News and Updates

City aims to balance development fee equation

Apr-18-08

After streamlining the cumbersome development application process, the city of Sacramento now wants to untangle an unwieldy web of fees that make it almost impossible to enjoy a profit from building homes, offices and shopping centers. Impact fees are a key part of the numerous charges levied on development for everything from roads and sewers to schools and parks. The infrastructure burden on developers, including fees, has ballooned to $70,000 to $100,000 for the average-size house in Sacrame...

DPFG, Inc. Recognized by the Phoenix Business Journal 2008 Book of Lists

Apr-15-08

DPFG, Inc. a national real estate consulting firm, is pleased to announce its debut placement in the Phoenix Business Journal’s Book of Lists for 2008. "It is a great honor to be recognized by the Phoenix Business Journal and our firm will continue to work towards providing our clients with the brightest ideas and the most in-depth analysis so that they can navigate the development and construction process in a timely and cost efficient manner," said Carter Froelich, Managing Principal – Arizona...

Industry Leaders Forecast Skittish Real Estate Market, Tough Financing

Jan-22-08

Crystal balls usually are in high demand at year’s end because of a desire to know what the future will hold. This year leaves the business community -- and the real estate industry in particular -- with even more questions about what’s in store for 2008 and beyond. As 2007 winds down, the economy is being hammered by a housing meltdown, soaring foreclosure rates, tightening credit, the looming employer sanctions law, stiffer pollution penalties, and an uptick in state and Valley unemp...

Real Estate Market Poised for Slowdown in Activity

Jan-21-08

For companies involved in almost any segment of the Valley ‘ s real estate market, the years 2002 to 2006 were akin to a long and lavish party, a nonstop celebration of building, spending, expanding and, at times, exaggerating. But early in 2007, some players -- particularly companies involved in residential real estate -- started sobering up to the fact that home developers had overbuilt, prices had become artificially inflated and the national subprime mortgage fiasco would affect alm...

Changes to the Mello-Roos Community Facilities Act

Dec-11-07

California Assembly Bill 373 (Wolk) amends numerous provisions of the Mello-Roos Community Facilities Act of 1982. AB373 was signed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on October 13, 2007 and will take effect January 1, 2008. Click here for more info about the changes to the CFD Act. ...

Cutting costs Orlando’s busiest builders find ways to keep selling in a down housing market

Dec-10-07

Orlando’s top production home builders are facing a significant drop in home sales this year. As a result, they’re eliminating some bells and whistles so they can offer lower prices. The problems originated with the white-hot housing boom of 2004 and 2005, which saw investors snap up homes intending to flip them for a tidy profit. That left an artificial shortage of housing, which rapidly drove up prices to record levels. Now, with a lot of starry-eyed investors facing forecl...

City Holds the Line on CFD

Sep-13-07

City Holds the Line on CFD The Riverbank City Council chose to adhere to existing state law as it relates to school facility financing during a recent city council meeting. The proposed CFD, originally designed to be a joint powers agreement, (JPA) would have resulted in a $274.00 annual tax for the Riverbank Unified School District, a $250.00 annual tax for the Stanislaus County Consolidated Fire District, and $329.00 for city infrastructure and police services. The chambers were standing room...

DPFG Opens New Office in Texas

May-1-07

DPFG Inc. a leader in providing specialized real estate consulting services for home builders and land developers announces today the opening of a new office location in Austin, Texas to allow for the continued expansion into the southwest region of the U.S. In the past several decades, southern and western states have experienced dramatic population and economic growth; California, Nevada, Arizona, Texas and Florida have long been the benefactors of this expansion and migratory movement, and...

Redevelopment Arena Offers Increasing Array of Opportunities for Market-Wise Developers

Jul-27-06

As time moves on, the supply of raw or undeveloped land for new construction in many metropolitan areas throughout the United States has dwindled significantly, and these market areas offer an expansive opportunity for redevelopment activity, which may prove to be as financially rewarding for developers as their traditional construction activities face substantial challenges. As these metropolitan areas enter the so-called “renaissance period,” whereby these older areas are being rejuvenated th...

Community Facilities District Financing Available In Arizona Counties

Jul-12-06

On April 17, 2006 the Governor signed into law House Bill 2236 which allows the use of Community Facilities District (“CFD”) financing within the unincorporated areas of Arizona. Prior to this time, the use of CFD was restricted to incorporated cities and towns. The ability to utilize CFDs within the counties is expected to: (i) allow counties to master plan larger areas of land than that was otherwise possible; (ii) provide regional infrastructure which was previously not financiall...

Development Project Profitability Diagnostic Review

Jul-1-06

Over the past 10 years the home building industry has been enjoying record sales and profits however, the increasing costs of land, development impact fees and material prices coupled with slower home sales and stabilizing home prices will soon begin to erode the builder’s profit margins. The erosion of profit margins may be slowed if the builders begin performing diagnostic reviews of their development projects to ensure that they have done all they can to reduce infrastructure costs and to det...

Florida Impact Fee Act Sent to Governor

Jun-15-06

GOOD NEWS ALERT! ATTENTION ALL DEVELOPERS/BUILDERS! Florida Impact Fee Act Sent to Governor 6/7/2006! The Florida Impact Fee Act, as part of Senate Bill 1194 (the “Act”), was sent to the Governor’s office on June 7, 2006. The Governor has approved the Act and it is effective now. The legislation imposes new hurdles and certifications for local governments that want to impose or change development impact fees (“DIF”). DIF may be imposed by local government to pay for the cost ...

Financing and Construction of Regional Improvements

May-2-06

As development activity pushes outward to the rural communities of Arizona, the construction of regional public improvements often becomes a requirement prior to the issuance of building permits. This massive undertaking is costly, risky and difficult to coordinate. As such, developers and landowners who are leading the charge to build such facilities need to be assured that they have established mechanisms to: Allocate costs to all development participants and other benefiting landowne...

Arizona County CFDs: HB 2236 is now law!

Apr-21-06

Arizona House Bill 2236 ("HB 2236"), allowing the use of community facilities districts (“CFD”) within Arizona counties has been signed into law by Governor Napolitano and becomes effective 91 days after the end of the current legislative session. Provided the current session runs an expected two or three additional weeks, CFD financing for county projects will be available as early as the second week of August 2006. To date, DPFG has been involved in over 80% of the CFDs formed in the State ...

Orange County, FL to Increase Flexibility of CDD Establishment

Jan-17-06

On Jan. 10, Orange County Commissioners voted unanimously to transmit a Comprehensive Plan Amendment (“Amendment”) that will make establishing Community Development Districts (“CDD(s)”) within the County easier. According to Orange County Planning staff, the current regulation prevents a CDD from funding any infrastructure other than schools, regional parks, or other infrastructure not typically funded by a developer. Therefore, Orange County CDDs currently cannot fund onsite wate...

DPFG's involvement leads to reduction of impact fees in the City of Live Oak

Sep-30-05

From The Building Industry Association of Superior California (BIA) "For the past two months, the BIA and local landowners have been working with the City of Live Oak as they worked to update their AB 1600 impact fees. Initially the city proposed to increase the fee from $6,500 to $29,000. The BIA was successful in immediately pulling the item from the council’s agenda to allow the development community to review the increase. BIA staff pulled together a meeting of loc...

Encouraging Redevelopment

Mar-23-05

By Carter T. Froelich As the growth of the metropolitan Phoenix area jumps the White Tank Mountains to the west; approaches Lake Pleasant to the north, expands onto the tribal lands to the east and melts into Pinal County to the south; the development community has begun looking inward for other development opportunities which will allow potential buyers to live and work in the same proximity. Over the years one has seen a number of small scale redevelopment projects in the downto...

City of Woodland Increases Developer Fees

Mar-20-05

As you may already be aware, the City of Woodland has recently adopted an emergency ordinance authorizing the temporary increase of the Major Projects Financing Plan ("MPFP") fee from $7,862 per single family unit to $20,645 per single family unit. The City is currently revising its nexus study to authorize the permanent increase of this fee. DPFG, a firm experienced in representing the development community, is currently reviewing on behalf of a developer, the City's fee nexus study to ens...

TUMF Increase Adoption

Feb-7-05

As you may already be aware, the County of Riverside Transportation Uniform Mitigation Fee (TUMF) will be increasing from $6,650 per single- family residential unit to $7,248 per single-family residential unit, an effective increase of $598 per unit! Please refer to the link below to view a memorandum distributed by the County of Riverside for more information. Keep in mind the fees may be paid before the effective increase date which may be obtained from the applicable City or County municipa...

Understanding Arizona House Bill 2371

Jan-26-05

Legislation has been introduced in the Arizona State House of Representatives which presents major problems for developers and homebuilders currently utilizing or planning to establish special taxing districts, including CFD's, to finance public infrastructure. The provisions of House Bill 2371 include the following: All special taxing districts shall submit the question of district termination to a vote every 10 years. The financial obligation of a special taxing district shall in no ca...

A Realtor's Overview of Community Facilities Districts

Nov-3-04

On September 30, 1988, the Arizona Community Facilities District Act (the "Act") became effective. The Act, which was passed by the state legislature, was created to allow Arizona municipalities to create special taxing districts for the purpose of financing the installation, operation and/or maintenance of public improvements. The Act, which was styled after similar legislation in California and Florida, addressed a critical issue for developers and home builders; that being the financing of in...

The Troubled Waters of Public Opposition To Development Projects

Nov-3-04

While there are a multitude of factors that can derail a real estate development project any anytime, the most capricious element in the process is that of public sentiment. When dealing with the public on the issue of development, a proactive effort to minimize opposition to the project can be much more valuable than trying to generate active community support for the project. Minimizing opposition stems form the understanding that misinformation is the most common element leading to confront...

Comparison of Improvement Districts and Community Facilities Districts

Nov-2-04

Many times throughout the year we are asked by developers and homebuilders to explain the difference between a County and/or Municipal Improvement District (collectively "ID") with that of a Community Facilities District ("CFD"). As such, we have prepared the following abbreviated analysis which attempts to identify some major differences between the two types of financing vehicles. Description Improvement District Community Facilities District Formation of the Dist...

Master Planned Community And Land Development Financing Strategies

Nov-1-04

Over the past decade the burdens placed upon the development community by municipalities to provide costly amounts of public infrastructure as a condition of development have been rising and these demands are expected to escalate in the future. The pressure applied upon developers not only drives up construction costs, but it also increases the financial exposure of the developers. As a result, developers are urged to prepare a comprehensive public infrastructure financing strategy related to ...

Ten Reasons for Using DPFG on CFD Financings

Sep-15-04

Experience.The consultants at DPFG have combined CFD experience of over 110 work years, 300 CFD formations, and over 2 billion in CFD bond issuance in the CFD financing area. Current problems can often be solved by drawing on prior experiences and the more experience you have, the better problem solver you become. Consistency in Representation.Over the years, we have consistently represented the land developer, builder, and the building industry in general as their CFD financing consultant. ...

Public Financing Opportunities

Sep-10-04

The Development Planning & Financing Group LLC (“DPFG”) may provide professional services to developers and home builders with development projects located within the following states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas and Utah. The descriptions of public financing vehicles shown below is not intended to be all inclusive however, we have attempted to enumerated the most prevalent public financing vehicles which are available to developers ...

Arizona Community Facilities District Act Overview

Sep-6-04

BACKGROUNDIn 1988 the Arizona legislature enacted the Arizona Community Facilities District Act (“Act”). The purpose of the Act was to generate new opportunities for the financing of infrastructure improvements for municipalities and developers alike. The Act styled after similar legislation in California and Florida, addressed a critical issue for developers: the financing of increasingly costly infrastructure requirements without unduly burdening the developer. The law authorized bon...

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News and Updates