TODAY: NE winds 10 to 15 kt, becoming E. Gusts up to 20 kt late this morning and early afternoon. Seas 4 to 6 ft. Swell mainly from the SE with a dominant period of 10 seconds.
TONIGHT: E winds 5 to 10 kt. Seas 3 to 5 ft. Swell mainly from the SE with a dominant period of 14 seconds.
SUN: E winds 5 to 10 kt. Seas 3 to 5 ft. Swell mainly from the SE with a dominant period of 14 seconds.
SUN NIGHT: E winds 5 to 10 kt. Seas 3 to 5 ft. Swell mainly from the SE with a dominant period of 14 seconds.
MON: SE winds 5 to 10 kt. Gusts up to 20 kt in the afternoon. Seas 3 to 5 ft.
MON NIGHT: S winds 10 to 15 kt with gusts up to 25 kt. Seas 3 to 5 ft. Showers likely.
TUE: S winds 15 to 20 kt. Seas 3 to 5 ft. Showers likely with a chance of tstms.
TUE NIGHT: SW winds 10 to 15 kt, becoming W after midnight. Seas 3 to 5 ft. Showers likely with a chance of tstms in the evening, then a chance of showers after midnight.
WED: NW winds 10 to 15 kt. Seas 3 to 4 ft. A chance of showers in the morning.
WED NIGHT: N winds 10 to 15 kt. Seas around 3 ft. Winds and seas higher in and near tstms.


Home buying is difficult because the market is always changing. What applies one day may not apply the next. Housing prices fluctuate. The best home buyers anticipate market changes and choose the optimal time to buy. Luckily, you do not need to be a financial analyst to succeed in the market – simply knowing how to read the news is enough.
We created this article to explain everything from the very beginning. We'll cover how the real estate industry works, why the RESO Web API exists, and what it does. At the end, we hope you'll have the information you need to improve your business. And at the very least, you'll have some new knowledge to impress guests at the next cocktail party.
Many of us have an impression that substantial capital is required in order to venture into business. It is not entirely wrong and while it would be great to have deep pockets when starting a business venture, this new generation of entrepreneurs have shown us that it is perfectly possible to start with less.
Organic MLS Integration is Realtyna's signature data feed service for the WordPress platform. It offers a full RETS import, affording maximum SEO benefits and personalization for your property display/search.
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Share this Story: Used Australian F-18s heading to Canada will be a mix of single and dual seat aircraft
Used Australian F-18s heading to Canada will be a mix of single and dual seat aircraft
David Pugliese • Ottawa Citizen
A Canadian Forces CF-18 Hornet comes in for a landing at CFB Bagotville, Quebec, on June 7, 2018. Photo by Geoff Robins/AFP/Getty Images
The Canadian Forces is preparing to take possession by the spring of the first of 25 used Australian F-18 fighter jets. Eighteen of the Australian aircraft will be flying while another seven will be used for testing and spare parts.
The Department of National Defence has provided more details on the types of aircraft Canada is acquiring. "The requested mix is 12 A-model (single seat) and 6 B-model (dual seat) aircraft; however, this is subject to adjustment," said Department of National Defence spokesman Dan Le Bouthillier. The final mix will be dependent on a number of considerations, including the condition and availability of aircraft, he added.
Used Australian F-18s heading to Canada will be a mix of single and dual seat aircraft Back to video
The dual seat aircraft will be used for training, Le Bouthillier noted.
The additional fighter jets will be used to augment operations and training.
One of the first things that will be done to the used Australian F-18s that Canada is purchasing is that the aircraft will be outfitted with different ejection seats and software.
The first two F-18s that Canada is buying from Australia will arrive sometime in the spring and will be sent to Cold Lake, Alta, Pat Finn, assistant deputy minister for materiel at the Department of National Defence said.
"They land, they (the Australians) will remove their software and we'll install our software," Finn explained in an interview. Also to be installed are ejection seats and a lighting system that is used on the CF-18s.
"Ultimately the intent is the 18 aircraft are indistinguishable from our 76 aircraft," Finn said.
Canada has finalized its deal to buy the 25 used fighter jets from Australia,

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Il meccanismo focale di un terremoto descrive la deformazione delle rocce nella regione ipocentrale ove si trova la sorgente che genera le onde sismiche. Nel caso di un evento sismico dovuto ad una faglia si riferisce all'orientamento del piano lungo il quale la faglia si è mossa e al vettore del movimento. Il meccanismo focale è noto anche come soluzione del piano di faglia. I meccanismi focali sono derivati da una soluzione del tensore del momento sismico per il terremoto in oggetto. Il tensore viene stimato tramite un'analisi delle forme d'onda sismiche osservate. Il meccanismo focale può essere derivato partendo dall'osservazione dei "primi movimenti", cioè osservando se il primo arrivo delle onde P registrato al sismografo pulsa verso l'alto o verso il basso. Questo metodo veniva utilizzato ancor prima che le forme d'onda venissero registrate ed analizzate in modo digitale ed è ancora utilizzato per i terremoti troppo deboli per una facile soluzione del tensore del momento sismico. Al giorno d'oggi i meccanismi focali sono derivati principalmente utilizzando l'analisi semi-automatica delle forme d'onda registrate.

Soluzioni del tensore del momento sismico

La soluzione del tensore del momento sismico viene tipicamente visualizzata graficamente usando un cosiddetto diagramma "beachball" ("pallone da spiaggia"). Il modello dell'energia irradiata durante un terremoto con una sola direzione del movimento su un unico piano di faglia può essere modellato come una doppia coppia, la quale è descritta matematicamente come un caso particolare di un tensore del secondo ordine (simile a quelli che descrivono la tensione interna e la deformazione) conosciuto come il tensore del momento sismico.

I terremoti non causati da movimenti della faglia hanno differenti pattern di irraggiamento dell'energia. Nel caso di un'esplosione nucleare sotterranea, per esempio, il tensore del momento sismico è isotropo, e questa differenza consente di discriminare tali esplosioni facilmente attraverso la loro risposta sismica. La discriminazione tra i terremoti e le esplosioni atomiche costituisce una parte importante del monitoraggio riguardo al rispetto del trattato di bando complessivo dei test nucleari.

Rappresentazione grafica ("beachball")

I dati relativi a un certo terremoto vengono mappati utilizzando una proiezione stereografica dell'emisfero inferiore. L'azimut e l'angolo di uscita sono utilizzati per determinare la posizione di un record sismico individuale. L'angolo di uscita è l'angolo rispetto alla verticale di un raggio sismico emergente dal fuoco del terremoto. Questi angoli sono calcolati da un insieme standard di tabelle che descrivono la relazione tra l'angolo di uscita e la distanza tra il centro e la stazione di osservazione. Per convenzione, simboli pieni (●) vengono utilizzati per tracciare i dati provenienti da stazioni in cui il primo movimento registrato dall'onda P è verso l'alto (un'onda di compressione), e simboli vuoti (○) per un primo movimento verso il basso (un'onda di tensione): vengono infine utilizzate delle croci (+) per contrassegnare stazioni che hanno ricevuto segnali troppo deboli per ricavarne una direzione univoca del movimento.

Se ci sono osservazioni sufficienti, si possono disegnare due cerchi massimi ortogonali e ben vincolati che dividono le osservazioni compressive dalle osservazioni tensionali:  questi sono i piani nodali. Le osservazioni di stazioni con movimenti iniziali non chiari si trovano di solito nei pressi di questi piani. Per convenzione i quadranti di compressione sono disegnati in colore pieno e quelli di tensione lasciati in bianco. I due piani nodali si intersecano nell'asse N (neutrale). Vengono spesso tracciati anche gli assi P e T: assieme all'asse N queste tre direzioni corrispondono rispettivamente alle direzioni delle sollecitazioni principali compressive massime, minime e intermedie associate al terremoto. L'asse P viene tracciato al centro del segmento bianco, l'asse T al centro del segmento di colore pieno.

Il piano di faglia responsabile del terremoto sarà parallelo a uno dei piani nodali, l'altro è chiamato il piano ausiliario. Non è possibile determinare univocamente tramite un meccanismo focale quale dei piani nodali sia in effetti il piano di faglia. Per rimuovere questa ambiguità sono necessarie ulteriori prove geologiche o geofisiche. Il vettore di slittamento, che è la direzione del movimento di un lato della faglia rispetto all'altro, giace sul piano di faglia, a 90 gradi dall'asse N.

Per fare un esempio, nel terremoto del 2004 dell'Oceano Indiano la soluzione del tensore del momento sismico dà due piani nodali, uno immergente verso nord-est con inclinazione di 6 gradi, l'altro immergente verso sud-ovest con inclinazione di 84 gradi. In questo caso il terremoto può essere positivamente associato al piano che si immerge superficialmente a nord-est, in quanto questo è l'orientamento della placca di subduzione come definito dalle località teatro di terremoti storici e dai modelli della tettonica a zolle.

Le soluzioni del piano di faglia sono utili per definire lo stile delle faglie in volumi sismogenetici profondi, per i quali non esiste un'espressione superficiale del piano di faglia, o dove la traccia di faglia è coperta da un oceano. Un bellissimo e semplice esempio di un test di successo a supporto dell'ipotesi dell'espansione dei fondi oceanici è stata la dimostrazione che la direzione del movimento lungo le faglie di trasformazione oceaniche è opposta a quella che ci si aspetterebbe nella classica interpretazione geologica della dislocazione delle dorsali oceaniche.

Ciò è stato fatto con la costruzione di soluzioni del piano di faglia per terremoti avvenuti in faglie oceaniche, le quali hanno generato grafici beachball tipiche di faglie a scorrimento orizzontale (vedi figure), con un piano nodale parallelo alla faglia e lo scorrimento nella direzione richiesta dall'ipotesi che il fondo del mare si allarghi rispetto alle catene oceaniche.
Le soluzioni del piano di faglia svolgono anche un ruolo chiave nella scoperta che le zone luogo di terremoti profondi in alcune lastre di subduzione sono in fase di compressione, mentre altre sono in tensione.

Programmi di calcolo del beachball

Ci sono diversi programmi disponibili per preparare soluzioni di Meccanismo focale (FMS). Fra questi BBC, un toolbox basato su MATLAB, è a disposizione per preparare i diagrammi beachball. Questo software traccia i primi dati di polarità del primo movimento arrivati in diverse stazioni. La compressione e la dilatazione vengono separate con l'aiuto del mouse. Un diagramma finale viene generato automaticamente.

Note

Collegamenti esterni
  Bozza di un primer sulle soluzioni del meccanismo focale per geologi
 Una pagina web utile di George Helffrich che permette a chiunque di disegnare un diagramma 'beachball' per un particolare piano nodale
 Focal Mechanisms Explained; Video YouTube pubblicato da IRIS Education and Outreach (advancing awareness and understanding of seismology & Earth science while inspiring careers in geophysics; animations & videos clarify earth processes for non-scientists and scientists alike)

Geologia strutturale
Sismologia

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Q: Migrating from log4j1 to log4j2 using .properties configuration file How can we add following fields in .properties configuration file for log4j2?

log4j.appender.maa.MaxFileSize=50MB
  log4j.appender.maa.MaxBackupIndex=100

A: Please refer the Configuration with Properties section of configuration on Apache website.
appender.rolling.policies.size.type = SizeBasedTriggeringPolicy
appender.rolling.policies.size.size = 50MB
appender.rolling.strategy.type = DefaultRolloverStrategy
appender.rolling.strategy.max = 100

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


November is fast approaching and the regional workshop in Malawi, dedicated to AGRIS* and AGORA** is getting closer!
Malawi is among twelve target countries participating in a new Research4Life programme: DAR (Digital Access to Research)***, with Burkina Faso, Liberia, Mozambique, Rwanda, Senegal, UR Tanzania, Uganda and others. This is the first AGRIS & AGORA capacity development event which included DAR.
The aim of the workshop is to discuss how to enhance the accessibility and visibility of scientific publications in sub-Saharan Africa, in particular with the usage of AGRIS and AGORA programmes/services.
knowledge sharing in particular and interdisciplinary contexts worldwide.
The final goal of the workshop is to strengthen the AGRIS and AGORA communities of practice in Africa and to set priorities for the next few years based on facts, usability and outreach of AGRIS and AGORA projects.
* AGRIS is a multilingual bibliographic database and your link to worldwide agricultural information, presented by journal articles, monographs, book chapters, and grey literature - including unpublished science and technical reports, theses, dissertations and conference papers.
* Since 1975, AGRIS has been serving users from developed and developing countries through facilitating access to agricultural research (including nutrition, food security, forestry, fisheries, rural development, biology, food systems, livestock production, natural resources and related topics).
* AGRIS records are indexed by AGROVOC keywords presented by URIs. AGROVOC is a multilingual vocabulary composed of 35,800+ concepts in up to 29 languages, aligned with 18 other multilingual knowledge organization systems related to agriculture.
* AGRIS is maintained by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations.
Every month, AGRIS is accessed by more than 600,000 agricultural and research professionals worldwide, from more than 200 countries and territories! 82% of the users are students, researchers and librarians.
The October 2018 AGRIS linked open data set release comprises 9,549,442 records; about 2 million of AGRIS records provide access to full text resources!
In 2018, - 133,337 AGRIS records came from Africa.
** AGORA is one of the five programmes making up Research4Life. The other four Research4Life programmes are Hinari, OARE, GOALI and ARDI, covering research in health, environment, law, development and innovation.
The AGORA content portal provides free or low cost access of up to 13,700 peer-reviewed journals and 26,500 e- books (in agriculture and related sciences) to more than 3,400 institutions from more than 115 eligible countries, as of October 2018.
AGORA content is indexed by 46 AGROVOC subject keywords.
AGORA continues to improve the quality and effectiveness of agricultural research, education and training in low- and middle-income countries.
The workshop will discuss how AGRIS, AGORA/Research4Life could better enhance accessibility to external sources and visibility of scientific publications in institutions based in Africa.
Considering a strong interest in using AGRIS, AGORA and Research4Life search services, different strategies will be discussed on how to increase participation in and contribution to these programmes by tailoring outreach and training to meet and strengthen education and research objectives and needs of all interested parties.
The workshop participants will learn about key trends in scientific publishing in agriculture and related sectors and understand different searching and participation mechanisms in AGRIS and AGORA.
Feedback received from previous AGORA workshops held in 2018 was overwhelmingly positive and clearly shows the high level of effort and commitment put forth from our meeting participants and organizers.
We are excited to facilitate this meeting, to raise awareness and foster capacity development activities, and to make agriculture and nutrition data more available, accessible and usable in Africa and worldwide.
*** The United Nations Technology Bank for the Least Developed Countries (LDS) & Digital Access to Research (DAR): The Technology Bank for the LDCs is an organ of the UNGA. The Technology Bank through DAR joins the Research4Life partnership as a new type of programme, focusing on the particular needs of the LDCs. The Technology Bank will build on what Research4 Life (R4L) has already accomplished regarding online access to the world's high quality published scientific and technical information.
AGRIS & AGORA STAND FOR: "EVERYBODY'S CONTRIBUTION, EVERYBODY'S KNOWLEDGE"


Both the Jawa and the Jawa Forty Two have been priced quite aggressively and come equipped with quite a few modern features. We find out where do the bikes stand against competition purely based on pricing.
Jawa Motorcycles has finally made a comeback to India with the launch of two new motorcycles - the Jawa and the Jawa Forty Two. Launched at a starting price of ₹ 1.55 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi), the new Jawa bikes have been priced quite aggressively and are expected to give some tough competition to the likes of the Royal Enfield Classic, the Thunderbird, and even the Bajaj Dominar, which is also positioned as a touring motorcycle. All the motorcycles are priced quite similarly, and we are here to tell you where these bikes stand against each other purely based on pricing.
Staring with the newest entrants in the market, as already mentioned, the entry-level offering from the Mahindra-owned two-wheeler maker will be the Jawa Forty Two. A more modern-looking offering from the company, the Jawa Forty Two is priced at ₹ 1.55 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi) and is more like cruiser motorcycles and closest rival to the Royal Enfield Thunderbird 350, and possibly even the Bajaj Dominar. In comparison, the more retro-looking Jawa is priced at ₹ 1.64 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi) and borrows most of its styling cues from the classic models.
This particular model is more suited to compete with the Royal Enfield Classic 350. Both the bikes are powered by a 293 cc single-cylinder, liquid-cooled engine that is tuned to produce 27 bhp and 28 Nm of peak torque. The motor comes paired with a 6-speed gearbox.
In comparison, the Royal Enfield Classic 350 is priced at almost ₹ 1.40 lakh, while the Thunderbird 350 is priced around ₹ 1.50 lakh (both ex-showroom, Delhi). Certainly, this makes the Royal Enfields cheaper than the new Jawa bikes. Both the motorcycles are powered by a 346 cc single-cylinder, air-cooled motor tuned for 19.8 bhp and 28 Nm of peak torque. The motor is paired with a 5-speed gearbox.
On the other hand, the Bajaj Dominar 400 is priced at ₹ 1.64 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi), similar to the Jawa bike in terms of pricing. The bike is also the most powerful among all five motorcycles in this list. Powered by a 373 cc single-cylinder, liquid-cooled motor tuned to produce 34.5 bhp at 8000 rpm and 35 Nm of peak torque at 6500 rpm. The motor is paired with a 6-speed gearbox and also gets a slipper clutch unit.
Solely based on pricing, the Royal Enfield bikes are clearly the cheapest among all, while the Jawa and the Dominar are the most expensive among all. Having said that, the Dominar is also the most powerful on paper and is also equipped with a host of modern features like slipper clutch, dual channel ABS, LED headlamps, and more. Bridging the gab is Jawa's more modern offering, Forty Two, which makes the most sense, It comes with additional features over the Royal Enfield bikes like liquid cooling, single channel ABS, and few others. That said we still have to test the bikes against each other in real world conditions to to find out which one is the best.


Something worth noting is that PlayStation Vue gives full access to the Disney Channel, Disney Junior, and Disney XD apps, which opens up all of Disney�s available content, including all �... How sweet! Girl�s Guide and Jaleesa Moses have all the tips and tricks for creating a stylish and stunning Minnie Mouse costume. Sponsored by Party City.
3/05/2017�� Descendants 2 premiered on 5 networks simultaneously on the Disney Channel, Disney XD, ABC, Freeform, and Lifetime to over 13 million views in ratings. Raven's Home , a spin-off of That's So Raven , premiered on the Disney Channel.
Disney XD's schedule consists largely of animated and live-action programs aimed at pre-teens and young teenagers. Disney XD content is a mixture of original series as well as programs inherited from sister network, The Disney Channel.
The Stang Kickin' It. In an altercation with Milton's ex-girlfriend Julie and her new jockey boyfriend Dan, Milton's bravado gets the best of him.


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Performance Analysis of an Optimal Circular 16-QAM for Wavelet Based OFDM Systems
Abdullah, K, Mahmoud, S and Hussain, Z 2009, 'Performance Analysis of an Optimal Circular 16-QAM for Wavelet Based OFDM Systems', International Journal of Communications, Network and System Sciences, 2009, 2, 836-844, vol. 2, no. 9, pp. 1-9.
Abdullah, K
Mahmoud, S
Hussain, Z
International Journal of Communications, Network and System Sciences, 2009, 2, 836-844
Scientific Research Publishing
The BER performance for an optimal circular 16-QAM constellation is theoretically derived and applied in wavelet based OFDM system in additive white Gaussian noise channel. Signal point constellations have been discussed in much literature. An optimal circular 16-QAM is developed. The calculation of the BER is based on the four types of the decision boundaries. Each decision boundary is determined based on the space dis-tance d following the pdf Gaussian distribution with respect to the in-phase and quadrature components nI and nQ with the assumption that they are statistically independent to each other. The BER analysis for other circular M-ary QAM is also analyzed. The system is then applied to wavelet based OFDM. The wavelet transform is considered because it offers a better spectral containment feature compared to conventional OFDM using Fourier transform. The circular schemes are slightly better than the square schemes in most SNR values. All simulation results have met the theoretical calculations. When applying to wavelet based OFDM, the circular modulation scheme has also performed slightly less errors as compared to the square modulation scheme.
Performance OFDM
Fourier-Based OFDM
Wavelet-Based OFDM
Circular 16-QAM
Square 16-QAM
Copyright © 2009 SciRes.
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Andrew is the Program Coordinator for Global Forest Watch Commodities and Finance. He is responsible for financial and project management, website product coordination, and strategic communications support.
Andrew previously worked in journalism and research institute communications. He has reported on global water, food, and energy issues for Circle of Blue, co-managed research, proposals, and outreach at the Woodrow Wilson Center, and researched journalism ethics for NPR's ombudsman. Andrew holds a B.A. in conflict studies from DePauw University in Greencastle, Ind.
A life-long violinist and violist, Andrew plays in the National Institutes of Health Philharmonia and the Très Doux Quartet chamber group. He also plays tennis and bikes whenever possible.
Conflict in the Middle East and Africa is driving a human tsunami that has sent 500,000 people into Europe this year in the worst migration crisis since World War II. Beyond the conflict, however, there is another contributing factor: water scarcity.
The Clean Power Plan: What's Water Got To Do With It?
The U.S. Clean Power Plan's impact on water has been largely overlooked, even though power plants account 45 percent of the country's water withdrawals.
Globally, changing water supply and demand is inevitable; what that change will look like is far from certain. A first-of-its-kind analysis sheds new light on the issue.
Many of the world's biggest aquifers are being depleted much faster than they can be replenished, from the Middle East to India to California. New NASA satellite data reveals a looming global groundwater crisis.
With the changing global climate, river flooding in cities worldwide has emerged as an immense challenge to urban resilience.
Since average global temperatures are already rising and the effects of climate change are becoming increasingly palpable around the world, cities need to focus on adaptation measures in order to strengthen their resiliency and better protect billions of global urbanites.


County Schools Federal Credit Union had a request to update their branding materials, without loosing sight of their legacy look. We worked through several revisions until we finally settled on a blended logo encompassing elements, typefaces and colors from their previous logo design. The result was a marriage of old and new, and a way for CSFCU to enter into the future of their brand identity without loosing site of who they are and what they have built.


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Q&A: Allen Shayanfekr, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Sharestates
By Cathy Cunningham September 16, 2016 4:43 pm
Allen Shayanfekr. Courtesy: Sharestates. Cathy Cunningham
Sharestates, an online crowdfunding platform for real estate financing, launched in February 2015. Since then, the Long Island, N.Y.-based firm has grown from its three founders to a busy staff of 40, is licensed in eight states and is ready to go bicoastal in 2017 with a California base. Recent multifamily acquisition financings include $3.95 million for 358 Kosciusko Street and $1.54 million for at 268 Dean Street, both in Brooklyn. Sharestates Chief Executive Officer and Founder Allen Shayanfekr, 28, spoke with Commercial Observer about his humble beginnings, how he is staying ahead of the game in a largely unregulated business and why keeping it in the family is so important to him.
Commercial Observer: Your family is Iranian. How did you first come to the U.S.?
SEE ALSO: CompStak CEO Michael Mandel Is Bullish On the Office — Just Look at CompStak's
Shayanfekr: My family is of Persian-Iranian-Jewish descent. My parents left Iran back in the 1980s when it wasn't a great place to be for the Jewish religion. My mother was pregnant with me at the time, and I was actually born in transit, in Italy. They left Iran as fugitives under false names and went first to Turkey, then to Italy and to the U.S. from there. I was around 4 months old when we got to New York. My parents had left everything behind, and we arrived with nothing in our pockets.
The Persian community is very big into real estate, but we were a minority in the community because we came here without resources—and most arrived in the 1970s when they were able to take advantage of some of the lower real estate prices. By the time we had gotten here, 10 to 15 years later, those people had already made their wealth in a substantial way. So, we were always surrounded by people who had money; we just weren't on that side of the table.
Growing up in that scene it was always a dream for myself and my family to make it big, to be at a point where we had various investments in real estate holdings and those investments would spit off cash flow, which we could then use to support our family.
What did you study at school?
I thought if I could surround myself with people who knew more than me in the industry, I'd be able to learn from them. The quickest path to that for me was going to law school and starting with the basics—understanding the legalities of a real estate transaction, how deals are structured and how they are financed.
I went to Touro Law Center law school in Long Island, because that way I could stay at home and take care of my family. My father passed away when I was 19, and I had my mom plus a brother who is 10 years younger than me at home. Because of the circumstances around how we grew up, we became a very close-knit family.
What was your first job in real estate?
Prior to finishing up law school, I had done some work with Raymond and Radni [Davoodi, the co-founders of Sharestates—Radni is also Shayanfekr's brother-in-law] on their initial core business—Atlantis National Services, a title services company.
Once you understand title and how the different issues that are related to title come up, you can orchestrate very advantageous situations with real estate transactions that will allow you to do a deal that others may pass on [due to its complexities].
How did the idea for Sharestates come about?
[Raymond, Radni and I] were tossing around some business ideas on a Friday night, and the idea came up. The word "crowdfunding" didn't really exist back then, in 2012. Ray said, "If you could go online and buy a piece of a building on your credit card for $500 and that building would pay you a dividend for the rest of your life, would you do it?" And we said "yes, definitely—if I can't buy the whole thing myself, I might as well own a brick." That's where the legal side of my background came in. I started doing research into the regulatory issues and compliance issues and realized that securities laws would be involved, because at the end of the day we are selling a security. So, I spent around a year just doing ground work on what we could do, how we can advertise and market, who we can solicit and can't solicit, what representations and warranties we can make, and I put together the structure.
Why is now the right time for a platform such as this?
In 2012, [President Barack ] Obama passed the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act, or JOBS Act. Part of that was lifting some of the securities regulations around the exemptions that we operate under, particularly Rule 506 of Regulation D. An exemption was added which lifted the ban on public solicitation and advertisement on private offerings. The way it used to work was that if you wanted to raise capital from a crowd of people, you had to have done business with them in the past. So what we're doing today wouldn't have worked—we wouldn't have been able to put an offering online and do mass marketing and advertising, or say "Hey Joe, we've never done business before, but do you want to invest $1,000 in this deal?" It wouldn't have been allowed. So that changed [in 2012], opened up the market and allowed us to start soliciting and advertising.
We knew there was validation of the business model at the consumer debt space, but we had to bring about validation in the real estate sector. That took some time—we've been working on this for four years, and only recently have we had massive traction.
What's your current deal volume?
We have seven active deals right now. We've done around $150 million worth of originations in the last 18 months and will hit $200 million by the end of the year. We're on track to do $350 [million] to $400 million next year, and if not in 2017 then probably in 2018, we should break $1 billion in total originations.
How do you stay ahead of competitors?
Our core advantage is our real estate background. Our peers tend to come from technology or finance backgrounds. From originating to application to term sheets to underwriting to processing to closing to post-closing to servicing that loan and then recording the satisfaction of the mortgage and making sure the loan is cleared through title—we know that entire process from front to back.
We're closing loans quickly. Banks have an eight- to 12- week process, and the borrower may be eight weeks in when they discover the bank is not going to do their loan. Our average closing time is two weeks, although we've done them faster.
Are there any assets you won't touch?
We tend to stay away from single-tenant speculative deals in rural and emerging areas. We usually look for multifamily or mixed-use assets, or retail strips where there are multiple tenants.
What do you think the future is for crowd-funded real estate transactions?
In 2013 and 2014, there was a lot of criticism, and nobody thought it would work. In 2015 the tides began to shift, and in 2016 I think people now recognize it as a legitimate form of financing. Most of our work has been added in 2016, and generally speaking I think it's just going to grow exponentially from here.
As with any new industry, it's still relatively unregulated, and nobody has screwed up in a big way yet. But at some point, someone will likely do something they shouldn't be doing, and that bad apple will unleash a wave of issues for everyone else in the industry. That's one of the things we've been focusing on in 2016. We've been getting ahead of the game and ordering third-party audits of our company, from a financial and technology perspective. We've put in place certain measures that might not be required of us today but are industry best practices for companies in the real estate sector and financial sectors. So even though certain rules and regulations might not apply to us, we still hired a top 10 accounting firm to audit all of our books and records. We hired a technology firm to check our information technology infrastructure, and they gave us a Service Organization Controls 2 (SOC 2) Type 1 certification, which says we're using industry best standards for data encryption and protection. We're just trying to stay ahead of the game.
Keywords: Allen Shayanfekr, Atlantis National Services, crowdfunding, JOBS Act, Radni Davoodi, Raymond Davoodi, Sharestates
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And while the photoshoots have wrapped up, you can still be included!
Over the past two weekends of photoshoots, we had over 100 families and individuals come in to be photographed for our new Advent Members and Friends Directory! Now our directory is ready to be put together -- well, almost.
But first, if you couldn't make it to one of our photoshoot times, we'd still love to have you be part of our directory. Please choose a nice personal or family portrait of your own and email it to directory@adventnyc.org so we can include you. Do it quickly, because it won't be too long before our new directory will go to print!
If you're not sure if you should be in our directory, please know that this is not just a families directory, not just a members directory, but a directory of and for everyone connected to the Advent community. If you value and participate in our community in any way, you belong in this directory with us!
Completed directories are expected to arrive sometime in January. Can't wait to open one up and see all the people who make up this vibrant community.
LaMP Dinner tonight? Music Mondays' Ecco concert next week? Community Lunch on the 19th? Sunday School? Sunday morning Adult Conversations about traveling to Cuba, and the person and Bible book we call Matthew?
What ministry or special event will you be involved in this month? There are many ways to connect in fellowship and service coming up this November!
Contribute to our Mission of the Month this November: ???.