REALTOR Magazine is reporting seventy percent of homeowners say they’re not currently living in their dream neighborhood, according to a new survey of more than 2,000 respondents from Improvenet, a website focused on home improvement. The other 30% says that their dream neighborhood is located in a different town; 20% of that group say it’s three to 10 miles away, and 27% say it’s in a different part of the state or a neighboring state. So what qualifies as a “dream neighborhood?” Survey respondents ranked the following as their top criteria.

On May 23, 2019, Improvenet surveyed 2,210 Americans between the ages of 18 and 76. Fifty-seven percent of our respondents were female, 43 percent male. Fifty-four percent live in suburbs, 33 percent live in cities and 13 percent live in exurbs. For full report GO HERE.

Realtor Magazine is reporting Equifax will reportedly pay up to $700 million to settle investigations of its massive 2017 cybersecurity data breach that compromised the personal information of 150 million people—essentially half of the adult population nationwide. The settlement includes payments to affected customers, fines, and numerous mandated changes to Equifax’s business practices to better protect consumers’ private data, government officials said.

The settlement is reportedly the largest ever for a data breach. It still needs to be approved by the federal district court.

“Equifax failed to protect consumers’ information and failed to enact reasonable security measures under California’s data security laws,” California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said at a news conference. “That left very important personal information exposed and allowed hackers to steal consumers’ names, Social Security numbers, their birth dates, their addresses, and in some instances, their driver’s license number, and even credit-related information.”

The data breach has prompted calls for greater government oversight of credit reporting bureaus’ data storage policies for the credit histories and personal information of consumers.

Under the settlement, Equifax will pay up to $425 million to reimburse victims from the security breach. It will also pay $175 million to states and invest more in its own cybersecurity. It will be required to submit to 20 years of regular third-party checkups. It will also pay an extra $100 million to settle a federal investigation into the data breach by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

“This settlement requires that the company take steps to improve its data security going forward, and will ensure that consumers harmed by this breach can receive help protecting themselves from identity theft and fraud,” says Joe Simons, the Federal Trade Commission chairman.

Consumers whose data was stolen can receive at least four years of free credit monitoring on their credit reports at all three credit bureaus, FTC says. They also can receive an extra six free years of free credit monitoring on their Equifax credit report. Consumers who don’t enroll in the free credit monitoring from the settlement may be eligible for a cash payment of $125. In some cases, consumers may be eligible to receive reimbursements and cash payments up to $20,000, according to the FTC.

Consumers who want to claim the free credit monitoring or cash payments will need to file a claim once the claims process begins. A settlement site will be posted with updates when claims are open. Consumers also can register for alerts via email.

TUCSON, ARIZONA — Safeway Store #1255 in Tucson’s Casas Adobes’ neighborhood sold for $8.9 million ($191 PSF) to a New York investment firm as part of a 71-store, sale-leaseback agreement.

The deal for the Safeway at 7110 N Oracle Road in Tucson. closed on July 1st. The buyer was CF Albert Propco III LLC, an affiliate of New York City-based Fortress Investment Group.

Under an agreement inked in 2017, the grocery store will remain open and will lease the property as opposed to owning it. The 47,000-square-foot Safeway includes a pharmacy and a Starbucks at this location that sits on 4.59 acres. It anchors the well-positioned La Toscana Village shopping center at the gateway to Oro Valley, on the “going home” side of Oracle and Ina Roads.

Co-tenants at La Toscana include Walmart, PetSmart, Beyond Bread, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Pita Jungle, Jenny Craig, Sola Salon, Cost Cutters, Sparkle Cleaners and Honey Baked Ham. Pete Villaescusa and Jesse Peron of CBRE handle the leasing of the inline shops at this busy center.

Fortress an affiliate of SoftBank operates within SoftBank as an independent business headquartered in New York. Fortress Principals Pete Briger, Wes Edens and Randy Nardone continue to lead Fortress. SoftBank is committed to maintaining the leadership, business model, brand, personnel, processes and culture that have supported Fortress’s success to date.

Under an agreement inked in 2017, the grocery store will remain open and lease the property as opposed to owning it.

Safeway merged with Albertsons Companies in 2014 and came to an agreement with the investment firm to sell off 71 store properties for about $720 million. Under the agreement, the grocery store chain owner would lease back those properties on 20 year terms, according to an SEC filing.

As of February 23, 2019, the company operated 2,269 stores across 34 states and the District of Columbia under 20 well-known banners, including Albertsons, Safeway, Vons, Jewel-Osco, Shaw’s, Acme, Tom Thumb, Randall’s, United Supermarkets, Market Street, Pavilions, Star Market, Carr’s and Haggen as well as meal kit company Plated. The company includes 1,739 pharmacies, 1,282 in-store branded coffee shops and 397adjacent fuel centers.

There are 138 Safeway locations in Arizona, including 12 in Tucson.