5 Key Retail Market Insights from ICSC's RECon 2015

Posted on June 8, 2015 by SVN

What are the major retail market trends driving today’s real estate economy? That is a huge question, but luckily SVN’s Shari Tucker-Gasser has some answers. As the National Council Chair of Multi-Tenant Retail for Sperry Van Ness, LLC, Tucker-Gasser shared some of her expert retail market insights with GlobeSt.com at this year’s RECon in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Retail Market Insights: 5 Key Takeaways

1. Real estate investment trusts (“REITs”) are dominating the retail market space. This means that it’s a tough market for independent investors, who can’t compete with the deep pockets of real estate investment trusts. With greater financial resources, REITs have the ability to take more risks with their property investments. This shuts many independent investors out of the market, because they can’t afford what REITs are willing to pay for properties.

2. Anchors are popular, but not a necessity. Due to the threat of an anchor possibly vacating, some investors prefer to buy unanchored strip centers. So while independent investors may be excluded from certain deals because of powerful REITs, they still have some attractive (and affordable) investment options.

3. “Green” properties in urban areas are purchased based on curb appeal. People often enjoy being able to say that they purchased renovated or “recycled” properties. “Green” buildings are trendy and appealing for certain types of investors, who are typically not as motivated by cash.

4. Revitalization projects can be attractive and mutually beneficial. Developing an area is exciting, because you are uplifting a previously struggling community. Millennials tend to prefer inner city areas, where they can easily commute to work and spend time with their peers. This poses a great opportunity for developers, who can revamp inner city communities to meet the needs of the growing number of city-dwellers.

5. The lack of good leasing brokers is a problem. Due to the recession, many good brokers have left the business. The industry needs a new crop of talented leasing brokers to sustain the commercial real estate field. This new breed of brokers will not appear overnight, but Tucker-Gasser remains optimistic.

To read more on retail markets in the commercial real estate industry, download the 2015 Retail Market Update report.

Office Spotlight: Sperry Van Ness/Percival Partners in Charlotte, NC

Posted on November 6, 2014 by SVN

This week, we turn the spotlight on Sperry Van Ness/Percival Partners with offices in Charlotte, North Carolina.

N.J. (Joey) Godbold | Managing Director and CEO | SVN/Percival Partners

What has been your strategy for growing your firm and also your market area?

Like many firms across the country, we contracted during that little downward cycle we experienced a few years ago. As activity has become much more robust, we have a goal to increase our staff by five Advisors by the end of 2015. We have found that the demand for sales people has increased significantly lately and we are competing with other industries for good folks. We have enrolled in SVN’s RPO Program which has been very helpful in identifying mid-career candidates. A significant portion of my time and energy is spent in recruiting, which will pay off in market share over the coming three years.

What are some of the unique activities you do to motivate your team?

We have always enjoyed a family atmosphere and that in itself goes a long way toward a positive, motivational office. As Advisors take advantage of technology to work more outside the office now, it has become more important to create opportunities for team-building and motivational activities. Annually, we participate in a large charity volleyball tournament. Monthly, our sales meetings are lunch affairs. We are now in the midst of a listing contest with the grand prize being a weekend at a posh hotel in Charleston, SC.

What’s been the biggest challenge in running your business in the last few years?

Our firm has been in the Charlotte, NC market for over 50 years. We have been blessed with long-serving, top-notch Advisors who have been with our firm for many years. The other side of that blessing is that we need to be attentive to bringing in younger Advisors – those who will become the next generation of performance and leadership. That was not our focus over the past few years because of the state of the economy. Thus, the need to re-focus on recruitment.

How many Advisors/Staff did you have when you joined SVN? How many (in total) do you have now?

For the past few years, we have refrained from growing our firm size. Upon joining SVN in June of this year, we have gone back on the recruiting path to increase from the current level of 7 Advisors. The SVN move has certainly created some interest in the market and I regularly interview 5 – 8 prospects per month. Some of the interviewing activity comes through the RPO program. To date, I have not found the right mix but with the current activity, expect to bring 2 to 3 new Advisors on board in the next few months.

Contact:
N.J. (Joey) Godbold
Managing Director and CEO
Sperry Van Ness/Percival Partners, LLC
Charlotte, NC

*All Sperry Van Ness® offices are independently owned and operated.

5 for Friday with Rommie Mojahed with Sperry Van Ness, LLC

Posted on August 8, 2014 by SVN

This week, our 5 for Friday features Rommie Mojahed, Director of Leasing at Sperry Van Ness, LLC in Phoenix, Arizona.

1. What is your geographic market and product specialty?

Rommie Mojahed | Director of Leasing | Sperry Van Ness, LLC

The market I work within is the Phoenix MSA. Retail is my speciality with a background in retail tenant representation, pre-leasing, leasing, and land research and acquisition for development opportunities.

2. What’s your latest best practice tip that you can share?

My number one tip for all commercial real estate professionals is that when you get a call from a buyer, seller, landlord or tenant — Make sure to schedule a face-to-face meeting. I have always found that you win more business by taking the time to meet, shake hands and discuss any and all CRE needs in person.

3. What’s been the biggest change over on how you run your business in the past decade?

For me, it has been qualifying my clients upfront. Any CRE professional knows that we only have so much time in one day, and by taking the time to qualify clients first it allows me to focus on those deals that are actual and attainable.

4. What business book do you like to recommend to your colleagues?

“Think and Grow Rich,” by Napoleon Hill. Although it was written back in 1937, the ideas and concepts are still inspiring and true in today’s world.

5. What’s a fun fact that not everyone knows about you?

I love to ride motocross.

*All Sperry Van Ness offices are independently owned and operated.

5 for Friday with Joey Godbold of Sperry Van Ness/Percival Partners, LLC

Posted on July 25, 2014 by SVN

This week, our 5 for Friday features Joey Godbold, Managing Director of Sperry Van Ness/Percival Partners, LLC out of Charlotte, North Carolina.

1. What is your geographic market and product specialty?

Joey Godbold | Managing Director | SVN/Percival Partners, LLC

The Charlotte MSA, encompassing ten counties in North Carolina and South Carolina and a population base of 2.3 million, is my primary market area. For investment properties in excess of $1MM, I consider “the Carolinas” to be my extended area. Managing an office with multiple specialties, I try to stay connected with the five major sectors – office; industrial; retail; land; and investment properties. As to my personal practice, I tend to deal in multi-tenant investment properties.

2. What’s your latest best practice tip that you can share?

After you have decided on a specialty, do what it takes to know the players in that field. That may include joining – and being active in – trade associations; LinkedIn groups; SVN Product Councils, etc. Take the time and put forth the effort required to become an expert.

3. What’s been the biggest change over on how you run your business in the past decade?

It used to be that a real estate broker earned a commission, primarily, by introducing a qualified buyer to a reasonably-priced asset. Today, through the Internet, buyer and seller can find each other without our assistance. Therefore, more focus is placed on adding value to the transaction by advising clients and creating a competitive market in order to achieve the desired price level.

4. What business book do you like to recommend to your colleagues?

I just completed re-reading “Goals!” by Brian Tracy and am currently reading “Coaching Salespeople Into Sales Champions” by Keith Rosen. Both are commendable but the point is that we should always be reading something. Reading a so-so book is much better than reading nothing.

5. What’s a fun fact that not everyone knows about you?

I am often accused of having a boating “compulsion.” I do own too many floating vessels.

*All Sperry Van Ness offices are independently owned and operated.

5 for Friday with Bill Menish of SVN Auction Services

Posted on June 20, 2014 by SVN

This week, our 5 for Friday features Bill Menish, CAI, AARE, BAS, Senior Advisor/Real Estate Auctioneer with SVN Auction Services out of Louisville, Kentucky.

1. What is your geographic market and product specialty?
Through SVN Auction Services, we are capable of conducting auctions coast to coast, but our office focuses on the five-state region of Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee. Our specialty is auctions but we execute them in many ways. In fact, we are about to roll out the brand new SVN Auction Services proprietary online bidding platform for timed and simulcast auctions. We also offer live onsite auctions, ballroom multi-property auctions and sealed bid auctions for all property types.

2. What’s your latest best practice tip that you can share?
“Use the media to your full advantage. Don’t worry, they realize they are being used.” I can say that with confidence having been a broadcast journalist in 4 states over a 20 year period with my final stop in San Diego where I was the morning anchor of the top rated morning news cast for 7 years. The walls of our SVN office are covered with framed newspaper articles and we have plenty of newscast footage saved that shows our success at inspiring the media to cover our auctions. They will cover your listings too “IF” you can find the story that their viewers and readers want to hear or see. You can load every listing platform ad buy every ad you can afford, but that free media is what is really going to help you get the word our about your property and why they should buy it. Every property has a story to tell, you just have to find it.

3. What’s been the biggest change over on how you run your business in the past decade?
In a word, it is Technology. It is not a bad word. In fact, we embrace the technological changes the industry is seeing. I heard someone the other day say that nothing has changed in the way we sell real estate or conduct real estate auctions since the economic downturn. I don’t think that could be further from the truth. So much has changed! How we get the listing, how we promote the listings and the sale, how we close them and especially how we turn that success into the next success has absolutely changed. I do believe that face-to-face time is invaluable, but with the clock moving faster than ever before, clients don’t feel they have the time, so you have to be able to connect and inspire even when you are not face to face, and often, that is through the proper use of technology.

4. What business book do you like to recommend to your colleagues?
I don’t have a business book recommendation, but rather just one word: Auctions! SVN Advisors don’t realize the powerful tool that could be in their toolbox, that if used, would deliver more checks and create extremely satisfied customers. We know why they are not using it. It is that darn word AUCTION. People have a pre-conceived notion of what it means and most of the time, they have the wrong pre-conceived notion. We are selling a c-store / gas station now with a 60 day listing that transitions into an absolute auction after the listing period. That is what this seller needed and we created a solution set that fit their needs. They can test the traditional waters, and if we cannot produce the buyer, the absolute auction will absolutely produce the buyer. Auction clients are easy to spot if you listen to them. Every seller wants top dollar, but auction clients have a need to sell in a time defined manner, or they need the kind of exposure that auction marketing produces or they have a product that will glimmer in the spotlight of national exposure with an event surrounding their sale. I promise that you have talked to a client who would have considered an auction. Maybe you just didn’t hear them asking for it, but hopefully you will now. I promise it will help you sell more properties and close more deals.

5. What’s a fun fact that not everyone knows about you?
I have run 5 marathons and my wife has run 6. If someone ever claims I cheated, it would mean that I ran a marathon without her knowing so I could catch up with her. On a serious note, I am very proud of my accomplishments in my former career where I awarded 15 Emmy’s and the prestigious Edward R. Murrow Award. I tell people often that I was training to be an Auctioneer the whole time I was a newscaster, I just didn’t know it. The broadcasting business helped me hone skills that I use every day to succeed in commercial real estate.

*All Sperry Van Ness offices are independently owned and operated.