The First Facility Management Blog

Next month, more than four million American businesses will receive 2007 economic census forms, including 220,000 real estate businesses. This effort will underscore the importance of the participation of every eligible business in a comprehensive measure of business and industry that takes place every five years.

“Economic census forms that businesses receive in December will tell us how we are changing as a nation,” says Thomas Mesenbourgh, Jr., the Census Bureau’s associate director for economic programs. “Important economic indicators, such as gross domestic product, are directly related to the quality of the data we get from businesses in every industry and every locality.”

The Census Bureau has launched a new Web site to help businesses understand the economic census and how it benefits them. The site includes economic snapshots of selected industries and significant facts about every industry.

Economic census data provide the hard figures that businesses need when they consider expanding into new regions or markets. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke calls the Economic Census “indispensable to understanding America’s economy.”

Businesses can look at benchmark values from the economic census to assess where they stand in the marketplace and to research market shares, salaries, product and sales trends, and site locations.

Firms in more than 1,000 industries will receive forms in December. They will be asked to report information such as employment, payroll, and the value of goods and services sold. Forms must be returned to the U.S. Census Bureau by February 12, 2008. Businesses that receive forms are required by federal law to respond. Information about individual firms is kept confidential, and only aggregate industry data are published.

For businesses that would like to get a head start on preparing for the census, the new Web site provides links to sample forms, answers to frequently asked questions, and a secure way to communicate directly with the Census Bureau. The site also has tips to help businesses use the data.

A new national survey of the commercial real estate sector reveals that nearly two-thirds of respondents have allocated funds to green initiatives, while the majority said that their sustainability investment will increase in 2008. Findings of the study by the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) International, ALM Real Estate, and the U.S. Green Building Council were released last week.

Other findings included the following:
•Green buildings boast occupancy rates between 75% and 100% for a majority of those responding. For 21% of respondents, the increase is due directly to green initiatives.
•60.8% of responding executives claimed a return on their green investment.
•Respondents were almost evenly split on whether local municipalities should mandate energy efficiency in buildings. Many felt that any mandate should be offset by incentives or apply only to new construction.
•Maintaining a green building is not typically more expensive than a comparable non-green building asset.

The survey focused on the application of green methodologies and technologies in existing commercial buildings, and on the financial and marketing benefits of these efforts. It was distributed to REM’s national database of ownership, investment and operational entities, as well as to BOMA’s national membership.

Late last week (11/1/07), the Institute of Real Estate Management (IREM®) stated its formal opposition to efforts by the House Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel (D-NY) ) to advance legislation that would make major changes to the tax structure. Said IREM President Regina Mullins, “the bill proposes a massive tax increase for real estate partnerships, raising the tax rate on ‘carried interest’ from 15% to 35%. This legislation would have a very adverse effect on commercial real estate projects, many of which are organized in partnerships.”

According to Mullins, specific reasons why IREM views the proposed legislation as being detrimental to real estate practitioners include:
—–Driving investors to put their money in stocks and other investment instruments that offer much more favorable tax treatment.
—–Diminishing the value of, and/or putting many partnerships out of business, because the capital would not be available to facilitate them.
—–Creating a disincentive to investing in real estate since many such investments would no longer earn a reasonable profit.
—–Stifling growth in a part of our economy that has become increasingly important over the last several years due to manufacturing, call centers, and other key industries moving offshore.
—–Punishing partners involved with previously arranged transactions by causing a totally different economic result than they had anticipated.
—–Failing to recognize that many real estate investors are involved in their investments daily, unlike many hedge fund managers who are not.

The Institute of Real Estate Management (IREM), an affiliate of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS, is the only professional real estate management association serving both the multi-family and commercial real estate sectors. IREM promotes ethical real estate management practices through its credentialed membership programs, including the CERTIFIED PROPERTY MANAGER (CPM) designation, the ACCREDITED RESIDENTIAL MANAGER (ARM) certification, the ACCREDITED COMMERCIAL MANAGER certification, and the ACCREDITED MANAGEMENT ORGANIZATION (AMO) accreditation. These esteemed designations certify competence and professionalism for those engaged in real estate management. In addition, IREM offers Associate, Student and Academic memberships.

This FacilityBlog Exclusive series of articles comes from Guest Contributor Joanne Katz. As Director of Facilities for Monster, Katz is giving readers a regular peek inside the mind of an FM student. Find the previous entries here.

One course down and three more to go. The first seven-week course of the Wentworth Facility Management certificate program is done. I passed - yippee!

No time to be smug though, because the second course, Real Estate, has already started and I fear this one may be a bit harder than the first. I feel good, because I do have the first course successfully behind me, but I’m also nervous because I haven’t had to deal with real estate management as part of any of my past jobs.

The Principals of Facility Management course wasn’t easy, but because I’ve been in the profession for a number of years, I was relatively comfortable with most of the topics we discussed. Real Estate, however, is a completely different business area that I need to gain a comfort level in.

As with a lot of situations in life, I’m nervous but also excited. The instructor seems cool, knowledgeable, and interesting. I totally believe I can learn from her.

And there are a number of fellow students in the course that were in the first one, so we’re sort of going through this together now; there’s even more camaraderie that before. More chapters to read and papers to write but I’m ready.

Stay well until next time…

Slightly off topic, but commercial real estate professionals are feeling the pinch of a slowing market in the shadows of the residential downturn. Here’s a comical look at how some people are dealing with the demise of the housing market.

When the real estate market was at its peak, hundreds of thousands of eager first-time investors were chasing the pot of gold at the end of the renovation. TV shows about buying, fixing, and reselling homes on every channel, and a nation of flippers was born.

But now that the market has gone sour, some would-be real estate moguls have arrived a day late and will end up more than a few dollars short. A new online video parody series, Flipper Nation, is a breakout new comedy—a mockumentary series that has been called “The Office” meets “Flip This House.”

It’s a sharp and witty story about two friends attempting to grab their piece of the millions to be made in real estate… and the faulty reasoning they use to justify it. Here’s the first of three episodes:

Flipper Nation: The First Flip

There’s more where this came from at: FlipperNation.com
If you cannot view this video, you can check it out at YouTube instead.

After just a few months, Flipper Nation has already been highlighted as a featured video series on Yahoo, YouTube, MySpace, iTunes, and more. To find out how these naive entrepreneurs make countless (and sometimes hilarious) mistakes—blindly trusting shady mortgage brokers, spending imaginary profits, thinking renovation will be easy and quick—follow their adventures in the rest of the series, which can be found at this link.