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Feds probe real estate agents - Apr. 22, 2005 Web CNN/Money Buying & Selling Investment Property Home Improvement Million $ Life Financing Best Places SAVE | EMAIL | PRINT | SUBSCRIBE TO MONEY | Feds probe real estate agents Money magazine investigation shows Justice Dept. looking into anticompetitive practices. April 22, 2005: 5:27 PM EDT By Jon Birger, Money Magazine NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Did you pay your real estate broker too much? The U.S. Department of Justice may be set to turn Tulsa, Okla. into a test-case for ending the stranglehold 6 percent commissions have over the real estate brokerage business. MONEY has learned that Justice's Antitrust Division is gathering information on the bully tactics that full-commission brokers in Tulsa allegedly use against their discount rivals to discourage commission-cutting. The probe follows other recent efforts to spur competition in the real estate industry. According to a copy of a Justice Department subpoena obtained by MONEY, federal investigators are seeking information on "possible anticompetitive conduct in the provision of real estate services in the Tulsa area" as well as "documents related to refusal to cooperate on real estate transactions." An Antitrust Division spokeswoman confirmed the existence of the investigation but declined to provide additional details. Al Unser, executive director of the Greater Tulsa Association of Realtors said: "We received a CID [civil investigative demand] from the Justice Dept. and we have responded." Economists who study real estate, such as the University of Cincinnati's Norm Miller, believe anti-competitive behavior is the primary explanation for the persistence of the 6 percent commission. J.D. Smith and Bob Meyer are two Tulsa discount real estate agents who say they were interviewed by federal investigators. They say the investigators wanted information on full-commission agents' alleged refusal to show home-buying clients properties listed by discount brokers -- a tactic known as boycotting. Boycotting exploits the one major weakness of the multiple listing service. The MLS's upside is that it centralizes all homes for sale in a single electronic marketplace that can be accessed by all agents -- and these days by Web-savvy consumers as well. The downside is that brokers must depend on one another to help sell their homes, and that discourages them from undercutting each other's commissions. While boycotting the listings of discounters is generally considered an antitrust violation -- if undisclosed, it's also a breach of fiduciary duty to clients -- industry insiders are well aware that boycotting goes on, even if they claim not to condone it. For Smith, the Feds' investigation comes a year or so too late. His realty business on the brink of ruin, Smith recently abandoned discount brokerage and went back to charging 6 percent. "In one week," Smith said, "I've had more showings and more offers from other realtors than I had in the previous two months." The Tulsa investigation is part of an ongoing Antitrust Division foray into the sharp-elbowed realty world. In March, the Antitrust Division sued the Kentucky Real Estate Commission over a state law that prohibits real estate brokers from offering commission rebates to consumers. More recently, Assistant Attorney General R. Hewitt Pate sent letters to lawmakers and regulators in Oklahoma and Texas, urging them to reject proposals that would effectively prohibit brokers from engaging in limited-service or fee-for-service realty -- such as listing a home for sale on the multiple listing service for a flat fee of $500. Bruce Hahn, chairman of the American Homeowners Grassroots Alliance, argues that state prohibitions on rebates and fee-for-service discourage competition and inflate commissions paid by consumers. "We've talked to Justice, and we think what they're doing is tremendous," he said. E-mail Jon Birger at jbirger@moneymail.com. The Hot List Most profitable renovations How risky is your 401(k)? Big new tax credits for hybrid cars More Real Estate How to buy and build on rural land Most overvalued housing markets When booms go bust... contact us | magazine customer service | site map | glossary | RSS | press room OTHER NEWS: CNN | SI | Fortune | Business2.0 = Money subscribers = Premium content -- * - Time reflects local markets trading time. † - Intraday data is at least 15-minutes delayed. Disclaimer © 2005 Cable News Network LP, LLLP. A Time Warner Company ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Terms under which this service is provided to you. privacy policy Reprints of site stories are available. Top Stories Most overvalued housing markets Risks to the economy in 2006 Which was the worst ad of all in 2005? After the ride, a rest Hilton brands reunite after 40 years YOUR E-MAIL ALERTS Real Estate Antitrust Division Corporate Governance Oklahoma or Create your own Manage alerts | What is this?

Home Loan | Equity

Mortgage Rates, Home Loans, Home Equity Loans, Debt Consolidation and Bad Credit Loans - HomeLoanCenter.com Mortgage Refinance Home Equity Loans Home Purchase Credit Concerns Debt Consolidation Check Loan Status Loan Calculators Rate Quote Rate Watch FAQs Find the Right Loan 5 Reasons to Refinance Home Buying Tips Mortgage Terms Glossary Get Loan Approval in Minutes. Qualifying is Quick & Easy. -- Choose Your Loan Type -- Refinance Purchase Home Equity Loan -- Choose Your State -- AK AL AR AZ CA CO CT DC DE FL GA HI IA ID IL IN KS KY LA MA MD ME MI MN MO MS MT NC ND NE NH NJ NM NV NY OH OK OR PA RI SC SD TN TX UT VA VT WA WI WV WY Our Mortgage Calculators will help you find the right loan. How Much Can You Afford? How Much Equity is in Your Home? How Much Could You Save? What Will Your Monthly Payment Be? Hsieh Joins Expert Panel on CNBC Anthony Hsieh appears on a special edition of CNBC Primetime with a panel of residential real estate industry experts. Anthony Hsieh, on CNN's Open House Hsieh appeared as a guest speaker on CNN's Open House to discuss good housing debt versus bad housing debt. Click below for a Personalized Payment and Rate. Option ARM 1.000% 1.106% 1 Month ARM 2.000% 2.116% 3/1 Libor ARM 5.000% 5.149% 15 Year Fixed 5.125% 5.384% 30 Year Fixed 5.625% 5.782% 30 Yr Fixed Jumbo 6.125% 6.289% Assumptions Site Map | About Us | Contact Us | Business Hours | Careers | Privacy Policy | Our Guarantees | Licensing | Legal Information Loan Payment Calculator | Mortgage Refinance | Home Equity Loan | Home Purchase | Adjustable Rate Mortgages | Second Mortgage Tools & Resources | Mortgage Interest Rates | Home Loan | Equity Loan | Debt Consolidation © 2005 Home Loan Center, Inc. All rights reserved. Loan programs are offered by Home Loan Center, Inc.

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National Real Estate Investor - commercial real estate investing and development About Us | Contact Us | Advertising | For Search Partners | Privacy Policy Sort by Date Relevancy Resources and Services Capital Markets Center Retail Tenant Directory Best of the Best Industry News Developer News Broker News Area Reviews Executive Q&A Office Multifamily Retail Industrial Hotel Net Lease/1031 Exchanges REIT Updates Investors Capital Markets Property Management Corporate Real Estate Technology Tax Issues First Word Financing Today Money & Real Estate Tax Notes Washington Wire Last Word Retail Traffic Industry Associations Data Points Home -- Kelo Verdict Bolsters Private Development As Public Use -- TIME TO SELL? New research from National Real Estate Investor and Retail Traffic , and sponsored by Hutensky Capital Partners, provides insights on the climate for shopping center sales. Click here to download . December's Cover Story Forecast 2006: Five trends driving the industry Dec 1, 2005 12:00 PM While mounting pressures may produce cracks in the economic recovery in 2006, the nation is on track to close out 2005 on a resilient note. Real GDP growth... More -- FEATURED DOWNLOAD 100 Ways to Save Costs in your Retail Operation Supplement For ways to save on day-to-day operational products and services, be sureto to download a copy of our 100+ Ways to Save including a complete listing ofSimon Preferred Vendors and Service Providers. Clickhere to download . News Articles GE/Arden Deal Caps Big M&A Year Dec 28, 2005 3:32 AM When General Electric agreed to buy office real estate investment trust (REIT) Arden Realty last Thursday, the $3.2 billion deal capped a heady year for REIT mergers. Not only is the southern California-based office landlord the eighth publicly-traded REIT to change hands this year in roughly $20 billion worth of deals, but its also further evidence that institutional capital still has a voracious appetite for real estate. And December proved to be an especially active month for REIT mergers: Centerpoint Properties Trust was sold to a joint venture earlier this month for $2.4 billion.... More -- Ground Zero Waiting Game Dec 21, 2005 1:49 PM Four years after the 9-11 attacks, lower Manhattans office market is on the mend. But 7 World Trade Center, one of the first towers to rise along Ground Zero, is lagging behind the recovery with just 40,000 sq. ft. of its entire 1.7 million sq. ft. leased as of late December. The problem, say brokerage sources, are the above-market rents at 7 World Trade Center, which is being developed by Silverstein Properties and is slated for occupancy in March. ... More -- D.C. Hotel Property Sold Dec 21, 2005 10:57 AM LaSalle Hotel Properties has bought a downtown Washington, D.C. hotel for $44.6 million. The hotel REIT also plans to invest another $21 million into the Holiday Inn Downtown. ... More -- GE Buys Swedish Office Tower Dec 21, 2005 10:55 AM GE Commercial Finance Real Estate has bought the leasehold to Gta Ark, an office building located in downtown Stockholm. The purchase price amounts to roughly $57 million (U.S.). Approximately 28% of the property is leased to the Local Authority of Stockholm. This is the second office property that GE Commercial Finance Real Estate has acquired in Stockholm since last summer. ... More -- GE Lends To Investment Fund Operator Dec 21, 2005 10:54 AM GE Commercial Finance Real Estate has closed a $28.7 million transaction with HEI Hospitality for the HEI acquisition of the 250-room, full service Sheraton Fort Lauderdale Airport. ... More -- Hoteliers Eye Booming 2006: Report Dec 16, 2005 11:48 AM The U.S. hotel industry should post record profits in 2006, based on a recent report by PricewaterhouseCoopers hospitality practice. Not only is 2006 likely to bring record profits but also the industry should expect two more years of solid growth. ... More -- No Worries On Non-Core Industrial Development Spike Dec 14, 2005 1:34 PM Planned development activity in secondary and tertiary industrial markets set a blistering pace in the third quarter with 38.5 million sq. ft. of new construction starts, reports CB Richard Ellis. That was up from only 16 million sq. ft. in the second quarter. Whats more interesting, however, is that a full third of that third quarter activity was initiated in secondary and tertiary industrial markets rather than the major shipping hubs on the west and east coast. ... More -- Property Fund Launched Dec 9, 2005 4:24 PM Henderson Global Investors has launched an open-ended, commingled real estate fund that will invest in a range property classes. The fund will chiefly buy apartment, retail, industrial and office properties located in select U.S. markets. Henderson Global Investors manages more than $10.1 billion in assets. ... More -- CB Richard Ellis and Trammell Crow Agree… The top 2 U.S. asset managers -- CB Richard Ellis and Trammell Crow -- have all moved to the Realm PAY Platform for Paper-Free A/P. Click here to discover why. The Best of the Best 2005 Oct 20, 2005 1:55 PM National Real Estate Investor presents its annual rankings of the leading commerical real estate companies. Intent on shedding its image as a highly fragmented industry, commercial real estate continues to experience a wave of consolidation. For industry veterans, it's like watching a game of PacMan. The giants of the industry are gobbling up smaller players and each other at a healthy clip.... More -- IN PRINT Current issue Hurricane Winds Blow Through Condo Market Dec 1, 2005 12:00 PM The condo market in Miami-Dade County, which is bursting at the seams with new construction and intense investor demand, took an unexpected hit in October... More -- Unlocking Building Value Through Repositioning Dec 1, 2005 12:00 PM One of the most striking buildings on Chicago's skyline is CNA Center. Since it was built in 1972, the 1.3 million sq. ft. red tower has operated as a... More -- Why Public REITs Are Going Private Dec 1, 2005 12:00 PM During the early 1990s, private real estate companies with large portfolios rushed to become public real estate investment trusts. Now the pendulum has... More -- Magazine Subscriptions Email Newsletter Advertiser Information Online Marketplace Back to Top © 2005 Primedia Business Magazines and Media. 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real estate prices in

Pondering Real Estate Pondering Real Estate Adam Hamilton August 23, 2002 2913 Most Americans' largest asset is their home. With chaotic and turbulent economic times upon us, how will residential real estate perform in the coming years. Some thoughts... One of the greatest blessings of writing publicly is the continual stream of feedback I am offered from folks around the world. They let me know when I am wrong, help shape my worldviews and opinions, and offer dazzling new ideas that are often absolutely brilliant. Without everyone who graciously writes in to help deepen my own understanding, my own thought processes would rapidly stagnate. I am always grateful for feedback, positive, neutral, or negative. The people who take the time to write really augment the crucial foundational base off which my thoughts articulated in these essays are formed and polished. One of the most common questions people have, especially those writing from the States, regards real estate. For Americans, real estate, in the form of their primary family home, is often the largest asset they command. The value of real estate, especially the price trend, is very important to countless folks across our great nation. Many Americans I hear from, especially those with a contrarian investor mindset, wonder what will happen to residential real estate prices in the United States. The question is a very complex and difficult one, for a whole myriad of reasons. I have been pondering this matter since the US equity bubbles burst and am finally ready to commit some tentative thoughts to paper on this vexing issue. A massive caveat is in order however. I am approaching this question about real estate price trends from the perspective of a speculator. Not having a background in real estate, these ideas may be completely worthless, so please dont act on anything in this essay without at least first discussing these concepts with a real estate professional you personally trust with decades of experience. I hope this essay will simply spur further thoughts and discussions. The primary issue that I have been wrestling with in my mind regarding residential real estate price trends in the coming years concerns inflation and deflation. Inflation and deflation are simply opposing monetary phenomena, but both seem to be attacking our fragile post-bust economy in the US with great fury from opposite sides. For some background on these two titanic forces, please see my Inflation or Deflation? essay published last December. Inflation is spawned by the hooligans at the Federal Reserve printing too much paper (or electronic) money, which they have been doing in spades in recent years in a vain and fruitless attempt to stop the normal post-bubble bust process from running its full course. In the last 12 months, the various US money supply measures have exploded up with astounding violence. The absolute year-over-year M1 inflation is 5.2%, MZM 12.7%, M2 7.9%, and M3 7.4%. These numbers are downright frightening in light of historical inflationary precedent! In an inflationary environment, relatively more money chases after relatively fewer goods, services, and real estate. If the amount of money in circulation is rising faster than available real estate in the areas in which people want to live, residential real estate prices should rise. Realtors use this inflation idea to convince their customers that land prices should perpetually rise because land is scarce. Unfortunately, thats not the whole story. While real estate professionals constantly bombard us with marketing propaganda claiming that land is scarce and no more is being made, that is a myth. One example why is evident in multi-story buildings. A 10-story structure, for example, has about 10x the usable space as a single story structure, but has the same footprint in raw land terms. Land itself is not scarce, just land in locations where people want to live. For example, the sparsely-populated state of Montana has about 147,000 square miles of area, or roughly 94m acres. Assuming that only 2/3 of Montanas land is useable (the rest might be mountains or lakes, or streets in cities), that leaves 63m acres. If the entire US population is 287m people, they could all move to Montana and each live in modest estates of almost 1/4 acre, or 9,500 square feet. If their houses took up 1/3 of their plots, and each had a basement and two aboveground stories, every American could live in Montana in individual 9,500 square feet mini-mansions! Land is not scarce in general. I have seen land sell in the North Dakota Badlands for $25 per acre. I have heard of deals involving vast tracts of land in northern Australia going for under $1 per acre. Land is relatively scarce in small areas in which lots of people want or need to live however, such as New York Citys Manhattan Island. Monetary inflation should indeed bode well for real estate prices, but where will it strike? If US monetary inflation bids on barren lands in the Western states for example, residential real estate in the big Eastern cities might not benefit. Just because the general economic environment in the US is highly inflationary thanks to the Feds obnoxious and practically criminal monetary growth, that doesnt necessarily mean real estate in a given small corner of the US will do well. And then we must consider deflation! Deflation is caused by relatively less money chasing relatively more goods, services, and real estate. In deflationary environments money supplies shrink and prices drop. As long as the American people allow the private Federal Reserve bank to continue its tyranny of inflationary theft, there will never be less money in the US economy than there is today. But, muddying the waters even further, the historical line between money and credit is now exceedingly blurry. Because Americans love going into debt, they insist on buying their houses on time, with borrowed money at high interest rates, rather than working hard, saving the funds themselves, and paying cash when they can afford to buy a house outright. While deflation in the US money supplies is probably impossible with the Fed around, deflation in debt, or credit, is already happening. With Americans not actually buying houses outright but really in effect borrowing them from banks, any contraction in available debt will leave less credit available to chase houses. With less credit chasing residential real estate, prices will be forced to fall. But, just as with inflation, it is difficult or impossible to predict how the contraction in general credit available to buy houses will affect real estate in any given small area of the United States. Confused yet? Me too. There are both titanic inflationary and monstrous deflationary forces barreling down on the United States. But, residential real estate markets are all local and many will be affected differently. Deflationary forces could win out in New York City for instance, causing home values to plummet while at the same time inflationary forces win out in Wyoming causing house prices to rise. Real estate is all local. In the stock markets, it is meaningless whether you buy a share of a publicly-traded company in New York or California. In real estate where you buy your house is everything! Location, location, location. Since all real estate markets are really local, perhaps there are some warning signs that you can watch for in your little corner of America to warn of impending real estate price drops. While national generalizations about monetary inflation or debt/credit deflation regarding real estate are tough to make, zooming in to the local level for analysis has a much higher probability of success. Stock speculators throughout history have learned to carefully monitor equity markets for danger signs of maturing bubbles. All markets, including real estate, move in great cycles throughout history, marked by rampant euphoria at the tops and popular indifference at the bottoms. Perhaps applying some common bubble warning signs in equity markets to your local real estate market will yield some interesting fruit. Three common warning signs for equity bubbles are parabolic price rises, excessive valuations, and overwhelming euphoria. In real estate, parabolic price rises happen when a local market witnesses prices rocketing up by 15%+ per year, for years in a row. If you go to your local library and look at old newspaper classified ads, or else secure local data from your hometown real estate professional, you can easily graph it in Excel. If prices of comparable homes across time are shooting up on a long-term zeroed-chart like a ballistic missile, like the bubbles in the NASDAQ 2000 and DJIA 1929, you are most likely in the belly of the beast, a local unsustainable real estate bubble. Check out bubble growth graphed, it sticks out like a central banker at a rock concert! This graph shows values indexed to 100, but you can just as easily think of them in terms of dollars, starting out at $100k. Imagine you bought a house 25 years ago for $100k, a lot of money back then. If your house price appreciated by 5% per year compounded annually, it would now be worth $339k, which is totally plausible and makes sense. On the other hand, if your house had appreciated by 15% each year, it would now be worth $3,292k, or $3.3m! This is a massive increase in price, and it ought to throw up big red warning flags all across your cranium. Does it make sense for a $100k house to become a $3.3m house in only 25 years? Absolutely not, that is just silly! As the graph above shows, abnormally high growth rates make for parabolic charts, bubbles that look just like the stock market variety. If your local real estate market is ascending parabolically like the NASDAQ of 1997-2000, you are in a bubble. History unambiguously shows that no financial trend continues in the same direction forever and all bubbles ultimately pop. Unrealistic annual growth rates are a key bubble warning sign. For a deeper discussion of unrealistic growth rates over the long-term, please see my essay The Elusive Long-Term from last August. Another warning sign of equity bubbles is excessive valuations. In the stock markets, valuations are most commonly measured by the formidable yet often scorned price-to-earnings ratio. The historical average P/E ratio for US equity markets is 13.5x earnings. We can also apply this concept to real estate holdings. While most people buy a house simply to live in, it is also possible to buy a house to use as a rental property. In a residential house used as a single-family rental, there is a price, the cash paid for the house, and an earnings stream, the rent the family pays to the owner. With a real estate P and E, we can compute a rough real estate valuation multiple. If a rental property costs $100k to buy, and rents for $1000 per month, or $12k per year, its P/E ratio is 8.3. Even though most families dont own a separate rental property, with a little legwork you can check your local newspapers and calculate some rough P/E proxies for your area. Find houses for sale similar to yours to get price data points. Find houses for rent similar to yours to get earnings data points. Divide the P by the E, and you have a rough valuation estimate. I dont know what a reasonable average long-term residential real-estate P/E is. I suspect it is probably in the 10-20 range though, as that implies a 5% to 10% return on the owners capital, which is in line with historical returns available across a broad market spectrum. If you find that houses in your area are renting for implied P/Es of under 20 or so, that is a good sign that house prices may be fair. Conversely, if you find houses in your area renting for implied P/Es of over 20, valuations are probably too high and you should be wary of a potential real estate bubble. Another common warning sign of equity bubbles is rampant and unbridled widespread euphoria. Remember the NASDAQ in 1999 and early 2000? It was unreal! All anyone ever talked about was the NASDAQ, how boring. As a hard-traveling consulting road warrior at the time, I remember even the shoeshine boys at airports were talking about their tech stock investments as they polished shoes. It was just crazy, just as brilliant historians like Charles Mackay of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds fame (written in 1841) warned us it would be. It is difficult to empirically quantify euphoria, but there is no mistaking it if you keep your ears open and pay attention to what folks are talking about in your social circles. If you find yourself in a local situation where the preferred topic of conversation at every social get-together is always residential real estate and the great wealth to be made in home ownership, chances are euphoria is setting in and you should proceed with great caution. Just as parabolic price rises, excessive valuations, and overwhelming euphoria are danger signs of bubble tops in the stock markets, they are also equally valid danger signs in local real estate markets. It is probably a wise idea to periodically monitor these three fronts. In addition to stock market-like traits, there are also other factors that affect local real estate prices. These include net local migration patterns, income trends, and interest rates. One of the most important local factors in house prices is migration. If you live in or near a community that is growing as more people move in each year, that increases the pool of potential bidders competing for local houses. Prices are far more likely to rise in an environment of net in-migration. On the other hand, if your community is shrinking, both the number of people and amount of capital available to throw at residential real estate dwindles. This is a bad omen for future real estate prices in your area. Typically cities grow and rural areas shrink as people seek the jobs available in cities. This is not always the case though. As the Information Age continues to evolve, a new population of workers is growing, the information worker. Info workers deal purely in information, like a software programmer. It is often not important where they live, as they rely on the Internet to work remotely with their colleagues and clients. Info workers often earn high salaries and have the means to bid up home prices. Zeal LLC , my company, is an example of an Information Age venture. My partners and I can research, consult, trade, and write from anywhere on Earth. It makes absolutely no difference to you whether I penned this essay in Alaska, Australia, Argentina, or the Azores. Info workers, whose ranks will grow dramatically in the coming decade, are very blessed to be able to live and work from anywhere. So, if you live in an area of exceptional natural beauty and very high quality of life, prime rural areas, an influx of urban information refugees from the decaying carcasses of the megalopoli will probably help support real estate prices in your location even through tough economic times. It may make sense to buy real estate in elite communities like the Colorado or California mountain resort towns even if the US economy faces very turbulent times ahead. The Information Age will probably totally alter the dynamics of rural real estate in prized areas. Another factor to consider is income trends in your area. Ultimately, real estate prices in a given location can never increase faster than income over the long-term. Even for the vast majority who choose to go into debt to live in a house, the level of debt service they can afford is totally dependent on their income. If general income trends in your community are rising, that is a great sign and is bullish for real estate prices. On the other hand, if general income is falling, for any reason, that suggests real estate prices will have to correct downward to adjust for the loss of debt-servicing ability necessary for folks to borrow money and buy residential real estate. Interest rate levels are also intimately tied into this whole debt service capability. As all those burdened with a mortgage know, for many years most of the monthly payments are almost totally interest. It takes a long time and a huge amount of money dumped down the mortgage black hole, into bankers pockets, before the amortization starts taking good-sized bites out of principal each month. Amazingly, in the first 2/3 of a typical 30-year mortgages lifespan, the interest portion of each monthly payment exceeds the principal portion. So, if interest rates are heading higher due to Greenspans promiscuous inflation as I have discussed in past essays including Bond Anomalies Abound , it will severely retard debt-financed residential real estate purchases nationwide. Although interest rates havent turned north yet, history suggests they will be forced higher sooner or later as the bubble excesses are painfully squeezed out of the US economy. In summary, attempting to divine real estate price trends is very difficult in a macro sense. There are a great deal of diverse variables that affect real estate prices. In addition, unlike the stock market, there is no national real estate market. All real estate is local, so national trends must be examined for your particular situation in light of the local realities in your community. Nevertheless, if you do your own due diligence and integrate local real estate data you uncover into national post-bubble trends, you should be able to emerge with a fairly good idea of where your local residential real estate prices might be heading. Adam Hamilton, CPA August 23, 2002 Do you enjoy these essays? Please subscribe to our acclaimed private Zeal Intelligence newsletter today to see the good stuff each month, including our specific stock and options trades based on our research! For more information ... Zeal Intelligence For a FREE sample ... FREE Samples! To subscribe ... 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Texas Land and Wildlife

Information Resources for Texas Conservation David Bezanson 5 236 2004-08-04T20:52:00Z 2004-08-05T01:16:00Z 2 231 1321 TCONR 11 2 1622 9.6926 Information Resources For Texas Conservation TCONR works with other organizations, public and private, to promote conservation and efficient use of natural resources in Texas. This page contains links to fact sheets, white papers, and other information sources that have been compiled by TCONR members or are provided at other external websites. Check back routinely for updated information. Conserving Texas Land and Wildlife The Texas Environmental Profiles website jointly maintained by Environmental Defense and the TexasCenter for Policy Studies includes comprehensive information from many sources about wildlife and land conservation topics such as the status of Texas lands , threatenedspecies and habitat types . The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department conservation page includes links to descriptions of native and endangered species , informationabout opportunities for landowners interested in wildlife and nature tourism, and an introduction to the Texas Master Naturalist Program which has trained hundreds of volunteers to be better land and wildlife managers. Natural Vegetation Types and Their Representation in Conservation Areas . Thesis by David Bezanson lists plant communities that occur in Texas and examines the extent they are conserved in state parks, wildlife areas, and other public and private lands. A summary form, Conservation Priorities for Texas , by David Bezanson and David Wolfe was published in 2001 with a grant from the Magnolia Charitable Trust. The Audubon Society, Texas chapter promotesconservation of birds, other wildlife and their habitat. The Big Thicket Association is an advocacy organization which continues to work to conserve areas of the Big Thicket, one of Texas' most biologically diverse areas. State parks or outdoor links Texas Parks and Rec Many Texans have donated property or conservation easements to a land trust. The Texas Land Trust Council web page contains a guide to this growing movement. Land trusts in Texas include the Conservation Fund andtwo organizations founded by TCONR's Ned Fritz, the Nature Conservancy of Texas and Natural Area Preservation Association , which have conserved more than a million acres of wildlife habitat. The Texas Section Society for Range Management promotes rangeland conservation and research to support responsible grazing management. Native Prairies Association of Texas is a land trust that owns and manages native prairies and provides information about restoring prairies of Texas . The Texas Legacy Project website maintained by the Conservation History Association of Texas is an archive of interviews with individuals, past and present, who have contributed to natural resource conservation in Texas. Texas Water Use and Conservation The Texas Environmental Profiles website jointly maintained by Environmental Defense and the TexasCenter for Policy Studies is a resource for information on water quality , water use and other environmental concerns. Texas Parks and Wildlife Department's Texas: The Stateof Water page contains news articles about water rights and water conservation, designated significant streams, and links to economic analyses of outdoor recreation. For more information about water development and planning, visit the Texas LivingWaters Initiative website, a collaborative project of the National Wildlife Federation , Environmental Defense, and Sierra Club Lone Star Chapter to inform the public about the effects of reservoirs and the importance of water conservation. For specificinformation about Marvin Nichols Reservoir and regional water planning, visit Stop Marvin Nichols . The San Marcos River Foundation is a nonprofit organizationwhich advocates purchase of water rights to protect instream flows in Texas rivers. TCONR's Janice Bezanson and Gina Donovan serve with other volunteers on the Texas River Conservation Advisory Board to provide citizen input on theimportance of natural waters for recreation and the environment. Texas Facts, Figures, and Images Images of Texas natural areas for public use. Back to Home