This is unbelievable. I just got a call a few minutes ago from one of the listing brokers of the property outlined in my post from yesterday. He politely asked that I take down their marketing brochure and was nice enough to state that he is fine with the fact that I posted my thoughts [...]
Sep
25
Distressed Opportunity of the Week
I presume investors will be lining up to get a shot at this beauty. The good news is that the property is zoned M-1 (light manufacturing) so if you can’t stabilize with the currently approved use you can convert the building into a manufacturing facility making the products that will be used in other buildings [...]
Sep
22
CREOBA – Commercial REO & BPO Classes
These guys (CREOBA) never cease to amaze me. They are now offering commercial REO certification courses. Certified by whom, I have no idea. Do the banks know about this? Doubtful. Will they recognize the just-created designation? Doubtful. Do the CREOBA members organizing or leading these seminars know what they are talking about? Doubtful. I hate [...]
Sep
21
Comments on Commercial Real Estate Values
Today, Moody’s Investors Services posted its most recent Moody’s/REAL Commercial Property Price Index. The results show continued price declines in US commercial real estate across the board. According to the report, CRE values are now 30.8% below those of 1 year ago and 38.7% below peak levels of October 2007. I found this article published [...]
Jul
27
The Diminishing Value of Appraisals
Retail News Blog put up good post this morning titled Capitalization Rates Without Market Activity which addresses the problem in the marketplace of determining property values with little or no market data available. With fewer and fewer sale transactions taking place, appraisers are left in the dubious position of valuing property without comparable sales data. [...]
Jul
24
Commercial Real Estate in College Towns – Recession Proof?
Kevin Kleen has a good post up today about the market stability of college towns. He references an article from The Creative Class which looks at unemployment rates in various cities. I’m going to stop short of saying that the article concludes that college towns are definitively recession-proof but I do believe the data offers [...]
Jul
22
Per Capita Retail Space in Various Countries
This is an interesting chart. I don’t think it means these other countries don’t have problems but I do think it means our problems are significantly larger than most. The chart could also be used as a springboard for social commentary on the consumerist nature of Americans. (HT – Zero Hedge)
Jul
22
CREOBA Back In My Inbox – Please Go Away
Another email in my inbox today from CREOBA. The reason I think this is newsworthy is twofold. First is the predatory tagline of their upcoming dinner: “Is the commercial real estate market about to collapse?” The second is the fact their guest speaker is a residential auction specialist. Did I mention that I love their [...]
Jul
22
Update On The Commercial REO Brokers Association (CREOBA)
I received an email from someone at the CCIM Institute this morning to let me know that others have been questioning the merits of the Commercial REO Brokers Association (CREOBA). Apparently several people have been wondering just what the CREOBA organization is and whether or not they have any credibility whatsoever. Since I found out [...]
Jul
13
Listing Soon-To-Be-Distressed Deals
Over the past 6 months or so, I have seen many brokers list deals at values that just save the hides of their owners. What I mean by this is that if the property sells at the listed price, the seller can get out and pay off his debt and maybe even walk away with [...]
Jul
02
The Continuing Downward Spiral
Today’s economic news in not good. Heavy job losses reported for June sent the stock market down. California is about to start issuing IOU’s and state workers have been ordered to take another (3rd) mandatory day off each month (the forced 3 day vacations translate to about a 14% pay reduction). Yesterday’s auto sales figures [...]
Jun
30
How Long Until We See A Steady Stream of Distressed Real Estate Assets For Sale and How Hammered Will Non-Distressed Properties Get?
It seems to me like we are still in the same market rut we have been in for several months now. Don’t get me wrong, we are still doing deals and moving transactions forward but they are all one-off deals and there is really no uniform theme to any of the deals. When I look [...]
Jun
30
Long Time, No Post
I have not posted here in a very long time – since March 24th, 2009 to be exact. It’s not that I have not had anything to say – quite the opposite. Its just that many of my fellow bloggers have been doing such a great job hitting on many of the topics I was [...]