Real Estate Syndicate » max diez

Six Keys to a Great Site: Looking at Commercial Real Estate

Max Diez — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 22:19:37 +0000

1. Parking. Little or inconveniently located parking can be the kiss of death for a retailer. Most retailers want four or five spaces for every 1,000 square feet of floor area. As many spaces as possible within 100 feet of the door is desirable.

2. Access. Today’s customer demands convenience, so having more than one way to enter or leave a store is preferable. Avoid sites that require turns across medians, which prevent cross lane turning.

3. Signing. Signs play a critical role in business identity and in helping customers find a business. A retailer’s facade sign should be visible from at least 200 feet away.

4. Traffic. Whether vehicular or pedestrian, every site needs traffic to prosper. Prime areas are located near intersecting streets with traffic lights. Streets with slower speed limits make it easier for drivers to see signage.

5. Activity. Unless a retail business is strictly destination-oriented, a site must have a good amount of diverse, nearby activity to draw shoppers to an area. Grocery stores, gas stations, post offices, and schools all bring people to an area frequently.

6. Visibility. No site selection factor is more important. Watch for barriers such as trees or download slopes that block long-distance views of the site.

Facebook goes IPO this week? Let’s see who buys what in Silicon Valley: Real Estate Fun

Max Diez — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 20:33:19 +0000

Max and EJ interview Ralph Migliozzi author of the book Collateral Damage Life as A Mortgage Broker.

Ralph Migliozzi began his career in finance in 1982. After his promotion to management in the consumer finance industry, he moved to Great Western Financial Services where he performed second mortgages. In 1986 he took a commission job originating first mortgages for a mortgage firm. After his promotion to vice president in 1988, he started his own mortgage corporation in 1989. In 1993 he began broadcasting a radio show he produces and hosts, known as “Mortgage Magazine,” on KNCO am in Grass Valley, CA.

Max and EJ talk about foreclosure and the mortgage meltdown. They also listen to Lana Del Rey, Of Monsters and Men and Pretty Lights mixed in between.

Fun times with Max and EJ as they talk about Real Estate, Music, and Mortgages.

Find us on facebook.com/calpmg

Welcome Back EJ

Max Diez — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 00:58:17 +0000

Here are some of the stats that we talked about on Market Street Radio on January 10th, 2011. It was provided by Altos Research for the city of San Francisco.

To listen, click here

Home sales have been exceeding new inventory for several weeks.
However because of excess inventory, prices have not yet stopped
falling. Should the sales trend continue, expect prices to level off
soon and potentially to resume their climb from there. Watch prices
as the market transitions from a Buyer’s market to a Seller’s market.

Median List Price: $655,000(trending down)

Asking Price Per Square Foot: $448(sideways)

Average Days on Market: 122 Days(trending up)

Featured a live mix by K-Cee of BJP Entertainment

Music played on air: Two Door Cinema, Kaskade, Lenka

Hosted by Max and EJ of CALPMG.com

Find us on facebook: facebook.com/calpmg

So long Sahara Hotel: Las Vegas, NV

Max Diez — Wed, 18 May 2011 19:16:13 +0000

I spent a couple of days in Las Vegas last week, it happened to coincide with SBE Entertainment and Stockbridge Real Estate’s decision to close the once Las Vegas landmark. According to SBE Entertainment CEO Sam Nazarian after buying the 1,720 hotel-casino(18 Acres) in 2007 and the real estate market collapse they quickly found out that the Sahara was “no longer economically viable” to operate.

Saraha Hotel Casino Las Vegas (entrance)

As other developments were moving south on the Strip, the Sahara was left behind. The halting of construction projects on the north end completely sealed the Sahara’s fate.

Opening in 1952, many of the Strip’s legendary performers in the 1960s and 1970s which included Johnny Carson, Don Rickles, Tina Turner and Dean Martin all performed there. The resort was the site of the annual Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon for many years and was the back drop to Ocean’s 11 the 1960s version. Even my mentor, who passed away in 2008 used to talk about his drinking and gamblinge trips at the Sahara.

So during a Vegas trip where I had plenty of extra and alone time to hang out, I asked Francis A. and his girlfriend Jenny to take me to this space. Curiously, when I told him that it was closing down he thought that this would be an opportunity to break the bank one more time.

Go figure.

Sahara Poker Room, the night before it was scheduled to close.

When we got there, we waited for a valet that never showed up, and for an elevator that was no longer working. Foreshadowing to what we would see in the actual casino. All of the restaurants were closed even the famed ‘House of Lords’ which Mr. Z used to talk about had shut down. Mr. Z told me that he had won a case involving a defective electric blanket and he convinced Mrs. Z to take their convertible to Vegas to celebrate.

Guess where he went? The Sahara. I would imagine when they got there it looked like this. This was the picture that one would see when they would sit in the sports book area. A window into an era of what was. I wish I could have seen it in its hey day.

1960s woman getting out of her car at the Sahara.

It was a somber event, a place that was once decorated with celebrities and mobsters was now just a tower of black and white pictures, empty $1 blackjack rooms, and silent slot machines.

According to Nazarian, they plan on coming back — in a final statement to a generation of patrons he hand wrote a letter on hotel stationery and posted it on the door saying,” “Be back soon! Thank you for 59 years.”

My guess for their new development being that they also own two parcels next to the Sahara, would be some type of TimeShare/Resort living experience. It seems that many of the new developments have gone in that direction. Only time will tell - Farewell Sahara, and thanks for filling in the memories.

When will the Real Estate Broker be needed again?

Max Diez — Fri, 28 May 2010 06:12:51 +0000

Housing construction and sales have always followed job growth. Looking around and seeing the number of layoffs from companies like Pfizer, Texas Instruments, GM, Boeing, Motorola, Sprint, Microsoft and Webcor one would think that times are grim. I personally think that when companies start to let go of employees, these were a lagging indicator of the current climate. Even amidst my mild optimism, I realize that many will not feel the same way. Take today’s news stating that more Americans than forecasted filed applications for unemployment benefits last week, indicating firing persists even as the economy rebounds and employment is picking up. My only argument is that many Americans are forced to work for less than what they were making and while they do have jobs ~ getting by is not living.

Cities like Las Vegas, Riverside. Calif., and Phoenix have seen median home prices fall 50%, 44% and 37% from their respective peaks. If you were to take a look at the jobs that are being posted on Craigslist, jobs are ~ dare I say it truly vanishing and companies are paying less for those once coveted services.

What is the future of Real Estate?

Max Diez — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 06:10:11 +0000

From Redfin to Century Homes what does the future of real estate mean to real estate brokers like myself. My first sale of 2010 was for a friend of mine. After spending 2009 thinking about buying a home, he calls me in January to find him a house. We took one week to find him a home to make an offer on. The nice thing about this offer was I had negotiated the price before we presented the contract. This is one of my favorite things to do. A few years ago I wrote a post about this, but being that I no longer have my old site is no longer live. I am tempted to repost it..maybe.

So as of today, I have begun to repost my work that I have done over the years. It has been a great deal of work but of some of my loyal readers have asked for it so here it is.