Appraiser Income

Three themes anchor the U.S. commercial real estate investment outlook: U.S. economic performance, cycle maturity and the monetary policy outlook, said Cushman & Wakefield, New York.

“By and large these elements combined with the broader economic outlook point to continued strength and liquidity in the commercial real estate investment realm,” Cushman & Wakefield Chief Economist Kevin Thorpe said in the firm’s U.S. Macro Forecast. “With the threat of rapidly rising interest rates unlikely, most immediate valuation concerns have abated. However, a mature cycle still means that late-stage strategies are becoming more common and that the performance of the commercial real estate investment market will only become more nuanced.”

The report called sales activity “very robust” last year, the third-strongest year on record largely due to significant merger and acquisition activity. “Generally investment volumes saw sustainable growth across single-asset, mega-deal and portfolio sales–trends that are expected to continue–whereas we expect entity transactions to revert to more typical levels as a base case,” Thorpe said.

Retail and hospitality volumes increased more than other CRE sectors last year, reversing several years of declines for both. Cushman credited the retail sector’s increase entirely to merger and acquisition, but called the recovery in hospitality volumes more broad-based.

“The most favored asset classes at this point in the cycle continue to be multifamily and industrial, strength that seems set to continue,” the report said. “Suburban office sales appear to be stabilizing near record highs while central business district office sales recovered on margin following a sharp slowdown in 2016 and 2017.”

As the cycle continues to mature and fewer asset types and geographies see appreciation, aggregate pricing will likely decelerate, Cushman said. The Real Capital Analytics pricing index rose 6.5 percent in 2018, but the report predicted that index will increase 5.0 percent this year and only 3.8 percent in 2020.

“Although downside risks persist, the most probable scenario is that the U.S. expansion will continue, the momentum will continue and 2019 will be another healthy year for the property markets,” Thorpe said.

I have noticed a big uptick in domain renewal scams going out to our members over at the Appraisers Club, but other real estate appraisers have contacted me about this as well.

I am sure most of you check the validity of all bills that come to your company, but this one seems to be focusing on real estate appraisers for some reason. Who knows why, maybe we pay our bills without asking too many questions?

So if you have a website and you get a notice in the mail to renew your domain name, make sure it is your company domain name first. Check every character, maybe even type it in to your browser to make sure it pulls up your website. I have seen notices going out that are very similar to your domain name and they are trying to trick you in to buying it through them.

If it does match your domain name, make sure that is the same company you purchased the domain name from in the past. Log in online if possible and renew the domain name there if needed. Many of the letters that are sent to you in the mail are stating they are for a ‘renewal’, but it is actually requesting you to transfer the domain name to their company. They are not trying to take ownership of the domain name, just have you pay to ‘register’ it with them.

There really is no need to change a ‘registrar’ unless you want to change it yourself. Most of these companies are just trying to scam you in to paying a higher annual fee.

Most places like Moniker or GoDaddy will be the registrar for only $10-$20 a year.

When it comes to domain name billing, always take a close look, these scams have been going around for decades, but they seem to be targeting real estate appraisers now.