BY RAY HANKAMER
Ray talks to Larry Johnson with Johnson Development Corporation
about master-planned communities and development
Category: Ray’s Buzz
Finding its Center : How the Real Estate Center has changed the industry in Texas
BY BRANDI SMITH
There are few pieces of legislation that could pass through the Texas Legislature with unanimous votes, but one could also argue that there are few organizations as valuable to the Texas economy as the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University.
“When our last funding increase went through, there was not a single vote against us in the Senate,” said Gary Maler, the center’s director.
Maler and those who preceded him in the position know the center’s challenges and triumphs, making the vote all that more satisfying.
“Unanimous. I’ll take that any day,” Maler said.
Cuba: Open For U.S Tourism But Not Prepared
BY RAY HANKAMER
Havana: A beautiful natural port, 90 miles from Key West, and our ship was the only vessel I saw moving about the harbor for two days. We docked at one of what were once three parallel cruise ship piers. Today, 58 years later, only one is usable, and the other two are falling into the water, with no roofs and no traffic.
Old Havana begins at the pier. There are four big plazas in Old Havana, and many of the buildings facing these plazas have recently had their first coat of paint and first fresh plastering since the 1950s, as the government is trying to create some eye appeal on what is otherwise a tired, terribly antiquated neighborhood.
Broker Tradecraft and Etiquette
BY RAY HANKAMER
rhankamer@gmail.com
A commercial real estate broker has a lot of things to keep in mind to be successful. Here are a few of them:
Clients
Follow your instinct in accepting a client. Check clients out in advance before going to work for them. Make sure your client wants you to “win” if through your professional expertise you enable him to “win” in a business dealing. Researching prospective clients is relatively easy and private and is worth the time you spend to do it.
Interview with John Fenoglio
BY RAY HANKAMER
rhankamer@gmail.com
RN: John, thanks for spending time with REDNews. Our readership is of all ages, and most are in Commercial Real Estate (CRE) in one way or another. Will you tell us how you got started in the lending business, and what your educational background was that prepared you for it?
JF: I received a BA in economics from the University of Texas at Austin in 1970, worked at Texas Commerce Bank for a year and then went to TCU and received an MBA. After graduating in 1972, I joined American General Investment Corp. ( now AIG) and have been in the commercial real estate finance business ever since.
Interview with Doug Simpkins
BY RAY HANKAMER
rhankamer@gmail.com
RN: Doug, you have been in commercial real estate (CRE) for a long time. How did you first gravitate to the industry, and who were your early teachers/mentors?
DS: I have been in commercial real estate for 51 years. Initially, my first job out of college was with a real estate appraisal firm and then I worked for two commercial mortgage banking firms for 12 years. In 1981 we started our development firm. The appraisal and mortgage banking experience was invaluable as I learned the economics and financial aspects of a wide variety of commercial properties.