This Very Special Market

I don't have a crystal ball or anything, but if I had to guess at what Watertown will look like in like 2010, we're talkin' boomtown! Practically tomorrow!

Every night on the news, there's something new and exciting about Fort Drum, or the projects going on in Watertown, or how the schools can't handle the population explosion here yet, housing, etc. Then I tell people (investors, developers) from out of the area what's going on, what I've heard, and all the buzz, and I'm not sure they believe me. It's o.k., though. They'll believe me someday.

Like one of the most interesting things going on is that the Salvation Army, of all buildings, is building brand new! I'm not sure why they're moving closer to the Price Chopper, but I guess there's a reason for that. Maybe they couldn't build new where they were, just half a block from McDonald's - who is also building new, but decided to stay at that location. I mean, McDonald's is away from all the crazy congestion, but I think they're doing real well to build this new, much more modern McDonald's. And it's almost done already! The Mustard Seed is also pretty new in that area - they moved to that part of Arsenal St. from Washington St. And the old Pizza Hut is now a newly-painted (albeit the colors are neon fuscia and bright lime green-yuck!) car stereo installation business.

The schools are expanding, the roads are expanding, I sure hope that salaries begin to expand. When I first came to the North Country, it was the first time I had ever heard of "common wage labor." In New York??!! That's disgraceful! But, oh, so true. You see, at the time I was trying to get a real job.

So the population's exploding, new businesses are arriving here, old businesses are building new! How exciting, right?! Want to keep it all nice? Raise some salaries, so that your employees can afford to go to all those new restaurants and enjoy themselves in this new part of the North Country. Raise some salaries, so that people don't need to depend on the government for food stamps and welfare. Raise some salaries to keep the crime rate down, and make this a very desirable place to be, for the people who've always been here, and for our military families to stay.

I know, some of you would rather not hear it, or just don't believe me. It's o.k., though. You'll believe me someday.

Have a great Labor Day Weekend!

Oral Purchase Offers - A No-no!

Oh, if only oral purchase offers were true. I'd be doing a lot better right now! I get quite a few of them. But as a real estate agent, I need to tell these would-be buyers to put their money where their mouth is.

I'm not talking about counter-offers, and negotiating. I'm talking about the first step, the initial offer to purchase. It must be in writing with money to back it up.

There are a lot of people, nationwide it seems, who believe that an oral purchase offer is legal and to be taken seriously. Well, maybe it's not illegal, but it's certainly not serious, either.

"O.k., sure, I can present that, no problem. How much will you be depositing with the purchase offer?" Then, all of a sudden, they're not serious anymore - because they never were.

They'll fax me, email me, tell me over the phone, site unseen, that they'll take it! Oh, if only real estate was that simple!

So, I fax them back, email them back, write them back a purchase offer, and I decide what the deposit will be. This is how to get the not-so-serious buyer to disappear off the face of the earth. Sometimes we never even get to the point where they tell me their full first and last names!

You know, I'm from New York. Ya know what that means? Don't say it if you don't mean it.

Aerials Are Cool!

If you've got access to high-speed Internet, then aerial views could help you with you marketing efforts. Google Earth is free! And it has so many features you can use, especially for commercial real estate.

I say especially for commercial r.e., because investors and entrepreneurs are interested in what surrounds the listed property. What community services, restaurants, motels, and gas stations, not to mention roadways and Interstates are nearby. This free application shows all that.

You can place markers, in any color, smaller or bigger, with labels on them, to mark any site of interest that's near the property in question. You can even show ALL of your listings to someone that way. (I love doing that!) And you can zoom in and out, print it, save it, put it into Photoshop and tweak it some more, oh, it's endless!

The best part is that you can give your potential buyer a reason to buy that property. If they represent a fast food chain, and Burger King is right next door to your listing, they may or may not want to purchase the property - it really depends on their reasoning (and we usually have absolutely no idea what that reasoning is, and they're not telling us, either.)

There are other free aerial view applications, one being MapQuest, but I think that one is far too simple. It kinda just shows a cartoonish red star in the middle of nothing. Not much functionality there. Of course, there are others you can pay for, as well.

As I find more aerial applications on the Internet, I will share them here. I'm all about technology. And I really think that it is the future of real estate. I mean, look at my first blog - we do things via fax, and email, and take pictures with digital cameras now. Everything is with the computer, I mean we use property information applications to get owner information and tax maps, reverse phone finds, and look, I've even got a blog!

Exclusives (Comm'l) VS. Exclusives (Residential)

So, here's the deal. An Exclusive Listing by a commercial real estate broker is a regular Right To Sell listing agreement. It's just like any other residential Listing Agreement. Why do they use the words "Exclusive Listing"? Not sure. Maybe it's an intimidation thing, who knows. But the fact is that every commercial "Exclusive Listing" sign out there is a co-broke. You need only to call up the agent to find out what the split is.

I know it's confusing. I used to be a residential real estate agent. And I did have a couple of "Exclusive Listing" agreements with sellers. In the residential real estate world this meant that nobody else could sell it, therefore no co-broke situation existed outside the listing broker's office. (Silly, isn't it? With 230 real estate agents in our North Country? They all have leads, too.)

Not so with commercial real estate. All those commercial real estate signs that say "Exclusive" are simply Rights to Sell agreements. You need only ask the real estate agent what the co-broke is.

Another difference is that commercial real estate agents don't use Disclosure Forms. When you think about it, it's kind of a waste anyway. So many are left blank, or lied about, or wrong information is given even perhaps innocently. In the end, the buyer is the one who needs to find out on his own if there is anything about the property that they'd rather not get involved with. That's where due diligence comes in, and that's what our buyer's in the commercial world (investors/entrepreneurs/speculators) use.

Of course, with commercial transactions, there is so much more involved, like income, and traffic counts, and with development land there's that pesky little issue about utilities. Oh, and it goes on.

Commercial real estate selling is really very interesting - to me, anyway. In my mind, it's 3-dimensional to the 1-dimensional house sale. No offense out there. I just like this better.

A Piece Of The Pie

When I first started in the real estate business, a very wise man who had been in the business for decades told me, "It's better to have a piece of the pie rather than no pie at all!"

This is so true. I don't know how rich he was, but I think he was happy.

Sharing our information on listings and resources can only help us all. Sell my listings! Sell them all! I really, REALLY don't care if I have to split my commission with you. And I've got some expensive listings. And some very inexpensive ones, too.

My experience has been that with every transaction I learn so much. I do believe this learning will never stop. And it gives me so much more confidence for the next one.

I always wonder why some of those very successful real estate agents out there are so bitchy! Why are they so nasty?! What's the story?! You're not happy making all that money? I think I'd never stop smiling, if I had the experience, confidence, and not to mention the capital that you have!

I am guessing it's that "greed poison." They want ALL of the pie. "No, you can't have any - it's all mine! It's my listing and I'm gonna make all the money and I'm not calling you back with the info, so there!"

It's a riot, really! I get such a kick out of that. O.k., then, sit on your listing, then. I'll sell someone else's - someone who's willing to share their pie with me.

And speaking of sharing, here's a great, free Internet site to post your commercial real estate listings: http://www.CIMLS.com

Fort Drum Update - 8/21/07

O.k, I'm hearin' that there's some deja vu goin' on here. I've only been here a few years, but sources tell me that a development frenzy occurred during the last Fort Drum expansion. Well, we won't think about that, 'cause we're in real estate, and we've got to live in the here and now of real estate. And it is happening here and now!

So, here's the housing scoop: 7,000 soldiers came, half of them with families. The ones without families (ranked E6 or under) have to live on-post. So, the ground-breaking for 92 apts on-post (1- and 2-bedroom) began 7/30/07. 1,300 more (apt) units are planned for on-post housing.

So, what happens to the rest of the 3,500 soldiers? Well, there is more on-post existing housing, of course. And from what I understand, it is pretty nice! We also know that there are many houses for sale in the Watertown and surrounding areas. And there is housing being built, but that housing is largely apt rentals. I say, new, AFFORDABLE single-family HOUSES are what's needed here now.

The following (off-post) apartment units are being built, re-developed, or planned at present: 352 (apt) units on Rte 342; 200 (apt) units on Outer Washington St.; 40 (apt) units in Carthage (801 housing); and 100 fully-funded (apt) units near the Seaway Plaza (new P&C/Kinney Drug Shopping Center) in Pamelia.

The following houses are being built or planned at present: 130 houses at $200k or more; 17 houses in Great Bend; and 300 houses built "here and there" over the last 2 years. There is also a major house development project planned, but it was recently decided that individual lots are to be sold to developers instead of a development project happening at this time.

So, o.k., with all the above in mind, it sure looks like we need houses. Didn't I say that before? New, single-family, affordable houses for our soldiers and their families.

My sources of info have been: Watertown Daily Times, DANC, Water Pump Station, Garr Assoc., some of my sellers, and the Internet. This information changes rapidly and often, so, if you've got more, hey, share it here!

In addition to these 7,000 soldiers, there is rumor of thousands of air force solldiers, Immigration and Border Patrol personnel, and soldiers in Europe being sent stateside permanently. Closed schools have opened to accommodate the many more military children in the area. And I think the boom will continue strong and hard, before it ever thinks about fizzling out. (Of course, there is that little election coming up.)

More to come. As always, questions and comments are welcome!

So, you want me to list your business ...

Great! I'm the Listing Queen! I love listings! But there are a few things you should know, if you want your commercial business and real estate to sell fast. I need financials. That's right, the knitty-gritty. What you make. That's what an investor would want, and rightly so. Wouldn't you? Wouldn't you? (Yeah, I wrote that twice.)

Too often I hear, "that's none of anyone's business." This is a seller-created negative roadblock. Or, how about, "if they know this business, they know how much they can make here." This is a seller-created negative roadblock. And then there's this one, "my personal finances are included with my business finances on my tax returns, so I cannot provide that." This is a seller-created negative roadblock.

Negative energy does not sell properties. If you want to sell it, sell it. If you've "hidden" the profits, fine. And investors understand that. But you have to show something. And it should be an escalating, if only slightly, profit margin over a two- or three-year period. It's what an entrepreneur wants to see. Wouldn't you? Wouldn't you?

A person buying a business knows they'll probably lose the first year. But they want to know what the potential is for the following years. They want to know what their chances are of making a go at it with your store. What's wrong with that?

Unless you're selling your property for the land only, or it's in a great location for redevelopment and you know what you've got and that people will want it, you need the facts and figures for the buyer.

Would you buy a retail property, or restaurant, or bar, etc., if the owner says, "well, I'm not supplying any financials, sorry"? Would you? Maybe you would. Most people who are looking to stay and make a profit will go elsewhere.

It's not like buying a house. They're not going to fall in love with the investment, marry it, and stay with it for 25+ years. Chances are they'll make their profit for a few years and move on. And, hopefully, at least if they're gonna call me to list it, they'll have all of their financials in place.

More later, on the Commercial RE $cope ...

The Hunt For Water & Sewer

O.k., so I made it my mission yesterday to find out exactly where water and sewer was located for all of my development property listings in Jefferson County. Sounds very efficient of me, doesn't it? Wow! This was quite an undertaking.

Not only are there hundreds of maps and diagrams to look through, and some have water and sewer, and some have only water or only sewer, but to top it off, they are not digitized as of yet. This has begun, however, and when it is all digital, it will make everyone's position in the development web easier. It's an on-going project that will probably take a year or longer to complete. Well, at least in its first stages. Maybe "complete" is not the right word, as everything is changing so quickly here.

After going through my list of properties listed in Evans Mills, Felts Mills, Black River, Watertown (City), etc., and after spending some time, the engineer I was working with, and I, decided that this is probably not my job. In fact, developers know it's not my job, and they know where to find this stuff and can read the information much better than I can.

It's not just a matter of where the water is, it's the size of the pipe, it's the gravitational pull, it's got to do with grinder pumps and force lanes, and on and on. It's actually something with which I as a real estate agent cannot help the developer. In fact, he should not take my word for where water and sewer is without his own due diligence on the property. All he needs is the tax map number, and if there is a physical street address (911 address.)

So, Realtors, I am sure that as we go through this ocean of experiences as real estate agents, every day being like the first day on earth (for me, anyway), based on so many different situations for every single transaction, there comes a time where we draw the line. And this is it, folks. Eeez not my yobb, you know?

The development of a property is very involved, more than the real estate agent could know without an engineering degree. We have the listings, we have some of the information on the property, we are the liaisons for the transaction, making a real effort from start to finish for a smooth closing. But where water and sewer is, how much it will cost to put it where they want it, and if it will even be approved in any given municipality, well, we can only scratch the surface on these issues.

Buyers of homes have Disclosure Statements to lean on. But don't lean too heavily, they may not be accurate. Buyers of commercial property need to do their own Due Diligence. The bottom line is, when you're buyer is interested in a property, he needs to do his own homework, no matter if it's residential, commercial, or unimproved land, etc.

Yes, we are there to help, we'll take them by the hand, we are there to find them properties, let them know about zoning, etc. We cut their search time by much, and time is the most important thing to buyers and investors - it's what we do. But they need to take it from there. We cannot know exactly what their needs are, the plans and issues involved in their project, and other details they'll be working through.

More on Commercial RE $cope to come …

Watertown Commercial

Having an office in Watertown, NY, I've seen the changes (and my vehicle has felt them.) The construction and growth going on here is incredible! Over the last 12 months I've seen all these restaurants going up, changing location, introducing themselves into our community, re-inventing themselves - such as: Pizza Hut Bistro, Panera Bread, Texas Roadhouse, Ponderosa, Ruby Tuesday's, Starbucks, and I probably forgot a few. Oh, yeah, and McDonald's is buiding new in the same location on Arsenal St.

Because I'm the Listing Queen in this area, I get calls from developers all over the country. Well, I advertise all over the Internet, and on International sites, as well, even though the Internet is global. I'm all about technology, I can't even imagine how real estate agents worked 30 years ago (which is when I should have started.)

They waited for mail in the mailbox! There was no such thing as a pc in your home! Or even a fax machine (although they had the teletype - aaaugh! Hurt my fingers, why don't ya?!) And everything was either written or typed - on a typewriter! With carbon paper! Oh, now I'm aging myself. Can you tell I used to be a secretary?

Anyway, getting back - the developers call because they've heard all the buzz. But they're not sure what to do, because they're not here seeing it all happen. Ya know, I don't have a crystal ball, and I know nothing lasts forever - but it's all happening here and now. Hey, maybe I should just snap photos on my digital camera and email all these out-of-town developers to show them I'm not just kiddin' around! (Timeline reality check: they didn't have digital cameras 30 years ago, either! Or email! Aaagh!)

This blog is to let you, you the interested party reading this, that Watertown is developing because of the Fort Drum expansion. In leaps and bounds!

In this past 12 months new motels/hotels were also built, and are still being built: Holiday Inn Express, the Hampton Inns, and another one on the way. (Hey, I've got a great hotel site in Pamelia, if anyone out there is interested. It's on a corner, on 4 acres, with an additional 20+/- acres available all around it! Sound exciting? It is - call me!)

And Arsenal St. is widening to 7 lanes. (My vehicle and I have the bruises to prove it.) And State St. is forever under construction. And Public Square is an on-going work in progress! Oh, and I could go on! And I will - but later.

Meanwhile, thanks for reading my blog. Comments and questions are welcome. Hey, especially if you wanna buy some commercial real estate from the Listing Queen. Bye for now!