Real Estate

Dean’s Report 2024

Posted on by John Elliott

Deans Report

Sharing Highlights of a Successful, Innovative Year

The 2024 Dean’s Annual Report is just dropping, and I’m excited to share some of the highlights and accomplishments at the School of Business this year.

Throughout our 20-page report, you’ll find articles, photos, employment statistics, and evidence of the boundless enthusiasm of our students, faculty, alumni and staff. Some of you will receive it in the mail, but in the interest of saving trees and reducing cost, it is also available online.

The cover article highlights the experiences of alumna Patricia Margarido ’19 EMBA. When Patricia, an experienced respiratory therapist, wanted to take on greater leadership responsibilities with Hartford HealthCare’s LIFE STAR program, she recognized that she needed to broaden her skills.

“I needed to lead teams, understand budgets, and learn the business language that people were speaking,’’ she recalled. The UConn School of Business’ Executive MBA program gave her the knowledge she needed in her work. Today she is co-director of the LIFE STAR program, which oversees three helicopter-ambulances that transport injured and other seriously ill patients to tertiary care centers in Connecticut and Massachusetts. We are proud of our alumna and the work that she does, and equally pleased to have played a role in her career ascendance. Her story begins on page 6.

Our goal with his publication is to engage the reader in understanding more about what a modern business education entails and to offer a glimpse behind the scenes in our classrooms, student experiences, and innovative programs.

Of course, our faculty and staff are a tremendous piece of our success. On Page 12, you can learn more about six of our recently promoted faculty, all rising stars, and discover their teaching and research passions. Additionally, professor Lingling Wang describes how she shares her personal investment strategy with undergraduates to get them excited about finance. She also gives them a mini lesson in enjoying life’s precious moments. Read her story on Page 14.

Alumnus Rich Eldh ‘81, and his wife Joyce Eldh, have set a remarkable example of student engagement. This year alone, they have granted UConn academic- and cost-of-attendance scholarships to 13 students from Bridgeport. If that weren’t extraordinary enough, the Eldhs have developed a close bond with these students, taking them bowling, introducing them to business mentors, and hosting them at the UConn School of Business Hall of Fame celebration in April. You can read their story on Pages 18 and 19 and catch up on the Hall of Fame celebration on Page 9.

Our year has included some other fascinating work, including hosting a seminar on artificial intelligence for Connecticut businesses and offering a course that explores ideas for growing Hartford. We’ve been winning competitions, bringing high school students to campus to learn about financial literacy, and even brewing a special UConn beer. (See Pages 16-17.)

I hope you enjoy the report and the richness and perspective it provides. I want to thank you, our alumni and friends, for the many contributions you have made to the School of Business this past year. I am grateful for your support and encouragement of our students, and your partnership in furthering our commitment to excellence in business education.

 

Enjoy.

Back to the Dean's Corner

New Rules Govern Residential Property Sales Beginning in mid-August

Posted on by Scott Slater III

UConn Today – If you’re in the process or buying or selling a home, or think that will be part of your near-future plans, then the recent National Association of Realtors (NAR) settlement has likely caught your attention.

As part of a class-action lawsuit settlement, the NAR agreed to some changes impacting compensation and representation beginning Aug. 17. The sale or purchase of a home is considered one of life’s biggest stressors. Understanding the new opportunities and requirements of the settlement can put real estate clients at ease.

UConn Today interviewed School of Business professor Kristen Haseney, an attorney with extensive experience in the industry. Below she answers questions about what’s new and what to expect.

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Real Estate Center Loses Two Esteemed, Beloved Faculty Members

Posted on by Claire Hall

UConn Today – The Center for Real Estate and Urban Economic Studies is grieving the recent loss of two beloved, retired faculty members, both remembered as outstanding scholars, thoughtful leaders, and champions of their students.

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What Is the Median Down Payment by State in 2024?

Posted on by Scott Slater III

This Old House asks:
What advice do you have for first-time homebuyers looking to save for a down payment?

Save as much as you can, and if you have the ability to, try to save for paying closing costs, too, Check to see if your state offers a first-time homebuyers savings account program. Some states offer special savings accounts to help first-time homebuyers which may provide a state tax benefit for money deposited up to a certain limit. You will be held to any requirements and restrictions under the program, so be sure to check on what those are first. You can also check with your local Housing Finance Authority to see if they have downpayment assistance or other programs to help you obtain a loan or purchase a home. Both usa.gov and hud.gov have information on homebuying and in particular, resources for first-time homebuyers, including links to resources available by state.

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Homeownership trends: New data shows areas of concerns in CT

Posted on by Scott Slater III

NBC Connecticut – Owning a home is the gateway to the middle class and the traditional path to building wealth and passing it along to one’s children.

NBC Connecticut Investigates wanted a better idea of home ownership trends and crunched some recently released census figures.

For starters, overall home ownership in Connecticut went down in the decade between the 2010 and the 2020 census -anywhere from down roughly 1% in Windham County, to homeownership dropping almost 5% in Fairfield County.

We asked Jeffrey Cohen, UConn Business School professor of real estate, for his take.

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Cuando comprar casa es misión imposible: el tenso mercado inmobiliario

Posted on by Scott Slater III

Telemundo Miami – WASHINGTON DC – Con la tasa hipotecaria a 30 años más alta de las últimas dos décadas, fruto de las subidas de tipos de interés, y con una acuciante falta de oferta, los estadounidenses tienen cada vez más complicado comprar una casa y el número de solicitudes de hipotecas, así como el de compraventas, está bajando y seguirá haciéndolo en los próximos meses.

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Five CT malls have been sold in recent years. Why is there so much change?

Posted on by Scott Slater III

New Canaan Advertiser – Four of Connecticut’s 10 largest shopping malls have sold in the past four-and-half years and a fifth is likely to change hands after being auctioned off this past week.

The recent online auction of the Crystal Mall in Waterford was just the latest shift in ownership of malls around the state. The winning bid was $9.25 million and the listing on Crexi, the commercial real estate platform where the online auction occurred, says the mall has been “sold subject to seller approval,” although the listing does not identify the buyer.

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Why a criminology prof wants addiction clinics within 500m of major transit hubs

Posted on by Scott Slater III

CBC Radio – Jeffrey Cohen, a professor at the University of Connecticut’s School of Business, has been researching the benefits of bringing addiction and mental health treatment facilities near public transit routes. His research project ran between 2013 and 2018 is currently a working paper under peer review.

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Professor Cohen Earns Prestigious Appointment at Federal Reserve

Posted on by Claire Hall
Professor Jeffrey Cohen posing at a
Real Estate Banquet, Spring 2022. (Contributed Photo)

Professor Jeffrey Cohen has been named a Research Fellow for the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, where he will work on issues involving real estate and economic inequality.

Cohen, who is the Kinnard Scholar in Real Estate at UConn, earned the prestigious appointment after serving as a visiting scholar for the Fed for 20 years. The honor is bestowed on only a handful of academics each year.

“I’m very interested in questions of how real estate wealth accumulated differently over time for Black and Latino homeowners and residents, compared with others, and what can be done to try and remedy any potential inequalities that are found,” Cohen said.

His most recent research studied how proximity to highways affects home values in Connecticut, including how the interstate system, built between 1940 and 1960, destroyed some communities and created value for others. Cohen found a direct correlation between the proximity to Interstate 84 and increased home values, which disproportionately benefitted Caucasian families.

Appointment Is a Researcher’s Dream

In his new role, Cohen will serve with the Institute for Economic Equity, a relatively new arm of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. He will conduct research, give presentations, attend seminars, and contribute to the Fed’s ‘brain trust’ on issues of inequality. Cohen said he is familiar with many of his colleagues at the Institute and is excited to collaborate with them.

“They are extremely bright and well-published individuals who share a vision of enhancing equality for underserved populations,” he said. The connection is a researcher’s dream both in terms of colleagues and access to insightful data, he said.

Cohen, who joined the UConn School of Business in 2014, teaches in both the undergraduate and MBA programs and he will continue with those and all his other responsibilities. He was the principal investigator on Phase One of a State of Connecticut Department of Transportation and U.S. Department of Transportation grant investigating how a new rail commuter line connecting New Haven, Hartford and Springfield, Mass., would impact real estate value near the stations. He was also the principal investigator evaluating the property value impact of the CTfastrak bus-line project on Phases 1 and 2 of these projects. His work with the State of Connecticut on these transit-oriented development projects date back to 2016.

In addition, he is currently the principal investigator on a multi-year, $500,000 project funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Systems for Action, studying how the CTfastrak bus line has impacted the costs and outcomes of treating substance use patients, and how these systems can be aligned.

The St. Louis Fed is one of 12 regional Reserve banks that, along with the Board of Governors in Washington, D.C., comprise the Federal Reserve System. As the nation’s central bank, the Federal Reserve System formulates U.S. monetary policy, regulates state-chartered member banks and bank holding companies, provides payment services to financial institutions and the U.S. government, and promotes financial literacy, economic education, and community development.