Author: David Osborn
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Feeding Frenzies are Signs of Real Recovery
In fishing they call it a feeding frenzy. It usually starts when a ball of bait fish get caught in predator-made whirlpool – a tuna swirl. Instinctively, they ball up to mimic a bigger fish, hoping to stave off predators. Then it happens – one tuna strikes, then another and another until blood colors the…
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Think First, Act Next
Thought is integral to success. The old adage “think before you act” isn’t a simplistic prescription for avoiding disaster, it’s a deliberate prescription for success. Imagine success in advance by thinking through each detail and every milestone of your plan for achieving it. Discipline your mind to foresee the obvious and hidden pitfalls before taking…
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Conservation of Value in Real Estate Technology
In real estate technology, the law of conservation of value is simple. Like matter, value is neither created nor destroyed. Valuable solutions to difficult real estate management problems such as chronic outages, unbalanced staffing, low NOI and high energy cost all exist. Divining those solutions – bringing them to light and presenting them in an…
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“Miracle on Price” – Commercial Office Values on the Comeback
Nothing gives hope more of a boost than low expectations. Just ask the members of the 1980 U.S. men’s Olympic Ice Hockey Team, or the same group in 2010. In 1980, in Lake Placid New York, the Americans were scheduled to play the dreaded Soviets – a team that had won every Winter Olympic ice…
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Security Is The New NOI
Commercial real estate is undergoing one of its steepest value declines in memory. There is very limited capital. Underwriting is tight, if not non-existent. Occupancy rates are plummeting and with them cash flows, net operating incomes, demand for space and, finally, asset values. For owners and managers today, that means leaner and more efficient operations…
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Employment, the Last Fundamental When Landing Recovery
You hear it all the time? “real estate will recover once property fundamentals improve,” or “property fundamentals continue to reach for the bottom.” So what are “property fundamentals” and why do they matter so much to market recovery. The following is an admittedly simplified explanation. Let’s start with some definitions: Occupancy Rates: This number represents…
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Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor, and Your Unemployed…Please
There is a sudden spate of financing going on in the real estate space. Bank of America Corp. (BofA) is leading the way underwriting stock offerings by private commercial real estate firms. 2010 is projected to be a banner year for initial public offerings undertaken by troubled private Real Estate Investment Trusts seeking to find…
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BOA Constrictor of a Further Downturn
The Real Estate Market – it’s treading water and its feet can’t quite touch the bottom, but it feels close, really close – toes stretching to locate anything firm that it can stand on. Then the Mortgage Bankers Association (“MBA”) reports that Commercial Mortgage Backed Securities* (“CMBS”) third quarter delinquency rates rose and are projected to increase…
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Service Is At the Heart of Software System Success
“Thank you for calling. We are currently experiencing higher than normal call volumes. Your call is very important to us. All calls are answered in the order that they are received. Please wait on the line and the next service representative will be with you in just a few moments. We apologize for any delay.”…
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The Real Estate Election in an Instructive Downturn
During this interim November election, I came to the realization that new beginnings start with new leadership. The nature of the “great unwashed” is that when things get tough and stay tough for a long time, the masses wait around for CHANGE. With change comes the inertia of a renewed sense of purposes and a chance for…