No Posts Until Wednesday (Probably)

Posting will be minimal until Wednesday because I am attending a marketing session the next two days hosted by the Ohio Commercial Realtors Exchange Association. While the event is taking place here in Columbus, as a member in the host city and president of one of the state's regional exchange organizations, my schedule is pretty tight.

Nearly 100 brokers and agents from eight states are in town. Much networking ahead. And somehow I've got to shoehorn in a quick road trip down to Hocking County Tuesday afternoon to introduce a client there to some auctioneers. As I mentioned, posting will be light to say the least.

Bernanke Comments Drive Stocks Even Lower

"Stocks tumbled Thursday as investors reacted to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's Congressional testimony that economic conditions are likely to get worse before they get better."

He also noted that the Fed may be looking at another interest rate cut in the near future.

Now, tell me again why people want to invest in the stock market?

Congress Poised To Badly Alter Like-Kind Exchange Rules For Farmland

The U.S. Senate recently passed a bill, HR 2419, originating in the U.S. House of Representatives, that would disqualify like-kind exchanges of "improved real estate" with "unimproved real estate."

The National Association of Realtors sent a letter to the full Senate noting that the proposal has the effect of depriving many farmers of any opporunity to use the exchange technique to reconfigure their holdings. The bill is now before a joint House-Senate conference committee to discuss differences in the language of legislation as passed by the two houses of Congress.

The change comes as a result of Congress' interest in "paying for" several incentives that would preserve wildlife habitats. This provision in the 2007 farm bill would not allow the owner of an improved investment property to use a tax-deferred exchange to acquire unimproved farm land. Similarly, owners of unimproved farm land could not exchange it for improved investment property. Unimproved agricultural real property is defined as land owned by aperson engaged in a farming business who receives specified commodity payments associated with the land.

I'll keep on eye on HR 2419 and let you know the results of the conference committee meetings.

Military Status Is Now Protected Class in Ohio Fair Housing Laws

Federal fair housing prohibits discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, handicap or disability, and familial status. The Ohio Civil Rights Act added ancestry, and now with HB 372, Ohio Governor Ted Strickland has recently added “military status” as a protected class.

"It is illegal, pursuant to the Ohio fair housing law, division (H) of section 4112.02 of the Revised Code, and the federal fair housing law, 42 U.S.C.A. 3601, to refuse to sell, transfer, assign, rent, lease, sublease, or finance housing accommodations, refuse to negotiate for the sale or rental of housing accommodations, or otherwise deny or make unavailable housing accommodations because of race, color, religion, sex, familial status as defined in section 4112.01 of the Revised Code, ancestry, military status as defined in that section, disability as defined in that section, or national origin or to so discriminate in advertising the sale or rental of housing, in the financing of housing, or in the provision of real estate brokerage services. It is also illegal, for profit, to induce or attempt to induce a person to sell or rent a dwelling by representations regarding the entry into the neighborhood of a person or persons belonging to one of the protected classes."

So if you own residential investment property in Ohio, no matter whether it is a rental house, double, 4-family or mega-multi-unit complex, you cannot discriminate against a potential or current renter because they are in the military. Actually, most owners don't do this. But an unscrupulous few have been giving many property owners a black eye with their antics.

Word is that complaints have been rolling in from around the nation from individuals who were being denied rental housing because they are on active duty, or reports alleged that property owners were refusing to accommodate former military personnel based on their type of discharge. With Gov. Strickland's signature, House Bill 372 becomes effective March 24, 2008, and provides benefits to members of the Armed Forces, one of those being that military status is now a protected class.

This bill is long overdue, IMHO.

Estate Planning Humor

Some real estate humor to send you into the weekend.

Dan was a single guy living at home with his father and working in the family business. When he found out he was going to inherit a fortune when his sickly father died, he decided he needed a wife with which to share his fortune.

One evening at an investment meeting he spotted the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Her natural beauty took his breath away.

"I may look like just any ordinary man," he said to her, "but in just a few years, my father will die, and I’ll inherit $20 million dollars."

Impressed, the woman obtained his business card and three days later . . .

. . .she became his step-mother.

WOMEN ARE SO MUCH BETTER AT ESTATE PLANNING

Latest News Story Calls Near-Campus Housing A Captive Market

One of my clients forwarded me this news story from Bankrate.com, by way of MSN Money.

And it echoes what I have written in this journal for more than a year now . . . campus housing is virtually recession proof (those are my words). The Bankrate.com story puts it slightly differently, but the message is virtually the same:

". . . If you buy right, you may be purchasing a hedge of sorts against the rocky housing markets of the present and future . . ."

"Unlike some neighborhoods, where a disproportionate number of homes that are converted into rentals may signify an impending downturn, that's generally not a worry in college neighborhoods. You are placing yourself in a community where there is a constant churn of demand every semester."

BTW, it doesn't have to be a house. It can be a multifamily building --multiple units under one roof.

Federal Reserve Cuts Key Short-Term Interest Rate By 1/2 Percent

From CNN Money:

"Faced with growing risks of recession, the Federal Reserve made its second deep interest-rate cut in a week and slashed a key short-term rate by a half-percentage point Wednesday. The federal funds rate - an overnight bank lending rate that affects how much interest consumers pay on credit cards, home equity lines of credit and auto loans - was cut to 3.0% from 3.5%. The rate had stood at 5.25% only four months ago."

Good news for all. This will bring more buyers into the market to help stabilize home prices. On the commercial/invsetment side of real estate, which remains strong, a lower interest rate is always a good thing.