<<   Page 1 2 3 4 5 6   >>

Recycling of "Big Box " Space by Karen Eilers Lahey, Department of Finance, University of Akron, February, 1999

A big box facility is a very large building that has at least 50,000 square feet of space. There are few interior walls, and shelves or clusters of merchandise divide different parts of the store. The shelves can reach 12 to 15 feet high. Examples of users for this type of space include discount retailers such as K-Mart, Target, and Wal-Mart and home building supply stores Home Depot and Lowe's.

This study utilizes a survey instrument to determine the adaptive recycling of vacant big box space in Ohio. Participants describe this type of space in their market area, with retail and industrial tied for first place, followed by supermarkets. Other uses include entertainment, restaurants, medical, office, and storage. Buildings that contain retail and industrial occupants are the ones most often vacated, with merger commonly cited as the explanation. Part two of the survey asks participants to describe a vacant big box space that they have recycled.

Eighty-five percent of the buildings are stand-alone facilities rather than being housed in strip centers or malls. These properties remain vacant for at least 12 months. In order to successfully recycle the space agents have to be more creative. Problems that arise include zoning and city code difficulties, environmental and structural problems, and inaccurate estimates of the costs. Commercial real estate agents are increasingly confronted with the problem of what to do with these vacant big box spaces. Answering the call, they are finding new and creative ways to meet this challenge.

Uses of Information technology in the Real Estate Brokerage Industry by Michael T. Bond, Cleveland State University, Finance Department, April, 1998

This study represents the results of a survey conducted of the Ohio real estate brokerage industry. The results clearly indicate that the real estate brokerage industry as a whole is making good use of available technology. Moreover, there is a strong firm size effect present in the real estate brokerage industry. That is, larger brokerage firms are more able/willing to employ and provide technology related services to current and potential customers.

The Changing Structure of Real Estate Brokerage Industry by Michael T. Bond, Cleveland State University, Department of Finance, August, 1997

This study conducts a thorough investigation of the structure of the real estate brokerage industry by examining both principal brokers and their overseeing Boards. The results indicate that the real estate brokerage industry is in the period if of transition that is changing the way firms do business.

Additionally, both a small firm effect and a large firm effect are found. The largest quartile of firms currently offer a very different percentage of services than other firms and plan to continue this trend in to the future. Small firms are anomalous in that they receive a mach smaller percentage of their revenue from both residential customers and brokerage services.

An Analysis of the Ohio Legislation Requiring Seller Disclosure of Property Condition by Gary S. Moore, Jeffery P. Gray, and Lucas Fernandes, Departments of Finance and Real Estate, University of Toledo, January, 1997

This study attempted to evaluate the value of a mandatory property condition disclosure form now used in Ohio real estate transactions. From three statewide surveys of Ohio buyers, real estate agents and attorneys, strong support for the use of the form was found. A high rate of compliance with the law was found. The layout of the form received moderate support.

An important purpose of the legislation to assure the availability of adequate and reliable information was supported. A significant decline in the number of buyer "surprises" was found when compared to a 1991 study. One desired result from the disclosure process was a decrease in the amount of litigation. Unfortunately, the survey results indicated that no substantial decrease in litigation has occurred.

The Effect of Public School Quality on Residential Property Values by Donald R. Haurin, Departments of Economics and Finance, The Ohio State University, October, 1996

This study focuses on explaining variations in real constant-quality house prices in jurisdictions located in multiple MSAs. Using a hedonic house price framework, we test competing theories of house price determination. Using two variants of the random coefficients model, we find that public school quality has a very large impact on real constant-quality house prices. Our results suggest that capitalization of school quality differences occurs on a per lot basis rather than per square foot of land. Also important to the explanation of variations in house prices are variables derived from urban theory, such as distance to the CBD, and from the amenity literature, such as a community's crime rate, arts, and recreational opportunities.

A particular focus of our study is analysis of the impact of variations in public school outcomes on real constant-quality house prices. This focus results from the importance of school quality to a household's locational choice (Graves and Linneman, 1979) and from the importance of public schools in models of local public taxes and expenditures. We find that a measure of student achievement is very important in explaining spatial variations in real constant-quality house prices.

Home Inspections and Their Impact on Residential Sales by James R. Webb, Department of Finance, Cleveland State University, September, 1996.

Overall, it appears that most salespeople/brokers have had deals "killed" because of home inspections, but all the respondents were generally positive about the general effects of home inspectors. However, almost universally it is believed that home inspectors should be licensed. These results differ little by region, gender, years in real estate sales, education level, income level, or age and thus are quite robust.

An Analysis of Ohio's Residential Property Disclosure Form by Karen Eilers Lahey, University of Akron, Department of Finance, 1996

The purpose of this study is to examine the effectiveness of Ohio's recent adoption of a mandated residential property disclosure law. Two different questionnaires are developed to solicit the viewpoints of buyers and of highly successful real estate agents. A random sample of 900 buyers of residential property during the period of July, 1994 to June, 1995, are selected for one questionnaire, and the other is sent to 200 very successful real estate agents.

Results indicate that 45.3 % of buyers report that after closing they found problems with the property that are not listed on the on the property disclosure form. There are statistically significant differences by type of mortgage used to finance the purchase of the home, age of the buyer, and first-time versus repeat buyers. Suggestions for possible changes in the form are based on the findings for both the buyer and agent questionnaire.

<<   Page 1 2 3 4 5 6   >>