Assignment #7 - Real Estate Trends

In South Village, Las Vegas a guy named Jared Fisher wanted to own a bike shop that could power itself and generate almost no waste. December 2012 he opened just that. It was a two-story bucycle shop that had a Platinum LEED certification. The roof was made out of a combination of wood and metal. The structure also had 208 solar panels, a wind turbine, recycling stations, and the one that I enjoyed the most, a bike-wash station that collects and filters water for continued use. I chose this building because this guy wanted to have a bike shop that powered itself. The building runs at 103% energy capacity. He produces 3% MORE power than he is expected to use. Everyone loves this place when they come check it out and I would like to see it one day.

Assignment #6 - Property Investment

My parents just recently moved from San Antonio, Tx to one of the suburbs named Helotes. Every time I go back home I see so many moving out towards Helotes and traffic building up. If I was to invest in a property I would invest in a single-family detached property in Helotes, Texas. The average household income is $217,342 (city-data). Most of the residents in this area are either age 1-17 or 30-55 which clearly screams family. The average household size is 3.2 to the Texas average of 2.8 and shows that their are big families in this area. The years that houses have been built have been the highest from 2005 and later. The growth is so immense in this area and sometimes statistics cant even do justice. This area and the other areas surrounding San Antonio are blowing up.

Assignment #5 - Foreclosure!!

Allen Stein was being foreclosed on for a very dumb reason. He was planning on going out of the country and the HOA wanted to foreclosure on his home for just a couple of hundreds of overpaid dues. This guy actually tried to pay before he left, but the HOA wouldn’t allow it. Tom Watson, the attorney actually had an agreement with HOA to foreclose on the home and not to accept past due payments from the resident’s no matter what. In the end Allen Stein won based on “unreasonable collection practice” between the HOA and Tom Watson. This whole process was a judicial foreclosure and is now settled.  

Here is the link to the story in San Antonio.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSo7qs5hREw

 

Assignment #4 - My Hometown

My hometown is San Antonio, Texas and is one of my favorite places. Most people when they think of San Antonio think of Sea World, Six Flags, the Alamo, the Riverwalk, or Mexican food. Although those are some of the highlights, San Antonio has so much to offer. First off most people think of San Antonio as a medium size city, but its actually the 7th largest city in the nation (not including the metroplex). There is a very heavy emphasis on the Spanish culture and therefore many hispanics that live in this city. There are about 63% hispanics and 27% white with the last 10% being spread out between the races.The four primary focuses of the economy are financial services, health care, government, and tourism. In San Antonio there is a lot to offer. There is everything from history, the arts, tourist attractions, parks, and a lot of entertainment. Also we love our mexican food in our city and take pride in it. The downside to this is that there are a lot of overweight people in my town which is kind of funny but at the same time sad. Its hard to put down that taco though. The thing I like most about San Antonio is that the drive to the hill country is less than 30 minutes and so easy to get out of the city feel. The hill country is so beautiful and allows you to make fun trips to Borne or Fredicksburg. Last but not least San Antonio is home to the 4-time NBA World Champion San Antonio Spurs. If you live in San Anonio, there is a good chance you are a Spurs fanatic!

                                                          Some of the hill country

                               One of the coolest holes on a golf course looking over Six Flags

                                                        Riverwalk at night is awesome

                                                             Of course the Alamo

Assignment #3 - Guest Speakers

Mike Gentry and Samuel Harrison

The lecture was so interesting because we were actually applying some of the things we have learned in class. The lecture focused on a current local development project located off of Briarcrest Dr which actually used to be the town of Booneville, Tx. The highlights from the lecture was how the land was won. That story about winning the piece of land in a poker game really stuck with me. You would have never guessed that this land is now worth millions of dollars. I also was surprised on how difficult it was to get structures on the land. The process is huge and can take many months, if not years. This profession must take a lot of patience, but at the same time a lot of passion. The most interesting thing to me was how claiming the land as agricultural gives you a huge tax benefit. The amount of taxes you pay is tiny compared to what you would have to pay if it wasn't agricultural. The little insights I got from this lecture really excite me about what I could possibly be doing one day.

Assignment #2 - Private/Public Restrictions on Ownership

Private Restrictions are also known as limitations and are considered encumbrances. Encumbrances are binding on anyone who has interest in the property value. Encumbrances include but not limited to, covenants, conditions, restrictions, liens, easements, profit a prendre, encroachment, adverse possession.

Really cool article on Encroachment...
http://www.mtdemocrat.com/business-real-estate/encroachment-conflicts-you-be-the-judge/

Public Restrictions are when the government creates limitations on ownership of real estate through taxation, eminent domain, police power, escheat.

Here's a article about an Eminent Domain case where the state wins againhttp://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/housingcomplex/2012/12/10/judge-rules-in-districts-favor-on-final-skyland-eminent-domain-case/

Assignment #1

My name is Vincent Ortega and I'm a senior finance major from San Antonio, Tx. I've enjoyed everything there is about sports ever since I was a kid. I played sports in high school and have continued to play intramurals here as well as keep up with Aggie football. I recently tore my ACL playing flag football, got surgery during the break, and now rehabbing my knee at the Central Texas for Athletes facility. I enjoy going on road trips to places all over the nation, broadway plays, working out, playing basketball, skiing, hiking, and working with wood to name a few.

I plan to learn the basic knowledge of real estate finance so that I can apply it for my own personal benefit. I enjoy gaining knowledge especially when I can apply to my own life. Sooner of later I will be buying real estate or even selling it, who knows. My short term goal is to get a job wherever I can because I just need to get experience and get my feet wet in the real world. Ideally I would love to get hired by an awesome company and I plan to work my tail off to do that, but I have faith that the Lord will provide regardless so I'm excited. My long term career goals include owning my own business one day, find myself a wife, and have some kids that I can teach sports, but more importantly show my kids how to be men/women of God.

I'm really not too interesting, but I did bungee jump the third longest cord in the world this summer in Switzerland. I got a chance to study abroad last summer and bungee jumping was the coolest experience of my life. I once was interviewed in high school for being the Scholar athlete of the week but other than that, maybe just a few times during Aggie football games.


The most interesting parcel of real estate that I've ever seen has to be the Coliseum. While I was in Italy I was so intrigued my the structure and how it could continue to stand for hundreds of years. The things that would go on in that place as well as the history really excites me. How did anyone ever think of a place like that? How was that place bought? Who owned it first? Real estate really does have a huge impact on history and that what excites me most about this class.