Thursday, May 5, 2011
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
CoStar Group buys LoopNet for $860M | Washington Business Journal
Washington Business Journal - by Sarah Krouse
Commercial real estate data company CoStar Group Inc. has acquired San Francisco-based competitor LoopNet Inc. for $860 million, doubling CoStar’s paid subscribers to 160,000.
The acquisition brings D.C.-based CoStar’s total active listings to 2 million.
CoStar will fund the deal with a $415 million loan and $50 million revolving credit facility from J.P. Morgan.
Under the deal, announced Wednesday and expected to close by the end of 2011, LoopNet shareholders will receive $16.50 per share and .037 shares of CoStar stock for each share of LoopNet stock they own.
The deal represents a 31 percent premium to LoopNet’s closing price Tuesday. LoopNet’s stock ended Wednesday at $14.37 per share.
CoStar's stock ended Wednesday at $61.38 per share, up 1.88 percent from its previous close.
LoopNet is a content partner of American City Business Journals, parent company of the Washington Business Journal.
CoStar, which was founded in ...
Read more: CoStar Group buys LoopNet for $860M | Washington Business Journal
Forbe's Best Cities For Jobs: No. 4 McAllen-Edinburg-Mission
By Joel Kotkin and Michael Shires
These may be far from the best of times, but they are no longer the worst. Last year’s annual “Best Cities for Jobs” list was by far the most dismal since we began compiling our rankings almost five years ago. Between 2009 and 2010, only 13 of 397 metropolitan areas experienced any growth at all. For this year’s list, which measured job growth in the period between January 2010 and January 2011, most of the best-performing areas experienced actual employment increases — even if they were modest.
For Forbes’ list of the best cities for jobs, we ranked all 398 current metropolitan statistical areas, based on employment data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported from November 1999 to January 2011. Rankings are based on recent growth trends, mid-term growth and long-term growth and momentum. We also broke down rankings by size —small, medium and large — since regional economies differ markedly due to their scale.
Reflecting the importance of the war effort in stimulating local economies, command of this year’s best place for jobs was handed to the Army from the Marines. Killeen-Temple-Fort Hood, Texas, shot up to No. 1 from No. 4, while Jacksonville, N.C., last year’s first-place winner and home to Camp Lejeune, dropped to 19th place.
Once again the best places for jobs tended to be smaller communities where incremental improvements can have a relatively large impact. Eighteen of the top 20 cities on our list were either small (under 150,000 nonfarm jobs) or mid-sized areas (less than 450,000 jobs).
But no place displayed more vibrancy than Texas. The Lone Star State dominated the three size categories, with the No. 1 mid-sized city, El Paso (No. 3 overall, up 22 places from last year) and No.1 large metropolitan area Austin (No. 6 overall), joining Killeen-Temple-Fort Hood (the No. 1 small city) atop their respective lists.
Texas also produced three other of the top 10 smallest regions, including energy-dominated No. 4 Midland, which gained 41 places overall, and No. 10 Odessa, whose economy jumped a remarkable 57 places. It also added two other mid-size cities to its belt: No. 2 Corpus Christi and No. 4 McAllen-Edinburg-Mission.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
4 Investor Tips
Source: Mitch Roschelle is U.S. real estate advisory practice leader for PwC, New York.
Published in: REALTOR, April/May 2011 Issue
Emerging Trends in Real Estate 2011, an annual investor survey conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the Urban Land Institute, offers these investors tips:
1. LOCK IN LOANS. Don't make the mistake of waiting for loose credit that may be a long time coming. Interest rates are low but will inevitably increase.
2. HOLD REIT SHARES. REITs are all about yields (forget appreciation) and a solid dividend in an uncertain environment. Even with recent REIT value run-ups of 28 percent in 2010, according to the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts, funds with high-quality assets should be less volatile than most stocks.
3. BUY LAND IF YOU CAN AFFORD TO HOLD IT. Developable land prices are cheap, although the wide bid-ask spread is still a challenge for buyers. Remember, says Rochelle, historically most of the big money is made in land plays.
4. CHOOSE INFILL. Predicting the direction of new growth is tough, so central locations are somewhat lower-risk investments. Infill offers businesses a more diverse employment base, especially among younger workers who prefer urban living.
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NAI Rio Grande Valley is a focused commercial real estate brokerage, consulting, development and syndication firm serving the Rio Grande Valley and based in McAllen, Texas. Our mission is to transform real estate opportunities into profits for owners, users and investors.
NAI Rio Grande Valley advises it's customers and clients on how to maximize the value of their assets and utilize real estate to their long term advantage through comprehensive and strategic planning, execution and management.
Contact NAI Rio Grande Valley today to learn more about how we may be of service to your Investment needs. Visit our website at www.NAIRGV.com and Follow our Tweets, Like us on Facebook and Subscribe to our Market Blog.
Published in: REALTOR, April/May 2011 Issue
Emerging Trends in Real Estate 2011, an annual investor survey conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the Urban Land Institute, offers these investors tips:
1. LOCK IN LOANS. Don't make the mistake of waiting for loose credit that may be a long time coming. Interest rates are low but will inevitably increase.
2. HOLD REIT SHARES. REITs are all about yields (forget appreciation) and a solid dividend in an uncertain environment. Even with recent REIT value run-ups of 28 percent in 2010, according to the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts, funds with high-quality assets should be less volatile than most stocks.
3. BUY LAND IF YOU CAN AFFORD TO HOLD IT. Developable land prices are cheap, although the wide bid-ask spread is still a challenge for buyers. Remember, says Rochelle, historically most of the big money is made in land plays.
4. CHOOSE INFILL. Predicting the direction of new growth is tough, so central locations are somewhat lower-risk investments. Infill offers businesses a more diverse employment base, especially among younger workers who prefer urban living.
__________________________________________________________________
NAI Rio Grande Valley is a focused commercial real estate brokerage, consulting, development and syndication firm serving the Rio Grande Valley and based in McAllen, Texas. Our mission is to transform real estate opportunities into profits for owners, users and investors.
NAI Rio Grande Valley advises it's customers and clients on how to maximize the value of their assets and utilize real estate to their long term advantage through comprehensive and strategic planning, execution and management.
Contact NAI Rio Grande Valley today to learn more about how we may be of service to your Investment needs. Visit our website at www.NAIRGV.com and Follow our Tweets, Like us on Facebook and Subscribe to our Market Blog.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Buyer or Seller: Who Really Has the Edge in Note Sales?
By: Tim Buss, CCIM, Senior Vice President-Special Asset Solutions at NAI Global
Note sales – more irrational exuberance!?!? Like most things in a relatively free market environment, prices of goods and services flow through the spectrum of balance and imbalance as the pendulum swings, oftentimes too far to the extreme. This creates opportunities for both buyers and sellers before settling, albeit briefly, in a balanced state. The note sales environment is firmly in that cycle today.
Note sales – more irrational exuberance!?!? Like most things in a relatively free market environment, prices of goods and services flow through the spectrum of balance and imbalance as the pendulum swings, oftentimes too far to the extreme. This creates opportunities for both buyers and sellers before settling, albeit briefly, in a balanced state. The note sales environment is firmly in that cycle today.
But why? I have seen countless examples where the notes secured by commercial real estate have traded for values that exceed the underlying fee. Is it because the investor perceives value that is not obvious to the seller, or is it because the seller, oftentimes a regulated commercial bank, is so motivated to shed the asset that it is willing to leave money on the table? Or is it because the capital that has been impatiently sitting on the sideline has now determined that deals must be done regardless of the price? Or is it because, like the market, knowledge also has a market cycle and that knowledge is currently out of balance, favoring sellers over buyers?
What knowledge could be out of balance? Perhaps the experience gained through the last few years of working out of or collecting loans, wherein commercial bankers have realized that the time, cost and exposure is far more expensive than a less informed and experienced note buyer realizes. Several recent studies have shown that the collection, foreclosure and ownership of an asset for the first year of holding title can cost 25-35% of the note value. So it follows that the experienced lender who is willing to recognize the true collection/ownership/disposition cost is net-selling the note at a discount of 25-35%.
But is the less experienced, unsophisticated note buyer aware of the same cost, or is the perception that the note seller is simply coming in line with the market and the spread between bid and ask is finally converging? The truth is likely somewhere in the middle. All the market forces extenuated by the recent experience of bankers points to a trend that at least for now, plays in the favor of the note seller; but further, the reality in practice is often what I would call entitlement value. Like the value creation that is achieved when a developer goes through the entitlement process, taking raw land to the point where it can be sold to a builder or end user, (a process that takes both up-front capital, incremental capital and experience) the collection/workout process similarly presents an opportunity to take advantage of a vision and goal. For the commercial lender, the goal is to rid the balance sheet of the asset and the bank of the borrower, and oftentimes in the process, lender fatigue sets in. But for the buyer, the vision and goal is to obtain title as quickly and efficiently as possible. Where the bank has focused on the broken promise to pay, the note buyer simply wants to gain control. That difference in vision and goal means that often the note buyer can compress the time and cost associated with “collecting” the loan. So although there are still costs including attorney’s fees and time value of money, the investor is able to compress both time and cost creating a small positive arbitrage.
About the author
Tim Buss, CCIM is Senior Vice President-Special Asset Solutions at NAI Global...
Click here to read more
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Industrial Trends – Q1 2011
As is typical, the industrial segment will lead the industry out of the real estate doldrums. The asset class is fairly less sophisticated then multi-family and office and retail remains a conundrum.
B-class assets and incubator vintage infill will be the first to lease as service companies and ancillary support companies will be buoyed by the improving economy.
Retailers, in anticipation of a recovery, albeit a marginal one, are currently analyzing and re-engineering their logistical schemes. Supply chains are being closely monitored to determine where economic buying trends might break first. The larger retailers will continue to have the strength to locate distribution centers where ever they want.
However, the discount stores and the dollar stores will be under pressure to determine best locations for replenishment, which are more costly, versus several small supply depots closer to store density.
About the author
Scope of Service Experience As Executive Vice President-The Americas, Paul Waters is responsible for business development and client relationships among major corporate end users of office and industrial space. He works with clients to identify opportunities to achieve significant cost savings through strategic occupancy programs and portfolio optimization. Education Bachelor of Science, Boston College Master of Business Administration, University of Phoenix, Background & Experience Mr. Waters possesses more than 20 years of experience across multiple disciplines within the commercial real estate industry, with extensive expertise in the industrial and office representation sector. Prior to joining NAI Global, he was a Senior Managing Director of CB Richard Ellis’ (CBRE) North American Industrial Services and was responsible for the direction, development and operations of CBRE’s national industrial tenant representation practice.
Click here to read more
Monday, April 25, 2011
The Uniqueness of Site Selection for Call Centers
As compared to typical office and industrial site selection, call centers demand more information about the availability and cost of labor than about the buildings. Call centers evaluate potential state, county and city incentives that are available based on the number of employees and the wage levels of its employees. The reason for this focus is the economic impact of the employee’s salaries over the term of the lease on the local community.
For Instance:
400 | Employees | ||
X $12.00 | per Hour | ||
$4,800 | |||
40,000 | RSF | ||
X 2,080 | hrs/year/per employee | X $20.00 | per RSF |
$9,984,000 | $800,000 | ||
X 10 | year lease term | X 10 | year lease term |
$99,840,000 | economic input | $8,000,000 | real estate cost |
Thus, if you can complete a site search for the correct city, or in part of a city, where you can get the same quality and quantity of labor for $1.00/hour less, then theoretically you can offset your annual rental costs.
About the author
Van Power is Chief Operating Officer of NAI Global's Contact (Call) Center / Site Selection Services Worldwide, and is Chief Operating Officer of NAI Robert Lynn's Corporate Services Divsion in the Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas metroplex, He specializes in representing corporate tenants in the site selection, acquisition and disposition of corporate call centers/contact centers, service centers and back-office operations centers worldwide. During his career, Power and his team have completed site selection assignments on over 7 million square feet of contact center space. Power combines comprehensive office, industrial and build-to-suit market knowledge with integrity, resourcefulness, tenacity, and 25 years of negotiation experience to represent the best interests of his corporate and business clients. He was honored as one of The Dallas Business Journal's Commercial Real Estate "HEAVY HITTERS" every year from 1991-2004. NAI Global named Van to the NAI Global Elite, a group comprised of the organization’s top performers and top producers. Power qualified as a Top Performer at the Elite level based on production in 2009. His transaction experience includes representation of tenants both large and small clients, in assignments ranging from negotiating office, industrial, office-flex and build-to-suit leases to major corporate relocations.
Click here to read more
Friday, April 22, 2011
NAI Global Launches Suite of Green/Sustainability Services
NAI Global, the world’s premier global network of commercial real estate firms and one of the largest real estate services providers worldwide, today announced it is launching NAI Global Sustainability Solutions. This new business unit provides a comprehensive suite of “green” services for corporate clients and property owners delivered by some of the most experienced “green” experts worldwide.
NAI Global Sustainability Solutions provides energy & sustainability services to property owners and users worldwide through NAI staff and a strategic alliance with GreenPoint Partners. NAI Global also is working with Environmental Resources Management (ERM), a leading global provider of environmental, health and safety, risk and social consulting services. The new unit is led by Fred Tuck, NAI Global’s head of Project Management.
“Sustainability Solutions is an important addition to our global service offering,” stated NAI Global President & CEO Jeffrey M. Finn. “This initiative provides a unique opportunity to help our clients save money and demonstrate corporate social responsibility.”
NAI Global Sustainability Solutions provides a broad array of services to commercial real estate clients throughout North America through a strategic alliance with GreenPoint Partners. Working together with local NAI offices in North America, GreenPoint helps clients achieve profitable sustainability by delivering energy audits, solar and wind renewable energy, efficiency retrofits and LEED certification.
“We are thrilled to work with NAI Global,” stated GreenPoint CEO Dustin Gellman. “With NAI’s powerful network and broad global footprint, we can deliver increased value to thousands of clients that occupy hundreds of millions of square feet.”
NAI Global is also working with ERM, which provides environmental due diligence, site investigation and remediation services to NAI clients worldwide as part of its core Sustainability Solutions offering. With 130 offices in 40 countries and approximately 3,600 staff, ERM helps business and government clients understand and manage their impacts on the world around them.
“ERM is extremely excited about our working relationship with NAI, and look forward to the opportunity to provide key environmental services on a wide variety of projects for NAI and their clients” stated Tim Strongman, Partner, ERM UK.
“Through our relationship with ERM we are able to deliver a global “turnkey” real estate solution to our clients, which enables them to optimize their physical assets while at the same time meet their corporate social responsibility objectives” stated Paul Danks, NAI Global’s Senior Vice President-Corporate Solutions with responsibility for the management of the relationship with ERM.
Headquartered in Princeton, New Jersey, NAI Global manages a network of 5,000 professionals and 350 offices in 55 countries. NAI firms complete over $45 billion in transactions in a typical year, and manage more than 300 million square feet of commercial space worldwide.
NAI Rio Grande Valley is a focused commercial real estate brokerage, consulting, development and syndication firm serving the Rio Grande Valley and based in McAllen, Texas. Our mission is to transform real estate opportunities into profits for owners, users and investors.
NAI Rio Grande Valley advises it's customers and clients on how to maximize the value of their assets and utilize real estate to their long term advantage through comprehensive and strategic planning, execution and management.
NAI Rio Grande Valley professionals arrange the sale or lease of land, office, industrial and commercial real estate. We have a proven track record and have considerable expertise in envisioning how to convert raw land into revenues.
NAI Rio Grande Valley is also a service bureau for data gathering, research assistance, interpretation, and expert analysis on a variety of regional, economic and demographic issues. It seeks to provide an array of other services including market research, feasibility studies, project management, and real estate entitlements.
Because of our proximity to the Mexico border, close ties to the business community in Mexico and a proven understanding of the unique economics of the U.S. - Mexico border area, NAI Rio Grande Valley is able to provide services to both international and domestic clientele.
NAI Rio Grande Valley advises it's customers and clients on how to maximize the value of their assets and utilize real estate to their long term advantage through comprehensive and strategic planning, execution and management.
NAI Rio Grande Valley professionals arrange the sale or lease of land, office, industrial and commercial real estate. We have a proven track record and have considerable expertise in envisioning how to convert raw land into revenues.
NAI Rio Grande Valley is also a service bureau for data gathering, research assistance, interpretation, and expert analysis on a variety of regional, economic and demographic issues. It seeks to provide an array of other services including market research, feasibility studies, project management, and real estate entitlements.
Because of our proximity to the Mexico border, close ties to the business community in Mexico and a proven understanding of the unique economics of the U.S. - Mexico border area, NAI Rio Grande Valley is able to provide services to both international and domestic clientele.
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