Category Archives: Values

Art, Compassion, Life Lesson, Values

Thank You Gloria


My sister Gloria passed away today…but her spirit is still among us.

She gave love and hope to so many, even some who never had the opportunity to meet her. Through her amazing talent, Gloria inspired and taught young and old about the most important elements of life.

She is now at peace. May she rest in the knowledge of having done great work for others. God bless you Gloria. We love you and will always find meaning in your loving gifts to us. Thank you very much.

Art, Compassion, Courage, Life Lesson, Right Action, Right Thinking, Values

Gloria


A woman with long hair and blue shirt standing in front of a brown background.We are fortunate to be loved by Gloria.

Gloria Kliewer Roe is the most loving, caring and talented individual I’ve ever had the privilege to know. Throughout the challenges known as Life, we shared the most precious elements, love and respect. My sister Gloria dedicated her life of discipline and sacrifice to providing hope, guidance and assistance to others through her amazing artistry.

Continue reading Gloria →

China, Real Estate, Trends, Values

2017 will be the year of the condo in Bellevue and Seattle


Developers say they’ll break ground on five — and possibly six — big condo projects next year.

The buildings will range from six to 40 stories, and all but one of the developers are from China or Canada. The one developer who says he’s still weighing whether to build a for-rent or for-sale project is domestic.

Continue reading 2017 will be the year of the condo in Bellevue and Seattle →

Courage, Real Estate, Right Thinking, Team Work, Values

Trump Improving Chinese – American Relations


Chinese state-run media lauded Donald Trump Tuesday after a phone call between him and President Xi Jinping, saying that the president-elect’s emergence could mark a “reshaping” of Sino-American relations. The pair spoke Monday, when Xi said that the two powers needed to co-operate and Trump’s office said the leaders “established a clear sense of mutual respect for one another”.

On the campaign trail Trump frequently demonized Beijing, but questions have been asked whether his conduct in the White House will match his promises as a candidate. Monday’s conversation was “diplomatically impeccable and has bolstered optimism over bilateral relations in the next four years”, China’s frequently nationalistic Global Times newspaper said in an editorial. Barack Obama, whose foreign policy pivot to Asia alarmed Beijing, was “profoundly affected” by the Cold War-shaped outlook of American elites, the paper said, but Trump’s views “have not been kidnapped by Washington’s political elites”. “Trump is probably the very American leader who will make strides in reshaping major-power relations in a pragmatic manner,” it added, saying his ideology and experience “match well with the new era”.

It was a sharp contrast to the same newspaper’s editorial the day before, which baldly warned the incoming president not to follow through on campaign-trail promises to levy steep tariffs on Chinese-made goods or Beijing would take a “tit-for-tat approach” and target US autos, aircraft, soybeans, and iPhones. But the president-elect’s ambiguous and sometimes contradictory views on key questions on the relationship between the world’s two largest economies, including trade, the South China Sea and North Korea, have cast a pall of uncertainty over how he will manage it. While campaigning,

Trump went as far as calling the Asian giant America’s “enemy”, accused it of artificially lowering its currency to boost exports, threatened to impose tariffs of 45 percent, and pledged to stand up to a country he says views the US as a pushover. But he also indicated he is not interested in getting involved in far-off squabbles, and decried the proposed Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade deal, which encompasses several other Asian countries and has been seen as an effort to bolster US influence, for costing American jobs. TPP has been signed by the US but not ratified by the Senate, where its chances are seen as poor.

Tuesday’s editorial in the government-published China Daily newspaper called the Xi-Trump chat “propitious”, noting that Beijing is “understandably relieved that the exclusive, economically inefficient, politically antagonizing TPP is looking ever less likely to materialize”. Instead, Washington should consider joining the China-backed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), a free trade area encompassing the Southeast Asian grouping ASEAN, China, India, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand. Something of a mirror image to the TPP, it includes six of the putative Washington-led grouping’s 12 members.

Donald Trump has been President Elect for less than a week and everything is already falling into place. Both Canada and Mexico plan to renegotiate NAFTA. Mexico is considering talks about the wall and is preparing for mass deportation. Russia wants to help us destroy ISIS. China thinks our relationships will be better. The UK is very optimistic of relationships with the US. TPP was declared dead. All good things. Meanwhile, our mainstream media still hasn’t accepted the fact that he will be our next president.

The Chinese in general admire strength tempered with respect, protocol and politeness. Donald Trump is well and truly capable of all that.

Source: http://www.commonsenseevaluation.com/2016/11/15/china-says-trump-diplomatically-impeccable-first-contact/#sthash.dd1bgc0K.dpuf

Emerging Tech, Innovation, Real Estate, Right Thinking, Team Work, Values

Frank Assists a Taiwanese Community organization Reach Their Development Goals


Let’s look at an example of how Frank can make a big difference in meeting the acquisition and development goals of even a foreign investor.

Frank was greatly honored when hired as a consultant to assist in the property location, purchase, development and construction of a new U.S. headquarters for a Taiwanese organization coming to Seattle.

Through Frank’s experience in managing the work of government agencies, contractors, architects, and engineers, he saved the organization well over amillion dollars and eliminated at least a year of development work and construction time to complete the project through his pre-development discoveries and government concessions. The highlights of hisproject consulting work included:

  • Through the use of interactive mapping tools, Frank located the ideal commercial acreage on a busy street with lots of parking for this Taiwanese developer.
  • Frank brought the property into escrow for his clients, but through a detailed property inspection, Frank found suspicious elements that led him to believe, based on his experience, that something was not right.
  • Frank then searched documents in the City of Seattle government microfilm archives that resulted in a very important discovery of noncompliance, which resulted in a significant price reduction of hundreds of thousands of dollars in the purchase price, by confronting the seller with importantmisrepresentations of the property.
  • Frank Worked with the top Planning and Building officials at the City of Seattle to gain important regulatory concessions that provided additional development advantages before beginning construction, and again saved hundreds of thousands of dollars by reducingcode requirements which eliminated construction elements and months of development time.
  • Directing the work of architects, engineers and contractorsas well as on site government building inspectors to gain additional regulatory considerations in the field, again saving time and money during the construction process by avoiding costly design and plan reviews throughstreamlining approval processes in the field.
  • Frank was able to fast track the issuance of demo permits for the site. Normally a demo permit requires a period of public notice and hearings to determine if replacement structures will be built. In this case, by having the buildings declared hazards, Frank was able to get the buildings removed immediately, creating more parking for the property.
  • Frank was also able to negotiate with an adjoining home builder to sell two properties that allow for the assembly of additional land for the development of guest housing for visiting dignitaries.

Frank’s aggressively successful consulting management style was praised by the new owners, as he greatly exceeded their expectations and goals. He received a bonus reward of a trip to Taiwan to view their magnificent 37 story hilltop main headquarters as Frank was prepared to begin the Zen landscaping phase of the Seattle construction project.

Onceagain it was Frank’s great joy to meet his personal goal of bringing in projects under budget, ahead of schedule, and with more features than originally expected.

Feel free to contact Frank to find out how he can assist you in fulfilling your objectives and goals.

[email protected]

Anytime cell: (206) 794-9900

Real Estate, Right Action, Team Work, Understanding, Values

Chinese Investors Looking for Development Opportunities


As subscribers and daily readers ofthe Wall Street Journal (print and online) we found the following article extremely telling in light of our past success and current work focus:

Chinese Cash Pours into U.S. Real Estate

A view of the water from above shows many docks and buildings.

Site on San Francisco Bay reflects a move into new development, beyond buying existing commercial properties

Chinese developers are planning a $1 billion commercial project on this San Francisco Bay property. Photo: Greenland USA

ByEliot Brown -Aug. 30, 2016 11:02 a.m. ET

For eight years, a pair of local developers gradually readied a 42-acre strip of waterfront land 10 miles south of downtown San Francisco for a major project, steering it through local land-use approvals.

Now, a group of major Chinese developers is poised to do the heavy lifting. The venture of Greenland Holding Group,Ping An Trust and other investors paid$171 million last monthfor the site that juts into San Francisco Bay.

The new owners are planninga more than $1 billion development aimed at biotechnology companies,an industry flourishing in the area. “We are pretty confident about the local market and particularly about the research-and-development market,” said Taotao Song, chief executive of the venture.

Over the past three years, Chinese investors have plowed money into some of the highest-profile developments in the U.S. Other cities with projects underway or in the pipeline include New York, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles and Miami.

A chart showing the growth of commercial property.

The flow of cash from China into U.S. commercial property is continuing unabated as companies seek to diversify outside of China at a time when confidence is fading in their local real-estate markets,real-estate executives say.

President Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign has also compelled Chinese investors to seek projects abroad as a way to hedge against a possible crackdown to their business at home. Officials have blocked property sales and detained companies’ executives during investigations.

In the first half of 2016, completed U.S. commercial property purchases by China-based investors were up 19% over a year earlierto $5 billion, according to data tracker Real Capital Analytics Inc. Including deals under contract that haven’t been finished, Chinese investors have committed $12.9 billion this year, nearly matching the $14 billion in all of 2015. The rate of increase does appear to be slower this year, given that in 2014 there was just $3.4 billion in sales to Chinese investors, according to Real Capital.

Investments include office towers such as Manhattan’s 1285 Avenue of the Americas–in which China Life LFC -2.02 % Insurance Co. bought a partial stake–andAnbang Insurance Group Co.’s $6.5 billion deal to buy Strategic Hotels& Resorts Inc., which hasn’t closed.Anbang also led an aborted $14 billion purchase of StarwoodHotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. HOT -0.37 %

Still, there are some headwinds back home for Chinese investors as officials seek ways to stanch the flow of money out of China. For those real-estate investors that do get money out, developing new buildings is a main focus, given that it offers far higher returns but also more risk than buying existing buildings.

“The vast majority are looking for development opportunities,” said Stephen Collins, who oversees a global capital markets group at real-estate investment-services company JLL. TheChinese companies have experience with development at home, and believe they “can make more money buying the land, building it and selling it,” than just buying an existing tower, he said.

Projects controlled or partly owned by Chinese companies include a development to create Chicago’s third-tallest tower;a planned tower that would be San Francisco’s second-tallest building; a cluster of giant mixed-use projects in downtown Los Angeles; and a planned skyscraper in downtown Bostonby Chinesedeveloper Gemdale Corp. 600383 3.62 %

Earlier this month, in one of the flashiest investments yet, China’s Shanghai Municipal Investment said it was joining with New York-based Extell Development Co. to build the $3 billion Central Park Tower. The condo skyscraper is set to rise 300 feet taller than the Empire State Building to become the tallest apartment tower in the U.S.

A city skyline with many tall buildings and trees.

A rendering of Greenland Group’s $1 billion Metropolis development in Los Angeles. Photo: Greenland USA

For all of these projects, a big risk is timing. The U.S. is seven years into an economic growth cycle, making many wonder how much longer the good times can last. Much of this concern is focused on Manhattan’s luxury-condo market, where Chinese companies have funded a large crop of towers that are just being built, despite a slowdown in sales and widespread concerns about a condo glut.

The largest Chinese developer in the U.S. is Greenland Group, which has a $1 billion cluster of towers named Metropolis being built in Los Angeles. The company also owns 70% of a$6 billionapartment development in the New York borough of Brooklyn, where three towers have sprouted since it first invested in 2014. More are on the way.

Greenland executives predicted in mid-2014 that they would double their pipeline within a year and have considered numerous sites throughout thecountry. But the company ended up being less active thanexpected:its first U.S. deal since mid-2014 was the San Francisco Bay site it purchased for the biotech center.

The seller of that site was a venture of Shorenstein Properties and SKS Partners, which bought it in July 2008 for $85 million andwon city approval for a 2.3 million-square-foot development.

Greenland and its partners plan to start moving ahead on a 500,000-square-foot first phase as soon as infrastructure work being done by the city of South San Francisco is completed in mid-2018. Greenland said the venture would begin construction whether or not any of the space is leased beforehand.

–Esther Fung contributed to this article.

Original Source: http://www.wsj.com/articles/chinese-cash-pours-into-u-s-real-estate-1472569340

 

Courage, Photos, Right Action, Right Thinking, Social Networking, Team Work, Values

The Value of Competition

What is the value of competition? Is it the acquisition of a prize, like Olympic gold or the praise of fans and friends? While completion may provide some incentive through the lure of winning something, it seems the real value is in the physical, mental and emotional strength developedin us as we discipline ourselves to push toward achieving a goal. Having someone to work with or compete against provides an extra push and gives us a measure of our level of engagement within a social setting.

Life is full of opportunities to compete, not only in sporting activities, but also in every activity throughout our day. Can we be aware enough of our actions to gauge if we are improving how we function? While it is fine, and even necessary to relax and enjoy the ride in resting intervals toregain our strength, finding the next level of our capacity can be greatly rewarding as we increase our strength, and even amplify the bond we have with others.

I was having these thoughts about competition yesterday morning while enjoying the tenminute rural commuteto my office in Duvall. All of a sudden, I focused on a truck in front of me that I had just caught up with at the stoplight entering town. I was blown away by the message on the rear door and grabbedmy phone to take a quick photo (below) while stopped behind it. This was just too weird, considering where my mind had been for the past tenminutes before seeing the truck (and I drive a Jeep by the way). I’m pretty sure it was a coincidence…but I had to consider other options. In any case, Bam, a life message right in my face.

Do you have a competition specialty? If not, perhaps today is a good time to get in a game…you’ll be stronger in many ways for making the effort, and you might have some fun and even make some friends. Come on, I dare you! Join me, because I’ve decided to find a game today. Let ourgames begin, and don’t forget to enjoy the ride!

Real Estate, Values

Home Values 77 Percent Higher in Zip Codes With Good Schools…


(Aug 3, 2016) ATTOM Data Solutions, released its 2016 Schools and Housing Report, which shows that homes in zip codes with at least one good elementary school have higher values and stronger home price appreciation over the long-term than homes in zip codes without any good elementary schools — where homes lost more value during the housing downturn but have seen stronger appreciation during the housing recovery of the last five years.

For the report, ATTOM Data Solutions analyzed 2016 home values and price appreciation along with 2015 average test scores in 18,968 elementary schools nationwide in 4,435 zip codes with a combined 45.9 million single family homes and condos. For purposes of this report, a good school was defined as any with an overall test score at least one-third above the state average (see full methodology below).

Out of 1,661 zip codes with at least one good school, the average estimated home value as of July 2016 was $427,402, 77 percent higher than the average home value of $241,096 in 2,774 zip codes without any good schools.

“While good schools are one of the top items on most home-buyer checklists because of the quality-of-life benefit they provide, this report shows that high-performing schools also come with a financial benefit for homeowners in most markets — at least over the long term,” said Daren Blomquist, senior vice president at ATTOM Data Solutions. “Meanwhile, home prices in zip codes without any good schools tend to be more volatile, which might work to a homeowner’s financial benefit in the short-term but not over the long-term of at least 10 years.”

83 percent of metro areas post higher home values in zips with good schools

Out of 173 metropolitan statistical areas analyzed for the report, 143 metros (83 percent) had higher average home values in zip codes with good schools than in zip codes without good schools, including Los Angeles (65 percent higher); Chicago (65 percent higher); Atlanta (91 percent higher); New York (52 percent higher); and Miami (31 percent higher).

Metro areas where home values in zip codes with at least one good school were at least 95 percent higher than home values in zip codes without any good schools included Birmingham, Alabama (169 percent higher); Flint, Michigan (129 percent higher); and St. Louis (99 percent higher); Detroit (97 percent higher); and Baltimore (95 percent higher).

“In my experience, buyers will almost always choose to buy a home in a good school district. In turn, this creates greater demand for homes in high-performing school districts and causes these sub-markets to appreciate in value at higher rates than other neighborhoods,” said Matthew Gardner, covering the Seattle market — where average home values were 64 percent higher in zip codes with goods schools than in zip codes without good schools. “Interestingly, we see demand for these homes from buyers without school-aged children as well because they look at the school district as an added layer of protection should home prices start to soften.

Homeowners gained $51K more since purchase in zips with good schools

Homeowners in zip codes with at least one good school have gained an average of $74,716 in value since purchase, an average return on investment of 32.0 percent. Meanwhile homeowners in zip codes without any good schools have gained an average of $23,311 in value since purchase, an average return on investment of 27.5 percent.

Average ROI for homeowners was higher in zip codes with at least one good school than in zip codes without any good schools in 114 of the 173 metro areas analyzed for the report (66 percent), including Chicago, Atlanta, New York, Miami and San Francisco. Notable exceptions where homeowner ROI was higher in zip codes without any good schools included Los Angeles, Riverside-San Bernardino in Southern California, Sacramento, Orlando and Washington, D.C.

Home price appreciation more volatile in zips without good schools

The report also found that home price appreciation has been more volatile in zip codes without any good schools over the past decade compared to zips with at least one good school.

Year-to-date 2016 median home prices in zip codes without any good schools on average are still 1 percent below median home prices during the same time period in 2006, while median home prices in zip codes with at least one good school are up 4.5 percent on average compared to 10 years ago.

10-year home price appreciation in zip codes with good schools outpaced 10-year HPA in zip codes without good schools in 128 of the 173 metro areas analyzed for the report (74 percent), including Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, New York and Miami.

Meanwhile, home prices in zip codes without good schools dropped more precipitously during the housing downturn. Between 2006 and 2011 median home prices in zip codes without any good schools decreased an average of 28.9 percent while median home prices in zip codes with at least one good school decreased 23.0 percent during the same time period.

Home price appreciation in zip codes without any good schools has outpaced HPA in zip codes with at least one good school over the past five years during the real estate recovery (47.9 percent increase versus 42.2 percent increase respectively).

Ranking of “Good School Bargain” zip codes

The report also ranked 117 zip codes as “Good School Bargains.” All of these zip codes had at least one good school along with a year-to-date 2016 median home sales price of $150,000 or lower. School scores and home prices have improved compared to one year ago and five years ago in all of these zip codes, with the ranking based on 10-year home price appreciation, from lowest to highest (lowest indicating the best bargain relative to the peak).

The Top 10 zip codes with good schools that represent the best bargain home buying opportunities nationwide include zips in Chicago; Cleveland; Saginaw, Michigan; Milwaukee; Tampa-St. Petersburg; Orlando; Las Vegas; Homosassa Springs, Florida; and Riverside-San Bernardino, California.

Report methodology
For this analysis ATTOM Data Solutions (parent company of RealtyTrac) looked at test scores for 18,968 elementary schools nationwide in 4,435 zip codes with a combined 45.9 million single family homes and condos. School test scores are from each state’s Department of Education in 2015. Test scores are based around the test average of each state with the state average being a score of 1. For purposes of this report, a good school was defined as any with an overall test score at least one-third above the state average (1.33 or higher). The highest scoring school in each zip code was used for the zip code analysis. Home value and median price data is from publicly recorded sales deeds and mortgages for single family homes and condos. Home value data is as of July 2016, and median home prices are based on January to June 2016 sales compared to the same time period in previous years.