Towson University, Spring 2022

BUSX301 – Business Communication

Writing Assignment #2 – Evaluative Report – Real Estate Analysis

As a newly minted intern at Century 21, your manager, Mr. Christopher Thacker, wants to test your ability to evaluate properties for potential clients—a large part of the support role you will be accepting as an intern. For this task, Mr. Thacker has provided you with a client profile; using this profile along with readily available online resources, you are to recommend an ideal home for the client, while also providing a summary of (1) alternative that MUST meet the same criteria. You will then draft an evaluative memo and prepare a 3-minute pitch for the selection you have made.

The Tanner Family is currently planning on moving from their home in Odenton, Maryland due to a new job opportunity for Mr. Daniel Tanner at Raytheon Systems at the U.S. Army Aberdeen Proving Ground in APG, Maryland. Ideally, Mr. and Mrs. Tanner want to move to a new home within 30 minutes of commuting between their jobs. Additionally, they hope to find a minimum 4-bedroom home that cannot exceed 30% of their monthly take-home pay (after taxes) of $13, 680 per month ($4, 100). Other considerations are school rankings and additional amenities such as recreation and shopping. The family is very active, and they expressed a preference for outdoor activities that are appropriate for the whole family.

Table 1. Client Profile

For your selection process, Mr. Thacker is requiring you to use the following standard criteria—

· Location – Must be within a 30-minute commute for both Daniel and Kimberly; and within in a suburban community (preferably in a neighborhood that has families with school aged children).

· Size – A comfortably sized house with a minimum 4-bedrooms, 2.5 bath. The home size should average 675 sq ft. per person. The home should be on a minimum 1/3 acre lot. Additionally, both Daniel and Kimberly enjoy having a home office to work from on the occasions that they need to work from home; they’d love to have a play space for the kids, and they also entertain their large extended family for holidays and summer barbeques.

· Price – Monthly mortgage (including real estate taxes, homeowner’s insurance, and HOA if applicable) cannot exceed 30% of take-home per month or $4100. In your calculation, assume that the family currently has $140,000 in equity to use as a down payment on their new home, and they will qualify for a 30- year fixed 3.25% interest rate on the mortgage.

· Comparable Properties – Similar homes within the neighborhood must be priced within 10-20% of the home’s value. (The recommended home price must be in-line with comparable properties).

· Schools—Public schools ideally should be in the top 20% of rankings or in the top 80+ percentile. Well ranked schools are very important for this family. Student should review the National Association of Realtors (NAR) guidance in Appendix to determine what types of educational information and recommendations are allowed.

· Additional Amenities—recreation, shopping, etc.

To make an argument, you must—

1. Address the Issue

2. Make a Valid Claim Based on the Issue

3. Provide Credible Evidence

4. Interpret the Evidence Using a Warrant

Address the Issue

The issue for the assignment is that your boss wants you to recommend a home based on the client profile that she provided, while also providing 2-3 alternates.

Make a Valid Claim Based on the Issue

Once you have analyzed (evaluated) your choices, you are to recommend an ideal home based on the criteria provided in the client profile.

Provide Credible Evidence

To prove that your claim is valid, you will need to provide evidence (data). Hence, you will be required to conduct some research. As such, you will need to research homes using readily available real estate databases, e.g. Zillow, Redfin, Trulia, etc. Additionally, you will need to also have to use other resources to evaluate home price, schools, and amenities.

Interpret the Evidence Using a Warrant

To evaluate your evidence, you will first need to understand the warrant that you will be using for interpretation—you are defining how the data supports the claim. In this case, the warrant uses a criterion as grounding (also known as a standard). A standard tells us how things ought to be. In other words, it defines what ought to be.

Location of the home must be within a 30-minute commute. Your home selection must be within an average of a 30-minute commute. You will need to provide an estimation and a rationale for how you determined that the home falls within this criterion.

Size of the home must average 675 sq ft per person. For the size of the home, must average 675 sq feet per person (3300 square feet). More, the family hopes to have a minimum of four-bed rooms. Additionally, the home should be on a minimum 1/3 acre lot within a suburban community.

Price of the home cannot exceed 30% of take-home. In terms of price, the mortgage payment cannot exceed 30% of take-home pay per-month. The family income is $13,680 net, which leaves them with a budget of $4100 per month. You will need to research the price of the home along with the monthly mortgage rates, property tax rates (by county), and insurance to determine if you meet the standard. Additionally, assume that the family currently has $140,000 in equity to use as a down payment on their new home. For this assignment, you are to provide an estimate based on the available resources. There are multiple tax and insurance calculators available online—with your estimate, please describe all assumptions that you have made in your calculation.

Value of the home must fall within comparable prices. Compare the size and price of the home along with upgrades that add value. Select two (2) homes within one (1) mile of the home to compare prices. For comparable, you are trying to determine the best value for the price. To provide an apt comparison, research the price per square foot of each home.

Schools must be highly ranked. Education is especially important to your clients. Ideally, the schools near the home that you selected must be within the top-third in the county. To research this criterion, review ranking sites such as Smarter, GreatSchools, etc. When evaluating schools using these tools, try to ensure that that they are in the top twenty percent by score or percentile.

Amenities must include recreation and shopping. For this criterion, you will need to review amenities—use your best judgement. The family is very active with a preference for outdoor activities, so you will need to review local parks, pavilions, campgrounds, ballfields, and trails.

For the first part of your project, you will draft a memo that adheres to the basic principles of business writing:

· Use proper memorandum format.

· Provide a proper addressee.

· Provide attribution (citation) for your sources. 

· Include an introductory statement that foreshadows or “sells” the main idea.

· Use deductive structure.

· Condense information using a minimum of one table, chart, graph, and/or image.

· Use well-developed headings.

· Use chunked paragraphs.

· Use error-free prose.

Instructions:

This evaluative report must be type-written and comply with these requirements–

· File Format: Electronically using a Microsoft Word compatible file. (No .pdf)

· General Formatting: See Rubric.

· Font: Times New Roman, 11-point (text); Arial, 13-point for headings.

· Spacing Single

· Documentation and Style: APA Publication Manuel 7th Ed.

· Use File Naming Convention: LastName_FirstName_RealEstateMemo

For the second part of your project, you will give a three-minute pitch based on your recommendation to your boss. You must provide nine (9) PowerPoint slides as visual aids (plus an introductory and reference slide). You must identify the wants and needs of your audience (see. Assignment Scenario). For your presentation, you will be evaluated by several criteria:

· Content focused on the process of making your selection

· Organization of information

· Relationship between content and visual aids

· Professional demeanor

· General public speaking skills

National Association of Realtors Guidance on Steering

https://www.nar.realtor/fair-housing-corner/steer-clear-of-steering

Working with Buyers, Fair Housing, Fair Housing Act – July 10th, 2020

“Steering” is the practice of influencing a buyer’s choice of communities based upon one of the protected characteristics under the Fair Housing Act, which are race, color, religion, gender, disability, familial status, or national origin. Steering occurs, for example, when real estate agents do not tell buyers about available properties that meet their criteria, or express views about communities, with the purpose of directing buyers away from or towards certain neighborhoods due to their race or other protected characteristic. If a client requests a “nice,” “good,” or “safe” neighborhood, a real estate professional could unintentionally steer a client by excluding certain areas based on his or her own perceptions of what those terms means.

The following best practices will help you steer clear of steering:

· Provide clients with listings based on their objective criteria alone.

· When a client uses vague terms such as “nice,” “good,” or “safe,” ask impartial questions to clarify their criteria, such as property features and price point.

· Only communicate objective information about neighborhoods and direct clients to third-party sources with neighborhood-specific information.

· Learn to pay attention to your unconscious biases. When evaluating what a client objectively wants, ask yourself why you have eliminated certain areas, if you have.