S.E.C. Real Estate Observer

This course comes from compiling 35 years of experience, successes, and failures; attending hundreds of real estate marketing events; observing others; and gathering input from fellow brokers. My definition of Equity Marketing is where a broker tries to accomplish his or her client’s goals, using all the skill and talents the broker possesses, to move […]

Back on the farm, I hunted rabbit and quail with a single barrel shotgun, but dad had a double barrel. I was envious of that gun. It seemed to me he could get twice the game I could. I see a lot of commercial brokers doing the same—marketing with one barrel. The first barrel is […]

Recently I was at a dinner with a group. One of the attendees was clearing and wiping the table. I was having a little fun with him, and said, “You missed a spot” and pointed. He calmly looked at me and said, “I’m working on improvement, not perfection.” A lot of life is like this—can […]

Understanding Your Client Ted J. Blank, S.E.C. Indianapolis, Indiana September 10–13, 2017 The S.E.C. Education Foundation and the Society of Exchange Counselors are pleased to announce that Ted J. Blank, S.E.C., will present Understanding Your Client from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on September 10, 2017, in Indianapolis. Some of the highlights and subjects: This […]

While watching the National Basketball Association draft of college players recently, it occurred to me that there are a lot of analogies between professional sports teams and real estate investors. Both have inventory (players or buildings), an owner, a CFO (CPA), a general manager (attorney), and a director of player personnel (spouse). In order to […]

In 1881, in Tombstone, AZ, Virgil Earp and his brothers Morgan and Wyatt Earp, aided by Doc Holliday acting as a temporary deputy, confronted outlaw cowboys Billy and Ike Clanton, Tom McLaury and his brother Frank McLaury. Some historians say Ike and Tom were not armed. It did not go well for them. The point is: don’t go to a gunfight without a gun.

In earlier articles, we briefly discussed some of the challenges, regulations and restrictions your local banker is dealing with. Knowing these will help you as a borrower, buyer, or broker be more profitable in 2010-11. Commercial Real Estate, CRE, ratios are driving many of the decisions your bank is making today. If you or your clients have a commercial investment or development loan coming due in the next 12 months, be prepared to move it or pay it off…

When a bank loan goes 30 days delinquent in payments or past the due date, it becomes a scheduled item with the auditors. They may or may not require any reserves be put aside for loan losses. As default status continues, the loan will be written down based on borrower financial strength, appraisal, strength of the bank, etc.

Yesterday I met with a Senior VP of a community bank. He has been in banking for 40 years. When I asked how he was doing, he said, “I’ve never seen it this bad, even during the RTC days in the 90s.” Do you have empathy for your local banker or disdain for their inability to make you a loan?

Occasionally, but not often, can you start a real estate deal with a formula, and work backwards to the successful closing. Normally, the formula is used once and the way you were trying to do the deal fails. Instead of giving up, you think, “how else could this deal be done?” Then you start reviewing […]