonds and back into stocks. That would make mortgages more expensive.

"If the economy finally really shows sustained improvement, rates are definitely going to go up," said Fred Chamberlin, a consultant with Alpine Mortgage Planning in Eugene, Ore.

He suggests that homeowners looking to refinance move fast and not hold out for even lower rates. "If you want the bottom, the only way you're going to know it is when you've missed it," Chamberlin said.

Refinancing isn't right for everyone who qualifies. It typically costs several thousand dollars in fees. Experts suggest calculating how long it will take to recover those fees with the lower loan rate.

As cheap as mortgages are these days, the number of loans being taken out to buy homes remains at its lowest point in more than 13 years. One reason is that a special tax credit for homebuyers expired last month. Many people had rushed to sign contracts by then.

Another obstacle: trouble qualifying for a mortgage. Borrowers need solid credit and a down payment of at least 3.5 percent. Banks tightened lending standards after millions of borrowers fell into default and foreclosure during the housing bust.

"They're really looking with a magnifying glass," said Steve Mevorah, a loan officer with Icon Mortgage Inc. in Las Vegas. "They're trying to make sure that they are flawless loans."

Analysts had expected mortgage rates to rise when the government ended a program designed to bolster the housing market. Instead, they fell because of fears that Greece would default on its debt.

Also keeping rates low is the government's decision last year to provide unlimited support through 2012 for Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, which buy mortgages and package them into securities and help keep rates low.

Investors "are very comfortable with the guarantee that is in place," notes Credit Suisse mortgage strategist Mahesh Swaminathan. "That, for all practical purposes, is very strong government support."

Since the financial crisis ended, mortgages of all types have become more affordable -- from the 30-year fixed to adjustable varieties.

The premium that borrowers pay to take out "jumbo" loans for more expensive homes has dropped by a full percentage point since late 2008, to just 0.8 percent, for instance.

Developers Diversified Survives the Slump

2010-05-26T17:41:00.002-05:00

Developers Diversified works toward smart, steady growth

By Michelle Jarboe, The Plain Dealer, May 22, 2010

BEACHWOOD, Ohio -- As Developers Diversified Realty Corp. recovers from the recession, the shopping center owner is unlikely to forget the lessons of a brutal financial crisis.

This time last year, the company's stock price barely topped $4 -- down from more than $70 per share in 2007. Empty stores peppered the company's shopping centers, hurt by big-box retailer bankruptcies. Risk-leery investors were shying away. And some analysts doubted whether the company could cut debt and raise money quickly enough to ensure its survival.

Yet the internationally known real estate company, founded in Northeast Ohio and based in Beachwood, has emerged from intensive care. Chalk part of that up to improved financial markets and a heartier economy, in which retailers are once again considering new stores. But Developers Diversified has made aggressive moves of its own, tapping nontraditional sources of cash, curbing development and installing a new chief executive officer.

As the economy rebounds, the company that became a poster child for real-estate risk now hopes to set another sort of example -- one of smart, steady growth, based on a strategy of creating long-term value instead of short-term gains.

"It's true that the industry historically has a short memory, and that often is discussed," said Daniel Hurwitz, who became president and CEO on Jan. 1. "But we don't.

"We went through a very difficult period of time. We have no intention of doing that again, and we will operate this company with discipline and focus and a keen sense of the history."

Northeast Ohio's real estate community is looking toward Las Vegas this week, as the shopping center industry gathers for an annual leasing conference that starts today.

Real estate companies, developers, retailers and leasing agents are converging at the Las Vegas Convention Center for three days of negotiating, networking and deal-making. And those meetings will have a rosier tint, now that the economy appears steadier, more financing is available and retailers have resumed their search for new store space.

That's a marked contrast to last year, when troubled financial markets and a choppy economy grounded developers and prompted retailers to cancel their trips. Attendance at the annual deal-making conference fell by 40 percent, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers, the trade group behind the event.

This year, expected attendance remains low -- up just slightly from last year at more than 30,000 people. But property owners and retailers are approaching the event with greater enthusiasm, intent on filling empty spaces and planning future expansions.

A few local companies will pitch new construction, including Bob Stark's planned retail project on the former State Road Shopping Center property in Cuyahoga Falls. But money for development remains scarce, and most property owners and managers are focused on existing properties. That presents a challenge for retailers, who already are planning for their 2012 store openings and are expecting that few new shopping centers will be available.

"It will be an industrywide concern as to how we're going to meet those growth plans going forward," said Paul Freddo, senior executive vice president of leasing and development for Developers Diversified Realty Corp.

Developers Diversified Realty Corp.

-- A real estate investment trust based in Beachwood.

-- Founded by Bert Wolstein in 1965 as Developers Diversified Group.

-- Went public in 1993. Traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol DDR.

-- As of March 31, owned and managed 643 retail properties in the United States, Puerto Rico and Brazil.

-- Major tenants include Walmart, Target, Lowe's, Home Depot, Kohl's, T.J. Maxx, Marshalls, Publix Super Markets, PetSmart and Bed, Bath & Beyond.

-- Focused on leasing retail space and exploring redevelopment opportunities in the United States and Puerto Rico. Selectively developing projects in Brazil.

-- Grew through acquisitions until the recent real estate crisis. Now growing by filling empty stores, negotiating new leases, cutting expenses and selling less desirable shopping centers.

The shopping center owner, based in Beachwood, sent about 80 people to Las Vegas. That team will be courting retailers to fill vacant stores and assessing opportunities to improve some shopping centers to meet retailers' expansion needs. The company, which leased a record amount of space during the first quarter, works with tenants including Walmart, Target and T.J. Maxx -- brands that maintained appeal as consumers became more value-conscious.

Last year, retailers called and canceled appointments because they had decided to stay home, said David LaRue, chief operating officer for Forest City Enterprises Inc. This year, however, retailers have been reaching out to set up appointments with the real estate company, which is based in Cleveland and has properties throughout the country.

"We are hearing that retailers are indeed looking to grow," he said. "They do have the opportunity to move up from that B mall to an A mall, and they are going to be looking to improve their real estate position into the better shopping centers."

As of Friday, 1,000-plus attendees from Ohio, more than 400 of them from Northeast Ohio, had registered for the conference. Most were affiliated with real estate companies, developers and retailers. A few cities, including Canton, Medina, Westlake and Willoughby, also planned to send representatives to hobnob with retailers, chat with developers and explore opportunities for partnerships and projects.

Developers Diversified was founded in 1965 to develop Kmart-anchored shopping centers and went public in 1993. At its biggest in mid-2007, the company owned and managed about 800 retail properties. From its Ohio roots, Developers Diversified reached across the country and dipped into Brazil and Puerto Rico. And executives announced joint ventures to develop shopping centers in Russia, Ukraine and Toronto, Canada.

Real estate investment trusts, which pay out most of their taxable income to shareholders in the form of dividends, were hot. In February 2007, Developers Diversified's stock, listed under the DDR symbol on the New York Stock Exchange, traded above $70 per share.

But as signs cropped up that credit was tightening, investors lost their appetite for real estate. When major financial institutions foundered and the stock market tumbled in fall 2008, real estate investment trust stocks plummeted. Between the economic collapse and concerns about the company's debt, Developers Diversified's stock price fell below $1.50 a share by March 2009 -- a 98 percent drop from its peak.

"DDR was left in the gutter to die, effectively," said David Wigginton, a research analyst with Macquarie Capital USA Inc. "I think nobody wanted to touch the stock."

Traditional sources of real estate financing had disappeared, and the company was scrambling for cash. Meanwhile, Circuit City, Goody's, Linens 'n Things, Mervyns and Steve & Barry's -- all tenants at Developers Diversified centers -- went bankrupt and left large stores empty.

"There are lots of external factors that we could point to, that we could certainly say were out of our control," said David Oakes, a former Wall Street analyst and investment manager who joined the company in 2007 and became chief financial officer in February. "That said, I do think we have to own up to operating with a higher risk profile than we should have. . . . We went into an environment where the world got dramatically worse quite rapidly, and we weren't as well prepared for that as we could have been. And that falls on us."

The company slashed domestic development and tabled most of its international aspirations. When property sales proved challenging, executives pursued more unusual sources of capital. Last year, the Otto family of Germany acquired 30 million shares of the company's stock in a deal that made the billionaire real-estate family the largest individual shareholder.

In addition to bringing some much-needed cash, the Ottos demonstrated a major investor's confidence in the company's shopping centers -- just as investors were looking at the portfolio as "sort of a wounded duck," as Hurwitz puts it. The Otto family acquired additional shares in February, bringing its stake in the company to 23.3 percent as of Feb. 24, according to regulatory filings.

In November, Developers Diversified closed on a $400 million loan through a Federal Reserve program meant to revive the market for commercial real estate loans tied to multiple properties. Since then, as financial markets improved, the company has sold shares and issued notes, using the proceeds to reduce debt and address upcoming loan deadlines.

"We were pushed, and we were at the forefront of finding new sources of capital," Oakes said. "But we had to be creative to do it. At this point, the traditional sources are back, and you've seen us access those in some size over the past six months."

The company also has been leaving undesirable partnerships with other real estate investors and pruning its portfolio of lesser properties acquired during the real estate boom. As of March 31, the company owned and managed 643 retail properties.

Good team gets a new coach

Employees, analysts and investors weren't surprised last fall when Developers Diversified said that Scott Wolstein, the son of the company's founder, would be leaving the CEO's job.

A succession plan called for Hurwitz, the chief operating officer, to succeed Wolstein, and rumors about an impending change had been flying since the company's investor day in July. A change at the top was mandated, analysts said, in light of the drubbing the company took during the real estate crisis and some frayed relationships with investors.

"It's sort of like if you have a good team but you need a new coach," said Alexander Goldfarb, a senior real estate investment trust analyst at Sandler O'Neill + Partners in New York. "From a street perspective, it was necessary. . . . There needed to be some responsibility accepted and acknowledgment of that shift, and that's exactly what the company provided."

Wolstein became executive chairman of the company's board. And Hurwitz, a Connecticut native who joined the company in 1999, took the helm.

Analyst Rich Moore, who covers the company from Solon for RBC Capital Markets, described Hurwitz as one of the most talented executives in the real estate industry. Though Developers Diversified still faces significant challenges cutting debt and filling empty stores, Moore applauded the company's progress cleaning up its balance sheet, unloading lower-quality real estate and leasing spaces at its shopping centers.

"He's the right guy to run the company," Moore said of Hurwitz. "He's made a lot of changes, all for the good."

With the leadership transition, management of a real estate empire passed from a local family to a team of executives born and raised outside Greater Cleveland. In an interview, Hurwitz stressed his commitment to Cleveland and said that property sales and strategy changes will not diminish Developers Diversified's presence here. The company owns and manages 33 retail properties in Ohio and recently expanded its Beachwood headquarters, a project under way before the recession.

Developers Diversified employs 735 full-time workers, about 40 fewer employees than two years ago. During the recession, the company froze external hiring and eliminated some jobs. The cuts were much shallower than those at many large real estate companies, and managers tried to find new jobs for employees whose departments or positions were eliminated.

Moore, who has followed Developers Diversified for a decade, said changes in strategy and management helped craft a shift in the company's attitude, which he described as less aggressive and more collaborative.

"I think there's less bravado," Moore said. "I think there's more of a belief that it's important to get done what we say we're going to get done."

As of March 31, the company's total debt balance was $4.7 billion, down from $5.9 billion during the fourth quarter of 2008. The company hopes to reduce debt to $4.4 billion by the end of this year. As shopping-center mortgages approach refinancing deadlines, Developers Diversified is working out new terms, seeking extensions or selling some properties. And executives are focused on replacing short-term debt with longer-term loans.

Investors appear to be responding to this strategy and the team that is implementing it. On Friday, the company's stock closed trading at $11.11 per share, up 20 percent since the beginning of this year.

"Last year, everyone said, 'It's a very nice plan, but we don't even know if you can deliver on that plan,' " Hurwitz said, referencing investor surveys the company has conducted during the past 18 months. "This year, people said, 'That was a very nice plan, and really you've made tremendous progress. Keep going. Keep going.' "

Cleveland School District and Cleveland State University Launch Innovative K-12 School

2010-05-19T20:52:00.003-05:00

May 13th, 2010

Internationally focused school to serve as a school of choice for Cleveland students and training ground for CSU education students

Today, the Cleveland Metropolitan School District and Cleveland State University announced a collaborative project to launch an on-campus kindergarten-through-12th grade school with a curriculum that is globally recognized for culture, innovation and high standards.

The school, Campus International School, is one of five ‘new and innovative schools’ outlined in the District’s Academic Transformation Plan. Campus International School will incorporate programs from the International Baccalaureate – a Swiss-based, education program renowned for its academic rigor and international curriculum, such as Chinese language classes.

Beginning this fall, the school will accept 120 students in kindergarten, first and second grades with plans to extend classes to the 12th grade by 2015. It will be housed in the First United Methodist Church at the corner of East 30th and Euclid Avenue.

Initially, there will be two classes in each grade consisting of 20 students. The school’s regional draw provides enrollment opportunities for CMSD students, the children of CSU employees and students and students throughout Cuyahoga County. A lottery will determine enrollment if demand exceeds availability.

Campus International School provides yet another educational choice and a university setting for its students. “This school will provide a unique educational experience that is currently unavailable throughout most of the region, and without the burden of tuition,” said Cleveland Schools CEO Dr. Eugene Sanders. “This will set a new urban standard in education, while allowing us to attract some of the best teachers available.”

Campus International School will provide a unique learning environment not just for the school’s young students but also for CSU education students, who will have immediate access to a teaching environment. Similar to a teaching hospital, University students will use the campus school as a hands-on training facility to enhance their classroom experience.

“This is truly a distinctive project on many fronts,” said CSU President Ronald Berkman. “This will provide the city with a unique, high-end education at no additional cost to the parents. But it will also provide the University with a venue to produce new, best-in-class teachers of the future.”

For Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson, the project is a step toward reversing the flow of urban sprawl and drawing new families back into the city.

“For the City of Cleveland, the school represents a viable new option for younger families who want to live downtown,” Jackson said. “The first step of redeveloping any urban core begins with education, and this project sends a clear message that we are committed to bettering the community with students who will compete globally.”

Parents interested in enrolling their children can contact the CMSD Student Assignments Office at 216.523.6347, or visit www.csuohio.edu/k-12 for more information.

The International Baccalaureate offers programs of international education to a worldwide community of schools that develop intellectual, personal, emotional and social skills for students to live, learn and work in a rapidly globalizing world. The program serves 800,000 students at 2,800 schools worldwide.

Rates Drop Below 5%! Lowest Rates in 2010

2010-05-14T08:58:00.001-05:00

Mortgage rates drop to lowest level this year

By Associated Press business staff

May 13, 2010

WASHINGTON -- Mortgage rates fell this week to the lowest level of the year, as rates fell on U.S. government securities. Fixed mortgage rates closely track interest rates paid on long-term Treasury bonds.

The average rate on a 30-year fixed rate mortgage dipped to 4.93 percent this week from 5 percent a week earlier, Freddie Mac said Thursday. It was the lowest level since mid-December, when rates averaged 4.81 percent.

The drop came as investors shifted money from risky European debt to safer U.S. securities. Bond yields fell as a result, and that lowered mortgage rates.

Freddie Mac collects mortgage rates on Monday through Wednesday of each week from lenders around the country. Rates often fluctuate significantly, even within a given day.

The average fixed rate dropped to a record low of 4.71 percent late last year, pushed down by a campaign by the Federal Reserve to reduce borrowing costs for consumers. The program ended this spring, but rates have remained low, especially after fears that Greece's government would default shook world markets.

"In times of nervousness, everybody seeks the safe haven," said Greg McBride, senior financial analyst at Bankrate.com

The last time rates for 30-year fixed mortgages averaged less than 5 percent was the week of March 25, when they were 4.99 percent.

This week, the average rate on a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage was 4.3 percent, down from 4.36 percent last week.

Rates on five-year, adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 3.95 percent, down from 3.97 percent a week earlier. Rates on one-year, adjustable-rate mortgages fell to 4.02 percent from 4.07 percent.

The rates do not include add-on fees known as points. One point is equal to 1 percent of the total loan amount.

The nationwide fee for loans in Freddie Mac's survey averaged 0.7 of a point for 30-year loans 0.6 of a point for 15 year, 5-year and 1-year loans.

When Tax Credit Vanishes, Will Buyers Disappear Too?

2010-04-30T10:06:00.004-05:00

Jury's out on what will happen after tax credit for homebuyers expires

By Aldo Svaldi
The Denver Post

First-time homebuyer Jeff Romero has bid on more than 100 foreclosed properties in the past year, desperate to pocket an $8,000 tax credit that expires April 30.

With the clock ticking, Romero doesn't expect to get the Northglenn home he and his girlfriend are pursuing under contract in time. But losing that credit won't stop the 25-year-old from buying his first home.

"I have been very tempted to back out of our current offer and submit other offers," Romero said. "After talking it over with my girlfriend, we have decided that having the house of our dreams is more important than the tax credit."

The first-time-homebuyer tax credit, part of the stimulus package passed early last year, was designed to lure buyers. It and a $6,500 tax break for move-up buyers have done that, leaving some analysts worried that the tax breaks may have done the job too well and cannibalized future sales.

But the most popular view seems to be that housing markets are finally strong enough to stand on their own, without government support.

"Our sense is, based on what has been done and what has been occurring, the market can become self-sustaining by the end of the year," said Walter Molony, a spokesman for the National Association of Realtors.

Last fall, the group pleaded with Congress to extend and expand the tax break, which was scheduled to expire at the end of November, arguing that the market was too weak to manage without it.

Now, the NAR expects home resales will rise about 7 percent this year from last year, even with the credits going away. Homes must be under contract by April 30 and sales completed by June 30 to qualify.

Buyers undeterred

March was a "rock 'n' roll" month in metro Denver for homebuying activity, which should remain strong through June, said Gary Bauer, an independent real-estate analyst who tracks Denver's housing market.

"I fully expect that the market will continue to move along," he said. "Is it going to be a fantastic market? No. Will it be a negative market? No, unless something happens."

The credit definitely motivated Jennifer and Ronnie Holliman, who moved into their Parker home Thursday, to buy sooner rather than later.

"Our lease on our apartment actually isn't up until next December, so we had to break our lease," Jennifer said. "But we only did it because we knew we'd get the tax credit. Had it not gone through, we would have just waited until next year."

The credit covered their $2,500 lease-termination fee, she said.

But the number of homes being put under contract isn't at levels seen last October, when the previous deadline loomed, leading some analysts to conclude the tax breaks are not as important as they once were.

"Everyone has known about it, buyers are glad to get it, but it is no longer a central reason to buy," said Lou Barnes, a mortgage banker with Premier Mortgage Group in Boulder.

Take Romero, who still plans to buy a home without the credit. The credit would have gone to repay his father, buy furniture and create emergency savings.

As for the Hollimans, they plan to use some of the money left over to take their daughter to Disneyland for her birthday.

An even more important, if less visible, support for housing came from a Federal Reserve program that purchased $1.25 trillion in mortgage debt.

That unprecedented intervention, which ended in March, is credited with pushing mortgage rates below 5 percent and reversing a decline in home prices nationally.

Mortgage rates did jump from 5.04 percent on a 30-year loan before the program ended to 5.31 percent April 2, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

That increase also caused an index of mortgage applications to drop by 11 percent, although fewer people refinancing was behind that decline.

Mortgage rates could rise if private buyers don't step up and buy mortgage debt. Interest rates around 6 percent could kill activity, Barnes said.

But it appears the mortgage- rate spike was more the result of a positive jobs report that lifted interest rates rather than the Fed move. In an encouraging move for homebuyers, mortgage rates dropped back to 5.13 percent last week, Barnes said.

While the Fed hasn't bought any new mortgage debt since March 31, it is unlikely to dump the holdings it has. Also, little net new mortgage debt is being created. That means any rate increases should be moderate, said Cameron Findlay, chief economist at online lender LendingTree.

And there is a self-correcting mechanism. If mortgage rates rise, home values, which have been moving higher the past several months, could start falling again to restore equilibrium, Findlay said.

Findlay predicts that the U.S. median home price, now at $165,000 — a level last seen in May 2002 — will fall another 4.4 percent.

Some see trouble ahead

Some market watchers think things could get worse before they get better.

"All in all, I think we are in for a pretty dismal summer home-sales and housing-starts market," said Steve Wood, an economist with Insight Economics in Danville, Calif.

Combine exhausted demand, higher mortgage rates and another surge in distressed properties coming onto the market, and sellers could find themselves high and dry this summer, Wood contends.

Homebuilders who marketed to first-time buyers could end up the most vulnerable, said Lydia Lin, a broker associate with One Realty in Denver.

"They have relied heavily on this credit and retooled most of their new-home product towards the first-time buyer," she said.

And all bets are off if the economy weakens because stimulus funding runs out, employers stop hiring or interest rates shoot up.

Robert Shiller, who created the country's most closely watched home-price index, recently told Bloomberg that he sees the chances of the overall economy and housing markets going into a "double dip" as 50-50.

To understand where housing is headed, don't just watch mortgage rates, foreclosures and home sales, but job creation.

"The real issue for housing and as well as the economy generally is consistent growth in personal income," said Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank president Thomas Hoenig on a recent visit to Denver. "We need to have people with jobs."

Gimme Shelter: New Ultra-Modern Bus Shelters Pop Up in Detroit Shoreway

2010-04-21T15:54:00.003-05:00

If you've been hanging around Gypsy Bean and Baking Company lately, then you've probably noticed the new, ultra-modern bus shelters that have recently been installed here. If not, have your eyes checked. There is nothing boring about these shelters, and we're impressed by the boldness of the designer and the developer.

We did wonder about functionality, however. For instance: How does the bus shelter provide, er, "shelter" when it is pocked by quarter-sized holes that add to the impact of the sleek, modern design? Also, aren't those seats kinda small?

***

Former PURE staffer Genna Petrolla recently won an award from Judson Smart Living. You can read all about it here. Congrats Genna!

Developer MRN Ltd. Secures Financing for First Phase of Uptown Project

2010-04-14T15:36:00.002-05:00

Developer MRN Ltd. secures financing for first phase of Uptown neighborhood project at University Circle

By Michelle Jarboe, The Plain Dealer

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A long-discussed project at the heart of University Circle could break ground this summer, creating a residential backbone for the emerging Uptown neighborhood.

New apartments designed by architect Stanley Saitowitz bode well for Uptown
Cleveland developer MRN Ltd. has secured financing commitments to build $44 million worth of apartments, stores and restaurants along Euclid Avenue, northeast of Mayfield Road and Ford Drive. After years of planning, University Circle is poised to make a huge stride in attracting residents to a district known for its educational, medical and cultural behemoths.

"It's the project that everybody's been talking about for decades," said Chris Ronayne, president of the University Circle Inc. community development group. "It's at the epicenter of what could be a turning-of-the-page toward a very vibrant University Circle that is truly mixed-use."

MRN's project is a key anchor for Uptown, a mixed-use redevelopment that stretches from Mayfield to East 117th Street and from Little Italy to the Case Western Reserve University campus. Early phases of Uptown represent an investment of more than $150 million. The Cleveland Institute of Art has started a $55 million renovation and expansion along Euclid. The Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland is raising money for a $25 million building at Euclid and Mayfield. And various stakeholders are planning millions of dollars in additional development.

Several of these projects, including MRN's buildings, have struggled with fundraising and financing hurdles in a rocky economy. MRN, the Maron family's development company, initially unveiled plans for a multi-phase residential and retail project in mid-2008. At the time, homebuilder Nathan Zaremba planned to build condominiums and apartments with the Marons, who are best-known for creating an entertainment district on East Fourth Street in downtown Cleveland.

Barnes & Noble has remained an anchor retail tenant for Uptown, despite project delays and the challenging economy. The bookstore will sit on the north side of the site, in an apartment building steps away from the Case Western Reserve University campus.Nearly two years later, those plans -- to be revealed publicly at a Cleveland design review meeting today -- look markedly different: MRN is now the sole developer, pitching a smaller first phase. There are no condominiums, which are harder to finance than apartments and have pre-construction sales requirements. Downsizing has helped the Marons secure financing and set a schedule, even as other developments in Northeast Ohio and across the country remain stalled.

"It's a very complex project in terms of all the stakeholders that are involved, not only in the community but as potential financiers of this thing," MRN partner Ari Maron said. "It's taken us a little bit longer than we initially anticipated to put all that together, but we're excited to be close."

The $44 million first phase could be finished in late 2011. It will comprise 102 apartments and 56,000 square feet of stores and restaurants in two J-shaped buildings lining Euclid Avenue. Maron would not share rental rates, but he described the apartments as higher-end residences aimed at nurses, doctors, graduate students and professors. Barnes & Noble still plans to open a two-level store on the north side of Euclid.

An apartment building planned along the south side of Euclid Avenue will curve in front of the Cleveland Institute of Art and terminate in an oval-shaped space designed for a restaurant or other unique tenant.South of Euclid, the Marons hope to create University Circle's answer to East Fourth, lined with restaurants and bars. An entertainment-focused street will be tucked between the J-shaped building and one of CWRU's existing Triangle apartment towers, where the university is planning a ground-floor retail renovation.

Future phases of the MRN project could include additional retail, offices and condominiums.

"We feel very strongly that there is a for-sale market in University Circle, so I want to make that clear," Maron said, citing town houses being built on East 118th Street and in Little Italy. "In terms of moving this project forward, it's easier to point to buildings like Park Lane Villa and the existing Triangle buildings and see that there's clearly a market for residential rental buildings."

The Marons are buying land for the project from CWRU and University Circle Inc., the driving forces behind Uptown. Instead of buying the property all at once, the Marons will purchase only what they need for each phase of the project -- another way to make the development financially feasible.

The $44 million first phase of the Maron family's development in Uptown will include an entertainment street, tucked between a new apartment and retail building and one of Case Western Reserve University's existing Triangle apartment towers. The Maron family is best known for turning downtown Cleveland's East Fourth Street into an entertainment district, and this street in Uptown also will be lined with restaurants and bars.KeyBank and FirstMerit Bank have signed on as lenders, and the Cleveland and Gund foundations are providing loans and grants. Community Development Advisors, an affiliate of the Greater Cleveland Partnership, is using federal New Markets Tax Credits to help finance the project. So is Enterprise Community Investment, a national lender. And Village Capital Corp. of Cleveland has committed loan money to the project.

The city of Cleveland approved $5 million in loans for the project in 2008, through a program designed to help developers revive vacant or little-used properties. The city has made no financing announcements about the project, and a spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

"It's been kind of a monumental task, really, to obtain these multi-layered financing commitments in this credit environment," said Russell Berusch, vice president of real estate for CWRU. "For that reason alone, we're really fairly sanguine. There are lots of moving parts and a great sense of urgency to achieve a closing and get a shovel in the ground."

Obama Administration Offers Aid to 'Underwater' Homeowners

2010-04-07T11:46:00.003-05:00

Government aims to help more 'underwater' homeowners

By Associated Press business staff

April 5th, 2010

WASHINGTON -- The government launched a new effort on Monday to speed up the time-consuming, often-frustrating process of selling your home if you owe more than it's worth.

The Obama administration will give $3,000 for moving expenses to homeowners who complete such a sale -- known as a short sale -- or agree to turn over the deed of the property to the lender. It's designed for homeowners who are in financial trouble but don't qualify for the administration's $75 billion mortgage modification program.

Owners will still lose their homes, but a short sale or deed in lieu of foreclosure doesn't hurt a borrower's credit score for as much time as a foreclosure. For lenders, a home usually fetches more money in a short sale than a foreclosure. And the bank avoids expensive legal bills, cleanup fees and maintenance costs that follow a foreclosure.

"It's very traumatic and embarrassing and frustrating to go through a foreclosure," said Laurie Maggiano, policy director of the Treasury Department's homeownership preservation office. With a short sale, she said, "your financial issues are your own problem and not neighborhood conversation."

Falling home prices and lost jobs have forced many sellers into this position. For example, in Orange County, Calif., short sales made up about 26 percent of the market in March, compared with 17 percent a year earlier, according to data complied by Altera Real Estate, a local brokerage. In the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area, about 12 percent of all deals since October were short sales, up from about 8 percent a year earlier, according to the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors.

The expanded incentives will help accelerate short sales, said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics. He expects 350,000 homeowners nationwide to use the program through the end of 2012, more than double his earlier forecast.

A short sale appears to be the only way out for Brandee Chambers, 36, of Las Vegas. She got into trouble during the housing boom by taking out a risky loan against her home and using the money to buy two investment properties in Phoenix.

She later lost those two properties to foreclosure, and now she is trying to sell the home she lives in for $209,000, but the mortgage balance is $350,000.

Chambers, who owns two hair salons, says she would rather stay in her home, where she lives with her 14-year old son. But she had no luck getting help with her loan. She said she's resigned to scaling back her lifestyle and renting out an apartment.

"I've had to accept a lot in the last year," she says.

For buyers, though, short sales can be a great opportunity.

Marco Cappelli, 49, a winemaker from Northern California, is planning to buy a short sale this month in the Sierra Nevada foothills. He and his wife are paying $214,000 for a property that had been listed at $270,000. They pair plan to fix it up, install a hot tub and rent it out to vacationers.

Along with the financial incentives, the new government program makes another key change. Mortgage companies will have to set their minimum bid before the house is listed for sale. If the offer is above that, the lender must accept it.

That's a big change from current practice. Lenders generally don't calculate how much money they are willing to accept on a short sale until they have an offer in hand, causing long delays before the sale is approved.

The new program "will give us a degree of efficiency that we have not had in the past," said Matt Vernon, Bank of America's executive in charge of short sales and foreclosed properties.

Under the new process, buyers who submit an offer to purchase a home in a short sale should get a response within two weeks, as opposed to months. If that happens as planned, it would be a big improvement. Real estate agents across the country have complained that lenders are often difficult to reach, sometimes only communicating by e-mail and infrequently at that.

"You're one of 400 properties on a screen," said Dave Bauer, a real estate agent in Danville, Calif.

Some real estate agents who specialize in short sales are optimistic. "It could be the first government program that actually helps Las Vegas," said Steve Hawks, a real estate agent there who specializes in short sales. Most borrowers in Las Vegas, he said, owe so much more on their mortgages than their properties are worth they can't qualify for a loan modification.

The Treasury Department outlined the plan last November, but doubled the original $1,500 in relocation money after realizing that many homeowners need more cash to move out. That's because landlords usually want large deposits from people whose credit records have gone sour after missing mortgage payments.

However, there are plenty of restrictions. To qualify, the home needs to be a borrower's primary residence. Homeowners either have to be behind on their mortgages or on the verge of becoming delinquent.

Currently, the program is not available for mortgages owned or guaranteed by mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, though the two government-controlled companies will soon follow suit, said the Treasury's Maggiano.

PD Architectural Critics Praises Bold Colors of Circle 118

2010-04-02T10:33:00.002-05:00

Circle 118 townhouses by WXZ Development add life to University Circle in Cleveland

By Steven Litt, The Plain Dealer

March 17, 2010

You have to admire a developer willing, if not eager, to build attractive new urban housing on a difficult site next to a major railroad overpass in Cleveland.

James Wymer, president of WXZ Development Inc. in Fairview Park, recently added significant value to University Circle with the first six townhouse units in his $8 million Circle 118 project at East 118th Street and Euclid Avenue.

The development has brightened a once dreary corner of district and created a strong sense of entry west of the elevated rail lines that mark the psychological eastern edge of the neighborhood.

The first thing westbound motorists on Euclid Avenue see when they emerge from under the rail bridge is Circle 118.

Designed by RDL Architects of Shaker Heights, the townhouses sport colorful geometric facades accented by blue panels of a laminated plastic and wood-fiber board material made in Italy.

Glassy bedrooms on the second floors of the townhouses cantilever over sidewalks and are trimmed in red-painted metal panels.

The effect is eye-catching, upbeat and optimistic. It's a refreshing improvement over the status quo ante.

Chris Ronayne, director of University Circle, Inc., described the location as a formerly "hopeless piece of land," used by UCI as a parking lot.

The site was particularly difficult because the Euclid Avenue frontage angles southeast toward the elevated railroad line just to the east of the new apartments.

Ron Lloyd, the RDL architect who led the project with colleagues Paul Glowacki and Marko Lukowsky, designed the first row of townhouses with dramatic sawtooth facades facing the street. This adds dynamism to the design and makes a virtue of the diagonal street frontage.

Trains make little noise when the windows are closed.Double-pane windows in the living rooms and second floor bedrooms of the townhouses admit tons of light but very little sound. When viewed from inside, trains and Health Line buses on Euclid Avenue appear to pass in near silence. The effect is striking.

The two- and three-bedroom units, ranging from 1,730 to 1,820 square feet, start at $327,900. Ultimately, Wymer plans to build a total of 17; future units will start at $299,000. Two are sold so far.

The living room in the sales unit at the Circle 118 development features a sleek, contemporary interior. Lloyd and his partners have packed a lot into the relatively modest interiors, which feel spacious and airy. Living rooms, which use angled walls to enhance a sense of illusion of roominess, are flooded with natural light.

The sales unit, full of contemporary furniture, is sleek and chic. Rooftop terraces can be augmented as green roofs, for an additional cost starting at $2,500. The views from up top are striking.

For passersby, however, it's the geometry and palette of the buildings that draw the eye. In addition to the red-and-blue color scheme along Euclid, the sawtooth rear facades of the townhouses are painted in bright shades of yellow, green and orange.

David Swindell, president of WXZ Construction, called the very un-Cleveland color scheme "a vitamin D color palette.

"The whole idea was to be fresh and contemporary," he said.

In future phases, WXZ will add nine more townhouses, which will enclose an interior court off East 118th Street with access to interior garages at ground level.

For now, even in its incomplete state, the Circle 118 project has made a significant contribution. At the tail end of a brutal recession, it's sending a signal that WXZ – and its lender, KeyBank, is confident in the future of University Circle.

That's the kind of good news anyone can sense while driving by.

Ohio Energy Efficiency Rebates for Appliances

2010-03-26T14:28:00.002-05:00

If you've purchased new appliances recently, you may be eligible for a energy efficiency rebate from the state of Ohio.

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Lisa Patt-McDaniel Announces Launch Date for Ohio Energy Efficiency Appliance Rebate Program; $11 Million in Recovery Act Rebates to Spur Energy Savings for Ohioans

Columbus, Ohio – Ohio Department of Development Director Lisa Patt-McDaniel today announced that the $10.4 million Ohio Energy Efficiency Appliance Rebate Program will launch on March 26, 2010, supplying rebates and spurring energy savings to residential customers for select ENERGY STAR® qualified appliances.

"These resources accelerate efficiency in Ohio households, helping families save on energy and transition to more sustainable appliances," Patt-McDaniel said. "Purchasing ENERGY STAR® appliances through this American Recovery and Reinvestment Act program creates long-term energy savings and directly stimulates Ohio's economy."

Partnering appliance retailers and energy utilities statewide will market the program and a third-party entity, which specializes in managing large-scale rebate programs, will be utilized to process the rebates. Final program information, including details on appliance rebate reservations, will be available in the coming weeks leading up to the program launch.

"This program increases energy efficiency in Ohio homes, lowers families' electric bills and spurs appliance production in Ohio communities," said Mark Shanahan, energy advisor to Governor Strickland. "While stimulating Ohio's retail and manufacturing economies, these energy efficient appliances will benefit our state's environment for years to come."

With more than 89,000 rebates available, Ohio consumers can plan to purchase ENERGY STAR® qualified refrigerators, clothes washers, dishwashers, high-efficiency gas storage water heaters, and electric heat pump water heaters from Ohio retailers. Rebate values will range from $100 - $250, depending on the ENERGY STAR® qualified appliance selected.

For information on the Ohio Energy Efficiency Appliance Rebate Program, click here.

Circle 118 Townhomes Offer Unique Green Features, Product Innovation

2010-03-12T07:09:00.003-06:00

Have you seen Circle 118?

The development features 18 unique, contemporary townhomes situated in University Circle, one of Cleveland's best - and fastest-growing - neighborhoods. The first phase features six units, three of which have already sold.

In addition to the attractive features of the stunning model home, these townhomes offer unique green and energy-efficient features. Some of these elements include innovative rain screen panels, renewable resource bamboo flooring and stair treads, 100% recycled surface countertops, and even a sofa made from recycled garbage bags in the model townhome.

The contemporary styling, dramatic architecture and thoughtful design coupled with the unbelievable financing incentives make Circle 118 a true gem in Cleveland.

Located at East 118th and Euclid Avenue, these townhomes are within walking distance of everything that University Circle has to offer. They are also located directly on the new Euclid Corridor, offering convenient access to downtown Cleveland.

For more informaton, please visit our website.

foreclosure bargains harder to find - economists see slowing of foreclosure crisis

2010-03-04T21:37:00.002-06:00

Home buyers hoping to snag a really good deal on a foreclosed home are finding it increasingly difficult because supply is shrinking.

The number of foreclosures that are available for sale nationwide fell to 617,000 in December, down from 845,000 in November 2008, reports Barclays Capital.

Not only have attractive homes in popular neighborhoods already been snapped up, but also government help for distressed buyers is delaying more foreclosures. Demand is driving up prices. Investors say typical prices have climbed from 75% of appraised value to 85% or higher when there are bidding wars.

Pop Up City Aims to Reclaim Vacant Urban Spaces

2010-02-25T22:21:00.002-06:00

Happening Places

Terry Schwarz's Pop Up City concept is already an intriguing way to reinvent the vacant urban spaces. She's hoping it'll be much more.

By Lindsey Hoeppner
Published in Cleve. Magazine, Sept. 09 issue

Terry Schwarz wants to surprise you.

She helped create the holiday craft sale that popped up in a vacant East Fourth Street storefront in December 2007. The Bazaar Bizarre attracted 600 shoppers during its one-day run and introduced us all to a new way to make use of vacant urban spaces.

Schwarz, a senior planner at the Cleveland Urban Design Center, did not invent the concept, but she’s the one championing it locally under the name Pop Up City. As she modestly puts it, “We just brought it here and gave it a logo.”

Popularized in Germany, the concept aims to help cities that have more space than is needed for their current populations. Cleveland, which has lost nearly 10 percent of its residents since 2000 alone, easily fits the bill.

Schwarz was first exposed to the idea when the Shrinking Cities exposition made a stop here in 2007. The touring expo illustrated how unusual, unexpected happenings can generate energy and excitement. Schwarz was convinced the concept could work after watching acrobatic jump ropers during the expo’s weekend visit here.

“People started spilling out of their houses [to watch],” she recalls. “It was a beautiful moment. ... I thought, This is a useful thing we can use to renew the vitality of the city.”

Schwarz sees Pop Up City as a tool for showcasing sites that are prime spots for redevelopment or reuse. “Like the [Bazaar Bizarre] pop-up shop on East Fourth,” she says. “That space is crying out to be retailed.”

That inaugural Pop Up City affair prompted Schwarz to apply for a $30,000 grant from the Civic Innovation Lab, which financed yet more events: a one-day dog park in the Flats; the transformation of a West 11th Street pedestrian bridge into a one-night outdoor party; and Leap Night in the Flats, which turned the East Bank into a winter wonderland, complete with snowboarding, an ice rink and food vendors.

This month, Schwarz is teaming with the Ingenuity Festival for the Bridge Project, a two-day event Sept. 25 and 26 that will pack the unused trolley level of the Detroit-Superior Bridge with artists and musicians (read our preview of the event on page 71). The Ohio Arts Council is also helping fund the event, providing money to pay for important details such as insurance, security and clean up.

As Schwarz’s Pop Up City concept enters a new phase, she’s looking for partnerships with other organizations, many of which have sought her expertise in return. At press time, Schwarz was working with the Cleveland Executive Fellows, a yearlong training program for future civic leaders, on an Electric Roller Discotech — a mix of roller disco, outdoor bike polo, movies and music — set for Aug. 28 in the former Leff Electric building on East 40th Street.

Schwarz is also putting a twist on the original Pop Up City concept to help reinvent an unsightly piece of property that was once the site of a Glenville/Famicos neighborhood gas station. “It’s frustrating for people who are investing and committing to this neighborhood to have to live with this eyesore,” Schwarz says.

She wants to create a more permanent space where neighborhood residents can stage their own pop-up events. It’s a concept that she’d like to try in other locations throughout the city, too.

“It might encourage artistic entertainment. It might encourage entrepreneurship,” Schwarz says. “If Pop Up City takes hold and becomes an ongoing part of our culture, it might make people stay here.”

Want a Millenial Home? Try Fez, Morroco

2010-02-19T12:22:00.002-06:00

Foreigners Start to Explore Market in Ancient Fez

By ABBY ARON

Published: February 11, 2010 in NY Times

FEZ, MOROCCO — At least one foreigner who has bought a house in Fez, the medieval city in northeastern Morocco, says the process requires vision and a lot of commitment.

“You are not going to find a house you love and live in it straight off,” explained Rebecca Eve, a Briton who is still renovating a house she bought two years ago in the Bab Guissa quarter for the equivalent of $110,000. “If you are lucky, you can get away with a simple upkeep project, but while the property market is in its infancy, the majority of homes require complete restoration.”

Inside the medina, or walled city, many of the 12,000 riads and dars, the local term for townhouses with courtyards, are more than 1,000 years old; “new” homes are usually at least 100. But it is this historic value that makes the Unesco World Heritage site so distinctive and heightens many buyers’ determination to restore properties authentically.

“You need to put the rest of your life on hold while doing it up,” said Ms. Eve, who started house hunting in Marrakech but found the prices more alluring in Fez, around 50 percent cheaper. “But it is time well spent, as there is always going to be a demand for restored medina homes.”

The historic value of such homes helps protect a buyer’s investment, according to Frances McKay of the real estate agency Francophiles, a British business that sells properties in France, Morocco and Cape Verde. “Because no two medina homes are the same, traditional properties will always keep their value when elsewhere real estate prices fluctuate,” she said.

On average, a three-bedroom unrestored property in the oldest part of the medina, the Andalusian Quarter, will sell for 250,000 to 350,000 Moroccan dirham, or $30,500 to $42,700. But while such homes are likely to have the most original features, they also are likely to need the most restoration.

These traditional homes are built of clay brick, sand and lime, which helps the walls “breathe” — making them cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter. Temperatures in this city of 1.5 million range from highs of 34 degrees Celsius (93 Fahrenheit) to lows of around 2 degrees (35 Fahrenheit).

In contrast, a 20th-century home along the outer rim of the medina, particularly in the Batha and Ziat neighborhoods, can start at 1 million dirham if it has parking, a rare feature in this predominantly pedestrian city.

Ms. Eve, along with her partner, Paul O’Sullivan, and their 2-year-old son, Finlay, are renting an apartment outside the medina while they wait for work to be completed on their new home, Dar Fin, named for their son.

Like most homes here, Dar Fin’s 4,000 square feet of living space surrounds a central courtyard, where the couple have added a fountain and plunge pool. Its four floors include four bedrooms, three living rooms and a roof terrace with views of the city’s famous landmark shrine to Moulay Idriss, founder of Fez.

Ms. Eve and Mr. O’Sullivan have modeled the décor on the Nejjarine Museum, the city’s museum of wood arts and crafts that is known for its own beautifully restored woodwork.

The couple are using recycled cedar for the ceilings and chalk-white plaster for the walls at Dar Fin. “We wanted to keep the décor simple so that it felt calm in comparison to the busyness of the streets outside,” Ms. Eve said.

In contrast, most restored homes in the city are adorned with zelliges, or patterned ceramic mosaics in primary colors, along with decorative sculptured plaster, stained glass and painted wood. The more elaborate the décor, the richer the owner, or so tradition goes.

There are no restrictions on foreign ownership of property in Morocco, but foreigners are advised to ensure that a thorough title search is conducted before a sale is closed. Local mortgages are available, although only through BMCE Bank and Crédit du Maroc, and for up to half the property’s value.

The resale market has not yet taken off in Fez, partly because the city continues to be a relatively new find for foreigners. Until 2007, there were no direct flights from any European capital and only one English-speaking real estate agency.

Even today, Fez’s role as the kingdom’s religious capital and its most conservative city means a Westerner will find living there much different from a more cosmopolitan city like Marrakech.

For example, Mike Richardson, owner of Café Clock, the medina’s only restaurant to stay open after sunset, said: “People are very suspicious of Café Clock. They assume that because it is open after dark, we are doing bad things.”

The Clock, as it is known, includes a cooking school and a cultural center that offers belly dancing classes, Arabic calligraphy lessons and concerts. “It has brought life to the medina in the evenings, which is something that has never occurred in the 1,200 years since the first stone was laid,” Mr. Richardson said. “I guess that is quite a lot to get used to.”

Despite the population’s reluctance to change, King Mohammed VI has plans to modernize the “new town,” the sprawling area of concrete homes that surrounds the medina.

The project, 2015 Fez, includes the construction of two tourist developments, Oued Fès and Ouislane, with a total of three hotels, golf courses, tennis clubs and shopping malls. It is part of Vision 2010, a nationwide plan of the king’s to increase Morocco’s tourism to 10 million visitors a year by expanding hotel capacity, creating 60,000 tourism jobs and regenerating the country’s coastlines. The local plan has not gathered much momentum yet, but officials say it is still on schedule.

Some privately funded construction in the area has been delayed, however, because of the global downturn and the tightening of regulations making it harder to use agricultural land for commercial purposes.

One notable new project that is almost complete is Les Colombes, positioned on the road between the airport and the medina.

Sixty-nine luxury villas, with individual prices starting at 5.1 million dirhams, are being developed by Pack Energy, a Moroccan company headed by Houria Benjelloun, one of Morocco’s few female developers. Sales are scheduled to begin in mid-March, with foreign buyers offered 50 percent mortgages at 6.6 percent interest.

Median Home Prices Up 25% Since Last Year

2010-02-12T10:00:00.002-06:00

Median home prices in Cleveland, Akron metro areas on the rebound

By Michelle Jarboe, The Plain Dealer

February 11, 2010, 4:12PM

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Northeast Ohio house prices rebounded last year, marking a sharp improvement from the doldrums of late 2008.

In the Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor area, existing single-family homes sold at a median price of $110,100 during the fourth quarter -- up 24.7 percent from a year before, according to a report today by the National Association of Realtors. The median sale price for a house in the Akron area rose 22.8 percent from the final quarter of 2008.

These dramatic gains point to a change in the number and types of houses that are selling. In late 2008, home sales in Northeast Ohio had dwindled. The few buyers snapped up foreclosures and other deeply discounted properties. The financial system was in shambles. Banks had curbed lending. Consumers weren't spending.

Median house prices in Cleveland and Akron hit their low point during the first quarter of 2009, falling to $69,900 and $50,100, respectively. Then, a federal income tax credit for first-time buyers helped bring the market back -- attracting shoppers who weren't necessarily looking for the cheapest fixer-upper on the block.

"There was, I would say, a real knee-jerk reaction in '08 that really slowed numbers down, so this isn't a real surprise," said Carl DeMusz, chief executive officer for the Northern Ohio Regional Multiple Listing Service.

From late 2008 to late 2009, Cleveland saw the second-largest price gain of the 151 metropolitan areas in the Realtors report. Akron, where the median sale price was $105,700 in the fourth quarter, ranked third. The top gainer was Saginaw, Mich., where prices increased a whopping 53.5 percent. But the median house sale price in Saginaw was just $67,400 in the fourth quarter.

"I would not characterize it as a price jump, but more as a case of a return to normal home sales," said Lawrence Yun, the Realtors' chief economist. "In the fourth quarter of 2008, most of the transactions had been pure distress sales, perhaps empty homes in distressed neighborhoods. So the transaction price at that time was artificially low."

Nationwide, house prices were down 4.1 percent in the fourth quarter, when compared to a year before. The nation's worst-performing markets were in Nevada and Florida, where developers feverishly built houses and condos during the real estate boom. Now, those once-hot markets are floundering under the weight of unfinished projects, empty houses and foreclosures.

Downtown Cleveland property owners back renewal of special improvement district

2010-02-05T18:21:00.003-06:00

Downtown Cleveland property owners back renewal of special improvement district

By Michelle Jarboe, The Plain Dealer

February 04, 2010, 4:45PM

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Property owners in downtown Cleveland have thrown their support --and their wallets -- behind renewed efforts to make the center city clean, safe and attractive to businesses.

Cleveland's City Council could begin voting this month on legislation to reauthorize a special improvement district, in which property owners pay to support street-cleaning crews, marketing programs and safety escorts for workers and residents. The district, created in 2005 and set to expire this year, runs from West 10th to East 18th streets and from Front to Carnegie avenues.

The Downtown Cleveland Alliance, a nonprofit group that reports to property owners, has been collecting more than $3 million a year from the district. The reauthorization would maintain the district from 2011 through 2015.

Despite the challenging economy, many owners are willing to keep paying. The fees, levied on all owners in the district, are based on property values and the length of property lines. They range from about $45 to $130,000 a year.

The renewal process requires backing from 60 percent of the district. Owners representing 66 percent of the district have responded since the alliance distributed support petitions in October, said Joe Marinucci, the group's president and chief executive.

The city is reviewing those petitions, and City Council could consider the first legislation for the district Feb. 22. The complicated legislative process could be finished by early June.

To prepare for the petition drive, the alliance surveyed property owners, downtown residents and employees. Their response: Keep cleaning up downtown, bring businesses to Euclid Avenue and find tenants for empty office buildings.

Marinucci said the alliance already is working to meet those demands. The group hopes to open a business-development center in the spring and is reviewing proposals from local firms to create a business-focused marketing strategy for downtown.

For the First Time in 27 Years, New-Home Buyers Opt for Smaller Homes

2010-01-29T10:30:00.002-06:00

Home Sizes Fall as Builders, Buyers Embrace Economic Reality

By Steve Kerch

RISMEDIA, January 28, 2010 — New-home buyers responded to the tough times in 2009 by opting for smaller houses, driving down the average size of a house built in the United States for the first time in 27 years.

Data recently released by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) found the average size of a new home that was completed in 2009 fell to 2,480 square feet from 2,520 square feet in 2008. The last time the average completed-home size fell by a statistically significant amount was 1982.

“You’ve heard the mantra ‘downsize me’ and ’small is the new big?’ Well, last year was definitely a downer,” said Carol Lavender, president of Lavender Design Group, a residential design firm in San Antonio, Texas.

Homeowners surveyed by Better Homes and Gardens magazine said downsizing was becoming a bigger priority: 36% said in November 2009 that they expected their next home to be “somewhat smaller” or “much smaller” than their current home versus 32% who said that in 2008. “Not surprisingly, we see a ‘cents and sensibility’ approach when it comes to buying or improving a home, with practicality and price being the top priorities,” said Eliot Nusbaum, the magazine’s executive editor of home design.

While the small-house movement in the United States has been gaining steam for a number of years, the recession has accelerated it and home builders have responded.

“The era of easy money is over. You really have to think before you go out and decide you need that five-bedroom, five-bath home,” said Rose Quint, the NAHB’s assistant vice president for survey research. “Couple that with the energy cost concerns of consumers today and I think we will continue this trend. Houses will not shrink drastically, but they will shrink.”

Although actual square footage of homes didn’t fall until 2009, the percent of homes with four or more bedrooms in them has been falling since 2007, NAHB data show. And in 2009, the number of homes with three or more bathrooms fell for the first time since 1992.

Two other trends in home construction are contributing to the declining square footages: The prominence of first-time buyers in the housing market and the increasing number of households with members 55 and older who are buying homes.

First-time buyers, driven into the market in good part by the availability of an $8,000 tax credit, are more likely to compromise on home size in exchange for a lower price. And the 55-plus crowd tends to purchase single-story homes, which generally are smaller because of the land costs that favor the more-efficient two-story plans.

“Barely over half of new homes today are built with two stories or more,” Quint said. Two-story homes peaked at about 55% of the market in 2006. For 2010, home builders say they will focus on lower-priced models and smaller homes. More than 95% of builders surveyed by NAHB in January said that was the way they saw their business evolving this year.

The penchant for smaller homes will necessitate some design changes. Builders, attempting to respond to those consumer demands as well as hold the line on prices, told the NAHB surveyors that they were most likely to include these features as standard in their houses this year:

-Walk-in closets in the master bedroom.
-Laundry rooms.
-Insulated front doors.
-Great rooms.
-Energy-efficient windows.
-Linen closets.
-Programmable thermostats.
-Energy-efficient appliances and lighting.
-Separate shower and tub in master bathrooms.
-Nine-foot ceilings on the first floor.

Among the things that builders said they were least likely to add to houses in 2010:

-Outdoor kitchens.
-Outdoor fireplaces.
-Sunrooms.
-Butler’s pantries.
-Media rooms.
-Desks in kitchens.
-Two-story foyers.
-Eight foot ceilings on the first floor.
-Multiple shower heads in the master bath.
-Smaller kitchens.

“You can see that builders are concentrating heavily on energy-saving features,” Quint said. “But a lot of the luxury items are on the chopping block or on hold as builders try to lower costs.”

Experts Estimate that 25% of Home Shoppers Are Dual Tracking: In the Market to Buy or Rent

2010-01-22T13:39:00.001-06:00

Real estate portals adopting rental search

By Associated Press business staff

January 15, 2010, 5:35PM

LOS ANGELES -- In a strategic move, two of the biggest real estate sites -- Zillow.com and Trulia.com -- are joining the crowded ranks of rental Web sites.

The decisions come as more people are shut out of the housing market. Some 30 percent of households rent, but that figure is growing amid high unemployment, rising foreclosures and tighter mortgage lending standards.

Zillow launched its rental search function last month. While it only has about 2,000 rentals listings right now, the company plans to boost that number sharply in the next couple of months by taking in listings from brokerages.

"We think about one-quarter of all home shoppers now are dual tracking, they're actually in the market to buy or to rent," says Spencer Rascoff, Zillow's chief operating officer.

Trulia expects to debut its rentals search with more than 4.5 million listings within the next six months.

"We're building multiple tools to help consumers compare, contrast and make better decisions on whether they should be renting or buying in today's market," spokesman Ken Shuman said.

Seven out of the 10 most visited real estate Web sites last month offer rentals, according to Hitwise, an Internet tracking firm.

Increasingly, real estate agents are advertising homes on Web sites like Realtor.com to find tenants, not just buyers. Some rental sites are also getting listings from Multiple Listing Services -- databases of homes compiled by real estate agents.

"A lot of times we now notice that a home will be listed both for rent and for sale on our site, because the homeowners are having trouble selling the home," says Douglas Pope, co-founder of real estate search site HotPads.com.

A bounty of choices is a good problem to have if you're a renter. But don't expect to find the universe of available properties on a single Web site.

It helps to know what kind of rental you prefer: a house, an apartment in a small building, or a bigger complex full of amenities like a gym, pool or 24-hour security.

Generally, Web sites for rentals let users comb property listings for free. Most display photos, interactive maps, the ability to search by city, ZIP code or attributes such as number of bedrooms, price or amenities. They also include contact information for the leasing agent or owner.

Narrowing choices is the name of the game, and some sites make it easier than others.

Craigslist.org is a favorite with individual building owners, homeowners and property management firms. The portal, which has sites for 30 or so markets, doesn't charge for ads.

But its no-frills approach makes winnowing searches cumbersome and time-consuming compared to other sites. You can try to focus a search by ZIP code, or city, but you may get listings that are outside those parameters.

Still, it has filters that help someone looking to rent a room, swap houses or rent their property for only a few months -- something many other sites don't.

And Craigslist's rental listings are sorted by date and die off after a week in several major markets, which means they can be more current than those on other rental sites.

Some portals, such as Apartments.com and Rent.com, cull many of their listings from property managers handling large apartment complexes or condos. I didn't see many smaller properties turn up in several searches, however.

Others sites, like Realtor.com, offer condos or single-family homes listed by real estate agents, but not apartments.

Rentals.com gathers all kinds of rental property listings and lets users narrow searches by type of property. The firm says it has 72,000 unique listings, but cautions that available properties vary from market to market and "sometimes can be very low."

Zillow, meanwhile, which already provides a trove of neighborhood data, among other features, estimates people looking to rent account for more than 10 percent of its visitors.

Those would-be renters can search homes for sale or rent at the same time. They can also find Zillow's estimate on what it would cost them to rent or buy in the same neighborhood.

The concept is similar to a feature HotPads rolled out three years ago. The site lets users scan a map dotted with homes for sale and for rent. Trulia.com appears to be planning a similar rent-versus-own feature.

With the foreclosure crisis expected to continue this year, that's a calculation a many potential renters will be doing.

Cleveland's Beer Scene Is About to Get Even Better!

2010-01-15T14:18:00.002-06:00

Noted brewmaster Andy Tveekrem returns to Cleveland to pour his energies into microbrewery

By Michael Heaton, The Plain Dealer

January 12, 2010, 2:00PM

He's baaack.

In November, rumors in the microbrew community started bubbling up. Certain sudserati had spotted legendary master brewer and former Akronite Andy Tveekrem sipping a few brews around town. Was he back visiting for the holidays? Or was something bigger brewing?

Tveekrem is back in Cleveland. If all goes according to plan, there will be a new microbrewery and beer garden on West 25th Street come June. Tveekrem is joining Sam McNulty to create the Market Beer Garden directly across from McNulty's Bier Markt, just north of the West Side Market. McNulty also owns Bar Cento and Speakeasy, both of which are adjacent to the Bier Markt.

McNulty feels that landing Tveekrem for the new brewery project was destiny.

"I was backpacking in Thailand," McNulty said. "I stopped in a bar in Bangkok that had Wi-Fi. I happened on a blog that said Andy was leaving Dogfish Head. I e-mailed my business partners right away and told them we have to get this guy. He does amazing things in the brew house."

Tveekrem, 46, has moved back from Delaware, where he was the brewmaster for Dogfish Head Craft Brewery for the last five years. He and his wife, Vickie, who was a waitress at the Great Lakes Brewing Co. when he began his brewing career there, are renting in the Tremont neighborhood for the time being.

"What is really exciting is the opportunity to see this through from A to Z, to design the brewery, install the equipment, formulate all the beer recipes, and then put them all out there for folks to enjoy," said Tveekrem.

"I've formulated and brewed a variety of beers over the years, but never had the chance to do all of the beer list from scratch."

Tveekrem grew up in Akron and earned a bachelor's degree in history from the College of Wooster. He also has a master's degree in history from Kent State University. He studied brewing at the Siebel Institute of Technology in Chicago.

He began with Great Lakes Brewing Co. in 1991 and was brewmaster when he left in 2000. During his time there, Great Lakes went from producing 850 barrels a year to 18,000. Pat Conway is one of the founders of the company.

"Andy is a talented brewmaster," said Conway. "He helped us transition into our ales and some other different beers than we had in the very beginning. We wish him well and hope things work out for him."

After leaving Great Lakes, Tveekrem worked at Fredrick Brewing Co. in Maryland for four years, then moved to Dogfish Head. He is formulating his beer menu for the new brewery right now.

"I tend to gravitate toward IPAs [India Pale Ales] and hoppy ales, although I'm also quite fond of hefeweizen and porters," Tveekrem said.

"We'll have 10 all the time, with some of them being seasonals and novelties that come and go throughout the calendar year. So, eventually, we'll have 20 to 25 beers through the year. Maybe more as time goes on."

Matt Cole is a partner and brewer at the Fathead Brewery and Saloon in North Olmsted. Tveekrem hired Cole when they both worked at Great Lakes.

"In this business, it's lead, follow or get out of the way," said Cole. "Andy is a leader. He's creative and not afraid to try new things. He's been a beer ambassador for a lot of us in this business for a long time."

The 6-foot-4 Tveekrem (the name is Norwegian) has become something of a striking, Viking presence in the West 25th Street area since he moved back to Cleveland. There's one extra advantage to this new job at the Market Garden Brewery.

"I can walk to work," he said.

Cleveland Ranked Among Top Housing Markets in 2009

2010-01-08T13:00:00.001-06:00

Locations With The Highest Increase In Home Sales For 2009

The top 10 housing markets of 2009 include Cleveland, Detroit, and other cities that suffered the most during the global economic recession. After experiencing the largest drops in housing prices, these markets experienced the largest increase in home sales in 2009 as buyers sought to buy low, and eventually sell high when these markets recover long-term. See the following article from Housing Predictor for more on this.

You might look at the list of the annual Top Housing Market Winners in 2009 and think twice about some of the winners. But then again it's been an extremely challenging year in real estate.

Home sales in the Top 10 markets got a great improvement towards the latter half of the year with help from lower housing prices, extremely low mortgage rates and the federal government's first time buyers' tax credit. Sales volume data is compiled from the latest information available from assessor and recorder offices throughout the country.

After suffering through one of the most severe downturns in the nation Cleveland, Ohio leads the list with a huge increase in home sales followed by Detroit, Michigan. Home prices have gotten so low in both markets that buyers are flocking to the two areas for what they expect to be long term investments.

Ten states are represented on the top housing market list in 2009, including a strong showing of markets in the mid-west and Great Lakes region.

Top 10 Housing Markets 2009

Rank / Real Estate Market
1. Cleveland, OH
2. Detroit, MI
3 Providence, RI
4. Burlington, VT
5. Milwaukee, WI
6. St. Paul, MN
7. Austin, TX
8. Oklahoma City, OK
9. Pittsburgh, PA
10. Omaha, NE

This article has been republished from Housing Predictor. You can also view this article at Housing Predictor, a real estate analysis and forecasting site.

Sales Up Nationwide in November; Rates Increase Slightly, But Stay Under 5%

2009-12-22T11:55:00.003-06:00

Across the country, sale were up 44.1% from November 2008 to November 2009. Realtors attribute this to the availability of the federal tax credit for first-time homebuyers, low interest rates, price stabilization, and a generally improving economy.

According to survey information, first-time homebuyers accounted for 51% of the sales in November of 2009.

Meanwhile, rates ticked up slightly, from a national average of 4.81% to an average of 4.94%. While still at historic belows, many analysts predict that rates will continue their climb early next year, landing above 6% eventually

Housing researchers still express caution about announcing a market recovery, especially when economic indicators are mixed, housing prices remain low, sales are still sluggish when compared to pre-crash levels, and a national forelosure backlog of 1.7 million homes is sitting in the pipeline.

Campus District Concept Gains Traction in Cleveland

2009-12-16T13:02:00.003-06:00

The Quadrangle takes new shape as The Campus District, just east of downtown Cleveland

By Jim Nichols, The Plain Dealer

December 9th, 2009

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The eastern-downtown area that has long wanted to be known as The Quadrangle now has a new name: The Campus District.

It also is moving toward a much more forceful mission: To create the next big, hip and exciting destination area in Cleveland, spanning from St. Vincent Charity Hospital on the south to the lakefront on the north. Within that 500-acre swath: Cleveland State University, Cuyahoga Community College and a sea of disconnected, underdeveloped neighborhoods, property and people.

The community development corporation now known as The Campus District can -- and must -- plow away the malaise and sew together the sprawling corridor along East 22nd Street, consultant Chris Ronayne told its board today.

The keys he identified to doing that: creating a new a streetscape spine bridging the Innerbelt, and combining the power of the institutions along that corridor into a redefined authority with new powers -- including the power to buy and redevelop land.

All of that will translate into new people -- new residents to repopulate the eastern fringe of Cleveland's central business district, said Ronayne, who is president of University Circle Inc. and formerly was a top City Hall official.

"We've got some real possibilities," Ronayne told board members and guests at the organization's annual meeting at The Plain Dealer.

When Ronayne finished his presentation, the former Quadrangle board voted unanimously to change a name that has never really gotten city-wide traction or identity.

Whether that board and the businesses, colleges and nonprofits it represents will rise to new prominence and power remains to be seen, said Campus District Inc. board member David Chilcote, president of The Chilcote Co. near CSU.

"Everybody has their own interests and agendas, but this is a good start," Chilcote said in an interview.

Among the "connection" strategies Ronayne said the organization should focus on:

•Persuading the Ohio Department of Transportation to build a "cap" over the Inner Belt at East 22nd Street. Columbus has already accomplished this over its Interstate 670 just north of downtown, Ronayne said. Doing so here would heal Interstate 90's deep cut between downtown and the fast-growing, 5,000-employee area around Tri-C and St. Vincent.

•Turning East 22nd into a two-way pedestrian- and bike-friendly "main street" into the CSU campus and downtown -- a north-south copy of, and complement to, the new Euclid Avenue.

•Extending the Regional Transit Authority's free E-Line trolley-bus line up East 22nd from Euclid Avenue to Orange Avenue to create a continuous loop between Public Square and the hospital/Tri-C campuses.

•Expanding the Campus District's staff, budget and authority so that the agency can offer new services to members -- lobbying, cohesive development planning, community affairs, endowment-building and grant-making, and special "signature" events such as a neighborhood fair. Ronayne suggested copying University Circle Inc.

The organization should conceive of a way to fund that expansion through dues, property assessments or fees for services, Ronayne suggested. Then it should work with developers to build according to unified design standards, and also work to promote a new image, or brand, for the area.

A start: today's launch of the new Web site: http//campusdistrict.org

Ronayne contended that a successful Campus District brand, and the progress needed to create and burnish it, could help counter the government bias toward suburban sprawl, which he called "one of the root causes of the financial meltdown of the last two years."

Urged Ronayne: "Make it a live-work space. Make it known. Brand the heck out of it, and sell, sell, sell this place."

Ward 5 City Councilwoman Phyllis Cleveland said she was excited at what she heard.

"It is a great vision," she said. "And we're at a point where we all realize we're on the same page, all dependent on one another and on the verge of doing some really good things here."

Universitycirclecondos.com - a neighborhood and real estate guide brought to you by you know who

2009-12-02T09:52:00.003-06:00

Progressive Urban Real Estate's new website features neighborhood and real estate guides that include a history of each community, a list of features and amenities, and a desciption of available housing options including new developments. Check it out at http://www.universitycirclecondos.com. On the PURE website, you can also learn about other neighborhoods in the city of Cleveland, as well as inner ring suburbs such as Cleveland Heights.

Cleveland Ranked Among the Smartest and Safest U.S. Cities

2009-11-18T11:02:00.001-06:00

The Daily Beast determined their list of the smartest US cities by looking at a variety of factors, such as nonfiction book sales, the ratio of higher education institutions, and political engagement. Cleveland was given a score of 97 and ranked 31st (tied with West Palm Beach) out of 56 cities that were ranked. The Daily Beast listed Case Western Reserve University as one of the Cleveland's strong points.

The study by Forbes Magazine determined that Cleveland is the 10th safest city in the US. To determine the list, Forbes looked at the country's 40 largest metropolitan statistical areas across four categories of danger: violent crime rates from the FBI's 2008 uniform crime report, 2008 workplace death rates from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2008 traffic death rates from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and natural disaster risk, using rankings from green living site SustainLane. Cleveland was ranked behind cities such as Minneapolis-St. Paul, Milwaukee, Portland, Boston and only a few others.

I will stay if ... Cleveland Edition!

2009-11-17T16:24:00.001-06:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

“I Will Stay If...” CLEVELAND Edition

A local event connected with GLUE’s “I Will Stay If…” campaign.

On Wednesday, November 18th, 2009, GLUE (Great Lakes Urban Exchange) invites you to join community members and leaders in a conversation about what makes a city sustainable, the continuing issues and challenges facing our city, and the new developments that are putting Cleveland on the map. What will make YOU stay? What IS making you stay? We want to know!

We invite all Clevelanders to join us for an evening of networking and idea-sharing. Co-sponsored by http://www.facebook.com/l/b40d4;Cleveland365.com, this unique and high energy event will feature dynamic speakers and an interesting forum for young professionals and community members to talk about new and exciting happenings in Cleveland. Participants in the program include Matt Zone, Ward 17 Councilman and driving force behind the new Gordon Square Arts District; Randell McShepard, VP of Public Affairs at RPM International, Inc., co-founder and chairman of PolicyBridge; and Lillian A. Kuri, Program Director for Architecture, Urban Design and Sustainable Development for the Cleveland Foundation and key player in the Greater University Circle initiative.

The Great Lakes Urban Exchange (GLUE) was founded by a Pittsburgher and a Detroiter to catalyze conversations across Rust Belt communities about (among other things) the loss of population and sustainable economic activity. After two years of hosting multi-state conferences, building networks online, and creating opportunities for urbanists across the region to connect with a variety of policy and organizing experts, GLUE launched its “I Will Stay If…” (IWSI) campaign in Detroit earlier this summer. Pittsburgh’s event “Why Pittsburgh?” was held in September. (http://www.facebook.com/l/b40d4;rustwire.com/2009/09/14/i-will-stay-if-comes-to-pittsburgh/) Cleveland is the third GLUE city to host an event and plans for similar parties in Buffalo and Milwaukee are in the works.

IWSI parties aim to bring together a diverse crowd of people in a GLUE city to participate in this vital conversation. In Cleveland, we want to know not only what will make you stay, but what is working for you already. Why are you here? How can we attract others like you? We are documenting the answers you give through a photographic exhibit that will travel our region. Eventually, GLUE will use the photographs as a non-traditional data set to share with policymakers. In the meantime, this event is an opportunity to celebrate everything that makes our city special, and the reasons we live here.

Cleveland’s own IWSI party, “I Will Stay If…” Cleveland Edition will take place at Speakeasy (1948 W. 25th Street-under the Bier Markt, 44113, http://www.facebook.com/l/b40d4;speakeasy216.com) on Wednesday November 18 from 5:30 – 8:30 PM. Please join us and participate in the IWSI documentary project with acclaimed local photographers Bryon Miller and Suzanne Cofer. Food and drink specials are available to event participants. $5 suggested donations are welcome at the door. For more information about GLUE, please visit http://www.facebook.com/l/b40d4;gluespace.org. To learn more about what’s behind IWSI, please visit http://www.facebook.com/l/b40d4;iwillstayif.org. For donor, organization and event information please visit our website http://www.facebook.com/l/b40d4;iwsicleveland.blogspot.com or contact iwsicleveland@gmail.com.

2009-11-17T16:20:00.000-06:00

Rates on 30-Year Loans Remain Below 5%

2009-11-13T11:22:00.003-06:00

Rates on 30-year loans remain below 5%

By Associated Press business staff

WASHINGTON -- Rates this week for 30-year home loans stayed below 5 percent for the second week in a row.

The average rate fell to 4.91 percent from 4.98 percent a week earlier, mortgage company Freddie Mac said Thursday.

Rates hit a record low of 4.78 percent in the spring, but are still attractive for people looking to buy a home or refinance.

The Federal Reserve has pumped $1.25 trillion into mortgage-backed securities to try to lower rates on mortgages and loosen credit. Rates on 30-year mortgages traditionally track yields on long-term government debt.

Last week, Congress passed a bill extending and expanding a key federal tax credit that has helped to boost sales.

Buyers who have owned their current homes at least five years would be eligible for tax credits of up to $6,500. First-time homebuyers -- or anyone who hasn't owned a home in the last three years -- would still get up to $8,000. To qualify, buyers have to sign a purchase agreement by April 30, 2010 and close by June 30.

However, lenders remain cautious and credit standards are tough, so the best rates are available only to borrowers with solid credit and a 20 percent down payment.

Recent data show a housing market on the mend. The National Association of Realtors said Tuesday that third-quarter home sales outpaced the previous three months and the year-ago figures, and price declines are moderating. The same day, homebuilder Toll Brothers Inc. said contracts for new homes rose 42 percent in its fiscal fourth quarter.

Freddie Mac collects mortgage rates on Monday through Wednesday of each week from lenders around the country. Rates often fluctuate significantly, even within a given day, frequently in line with long-term Treasury bonds.

The average rate on a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage fell to 4.36 percent from 4.40 percent recorded last week, according to Freddie Mac.

Rates on five-year, adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 4.29 percent, down from last week's 4.35 percent. Rates on one-year, adjustable-rate mortgages declined to 4.46 percent from 4.47 percent.

The rates do not include add-on fees known as points. The nationwide fee for loans in Freddie Mac's survey averaged 0.7 point for 30-year loans. The fee averaged 0.6 point for 15-year, five-year and one-year loans.

Obama Signs Homebuyers, Jobless Assistance Bill

2009-11-06T15:41:00.002-06:00

Obama signs homebuyer, jobless bill assistance

By JIM ABRAMS
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama signed a $24 billion economic stimulus bill into law Friday, giving tax incentives to prospective homebuyers and additional jobless benefits to those idled by the business slump.

The bill-signing came a day after the House, displaying rare bipartisan agreement over the troubling employment picture nationally, voted 403-12 to pass the measure. The Senate had approved it unanimously on Wednesday.

The White House said the law, which also includes tax cuts for struggling businesses, builds on provisions in the $787 billion stimulus package enacted last February to avert an economic meltdown.

"The need for such a measure was made clear by the jobs report that we received this morning," Obama said, citing Friday's government report the jobless rate hit 10.2 percent last month, the highest since 1983.

He called it a "sobering number that underscores the economic challenges that lie ahead" and vowed that "I will not rest until all Americans who want work can find work."

For their part, lawmakers stressed that the fourth unemployment benefit extension in the past 18 months was necessary because initial signs of economic recovery have not been reflected in the job market.

"The truth is that long-term unemployment remains at its highest rate since we began measuring it in 1948," said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md. About a third of the 15 million people out of work have gone at least six months without a job.

The law provides another 14 weeks of benefits to all out-of-work people who have exhausted their benefits or will do so by the end of the year, estimated at nearly 2 million. Those in states where the jobless rate is 8.5 percent or above get an additional six weeks.

The Labor Department reported Friday that that employers shed another 190,000 jobs in October. Obama said job creation traditionally lags behind economic growth, but he acknowledged that is small comfort to those seeking work.

"So although it will take time and it will take patience, I am confident that our economy will recover," Obama said. "I'm confident that we're moving in the right direction. And I promise that I won't rest until America prospers once again."

Later, presidential spokesman Robert Gibbs sought to put the unemployment numbers in context.

"You've heard me say for months that we believe that 10 percent was going to come," Gibbs said. He said the White House is heartened by the decrease in unemployment claims and the fact that, overall, the economy is growing again.

"But I believe - I think most would tell you - that the (unemployment) rate is more likely than not to get a little worse before it gets better," Gibbs said.

The extra 20 weeks could push the maximum a person in a high unemployment state could receive to 99 weeks, the most in history. Unemployment checks generally are for about $300 a week.

The tax credits, added by the Senate, center on extending the popular $8,000 credit for first-time homebuyers that was included in the stimulus package. The credit, which was to expire at the end of this month, will be available through next June as long as the buyer signs a binding contract by the end of April.

The program is expanded to include a $6,500 credit for existing homeowners who buy a new place after living in their current residence for at least five years.

The cost of the unemployment benefit extension, about $2.4 billion, is offset by extending a federal unemployment tax that employers must pay.

---

The bill is H.R. 3548.

IRS Flooded With Tax Credit Requests, Slowing Process; Fraud Investigations Underway

2009-10-30T08:40:00.002-05:00

From the Cleveland Plain Dealer
cleveland.com/realestatenews

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Some home buyers who have requested a much-touted federal income tax credit are having to wait months to receive a refund check from the IRS.

A flood of amended tax returns and concerns about fraud have slowed the process for claiming the credit, which is aimed at first-time buyers.

As Congress works out the details of prolonging and expanding the credit offer, set to expire at the end of November, legislators are grappling with ways to make the program more efficient and less open to manipulation.

More than 1.4 million taxpayers have claimed upwards of $10 billion since 2008, when the government began offering a $7,500 credit -- a loan, really -- to people who had not owned a home in at least three years. Buyers would repay the money over 15 years. This year, Congress sweetened the package, turning the loan into an $8,000 tax credit that did not need to be repaid. To keep the cash, buyers just needed to stay in the home for three years.

The result: A boost for the moribund housing market. But along with that came a rash of fraud and innocent mistakes as people who were not qualified for the credit requested -- and received -- free government cash.

BY THE NUMBERS

A federal income tax credit has been available to first-time home buyers since 2008. It is set to expire Nov. 30.

Number of U.S. taxpayers claiming the credit:

1,426,554

Dollar amount:

$9.998 billion

Number of Ohioans claiming the credit:

48,776

Dollar amount:

$326.5 million

National rank: 33rd in terms of dollars per capita

SOURCE: Government Accountability Office (data through Aug. 22)

The Internal Revenue Service already has identified more than 160 possible fraud schemes, Linda Stiff, the agency's deputy commissioner for services and enforcement, told a U.S. House subcommittee last week. The IRS also is reviewing more than 100,000federal income tax returns that involve claims for the credit.

Recent government reports pointed out thousands of questionable claims, representing hundreds of millions of dollars. Some of the claims were filed by IRS employees. Others involved taxpayers as young as 4 years old.

As the IRS has added more fraud checks to its system, taxpayers are waiting longer for their money.

"We were getting the refunds in six weeks, and now it's taking about 20 weeks," said Marilyn Meredith, an enrolled agent who prepares tax returns in Port Huron, Mich. "The last two months is when it has really increased a lot."

Most people who buy houses this year are expected to request the credit on their 2009federal income tax return, filed in 2010. The IRS will apply the credit to whatever taxes a buyer owes and send the buyer a check for the difference. But buyers who want cash sooner have been amending their 2008 tax returns.

Those amended tax returns are filed on paper and processed manually. They go into a pool with other amended returns. The IRS receives 5 million to 7 million such returns each year, a spokesman said. Some buyers who asked for the credit in the spring are just hearing back from the IRS. And taxpayers who call to check on their refunds are being told to wait another few weeks, due to a backlog of returns and safeguards for fraud.

Filing for the credit requires no documentation of a home purchase. The form taxpayers fill out does not verify that they have not owned a home during the past three years -- a prerequisite for the credit. It asks only for the address of the home, the date of the purchase and the amount of the anticipated tax credit.

Rich Rhodes, an enrolled agent in Hinckley, tried to expedite a client's credit request by sending the IRS a settlement statement -- proof that his client bought the home. Meredith also has been attaching these statements to tax returns and writing on the forms that her clients have not owned a home in three years.

Some taxpayers are confused and probably are making mistakes on their returns, tax professionals said. People think they can request the credit before they buy a house -- not true. Others believe they can buy a home from a family member -- also prohibited.

In other cases, people are trying to fool the government. Jeffrey Schneider, an enrolled agent in south Florida, dumped two clients after they asked him to wrongly claim the credit on their tax returns. He wasn't surprised by the attempts to game a system that offers free money and requires little documentation.

"From what I've been reading, the IRS has egg on their face, all over them, because they put this nice credit out there and they get bombarded with fraud," he said.

Rep. John Lewis, a Georgia Democrat, has introduced legislation to clear up some of those problems. His bill would require taxpayers filing for the credit to be older than 18 and to provide proof of their purchase. The legislation also aims to make it easier for the IRS to run the program and to check for fraud.

A local IRS spokesman would not comment on the fraud issues. During her testimony to legislators, the IRS's Stiff said the agency will keep pursuing people who wrongly request the credit. But, she said, "We cannot let fraudulent activity undermine a program that has benefited so many."

Buy This Renovated Home and Walk to the Brand New Capitol Theatre! (OK, Subtlety Is Not Our Strong Suit)

2009-10-28T10:36:00.003-05:00

Last week, we wrote about the foreclosure rehab initiative that was spearheaded by four individuals at PURE and Civic Builders. We renovated, marketed and sold two of the three rehabbed homes in a down market. We're proud that we've added two new homeowners to the city of Cleveland, and renovated two houses that were previously in a sad, neglected state.

But we're not finished yet. We still have one house to go, located at 7212 West Clinton Avenue on one of the best streets in the Detroit Shoreway neighborhood (and indeed, in the entire city). This street is walkable, full of homeowners and great neighbors, loaded with classic architecture and rehabbed homes, and steps away from the west side's newest arts movie theatre, the Capitol Theatre.

Inside, we've transformed the classic West Clinton colonial floor plan into a modern house, while retaining its historic features. The house has refinished top-nailed wood floors, a completely new, energy efficient mechanical system, a spacious floor plan, four bedrooms and two and a half baths. The master bedroom suite features a walk-in closet and a large, adjacent bathroom with a jetted tub and a beautiful walk-in shower. The fourth floor bonus room/media room/extra bedroom offers skylights with views of Lake Erie.

Please help us spread the word about this wonderful, rehabbed home. We'd like to sell it and add one more new homeowner to the city of Cleveland!

Two Down, One To Go: Foreclosure Rehab Initiative Successful in a Down Economy

2009-10-20T14:12:00.005-05:00

A little over a year ago, three staff from Progressive Urban Real Estate (Lee Chilcote, Dave Sharkey and Keith Brown) and the owner of Civic Builders (Dave Fragapane) started a small rehab company. We wanted to purchase distressed properties in urban neighborhoods that, despite the downturn in the housing market and the economy, had remained strong and in demand. So we bought three homes - 3804 Whitman Ave. in Ohio City, 1302 Mentor Ave. in Tremont, and 7212 West Clinton Ave. in Detroit Shoreway.

A year later, we've sold two of the homes and are putting the final touches on 7212 West Clinton Ave., which is priced at $149,900 and remains available. Our efforts prove that, while far from easy, it's possible to rehab and sell distressed/foreclosed properties to new owners, even in our current economy.

We did so without any subsidy of the rehab costs. Much thanks to Cleveland Action to Support Housing (CASH) for writing down the interest rate on our construction loan, and to Shorebank for providing the construction financing and taking chances in a volatile market.

As a result of our efforts, three vacant and foreclosed homes have now been beautifully rehabbed - and two of the three are now occupied by new homeowners and residents of the city of Cleveland!

The above photo is an interior photo of 1302 Mentor after it was rehabbed, before the new owner moved in.

Detroit Shoreway's Capitol Theatre Opens to Great Fanfare

2009-10-16T11:32:00.003-05:00

It's show time! Capitol Theatre reopening means flicks and fun on the West Side
By Clint O'Connor, The Plain Dealer

The opening of a movie theater is not typically a five-star event. But when it's in Cleveland, as opposed to some distant shopping mall, and when it's expected to ignite 15 blocks worth of civic revitalization, it's a rare beast indeed.

Like so many well-intentioned, let's-bring-back-the-city crusades that have sprinkled ethereal hope dust over Cleveland for the past 30 years, the restoration of the Capitol Theatre could have taken a big, fat belly-flop into the cesspool of broken dreams.

But no.

This elaborate renovation project connecting Cleveland's past with its future actually succeeded. The new Capitol, at 1390 West 65th Street just north of Detroit Avenue, opens next weekend.

For the city's cultural and nightlife scene, the theater represents something film fans have been requesting for years: a movie house on the West Side that's convenient for Clevelanders, within striking distance of Lakewood and Rocky River, and one that might offer the independent and foreign fare available for decades at the Cedar Lee Theatre in Cleveland Heights.

The project worked for two reasons, according to Jeffrey Ramsey, executive director of the Detroit Shoreway Community Development Organization. One was fresh financial sources: the federal New Market Tax Credit and Ohio's Historic Tax Credit.

The other reason: "This is not a stand-alone theater," he said. "It is part of a partnership with Cleveland Public Theatre, the Near West Theatre and the neighborhood."

If it had just been the Capitol Theatre, said Ramsey, it never would have happened.

Loads of determined folks within his organization and the Gordon Square Arts District, which runs along Detroit Avenue from West 58th Street to West 73rd Street, made it a reality, along with about $7.5 million from the tax credits, a city of Cleveland loan and grants from Cuyahoga County, the Cleveland Foundation and the Ohio Cultural Facilities Commission.

Organizers hope the sparkling movie house, which took 16 months to renovate and will employ about 20 people, draws film-goers who will spill into shops, restaurants, galleries and bars in the neighborhood before and after shows. The area is already on the rise with choice eateries, such as Luxe, La Boca and Stone Mad Irish Pub, drawing good crowds.

A Historic Time to Buy

2009-10-07T11:47:00.001-05:00

Young people just starting to invest and buying their first homes are potentially the winners in this recession.

First-time homebuyers, most between the ages of 25 and 45, accounted for about 45 percent of home sales from January through July 2009, according to the National Association of REALTORS®

"This is a historic time," says George Jaramillo, a 35-year-old business analyst in Atlanta, who recently bought three homes, two of them foreclosures. "It's a great opportunity to make some great gains in the future."

A study by investment company T. Rowe Price points out that investing when prices are low can result in amazing gains. For instance, between 1970 and 1990, the annualized rate of return for the S&P 500 was 11.5 percent.

"We need to be shouting from the rooftops that this is not the time to get out of the market if you're young," says Christine Fahlund, a senior financial planner with T. Rowe Price. "This is the time to be in the market."

Reprinted from www.realtor.com.

Cleveland Lands 2014 Gay Games

2009-09-30T12:56:00.002-05:00

COLOGNE, Germany — The Federation of Gay Games announced this afternoon that Cleveland will be the site of the 2014 games.

The city was chosen over Boston and Washington, D.C., after a year-long site-selection process, the organization said in a news release.

"Cleveland demonstrated to the Federation of Gay Games that they understood the mission of the Gay Games and our principles of ‘Participation, Inclusion, and Personal Best’," said Kurt Dahl, of Chicago, and Emy Ritt, of Paris, FGG Co-presidents.

"We were highly impressed by the facilities and infrastructure, the widespread community support, their financial plan and the city’s experience in hosting large scale sports and cultural events."

Mayor Frank Jackson said the city "is prepared to roll out the welcome mat to the LGBT athletes, their families and spectators from around the world. Fans of the Gay Games will find that Cleveland is a great place to celebrate sports and culture and that we have tremendous assets and amenities for them to enjoy. The sports and cultural environment here is truly a uniquely Cleveland experience, one they will cherish for years to come."

Cleveland’s 2014 Gay Games IX Sports & Cultural Festival is set for Aug. 9 through Aug. 16, 2014. It will include 30 sports, four cultural events, opening and closing ceremonies and cultural events.

"Gay Games generate $50 million to $80 million in estimated local economic impact in addition to significant ongoing travel and tourism visibility benefits for the host city," the FGG said in the news release.

36 Hours in Cleveland: NY Times Admires Cleveland's Entrepreneurial Spirit, Bohemian Dreamers

2009-09-25T00:01:00.002-05:00

September 20, 2009
36 Hours in Cleveland
By BRETT SOKOL
“YOU Gotta Be Tough” was a popular T-shirt slogan worn by Clevelanders during the 1970s, a grim period marked by industrial decline, large-scale population flight and an urban environment so toxic the Cuyahoga River actually caught on fire. These days it still helps to be at least a little tough; a fiercely blue-collar ethos endures. But instead of abandoning the city, local entrepreneurs and bohemian dreamers alike are sinking roots; opening a wave of funky boutiques, offbeat art galleries and sophisticated restaurants; and injecting fresh life into previously rusted-out spaces. It’s a vibrant spirit best exemplified by Cleveland’s new all-female roller derby league, whose wry name, the Burning River Roller Girls, and home, a former GM auto factory retooled into a 60,000-square-foot sports facility, say it all.

Friday

3 p.m.
1) HELLO CLEVELAND!

Staring at platform shoes worn by Keith Moon or Elvis Presley’s white jumpsuit hardly evokes the visceral excitement of rock music, let alone its rich history, but the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum (751 Erieside Avenue; 216-781-7625; www.rockhall.com; admission, $22) thankfully has a wealth of interactive exhibits in addition to its displays of the goofier fashion choices of rock stardom. There’s a fascinating look at the genre’s initial 1950s heyday, as well as the hysteria that greeted it — preachers and politicians warning of everything from its incipient Communist subversion to its promotion of wanton sexuality. On the top floors, a well-curated exploration of Bruce Springsteen’s career is on display through next spring.

5 p.m.
2) FROM STEEL TO STYLISH

The steelworkers who once filled the Tremont neighborhood’s low-slung houses and ornately topped churches have largely vanished. A new breed of residents has moved in along with a wealth of upscale restaurants, artisanal shops and galleries showcasing emerging artists. Inside Lilly Handmade Chocolates (761 Starkweather Avenue; 216-771-3333; www.lillytremont.com), you can join the throngs practically drooling over the mounds of freshly made truffles. Or grab a glass at the wine bar inside Visible Voice Books (1023 Kenilworth Avenue; 216-961-0084; www.visiblevoicebooks.com), which features scores of small-press titles, many by local authors.

7 p.m.
3) IRON CHEF, POLISH CLASSIC

Cleveland’s restaurant of popular distinction is Lolita (900 Literary Road; 216-771-5652; www.lolabistro.com), where the owner and “Iron Chef America” regular Michael Symon offers creative spins on Mediterranean favorites including duck prosciutto pizza ($13) and crispy chicken livers with polenta, wild mushrooms and pancetta ($7). (Reservations are recommended.) More traditional comfort food is at Sokolowski’s University Inn (1201 University Road; 216-771-9236; www.sokolowskis.com), a beloved stop for classic Polish dishes since 1923. Even if you’re unswayed by Anthony Bourdain’s description of the smoked kielbasa ($7.25) as “artery busting” (from him, a compliment) at least swing by for the view from the parking lot — a panorama encompassing Cleveland old and new, from the stadiums dotting the downtown skyline to the smoking factories and oddly beautiful slag heaps on the riverside below.

11 p.m.
4) CLASSIC COCKTAILS

One aspect of Tremont has remained steady over the years: it’s a night crawlers’ paradise. Nowadays, discerning drinkers head for the nearby Velvet Tango Room (2095 Columbus Road; 216-241-8869; www.velvettangoroom.com), inside a one-time Prohibition-era speakeasy and seemingly little changed: the bitters are housemade, and the bartenders pride themselves on effortlessly mixing a perfect Bourbon Daisy or Rangpur Gimlet. Yes, as their menu explains, you can order a chocolate-tini — “But we die a little bit every time.”

Saturday

11 a.m.
5) FARM FRESH

Start your day with a visit to the West Side Market (1979 West 25th Street; 216-664-3387; www.westsidemarket.com), where many of the city’s chefs go to stock their own kitchens. Browse over 100 vendors selling meat, cheese, fruit, vegetables and baked goods, or just pull up a chair at Crêpe De Luxe’s counter (www.crepesdeluxe.com) for a savory Montréal (filled with smoked brisket and Emmenthal cheese; $6) or the Elvis homage Le Roi (bananas, peanut butter and chocolate; $5).

2:30 p.m.
6) ART CANVAS

For nearly 20 years the William Busta Gallery (2731 Prospect Avenue; 216-298-9071; www.williambustagallery.com) has remained a conceptual-art-free zone — video installations included. “With video, it takes 15 minutes to see how bad somebody really is,” said Mr. Busta, the gallery’s owner. “With painting, you can spot talent right away.” And that’s predominantly what he exhibits, with a focus on exciting homegrown figures like Don Harvey and Matthew Kolodziej. In the nearby Warehouse District, Shaheen Modern & Contemporary Art (740 West Superior Avenue, Suite 101; 216-830-8888; www.shaheengallery.com) casts a wider geographic net with recent solo exhibits from the buzzy ex-Clevelander Craig Kucia, as well as New York-based artists like Mark Fox and Keith Mayerson.

6 p.m.
7) PARIS ON LAKE ERIE

The most talked about new restaurant this year is L’Albatros (11401 Bellflower Road; 216-791-7880; www.albatrosbrasserie.com), which the chef Zachary Bruell opened last December. Set inside a 19th-century carriage house on the campus of Case Western Reserve University, this inviting brasserie serves impeccably executed French specialties like chicken liver and foie gras mousseline ($9), a niçoise salade ($10) and cassoulet ($22).

8 p.m.
8) BALLROOM BLITZ

The polka bands are long gone from the Beachland Ballroom (15711 Waterloo Road; 216-383-1124; www.beachlandballroom.com), replaced by an eclectic mix of rock groups. But by running a spot that’s as much a clubhouse as it is a concert venue, the co-owners Cindy Barber and Mark Leddy have retained plenty of this former Croatian social hall’s old-school character. Beachland draws local favorites like the avant folkie Bill Fox and post-punkers This Moment in Black History, as well as hot touring acts like Neko Case and the Hold Steady. Mr. Leddy, formerly an antiques dealer, still hunts down finds for the basement’s This Way Out Vintage Shoppe.

Sunday

11 a.m.
9) BEETS, THEN BEATS

One of the few restaurants in town where requesting the vegan option won’t elicit a raised eyebrow, Tommy’s (1824 Coventry Road; 216-321-7757; www.tommyscoventry.com) has been serving tofu since 1972, when the surrounding Coventry Village, in Cleveland Heights, was a hippie oasis. The bloom is off that countercultural rose, but the delicious falafel ($5.79) and thick milkshakes ($4.59) endure. The time warp continues through a doorway leading into Mac’s Backs bookstore (No. 1820; 216-321-2665; www.macsbacks.com), a good place to find out-of-print poetry from Cleveland post-Beat writers like d.a. levy, T. L. Kryss and rjs.

2 p.m.
10) FREE IMPRESSIONISTS

For decades, the University Circle district has housed many of the city’s cultural jewels, including Severance Hall, the majestic Georgian residence of the Cleveland Orchestra; the Cleveland Institute of Art Cinematheque, one of the country’s best repertory movie theaters; and the lush 285-acre Lake View Cemetery. At the Cleveland Museum of Art (11150 East Boulevard; 216-421-7340; www.clemusart.com), already famed for its collection of Old Masters and kid-friendly armor, the June opening of the museum’s Rafael Viñoly-designed East Wing puts the spotlight on more modern fare, moving from a roomful of Impressionists dramatically centered around one of Monet’s “Water Lilies” paintings, up to current work. A visually arresting 2008 drawing by Cleveland’s T. R. Ericsson more than holds its own amidst heavyweight contemporary pieces from Anselm Kiefer and Kiki Smith. A further enticement: admission to the museum’s permanent collection is absolutely free.

THE BASICS

Many major airlines fly nonstop from New York area airports into Cleveland Hopkins International Airport. A recent Web search found round-trip fares for fall flights starting at $239. Although a light rail system connects the airport with both downtown and University Circle, a rental car is advised for reaching most other neighborhoods.

The Marriott Downtown at Key Center (127 Public Square; 216-696-9200; www.marriott.com) is a 25-story, 400-room hotel in the heart of the city. The comfortable, amenity-filled rooms provide quick access to downtown attractions; some feature impressive views of Lake Erie. Doubles start at $159.

A boutique-style option is the Glidden House (1901 Ford Drive; 866-812-4537; www.gliddenhouse.com), 60 quaint rooms in a 1910 French Gothic mansion on the Case Western Reserve University campus, an easy walk to most cultural destinations around University Circle. Doubles from $139.

Flats East Bank Project Revived with $54 Million in Public Funding

2009-09-15T14:18:00.003-05:00

$54 Million in City, State Funding to Revive Flats East Bank Project
by Michelle Jarboe
The Cleveland Plain Dealer

Buildings could start rising next spring at the stalled Flats East Bank development in Cleveland, now that the city and state have earmarked $54 million in loans and grants to get the project moving again.

The new funding will enable developers to start work on a slimmed-down, $270 million first phase of the waterfront project -- including an office tower to house accounting firm Ernst & Young and law firm Tucker Ellis & West. The first phase of the project also will include a hotel, stores, restaurants, a health club and 14 acres of public parks and green space. It could be complete by spring 2012.

The city and state financing is a life raft for the Flats, which sputtered in the wake of last fall's financial crisis. But the importance of public money in reviving the project shows just how difficult it is to find private financing for development. Projects across the country are still tabled as banks and other lenders shy away from new construction and curtail their lending on existing shopping centers, office buildings and industrial parks.

To jump-start the Flats, the state has committed $24 million -- $23 million of which comes in the form of loans. Of that package, a $3.2 million loan to the city of Cleveland already has been approved. The state has yet to approve $20 million in loans and a $1 million grant, according to the department of development. State boards and committees could sign off on that financing within the next two months.

Cleveland's economic development department plans to introduce legislation to City Council to provide a $30 million loan to the project. That loan, which could run for 20 years at a 3 percent interest rate, would come to the city through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The city also plans to approve use of its $25 million Recovery Zone Bond allocation from the federal government for the project. That allocation -- part of the federal stimulus program -- makes it possible for otherwise taxable bonds to be issued as tax-exempt bonds. In this case, bonds issued for the project by the state and the Cleveland-Cuyahoga Port Authority would be tax-exempt and would carry lower interest rates.

Don't Miss the Ohio City Blues Fest on Saturday, Sept. 19th

2009-09-11T14:00:00.004-05:00

Check out the second annual Ohio City Blues Fest on Saturday, September 19, at Wendy Park on Whiskey Island.

Come hear six fantastic blues acts and enjoy a wide range of craft and import beers, wine and food for purchase. Tickets for admission to the festival are just $15 in advance or $20 at the door. Children under 10 are free. Tickets are on sale now. Capacity is limited to the first 2,000 attendees.

The event, which benefits Ohio City Near West Development Corporation and the Wendy Park Foundation, kicks off at 2:00 p.m. with a special acoustic set by Jeff Powers, followed by Memphis Cradle. The Colin Dussault Blues Project, the self-proclaimed “hardest-working band in Northeast Ohio," makes a return appearance to the Ohio City line-up, and are followed by local favorites the Armstrong-Bearcat Band. Walkin' Cane and his band keep the evening jamming until the closing set by the Blues Disciples, a Milwaukee-based quintet making their Cleveland debut.

The performance schedule is as follows:

2:00-2:30: Jeff Powers
3:00-4:00: Memphis Cradle
4:30-5:30 p.m.: Colin Dussault Blues Project
6:00-7:00 p.m.: Armstrong-Bearcat Band
7:30-9:00 p.m.: Walkin’ Cane
9:30 p.m.-11:00 p.m.: Blues Disciples

VIP tickets are available for $50 per person. With a VIP ticket, you gain access to the Ohio City Blues Fest “VIP Mound.” This elevated seating area in the middle of the concert venue gives you a clear view of the stage without obstructions from the people in front of you. Plus, you get your own seat and table so there’s no need to lug your own to the venue, and you get a free 2009 Ohio City Blues Fest event t-shirt. And, best of all, you have tableside wait service so you don’t ever have to leave your seat for food and beverage.

All this for just $50 per person.

Capacity in the VIP Mound is limited to the first 20 people, so order your tickets today by calling 216.781.3222 (sorry, no online ordering is available for these special tickets).

In addition to the music, Cleveland Plays will sponsor a volleyball tournament from 1:00 – 5:00 p.m. at the Wendy Park sand courts adjacent to the music venue. All participants in the tournament receive admission to the festival. For more information on the tourney, contact Cleveland Plays.

This year’s sponsors include Cinecraft Productions, Lutheran Hospital, Great Lakes Brewing Company, Progressive Urban Real Estate, Chisholm & Associates, Ampco System Parking, Dave’s Supermarket, Fat Fish Blue, Stone Gables Bed & Breakfast, Cleveland Plays, Ohio City Pasta and Councilman Joe Cimperman.

To keep abreast of the latest on the Ohio City Blues Fest, join the event's Facebook page.

One Man's Trash ...

2009-09-04T12:37:00.003-05:00

Published in the NY Times, 9/2/09

AMONG the traditional brick and clapboard structures that line the streets of this sleepy East Texas town, 70 miles north of Houston, a few houses stand out: their roofs are made of license plates, and their windows of crystal platters.

They are the creations of Dan Phillips, 64, who has had an astonishingly varied life, working as an intelligence officer in the Army, a college dance instructor, an antiques dealer and a syndicated cryptogram puzzle maker. About 12 years ago, Mr. Phillips began his latest career: building low-income housing out of trash.

In 1997 Mr. Phillips mortgaged his house to start his construction company, Phoenix Commotion. “Look at kids playing with blocks,” he said. “I think it’s in everyone’s DNA to want to be a builder.” Moreover, he said, he was disturbed by the irony of landfills choked with building materials and yet a lack of affordable housing.

To him, almost anything discarded and durable is potential building material. Standing in one of his houses and pointing to a colorful, zigzag-patterned ceiling he made out of thousands of picture frame corners, Mr. Phillips said, “A frame shop was getting rid of old samples, and I was there waiting.”

So far, he has built 14 homes in Huntsville, which is his hometown, on lots either purchased or received as a donation. A self-taught carpenter, electrician and plumber, Mr. Phillips said 80 percent of the materials are salvaged from other construction projects, hauled out of trash heaps or just picked up from the side of the road. “You can’t defy the laws of physics or building codes,” he said, “but beyond that, the possibilities are endless.”

While the homes are intended for low-income individuals, some of the original buyers could not hold on to them. To Mr. Phillips’s disappointment, half of the homes he has built have been lost to foreclosure — the payments ranged from $99 to $300 a month.

Some of those people simply disappeared, leaving the properties distressingly dirty and in disrepair. “You can put someone in a new home but you can’t give them a new mindset,” Mr. Phillips said.

Although the homes have resold quickly to more-affluent buyers, Mr. Phillips remains fervently committed to his vision of building for low-income people. “I think mobile homes are a blight on the planet,” he said. “Attractive, affordable housing is possible and I’m out to prove it.”

Freed by necessity from what he calls the “tyranny of the two-by-four and four-by-eight,” common sizes for studs and sheets of plywood, respectively, Mr. Phillips makes use of end cuts discarded by other builders — he nails them together into sturdy and visually interesting grids. He also makes use of mismatched bricks, shards of ceramic tiles, shattered mirrors, bottle butts, wine corks, old DVDs and even bones from nearby cattle yards.

“It doesn’t matter if you don’t have a complete set of anything because repetition creates pattern, repetition creates pattern, repetition creates pattern,” said Mr. Phillips, who is slight and sinewy with a long gray ponytail and bushy mustache. He grips the armrests of his chair when he talks as if his latent energy might otherwise catapult him out of his seat.

Phoenix Commotion homes meet local building codes and Mr. Phillips frequently consults with professional engineers, electricians and plumbers to make sure his designs, layouts and workmanship are sound. Marsha Phillips, his wife of 40 years and a former high school art teacher, vets his plans for aesthetics.

“He doesn’t have to redo things often,” said Robert McCaffety, a local master electrician who occasionally inspects Mr. Phillips’s wiring. “He does everything in a very neat and well thought-out manner.” Describing Huntsville as a “fairly conservative town,” Mr. McCaffety said, “There are people who think his houses are pretty whacked out but, by and large, people support what he does and think it’s beneficial to the community.”

Indeed, city officials worked closely with Mr. Phillips in 2004 to set up a recycled building materials warehouse where builders, demolition crews and building product manufacturers can drop off items rather than throwing them in a landfill. There’s no dumping fee and donations are tax deductible because the materials are used exclusively by charitable groups or for low-income housing.

“I’ve been recycling all my life, and it never occurred to me to recycle a door,” said Esther Herklotz, Huntsville’s superintendent of solid waste. “Dan has changed the way we do things around here.”

Officials in Houston also consulted with Mr. Phillips before opening a similar warehouse this summer, and other cities, including Bryan, Tex.; Denham Springs, La.; and Indianapolis have contacted him to inquire how to do the same.

Phoenix Commotion employs five minimum-wage construction workers but Mr. Phillips also requires the labor of the home’s eventual resident — he tends to favor a poor, single mother because his own father walked out on him and his mother when he was 17, which left them in a tough financial situation. “My only requirement is that they have good credit or no credit but not bad credit,” he said.

One of his houses belongs to Gloria Rivera, a cashier at a doughnut shop, who built the home with Mr. Phillips and her teenage son in 2004. Before then, she lived in a rented mobile home. Constructed almost entirely out of salvaged and donated materials, the 600-square-foot wooden house is painted royal blue with various squares of red, maroon and fuchsia tile glued to the mismatched gingerbread trim.

Inside, there is imported Tuscan marble on the floor, though the tiles are not of uniform size, and bright yellow stucco walls that Ms. Rivera said she textured using her thumb. “It’s not perfect but it’s mine,” Ms. Rivera said, touching the stucco, which looks like very thick and very messy butter cream frosting. “I call it my doll house.”

Phoenix Commotion homes lost to foreclosure have resold to middle-class buyers who appreciate not only their individuality but also their energy efficiency, which is also part of Mr. Phillips’s construction philosophy.

Susan Lowery and Alfredo Cerda, who both work for the United States Department of Homeland Security, bought a Phoenix Commotion house after the intended low-income owner couldn’t manage the mortgage. It has mosaics on the walls and counters made of shards of broken tile and cushy flooring made out of wine corks. “My wife likes the house because it doesn’t look like everyone else’s, but, being a guy, what I like is that it has a galvanized metal roof that I’ll never have to replace,” Mr. Cerda said.

Mr. Phillips said it bothered him when his low-income housing became “gentrified.” But if it leads to an acceptance of recycled building materials and a shift away from cookie-cutter standardized construction, he said, “I’m O.K. with it.”

Although it has a social agenda, Phoenix Commotion is not a nonprofit. “I want to show that you can make money doing this,” Mr. Phillips said.

He said he earned enough to live on but he was not getting rich. While he declined to be more specific, he allowed that the business has become more profitable as he has gained construction experience. It now takes six months to build a home rather than the 18 months it took when he started.

But Mr. Phillips said his biggest reward was giving less-fortunate people the opportunity to own a home and watching them develop a sense of satisfaction and self-determination in the course of building it.

An example is Kristie Stevens, a single mother of two school-age sons who earned a college degree last spring while working part time as a restaurant and catering manager. She has spent the months since graduation hammering away on what will be her home.

“If something goes wrong with this house, I won’t have to call someone to fix it because I know where all the wires and pipes are — I can do it myself,” she said. “And if the walls are wonky, it will be my fault but also my pride.”

Entrepreneurs for Sustainability Highlighted in Business Week

2009-08-26T11:46:00.003-05:00

(Image courtesy of A Piece of Cleveland, http://www.apieceofcleveland.org)

Cleveland's Green-Thinking Entrepreneurs

With the nonprofit Entrepreneurs for Sustainability as a catalyst, several startups are finding creative ways to put green principles to work

By Emily Schmitt

The entrepreneurs of Cleveland are hoping that next time you think of their city, you'll think "green" (rather than thinking of, say, the Cuyahoga River on fire). At the forefront of Cleveland's green thinking is a nonprofit called Entrepreneurs for Sustainability (E4S), which educates and trains business owners on practices that will help them make their companies more sustainable. The group was founded in 2000 by Holly Harlan, a former industrial engineer for John Deere, and three entrepreneurs: Pete Acorti, Brian Schneiderman, and Grant Marquit.

Harlan, now the president of E4S, got the idea for the group after a stint at the Rocky Mountain institute, where she studied capitalism and its environmental impact. The first meeting of E4S drew 25 business owners, but today the group boasts over 7,000 individual members, and its monthly meetings, where business owners gather to hear a guest speaker discuss a sustainable business practice, often draw about 150 people. Ultimately, the goal of E4S is not only to help companies become more environmentally conscious but also to help them save money.

Companies of all sizes are welcome, but the focus remains on entrepreneurs. "We started out with just entrepreneurs, but we attracted everyone. All are leaders interested in putting sustainability to work," says Harlan. In a July 2008 survey, 70% of E4S members said their company had a waste reduction goal; 60% had energy efficiency goals; and 30% intended to reduce their carbon levels.

Using the Waste Stream

Several creative, environmentally conscious startups have sprung from E4S. Mike Dungan, an E4S board member, and Mike Thomas, who had been a waste-stream consultant, were particularly influenced by an August 2007 meeting at which consultant Janine Benyus spoke about the benefits of biomimicry, or the practice of studying patterns in nature and applying them to everyday problems. Dungan and Thomas were particularly taken with the habits of honeybees, who find resources (in their case, nectar) in faraway places and transmit that knowledge back to others that can help harvest it. In 2009, Thomas and Dungan founded BeeDance to try to model that information sharing and local collaboration in a for-profit company. Their first project, called Zero Landfill, collects carpet samples from architectural firms and gives them to elementary schools and animal shelters, where they can be reused.

A Piece of Cleveland (APOC), founded in 2008 by Chris Kious, Aaron Gogolin and P.J. Doran, also credits E4S for its formation. The company dismantles abandoned houses slated for demolition. APOC, which generally brings in about $10,000 per contract and employs between 8 and 20 people part-time, uses reclaimed materials from the houses to make furniture. "We're looking to dip our hands into the waste stream and put [materials] back into the community," says Kious, who previously worked in community development and says E4S has helped him to meet other business owners. Last year APOC constructed countertops and tables from reclaimed wood for a local Starbucks.

E4S will showcase eight local startups this month. The startups will present their goals and talk to local business owners about how to best reach them. The city itself is also getting on the green train. This August, Mayor Frank G. Jackson will host a three-day summit to outline how Cleveland will meet its goal of becoming sustainable by 2019, a step in the direction of becoming what the mayor is promoting as a "green city on a blue lake."

It's a Family Affair: Developers Tackle Historic Rehab on Lorain Avenue

2009-08-21T13:47:00.007-05:00

Michael Fleming first noticed the solid brick façade and big, storefront windows of the former Oddfellows Hall on Lorain Avenue when he was training for a marathon. Wedged between a storefront church and a biker shop, the building seemed like a diamond in the rough.

“I was running one day, and the building jumped out at me,” says Fleming. “Lorain may be shabby and a bit down-at-the-heels, but it’s a very pretty street, and it’s affordable.”

Fleming saw that the property was for sale, and one day he ventured inside. The first thing he saw was the mahogany bar, covered in dust. That’s when he fell in love.

“I’ve always wanted to live above a bar,” says Fleming, who worked as a chef in Boston and Miami before moving back to Cleveland, his hometown, to pursue development in 2005.

Last year, Fleming bought the Ohio City building for $150,000 with his dad, his mom and his brother. The family members formed Solo Development LLC to invest in Cleveland real estate. They plan to renovate the first floor storefront and turn the upper two stories into loft apartments. Michael and his brother David will move into two of the apartments, and rent out the third.

“We are making an investment in the center of Cleveland,” says Ken Fleming, Michael's father. “Since we purchased the building, we’ve seen other new developments sprout along Lorain.”

Ken Fleming cited over $16 million in investment on Lorain Avenue, including such projects as the St. Ignatius Performing Arts Facility, Providence House Campus expansion, the D.H. Ellison Company, the Cleveland Environmental Center, and the United Office Building.

The Flemings’ development was financed by Western Reserve Bank in Brecksville, in partnership with Cleveland Action to Support Housing (CASH), a non-profit whose mission is to provide low-interest loans to help spur reinvestment in Cleveland neighborhoods.

“We helped to finance the project at a reduced interest rate,” says Marcia Nolan, Executive Director of CASH. “We made deposits with Western Reserve Bank, and this enabled the borrower to save money.” She added, “Our work helps to make projects like this feasible.”

The developers will spend an additional $275,000 to create apartments in the building. The units will have a contemporary, loft-like feel, and will include such amenities as new kitchens and baths, in-suite laundry, and open floor plans. The third floor – which was originally used as a ballroom in its heyday, and has fourteen foot ceilings – is being transformed into a two bedroom, loft apartment. Michael plans to move into the apartment when it’s finished.

Renovating the building has turned into a family project. “My dad, my brother and I came down on Saturday mornings to tear apart the old plaster and lath from the walls and ceiling,” says Michael Fleming. “We spent about four months doing that before hiring a crew.”

During the redevelopment, the developers have coped with many challenges, including moving walls and reconfiguring electrical and plumbing systems. Michael is determined to restore the cove ceilings in the old ballroom, which were badly damaged by a leaky roof.

“Rehab is like peeling off layers of an onion,” Michael says with a laugh. “It’s a good learning experience.”

The Oddfellows building, which was built in 1870, has a rich, varied history. Over the years, it has housed the Hungarian Men’s Singing Society, the Communist Party of Northeast Ohio, and a hardcore music club called “Speak in Tongues,” among others.

Now that his rehab project is in full swing, Michael has fallen out of love with the building. Yet he still believes that the investment in Lorain Avenue will pay off over time. “One of the reasons I moved back to Cleveland is because it is an affordable place for a young person to invest, and it has great, historic buildings,” he says. “There’s so much opportunity here.”

Michael is already planning future dinner parties in his new home, and he has even talked about starting his own restaurant on the first floor. At the moment, however, refinishing the mahogany bar will have to wait. He’s got a lot of work to do before moving day.

Grand Arcade Completes Assessments - Renovations Now Complete

2009-08-14T15:27:00.003-05:00

The Grand Arcade Condominiums, an historic building a West 6th and St. Clair Avenue in Cleveland's Warehouse District, recently completed renovations that spruced up the building and provided a new roof.

The renovations are now complete, and the assessments have been paid for. Owners that purchase units at the Grand Arcade now will be able to enjoy the recent improvements, and feel secure that it is unlikely that any major assessments will be levied in the near term, since this project was recently completed.

For more information about the Grand Arcade and available properties there, please contact Progressive Urban Real Estate at 216/619-9696 or 216/397-5607.

San Francisco and Kansas City Top Forbes List of Vacant Cities

2009-08-05T13:59:00.003-05:00

Where Vacancy Rates Are Rising
by Zach O'Malley Greenburg
See the article at forbes.com here

The big news in Kansas City is the Chiefs' off-season acquisition of quarterback Matt Cassel. Filling in for injured superstar Tom Brady in New England last season, Cassel became a starter for the first time since his senior year of high school.

When trading for a backup quarterback is cause for citywide celebration, it's a sign of a metropolis starving for good news--and perhaps an indicator that other troubles are afoot.

Indeed, the Kansas City metro area tops our list of America's Abandoned Cities. In Kansas City, rental vacancy rates rose from 11.9% to 15% over the past year; homeowner vacancy rates nearly doubled, up from 2.1% to 3.8%. Comparatively, the average homeowner vacancy rate in the country's 75 largest metro areas improved slightly from 3% to 2.7%, while the rental vacancy rate edged up to 10.2% from 10% a year ago.

Kansas City isn't the only metro where rental and homeowner vacancy rates are rising in tandem. Second on our list is the San Francisco-Oakland metro, where high prices are pushing Bay Area residents out of the region. Third is Tucson, Ariz., where the aftermath of the housing boom has left a glut of inventory. The pair's predicament illustrates both sides of the vacancy coin.

"There really are two reasons why you'd have vacancies: supply-related and demand-related," says Nicolas P. Retsinas, director of the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University. "A number of these places have experienced substantial overbuilding, which would lead you to have supply issues. Others, with troubled local economies, are more demand-related."

Many of the cities on the list are still digging themselves out of the wreckage of the real estate bubble. Miami, which ranks No. 8, owns a whopping 12.7% rental vacancy rate, up from 11.4% a year ago; residential towers built in the final stages of the boom now stand as empty monuments to an over-hyped market downtown. Homeowner vacancy stands at 5.6%, up from 3.8% last year, thanks mostly to a spate of foreclosures. According to Trulia.com, 40% of the homes available in Miami's city limits are foreclosures.

To form our list, we looked at vacancy data from America's 75 largest metropolitan statistical areas and metropolitan divisions (or metros)--geographic entities defined by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for use by federal agencies in collecting, tabulating and publishing federal statistics.

Our rankings, a combination of rental and homeowner vacancy fluctuation rates for the 75 largest metros, are based on year-over-year changes in the first quarter from the Census Bureau. Each metro was ranked on the year-over-year change in rental vacancy and homeowner vacancy rates; the final ranking is an average of the two.

San Francisco boasts balmy weather, seaside diversions and the best baseball stadium in the country.

But despite the perks, the Bay Area is losing people at an even greater clip than Miami--and ranks second on our list. Rental vacancy rates swelled from 4.7% to 7.1%; homeowner vacancies more than tripled from 1.1% to 3.4%. Why the dramatic change?

"One of the things we're noticing is that rents are still high," says Ken Shuman, a Bay Area-based spokesman for real estate data provider Trulia.com. "What we're also seeing is the economy. San Francisco, of all cities, is the most transient. People flock here when times are good--they don't mind paying high rent as long as pay is high. Now, in many cases, wages are frozen or reduced."

And that's if you're lucky enough to still have a job. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' latest reports, Bay Area unemployment has more than doubled since last year, up from 4.6% to 9.4% as of April. Many laid-off workers aren't sticking around.

"People are migrating. It happened after the dot-com bust too," says Shuman. "As much as it's a beautiful place to live, you really have to think about lifestyle. There's no point in being here if you can't enjoy it."

2009-07-22T11:10:00.001-05:00

Second Annual Ohio City Blues and Brews Fest Set for September 19

You can order your tickets at www.ohiocity.com.

Join us for the second annual Ohio City Blues Fest on Saturday, September 19, at Wendy Park on Whiskey Island.

Come hear six fantastic blues acts and enjoy a wide range of craft and import beers, wine and food for purchase. Tickets for admission to the festival are just $15 in advance or $20 at the door. Children under 10 are free. Tickets are on sale now. Capacity is limited to the first 2,000 attendees.

The event, which benefits Ohio City Near West Development Corporation and the Wendy Park Foundation, kicks off at 2:00 p.m. with a special acoustic set by Jeff Powers, followed by Memphis Cradle. The Colin Dussault Blues Project, the self-proclaimed “hardest working band in Northeast Ohio," makes a return appearance to the Ohio City line-up, and are followed by local favorites the Armstrong-Bearcat Band. Walkin' Cane and his band keep the evening jamming until the closing set by the Blues Disciples, a Milwaukee-based quintet making their Cleveland debut.

The performance schedule is as follows:
2:00-2:30: Jeff Powers
3:00-4:00: Memphis Cradle
4:30-5:30 p.m.: Colin Dussault Blues Project
6:00-7:00 p.m.: Armstrong-Bearcat Band
7:30-9:00 p.m.: Walkin’ Cane
9:30 p.m.-11:00 p.m.: Blues Disciples

In addition to the music, Cleveland Plays will sponsor a volleyball tournament from 1:00 – 5:00 p.m. at the Wendy Park sand courts adjacent to the music venue. All participants in the tournament receive admission to the festival. For more information on the tourney, contact Cleveland Plays.

To keep abreast of the latest on the Ohio City Blues Fest, join the event's Facebook page.

In Praise of Shopkeepers

2009-07-17T12:46:00.001-05:00

In Praise of Shopkeepers
It Takes Courage These Days to Start a Useful Business

By JOSEPH EPSTEIN
Published in the Wall Street Journal, July 17th, 2009

Within three blocks of my apartment in Evanston, Ill., are 21 restaurants, six coffee shops, five manicurist-pedicurists, four cellphone purveyors, three dry cleaners, two quite good libraries, one multiplex theater, and (not a partridge in a pear tree) a paucity of interesting and useful shops. Shops we do have, but they are preponderantly corporate-owned: Design Within Reach, Joseph A. Bank, North Face, Athletica, LA Fitness. Lacking are the odd shops, the curiosity shops (to use the Charles Dickens' title), whose character and contents might pleasantly surprise a passing pedestrian.

My friend Edward Shils, the Cambridge and University of Chicago sociologist, used to say that he judged a city by the number of blocks of interesting shops it contained. By this measure, he felt, London and New York surpassed all others. By the same measure some cities scarcely qualify as cities at all: Los Angeles, for example, and possibly San Francisco. I do not count as interesting those shops in parts of cities that I think of as Poloville, after the logo of Ralph Lauren. Ah, those gentle strolls through Poloville, its shops filled with goods only a person who no longer cares about money would buy: Prada, Dunhill, Chanel, Barney's, Gucci, Emilio Meshuganah, and the rest.

Evanston used to be teeming with shops, or so I remember from my boyhood. In those days, it was the retailing mecca of Chicago's North Shore suburbs. People drove in from as far away as Lake Forest (home, you will recall, of F. Scott Fitzgerald's Daisy and Tom Buchanan) to shop in Evanston. Women's and men's clothing stores, elegant ceramics shops, and serious jewelers were then in business. But the advent of shopping malls, especially one in nearby Skokie called Old Orchard, put paid to Evanston's retail glory days.

Slowly the good, useful shops began to fall away. These were replaced by shops catering to students, that transient class, at Northwestern University, located on the northeast end of Evanston. Downtown Evanston is Taco Bell country now, land of Starbucks and Burger King and The Gap, though it is good to report that a landscape disfiguring McDonald's not long ago went belly up at a major intersection. Did things, I sometimes wonder, have to turn out this way?

Three or so miles south of Evanston is a revived Chicago neighborhood, once chiefly Swedish working class, called Andersonville, on whose main thoroughfare, Clark Street, reside a charming gallimaufry of odd shops and non-franchise restaurants. Andersonville has been gentrified, or, more precisely, gayified, for many gay and lesbian couples now inhabit its older homes and apartment buildings. Upon the advent of gays and lesbians, a rich array of shops almost invariably follow.

Walking along Clark Street in Andersonville one never knows upon what one's eye will alight. Here is an excellent independent bookstore, specializing in women's and children's books; here is an unpretentious and excellent shoe store with good prices; here is an elegant pastry shop, run by a handsome young Italian couple. There, tucked into a small space off Clark Street is a hot dog joint, which gets the Chicago hot dog just right, with properly steamed bun and appropriately greasy French fries; and there is a thrift store, loaded with surprising items. The element of unpredictability, of delightful surprise, should be part of the adventure of shopping -- an element precluded by the standard stores never owned by anyone on the premises but, as far as one knows, two Saudis in Houston.

"England is a nation of shopkeepers," remarked Napoleon, unconsciously quoting Adam Smith and suggesting that they, the English, as mere shopkeepers, were unfit to fight the French. Well, we know how the shopkeepers fared at a place called Waterloo. No great surprise, really. Considerable courage and perseverance are required to start and keep a good shop running. Especially is this so today, when real estate rental is expensive, taxes on profits high, and the prospect of being clobbered by a national chain store moving in discourage the initiative needed to open a useful shop.

Running a good shop is a service to one's community, of much greater value, in my view, than the work of two hundred social workers, five hundred psychotherapists, and a thousand second-rate poets -- and more honorable than the efforts of the vast majority of the members of Congress. A nation of shopkeepers, far from being the put-down Napoleon thought, sounds more and more like an ideal to which a healthy country ought to aspire.

A Trend to Watch: New Appraisal Rules Impact Housing

2009-07-08T12:25:00.003-05:00

Confronting New Appraisal Rules, Impact on Housing
By Paul Gores

RISMEDIA, July 2, 2009-(MCT/RISMedia)-When Chad Gartzke put his three-bedroom ranch home in Wauwatosa up for sale for $196,000, one of the first people to view it liked the house so much she was willing to pay $196,500 to make sure she got it.

Despite a tough residential real estate market, it looked liked smooth sailing for Gartzke, who already had his eye on a bigger house in Richfield for him and his family.

Then the appraisal came in.

The appraiser concluded the house was worth $190,000, a judgment based in part on information about sales of “comparable” area homes. In turn, the buyer’s mortgage lender didn’t want to finance a house for more than its appraised value.

After the appraiser refused to reconsider what Gartzke and his real estate agent considered a flawed valuation, they were left to try to salvage the sale with a new deal.

The buyer ultimately was able to come up with another $1,000 for the down payment, and Gartzke reluctantly lowered the selling price to $191,000.

“Honestly, had we not had another house lined up that we wanted to purchase, we probably would have just called the whole deal off and tried our luck with another buyer and another appraiser,” Gartzke said.

Gartzke’s case isn’t an isolated one, real estate and mortgage professionals say. They contend home values, already hurt by the bad economy, sometimes are being worsened unnecessarily by low appraisals stemming from new rules meant to prevent the kind of puffed-up valuations and conflicts of interest that helped fuel the housing bubble.

Under an industry code of conduct that took effect May 1, mortgage brokers, real estate agents and loan officers are prohibited from selecting home appraisers. In order to avoid trouble with the rule, called the Home Valuation Code of Conduct, many lenders are hiring companies that put together pools of appraisers and then assign them to individual housing transactions, they say. The code applies to mortgages that will be sold to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.

Real estate agents and mortgage brokers say it has led to an increase in questionable or stingy valuations by appraisers who are leery of producing estimates that are too high, or who may be from outside the housing market and unfamiliar with the nuances of neighborhoods to which they’re sent.

“On one of the condos we just got an accepted offer for in the West Bend market, the appraiser that went out there was somebody from Racine,” said Scott Stortz, the owner-broker of Star Properties in Jackson.

Home appraisals that come in at lower-than-agreed-upon sale prices can kill deals, some say. At the very least, industry professionals say, they are delaying sales and undermining momentum that the housing market needs to regain. They say the drop in appraised values often is particularly large for high-end homes for which there now are few recent comparable sales, and argue the appraisal can cripple plans to sell or refinance — even when everything else seems in order.

“The appraisal is really the one and only subjective item in the loan file because it’s the opinion of the appraiser,” said Brian Wickert, president of Accunet Mortgage in Butler.

Nationwide impact

Last week, Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors, said poor appraisals are “stalling transactions” nationwide.

“Lenders are using appraisers who may not be familiar with a neighborhood, or who compare traditional homes with distressed and discounted sales,” Yun said. “In the past month, stories of appraisal problems have been snowballing from across the country with many contracts falling through at the last moment. There is danger of a delayed housing market recovery and a further rise in foreclosures if the appraisal problems are not quickly corrected.”

Congress has been listening to testimony on the issue.

The appraisers, however, say their valuations simply reflect what’s happened to the market over the last few years.

Bill Garber, director of government and external relations for the national Appraisal Institute, said appraisals are meant to be a risk-management tool for lenders “who typically don’t want to lend beyond what the value of the collateral is worth.”

Late last week, Representatives Childers (D-MS) and Miller (R-CA) introduced legislation requesting an 18 month moratorium on the Home Valuation Code of Conduct (HVCC).

“The introduction of this legislation is a victory for consumers and members of the industry alike,” said NAMB President Marc Savitt, CRMS. “We thank Congress for recognizing the need to address the issue of appraiser coercion without causing undue harm to borrowers or diminishing competition in the marketplace.”

NAMB has taken an active stance against the HVCC since its introduction in March of 2008. “We urge Congress to pass H.R. 3044 as soon as possible to ensure that more borrowers will not be negatively impacted by this de facto rule,” stated Savitt. “In the period of time since its implementation, the HVCC has increased costs to consumers and decreased the quality of appraisals and has provided a level of uncertainty in an ailing housing market. Tens of thousands of consumers have already been robbed of their opportunity to enjoy historically low rates by Attorney General Andrew Cuomo’s rule.”

“Appraisers don’t make the market. They simply report what is occurring within the markets, and they are sort of the eyes and ears of the lender,” said Garber, whose organization is the nation’s largest association of appraisers. “In the end, it’s really a lending decision.”

Garber said that failure to enforce rules meant to keep appraisers separate from real estate agents and mortgage brokers-who, of course, make money when home sales and refinancings are successful-had put appraisers “under fire from these parties with a vested interest for many years.”

“People who stand to benefit by the closing of these loans are no longer in the position they once were in terms of dictating the appraisal process,” Garber said.

Response too late

There’s little doubt there was collusion nationwide in past years between some appraisers and lenders, which led to abuse, said Steve La Due, vice president of business development for Waterstone Mortgage in Pewaukee. It wasn’t widespread here, he said, but everyone must obey the new rules.

“The government’s response to appraisal problems is they are locking the barn door after the horse is gone in a big way,” he said.

Mike Polega of Re/Max Realty 100, who was Gartzke’s Realtor, said he’s concerned that low appraisals are having a negative effect on a real estate market that had been picking up.

“I’m not proclaiming that a half-million homes or more were lighting the world on fire, but that engine at the lower end was starting to build back up and there was some confidence-building going on. It’s this kind of thing that dampens that kind of spirit,” Polega said. “To me, that’s the bigger consequence of this.”

Copyright © 2009, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

New York Times Covers Fortieth Anniversary of Cuyahoga River Burning

2009-07-01T12:35:00.005-05:00

From the Ashes of ’69, a River Reborn
By CHRISTOPHER MAAG
Published: June 20, 2009 in New York Times

CLEVELAND — The first time Gene Roberts fell into the Cuyahoga River, he worried he might die. The year was 1963, and the river was still an open sewer for industrial waste. Walking home, Mr. Roberts smelled so bad that his friends ran to stay upwind of him.

A healthier Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, which was known as “The Mistake by the Lake” after the river caught fire in 1969. Recently, Mr. Roberts returned to the river carrying his fly-fishing rod. In 20 minutes, he caught six smallmouth bass. “It’s a miracle,” said Mr. Roberts, 58. “The river has come back to life.”

Monday is the 40th anniversary of the Cuyahoga River fire of 1969, when oil-soaked debris floating on the river’s surface was ignited, most likely by sparks from a passing train.

The fire was extinguished in 30 minutes and caused just $50,000 in damage. But it became a galvanizing symbol for the environmental movement, one of a handful of disasters that led to the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency and to the passage of the Clean Water Act.

“The Cuyahoga River fire was a spark plug for environmental reforms around the country,” said Cameron Davis, who was recently appointed to become the special adviser to the E.P.A. on Great Lakes environmental issues.

The fire turned Cleveland into “The Mistake by the Lake,” a national punch line that would endure for decades. Meanwhile, the city worked to reclaim its river.

Today, the Cuyahoga is home to more than 60 species of fish, said Jim White, executive director of the Cuyahoga River Community Planning Organization, a nonprofit group that coordinates cleanup efforts. Beavers, blue herons and bald eagles nest along the river’s banks. Long sections of the Cuyahoga are clean enough that they no longer require aggressive monitoring, regulators said.

“We’re very impressed with the progress made in the Cuyahoga,” said John Perrecone, a manager of Great Lakes programs for the E.P.A.

Other rivers in industrial cities have experienced similar rebirths, said Matthew Doss, policy director for the Great Lakes Commission, which oversees development and environmental efforts in the region for the United States and Canada.

“The Cuyahoga’s progress is notable because of how infamous it was,” Mr. Doss said. “This 40th anniversary gives us an opportunity to celebrate the progress we’ve made nationwide.”

The 1969 fire was tiny compared with those that engulfed the Cuyahoga and other rivers that received large amounts of industrial pollutants from the 1800s through the 1950s. One reason it received national attention, including a prominent article in Time magazine, was that the problem of rivers catching fire was mostly solved by then, said Jonathan Adler, an environmental law professor at Case Western Reserve University.

The outrage caused by the fire was a symptom of a society starting to leave its industrial identity behind, Professor Adler said.

“In the 1930s, when most people in Cleveland worked in factories, a fire on the river was considered just a nuisance,” he said. “By the ’60s, there was a hunger for symbols of humans’ insensitivity to the environment.”

The cleanup of the river advanced on many fronts. A year before the fire, Cleveland residents voted to tax themselves an additional $100 million for river restoration. Since then, local industries and the Northwest Ohio Regional Sewer District have spent $3.5 billion to reduce sewage and industrial waste pollution, Mr. White said.

The sewer district built miles of subway-tunnel-size tubes beneath the city. The tubes hold excess rainwater until it can be processed by treatment plants, reducing the number of times that plants become overwhelmed and spew sewage into the river.

In the next 30 years, Cleveland-area residents will spend about $5 billion more on the wastewater system, said Julius Ciaccia Jr., sewer district director.

“This didn’t happen because a bunch of wild-haired hippies protested down the street,” Mr. Perrecone said. “This happened because a lot of citizens up and down the watershed worked hard for 40 years to improve the river.”

Local governments removed dams, which trapped pollution and impeded fish migration. In 1974, President Gerald R. Ford created the Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation Area, which became a national park in 2000. The park saved miles of the river from suburban development.

Problems remain, however. The E.P.A. sued the City of Akron in February for dumping excessive amounts of sewage into the Cuyahoga. Along the last 5 of its 100 miles, the river is enclosed by steel walls and dredged regularly for commercial ships, making it difficult for habitats to recover.

“The good news is that we know what the problems are, and we know what the solutions are,” Mr. Davis said. “Now it’s a matter of getting the funding, rolling up our sleeves and doing the work.”

On Monday, people who have worked for years to clean the Cuyahoga will celebrate at its banks. “It’s just remarkable,” said Steve Tuckerman, the Cuyahoga River specialist for the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency. “I never thought I would see in my lifetime, let alone in my career, such an amazing comeback of a river.”

Cleveland Public Art Sponsors Design Competition for Downtown Bike Station

2009-06-24T15:46:00.004-05:00

Call For Entries

Cleveland Public Art in partnership with the City of Cleveland invites interested artists, designers, architects, and other creative professionals to submit design ideas for a permanent public art project that will call attention to and raise the visibility of a new commuter bike facility being constructed in downtown Cleveland.

Eligibility

This project is open to local artists, architects, designers, creative professionals, and students of all ages. (Applicants must be a current resident or student of the State of Ohio) Collaborations are welcome.

Location

The site is located between the Gateway Sports Complex and the E. 4th Street neighborhood. The new bike station will be located on the ground floor of the Gateway Parking Garage. The area surrounding the bike station is among the most visited locations in the city, with more than 3 million visitors annually to the nearby sports complex and E. 4th Street neighborhood.

Requirements

Please submit one 24”x 36” board that contains as much information as you need to convey your idea. ONLY ONE SUBMISSION IS PERMITTED PER PERSON OR TEAM. Entries must be mounted on firm cardboard or on foam core. The name, address, email and phone number must be labeled on the back of the submission. Any submission with the artist’s name on the front will be disqualified. Anyone under the age of 18 must include a parent’s or guardian’s name and phone number.

Sponsors

Cleveland Colectivo

Competition Deadline

06/26/2009

Budget

An additional fee of up to $3,000 will be paid to the winning artist or team for any additional time that is required to implement the project. The implementation budget for the selected design is $20,000.

Awards

Three cash prizes will be awarded. Each winning entry will also be eligible for fabrication and implementation. The first prize winner will receive $1,000, $750 will be awarded to second place, and $500 will be awarded to the third prize winner. CPA also reserves the right to implement designs not associated with this competition, in the event that winning entries cannot be fabricated. All entries will be judged by an independent jury of arts professionals, neighborhood constituents and design professionals. CPA reserves the right to use all entries for publication purposes. The winners will be notified by mail. Submissions will NOT be returned.

Larchmere Porchfest Set for June 20th - Check it Out

2009-06-03T15:19:00.001-05:00

Larchmere Porchfest is a FREE event that will be held on June 20, 2009 in the Larchmere neighborhood of Cleveland. For one day, and one day only, porches will transform into stages featuring local musicians. Based on a similar event in Ithaca, New York, Larchmere Porchfest will highlight local talent, showcase exciting living options and create a fun and exciting atmosphere for socializing... and dancing!

For complete information, visit www.larchmereporchfest.com.

2009 Homebuyer Tax Credit Basics

2009-05-29T09:43:00.002-05:00

As part of its plan to stimulate the U.S. housing market and address the economic challenges facing our nation, Congress has passed legislation that grants a tax credit of up to $8,000 to first-time home buyers.

Here is more information about how the 2009 First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit can help prospective home buyers become part of the American dream.

Who Qualifies?

First-time home buyers who purchase homes between January 1, 2009 and December 1, 2009.

To qualify as a “first-time home buyer” the purchaser or his/her spouse may not have owned a residence during the three years prior to the purchase.

Which Properties Are Eligible?

The 2009 First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit may be applied to primary residences, including: single-family homes, condos, townhomes, and co-ops.

How Much Will the Credit Be?

The maximum allowable credit for home buyers is $8,000. Each home buyer’s tax credit is determined by two factors:

The price of the home—the credit is equal to 10% of the purchase price of the home, up to $8,000.

The buyer's income—single buyers with incomes up to $75,000 and married couples with incomes up to $150,000—may receive the maximum tax credit.

If the Buyer(s)’ Income Exceeds These Limits, Can He/She Still Get a Credit?

Yes, some buyers may still be eligible for the credit.

The credit decreases for buyers who earn between $75,000 and $95,000 for single buyers and between $150,000 and $170,000 for home buyers filing jointly. The amount of the tax credit decreases as his/her income approaches the maximum limit. Home buyers earning more than the maximum qualifying income—over $95,000 for singles and over $170,000 for couples are not eligible for the credit.

Will the Tax Credit Need to Be Repaid?

No. The buyer does not need to repay the tax credit, if he/she occupies the home for three years or more. However, if the property is sold during the three-year period, the credit will be recouped on the sale.

Don't Miss "Dream/Home" at Dobama Theatre!

2009-05-20T13:45:00.002-05:00

Home ownership is part of the American Dream. But what happens when that dream is no longer affordable?

When a Cleveland school teacher takes on a mortgage she can’t afford, it sets off a surprising and devastating chain of events within the community. In a series of poetic and provocative monologues, DREAM/HOME tells the stories of nine Cleveland residents dealing with the repercussions of the foreclosure crisis, and its impact on their neighborhoods, their families, and their dreams for the future. Timely, human, and ultimately hopeful, the play peels back the layers of the crisis to reveal the complicated and fragile lives underneath– as well as the unexpected connections between residents of an often- divided city.

May 15 - June 7, 2009 at the Brooks Theater
8500 Euclid Avenue
Cleveland, OH 44106

Our regular performance schedule is:
Thursday 7:30 pm
Friday/Saturday performances start at 8:00 pm
First Sunday of the run: starting at 7:30 pm
All other Sunday performances are 2:30 pm matinees

Post-show Talkback Facilitators for DREAM/HOME:

Saturday, May 16 - Jim Rokakis, Cuyahoga County Treasurer

Thursday, May 21 - Brenda Hussein-Bey, Housing Counselor, Community Housing Solutions

Friday, May 22 - David Beach, Director, GreenCityBlueLake Institute, Cleve Museum Natural History & Terry Schwarz, School of Architecture, Kent State

Saturday, May 23 - Cuyahoga County Commissioner Peter Lawson Jones

Thursday, May 28 - Housing Counselor, Molly Nackley - Community Housing Solutions
Ashley Diaz & Audrey Fellows, ESOP (Empowering & Strengthening Ohio People)

Friday, May 29 - Attorney Chris Peer, Bankruptcy Lawyer, Hahn Loeser & Parks, LLP

Saturday, May 30 - Lee Chilcote, Progressive Urban Real Estate & Kurt Karakul, President, Third Federal Foundation

Friday, June 5 - Brian Davis, Director of NEOCH---North East Ohio Coalition for the Homeless & Sarah Cruse—Interfaith Hospitality Network

ARTISTS

Writer: Sarah Morton

Director: Sonya Robbins

Onstage

Catherine Albers **
Alexis Floyd
Rodney Freeman
Lisa Langford
Kristi Little
Anne McEvoy
Fabio Polanco **
George Roth **
Tom White

**Member of Actors’ Equity Association

Bike to Work Day in Cleveland, this Friday 5/5 - Don't Miss It!

2009-05-13T13:55:00.002-05:00

During Cleveland Bicycle Week, Friday, May 15th is official Bike to Work Day.

Wherever you live and work, we encourage you to ride your bicycle to-and-from work. And if your commute is long, GCRTA is offering free rides to bicyclists on May 15th. This could be very helpful for those who live farther out—you can ride to your nearest park & ride and take the bus in, or take the bus in and ride part of the way. You can take it if it ends up raining, and you can take it if you party just a little too hardy at the East 4th Street celebration after work.

We have some special events set up downtown for those riding into Cleveland's center:

Meet up before work at the downtown Cleveland YMCA at 2200 Prospect Ave. (map) for free snacks and showers between 7am and 9:30am. Free bike parking all-day.
After work, ride over to East 4th Street to enjoy discounts on great food and drinks and to hang out with other cyclists!
More bicycle parking has become available in addition to that at the "Y." Special for Bike to Work Day, the City of Cleveland will open the future Bicycle Station at Gateway to provide extra parking for participating bicyclists. There are no showers yet, but you can leave your bike there all day and it will be guarded. The Bicycle Station at Gateway is located at the corner of East 4th Street and High Street, just south of Prospect, in the Gateway Garage. When it is completed, It will offer safe, secure bike parking as well as showers, changing rooms, and other amenities for bicyclists.

Check out the Bike to Work Days forum on this site to look for a ride leader riding your route. Please also register on the Ohio Bike Buddies website (offered by ODOT and NOACA) to find riding partners for Bike to Work Days and beyond. Create an account on the Bike Buddies site there and enter your route.

Bike to Work Day doesn't end with Cleveland Bicycle Week! Cleveland celebrates Bike to Work Day the last Friday of every month -- see ClevelandBikes for more.

Michael Symon Wins Best Chef Award from Beard Foundation

2009-05-08T14:04:00.003-05:00

Cleveland's own "Iron Chef" Michael Symon has won another honor, and this one is huge.

The owner of the Lola and Lolita restaurants in Cleveland has received a James Beard award as Best Chef in the Great Lakes region.

The prestigious Beard awards -- considered to be the Oscars of the food world -- honor those who follow in the footsteps of James Beard, a chef considered to be the dean of American cooking when he died in 1985.

Symon was crowned the "Next Iron Chef" in a 2007 competition for the TV Food Network.

New York restaurateur Dan Barber was named the nation's top overall chef Monday by the James Beard Foundation.

2009-04-29T20:38:00.006-05:00

This past weekend, over 40 volunteers mobilized to clean up the area around the Cleveland EcoVillage at West 58th and Lorain Avenue, building upon the momentum generated by the ribbon cutting of the first, newly completed Green Cottage (one of five to be built) on Friday. We collected dozens of bags of weeds, yard debris, trash, and some of the most random debris you could think of - greatly improving the neighborhood, while also building a sense of community. The event was organized by the EcoVillage Townhomes Homeowners Association, the Detroit Shoreway Community Development Organization, several owners of buildings on Lorain Avenue and West 58th, and the gardeners of the EcoVillage Community Garden. In addition to EcoVillage residents, dozens of volunteers from City Year and Cleveland State University turned out to help, thanks to the organizing efforts of Lilah Zautner, EcoVillage Project Director at Detroit Shoreway Community Development Organization. Congrats on a successful cleanup!

Artists vs. Blight: Cleveland Artists Featured in Wall Street Journal Article

2009-04-22T13:23:00.003-05:00

From the Wall Street Journal feature article "Artists vs. Blight", written by Alexandra Alter:

Last month, artists Michael Di Liberto and Sunia Boneham moved into a two-story, three-bedroom house in Cleveland's Collinwood neighborhood, where about 220 homes out of 5,000 sit vacant and boarded up. They lined their walls with Ms. Boneham's large, neon-hued canvases, turned a spare bedroom into a graphic-design studio and made the attic a rehearsal space for their band, Arte Povera.

The couple used to live in New York, but they were drawn to Cleveland by cheap rent and the creative possibilities of a city in transition. "It seemed real alive and cool," said Mr. Di Liberto.

Their new house is one of nine previously foreclosed properties that a local community development corporation bought, some for as little as a few thousand dollars. The group aims to create a 10-block "artists village" in Collinwood, with residences for artists like Mr. Di Liberto, 31 years old, and Ms. Boneham, 34.

Artists have long been leaders of an urban vanguard that colonizes blighted areas. Now, the current housing crisis has created a new class of urban pioneer. Nationwide, home foreclosure proceedings increased 81% in 2008 from the previous year, rising to 2.3 million, according to California-based foreclosure listing firm RealtyTrac. Homes in hard-hit cities such as Detroit and Cleveland are selling for as little as $1.

Drawn by available spaces and cheap rents, artists are filling in some of the neighborhoods being emptied by foreclosures. City officials and community groups seeking ways to stop the rash of vacancies are offering them incentives to move in, from low rents and mortgages to creative control over renovation projects.

"Artists have become the occupiers of last resort," said Robert McNulty, president of Partners for Livable Communities, a Washington-based nonprofit organization. "The worse things get, the more creative you have to become."

Artists and architects are buying foreclosed homes in Detroit for as little as $100. In St. Louis, artists are moving into vacant retail spaces in a shopping mall, turning stores that stood empty for more than a year into studios and event spaces for rents of $100 a month. Artspace Projects Inc., a national nonprofit development corporation, plans to create 35 live/work spaces for artists on vacant property in Hamilton, Ohio, after converting an empty car factory and an adjacent lot in Buffalo, N.Y., into 60 artists' lofts last year.

In neighborhoods pocked by vacancies, artists have started filling the void. Last November, Katherine Chilcote, a local painter, bought a boarded-up, bank-owned house for $5,000 in Cleveland's Detroit-Shoreway neighborhood, where one in four family homes has gone into foreclosure in the last three years. Thieves had stolen the doors, punched out windows and ripped out all the pipes, sinks and electrical wiring. Eight cats had moved in.

The 29-year-old artist and four friends spent months ripping up moldy carpet, laying down new tiles and hardwood floors, repairing walls and stripping peeling paint. She bought the empty, weed-filled lot next door for $500. She plans to build a sculpture garden there, with large, whimsical mobiles that twist in the breeze. She's applying for grant money from the Cleveland Foundation to turn four more vacant houses in the neighborhood into artist residences and studios.

Through her nonprofit public art organization, Building Bridges, Ms. Chilcote is also working to turn vacant storefronts in Cleveland's Westown neighborhood into artists' exhibition spaces. Four storefronts are now filled with hand-painted pottery, landscapes of trees and fields, and large, spray-painted scenes of the city's abandoned steel mills and factories.

Ms. Chilcote plans to expand to seven storefronts this summer, and is working with the Westown Community Development Corp. to create nine permanent artist residences and studios in an old theater that's been vacant since the mid-1980s. In the meantime, Ms. Chilcote and other artists are hatching creative, temporary uses for buildings that are scheduled to be demolished. This summer, she plans to transform an empty ice cream parlor into a giant sculpture of a cake.

What began as a grass-roots movement, with artists gravitating to cheaper neighborhoods and making improvements, is now being embraced by city officials as a tool to revive neighborhoods reeling from vacancies and home foreclosures.

Over the next 18 months, Cleveland plans to spend $500,000 to fund 50 citizen-led pilot projects to reclaim vacant property. The Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative, part of Kent State University's College of Architecture, launched an initiative called "Pop Up City" a year and a half ago, which brings performance artists into empty lots, vacant buildings and unused urban infrastructure. In Cleveland's Detroit-Shoreway neighborhood, two theater companies have teamed with the local development organization on a $30 million drive to rebrand the former factory hub as an entertainment and arts district, with a new community theater and independent-film house.

"At first, the strategy was [placing artists in] old warehouses, now it's whole neighborhoods," says Bob Brown, director of the Cleveland City Planning Commission. "The next phase is capitalizing on the presence of artist and art-related businesses and using it as the lever for high-density development."

This September, Cleveland's Community Partnership for Arts and Culture will host its second conference, titled "From Rust Belt to Artist Belt," with artists, city leaders, local banks and real-estate agents to discuss ways to transform Cleveland into a regional arts hub. Tom Schorgl, the group's president, said it's creating a Web site for artists that will include a searchable database of cheap properties. His group is also helping artists find vacant properties through the newly created county land bank -- a bank of distressed properties the county will manage until they can be redeveloped.

Artists have flocked to, and improved, blighted areas for decades -- for example, New York's SoHo and Williamsburg, parts of Baltimore and Berlin, Germany. They often get displaced once gentrification begins. But now, since real estate has hit rock bottom in many places, artists with little equity and sometimes spotty credit history have a chance to become stakeholders, economists and urban planners say.

Cleveland's push is modeled in part on an arts-fueled revival in Paducah, Ky., Mr. Schorgl said. Paducah transformed a rundown, crime-ridden neighborhood into an arts district by offering artists from around the country a $2,500 reimbursement to buy cheap, vacant houses and fix them up. Some artists bought homes for $1 when the program launched in 2001. Since then, more than 50 artists have moved into the neighborhood, which is now dense with cafes, wine bars and art galleries.

The strategy is controversial. Some urban planners warn against treating the arts as a cure-all for urban development, particularly since low-income residents are often forced out when artists move in. "Artists have had the effect of gentrifying neighborhoods that were working for the existing communities," says Dana Cuff, an architecture professor at UCLA and founder of cityLAB, an urban-design think tank.

Some artists are also wary of being branded as agents of development. "I could never afford the neighborhoods that I've helped contribute to," says Bridget Ginley, a 38-year-old painter, who says she was priced out of Cleveland's trendy Tremont and Ohio City neighborhoods once the galleries and restaurants arrived.

In Collinwood, where Mr. Di Liberto and Ms. Boneham moved last month, the Northeast Shores Development Corp. has bought nine vacant properties, and so far has renovated five as artists' residences. Executive director Brian Friedman says the group plans to expand the project to 25 or 30 homes, using funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's $4 billion Neighborhood Stabilization Program.

In exchange for low rents or low-interest mortgages that range from $500 to $1,100 a month, the artists help design the homes. Artists also have the option of buying the homes cheaply and fixing them up themselves. The development corporation verifies potential home-buyers' income and ability to pay rent, and asks artists to specify in their housing application what type of creative work they do, and what kind of work space they want.

Mr. Di Liberto and Ms. Boneham, who first moved to Cleveland from New York in 2006, pay $595 a month in rent in their new house. After they make monthly payments for a year, the rent will roll over into a fixed mortgage towards the house's $104,000 cost. Three of the couple's friends, fellow artists and musicians, are now looking to buy foreclosed houses in the neighborhood.

"Our chief goal is ownership," says Mr. Friedman. "We don't want the neighborhood to gentrify them out."

Once a bustling neighborhood of Eastern European rail workers, Collinwood now has a 40% poverty rate. A few years ago, its commercial strip, Waterloo Road, had little more than two dive bars and a flophouse where drug dealers and prostitutes lived. Home prices have plummeted to $18,000 today from a median of $68,000 before the foreclosure crisis.

The seeds of the renaissance were planted by a dozen artists who formed a collective called Arts Collinwood. Five years ago, the group bought the 5,000-square-foot flophouse with donated money and began converting it into an art gallery, café and nine art studios that rent for $150 a month. Arts Collinwood, now a non-profit directed by neighborhood resident Sarah Gyorki, paved the way for a flood of musicians, painters and sculptors. In the last couple of years, three other art galleries, a recording studio, vintage record store, boutique and a stained glass studio have opened on Waterloo.

These cultural outposts sit alongside traces of the old neighborhood: two shops that sell handmade sausages, and a Slovenian Hall where neighborhood residents gather for Friday fish fries, polka music and bocce.

The transition hasn't been completely smooth. Jim Tomko, one of the first to open a gallery on Waterloo, closed it last year after someone broke in and stole about $8,000 worth of paintings. Undercover police officers caught the thief, a neighborhood resident who was selling the paintings out of his nearby home for $20 a piece.

A few blocks over, on a street dotted with boarded-up houses, Monica Doyle is renovating a foreclosed house that she bought for $7,150. Ms. Doyle, a painter and Cleveland native who moved back to the city from Australia three years ago, bought the house last August. The plumbing had been stolen, the bathroom and kitchen walls had been ripped out, and a family of raccoons was living in the attic. She renovated the top floor, where she now lives and paints, and plans to rent out the ground floor once it's fixed up. "It was like a great canvas itself just to bring this place to life," she says.

Write to Alexandra Alter at alexandra.alter@wsj.com.

Raymond Bobgan of Cleveland Public Theatre Recognized by American Theatre Magazine

2009-04-15T13:19:00.002-05:00

Cleveland Public Theatre Executive Artistic Director Raymond Bobgan was selected by American Theatre Magazine, the monthly publication from the Theatre Communications Group as one of 25 theatre artists who are working to shape the next 25 years of theatre in America.

Bobgan is part of a group of richly accomplished theatre artists who have, according to the magazine "Demonstrated something special in their approach to the art and craft of theatremaking that convinced us they have not only vision and foresight about the field they've chosen, but the tenacity and commitment it will take to realize their aspirations over time." The artists chosen include Mike Daisey, Young Jean Lee, Will Power and Sarah Ruhl among many others.

Bobgan will attend the 25th anniversary benefit for American Theatre Magazine in New York City on April 20th in celebration. Bobgan's photo and his vision for the future of theatre (in 400 words or less!) appears in the April issue of the publication.

Get On the Bus with the Cleveland Colectivo

2009-04-08T12:48:00.004-05:00

If you google "Colectivo," the first thing that comes up is the Wikipedia entry, which describes a colectivo as a type of bus in Argentina. It's a public bus built out of smaller vehicle chassis that includes hand-painted graphics and is well-loved by Argentinians.

There is, however, another kind of colectivo - the Cleveland Colectivo. This grassroots giving circle, which was formed four years ago by a group of friends and neighbors to make a difference in the city, is celebrating its fourth year of grantmaking. Later in April, the group will decide which grassroots projects to support for this fiscal year, offering grants of $500 to $5,000. All told, the group will give away close to $20,000 to support innovative, neighborhood-based projects that will improve Cleveland.

Past projects that the Cleveland Colectivo has helped to support include a community garden in Tremont, a summer camp that taught Cleveland kids how to make sailboats and then gave them a chance to sail them at Whiskey Island, and a deconstruction enterprise that reuses bits and pieces of dismantled Cleveland buildings, remaking them into beautiful, for-sale furniture (hey, one man's trash ... ).

This year, the Cleveland Colectivo is encouraging folks in Northeast Ohio to consider forming their own giving circle, and even offering a matching start-up grant. It's one way to make a difference in your community. Although foundations are hard hit by the economic downturn, and giving less, small contributions from individuals, when pooled together, can make a big differnce. (Typically, Colectivo members give $400 per year - the group has about 25 dues-paying members, and a whole bunch of other folks that come to meetings and volunteer.)

For more info, visit www.clevelandcolectivo.org or click here.