Skyline Views

Colliers Kicks off Americas Meeting in Atlanta, and Coy Davidson is Ready to Rock

By Tony Wilbert, The Wilbert Group

ATLANTA (Sept. 25, 2013) - Colliers International kicks off its Americas Conference today in downtown Atlanta, and social media star Coy Davidson is ready to talk a lot about how fellow brokers can leverage social media channels to increase their business.

In the past five years, Davidson fortified his personal brand using social media to augment his natural networking skills and real estate knowledge. He has no official speaking role at the Americas Conference but already is being bombarded with questions about how and why CRE pros should use social channels.

The Colliers conference takes place at the Marriott Marquis today through Friday. Formerly known as the Colliers National Meeting, "is the cornerstone of our collaborative culture. This three-day event is where Colliers professionals meet to share knowledge, plan new initiatives, and shape the future of commercial real estate," according to event website.

Davidson, a Colliers broker in Houston, arrived in Atlanta Tuesday and he anticipated being mobbed by fellow brokers who want to know how he became one of the most plugged-in and connected brokers in the country. Coy has more than 17,000 followers on Twitter and has emerged as a sought-after speaker.

I joined Coy, Cushman & Wakefield broker Ken Ashley, a pioneer in CRE blogging, and Patrick Braswell, former Colliers broker and co-founder of Ten-Eight, for dinner last night at The Optimist to talk CRE and social media. I'd share what we discussed, but Urvaksh might be reading this popst at some point.

Next stop: CRE Tech Intersect next month in New York.

 

Real Estate Incubators on the Rise

This post is being reblogged from Real Estate Trends By Eric Eckardt

Online consumer activity has exploded over the past decade and continues to grow exponentially across social media and ecommerce. In fact, better access to broadband and wi-fi has fueled consumer adoption to the tune of over 2.4 billion online users.

Opportunity for Entrepreneurs

This burgeoning online consumer pool presents significant opportunity for entrepreneurs. Rapid growth in businesses startups has made incubators increasingly important, as a number of new companies have already emerged from these programs. Incubators provide entrepreneurs with mentorship, advice and practical training on such subject as technical topics, business and fundraising to help get an idea to product, launch and beyond.

Incubators for Real Estate

As the barrier of entry to launch a new business is low, we have been seeing a surge in the number of startup initiatives promoting entrepreneurship—including within the real estate sector. Over the past year alone, incubator programs launched by Inman, Realogy, and the National Association of REALTORS^®have joined the game to align themselves with the latest and best technology. Other well-known incubator programs are TechStars, Y Combinator, AngelPad, LaunchPad. The programs are becoming so popular that some entrepreneurs are deeming these programs “the new MBA.”  Some private institutions, like MBA programs, are creating their own programs in fear of becoming marginalized by these incubators.

Startup American Partnership, which was founded  in Washington in 2011, supports a national network of startup communities dedicated to advancing the success of American startups.  Through the organization, hundreds of passionate founders, entrepreneurial leaders, investors, mentors and executives have been able to work together to strengthen their local communities and help young companies grow. To date, they have launched in 32 regions and have over 13,000 startup members.

Agents and Brokers Benefit

Most new real estate technology is designed to improve the operating efficiency of brokers and agents, to allow them to better reach and serve their clientele. The good news is that incubator programs are giving emerging technologies a place to be seen, supported and potentially adopted by the real estate industry.

Facebook Building Out Midtown Atlanta Office, Patch reports

ATLANTA (July 2, 2011) - Most Atlantans consider the West Midtown area to be a high-tech hotbed. News breaking this evening that Facebook, which dubs itself "the largest social networking site on the planet," is building out an office at Brickworks in West Midtown will solidy the area as King of Office Cool. This, according to a Patch.com story from contributor Caleb Spivak.

Last week, the day before the AJC hosted Mashable's Social Media Day Atlanta at Five Seasons in the Brickworks development, Facebook filed plans with the city of Atlanta for "office renovations" and tenant improvements. Facebook is building out Suite 134 at 1000 Marietta St., Spivak reports. Skyline Views confirmed this information on the city of Atlanta's website, which includes the building permit (shown above).

Richard Martin and George Rohrig attempted to position West Midtown as Atlanta's tech center in 1999, as the dot-com bubble filled with air. More than 10 years later, it's back.

It won't be Facebook's first Atlanta office, but it should create some buzz and leave no doubt West Midtown is the place for social networking/social media companies.  

Fla. Real Estate Journal Kills Print Edition; Moves to Web-only Format

ATLANTA (June 25, 2010) - The issue of Florida Real Estate Journal pictured here instantly has become something of a collector's item. It's the final print edition of the weekly that covers commercial real estate in the Sunshine State.

Beginning next month, Florida Real Estate Journal converts to a web-only format, and the final print editions lead story states. In the article, Editor Robert Pitts says the move represents "an exciting change." Exciting, he says, because moving to an e-newspaper will enable FREJ to "deliver more value to the reader and help us better serve the commercial real estate industry."

This move is interesting because it flies in the face of the general consensus that niche publications such as real estate weeklies will fare better than general distribution papers. Daily papers are shrinking and fighting for survival due to declines in advertising and readership and high costs of distribution. Niche business publications seem better positioned to take advantage because their readers tend to be married to the product. And they typically use U.S. mail rather than people driving cars from driveway to driveway to deliver the paper.

FREJ's Pitts offers a succinct reason for what's happening to his papers (and others across the country).

"Print readership has been falling while electronic readership (of our website and e-newsletters) has been rising. We - like most businesses - have been scratching our heads and wondering how to adapt. But none of our efforts stemmed the tide.

"Now enter the recession - which turned a gradual decline in print advertising revenue into a freefall - and you finally have the economic impetus to complete the transition. By going web-only, we will save more than 30% on our overhead costs and become a better news provider in the process."

As a subscriber who paid in advance for a year of the print FREJ, I wonder whether that automatically makes me a "Premium Member" who access all the paper's content online. I assume and hope so.

While I'll miss getting the Florida Real Estate Journal twice a month in Wilbert News Strategies' P.O. Box, I'm glad it's sticking around, though. Our clients live being the that newspaper. (I still can call it a newspaper, right?)

New iPhone App Won't Replace Tenant Rep, But...

By Tony Wilbert, Wilbert News Strategies

ATLANTA (May 25, 2010) - The commercial real estate industry has been slow to embrace smartphone apps, but things are about to change. A new iPhone app enables people searching for office space, retail shops and warehouses to point their smartphone at a building and learn all about its available space.

Even commercial Realtors and brokers who have been hesitant to get on the tech bandwagon won't be able to ignore this. If they do, they'll miss out on deals and therefore precious commissions. The free app, soon to be available for Android users as well as iPhone 3GS owners, comes from "augmented reality" app maker junaio and works in concert with a subscription from Rofo. This video shows how the works.

Let's say you point your iPhone or Android at Terminus 200 in Atlanta's tony Buckhead district. Icons alerting you to available spaces will pop up on the screen. You can tap on the icons to see the spaces and to instantly e-mail the landlord rep. So, if tenant reps don't jump all over this, some disintermediation could occur.

The iPhone app, of course, is only one tool and won't replace completely wiped out the tenant rep industry. Successful brokers have morphed into consultants who give clients much more than space-available lists and stats. They add perspective, market knowledge and insider info not available on an iPhone.

Here's more on the app from On the Block, SFGate's (San Francisco Chronicle's) real estate blog.

As a huge fan of commercial real estate who prides himself on knowing practically every available office space in Atlanta, I can't wait to go home and test it out.

Video News Service Seeks to Fill "Void" in Commercial Real Estate Coverage

ATLANTA (Feb. 26, 2010) - Two former CNN producers are staring a video news service that will focus on the commercial real estate industry. The news service, REAL CRE TV, will launch in Atlanta this spring.

With commercial real estate suddenly the hottest business story around, established media have ramped up their coverage of the industry, and several Web-based newcomers including Real Estate Rooster and Bisnow have jumped into the fray. Now comes the  new wave: a video news service aimed directly at the commercial real estate industry.

"There is a void in commercial real estate reporting," said Matt Gove, who himself covered the industry at Atlanta Business Chronicle and at CoStar's defunct Atlanta Property News. "This can be a transforming vehicle for providing meaningful coverage and a super-powerful direct marketing tool for those whose business depends on reaching and motivating everybody in commercial real estate."

REAL CRE TV picked an interesting day to announce itself. The press release was issued about an hour before Real Estate Rooster held its hyper-successful kick-off event, a happy hour at Tavern 99 in Atlanta's tony Buckhead community. The Rooster has gained nice traction since launching its e-blasts and Web site last summer. REAL CRE TV's crew saw the Rooster's event as fertile business development ground.

As a former commercial real estate journalist, I look forward to seeing REAL CRE TV when it's up and running. Skyline Views has been increasing its amount of video coverage, and page views have jumped as a result.