Our careers include many specializations.

Some commercial associates specialize in particular types of property, such as office property, developable farmland or even amusement parks. Other commercial associates specialize in particular forms of consulting work for Real Estate Investment Trusts, insurance companies or utility companies. Still, others work in specialized areas such as resort management or assist government agencies with redevelopment of industrial sites or reclamation of land.

While there are many options for specialization in the commercial field, from multi-unit strip malls with pad spaces to high rise buildings, and everywhere in between, most will involve real estate professionals and in many cases attorneys who will interact throughout the transaction process.

If you are new to commercial real estate, keep an eye out through this course for areas that interest you or that you may want to find out more about later on.

While there are many options for specialization in the commercial field, from multi-unit strip malls with pad spaces to high rise buildings, and everywhere in between, most will involve real estate professionals and in many cases attorneys who will interact throughout the transaction process.

If you are new to commercial real estate, keep an eye out through this course for areas that interest you or that you may want to find out more about later on.

Our careers include many specializations.

Some commercial associates specialize in particular types of property, such as office property, developable farmland or even amusement parks. Other commercial associates specialize in particular forms of consulting work for Real Estate Investment Trusts, insurance companies or utility companies. Still, others work in specialized areas such as resort management or assist government agencies with redevelopment of industrial sites or reclamation of land.

In some specific areas, like New York City and Washington, D.C., local real estate organizations have come up with alternative plans for measuring space.

The Real Estate Board of New York has created the REBNY Standard, which is used to measure leased office space in the New York metropolitan area, including nearby parts of Connecticut and New Jersey. The GWCAR Standard is used to measure leased office space in the Washington DC metropolitan area, including nearby parts of Maryland and Virginia.

I always suggest drawing the space as you measure in order to make sure you include the entire space. Hallways, closets and bathrooms within a tenant’s private area are all part of the space the tenant is leasing.

As stated earlier, these various types of shopping centers are classified primarily by their size and their types of goods and services sold. You will find that even with these broad classifications, hybrids of various types exist and new types of shopping centers continue to be developed.

Consider mixed-use as a primary alternative where living quarters are located in the same area or even above store fronts.

Zoning codes vary widely from municipality to municipality. Don’t be fooled by the similarities in zoning code names and symbols. Each municipality’s zoning regulation or code manual lays out all the various zoning forms in that municipality and what uses are permitted in each zone.

For example, a municipality may have 5 levels of residential zoning, labeled R1 through R5. Each level may allow for a different minimum lot size, different minimum road frontage and different setbacks. R1 might allow attached townhomes on minimum lots of 6000 square feet that sit back a minimum of 25 feet from the road. R2 might allow for single family homes on minimum quarter acre lots that require a 30 foot distance from the road, while R5 requires single family homes to be on a minimum of 10 acres.

Although every possibility cannot be predicted by any realtor, engineer or developer, a basic understanding of what type of improvements may be required and what costs for improvements may be incurred by the developer is critical to pricing the property correctly.

If the market is sluggish currently, but you expect it to pull out shortly, it may be better to wait. If, on the other hand, interest rates are rising and the rental income on an investment property is not, the owner may consider pricing the property realistically so that the property sells before the property devalues.

You must also consider the implications of current economic factors that might increase or decrease the vacancy rate in the area. Complex analysis of these factors is beyond the scope of this text. However, if a lot of inventory is under construction currently and the economy is slowing down, you should adjust your absorption calculation down.

Certainly, whole courses exist on Real Estate Investment Analysis. Our goal in this chapter is to introduce you to the concept of income and cash flows, the primary methods of calculating return on investment, and how they are important to the marketing and sale of commercial real estate.

We will outline the various forms of calculating returns on investment, but an in-depth analysis of income projection is beyond the scope of this text.

On the other side of the transaction, a buyer’s agent will be likely to estimate a reserve number that is high, when attempting to negotiate an offer on the buyer’s behalf. The buyer’s agent will want to show the property owner that the property may not be worth quite as much as he or she wants.

Although many great programs exist to forecast the returns and cash flow of investment real estate, I think it's critical to understand how forecasting is done. You can calculate cash flows by creating a simple spreadsheet in Excel, Lotus, or Quattro Pro, etc.

Remember that a negative exponent means you need to divide by that number of factors instead of multiplying.

The full Home Staging report is available at nar.realtor

As a reminder, know the facts… Home Staging pays off, especially for your seller. It is your job to help them sell their home for the best price, in the least amount of time on the market.

• Educate your seller on the benefits so they see it as a necessary part of achieving their goal, and do not assume that this is your cost to absorb.
• Staging helps get your seller committed and serious about selling their home.
• It helps your seller “detach,” which should make the negotiation process less emotional for them, thus benefitting everyone!

Studies show that putting the bed at an angle is often beneficial for staging.