Multi-Family

Raleigh Metro Area- Fastest-Growing City in America

Raleigh

According to a Forbes article, “Raleigh, North Carolina has grown 2.2% since 2011 and 47.8% since 2000” and according to census data, the Raleigh metro area is the fastest-growing city in the U.S. since 2000.  These statistics aren’t surprising to those that have lived there since the late 1990s, since they experienced the growth first-hand.  As a commercial painting contractor, A&K Painting serves the entire Raleigh metro area.

Despite this amazing growth, Raleigh still has a relatively low population density in its urban core. The city has also retained its housing affordability, with housing costs that are half or less than in “cool”, slow-growth cities, such as Boston, San Francisco or New York.  Raleigh also has the advantage of being located in the Sunbelt, so people are choosing to take advantage of the mild winters and extended summers.  Also, the cities’ population will most likely continue to grow in the future, because its child population alone has expanded 45% since 2000, compared to 2% nationally, while cities such as New York and Los Angeles had a decline in their children population.

This could be an opportune time for CRE investors to take a hard look at Raleigh, since they are experiencing exponential growth which doesn’t appear to be slowing anytime soon; especially since the outlook for commercial real estate growth is on the upswing.

What’s in a Paint Color Name?

A&K Painting and Sherwin-Williams Paint Colors

In a recent Wall Street Journal article, Sanette Tanaka explains the importance of paint names, by sharing some interesting statistics from The Sherwin-Williams Co.  According to Sherwin-Williams, two word paint names, such as Wall Street and Stolen Kiss, make up approximately 61 percent of paint colors and 71 percent of gallon sales, while one word paint names only make up approximately 35 percent of paint colors and 26 percent of gallon sales.  Paint names with three words or more make up the smallest percentage with only roughly 3 percent of paint colors and 2.5 percent of gallon sales.

Jackie Jordan, the director of color marketing at Sherwin-Williams, creates the paint names and believes that people like to have an association with a particular color.  This is also why Sherwin-Williams chooses creative names, so that an emotional bond is formed between consumers and the paint hues.

At A&K Painting Company, we use multiple paint vendors, including Sherwin-Williams. We understand the importance of paint colors and the positive impact they provide.  Our team of employees and our vendors continually focus on providing superior customer service to assure satisfaction.

North Carolina’s Global Investors and the World

North Carolina’s Global Investors and the World

North Carolina is focused on having global investors and foreign companies bring their operations facilities to the state. Beside its business friendly atmosphere, according to D. Lawrence Bivins, in a North Carolina Economic Development Guide article, this is possible because its “climate, port access and convenient reach to millions of American consumers attract global investment. It’s geographic and demographic diversity allows foreign companies to operate in any corner of the state”.

North Carolina cares about culture and business, and tries to recruit foreign business leaders, by forging an alliance between private and public partners, which results in a much stronger effort. But international recruitment is only half of their two-pronged global economic strategy; North Carolina also focuses on giving its educational programs an international edge. North Carolina has highly competitive graduate school programs that bring the most talented people from across the globe to the state, and they hope to provide them with the tools to succeed in an international market. In doing so, they hope to retain these highly intelligent individuals and continue to attract more to the state in the future.

By attracting these global investors and retaining internationally educated graduates, “North Carolina collected more than $1 billion in foreign direct investment across 86 projects in 2010”, according to Site Selection magazine. North Carolina is already home to approximately 850 international companies and continues to recruit more. This is extremely good news for the construction industries and overall growth for the state’s economy. More direct investment from international companies means more business for construction companies, since they will need new facilities built. This influx of foreign investment also creates overall growth for the economy since more money will be invested directly into the state, and more people will be attracted to live here since there will be more opportunities for success.

CRE Sales Pricing Recovery Coming to Your Market?

Uptick to CRE Sales?

According to Randyl Drummer, in a CoStar Group article, “sales of U.S. commercial real estate reached nearly $64 billion in 2012, jumping 22% from the previous year to the highest annual total since 2004”.  These signs of recovery in CRE pricing also extended past the apartment market, spreading into office, industrial and retail property, however; what really stands out is the pricing gains in apartments.  Drummer wrote, “The multifamily property index advanced by 11.2% in 2012, with the 10 markets in the prime multifamily index again hitting pre-recession peak pricing well ahead of the other major property types”.  This shows that many consumers are still apprehensive about purchasing a home, so they are choosing to rent for now.  This is excellent news for the CRE construction industry, because demand for apartments is outpacing supply, so there is money to be made in building apartment complexes at the present time.  There is even further proof of this, because, according to Drummer, “developers delivered double the number of new multifamily units in 2012 than in the previous year, and construction in 2013 is on pace to bring an [even] bigger increase”.  Even though retail investors remain cautious, commercial, retail and hospitality are showing positive growth, which point to an increase in consumer confidence in the market overall.

 

Our IREM Membership & Real Estate Management Best Practice

A&K at IREM Tradeshow 2013

Today we’re exhibiting at the IREM of Western North Carolina trade show, at the Charlotte Convention Center.  The trade show provides us with a great opportunity to meet and support customers and prospective customers who are IREM Members.

The Institute of Real Estate Management (IREM) is an international community of real estate managers dedicated to ethical business practices, maximizing the value of investment real estate, and promoting superior management through education and information sharing.  IREM serves real estate management professionals in both commercial sectors and multi-family.

A&K Painting Company is a member of IREM, because we value the professional and personal connections we are able to make with a wide variety of real estate professionals in our area.  Dave Lozner, A&K Painting Senior Sales Manager says, “Participating in IREM allows us to interact with real estate managers face-to-face, which isn’t usually possible due to time and location restraints.  IREM brings all real estate managers to one location, which allows us to network more easily.  The IREM trade show is advantageous for the real estate managers, because it allows the experienced managers to introduce their assistants or less experienced property managers to many professionals they will be interacting with in the future.  Also, the IREM trade show presents an opportunity to meet potential customers, because many new real estate management companies usually attend”.