I was thinking about Headquarters on Monday when the concept of an internal Real Estate R&D department hit my brain like a bolt of lightning. Everyone is familiar with the concept of product development. Everyone has heard of scientific research. Who has ever heard of real estate R&D? Maybe a new concept! Google “real estate…
Author: dmusic604
Headquarters and the Portfolio in a Box Concept
I’d like to introduce a new way of thinking to real estate: the Portfolio in a Box. What is a Portfolio in a Box you ask (or I pretend you ask)? It’s ignoring the four walls of real estate and focusing on the functions alone. Think about it. What is real estate? It’s the physical…
So what’s the deal with all those “real-time” analytics?
So coming out of our summit, we talked A LOT about technology. Specifically we did the old SWOT analysis on ourselves and the competition. Going down that road we discovered a new buzzword in a lot of industries: real-time I’m a Georgia Tech Industrial Engineer. I do a lot of statistical analyses, I’m one that…
Sorry for no posts Thursday/Friday
Our team had a much needed summit here in Atlanta where we were finally able to come together after all the many changes. It was intriguing meeting so many new people. And the benefit is that new faces bring new ideas and ways of viewing the world. Already my brain is spinning with possibilities. Which…
What is a successful CRE deal?
The ways of defining a successful lease conclusion are many. A lot of times it is simply defined as a lease negotiated for a below market rate. Other times it’s based on savings versus a current target. Maybe it’s simply on time/on budget. Success metrics are wild creatures. Everyone looks at them differently and the…
Can we please reinvent the research report?
I’m sure you all receive some set of research reports on a monthly, quarterly and/or annual basis. Even if you don’t you know what they are – those text and pie chart heavy documents that go through the macro trends of a particular topic. In real estate, everyone puts out their own version with a…
The Changing Face of Retail
CNN.com ran an article this weekend on retail “showrooming” by consumers. It’s an article that anyone who’s followed the rise of Amazon.com saw coming more than 5 years ago. Consumers have always chased the best price for an item. Before it was malls – people would go from store store to store looking to find…
Sometimes it’s not about Customer Service…sometimes you just do Right
When you are in consulting you will occasionally come across those times when you have a client who is absolutely wrong and refuses to understand the right way. This is a situation known as no-win and one which you will discover what you’re made of. There are two ways to handle this situation: Support the…
Aren’t Real Estate Services REALLY About the non-Real Estate Stuff?
What is real estate? Fundamentally it’s buildings and space and an address. More metaphysically though it’s the space that supports a business. It’s the gas in the motor so to speak. There aren’t a ton of real estate people (on the services side) that come from operations. Most have always been in real estate or…
Secret (hidden) data gems.
There are sites that have a lot of really cool and probably highly valuable information that is locked away and I’m not even sure that the companies themselves are leveraging. Things like: LinkedIn: Who is the most networked man on the internet? Note that this is probably very different from the person with the most…