Sandy Brown, Cale Commercial
To start the year let's update the TARP situation. Just as Bank of America, Citibank and Wells Fargo get in position to pay back the U.S. treasury for the investments they received from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), the treasury has released a detailed report on TARP's progress. Overall, it amounted to good news because the program will cost taxpayers much less than originally anticipated.
To recap events: TARP invested public money in U.S. financial institutions to help those institutions restore their balance sheets while they work through the impacts of the financial crisis that exploded last fall. This program and other government initiatives seem to have had the intended effect, averting a financial panic and keeping banks open and operational.
Indeed, according to the report the funds reserved ($700 billion) will not all be used as originally intended, because the investments made by the treasury on behalf of the taxpayer to keep our banks open are actually generating a bit of a return. The negative impact on the national debt may end up being be less than $300 billion. This is still a huge chunk of change, but saving about $400 billion off of the original estimate looks good at this point. Of course, the riskier TARP "investments" of about $160 billion in such outfits as AIG and the car companies are far less likely to get paid back, and would form the bulk of the loss that TARP could incur.
On the knowledge front, the Education Foundation of the CCIM Institute has recently expanded its university scholarship program to include the CCIM Institute's University Alliance Program schools. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is now part of the institute's program and thus will now receive a scholarship through the foundation.
The foundation's university scholarship program provides a full tuition voucher for CI 103: User Decision Analysis for Commercial Investment Real Estate and a check to the recipient in the amount of $1,000. Scholarships are distributed one per school per calendar year. The scholarship is administered through the participating university and the New England CCIM chapter.
MIT shall submit its top three candidates to the New England CCIM chapter. From these three, the chapter will select its top candidate and submit proper paperwork to the foundation. We welcome the opportunity to work with such a prestigious school as MIT.
Also, please see our website www.neccim.com, for a complete listing of upcoming educational and networking programs, including our chapter tour of the CCIM Calculator Class. A course is designed to provide an understanding of financial analysis tools, concepts and calculations necessary for commercial real estate. It will prepare the student for the calculations used in the CCIM Intro course and beyond. Students will be provided with an invaluable excel workbook that they will retain. An introduction to the CCIM designation and the process to obtain it will also be presented.
On another note, networking is a lot more than the exchange of business cards and a few follow-up phone calls. No one realizes that more than an industry of professionals whose business depends upon referrals. The CCIM Institute offers a unique networking program that provides members with the tools and opportunities to build better business relationships promote their expertise and close more deals.
This program has been designed with every type of member in mind, from designees to candidates, from in-person meetings to online channels. In order to meet the needs of our members and build our already solid brand, we've incorporated:
*More chapter/regional networking activities to build relationships both locally and nationally;
*National events to bring CCIMs together at trade shows;
*Industry events for continued and enhanced networking;
*Technology offerings such as deal-making webcasts, social networking, podcasts and more; and
*A series of events specifically geared toward making new business connections, exchanging information, sharing knowledge and taking part in deal-making opportunities.
Technology has not only energized the industry, it has changed the way business is transacted. Because of this, the CCIM Institute has taken a leadership role among real estate associations in order to offer members the most current, comprehensive, and user-friendly web resources in the industry. Just as with our exceptional networking opportunities and stellar education offerings, through the use of cutting-edge technology, we want members to be at the top of their game and to succeed along every step of their career.
The powerful CCIM "Site to Do Business" is an integrated online service for comprehensive site analysis, mapping and demographic data, aerial viewing and photos, customized business reports and transaction and portfolio management tools. Both designees and candidates can take advantage of this great tool.
And, http://www.ccimredex.com coming this year, CCIMNet will be upgraded into CCIMREDEX, an industry leading platform for the distribution and exchange of property information.
Please call any of our officers to find out more about these, and other exciting programs being offered by your New England CCIM chapter.
Sandy Brown, CCIM, CBR, RECS, is the 2010 president of the New England chapter of CCIM and president of Cale Commercial Realty Group, North Andover, Mass.
