Rankin Commercial Properties, one of Raleigh's fastest growing commercial real estate firms sees positive signs for the Commercial Real Estate Market in 2010.
Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, NC (1888PressRelease) February 11, 2010 - While many skeptics are still worrying about Commercial Real Estate trends in 2010, Rankin Commercial Properties, a Raleigh North Carolina Commercial Real Estate Firm specializing in property management, repositioning, and lease ups, reports a positive forecast for 2010.
The company recently released a press release stating 8000 unique visitors to their website for the month of January and a 240% increase in overall tenant and buyer representation leads. While this seems unique to Rankin Commercial Properties, the company is now saying overall market data suggests more companies were looking for office space in January 2010 than any other month in 3 years.
"At Rankin Commercial Properties we are constantly trying to take our research a step further than standard market absorption studies. The market has changed and simply reviewing reports from last quarter aren't going to help us plan for this quarter. According to our market research in January 2010 more searches were performed via the internet for Office Space, Retail Space, Industrial Space, and Warehouse Space, than any other month in the previous 36 months" explains their marketing director.
While the spurt of activity seems promising, Rankin Commercial Properties is closely watching market interest through February and early March. "According to our marketing team, spurts in January are usual, although January 2010 was unusually high, searches for commercial space tend to taper off Mid February through Mid March, the big question is what will happen in mid March" commented President and CEO Charles Rankin.
Rankin Commercial Properties is very focused on marketing client's commercial properties as efficiently as possible. Their approach focuses on the end user and attempting to market heavier to potential tenants during times when tenants are most likely to make a decision on their space needs.
"We spend a considerable amount of resources finding potential tenants to send literature on our commercial properties too. The most effective return comes from hitting them at the right time. Our marketing department has spent numerous hours developing strategies to research trends in space interests so when our brokers are making cold calls and sending information via the mail, potential tenants are the most receptive" said George Upchurch, Executive Vice President of Operations.
The company predicts 2010 will be a strong leasing year and potentially volatile year for sales. They believe commercial real estate leases will be met by an increasing demand led by small business start ups and spin offs, while property sales will increase in volume as lenders follow through with foreclosures forcing sellers to come to terms with buyers expectations.
"The problem isn't an interest to buy, or unwillingness of banks to lend, the problem is price. We see more and more sellers with unrealistic expectations. Those expectations are lingering from previous years unrealistic sales prices. For a property to succeed a buyer must be able to put a minimum of 25-30% down with a 22% DSR (Debt Service Ratio). You just can't do that off a 7.5% CAP rate, and banks simply won't lend if the buyer can't show a significant cash flow" Charles Rankin commented on current market sales. "We've seen extraordinary circumstances for well positioned properties, but the reality of the situation is a property is only worth what it cash flows, and if it isn't performing now, the seller needs to come to terms with the fact that it simply isn't worth their asking rate" he added.
All in all, Rankin Commercial Properties feels the Raleigh commercial real estate market is showing significant signs of strength. Although property values are going to slightly decrease for a period of time, they believe the increased activity of property sales will spur investor interest. That combined with increasing space demand and less properties on the development horizon could create a substantial correction to the upside for those who take advantage of the market now.
"You can get some terrific investment property deals in Raleigh right now, and with an increased interest in space, we strongly feel an investment today will yield a stronger return 12 months from now" said George Upchurch.
Rankin Commercial Properties has been reaping what benefits seem to be left in the commercial real estate market.
Year to date the company has grown their:
Listing Portfolio: 1765%
Tenant Representation Business: 900%
Brokerage Team: 267%
Office Locations: 300%
Management Contracts: 300%
Gross Sales (Year End 2008 to Year End 2009): 922%
Clearly a sign that the commercial real estate business isn't as horrible as one may think. Of course one year ago Rankin Commercial Properties was nothing more than a 2 or 3 man shop.
"We're still hiring Commercial Real Estate Brokers, in the month of January, a single broker on our team worked on 42 tenant representation deals alone" said George Upchurch, "that's more than one broker can handle." Rankin Commercial Properties is expected to nearly double Gross sales from the entire 2009 year in the 1st quarter of 2010.
"We strongly believe in the boutique brokerage firm concept. However, most of our success has come from good old cold calling and door knocking" Charles Rankin explained "you just can't sell or lease property in this market without serious door knocking."
Rankin Commercial Properties has built contact databases of thousands of tenants and landlords going into 2010 "it's an ongoing process, businesses, tenants, landlords, investors; they seem to change daily with the market. Our in house research efforts have provided us with prospect lists unattainable by other firms" said George Upchurch.
Rankin Commercial Properties handles Office, Retail, Industrial, Flex, Warehouse, and land properties in North Carolina. The company operates as a Full Service Property Management Firm and offers facilities maintenance to several properties throughout the triangle.
-NC Commercial Source
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Rankin Commercial Properties, one of Raleigh's fastest growing commercial real estate firms sees positive signs for the Commercial Real Estate Market in 2010. 
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