Come to Us for Central Massachusetts Commercial Real Estate
In our blog article last week (Are We Talking Ourselves Down the Slide?) we talked about the value of an upbeat attitude in today's "interesting" economy. In that spirit it was refreshing to view Chairman Ben Bernanke's interview on 60 Minutes on Sunday. He seemed to be cautiously continuing this theme. I wish we could take credit for his interview - we can't. Yet it seemed apparent from his comments that the current recession may have an end in view. He fell short of predicting an absolute turnaround in 2009, but he held out an expectation that it can with recovery projected in 2010. There were still a lot of "ifs" expressed, but the general tone was more positive than the evening news.
And president Obama is speaking in somewhat more positive tones than he did for a short time. To the degree that bad news begets bad news, so does good news stimulate positive thinking.
Since our theme is commercial real estate, do we see a benefit to our market from an upbeat tone? Yes, we do.
What's happening? There are definitely some negative aspects in our market focused on two main areas. One is the lack of liquidity in the banking system and the other is the loss of formerly sound tenants in the office and retail sectors, in particular. This loss of tenants devalues the property due to the loss in cash flow.
Some areas of the country have already seen severe pain and won't view a recovery quickly. We deal primarily in the central Massachusetts commercial real estate market where the market letdown has been less severe and will likely continue at this pace. We don't generally see the peaks and valleys so common in more volatile markets. What this also suggests is that there are good investments to be made in the secondary and tertiary markets.
Investors will be well advised to look at this market for long term investment rather than the deep discounts being sought today by distressed sale buyers. Financing is available through community banks. The economy, while not robust, is better than many areas of the country, and we have a diversified mix of manufacturing, electronics, medical and medical device manufacturing, retail and beyond.
Take a look at how we can provide solutions for central Massachusetts commercial real estate. And thanks to Ben Bernanke for giving us a hand.
This article contributed by Robert Yale, CCIM email bobyale@svn.com
Central Massachusetts Commercial Real Estate