Tim Terry and Todd Helle inform at CRT

Tim Terry and Todd Helle, partners at Terry, Lockridge and Dunn Accountants and Business Consultants presented the new tax law changes and more to the Iowa City Area Association of Realtors Commercial Round Table committee.  The presentation was fact filled and specific and actually very interested and well presented.

There was investor concern at the end of 2012 about dramatic tax law changes with regard to treatment of real property taxation.  The TLD team said the actual changes were minor on January 1st, but hold on to your wallet, there are some serious changes to tax law in Congress.  The nominal rates will go down, but deductions and special treatment will vanish!  The overall effect is the changes being contemplated in Congress will raise needed tax revenue much more than the fairly minor changes in top tax rate and capital gains rate already passed.

Brooke Bonk Joins Edberg Team as intern.

Brooke Bonk takes time from her studies at Tippie College of Business to tackle research and marketing for the Edberg Team at Lepic-Kroeger, Realtors in Iowa City!
Brooke is a junior at the University of Iowa pursuing a BBA in Marketing as well as certificates in Entrepreneurial Management and Leadership Studies. Her internship on the Edberg Team at Lepic-Kroeger, Realtors begins in April, 2013 and we are thrilled to have such a talented student join us and help with keeping all the details together.  Brooke will be involved in certain aspects of marketing, as well as a statistical research project mapping out commercial properties in Iowa City, Coralville and Johnson County.
 Brooke grew up 20 miles outside Chicago in Des Plaines, Illinois and returns home to visit my wonderful family; her mother, grandmother, sister, and two cats- as often as her schedule allows. She is also involved in many extra curricular activities such as travel, music and, of course, cheering on the Hawkeyes!
 During the past few years Brooke has worked as a special education teacher assistant, sales associate, event planner for the university, and marketing assistant for a local start-up company.  These experiences in addition to her excellent academic record, qualify her for this internship.  We look forward to working with Brooke and helping her apply some of her knowledge and ability in a business setting and whish this strong student well in all of her endeavors.

Commercial Sales and Leasing Volume for Q1-2013

Sure, it's early in the year and early year ratios can be skewed due to lack of data, but these are good numbers for the Edberg Team. Rachel, Jerry and I have been pushing 10-hour days to keep our 200+ listing in front of tenants and buyers, and it is working! Sorry if this post is self-serving, but this is a competitive business and we are competitors! This market domination means performance for our clients plane and simple.

The ratios will certainly change as the year progresses, but we're counting on increasing, not decreasing our penetration! We'll let you know how we do!

Jerry Lalor joins Edberg Team

Jerry Lalor (he's the taller one) has joined Rachel Barnes and Jeff Edberg to round out the Edberg Real Estate Team!
 
Jerry is a talented, pleasant and an experienced business person and Realtor^®. He will be focusing on listing client services while also doing both residential and commercial sales and leasing.  The listing function is the backbone of the team keeping the listing inventory fresh and attractive, accurate and exciting.  These properties that we have listed for lease or sale represent the owners who have trusted our team to make a difference, and sell or lease that property!  Jerry will sweat the details and make sure everything is current, and looking good so Jeff and Rachel can concentrate on finding buyers and tenants for those properties.

Jerry talks about his concept of a "Realtor for Life" which is one of his core philosophy's.  When you use Jerry as your agent, he joins your family and is a trusted advisor and resource for you from now on.  He has the integrity to earn that moniker and has a growing following that use and trust his work and advice.  Jerry's "no" is as meaningful as his "yes" so you can trust either.  Please feel free to call or write Jerry and welcome him to our team! Jerry's cell is (319) 400-7644, or his email is jerry@icrealestate.com.

According to the 2012 NAR (National Association of Realtors) profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, most buyers look to the local Multiple Listing Service website to view local listings prior to purchase. Next, they look at Realtor.com, the gorilla website in America, followed closely by agent's websites.

I just revamped my agent website at www.icrealestate.com with a great search feature making it easy to sort, view and print listings for sale or lease. I also put in links to sites I use in my daily real estate practice like traffic maps and the Johnson County GIS site. Go have a look, or I'll highlight this new website in a future post.
The NAR study puts company websites (pitty!) and other websites like Trulia last at 13% each. It was surprising that mobile and tablet apps were at 39%! I use the one for Realtor.com on my iPad for showing as it uses geocoding as a sort feature and I can find the homes closest to me.

Nancy Bird Addresses Commercial Round Table

Nancy Bird, Executive Director of the Iowa City Downtown District, rocked the house with a presentation at the Iowa City Association of Realtors Commercial Round Table meeting. The presentation was on January 8th at the Iowa City Area Association of Realtors office where Nancy gave a point by point presentation for the future success of the downtown Iowa City area, its culture and its businesses. She was excited, concise, forward thinking and inspired. Nancy and her staff have already begun a six point plan of action to revitalize and grow this district while keeping the special parts special. Nancy is focused on business success as the pulse of the district, but is very innovative, and dare I say fearless in her approach to achieve that goal. She is working closely with the Iowa City manager's office and the Iowa City planning department to suggest new ideas and coordinate her efforts. Stay tuned for great things from Nancy Bird!




Jeff Edberg chairs the Iowa City Area Association of Realtors Commercial Round Table committee. The Committee meets monthly for a lunch meeting to discuss and be informed on topics important to the commercial real estate practitioner. The group also shares leads, needs and wants with their peers to promote the open interchange of information and expert commercial real estate practice. Attendance is open and free to those who sign up with the association at icaar@icaar.org.

College Towns do Well in Recessions.

 

How can your city best weather an economic downturn? Based on research, make sure it has a university. As reported in New Geography’s College Towns: High Marks for Lifestyle, college towns consistently have unemployment rates below their state figures, and nationally as well. Columbus, Ohio (Ohio State University) stands at 8.9%, below the 11.2% state and 9.4% national rates. Manhattan, Kansas, (Kansas State University) rates at 4.6%, the second lowest small city rate in the nation, and Iowa City, Iowa, (University of Iowa) at 6.2% (pictured).
Why the resilience of university towns?
- For one, universities don’t typically suffer from massive layoffs of students. In fact, I’m sure we all know at least one person who had difficulty finding or keeping a job that considered returning to school. That provides a constant population of residents and consumers for local businesses, kind of like why toothpaste companies don’t suffer in economic downturns.
- Graduating students translate to educated candidates to start new businesses or infuse existing ones with fresh, innovative talent.
- Former graduates are returning to the towns they want to school in, according to Tom Wetzel, founder and president of the Retirement Living Information Center. If you’re retired or laid off, why not return to that sense of community and camaraderie you had in school, from intellectual pursuits to the big football game. Blacksburg, Virginia (Virginia Polytechnic and State University) and Davis, California (University of California) are favorite return destinations because of the strong sense of community and purpose they establish with their students.
Finally, college towns are full of creatives, and we’re headed to a more creative economy. Thus, college towns already possess many of the placemaking qualities that a creative economy needs to thrive - walkability, local independent businesses, human-scaled buildings, active public spaces…
Photo of Iowa City’s downtown pedestrian mall by Kables.  Reprinted from Cooltown Studios. http://www.cooltownstudios.com