Sean Dreznin, Commercial Investment Real Estate Agent

Part 1 - The World Wide Web

There are so many sites online (i.e. Activerain, craigslist, loopnet, etc) which can elevate your listing from its file on that shelf behind you to a nice married couple looking for that perfect diversification to their portfolio.

I enjoy taking a quick video of the outside of an apartment building and posting it on youtube on my own channel which links to our companies website...

The key here of course is to walk slowly and steady as no one wants to get motion sickness watching your video.

If you keep it short enough, you don't need to narrate the video either as most people want hard copy information as well.

I use my digital camera for shooting video. I am in the process of updating old videos and will be "directing" some new ones shortly, but feel free to visit http://www.youtube.com/dremojo23 and watch the short videos I left up.

Sincerely,

Sean

I was perusing Commercial Real Estate articles and news online and came across this article which supports multi-family and touches on a couple different aspects of Commercial Real Estate.

Top 10 Tips for 2009

1. 1. 1. Investors should sit tight; opportunities will surface at significant discounts.
   2. 2. Invest in maturity defaults, construction loans/bridge loans, or take mezzanine positions and equity stakes in properties.
   3. 3. Invest in REITS as they will lead the market's recovery.
   4. 4. Focus on global pathway markets, including 24-hour coastal cities.
   5. 5. Staff up asset managers, leasing pros, and workout specialists; separate good assets from the bad.
   6. 6. Retrench on development, and reorient to mixed-use and infill.
   7. 7. Go green; cutting energy expenses is likely to be a priority.
   8. 8. Buy or hold multifamily; hold office; hold hotels; buy residential building lots, but be prepared to hold.
   9. 9. Purchase distressed condos in urban areas near transit.
   10. 10. Focus on neighborhood retail centers with strong grocery anchors and chain drugstores.
Source: Emerging Trends in Real Estate report

Multifamily. The collective thinking over the past 12 months has been to buy multifamily in a declining housing market and eschew office and retail in light of declining job growth and consumer spending. This perspective has resulted in massive equity shifts into multifamily investment in almost all markets, which compresses cap rates and drives prices upward.

Multifamily ownership is only a safe haven in a recession if investors don't buy at the top of the market. Prices on class B apartments are skyrocketing past depreciated replacement costs on extremely aggressive rent growth assumptions. This probably will continue into 2009, but absent a severely land-constrained market like northern New Jersey or suburban Chicago, investors are cautioned to look long and hard at multifamily assumptions before following the herd into aging properties.

That being said, smart land acquisitions in under-supplied class A apartment markets should appreciate nicely into 2010 as rent pressure makes new construction feasible.



Real estate experts expect financial and real estate markets to bottom in 2009 and then falter for much of 2010, with continued drops in property values and additional foreclosures and delinquencies, according to the 2009 Emerging Trends in Real Estate report, released this week by the Urban Land Institute and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

"Nine straight months of job losses have begun to cut into the demand for apartment residences," says Mark Obrinsky, vice president of research and chief economist for NMHC. "While favorable demographics and a lower homeownership rate will benefit the apartment industry over time, owners and managers will first have to work their way through the current economic downturn before the benefits of that increased demand are likely to show up. Until then, economic worry will cause some people to ‘double up' by moving in with a friend or returning to their parents' house."

But there are a few bright spots in this rather gloomy forecast. At the top of the list: Apartments are the best opportunity investment next year, according to the report, which includes interviews and survey responses from more than 600 leading real estate experts, developers, lenders, brokers, and consultants.



"Even though there is a lot of doom and gloom in terms of the fundamentals, interviewees really believe that 2009 is a great time to buy," says Susan Smith, director in the real estate business advisory services group at New York City-based PricewaterhouseCoopers. "The No. 1 buy is apartments. One of the main reasons why is interviewees see a very diverse economic and demographic demand for apartments, especially for transit-oriented housing."

Warehouses are also a popular property pick, as they tend to offer steady returns despite economic declines, Smith says. The office sector, which fell in the middle of the road, had a delayed reaction to the economic crisis but will continue to feel the brunt of the pain for some time. Retail is the least-preferred property type, due to the dramatic decline in consumer spending in the past few months.

Looking ahead to 2010, expect to see some turnaround in all market sectors. "The good news will probably outweigh the bad; right now, it is the reverse," Smith says. What will 2011 bring? The respondents are banking on a recovery.

Investment Market Prospects

National markets with positive demand generators	Boston: Strong convention and office market Dallas-Fort Worth: Barnett Shale gas field generating strong economy Denver: Past employment declines have reset expectations Houston: Energy and Port Houston drive activity Indianapolis: Buys against replacement cost very favorable Miami: Condo bust masking international in-migration that drives demand Richmond, Va./Charlotte, NC: Banking gets profitable again
Strong regional markets	Austin, TX: Nonstop job growth Cleveland: Negative population growth masking good opportunities Milwaukee: Healthcare activity Minneapolis-St. Paul: Fortune 500 haven, highly educated workforce Savannah, GA: Port city and tourism drive activity Seattle: Strong job growth in technology and airline industries
Long-term prospects	Detroit: Opportunities exist at 50 percent of replacement cost Boise, ID: Poised for rebound Portland, OR: Land constrained and underpriced Columbus, OH: Ignored by institutional investors Memphis, TN: Historically slow growth, under recognized Tulsa, Okla.: Energy suburb of Texas
Wait until 2009-10	Phoenix New York Northern New Jersey Los Angeles Tampa, Fla. Baltimore Philadelphia

Chart above 2008 CCIM Institute

Information for articles above includes both:

National Real Estate Investor

Commercial Real Estate Online

MultiFamily Executive

Let's just recap on some of Ohio's taxes:

• Ohio Sales Tax
• Ohio Income Tax (withholdings for employees & your Sch. C)
• Local Income Tax
• Commercial Activity Tax (CAT) (broken link)
• Ohio Department of Job and Family Services
• Ohio Bureau of Worker's Compensation
• School District Tax (where applicable)
• Gasoline Tax (28 Cents a gallon plus 3 cents commercial)
• Homestead
• Alcohol & Tobacco (Sin) taxes
  • Master Settlement Agreement (MSA)
• Corporation Franchise
• Kilowatt-hour Tax
• Employer Withholding
• Horse Racing
• Motor Fuel Tax
• International Fuel Tax Agreement (IFTA)
• Municipal Income Tax
• Natural Gas Distribution (MCF)
• Other Tobacco Products (OTP)
• Pass-Through Entities
• Personal Property
• Public Utility Excise
• Public Utility Property
• Real Property
• Replacement Tire Fee
• Sales & Use
• Severance

This is not to mention the MVLR and other fees we pay to reside in Ohio. I can only see this ending up to be a vicious circle where the state is not getting enough money to operate and ends up raising taxes even more.

For the first 6 years of my Real Estate Career, I was the first one into the office and the last one to leave, but as time rolled on and the buzz from large transactions dwindled faster and faster, I realized I needed some sort of release or destressors.

So now, while I still open the office, if the weather is nice, I do not hesitate to hit the park for a jog or a bike ride, but my passion has become triathlons, and while I am an absolute newbie to them as I only completed my first two this year, I cannot wait to get back in the water, on the road and on the bike in 2009...

Anyhow, I know for me, the endorphins and adrenaline I expel on a run or workout is the natural high of natural highs! I had a brisk day at the office today and even though the temperature was hovering around 50 degrees, the sun was out and my feet felt a whole lot lighter and I can attest that all the weight from the day was lifted off my shoulder and out of mind by mile 3.

Anyhow, I was curious to know what some of you do or what hobbies you have which can relax you?

Sincerely,

Sean

Paying it forward is a saying, that has adapted a meaning of utilizing an act or gesture that someone has provided you with and bestowing it upon another.

I know one act that always speaks to my soul is the smooth sounds of the recently deceased Leroi Moore from the Dave Matthews Band. I have been to at least 15 concerts of theirs and their music always calms the beast within!

Anyhow, one thing I have recently begun doing is giving books away to people I meet and develop a repoire with, such as bank tellers, office assistants, the girl at subway who makes the sandwich and of course family and friends as well. The point here is that I enjoyed reading the book so much, that it only makes sense to try and pass that experience along to someone else and hope that they take a similar journey, rather then letting the book gather dust on my shelf.

I make a point to write in the inside of the book, the date and a small message of "paying it forward", similar to how a library used to take inventory of its stock, but with a personal touch. It's not going to change the world, but it is a nice random act of kindness, and I think the world could use a little more of that.

This is one form of "paying it forward" and I hope it inspires a person or two to do their own form of "PIF".

Let me know if you have your own form of "PIF", and what it might be.

Sean Dreznin