Dennis DeAndre, CEO of LoopNet Inc., which is currently undergoing a merger with PropertyFirst Inc., says it doesn't matter what industry a technology company serves, the venture capital has, indeed, dried up.
"You have to have a viable business model and be able to show that you can 'monitize' that activity," DeAndre says. Frank Scavone, CEO of Precept, a web-based real estate finance company, says that just last week his company closed on two years of operating capital at the exact same price he raised money a year ago. In order to do that, however, a technology company needs to have partners and investors who are educated in the company's business.
"Anybody with a coat and a smile could raise capital 18 months ago," says Scavone. "If you have a good company with good promise, and if you have something to add value, then [there are sources of capital] making those investments."
Although the economy is in the midst of a slowdown effecting tenant demand, the panel members agree, in the belief, that the length of the current real estate cycle's downturn will be shorter than previous cycles.
"There is an economic slowdown going on, and it will have an impact on real estate, but different in different markets," says Phil Belling, principal of Layton-Belling & Associates. "The cost of money from the debt side is more attractive. But there is still some impact on prices on the sales side and some increase on the leasing side."
Unlike Northern California where tenant demand is very, very low, Rick Kaplan, SVP of Cushman Realty Corp. believes Southern California and Orange County, in particular, has learned a lot from the last cycle and, therefore, is not suffering the same fate.
"We're not overbuilt, vacancy rates are down. I don't know the impact that power is going to have yet. I think a lot of companies are concerned, but none of us really know how it's going to effect California," Kaplan says.
For moderator Bill Halford, president of Irvine Company Office Properties, what's missing most from the current marketplace is tenants, not product.
"The tenants are paralyzed now. The question is when will they become mobile again. I'm not sure rent adjustments are going to mitigate that. There will be some movements in pricing as landlords begin to try to explore what have to do to attract tenants. There's not a lot of prospects in the market."It depends on how soon going to have job formation again. As the market attempts to get into balance, we're seeing rents diminish. The formation of jobs and the mobility of companies is what it's going to take to get us back in a healthier real estate cycle. Orange County looks as good as anywhere. Relative to rest of country, this area still looks very good," Halford says.
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