In the blink of
an eye
Ray Torto, one
of the most well-known and respected real estate research and strategy people
was in a bad car crash last Sunday.
Immediately following the accident the report was not good. As the week went on,
things started looking a little better and as of yesterday, Ray was up and
talking again – albeit in his still difficult to understand Boston accent! Please join me in sending positive vibes to
Ray for a speedy and full recovery.
Thanks!
Learning Something New Every Day
In the ‘you learn
something every day’ category, this past week I learned that I must have been
living a sheltered life for some period of time. Two people I exchanged business cards with
had the title, “Director of Capital Introductions” as their job. It got me thinking: yes, to raise capital there need to be
introductions made. Exactly between
whom does these folks make the introductions?
And, is that all there is?
My
guess is that the people in these positions introduce themselves to a source of
capital like a consultant, pension fund, endowment, foundation, sovereign wealth fund or
rich people (i.e. family office or simply really, really rich individuals – from where there’s more and more money coming into real estate). Then, after they introduce themselves, they
ask if they can introduce that source of capital (for lack of a better
expression) to some of their colleagues who will be happy to take some of their
money and invest in in real estate.
Assuming that’s acceptable, then, and this is just a guess, the next introduction
comes from the investment professionals that the Director of Capital
Introductions has made to the investor to the investment opportunity.
My head is spinning – did I get that right? Maybe, there’s another introduction to be
made along the way to the team that is going to incorporate research, portfolio, asset management, reporting, risk
management and the like into the investment.
What this is really about is my first thought when seeing the title –
making an introduction is the key starting point. I personally know as I’ve done a lot of that
in my career. And it’s interesting to
see that that title, “Director of Capital Introductions” is appearing. I’m not sure I like it, not that anyone has
asked me. Perhaps it’s that even though
that is the function, I’m not positive that the title really represents what
many folks really do – it’s a lot more than just making an introduction isn’t
it?
Two weeks on
the road
Yesterday I got
back (I’m still having a little difficulty with calling North Carolina home)
from a two-week, three-city trip. It
reminded me of a trip of similar length I took in Europe 10 years ago when I
was working at launching the business there for IREI. I vowed at that time that two weeks was
simply too long to be on the road in one shot.
Having
said that, this was a great trip. My
partner Liz Weiner and I were first in Dallas where we conducted an in-house
women’s leadership workshop for 26 women for a well-known real estate investment management
firm.
Then I went on to Chicago where I
had a chance to make my first visit to see the giraffes (and some of their
friends) at the Lincoln Park Zoo – which I learned from a friend last night is
one of only two ‘free’ zoos remaining in the U.S. I love
giraffes. I don’t like zoos. And while the Lincoln Park Zoo is a very nice
facility, the outdoors giraffe enclose was closed and under renovation – so the
two of them were housed indoors.
What
that visit did do is reinforce the need for me to plan and book the African
photo safari I have dreamed of for many, many years – I’ve always wanted to see
the giraffes in their natural habitat and am going to take a safari in 2017.
The business
part of the Chicago visit was to attend the NAREIM (National Association of
Real Estate Investment Mangers) Executive Officers (EO) meeting. This meeting takes place twice a year and is attended
by very senior people on the real estate investment management side of our
business.
The reason that the conversation is so open is that there are no
consultants and no LP’s allowed (except for one LP that was interviewed as the
last session on the second day). Congratulations to NAREIM
CEO Gunnar Branson and the planning committee who did a very thoughtful job of creating
the agenda.
NAREIM currently has 93
members. Their charter limits membership
to 100. If you are not a member, I
encourage you to look into becoming one.
Several of the prospective members that attended this event told me that
they are likely to sign up so the remaining spaces may be limited.
NAREIM also hosts a series of other great specialty meetings during the year. These include Capital Raising and Investor Relations,
Human Resources, Architectural and Engineering, Legal and Compliance, Sustainability
and Investment Management, Acquisitions and Dispositions and Research and
Investment Management. These are modest
size groups where interaction amongst the presenters and attendees is
unparalleled in the industry. Check
NAREIM out. Oh, the reason I’m not sharing any of my takeaways from the EO
meeting is that it operates under the rules, ‘What’s said there, stays there.”
“Next Thursday”
I am so tired
of hearing people, especially moderators on panels, ask, “So, what inning are
we in?” or “When are things going to change and started sliding downhill
again.”
As there is no shortage of opinion in our industry, there are a myriad
of answers offered – ‘next Thursday’ being one that, while a bit flippant,
suggests that we really don’t know for sure and I’m not one to
pontificate.
However, there are signs
that things are changing and, just like a restaurant can’t always predict what
kind of night they’re going to have, there are factors at work that suggest
that we’re not really in any better shape than the restaurant manager trying to
figure out, “Was it the rain or the parade or the holiday or whatever” that is
behind having a slow night.
I can tell you
that my friend in the industry show no signs of slowing down their efforts to
raise and deploy capital. What is
changing is the profile of the investor – more and more non-traditional
investors, capable of buying institutional quality assets, are playing the game
and, in many cases, winning the deals.
One of the
things that some companies are beginning to do is to ‘Think Different’ (yes,
that’s the Apple advertising slogan that was created by the drummer in the first
rock ‘n ‘roll band I played in - and my
longtime friend – Ken Segall). In
anticipation of things changing, it’s important to look at what was done
preparing for the last downturn or the lessons learned coming through it, and
think differently about what you might be doing to get ready. It’s a very healthy and worthwhile
exercise. And remember, the folks in
your firm who have never experienced anything other than a market that
continues to go up may be an excellent source of ideas about what to consider
doing differently this time. Invite them
into your strategy meetings – even if they don’t have any brilliant ideas, they’ll
learn a lot which is a value-add for your firm and your investors.
Felix/Weiner
Workshops Announced
Two weeks ago
my partner Liz Weiner (I’m going to refer to her simply as Liz going forward)
piloted a new type workshop in Chicago.
The feedback from the participants was powerfully positive and we’ve now
incorporated that into the schedule we released this week.
The new workshop, patterned after our internal presentation coaching workshops, is an open-enrollment (people buy
tickets) Behavioral Presentation Coaching workshop. Attendance in the full-day, interactive
session is limited to 10 participants (no more than 2 people from any one
firm).
We’re
continuing our successful Women’s Leadership Workshop series. In the firs 15 open-enrollment workshops we’ve
had women from 75 different commercial real estate industry related firms
attend. We’ve also conducted five
internal women’s leadership / presentation coaching workshops at some of the
most prominently named firms in the industry.
Here’s our
schedule with a link to the page where you can learn more and register. We look forward to seeing you or one of your
colleagues at one of our upcoming workshops:
Women’s
Leadership Workshops...
Develop and enhance your professional presence
2017
**
Behavioral
Presentation Coaching Workshops...
Immediately improve your
presentation skills...in just one day!
2017
