We joined ATR 5 years ago and it has been a hit - for us and with our clients!  Listen to today's podcast to learn all the ins and outs of being global.

Bob got to tour VariSpaces yesterday and came back to the office with a wealth of knowledge.  From humble beginnings of a retrofit standup desktop to all their current offerings, Vari is a model to be studied and enjoyed!

How well do you really know someone before you hire them?  Or better yet, how well should you know them?  What questions should you ask before hiring a tenant rep broker?  Today we'll give you 7 questions you must ask and we'll answer these questions for REATA as well.

Most of the time we talk about how to negotiate better office leases on this podcast.  But today, we're going to talk about the Supply Chain - how its reliability became invaluable during Covid-19 and how its weaknesses showed up in a recent winter storm in Texas and how that affected industrial real estate.  When you could no longer go to Wal-Mart, Jeff (Mr. Bezos to you) could bring it to your doorstep.  Well, yes in the first case, no in the second.  Listen to today's podcast to discover 5 forces shaping logistics real estate.

Prologis had an interesting article recently about logistics real estate demand and what they see in the future.  Prologis is a large owner of industrial and logistics real estate.  They say that decisions surrounding supply chains are becoming more holistic and data-driven then ever before and that we'll see huge demand for these properties in the future.

They are absolutely right-we're seeing the impact of this throughout the DFW area with giant warehouses popping up from Alliance airport in the far northwest to Waxahachie in the south.  Doing a quick search on CoStar for available warehouses with 500,000 square feet or more showed 16 properties that could accommodate that, already on the ground.  But here's the kicker, there were another 12 properties under construction and another 42 somewhere in the planning process.  There is clearly incredible demand for this type of property.

Prologis mentioned 5 forces that will be shaping logistics real estate in the future.  They are:

It would appear that the industrial surge will continue to grow in the near and distant future.

You've probably heard that folks are leaving the big city downtown and moving to the burbs.  With so much good about downtown, public transportation with light rail, restaurants, shopping, hotels, live/work/play, performing arts, museums, parks etc why would anyone want to leave downtown??

While it is the right place to be for many companies, the suburbs may be the better choice for others.   Here are a few reasons/tips:

Granite Properties and Common Desk have teamed up to provide a new solution for post-Covid, return to work, offices.

1.  Going it alone

2.  Ignoring the neighborhood

3.  Betting on the future

4.  Not using an attorney

5.  Assuming that your employees want to come to the office

6.  Overlooking subleases

Listen to Jan & Bob discuss each of these 6 things in detail.  Now, more than ever, is the time to NOT make a mistake in your next office lease.

Recently the Dallas Business Journal quoted a CBRE study which claimed vacancy rate, in DFW, at the end of 2020, was 23.4%.  Listen to Bob and Jan discuss if this is good, bad, or even accurate.

In recently reading an article in the Harvard Business Review by Brian Kropp, I enjoyed learning what his 9 predictions for upcoming trends will be in the work force for 2021 and beyond.

1.  Employers will shift from managing the employee experience to much more.

2.  More companies will adopt positions on societal and political debates.

3.  Gender-wage gap to increase.

4.  Companies will be limited in their ability to monitor employees.

5.  Flexibility will shift from location to time.

6.  Companies to provide COVID vaccines and all that will entail.

7.  Mental health support to become much more prevalent.

8.  Renting talent as needs arise.

9.  States to begin attracting individual workers not just large corporations.

There have never been so many options available to companies for their office space. How do you decide among them and is your tenant rep able to advise you on all the options?

The options are definitely plentiful. Before discussing the best solution, we recommend that companies consider broader issues like 

Are tenant reps able to guide a company through this process?

Are you suggesting a different way of doing business?

Does that mean they won’t always get paid with a commission?