Shrinking Shopping Malls Get Re-imagined

Shrinking Shopping Malls Get Reimagined. Image courtesy of erge Bertasius Photography / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

As the number of visitors to U.S. shopping malls continues to shrink, developers are finding new purposes for the large retail complexes. An overbuilding of American shopping centers has pushed a wave of retailer bankruptcies which forced landlords to re-imagine their properties beyond a shopping center, according to a recent article in The Wall Street Journal.

Shopping malls are being converted into everything from apartments, offices and industrial spaces, to parks and playgrounds.

For example, the Highland Mall in Austin, Texas – the city’s first enclosed shopping complex – is being converted into a 600,000-square-foot structure for Austin Community College that will have classrooms, lab space, and a culinary arts center.

In York, Pa., developers have eliminated about 50,000 square feet of retail space to create an open-air plaza at West Manchester Town Center, which reopened last year.

Retail centers exploded a few years ago but the recession of 2007-2009 left many retailers vulnerable, according to the CoStar Group. Since 2008, only one mall with at least a million square feet of leasable space has opened in the U.S., according to Green Street Advisors, which tracks the retail sector in real estate. Over the decade ending in 2005, on the other hand, 54 such properties were built.

While shopping malls are closing, online shopping is exploding – more than doubling its share of all sales from 2008 to this year.

Source: “Shrinking U.S. Shopping Malls Get Makeovers,” The Wall Street Journal (Nov. 24, 2015)

Why Your E-mails Really Go Unanswered

Why Your E-mails Really Go Unanswered. Image courtesy of Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Just how fast should you expect a response to your e-mail? A new study examines the response time to learn more about e-mail behavior.

USC Viterbi School of Engineering recently looked at more than 2 million users who exchanged 16 billion e-mails over several months. The researchers discovered some of the following patterns:

• Responses usually come within an hour: Due to mobile devices, about 50 percent of e-mail replies were sent in less than 60 minutes, the study found.
• Your e-mail isn’t likely to get a response after 48 hours: Researchers also found that if your e-mail hasn’t been responded to, you’re unlikely to get a response after 48 hours. If the recipient is going to reply, they will likely do so within a day or two of receiving your e-mail.
• Millennials respond among the fastest: Those between the ages of 20 and 35 have an average response time of 16 minutes (the second fastest behind teenagers, who respond within 13 minutes or less, on average). Response times tend to rise to 24 minutes for those between the ages of 35 to 50 and individuals over the age of 50 take an average of 47 minutes to reply. However, older adults were found to write longer messages compared to younger individuals, according to the study.
• Women take longer: Women tend to take longer to craft a response – about four minutes longer – than men.

“If you’ve been emailing someone back and forth for a while – perhaps a potential prospect – there are some telltale signs that the emails have fizzled,” writes Amy Morin, a psychotherapist and the author of “13 Things Mentally Strong People Don’t Do,” at Forbes.com. “Initially, users mimic one another when it comes to the length of an email. So if you’ve written five paragraphs, expect a similar length e-mail in response. Users usually stay synchronized until the middle of the conversation. So when the other person’s emails start to change, it could signal they’re growing less interested in continuing the conversation. A delay that lasts longer than usual most likely signals the conversation is over.”

Also, Morin notes that the best time to e-mail someone is during normal workday hours, most notably during the morning hours. E-mails received during the weekends and in the afternoon are more likely to get shorter replies.

Source: “Waiting for a Reply? Study Explains the Psychology Behind E-mail Response,” Forbes (Nov. 28, 2015)

Which Street Name Is Worth More?

Which Street Name Is Worth More? Image courtesy of scottchan / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

A home owner’s street name may have value in itself. Realtor.com® pitted male street names – such as the Jacksons, Grants, and Coopers – against female street names – the Pearls, Elizabeths, and Roses – to determine which street name could hold more value.

Realtor.com®’s research team evaluated property values on female and male streets over millions of for-sale listings at realtor.com. They found that there are more properties on male streets than female-named streets. However, properties on female streets were found to be more valuable.

Streets with human names have less expensive properties compared to all streets. Realtor.com®’s team speculates that could be due to the fact many of those streets with human names tend to have older houses.

The median year of construction for homes on male streets is 1970; the median year for female streets is 1981.

The following are the top 10 most expensive female street names based on median home values:

• Magdalena: $389,900
• Isabel: $370,500
• Heidi: $349.692
• Serena: $339,900
• Madeline: $329,500
• Dolores: $325,000
• Alexandra: $324,500
• Abigail: $320,000
• Molly: $319,500
• Melinda: $312,500

Now, onto the males: The following 10 are the most expensive male street names based on median home values:

• Francisco: $399,900
• Raphael: $399,900
• Evan: $319,500
• Sebastian: $318,000
• Kent: $305,000
• Marco: $300,000
• Jeffrey: $299,000
• Rocky: $290,000
• Cliff: $284,000
• Matthew: $280,000

Source: “Grant Street vs. Ashley Road: Who Wins the Battle of the Sexes in Street Names?” realtor.com® (Nov. 16, 2015) 

Townhomes Back in Demand?

Townhomes Back in Demand? Image courtesy of nonicknamephoto / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

More home buyers are being lured back to townhomes: Single-family attached starts are up 30 percent compared to a year ago, according to a recent analysis from the National Association of Home Builders of Census data. Single-family attached starts totaled 26,000 nationwide for the third quarter – that marks the fastest pace of construction since the fourth quarter of 2007.

Over the last four quarters, townhouse starts have totaled 84,000, which is a 20 percent increase over the prior four quarters. The market share of new townhouses now stands at nearly 12 percent of all single-family starts.

Townhome construction peaked during the first quarter of 2008, when townhomes made up 14.6 percent of total single-family construction, according to NAHB.

“Despite the drop in market share during the Great Recession, the share for townhouse construction is expected to increase in coming years – with occasional ups and downs,” according to NAHB’s Eye on Housing blog.

The chart below from October’s REALTORS® Confidence Index report shows where real estate professionals are most upbeat about the townhome market:

Source: “Townhouse Construction: Strong Growth,” National Association of Home Builders Eye on Housing Blog (Nov. 19, 2015) and REALTORS® Confidence Index (October 2015)

Unwanted Furry Roommates

Unwanted Furry Roommates. Image courtesy of tor00722 / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

As the weather cools, the risk of unwanted roommates joining your household increases. And I don’t mean your mother-in-law.

Rodents such as mice and rats look for entry into houses and apartment buildings in colder weather. They can cause quite a bit of trouble once they have taken up residence by gnawing through electrical wires, getting into food supplies, leaving droppings in cupboards, and, more seriously, exposing you to diseases they may carry.  The need to avoid or treat the presence of a rodent becomes even more urgent if you’re trying to put your home on the market.

A little knowledge can empower you to handle these furry little “friends.”

Prevention

The best situation of course is never spotting a rodent in your home or apartment to begin with. You can make that dream a reality by carefully sealing your perimeter to keep them out.

Because of their flexibility, rats and mice don’t need much room to squeeze into a space – a rat can fit through a quarter size hole and a mouse through one that is even smaller. Steel wool and caulk can be used to easily DIY your home into a fortress impenetrable by any rodent. The key is to be very thorough in checking for possible break in locations.

Check for cracks and crevices around doors, windows, pipes, vents, fireplaces, and check for holes in electrical cables.  Often forgotten spots are those inside kitchen cabinets or behind appliances such as your refrigerator. Look for places where pipes enter walls, such as under sinks. Rodents can travel along pipes between floors, especially in multifamily dwellings. These gaps can be closed with escutcheon plates or flanges, easily obtained at a local hardware store.

Lastly, door sweeps can be added to reduce the gaps between your door and the floor, another common entry point.

Eviction

If rodents have made their way into your home, a few measures may encourage them to leave all on their own. Access to food and water is their biggest attraction. Keep pantry items in airtight containers, rather than in original packaging that can easily be chewed through. Put a lid on your garbage can. Don’t leave pet food out in bowls when you aren’t home, or even water if your pet doesn’t need access to it (for instance, if it is locked in a crate). Bird feeders should be kept away from the house.

Natural products are available to try to drive away rodents. Because rodents have a superhero-like sense of smell, they can be easily overwhelmed with certain scents. You should look into buying mouse repellent products or rodent pouches use things such as mint, cedar, rosemary, balsam fir, and essential oils to drive them away, while only leaving your home smelling better to your mere human nostrils.

And setting traps is always a tried and true resort. The spring-loaded kind should be preferred to glue traps, live traps, and poison. Why? The Center for Disease Control and Prevention says glue and live traps can scare mice and cause them to urinate, increasing your risk of being exposed to disease. Poison is risky to both children and pets, but it also allows for rodents to eat it and then sneak off to die in a wall or hole in your home. That would not be a fun surprise to find – or smell – at a later date.

Spring-loaded traps should be set close to walls because this is where rodents most often travel. Although the cartoons use cheese, peanut butter is actually better bait. Another expert recommends a cotton ball with a few drops of water on it – attractive to rodents as nesting material. Rats can be harder to catch, so some professionals recommend using fruit or bacon. You might even try placing it in one location for a few days without a trap. They will grow accustomed to eating in that spot without fear, making it more likely that their next meal there will be the last.

Professionals

Most importantly, a rodent infestation is not something you want to mess with.  If you continue to see signs of their presence, seek professional help.  (Or seek it even earlier if even one mouse is just too much to face.) Try pestworld.org to find a licensed professional near you. Just make sure you understand the terms of their treatment, such as if it is a one-time visit or a comprehensive package if the problem persists, before signing a contract.

Source: “Of Mice and Apartment Sales,” The New York Times, November 6, 2015

Does Your Listing Have Enough Walls?

Does Your Listing Have Enough Walls? Image courtesy of Geerati / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Home owners and businesses have pronounced a strong desire for open floor plans—areas where fewer walls give a greater sense of spaciousness—over the past decade or more. But some British architects are suggesting that the trend may change soon as home owners in the near future require more walls.

In a recent article in Dezeen, several architects and designers forecast the end of the open-plan era. They say mobile technology is increasing the desire for more privacy. The desire for what is being called “fragmented” spaces comes from the increase in those who are working from home and a desire to have private screen time with phones or laptops. The trend may be more evident in business spaces, as backlash increases against open offices with a lack of privacy and, some say, focus.

Architects forecast a layout that might include studies and television rooms instead of large lounges. Also, split-level floors and sliding partitions may be used more often to help divide open spaces without closing them off entirely.

“Modern technology has consequences to our traditional living patterns and routines, and we are adapting to what is on offer,” Mary Duggan with Duggan Morris Architects in London told Dezeen. “Like it or not, there is greater independence between family members and more out-of-sequence operations. They need a suite of spaces to accommodate this, so our plans are starting to fragment. Broken-plan is a term we are using a lot at the moment. It deliberately challenges open-plan living, encompassing all family activities and allowing them to function in tandem.”

Still, she says there is demand for kitchen and dining spaces that have large countertops built to entertain guests. “The idea of having big theater rooms where families can cook and eat and talk are a constant part of the sequence,” she says.

Source: “Smartphones and Tablets Spell the End for Open-Plan Living, Say UK Architects,” Dezeen Magazine (Nov. 12, 2015)