There is no doubt about it the US economy is in a recession! Things are bad on Main Street, Wall Street and everywhere in between. These times are difficult but they also prove great opportunities. The greatest real estate companies have been created in the down cycle of the market swing and not during the high times.
"There is no such thing as bad weather. Just improper clothing." Anonymous
We as a company have an amazing opportunity to prosper in these turbulent times if we flawlessly execute on our model over the next few years. Under performing properties will not make it in this business climate. We need to find them and buy them.
Our focus on the resident is the right model for today’s market. Residents have options and we need to make sure that staying in a Signature Community is the best one for them. We can do that.
Ability in financing in a market like this is key to our existence. Fortunately, we have a good track record with our lenders and continue to perform extremely well in regards to paying off loans and meeting our promises to lenders. If we want to continue borrowing then we need to make sure that we make no mistakes in this area. Performance is our existing portfolio it is our only track record to point to. We must keep that record up in order to continue of acquisitions pace.
"You can't build a reputation on what you are going to do." - Henry Ford
Our Investors relationships, although relatively new, are strong because of our performance over the past few months in these difficult times. They continue to expand into new opportunities but again it will only last as long as our success.
"Vision is the art of seeing what is invisible to others." - Jonathan Swift
The one thing I have always found interesting about Wall Street is its win-lose proposition. One side has to win and the other has to lose. Today many Billions of dollars are being lost but that means that someone is making them somewhere else. It’s up to us to take advantage of the opportunity.
Let's Make It Happen!
Nick
Monday, September 15, 2008
Monday, September 8, 2008
Moving Forward
I started my career in real estate in 1987. I was a freshman in college and was hired as an accounting intern for a shopping center developer. For the first 6 months of my employment it looked like this company could do no wrong. The company grew quickly, making deals all over the east coast and banks were lending 110% of each deal. But by the end of my six month internship everything had changed. Tax laws changed, lender liquidity issues arose, retailers declared bankruptcy and the economy contracted. This was the start of a real estate downturn that lasted 10 years.
The year 2007 and 2008 are very similar to the late 80s. Lenders stopped lending, tax laws are about to change, retailers are declaring bankruptcy left and right, and the economy has slowed to a trickle. This makes for some pretty tight times going forward in the next few years. In the 80s and 90s only the well run and financed companies were able to continue and that's going to be the same going forward now.
In the last few years many investors bought apartment buildings because they thought the market was going to keep going up; easy money. Well, now those investors are seeing that this business is not that simple.
See link to Stuyvesant deal ----
http://seekingalpha.com/article/94321-manhattan-real-estate-is-teetering-barron-s
I feel that we have positioned our company well for the coming years. We have one of the best management teams in the Multifamily business. We have a solid team and group of contractors to stabilize new projects. We have financed more than Half a Billion in debt and continue to attract some of the best lenders in the industry. We have created a differentiating factor for ourselves with our Signature Community brand that continues to lead the industry in innovation and customer service for our residents. And we have one of the largest most aggressive acquisitions group in the industry.
The upcoming year 2009 thru 2012 are going to be difficult years but with our team and our focus on the NWJ/Signature Model we will turn adversity into opportunity. The times are going to make us into the Billion dollar company we have been striving for.
"You buy when the blood is in the street. That little formula has worked miracles. It's just the opposite of what the average guy does. You want to buy [when there is] 'panic' and sell [when there is] 'euphoria.' It's all market psychology. It's all fear and greed." - J.P Morgan
Thanks for Making It Happen.
Nick
The year 2007 and 2008 are very similar to the late 80s. Lenders stopped lending, tax laws are about to change, retailers are declaring bankruptcy left and right, and the economy has slowed to a trickle. This makes for some pretty tight times going forward in the next few years. In the 80s and 90s only the well run and financed companies were able to continue and that's going to be the same going forward now.
In the last few years many investors bought apartment buildings because they thought the market was going to keep going up; easy money. Well, now those investors are seeing that this business is not that simple.
See link to Stuyvesant deal ----
http://seekingalpha.com/article/94321-manhattan-real-estate-is-teetering-barron-s
I feel that we have positioned our company well for the coming years. We have one of the best management teams in the Multifamily business. We have a solid team and group of contractors to stabilize new projects. We have financed more than Half a Billion in debt and continue to attract some of the best lenders in the industry. We have created a differentiating factor for ourselves with our Signature Community brand that continues to lead the industry in innovation and customer service for our residents. And we have one of the largest most aggressive acquisitions group in the industry.
The upcoming year 2009 thru 2012 are going to be difficult years but with our team and our focus on the NWJ/Signature Model we will turn adversity into opportunity. The times are going to make us into the Billion dollar company we have been striving for.
"You buy when the blood is in the street. That little formula has worked miracles. It's just the opposite of what the average guy does. You want to buy [when there is] 'panic' and sell [when there is] 'euphoria.' It's all market psychology. It's all fear and greed." - J.P Morgan
Thanks for Making It Happen.
Nick
Monday, August 18, 2008
NWJ/Signature Business Model
The other day I was sitting with someone and while starting to explain our business model I decided to illustrate it for clarification.
(The illustration can be viewed above)
The narrative is as follows:
1. We start in a market with a systematized acquisitions process. Literally we knock on every door to buy their building.
2. Stabilize the condition and resident base of the recent acquisitions.
3. Acquire more buildings until reaching 1000 units in market
4. Create centralized amenities and professional operations in the market.
5. Manage the assets as a community within a nation portfolio.
6. Sell any outlier's.
7. Finance buildings within markets as one property.
8. Return investors equity.
9. Repeat process in more than 100 markets throughout the US.
As long as all of you continue executing as you have this model works and it can be reproduced in 100s of US markets not to mention foreign Countries.
Thanks for Making It Happen!
Nick
(The illustration can be viewed above)
The narrative is as follows:
1. We start in a market with a systematized acquisitions process. Literally we knock on every door to buy their building.
2. Stabilize the condition and resident base of the recent acquisitions.
3. Acquire more buildings until reaching 1000 units in market
4. Create centralized amenities and professional operations in the market.
5. Manage the assets as a community within a nation portfolio.
6. Sell any outlier's.
7. Finance buildings within markets as one property.
8. Return investors equity.
9. Repeat process in more than 100 markets throughout the US.
As long as all of you continue executing as you have this model works and it can be reproduced in 100s of US markets not to mention foreign Countries.
Thanks for Making It Happen!
Nick
Monday, August 11, 2008
Olympics - China's coming out party
I am sure most of you watched the Olympics this weekend and were as impressed as I was by the opening ceremony. I was amazed by the scale of the event like no other. From my standpoint it was the message that China was sending to its people as well as the world; with teamwork we can accomplish anything and we will!
China's greatest resource is its people. Over a Billion strong. If the people of China continue to work as a united group it is going to accomplish things as a country that the US can not even imagine.
Human resources (good people) are a better asset to have then natural resources like (oil, productive farms, etc) because good people working together will create amazing and powerful things.
I was especially impressed by the one act in the opening ceremony where there were thousands of boxes moving up and down to symbolize the creation of the mountains. What was incredible to me was seeing at the end that it was not a mechanical computerized system creating this image, but instead it was completely driven by thousands of people. That is teamwork!
The analogy I see with our company is that we have so many good people and as long as we work together as a team we can and will move mountains.
Thanks for making it happen.
Nick
China's greatest resource is its people. Over a Billion strong. If the people of China continue to work as a united group it is going to accomplish things as a country that the US can not even imagine.
Human resources (good people) are a better asset to have then natural resources like (oil, productive farms, etc) because good people working together will create amazing and powerful things.
I was especially impressed by the one act in the opening ceremony where there were thousands of boxes moving up and down to symbolize the creation of the mountains. What was incredible to me was seeing at the end that it was not a mechanical computerized system creating this image, but instead it was completely driven by thousands of people. That is teamwork!
The analogy I see with our company is that we have so many good people and as long as we work together as a team we can and will move mountains.
Thanks for making it happen.
Nick
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Can You Become a Creature of New Habits?
Can You Become a Creature of New Habits? By JANET RAE-DUPREE
HABITS are a funny thing. We reach for them mindlessly, setting our brains on auto-pilot and
relaxing into the unconscious comfort of familiar routine. “Not choice, but habit rules the
unreflecting herd,” William Wordsworth said in the 19th century. In the ever-changing 21st
century, even the word “habit” carries a negative connotation.
So it seems antithetical to talk about habits in the same context as creativity and innovation. But
brain researchers have discovered that when we consciously develop new habits, we create parallel synaptic paths, and even entirely new brain cells, that can jump our trains of thought onto new, innovative tracks.
Rather than dismissing ourselves as unchangeable creatures of habit, we can instead direct our
own change by consciously developing new habits. In fact, the more new things we try — the more we step outside our comfort zone — the more inherently creative we become, both in the
workplace and in our personal lives.
But don’t bother trying to kill off old habits; once those ruts of procedure are worn into the
hippocampus, they’re there to stay. Instead, the new habits we deliberately ingrain into ourselves create parallel pathways that can bypass those old roads.
“The first thing needed for innovation is a fascination with wonder,” says Dawna Markova, author of “The Open Mind” and an executive change consultant for Professional Thinking Partners. “But we are taught instead to ‘decide,’ just as our president calls himself ‘the Decider.’ ” She adds, however, that “to decide is to kill off all possibilities but one. A good innovational thinker is always exploring the many other possibilities.”
All of us work through problems in ways of which we’re unaware, she says. Researchers in the late 1960s discovered that humans are born with the capacity to approach challenges in four primary ways: analytically, procedurally, relationally (or collaboratively) and innovatively. At puberty, however, the brain shuts down half of that capacity, preserving only those modes of thought that have seemed most valuable during the first decade or so of life.
The current emphasis on standardized testing highlights analysis and procedure, meaning that few of us inherently use our innovative and collaborative modes of thought. “This breaks the major of us inherently use our innovative and collaborative modes of thought. “This breaks the major rule in the American belief system — that anyone can do anything,” explains M. J. Ryan, author of the 2006 book “This Year I Will...” and Ms. Markova’s business partner. “That’s a lie that we have perpetuated, and it fosters mediocrity. Knowing what you’re good at and doing even more of it creates excellence.”
This is where developing new habits comes in. If you’re an analytical or procedural thinker, you
learn in different ways than someone who is inherently innovative or collaborative. Figure out
what has worked for you when you’ve learned in the past, and you can draw your own map for
developing additional skills and behaviors for the future.
“I apprentice myself to someone when I want to learn something new or develop a new habit,” Ms. Ryan says. “Other people read a book about it or take a course. If you have a pathway to learning, use it because that’s going to be easier than creating an entirely new pathway in your brain.” Ms. Ryan and Ms. Markova have found what they call three zones of existence: comfort, stretch and stress. Comfort is the realm of existing habit. Stress occurs when a challenge is so far beyond current experience as to be overwhelming. It’s that stretch zone in the middle — activities that feel a bit awkward and unfamiliar — where true change occurs.
“Getting into the stretch zone is good for you,” Ms. Ryan says in “This Year I Will... .” “It helps keep your brain healthy. It turns out that unless we continue to learn new things, which challenges our brains to create new pathways, they literally begin to atrophy, which may result in dementia, Alzheimer’s and other brain diseases. Continuously stretching ourselves will even help us lose weight, according to one study. Researchers who asked folks to do something different every day — listen to a new radio station, for instance — found that they lost and kept off weight. No one is sure why, but scientists speculate that getting out of routines makes us more aware in general.”
She recommends practicing a Japanese technique called kaizen, which calls for tiny, continuous
improvements.
“Whenever we initiate change, even a positive one, we activate fear in our emotional brain,” Ms.
Ryan notes in her book. “If the fear is big enough, the fight-or-flight response will go off and we’ll
run from what we’re trying to do. The small steps in kaizen don’t set off fight or flight, but rather
keep us in the thinking brain, where we have access to our creativity and playfulness.”
Simultaneously, take a look at how colleagues approach challenges, Ms. Markova suggests. We
tend to believe that those who think the way we do are smarter than those who don’t. That can be fatal in business, particularly for executives who surround themselves with like-thinkers. If
seniority and promotion are based on similarity to those at the top, chances are strong that the
company lacks intellectual diversity.
“Try lacing your hands together,” Ms. Markova says. “You habitually do it one way. Now try doing it with the other thumb on top. Feels awkward, doesn’t it? That’s the valuable moment we call confusion, when we fuse the old with the new.”
AFTER the churn of confusion, she says, the brain begins organizing the new input, ultimately
creating new synaptic connections if the process is repeated enough.
But if, during creation of that new habit, the “Great Decider” steps in to protest against taking the unfamiliar path, “you get convergence and we keep doing the same thing over and over again,” she says. “You cannot have innovation,” she adds, “unless you are willing and able to move through the unknown and go from curiosity to wonder.”
HABITS are a funny thing. We reach for them mindlessly, setting our brains on auto-pilot and
relaxing into the unconscious comfort of familiar routine. “Not choice, but habit rules the
unreflecting herd,” William Wordsworth said in the 19th century. In the ever-changing 21st
century, even the word “habit” carries a negative connotation.
So it seems antithetical to talk about habits in the same context as creativity and innovation. But
brain researchers have discovered that when we consciously develop new habits, we create parallel synaptic paths, and even entirely new brain cells, that can jump our trains of thought onto new, innovative tracks.
Rather than dismissing ourselves as unchangeable creatures of habit, we can instead direct our
own change by consciously developing new habits. In fact, the more new things we try — the more we step outside our comfort zone — the more inherently creative we become, both in the
workplace and in our personal lives.
But don’t bother trying to kill off old habits; once those ruts of procedure are worn into the
hippocampus, they’re there to stay. Instead, the new habits we deliberately ingrain into ourselves create parallel pathways that can bypass those old roads.
“The first thing needed for innovation is a fascination with wonder,” says Dawna Markova, author of “The Open Mind” and an executive change consultant for Professional Thinking Partners. “But we are taught instead to ‘decide,’ just as our president calls himself ‘the Decider.’ ” She adds, however, that “to decide is to kill off all possibilities but one. A good innovational thinker is always exploring the many other possibilities.”
All of us work through problems in ways of which we’re unaware, she says. Researchers in the late 1960s discovered that humans are born with the capacity to approach challenges in four primary ways: analytically, procedurally, relationally (or collaboratively) and innovatively. At puberty, however, the brain shuts down half of that capacity, preserving only those modes of thought that have seemed most valuable during the first decade or so of life.
The current emphasis on standardized testing highlights analysis and procedure, meaning that few of us inherently use our innovative and collaborative modes of thought. “This breaks the major of us inherently use our innovative and collaborative modes of thought. “This breaks the major rule in the American belief system — that anyone can do anything,” explains M. J. Ryan, author of the 2006 book “This Year I Will...” and Ms. Markova’s business partner. “That’s a lie that we have perpetuated, and it fosters mediocrity. Knowing what you’re good at and doing even more of it creates excellence.”
This is where developing new habits comes in. If you’re an analytical or procedural thinker, you
learn in different ways than someone who is inherently innovative or collaborative. Figure out
what has worked for you when you’ve learned in the past, and you can draw your own map for
developing additional skills and behaviors for the future.
“I apprentice myself to someone when I want to learn something new or develop a new habit,” Ms. Ryan says. “Other people read a book about it or take a course. If you have a pathway to learning, use it because that’s going to be easier than creating an entirely new pathway in your brain.” Ms. Ryan and Ms. Markova have found what they call three zones of existence: comfort, stretch and stress. Comfort is the realm of existing habit. Stress occurs when a challenge is so far beyond current experience as to be overwhelming. It’s that stretch zone in the middle — activities that feel a bit awkward and unfamiliar — where true change occurs.
“Getting into the stretch zone is good for you,” Ms. Ryan says in “This Year I Will... .” “It helps keep your brain healthy. It turns out that unless we continue to learn new things, which challenges our brains to create new pathways, they literally begin to atrophy, which may result in dementia, Alzheimer’s and other brain diseases. Continuously stretching ourselves will even help us lose weight, according to one study. Researchers who asked folks to do something different every day — listen to a new radio station, for instance — found that they lost and kept off weight. No one is sure why, but scientists speculate that getting out of routines makes us more aware in general.”
She recommends practicing a Japanese technique called kaizen, which calls for tiny, continuous
improvements.
“Whenever we initiate change, even a positive one, we activate fear in our emotional brain,” Ms.
Ryan notes in her book. “If the fear is big enough, the fight-or-flight response will go off and we’ll
run from what we’re trying to do. The small steps in kaizen don’t set off fight or flight, but rather
keep us in the thinking brain, where we have access to our creativity and playfulness.”
Simultaneously, take a look at how colleagues approach challenges, Ms. Markova suggests. We
tend to believe that those who think the way we do are smarter than those who don’t. That can be fatal in business, particularly for executives who surround themselves with like-thinkers. If
seniority and promotion are based on similarity to those at the top, chances are strong that the
company lacks intellectual diversity.
“Try lacing your hands together,” Ms. Markova says. “You habitually do it one way. Now try doing it with the other thumb on top. Feels awkward, doesn’t it? That’s the valuable moment we call confusion, when we fuse the old with the new.”
AFTER the churn of confusion, she says, the brain begins organizing the new input, ultimately
creating new synaptic connections if the process is repeated enough.
But if, during creation of that new habit, the “Great Decider” steps in to protest against taking the unfamiliar path, “you get convergence and we keep doing the same thing over and over again,” she says. “You cannot have innovation,” she adds, “unless you are willing and able to move through the unknown and go from curiosity to wonder.”
Monday, August 4, 2008
Pressure
"Pressure is a word that is misused in our vocabulary. When you start thinking of pressure, it's because you've started to think of failure." - Tommy LaSorda, LA Dodgers manager
"Good luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity." - Darrel Royal, Univ. of Texas football coach
"If what you did yesterday seems big, you haven't done anything today." - Lou Holtz, Univ. of South Carolina football coach
"The key is not the will to win...everybody has that. It is the will to prepare to win that is important." - Bobby Knight, Texas Tech men's basketball coach
The next 45 days are probably going to be the busiest in the history of our company.By Sept 15th we will:
That's a lot of work in a very short period of time but when I look at the dynamic organization we have created I am confident that we will succeed. Thinking outside the box and Wowing people with our attitude of success is what makes us different. Like many great sports teams we have spent time practicing and perfecting ourselves so when the opportunities arise we can take advantageous. So we earned the pressure and opportunity to perform this month.With everyones dedication and extra effort this next few weeks is going to be an incredible success.
We will succeed.
Let's Make It Happen.
"Good luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity." - Darrel Royal, Univ. of Texas football coach
"If what you did yesterday seems big, you haven't done anything today." - Lou Holtz, Univ. of South Carolina football coach
"The key is not the will to win...everybody has that. It is the will to prepare to win that is important." - Bobby Knight, Texas Tech men's basketball coach
The next 45 days are probably going to be the busiest in the history of our company.By Sept 15th we will:
- Close on a $75M acquisition.
- Sign agreements of sale on an additional 2,000 units
- Lease up 300 units.
- Settle a $12M insurance claim
- Finance more than $100M in debt (in a very bad debt market)
- Raise $14M in equity capital.
That's a lot of work in a very short period of time but when I look at the dynamic organization we have created I am confident that we will succeed. Thinking outside the box and Wowing people with our attitude of success is what makes us different. Like many great sports teams we have spent time practicing and perfecting ourselves so when the opportunities arise we can take advantageous. So we earned the pressure and opportunity to perform this month.With everyones dedication and extra effort this next few weeks is going to be an incredible success.
We will succeed.
Let's Make It Happen.
Monday, July 28, 2008
Crunch Time!!!
Sorry I missed last weeks post. I had finished a very wet and cold Ironman race late in the night before and didn't get back in an area with cell/internet service until late monday.
This week's topic is about Crunch Time. It happens in our business every year at the end of summer. Leasing season is ending and we need units filled before the phone stops ringing. Our annual profitability is made or broken in these 4 weeks. If we are left with vacancies we will not likely fill them until early next year and with profit margins as tight as ours that means the difference between a profit and loss this year.
With that said I ask everyone to step up their efforts over the next 4 weeks to get us to 100% occupancy in each and every market. We can do it.
If anyone has already reached this goal in their market and has time on their hands please discuss with your supervisor how you can help in other markets. We are still looking for additional leasing agents and management help throughout the country.
"Energy and persistence conquer all things."
Ordinary people believe only in the possible.
Extraordinary people visualize not what is possible or probable,
but rather what is impossible.
And by visualizing the impossible, they begin to see it as possible.
-Cherie Carter-Scott (American Author, Speaker, Trainer)
Thanks everyone for making the impossible happen!
Nick
This week's topic is about Crunch Time. It happens in our business every year at the end of summer. Leasing season is ending and we need units filled before the phone stops ringing. Our annual profitability is made or broken in these 4 weeks. If we are left with vacancies we will not likely fill them until early next year and with profit margins as tight as ours that means the difference between a profit and loss this year.
With that said I ask everyone to step up their efforts over the next 4 weeks to get us to 100% occupancy in each and every market. We can do it.
If anyone has already reached this goal in their market and has time on their hands please discuss with your supervisor how you can help in other markets. We are still looking for additional leasing agents and management help throughout the country.
"Energy and persistence conquer all things."
Ordinary people believe only in the possible.
Extraordinary people visualize not what is possible or probable,
but rather what is impossible.
And by visualizing the impossible, they begin to see it as possible.
-Cherie Carter-Scott (American Author, Speaker, Trainer)
Thanks everyone for making the impossible happen!
Nick
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