San Diego, CA | 2016 Top #CRE Markets to Watch: Retail

Posted on September 7, 2016 by SVN

SVNIC’s 2016 Market Outlook Reports assess the current state of the national commercial real estate market, and identify micro-trends within specific geographic regions and industries for 2016. Today we are delving into the 2016 Top Retail Markets to Watch. Not the largest or the most actively contested markets, the 2016 Retail Markets to Watch are each at an important juncture that presents unique opportunities for investment. Together, they reflect the diversity of trends that is driving the economy and commercial real estate performance in markets across the country.

Top Retail Market to Watch: San Diego, CA

San Diego has steadily grown since the recession with now record levels of employment that have brought the unemployment rate down to 4.7% in January ‘16, while new jobs continue to be added at an annualized rate of 2.8%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Population has also grown 6.1% from 2010 to 2014 according to the Census Bureau, as people choose San Diego for its high quality of life and climate. Its diverse economy from military and shipping to research and finance has allowed demand and fundamentals for retail real estate to grow with a trend that should persist through 2016 and beyond. The top sectors for job gains are Construction, Education and Health Services, Professional and Business Services, and Manufacturing, with annualized growth rates of 7.4%, 3.9%, 3.6%, and 3.4%, respectively.

Stay Updated…

Over the next few weeks, the SVN Blog will be featuring posts that will focus on each of the top markets to watch for industrial, multifamily, office, and retail properties. SVN Advisors from selected top markets have provided their industry expertise regarding what to look out for in their specific market in the coming months. Don’t miss out on these important insights – subscribe to the SVN Blog on the right side of the blog homepage.

To read more on other top retail markets, download the full version of the 2016 Retail Market Outlook report here.

[bctt tweet=”San Diego, CA is one of 2016’s top retail #CRE markets to watch.” username=”svnic”]

SVN Specialty Awards: Collaborator of the Year – Tony Yousif

Posted on April 1, 2016 by SVN

Recognizing the SVN Difference with Specialty Awards

If you read my recent blog post about the SVN Annual Conference highlights, you know that the SVN Specialty Awards recognize members of the SVN community who have distinguished themselves in 2015 by making significant impacts on the commercial real estate industry and beyond. The awards – which included Team Player of the Year, Ambassador of the Year, Collaborator of the Year, Trainer of the Year, Humanitarian of the Year, Prospector of the Year, Innovator of the Year, and Firm of the Year – looked beyond production results and instead focused on culture. The winners of this year’s SVN Specialty Awards each embody traits that the SVN culture values immensely: practicing collaboration, cooperation and conscious capitalism while excelling in commercial real estate.

SVN Collaborator of the Year 2015 – Tony Yousif

Just being with SVN means you are a collaborator. And one could say that when you specialize in national accounts, you would naturally be a good collaborator. However, when you run your national accounts in a manner where nearly half the company writes in to nominate you, it means that you are the company’s best collaborator. As we are a company founded on collaboration both internally and externally, it’s with great pride that we present this award to Tony Yousif.

Tony Yousif serves as Senior Director of National Accounts for SVN | Asset Advisory Group specializing in the management and sale of investment properties.

The SVN blog will be featuring one SVN Specialty Award winner every week for the next few weeks. Subscribe to the SVN blog on the right-hand column of the blog homepage to stay up to date with SVN and CRE industry news.

SVN Annual Conference 2016: Highlights From San Diego

Posted on March 14, 2016 by SVN

My Top 4 Moments from the SVN Annual Conference

The 2016 SVN Annual Conference was easily the best reason to miss class. As a college student and the youngest member of the SVNIC team, I had the incredible opportunity to travel to San Diego, California for a three-day commercial real estate extravaganza: #SVN2016. The SVN Annual Conference, held in the Westin San Diego, proved to be the highlight of my entire year working at Sperry Van Ness International Corporation (so far). As you can probably tell, it was difficult for me to narrow down what I thought were the best parts of the event. While I’m sure everyone had a different set of high points, here are mine:

1. Kevin Maggiacomo’s Opening Address

Kevin Maggiacomo, SVNIC CEO & President.

SVNIC CEO & President Kevin Maggiacomo kicked off the conference talking about transparency, shared values and supporting women. As it always has, the commercial real estate industry currently lacks diversity, particularly in terms of including and promoting the interests of women – SVN aims to change this. As quoted in the Globe St. article about him, Maggiacomo says: “Having more successful women on our teams will make all of us more successful and generate exponential value and more profits.” Personally, as a college student interested in business, I was particularly interested in how hiring gender-inclusive talent as well as transparency across the organization (i.e., openly sharing fees with the entire brokerage community) can result in higher profits. As I better understood from Kevin’s opening speech, implementing a shared value strategy enables Advisors to have even more “meaningful conversations.” Kevin wants Advisors to strive to have five “real” conversations per day… every day. This is something that even us interns can try.

2. Advisor Headshot Session

The background: San Diego buildings and sunshine.

The 400+ SVN Advisors and staff from across the U.S., Canada, and Russia probably didn’t expect to have a professional photographer waiting for them at the hotel poolside – on the first full day of the conference. With the help of two extremely resourceful SVNIC assistants (yes, I was one of them), the photographer shot hundreds of new professional headshots for over 150 SVN Advisors and staff within that one day. Not only did dozens of SVN Advisors receive complimentary up-to-date professional headshots to help market themselves and their businesses – it was also an unexpected networking event. I met so many members of the SVN organization while helping them get ready for their photoshoots, and I’m happy to say I have 150 new friends.

3. Diane Danielson’s Business Trends Talk

Diane updates the full house of SVN Advisors.

Yes, Diane Danielson is my boss, so at the risk of sounding biased, I’ll say it anyway: she nailed it. Her talk, which focused largely on Millennials (me!) was spot-on. We want flexibility in work hours and location, a clear path for advancement, a conscious capitalist mission, but we still want to work hard. It seems like Millennials are often accused of being lazy, self-absorbed, and all around not the sort of people cut out for the corporate environment that their Silent Generation, Baby Boomer, and older Generation X parents worked hard to cultivate. In her talk, Diane shattered this stereotype about my generation by emphasizing our desire for efficiency. While the business trends discussed spanned more than just Millennial issues, this part of Diane’s speech resonated most with me because as a Millennial, I couldn’t have said it better myself. Click here to see a video of the full talk.

4. Specialty Awards

Everyone likes winning awards. If you don’t, I kind of think you’re lying. What makes the SVN Specialty Awards so wonderful is that they recognize more than just good Commercial Real Estate Advisors – they recognize good people. The awards – which included Team Player of the Year, Ambassador of the Year, Collaborator of the Year, Trainer of the Year, Humanitarian of the Year, Prospector of the Year, Innovator of the Year, and Firm of the Year – looked beyond production results and instead focused on culture. The winners of this year’s SVN Specialty Awards each embody traits that the SVN culture values immensely: practicing collaboration, cooperation and conscious capitalism while excelling in commercial real estate. Yes, numbers don’t lie. But neither do the people – all members of the SVN organization were invited to nominate individuals for the SVN Specialty Awards. This year’s winners are a group of SVN Advisors and Managing Directors who motivate and inspire me and countless others to strive for excellence in every sense of the word. In case you were curious, here are the winners:

Team Player of the Year – Steve Kawulok
Ambassador of the Year – Alex Ruggieri
Collaborator of the Year – Tony Yousif
Trainer of the Year – Tomi Jo Lynch
Humanitarian of the Year – Brent & Amy Miller
Prospector of the Year – Jamie Renzenbrink
Innovator of the Year – Al Stepan
Firm of the Year – SVN | Northco

There you have it – my top highlights from the 2016 SVN Annual Conference. I’m sorry, professors – the experience I gained from my three days outside of class was worth its weight in California gold.

For other SVN Annual Conference news, check out the SVN Blog for additional content.

[bctt tweet=”I’m sorry, professors – the experience I gained from my three days outside of class was worth it. #SVN2016 #CRE”]

2016: Making a Difference in YOUR Business

Posted on December 10, 2015 by SVN

It’s Almost 2016…

Which Means It’s Time to Start Planning!

If you were at SVN, you’d hear me present my tactical business planning call. And you’d hear our CEO, Kevin Maggiacomo, teach you how to do a strategic plan in 60 minutes.

I love business plans and I think they’re important. When I brokered, I created one, reviewed it at least once a week, stuck to it and measured results quarterly.

In fact, that’s the secret to having a business plan. It isn’t that you have it. It’s that you stick to it and measure your ability to stick to it. That’s hard to do. I know. You’re busy. Sometimes you get lost doing deals. And you might even forget about your business plan.

If this sounds like you, don’t worry. I’m going to make it easy on you. Go ahead and print this email out, because you’re going to fill in some blanks. Do it now. We’ll wait.

Welcome back! Now, please write what you need more of in 2016 here:

________________________

Now, write what you need to do to get it:

____________________________

For instance, you might have written “more closings” on line 1 and “more listings” on line 2.

Go back and add some numbers to what you wrote (or print this out again). For instance, you might want “8 more closings” and “11 more listings.” Now put them together as follows:

To get the (1)_____________ I need, I will do/take (2)_______________.

For instance: To get the 8 more closings I need, I will take 11 more listings.

Now, run that one-sentence business plan by someone that you can count on – like a coach or your Managing Director. He or she can help you make sure that the goal is a reasonable one and that it can actually help you move your business forward.

Once you get it blessed, execute on it.

Here’s what I mean by “execute on it.” Every day, first thing in the morning, look at that goal and think about it. Then, do tasks that directly relate to that goal first and spend as much time as possible on those tasks – at least half of your day. It’s that simple.

In a perfect world, you’d be at SVN and you’d create a big-picture strategic plan with Kevin. You’d also create a nuts-and-bolts tactical plan with me. And you’d create a one-sentence must-do goal. All three working in concert — with you at SVN — will give you the best results in 2016.

But, at a minimum, I know that you can do – and stick to – this super-simple one sentence business plan.

To your success in 2016!

See you in San Diego at the conference!

San Diego, CA | 2015 Top #CRE Markets to Watch: Multifamily

Posted on September 21, 2015 by SVN

Sperry Van Ness International Corporation’s (SVNIC) 2015 Market Update Reports assess the current state of the national commercial real estate market, and identify micro-trends within specific geographic regions and industries for 2015. Today we are delving into the 2015 Top Multifamily Markets to Watch. Not the largest or the most actively contested markets, the 2015 Multifamily Markets to Watch are each at an important juncture that presents unique opportunities for investment. Together, they reflect the diversity of trends that is driving the economy and commercial real estate performance in markets across the country.

Top Multifamily Market to Watch: San Diego, CA

San Diego’s diverse economic base has been essential to its recovery from the Great Recession and the prevailing strength of the apartment sector. Recent investments in infrastructure, including the expansion of both the San Diego International Airport and San Ysidro Land Port of Call border crossing, have helped bolster the economy with construction jobs, while also laying the groundwork for permanent employment gains in San Diego’s manufacturing, shipping and logistics, and tourism sectors. San Diego has a very large military and defense contractor presence, but it has also seen an uptick in biotechnology investment, including the completion of J. Craig Venter Institute’s net-zero-energy, LEED Platinum genomics laboratory in La Jolla in February 2014. The ambitious I.D.E.A. (Innovation, Design, Education, and Arts) District is aimed at transforming the East Village area of downtown San Diego into a hip “24-hour” neighborhood, with ample space for technology startups, restaurants, and housing options that will appeal to younger renter households.

The market’s overall fundamentals remain strong even as new supply comes online. Freddie Mac projects 2015 vacancy rates of just 2.8% and year-over-year rent growth of 4.1%. The average cap rate has fallen below 5% for recent transactions and refinancing, but investors looking for small- and mid-cap value-add opportunities at marginally higher cap rates than to the north in Los Angeles and Orange County may find that forays into San Diego bear fruit.

To read more on San Diego and other top multifamily markets, download the full version of the 2015 Multifamily Market Update report.

It’s a different world out there.

It requires a different kind of commercial real estate firm working on your behalf in order to be successful. The Lipsey Company has ranked the Sperry Van Ness® organization as one of the most recognized commercial real estate brands in the US for a reason—we know how to deliver a certainty of execution for our clients. Sperry Van Ness International Corporation is one of the largest commercial real estate franchisors with more than 180 locations in 200 markets.