Commercial Broker Lien Law

HB 174 (Commercial Real Estate Broker Lien Act), sponsored by Reps. Darrell McCormick (R-Iredell), Pryor Gibson (D-Anson), Leo Daughtry (R-Johnston), and Tom Murry (R-Wake), was heard in the House Judiciary A Committee on Wednesday. The Committee was concerned with the priority of this lien and mechanic’s and materialmen’s liens. After discussions with the parties and the bill sponsor, a change was agreed upon, and the bill will be heard in the committee again next week.

PINPOINT PROPERTIES TO MERGE WITH THE DILWEG COMPANIES

Pinpoint Properties, a commercial real estate development company, announced on Monday that it would merge its operations with The Dilweg Companies. The Dilweg Companies is a diversified commercial real estate investment firm headquartered in Durham, North Carolina. The newly combined company will continue to operate under the name of The Dilweg Companies. The terms of the merger were not disclosed.

Pinpoint Properties, which specializes in developing retail, medical and flex office buildings, said it expected the deal to immediately add management strength and capabilities, creating a truly full-service real estate investment firm with a total portfolio value of +$300 million. Together, the companies will offer four major real estate investment services — Development, Asset Management, Property Management, and Leasing.

Bruce Knott, head of Pinpoint Properties, said the deal would “formalize a long standing partnership between the companies and provide a strong foundation for growth moving forward.” Mr. Knott will join the company as Chief Operating Officer. He brings +10 years of development expertise to The Dilweg Companies. Prior to establishing his real estate career, Mr. Knott held various management positions at IBM in Research Triangle Park including North American Materials Operations Manager, where he was responsible for procurement of $2 billion dollars of components to support IBM’s Personal Computer manufacturing. Mr. Knott also directly managed IBM’s Personal Computer manufacturing in Research Triangle Park, which produced 30% of the firm’s global PCs. He graduated from Duke University with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering and later received his Masters in Business Administration from Duke University.

Joni Barnes will also be moving over from Pinpoint Properties to the new entity, where she will serve as a sales and leasing specialist with an emphasis on office condominium space, general brokerage and tenant representation. Ms. Barnes joined Pinpoint Properties as the Sales and Marketing Manager in February 2004. After a diverse professional career in the financial services sector, she entered the commercial real estate field in 2002 as an Acquisition Analyst with the Dilweg Companies. Ms. Barnes is an officer of the Triangle Commercial Association of Realtors (TCAR) Board of Directors as well as a committee member of Tacquire, TCAR’s commercial information exchange. She received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Finance from The University of Akron, Ohio and is a licensed Real Estate Broker in North Carolina.

Anthony Dilweg, CEO of The Dilweg Companies, said, “We are thrilled about the merger with Pinpoint Properties. This transaction will broaden our real estate expertise and position us for solid growth in the future.”

The Dilweg Companies is a diversified commercial real estate investment firm founded in 1999 and headquartered in Durham, North Carolina. To date, The Dilweg Companies has been involved in the development, acquisition, and sale of more than $500 million in asset value. The Company currently owns and operates properties throughout the Southeast from Newport News, Virginia to Raleigh-Durham and Charlotte, North Carolina, and the coastal region of South Carolina. For more information, please call (919) 402-9100 or go to www.dilweg.com.

NAR Economist, Dr. Lawrence Yun, Speaks on CRE

To a packed house at the NAR Midyear Legislative Meetings, NAR Chief Economist Dr. Lawrence Yun said you might not “feel the impact of the recovery — the hole was so deep, it might still feel like we’re in it.” During hisEconomic Issues & Commercial Business Trends presentation, Yun identified some bright spots — citing sales and leasing volumes for commercial real estate heading upward; but he continued to forecast some looming concerns and said financing remains a major stumbling block.

The commercial sector is expected to strengthen more over the next couple of years even as the end of commercial mortgage backed security (CMBS) activity is happening, but banks — particularly regional banks — are stepping in with portfolio loans. Interestingly, the big-four national banks — Wells Fargo, Citibank, Chase, and Bank of America — are in a far better position to make loans. They are not yet stepping up, but they are sitting on piles of money. “Because they’ve grown to the point where they’re too big to fail, they have a de facto implicit federal guarantee,” Yun said.

A big concern looming is inflation. It remains essentially low – about 2.9 percent – but inflation could rise and hit 5 percent by the end of the year and 6 percent in the early part of 2012, Yun predicted.

The top line on commercial sectors:

• Multifamily housing has been the standout over the last year. Vacancies hit historically normal levels last year at about 5-6 percent with solid rental rate growth. Look for 4 percent higher rents nationally by the end of this year – and more in some first-tier markets.
• Office market vacancy rates are expected to decline steadily, from
  • 16.5 percent in the first quarter of this year to 16 percent at the end of the year. Rental rate increases could turn positive for the first time in a while, too, to maybe 5 percent from a negative 2 percent.
  • The Industrial sector is expected to improve with vacancy rates projected to decline from 14.2 percent to about 12.9 percent at the end of the year and positive rental rate growth of about 2 percent this year.
  • Retail continues to struggle, with consumers still retrenching in their spending. Vacancy rates are only expected to improve marginally, from about 13 percent to just slightly better by the end of the year. Even so, the sector might see some improvement in rental rate growth, moving from a negative 1 percent to 1 percent in positive territory by the end of the year.

  For the latest Commercial Real Estate Outlook, go to:

  http://www.realtor.org/press_room/news_releases/2011/05/commercial_improving

  Follow the NAR Economists’ Blog at:

  http://economistsoutlook.blogs.realtor.org/

NAR’s Advocacy Efforts Benefit Commercial Practitioners

Advocacy efforts by the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) recently won three key victories for commercial practitioners regarding lease accounting rules, refinancing commercial loans, and the repeal of the 1099 rule. For details on these victories, follow the link below for NAR Treasurer Bill Armstrong’s latest podcast. Hear more.