A new achievement in luxury real estate, an executive preparing the next generation of professionals, and the perils of renting to Hunter Biden. From the wild and wooly world of real estate, here are our Hits and Misses for the week of Dec. 2-5.
Hit: A New Home for Zillionaires. Luxury real estate was elevated to a giddy new height this week with the opening of Mareterra, a 14-acre district in Monaco. Prince Albert and members of the royal family were on hand to open the development, which was built on land reclaimed from the sea. Homebuyers in Mareterra have a choice from 100 apartments valued at more than $100,000 per square meter and four villas that reportedly sold for roughly $200 million each – and according to press reports, most of the properties were already acquired. But do you think any of the buyers needed a jumbo mortgage to close their deal?
Hit: Training the Next Wave. CBRE Vice Chairman Alex Hayden paid tribute to his alma mater and his profession this week with a $5 million gift to establish the Alexander E. Hayden School of Real Estate within the George L. Argyros College of Business and Economics at Chapman University in Orange, California. Hayden graduated from Chapman in 1995 with a bachelor’s degree in business administration, and he credited the school as being “instrumental in shaping my career and personal development. I’m thrilled to give back in a way that can help the next generation of real estate professionals succeed.” And we’re thrilled that a successful and generous individual like Hayden is creating such a wonderful endeavor.
Miss: City of Brotherly Fraud. One of the most unfortunate stories this week involved a report from Philadelphia’s Controller Office that determined that fraud within the city’s Homestead Exemption Program costs the municipal government and schools roughly $11.5 million per year. The Controller Office identified 23,000 properties that were incorrectly part of the program, which is meant for owner-occupied homes. Instead, too much of the program’s tax benefit was being given to property owners with mailing addresses outside of Philadelphia – including some as distant as California – along with businesses and landlords. More than half (56%) of the real estate tax revenues from the program fund the School District of Philadelphia, and it is estimated the education system loses about $6.4 million annually from the fraud – which cheats both today’s taxpayers and tomorrow’s potential homeowners.
Miss: First Son, Worst Tenant. Hunter Biden’s legal problems may not be over despite receiving a controversial unconditional pardon from his father, President Joe Biden. The bad boy of the First Family is being accused of owing more than $300,000 in unpaid rent on his former Los Angeles-area residence by Shaun Maguire, a partner at venture capital firm Sequoia, wrote claimed Biden didn’t pay his $25,000 a month rent over a year on a luxury rental in Venice, California. Maguire also claimed that Biden changed the locks on the property while he was a tenant and directed the Secret Service to prevent landlord access. Not surprisingly, the elusive Biden offered no public comment on these shenanigans.
Miss: Let’s Not Make a Deal. The two Democrats who represent Maryland in the US Senate, Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen, are reportedly making a strange barter deal that would allow the Washington Commanders to leave Northwest Stadium in Landover, Maryland, for a return to a potentially redeveloped Robert F. Kennedy Stadium in Washington, DC. The now-defunct stadium is on federal land and needs congressional approval for redevelopment. According to the Washington Examiner, the senators will only agree to the stadium’s redevelopment and the Commanders’ exit from their state if the DC Air National Guard gives Maryland one of its squadrons. This odd barter deal comes after the US Air Force recently decided to end Maryland’s flying mission with the retirement of 21 aging planes. However, last May the National Park Service approved the demolition of the stadium, which has not been used in 2019. Who wants to bet the senators aren’t going to get their squadron while DC doesn’t get its team?
Hit: Change for the Better. While the Biden administration winds down, the second Trump administration is quickly taking shape. President-Elect Donald J. Trump has announced the nomination of Frank Bisignano as commissioner of the Social Security Administration (SSA). Bisignano is president, CEO and chairman of Fiserv and was previously CEO and co-chief operating officer of mortgage banking at JPMorgan Chase & Company – and it is a breath of fresh air to have a businessman instead of a bureaucrat running SSA. Trump also named attorney Paul Atkins to run the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Atkins was a Republican member of the SEC during the Bush administration, and he has been openly skeptical of how outgoing SEC chief Gary Gensler has conducted business, particularly in terms of his hostility to cryptocurrency. Said Trump on social media in announcing Atkins: “Paul is a proven leader for common sense regulations. He also recognizes that digital assets & other innovations are crucial to Making America Greater than Ever Before.” We can hardly wait!
Phil Hall is editor of Weekly Real Estate News. He can be reached at [email protected].
Photo by Bauhaus1000 / Getty Images
