Dr. Norm Miller, University of San Diego

1. "Glimpse into Organized Real
Estate Markets"
Presented by Norm Miller, PhD with
help from Vivek Sah, PhD in behalf of
Sumant Kachru, MBA and the RSDS-11
November 26th, 2011

2. What I will cover:
• A review of some of the non-profit trade
associations that serve the professional real estate
industry, noting that in the United States we have
some over lapping and competing groups.
• A review of some of the private for-profit data
vendors and a little illustration of what they
provide.
• A willingness to answer any questions you may
have on the global or US real estate industry as I
see it or general economic trends.

3. Property Types
• Single Family (Mostly Owned)
• Multi-family (Rental)
• Office (Rented or Owned) often BTS
• Industrial warehouses (mostly rentals) or
manufacturing (owned)
• Retail – from 2 to 5 stores to large malls with
hundreds of tenants.
• Hotels

4. Key Commercial Real Estate
Organizations and Specialization
• AI, the Appraisal
Institute, www.appraisalinstitute.org/
• NAR, National Association of
REALTORS, www.realtor.org
• BOMA, Building Owners Management
Association International, www.boma.org
• MBA, Mortgage Bankers
Association, www.mba.org

5. Professional Trade Groups Continued
• ULI, Urban Land Institute, www.uli.org
• NAIOP, National Association of Industrial and Office
Property, www.naiop.org
• ICSC, International Council of Shopping
Centers, www.icsc.org
• NMHC, National Multi-Housing Council, www.nhmc.org
• IFMA, International Facility Managers
Association, www.IFMA.org
• USGBC, United States Green Building
Council, www.usgbc.org

6. Other Specialized Groups
• IREM, International Real Estate
Management, www.irem.org
• CCIM, Certified Commercial Investment
Managers, www.ccim.org
• CRE, Counselors of Real Estate, www.cre.org
• CREW, Commercial Real Estate
Women, www.crewnetwork.org
• NAREIT, National Association of Real Estate Investment
Trusts, www.reit.com
• NCREIF, National Council of Real Estate Investment
Fiduciaries, www.NCREIF.org
• PREA, Pension Real Estate Associations, www.prea.org
• ARES, American Real Estate Society, www.aresnet.org
• Homer Hoyt Institute, www.hoyt.org

7. Why do these groups exists?
• Promote a positive brand image to the public.
• Professional education and advancement.
– Conferences (national one to three per year, regional, metro)
– Webinars
– Linkages with major universities
• Keeping up on trends and technology.
• Networking and professional advancement.
• Data exchange and funded research reports.
• Self-regulation.
– Code of conduct and professional standards.
• Recruiting new talent.
– Scholarships, internships, mentoring.

8. How are they funded?
• Membership fees
– Various levels of membership and benefits
– Students and academics are deeply discounted
• Sponsors
• Endowments and foundations

9. A closer look at a few: BOMA
• Professional education and designations.
• Data exchange on rents, vacancies and
operating expenses by type of property based
on member surveys and organized by types of
property and locations.

11. Appraisers (Valuation)
• MAI
• SRA
• FRICs

13. CCIM, Certified Commercial
Investment Member
• CCIM Designation
– 4 courses and a comprehensive exam
– Oriented towards investment and financial
analysis
– Available in many countries but not always
customized to local tax laws

15. NMHC, National Multi-housing Council

17. REALTORS and MLS (Multiple Listing
Services)
• Localized systems controlled by REALTORs
• Some private national vendors such as
Zillow, Trulia, Cyberhomes with neighborhood
stats and trends that make their revenues by
referral fees.

21. Commercial Listing Systems
• Nationwide systems dominate versus the
residential systems that are mostly local.
• Detailed property information is available on
the building and tenants and area.

24. The Value of Data
• Historically brokerage houses kept data close to the vest.
• Today we have several large private data vendors that replace some
of the internal data research staff of brokerage firms, but it is not
cheap to subscribe.
– CoStar and Loopnet
– Real Capital Analytics
– Excelligent
– IPD
– REIS
– Specialized firms collect data on specialized property like
hotels, shopping centers, apartment rents.
• Public record data collected by private firms:
– First American sweeps all public records as does Fidelity National
Information Services and they resell this data. (Property sale
prices, physical attributes, age, mortgages and much
more, photos, maps)
• Reliability is key.

25. Examples of CoStar

32. Summary
• Good trade associations help prevent over bearing
government interference.
• Good trade associations can prove valuable for data
exchanges, if the major players participate.
• Market transparency helps the market act rationally and
forecast more accurately.
• Data vendors that organize and make data useful are also
helpful to the market and save internal research costs.
• For accurate valuations and a more efficient finance system
good data and transparent markets are essential.
• Letting go of data and inside information does not diminish
your value as a real estate firm.

37. What does all this get you?
• Accurate trends on absorption.
• Accurate rents.
• Accurate selling prices.
• Market transparency