April 16, 2010

Hoff & Leigh’s Weekend Market Report
Hoff & Leigh, Inc.
Leasing, Sales, Management, Buyer Representation
4445 Northpark Drive, Suite 200
Colorado Springs, CO USA 80907
April 16, 2010

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All Market Average Office Building Sale Price PSF = $102.62 (UP 0.90 from last week)
We are currently tracking 88 office buildings for sale.
This is 808,761 square feet, which represents a total market value of $82,993,314.

All Market Average Industrial Building Sale Price PSF = $98.30 (DOWN 0.14 from last week)
We are currently tracking 68 industrial buildings for sale.
This is 842,751 square feet, which represents a total market value of $82,839,906.

To View Tim Leigh’s ad, please click below!
http://hoffleigh.com/Doc/Tim%20Leigh.pdf

To view our most recent Colorado Springs Business Journal Ad please click below
http://hoffleigh.com/Doc/4.16.10%20%20Colorado%20Springs%20Journal%20Ad.pdf

Tim’s Market Report

“Take me out to the ball game; take me out with the crowd.
Buy me some peanuts and cracker jacks; I don’t care if I ever get back.
Let me root, root, root for the home team, if they don’t win it’s a shame.
For its one, two, three strikes you’re out at the old ball game!”
Jack Norwith
Circa 1908, on a napkin, on a train

“Well, well, well”, Billy Bob said in his slow, southern gravelly voice, tugging on the suspenders straining over his round and bulging gut that didn’t know how pants could stretch that wide. “We all know real estate’s an easy game and commercial real estate must be really easy. I mean, come-on, how tough can it be? Bunch of big shots buying and selling big buildings; doin’ big deals; sounds like big and easy money to me! Heck, when I retire from the bank, I want to do what you do!”

And we had a land deal close this past week and its worth mentioning because it’s the poster child of what’s wrong with our banking system; “they cain’t play one note of music!” It went under contract April 10, 2008. And, ah, Bob, that would be about 2 years ago. Hmmm. . . Something about big and easy.

The story is that a friend of mine wanted to buy a lot on which he planned to construct a batch plant. He had trouble with financing back then, so the Seller leased him the lot for 12 months. Then the world fell apart and he really couldn’t get financing. In the meantime, he constructed his plant on the property and according to the lease, in the case of default it would become the Landlord’s property. My friend, the bedeviled buyer continued, desperately searching for financing from every possible source, including at one point, those “evil, hard-money lenders, who will break your leg if you don’t pay or who will buy a Red Rider BB gun and shoot your eye out!” (In fact, the hard money guys disappeared. The story is, their loans disappeared like so many bank loans and they were out of the game.) And I’m just going to say, it’s a pretty sorry story when, even the loan sharks can’t make a loan. . . I’m just saying.

At any rate, the Landlord bloomed into a Seller. He also became the primary lender-precedent to the deal. The Landlord cum Seller borrowed the full amount of the purchase price from a 3rd party; he then loaned that money to the Tenant, now Buyer, who used the proceeds to purchase the property from the Seller who had just loaned him the money. I know - try following that deal without getting dizzy. In fact, N.B., that’s why we get the big bucks; because we’re able to keep our bearing when everyone and everything around us is suffering from vertigo-on-roids, spinning mercilessly out-of-control. (Oh where, oh where is my medicinal marijuana, oh where, oh where can it be?) And at the end of the day, the Seller was able to complete a 2nd leg of the transaction with at 1031 exchange and thereby saving thousands in taxes. What a country! Of course it only took 2 years. Hmm. . . and at an hourly rate of about 4 cents per hour. . . Heck, I wonder if there’s a Gazette paper route available?

And then I stood in place of every kid or guy or lady that ever wanted to toss out “The 1st Pitch” of the season on Friday night. I was invited by the Sky Sox to throw-out the 1st ball. What a hoot! Those of you who know me, know I’m no baseball player; never was; nope. But I managed to get in 3 practice throws at Coronado’s home field beforehand and assured myself that I could (at least) throw a baseball 90 feet.

Then, over the loudspeaker, the announcer boomed, “Now throwing the 1st ball of the season, Mr. Tim Leigh, candidate for Mayor and certainly a man with a magic wand, who can solve everyone’s problems!”

I confidently strode to the mound and clenching the ball tightly, I slowly raised both hands to the middle of my breast; I paused and thought about all the great pitchers who have thrown before me; warm autumn evenings, bright night-lights, peanuts & beer; “hey, batter-batter, swing batter-batter; hey batter-batter”; hard fast balls right down the middle. I took a deep breath and held it; wound-up, right arm rounding my shoulder from back-to-front and extending northwest, I fired the ball toward the catcher’s mitt. Smack! All you could hear was smack; the sound of a hard, white ball crisply smacking into the well worn leather of the catcher’s mitt. Then the catcher stood up, gingerly removed his catcher’s glove and massaged his freshly bruised hand for the speed and power was more than he could handle. Then, he tipped his hat and winked at me, all to say, “You’re OK”. And I was. I was OK for all the folks who ever dreamed of throwing out The 1st ball of the season. (OK, I’m just kidding about the last part! – he didn’t wink.)

I have been asked several times in the past few weeks about my candidacy www.TimLeighforMayor.com. Why run? I guess that’s a fair question and since I am running for mayor, it’s a question I can easily answer. I’m running for mayor because I truly care about our city. It’s about that simple; and, I don’t see a lot of other folks running to the front of the bus. In spite of what the bloggers claim, it’s not about the money and for them, here’s a news flash – the salary’s about $500 per month. My gas-guzzling, carbon-neutral, used SUV guzzles more than that every month! So, no my dear friend, (Mr. Blogger), it’s not about the money. It’s because I care.

And I’ve been asked what I think about the “Strong Mayor” vs. the “weak mayor.” Again, I answer easily with a question, “Isn’t the Strong Mayor that guy some folks have seen at the Cross Fit gym?” Then I answer seriously; that I started my journey before that controversial issue was raised. When I started, it was with the intention to govern full-time under whichever form of government we had in place at the time of the election. If our system changes, I plan to be prepared; if it doesn’t change, I plan to be prepared. Look, right now we have 9 very well intended folks, working part-time for about $500 bucks a month running a $2 Billion dollar corporation, which operationally, is about the equivalent of 70 small & large businesses. Einstein said if you keep doing what you’ve always done, you’ll keep getting what you’ve always got. Any other expectation is insane. “Strong or weak?” - “Compensated or not?” Tell me what you think; Tim@HoffLeigh.com.

And, OK; just between the 2 of us - you should realize that, “just” RUNNING for mayor is a full-time job! OK, let me repeat that, “RUNNING for mayor is a full-time job.” Can you imagine being the CEO of a $2 Billion dollar corporation on a part-time basis for $500 bucks a month? Ah, who did you say was running the asylum?

And a couple of bureaucrats submitted their finest impersonation of caring government employees last week. One’s running for another position; OK, good luck with that. Not much chance of me supporting that candidacy; and yes, he actually had the gall to ask for an endorsement, even after his office managed to jack-up $50,000 transaction that’s still jacked-up after nearly 12 months. Want details? You have to call me. Another was grounded in absolute arrogance; could have solved a very simple matter with common sense. Oh, wait; common sense? What? . . . Look, I love the employees that take care of us, (and that would be most of them), but the ones that have to go, well, “IT’S TIME.”

So the trek continues, and as it continues I meet more very interesting and interested citizens; I met with several key city employees who are doing an exceptional job and if I told you what I learned, I’d probably have to kill ‘ya for your own safety. As it is, suffice to say that passion runs deep in local politics. I’m learning that people really care about public safety and keeping the parks open and they care deeply about our community.

And finally; good news this week; looks like I have buy-in from several key folks to pursue my idea of writing a linear history of Colorado Springs. This would be a year-by-year history, discussing key events and players. It would tell our story. The idea is to form a collaborative team made-up of 2 sharp students from each, Colorado College, UCCS and Pikes Peak Community College, who will be supervised by a professor (and published author), endorsed by the Pioneers’ Museum and financially supported with a non-profit grant. While this is still a work-in-process, I’ve noticed that good ideas get play and in fact, I already have several volunteers including a well known, local, western artist who volunteered to do the book’s cover art.

And, more good news, the budget outlook for this cycle seems to be improving. Instead of dying quickly, it looks like we’re going receive some much needed relief in the form of increased sales tax revenue. So, instead of a $33,000,000 shortfall or a $27,000,000 shortfall, it looks like we’re “only” going to have to cut $20,000,000 from the current budget. Hmm. . . Where’s that ax? How much does that paper route pay?

And lest I forget, 1) If I don’t remind you that we’re a real estate company and need your support, www.HoffLeigh.com, my son-in-law, the president of HLI gets mad at me; and 2) if I don’t remind you that our campaign www.TimforMayor.com needs donations, my treasurer gets mad at me. Please, help keep me out of trouble!

Keep it real,


Sincerely,

TJL
Tim Leigh
719-337-9551
Tim@HoffLeigh.com