Commercial Real Estate in Memphis and our Galaxy

Realtor Magazine released their annual "30 under 30" list. It's a list of "up and comers" in the real estate brokerage business that have yet to cross the three-oh threshold.

What would it be like to sell real estate in a world without the Internet? Our “30 Under 30” for 2006 will never know. Every one of them entered the business after the now decade-old Internet revolution. Concepts like e-mail marketing and Web sites are second-nature to them.

I noticed a couple things with their list as relates to Commercial Real Estate.

• There's only one commercial agent on the list, Victoria Telek from Miami. She's 24 and already has her CCIM designation. <whistle>
• Memphis has no representation. The closest to us is Harold Bagwell from Pocahontas, Arkansas. Where in the world is Pocahontas?
• There are no ugly people. Every single person on the list is cute as a button. Some of them are model-worthy. Besides, Victoria Telek, look at Amie Chilson and Stacy Peardon. And don't forget Jennifer Hibbard and Christine Kinchent, "The Real Estate Twins". Seriously, I am not making that up.
• The real power player on the list? Cara Mantovani. Check out the people she works with.

I've never been a big boxing guy, but it's caught my interest lately. Here's the Commercial Appeal story about ESPN bringing "Friday Night Fights" back to downtown Memphis.

ESPN2’s Friday Night Fights will originate live from the Pepsi Pavilion at Handy Park on June 16, one day before Jermain Taylor defends his middleweight titles against Winky Wright at FedExForum. A press conference to officially announce the development — promoted as "Throw Down in M-Town 2" — is scheduled for Thursday afternoon at 1 at Handy Park.

That's great, and I'm happy for downtown, but here's the best part of the boxing story. Our own Mayor Willie Herenton (who has not been recalled) wants a piece of the action. Somehow I missed it the first time, but I read about it on Blake's Blog this morning.

I must say that I'm really surprised about some of the negative reactions people have had to Mayor Willie Herenton's plans to box former heavyweight champ Joe Frazier.

Some people view this as another example of the mayor's ego getting out of hand, or just a distraction from more pressing items of business at City Hall.

But I think the critics need to see this for what it could be: A terrific opportunity to unify our community.

You know what would be even better? Willie Hereton vs. Thaddeus Matthews. There will be blood.

I think of Google. As in, I'll google them and find out what they make. Today's Commercial Appeal has the story about Kyocera coming to town.

Kyocera signed a multiyear lease to occupy 300,000 square feet at Pro Logis Park Stateline in Memphis, on Getwell near Holmes.

"When you talk about a global company like Kyocera, which is respected in everything it does, we're real excited to kick off the park with them," said Jeremy Giles, vice president and Tennessee market leader for Denver-based Pro Logis.

Jake Lawhead of CB Richard Ellis Memphis, represented Kyocera in the deal. Patrick Burke, formerly of CBRE and current managing partner of the Staubach Co.'s local office, also represented Kyocera.

That's according to this article from the Sacramento Business Journal.

Nearly 500,000 people hold real estate licenses in California — the most ever — the California Department of Real Estate reported Tuesday. That equates to one real estate licensee for every 52 adults.

In 2005, the number of real estate licensees soared to a record of more than 476,000, up 14 percent from the previous year and a 57 percent increase over five years ago.

I tried to find out how many licensees Tennessee has, but the Tennessee Real Estate Commission doesn't have an easy answer on their website. The only way to find out is to scroll through each licensee's information individually. If anyone knows the approximate number for Tennessee and more relevant to most of us, how many agents work in Memphis, I'd love to hear it.

I got this article from Google News Alerts.

National Assembly deputies on Saturday discussed the draft of the Law on the Real Estate Business and the Law on HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control.

The report affirmed that specific regulations on forms of real estate business, including offering homes and buildings for sale and rent, real estate agencies, setting prices, property management services, and transparency of transaction information, would help enhance the real estate business and promote State administrative competence in the field.

Deputy Nguyen Hoang Anh from Hai Phong said that the law should only provide for an authorised State real estate appraisal office. The value of real estate in a transaction would be decided by buyers and sellers and not based on a price fixed by an authorised office, he argued.

I’d like to give a big round of free market applause to my favorite Deputy, Nguyen Hoang Anh, from Hai Phong. I couldn’t tell what their final decision was, as the state-run website wasn’t real thorough in their “investigative journalism”. This is what I do know; Put Vietnam on the “do not invest in this country” list, right under Mexico. In fact, I’d add Cuba and China to the list, as long as we’re avoiding “the red states“.

They’re definitely still communist over there, but I guess that doesn’t bother us these days. China’s pretty communist too, but they’re our best buds these days. Except when they’re kidnapping our Counter Terrorist Agents.

From this months issue of Business Week:

The theme music from Star Wars played as Bill Rancic, the first winner of TV's The Apprentice, bounded onto the stage. Rancic told his life's story. How he made money selling pancakes to his grandmother's friends as a 10-year-old. How he quit his dead end job selling commodities and built a successful cigar-of-the-month club, despite snickers from his old bosses. Then, facing off against Ivy Leaguers and MBAs, he came out on top of one of the most popular reality shows in the country, winning the right to supervise the construction of a 90-story condo building Chicago for none other than Donald Trump.

I've got nothing against Bill Rancic. In fact, I'd probably say I'm pro-Rancic. The part of the article that bugged me was the next paragraph. Read more »

Tonight’s the big grand opening of Coyote Ugly Memphis. Here’s their press release:

Coyote Ugly Saloon, the most famous bar in the world, is opening its 15th US location in Memphis, Tennessee, on May 17, 2006, Coyote Ugly Saloon founder Liliana “Lil” Lovell announced today. The Saloon is located at 326 Beale Street. The general public is invited to join the party after 9pm.

I won’t be there, but I’m sure it’ll be packed. Best of luck to “Lil” Lovell in their new location.

Ever wonder about the origin of the term “Coyote Ugly”? Check out Wikipedia.

From the Memphis Business Journal:

Memphis area home sales for April increased 2.1 percent compared to sales in April 2005, according to the Memphis Area Association of Realtors. The numbers as reported by the Multiple Listing Service showed 1,497 home sales in April 2006 compared to 1,466 in April 2005. The average home sale price in April this year was up slightly to $166,900 from $165,500 in the same month during 2005. Read more »

From today's The Daily News:

Hart Cordova LLC has purchased a high-rise office at 7000 Goodlett Farms Parkway from GBS GP for $19.3 million. Built in 1997, the 131,556-square-foot, five-story building sits on 8.47 acres at the northwest corner of Goodlett Farms Parkway and Charles Bryan Road…The county assessor's 2006 appraisal was $12.4 million. Read more »

I heard on the radio this morning about Uri Gellar buying Elvis Presleys' house not named Graceland. I found the whole story online at The New York Post, because our local Commercial Appeal didn't have the story yet.

"Psychic" Uri Geller and two partners have bought the Tennessee house Elvis Presley lived in before moving to Graceland, with a winning bid of $905,100 on eBay, he said yesterday. Read more »