Category — CRE News

For many years, we at SVN have issued our annual Top Markets to Watch report.  Segmented by product type, the report seeks not to dissuade investors from targeting markets omitted from the report, but rather to highlight those markets which we believe to be positively influenced by emerging trends.  Included in the third issue of our The Advisor magazine, it is our hope that you extract actionable insights from the report’s rich content, regardless of your position in the industry. A brief synopsis is as follows:

For nearly 20 years, Sam Zell, the grave dancing, yet eternally optimistic public and private entrepreneurial investor, has issued hard hitting prognostications. In typical, creative, Zell fashion, he delivers his predictions for the year ahead in the form of year end gifts – bronze encased music boxes. Redesigned each year with a new look and feel, their one commonality is that all of the boxes share one feature – when you press a button, you are rewarded with the music of a popular tune, accompanied by lyrics, written (but not sung) by Zell, wherein he expresses his current view of the world.

As a storied 2010 comes to a close, I thought it a good time to offer my observations on the 12 months past, and to present my outlook for the economy and the commercial real estate market for the year ahead. Before I do, however, I would be remiss if I did not thank the Sperry Van Ness clients, Advisors, staff, and fellow brokers for their contributions to our strong year. I know that I speak for all SVN Advisors and staff when I wish you a safe holiday season and a prosperous New Year.

A Strong Close to 2010

Following two years of unprecedented upheaval, commercial real estate market conditions have improved markedly over the course of 2010. In the final days of December, Real Capital Analytics reports that the rush to bring deals to closing has pushed national transaction volume for the year past the $100 billion milestone, roughly doubling the market’s tally for 2009. This improvement in property sales reflects investor confidence in the long-term prospects for our industry as well as improvements, though sometimes modest, in supporting measures of economic and job market activity.

My question today is a simple one: What’s your vision for the future and what are you doing about it? Much has been written about surviving the downturn – what to do now, the “new normal” and other tips for how to navigate current market conditions. And while I certainly have no gripes about being in the moment from a tactical perspective, I’m concerned that as an industry we don’t lose sight of the value of looking forward. In today’s post I’ll share my thoughts on the importance of looking forward.

As 2009 draws to a close I thought this an appropriate time to not only sum up my thoughts on what has been a tough year, but also to share my feelings on what I believe will be a better 2010. I would also be remiss if I didn’t use this opportunity to thank our stakeholders for their continued support, without which, we would not have fared as well as we did. The contributions of our clients, employees, investors and partners have been truly remarkable, and I can’t imagine having to navigate 2009 without their steadfast commitment to the Sperry Van Ness brand. Please accept my wishes for a very happy and safe Holiday Season as well as a prosperous New Year.

Welcome to the MaggiacomoBlog – I know, I know, another blog??? And why now Kevin…aren’t you a little late to this social media thing? These are fair questions to be sure, and I’ll do my best to answer them in the text that follows. But before I go any further, I want to introduce myself to those of you not familiar with my background. I am currently the President and CEO of Sperry Van Ness International, the 12th largest commercial real estate brokerage firm in the world with more than 950  advisors in 3 countries, 38 states and 153 markets and having completed more than 39 billion dollars in sales volume on 12,000 commercial real estate transactions in the last 4 years. I worked my way up the food chain at SVN, joining the firm on September 11^th 2001 to help facilitate our national expansion. I later served as VP of our franchise business, EVP of SVNI, and COO before being appointed President last year. Prior to my time at SVN I, I served as an advisor for RTE Group, a telecommunications real estate advisory firm, spent two years facilitating business development for Costar Group, and began my real estate career in 1995 at CRESA Partners, Boston.  Enough about me….