Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Stubborn Office Vacancy Rates in Quincy, MA & The "New Quincy" Center

An interesting market here less than 7 miles to Boston with so many vacancies. Anyone speculating around the "new Quincy Center" project (which has started construction!) should read this article for some sobering numbers. Between the lines here you can read that there is a lot of vacant office space in Quincy in two very nice office parks in the north and south part of Quincy. The stubborn office vacancy rates and recent sales should sober investors and appears to have done so as buildings are selling at bargain prices.

http://www.patriotledger.com/archive/x1293261333/Recent-Quincy-office-space-purchases-could-portend-upswing-in-local-market 

The very able developers in Quincy Center have been delaying announcements about the center project. It would seem that anchor tenants have not been stepping forward to lease space in the center project.  Investors can see that they can purchase for less than a new build.

My queston:  Why are Quincy landlords waiting for the boats to rise with a recovering market? Dropping their square footage rates would attract tenants, build momentum and at least pay for part of their debt load.  The able Lincoln Property Company Q2 2013 Quarter Preview offers a $24/SF rate for the inner suburbs. Take a look: http://www.lpcboston.com/email/Quarter%20Preview.pdf The $24 a SF is what Quincy Landlords would like to get and are not getting yet.

Thursday, June 20, 2013

Understanding House Prices For The Next Year

Finally a smart article about housing prices and where the prices might go or not go. The article hit home. I was surprised to see that single family house prices in Weymouth, MA have not gone up yet based on sales figures from the local MLS. (Glad to send you the spreadsheet if you want to see it.) So much of what is published on house prices is media schlock.

Probably a lot of towns like Weymouth are just teasing an uptick in price. Yup, the market is faster and properties are selling well and the rate of price decline has slowed since the high water mark of 2005,  but the prices haven't turned the corner yet in Weymouth. Quincy and Chelsea and other border towns to Boston are doing better with rising prices.  Lexington prices went up. Groton down in the first quarter. (Glad to send you those spread sheets too). 

Will House Prices Be Constrained by Stagnant Incomes?

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Saturday, June 1, 2013

Attorneys are not a protected class*.... and HCPTSS

For all the jokes (funny & not funny) about attorneys, you would think attorneys would be a protected class* just because of the jokes about them. I particularly like jokes that combine banjo players with attorneys,  but now I am wandering off the blog topic.

Anyway.

A real estate agent said I could not show an available apartment.

When he asked what my client did for a living I told him, "Attorney." He said, "the landlord does not rent to attorneys."  The agent said that  the landlord and a former tenant / law professor, were involved in a messy case in housing court. Since the protracted litigation in housing court, the property manager does not rent to attorneys.

This is where the HCPTSS comes in. Clearly the property manager is suffering from severe Housing Court Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome.  This kind of knee jerk reaction is one of the hallmarks of the disease. When a single housing court case causes you to ban a whole profession, you've got a severe case of HCPTSS.  With one traumatic event, the landlord simply deletes a whole profession from the applicant pool.  At the least, the property manager/landlord certainly cuts out a lot of wonderful tenants, as in the case of my current client who happens to be an attorney.  And, if the property manager or landlord extends the stereotyping to other professions, the pool of potential tenants begins shrinking exponentially.

I called a legal beagle at one of the realty associations.  The attorney with whom I spoke had the same experience when looking for apartments because of her profession. The legal counsel agreed that attorneys are not a protected class.

A dynamic and thorough application process is the best preventive medicine for bad tenants.  Screen tenants at the application stage and you won't be screaming later in housing court.  These days, besides the formal application, you get extended background checks with a simple internet search. Can't you easily Google and Facebook the  applicant to find out if the applicant is litigious, been evicted......  and everything else these days???

Okay, you asked for it... an attorney/banjo player joke: You're driving down the street and you see an attorney and a banjo player on the side of the road. which one do you hit first? The banjo player...business before pleasure.







Gerry Garcia is still alive and playing banjo badly these days. At least he is still not trying to play guitar.

*Protected class groups are groups of people legally protected from discrimination and harassment.

Thursday, May 23, 2013

Office Parks Get A Makeover (WSJournal)

Empty or half filled office parks in your neighborhood? Notice a lot of offices seem empty of people?This Wall Street Journal article talks about reuse in the changing office market.

I joked about this with a friend a few weeks ago. Told him a developer was converting the office park in North Quincy to apartments and a multi-use. It isn't true, but it could be.

Office use has changed dramatically since the 2008 downturn.

First, the electronic workplace has reached new plateaus liberating employees from their desks. In an electronically liberated workplace employees can come and go from the headquarters, office, work at home, or work from a remote location.

Second, as commercial leases expire, a number of companies are sending people home to work to avoid new leases (locally John Hancock). Some companies are not going to send people home (bio-tech for one), but many will.

Third, younger organizations and younger people are not tied to cubes and desks like the legacy companies.

Won't companies be doing more with less space? Yah baby, changing work spaces.

Office Parks Get A Makeover (WSJ)

Monday, August 6, 2012

Romney's Horse on a Plane to the Olympics.....

Boston.com has this picture buried deep with the title "In Other Sports News." The picture shows a horse strapped on the top of an airplane going to the Olympics like Gov. Romney's famous dog trip. This picture comes after a blog about the Red Sox's Bobbi Valentine. Now does management at Boston.com know about this?  http://bostondirtdogs.boston.com/2012/08/new_jersey_unveiled_to_stop_sn.htmlfile://localhost/Users/stephenmarcus/Desktop/romney'shorse.tiff

Monday, July 23, 2012

East Milton 4 BR Victorian

New listing of a Victorian in convenient East Milton. Snap of the fingers to Boston and interstate to anywhere. Buses, trains, and automobiles..... House needs some work. Sold "absolute as-is."

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http://listings.realbird.com/F8D2E6C7/167626.aspx

 

-- Steve Marcus
Stephen Marcus Realty
Mobile: 617-947-0467
Fax: 617-500-9907
Skype Name: marcus01432