AZRE

Arizona Builders’ Alliance
Mark Minter, Executive Director

It's no secret that the cause of the Great Recession hinged on what occurred to the financial sector — so how do we avoid it happening again?

Anthony Downs, a columnist for the National Real Estate Investor, wrote a piece titled "The Art of Financial Reform" that poses six questions for Congress to consider when adopting new financial regulations.

1. How can potentially destabilizing policies within the financial sector be detected far enough in advance to prevent major crises? 

2. How can mortgage borrowers be protected from fraudulent and harmful lenders? And how can investors in mortgage-related securities be informed enough about the quality of those securities to avoid a high probability of defaults or losses?

3. How can all types of financial derivatives be registered in public exchanges so as to provide accurate data to regulators about the nature and extent of derivatives?

CB Richard Ellis Releases First Quarter 2010 Analysis of Metropolitan Phoenix Office, Industrial and Retail Markets

Phoenix, April 12, 2010

CB Richard Ellis (CBRE) released its first quarter 2010 market analysis of the Phoenix metro area office, industrial and retail sectors. Report highlights include:

The International Facility Management Association (IFMA) partnered with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's ENERGY STAR program, in an effort to encourage all facility professionals to track their progress as they work toward a goal of reducing their organizations' measured facility energy use by 15%.

IFMA created a master account within the EPA's ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager and extends an invitation to facility professionals to create their own accounts, add information about their facilities and share that information with IFMA. The reasoning behind getting members on board with this effort is to create a better database, whereby facility performance may be measured in a consistent manner, benchmarking energy and utility use, and sharing and implementing efficiency measures and best practices. ENERGY STAR can then use this database to help organizations save money, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, improve facility performance, and qualify for tax incentives and rebates.