The 2021-22 Goldie Scholar roster features 28 rising women leaders from 16 universities across the country. (The Goldie Initiative)

Megan Burrows, executive vice president of American Realty Advisors, is in her second year of graduate school, working on a long-distance master’s degree in real estate finance at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. She is also a second-year “Goldie Scholar,®” a two-year program that serves women with extraordinary academic and leadership potential by awarding a cash scholarship, mentoring, networking, and professional development, including a student membership to the Urban Land Institute.

Burrows is a prime example. In 2020, at the same time that she was accepted to graduate school, she was awarded a place in the prestigious Goldie Initiative program; she also underwent a major career change—transitioning from a member of a multifamily asset management team at RREEF to her current role leading a multifamily asset management team of four that oversees $2.2 billion in assets under management (AUM).

Founded by Goldie B. Wolfe Miller in 2007 to give back to the industry and help young women in the real estate field find their way to the C-suite, the Goldie Initiative has assisted more than 100 scholars from 16 top real estate graduate schools across the United States, with a record 28 scholars named in 2021. Wolfe Miller, a ULI member since 1986, was the eighth woman member of the Institute’s Board of Trustees, has served on the ULI Chicago Women’s Leadership Initiative (WLI) Advisory Board and ULI Giving Societies Committee, and is a member of the ULI Industrial and Office Park Development Council (Blue Flight) committee.

Wolfe Miller knows firsthand what it takes to be successful. She founded her tenant representation firm, Goldie B. Wolfe & Company, in 1989; developed it into the largest woman-owned commercial real estate company (executing about $3 billion in real estate transactions); and then sold it to a New York Stock Exchange company in 1998.

“We have the ability to connect a young scholar to the right company, to the right person, and, quite frankly, some of the large corporations are coming to us because they’re in need of top-notch individuals specialized in real estate,” Wolfe Miller says.

In addition to a cash award of $15,000, the scholars are mentored through various programs by the top women in the industry. For example, every April is “Breakfast with Penny Pritzker.” At the breakfast, the scholars practice delivering their elevator speeches for feedback from Wolfe Miller and Pritzker, former U.S. Secretary of Commerce and founder of PSP Capital Partners and Pritzker Realty Group and cofounder of Artemis Real Estate Partners.

Many scholars, like Burrows, say that the biggest benefit is the mentor/mentee component of the program, which includes “Wednesdays with Goldie” during which each scholar is able to spend time with the founder.

Burrow’s assigned mentor is Nicole White, chief legal officer and principal of Avison Young, the first woman of color to hold both titles with the global brokerage. She was introduced to the program by way of the annual fundraising gala through CEO Mark Rose, a gala vice chair and longtime supporter of the Goldie Initiative.

“I was just blown away,” White recalls. “Just at the culture, the energy, the women in the room. I had never seen so many amazing women in the commercial real estate industry at all levels.”

In addition to taking on an assigned scholar (now Burrows) with whom she meets monthly, White is one of 60 mentors in the Mentorship Rocket program, where scholars can sign up for time with mentors of their choice and get advice. For instance, White recalls one Black scholar who told her that she had not seen many mentors of color, nor had she seen mentors who wanted to talk about advancement.

The Goldie Initiative raises money for the scholarships and programming through its annual gala, which not only is a networking opportunity for the scholars and members of the Chicago real estate community, but also a chance to honor iconic women leaders who are role models, like Ventas chairman Debra Cafaro, who was recognized as the 2021 Goldie Gala “Shero” honoree.

The 2022 Shero, Pam Boneham, an active member of the Urban Land Institute’s Industrial and Office Product Council (Silver Flight) who also founded and co-chaired its Chicago WLI Advisory Board, was recently named as an independent member to CBRE Investment Management’s Americas Direct Real Estate Investment Committee, which has responsibility for more than $20 billion of the firm’s $133.1 billion AUM. Among a host of wins, Boneham has served as president of RREEF America REIT Inc., to serving as managing director at Barings. Not only has Boneham been a Goldie mentor, her husband, Paul, who recently retired as co-head of U.S. Asset Management from BentallGreenOak, served as the first male mentor.

Boneham explains, “The Goldie Initiative is the best in class, nurturing and developing a legitimate pipeline of female leaders in the commercial real estate industry. The Goldie Initiative is focused on graduate students studying real estate and who have already developed an interest in and a commitment to our industry, and that’s why it works.”

As part of the Women’s Leadership Initiative’s (WLI) 10th Anniversary stay tuned for Urban Land’s spring 2022 edition when we will spotlight recipients of both WLI’s Prologis Achievement Award and the announcement of the WLI Innovation Grant recipients at Spring Meeting.

SIBLEY FLEMING is editor in chief of Urban Land.

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Originally Appeared Here

Soundview Real Estate Partners sold Corridors I and II, a two-building, Class-A office portfolio of 301K SF at 2651 and 2655 Warrenville Road in west suburban Downers Grove, to Group RMC.

Patrick Shields, Sam DiFrancesca, Jaime Fink, Jeff Bramson and Bruce Miller of JLL Capital Markets represented Soundview. The team also procured the buyer, which it said was attracted by the fully leased property’s healthy tenant roster.

Courtesy of Connor Steinkamp Photography

Corridors I and II

“The level of leasing volume since the onset of COVID speaks to the location and desirability of the buildings,” Shields said in a statement. “In this environment, there is a flight to credit and long-dated [weighted average lease term]; Corridors was able to offer both to the market.”

Corridors I and II are leased to investment-grade and corporate headquarters tenants, including Huntington, Oak Street Health and Citgo, Shields added. A fitness center and conferencing facility connects the five-story buildings. Additional on-site amenities include a deli with outdoor seating, a tenant lounge with table tennis and foosball tables, and a parking garage.

EXECS

Premier Design + Build Group promoted Joseph Ahrens, one of its executives, to the role of senior vice president, market leader. Ahrens has been with the design and construction firm since 2008. He most recently served as Premier’s vice president of Midwest operations. The firm has two Chicago-area offices, as well as regional division offices in New Jersey and California.  

***

Essex Realty Group hired Drake Orser as a new associate. He joins the team led by directors Abe Eilian and Matt Feo.

Courtesy of ML Realty Partners

101 North Paragon in Romeoville

SALES

ML Realty Partners purchased a 1M SF industrial building portfolio, plus 45 acres of industrial land sites, located across the Chicago metro area. The portfolio consists of 15 industrial buildings within the Interstate 55 Corridor, Central DuPage, Lake County and O’Hare submarkets, including 101 North Paragon in Romeoville. The acquisition also included five shovel-ready industrial land sites totaling 40 acres in the I-55 Corridor and an additional 5 acres in Lake County. Jeff Devine, Steve Disse and Mike Senner of Colliers represented the seller in this transaction.

***

A New York-based private investor bought a 24-hour Walgreens drugstore located at the entrance to Carillon, a master-planned active adult retirement community on Weber Road in southwest suburban Romeoville, for $6.5M. Brian Parmacek and Mitchell Kiven of Marcus & Millichap’s Chicago Downtown office marketed the property on behalf of its developer. The buyer was secured and represented by Benjamin Kohl, also of Marcus & Millichap. Financing was obtained on behalf of the buyer by First Vice President Frank Montalto and Senior Vice President Dean Giannakopoulos of Marcus & Millichap Capital Corp.

***

Courtesy of Essex Realty Group

3048 West Cortland St.

A Chicago-based investor bought a 68-unit portfolio in Logan Square. The portfolio included the 15-unit 3023 West Cortland St., the 24-unit 3043 West Cortland St. and the 29-unit 3048 West Cortland St. A multifamily team led by Jordan Multack and Jordan Gottlieb of Essex Realty Group was hired to market the portfolio for sale, and the properties went under contract after fewer than than 20 days on the market. 3048 West Cortland St. sold for $5.2M. Multack and Gottlieb represented the buyer. 3043 West Cortland St. and 3023 West Cortland St. sold to the same investor for a combined price of $6.3M. Gottlieb represented the buyer.

***

Courtesy of The Boulder Group

15645 South LaGrange Road in Orland Park

An Israel-based real estate firm sold a single-tenant, net-leased Discovery Clothing property at 15645 South LaGrange Road in southwest suburban Orland Park for $4.2M to an East Coast-based institution. Randy Blankstein and Jimmy Goodman of Wilmette, Illinois-based The Boulder Group represented the seller. The 12K SF building was constructed in 2012.

***

Courtesy of Interra Realty

935 South Blvd. in Oak Park

A confidential seller sold three multifamily properties in Oak Park, Berwyn and Forest Park, all near west suburbs of Chicago, to three different private buyers for a total of $5.97M. Interra Realty’s Patrick Kennelly and Paul Waterloo brokered the sales. The transactions were: 935 South Blvd. in Oak Park, a three-story, 31-unit apartment building that sold for $4.2M; 3522-3530 South Oak Park Ave., a two-building, 12-unit rental community in Berwyn that sold for $1.15M; and 1214 Marengo Ave., a six-unit rental property in Forest Park that sold for $620K. 

Courtesy of Optima

Optima Lakeview

LEASES

Optima launched pre-leasing for its 198-unit Optima Lakeview rental apartment building, a transit-oriented development that includes 14K SF of street-level retail at 3478 North Broadway St., just blocks from Wrigley Field in Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood. First move-ins are scheduled for April. Designed by Optima’s David Hovey Sr. and built by Optima’s in-house construction team, Optima Lakeview offers one-, two- and three-bedroom floor plans. It also features 40K SF of amenities across the building, including a sky deck.

CONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT

Co-developers Venture One Real Estate and CRG broke ground on an 897K SF build-to-suit facility for Central Steel and Wire, a Ryerson Holding Corp. company, at Gateway 57 Business Park in south suburban University Park. The new facility will serve as CS&W’s headquarters and operations hub. The facility is the third development at Gateway 57, a 355-acre master-planned development at the southeast corner of Steger and Central roads in University Park.

Clayco will serve as the design-builder, Lamar Johnson Collaborative will act as the architect, and Jacob and Hefner and Associates will be the civil engineer on the project. Dirk Riekse, Jordan Rovito and Sean Henrick of Cushman & Wakefield represented CS&W in the transaction. Jason West and Ryan Klink of Cushman & Wakefield represented the landlord. The facility is set to be completed in the spring of 2023.

***

LBA Logistics is set to start leasing The Industry Center at Melrose Park, a three-building, 650K SF complex in west suburban Melrose Park that the Irvine, California-based company just developed on property formerly owned by Sears Holdings Corp. The buildings sit on 44 acres and feature 36-foot clear heights. Sam Durkin, Dominic Carbonari and Scott Duerkop of JLL are handling the leasing effort. Two of the three buildings are already pre-leased, leaving open 171K SF of the project.

THIS AND THAT

Peak Properties added 44 units and three commercial spaces in Evanston to its student housing property management portfolio. A Peak team led by Mike Zucker will manage and lease the properties, both steps from Northwestern University’s campus. 2146 Sherman Ave. is a three-story, 11-unit property, and 722 Clark St. has 33 studio apartments and three commercial spaces. 

***

Bridge Industrial and the Public Sector Pension Investment Board established a joint venture to develop modern warehouses in urban infill locations in core markets across the U.S. Bridge, which has offices in Chicago, London and several other U.S. locations, is a privately-owned real estate operating company and investment manager. PSP is a Canadian pension fund. The groups allocated $550M in equity to the joint venture, with an option to re-up for a further $550M to bring the commitment to $1.1B.

***

Despite 122K SF of positive absorption in Chicago’s Central Business District in Q4, the year-to-date negative 2.5M SF of absorption total for 2021 was the worst on record, according to MBRE. The overall direct vacancy rate in the CBD decreased by 10 basis points to 16.7% at the end of Q4 — the only decrease since 2019. The total vacancy rate, including sublease space, decreased by 17 basis points to 20.5%.

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Originally Appeared Here

New homes and existing homes are appreciating at similar rates, according to a new report from CoreLogic. Looking at data from the past decade, CoreLogic’s detailed picture of home appreciation looks beyond simple medians, using the Case-Shiller index for existing home sales and the hedonic index for new home sales. 

The Case-Shiller index derives value based on the difference in an existing home’s repeat sale prices, while the hedonic index takes the specific characteristics of a new home, including location, into account. The CoreLogic study offers a comparison for 10-year price appreciation, year-over-year price appreciation and two-year price appreciation.

And, overall, it appears that new homes and existing homes are appreciating at similar rates. “Different pockets of the housing market behave differently,” writes the economist Thomas Malone. “New home prices have risen in the last year, though not quite to the same extent as existing homes and had a boom at the start of the 2010s that was not seen in the existing home market.”

U.S. home price appreciation in new homes and resales

via CoreLogic

This picture of price appreciation stretching back one decade utilizes CoreLogic’s public records data from 2011 to 2021. During that time frame, new homes appreciated more than existing homes and are now 127% more expensive than in 2011. Existing homes are 93% more expensive. However, there are still other ways to interpret the data.

Year-over-year home price appreciation in new homes and resales

via CoreLogic

When the data is considered year-over-year, both existing homes and new homes show similar appreciation. However, existing homes experienced a later peak, in July 2021, compared to the May 2021 peak for new homes.

Two-year home price appreciation in new homes and resales

via CoreLogic

The current two-year appreciation for homes, at this point, does not include the usually flat circumstances of spring 2020. As such, it’s an interesting time to consider those values. And according to CoreLogic, they are similar for both new and existing homes: 25% and 27%, respectively — high appreciation, certainly, though not the peak that occurred in January 2014.

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Originally Appeared Here

Many Americans appear troubled about this issue. For nearly two decades, when answering an open-ended survey question about the most significant problem their local schools encounter, Americans cited insufficient funding. A century ago, that was hardly the case.

Schooling for us and them

In the 1920s, political leaders believed it was necessary that whites remain residentially separate from poor, racial and ethnic groups. Support for this policy was particularly apparent in a city like Chicago, where following the Great Migration of southern Blacks, there were many incidents of racial violence that frightened white inhabitants.

The Chicago Real Estate Board responded by advocating racially restrictive covenants among homeowners, forbidding racial/ethnic minorities from moving into their areas. The agreements became a source of civil pride. A local newspaper triumphantly declared that the covenants “stretched “like a marvelously woven chain of armor” from ‘the northern gates of Hyde Park … [to] all the far-flung white communities of the South Side.’” Since the U.S., unlike most other affluent nations, determines children’s access to public schools based on where they live, racial/ethnic segregation of schooling in these locales was assured.

Then in the 1930s, the federal government took a decisive step that further solidified racial/ethnic school segregation. A practice called redlining involves marking in red on maps the residential areas believed too risky for government-backed home loans. Officials used race, income and other demographic factors to designate redlined areas.

Throughout the U.S., bankers accepted the recommendations, further restricting racial/ethnic minorities’ access to home loans allowing them to move into more affluent school districts. Those disadvantages persist. Recent research has revealed the stark fact that across the nation school districts where most students are people of color receive $23 billion less than those where the majority are white. That means the average nonwhite student receives about $2,200 less school funding than a white counterpart. Minority students living in wealthy states usually aren’t better off. In Connecticut, for example, the difference in school funding for districts where 75 percent of the students are people of color compared to those that are 75 percent white is $2,300 per child.

A frontal attack

Using Connecticut as an example, two urban educators have cited measures to compensate for reduced school funding. First, because of historic discrimination, Black children in Connecticut live in families with considerably less taxable income than whites, restricting the state’s contribution to their school funding. The researchers concluded that promoting equality involves making up the difference — nearly $1,600 per child.

Second, Black-owned homes in the state are worth on average $250,000 compared to over $420,000 for whites’. Local districts in Connecticut perversely compensate for racial/ethnic minorities’ lower property-tax payments by assessing them at a higher rate. The researchers indicate that these homeowners should receive a rebate for what they label the discriminatory “Black Tax” — slightly over $1,800 for a residence valued at $250,000.

Like American public school funding overall, the Black Tax materialized with little publicity in a political system that affluent whites controlled. To reform this destructive system requires the opposite — an aroused, even furious public presence. As Paul F. Cummins, an activist educator/writer, has said, money can’t eliminate all educational inequities, but “very few … can be solved without increased dollars.”

Following the lead of other affluent nations, the U.S. sorely needs what Cummins called “a new trinity for educational support,” establishing a financial priority that is fair, national and committed to the long haul. He proposed a sharply accelerated $40,000 per year allotted per student and asserted that diverse citizen groups must become deeply involved, demanding that “various foundations, bipartisan Congressional committees, unions, corporate leaders and think-tank scholars … accept this funding goal.” It would be a promising start.

Chris Doob is an emeritus professor of sociology at Southern Connecticut State University and the author of a variety of books involving sociology and sports. He can be reached at doobc1@southernct.edu.

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Originally Appeared Here

Chicago’s local development community has worried for years about the specter of higher property taxes and the city’s more stringent requirements to include additional affordable housing units in new multifamily projects.

But last year’s Affordable Housing Omnibus Bill, signed into law by Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker in August, created a property tax relief program that could calm both fears while serving as a model for getting affordable housing built.

Developers and landlords of all sizes, who do work in all kinds of communities — from low-to-moderate-income neighborhoods on Chicago’s South Side to pricey downtown submarkets — will now be able to get their assessed values reduced and limit the amount of property taxes owed if they reserve a set percentage of units for affordable housing after rehabbing or constructing a new building.

The law took effect Jan. 1. And developers that had been reluctant to build in the city say it could be a game-changer.

Courtesy of Community Investment Corp.

A CIC-funded rehab on Chicago’s South Side

“We have been looking at Chicago on a much more limited basis for about three years,” Fifield Cos. Executive Vice President Lindsey Senn said. “But based on the conversations we’re having today, we do believe this incentive, if it comes to fruition as the state intends it, will again make deals financially feasible in the city of Chicago.”

“[This] is groundbreaking legislation that will fundamentally change the way developers approach affordable housing in this state,” Related Midwest President Curt Bailey said in a statement. “It creates affordability in areas where none previously existed and leads to higher quality housing.”

Related Midwest plans to seek such property tax relief for its 900 West Randolph, a 43-story, 300-unit mixed-use project for Fulton Market that broke ground in November, Bailey added. It is part of a special district created by the omnibus bill that specifically covers downtown Chicago and the surrounding neighborhoods

But the program is statewide and designed to benefit everyone from developers launching $100M residential towers in hot markets like Fulton Market and the Gold Coast to rehabbers of seven-unit buildings in low-to-moderate-income neighborhoods such as Englewood or Pullman on the South Side, according to Stacie Young, president and CEO of Community Investment Corp., a nonprofit lender.

“The borrowers who come to CIC are typically looking to do rehab work in neighborhoods that historically have experienced disinvestment,” she said. “Hopefully, having some predictability and transparency when it comes to property tax relief means these borrowers can buy more buildings and do more rehabs in a responsible way.”

There are three tiers of benefits to the program, each designed to help a different kind of developer or landlord, said Young, who until last year headed The Preservation Compact, a CIC program that for years brought together property owners, community groups, affordable housing advocates, developers and government agencies, including Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi’s office, to help design legislative solutions for property tax relief and to ease the construction of affordable units.  

“We brought all of the constituents together and said, ‘Let’s come up with something that helps everyone,’” Young said.

The strategy worked. Although disputes between developers and housing advocates can be contentious, the omnibus bill passed the state Senate by a 59-0 vote. 

Anyone wanting to qualify for the first tier needs to reserve 35% of units for affordable housing, meaning they are rented to tenants at 60% or less of the area median income, as well as investing at least $12.50 per SF into the building. In return, these owners will get a 35% reduction of their buildings’ assessed values for up to 30 years. This will likely work best in low-income neighborhoods where the rents are already low, making it easy for landlords to hit this benchmark, Young said.

The second tier calls for reserving 15% of a building’s units as affordable housing, along with new investments of at least $8 per SF, which gets owners a 25% reduction in their assessed values. This will work best for owners in higher-cost markets such as Rogers Park or Lincoln Square on the North Side, where lowering the rents on 35% of the units would be tough, Young said.

A key aspect of the program is that the investments made must be for things that increase long-term value, which can include boosting energy efficiency, accessibility or in other primary building systems.

“The investments can’t be in marble countertops,” Young said.

Bisnow/Brian Rogal

Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi at the December 2019 Analysts Day

Young added that the program isn’t a way to simply lower property taxes. Instead, it should encourage landlords to invest in their buildings and create affordable housing. CIC did a few case studies of some of its renovated affordable multifamily properties and found that if landlords did the same renovations under the new law, the projects would likely owe roughly the same in taxes despite the increased values.

“It’s not as if this is going to be a big shift in the property tax burden,” she said. “It just means if landlords hold onto the affordable units, they’re not going to get some wild, unpredictable tax bill.”

Keeping a couple of units affordable in small buildings and getting property tax relief in return are relatively straightforward deals, and that simplicity could bring in many landlords and developers who have been reluctant to jump into the world of subsidized housing, according to Veronica Gonzalez, regional director of development for the Midwest at the NHP Foundation, a nonprofit that seeks to preserve and create affordable housing.

Landlords could accept tenants with housing vouchers from their local housing authority, but many owners fear getting entangled in that bureaucracy, she added. And although Low-Income Housing Tax Credits and other tools can also finance affordable units, these usually involve complicated, multilayered financing, which frequently means bringing on a partner that knows how to put such deals together, Gonzalez said. Some people are just not ready for that.

“It’s a niche part of the commercial real estate market, and either you know it or you don’t, and it’s not how you make your money,” Gonzalez said.

Senn said she is optimistic these changes will kick-start new deals.

“We won’t pencil deals in Chicago, but they are starting to make sense again,” she said.

Fifield Cos. developed several West Loop apartment towers over the past decade, helping transform it into an upscale residential neighborhood. In the last three years, though, the company got hit with a double whammy, Senn added.

Kaegi won election in 2018 by promising to rebalance assessed values in favor of single-family homeowners, shifting some of the property tax burden toward commercial owners, who he said had been getting favorable treatment from his predecessor. Then, in 2021, the Chicago City Council updated the city’s Affordable Requirements Ordinance, which now requires downtown developers to set aside 20% of new units for affordable housing — or pay fees into the city’s affordable housing fund.

“That was pretty much the nail in the coffin,” according to Senn.

She added that Fifield Cos. didn’t simply opt to avoid new downtown deals. Its institutional partners and lenders were looking at the prospective bottom lines, and they decided uncertainty over property taxes, as well as that 20% affordable requirement, made it impossible to move forward with new developments.

“We were not hitting the metrics they required to make a deal,” Senn said.

Courtesy of The Habitat Co.

43 Green

The property tax relief program may provide a way around both obstacles, she added. Now, instead of just absorbing the costs of setting aside a chunk of units as affordable, developers that hit the 20% affordable threshold will get something in return. In the first three years, they will get a 100% reduction of the difference in assessed values between the base year, meaning one year before the affordable units are occupied, and the post-construction values. The reduction goes down to 20% by the 13th year and lasts until the property is 30 years old, as long as the affordability is maintained.

An added benefit, according to Senn, is that it will encourage builders to include affordable units on-site rather than just paying into the affordable housing fund, helping the city achieve its goal of making sure low-income renters have affordable places to live in all communities, even expensive neighborhoods such as downtown.

Although a lot of details need to be ironed out with the assessor’s office, potential lenders and investors are sending positive signals to Fifield Cos., Senn said.

“It’s really, for us, the only way that projects work,” she said. “We don’t dictate that; the debt and equity markets do.”

Developers of large-scale affordable housing projects are also cheering the new program, according to Jeff Head, vice president of development for The Habitat Co.’s affordable housing division. His firm has several major projects underway, including the 91-unit first phase of 43 Green, a mixed-use development now rising near the 43rd Street Green Line stop in Chicago’s Grand Boulevard neighborhood, which will reserve 50% of its units for affordable housing.

The company is also building Ogden Commons, a 10-acre, $200M mixed-use development on Chicago’s Near West Side. It is also handling the redevelopment of LeClaire Courts, a former Chicago Housing Authority community on the Southwest Side. Both of these new developments will provide mostly affordable housing.

Unlike market-rate developers, Habitat can’t just raise the rent if escalating property values push up the amount of tax owed, so the company plans to pursue the 35% reduction in assessed values for all three, according to Head. That will do more than improve Habitat’s bottom line. Limiting the amount owed in property taxes means more funds that can go toward the buildings’ upkeep, and perhaps even allow the firm to set aside enough to launch new projects.

“The stability and certainty on taxes that comes out of this is the biggest win for us,” he said. “It’s a big benefit for the entire affordable housing community and will make a significant difference going forward.”

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Originally Appeared Here

A new law in Illinois allows homeowners to change their housing deeds to remove racist clauses that were used to bar people of certain races and religious groups from buying homes or living in a particular neighborhood.

The clauses, which are known as racial restrictive covenants, were outlawed under the Fair Housing Act in 1968, but they remain buried in an unknown number of property documents across the United States — relics of a broader effort by the real estate industry, federal housing authorities and individual homeowners to prevent integration.

In many states, it can be arduous, if not impossible, to remove the covenants from property records, prompting states such as Illinois to pass laws that streamline the process. As of Jan. 1, homeowners in the state can submit a request to their county recorder to remove the covenants. The cost per request is capped at $10.

Since 2018, at least 13 states have passed laws to make it easier to remove racial covenants from deeds. A bill to do so in New York is pending in the Legislature.

One of the first people to request the modification in Illinois was Nicole Sullivan, who has been trying to change her deed since around 2011, when she bought a house in Lake County, in the northeastern corner of the state.

Ms. Sullivan’s homeowner’s association had sent her a copy of the deed, dated March 1929, to explain why she could not create a fenced-off area for her dog on the property.

She was intrigued by the document, then alarmed when she found a clause stipulating that the house could never be sold to or occupied by “any person or persons of the African or Negro, Japanese, Chinese, Jewish or Hebrew races, or their descendants.”

Ms. Sullivan, who is white, and a neighbor tried to have the language removed but kept hitting roadblocks. Eventually, they approached State Representative Daniel Didech, a Democrat from Buffalo Grove, who with State Senator Adriane Johnson, also a Democrat from Buffalo Grove, sponsored legislation to allow changes in the Illinois General Assembly. Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed the bill into law in July.

Ms. Sullivan, 41, said that the law change was largely a symbolic victory and that there was much more to do to improve housing equity in her community and across the United States, but she hoped the law would help make her neighborhood more diverse.

“We’re stopping this cycle of recycling this language back into our community, so no longer will new community members interested in putting up a fence have to read about how their ancestors would not have been allowed to be there,” Ms. Sullivan said.

It is difficult to know how many property documents in the United States use racial covenants because they are in private agreements. There are local efforts underway in many cities and counties, including Cook County, to find and catalog these records.

A study by Lake Forest College in Lake Forest, Ill., found that by the late 1940s, more than 220 subdivisions in Cook County had created or adopted racial restrictive covenants.

“This subdivision is restricted to use by persons of the Caucasian race,” read an agreement recorded in September 1946. “This restriction shall not apply to domestic servants.”

Nobody had filed to modify their property record in Cook County as of Wednesday afternoon, Sally Daly, the deputy clerk of communications for the Cook County Clerk’s Office, said in an email.

Chloe Thurston, an assistant professor of political science at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., said the use of racial covenants expanded after a 1917 Supreme Court decision that made it illegal for cities to designate neighborhoods for specific racial groups, but they did not apply to private contracts.

Racial restrictive covenants were then used by realtors and federal housing authorities to prevent integration. In 1927, Nathan William MacChesney, a prominent lawyer, wrote a model racial restrictive covenant for the Chicago Real Estate Board that targeted only Black people. The Federal Housing Administration also recommended that racial restrictive covenants be included in homes that it insured.

In 1948, the Supreme Court made existing racial restrictive covenants unenforceable, but the ruling, Shelley v. Kraemer, did not entirely stop them from being used. Twenty years later, the Fair Housing Act made new covenants illegal.

Professor Thurston, who is the author of “At the Boundaries of Homeownership: Credit, Discrimination and the American State,” said it was worth asking whether the energy directed at changing laws to remove these unenforceable covenants came at the expense of tackling more urgent issues of housing equity.

Racial restrictive covenants, and other forms of housing discrimination such as redlining, shrank the housing supply for Black families and, as a result, their ability to pass down wealth to later generations, Professor Thurston said.

There is a longer legacy of other restrictive processes, she added, that is “not going to be addressed by simply removing language from a deed that most people don’t think about or see.”

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Originally Appeared Here

The ongoing commission battle has a recent report calling for some major changes in how commission rates are determined, but is that the right choice?

How much commission agents earn for selling a home has been a hot topic for some time now. Some say it’s not right that homebuyers end up paying toward these commissions as part of the purchase price and that there’s no room to negotiate since the agent’s commission is generally set by the sellers. 

Calling real estate commission rates just “one step below fixed,” a Consumer Federation of America report recently called for some changes. Among them is the uncoupling of both seller and buyer agent compensation, something the report says will help spur price competition, reduce the commissions consumers are paying and align agent compensation to a much greater extent with agent service. 

The report recommends federal agencies and courts prohibit the tying of listing agent and buyer agent commissions, so buyers can negotiate buyer agent compensation rather than having it set and paid for by listing agents and sellers.  

But the National Association of Realtors says the uncoupling of both agent buyer and seller compensation could be detrimental to first-time, low- and middle-income buyers. NAR officials told Chicago Agent that many consumers may not be in a position to pay the extra funds that would result from uncoupling broker commissions. 

“Uncoupling broker compensation would require buyers to come out of pocket to pay real estate broker commissions, and that could freeze out many from the homebuying process,” Mantill Williams, NAR’s VP of communications, told Chicago Agent. “Or could lead to those going into the homebuying market without representation.”   

This isn’t the first time the issue of commissions has raised its head. The Justice Department was involved, investigating commissions, and President Biden in July signed an executive order asking the Federal Trade Commission to adopt new rules to address unfair or exclusionary practices. 

“The American real estate system is set up to create a win-win for both buyers and sellers,” Williams said. “The buyer benefits because they do not come out of pocket for real estate services, and the seller benefits because the proceeds from the sale — which comes from the buyer — pays for the seller’s representation.”

Williams added that the current system creates more competition because it allows all types of buyers (first-time, low- and middle-income buyers) the opportunity to participate in the homebuying process. “And in addition, that would result in the largest pool of buyers for the sellers,” he said. 

Last November, the National Association of Realtors, took steps to ensure transparency for buyers by approving several MLS recommendations including listing the broker’s compensation on each active listing on consumer-facing websites and in MLS data feeds. 

NAR President Leslie Rouda Smith told Chicago Agent the NAR believes the guidance regarding cooperative compensation that appears in the organization’s Handbook on Multiple Listing Policy serves the best interests of both consumers and brokers. She says it gives consumers and listing brokers the freedom to choose how much commission to offer the buyer broker, including as little as one penny. 

“This broker cooperation keeps local marketplaces from fracturing, which would be paralyzing to consumers and small businesses,” she said. “It also encourages buyer and seller brokers to share their information in their local, independent broker data hub, enabling maximum options for consumers and allowing even the smallest brokerages to compete with the largest brokerages.”

Because of this policy, Smith said the result is the largest, most accessible and most accurate source of housing information available to consumers. “Without it, the lack of complete, transparent and accessible data for all would mean smaller brokerages have to piecemeal information and couldn’t offer as many options to sellers and buyers,” she said.

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Proper Rate, the joint venture by Guaranteed Rate and @properties, has named Rich Honquest as a new vice president of mortgage lending. In the position, Honquest will be originating loans in the Chicago suburbs and southern Wisconsin.

Honquest worked in real estate for 10 years before pivoting to the mortgage industry in 2019. And since then, he’s already funded more than $100 million in total loan volume.

“Helping clients become homeowners by understanding their goals has always been the most rewarding aspect of my job,” Honquest said in a press release. “I look forward to being part of Proper Rate and providing its innovative platform to even more customers in both Illinois and Wisconsin.”

Proper Rate Executive Vice President of Sales Dan Moran also looks forward to Honquest’s addition to the team. “His dedication to clients and his unique experience in the real estate industry will be huge assets to Proper Rate as we continue our rapid growth,” Moran said.

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Who was Amanda Stapleton and what was her cause of death? Suicide Or Accident Explained: There is news flooded on the internet that a producer named Amanda Stapleton has died. The cause of her death was unknown. People are curious to know whether the cause of her death was a suicide or an accident. Let’s dig into this to get more information on this trending topic. The mysterious death of Amanda Stapleton has stunned many people on social media especially those who worked with her and her close friends. She was an investment specialist and a public speaker who was not afraid to express her views on various issues. She was an inspiration to many women who are aspiring to be successful in the real estate industry. Follow More Update On GetIndiaNews.com

How did Amanda Stapleton die?

Amanda Stapleton, the producer reportedly dead but her family has not disclosed the cause of her death or whether she died from suicide or an accident. Some people say that the young woman has died because of suicide but this news did not confirm yet. Amanda was a licensed realtor and she was known for being the most talented real estate agent in Chicago. In fact, in 2018, she also held the title of Top Producer where she has won this title in the name of her. Having dedication and hard work towards work, Amanda maintained a high level of national and international elite clientele who have jointly held the majority of Chicago’s multi-family homes.

Amanda Stapleton Death Cause

Sources say that Amanda Stapleton was somewhere around 25 or 26 years old at the time of her death. She is 5 feet 6 inches tall and weighed around 70 kg. She was a beautiful, gentle, kindhearted, and gorgeous woman having beautiful black eyes and black colored hair which suits her personality. Her co-workers and family appreciated her dedication and commitment to her work. She’s the kind of person who believes in self-made.

Who was Amanda Stapleton?

Amanda Stapleton does not have a Wiki page on the official site. But her bio is featured on her official website. She was a Top Producer in Chicago, and she was known as the top agent at her agency since 2015. Amanda is dubbed as the Real Estate Queen Bee. She sold million-dollar listings, ordinary-priced single-family homes, and investment properties. When she was 23 years old, she started flipping houses and she was not afraid of hard labor and understood the concept of getting the job done. She is also a daughter according to her Instagram. Her name is unknown as she did not reveal it openly in public as she kept most of her life kept in private.

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Home Partners of America has launched Choice Lease: a first-of-its-kind program offering below-market rents to qualified applicants. The Chicago-based company, which was acquired by Blackstone Group in 2021, specializes in offering rent-to-own options to potential homeowners. And now, Choice Lease will expand those homeownership opportunities in historically underrepresented communities.

For nearly 10 years, Home Partners has organized rent-to-own plans for those who might otherwise lack the means to purchase a single-family home. Beginning with a prequalification form, Home Partners connects fitting applicants with agents who can help them find the right home. From there, Home Partners makes a cash offer on the home, then sets clients up with a lease and five years of guaranteed rent. From there, residents have time to decide on their purchase.

But the Choice Lease program furthers that mission by expanding housing accessibility, specifically, for low-to-moderate-income residents. Choice Lease is intended for households earning less than 80% of area median income. As such, applicants need an approximate median income of just $55,000 to participate in Choice Lease — far less than the national $93,200 median. Through Choice Lease, Home Partners will offer rental rates about 10% lower than the market rate, and eventually, a home price fairly below the market value.

“During a period in which constrained housing supply has made it extremely difficult to find a desirable home, our Choice Lease program is providing a critical service to many who would not otherwise be able to access the housing market,” Bill Young, the co-founder and CEO of Home Partners of America, said in a press release. “We are grateful that our partners at Blackstone have provided the support needed to implement this initiative, which addresses disparities in homeownership among historically under-represented communities as well as low- and moderate-income consumers.”

In the same press release, advisory board member Dr. Michael Stegman weighed in on the potential benefits of the emerging program. “In an environment of increasing home prices, Choice Lease will meaningfully expand access to affordable, high-quality homes and create a homeownership pipeline for working families and first-time homebuyers by providing below market rents and lower purchase right prices,” he said. Stegman is a former senior policy advisor for housing in the Obama White House at the National Economic Council.

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