According to brokers, statistics have yet to demonstrate it, but the commercial market of Richmond is actually recording increased activities and prices of commercial structures are starting to stabilize. They stated that the signs of recovery are being felt in all types of commercial properties such as retail, industrial and office buildings. They added that comments from people on the street and from various businesses operating in the commercial property industry are mostly positive compared with last year’s mood.

With regards to the retail property sector, vacancy rate in the city has risen to 6.9% in the first quarter of 2010. This is slightly higher than previous year’s first quarter figures of 6.2%. However, most market observers believe that 6.9 is still a pretty good situation to be in. They argued that what the market is experiencing is more a softening in rents rather than actual excessive vacancy rates.

At the office building sector, one prevalent trend that commercial property analysts are seeing is tenants taking advantage of the soft market by moving into better office spaces and paying the same rates they paid for their old headquarters. More prospective office renters are also showing interest on big spaces at the western Henrico area, a place where vacancy rate used to be as high as 25%.

Empty office spaces in the city are mostly created by the failure of two major businesses, market analysts have revealed. The demise of LandAmerica Financial Group and Circuit City Stores Inc. created a lot of vacant office spaces in the area and analysts are predicting that the impact of the loss of these two major businesses will be felt by the city for years.

Meanwhile, commercial real estate brokers also see some reason for optimism in the industrial property market which, according to them, is at least not getting any worse. Most brokers admitted that demand for industrial space is still low, but at the very least, it is not expected to get any lower.

The closing of computer memory chip manufacturer Qimonda in 2009 is being seen as a major contributing factor, not only to the poor condition of the industrial property market, but also to the overall economic condition of Richmond. The former factory of Qimonda has been purchased by Quality Technology Services at a price of $12 million; a figure that is way below the real assessed value of the industrial structure.

The loss of the chip maker resulted in more job losses for the city, contributing further to the economic problems of the area and to the poor performance of the industrial market. Analysts have added that the industrial building sector was also hurt by low inventories from retailers and manufacturers not producing as much as they should.

Although the commercial property market of Richmond is recording poor numbers, commercial real estate brokers believe that the sector is on its way to recovery and improvements will become more evident in the coming months.

Commercial Real Estate Brokers Remain Optimistic About Richmond is a post from: Brokers Blog

In Oregon and Washington, Certified Commercial Investment Members have been cutting down the number of their expensive social events like golf tournaments and hotel lunch programs and relying on lower-cost marketing strategies such as online networking, real estate blogging, classified ads listing and meeting people at events organized by other people.

According to Linda McClellan, head of the Clark County Association of Realtors in Washington State, the struggles of the real estate selling industry are shown in the sharp drops in realtor association membership across the country.

Her 88-year-old association, for instance, has already lost 800 members since 2005, when 2,200 real estate professionals were enthusiastically earnings loads of money from selling and buying properties. This year, McClellan expects about 200 more members to cancel their membership.

CCIM, meanwhile, expects its average of 300 members to drop this year due to continued uncertainties in the residential and commercial property subsectors. Association leaders feel that commercial real estate brokers are being swayed by the rising trend of finally retiring from work or retooling for other jobs or businesses.

To cope with declining membership, associations have been eliminating the perks they previously offered to their members. When holding retreats or other big events, they approach companies for sponsorship.

Linda Fisher, president of the Portland chapter of Commercial Real Estate Women, said she has been working harder to solicit sponsorship from companies. During the boom, most companies can easily give $2,000 to be the sole sponsor of an event. These days, Fisher said, the most she can collect from one firm is $500.

According to Anita Rifberg, president of the Southwest Washington-Oregon chapter of CCIM, real estate brokers today need to exert more effort to find networking opportunities in affordable ways. They also need to update themselves continually about changes in the market. Once they fall into complacency, it would be very difficult to get back, reconnect with movers in the business sector and start again.

According to many real estate professionals, it would still benefit commercial real estate brokers to stay as members of professional associations because these groups exercise greater power in business communities, provide networking opportunities, support advantageous legislation and conduct continuing education in the real estate business.

Commercial Real Estate Brokers Make Marketing Schemes Leaner is a post from: Brokers Blog

According to reports released by Prudential Douglas Elliman and Miller Samuel Inc., the median sales price for previously owned apartments in Manhattan have dropped to $750,000 in the third quarter, a decrease of 8 percent from the median price in the same quarter last year.

The third quarter drop rate however is lower than the 26-percent drop in the second quarter compared to $725,000, which was the median sale price in the second quarter last year. Compared to the second quarter this year, the median sale price in the third quarter increased by 3.4 percent.

The median price for a new apartment in a newly-constructed apartment building is $1.2 million, a price basically unchanged. But this price level, according to commercial brokers, does not reflect the true state of the residential market because few are buying at that price level. They said that it can take a couple of years to close transactions above $1 million.

As apartment prices fall down, the number of sales transactions closed by commercial real estate brokers goes up. In the third quarter, sales transactions rose by 46 percent from the second quarter to 2,230 deals. The number of sales deal though was still lower by 16 percent compared to sales in the third quarter last year.

Pamela Liebman, chief executive of The Corcoran Group, said buyers now are choosing from a lot of great deals and they are seeing a lot of value from the multifamily properties available for sale.

In addition, sellers are now more willing to reduce their prices, according to brokers at Brown Harris Stevens. Apartment sellers now are accepting 95 percent of their asking prices, a decrease from the 97 percent they were willing to accept in the past.

Brokers and real estate analysts however admit that more prospective buyers are taking their time in making their purchase decisions because of the high inventory of lower-priced apartments for sale.

Prospective buyers also know that the lower prices will stay unchanged for a while because of the still high level of unemployment and the difficulty of obtaining large mortgage loans.

According to commercial real estate brokers, high-end apartments remain the most difficult to sell. They said that no broker has sold a co-op apartment priced above $30 million in the third quarter.

Commercial Real Estate Brokers Take Advantage of Low Prices is a post from: Brokers Blog