Click the title for the full message.

The Northern California CCIM chapter meeting had its share of excellent speakers and presenters this month. Bob Kramer of Robert Kramer & Associates shared his 35 years of experience in representing bidders at Trustee’s Sale. Our attendees were sitting on every word that Bob spoke. Bob averages three to [...]

Click the title for the full message.

This month’s guest speaker at the Northern California CCIM chapter meeting was Terry Hird, founder of Negotiation International. His firm was created to provide individuals and organizations with the tools they need to obtain enhanced outcomes through the art of negotiation.
Post Terry’s presentation I heard SUPER REVIEWS- [...]

Click the title for the full message.

Today I attended two marketing meetings; The Investor’s Marketing Forum IMF and the Certified Commercial Investment Member CCIM meetings. A general discussion of the marketplace revealed that rents are soft but thankfully occupancy is holding steady. I specifically asked Joe Lawton of Castle Property Management (925) 328-1240 whether the [...]

Click the title for the full message.
A recently discovered article discusses the ramifications of foreclosing on mortgages that were split up into tiny fragments when sold on the Mortgage Backed Securities, MBS market. “There is no evidence before the court as to who is the present owner of the Note. The holder of the Note [...]

Click the title for the full message.
Paul Chandler, CEO of Property Sciences, Paul.Chandler@PropSci.com master appraiser, hosted and presented this webinar. Thank you Paul for your valuable insight! Paul’s comments: Real Estate Cycles continue- Expect the economic situation to get worse before it gets better…

Scott Monasch of Barry Slatt Mortgage Company ScottM@Slatt.com
Who’s lending? Life Insurance [...]

Click the title for the full message.
I had the opportunity to meet with Teresa Moss, Teresa.Moss@cdec1031.com of Chicago Deferred Exchange today. She discussed the 1031 Exchange rules and it was an excellent presentation for first time exchangers as well as seasoned veterans.

Highlights of her presentation included: Chicago Deferred Exchange separates themselves from the rest of [...]

In looking over the Affordable Housing Finance magazine, I was struck by the very informative article By Jerry Ascierto.  He points out “Acronyms like TARP, TALF, PPIP, and CAP litter today’s headlines, but exactly what these programs do-and how they do it-isn’t always easily digestible”.
TARP and TALF - what are they? According to Apartment [...]

Christopher Lee, a real estate consultant with CEL & Associates, is a featured panelist at the 2009 NAA Education Conference & Exposition this week.  The National Apartment Association (NAA) website features his white paper on the future of apartment living which I thought particularly pertinent for these times.
Lee states the future of apartment living is [...]

With “green” being the operative word these days, I couldn’t help but notice the interesting courses listed by the National Apartment Association (NAA) on their site.
In addition to the NEW Credential for Green Property Management (CGPM), the site explains such programs as the Fair Housing and Beyond Course, the Rental Owners Course (ROC) and [...]

Recently, at the Pacific Coast Builders Conference (PCBC), multifamily finance and operation fundamentals were discussed in depth. Chris Wood reported details in the Multifamily Executive on 6-16-09.
In the opening session of the 2009 MultifamilyTrends Conference held in conjunction with the PCBC in San Francisco, Hessam Nadji, Managing Director of research services for Encino, CA-based [...]

In my meetings and appointments over the last several weeks, I have heard more than once reference to commercial brokers who took a referral from a residential agent and did not pay a referral fee or only offered a token gesture of a couple hundred dollars. It has surprised me to learn that some commercial [...]

While reading over an April issue of the San Francisco Business Times, an article by J.K. Dineen and Blanca Torres caught my eye.
The largest commercial real estate deal had just been executed by Menlo Park-based Garlock & Co. A shopping center, industrial park, you say? No, actually, a garage. This parking garage at [...]

In reading Stewart Penn’s recent blog in Activerain.com on virtual real estate offices, I have to agree he makes a good point.  Penn, a Los Angeles Condo Specialist, after years of being with nationally-branded real estate offices, weighed the advantages.
After years of being with nationally-branded real estate offices, Penn weighed the advantages of doing so. [...]

John J. Heft, Vice President, New Day Underwriting Managers, LLC writes a compelling article on Environmental Liabilities in the December issue of Multi-Housing News (MHN) real estate magazine.
Because of exclusions for mold in general liability policies, sizeable uncovered claims can wreck financial havoc for apartment owners if complaints to these problems are not tended [...]

Kenneth R. Harney in the 5/11/09 Washington Report writes an interesting warning to homebuyers and real estate professionals.
Consumers will be experiencing higher costs thanks to the mandatory new appraisal system just put in place by Freddy Mac and Fannie Mae.  With major lenders owning most of the management companies conducting the appraisal assignments, appraisers [...]

LoopNet recently conducted an online poll I wanted to share with you.
The poll was entitled, When will Commercial Real Estate Bounce Back?
On the first question, “When do you expect the number of completed commercial real estate transaction sales to begin to pick up vs. 2008?” 42% responded 2010, and 25%, 2011 or later.
Question #2, What [...]

There are more good reasons to have pets in apartments than bad ones, writes Karen Aho, of MSN Real Estate, in the 5-5-09 issue of the National Apartment Association’s IndustryInsider.
She goes on to say that apartment owners should advertise their apartments as “pet friendly” instead of offering free rent, wireless or free TV as [...]

Kenneth R. Harney in the 5/11/09 Washington Report writes an interesting warning to homebuyers and real estate professionals.
Consumers will be experiencing higher costs thanks to the mandatory new appraisal system just put in place by Freddy Mac and Fannie Mae.  With major lenders owning most of the management companies conducting the appraisal assignments, appraisers [...]

Just last week, Chairman Ben S. Bernanke appeared before the Joint Economic Committee of the US Congress to offer his views on recent economic developments along with the outlook for the economy and current conditions in financial markets.
It’s no surprise that the gross domestic product (GDP) dropped 6% in the 4th quarter of 2008, [...]

While not all about commercial real estate, I wanted to share an eye-opening video can be seen on the April 17th podcast of Bill Moyer’s interview with David Simon. Simon went from crime beat reporter for the BALTIMORE SUN to award-winning screenwriter of HBO’s critically-acclaimed “The Wire”. He talks with Bill Moyers about [...]