consigliere

on the ground: grand cayman ritz

I am here in Grand Cayman for a few days for a shareholder's meeting with clients.  We are staying at the Ritz on Seven Mile Beach.  Yes, it is "ritzy". 

The resort is 144 acres and has 365 rooms, 5 restaurants and 2 bars.  They have quite the program set-up for real estate purchasers and several projects in the works.  To name a few ...The Residences and The DeckHouses have been met with an outstanding reception, Orion Developers is building upon its previous success with an impressive new development of vacation homes known as

Secret

Harbour.  Designed by the firms Zurcher Architects and VITA Planning & Landscape Architecture, the Secret Harbour vacation homes will have a unique charm inspired by the special spirit and atmosphere of maritime Mediterranean villages.  Located on a private island within the acreage of the resort's property, Secret Harbour will be composed of 120 residential units and will have mainly boat access to travel locally rather than car.

Ownership of the resort's real estate has its privledges.... a fleet of BMW's and a chauferred Rolls Royce Phantom (sticker $333,000) and a few  Riva boats hand made by Ferretti in Europe (only 24 made each year).  And...if you buy the 20,000 sf "Seven South" house a Phantom will be included in the purchase... price tag:  a cool $44MM.

PRESS RELEASE: MORGAN AWARDED CCIM DESIGNATION

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:
Thomas Morgan, 719.207.0770, thomas.morgan@ccim.net

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MORGAN AWARDED CCIM DESIGNATION

Newport Beach, CA 4/11/2008— Thomas G. Morgan, CCIM, of CM Commercial Inc, Salida, CO has been awarded the Certified Commercial Investment Member (CCIM) designation by the CCIM Institute.  The designation was awarded during the Institute business meetings April 10 in Newport Beach, California.

Morgan was among the more than 240 commercial real estate professionals who earned the designation by passing the Institute’s six-hour Comprehensive Examination, the final element in the designation process.  Less than 1 percent of commercial real estate professionals in the world hold the CCIM designation.

The CCIM designation is awarded to commercial real estate professionals upon successful completion of a graduate-level education curriculum and presentation of a portfolio of qualifying industry experience.  The curriculum addresses: financial analysis, market analysis, user decision analysis and investment analysis – the cornerstones of commercial investment real estate.  CCIMs are recognized experts in commercial real estate brokerage, leasing, asset management, valuation, and investment analysis. 

  Thomas Morgan, CCIM specializes in the sale of net-leased and retail investment properties located throughout the US and Canada.  Morgan is Owner of CM Commercial Inc. a boutique real estate investment brokerage that advises a select group of high net worth companies, individuals and families in the placement of investment capital into income generating and appreciation oriented real estate both nationally and internationally.  Morgan provides clients with a full range of real estate services tailored to fit their individual investment objectives and assists clients with consultation, acquisition and disposition of commercial investment grade real estate.

The CCIM business network encompasses 1,000 markets throughout North America, Asia, Europe and the Caribbean.  Of the estimated 125,000 commercial real estate practitioners in North America, more than 9,500 currently hold the CCIM designation.  CCIM Designees include professionals who work in brokerage, investment and development, the corporate environment, property management, appraisal and related segments of commercial real estate.  An additional 9,500 professionals are pursuing the designation as Institute candidates.

The Chicago-based CCIM Institute is an affiliate of the National Association of Realtors® and is the governing body of the largest commercial real estate network in the world.  Visit http://ccim.com to learn more.  Mr. Morgan can be reached toll-free at 866.539.1777. 

2 years, 5 hour exam and 4 letters later....CCIM

Just returned from the CCIM mid-year meetings in Newport Beach CA.  (nice place)  I finally finished my CCIM education and designation!  I enjoyed the process very much and highly recommend the program to ANYBODY who is in commercial real estate or wants to learn about commercial real estate.  This goes for brokers, principals, lenders, developers, business operators (tenants)....you will benefit from the education and networking and can use the knowledge in everyday practice.  I love t-bars and my HP10bii (maybe time to progress up to a HP platinum) (see below) !!!  -Thomas Morgan, CCIM  (those four letters, not the other four!)

PS- Deyl-  checkout the sushi bar at the Marriott Newport Beach Resort and Spa.  Best I have had in while.

Permanent Financing for Retail Properties

Authored by consigliere guest blogger: Mark Jeffries, Vice President, Q10 | Essex Financial Group

Over the past 9 months or so, the credit markets have experienced a shake-up unlike any in recent memory.

The main impact of this on retail property permanent financing is related to the fall-out of Conduit or CMBS (Commercial Mortgage Backed Securities) lenders.  As recently as the summer of 2007, retail property owners and purchasers were able to obtain 80% loan-to-value financing from a CMBS lender without much difficulty.  Life Insurance Companies were typically offering 70-75% financing with similar fixed rates to CMBS.  Today, without the need to compete with CMBS, Life Insurance Companies have scaled back to leverage levels in the 65-70% range.  The good news is that fixed rates from Life Companies are currently in the 5.75% to 6.5% range, are most often non-recourse, and can offer fixed terms of up to 25 years.  One of the potential dangers on the horizon is inflation, which could lead to higher interest rates across the board.

If a property owner is considering a refinance it makes sense to lock in a rate soon rather than later in my opinion.  We’re happy to provide financing estimates and analysis to assist borrowers in making difficult strategic capital decisions.  Retail properties continue to be viewed favorably by Life Companies as vacancy rates remain low in most markets.  We anticipate the capital markets will stabilize later in the year, and CMBS will return to the scene but likely on a more limited basis.

Mark can be reached at 303.843.4023

guest bloggers.... you are invited

To make my blog more relevant to my readers I have invited several guest bloggers to write posts as they see fit.  These posts will include info about commercial investment real estate and net-leased retail (NNN) property.  Topics to come: financing, title, survey, due diligence, financial and market analysis and good restaurants with nice wine lists :) :)

Do you have something interesting to say about commercial investment real estate?  E-mail me at morgantg (at-sign) gmail dot com or follow link on this page. 

TMO

Riverfront Development Land

Prime Riverfront Development Opportunity in growing Salida, Colorado

3.71 acres on the Arkansas River, walking distance to historic downtown with 330 feet of river front. Currently used as mobile home park and could be redeveloped with +/- 28 - 65 residential/work/live units. City comprehensive plan calls for high density residential at this site. Topographic survey is completed along with six development schemes by national new-urbanism land planner. Trailer park grosses ~$124,000 p/y; two houses, 30 trailer/space rentals. This is one of the last large parcels on the famous Arkansas River in a growing
Colorado mountain town.

Total land square footage to increase to ~164,819 sf after City land swap, see broker for details.

The secret is out… Salida is located in the center of Colorado surrounded by 14,000 ft mountains and is a hot-bed of mountain biking, skiing, fly-fishing, kayaking/rafting, hot springs, arts/culture and numerous other recreational opportunities. Two hours from Denver and Colorado Springs, Salida was recently featured in US News as top ten retirement community in nation. Salida has also been featured in Outside Magazine as top 10 best place to live, work and play. Other notable mentions are Esquire, Men' s Journal, Home and Garden Network, 50 best Art Towns in US, CO Real Estate Journal, and repeatedly in Denver Post/Rocky Mountain News. Average home prices in Salida are ~$250,000 which is ~65% lower than other similar towns in Colorado; there is significant room for value growth. Salida's downtown historic district has enjoyed a rebirth of development over the past few years and has become home to a large and still growing artist community. A new $36M hospital was recently completed.

For details on this and many other investment opportunities, contact:

Thomas G. Morgan
CM Commercial
866-539-1777