Chickens are great with kids

Citizens want chickens for a variety of reasons according to Regina Fierke who is involved with the effort. “Fresh organic eggs, insect control, natural fertilizer, and entertainment are just some of the reasons people want chickens”, according to Fierke. “Hens are entertaining, have a lot personality, put themselves to bed at dusk, and provide a great breakfast in the morning”, according to Mark Glover who legally has them on his larger lot. “And if you think chickens can’t be a pet then try telling my family that,” says Jennifer Paul, an 11 year Flower Mound resident. “We love our chickens. We love watching their different personalities, we love watching them scratch at the earth and eat bugs, we love collecting and eating the fresh eggs they graciously leave for us.”
The Paul family is raising chickens on a 20-acre property they are leasing for their cows. “I’d love to move them to my backyard if the town would allow it. Changing the ordinance is the right move for our town and will help to promote ‘Go Green Flower Mound’ and our continued dedication to offering a family friendly quality of life.”
The Animal Services will hear more about the benefits of having backyard chickens at a meeting on February 21, 6:30 pm, at Town Hall. The measure will be voted on by the Animal Services Board at a later meeting and then will have to be approved by the Planning & Zoning Commission and Town Council.
“Our proposed ordinance is the result of careful consideration of dozens of ordinances from other cities across America, direct experience of backyard chicken owners, and several research studies on owning backyard chickens”, according to Fierke. “I became involved with ‘Chicks for Flower Mound’ after reading an article about the Fierke family losing their pet chickens,” said Paul. “I think this group has come up with the best possible ordinance for our town after thoroughly researching other city ordinances all over the country.”
Why Backyard Chickens in Flower Mound

Until recently, “Extend and Pretend” was the unwritten policy of many banks, and the Federal Reserve went along. As long as note payments could be made, many lenders would continue a commercial loan without proper underwriting or recognizing loss in asset value.

Many commercial properties are upside down in loan-to-value and past the renewal date, which is three to five years typically. Banks have been reluctant to force strict underwriting of renewals because the asset may be worth 30% to 50% less than the basis on the bank’s books.

Recognizing lower values on assets creates a real problem for a bank, and for the borrower that must make up lost equity to renew a note or face letting real estate go back to the bank. The bank does not want to foreclose, write down its assets, and become responsible for back property taxes if it forecloses. It has been preferred to just kick the can down the road and hope it would all sort itself out.

We are now down the road and extend and pretend is near its end, according to CoStar Group. They forecast that $45 to $60 Billion in distressed transactions will happen in the remainder of 2011. Further, there is $850 Billion in commercial maturities about to come due.

Commercial real estate values have bottomed-out, stabilized to a degree, and we are seeing growth in demand locally. Federal policy is changing and rejecting the extend & pretend policies previously allowed. On the go forward, balloon notes will have to be renewed, paid at maturity, or foreclosed.

In a lot of cases, the assets pledged for existing notes are just not going to appraise at the note values. Many small businesses have exhausted cash reserves in the economic downturn. Small businesses will find it hard to impossible to refinance their real estate.

For businesses needing to expand their businesses with new real estate and building expansions, it may not be so easy either. Many banks will, for the first time, be accurately recognizing problem commercial loans. Adding commercial loans to their portfolio may not be a move that their boards or the feds will allow. Pretending that you will be extending is not a good strategy for small business owners. Businesses with upcoming loan modifications and capital expenditures (capex) needs should start early and retain competent advisors.

Washington recognizes the business finance dilemma and has been pushing for easing small business lending through the SBA. At the same time, the Feds are now putting pressure on the banks clean up the books to the true values of the banks commercial portfolio.

The SBA may not be the only solution for small business owners, but it is worthy of consideration. In the 1980’s and 90’s, many borrowers from the SBA claimed it took too long, was too much paper, or cost too much in fees. This is not the case now if you use knowledgeable advisors, have good financial records, and have a good business plan.

The two main SBA loan programs are the SBA 7(a) and the SBA 504. Either can be funded in six to eight weeks from starting the process, and the paperwork is not near as difficult as it once was. It is not easy, but has been significantly streamlined in recent years.

SBA 504 is targeted for owner occupied real estate and equipment with an upper limit of $5 million. It works well for new construction, renovation, or expansion of facilities. Working capital, goodwill, and inventory are not allowed uses of 504 funds. Interest rates are reasonable and can be fixed on the SBA portion of the loan with 20 year amortization, a feature not available on conventional commercial loans.

SBA 7(a) is targeted for any eligible owner-occupied business use and can include financing for buildings, equipment, working capital, furnishings, and inventory. Loan amounts are $200 thousand to $5 million. These loans are often used when working capital is needed or for business acquisition. Terms are normally 7 to 25 years, with variable interest tied to the prime rate.

A borrower can have more than one SBA loan, and may have both a 504 and 7a on the same property. There are some creative ways to put financing together, if you invest in knowledgeable advisors to help you with the process.

Regardless of what you’ve heard, SBA may be the way. There is more flexibility than your Dad’s SBA loan of years ago and there are advantages that are just not available with conventional bank financing.

We will post additional details about these SBA programs and other financing considerations in future posts. If you have questions in the interim, please call or email.

According to David Schless, president of the American Seniors Housing Association (ASHA), it is an important but modest amount of new construction. “Until the capital markets change and the economy improves, we expect to see relatively muted levels of construction of market-rate seniors housing.”

Senior apartments are responsible for 49 percent of the new units currently under way, of which, only 8 percent fall under the category of market-rate properties. Another 20 percent of the new projects are independent living properties, with assisted living properties accounting for 16 percent and nursing care buildings 15 percent.

Another area of recent activity is commercial building investments in secondary markets across the country. This trend may be led by spiking valuations for office properties in a number of gateway cities.

Just this week, the DFW Metroplex has seen significant activity and plans for investment. The Colony approved the Nebraska Furniture Project. Development consisting of of 1.28 million square feet of warehouse space, 25,000 square feet of “regionalcorporate.headquarters” and about 546,000 square feet for retail. Breakfast cereal giant Kellogg has leased a Lewisville distribution center with about 1 million square feet.  Target Corporation has announced  construction of a 360,000-square-foot facility will supply about 235 stores in Texas, Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Tennessee.

Corporate and investor desires for better returns and lower cost are driving large commercial purchases in second tier markets across the country. Properties in the largest markets, such as New York, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. may be burdened with fewer risks; however cap rates in those markets are nearing pre-recession levels.

“There are cities at the top end of the market where the pricing is very robust, but the gains [in valuation] have been more limited in places like Dallas and Houston,” notes Sam Chandan, president and chief economist with Chandan Economics. “These are markets where individual core assets will trade at high valuation, but it’s still not comparable to D.C., New York or San Francisco.”

One way to best describe the current environment is there is macro weakness, but there is a lot of micro strength. This could be the new hope for commercial real estate across the America. A focus on what’s going right as it defies overall weakness in the economy.

Identifying micro strength opportunities requires focus, market knowledge, experience, and hard work. For corporate and real estate investors, this requires forging relationship with trusted advisors.

Bob was born near Paris, Texas in the town of Sylvan on December 2, 1930 to Charles and Irene Gibson Rheudasil.  He grew up on a farm with two brothers and a sister – Bill (Skip) Rheudasil, Jerry Rheudasil, and June Rheudasil Vest.  Edward Marcus brought Bob to Flower Mound in 1953 and Bob eventually ran the Denton County affairs of Mr. Marcus.  Bob’s duties for the Marcus family included managing their world renowned Black Angus cattle ranch called Black Mark Farms, and later, an impressive tree farming business that was headquartered in Flower Mound.  Many of the trees in and around Flower Mound came from this Flower Mound tree farm and many were planted by Bob Rheudasil.  Bob was renowned in the region as one of the foremost experts on trees.

As one of the Founding Fathers and the first Mayor, Bob started a town with essentially nothing but a lawsuit against Irving, who was attempting to annex Flower Mound land in what became the Denton County Land Wars.  Flower Mound prevailed in this lawsuit and Flower Mound was born with Bob being elected Mayor in 1961 by a mere 51 votes.

Bob served as Mayor and Bob’s wife, Pat Rheudasil, served as Town Secretary.  Bob spent a lot of time on his Mayoral duties including negotiating for utilities, begging for right-of-way and trying to get infrastructure for the town.  Doc Wilkerson helped Bob tremendously with these efforts and they made a great team, achieving a lot for the town with very limited resources.

Bob always said that Pat Rheudasil worked harder than anyone associated with Flower Mound.  Pat was the first Town Secretary, received no pay, and little credit for her hard work.  Her job included taking minutes at council meetings, keeping the books, sending out all correspondence, running the water department, and much more.

Bob and Pat Rheudasil were often the first people new residents met when they came to Flower Mound.  Bob always said, “I welcome you to Flower Mound as long as you welcome the next ones to come”.  Bob loved people and was a true gentleman cowboy.  He had a talent for making people feel good about life and always had a smile and a story.

Bob had a massive stroke and aneurism in 1984 that partially paralyzed his right side.  He was not expected to live, much less walk and talk again.  He made a miraculous recovery and was a blessing to many after his stroke.  For many years, Bob would walk the halls of Lewisville Hospital daily to encourage stroke victims and patients in pain.  He carried an oak cane that Walt Garrison ornately carved “Bob Rheudasil” on.  Meeting Bob was a memorable experience with his cowboy hat, red suspenders, limp, oak cane, and warming smile.

Bob had many hobbies prior to his stroke including woodworking, bee-keeping, gardening, and raising his prized Bluebonnets.  After his stroke in 1984, but enjoyed being involved with the CCA Food Pantry, watching football, and most of all, drinking coffee at the Lewisville Feed Mill.

Bob was married to Pat McWhorter Rheudasil until she died of cancer in February of 2000.  Bob was married to Naomi Kirkpatrick Wilson Rheudasil for four years, until his death.  Bob’s children are Cindy Cade, married to Randy, Penny Glover, married to Mark, and John (Booker) Rheudasil. Grandchildren include Whitney Ortmeier, Nicholas (Nick) Glover, Beau Glover, Amy Rheudasil, Ty Rheudasil, Bonnie Gravely, Randi Rivera, Alison Strickland. He has six great grand children.  Bob is also survived by sister-in-laws Myrna Rheudasil, Dora McWhorter, and Bunny McWhorter with husband Joe.  Bob’s brother Jerry Rheudasil (DVM) preceded him in death.  Many close and loving family members and friends will also miss Bob.

Visitation will be held Wednesday, September 21 at Mulkey Mason Funeral Home at 740 S. Edmonds in Lewisville from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.  Funeral Services are Thursday, September 22 at Trietsch Methodist Church at 6101 Morriss Road in Flower Mound at 11 a.m. The casket will be open at Trietsch at 10 a.m. prior to the funeral for those that are unable to make the visitation.

John Mollet will preside of Bob’s farewell.  Pallbearers are Cotton Davidson, Jerry Millican, JackTiller, Arlen Lindsey, Billy Jack Newland, Ron Frehling, Mike Simpson, Nick Glover, and Beau Glover.

The family asks for donations to Bob’s selected charities in lieu of flowers.  Bob selected Camp Sweeney in Gainesville to establish a scholarship for diabetic children from Flower Mound and the American Heart Association.  Donations to Camp Sweeney can be mailed to Camp Sweeney, P.O. Box 918, Gainesville, TX 76241.  Donations to the American Heart Association can be mailed to P.O. Box 841125, Dallas, TX 75284.

Bob’s final resting place will be at the Flower Mound Cemetery on FM 3040 in Flower Mound.  Grave side services will be held after the funeral at Trietsch.

The programs start art at the MCL Grand Theater with presentations by Mayor Dean Ueckert, OTBA Chair Amanda Ferguson, Economic Development Director Nika Reinecke, and DCTA Representative Dee Leggett.  Following the presentation will be a tour of key facilities and features of Old Town Lewisville.

Send an RSVP to otbalewisville@hotmail.com, or call 972-850-6822 for details.  See the Agenda here: Oldtown Lewisville Tour. Development Tour

Our Chicken Ranch is actually a chicken coop on wheels that can be moved around the yard so the chickens can fertilize the lawn and flower beds, eat bugs, clean up weeds and aerate the soil.

The Chicken Ranch

This chicken management system is also known as a chicken tractor because of its portability and soil benefits. Backyard urban chickens are becoming popular and we are enjoying ours.

I designed and built the Chicken Ranch to resemble a country barn and included some great features such as natural ventilation, sliding doors, and a screen floor. It is very low maintenance, airy, and easy to retrieve eggs, which are healthier than store bought eggs.

The chickens we have were evicted from a family on a smaller lot in Flower Mound. Town Ordinances do not allow chickens on less than one acre. These particular chickens have become celebrities of sorts because of their eviction.  They have been in the Dallas Morning News, on talk radio, and the subject of other media coverage. Our chicken exploits are another story.

We have a black lab named Layla and have been keeping a friends yellow lab, which we named Brandy Von Beougher (to include her name with her masters). Brandy (real name) is about 14 years old, grew up around us, and hunted with our former yellow lab and beagle – which have since passed. We used to hunt with a group of guys on various hunting leases in West Texas .  Many of us had dogs that went hunting with us.  Since we built the Chicken Ranch, Brandy helps herd the chickens back to their barn in the late afternoons.

Dogs at Hunting Lease

Brandy is now completely deaf, near blind, and walks like an old woman. Her hips are not good and she has many other ailments, as you might expect of a dog her age. If a dog is seven times a human’s age, then Brandy is almost 100 in dog years.

Needless to say, we have become very attached to Brandy and she likes to stay with us for extended spells, especially in hot weather. My wife and I are home  or in or in the office 100’ behind our house most of the time.  Brandy gets a lot of attention and air-conditioning. She is always with me or my wife. Brandy goes to work with me, rides in the truck to go on errands, walks down to the creek for breaks, checks on the honey bees, goes swimming, herds the chickens, and gets naps in cool air-conditioning. There is nothing much better than an old dog and we love having Brandy around.

Layla, our black four year old lab, is very protective of our 2.75 acres and the 5 acres behind our house. She is a very good guard dog and sounds the alarm when coyotes, people, or varmints enter into her domain. I think Layla knows many of the coyotes that hang out in the woods near our house. She sometimes goes down to creeks to check on them when she knows they are in the neighborhood.

Layla

I suspect Layla is indifferent to coyotes, much like she is to the dogs next door. They are distant canine cousins and curious to her, but they better not step into her domain. She will chase them off if they intrude. Layla especially likes to get after them if her master is around so she can show off a little.

The dogs sleep in the house at night. After several weeks of near midnight alarms from Layla about the coyotes coming into the yard to investigate the Chicken Ranch, I decided to let Layla and Brandy out to run the coyotes off the property. The Chicken Ranch was constructed to be coyote proof, but I’m not positive it is and was becoming irritated with the Layla’s late night coyote alarms. My father-in-law, Bob Rheudasil, also lives with us and I know the barking has to wake him.

I let Layla out about 11 pm Sunday night and she bolted with Brandy trotting behind. Layla quickly disappeared, with her blazing speed and black coat quickly vanishing in the dark. Brandy, with her almost white coat and slower pace is easier to see at night.

Brandy was still in sight as I came out of the door, but quickly ranging beyond comfort. Concerned for Brandy, I set out to get her back home.  Layla can handle herself and usually returns home after she is satisfied that all is well in her domain.

Before I knew it, Brandy was a hundred yards out and headed down the street. She was quite a hunter in her day and was all the way into this coyote hunt. I turned on the iPhone flashlight to see better and to get her attention. Two houses down, I somewhat catch up with her, but she is up next to this house and on the move. I am reluctant to walk up to someone’s house at midnight with a flashlight. This is Texas. Most of the neighbors still own a shotgun, if not many firearms.

Think about it, because I didn’t at the time. Its dark and I am trying to get a deaf and near blind dog to come to me. She can’t hear, and in the dark, she does not see much at all. In the daylight, we use hand signals to get her to come. This is not working for me at night. I try all positions of the iPhone flashlight and hand signals, but her nose is down and she move quickly away not even aware of me.

Between the fourth and fifth house, Brandy turns between the houses and vanishes behind them. These particular lots are 3 plus acres and there is no way to cross the fences and follow. I wait, signal with the flashlight, and pace. She is gone.

It’s back to the truck, now several hundred yards away back at the house. I hope I can head Brandy off in the next neighborhood. Layla finds me as I fire up the truck and offers to ride in the front seat as lookout. Her eyes are much better than mine at night and I’m glad for the help.

I call the wife on the iPhone, and get that “speech” about letting the dogs out. By now it’s almost midnight and we race to Foxborough Hollow, the neighborhood to the South.  As we park in the most likely spot for Brandy to be, she is not there.  I pull up aerial maps on the iPhone, guess at other likely routes that Brandy would take, and drive to these locations. She is nowhere to be found.

Now starts the “dog cruising” exercise, something we have done before to find our dogs. We try to spot Brandy along any of the streets and roads to the South of our house and back in our neighborhood.  We turn on the trucks aftermarket day-lighter head lamps. They are a big help and light up everything along our path. We still don’t see Brandy.

Two and half hours later, still no Brandy and we have covered a one mile radius around the house many times. The truck is kind of sputtering at this point. I wish that I had rectified that ‘check engine code’ that AutoZone ran for me a few days earlier. It was something to do with low fuel pressure. I did buy a fuel filter, but it was too hot and I was too busy to change it.

Close to 2:45 am, the truck starves for gas rolling down 2499 near Surrey Road. I maneuver it to a parking lot, drag out the tools, and look to see where the fuel filter is mounted. The wife calls with another speech, but I convince her to bring me the fuel filter which I remembered was laying on my desk at home.

3:30 am: The fuel filter is changed, but the truck still won’t start. The fuel pump is probably out and I am looking at a major repair bill,  The fuel pump is located inside the gas tank, which has to drop to change it.  I remember that $100 worth of gas I put in the gas tank a few hours ago and think about how to get that out to change the pump. It’s more than I want to tackle in this record summer heat.

3:45 am: I ride back home with the wife and have more discussion about letting the dogs out at night. The wife has been cruising for Brandy while I was playing late night mechanic. She was tired and not very pleasant. Neither was I. Don’t know what time it was, but we finally get to bed tired and disgusted.

6:30 am Monday morning: Get up, have coffee, discuss dog issues some more with Penny, load Layla, and go look for Brandy. I text Von to let him know that I lost his dog and if he gets a call, to let me know. No luck finding Brandy and I come home about 9:30 am, very tired.  Penny goes out in our only car to do some looking on her own.  She also walks some creeks near the house.

Phase II: I call animal shelters, post “lost dog” notices with photos on Facebook , Penny calls Von, and I call anyone we can think of about a lost yellow lab. Penny drives the neighborhoods again with our one and only car.

There is little to do now but wait and hope. Penny starts in about losing the dog and that we will never see her again.  She is emotional, and I tell her Brandy will be fine.  I have some doubts and concerns as well, but don’t admit it.

11:30 am: The AAA tow truck meets me to take the truck to the shop. I take the car so I can talk with the mechanic and hike the creeks on the way back. I call the animal shelter again and go by there to look at a dog that is not even close to looking like a lab, but I had to check. Standing there, I email the shelter lady a photo of Brandy off the iPhone.  They know what she looks like now and agree to post her to the Lost and Found.

1 pm: I hit the creek bottoms, at the most likely guess according to the iPhone aerials. I hiked miles and waded places in the creek almost waste deep. Luckily, I find an old broom to beat off any poisonous snakes.  I was totally lost many times, but the iPhone aerials and the GPS  let me know where I was and how to reach civilization again.  By now its 100 degrees plus. No dog, tired, wet, and hot. My legs are scratched and bloody from crawling through the briars.  No dog and I go home.

2:30 pm or so: Come home and have a ‘discussion’ with the wife about letting the dog out. She goes out cruising again and hikes the creeks.  Since we are now working shifts with our dog rescue vehicle, I work off the computer and start a lost dog flyer to distribute. I print flyers to hang on community mailboxes and sign posts. People are responding and re-posting about our lost dog on Facebook. I answer their questions and thank them for looking.  I am a little embarrassed about losing this now famous dog and having to ask everyone to help find her.

I have my first direct phone conversation with Von about losing his dog.  He is gracious, but I sense the disappointment and concern in his voice.  I’m not feeling so good and suspect some parts of my brain are shutting down from lack of sleep, stress, and the heat.  I really need to be working on real estate, but this is much more urgent.

6:30 pm: It’s a  Dog Posse. Von, Bobby, their families, and countless other friends and people from Facebook are out cruising for Brandy.  People in the neighborhoods are asking if we are out looking for the lost yellow lab. Everyone seems to know about Brandy and it is a little embarrassing to me, the dog loser.  I drive up on a yellow lab and get excited. Then see she is too young and her master is walking her off-leash.

7:00 pm: The dog posse meets back at the Chicken Ranch. Von looks disappointed. My brain is not functioning well. I say I am impressed with the number of people out walking and that Brandy must have been found by someone. We discuss the possibilities of coyotes getting her, but decide she must be okay. I did not say, but I wondered if she could have been poisoned or if someone found her and decided to keep her.

10 pm: Still no Brandy and concerned.  Off to bed – we will try again in the morning.

7:00 am Tuesday: We are up and looking again, after some needed rest. I spend some time on Facebook corresponding about Brandy and answer emails. I call the Lewisville Shelter, Highland Village Shelter, email information to PAWS, Humane Society and others. I’ve got to think everyone in Denton County knows about this lost dog by now. Surely, someone must have found her.  I’m starting to get really concerned and wondering if we will see her again.

9:00 am: Penny goes to the grocery store to get much needed provisions in the dog search vehicle. She decides to drive back to the Foxborough Hollow neighborhood on the way. She says a little prayer for Brandy to “talk to her” as she drives in. Her phone rings and it is the Veterinarian saying that SHE HAS BRANDY!!

Rejoicing, Penny calls me and we both call everyone everyone else.  I cancel the Facebook alerts and Penny sets out for the vet to pick up Brandy. When Penny arrives, the vet tells her that they could not match the tags or the chip for Brandy when she came in Monday morning.  On Tuesday morning, they called a client in Flower Mound that has an older lab. This lady had downloaded a flyer from Facebook and provided Penny’s phone number to the vet.  Regardless of what people say, Facebook serves it purposes and brings communities together in times of need.

The vet also told Penny that John, I will call him John Doe here, found Brandy and brought her in on Monday morning. John less than half a mile from us.  We know John Doe, and got the rest of the story from him.

John is an ex-college football player and works out every morning about 6 am. On Monday morning, he went out to his garage and started lifting weights. He noticed something in the corner of his garage, and found Brandy. She was curled up and sleeping soundly.

John woke her and took her in the house to meet his family. She was hungry, and he fed her. John has labs and is a dog lover too. He chained Brandy in the front yard for while, thinking someone may be out looking for her and see her there.

John also called the vet listed on her tag. The vet could not match the dog to an owner. They asked John to call back in an hour, which he did, but still no match. The vet office finally admits that they have changed computer systems and were having problems.

John takes Brandy to the vet, thinking that they would eventually find the match to the owner. He does so under the agreement that they will not euthanize her and will call him to pick her up if they do not get a match.

Brandy spends all of Monday and part of Tuesday morning at the vet office while the vet office continues efforts to find her owner in their records. Finally, someone from the vet office calls another lab owner in Flower Mound that had the flyer, and the match is made.

Brandy got home late morning on Tuesday. She was very glad to see us, Layla, and even the chickens. We could tell she was sore and a little stove up. Her knee was swollen and John told us she had a bloody paw when he found her in his garage. Other than that, Brandy was healthy.

Von came to see Brandy about 11 am and she was very glad to see him. We called John Doe, put him on speaker phone, and hear the story of Brandy’s short stay at his house. We thank John and offer to buy him dinner.  He won’t have any kind of reward, but agrees to get together sometime to meet Von directly and see Brandy again.

All is right in the universe again. Brandy is going to work with me, taking “short” walks during the day, helping to herd the chickens, and taking long naps as she pleases. Brandy gets her rides in the truck when we have errands to run and is living a good life.

We will be sad on the day that Von comes to take Brandy back home this time.  Regardless of where she is staying, she has a good life for an old retired hunting dog.

Brandy After a Pheasant Hunt

It is ironic that Brandy now herds domestic chickens back to the Chicken Ranch in the late afternoon rather than retrieving wild ducks, pheasants, and doves for her master.  Sometimes late at night Brandy wakes me.  I hear her legs sliding back and forth on her pillow like she is running, and hear faint barks coming from down deep in her throat.  I know she still has her hunting adventures, even if they are just in her dreams.

Certainly, smart phones, tablet computers, and laptops have changed our world forever.  Many are working from home, and even from abroad.  Even my office arrangements have changed where I work from a small office building behind my home that I converted from its former use as a shop building.

Many professionals just don’t need an expensive office or the inconvenience of spending a long commute to the office.  They save gasoline, gain time from not commuting, save expensive rents, and save on utilities.  Working virtual is a more sustainable lifestyle and popular for many.

The question is how is this trend impacting the commercial real estate industry and the demand for office buildings?   Certainly, there is an impact, but the degree is yet to be seen.  In my market, DFW, office absorption is increasing and somewhat encouraging, despite the economy.  There are new construction starts, but the majority is medical office buildings.

Doctors are probably not going to start making house calls again.  It is doubtful that you are not going to your attorney’s home to gain council on an important legal matter.  A lot of other professionals like CPAs, insurance agents, and financial advisors require office space.  Many virtual workers work some days from home, but are in the office for meetings or part of the work week.

Gist has recently published some statistics to quantify where we are in this new trend.  This is a trend to watch, but the demand for office space is not going away anytime soon.

None of us really manages time, just how we spend time.  Time is a gift and we should try to spend it wisely.  Even a small improvement here makes a huge difference in the bottom line of our businesses and, ultimately, the size of our paychecks.

If you do the math, we only have 1,800 to 1,900 hours of “Golden Time” during business hours to work each year, after holidays and vacation.  Add your salary (or desired salary) to your overhead cost factor, divide by 1850, and you arrive at what the time in the Golden Hours is really worth per hour to you.  It’s worth a lot for most small business people and top executives, hundreds of dollars per hour usually.

I am fairly organized, very organized in some people’s eyes.  But I have gravitated toward activities that are too freewheeling and disjointed.  Working virtual and on my own, there are many distractions and non-productive activities. I also wander off to the more ‘creative pursuits’ when I should be finding new business or working on something more important.  I suspect I am not alone with this issue.

A recent Stanford study confirmed that as we get older, we have a harder time multi-tasking and returning to focus.  We sort of lose our place and it is hard to re-establish momentum.  We lose not only the distraction time, but the time it takes to find our place again.  With all the shinny distractions on our computers, phones ringing, emails, social media, and co-workers popping in, it’s a wonder that anything gets done at all in corporate America.

Here are the top 7 time and focus robbers:

• E-mail (and I suspect FaceBook and twitter too)
• Constant interruption by colleagues
• Self distraction, being bored and fiddling elsewhere
• Phones, and answering non-essential calls
• Rather be doing something else distraction
• Self-interruption (from multi-tasking)
• Inability to say no distraction

I am trading in multi-tasking and free-wheeling for focus and working in modularity.  Blocking out time, focusing, and batching work from a prioritized list of activity is the best way to increase my effectiveness.  To maintain this focus, outlook must be closed, social alerts have to be turned off, and I can’t answer the phone every time it rings.  I have even put on my Nascar ear phones a few times to shut out external noise.

There is time enough to catch up with phone calls, email, and other demands, but it is at the time I choose.  Of course I take that important call from a client, and occasional unscheduled breaks when I want, but it’s back to the focus as soon as possible.  Without flexibility and a forgiving system, it just will not work for me.

I’ve worked many calendar and time management systems, some computer based, some paper based.  I need a system that works with both sides of my brain.  It has to allow some freewheeling creativity, as well as regimented structure.

Previously, I was working off a weekly to-do list that I did on Sunday night or Monday morning in my journal, and added to/crossed off as the week progressed.  It had no formal prioritization, like the ABC, 123 systems.

My new priority system is called the NIP Priority System and I got it from a consultant I am working with to improve my business.  I still maintain an outlook calendar and extensive contact databases in outlook, but plan to move to more specialized software with these too, in time.

“N” stands for non-productive activities, such as calling your wife, visiting at the water cooler, and a lot of the time we spend socializing on non-business activities during the day.  It’s okay to spend some time on these activities, just be aware of the cost and minimize this time during the “Golden Hours” of 8 to 5.

”I” stands for Indirectly Productive Time.  It is the time we spend preparing for presentations, in meetings, and with administrative activities that are not directly producing money for you (or the company).  In my case, if I am not meeting with a client or working on solving their real estate problem, it’s Indirectly Productive Time.  For someone in an administrative or support role, the definitions will be different.

“P” stands for Productive Time.  This is what pays the bills, increases your paycheck, makes the company profitable, and solves your client’s problems.  It is when you are meeting with your client or working directly to solve their problems.  Only you can do this work in most cases.

The key, or course, is to spend more time in P and less in I.  We all know that we need to minimize N.  Striking a balance with I and P activities is the challenge.   You need to do some of the I activities, especially when refining your business systems, but delegate or outsource as much as possible.

Strive to be “like a doctor” who spends their day moving from patient to patient (all P activity).  Administrators and nurses do most of a doctors I activities.  If you are a C level executive, mid manager, or small business owner, your time is worth hundreds of dollars per hour.  You really need to farm out a lot of I activity to others.

Another key is to keep a detailed daily priority planner that you update every morning, prioritize with NIP, work off of during the day, and evaluate at the end of day.  Yesterday’s list is this morning’s starting point.

My daily priority planner is a simple one day Excel sheet that has nine hours down the right side for meetings, a list of my major projects I am working on, a prioritized task list (with NIP), people I need to call, and people I am waiting to hear from.  I fill it out with Excel in the morning and work it by pencil in my journal during the day.  It is a simple Excel based form from Vertex that I got from my business consultant.

Here are some new guidelines I am striving for:

• Reduce non-productive time
• Automate, Outsource or Delegate Indirectly Productive tasks
• Increase productivity by spending more time in transactions.
• Spend more time in prospecting for new business, networking, and cold calling
• Work in Blocks of Time I reserve on my schedule
• Group similar tasks – Batch Process
• Complete it NOW, or schedule the completion time. If it is not on the calendar or list, it may not happen.

I may share additional information about this quest in a future post.  By the way, I am doing this post in Non-Golden Time because it is an “I” activity for me.

Good luck and I hope this is of use to you!

Almost all commercial leases in larger metropolitan cities like Dallas have a tenant side representative.  As you move out to the suburbs and smaller towns, most leases have a landlord broker only.

Texas does not have Dual Agency for real estate, where one broker represents both sides.  The broker either represents the tenant or the landlord – they can’t represent both.  Further, brokers have a fiduciary duty to their clients which firmly puts them on one team or the other (landlord or tenant).  As a fiduciary, the landlord broker should disclose everything they hear or discover about the tenant to the landlord.  They negotiate solely for the benefit of the landlord, ideally to maximize rent and minimize what the tenant receives to execute a lease.

Texas law requires a broker (or agent of the broker) to provide all parties an “Information about Brokerage Services” (IBS) form at the first meeting or discussion of a real estate matter.  This form clearly explains who the broker represents in a transaction and their duties to the parties.  There is an ‘Intermediary Relationship’ that can be used, but the broker does not truly represent the full interest of either party in this scenario and is effectively a neutral mediator between the parties.  This option is not often used or preferred with commercial lease transactions and this relationship has to be clearly disclosed and agreed to in writing up front by law.

Tenant beware when leasing commercial property!  The broker you call off the sign or advertisement does not represent you and is not looking out for your interest.  They can’t, if they are doing their fiduciary duty for the landlord.

That said, market knowledge one of the best reasons to utilize a tenant broker.  A competent tenant broker already knows the best properties in the market, the market pricing, and the concessions landlords are making to procure tenants.

Tenant brokers can level the playing field and negotiate to save you significant costs over the life of a lease.  A tenant may be able to develop some market knowledge, but it will not be near what a professional tenant broker develops by working the market daily for years.  Not only does a tenant broker save time and lease expense, you usually don’t have to pay for this service.  Why wouldn’t you use a tenant broker for your next commercial lease?

Part 2 of this series will contain other benefits to using tenant representation