Although we like to think that real estate is at the center of the universe, the reality is that our profession is but one part of a very large puzzle. And many of the tools and concepts that we use to figure out our little puzzle can be applied to a variety of other situations. In the June issue of Properties Magazine, we discuss the concept of Net Present Value. As you will see, although the concept is quite useful when analyzing real estate ...
This week, the owners of 200 Public Square (formerly known as the BP Building) put the building on the market for sale. I was on the team that sold the property to the current owners back in 2005 so when my friend from the Plain Dealer, real estate reporter Michelle Jarboe, called to ask my opinion, I wasn't at a loss for words. Michelle wrote a nice piece (click here to link) but it was one of the comment posts online that really caught my ...
With the ushering in of the internet age, the amount of information (and pace which that information flows) has dramatically increased. In the old days, analyzing a real estate site or a market involved at least one if not several treks to the local planning department with the hopes of obtaining any kind of demographic information that might be stashed away in a file cabinent. The dawning of the PC era saw this data migrate from hard copy to digital ...
Last summer, I wrote a couple blog entries following a short visit to Nashville. In a July entry entitled 'Music City Musings, v2.0', I discussed the pending medical mart that was planned for Nashville and compared it to Cleveland's medical mart. Fast forward about 9 months and the landscape has continued to shift. I just read a very good, balanced article that compares Cleveland's mart not only to Nashville but also to a third that was announced a ...
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Mother nature wasn't kind to northeast Ohio in April. Persistent rain coupled with cool temperatures made Spring seem like an elusive concept. The state of the commercial real estate investment market was similarly gloomy. Property sales volume was flat, with a scant three investment properties transferring, representing an aggregate volume of just over $6 million. And distressed real estate continued to dampen pricing, as evidenced by the sale of ...
This month's Financial Strategies column in Properties Magazine continues a discussion that begin in the March issue. The topic for both months was Internal Rate of Return. In March, we gave some framing to the concept of IRR, explaining what it is and how it is used. And in the April issue, we tackle some of the shortcomings ...
I write this blog entry sitting in a hotel lobby in Bethesda, MD. At this same time, back home in Cleveland, there is a funeral service for a good friend and former co-worker, Ken Fleming. Since I can't make the service, I want to take a few minutes to honor him. Ken was a lot of things to a lot of people - friend, mentor, teacher, supporter, husband, father. The list is as endless as the line that I'm sure is formed at the funeral service. In ...
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Since the first of the year, the volume of investment properties coming onto the market has certainly increased. Although not many seem to be selling, there are clearly a lot more offerings out there as compared to 12 to 18 months ago. But it seems like I am seeing two distinct types of offerings. One type include very safe ...
One of the most valuable tools in the commercial real estate investor's tool belt is internal rate of return (IRR). If you've spent any time in the world of real estate investment, you have undoubtedly heard this term. But just what is IRR and what does it measure? In this month's Property magazine's Financial Strategies column, IRR takes center stage in the discussion. By using several examples, the concept behind IRR is explained, as well as how ...
By most accounts, the real estate markets showed a slow but steady improvement during 2010. However, as I look at the total investment sales volume for the Cleveland market over the first two months of 2011, things don't look so good. Only three commercial investment sales have occurred and all three were small, less that $2 million each. A quick check with my friends at Real Capital Analytics (www.rcanalytics.com) confirms that the total ...
