What's in our bags? Read below to see some of the items we bring with us on property inspections. The Typical Items We Bring: An Aerial Map of the Property Printed Out: This is essential when you're on an inspection. It's a great way to find your bearings, especially when you're at a larger property. A Measuring Wheel: This item is used for measuring the square footage of properties. There are many resources online that can confirm the size of a property, but the only way to be 100 percent accurate is to measure it! A Smart Phone: This is necessary for many obvious reasons. The camera is essential for taking photos of the property, the internet access allows you to confirm findings or look up information, and using an app to record conversations allows you to gather information directly from the source. The Unusual Items We Bring: Work boots: These have come in handy more than once while inspecting agricultural land, quarries, or anything outdoors. A Lab Coat/Hair Net/Safety Glasses/Hard Hat: These are all items our appraisers have worn at one point on an inspection. Often times facilities may be used for food production and need to be sterile, or we may be on construction sites where hard hats are safety necessities. Gatorade: As our own Brock Heyde, MAI discovered, Gatorade comes in handy when walking a long stretch of abandoned railroad track during an inspection in August. Insect Repellent: One of our appraisers recently found out brown recluse bites are possible when inspecting a property and can land you in the hospital! Did we miss anything? Tell us in the comments below!
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In continuation of our last post, we'd like to share some of our favorite news sources. We pride ourselves on being extremely up-to-date on all the timely CRE stories both nationally and locally in Kansas City. Below are some of our top websites and publications! National Real Estate Investor: NREI has CRE articles for all property types ranging from Multifamily to Retail and Office.
Kansas City Business Journal: This is one of our favorite sources for all things Kansas City! RE Journals: Real estate news all over the Midwest is covered on this website. Kansas City Reddit: This is a somewhat informal source for news, as it is a forum, but we find that stories often break here first, before the bigger publications scoop them up. MetroWireMedia: MetroWire is a great source of news for CRE brokers and developers in Kansas City. KCUR: This radio station is a great source for real estate news in Kansas City with an unbiased perspective! The Kansas City Star: A trusty standby when looking for the CRE scoop in Kansas City. MorningSky Media: Relatively new to the scene, this is quickly becoming one of our favorite sources for development news in Omaha. We can't wait to see what they do for Kansas City! Click here to see our expert commentary on last week's article. What are your favorite sources for news? Tell us in the comments below! Some of the best things in life are free! This definitely includes several of the online resources we use in our line of work! As mentioned in previous blog posts, the report process begins by gathering data. This includes both paid and free sources, along with market participant interviews and a property inspection. Below is a collection of some of our favorite and most helpful free websites: -Economic Development Websites: These sites are really great for gaining insights into developments in your research area. The best part is, every major city should have one!
-GIS Websites: These are super helpful mapping and geographical data websites. -The US Department of Labor: This site has numerous labor statistics that help make report writing much easier! -U.S. Geological Survey: If you need topographical maps, this is definitely your site! -FEMA Flood Map Service Center Website: This site can give you extensive information about flood plains and flood risk factors. -Data USA Website: A great website for accurate data from all over the U.S.! And, last but not least: Google! What are some of your favorite free resources? Let us know in the comments below! We travel all over for assignments! Recently we visited Indiana to value a ballpark and New Orleans for a seven-assignment portfolio. Our director, Jason Roos, MAI, and researcher, Sean Ellington, visited Indiana for an assignment on a ballpark, in conjunction with Joe Alerding, MAI in our Valbridge Property Advisors | Indiana office. We have 68 offices across the country, which ensures that we can work where ever you need us! Recently, Senior Appraiser Andy Brand, was in New Orleans on assignments with the Valbridge Property Advisors | Louisiana office! We want to help you with your valuation needs. Click here to find an office near you!
Last week our own Jessica Perryman attended the 2017 Office Summit put on by MetroWireMedia! Stay tuned for a recap of the event below! Millennials: Millennials were a key discussion point when it came to many of the topics. Something of note; tenants will pay more for amenities to attract the millennial workforce. Coworking: It wouldn't be an office summit without discussing one of the hottest trends in Kansas City right now! Everyone was in agreement that this trend isn't going anywhere! Downtown Locations: Nothing says "live/work/play" more than a central downtown location! Suburban locations are incorporating many of these amenities as well. Market Opportunities: Many investors from the East and West coasts are looking for investment opportunities in the Kansas City area. This is especially true for office property types! For a more in-depth look at the events of that day please click here to read MetroWire's own recap! Don't forget to check out Jessica's pictures below: We're friends with some pretty smart people. This week we interviewed NNN expert Jacob Baratz, Associate Advisor with Marcus & Millichap. Valbridge Property Advisors: What are you seeing with cap rates (in terms of increasing, decreasing or holding steady)? Jacob: "Although transactional velocity has eased, pricing and yields have remained remarkably steady. The limited development during this cycle and balanced debt levels have kept cap rates relatively steady despite rising Interest Rates and tapering transactional activity. Although some buyers are choosing to postpone acquisition plans based on the belief that rising interest rates will push cap rates higher, very little elevation in cap rates has thus far emerged." Valbridge Property Advisors: What are you seeing for a spread versus treasuries and where does the market see them heading? Jacob: "The rapid 75-basis-point post-election surge in the 10-year treasury rate opened a disconnect between buyers and sellers as they attempted to reconcile higher lending costs. Since the beginning of the year, the 10-Year treasury rate has largely stabilized in the mid-two-percent range, but we anticipate rising inflation will cause the Federal Reserve to further tighten monetary policy – adding to the current rising interest rate climate. However, it should be noted that the alignment of cap rate and interest rate movement is far from linear, as demonstrated repeatedly over the last 10 years." Valbridge Property Advisors: What are some of the NNN properties you’ve seen lately that stand out? Jacob: "We believe rising wages will lift discretionary income and together with elevated consumer confidence, spur spending that will support demand for retail space – expanding grocery stores, casual dining restaurants and service based businesses (that cannot be supplanted by e-commerce) have filled retail centers and pushed vacancy rates to their lowest levels since 200." Valbridge Property Advisors: What are some up and coming NNN properties in your opinion?
Jacob: "Again, we believe that service based business will continue growth throughout 2017. These retailers, that cannot be replaced by e-commerce are likely to face steady demand – retailers like Advanced Auto Parts, AutoZone, O’Reilly." Summer is nearly in full swing and the Valbridge Property Advisors | Kansas City office is definitely taking notice! Below are some of our favorite summer hangouts: Stockton Lake Located approximately two hours south of Kansas City, Stockton Lake boasts camping, boating, fishing, and much more! This pristine lake is our Director of Operations, Joanne Montgomery's, favorite summer spot! Colorado Our Senior Managing Director, Laird Goldsborough, MAI loves travelling to Colorado every summer with his family. While there, they like to climb 1,400 ft mountains! Harry's Country Club When Garrett Connolly, one of our appraisers, wants good food and summer drinks, he heads to Harry's Country Club in The River Market! The Mississippi River Every summer, senior appraiser Tyler Siegworth goes to the Mississippi River for kayaking, swimming, and boating with his family! What's your favorite thing to do when it's hot out? Let us know in the comments below!
Here at Valbridge | KC, we pride ourselves on our flexibility when it comes to different report types within the appraisal industry. This week we talk with our own Daniel Kann, MAI about Market Studies; specifically what they are and why they are so important. We hope you'll learn something from Daniel in this post, we certainly did! What is a Market Study? "A market study identifies the demand drivers for a particular type of property in a specific market or submarket. It calculates the residual demand based on current and projected growth and the amount of existing and future supply. In comparison, a marketability study focuses on how one particular property will interact within a market or submarket. Market studies are most commonly used in the multifamily space due to apartment projects being built on a speculative basis." Why Don’t Very Many People Perform Market Studies in KC? "Market analysis is part art and part science and requires an in depth analysis of the underlying fundamentals that drive supply and demand for a particular property type. The level of analysis included in a market study is not commonly utilized in daily appraisal practice creating a specialized niche within the valuation industry." Besides Here, Where Else Have You Performed These Studies? "I have recently traveled to Dallas, Richmond, Detroit, Jersey City, and New Orleans for market analysis. Traveling to an unfamiliar place and spending the time necessary to gain geographic competency allows you to learn interesting things about a particular city. After studying the urban core of Richmond, Virginia, my wife and I decided Richmond was a place that we would enjoy visiting and are planning to travel there in the near future." See Some of Daniel's Projects Below: We hope you were able to learn a little more about Market Studies! If you are interested in learning more or having a market study performed, click here to contact Daniel Kann. Since 2010 Daniel has specialized in all aspects of multiunit valuation, with an emphasis placed on marketability/feasibility studies and valuation for new construction. The last several years have been extremely active for multiunit housing. Daniel and the team completed valuation and consulting assignments totaling $2.3 billion in 2015 and $1.90 billion in 2016. Recent assignments in Kansas City include One Light, Two Light, Mission Farms, Woodside Village, Roaster’s Block, 51 Main, The Vue, Avenue 80, Prairie Fire Apartments, Union at Berkley Park, Heights at Linden Square, WaterSide on Quivira, and numerous loft and conversion projects in the urban core. Daniel is also active in the Section 8, Low Income Housing Tax Credit (Section 42), and senior housing space. Did you know that we often travel to places outside of Kansas City in order to provide much needed appraisal services? For instance, one of our MAIs, Jason Roos, frequently works in North Dakota, a state known for Theodore Roosevelt National Park, the flagship Scheels store, and the popular film and TV show Fargo! Jason himself is a great fit because he grew up there and has incredible knowledge of the market. Additionally, North Dakota has very few appraisers (only 8 MAIs within the state, compared to 81 and 127 in Kansas and Missouri respectively) because it has a small population density. In our new "On the Road" series, we'll explore all the unexpected places we visit for work. First stop -- North Dakota! What it is: Trains transport crude oil all over the country and unload it onto barges, tankers or pipelines for onward delivery. Where: Burke, ND. What it is: A tall structure used to support antennas for broadcasting. These structures are among some of the tallest man-made. Where: Bismarck, ND. What it is: Grand Cities Mall - Shopping Center. Where: Grand Forks, ND. What it is: A campground for recreational vehicles or caravans. Where: Williston, ND. We hope you've enjoyed reading about our work in lovely North Dakota! Click here to visit our website and see how we can work for you! Our contributor for this post was Jason Roos, MAI. Jason is an MAI designated member of the Appraisal Institute, and former President of the Appraisal Institute's Kansas City Chapter. He is a State Certified General Appraiser licensed in Kansas, Missouri, North Dakota, Nebraska, Illinois and Iowa. Jason is focused on providing clients with up-to-date, relevant and accurate market information as a director at Valbridge Property Advisors | Kansas City. Jason holds a degree from the University of North Dakota and enjoys cheering on their hockey team in his time off! Valbridge Property Advisors | Kansas City provides unbiased commercial real estate valuation for local, regional, and national clients. In business for over 39 years, the firm is led by six MAI-designated members of the Appraisal Institute. Where people live greatly affects commercial real estate markets. Lately, we've seen a transformative influx of people moving into the urban core, but does that mean the suburbs are dying? Join us as we dive a bit deeper into this topic below! Conceptually, Suburbs are Dying: To really answer the question above; no, suburbs themselves are not dying. In fact, more people still live in suburbs than in cities. However, our concept of suburbs is definitely changing. Construction of single-family homes has slowed while we are seeing a 40-year high in the construction of apartments and condos. More people are choosing to live in multifamily housing than the traditional suburban single-family home. City vs. Suburb Gray Area: The lines are becoming blurred between what is 'city' and what is 'suburban'. This is partially due to peoples' preference for convenience over size. According to Business Insider, "Urban planners across America are rethinking how suburbs are designed. Towns like New Rochelle, a suburb of New York City, are evolving to focus less on space and possession and more on walkability and environmental impact." New opportunities: As mentioned above, we may have to change the way we think about the suburbs, but that doesn't mean they can't be useful. There are several arguments for retrofitting them for seniors as a competitive option while society continues to move to more urban areas. It's likely that more solutions similar to this will pop up in the next few years. A great example of this happening in Kansas City is the Meadowbrook Redevelopment in Prairie Village, KS. This mixed-use development will include senior housing along with retail, office, and park space! Kansas City: Our city is a great example of re-purposing in the suburbs. Right now, one of our own suburbs, (Westwood, KS), is working on becoming home to a huge mixed-use development to increase walkability in the area. Not only this, but one of our biggest suburbs (Overland Park, KS) is in negotiations for a final financing package for Brookridge Development. This project will include a mixed-use area with office, retail, and apartments, and the redevelopment of an 18-hole golf course into a city park and a 9-hole course. The suburbs may always be a thing, but our perceptions and needs as suburbanites are definitely changing. Do you think the suburbs are changing? Tell us in the comments below! Sources: Peak Millennial? Cities Can’t Assume a Continued Boost From the Young Are American Suburbs Dying? The American Suburbs as We Know Them are Dying What 'The End Of The Suburbs' Means For Boomers Brookridge Project in Overland Park Clears Another Hurdle Meadowbrook Redevelopment Woodside Village |
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