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How Gas Prices Could Effect Urban Markets
2008-06-02 22:35:00
Prior to the introduction of the automobile most people either lived in large urban areas or small town farming communities. Starting after World War II, cheap gas sent families out of the urban areas into the suburbs. Throughout the sixties and seventies many major cities throughout the United States saw a steep reduction of total population in their cities. Detroit and Philadelphia were examples that were ranked top in population and over a short period of time saw a dramatic fall as large influential suburban hubs attracted the population. Cities began to stabilize and in some cases grow over the last ten years as they began to transform themselves as new urban living opportunities including live-work type homes, new condos and attractive apartment living with amentias opened up. A younger population along with baby boomers ready to experience a new life after kids has found urban living attractive once again. So how will gas prices affect urban living? Will families find it to...
More About: Markets , Urban , Gas Prices , Effect , Prices

Vacancy Rates Remain Unchanged
2008-05-13 10:00:00
End of April Bay Area vacancy rate figures remained unchanged. San Francisco held at 6 percent, the same rate since January. San Mateo at 7 percent, the same as November of last year and Oakland-East Bay up a point to 11 percent since January. Rental rates did dip slightly in these same counties. San Francisco dropped to $33.50 from $35, San Mateo to $34.50 from $36.00 and Oakland-Easy Bay dropped to $23.00 from $24.00. These rental rate drops have occurred as a result of less overall rental activity in Class A office buildings due to their overall vacancy rates of less than 5 percent, causing less available space to be in play this last quarter. Also new owners of buildings purchased in the heat of the commercial buying frenzy of the last three years have begun to lower their expectations to better meet market demand. Overall, there is talk that 'the other shoe is about to drop' and that rental rates will fall and vacancies will increase; this has not happened as of yet.
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The Art of the Office Move in 2008
2008-04-22 21:26:00
The year 2008 will be year of uncertainty in the office market nationwide. The speculative buying of commercial real estate over the last several years has pushed office market rental increases in double digits in many urban markets. Now with a possible slow down in the economy, landlords are feeling uneasy as to whether they can achieve their projected rental rates while tenants that need office space this year are entering a market where vacancy rates are low and therefore alternatives are harder to come by in these same markets. Unlike the dot com market and its eventual bust this current office market will not see a fast raise of office space availability due to large failures of business. Although a recession could create some vacancies, the reality is that current low vacancies in a number of our markets are based more on the lack of building of office space going back over twenty years in some markets. Some markets such as San Francisco have started building new office spa...
More About: Office , The Office , Move

Brokers Wanted: Nice to be needed
2008-04-08 11:48:00
The year 2008 will be a year that real estate brokers in both residential and commercial real estate will be needed more than ever; and, as a result could have a successful year and build long lasting relationships with clients that would bring in more business. We in the profession always do best when there is uncertainty in the marketplace. In residential real estate today both sellers and buyers need a broker's help more than ever to make decisions. In a hot market a broker is less needed because sellers know their house will sell with little effort and buyers will know there is little room to negotiate. A broker's role in a hot market is more of an "order taker" than a negotiator and consultant. In a hot market self service type real estate companies that promote owners to try to sell their own homes for fewer fees become more attractive. New agents with no experience come into the market looking to get rich quick and can actually sell a house or two with ease because of the...
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When Things Go Bad- Go to Lunch
2008-03-24 23:34:00
As a salesperson you will have good days and bad. Some days everything is clicking and sales are coming in, other days everything that you have been working on falls apart and you feel like nothing you do is working. Years ago I had a particularly bad day. My largest deal had fallen apart and the next phone call was to find out that a deal I just closed was now in trouble as well, it really seemed like I could do nothing right. A broker friend of mine came over and he proceeded to tell me he just lost his biggest deal of his career but instead of being down he looked at me and said you know what good brokers do with they are having a bad day? You go to lunch he said, "lets go". We decided not to only go to lunch but do something entirely different. We ended up at a Disney Store and had bought our kids some coloring books. On the way back to the office as we were going up the elevator holding our Mickey Mouse bags, my broker friend announces loudly "oh boy" really looking forward...
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Musical Chairs with Office Space?
2008-03-19 10:24:00
Between 2008 and 2011, San Francisco will see more than 3 million square feet of new office space come onto the market. This will be the largest increase in new office space in San Francisco since 1985. In addition, if all the residential units that are at the permit stage or that have applied for permits are built, San Francisco will see 45,000 new condo units available for purchase during a similar period. Wall Street certainly believes in San Francisco. Real estate investment trusts (REITs) have pegged San Francisco to sustain rents as much as $100 per square foot by 2009. Although this is high by San Francisco standards, it is half the rate projected for New York. Yes, tenants should be nervous. But so should landlords. I started in this business in 1984 in a similar market. Rents were $52 per square foot at 44 Montgomery Street and climbing while new office space was coming on the market. What happened next? The market collapsed. Build it and they will come? They didn't ...
More About: Space , Office , Musical , Office Space , Chairs

"The Perfect Storm"? The Turnaround of the San Francisco Bay Area Office Ma
2008-03-10 11:07:00
For years, Wall Street viewed the San Francisco office market as stable but mature. It no longer was considered a headquarters market, but its core markets-including technology and medical research-its strong branch market, and its attractiveness continued to draw a robust workforce. Wall Street also pegged office market rents in the San Francisco Bay Area to those in New York. Historically, Bay Area rental rents on average have been about 50% of New York rents. In 2007, New York Class A office rents hit $200 per square foot. With the Bay Area's office market average rental rates as low as $28 per square foot in 2005, the Bay Area looked like a real bargain. As a result, buyers flooded the Bay Area, buying and selling some buildings two or three times in a couple of years, with each buyer anticipating higher and higher rental rates. What Wall Street did not consider were the tenants who will be entering the market in the next couple of years and their options for keeping rental...
More About: Office , Storm

New Mobile Tools to Look At
2008-02-26 09:40:00
It has been awhile since any new mobile tools have been introduced that could truly make you more efficient, but that is about to change. A new generation of mobile phones is entering the market that is worth considering changing to as well as new mobile search tools. Since the iphone was introduced exclusively to ATT, other phone carriers are now introducing phones similar in function and design. Verizon, for instance, has introduced the Voyager. This phone has a similar type iphone interface, but also includes a sliding keyboard. Like the iphone it offers more consumer based type functions and applications then for business based. For instance, both phones do not allow tasks and to-do lists to be synched with your office exchange services. But for Internet access and email both are far superior for ease of use. For business users Blackberry has introduced new models that offer enhanced viewing functions; however, new PDAS on the new Windows Mobile 6 platform is my choice to co...
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I Can't Take it Anymore!!!
2008-02-04 22:20:00
How many times have you told yourself that after dealing with everyday customer service from large businesses, you would not do it again? These last couples of days have been brutal for me and with what is going on regarding customer service on a bigger picture is frightening; and to see how these businesses continue to compete long term is even more frightening. My first experience occurred with Comcast. I decided to switch my home phone service to Comcast. Comcast has been heavily advertising their phone service offering savings as well as service. Ordering the phone switch was easy from that point on it was a disaster. The phone service was switched only to find out that the phone did not ring after the installers had just left. I called Comcast and the customer service person told me that this could happen and that it would take 48 hours to resolve. Next I asked them how to I set up voice mail so that least pick up my messages while the problem with the ring is fixed. She indi...

What Has Happened to Commercial Real Estate Values in Twenty-Four Years
2008-01-29 00:23:00
I started as a commercial real estate broker in San Francisco in 1984. My first offer I ever made was an office space at 111 Pine Street for $34.00 per square foot. My next offer was for space at 555 California Street for $52.00 per square foot. The vacancy rate at that time was six percent. Most buildings were offering paint and carpet allowance with some minor additional tenant improvements. Office buildings did not change ownership all that often back then, but when they did they traded for $150 to $200 per square foot. However in 1984 we were in the middle of an office building boom that saw construction prices to build a new office building from the ground up hit $300 to $450.00 a square foot. With a low vacancy rate, tax advantages favoring development and with lots of money chasing few deals and opportunities, San Francisco was in a major office building boom in the next five years leading to the 1989 earthquake. More than five million square feet of new development was e...
More About: Commercial , Estate , Real Estate , Twenty , Real

Restricting National and Franchise Retailers
2008-01-14 22:15:00
The movement to restrict national and large regional retailers from expanding into neighborhood retail areas is gaining advocates throughout the United States. These activists believe that national and franchise retailers kill local and small businesses while eroding the fabric of local neighborhood communities. In San Francisco, Supervisor Tom Ammiano recently proposed a ban on national and franchise retailers from entering the Mission District. Last year, the city voted on restrictive measurements that require a retailer with more than 11 stores to go through a public review process before it can sign a lease in any shopping center or neighborhood outside of the Financial District. This measure has created such uncertainty for retailers that they are now re-evaluating San Francisco as a potential marketplace. Most retailers require multiple stores in order to be cost-effective; without neighborhood stores, retailers find it difficult to make a profit in a market like San Francisc...
More About: National , Franchise , Retailers , Retailer , Ranch

Your New Year's Resolutions to Succeed
2008-01-08 10:26:00
With the start of the New Years here are some things as a salesperson you consider to get off to a strong start in 2008. First, understand that most salespeople are multi-taskers and do not have strong organizational skills. Therefore planning your upcoming year and sticking with your plan is hard for you because your natural tendency is to go with the flow and work on what comes through the door. Most plans may be well thought out and with good intentions but quickly most salesperson's fail over time to properly implement them. Therefore you want to create a plan that is realistic to the way you do business and you set up proper monitoring of your goals regularly to insure that you stay focused to your plan. I would recommend you look at http://www.createaplan.com although this is set up for residential real estate brokerage it is easily adaptable to most sales careers. Second, plan to stay in touch more often with your existing clients. If you are in a business like I am where ...
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Have You Met Your Sales Goals for the Year???
2007-11-15 11:49:00
It's the End of the Year and You Have Not Met Your Sales Goals ... WHY??? It's November and you are nowhere near your sales goals for the year. You started the year on a positive note. You created a business plan that you were going to follow that would get you to your targeted number. It is now November and you have no chance to get there. Herb Agin former Chairman of TCN Worldwide in a sales training meeting once said, "If you are a Salesman and are not making at least a six figure income in sales go get a real job". As a commissionable salesperson whether you are selling widgets or commercial real estate I agree with Herb. You are choosing not to collect a regular paycheck for a bigger potential payday. So why did you not make your goals this year? My first guess is that you really did not follow your plan at all. You meant to but you didn't. You may have intended to make 50 cold calls a day but you didn't. You may have decided to create a mailing campaign to a targeted g...

Make Sure You Take Care of All Referrals
2007-10-09 09:52:00
I have been in sales my entire business life: first in the food service business; next as a mortgage broker; and, now in commercial real estate. I learned from day one the importance of referrals. My first week in the food service business I landed an appointment to secure a food service contract at a local television station. This turned out to be a very big client over the course of ten years. A major vendor represented this client for a number of years that provided "ok" service but not great. The client never really saw her salesperson. This account would be considered small for the vendor, but to us it was huge. We treated this client as a "Cadillac" from day one. The client was so impressed that within a week she got me "in" with a competing television station and then a radio station. Soon I was servicing almost every television and radio station in the area. Over the ten years that I worked there I managed to not only keep that first account but developed probably half m...
More About: Care , Make , Refer

A Look at the Future of Office Space
2007-09-26 11:43:00
In the next five years San Francisco will be adding an estimated three million square feet of new office space. This is the most new office space to be built in San Francisco since the 1980's. These buildings will be built anticipating rental rates twenty to thirty percent higher than today's rates which will be necessary to be able to successfully build economically viable buildings. These new buildings will be far more efficient in terms of energy efficiency as a number of buildings will be built with the latest in "green technology". Also these buildings will be a mixed use development including retail, office and residential in new ways that will fully integrate a living and working environment including more attention to detail in creating a balance of open space, activities and services necessary to create a working and living center in one building. How will this affect the way we design an office today? If someone can live and work in the same building the effect on de...
More About: Space , Office , Future , The Future , Office Space

Take Advantage of Promoting Civic Pride
2007-09-11 00:01:00
As a salesperson in commercial real estate I believe that I am also a salesperson selling my city. Without a strong belief in my city there is no way that I can properly present my city to prospective firms looking at off icing there. I believe that living on the west coast offers me certain disadvantages over my peers on the east coast. Today more than ever the West coast is made of a majority of transplants from other parts of the world. On the east coast you have more people that have generational ties to their homeland than we do. As a result civic pride is harder to find on the west coast. Recently Mayor Bloomberg has started a new campaign promoting New York pride. He is asking New Yorkers to be friendly to its tourists, be helpful in anyway. Unlike New York, San Francisco has virtually ignored its large tourist industry in this way. How, by failing to rally its citizenry to take pride in its city. What can be done? First it needs to clean itself by promoting litter camp...
More About: Promoting , Pride , Civic , Advanta

Laying Out your Offices
2007-08-21 10:22:00
Office space comes in many sizes and shapes. You have rectangular looking spaces and more squared looking spaces. In addition, many office spaces have columns that can either add or take away efficiency to a space. What space works best for you is really based on what you are trying to accomplish in terms of the efficiency of your work environment. If you need more private offices then open area, a more rectangular type of space works best. Rectangular type spaces typically allow more window line to place more offices against. However if you need private offices but you are consistently communicating with employees in workstations then a squared office where you can surround the workstations with private offices is best suited. This allows for not only better communications but also better work performance because everyone is more or less watched by their fellow employees during the workday. Rectangular offices usually mean more window line for offices and less workstation space, ...
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Branch vs. Headquarters City
2007-08-06 21:58:00
Can "Branch Cities" Maintain "Headquarter Cities" Rental Rates I just came back from Boston and visiting with an affiliate there. As he described the Boston Office market, he described a market not unlike San Francisco. Vacancies there are heading to single digits. New buyers have purchased office buildings and have pushed rental rates over twenty percent so far this year, while existing owners have kept rental increases more in check. Like San Francisco, Boston is not a cheap place to live or work in. As a result it's once dominance as a headquarters town for insurance companies has changed dramatically. Just like San Francisco, firms have left one after another for cheaper office markets to do business. Today Boston and San Francisco are known as "mature" branch office marketplaces. Both markets are still important financial centers with close proximity to world-renowned colleges and universities. They are also internationally known tourist locations, which carry weight in bu...
More About: City , Headquarters , Ranch

How do you Get Out of a Hole?
2007-07-24 20:58:00
For those of you that have read my articles over the years you have often read my comparisons between baseball and life. As we approach the half way mark of the 2007 baseball year it is clear that my San Francisco Giants are in a hole destined to end up in last place in their division unless a major turn around occurs in the second half. Early this year my little league team that I coached, entered an eight-game losing streak after a good start and no matter what moves I made we could not catch a break nor win a ball game. If you are salesman for any length of time you have probably experienced being in a hole. You had a great year, things were looking up and suddenly a series of collapsed deals occur and you are being tested. What is happening? What am I doing wrong? Why can't I close a deal? There are two directions you can take to get out of this hole. First, you can decide to change your ways. Break your habits and start fresh. Change the way you market yourself, change your...
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New Office Space Not Ready Yet?
2007-07-23 23:07:00
You are scheduled to move into your new office space on August 1st and you just found out that the existing tenant would not be ready to move out in time; or, because of permit issues your tenant improvements will not be completed. What do you do now? Today, tenants are fast-tracking their moves at a much faster pace then ever before. Five years ago it was typical to move into a space four to six months after tenants originally signed a lease. Today, the move could be within 45-60 days. There are a number of factors as to why tenants are choosing to move in so soon after a lease signing. First, in a tight office market, landlords give the tenant no choice. Second, offices today are more about computers than furniture and easier to move then former offices with lots of files and research materials that can now be found online. Third, businesses often times to accommodate growth simply need their space faster. However, building permits; lack of construction workers; furniture deale...
More About: Space , Office , Office Space , Ready

Time for your Mid-Year Tune-Up
2007-06-26 21:56:00
It is hard to believe but we are fast approaching the middle of the year; and, now is the time to perform some important tasks to insure that you have a strong productive year when it comes to an end. 1) Review what your goals and objectives were at the beginning of the year and see where you are. Am I hitting the sales numbers I was hoping for? Have I succeeded in my marketing efforts? Have I improved my networking skills that I decided to do this year? There are a number of questions that you may need to address and make sure you are accomplishing what you set out to do at the beginning of the year. 2) Clean out your desk and your computer. Most of us wait until the end of the year to throw out old files, update new ones; and, yet a slow computer and a messy desk never enhanced one's production. Start with your emails by deleting old sent and saved files you no longer need. Clean up your contact lists and get rid of old Word, Excel and PowerPoint files you no longer need. All...
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Why Major Price Differences Between Similar Buildings
2007-06-18 23:46:00
In over twenty years of being an office leasing broker in San Francisco, I have never witnessed such a price variance between similar buildings. Today's comparable class "A" office buildings that were once a dollar or two apart in price can be as much as $15-$20.00 a square foot apart. We visited eight buildings of similar quality in a recent tour with a law firm. These buildings have not changed significantly in the last twenty years yet prices ranges were from a low of $36.00 dollars to a high of $66.00 per square foot. The only major difference was that the lower priced buildings had long-term owners and the higher priced buildings had new owners. The reason why is the new owners bought their buildings, in most cases, with a low vacancy rate of less than 5 percent. In the financing world a building with 95 percent occupancy rate is considered fully leased. Therefore, within a portfolio of assets these purchases are looking for future higher rents based upon future vacancy th...
More About: Buildings , Price , Differences , Major , Diff