June 8, 2010 11:58 AM
The June 4 N.W Herald printed an article we wrote about our ongoing Fundraiser for the local Food Pantries. We are building a list of reputable businesses that provide services related to the commercial real estate transactions. This is our third year orchestrating this program and to date our vendors have contributed $11,200 to the Cary and Crystal Lake Food Pantries. We are looking for an appraiser, a roofing firm, a commercial flooring company, a computer company, office interiors firm, telecommunications firm. To see the article, click here.
Bruce Kaplan and Joe Billitteri: Commercial Real Estate Agents with Premier Commercial Realty. Your Profit is our Success!
Monday, April 11, 2011
Economic Incentive Policy
June 3, 2010 1:25 AM
Lake in the Hills has impressed us by recently adopting a new Economic Incentive Policy which provides perks to certain businesses on a case by case basis for opting to locate in their commercial corridors. About 640 business licenses will be issued in LITH in 2010 and $2.7 million in sales tax is expected to be generated. Dan Olson, Director of Community Development spoke at the June 1 monthly meeting of McHenry County Commercial brokers and mentioned how successful this program was when they did it for Costco in 2003 with a sales tax sharing proposal.
We wish more communities put their minds to incentivizing businesses to move there. For more information contact Dan Olson at:
dolson@pith.org or call 847-960-7440.
Lake in the Hills has impressed us by recently adopting a new Economic Incentive Policy which provides perks to certain businesses on a case by case basis for opting to locate in their commercial corridors. About 640 business licenses will be issued in LITH in 2010 and $2.7 million in sales tax is expected to be generated. Dan Olson, Director of Community Development spoke at the June 1 monthly meeting of McHenry County Commercial brokers and mentioned how successful this program was when they did it for Costco in 2003 with a sales tax sharing proposal.
We wish more communities put their minds to incentivizing businesses to move there. For more information contact Dan Olson at:
dolson@pith.org or call 847-960-7440.
Turning Down Listings
May 26, 2010 10:48 AM
No broker wants to turn down a listing. There are times when listings are hard to come by. Not now! But we find ourselves saying "no thanks" more and more these days. Some sellers are just not motivated enough or realistic enough to offer up a marketable property. The price is often the culprit. Commercial real estate values have plummeted 30-40% nationwide in the past two years. Trying to sell it at the price on your two year old appraisal is lunacy. The old appraisal means nothing. Property condition is another obstacle. A mold odor or an unresolved environmental issue reduces the odds of selling enormously. I tell people if you don't have to sell right now, don't. But I'd rather turn you down than let you down trying to market a property that doesn't have a chance of selling or leasing. No offense!
No broker wants to turn down a listing. There are times when listings are hard to come by. Not now! But we find ourselves saying "no thanks" more and more these days. Some sellers are just not motivated enough or realistic enough to offer up a marketable property. The price is often the culprit. Commercial real estate values have plummeted 30-40% nationwide in the past two years. Trying to sell it at the price on your two year old appraisal is lunacy. The old appraisal means nothing. Property condition is another obstacle. A mold odor or an unresolved environmental issue reduces the odds of selling enormously. I tell people if you don't have to sell right now, don't. But I'd rather turn you down than let you down trying to market a property that doesn't have a chance of selling or leasing. No offense!
Craigslist For Real Estate?
May 19, 2010 1:34 PM
We started experimenting with posting listings on Craigslist about a year ago. We heard it was like Alice's Restaurant. Remember the song lyrics? "You can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant". With some 20 billion (with a B) page views per month, and 50 million U.S. individuals using the service, and the fact that it is free, why not try it out? We got some response a year ago but not enough to encourage us to keep using it. So several months later, we are posting new listings to see if the response has improved. Tell us whether you would use Craigslist to find commercial real estate listings? Check out Craigslist.org.
We started experimenting with posting listings on Craigslist about a year ago. We heard it was like Alice's Restaurant. Remember the song lyrics? "You can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant". With some 20 billion (with a B) page views per month, and 50 million U.S. individuals using the service, and the fact that it is free, why not try it out? We got some response a year ago but not enough to encourage us to keep using it. So several months later, we are posting new listings to see if the response has improved. Tell us whether you would use Craigslist to find commercial real estate listings? Check out Craigslist.org.
Lazy Backwards Brokerage - RFP's Have No Place For Smaller Deals
April 20, 2010 1:26 PM
I really didn’t want to write an article “dissing” my fellow commercial brokers. Everyone
has a right to make a living in their own way. But a certain brokerage practice is gaining
prevalence in today’s market and it’s starting to get under my skin. Maybe I’m just too
traditional but the use of an RFP (Request for Proposal) has become a practice that seems
like the “lazy broker’s” approach to initiating a deal. The use of RFP’s has been around
for a long time. Some brokers are using them for small deals (under 10000 sf) and this is
a waste of everybody’s time.
Here’s how it works: the broker has a leasing client that needs space, let’s say 5,000 sf of
office space. The broker may or may not actually take his client through some 5000 sf
properties currently on the market for lease. From the safety and comfort of the broker’s
office, he shoots out multiple RFP’s to anyone who has a listing remotely close to his
client’s requirement. He wants the listing brokers to go to their respective clients and
coax them to commit in writing to the best deal they can offer…the bottom price, the
sexiest concessions, the longest period of free rent, the highest commission, etc. Instead
of picking one or two top candidates and making a legitimate approach or proposal, they
want the property owner to negotiate against himself, cut to his bottom number, and take
any “fluff” or profit out of his side of the deal. By telling him that he is competing with
several others who have been handed the EXACT SAME RFP, the property owner is
supposed to “sharpen his pencil” and come up with the best possible deal. The theory is
you have property owners fighting over the lone tenant prospect for the privilege of
giving their property away for a song. Using this” backwards” brokerage procedure, they
hope to uncover the most desperate property owner and secure the best deal for the
tenant/client. If I am working for a property owner, I have a hard time allowing my client
to negotiate against himself. Not to mention the false expectations this process engenders
with the property owners being put thru this gauntlet.
I say hogwash! Get off your duff and do the work. The property owner is paying your
fee…go EARN IT! Find a property that will meet the client’s specifications and make a
legitimate proposal. Tell us what you need or what you want and how much you are
willing to pay for it. And then wait for a response. Negotiate a “win-win” deal (remember
those?) If that doesn’t work, go on to your second choice. I don’t know where this
practice started, but if it were up to me, I’d put an end to it. Especially on the smaller
deals. If I get an RFP from another broker, I’m likely to ask him if he has an exclusive
agreement to procure property with his client which authorizes the submittal of RFP’s. If
he doesn’t have such an agreement, I’m counseling my client to take a pass.
I really didn’t want to write an article “dissing” my fellow commercial brokers. Everyone
has a right to make a living in their own way. But a certain brokerage practice is gaining
prevalence in today’s market and it’s starting to get under my skin. Maybe I’m just too
traditional but the use of an RFP (Request for Proposal) has become a practice that seems
like the “lazy broker’s” approach to initiating a deal. The use of RFP’s has been around
for a long time. Some brokers are using them for small deals (under 10000 sf) and this is
a waste of everybody’s time.
Here’s how it works: the broker has a leasing client that needs space, let’s say 5,000 sf of
office space. The broker may or may not actually take his client through some 5000 sf
properties currently on the market for lease. From the safety and comfort of the broker’s
office, he shoots out multiple RFP’s to anyone who has a listing remotely close to his
client’s requirement. He wants the listing brokers to go to their respective clients and
coax them to commit in writing to the best deal they can offer…the bottom price, the
sexiest concessions, the longest period of free rent, the highest commission, etc. Instead
of picking one or two top candidates and making a legitimate approach or proposal, they
want the property owner to negotiate against himself, cut to his bottom number, and take
any “fluff” or profit out of his side of the deal. By telling him that he is competing with
several others who have been handed the EXACT SAME RFP, the property owner is
supposed to “sharpen his pencil” and come up with the best possible deal. The theory is
you have property owners fighting over the lone tenant prospect for the privilege of
giving their property away for a song. Using this” backwards” brokerage procedure, they
hope to uncover the most desperate property owner and secure the best deal for the
tenant/client. If I am working for a property owner, I have a hard time allowing my client
to negotiate against himself. Not to mention the false expectations this process engenders
with the property owners being put thru this gauntlet.
I say hogwash! Get off your duff and do the work. The property owner is paying your
fee…go EARN IT! Find a property that will meet the client’s specifications and make a
legitimate proposal. Tell us what you need or what you want and how much you are
willing to pay for it. And then wait for a response. Negotiate a “win-win” deal (remember
those?) If that doesn’t work, go on to your second choice. I don’t know where this
practice started, but if it were up to me, I’d put an end to it. Especially on the smaller
deals. If I get an RFP from another broker, I’m likely to ask him if he has an exclusive
agreement to procure property with his client which authorizes the submittal of RFP’s. If
he doesn’t have such an agreement, I’m counseling my client to take a pass.
Illinois Shameful Job Loss Record
March 2, 2010 1:08 PM
The January – February issue of the Illinois Real Estate Journal contained an article on page 25 that starts to put into perspective why our state is in such bad financial shape. It quotes Geoffrey Hawkins, a U of I professor and Director of Regional Economics Applications Laboratory (REAL) who had some UNREAL statistics. Since 2000, the State has lost 440,000 jobs and is predicted to lose another 100,000 in 2010. The 440,000 figure equates to nearly $1 billion in lost revenue for the State - $400 million in lost sales tax and $500 million in lost income tax. Illinois has had 13 consecutive years of no job growth. Hey, we’re trying to fill up some buildings here!
The January – February issue of the Illinois Real Estate Journal contained an article on page 25 that starts to put into perspective why our state is in such bad financial shape. It quotes Geoffrey Hawkins, a U of I professor and Director of Regional Economics Applications Laboratory (REAL) who had some UNREAL statistics. Since 2000, the State has lost 440,000 jobs and is predicted to lose another 100,000 in 2010. The 440,000 figure equates to nearly $1 billion in lost revenue for the State - $400 million in lost sales tax and $500 million in lost income tax. Illinois has had 13 consecutive years of no job growth. Hey, we’re trying to fill up some buildings here!
I attended a Legislative Breakfast on March 1 when State Representative Mike Tryon was saying that only 5 states in the U.S. have budget surpluses. Two of these states have no state income tax. One would ask how a state can have a budget surplus with no income tax? If a prospective business had the option to set up shop in a state with a 3% income tax vs. one with zero income tax, what are the odds it would go to the higher taxing state? With the businesses come the jobs. Seems to me we need to LOWER the income tax rate, not increase it. What’s your take on this?
Ignorance or Apathy?
February 8, 2010 12:19 PM
When asked if it was ignorance or apathy, Jimmy Buffet said "Hey, I don't know and I don't care." McHenry County voters sure demonstrated their ignorance, apathy or both by turning out only 18% of the registered voters. Excuse me for breathing but doesn't that mean a little over 9% (a majority) of the eligible voters can dictate which elected officials will represent us? Have we really given up on our democracy? We complain about the current flock of politicians and when we have a chance to do something about it, we choke? The Democrats are complaining that Scott Lee Cohen was elected for Lt. Governor by 212,902 out of 7.5 million registered voters in Illinois (less than 3%) because they found out after the fact that Cohen has a questionable past. Now, to add insult to injury Mike Madigan has convinced Cohen to withdraw his name from the race, which he has agreed to do and the Democratic Central Committee will hand pick a replacement. Perhaps it will be someone who hasn't spent a penny to get elected and someone the voters didn't pick. Is this even legal? I suspect we're going to get what we deserve as long as we ignore the very process that makes this country great. What do you think?
When asked if it was ignorance or apathy, Jimmy Buffet said "Hey, I don't know and I don't care." McHenry County voters sure demonstrated their ignorance, apathy or both by turning out only 18% of the registered voters. Excuse me for breathing but doesn't that mean a little over 9% (a majority) of the eligible voters can dictate which elected officials will represent us? Have we really given up on our democracy? We complain about the current flock of politicians and when we have a chance to do something about it, we choke? The Democrats are complaining that Scott Lee Cohen was elected for Lt. Governor by 212,902 out of 7.5 million registered voters in Illinois (less than 3%) because they found out after the fact that Cohen has a questionable past. Now, to add insult to injury Mike Madigan has convinced Cohen to withdraw his name from the race, which he has agreed to do and the Democratic Central Committee will hand pick a replacement. Perhaps it will be someone who hasn't spent a penny to get elected and someone the voters didn't pick. Is this even legal? I suspect we're going to get what we deserve as long as we ignore the very process that makes this country great. What do you think?
Algonquin Commons in Trouble
December 17, 2009 3:01 PM
A Crain’s article by Alby Gallun reported today that the 565,000 SF lifestyle center known by all as Algonquin Commons is “no longer generating enough cash flow to cover its loan payments.” This is primarily due to the loss of their second and third largest tenants, Wickes Furniture and Circuit City, liquidating after filing a Chapter 11 protection last year. Oakbrook based Inland Real Estate Comp is the owner of Algonquin Commons which is a joint venture. When they bought it in 2006, occupancy was at 99% whereas it has dropped to 91% at the end of September. On the other end of this joint venture is the New York Teachers Retirement System which paid $154 million for the Commons in February of 2006. That was no doubt a nice commision for Inland at the time. I doubt if the teachers are too happy with this turn of events.
Where Are the Jobs?
December 9, 2009 3:18 PM
It seems to me this Job Summit last week in Washington is necessary but way late in the big scheme of things. I know Obama inherited all the problems of the last administration and he can’t fix everything overnight. But if you really think about it, no single problem he has tried to tackle is more important than the creation of jobs. Why? Forget commercial real estate for a minute and I’ll get back to that later. Let’s start with healthcare (which should really be called “sickness” care). If the 7 million people now out of work had jobs most would not have lost their health insurance and the subject would not be so critical. Then there’s the home foreclosure problem. If the 7 million people who lost jobs were employed they could make their house payments and keep their homes. How about the war in Afghanistan? It seems like Obama’s decision to get in and get out in 18 months was in large part a function of the cost ($30 billion) of sending 30,000 more troops to the area. Because so many are out of work and have no income, they are not paying income taxes into the Dept. of Revenue. The IRS coffers are fuller when only 5% are unemployed vs. 10-11%. Now back to employment and how it has hit the commercial real estate business. All the empty stores and office spaces, not to mention the industrial buildings are a function of jobs lost and businesses failed. Businesses need to hire people (create jobs) to fill up all the empty spaces. When that happens, landlords get their rent money and can afford to pay their mortgage payments. That keeps them out of foreclosure. Fewer foreclosures help keep the banks from failing. So I ask Obama, what took so long to hold this job summit? Isn’t it obvious that instead of throwing stimulus money at your campaign supporters, instead of giving money to people to buy cars, instead of giving money to people who buy existing housing stock, why not give incentives to businesses to hire employees and put people on a payroll back to work? How simple is this concept? This would solve a myriad of problems for our Federal, State, local governments and our overall economy. I’m talking about jobs for people who actually make stuff that other people buy and use. The retail and service jobs will fall in place after that. Let me know what you think. Did the Jobs Summit do any good?
It seems to me this Job Summit last week in Washington is necessary but way late in the big scheme of things. I know Obama inherited all the problems of the last administration and he can’t fix everything overnight. But if you really think about it, no single problem he has tried to tackle is more important than the creation of jobs. Why? Forget commercial real estate for a minute and I’ll get back to that later. Let’s start with healthcare (which should really be called “sickness” care). If the 7 million people now out of work had jobs most would not have lost their health insurance and the subject would not be so critical. Then there’s the home foreclosure problem. If the 7 million people who lost jobs were employed they could make their house payments and keep their homes. How about the war in Afghanistan? It seems like Obama’s decision to get in and get out in 18 months was in large part a function of the cost ($30 billion) of sending 30,000 more troops to the area. Because so many are out of work and have no income, they are not paying income taxes into the Dept. of Revenue. The IRS coffers are fuller when only 5% are unemployed vs. 10-11%. Now back to employment and how it has hit the commercial real estate business. All the empty stores and office spaces, not to mention the industrial buildings are a function of jobs lost and businesses failed. Businesses need to hire people (create jobs) to fill up all the empty spaces. When that happens, landlords get their rent money and can afford to pay their mortgage payments. That keeps them out of foreclosure. Fewer foreclosures help keep the banks from failing. So I ask Obama, what took so long to hold this job summit? Isn’t it obvious that instead of throwing stimulus money at your campaign supporters, instead of giving money to people to buy cars, instead of giving money to people who buy existing housing stock, why not give incentives to businesses to hire employees and put people on a payroll back to work? How simple is this concept? This would solve a myriad of problems for our Federal, State, local governments and our overall economy. I’m talking about jobs for people who actually make stuff that other people buy and use. The retail and service jobs will fall in place after that. Let me know what you think. Did the Jobs Summit do any good?
Copehagen Threat
October 26, 2009 1:44 PM
We found this interesting website that seems to have a clearcut Conservative bias politically. But the article below speaks to an issue that scares us enough to want to share it. We cannot allow Obama to sign this treaty in Copenhagen in December. Check out moonbattery.com.
Lord Christopher Monckton is one of the last true Britons, a countermoonbat who has been eviscerating the global warming hoax for years. At a speech at the Minnesota Free Market Institute Wednesday, he warned of what Comrade Obama is planning to do to us in Copenhagen. From the transcript at Watt's Up With That:
At [the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference in] Copenhagen, this December, weeks away, a treaty will be signed. Your president will sign it. Most of the third world countries will sign it, because they think they're going to get money out of it. Most of the left-wing regimes from the European Union will rubber stamp it. Virtually nobody won't sign it.
I read that treaty. And what it says is this, that a world government is going to be created. The word "government" actually appears as the first of three purposes of the new entity. The second purpose is the transfer of wealth from the countries of the West to third world countries, in satisfaction of what is called, coyly, "climate debt" — because we've been burning CO2 and they haven't. We've been screwing up the climate and they haven't. And the third purpose of this new entity, this government, is enforcement.
How many of you think that the word "election" or "democracy" or "vote" or "ballot" occurs anywhere in the 200 pages of that treaty? Quite right, it doesn't appear once. So, at last, the communists who piled out of the Berlin Wall and into the environmental movement, who took over Greenpeace so that my friends who funded it left within a year, because [the communists] captured it — Now the apotheosis as at hand. They are about to impose a communist world government on the world. You have a president who has very strong sympathies with that point of view. He's going to sign it. He'll sign anything. He's a Nobel Peace Prize [winner]; of course he'll sign it.
The country that will be looted the most aggressively on behalf of socialist Third-World dictators for the greater glory of the radical left agenda will of course be the financially staggering USA.
So, thank you, America. You were the beacon of freedom to the world. It is a privilege merely to stand on this soil of freedom while it is still free. But, in the next few weeks, unless you stop it, your president will sign your freedom, your democracy, and your humanity away forever. And neither you nor any subsequent government you may elect will have any power whatsoever to take it back. That is how serious it is. I've read the treaty. I've seen this stuff about [world] government and climate debt and enforcement. They are going to do this to you whether you like it or not.
But I think it is here, here in your great nation, which I so love and I so admire — it is here that perhaps, at this eleventh hour, at the fifty-ninth minute and fifty-ninth second, you will rise up and you will stop your president from signing that dreadful treaty, that purposeless treaty. For there is no problem with climate and, even if there were, an economic treaty does nothing to [help] it.
Even the BBC is now admitting not only that economic freedom doesn't make it be too hot out, but that the climate has been cooling despite rising levels of harmless CO2. But by the time awareness that the grand global warming crisis is a complete and absolute farce fully penetrates the public, the socialists who have taken control of our country will have us locked into this treaty, subjugating American sovereignty to unaccountable, anti-democratic global entities and subjecting American taxpayers to slavery not just to generate wealth for the bloated pigs in Washington, but to buy palaces for Robert Mugabe types around the world.
Here's where we find out if we deserve to call ourselves Americans. If the radicals running the government aren't stopped, we don't.
We found this interesting website that seems to have a clearcut Conservative bias politically. But the article below speaks to an issue that scares us enough to want to share it. We cannot allow Obama to sign this treaty in Copenhagen in December. Check out moonbattery.com.
Lord Monckton Warns of Obama's Copenhagen Threat - Posted by Van Helsing at 9:23 AM
Lord Christopher Monckton is one of the last true Britons, a countermoonbat who has been eviscerating the global warming hoax for years. At a speech at the Minnesota Free Market Institute Wednesday, he warned of what Comrade Obama is planning to do to us in Copenhagen. From the transcript at Watt's Up With That:
At [the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference in] Copenhagen, this December, weeks away, a treaty will be signed. Your president will sign it. Most of the third world countries will sign it, because they think they're going to get money out of it. Most of the left-wing regimes from the European Union will rubber stamp it. Virtually nobody won't sign it.
I read that treaty. And what it says is this, that a world government is going to be created. The word "government" actually appears as the first of three purposes of the new entity. The second purpose is the transfer of wealth from the countries of the West to third world countries, in satisfaction of what is called, coyly, "climate debt" — because we've been burning CO2 and they haven't. We've been screwing up the climate and they haven't. And the third purpose of this new entity, this government, is enforcement.
How many of you think that the word "election" or "democracy" or "vote" or "ballot" occurs anywhere in the 200 pages of that treaty? Quite right, it doesn't appear once. So, at last, the communists who piled out of the Berlin Wall and into the environmental movement, who took over Greenpeace so that my friends who funded it left within a year, because [the communists] captured it — Now the apotheosis as at hand. They are about to impose a communist world government on the world. You have a president who has very strong sympathies with that point of view. He's going to sign it. He'll sign anything. He's a Nobel Peace Prize [winner]; of course he'll sign it.
The country that will be looted the most aggressively on behalf of socialist Third-World dictators for the greater glory of the radical left agenda will of course be the financially staggering USA.
So, thank you, America. You were the beacon of freedom to the world. It is a privilege merely to stand on this soil of freedom while it is still free. But, in the next few weeks, unless you stop it, your president will sign your freedom, your democracy, and your humanity away forever. And neither you nor any subsequent government you may elect will have any power whatsoever to take it back. That is how serious it is. I've read the treaty. I've seen this stuff about [world] government and climate debt and enforcement. They are going to do this to you whether you like it or not.
But I think it is here, here in your great nation, which I so love and I so admire — it is here that perhaps, at this eleventh hour, at the fifty-ninth minute and fifty-ninth second, you will rise up and you will stop your president from signing that dreadful treaty, that purposeless treaty. For there is no problem with climate and, even if there were, an economic treaty does nothing to [help] it.
Even the BBC is now admitting not only that economic freedom doesn't make it be too hot out, but that the climate has been cooling despite rising levels of harmless CO2. But by the time awareness that the grand global warming crisis is a complete and absolute farce fully penetrates the public, the socialists who have taken control of our country will have us locked into this treaty, subjugating American sovereignty to unaccountable, anti-democratic global entities and subjecting American taxpayers to slavery not just to generate wealth for the bloated pigs in Washington, but to buy palaces for Robert Mugabe types around the world.
Here's where we find out if we deserve to call ourselves Americans. If the radicals running the government aren't stopped, we don't.
78 Year Old Quote
July 6, 2009 3:20 PM
Here's an interesting quote written 78 years ago that still applies today. Feel free to weigh in. . . .
Here's an interesting quote written 78 years ago that still applies today. Feel free to weigh in. . . .
"You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody anything that government does not first take from somebody else. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because someone else is going to get what they work for, that my dear friend, is the beginning of the end of any nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it."
Heartland Real Estate Business Ad
June 11, 2009 3:28 PM
The June issue of Heartland Real Estate Business had a blurb about the Suburban Chicago Office Market. What they found was:
The June issue of Heartland Real Estate Business had a blurb about the Suburban Chicago Office Market. What they found was:
Suburban vacancy rates have been increasing since 2007 and ended first quarter 2009 at 21.5 percent, the highest it has been since the first quarter of 2005. Absorption totaled negative 1.2 million square feet, with all of the suburban submarkets posting negative absorption except for the Interstate 55 Corridor. Sublease and direct listings have increased during the past several quarters, driven by weakening economic indicators. New construction throughout the Chicago metro area remains limited, with few projects breaking ground and even fewer in the planning stages. Throughout the rest of 2009, expect many of the ongoing trends to continue, including rising vacancy, negative absorption, increased available sublease space, limited construction and a frozen capital market. This was contributed by Michael Flynn of NAI Hiffman's Office Services Group.
What a Stimulus!
March 23, 2009 3:03 PM
On March 14, we had a sneak peek at the new Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant in Crystal Lake. When I read the NW Herald article about it the next day it occured to me what a real stimulus is. I called John Weiler, the owner of 7 of these restaurants to get some stats so I could wrap my mind around what something like one restaurant means to a community. Let me start with the cost. It cost over $1 million for the dirt which is about 1 1/2 acres. The 6,250 + SF building costs over $2 million, so we are talking about a $3+ million investment "all in". Aside from all the jobs that are created to construct and equip a restaurant in the building process, the 120 employees it takes to run a single restaurant like this is significant. Why? Because they generate $750,000/year in wages, the bulk of which are pumped back into the local economy. The average Buffalo Wild Wings generates $3.5 million annual revenue. You can bet over $1 million of that goes to "cost of goods" which is primarily the cost of food which they buy from any number of purveyors, pumping more money into the economy. The sales tax revenue on $3.5 million at 7.75% is $271,250. The portion Crystal Lake gets to keep which gets pumped back into the community is $61,250.
The completion of a new commercial real estate project represents a powerful stream of benefits for the community in which it is located, especially when that property is occupied and put to productive use. It's projects like these and the net new jobs they create and the sales tax revenue they generate that help keep a community economically healthy.
Let us know about any new or proposed commercial projects you are aware of in the McHenry and Kane County corridors.
The completion of a new commercial real estate project represents a powerful stream of benefits for the community in which it is located, especially when that property is occupied and put to productive use. It's projects like these and the net new jobs they create and the sales tax revenue they generate that help keep a community economically healthy.
Let us know about any new or proposed commercial projects you are aware of in the McHenry and Kane County corridors.
The Stimulus Package and Commercial Real Estate
March 17 2009
One of our lender's (Mark Johnston of American Chartered Bank in Mt. Prospect) told us some great news regarding SBA 504 loans which allows the purchase of owner-occupied real estate with only 10% down. President Obama signed into law the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 ("Recovery Act"). Section 501 of this legislation provides for the reduction and elimination of certain SBA fees associated with 504 loans. The SBA issued a policy notice on 3/16 which authorizes the elimination of 0.5% third party lender fee and the 1.5% processing fee from all 504 loans approved on of after 2/17/09. How long will this last? We're told that until the aggregate dollar amount of 504 loans exhausts the funds dedicated to this purpose. With $3.6 billion funds being appropriated to this program, SBA estimates these fee eliminations to be applicable thru 12/31/09. On a $1 million commercial real estate purchase, fees decrease 63% resulting in a savings of more than $8500! This SBA program requiring only 10% down flys in the face of the typical conventional loan where you are required to put down 20-30% down on commercial real estate purchases. Even I would have to call this a stimulus!
Welcome to our Blog!
February 10, 2009 12:28 PM
Welcome to our Blog. We never imagined we'd be writing about commercial real estate in this format. We have a lot to say and you have a lot to say about this crazy business of buying, selling, leasing, managing, exchanging, developing and investing in commercial real estate. We thought there ought to be a place where people could come and talk about our chosen field as it relates to the local scene in Chicagoland and the Upper Fox Valley as well as the national arena. Like Charles Dickens said at the beginning of a Tale of Two Cities, "It was the best of times and the worst of times". We see people downsizing and closing their doors. We also see some businesses growing and expanding and taking advantage of opportunities that present themselves when the economy is bad. We feel fortunate thet we can be of help to both ends of the spectrum which is why our 2008 incomes were better than 2007. More opportunities for us to help more people.
We have named 2009 "The Year for Networking". We've read some books on the subject and have come to the conclusion that we are as Barbara Streisand's song goes "People who need People." (By the way, I like her singing but not her politics.) Things just seem to go better when we focus on helping other people solve their real estate problems versus where we can find our next commission check. Networking with other commercial and even residential brokers who do some commercial seems to make sense. Increasing the access to and velocity of market information is an objective of ours. Five years ago we formed a group of local commercial brokers who meet monthly and share market knowledge. This forum will become increasingly valuable to the participants, many of whom are not used to cooperating (sharing fees with other brokers because they never had to before). Working on straight commission for my 31 year (full time) career has meant some unbelievably lean years butted up to the poverty level and some unbelievably lucrative years. But networking doesn't only mean playing nice with our fellow competitive brokers. It has a lot to do with expanding our client base to include more clients who need our services, finding ways to get introduced to these people who we would be hard pressed to meet on our own. When they say it's not what you know, but who you know, that starts to get at what we're talking about. We're fascinated by the recent growth of social networking sites on the internet and we're trying to figure out how we can position ourselves to take maximum advantage of some of those sites like LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Ecademy, Realera.net, etc. I don't know about you but this stuff does not come naturally to us who are in the last quarter of our careers. Let's kick off this blog by talking about books or articles you've read or social/business networking and what you have learned and how it can be applied to increase your income.
posted in General at Tue, 21 Dec 2010 13:02:23 -0600
We have named 2009 "The Year for Networking". We've read some books on the subject and have come to the conclusion that we are as Barbara Streisand's song goes "People who need People." (By the way, I like her singing but not her politics.) Things just seem to go better when we focus on helping other people solve their real estate problems versus where we can find our next commission check. Networking with other commercial and even residential brokers who do some commercial seems to make sense. Increasing the access to and velocity of market information is an objective of ours. Five years ago we formed a group of local commercial brokers who meet monthly and share market knowledge. This forum will become increasingly valuable to the participants, many of whom are not used to cooperating (sharing fees with other brokers because they never had to before). Working on straight commission for my 31 year (full time) career has meant some unbelievably lean years butted up to the poverty level and some unbelievably lucrative years. But networking doesn't only mean playing nice with our fellow competitive brokers. It has a lot to do with expanding our client base to include more clients who need our services, finding ways to get introduced to these people who we would be hard pressed to meet on our own. When they say it's not what you know, but who you know, that starts to get at what we're talking about. We're fascinated by the recent growth of social networking sites on the internet and we're trying to figure out how we can position ourselves to take maximum advantage of some of those sites like LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Ecademy, Realera.net, etc. I don't know about you but this stuff does not come naturally to us who are in the last quarter of our careers. Let's kick off this blog by talking about books or articles you've read or social/business networking and what you have learned and how it can be applied to increase your income.
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