Wait for Me on iTunes / Improve Your Presentation Skills / Driving With Your Knees

The big news this week is that our new album, "Wait for Me" is now available in the iTunes store (search 'felix wait for me').  This album was three years in the making.  It's a collaboration between my sons, Brian, Kevin and me and a very talented group of Chicago based musicians.  The initial feedback is very positive and we are very excited about the potential for a few of the songs to be used for movies or TV.  You can listen to the tunes free here.  And you can buy individual songs or the whole album on iTunes.  Let me know which song you like best.  Thanks.

I continue to pick up new consulting clients (which is terrific and is keeping me off the streets and on the road).  But as I've learned with other real estate consulting companies I've operated, the financial challenge is to get a couple of retainer clients, who pay you monthly for a period of time.  This then gives you the cash flow to actually cover your fixed expenses each month (like food and shelter!).  While I'm not there yet, the progress has been very encouraging.  

Each clients' needs, as you would imagine, are different but what gives me a good feeling is that I'm doing things that I'm good at and have gotten excellent feedback from all of my clients (7 so far with 4 more on the calendar).  Interestingly, I have had more conversations (some from referrals, thank you very much) than I've had in a long time from experienced real estate operators who have asked me, "How do we get some of that there pension fund money?"  The basic answer has always been pretty much the same:  you need to have patience.  But what strikes me is that there are a number, of very credible real estate operators, ready, willing and able to invest the time and money that is a requirement to break into the institutional real estate community.  And, I think it's a great time for them given how that world has been evolving and that there are more and more opportunities for first time and minority/woman (I refuse to use the acronym) owned real estate investment management businesses.  Stay tuned!  Things are getting interesting.

One of the things that I've been helping some of my clients with is how to improve their presentations.  Getting the message right so that the audience takes away what you want them to is key.  But here's something I found years ago, rediscovered this week and want to share with you.  Btw, I believe a first impression is formed in four seconds; just long enough for someone to reach out, shake hands and look the other person in the eye.

First Impressions

Within the first thirty seconds of a speech, sales presentation or media interview, audiences decide whether they like you, trust you, and think you know your stuff.

Ironically, most business presentations are weakest at the beginning. Presenters who spend hours preparing their message and creating fancy visual media give little, if any, attention to their critical opening lines. As a result, flat greetings, bad jokes and the predictable welcome-name-topic approach ("Good morning, my name is Mary Smith and today I'm here to talk about...") are the norm.

The negative impact of a weak opening is two-fold. The unprepared speaker not only fails to inspire the audience's confidence in him, but also compounds his nervousness as he recognizes he's not generating any interest.

Your first words quickly set the tone of your presentation. A strong opening is your golden opportunity to capture your listeners' attention, establish your credibility, build rapport and entice the audience to listen to your message.

Make your first moment count. The adage, "You never get a second chance to make a first impression" applies to presenters.

Find a relevant anecdote or quote; refer to a current event or something newsworthy in your industry; or make a provocative statement that will draw your listeners in. Carefully plan and rehearse a compelling opener for your next presentation. You'll appreciate the difference—and so will your audience. 

Tips for a Better Beginning:

* Engage the audience immediately with ...a provocative statement ...a reference to a current event ...a quote ...an anecdote

* Elaborate on this initial idea as it relates to your topic

* "Tell 'em what you're gonna tell 'em" and provide a reason for listening

* Rehearse your opening until it feels natural

* Breathe slowly in the moments before your presentation begins

* Direct your opening line to a friendly face and build momentum

So take note of those people who make presentations that grab your attention and hold it.  Learn from those who do it well and from those who don’t do it well.  Adopt the techniques that will work for you and engage your audience.  You don’t have to adopt the exact style of someone else, in fact being yourself is really important.  But you can make changes, subtle or otherwise, to the way you handle yourself at the front of a group.  Practice on small groups before you take it to Broadway.   You’ll find out what works and what doesn’t and you’ll be better for it (and your audiences will too). 

Last item:  At the suggestion and with the encouragement of a close friend I have started working in earnest on completing a long-standing project: publishing a semi-autobiographical/semi-self-improvement book called Driving With Your Knees to be published Second Quarter 2013.  

On the road...

May 29-June 8:  New York for client meetings and to moderate panels at two events:

May 30 and 31: IMN U.S. Real Estate Opportunity & Private Fund Investing Forum

June 6 and 7:  ULI Finance & Investment 2012 Conference.

June 25-29:  New York for client meetings.

Sept. 10-12:  (t) Paris to attend the GRI Europe Conference.

Oct. 14-16:  Houston to conduct a training class on improving presentation skills.

Oct. 22-24:  Los Angeles to attend the PREA Conference.

Nov. 7:  Washington, DC to speak to a group of students in the accelerated Masters of Science in Real Estate Program at The Johns Hopkins Carey Business  School about what I've learned during my career in real estate.

Nov. 8 and 9:  New York to attend the PERE Forum.

Hanging With Some Very Smart People / Spec Development / Pinball Wizards

This week I sat in a meeting room in North Palm Beach, Florida with some of the industry's best research and Ph.D minds.  The event was the annual meeting of The Hoyt Fellows and The Maury Seldin Advanced Studies Institute.  The wonderful thing about this group is that egos are, pretty much, checked at the door.  There are short presentations on timely topics impacting the global commercial real estate industry and there is as lively a discussion as anywhere I've ever been.  Some of you have heard me say, "You know what happens when two real estate people get together, right?  They're talking or waiting to talk" (Btw, it's not just real estate).  And this group is no exception as everyone has something to say about the topic of the moment.  But that's the beauty of it and, in this group, it manages to work.  Plus, I heard the word 'spec' development uttered for the first time in quite a while referring to new construction industrial buildings being built in the LA market.  

Here are a few of my takeaways from the discussions:

• It's possible that increasing cash flow, expected from core assets, will be offset by increasing cap rates.
• One thing that's debated is the question of investing in a core property vs. a core market
• Apartments:  lowest cap rates in the U.S. are in the San Jose, CA market.
• Retailers are simply chasing population growth.  Here's where they want to be:  Raleigh, Oklahoma City, Denver, Portland (OR), Jacksonville, Sacramento, Tampa and Phoenix.
• Opportunistic plays may surface in some unexpected places:  Atlanta, Dallas/Fort Worth, Indianapolis, Inland Empire, Jacksonville, Las Vegas, Memphis, Phoenix, Portland (OR).
• The Federal Reserve Bank of New York is developing a tool that will analyze every commercial real estate loan made by banks and have the ability to predict the probability of default.
• The opportunities today:  Debt, Distress, Development

And...

• In the next 10 years, of the 10-15 million new households in the U.S.
• recent legal immigrants will account for 1/3
• 3/4 will be minority headed

Things Beyond Business:

-Ron Donahue has a passion for pinball machines.  So much so that he has converted his garage into a virtual arcade (see photo).  He is the Chairman of Hoyt Advisory Services and invited us over the last night.  It was very cool.  While I was never big into pinball games Ron does have Skee Ball, which my friends and I used to play at Fairyland Amusement Park on Queens Boulevard in Rego Park, NY.  He also had two very old baseball machines.  I hadn't had my hands on these type things in a really, really long time.  Standing there took me back to my days growing up and thinking about the friends with whom I shared those innocent days.  

Where the Pinball Wizard Hangs Out

-Rick Wincott is a bass guitar player.  He also is also Senior Executive VP at Altus Group.  In his house, he has a room that houses everything you need for a band to walk in, flip on the switches and rock out.  He's got more than 50 guitars and countless, classic amplifiers, etc.  He's invited me over when I'll be in Houston in the fall.   

Thanks to everybody who attended my 'launch party' in San Francisco.  We had a really nice group, about 25 people, and everybody was engaged with everyone.  A couple of folks totally surprised me by showing up which was very special.  It also is no longer a surprise to me about how small the world is and I'm not just talking about our industry.  We'll do another one of these get-togethers in Chicago one of these days.

I received a number of emails about the mother's day piece I published last week. Thanks, especially those of you who shared your own stories with me.  

Congratulations:  

• Bob White, President of RCA (Real Capital Analytics) who has been named to the Board of Directors of PREA (Pension Real Estate Association)
• Justin Laub who is joining Churchill Capital. 

Providing deeper transparency into the commercial real estate transaction world, RCA and Moody's have announced the launch of the Moody's/RCA Commercial Property Price Indices (CPPI).  These will used advanced repeat-regression analytics to measure price changes in U.S. commercial real estate on five major property types (apartment, retail, industrial, central business district office and suburban office).

On the road...

May 21:  San Francisco to work with a new client.

May 22-25:  Napa, CA to mow the lawn and rake leaves.

May 29-June 8:  New York to work with a new client on improving presentation skills and to attend (a) IMN's U.S. Opportunity & Private Fund Investing Forum where I'll be moderating a panel on GP Mergers  on May 30 & 31 and (b) ULI's Real Estate Capital Markets Conference where I'll be moderating a panel on Launching & Managing a New Real Estate Fund.

June 25-29:  New York to work with a new client on developing a process to raise institutional real estate capital.

Sept. 10-12:  Paris to attend the GRI 

Oct. 14-16:  Houston to provide a class on Improving Presentation Skills to one a new client.

Nov.8-9:  New York to attend the PERE Summit 2012

Mother's Day Regret

My mother and I had, I guess the best way to put it, a strained relationship.  Maybe it was because we were similar but I didn't see that until much later.  

I am the oldest of three boys and she had me just two years after Benjamin Spock published his book, Baby and Child Care.  I don't know for sure, as that book is not one of the ones that I inherited, but it's a good bet that she had it. Spock's simple core message was revolutionary at the time:  "Don't be afraid to trust your own common sense."  Between that and his insistence that parents should show love and affection to their children rather than constant strict discipline, he challenged the conventional wisdom of early 20th century child rearing like no one else.  

One of the reasons I think she had the book is that part about parents showing love and affection to their children rather than strict discipline. Growing up, I was shown love and affection but was not disciplined at all.  I paid a price for this and for many years blamed my parents for not having disciplined me when I was younger.  If I had to guess, they just weren't sure what to do with me (as my middle brother, Jay, has different recollections of growing up than I do).  But, they thought they were doing the right thing.

I grew up in a middle-class family although my mothers' parents felt that they were more high-class, perhaps based on their ability to pay for a pretty lavish wedding in an well-known New York City hotel (I have the receipts and the prices are simply amazing...so much for so little!) and they could afford go away for the whole summer (a modest resort in Morris County, NJ) and they had made the move from Walton Avenue in the Bronx to Haring Street, off 63rd Drive in Rego Park, Queens, New York into a large two-bedroom apartment that they lived in for more than 40 years.  My mothers' father, Herman Silverman, worked in the fur business.  I have some photos of him in the great white north standing around, smoking his cigar and talking with fur trappers.   

My father came from a very, very poor family and I am pretty sure that my mothers' parents were not happy that she fell in love with someone 'beneath them.'  Actually, now that I think of it, I wonder if their divorce, some 30+ years later had anything to do with their basic differences:  my father was ultra-conservative (even when they had the chance to buy Weight Watchers stock as insiders) and my mother was an independent woman, an entrepreneur and a world traveler who ran her own travel agency for many years.

I also had issues with my mother when she turned out to not be the grandmother that she claimed to be.  But, when I got to a stage in my life where I realized I needed to deal with these and other issues, I understood that she was only doing the best she could and she wasn't going to be the person I wanted her to be, just because, and so I decided that I needed to work on accepting her as she was.  

Sadly, that insight came very close to when she got sick and died at 68.  But, although having been distant (philosophically but living physically close), when Jay called from Arizona to tell me she had fallen off a chair and that something was wrong and I needed to go to her aid, of course, I went immediately. She had survived lung cancer a good number of years before and I don't know if she had gone for her six-month checkups religiously.  But, after this event, she deteriorated pretty quickly.  And, as I spent time with her, taking her to doctors, finding someone to come in and watch her (she complained about all of them), I noticed a change in her.  She got nicer.   I didn't realize it then but that was the dementia setting in which was the result of the diagnosis that was confirmed:  brain cancer (although supposedly not connected to her previous cancer).  Some of her comments were funny but the situation was sad.  And, after consulting with a wonderful doctor at one of the top hospitals in New York, we decided to let nature take it's course rather than subject her to chemotherapy.  

At some point, probably about a year before she got sick,  when I had separated from the mother of my sons, living in a basement room of a good friend in Sea Bright, NJ (it actually was a pretty nice room and I learned how to live vertically...needing to stack stuff up rather than spread out), I received an envelope from my mother.  This was, sadly, before I had reached the point of wanting to accept her and reconcile with her.  From my recollection of the feel of the envelope, it was likely a letter of some length. All in all, there are really very few things I regret in my life.  Was it still a leftover from the lack of discipline for which I'd paid a price for many years?  More likely, it was just a stubborn act, a dumb act, done without any thought. I threw the letter out without reading it, without evening opening it.   But, maybe my mother would have understood as she and I shared some personality traits, some good and some harmful to ourselves.  I have always wondered what that letter said.  Sadly, I will never know but I'm pretty sure it had nothing to do with disciplining me.  She would have written about her love for me.

Happy Mother's Day Mom.

Happy Mother's Day to all you Mom's out there, somewhere over the rainbow.

Happy Mother's Day to my mother-in-law who is failing in a hospital in Montreal.

Happy Mother's Day.

My mother, Lorna and me

"Felix...Wait for Me" new CD released / New Industry Events / The Price is Right

Yesterday was a big day for me.  A box with 300 copies of our new CD, "Felix...Wait for Me" was delivered.  Some of you know about this second CD of original music that I've recorded with my sons, Brian and Kevin and some great Chicago musicians.  It's been three years in the making and we are all very excited about it.  It's available today on this site and will be up on iTunes next week.  I'll also be walking around with a bunch of them wherever I go.  You can get a free taste of the tunes here. We believe that there are three songs that could be of interest to TV or movie people.  Let me know what you think.  Thanks for your support.

I've been working on a plan to create a series of events unlike anything anyone in our industry has ever done.  Yesterday, I met with my "Event Consultant" and we talked through the plan.  She loved the it.  I can't tell you much about it now as, believe it or not, there are people out there that might take the idea and run with it themselves.  But, then again, maybe not as this particular series of events will not be the biggest in the industry or the ones that make the most money but rather ones that mirror how I live my life:  doing things that can help people learn, grow and connect.  It'll probably take me until the fall to launch this but I'll keep you posted and may ask for your help too.

Bob Stewart died this week.  He wasn't a household name in television although his name came into millions of homes every day.  He was the creator of some of the most culture-defining game shows in TV history.  Mr. Stewart’s long-running hit shows, which also included “Password” and "The Price is Right"  relied on his belief that simplicity could fascinate viewers. “Bob had a talent for tapping into Americana, meaning real people: a pricing game, a game of occupations, trying to get you to say one word,” said the Fred Wostbrock of "The Encyclopedia of Game Show".  As Mr. Stewart himself put it, in an interview for the Archive of American Television: “Once you cause somebody at home to talk to the set aloud, even by himself or herself, then you’ve got a good game show. You want them to say, ‘It’s number 2! It’s number 2! It’s number 2!’ before the moment of truth comes out.”  Simple. But brilliant.

Congratulations:

• Real Capital Analytics (RCA) as the first recipient of the ICSC's (International Council of Shopping Centers) Distinguished Research Partner Award. "The research award was established to recognize companies or organizations which have demonstrated a significant commitment to ICSC’s research initiates and provided consistent support to the shopping-center industry", said the press release.
• Mark Petersen who was promoted to the role of President of Beringer Securities. 
• The guys at the consulting firm, Robert Harrell who this week announced the launch of PERview, an online inventory and reporting application designed to help pension plans to better organize information on their real estate portfolio.  PERview was developed for Dallas Police & Fire Pension System and is now available to everyone.  Having been connected to these guys through a mutual friend, I got an early glimpse of it and gave them some ideas which they incorporated into the final product.  It's pretty cool.  You can check it out here:  http://www.perview.emaproducts.com
• Developer Todd Zapolski who closed his deal to buy the Napa (CA) Town Center.  If you represent a retailer or restauranteur or know someone who does you may want to look into this project; it is going to become the showplace of a rejuvenated downtown Napa.

Thanks for the great suggestions on how to improve the Solutions by Steve Felix website.  I have implemented some of them already.  It's much easier making suggestions to others about their websites than working on your own!

On the road:

May 14 (this coming Monday):  San Francisco to celebrate the launch of my new consulting business, Solutions by Steve Felix.  Please join me and a bunch of our industry friends at the Blanc et Rouge Wine Bar on the first floor of Two Embarcadero Center in San Francisco.  I'll be there starting at 5:30 and will stay with the last person standing! Dutch treat.  Feel free to pass this along and invite your industry friends.  The more the merrier.

May 16-19:  North Palm Beach, Florida to attend the annual meeting of The Hoyt Fellows.

May 28-June 8:  New York for some client meetings and to attend both the IMN Real Estate Opportunity & Private Funds Investing Forum (May 30/31) and ULI's Capital Markets Conference (June 6/7). Btw, I'll be moderating panels at both.

June 26-29:  New York for client meetings.

Sept. 11-12:  Paris to attend the GRI Europe Summit

Symbolic Gestures / How to Find a Mentor / Launch Party in San Francisco

Those of you who also travel a lot know the feeling:  there's a whole different rhythm to your day when you're not 'on the road.'  For a couple of weeks I'm dog/house sitting and working from home.  It's a challenge to avoid some of the distractions and to create a structure to the day that allows me to focus on my business without slacking off on the 'chores.'  But it does put things in perspective and is a good thing to do from time to time.  So, my next trip starts in, let's see, 12 days and 32 minutes!

The headline read, "Paralyzed Player Signed by His Former Coach."  It was in the sports pages but it should have been shouted from the highest rooftops (It probably made it to TV news but since I don't watch that I wouldn't know). "The Tampa Bay Buccaneers made a notable and poignant free-agent signing Wednesday when they added one of Coach Greg Schiano's former Rutgers players:  defensive tackle Eric LeGrand, who was paralyzed after injuring his spinal cord in a game in 2010.  "Leading up to the draft, I couldn't help but think that this should've been Eric's draft class," Schiano, entering his first season with the Buccaneers, said in a statement.  "This small gesture is the least we could do to recognize his character, spirit and perseverance." 

This is a wonderful story which is summed up by this quote from the player, Eric LeGrand, " It’s just something that Coach wanted to do, and I just appreciate that. It’s just a symbolic gesture. It just shows the man he is.”  Too often, symbolic gestures have self-engrandizing ulterior motives.  I've never met Coach Schiano but he sounds like a guy I would like to know.

Mentoring advice from an article I recently read:  "Throughout my career, I had a lot of mentors, and I just adopted them. What I found is that, especially if you’re young, when you go up to people and say, ‘Would you mind being my mentor?,’ their eyes widen. They literally step back. What they’re thinking about is the commitment and time involved if they say yes. And time is something they don’t have. So I would not ask them to be my mentor, but I would just start treating them like it. And that worked very well for me."

Q. What career advice do you give people?

A. I think people in general don’t take enough risks. Some people feel that before they can take on that next challenge they need to be 100 percent ready. It’s just not true. Even people in their jobs aren’t perfect at their jobs. So my biggest advice to people is to step out there. Take the risk and deal with it. What is the worst that could happen? It’s about thriving on risk instead of shrinking from risk.

OTR Job Service:  If you're looking to hire someone and haven't engaged a recruiter I'll be happy to post a very brief job description here with your email address.  There are a lot of very qualified folks out there and it'd be my pleasure to help you connect with them.

Solutions by Steve Felix:  Five clients.  Five more on the calendar!  I've updated my website (like three times a week!).  Comments/Suggestions are welcome and appreciated.

Congratulations to:

Eric Lang who has been named to head the Real Assets team at Teacher Employee Retirement System of Texas (TRS). 

Eric Goldstein and Oren Klaber who have joined Korn Ferry in their Futurestep division. 

 Photo:  Sherwood totally blending in with the blanket.

On the road...

May 14:  San Francisco:  Please join me and a bunch of your industry colleagues in the West coast celebration of the launch of my new management consulting firm, Solutions by Steve Felix.  It'll be at Blanc et Rouge Wine Bar, Two Embarcadero Center, First Floor.  I'll be there starting at 5:30 and will stay with the last person standing!  Dutch treat.  I hope to see you.  Feel free to invite your industry friends....the more the merrier!

May 16-19: North Palm Beach, FL to attend the annual meeting of The Hoyt Fellows.

May 28-June 8:  New York for client meetings and to attend and moderate panels at two excellent events:  IMN's U.S. Real Estate Opportunity & Private Funds Investing Forum on May 30/31 and ULI's Capital Markets conference on June 6/7.

Sept. 11-12:  Paris to attend the GRI Europe Summit 2012

PERE Global Investor Forum / RCA U.S. Capital Trends / People Stuff

I was truly on the road this week as I chose to drive from my home to Los Angeles where the PERE Global Investors Forum was being held (about 7 hours).  I've always loved driving long distances and don't get a chance to do it much anymore.  It gave me time to be by myself and think and I came up with a few good ideas and also remembered some things that I had been meaning to do but had forgotten.  The PERE Forum was, in the opinion of many, one of the best events they've been to and I don't think they were just saying that to me because I played a couple of roles during the event!  Zoe Hughes of PERE, currently on maternity leave, put the program together and it lived up to the advance billing.  

Ted Leary interviewed Mike DiRe of CalSTRS and Ted Eliapolous of CalPERS who were genuine in describing their challenges and their successes.  Robin Marriott interviewed Steve LeBlanc of Texas Teacher Employees Retirement System who announced that Eric Lang will be taking over as head of real estate in June when Steve leaves.  Terri Herubin of The Townsend Group gave an excellent presentation and then answered some very direct questions very directly.  There were about 220 attendees and many people told me they thought that it was that size that gave them the chance to really get a chance to have substantive conversations.   Here are a few takeaways from some of the LP's:

-"We've shifted our investment to more income opportunities." 

-"More focus on doing business with women and minority owned investment advisors."  

-"We're working on keeping down the number of managers we invest with."  

-"We had good success with the idea of "develop to core" and think it can still work with good local operating partners."  

-"If one of our 'partners' plans to do something outside of the box they need to give us a heads' up."  

-"We've learned from the mistakes we've made in investing but if we sit on the sidelines we won't learn anything."  

The panel I moderated was on investing in distress and had five very experienced people.  Some of their thoughts:

-"Safety is expensive.  Risk is cheap."

-"We steer away from the herd and avoid bidding wars."

"We like 'out of favor' markets and will take bankruptcy and construction risk where there is less competition for the deals."

-"It's important to match up distressed investing with your management capabilities."

-"We want to sell to someone who is overpaying for safety."

One of the great things about the event was the number of younger (than me) people in attendance.  Many of them are in marketing/capital raising/client services/investor relations there was a lot of lively conversation.  One suggestion I make in my "How to get more out of attending a conference" training sessions is this:  If you're attending an event with a colleague, don't hang around or sit with them; divide and conquer; that way you're getting to interact with twice as many people (Note:  An exception to this rule is if your colleague is new to their job or has not been to too many other events.  Then, taking them around with you and making introductions is acceptable!).  Another suggestion is that when you've decided to take the time and spend the money to attend an event you should "be there"; be present.  Sitting in a panel discussion and working your emails is not only rude it doesn't make sense.  If you're bored or just have so many urgent things going on, leave the session and do your work.  

This reminds me of something I wrote about a long time ago.  I had fought getting a BlackBerry.  No one had ever accused me of being 'slow to respond' or 'out of contact' and, with all the travel I was doing on most days it was limited to when I was on my computer early morning and early evening.  So everything was cool.  But I was at an event and walking in the 'trade show' part and come upon a booth there was this guy on his Blackberry.  I asked him, "So, how do you like that thing?"  "Don't know how I ever lived without it," he said.  "You know, I just don't have that many urgent things going on every day to feel I need one," says me.  I'll never forget his tongue-in-cheek response, "You know, until I got this I didn't realize how many urgent things I have going on each day!"  Hey, I know that many of us are expected to be 'on' 24/7 and to respond immediately to each and every text/email/call we get.  And believe me, I appreciate it.  But remember that sometimes, when we respond or react too fast to something we make mistakes; we write something we wish we could retract but it's too late.  Anyway, enough preaching for this morning.  If you'd be interested in having me come in an conduct a class for your team on "How to get the most out of attending an industry event" or "How to network" or some of the other eclectic skills I've helped people develop just let me know.

INREV Annual Meeting:  Due to a conflict I wasn't able to attend their meeting this week in Vienna (Austria vs. Virginia) but spoke with a couple of friend who were there and the one word theme they agreed on was "Caution."  As I travel around and talk with the sources of capital (pension funds, endowments, foundations, family offices, sovereign wealth funds and plain ol' rich people) I am hearing two different stories:  caution on the one hand and assertiveness on the other.  Not everyone has the same tolerance for risk, nor should they.  So while not 'throwing caution to the wind' those folks with an appetite for opportunity and fire in their bellies are certainly out there in force.

Some headlines from RCA's 1Q12 U.S. Capital Trends Review published this week:

• Sales of commercial properties totaled $50.3b in Q1’12, up 40% from a year earlier. Positive momen­tum has returned from the slowing experienced in the second half of 2011 when CMBS conduits and other lenders reigned in their origination activity.

• Sales of retail properties surged ahead 89% from a year earlier on strong portfolio volume. Hotels were the sole exception to the positive volume trends and transaction activity has been declining over the past two quarters.

• Cap rates continued to trend lower for CBD office, apartment and retail properties and were rela­tively flat for suburban office, industrial and hotel properties.

• Although the pricing disparity between the Major Metros and the rest of the US narrowed somewhat during 2011, it appears that trend has reversed, at least temporarily, in the office and apartment sectors.

• This pricing premium differs significantly across, and even within, each of the six Major Metros. A trend noted across several property types is that the Chicago and LA metros have not rebounded as strongly as the other four. In addition, the pricing disparity in a number of markets within each Major Metro is very wide compared to historic averages.

Congratulations to Andrew Dietz who just joined ASB Real Estate Investments as Head of Marketing and Client Services, Leah Dillion who (not too long ago) joined ProLogis as Vice President/Global Client Relations, Patrick Kanters of APG who was named chairman of INREV and Jon Dishell who recently joined American Real Estate Partners as Managing Director of Fund Management and Investor Relations. 

Yes, I do lead a sheltered life.  I didn't know until just the other day that there is a professional basketball player in the U.S. whose name is Metta World Peace! (And I only know about it because of the headlines about him being 'barred' for seven games:  He hit an opposing player in the back of his head with an elbow causing a concussion). So much for peace!. 

Happy Birthday Kev!

New:  "You looking for me?"  OTR Job Aid

If your company is looking to fill a position and you are doing it yourselves (i.e. have not engaged a recruiter) I'll be happy to post a very brief job description and an email link.  Please send it to me by replying to this email.  (Also if you've got opportunities for summer interns.)Thanks.  

On the road....

May 3:  San Francisco for client meetings and other stuff.

May 14:  Please join me at the West coast celebration of the launch of my new management consulting firm, Solutions by Steve Felix at Blanc et Rouge Wine Bar, Two Embarcadero Center/First Floor.  I'll be there starting at 5:30pm and will stay with the last one standing!  Dutch Treat.  I hope you can join me and feel free to invite your industry friends.  

May 16-19:  North Palm Beach, FL to attend the annual meeting of The Hoyt Fellows

May 28-June 8:  New York for client meetings and to attend IMN's U.S. Real Estate Opportunity & Private Funds Investing Forum where I'll be moderating an interesting session on GP Mergers.

Sept. 11-12:  Paris to attend the GRI Europe Summit 2012

Levon Helm / Defining Distress / Bob's Model Building Collection

In the summer of 1968, me and my brother and some musician friends of ours discovered a group that used to be Bob Dylan's backup band.  Eric Clapton said, "Music from Big Pink changed my life."  A second album, "The Band" (known as the 'The Brown Album') is considered one of the true classics and includes "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down", "Up on Cripple Creek" and one of my very favorites, "The Unfaithful Servant."  The group was called The Band.  Yesterday, I got a call from Tom Bruno, the drummer/singer in the Jersey City, New Jersey based band I was in in the late 60's/early 70's called "Everyone."  "Did you hear?  Levon Helm died."  I had known that Levon, the group's drummer, mandolinist and one of the lead singers, had had throat cancer but didn't realize he was close to the edge.  Tommy and I reminisced about the songs that we did from the catalogue of The Band.  My extended group of music loving friends have for years sang, without any encouragement needed, one of the great singalongs of all time "The Weight" (Take a load off Fanny, Take a load for free....). Richard Manuel committed suicide in the early 80's and Rick Danko died in 1999.  The Band was and is one of the significant influences to me and on my music and I got to see them perform numerous times.  Losing Levon is another reminder of just how fragile the whole darn thing is.  Levon was 71.

I'll be at PERE's Global Investor Forum in Los Angeles next week and hope to see some of you there. On the second day, I'll be the host, filling in for Zoe Hughes of PERE who is on maternity leave and had a baby girl just a couple of weeks ago.  At the last minute, I was also recruited to moderate the panel called "Defining Distress."  The panelists are experienced investors who suggest that the opportunity lies in finding value at the bottom of the cycle.  They also question the wisdom of investing in core today as, perhaps, investors may be 'paying up for safety.'  It will definitely be a lively session.  Stay tuned!

Things beyond business:  Bob White is known throughout the global real estate industry as the founder of RCA (Real Capital Analytics).  He also has a reputation for throwing the best rooftop parties in New York where movers and shakers in the commercial real estate world converge a few times a year.  But something that you may not know about Bob is that he is an avid collector of scale model buildings and has has an extensive display of these, from all over the world, in RCA's headquarters in New York.  

Every picture tells a story.  There's a great service out there called Life History Books which will help you document you family's history or that of a particular family member or person.  I've always been sentimental and as the repository of many of my mothers' photos and my fathers 8mm movies I've done some things to make sure this stuff is passed around and down and will survive the ages.  Also, at the request of one of my daughters-in-law, I've been documenting my recollections of different experiences growing up.   But, this company can make it easy for you to preserve and protect the legacy of your family.  Check it out/pass it along.

"We are not just living through a financial crisis but a moral crisis."  A good friend of mine spoke recently with a group of university students about where we are today and how we got here from a financial and real estate perspective.  But he told me that the topic of the discussion just prior to him was Ethics!

On the road....

Apr. 23-26:  Los Angeles to attend the PERE Global Investor Forum

May 14:  San Francisco. Please join me in the west coast celebration the launch of my management consulting firm, Solutions by Steve Felix.  Blanc et Rouge Wine Bar, Two Embarcadero Center/First Floor.  I'll be there starting at 5:30pm and will stay with the last one standing!  Dutch treat.  I hope you can join me.  Feel free to bring industry friends.

May 16-20:  North Palm Beach, Florida to attend the annual meeting of The Hoyt Fellows.

May 22-25:  London to attend the IP Real Estate Awards Event and catch up with some of my London friends.

May 29-June 1:  New York for client meetings and other stuff

Sept.  Paris to attend the GRI Europe Summit