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Thursday, September 02, 2010 Five Questions With...
CREF: How did you get into the real estate business? GH: I got into the business right out of college. I was looking to go into a field with entrepreneurial characteristics. A friend introduced me to a managing director of Marcus & Millichap, who then introduced me to their training program. CREF: How did you choose your specialty and why? GH: At the time when I started in the business, L.A. was in a deep recession. The only commercial transaction business was selling foreclosed properties. My mentor at Marcus & Millichap had his specialty in apartments and he introduced me to multi-family sector. He had relationships with most of the major lenders at the time. After 15 years, I still absolutely enjoy multi-family. We're fortunate to be in the apartment business. It is one of the few places in investment property where the market has some liquidity, access to debt and investor demand. CREF: What are some notable deals you've been involved with? GH: The Getty Oil Building in 2005 was an interesting and unusual transaction, converting office buildings to condos. The Premiere of Sherman Oaks was an $80M transaction that we sold two separate times in one year. In 2008, we sold The Waterfront, a $49M property located right on the beach in Redondo. We also sold a portfolio of five properties, 304 units, in Encino and Northridge. The buildings were constructed between 1964-1969; we were the very first to bring them to market. CREF: How do you think the market looks over the next 12 months? GH: Downward pressure on market rents will continue to make it difficult to value properties. It is also difficult to foresee stability in the market without stability in the overall economy. Given its tax-favored status, over the long run well-managed income property will outperform other asset classes. In the short term, values will be soft, but my guess is that it won't take long for cash-on-cash returns to hit a level that is attractive enough to pull buyers off the sidelines. CREF: What are the biggest changes you have seen in the industry over your career? GH: Information technology has made the brokerage business significantly more efficient, access to information has made brokers and principals more educated for the better, and underwriting has improved greatly. Although the business is still dominated by private investors, the overall investor base has become a lot more diversified and institutional capital has become a major player in the industry. Filed Under: Five Questions With... E-mail this article to a friend | Printer friendly format| DIGG this| Post to del.icio.us Comments on this article
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