Foreclosures may alter home values

In a sign of how the real estate market has imploded, property appraisers plan to figure in foreclosure sales when they value homes next year.

State Department of Revenue rules advise county property appraisers to ignore foreclosures and other types of "distressed" sales in favor of arms-length deals between willing buyers and sellers.

The belief is that such open market sales are truer indicators of home values. But that's only the case when foreclosure sales are relatively rare, not rampant like they are now, property appraisers are saying.

"The number of foreclosure sales we are dealing with now is so much greater than I have ever seen that I believe they have become part of the market," said Pam Dubov, Pinellas County's property appraiser-elect.

Warren Weathers, Hillsborough County's chief deputy appraiser, said that Dubov is right and that his office also will look at how to gauge the effect of foreclosure sales on values. In Pasco County, Appraiser Mike Wells has already done so for this year's tax roll.

"Some of the Department of Revenue rules are for a normal market," Weathers said, "and this is not a normal market."

Dubov and Weathers have yet to come up with a method for weighing how the inclusion of foreclosure sales will effect homeowners' property tax bills.

It's complex and uncharted territory, they said. Next week, appraisers from across Florida are meeting in St. Petersburg, and Dubov said she plans to raise the issue.

"We have to do some gaming of this and see what it looks like," she said. "I just know we can't do business as usual."

But both she and Weathers agree one likely result is that homeowners in areas with lots of foreclosure sales whose homes are assessed near market value will see their property tax bills drop next year, assuming governments don't raise tax rates.

In Pasco, Property Appraiser Wells said that in the spring he told his staff to consider foreclosure sales when developing the current tax roll. Wells said he did so after talking with his staff, his attorney and few others. He has yet to hear complaints from the state, or from homeowners who saw their tax bills dip.

"I believe it allowed me to come up with a fairer picture of the market, and what is going on out there," Wells said.

Jim Overton, Duval County property appraiser and president of the Florida Association of Property Appraisers, said he was unaware of Wells' move but isn't surprised others are eager to follow. The issue was discussed recently among appraisers at the national level, he said, and will be taken up by his association in coming months.

According to Dubov, Gov. Charlie Crist's office has asked the Department of Revenue for a review of the matter. Other than to say two or three appraisers have been in contact about the issue, the department declined to discuss what Dubov, Weathers and others plan.

Hernando County Property Appraiser Alvin Mazourek said he also was considering how to incorporate distressed sales into next year's values.

Though some homeowners may see their tax burden lift a bit, the decision by property appraisers to include foreclosure sales in their market analysis could reduce the amount of revenue going to already strapped local governments.

Incoming Pinellas administrator Bob LaSala said that in such a precarious economy it makes sense for appraisers to innovate and change their practices, even if it makes his job tougher.

"I wouldn't begrudge the home­owner who is struggling with a tax bill a solution that might make sense in this broader picture just because I've got constraints as well," LaSala said.

Florida is second only to California in the number of struggling borrowers who have lost their homes to lenders. In Tampa Bay area counties last month, 26 percent of real estate deals involved banks selling off properties reclaimed through foreclosure. Another 9 percent were "short sales," where borrowers behind on mortgages settle with lenders for less than what's owed.

That means in October more than one in three deals were distressed. The figure in September was 28 percent.

By comparison, in September 2007, 6 percent of sales were distressed; in September 2006, just 1 percent.

Peter K. Murphy, a real estate consultant with Home Encounter in Ybor City who provided the data on distressed deals, said that last month banks were selling foreclosed homes for 60 percent of market value.

source: tampabay.com


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Foreclosures may alter home values



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Superyachts sink in value as crunch bites

Luxury yachts in Monte Carlo harbour, Monaco. Photograph: Graeme Robertson

They were the ultimate status symbol of the boom years, coveted by billionaire businessmen who wanted to show off their wealth, but the value of superyachts is plummeting as the credit crunch really begins to bite.

Many owners are being forced to sell their boats as their other assets fall, and dealers are slashing prices as the market slows.

Some bargains are on offer, according to dealers, including the 164ft Alibella, which boasts a helipad and marble fixtures and fittings finished with gold trim, and is now available for just €24.5m (£21m) - an huge €9.5m discount - if a buyer can come up with the cash within a month.

Edmiston, a London-based yacht brokers, says it was delivered to its anonymous owner six months ago, but they are now seeking a quick sale. An email sent to clients by William Christie, a broker at the company said: "The owner will sell at this massively reduced price if the deal can be completed within 30 days."

The Alibella can accommodate 14 guests in six cabins, but cheaper second-hand yachts are also available. The 163ft Thunder B, which has a seven-metre swimming pool, is now available for €13.7m, down from €18.9m and the asking price on the 146ft Candyscape has also been slashed, from €15.5m to €12.9m. The interior of the boat was designed by Candy & Candy, the upmarket property developer owned by brothers Nick and Christian Candy, and boasts a saloon with a giant entertainment system, including a pop-up flat-screen television.

The 150ft Midlandia, meanwhile, has been reduced in price from €27m to €19.9m. It comes with bullet-proof glass and an outdoor cinema; perfect for a security-conscious film buff with a few millions to spare.

link to the original post: Superyachts sink in value as crunch bites

source: guardian.co.uk


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Hybrid tugboat may give local ports a green push

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Benjamin Reed / For The Times

A Foss Maritime employee applies a compound to protect the tugboat's steel from rust.

The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, the largest cargo container ports in the nation, invest in cleaner-air efforts.

By Ronald D. White
November 13, 2008

For all of its 21st-century advancements, the shipping industry drags a lot of old technology around.

Giant vessels are so sophisticated these days that they require only a handful of crew members. But the ships still burn a thick, dirty sludge called bunker fuel while at sea and slurp diesel to keep the lights and air conditioning running while in port.

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  Photos: hybrid tugboat

Inefficient yard tractors and cranes guzzle fuel and spew exhaust as they stack containers. And tugboats, pound for pound the most powerful vessels on the water, waste most of that muscle idling or cruising.

Now, as seaports try to raise their environmental standards, some companies are finding business opportunities.

Foss Maritime Co. of Seattle, for instance, has developed the Prius of tugboats, which consumes less diesel and generates less pollution by using batteries for all the vessel's low-power needs. Foss calls it the world's first hybrid tug and expects to deliver it to San Pedro harbor early next year.

The stakes are high, said William Lyte, co-founder of Technoplex Group in Los Angeles, a consulting firm that helps entrepreneurs market new technology.

"The ports have about $5 billion in expansion projects they want to do, and they can't do it without mitigating the impact of pollution. Green systems will have to be in place to get these projects approved," Lyte said. "Companies from all over the world will be trying to sell that kind of technology here, so California businesses have to be prepared to compete."

Those companies will discover what Foss learned. The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, the largest cargo container ports in the nation, are willing to serve as testing grounds, business incubators and venture capitalists. About $1.35 million in development costs for the Foss hybrid tug came from the two ports and the South Coast Air Quality Management District.

"We asked for help to offset the increased capital costs of doing this," said Susan Hayman, vice president of environmental and corporate development for Foss. "Partnerships are supposed to help jump-start new ideas, and this one is working exactly the way it was supposed to."

Geraldine Knatz, executive director of the Port of Los Angeles, said she hoped other businesses would bring their best ideas to the busy harbor.

"The concept of a hybrid tug really gets to the heart of our technology advancement program, where both ports have set aside a funding pool for the development of clean-technology applications in a maritime environment," she said of the $15-million, five-year program. "So it's very exciting for us to see this concept that Foss brought to us come to fruition."

The Foss tugboat, which is being built in a factory in Rainier, Ore., will be based at Southern California's twin ports for five years in exchange for the funding help.

Outwardly, it looks much like other tugboats. Inside, the tug is so different that it will be able to operate like a regular work boat while using less fuel and expelling less exhaust.

The idea had been kicking around Foss' offices since 2006, based on the knowledge that tugboats tend to run on full power only 7% of the time and waste their 5,000-plus horsepower by idling 50% of the time. Knowing that railroads were moving to electric propulsion, Foss initially looked at switching locomotives, which are used to move trains inside rail yards.

There was one big problem.

"The batteries were too heavy. They would have sunk the boat," Foss Chief Engineer Rick McKenna said.

The solution came from the oil industry.

Aspin Kemp & Associates of Owen Sound, Canada, had expertise with "ultra-deep-water" drilling rigs that are held in position with "dynamic positioning thrusters" instead of anchors. The thrusters have to power up quickly to keep the rig in place.

The engineering firm designed a way to run the diesel engine and the electrical motor generator through the same drive shaft, McKenna said, enabling Foss to switch to smaller batteries and smaller diesel engines.

"It drives like a normal tug," McKenna said. The system's design would enable most existing tugboats to switch to the diesel-battery setup through a retrofit. Foss is hoping that will be a key selling point.

Tests have raised expectations that turning hybrid would cut a tug's particulate and nitrogen-oxide emissions as much as 44%. That's enough to impress environmental groups that have been some of the ports' harshest critics.

"Moving the ports' tugboat fleet toward hybrid technology is a benefit to both local residents and companies who do business at the ports," said Jessica Lass, a spokeswoman for the Natural Resources Defense Council. "It shows it's entirely possible to move the ports toward greener, hybrid technology that cuts down on toxic greenhouse emissions and diesel fuel that fouls our local waterways and bodies."

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  Photos: hybrid tugboat

Foss has been in the tugboat business since 1889. But Heather Tomley, senior environmental specialist at the Port of Long Beach, said companies don't have to have a maritime background to gain the ports' attention.

One such landlubber is Advanced Cleanup Technologies Inc. The 16-year-old Rancho Dominguez company is branching out from its main work of mopping up hazardous spills to cleaning up the air.

Advanced Cleanup has used components from three other companies to develop a bonnet that can be lowered on top of a ship's smokestack, sending the exhaust through a cleaning system, Tomley said. Such a device would be useful when a vessel is docked and has to keep its diesel engines running to power its systems, she said.

The bonnet, Tomley said, "seemed to work very well," with initial tests showing emission reductions of more than 95%.

Another California company cited by Tomley, Yorba Linda-based Vycon Inc., has developed a flywheel technology that attaches to yard cranes. The flywheel system collects energy as cargo containers are lowered and then releases it, helping lift containers. That reduces the power the diesel engine has to supply, cutting fuel consumption and the release of pollutants.

Tomley said Vycon achieved more than a 25% reduction in particulate emissions in California Air Resources Board testing.

Vycon has been watching sales of the $150,000 devices grow. "This year we have sold 38 machines," said Louis Romo, vice president of sales. "We sold five during all of 2007, so that is a nice jump for us."

White is a Times staff writer.

source: latimes.com


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London 'worst hit in recession'

London could suffer the most in a recession while many northern cities will fare better, a report has said.

About two in five jobs that could be at risk over the next two years are in London and the South East, the Local Government Association (LGA) said.

And it said the recent renaissance of the big northern cities had put them in a relatively well-placed position to cope with the effects of the recession.

The LGA has warned a national, blanket policy will not help all areas.

The LGA's 'From Recession To Recovery: The Local Dimension' report projects how each area of the country could be affected differently by the economic downturn if no action is taken.

PROJECTED JOB LOSSES The report says 370,000 jobs could be lost in London (7.9% of all jobs in London) by December 2012 170,000 in Yorkshire & Humberside (6.8%) 230,000 in the North West (6.7%) 180,000 in the West Midlands (6.6%) 280,000 in the South East (6.3%) 130,000 in the East Midlands (6.0%) 170,000 in the East (6.0%) 70,000 in the North East (5.7%) 130,000 in the South West (5.1%)

The report said the construction and manufacturing industries will be hardest hit by the economic slump.

However, high skilled industries look set to remain relatively unscathed.

The LGA, which represents councils in England, is calling for as many economic decisions as possible to be taken at a local level to ensure that local solutions can be found to local problems.

Councillor Margaret Eaton, chairman of the LGA, said the recession was going to hit different parts of the country in very different ways.

"It is clear that a national, one-size-fits-all approach to dealing with the recession simply isn't going to work," she said.

"The research shows that the fastest way to get out of recession is for more decisions about the economy to be taken at the local level, which means councils continuing to work with local people and businesses.

"With greater freedoms over transport, infrastructure, planning, economic development and skills, councils would be able to do even more for local people."

The report analysed the structure of each English region's economy, its performance over the past two years and its performance during the last two recessions.

This is was it said of the regions:

• South East
The South East of England has the highest concentration of the industries which are likely to perform best - 38% of its jobs are to be found in these sectors. The South East performed slightly above average in the last recessions but below average in the past two years

• London
London has relatively few of the industries which are likely to perform the best but equally few of those that are likely to perform the worst. London performed poorly in the last two recessions and slightly below average in the last two years

• East Midlands
The East Midlands has a high proportion of industries which are likely to be affected by the recession (22%). The region performed relatively well in the last two recessions and above average in the past two years

• West Midlands
The West Midlands has a high proportion of industries which are likely to be affected by the recession (20%). The region performed averagely in the last two recessions but slightly above average in the past two years

• North East
The North East has a relatively high proportion of industries that are likely to perform the best. The North East fared averagely in the last two recessions and also performed better than any other region in the past two years

• South West
The South West has an average numbers of industries that are likely to perform well and perform badly. The region performed well in the last two recessions but slightly below average in the past two years

• Yorkshire & Humberside
Yorkshire & Humberside has a high proportion of jobs which are likely to be affected by the recession (20%). The region performed averagely in the last two recessions and slightly below average in the past two years

• North West
The North West has an average numbers of industries that are likely to perform well and perform badly during the recession. The region performed relatively badly in the last two recessions and relatively badly in the past two years

• East
The East of England has a relatively high proportion of industries most likely to be affected by the recession. The region performed well in the last two recessions and well in the past two years

source: bbc


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French company seeks to prohibit Miami area developer’s land sales

Empire World Towers rendering. View Larger

A corporation formed by the French government is trying to block any potential sale of six Miami area properties by developer Leon Cohen and his father, Maurice.

Last year, the Cohens proposed a 93-story skyscraper in downtown Miami, at 330 Biscayne Blvd. They sought land use approvals and hired an architect.

The Cohens are appealing a default judgment in August in New York State Supreme Court over financial fraud allegations related to a Manhattan hotel redevelopment. The New York lawsuit alleges Leon Cohen, of Fisher Island, defrauded a French lender in a multimillion-dollar transaction.

Now, the French corporate successor to that lender, CDR Creances, is trying to collect the money it has claimed, and has asked for a temporary injunction barring sale of the Cohens’ properties in Florida.

CDR Creances is represented locally by Miami-based law firm Kenny Nachwalter and in New York by Douglas Kellner of Kellner Herlihy Getty.

“We’re prepared to prove they stole $20 million out of the hotel, and another $30 million when they sold it,” Kenny Nachwalter attorney Marcos Jimenez told Miami Dade Circuit Judge Sarah Zabel in a Nov. 12 hearing in the judge’s chambers. “At the same time, they were acquiring the Florida properties. We believe we can show direct correlation.”

According to CDR Creances’ Miami-Dade complaint, the Cohens “engaged in a long-term, ongoing conspiracy to defraud CDR” of $92.5 million lent to a Cohen-controlled company in 1991 to finance the acquisition of the Flatotel in New York City. The complaint refers to “a labyrinthine web of affiliated shell companies located in Florida, New York, Delaware, Lichtenstein, the British Virgin Islands, Panama, Quebec and France to conceal their actions.”

The French corporation claims the Cohens sold the Flatotel to a Bahamian company controlled by hotelier Simon Elias in 2000 without disclosing the transaction to CDR or making any payment on the loan.

According to a press release from Kellner’s office, CDR has filed notices of lis pendens for six Florida properties it believes are controlled by the Cohens or by entities controlled by them: 429 Lenox Ave., Miami Beach; 7213 Fisher Island Drive, Fisher Island; 5930 N. Bay Road, Miami Beach; 330 Biscayne Blvd., Miami; 268 Park Drive, Bal Harbour; and 1475 Collins Ave., Miami Beach.

The complaint says Maurice Cohen lives in Miami Beach.

During the Nov. 12 hearing, the Cohens’ attorney, William Petros of New York, sought to dissolve the lis pendens notices, which are formal notifications that warn prospective purchasers of the Cohens’ properties that litigation is pending. Zabel asked for written proposed orders from both sides, and said she would rule in 10 to 14 days.

Petros argued that CDR Creances’ efforts to chase money from New York to Florida are an “argument for another day” because the Cohens are appealing the New York judgment.

“They [CDR Creances] allege the money has transferred, that the companies were created to move money from New York,” Petros said. “But, the case law in Florida is clear: That argument simply does not suffice.”

Petros told Zabel the Cohens have a potential buyer for some of their properties.

A news release from Kellner said the Florida real estate assets owned by the developers and related parties could be used to satisfy, in part, a $266 million judgment entered in August by the New York court.

New York Supreme Court Justice Walter Tolub wrote the decision against the Cohens and other defendants on Aug. 13 in connection with alleged civil fraud at the Flatotel.

His ruling said the “defendants’ long-standing patterns of default, lateness and abject failure to comply with court orders amounts to willful conduct, which not only warrants, but necessitates award of default judgment.”

Leon Cohen and his company, Maclee Development, received initial approval from a Miami panel in January for the Empire World Towers project, which would have 1,557 residential units. At the time, real estate analysts questioned the feasibility of the project because of hurricane codes, height restrictions, the ongoing credit market crunch and the downturn in real estate markets.

source: bizjournals.com


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