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Featured Article
Industry sees friendlier climate
The commercial real-estate industry stands to benefit from the shifting political power in Washington, as Republicans attempt to roll back some parts of financial regulation and stanch any efforts to raise taxes.
As of Tuesday, with eight races remaining undecided, Democrats had lost 60 seats in the House, with Republicans now in control of 239 seats, compared with the Democrats' 188. Democrats still retain a narrow lead in the Senate.
Real-estate executives said that with the GOP taking control of the House in the next term and stronger numbers in the Senate, the industry's profits will be safer from any attempts to raise taxes
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CONTACT US
Stephen J. Crawford, Esq.
President
Everest Land Title Agency Ltd.
8111 Rockside Road, Suite 275
Valley View, Ohio 44125
National: (866) 945-4200
scrawford@everestland.com
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About Us
Everest Land manages the settlement of commercial and residential acquisition, disposition, and refinancing activity for banks, developers, life insurance companies, pension funds, Realtors and mortgage bankers. The company issues title insurance policies, creates new sources of fee revenue for mortgage lenders, helps real estate owners and investors reduce the cost of title insurance, and provides clients with state-of-the-art, web-based real estate transaction management systems.
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Greetings!
Have you ever been too quick to judge whether a circumstance in your life was bad news or good news? If so, consider the wonderful Chinese story of an old man who owned a bony plow horse.
One spring afternoon the horse ran away. The old man's friends, trying to console him, said, "We're so sorry about your horse, old man. What a misfortune you've had." But the old man said, "Bad news, good news-who knows?"
A few days later the horse returned home leading a herd of wild horses. Again the friends came running. Filled with jubilation, they cried, "How wonderful!" But the old man whispered, "Good news, bad news-who knows?" Read the rest of the story here.
Sincerely, Stephen J. Crawford, Esq.
President, Everest Land
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News: University Hopsital's Ahuja Medical Center in Beachwood features state-of-the-art services
BEACHWOOD, Ohio -- The $298 million Ahuja Medical Center opens its doors to the community today for a peek at the first Cuyahoga County hospital built from the ground up in 30 years.
Workers continued to paint, wire and move furniture into the building last week. The finished product will incorporate concepts that promote patient healing and shorten the time they need to stay in the hospital. The 144-bed facility opens to patients early next year after it receives certification. When visitors enter, they immediately see a wall of windows that bathes the soaring two-story lobby in natural light. Warm and inviting neutral colors and wide hallways put them at ease. A comforting, gas-burning hearth is carefully positioned at the end of the lobby.
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News: Tower tumbles wrong way during demolition at old FirstEnergy plant
SPRINGFIELD, Ohio -- A nearly 300-foot smokestack being demolished at an old Ohio power plant owned by Akron's FirstEnergy Corp. toppled in the wrong direction and sent spectators scrambling Wednesday before knocking down two 12,000-volt power lines and crashing onto a building housing backup generators, officials said.
No injuries were reported after the 275-foot tower at the unused 83-year-old Mad River Power Plant teetered and then fell in a southeast direction - instead of east, as originally planned - seconds after explosives were detonated.
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Trends: PlayhouseSquare stars in its own real estate revival
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Behind the marquees of PlayhouseSquare, a real estate machine is chugging along. The PlayhouseSquare Foundation, which has revived historic venues and attracted Broadway shows and more than 1 million people a year to Cleveland's theater district since the 1970s, owns roughly 1 million square feet of real estate.
The nonprofit corporation also manages office buildings, industrial facilities, bank buildings and retail strips across the region and expects to grow through property acquisitions, a major theater redevelopment and an expansion into leasing and tenant representation.
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Fundamentals: The Future of the Mortgage Interest Deduction
Many have heard that the mortgage interest deduction was under scrutiny by the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform. What you may not know is that the Commission has released a draft proposal that allows for three possibilities, all of which would seek to raise $80 billion for the U.S. in 2015. The plan, produced by the co-chairs of the Commission, would increase revenue by $1 trillion, but it has not yet won the support of the full commission.
The first proposal, the "clean slate" option, eliminates all tax expenditures, consolidates income tax into three rates, reduces the corporate tax rate, eliminates the AMT, and eliminates the Pease limitation on itemized deductions and the personal exemptions phase-out for higher income taxpayers. This would keep mortgage benefits at either 80% of their current level or at the current level. The second proposal would limit the mortgage interest deduction to first residences and lowers the cap on mortgages from $1.1 million to $500,000. Finally, the third proposal, a tax reform trigger, would create across the board reduction in itemized deductions, employer health exclusions, and general business credits if tax reform is not enacted by 2012, in a 15% reduction that would increase over time.
A suggested an increase of the gas tax by fifteen cents was also recommended by the proposed plan. For more information, please contact the author, Everest Land Attorney Emily Honsa, at ejhonsa@everestland.com.
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Want More?
If you would like to receive monthly clippings of all Plain Dealer and Crain's articles touching on real estate, just drop me a line at scrawford@everestland.com and we will add you to our email distribution list.
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