By Greg Hague
CEO/72SOLD

If you’ve sold a home in the past you know that sellers typically pay a 5%-6% real estate commission, with about half (2.5%-3%) paid to the agent who represents the buyer. This “sellers pay the buyer’s agent” commission structure goes back as far as I can remember, even before my dad (Chubby) built his Cincinnati real estate firm in the 1940s. 

Is it fair that home sellers have to “foot the bill” so buyers can have an agent help them? Is it fair that home sellers have to pay the agent whose job is to protect the buyer? This “sellers foot the bill” structure has never been seriously questioned… until recently. 

It happened with the filing of two lawsuits. Both challenge the fairness of sellers having to pay buyer agents, arguing that this effectively doubles commission rates from 2.5%-3% to 5%-6%, costing home sellers billions of dollars in exorbitant and unfair sales cost. 

One of the lawsuits was filed by Josh Sitzer and Amy Winger (the “Sitzer” lawsuit). The defendants are the National Association of Realtors, several of the largest national real estate firms, and many large multiple listing services (MLSs). Sitzer alleged that the commission sharing practice between listing agents and buyer agents, as facilitated by existing MLS rules, violates the Sherman Antitrust Act by inflating (effectively doubling) real estate commissions paid by home sellers. 

This lawsuit alleges that listing agents commonly tell sellers that if they fail to include the “expected” buyer agent commission in the total commission, the number of showings will be diminished and the sale price will likely be lower.

A couple weeks ago Judge Stephen R. Bough granted the Sitzer lawsuit class certification, saying, “The Court agrees with Plaintiffs that a class action is the superior method for fairly and efficiently adjudicating the controversy.”

That decision sent shock waves through my industry. Hundreds of thousands of home sellers are demanding reimburse-ment for billions of dollars in commis-sions they paid to buyer agents. They are also demanding that the MLSs no longer be allowed to require an offer of compen-sation to buyer agents. It’s interesting that MLSs don’t dictate how much listing agents must offer buyer agents. The rules only require that there be some offer of compensation, even if it’s $0. 

The problem, according to Sitzer, is that there is an unwritten expectation that listing agents need to offer the “standard and expected” buyer agent commission or those agents won’t show the property… and that this is what sellers are told by listing agents to justify the 5%-6% commission. 

Another lawsuit virtually identical to Sitzer was filed by Minnesota home seller Christopher Moehrl (the “Moehrl” lawsuit). After Moehrl filed his lawsuit, prominent real estate news outlet, Inman News, posted the headline: The bombshell lawsuit that could undo the US real estate industry. 

The article said, “A home seller has filed a class action lawsuit challenging a principal tenet of how the real estate industry works in the U.S. as well as one of the main reasons behind the existence of the multiple listing services: the sharing of commissions between listing agents and buyer’s agents.”

It went on to say that this commission sharing practice is looked at as standard, expected, not practically subject to negotiation by consumers, and therefore violates the Sherman Antitrust Act “by requiring listing agents to make a ‘blanket, non-negotiable offer of buyer agent compensation’ when listing a property on the MLS, referred to as the ‘Buyer Agent Commission Rule.’”

Both the Sitzer and Moehrl lawsuits allege the same thing…that the Buyer Agent Commission Rule unfairly inflates costs for sellers because it requires them to pay a substantially higher commission than they would if buyers paid their own agents directly. 

After the Moehrl lawsuit was filed CNN ran an article with the headline: The Internet didn’t shrink 6% real estate commissions. But this lawsuit might. 

The CNN article continued, “It’s sending shivers through brokerage offices, which have a lot invested in the status quo. Without it the United States could end up looking more like Australia and the United Kingdom where buyer agents are rare.” In many countries, real estate commissions range from 2%-3%, with buyers using online home search portals to find properties and then connect directly with the sellers’ listing agent to effect the purchase.

One of the allegations in both lawsuits is that forcing sellers to pay buyer agents is equivalent to them “paying the competition” because buyer agents are working in the best interest of the buyer and not the seller.

The lawsuits don’t suggest that buyer agents are not deserving of compensation. In my view buyer agents often work harder than listing agents, especially in this “hard to find homes” market. But whether buyer agents deserve to be paid isn’t the point. The question is whether it’s fair that an existing structure reinforced by long standing tradition effectively forces sellers to pay buyer agents. 

There are two big questions circulating in my industry. If sellers no longer pay buyer agents, will buyers write a check for 2%-3% of their purchase price to have representation? Or in the alternative, will buyers decide to save the money and buy directly from the listing agent? 

Most in my industry believe buyers won’t write the check to have separate buyer agent representation, and therefore buyer agents may cease to exist. That’s the way it is in many countries including Australia and the United Kingdom where sellers typically don’t pay buyer agents and the total real estate commission is 2%-3% instead of 5%-6%. 

If future home sellers pay 2%-3% instead of 5%-6%, then the total amount of commissions received by the 1.5 million Realtors in this country will be cut in half. This will cause a massive shakeout of real estate agents and real estate firms. 

The potential for massive disruption and restructuring of the real estate business, one of the largest industries in America, comes down to one simple question: 

Will buyers foot the bill?

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In the weeks after George Floyd’s death at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer, a meme began trending among kitchen and bath professionals on Instagram. It was a wordless black square, symbolizing both the grief at his death and solidarity with our Black colleagues, neighbors and fellow humans. 

The black square was a caring gesture easily shared. What have been the harder follow ups in the two years since the Spring of 2020? ESG, the business and investment term for environmental, social and governance practices, has made corporate commitments to action in these three areas a bottom-line concern. 

Companies’ ability to secure permits, funding and insurance for projects and recruit top talent are influenced by their ESG scores and policies. Legislators, regulators and procurement professionals at all different levels of government factor them into their building codes and requests for proposals. Segments of the market factor them into their building and remodeling choices. This, in turn, impacts the products manufacturers produce. The following professionals weigh in on today’s ESG ‘need to know’ factors for the kitchen and bath industry: 

• San Diego area architect Michele Hottel; 
• Chicago-based interior designer Gretchen Miller;
• Irvine area interior designer Lenora DeMars;
• Jacqueline Carmichael, assistant professor and interior design program coordinator at Howard University; 
• National homebuilder Meritage Homes’ v.p. of investor relations Emily Tadano;
• Tim Costello, CEO of Builder Homesite and Builders Digital Experience (BDX); 
• Nancy Busch, executive director of the International Surface Fabricators Association;
• Kermit Baker, American Institute of Architects’ chief economist;
• JoAnna Abrams, CEO of manufacturer and product ratings firm MindClick.

The Growth of ESG

“Environmental, social and governance initiatives have reached a tipping point,” observed a leading study of top 10 real estate trends for 2022. Explaining the skyrocketing investment, the Counselors of Real Estate attributes the growth to “multiple drivers, including consumer shifts, regulatory requirements, trillions of dollars of wealth transferring to Generation Z and Millennials committed to philanthropic living, a blurring of work and societal expectations, and a full sprint to attract and retain top talent.”   

Costello sees this shift to younger buyers: “Millennials and Gen Z support brands that leverage their spending for good.” He further notes, “ESG is not in the consumer vocabulary, but environmental responsibility, health and wellness are themes that they embrace.” 

Tadano sees it, too: “Energy efficiency and advanced fresh air ventilation are no longer ‘nice to haves’ – they have become important differentiators for consumers as they make homebuying decisions,” the Meritage executive says. 

Miller works on affordable housing projects at design firm Bailey Edward. In this role, frequently working with government agencies, ESG arises regularly, she says. “Three of the working groups that I’m involved with are Sustainability, Healthy Buildings and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion [DEI]. We have had strong pushes to make sure that our standards include these pillars, whether the client is asking for them or not.” 

Builders earn recognition for sustainability, including KB Home’s 2021 WaterSense Sustained Excellence Award. 

Environmental Considerations 

Environmental factors have long been a consideration in kitchen and bath projects. Costello sees energy decarbonization, sustainable supply and carbon footprint among kitchen and bath’s sustainability issues. 

Several cities and states, including California, are phasing out gas for residential projects. “Meritage Homes was one of the first net zero energy production builders helping to support the move to all-electric homes,” Tadano declares.

Costello sees the transition as longer term, but inevitable. “In the end it will be driven by concerns for health and indoor air quality. No one wants to buy a house that kills them.”

MindClick’s Sustainability Assessment Program looks at what the industry can be doing better, Abrams says. “As an example, on average every product uses 30 percent more packaging than is needed. That means more to purchase, more trucks on the road, more storage space, more to dispose of at the jobsite, more energy to turn that packaging into something else. This is a classic example of a solvable problem. I’m excited to see the innovation that a focus on decarbonization will foster!”

One of the challenges of environmentalism is pricing. “While customers want sustainability, they don’t always want to pay for it,” points out Busch. The ISFA executive suggests that specifiers concerned about the environmentalism of their projects ask their fabricators, and this is applicable to other trades, too. “Does your shop have sustainable management systems such as water treatment, solar energy or dust collection, material recycling programs or sustainable material offerings?” 

Quartz countertop fabrication involves safely handling silica with OSHA and industry group guidelines. 
Photo: Carolina Custom Surfaces/ISFA

Social Considerations in Specifications and Contracting

Pricing also factors in when the specifier wants to ensure that materials are properly handled. In one stark example, the Occupational Safety & Health Administration has cautioned that breathing in tiny silica particles causes multiple diseases, disability and death. “Silica is a concern,” shares Busch about one of engineered stone’s key components. “ISFA has many resources for our members, such as the OSHA Respirable Crystalline Silica training resource, and we provide a flash drive of silica safety recommendations in all our member kits,” she adds. Specifiers and homeowners should be asking their fabricators what certifications they have and what procedures they use to ensure the highest level of safety, Busch suggests.

Hottel is very concerned about safety for her trades and for overseas workers in the supply chain of the products she specifies, but it’s extra challenging today with inflation and client budgets, she observes. “I know there are so many things we overlook to get a product for a lower cost – and that cost can be someone’s life.” 

Municipalities often set the RFP contracting and labor requirements for the housing projects Griffin manages, but human rights issues in the supply chain concern her, too. “It is something that we’re looking into making a larger part of our specifications,” she notes. One of the resources she uses is Just, a transparency reporting label issued by the International Living Future Institute for organizations to disclose their operations, including how they treat their employees. 

Others consider B Corp certifications, issued by B Lab, which rate companies on ESG-oriented practices. DeMars commented in the Facebook Wellness Designed group she co-leads, “When I have a choice, I will purchase the item made by a company that is certified B Corp. I will do my best to support companies that are doing better.” This is a factor that can distinguish her and other industry pros using these criteria to socially conscious consumers.

MindClick is working with design schools to educate future professionals on how to evaluate vendors and their products in their specification process, Abrams reveals. 

Social Considerations in Recruitment and Staffing

Outreach to African Americans increased in the wake of George Floyd’s death, as many industry executives realized that their connection to these fellow Americans was limited, lacking employees, board members, vendors or clients outside of their own communities. “We stepped up our recruitment efforts of underrepresented groups by expanding our internship program and hiring initiatives,” Meritage’s Tadano recalls.

“I think there has definitely been an awakening to these issues, but there is still a long way to go,” Griffin observes. “We have [minority- and women-owned business supplier] requirements that we see in government projects, which is good, but the private sector has catching up to do.” One of the issues she cites is unpaid internships. “However, I have seen an uptick in mentoring programs for young women and minorities to get into the architecture/engineering/interiors field, which is good.” 

Recruitment programs offered to historically Black colleges and universities, including interior design students at Howard University, increased in 2020, the program coordinator Carmichael recalls, but there were challenges. “Many pledged ‘throwing money’ at the problems, but did not have a roster of Black leadership or employees to serve as role models.” She also noted that many of their students were studying remotely or dealing with financial challenges that prevented them from working on-site and many of the firms couldn’t adapt to make internships work. 

While ESG is not a core subject at Howard’s respected program, its principles infuse study at her program, Carmichael shares. “Students create charrettes to address environmental justice by considering investments focused on affordable housing and community development.” They also discuss the morality of flipping residential properties (which may impact their future income), Airbnb short-term rentals, the steady elimination of housing development for first-time homebuyers and designing for disabled residents.

A company that wants to diversify its team with candidates like these – a step that can increase market share in an increasingly diverse population – may need to adapt its policies to accommodate new hires in new ways, whether it’s schedule flexibility, remote work opportunities, childcare benefits and physical office accommodations. This can enhance recruitment for talented minority and disabled candidates, working mothers, neurodivergent and older workers. 

Sourcing faucets, sinks and other products often balances ESG considerations against inflationary pressures.
Photos: Michele Hottel, AIA/Ian Patzke Photographer

Governance Considerations

“There is a saying, ‘what gets measured, gets managed,’” points out Abrams. This extends to leadership, or corporate governance in ESG-speak. “There is now demand for quantitative data to demonstrate real progress at the board level,” she adds.

“There has been some progress here,” BDX’s Costello comments. “Public boards have gotten the message and added diversity. The C suite is still dominated by white males in the industry. Given the nature of the career path for most builders, this will be slow to change.”

AIA’s Baker is seeing that growth among his association’s membership, he reports. “Between 2008 and 2019, the women’s share of architectural positions increased from 28 to 37 percent, while the share from a racially/ethnically diverse demographic group increased from 22 to 32 percent.” But, the economist notes, “The profession continues to be underrepresented along key demographic characteristics.” He expects improvement in the coming years.

Miller agrees: “I think gender representation is on the rise within the industry. We are a [woman-owned business], so it has always been on our radar. We also push things like higher standards for mothers’ rooms/wellness areas (historically neglected or absent from designs), leaving nursing mothers to try to pump in a random bathroom or closet for large chunks of the day.” This can certainly help attract young, female executives to your leadership track. 

Last Words

Miller also observes, “I feel like there has been a lot of visibility about designing for a wider audience: not just non-rich people, but also for a diversity of physical and mental differences. Universal design should cover not just ADA requirements, but thinking about aging in place, neurodiversity and the like.”

To maintain viability in an increasingly diverse country, large and small firms in the kitchen and bath sphere are taking notice. “The ESG conversation is everywhere,” declares Abrams. “For those of us who have been on this journey for some time, it’s exciting and challenging. Achieving leadership in environmental and social responsibility requires a commitment to continuous improvement, a desire for innovation, and a willingness to ‘see it differently.’” It’s fair to say that much of life and business also benefit from that willingness. ▪

Jamie Gold, CKD, CAPS, MCCWC is an author, wellness design consultant and NKBA Chapter presenter. Her third book, Wellness by Design (Simon & Schuster), published September 1, 2020.  Learn more about her Wellness Market and new ESG: A Primer for the Residential Design and Construction Industry presentations, books and consulting services at jamiegold.net.

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SPRINGFIELD — Westfield State University recognized the essential workers of tomorrow and the architects of the future, conferring degrees to the graduating class of 2022 Friday at the Mass Mutual Center.

More than 700 graduates received degrees in business, computer science, criminology, psychology, social justice, public policy, education, communications, health, human services and more.

Honorary doctorates were presented to Baystate Health President and CEO Dr. Mark Keroack and 1989 alumnus John Ockerbloom, managing director of U.S. real estate at the financial firm Barings, part of MassMutual.

Ockerbloom, the keynote speaker, was a political science major, student trustee, class president and a member of the Music Theatre Guild.

“John has been a supporter and friend of the university for decades and we are delighted that he has agreed to speak and provide guidance to our class of 2022,” said Linda Thompson, president of Westfield State University.

In his lighthearted address, Ockerbloom said that although he is not President Barack Obama, Bill Gates or any of the Backstreet Boys, none of them lived on campus, stole flowers out of the garden or preformed in the university theater.

“I am you 30 years older and not as good looking,” he said. “I’ve been blessed beyond my ability to measure and repay.”

Ockerbloom noted receiving his law degree in 1992, having a prolific Wall Street career and meeting his wife, all due to the time he spent at the university.

“My professional life has been a gift and with a Westfield State University degree anything is possible,” he said.

Ockerbloom said no matter where he landed in his career, he took the skills he learned at the university. He urged the student to “be essential” in their careers, with friends and raising families, and to never forget what they have learned at Westfield State University.

Thompson said learning is a lifelong process and encouraged graduates to become healthy bridges to the collective future by building on the foundation of the knowledge gained while at the university.

“History will look back at this time and wonder how we got out of this,” Thompson said. “You are the future. … You have the opportunity to be the architect of your future, the designers of how we’ll run the business of the future.”

“Based on what I’ve seen on campus, I am confident on what the future holds,” she said.

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Less than half of the homes sold are affordable for middle-class Americans.

Just 48.7% of homes sold could be characterized as being within the financial reach of middle-class families, according to the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index. That figure is likely even lower today, as it was calculated using home prices from the first quarter of the year and mortgage rates from the end of April. Both have since increased, and mortgage rates are expected to continue to climb.

“Housing affordability is going to be an issue in this country for the foreseeable future because we expect mortgage interest rates to continue to rise,” says Rose Quint, assistant vice president of survey research at NAHB. “There are going to be many buyers, particularly first-time homebuyers, who will be priced out of the market because of the increases in mortgage rates and also the increases in down payments based on the very quickly rising home prices.”

Despite the rise in prices, there are still many Americans who hope to become homeowners. Every time mortgage rates rise just a quarter of a percentage point, about 1.3 million households are priced out of homeownership, according to NAHB.

“Some buyers, who are a little better off, are waiting for competition to let up a little,” says Quint. “Demand remands very strong. There are millions of millennial homebuyers out there who have reached their peak homeownership years.”

To come up with its findings, NAHB assumed middle-income families had a median income of $90,000 a year and a national median home sale price of $365,000. The group used a 3.86% mortgage interest rate for the first quarter of the year, which the most and least affordable metros were based on. (A 5.11% average rate from the end of April was used to figure out that less than half of middle-class Americans can afford to buy homes.)

Median income data was from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, home sale prices were from data provider CoreLogic, and mortgage rates were from Freddie Mac for 30-year fixed-rate loans.

What are the most affordable housing markets in the nation?

Lansing, MI, was the most affordable large housing market for middle-class buyers in the first quarter of 2022, according to the index. About 92.3% of middle-class locals could afford new and existing homes in the state capital, about a 90-minute drive west of Detroit, according to NAHB. The median home list price in the metropolitan area was about $190,000 in April, according to the most recent Realtor.com® data. (Metros include the main city and surrounding towns, suburbs, and smaller urban areas.)

Lansing was followed by Indianapolis, with a median price tag of $300,000; Scranton, PA, at $215,000; Rochester, NY, at $200,000; and Dayton, OH, at $215,000. These metros all had at least a half-million residents.

“They’re not job powerhouses,” Quint says of many of the more affordable places on the list. Many don’t have economies as strong as those in larger cities along the coasts. “In places where you have relatively more homes for sale and the population is not growing very fast, it’s going to be more affordable. There’s going to be less competition.”

The most affordable smaller housing market was Wheeling, WV, about an hour southwest of Pittsburgh, where about 97.3% of middle-class residents could afford a median-priced home of $155,000.

It was followed by Cumberland, MD, with a median home list price of $120,000; Elmira, NY, at $100,000; Utica, NY, at $185,000; and Davenport, IA, at $142,000.

What are the least affordable housing markets?

Meanwhile, every one of the most expensive housing markets, both large and small, were based in California. The Golden State is notoriously expensive, with a median home list price of $750,000 statewide.

Los Angeles, with a median price tag of $950,000, was the country’s least affordable large housing market, with just 8.3% of middle-class residents able to afford a home of their own. The city has held that dubious title for the past year and a half.

Next up was Anaheim, part of the Los Angeles metro, which had a $950,000 median price tag; San Francisco, at $1,098,000; San Diego, at $900,000; and Stockton, CA, at $599,000.

(Some even pricier housing markets didn’t make the top five because locals in these places made higher salaries. This meant they could more easily afford homes in these areas.)

The least affordable smaller housing market in the nation was Salinas, CA, about 100 miles south of San Francisco, where just 9.2% of residents could afford the local home prices. The median home list price there was $970,000 in April, according to Realtor.com.

It was followed by Santa Maria, CA, at $1,450,000; San Luis Obispo, CA, at $1,000,000; Napa, CA, at $1,695,000; and Santa Cruz, CA, at $1,275,000.

“Housing regulations make building houses in California very difficult. That lower supply of housing drives up prices and harms housing affordability,” says Quint. “If you have very strong population growth and very limited inventory, it’s going to remain very challenging to buy homes.”

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AI Platform Enables Mortgage Lending Institutions to Broaden Market Reach and Win More Business

AUSTIN, TX / ACCESSWIRE / May 11, 2022 / The mortgage industry is in significant flux caused by historically low inventory, supply chain dynamics, and market consolidation making it highly competitive. Rising interest rates are crushing the mortgage market as fewer homeowners can benefit from refinancing and potential homebuyers are being priced out. Mortgage lenders more than ever before are looking for new ways to use technology to continue to grow. Data driven decisions are required to empower lenders to operate in this challenging environment while providing differentiating customer experience. According to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s mortgage demand crumbled in April 2022 as mortgage rates climbed to their highest level in at least a decade.

To help the mortgage industry compete and modernize their approach, CognitiveScale, the leading AI Engineering company, announced today the general availability of TrustStar. This platform is designed to provide banks, credit unions, and mortgage institutions with AI-powered market intelligence that allows them to grow by tracking real estate trends, staying on top of competition, while maximizing financial inclusion for the local markets they serve.

According to Steve Cooley, Founder, Mortgage Advisor Tools & Art Vs. Math, “The mortgage industry is working overtime to adjust to the 2022 marketplace. Low housing inventory is forcing mortgage professionals to leverage automation and adapt to new technology to maintain their business and stay competitive. It has never been more important to be good at what you do.”

“To effectively navigate a changing market you need to be able to adjust the tools in your arsenal. TrustStar allows me to do just that by arming us with daily personalized insights and suggested realtors that we match with. It truly makes prospecting intuitive and painless,” said Rohan Kothare, Sr Mortgage Loan Officer, First United Bank and Trust.

TrustStar is built on CognitiveScale’s AI Engineering Platform and significantly reduces the amount of time it takes Mortgage Loan Officers to access and analyze large volumes of industry data by simply entering the NMLS number into the application. Loan officers will immediately receive personalized and actionable information about their local marketplace. This information is critical to staying ahead of competition and includes key market indicators such as housing affordability, which realtors to work with, where competitors are lending, loan products sold and at what rates, and much more.

The application analyzes the data and delivers the most impactful, relevant, and actionable insights in a single interface. TrustStar empowers the head of mortgage lending, loan officers, compliance officers, VP of marketing, VP of production, and chief strategy officers with practical insights about the market and potential impacts on their business, and proactively recommends actions to take in response to changing market conditions. The result is the ability to close more loans, expand business, remain compliant, and provide exceptional client service.

“TrustStar harnesses the power of CognitiveScale’s Cortex AI engineering platform to discover and contextualize insights from over 100 different industry data sources for each mortgage professional so they can take meaningful action right now,” said Matt Sanchez, Founder and CTO, CognitiveScale. “TrustStar represents a new class of application that was built from the ground up using an AI engineering approach and we are only scratching the surface on how this will be useful in the mortgage industry.”

TrustStar uncovers industry and proprietary data to provide real-time insights and forecasting. The application is immediately personalized and obtains operational insights about the lending institution and its direct competitors and transforms hundreds of public and private data sources into proactive recommendations. Additional benefits for TrustStar users include:

• Actionable Insights
  • Find hidden opportunities in your local markets and adjacent areas
  • Highlight mortgage product opportunities
  • Improve Loan Officer KPIs
• Connects the Right Referral Partners and Loan Officers
  • Remain ahead of your competition
  • Know which institutions are lending to whom and how
  • Increase market penetration with diversity initiatives
• Custom-Tailored Information
  • Ensure compliance with Fair Lending Practices
  • Better serve your local markets and proactively monitor fair lending compliance
• Requires No Integration with Other Systems
  • Application is up and running immediately

“Mortgage rates are now at the highest level since 2009, depressing both purchase and refinance applications. Circumstances and customer expectations have changed and digital and accessible mortgage processes are critical to ensuring financial institutions keep pace and make the most informed decisions,” said Alex Levi, Managing Director, TrustStar, CognitiveScale. “TrustStar has been developed to bring to the lending industry the same powerful tools other data-intensive companies have adopted to make them more competitive, and able to adapt and thrive in the moment, based on the best information available.”

About CognitiveScale

CognitiveScale pioneered the concept of ‘AI Engineering’, paving the way to industrialize scalable Enterprise AI development and deployment. Backed by over a 100 granted AI patents, the award-winning Cortex platform empowers businesses to infuse trusted decision intelligence into business processes and applications maximizing total customer experience and operational efficiency. Our focus is on regulated industries such as Healthcare and Financial Services where our platform currently delivers hyper-personalized insights to more than 100 million customers.

Headquartered in Austin, Texas, CognitiveScale is recognized by the World Economic Forum for positively impacting business and society through responsible AI. We are backed by investment from Norwest Venture Partners, Intel Capital, IBM, Westly Group, M12 (Microsoft Ventures), Anthem and USAA. To learn more, visit www.cognitivescale.com and follow us on Linkedin and Twitter at @CognitiveScale.

Media Contact:
Escalate PR for CognitiveScale
[email protected]

SOURCE: CognitiveScale

View source version on accesswire.com:
https://www.accesswire.com/700815/CognitiveScale-Announces-TrustStar-to-Deliver-Immediate-Actionable-Intelligence-for-the-Mortgage-Industry

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Tourism operators are quite calm about the current situation in Thailand and are playing down the over optimistic coming tourism statistics being thrown around. The signs of the times, billboard advertisements are doing poorly. We look at the current real estate trends in Phuket and talk to developed Doug Ferguson about his development Trichada. Maya Bay close again and more stories on Good Morning Thailand.

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Europeans leading the troupe of overseas investors, with the UK, Italy, and France occupying prime spots in the top 10 list.

The Dubai real estate market is expected to continue its upwards trajectory with more foreign investors pouring into the market, owing to visa reforms and economic stability. — Supplied photo

By Staff Report

Published: Sun 8 May 2022, 4:44 PM

Foreign investors continue foraying into Dubai as it concluded the first quarter on a high note. The Dubai property market recorded the best ever quarter since 2010, with a total of 20,539 sales transactions valuing a little over AED 55.50 billion.

Referring to official data, the Zoom Property Insights said the secondary market dominated the real estate sector as it constituted around 58 per cent of total sales transactions, while the remaining 42 per cent of sales were recorded in the primary market.

The market is expected to continue its upwards trajectory with more foreign investors pouring into the market, owing to visa reforms and economic stability. The changing scenario in the Dubai labour law and the abundant entrepreneurial opportunities are also attracting a huge number of investors, according to Zoom Property Insights.

Ata Shobeiry, CEO at Zoom Property, credits overseas investors for the exceptional performance of the property market in recent months.

He said, “The rising demand, property prices, and ROI can be majorly accredited to the influx of overseas investors. Expo 2020 facilitated the visit of many first-time investors, who ultimately decided the market is worth investing in. I believe the recent announcement of the new green residence visa and broadening eligibility criteria for the golden visa will provide more opportunities for foreign investors, resulting in an even better performance in subsequent quarters”.

European investors dominated the market in Q1

The market remained dominated by European investors during the first quarter, with the UK, Italy, and France occupying the first, third, and seventh spots on the list of top nationalities investing in Dubai. Canadian buyers increased by 116 per cent during Q1 2022 as compared to Q1 2021. Investors belonging to the sub-continent, India and Pakistan, ranked second and eighth respectively, also contributed to the remarkable performance of the property market, according to the Zoom Property Insights.

The number of Russian investors in the Dubai property market has increased by over 65 per cent, as the country enjoys a fifth spot among the top investing countries. Lebanon and China are the other two countries that made significant investments in the Dubai property market during Q1, 2022.

According to Zoom Property Insights, foreign investors belonging to other regions are also expected to enter the market as it continues to show its high performance. Experts believe that 2022 will conclude on a stronger note due to the increasing prices and demand.

Key takeaways

• Investors from India and Pakistan also making significant investments in Dubai real estate.

• A huge increase in Canadian investors and buyers recorded in Q1, 2022.

• Russia, Lebanon, and China among the other three countries in the top ten list.

• The market is expected to continue its upwards trajectory with more foreign investors pouring into the market, owing to visa reforms and economic stability.

— business@khaleejtimes.com

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When a young housewife’s body was discovered mutilated in her own home, the gruesome crime sent shockwaves through the small Dallas suburb where she lived. Residents began locking their doors. Some speculated it was a drifter.

Few could believe that a popular, church-going mother of two, Candy Montgomery, had struck her friend Betty Gore 41 times with an ax and then took a shower in the home to wash off all the blood.

Gore’s mutilated body was discovered in the utility room of her nondescript, single-level, brick home in Wylie, TX, on Friday the 13th of June 1980. Montgomery, who had an affair with Gore’s husband, Allan, claimed she killed Betty in self-defense after Betty confronted her about the affair. Montgomery was acquitted by a jury.

Forty years later, the shocking ax murder is back in the spotlight with the release of a five-part Hulu series titled “Candy.” Starring Jessica Biel, the series is slated to premiere on Monday. HBO Max is reportedly working on its own limited series called “Love and Death,” starring Elizabeth Olsen. No release date has been announced.

The home of Betty and Allan Gore and their two young children has sold at least a half-dozen times since the murder. Most recently, the newly renovated, three-bedroom, two-bathroom house was listed in March of this year for $344,900 and sold a few weeks later—for over the asking price, according to the seller’s real estate agent. A couple purchased the house.

“It looks like a normal house,” says local real estate agent Darla McMullen, of Monument Realty. She represented the sellers in the sale and had represented them when they bought it in 2020. “It’s been remodeled enough that it’s a different flow” from when the murder happened.

Famous murder homes rarely sell quickly—or for more than the list price. Often these properties linger on the market and close at a 10% to 25% discount, depending on the severity of the crime and how much publicity it received, says real estate appraiser Randall Bell, CEO of Landmark Research Group.

“When [the crime is] more graphically violent, it tends to have a more negative effect on the property values,” says Bell. He specializes in this kind of real estate where a tragedy or disaster occurred. “Some of these cases can linger on for decades or even centuries.”

The location of the home might also worsen the stigma. Murders are more common in big cities than in small towns, where it can be the biggest news for decades.

However, that might not matter much in such a hot real estate market where buyers can’t find homes for sale due to a severe housing shortage, says McMullen. Her clients bought the Gore home sight unseen in September 2020 as they were relocating from out of state. They paid $251,750, according to McMullen and property records. After a year and a half, they sold the property, as their family had expanded and they needed more space.

“They didn’t have any clue about [the history] when they fell in love with the house,” she says. And when they learned of it, they weren’t deterred. Apparently, one of them had grown up in a home whose previous owner had been a serial killer.

It was only at the end of their tenure in the home, with the news of the Hulu and HBO Max shows, that folks began driving by and taking photos of the property.

McMullen disclosed Gore’s death in the listing this March. But it didn’t turn off prospective buyers: More than 40 folks attended the recent open house. Several put in offers over the asking price, she says.

The house, which sits on a fifth of an acre, has granite countertops, vaulted ceilings in the living room, and a patio, according to Realtor.com®.

“It’s beautiful,” McMullen says of the property. “I never felt weird or anything” being inside.

This isn’t the first time that Hollywood explored the gruesome crime. Two journalists published the book “Evidence of Love: A True Story of Passion and Death in the Suburbs” in 1984. It served as a basis for the TV movie “Killing in a Small Town.” Actress Barbara Hershey, who played a fictionalized version of Montgomery, won an Emmy and a Golden Globe award for her performance.

Betty Gore, a fifth-grade teacher, was just 29 when she was killed. Her husband reportedly moved away from Wylie and remarried, but that relationship ended in divorce, according to the Dallas Morning News. The couple’s daughters were raised by Betty’s mother.

Montgomery also divorced. She moved to Georgia and became a family counselor, according to the Daily Mail.

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A Tijuana developer has started construction on a $66 million medical building that looks to take advantage of the medical tourism trade.

Cosmopolitan Group, known mostly for residential and hotel building in the city, said the 33-story building could be completed as soon as 2025. In addition to the medical facilities, the complex will include a hotel for visiting patients and families.

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Medical tourism in the border city is a thriving business because Americans seek out medical care, and plastic surgery, at substantially cheaper rates than in the U.S. The project is a stone’s throw from the Abraham Lincoln monument in the bustling Zona Rio neighborhood, home to a shopping mall, Costco and the circular Tijuana Cultural Center. It is expected to match, or be slightly higher, than Tijuana’s current tallest building, the 404-feet Sayan Campestre condo tower.

“We are betting on Tijuana,” said Solomon Saul, Cosmopolitan Group commercial director, during a tour of the site Wednesday.

The new building, called Cosmopolitan Health District, will compete with the NewCity Medical Plaza, a 26-story complex that opened in 2020, with doctors’ offices, a medical lab, a surgery center and a 140-room hotel. NewCity, developed by Abadi Group, is only about 3,000 feet from the border — easily viewable from the American side and within walking distance of the border. Cosmopolitan Health is just under two miles, requiring a taxi or ride-hailing service to get there, but it is in an area with a lot more to do, possibly appealing more to affluent Mexicans.

Both projects are aimed at medical care for wealthier residents of the city and for Americans who many times have health insurance but find procedures cheaper in Mexico. There are also a lot of plastic surgery options and a few procedures that might find greater scrutiny in the United States.

Cosmopolitan Health will feature three floors of below-ground parking and 10 floors above ground. The emergency room will be on the first few levels, with 200 medical suites and 160 hotel rooms from a Residence Inn by Marriott that make up the top half of the complex. Cosmopolitan decided to sell 150 suites directly to doctors (not investors) for an average $166,500 for a roughly 490-square-foot medical suite. Saul said 60 percent have sold. The other 50 suites will be rentals.

Cosmopolitan Health will add to a growing list of skyscrapers that have transformed the city in the last decade. In addition to Cosmopolitan Health and Sayan Campestre (both around 404 feet), NewCity Medical Plaza is 387 feet and two residential towers under construction will join the list of the city’s tallest buildings: Link Residential (393 feet) and The Landmark Tijuana (390 feet).

“The city is growing incredibly quickly,” said Chris Clark, director of the Urban Land Institute’s San Diego-Tijuana branch. “The city is definitely going vertical.”

He said medical tourism and manufacturing seem to be making up the lion’s share of growth these days but it’s hard to tell with new buildings popping up everywhere. The institute’s 2022 Real Estate Trends Report said its members are positive about growth in Tijuana because it is cheaper than California (65 percent surveyed), incomes are rising (30 percent) and it’s quicker to get projects built (15 percent).

Developing a project in Tijuana can take a couple of years, from approvals to securing land, but that’s in extreme contrast to large San Diego buildings that can take a decade or longer to come to market.

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Tijuana, Baja California – May 03: Cosmopolitan Group has broken ground on a $66 million 33-story medical building in Tijuana. The project is expected to be completed in three years in the Zona Rio on Tuesday, May 3, 2022 in Tijuana, Baja California. (Alejandro Tamayo / The San Diego Union-Tribune)  (Alejandro Tamayo/The San Diego Union-Tribune)

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Tijuana, Baja California – May 03: Cosmopolitan Group has broken ground on a $66 million 33-story medical building in Tijuana. The project is expected to be completed in three years in the Zona Rio on Tuesday, May 3, 2022 in Tijuana, Baja California. (Alejandro Tamayo / The San Diego Union-Tribune)  (Alejandro Tamayo/The San Diego Union-Tribune)

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Tijuana, Baja California – May 03: Cosmopolitan Group has broken ground on a $66 million 33-story medical building in Tijuana. The project is expected to be completed in three years in the Zona Rio on Tuesday, May 3, 2022 in Tijuana, Baja California. (Alejandro Tamayo / The San Diego Union-Tribune)  (Alejandro Tamayo/The San Diego Union-Tribune)

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Tijuana, Baja California – May 03: Cosmopolitan Group has broken ground on a $66 million 33-story medical building in Tijuana. Salomon Saul Commercial Director at Cosmopolitan Group explains the details of the project. The project is expected to be completed in three years in the Zona Rio on Tuesday, May 3, 2022 in Tijuana, Baja California. (Alejandro Tamayo / The San Diego Union-Tribune)  (Alejandro Tamayo/The San Diego Union-Tribune)

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Tijuana, Baja California – May 03: Cosmopolitan Group has broken ground on a $66 million 33-story medical building in Tijuana. The project is expected to be completed in three years in the Zona Rio on Tuesday, May 3, 2022 in Tijuana, Baja California. (Alejandro Tamayo / The San Diego Union-Tribune)  (Alejandro Tamayo/The San Diego Union-Tribune)

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Tijuana, Baja California – May 03: Cosmopolitan Group has broken ground on a $66 million 33-story medical building in Tijuana. The project is expected to be completed in three years in the Zona Rio on Tuesday, May 3, 2022 in Tijuana, Baja California. (Alejandro Tamayo / The San Diego Union-Tribune)  (Alejandro Tamayo/The San Diego Union-Tribune)

Saul said he thinks Cosmopolitan Health will change how people view medical tourism in the border city. Its partner in the project is Hospitales Puerta de Hierro, a private hospital company with five locations throughout Mexico. One of its selling points is it belongs to the Mayo Clinic Care Network. The program, from one of the U.S.’s most revered medical centers, allows hospitals outside its headquarters to access specialists virtually or by phone.

The Mayo Clinic Care Network has 46 members and mainly operates in the United States, but has around a dozen member hospitals in Saudi Arabia, Dubai, India and China. Palomar Health in Escondido is also a member.

In addition to being able to call up Mayo Clinic doctors about patient questions, medical professionals at member hospitals can take continuing education classes and have access to the clinic’s latest research. It’s not like patients are actually going to the Mayo Clinic, all member hospitals are still independently operated, but Saul said it will be a selling point to patients.

Cosmopolitan Group has good reason to try and calm nerves about medical tourism. A U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention investigation linked a drug-resistant infection of 34 American patients to one Tijuana facility in 2018 and 2019. The Mexican government shut down the facility in 2019.

Still, it is in the financial interest of the Tijuana medical industry to avoid unsafe conditions and infections outlined in the CDC report, and plastic surgery problems reported last year, to keep patients coming back. The industry was estimated to be valued at $6.75 billion in 2021, said Statista, a substantial increase from $1.5 billion in 2005.

Leigh Turner, executive director of the bioethics program at the University of California-Irvine, said it is important to keep in mind the pitfalls of medical tourism. He said a lot of the time patients are stuck with only promotional materials for a doctor instead of actual statistics, there are often good reasons why a procedure is not approved in their home country, post-operation care can be lacking and there is lack of legal recourse if something goes wrong.

The U.S. CDC recommends Americans thinking of traveling abroad for care should speak to their local healthcare provider first and get travel health insurance, which can cover medical evacuation back to America.

An additional layer of protection might be Hospitales Puerta de Hierro reviewing all doctors seeking space at Cosmopolitan Health to make sure all their certificates are in working order. Of 200 applications, the hospital has only approved 60 doctors to move into the facility.

Cosmopolitan Health is expected to have an economic impact, especially considering the site of the building was previously underused as a parking lot and political offices. Saul said the Health District will create more than 2,500 direct and indirect jobs.

A rendering of what a possible medical suite could look like at Cosmopolitan Health District.

(Cosmopolitan Health District.)

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Brittney Levinson joined The Canberra Times in 2021 as part of ACM’s national property team. As the region’s dedicated property journalist, Brittney covers everything from real estate trends and new developments through to the stories behind the record-breaking sales. Got a news tip? Get in touch: brittney.levinson@canberratimes.com.au

Brittney Levinson joined The Canberra Times in 2021 as part of ACM’s national property team. As the region’s dedicated property journalist, Brittney covers everything from real estate trends and new developments through to the stories behind the record-breaking sales. Got a news tip? Get in touch: brittney.levinson@canberratimes.com.au

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