The Spirit of this Season

I read this story and it was encouraging to me of how Americans are not waiting for something to happen. They are making things happen. They are not just looking for handouts, they want to chip in as well. This is a great story of someone in need who wants to help out others in need. This is the spirit of America and I felt others should read this story especially because the tough times we are currently facing.

The spirit of this season: Be thankful, spend less

By Rick Hampson, Judy Keen and Wendy Koch, USA TODAY

Giving families a hand

The story of pumpkin pies across America began last summer in Michigan with Kim Neubacher, 33, mother of six, whose husband lost his job with an auto parts supplier; whose car broke down; whose 6-year-old was hospitalized with an infection; whose electric bill balance was $3,000; and whose spirit was unbowed.

She called Family-to-Family, a private charity in Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y., that matches families that have more with families that have less, as founder Pam Koner puts it.

What Koner really liked was that "Kim didn't just ask for help. She said, 'I want to help' " — to find partner families for other families in her town of Burton, just outside recession-battered Flint.

Koner matched Kim and Kelli Weeks, 29, a lawyer in San Francisco.

Kim's need for help met Kelli's need to do something more than work and play. She wanted to show a mother, struggling to provide the basics for her children, that someone cared. Also, "Michigan was part of the draw for me," Kelli says. "Everybody's reading about GM and Chrysler."

She's been able to recruit about 20 girlfriends to link up with other Burton families. In California, she says, "A lot of our friends are losing their jobs, too."

Each month she pays for a package of groceries for the Neubachers, and personally sends them a box with things like backpacks, coats or medicine.

This month, she also decided to surprise the family with a turkey and a pumpkin pie — baked according to her family's recipe.

On Sunday she had her Family-to-Family friends over to her place for a pie bake-a-thon for their Michigan families.

Kelli stored 12 pies that night in the freezer of her neighborhood grocery store.

On Monday she and a friend packed them in coolers with ice, brought them to a FedEx office and overnighted them to Burton.

Kelli will spend Thanksgiving at her parents' place on Lake Arrowhead in San Bernardino National Forest in Southern California. Kim will be at home with her family, 2,000 miles away. But they plan to celebrate together by sharing photos online.

Things are looking up for the Neubachers. Kim's husband, David, is in college full-time and working two part-time jobs; the kids are healthy; the electric bill is paid; the mortgage is only a month behind.

But without Kelli's help, Kim says, her family might have had to eat Thanksgiving dinner at the Salvation Army.

Her takeaway: "We don't always have to rely on the government. We can help each other."

Keen reported from Chicago. Koch reported from McLean, Va. Contributing: Emily Bazar and Marisol Bello in McLean; The Associated Press

Shaping Mogul Launcher

Last weekend our company went to sunny Oceanside for a business retreat to work out our business plan. We had a great time getting to know each other on a more personal level. That was an encouraging sign to all of us and evidence that our working and personal relationships will gel well together as we shape Mogul Launcher. The midnight oil was burning on both nights spending all weekend (except playing a game of basketball) talking and figuring out what we feel will be important to and for our future clients. It was great to get a culmination of various points of view and feedback on how we are going to lay out our business keeping in mind how we need to ultimately benefit our clients. We feel we will be the pulse of what real estate professionals need and want out of a real estate website. We also know our services that we will offer our clients will be beneficial in growing their empires. On our final morning, our layout for the website was pretty much done and our rough draft for our business plan needs a bit of re-working. But the vision is in place and now we need to implement it on our site. We are so excited for the future of Mogul Launcher and the servicing our clients the best way possible.

Written by: James Oronoz

Real estate still reeling

Panel sees bright spot in industry

Matt Wrye

Created: 11/18/2009 06:44:23 PM PST

The new realities of the Inland Empire's commercial real estate market are still sinking in.

A consistent theme took shape as members of Commercial Real Estate Women Network Inland Empire questioned an expert panel on Wednesday at an Ontario meeting: The local market, while showing some positive signs, is still far from recovering.

The new tug of war between desperate-for-cash tenant borrowers and lenders who are using old-school underwriting standards won't be solved by using strategies from prior commercial real estate busts, according to one of the experts.

Rather, "it's going to take creative minds in meetings like this," Karen Racusin, senior vice president of U.S. Bank's Southern California region, said in an interview after the event.

If there's any Inland Empire bright spot, it's industrial real estate, panelists said.

This sector will probably be the first to emerge from skyrocketing vacancy rates, sometime in 2010, with retail and office space slowly following suit, panel members said.

"The economists who I talk with ... say we're in the sixth inning, and small (positive) sprouts are everywhere," Racusin said about a commercial real estate recovery. "So there's great hope moving forward, but there's still $1.5trillion in toxic (bank) assets."

She said it's "too early in the game to tell" whether or not the U.S. Treasury Department's Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility (TALF) program, created to bolster commercial credit markets, has done a good job. John Renken, president of Claremont-based real estate brokerage firm Renken Co., said sale and lease transactions will probably start picking up throughout 2010 as more sidelined real estate investors become convinced that a bottom is forming in the market.

But overall, "we've got a few years to work our way through all this," he said, noting that lease rates, loan volumes and vacancy rates in certain areas are poised to return to 2002 levels.

With respect to Inland Empire office space, several experts believe there's five to 10 years worth of inventory to work through, Renken said.

Deborah Gallagher, director of Small Business Administration lending at Pasadena-based Community Bank, said several business clients are finally showing some optimism.

"We're seeing a lot of equipment (financing) activity in the last 90 days, which was nonexistent at the beginning of the year," Gallagher said.

The attractiveness of Inland Empire commercial properties will be a hot topic moving forward.

The region offered distributors and white-collar employers "cheap" rental prices during the housing market boom, until rates peaked in 2007.

Now that rates have plunged across Southern California, some tenants are finding similar office, industrial and rental space in Los Angeles or Orange County for prices they've always dreamed of.

The topic "is an (issue) that's going to be answered over the next couple years," said Erik Hernandez, a senior vice president at Lee & Associates in Ontario.

Is there light at the end of this tunnel?

The Los Angeles Times reported on the trouble commercial real estate faces in Southern California, with the number of office vacancies rising and expected to grow well into next year. Many companies in the South Orange County region are still inclined to shrink rather than grow during these unsure economic times, resulting in about 17 percent of the total available office space in the region being vacant. However, many companies are also taking advantage of early lease extensions and lower rents in exchange for agreeing to stay put longer. Nevertheless, many feel that the commercial real estate in Orange County has already hit bottom and are preparing for the recovery of the market. So, hang in there! Be flexible and creative with your tenant retention. Analyst feel that the market will level out mid-year of 2010 and plateau there for the remainder of the year.

Commercial Real Estate Chartbook

Commercial Real Estate Chartbook: Quarter 3

Wed, Nov 11 2009, 16:32 GMT

by Anika Khan, Mark Vitner

Wells Fargo Investments, LLC

The Commercial Real Estate Centipede Loses Another Shoe

Hardly a day goes by without some mention that another shoe is about to drop on the economy as the rising tide of defaults and foreclosures of commercial properties overwhelms the financial system. Such talk is understandable given the circumstances and the nearness of the collapse of the residential market. There is still plenty of bad news stoking fears, both real and imagined. Property values are declining. Credit is hard to obtain. And there are numerous high-profile commercial real estate bankruptcies such as General Growth Properties, Extended Stay Hotels and Capmark reminding folks of just how perilous the real estate industry is today.

While many of the challenges facing commercial real estate are well known, there are also important differences with previous real estate crunches. One of the most notable differences is that real estate is not nearly as overbuilt as it was in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Commercial development did not really get going until the last two years of the economic expansion and significant office development was largely confined to a handful of markets. Retail development and industrial construction were more widespread, with the housing boom fueling explosive gains in consumer spending and an import boom. The result was a massive wave of retail development and a boom in industrial development around many major seaports.

The flip side of that import boom was that a huge pool of capital accumulated overseas. Eventually this surplus was recycled into various investments, including commercial real estate, which helped pushed prices much higher than the fundamentals ever justified or anything seen in previous cycles. Once housing values started falling, consumer spending quickly wound down and the capital markets stumbled. With the capital markets frozen, investors no longer had access to a cheap source of capital and prices for commercial properties quickly turned south.

Various measures of commercial property values show prices topped out in late 2007, right about the time the capital markets froze. Prices are currently down a cumulative 34 percent from that peak across all property types. We expect further price declines over the next 18 months, as sales of distressed properties increase. The largest drops will continue to be in areas where housing weakened the most, including Florida, southern California, Arizona, Nevada and Georgia. Office buildings and shopping centers remain exceptionally vulnerable as employment is still falling and discretionary consumer spending remains on the back burner.

Commercial property market to hit bottom in 2010, report says -- latimes.com

Commercial property market to hit bottom in 2010, report says -- latimes.com

Posted using ShareThis

After reading this article, I am encouraged that there may be an end in sight of this economic chaos. If you are an owner of a commercial building, hang in there! There is light at the end of the tunnel. I know it's tough right now. This may be the time to become creative with creating cash flow and compromising a bit with rents.(Now only if the banks would loosen up their wallets a bit.) If you are in the market to purchase, there are tons of good deals for you and you have the power of negotiation on your side. If you need a good realtor, escrow company or real estate direction, email us your question or concerns and we would be happy to help you. Have a great weekend and keep coming back to check on our progress as we build a company suitable to your needs.

Posted by: James Oronoz

RETREAT RETREAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

While we continue to build our team in order to operate Mogul Launcher, we are also preparing for our retreat to hammer out our business plan in order to help us stay on course. We are aware that our business plan will change as the real estate needs and market change. As that happens, we will adjust accordingly and make the necessary moves that help our clients reach their full potential.

We are very excited for our Mogul Launcher retreat as we know there will be long nights and long hours but we also anticipate the completion of our business model. When this is complete, our next steps will be to have former executives look our plan over and get some feedback from them. We feel blessed to have a variety of talented people at our disposal. These are the people that will help shape our company and may never receive any proper acknowledgment. We are grateful for these individuals and we are priveledged to know them.

Our excitement for the launch of our company is growing daily. We feel we can do this in the first half of next year, if everything goes according to plan. We have mapped out our steps and we feel confident that these are the correct and proper steps needed in order to do business correctly. Come back often to check out our progress in the creation of Mogul Launcher. Thanks for reading.

Posted by: James Oronoz