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The Investor’s Marketing Forum (IMF) met this past Tuesday in Orinda. Our moderator Dave Carney facilitated an engaging conversation about the financial state of the commercial real estate economy. Jeff Shaddy of Pacific Capital spoke to share insights as to the amount of debt coming due in the next [...]

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A recent article in National Real Estate Investor described the rate of bank failures at an alarming pace. In fact the research firm Foresight Analytics reports that loan defaults are at an all time 18 year high.
As was recently echoed by Brian Pretti of Mechanics Bank, the worst part [...]

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ANNOUNCING my first meetup for commercial real estate investors! I formed a meetup group on meetup.com called Commercial Real Estate Analysis and Group Investors.

My goal is to share basic commercial real estate principals as they apply to buying commercial property, specifically buying apartments. A brief real estate analysis [...]

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As owners of commercial real estate, East Bay commercial real estate specifically, you are no doubt aware of market rents and vacancy levels. Recently the trend has been a mild deterioration in rents coupled with a mild deterioration in vacancy. During the last Rental Housing Association of Northern Alameda [...]

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Commercial Real Estate forecasts are always interesting to me, especially when presented by someone not selling a product or service. At the East Bay CREW meeting, 2010 President Tillie Ross of Old Republic Title introduced her guest speaker, Brian Pretti, CFA, CFP and senior Vice President of Mechanics Bank. [...]

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Jobs, Jobs, Jobs- that’s how we will exit this recession/recovery! Unfortunately, the numbers from the East Bay Economic Development Alliance indicated a protracted stay in this recovery trench. The trend is headed in the wrong direction, thankfully, the total loss of jobs for the East Bay was only 400. [...]

Operating costs for Apartment owners will predictably rise in the coming years. A recent San Francisco Business Times article indicates that PG&E is seeking regulatory approval to increase rates by 6+% over the 2010 rates.
Seeking a more fluid rate system, PG&E has asked to charge customers based on changes in payroll, income or property taxes! [...]

More disappointing news from the SF Business Times. All three urban centers lost jobs lost jobs… Click here to read the full story here: bay-area-job-losses-continue-121809.

To learn more about my background, visit Consult Pete. To learn more about my company services, visit Commercial MasterMinds. I can be reached via email at Pete@CommercialMasterMinds.com or just call (925) [...]

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An interesting discussion by Todd Weaver, the 2010 Vice President for CCIM Region 2 and President of Synergy Commercial Real Estate, Inc. was enthusiastically received as he spoke about the commercial real estate market conditions. Todd used a simple relation between Net Operating Income, Capitalization Rates and Present Value [...]

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The Investor’s Marketing Forum (IMF) held it’s Holiday Luncheon and Marketing meeting at the Orinda Country Club today. It was a sold out event. Tapan Munroe was the guest speaker. Tapan is a past chief economist for PG&E. He served his post longer than any other chief economist.
Tapan suggests [...]

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Let me begin by saying- there is no such thing. I could think of a few oxymorons to go along with this idea; Larger half    Almost exactly    Genuine imitation     Unbiased [...]

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*** RED ALERT – SPLIT ROLL PROPERTY TAX INITIATIVES FILED ***

The following message is from Rex S. Hime, President & CEO, California Business Properties Association- reprinted with permission.

CBPA Board Members and Advisory Board Members
Affiliate Member Leadership (ICSC, BOMA, NAIOP, IREM, CDA, RILA, CCIM)

This is a Red-Alert to let you [...]

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Wow the market has really made a correction! Probably not what a property owner wants to hear- HOWEVER, if you are selling your property wouldn’t it be best to hear that early rather than later?!
So why would a trained professional real estate agent consider taking an overpriced listing? Consider [...]

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At the October San Jose Aparment Brokers meeting, I ran into Matthew Leek, a financial planner with Ameriprise Financial in San Jose. Matthew shared this analogy with me and agreed that I could blog it as long as I mentioned his name- Thank you Matthew.
Matthew can be reached via: [...]

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Recently, I have experienced on more than one occasion a property listed for sale and the listing agent is not sharing information because there is little or no fee to share. In most cases, the Seller is unaware that their property is being marketed to select individuals only- namely [...]

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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 [...]

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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- [...]

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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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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 [...]