Their Real Estate Management Services example essay topic

REAL ESTATE MANAGEMENT: 1990's AND BEYOND BY Clark Jones TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction Expansion and Diversity Human Resources Management Conclusion References REAL ESTATE MANAGEMENT: 1990's AND BEYOND BY Clark Jones INTRODUCTION The Journal of Property Management (1998) reports that real estate has been freed up by certain laws in the 1990's, most importantly, the relaxation of the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933, allowing market access to real estate by banking institutions; the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997, allowing property owners indefinite tax deferral on the sale of property (an estimated $91 billion to reinvest in real estate); and the 1998 appropriations bill which cuts housing costs by introducing 'mark-to-market' rents (Anonymous, 1998, p. P 6 S). All of these translate into financial advantages for real estate companies. Interestingly, the 1990's have already seen changes that complement these changes. Most real estate companies have become management companies. Much like an investment portfolio, they not only list and sell property, but also manage and invest in a number of properties.

In addition, they are taking advantage of mergers and agreements. As if this were not enough change in a single decade, many real estate companies are changing the way they do business internally. Although they have always operated on a contractual basis with agents, stake holding and entrepreneurship have new meaning in the 1990's (Davies, 1995, p. 54). In addition, cultural demographics are changing quickly. This means changes in organizational structures within real estate offices.

This paper will address these changes in the context of the ethical considerations for which real estate has always been accountable. EXPANSION AND DIVERSITY Among other things, real estate brokerage services in the 1990's includes understanding and complying with federal and state real estate laws; surveying real estate; evaluating real estate according to specific criteria; ethically representing buyers and sellers and seeing that all agents do likewise' performing marketing analyses, cycles and trends; establishing public relations and advertising campaigns; conducting business according to corporate management; operating within cooperative ownership agreements; determining investment areas, and analyzing financial procedures of both the company and its agents. Of equal importance is the new financial structure of the real estate management brokerage, which includes financial investment on a large scale. These may include listing, investment in, and sale of private, public and commercial properties; forming alliances, acquiring or merging with trusts, construction companies, security companies, and other vendors. The structure of these alliances, acquisitions and mergers will operate like a financial portfolio, used to both diversify the real estate management company and to reduce costs of operation at the same time. Real estate laws vary from state to state, therefore, they will not be addressed except to note that laws govern real estate as well as business operations.

However, real estate ethics have a great deal to do with laws. Some of the laws that affect ethical conduct include human resource / vendor payment and relationships, property valuation, appraisal, property inspections, and business management practices. Ethics for real estate agents and management require fair treatment of both the buyers and sellers of real estate whom the company represents. Property management ethics include such issues as security, safety, nontraditional services, and related concerns.

Vendor ethics include all of these issues. For this reason, legal contracts between the management company and these resources are answerable to various sets of laws. Modern real estate management firms, like other companies, must continuously conduct marketing analyses, be aware of cycles and trends, establish public relations and advertising campaigns. Corporate management concerns will most likely include creating an entrepreneurial environment where managers, contractors and personnel will serve all of the brokerage's interests as team members on specific investment and administrative projects.

(This is discussed in more detail in the following section.) Corporate finance will not only include setup, accounting and ledger practices, but property and network investments, divestiture and balancing a number of diverse financial interests. For example, Melcher & Forest (1997) report that the biggest growing mega corporations are real estate management firms. They write: Until the early 1990's, most real estate was owned by private, family-owned companies that relied entirely on borrowed money and generated returns by flipping properties. The 1990's bust, though, caused private financing to evaporate. The mortgage-backed security market emerged to provide debt financing. And as industrial corporations had done decades earlier, real estate firms started tapping the public market, via initial public offerings, for equity capital.

The vehicle was the real estate investment trust, or REIT, which was created by Congress in 1960 but that had never attracted much interest... (Melcher & Forest, 1997). It didn't attract much interest until the 1990 bust, but it is now the basis of most management firms... Property management is concerned with a number of areas, particularly mergers, acquisitions and management of property in addition to traditional services. For all acquisitions or investments, Jerry Belloit (1997), a professor at Clarion University states that each company goes through an acquisition phase that includes setting investment goals, defining constraints, establishing ownership rights, analyzing the market and conducting feasibility studies, financing the investment, administering the acquisition, setting up administration in the investment property, surviving an alienation phase, and creating a decision-making environment. All of this must be accomplished with a combination of in-house personnel, contractors, and alliances formed with banks, trusts, credit unions, appraisal firms, etc.

Belloit (1997) provides that during the investment analysis portion of an acquisition alone, the management firm considers diversity in terms of homes, apartments, condos, hotels / motels, nursing homes, retirement villages, recreational areas, land, warehouses, government buildings, commercial real estate, malls and retail outlets, and other types of real estate. Additionally, these can all be based on speculation, developed entities, and trade and business trends. Like others, he recommends that management companies consider all investments in terms of long-term rather than short-term investments (Melcher & Forest, 1997), and offers the following example of a recreational / forestry site investment consideration. Cost $350,000, or 1,000 acres @ $350/acre. Every 5 years, about 25% of the property can be forested for a net of $450/acre. Replanting costs will be about $40/acre.

Property taxes (in Pennsylvania) would be about $2/acre. Fishing rights leased for $1 5/acres. Assume no property value change over a ten year period. (Belloit, 1997, p. sld 269. htm).

Cash flow would look something like the following. (Note: IRR = income reversion rate): Initial: $35,000.00 Years 1-4: -500.00/annually Year 5: +102,500.00 Years 6-9: -500.00 Year 10: 452,500.00 Indicated IRR: 6.30% (Belloit, 1997, p. sld 270. htm) If the assumptions change, and financing is included, cash flow would look like this: . Assume value increases 5% annually, reversion = $570,113, and Year 10 = $672,613. IRR = 10.60%... Price of lumber inflates at 5% annually, and front end cut in year 5 is $143,582 and in year 10 is $183,251, changing year 10 income to $793,364. IRR = 10.93%...

If the property is financed with 50% loans at 10% interest for 10 years, however, annual debt is $17,500. IRR = 11.63%. At 12% interest, annual debt is $21, 00. IRR = 10.44%. (Belloit, 1997, pp. sld 271-sld 272). Similar cash flow considerations must be made for any investment, with the brokerage reviewing trends in the various industries and investment opportunities for the region.

For example, new construction may be a good ten-year investment in some areas, while reconstruction and renovation might be better considerations in another. Besides cash flow, concerns for urban property investment include: ability to upgrade, parking, transit access, service entrances, loading docks, ceiling height, fire safety, common areas, utilities, elevators, security, space planning costs (Belloit, 1994, p. sld 262. htm, sld 265. htm). These examples provide an overview of the type of investments in which real estate management firms are involved today. However, when demographics are taken into consideration, Hispanics have come the largest growing minority in the United States and are expected to account for 18% of the population by 2040, far surpassing African Americans. Growing at an even greater rate is the Asian and Pacific Island population, which is expected to grow from 3% in 1992 to 11% in 2050. The white population is expected to have a flat growth rate, or even decline (Romano, 1995, p. 30).

These cultural changes will not only affect marketing studies, public relations, advertising and investment considerations, but also the type of personnel hired. Each management company will want to employ or contract with bilingual speakers. Other human resource considerations also come into play. HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT In real estate, human resource management is a major consideration. In the past, real estate companies employed secretarial and office staff and contracted with individual agents for real estate services. This practice is extremely helpful in today's corporate environment; many corporate firms are contracting almost all of their real estate management services.

This means that if property management is part of the brokerage's services, the company can contract with a number of outside vendors for property management services, as well as offer advice on property investment to corporate clients. However, because of the diversity of a management brokerage's interests, a constantly changing balance must be struck between full-time employees, contractors and vendors. In addition, human considerations must also be addressed in terms of new corporate practices such as teamwork and changing demographics. Real estate agents have operated as independent contractors with brokerage houses for decades. They are compensated at a percentage of sales established by the firm, generally in a range between 3 and 7.5 percent nationwide. Therefore, commissions are one of the firm's largest expenses, and why financial diversity has become ever more important.

However, diversity has its own challenges in regards to human resources management. One of those challenges is a movement toward teamwork. Real estate agents are typically self-motivated and function autonomously. However, recent research has indicated that in the corporate environment, teamwork leads to efficiency and creative thinking. Bowen (1995) states that teamwork is not simply putting a group of people together. Personalities and skills must be taken into account, and individuals must be involved in the team by way of a commitment to the team in order for the team to be effective and efficient.

Some companies are outsourcing or contracting nearly all human resources and services today so that the number of in-house staff on payroll and benefits is kept to a minimum. This makes team building especially reliant upon motivational leadership and performance incentives. All of these relationships must be worked out contractually between management and the team members. Sinderman (1994) reports that many real estate firms accomplish this sort of service through strategic alliances with a variety of businesses in response to downsizing. According to Minneapolis-based Tobin Real Estate Co.'s Asset Advisor newsletter, strategic alliances are highly evolved relationships that exist between real estate firms, vendors and corporate clients (Sinderman, 1994, p. 72).

There is no pat rule governing these alliances, every brokerage house operates differently. For example, if the brokerage has formed a property management alliance with a corporation, the brokerage may supply that company with maintenance and cleaning services, as well as real estate advice on whether the location or size of the business's real property is in the best interest of company goals. This is the difference between outsourcing and strategic alliances, says Sinderman. In strategic alliances, the management company understands the company's goals for the future and the real estate implications of those goals. In the case of property management services, the brokerage has the choice of hiring a team of employees to cover these 'in-house' or outsourced services or contracting with outside vendors. Since the 1980's downsizing movement and the need for providing quality services at a low cost, it is likely more profitable for brokerages to contract for these services and operate on a 'pay as you go' paradigm.

The advantage to this type of arrangement to both the brokerage and corporations is that neither is paying personnel costs and taxes, but the contractors and / or vendors supplying services are as familiar with the corporation and its needs as if they were employees of either company. Because the brokerage is in strategic alliance with its corporate customers, it must make a decision as to whether to provide corporate services in-house or contract with outside vendors. It even must consider whether calls for service and maintenance are taken by the property management team or by the vendor. If its decision is to field property management concerns, it must decide who is part of the property management team and their specific relationship to the customer and brokerage management. Finally, the face of employees will be affected by cultural changes in the United States. Team members will consist of bilingual persons with business and real estate training.

For this reason, real estate management will be interested in increasing training opportunities to team members and recruiting from various minority groups. Therefore, the real estate manager is involved in a number of human resources areas much more far reaching than the past. CONCLUSION Real estate management has undergone a reconstruction of gigantic proportions during the 1990's, but restructuring will only continue to balloon in the 21st century. While new financial strategies were the main concern of the 1990's, in the next century, human resource and marketing strategies will require an even greater focus. Now that real estate brokerages are becoming conglomerates, they must now begin to reconsider the human potential within their firms-and something else.

While they are expected to be the mega corporations of tomorrow, they are also expected to retain their ethical and cultural focus.

Bibliography

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