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Atlanta November 2023 – Key Takeaways

Starting to see deals fall apart; had a shopping center deal that bank wouldn’t even look at to consider a loan.  Doing a little bit of leasing; investor deals.   Things are busy and all over the board, but it’s busy in problems mode v. deals being made.  (Menden Freiman)

Also seeing lots of reorganizations on the corporate side – tax driven problems – very paperwork heavy (Menden Freiman)

Congratulations to Emmaline Michael for officially passing the state bar! 

Super busy with exchanges – have 7 closings going on right now that are all intertwined.   Ron attended a conference last week where many companies reported that their volume was down – ours is not!  (Atlanta Deferred Exchange)

Ringgold Georgia is growing and going – lots of MultiFamily and industrial going in.  (ATL Commercial Real Estate, Inc.)

Something that has helped my business is that I’ve aligned myself with a loan banker who represents 4 different banks and private lenders.  I hand off to him and he does the vetting, shops it out, etc.  It has helped me a lot (ATL Commercial Real Estate, Inc.)

Definitely seen a decline in auctions this year.  2022 we did 800 deals; this year we should do about 650.  We are ramping up for more deals in 2024.  Office is getting hammered right now; we look very carefully before taking on those deals – we’re seeing properties trading at $30-$50/sq. ft.  (Ten-X Commercial Real Estate)

Market Intelligence from CoStar’s State of the Market:  Big wave of new MultiFamily coming on; expecting rent decline in MF to continue.  Office sublet space is the highest on record; drop in industrial construction; ATL employment growth is double the national rate and outpacing other metro areas.  (CoStar Group)

Currently focusing on new opportunities for government in real estate and/or project management (Miller Realty)

Invest in healthcare services, but financing is challenging right now (Vedere Capital Group)

Luxury housing market is definitely taking an adjustment; sales are off; holding a distress sale in next few months.  Seeing a 10-12% adjustment in housing.  (Heery Brothers)

Having to put deals in investment properties on hold for now because there aren’t any deals out there (Joel & Granot Real Estate, LLC)

Incentives from the Inflation Reduction Act and the Infrastructure bill are unbelievable and are providing lots of opportunity in the EV charging arena.  We are shifting our focus a bit to add solar, EV charging and energy storage.  (Elevate Electric)

RPN continues to grow and is now in 23 cities.  Sunbelt areas of the country are doing okay; Chicago, Ohio things are terrible and not going well at all from a real estate perspective.    The incentives that the state and federal government are offering to get us to the all-electric-vehicles are unbelievable with a return on capital in 24 months.   (Real Professionals Network)

Noticed that many of the CVS/Walgreen-type buildings are going vacant (Atlanta Leasing & Investment)

Consulting contract for property on the market in Barbados – 800 units/60k sq. ft. – stabilized property bringing in a lot of money for a long time – will probably trade around 7 cap for $15 million, remotely operated.  (Commercial Realty Services of West Georgia)

Self storage lost about 150 basis points in value over the last year (Commercial Realty Services of Georgia)

Small industrial space is getting very expensive:  rate went from $6 to $10/sq. ft (Slutzky Realty Group)

Helping several clients with site selection and growth planning which will bring good jobs to the area.  Boston Investment is looking to put a pharmaceutical plant in.  We have expanded our business offerings to include property tax.  (McGuire Sponsel)

Banks are REAL slow and not lending money.  We are doing due diligence for cash buyers, though.  Publix and AutoZone are growing in Atlanta area.   PFAs are more and more in the news.  Waiting to hear how the EPA is going to regulate these, but they are in everything and some states (California and NC) are starting to take action.  (Apex Companies, LLC)

Seeing a slowdown but there’s still movement.  Recently co-authored an article with Brett Hunsaker on why the return to the office is so important.  Some of the benefits of returning to the office include improved mental health and networking.   (Tingen Creative)

Companies are doing some crazy things to get people back into the office and stay.  Recent WSJ article highlighted this:  transportation voucher if you leave your car at home; offering paid time to participate in sports outside of work hours; free farmer’s market; family planning benefits, etc. (A D Commercial Real Estate)

Supply chain issues seem to be mostly resolved with the exception of switch gears.  Those still take about a year.  Construction prices are high, but they have stabilized.    We’ve seen cap rates move up 100 basis point so hold on deal now and take to market later.  Small industrial buildings are hot right now:  demand is there but the supply is tough.  (Knight Commercial Real Estate)

Takeaways from presentation – Dipesh Shah:

Keep your email secure – don’t open stuff on your phone that looks suspicious.  Wait until you can get to your computer and look at things very carefully.
Technology and IT workers used to be back of the office, but now they have a seat at the table because of the importance of technology
So much data is available to access to help you do your jobs better – take advantage
It’s important to Think Big and Start Small.  Business changes so fast and you want to continue to evolve – Iterate Often
Let the business drive your strategy and select the technologies to get you there
Most businesses run on EXCEL. 
Technology has moved and expanded over the past 30 years and most CRE companies are still figuring out their systems and what works best
Digital ecosystem: you want to integrate digital technology into every aspect of your business to change how it operates and to deliver value

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