Real Estate
Articles

Back to school
August 22, 2019. I started yet another school year teaching real estate to intelligent, young college students eager to learn the ins and outs of real estate.

Real estate reality
August 15, 2019. I wrote several weeks ago about coffee shops and the impact they can have on the culture of a community. I also wrote last week about the concept of highest and best use. The real estate reality expressed in those two articles hit home this week as several of my favorite “third places” shut their doors in my hometown of Edmo[...]

Highest and best use
August 8, 2019. I spend a fair amount of time discussing the highest and best use of property with potential investors and property owners. The concept of highest and best use is one of the fundamental principles of real estate value.

How smart is your meter?
August 1, 2019. How smart is your electric meter? Over half of the electricity customers in the U.S. now have smart meters. And guess what? Oklahoma is a leader in installations of the technology, with over 80% of Oklahoma electric customers now using them.

Smart growth
July 25, 2019. I was invited to attend a National Association of Realtors presentation titled “Smart Growth for the 21st Century” and hosted by the Edmond Board of Realtors. Nate Johnson, Real Estate Solutions Group in St. Louis, did a fantastic job delivering his Principles of Smart Growth.

Fortified roofs
July 18, 2019. In terms of resilience, a weather-tight roof is considered the first line of defense against damaging storms. This is why the Institute for Building and Home Safety created the Fortified roof program.

The tree canopy
July 11, 2019. We need trees and should be committed to increasing our tree canopy in the urban environments; however, we must also mitigate risk associated with the same.

Would you be my neighbor?
July 3, 2019. Did your mother teach you to share? Do you like interaction with your neighbors? I want to introduce you to a type of neighborhood that is gaining popularity in the U.S. that requires sharing some common areas and incorporates interaction with your neighbors. It’s called a pocket neighborhood.

Public transportation and scooters
June 27, 2019. Electric scooters are rapidly becoming a ubiquitous feature of the urban fabric.

Coffee shops
June 20, 2019. The success of coffee shops throughout time can be accounted for by their profound social and cultural value.

Solving one of our societal issues – loneliness
June 13, 2019. Surveys indicate that one of society’s biggest problems is loneliness of citizens. Community-driven residential is seen as a potential solution to this issue.

Charrettes
June 6, 2019. Developers must consider the impact of their projects on the community. Prudent developers go a step further and actually allow the community to participate in the design.

UCO London/Belfast/Dublin study tour
May 30, 2019. I am writing this from the Grand Rotunda in the British Museum. The 2019 University of Central Oklahoma London/Belfast/Dublin Study Tour is in full swing.

The Gentle Author
May 23, 2019. I may have had the most interesting day of my eight years of coming to London to teach and do research.

Why don’t you take me downtown?
May 16, 2019. Downtown was always the most vibrant heart of the American city. Every city had one, a pulsing commercial center where you could find banks, businesses, hotels, department stores, and theaters. Downtown was the economic engine that fueled the city.

Honey, I shrunk the space
May 9, 2019. We are witnessing a shrinking in the square footage in nearly every category of real estate in the U.S. This is not in total square footage nationally, but in individual spaces.

Mixing it up
May 2, 2019. There has been an eruption of mixed-use developments sprout up across the country. A mixed-use development is a combination of residential and nonresidential uses in the same building or complex.

The value of the built environment
April 25, 2019. While the role of the built environment to society should not be compared to that of human life, we should also not ignore the value and impact these structures have on our society.

Chapman returns
April 18, 2019. J. David Chapman returns to his weekly Lot Lines real estate column after winning his Edmond City Council race.

Murrah moment
April 11, 2019. I was one of 1,000 people who left inspired from the mayor’s annual prayer breakfast, and was at my desk at 9:01 a.m. on the 17th floor of the First National Center.