All in all, 2011 turned out to be a decent year for Cleveland's real estate investment market. The overall sales volume again ticked upward, this after hitting the bottom in 2009. More importantly, last year saw several 'market' transactions occur, which is a great sign going forward. But this isn't to say that there werent' some ...
Most of my rantings involve commercial real estate - who is buying what, how much they are paying, how to figure out how much pay, etc. Rarely do I talk about my actual industry - the commercial brokerage biz. But the new year brings new challenges to this industry and I think change is inevitable, especially for the firms highlighted below:
Grubb & Ellis - You would think that the 12 years that I spent at G&E would provide an insiders ...
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I returned from the holiday break on January 2 a few years back and, during the course of the day, found myself in a co-worker's office. After all of the usual catch-up chatting, I noticed that he had a post-it note affixed to his desk phone base. The post-it note had only one thing scribbled on it: 1,019,000. So of course I had to ask why he had this on his phone. His answer was astoundingly simple - "That's how much I'm going to make this year". ...
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Heartland Real Estate Business magazine is a great monthly real estate publication. They highlight a variety of relevant commercial real estate stories, including transactions, market profiles, industry news and trend stories. So when they came a'knockin last month, asking if I would write a summary piece on Cleveland's retail ...
Real estate investors are a finicky breed, especially when it comes to analyzing a real estate investment deal. Some will go into great detail - analysis paralysis as I like to say - while others will give the numbers a quick once-over and go with a gut feel. But regardless of the approach, all have some type of return threshold or requirement as a target. In this month's Financial Strategies column of Properties Magazine, we will review some of the ...
Considering the seemingly endless steady stream of dismal news and dramatically reduced activity levels over the last 3 years, the Cleveland investment market could use some good news. And it got just that in October. The total sales volume was healthy, including a mix of small deals and larger deals, across a range of product types. There were several 'market' investment sales, as opposed to the dearth of distressed sales that have dominated the ...
In last month's Properties Magazine, we introduced the overall concept of Time Value of Money. There are six methods associated with TVM, called the six functions of the dollar. The first three are compounding functions, moving money forward over time, and these were covered in the September issue. The last three are discounting ...
In this month's issue of Properties magazine, we introduce the sometimes mysterious concepts associated with compounding and discounting. Although these concepts can be a bit daunting, they can also be extremely helpful to a real estate investor. With a little help from Rod Stewart, we take the mystery out of these concepts, which are ...
The story of Apple is amazing. Founded by three guys in 1976, the company enjoyed great success in the 1980s, went into the doldrums in the 1990s but then skyrocketed in the 2000s. Apple, its products and its culture are the subject of countless blogs but I am compelled to make a couple entries, for one simple reason - I'm a convert. ...
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I've always been a fan of auctions. Maybe its the thrill of the chase or the idea of getting a deal or maybe it's just the whole vibe of the auction house. But whatever it is, I like them. One of my favorite auctions is a classic car auction in Auburn, IN that occurs each year over Labor Day weekend. It's always a great time, particularly since it combines a live auction with another passion of mine - classic/collectors cars. While attending ...
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