An unlikely speaker at a real estate conference, an unlikely subject for a new museum and unlikely behavior by a mortgage industry CEO. From the wild and wooly world of real estate, here are our Hits and Misses for the Week of March 31-April 4.
Miss: A Blunder Down Under? Former Vice President Kamala Harris is slated to make a rare public appearance at an Australian real estate conference next month. Admittedly, the connection between Harris and Australian real estate isn’t obvious, but the organizers of the Australasian Real Estate Conference insist their attendees will be treated to someone who was “a trailblazer through her entire career, committed in her vision for ensuring all Americans can climb the ladder of economic opportunity, including bringing down the cost of living and making housing more affordable.” As for the Australian reporters eager to speak with Harris, forget it – she’s following her 2024 campaign strategy of not making herself available for interviews.
Hit: A Unique Historical Perspective. America’s newest museum opens today in Chicago and it shines a spotlight on the difficult history of public housing. The 45,000-square-foot, three-story National Public Housing Museum is based in the last remaining building in the Jane Addams Homes, one of Chicago’s oldest federal housing projects, and it offers historical artifacts and contemporary art commissions that recall the resilience of public housing communities that were marginalized along racial and economic lines. Here’s wishing the museum success in its important and distinctive mission.
Hit: Digging for Green Energy. The most intriguing partnership announced this week involved the geothermal heating and cooling company Dandelion Energy and the homebuilder Lennar Corporation for the installation of Dandelion’s systems in more than 1,500 new Lennar homes to be built in Colorado over the next two years. Among the renewable energy solutions, geothermal might be the most effective – it is a 24/7 resource, unlike the intermittent nature of solar and wind energy. And while the upfront installation costs of geothermal costs are high, the new partnership will take advantage of Colorado’s state tax credit for geothermal heat pumps and the geothermal and all-electric new construction programs offered by the utility Xcel Energy. Whether have a geothermal energy system drives up the costs of the Lennar homes remains to be seen, but if the builder can maintain its current prices this could be a great deal for Colorado buyers.
Hit: Paying People to Move In. Pawnee City, a Nebraska locality with only 865 residents, made the news by offering $50,000 in down payment assistance to those willing to relocate. The tiny city, located about two hours north of Kansas City, received 115 applications – but while certain income requirements are needed in order to qualify, the newcomers are promised a wonderful time in the community. “It’s a great place to grow up and raise kids,” said Aaron Sawyer, a chamber of commerce official who noted the tiny city has its own school, hospital, two parks, and a brand-new amphitheater. The latter will see a visit later this summer from its most famous native son, the “Git-R-Done” funnyman Larry the Cable Guy.
Hit: A Cleaner Website. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner unveiled a significantly updated HUD.gov website this week. The old website had a serious imbalance – less than 5% of its total pages made up 80% of all web traffic, which was out of kilter on a website with 9,200 web pages, 123,000 documents, and 19 program office microsites. The new website features about a 90% reduction in content from the previous website, with information organized into three categories: Helping Americans, HUD Partners, and Researchers. While Turner seeks to get HUD’s internal operations into a better semblance of working order, it is good know the department’s public-facing website is now more efficient and user friendly.
Miss: Commotion on the Ocean. Kenneth DeGiorgio, the CEO of First American Financial, made the news this week for a bizarre incident on a Caribbean cruise ship. According to the New York Post, DeGiorgio’s wife asked a man dancing barefoot in the ship’s bar to put on his shoes. The man reportedly insulted Mrs. DeGiorgio with foul language, and her husband responded by grabbing the man’s throat and throwing him to the floor. The incident took place in international waters, but the FBI stepped in when the ship docked in Puerto Rico and put out a press release that spelled DeGiorgio’s name incorrectly and didn’t bother to explain what transpired ahead of his arrest. DeGiorgio’s attorneys stated, “Although charged with a simple misdemeanor, Mr. DeGiorgio looks forward to being absolved of any wrongdoing.” We’re not going to comment on the case, although we can report that DeGiorgio was still at his job – which is a credit to First American Financial for remembering the basic legal tenet regarding the presumption of innocence.
Miss: Onerous Insurance. A new report from the Consumer Federation of America determined that the typical homeowner’s annual insurance premium recorded an average increase of 24% from 2021 to 2024 – in comparison, the cumulative inflation increase over the same period was 13%. The report observed that “insurance companies quoted the typical homeowner in the United States an average premium of $2,656 per year (or $221 per month) in 2021. By 2024, that number increased to an average of $3,303 (or $275 per month). These quotes are for homeowners with a mid-range credit score and a $350,000 replacement value policy.” Does anyone have ideas on how we can drive down those insurance costs?
Phil Hall is editor of Weekly Real Estate News. He can be reached at phil@wrenews.com.
Illustration by NeoLeo / Getty Images
