06Oct
No surprises here, the Fort Worth Cats baseball franchise is hurting for cash, and up for sale. Towards the end of their season I had heard that they were becoming insolvent and firing most of their non-essential employees. Now it seems that they have very few left.
Here’s the interesting part. The franchise is (according to its owner) worth about $40 million. That figure includes not only the team, but also LaGrave Stadium and about 60 acres of land around it. Forget about the team. I doubt anyone will be able to put them in the black anytime soon. 60 acres is a pretty considerable holding in the area that should become the Trinity River Vision Project.
Would be a great buy and hold.
01Oct
A mother and daughter have filed a suit against their neighbor and their property management association. The crime? The neighbors cigarette smoke.
The women claim that the smoke permeated the walls and HVAC of their high end Estancia town home in Dallas. They are seeking six figures in damages from the two co-defendants.
The property manager said that they have done more for this tenant than they have ever done for anyone else, and she doesn’t think it is possible to satisfy them. Among other things the management changed air filters, installed electric plates with sealant, and re-caulked around plumbing pipes. The women complained, but continued to renew their lease. Now they have filed for disability under the fair housing act due to the harm they have suffered from the cigarette smoke. They also claim that they cannot enter their residence without wearing goggles and gas masks.
This is completely insane. I hope they lose their case, and I hope they have to repay the defendants legal fees.
30Sep
The big talk in the financial world is that home prices are beginning to rise. This is based on the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Survey, and has implications not only for economic recovery, but also for the inflation/deflation debate that will guide a lot investment.
So, I was pretty damn surprised when I saw an article run by the ST saying that home prices were down in July. The S&P/Shiller follows the 20 largest markets, and surely we are in that. Turns out that the Startlegram was being a little creative with their headline. Home prices are down in July from a year ago, but they are up in July over June.
I think the article title was a little negative. At least the market is starting to correct. Maybe “Home Prices Correcting” would have been a better title for them.
29Sep
Kevin has a great rendering of the Stayton that will be built by So7 Townhome/Midrise development.
I would think that this market would be hurting. On one hand you have an incredible portion of the population heading into retirement, but on the other you would think that cost cutting would keep grandma at home. Apparently not, as 75% of the units have already been sold. Pre-development, that’s not bad. In fact, it looks like the most economic development in town.
Recent Comments