Housing News
City of Fort Worth demolishes the wrong house
The City of Fort Worth and one homeowner are reeling from the recent demolition of the wrong home.
Image of the condemned home that was originally set to be demolished.
Wrong house demolished. Oops.
Fort Worth resident David Underwood recently checked in to his late grandmother’s home on Lake Worth as he and his wife are renovating it with plans on moving in after the project is completed. As they pulled up, he notices the grass is somewhat high, but then, “We rounded the corner and my wife, Valerie says, ‘The house is gone David,'” he told the Dallas Observer. “I’m looking at the yard, so I looked and I’m like, ‘Wow, OK.'”
Apparently, the City of Forth Worth had contracted a demolition crew to demolish a condemned home next door, but gave the crew the wrong street address, resulting in Underwood’s home being destroyed.
The City is currently investigating how this could happen. “A mistake was made,” Director of Code Compliance Brandon Bennett told the Dallas Morning News. “We have to identify where the weak link was and fix that so it doesn’t happen again. We need to look at all of our upcoming demolitions, and double- and triple-check these things to make sure everybody has dotted the i’s and crossed the t’s.”
Underwood remains ultra positive
While the City looks at their own books, Underwood is seeking compensation for the mistake, but the Observer notes his attitude is upbeat and he remains unshaken. When asked why he is so positive, he notes that in his job at United Community Centers, a nonprofit that assists low-income families, he comes across people less fortunate.
“Ninety-seven percent of the people we serve earn less than $17,000 per year,” he said. “I see people every day who have it so bad. I still have a house. It’s not like I’m living in a cardboard box down by the river.”
Mistakes are typically either human or digital, as has been the case during the robosigning debacle wherein homes were wrongfully (illegally) foreclosed upon or when bureaucracies either private or public insist they are not making a mistake as we saw in several cases of Bank of America foreclosing on the wrong address. Either way, the City of Fort Worth is reeling from being in the spotlight and has expressed they intend on doing everything possible to insure this never happens again.
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Housing News
Average age of houses on the rise, so is it now better or worse to buy new?
With aging housing in America, are first-time buyers better off buying new or existing homes? The average age of a home is rising, as is the price of new housing, so a shift could be upon us.
The average home age is higher than ever
(REALUOSO.COM) – In a survey from the Department of Housing and Urban Development American Housing Survey (AHS), the median age of homes in the United States was 35 years old. In Texas, homes are a bit younger with the median age between 19 – 29 years. The northeast has the oldest homes, with the median age between 50 – 61 years. In 1985, the median age of a home was only 23 years.
With more houses around 40 years old, the National Association of Realtors asserts that homeowners will have to undertake remodeling and renovation projects before selling unless the home is sold as-is, in which case the buyer will be responsible to update their new residence. Even homeowners who aren’t selling will need to consider remodeling for structural and aesthetic reasons.
Prices of new homes on the rise
Newer homes cost more than they used to. The price differential between new homes and older homes has increased from 10 percent traditionally to around 37 percent in 2014. This is due to rising construction costs, scarcity of lots, and a low inventory of new homes that doesn’t meet the demand.
Click here to continue reading this story…
Housing News
Are Realtors the real loser in the fight between Zillow Group and Move, Inc.?
The last year has been one of dramatic and rapid change in the real estate tech sector, but Realtors are vulnerable, and we’re worried.
Why Realtors are vulnerable to these rapid changes
(REALUOSO.COM) – Corporate warfare demands headlines in every industry, but in the real estate tech sector, a storm has been brewing for years, which in the last year has come to a head. Zillow Group and Move, Inc. (which is owned by News Corp. and operates ListHub, Realtor.com, TopProducer, and other brands) have been competing for a decade now, and the race has appeared to be an aggressive yet polite boxing match. Last year, the gloves came off, and now, they’ve drawn swords and appear to want blood.
Note: We’ll let you decide which company plays which role in the image above.
So how then, does any of this make Realtors the victims of this sword fight? Let’s get everyone up to speed, and then we’ll discuss.
1. Zillow poaches top talent, Move/NAR sues
It all started last year when the gloves came off – Move’s Chief Strategy Officer (who was also Realtor.com’s President), Errol Samuelson jumped ship and joined Zillow on the same day he phoned in his resignation without notice. He left under questionable circumstances, which has led to a lengthy legal battle (wherein Move and NAR have sued Zillow and Samuelson over allegations of breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, and misappropriation of trade secrets), with the most recent motion being for contempt, which a judge granted to Move/NAR after the mysterious “Samuelson Memo” surfaced.
Salt was added to the wound when Move awarded Samuelson’s job to Move veteran, Curt Beardsley, who days after Samuelson left, also defected to Zillow. This too led to a lawsuit, with allegations including breach of contract, violation of corporations code, illegal dumping of stocks, and Move has sought restitution. These charges are extremely serious, but demanded slightly less attention than the ongoing lawsuit against Samuelson.
2. Two major media brands emerge
Last fall, the News Corp. acquisition of Move, Inc. was given the green light by the feds, and this month, Zillow finalized their acquisition of Trulia.
…Click here to continue reading this story…
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Emmanuel chimezie
July 22, 2013 at 7:11 am
wonderful post