Final Night Of Class-- =(

In a bittersweet ending, we area all being sent off into Summer break with a lot of Real Estate Trends & Issues to think about. I don't think I'll have a problem having dreams about me drowning in a pool of distressed CMBS loans with a Shiner at hand....ahhh summer has arrived.

Lets knock it out, so here are a few of the articles that highlighted the conversations for tonight....


Texas Rail Plan Article

Makes pretty interesting point that when building massive highway systems, traffic “magically” appears, and without these concrete jungles, it is dispersed and essentially non-existent. TxDot has joined the National Rail Association along with 32 other states, but has missed out on recent Stimulus funds to gain ground on pushing more rail lines out.

Nation’s first High-Speed Rail Line breaks ground in San Francisco

San Francisco has begun groundbreaking on the nation’s first high speed rail, The Transbay Transit Center Project, a $4.2 billion project. After 40 years of planning, the project has begun and is slated to create 48,000+ jobs in the process. The innovative 5-story center will set the benchmark for the rest of our nation’s cities to follow.

IFMA Foundation & FMLink Website
Both website mentioned above have a plethora of information in regards to Sustainability and the savings it can create from a facilities management perspective.

Overall, this class has been a pleasant deviation from the normal MSRE program, and I would recommend it to anyone in the program.

Have fun in Germany/Ireland Dr. Forgey!!!

Class 9--August 5th--Resi/MF,Construction/Development & Trends

Resi/MF Article

Our discussion tonight was initiated by diving right into the residential market in the DFW area. We have shielded ourselves of the national depression for the most part, and are actually slated to have 12,000 units delivered by years end. Absorbtion has been steady and construction is still taking place in the area. Much of the current construction is just project that have been at a standstill and are finishing out to gain income potential, but there are a few new construction projects in the works (primarily MOB’s). Due to a decline in consumer confidence, renting will stimulate the MF development/acquisition sector of the industry. People are going to rent more until they feel comfortable that house values will not continue to plummet, along with the fact that most aren’t getting loans with realistic terms. With current single-family inventory slowly being absorbed, if the construction lending rebounds slower than the demands of the marketplace, it will pose a problem for those particular builders. Since the expiration of the government created tax credits that artificially stimulated sales, homebuilders have been seeing less activity.

IPad Article



On a techno-note, construction companies more and more now are utilizing the IPad since it’s inception. The device allows Project Managers to have easy access to drawings and schematics, and to incur far less costs than printing. The flexibility and ease of use allows for a very efficient and cost minimizing practice amongst those involved in the development process.

REIT Article

Multifamily REITS have seen an uptick in investment, as there is confidence that that sector will yield relatively better profits than any other. Many of them are scooping up MF portfolios at deep bargains (arguable), and hoping that operational efficiency under new management can yield a higher value at reversion. It will be interesting to see how much they will be invested in, as they were the ones that picked the confidence up in the early 90’s after the S&L collapse.

Florida Property Values Article

As BP faces all kinds of penalties, amounting to $billions, the Governor of Florida has another request and bill for them: “Pay the difference in the readjusted property values after the spill occurred.” Essentially, the Governor wants the whole state (all counties) to reappraise all residential and commercial property after the oil spill, and wants to take the loss bill to BP. It will be interesting to see how this once pans out.

What did I take away from the article on Economist opinions on where the housing market is going?
NOTHING.