Real Estate

The bad news about radon, a naturally occurring radioactive gas that can pose a health hazard when it becomes trapped and concentrated indoors, is that it is a widespread problem. The good news, according to environmental lawyer Robert B. McKinstry Jr., is that it is relatively easy to fix, especially in new homes. Site investigation of property can alert potential buyers to buildings with high concentrations of radon or other harmful substances, said another environmental lawyer, David G. Mandelbaum.

And now, from the mutual-fund companies that brought professional stock and bond investing to the masses, comes a new product: real estate. It's been a long time in coming, but mutual fund managers are finally introducing investment products tied to real estate. The selection is limited, but it includes offerings from some of the giants of the industry - namely, T. Rowe Price Associates, the Vanguard Group and Fidelity Investments. "We've always offered stocks and bonds and thought that real estate was an obvious third leg to the investment stool," said Steven Norwitz, a vice president of T. Rowe Price Associates, the Baltimore company managing $22 billion in mutual funds.

When real estate broker Ruth Brewster was negotiating the sale of a house, she came across some information that drew her up short: The home had belonged to a man who died after supposedly contracting AIDS. Her lawyer told her that she must tell the buyers; the lawyer for the estate of the dead man ordered her not to. Brewster did not tell the buyers. The buyers found out - and bought the house anyway. That was in Union County, two years ago. But yesterday, the New Jersey Real Estate Commission considered the question for the entire state: Just what is the liability of real estate agents when they do or do not tell potential buyers that a home up for sale is owned by someone with AIDS?

Local real estate firms are looking for a few good vets. This week, officials from the state Office of Veterans Education and Training will team up with local representatives from the nationwide Electronic Realty Association (ERA) to present a career information workshop for veterans who have been off active duty less than 10 years. The informal career night will be held from 7 to 9 Wednesday at the Budget Motor Lodge at Route 73 and Fellowship Road in Mount Laurel. State veterans-benefits administrators and local real estate brokers will offer information on job openings at some of the ERA's 3,200 offices across the country, including six in the South Jersey area, ERA career counselor Pamela Tomasetti said.

Tito J. Macchia, 96, a former real estate broker and entrepreneur whose dredging company developed more than a thousand parcels of land in Avalon, died Saturday at Burdette Tomlin Memorial Hospital in Cape May Court House. As owner and president of Avalon Dredge Co., Mr. Macchia constructed townhouses, commercial buildings and single-family homes, including Avalon Lagoon, a premier housing development in the borough. "He practically built Avalon because when we came here there was nothing here," said Antionetta Macchia, his wife of 70 years.

William J. Pastuszek, 78, of Swarthmore, a real estate developer who had two streets in Delaware County named for him, died of complications from internal bleeding Wednesday at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Mr. Pastuszek built and rehabbed numerous properties throughout Delaware County. In his honor, Lower Chichester Township renamed Ormond Street, which he developed for small businesses, Pastuszek Boulevard. In Chester Township, West 10th Street was renamed Pastuszek Court.

The weather outside may have been frightful yesterday, but the atmosphere inside a darkened Center City hotel ballroom was definitely sunny, with more of the same predicted for this year. Analysts for Jackson-Cross Oncor International, a Philadelphia-based real estate services firm, said 1997 was an "amazing" year for the local real estate market and 1998 will be just as good. Improvements in the real estate market were across the board, Jackson-Cross officials told those attending its annual real estate forecast.

A total of 9,299 residential property owners have filed real estate tax appeals, challenging recent reassessments by the city's Board of Revision of Taxes that, in some cases, tripled their tax bills. Homeowners in Center City, South Philadelphia and the Northeast filed the greatest numbers of real estate tax appeals. The total exceeded city projections of between 7,500 and 8,000, said David Glancey, head of the seven-member Board of Revision of Taxes. Hearings on the appeals will begin Dec. 3 and continue for "as long as it takes," Glancey said.

B. Kenin Hart, 60, president and founder of the Hart Corp. brokerage firm and a resident of Huntingdon Valley, died Tuesday in a plane crash in Kentucky. Mr. Hart and three others were on their way to tour a factory site when the Beechcraft King Air C-90 crashed about noon as the pilot tried to land at an airport in Somerset, Ky. Mr. Hart began his real estate career at age 18 when he began selling manufacturing facilities for a Philadelphia brokerage firm. At 23, he founded the brokerage firm, a business that now specializes in buying, leasing and selling industrial properties of more than 40,000 square feet.

Handshake agreements and contracts made decades ago with parents worried about what would become of their handicapped children have pushed the Devereux Foundation deeper into the real estate business. Devereux has acquired $30 million worth of commercial property and is developing a 32-acre office park near Exton scheduled to open in December. Its real estate arm, Devereux Properties, helps pay for 85 clients with emotional and developmental disorders who have lifetime care contracts made when costs were a fraction of current rates.