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As the new school year begins for 2011, here are a few new commercial real estate rules to help guide you through the year. Let’s call this lesson, “Commercial Real Estate 101.”

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Donald Teel is a Senior Associate and Principal with Arizona Commercial, an Arizona commercial real estate brokerage and property management firm, headquartered in Prescott, Arizona. Need more information? Please call 1-877-777-9100 or, if you prefer, you may email Donald Teel

Note: This post was originally written by Donald Teel for residential Broker-Owners. It is syndicated from REALonomics because of its relevance to commercial brokerages and investors. “REALonomics” is a registered trademark ® of The Teel Group, Inc.

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The real estate industry is not too unlike an organization living in a state of collective schizophrenia. Figuratively speaking, we are hearing voices that are not real.

Our hallucinations are mostly self-induced; the voices we hear are actually our own mumblings and business babblings disguised as forces we do not control.

I’m now convinced the real estate industry is delusional but not in the classic clinical sense of schizophrenia. Rather, we are deluded by the notion that what we are experiencing is beyond our control.

Since we don’t have an alternative point of reference for our dilapidated and dysfunctional (not to mention unprofitable) business models, we willingly succumb to the voices that keep telling us all will be well and in time the market will return to normalcy (whatever that is).

We have come to actually believe there is a quick cure for our collective malady. We have long ago stopped taking the medications of self-reliance that can eliminate the voices and have instead turned to a political pill that only fuels the illness and delays the inevitable.

The Great Delusional Grip

Franchisors continue to pimp and prescribe, increasing their delusional grip on Broker-Owners, convincing them, mistakenly, that their brands are necessary as a market value proposition and to their survival.

To control the delusions and squelch the voices we pretend our economic survival can be optimized by merely changing the colors of the pills we ingest. We hallucinate about technology solutions that magically produce profitability through Internet lead generation. The voices continue.
Continue reading “RE’s Schizophrenic Desperation”

When Donald Trump wrote “The Art of the Deal” he became an industry authority figure for knowing or, at least claiming to know, how to make deals…deals that work.

Has anything changed since Trump wrote his 1988 best seller? Yes, a lot has changed. The fundamentals of deal making have not changed and perhaps they never will.

Making deals is one thing…now, however, the renewed skill that is most in demand is how to shape the deals we are making.

Due to today’s unique economic times, I’m discovering there is a big difference between securing signatures and shaping a deal for long term performance.

In fact, shaping the deal may be the requisite skill now in most demand because there are fewer deals to be done and the deals that are getting done require more perseverance and targeted thinking.

Negotiating Breakfast with My Daughter

Almost every day, we are all negotiating something. I did it this morning with my 9-year-old daughter. We negotiated about her breakfast. She wanted chocolate donuts, not one, but two! Once we formulated the premise for the sign-off, i.e., what each side had to have, we then had the core of the deal.

My position was clear. “You cannot have donuts for breakfast.” Her position was, “Donuts is the only way to make this deal work.”
Continue reading “The Art of “Shaping the Deal” – Kid Style”

Driving gives me an opportunity to think about what I am doing, some of the challenges we are facing in the buisness and how my clients can weather what I call “The Tenant Trough.” Rather than simply tool down the long and winding road, I have decided to utilize my drive times by engaging in a little Commercial Real Estate Road Kill.

The following video was shot on a recent drive to Phoenix and is the first of what I hope will be a regular feature entitled CRE Road Kill. In this installment, I am addressing what I call the Tenant Trough, what it is the problems it creates for owners. In Part 2 I will talk about solutions…stay tuned.

Merriam-Webster defines “trough” as follows:

• a long and narrow or shallow channel or depression (as between waves);
• the minimum point of a complete cycle of a periodic function;
• the low point in a business cycle

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Donald Teel is a Senior Associate and Principal with Arizona Commercial, an Arizona commercial real estate brokerage and property management firm, headquartered in Prescott, Arizona. Need more information? Please call 1-877-777-9100 or, if you prefer, you may email Donald Teel

Jay Paul Leupp, founder of Grubb & Ellis, talks with Bloomberg’s Julie Hyman and Mark Crumpton about the outlook for the U.S. commercial real estate market. Leupp also discusses his investment strategy and prospects for Associated Estates Realty Corp. and Sun Communities Inc. (Source: Bloomberg)

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Donald Teel is a Senior Associate and Principal with Arizona Commercial, an Arizona commercial real estate brokerage and property management firm, headquartered in Prescott, Arizona. Need more information? Please call 1-877-777-9100 or, if you prefer, you may email Donald Teel

Traditional commercial real estate marketing seems to be experiencing erosion.

Why?

Because many of the old models don’t work well in an increasingly collaborative world where people want to have a relationship and role in the creation of their investment outcomes, that’s why.

How is your property being marketed? How quickly can you turn the message and communicate change to thousands of people in a moment of time? These are huge questions for property owners.

In the marketing of your property are you running with the big dogs or licking with the pups? How can you break from the pack in 2010 and beyond enabling you to run with the big dogs?

Meet the Puppies Lickin’ and Playin’ on the Porch

When it comes to commercial real estate marketing, there are pups on the porch lickin’ and there are big dogs in the fields runnin’.
Continue reading “Break from the Pack Marketing Models”

I read with a great deal of interest “Bright Ideas for Driving Traffic” in the February, 2010 issue of Shopping Centers Today magazine.

The relevance of the piece was the central focus of creating consumer recognition and value…what else is new in the shopping center marketing game?

What captured my attention in the article was the renewed interest in utilizing events and promotions as a traffic magnet for center impressions in the minds of consumers, tenant recognition and of course, foot-traffic.
Continue reading “Magnetism – Creating Center Value through more Consumer Exposure”

Posted by Donald Teel, Arizona Commercial

As we plunge into 2010, commercial real estate market knowledge and a grasp of trends has become an even more essential component to successful investment. If you are a commercial broker/agent it is a requirement.

Grubb & Ellis has put together a top-notch report that analyzes the commercial markets throughout the United States, region-by-region, major-market-by-major-market and property type by property type.

Not only is the data supporting the analysis accurate and well researched, G&E’s online presentation is perhaps the best I have ever seen and is a definitive tool for assessing the regional and local markets for investors and brokerage firms.

In short, I am using the online tool which features a drag-and-drop approach, allowing the user to select a regional sector, a local market and a specific property type report for immediate download.

For example, here you will see G&E’s 2010 market report for the retail sector in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

It’s a concise report that includes simplified graphics, it is easy to read and understand by any investor or broker and it lacks the typical long read format used in most commercial reports.

Another benefit of G&E’s approach is that users can also download the entire report or cherry pick the reports they want by region, state, property type, etc.

This report format model is an excellent approach, allowing those of us in the industry to locate the information we want in a precise and easy to follow manner.

Whether you are an investor or a commercial broker/agent the information has value and accessing it has never been easier. The limitation to the reports is seen in the fact that some markets are not included. However, use of the reports for trend analysis is but one obvious benefit.

Here is the link to the Grubb & Ellis online interactive 2010 report, including the national map of regions, states and major markets included in their coverage.

GO TO THE GRUBB & ELLIS ONLINE 2010 MARKET REPORT

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Donald Teel is Senior Associate with Arizona Commercial, an Arizona commercial brokerage and property management firm. Need more information? Please call 1-877-777-9100 or, if you prefer, you may email Donald Teel

Like many who find themselves connected to the lifeblood of the commercial real estate market, I have been listening, researching and studying the myriad voices and have come to the conclusion that we are entering 2010 in a state of conflict.

Two camps have emerged. The first is what I will refer to as the “Disaster Camp” and the second is the “Recovery Camp.”

The Disaster Camp (DC) is the illusive analysts whose cryptic research clearly indicates we are entering an era of melt-down. The DC guys and gals come at us armed with their complex charts and narratives that prove conclusively that we are headed into doomsday.

The Recovery Camp (RC) is equally persuasive with their slick, bullet-pointed PowerPoint presentations. The RC camp trumpets phrases like “sidelined investor capital waiting to be spent” and “Bond money waiting to pounce on market opportunities.”

After all is said and done, more will have been said than done! I’m conflicted as a result of the plethora of combative voices that leave me feeling as if I have just stepped off a wild roller-coaster and cannot gain my bearings.

As we enter 2010, I’m a lot like many of my clients, nauseated and bewildered and I am vowing here and now to never ride that roller coaster again.

For at least the opening stages of 2010, I am going to go back to trusting the basic fundamentals of investment and my instincts. In the early part of 2010 I’m resolving to delete all of the emails that are in the DC and RC camp. Away with the charts and the PDFs that tell many tales.

Here is what I am going to do in 2010…return to trusting me, myself and I. Oh, I will be forced to gaze at many more PowerPoint prophets and read many more detailed documents designed to either scare me into sleeplessness or fill me with the phony messages of hope beyond reason.

My thought is that 2010 is going to be a year of disaster AND recovery. We will eat at both sides of that aweful table made up of vinegar and sugar. That is why I am going to return to trusting myself and to a healthy avoidance of investment extremism. I’m inviting you to do the same.

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Donald Teel is Senior Associate with Arizona Commercial, an Arizona commercial brokerage and property management firm. Need more information? Please call 1-877-777-9100 or, if you prefer, you may email Donald Teel

It’s not often that you will find me promoting my competitors, much less endorse them as cooperative.

Yet, in this case the endorsement is a necessary and complimentary one that serves the interests of commercial real estate investors in the greater Prescott, Arizona market area.

Although oxymoronic, please meet my “cooperating competitors.”

The Prescott Area Commercial Group (PACG) is a non-profit real estate (is “non-profit real estate” an oxymoron) consortium that promotes investment, training and networking of property information among central and northern Arizona commercial brokers and agents.

The Power of Disciplined Focus

PACG represents a disciplined focus on commercial real estate investment and property performance among perhaps the most experienced and highly trained professionals who know and understand the fundamentals of investing in real estate.

PACG was originally formed as a commercial networking group that met to discuss Prescott, Arizona’s commercial real estate market, properties and opportunities. Now PACG is more than a quiet group meeting over coffee to exchange listing and sales information.

The commercial real estate market demands a disciplined focus in order to stay on top of the rapidly evolving trends.

Risky Business or Cooperative Competitors?

PACG is now the most prominent and perhaps “connected” group of commercial specialists in the northern Arizona real estate market.

Having met with most of the PACG Members and interacted with them, I can state without reservation that they are a qualified and trustworthy group that any owner or tenant can call on for assistance. PACG members know their stuff and they work hard to consistently improve their skills and knowledge in order to meet the needs of each client.

Introducing competitors may be regarded as a bit risky, however, in today’s volatile market I believe having a network of trusted colleagues who can provide a kind of “brain trust” is an asset that can be called upon and tapped into for solutions.

Sounding Rusty and Eroded

At the risk of sounding old or, at least rusty, dated and eroded, I’m going to reach back in time and drag an old principle forward. In decades long gone the industry where I have made my mark and enjoyed my gains (and honestly, some losses too) was one built upon trusted associations where business resulted largely from shared information gained from a trusted network of professionals.

Yes, some of this has been eroded over time, which is why I find my association with PACG PACG members refreshing, non-threatening and beneficial to both me and my clients.

I don’t mind if you meet my trusted competitors.

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Donald Teel is Senior Associate with Arizona Commercial, an Arizona commercial brokerage and property management firm. Need more information? Please call 1-877-777-9100 or, if you prefer, you may email Donald Teel