cbg brokers breakfast 2/10/10

Had our Commercial Brokers Group Inc. of Madison Brokers Breakfast the other day at Bonfyre Grill. Great turnout after 6 inches of snow, but when there are free eats, well, commercial brokers will come. Mortenson Realty hosted the breakfast since Bonfyre is located in their Arbor Gate Office & Retail Complex. Brad Hutter of MRG informed the 80 attendees on the space opportunities that remain. Phil Salkin, of the WRA & Realtors Assoc. of SC WI spoke on potential Dane County Shoreland Zoning that can have a huge impact on Commercial Properties and Development. A tour of Arbor Gate was held after the meeting. There will also be a tour of Arbor Gate on Feb. 25th through Wisconsin Development News. Go to http://www.wisconsindevelopment.com/to sign up. A reception and discussion will follow at Bonfyre Grill.
The short slide show gives you an insight on the meeting.

on golden pond

Golden Retriever Rescue of WI (GRRoW) had a meet n greet event at Boston Store Sat. & Sunday. Never ceases to amaze me how much of a people magnet they are. You can go to www.grrow.org and read about them and see the golden's that are in need of a "Forever" Home. Check it out.

curiousity

I am taking care of my daughter's little kitten while she is in KC. The picture of Pinckney just brought the thought of the old saying "curiosity killed the cat". But I see it it a bit different. What is new, intriguing and makes us wonder, is what makes the human spirit grow as well as the intellect. Pinckney has no idea what is going on with the computer but she is still intrigued nonetheless. She doesn't need to know the bits and bites, the cpu workings, how the display projects an image. None of that is important. It is a warm and inviting spot and entertaining as well. Gets the job done as far as she's concerned. But for us humans, that will not do. We need to know the intricacies and how to improve on them. Maybe it's time we all just look at things from Pinckney's viewpoint. A bit more basic. A bit more relaxing. After all, "curiosity killed the cat". (Pic on the right is what the computer probably saw)

year end is good time to review your lease

When the year is ending and you are reviewing your financials for your business don't forget to review your current lease.

Here are some key elements to look at.
When does your lease expire? It may be sooner than you think. It is never too early to think about renewing or even changing your location. Many leases require a 60 to 90 day notice that you do not intend to renew, or that it goes to a month to month. That may make you vulnerable to having the landlord lease to someone else.

Is the space adequate? You may need to expand or even get a bit smaller and more efficient. Possibly a more or less visible location is needed. Maybe a loading dock or being near public transportation and linkages is crucial to your business.

What will be the new lease rate? Are there built in escalators each year that will be activated. Are you responsible for a portion of the real estate taxes, insurance and common area expenses. What or how much will they be. Are you paying the correct amounts or being over charged or under charged. Can you ad then to your rental rate and pay them off monthly.

Finally, do the payments fit your budget. Can your business make a profit at this location. If it is tight , you may want to talk with your landlord or your commercial real estate agent on these key areas before a small problem becomes a large one.

virtual staging vs imagination

I just read an excerpt from our WRA Realtor News Update on virtual staging. You can now remodel, replace furniture etc. virtually to show someone how a home might look but not the way it looks today. I wonder how upfront this may be. Does it leave the persons own imagination from working on what can be done? Does it say that if not done the way it is staged your tastes are not in vogue? Or does it actually give a few ideas on how a space should be and your imagination is stimulated even further. Hard to say. I do believe this would be a great Commercial Real Estate application. How many times have brokers shown a large baron 10,000 sq. ft space of concrete and windows to a client and trying to show and tell how the open space could fit their needs? I know I have been there. So open that it shuts down the senses on overload of where to start. Now without expensive drawings and draftings a client can be shown how it might layout for their specific needs and what it would look like in a 3D environment. Pretty cool, as long as we do not let our imaginations go to sleep.

the corridor of life

Life seems to me like an endless corridor of doors and gateways of opportunity. With each passing segment we can learn and grow or just pass through. Our men's tennis team's season gave me the opportunity to reflect on this last weekend. We started out as a bunch of ragamuffins early in the year, each match saw us grow and come together until we won our USTA League. Again at State Championships it was the same as we fought our way through. Then on to Indy for the Midwest Regionals. A very high level of competition but we adjusted, and went undefeated as we learned and passed through that corridor and seized the opportunity. We also learned a lot about each other. Now the next gateway awaits this team of young pups and old grizzlies at the National Championships in Tucson AZ. How many corridors are left? Just like life's many passages we all hope that exit sign at he end is a bit further out there.

freemium

Just read excerpts by Financial Times John Grapper and Wired Magazine's Editor Chris Anderson about the new business model some are calling "Freemium". It is definitely geared towards the new Internet model 2.0 where things are not pushed at the consumer but rather given openly and freely and on a "Hi, I am here to help you if needed and in the meantime here is free information etc." This model or idea is not new to the real estate industry when you think about it. Google is the master. It does not get the information we give it free information and it aggregates it. So in essence it does not pay for content and in return gives it back out. A "Freemium" to us the user. It makes it's money by having ads placed by a few who want to be first or higher in the search content results.
But the real estate industry has not taken it to the full extent that Google has. We still pay to place or view information on a system (MLS, PropertyDrive,CoStar etc.) and very little in the advertising or placement venue as a revenue stream. As a broker we offer this information to clients or customers and the real value is we are able to interpret and make sense out of the information. Guidance Counselors in a sense. That is why and where our value comes from. Our experience and knowledge in the profession. We can help our clients get the best possible price, in the shortest amount of time with the least inconvenience and we are paid well to do it. Of course, there are some out there that do not need us to do so and that is all well and fine. 80/20 rule. We will work with the 80% and that is more than enough.
So let's embrace all that free information out there. All that "Freemium" means more work for us to help clients make sense of it all.