Archive for June, 2009

When will the struggle end for Commercial Real Estate?

Tuesday, June 30th, 2009

Many of us homeowners are familiar with the downturn of the real estate market and the negative impact it has had on our homes and lives. As many families suffer through the fear and uncertainty associated with foreclosures, there is another unfortunate reality becoming apparent in the real estate market. Commercial real estate is suffering as are those employed as a Commercial real estate agent. As tenants struggle to even find ways to pay their rent so they can stay in their offices, the market begins to struggle as the rent goes down and values for buildings go down as a result. It is a very difficult cycle to break.

While we may feel the positive impacts of an economy turning around soon and home foreclosures are showing signs of leveling off, this is not true for the commercial economy. While many thought that because commercial leases are so long term this would help protect this industry that does not appear to be helping them as much as forecasted. Because of the fact that most landlords feared trying to find new tenants, they listened to tenant demands to lower the rent. This dramatic downturn means that in many areas the value of buildings have gone down significantly.
This dramatic and unfortunate downturn in the commercial real estate market will not be cured overnight. Investors and bank that heavily finance this market might be facing some heavy losses before the upswing occurs. It is a reality that many of the mortgaged properties in both commercial real estate and in the housing market are worth less than the current mortgages on the properties. In the commercial real estate market this will be a more difficult reality to overcome.
The government may step in to provide a package that will help investors; banks and the commercial real estate market survive. There are often things that the government can do to help things along. However, it won’t happen quickly and it won’t happen overnight. The upturn to this market may take many years to recover – some estimates put it at 2017. That is a lot of years that commercial real estate agents and properties face of some trying times. It’s an unfortunate cycle that we find ourselves in with businesses struggling due to lower spending on the part of most consumers and then high unemployment making it hard for people to spend that money to begin with. Will it ever end?
I often wonder if there will be a day when we don’t hear or read negative news regarding the economy. You have to wonder if we heard a little more positive feedback if that would help things turn around. Yes, my house may be worth less today than it was a year ago but things will turn around. The economy is going to get better, people will get jobs again and the real estate market will be strong once more. Let’s all take a good look at the positive aspects that still exist, we may find ourselves not worrying so much about the doom and gloom of the current day but looking forward to a brighter tomorrow.
Rebecca Beckett writes for Innuity. for more information about Commercial real estate or Commercial real estate agent go to Royal Commercial

Spaced Out: The Dangers of Overspending on Retail Space

Monday, June 22nd, 2009

When you look for a new location to set up shop for your new or expanding business, assessing the amount of Retail space you need is crucial to saving money on the move. You want to leave room to expand, but buying so much space that you can’t utilize it all within a few months of moving in is a waste of money. This is also an important thing to consider when looking into leasing an office for your business.
Office leasingis essential to any retailer wanting to present themselves professionally in an office as well as a retail store. Just like with retail space, you want to make sure you don’t lease an office with space that you will not use. Office leases are calculated by the amount of space is in the office. You’ll want to look into leasing an office that is inside a building with different offices of other retailers. These offices save you money and are generally small enough for you to create a professional look for your business while saving yourself money.
If you’re a new business you want to evaluate the amount of inventory you will be selling as a retailer. If you’re not selling a ton of items, it is more cost efficient to share the space with another retailer. If you’re looking for a building that can be your own with only your inventory, make sure that the amount of inventory matches with the amount of space the building has. Wasting money on space that you don’t need will hurt your business in the long run.
For larger corporations that can afford a lot of retail space and offices will still need to take into consideration how much space they are willing to keep gray. It’s important to remember that even large companies are not invincible to the falls of the economy. Many large companies have declared bankruptcy in the past few months, and there’s no reason to think that your company is immune. Look at all the angles and make sure that you are not overspending. The money overspent could be money that keeps your business afloat during economic depression.
While it is important to make sure you’re not overspending on space, it’s also important to not under spend as well. If you only buy enough space for the shelves that hold your product, how our customers going to be able to browse the product? One of the most common phobias existing is claustrophobia. People who are in close quarters between the product and other people are less likely to buy the product. They just want to get out of the store and find one that is a little more consumer friendly. Make sure you find the right balance between the two.
About the author: Jason Ausmus is a web content producer for Innuity. For more information regarding Retail space and Office leasing, look to Royal Commerical.

Retail Space: The Final Frontier

Tuesday, June 16th, 2009

In our corporate and retail space, the amount of space that you need to feel comfortable is vital to you and your employee’s environment. In closed spaces our productivity goes down. We are all independent creatures, and our space needs to be enough so that we can express ourselves without feeling trapped.

More space and room means a bigger office and building. Reports for office leasingwill become a tired process that is essential. As we begin to grow and add more staff, the more it becomes necessary to add more room and space. The desks and work areas will need to be widened, and the breathing room expanded. The productivity of your workers is essential to success. If they are comfortable, so will the customers they speak to.

When we talk about retail space, we focus on the amount of space it takes to make you feel comfortable, and the customer that comes into your office. If the customer feels quarantined in your office, they are likely not to buy anything from you. The feeling of being trapped brings a wave of claustrophobia over a lot of people and will want to get out of your office as soon as they can.

Finding adequate room for your office can be tricky. On the one hand we want enough space to be comfortable, but we do not want to pay for space that we are not going to use. There are companies out there that specialize in office leasing to help you make this decision. They know that you want to have enough space to expand. Constantly needing to move and get a larger or smaller office is not what we’re going for here.

Once you find the right amount of office space, and then come the questions of how you will decorate the office. You want to look professional. Choices like what color of paint you want on the walls, what kind of carpeting you want come into play. It’s important not to be too flashy when you want to give off the appearance that you are a professional company with something to offer. We are all different and want to show people our individual ideas, but conforming to a monotone office is necessary in the way of professionalism. Once you get your name out there and you become popular, you can begin to be flashier with your office space.

So when thinking about the office you want to build, be sure to keep these things in mind. You want enough space to be able to expand, but you don’t want too much that you can’t utilize it all and pay for nothing. The happier your employees are, the happier your customers will be. The phone presence is about as close a lot of businesses get to interacting with customers.

About the author: Jason Ausmus is a web content producer for Innuity. For more information regarding retail space or office leasing, please go to Royal Commercial.

5 Key Ideas You Need to Consider Looking for New office space

Monday, June 8th, 2009

As we start a business, looking for an office that has the amount of space we need to be productive is crucial. We must be cautious, looking for only the amount of space we need to function properly. There is no reason to pay more for what you aren’t going to use.
• Finding an Office: If you are a starting business, note how much office space you’ll need now and eventually. You will need space to put any files that will acquire for your business. You will need file cabinets where your files will be store. Plenty of desks for current and new employees that are soon to come. Will you have a waiting room where clients can sit? What type of furniture will you have?
• Visualization: It’s important that your business has plenty of exposure to people driving by your office. What kind of marketing will you use to catch their eye? How will you design your office so people who visit will think that you are professional and someone they want to do business with?
• Corporate Offices: When your company reaches a point where it can have a corporate office, corporate real estate will become a key factor in finding corporate headquarters. Do you want these offices to be near your current office? When looking in corporate real estate, be sure that we take the first two steps into account. They apply to any office you plan to open; corporate or commercial.
• Leave Room to Expand: Moving your offices is costly. Make sure that the first office you have leaves plenty of room to expand. As you become more successful, more people will want your services. Make sure you have enough office spacefor new employees to help with your newly acquired work load. The same goes for your corporate real estate. The employees you already retain know your business in and out. They will be the ones training your new employees.
• Relax: Moving into a new office or upgrading to a bigger office is stressful. Not only are you trying to manage the time and money into movie, you are also trying to keep the business running. Stress in this situation is inevitable, but there are ways to prevent. There are plenty of companies out there whose focus is helping you with these kinds of decision. Unnecessary stress is just that.
Remember all of these elements when moving your new business. Knowing how much office space you’ll need for your furniture and employees is important. Your offices and corporate real estate need to look and feel professional. Leave room to expand your business. Having to move your business because you do not have enough space for the two employees you just hired isn’t worth it. The business you could lose during the movie on top of what it already costs to move is just silly.
About the author: Jason Ausmus is a web content producer for Innuity. For more information regarding office space or corporate real estate, look to Royal Commercial

What Help a Corporate Real Estate Agent Can Provide to a Small Business

Monday, June 1st, 2009

We are in a time where dreams are scarcely able to become a reality because of the turn in the economy that has held as back. As it comes time, being positive about your finances when reviewing your office leasing can be a process that you cannot afford. A corporate real estate agent can help relieve you of the stress that may come when trying to communicate with the people that you need to in order to negotiate or move your business entirely to better convenient the turn of the economy. It is a gift that we must act upon, the ability to create an image and turn it into a living and breathing reality. As important as it is to be cost effective, the more we stray from the visualization, the more it becomes diluted to the eye that focuses upon it. We all strive to be independent and original so that our names will be remembered for something that we can all connect and share, but something that requires so much effort can seldom be done by only one person.

As time passes, our dreams begin to whiter and we start losing sight of the image we posses of them, the strength of the business may become lost in political ethics. When it comes time to renew the image of our dream, we may become biased by what our new political ethics determine. A corporate real estate agent can become the outside, looking in when trying your hand at office leasing. We create a business because we feel that we believe that the product we sell is revolutionizing an industry that has begun to fade as technology advances. As we think of our dreams, fantasies of wealth and pride befall us and we are delighted to feel this way. However, when we become too ignorant of the cost that comes with realizing your dreams, you may feel overwhelmed.

It is in this feeling of overwhelmed fear that there are companies out there that are driven to help you with this fear. Corporate real estate agents focus their business around helping you with this fear to turn it into the image that you’ve dreamed since its inception. As we progress, the cost of the location may become an issue with office leasing, which can be handled as long as we remain calm and believe that we can succeed no matter the situation. Every business has had its trouble when starting. When Microsoft started they were three people in a small building trying to come up with a marketable product just as every business does when they start. Back then, a lot of companies did not have the financial backing that you can have now. Nor were there a lot of companies that centered their business on helping smaller business manage costs and attain prominent affordability.

About the author: Jason Ausmus is a web content producer for Innuity. For more information regarding a corporate real estate agent or office leasing visit Royal Commercial

Maximizing Empty Office Space and Retail Space

Monday, June 1st, 2009

These days it is difficult to find a business park that is filled. Even most offices have some empty office space. Retailers are closing their doors and leaving a lot of empty retail space. Those large buildings you see left behind when a company closes – what happens to them? When corporate real estate companies build up the business park only to leave it empty, what can be done to utilize the space? Can these spaces be used in any way?

You can bet that office landlords and developers are working on ways that they can still make money even when their office spaces are not being leased out, especially in high-traffic areas. Well, the answer is clear – those big empty windows can be filled with ads. What better way to take advantage of those high traffic areas then by using advertising to reach out.

Most areas of advertising are suffering as a result of the economy; however store front windows seem to be staying consistent. Billboards are not as costly and they are reaching a high volume of people. By offering these windows for sale as an advertising billboard the landlord will be able to continue to pay its bills while offering a unique offering to people.

While it won’t cover the same costs as a retailer would or a company leasing the building, advertising can help pay the bills and they are a great way for companies to get creative too. In the past, most companies thought of advertising as just a cheap way to reach people. Cheap as in looked down upon. However, now when they think about advertising they are looking for ways to save money. Cheap as in frugal. The mindset of advertisers has really changed with the changing economic climate.

As we all struggle to make our way in a difficult economy it becomes apparent that we all need to get creative; companies are no exception. By finding ways that they can use what they have they are going to be able to successfully weather the storm. Retailers and corporate real estate owners are going to find that if they hope to succeed at all they are going to need to consider alternatives. While they can lower the rates and offer more incentives to companies, at some point, even that won’t be enough.

Enticing people to buy or lease office space is going to be difficult when most companies are still fighting fear and are doing everything they can to cut costs. However, by offering them a lower cost alternative to advertising they might be doing, a solution can be reached for everyone.

Ah, we all love pinching pennies and watching closely what we are spending and where we are spending it. However, there are some things that are necessary and for companies the necessity of getting the word out is always going to be there. However, the choices they have are going to change. By being given the option of window space advertising, the way companies look at advertising may really change. As more and more companies go online and begin to utilize more cost-effective ways of advertising, this type of advertising can really reach people. Drivers beware – soon you may be driving by those empty retail and office spaces and see much more than an empty window.

About the Author: Rebecca Beckett is a freelance writer for Innuity. If you would like more information about office space or retail space go to Royal Commercial