Recently, while in the midst of a managing a complicated commercial real estate closing, I took a few hours off to attend an orchestra concert. During intermission, while orchestra took a break, a string quartet played in the lobby. It was then that I realized that the typical commercial real estate transaction frequently has at least 15 different roles and is much more like an orchestra than a string quartet.
Read MoreImagine you are a professional musician who is building a performance career. You hire an artist manager to promote you, obtain performance gigs, and to negotiate contracts for your gigs for a period of five years. You hire an artist manager to promote you, obtain performance gigs, and to negotiate contracts for your gigs for a period of five years. Your manager’s primary compensation is a percentage of the compensation you receive from your gigs, plus reimbursement of certain of the manager’s costs. This arrangement is designed to incentivize your artist manager to work hard to get you as many bookings as possible as soon as possible.
Read MoreA real estate investor might start small, with a single duplex and eventually, through a series of purchases, sales, and reinvestments, the real estate investor may own multiple large apartment complexes, office buildings, or even high-rise mixed-use buildings. In those instances, although the primary purchase was real estate, each purchase would come with a certain amount of personal property in the form of appliances, furnishings, supplies, and other equipment necessary to operate the real estate. Comparing a real estate transaction to a violin purchase, purchasing the violin would be akin to purchasing the real property, and purchasing the bow and case would be more like the personal property that is purchased with the real estate investment.
Read MoreConsider that you are a professional violinist who lives in Maryland. To build your career as a solo violinist you are planning your first tour to Pennsylvania and Ohio, and you need to attract local audiences in those states. It would be a lot more difficult if there were rules that required that your advertisements for the Ohio concerts only reached individuals in Ohio and the advertisements for the Pennsylvania concerts only reached individuals in Pennsylvania.
Read MoreMost people have heard of Antonio Stradivari, who likely is the most renowned violin maker of all time. Few outside of the violin world, however, have heard of Francois Tourte, who developed the modern violin bow and has been called the “Stradivari of the bow.” Just as the violin student may overlook the importance of the bow, the real estate investor may overlook the importance of financing options and structure.
Read MoreMy son started at age three playing a 1/32 size violin, which with an eight-inch body looked more like a toy than a violin. A few months ago, my son traded in his ¾ size violin for a 7/8 size instrument, which is valued at 20 times the price we paid for that original 1/32 size violin nearly nine years before. When we made the most recent violin purchase, I realized how our “investment” in violins is like real estate investment.
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