Here’s a cool video that teaches people about real estate vocabulary.  What is a letter of intent?  It is basically a letter to express interest in a property, but does not serve as a sales contract.  They are basically contracts that express good faith, but cannot be used in courts assuming something goes wrong.  It is a step ahead of a verbal agreement but one step behind a real written contract.

It is usually used in many cases such that a real estate agent is not used and the principals are trying to hash out details of a larger commercial property.  Often this document is generated with the help of a lawyer in a real estate acquisitions team.

There’s an old adage that states,  ”little things can have large impacts.” This saying goes true to almost any thing, even to selling houses. The littlest things that you don’t notice may affect how your potential buyer views it. Ever notice the little spot of mold hidden behind that couch, or the black smoke stains on the kitchen walls? Well, maybe you haven’t, but potential buyers will at first glance. It is extremely important to keep your house clean in the event that you want to sell it. Presentation is almost everything when it comes down to it. If you have a nice, good house that’s well constructed and fit for living but it looks like a dump, potential buyers will look away. House clearance may not seem that important on the priority list to some, but think again, it is indeed important.

Retail spaces in established Central Business Districts are usually wonderful investments.  Think about it this way… Street frontage is typically limited if not scarce.  Thus, if the retail climate in your region is good, prime retail spaces will appreciate quickest in terms of rent, thus making them decent investments.

Nevertheless, this does not make them perfect.  If the initial cash flow proportionate to the sale price (cap rate) is too low, it might not be worth it, since the seller who have captured the future appreciation of the property during the sale.  Yet, there can also be other factors influencing the price of a CBD property, such as leases, nearby growth, traffic, potential for future development or rent increase potential.  The factors, along with others can make your urban streetfront retail investment more worthwhile.

Another downside to CBD retail properties is that in some markets, the price of entry is very high, especially for trophy properties in large cities leased to established national and internationl tenants.  Examples include Park Avenue in New York City, Michigan Avenue in Chicago and Bellevue Way in Bellevue, Washington.  An alternative to the high prices may be to buy in second-tier locations or retail shops underneath mixed-use condo developments, that are typically sold as condos.  The downside of condo commercial properties is that they have no future development potential as in most cases they are developed already.

For more information about CBD retail spaces, I would recommend contacting a real estate professional in your market who specializes in CBD commercial/retail properties.

With a pricetag of $360 million, International Business Machines (IBM) is building its ninth environmentally friendly cloud computing center in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina.  According to Bob Greenberg, general manager of IT optimization:

This new data center is part of IBM’s commitment to construct the world’s most advanced data centers. When we open for business in late 2009, the new IBM data center assures that Research Triangle Park will be a strategic location for our outsourcing business for many years to come. I’d like to thank the State of North Carolina, Durham County, the Durham Chamber of Commerce, and Duke Energy for their outstanding support that helped make this project possible.  Source: http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/Stock%20News/1802216/

Green data centers are beneficial for all.  It helps IBM reach it’s billion dollar environmental initiatives and benefits the environment.

This morning, I was reading Commercial Property News…  The flood of vacant office space and slowing economy in Miami, Florida are starting to drive down office rents in South Florida, particularly in the CBD areas.  Not just Miami, but West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale are also feeling the pinch of the credit crisis.  Florida, being one of the hardest hit real estate markets due to the real estate flips and condo conversion craze, many mortgage companies and banks are laying off workers and cutting office space.  For more information, please visit this article.. Click here for more information from CPN. 

Let’s hope the office market does to fail in other cities as commercial banks continue to reduce their operations.