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The East Bay Rental Housing Association’s 5th Annual Trade Expo on 10/22/2011 was a tremendous success and I want to thank all those who attended.
The opening event in the ballroom was the Market Conditions Panel Discussion which was produced by our market conditions committee.
A standing-room-only crowd heard the four panel members: Bill Rosetti, owner of J&R Associates in Oakland, Donatas Januta, Jon Shahoian, President of Lapham Management Company in Oakland and Larry Cahn, owner of Feasible Properties in Contra Costa County.
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EBRHA Trade Expo 2011 -- photo 1 of 8
Link Corkery delivers the opening remarks at the 2011 East Bay Rental Housing Association's 5th Annual Trade Expo
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EBRHA Trade Expo 2011 -- photo 2 of 8
Link Corkery introduces the Market Conditions Panel at the 2011 East Bay Rental Housing Association's 5th Annual Trade Expo
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EBRHA Trade Expo 2011 -- photo 3 of 8
Market Conditions Panelists Bill Rosetti, Donatas Januta, Jon Shahoian and Larry Cahn
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EBRHA Trade Expo 2011 -- photo 4 of 8
Link Corkery moderates the Market Conditions Panel discussion
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EBRHA Trade Expo 2011 -- photo 6 of 8
Medical Marijuana and Rental Housing panelists Mike O’Connor, James Anthony, PJ Tradelius and Clifford Fried
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EBRHA Trade Expo 2011 -- photo 8 of 8
Link Corkery, moderator of the Market Conditions Panel discussion, assisting panelist Larry Cahn in making a point
I was moderator of the event as chair of the committee and gave a brief opening statement before turning the discussion over to the panelists. With roughly 140 collective years in the apartment business, the panelists captivated everyone’s attention for almost an hour.
Bill Rosetti, the largest apartment owner in Oakland, let everyone know that inflation was coming and that these current interest rates may not be with us for long so he recommended refinancing with fixed rates for as long as you can get. He sees a stagflation similar to the late '70s and early '80s and also predicted that cap rates would get pushed down substantially as demand for hard assets like apartment buildings grew due to the inflation.
Larry Cahn added that he thought our current inflation was more like 11% when calculating it like the government did in 1980 and he predicted that cap rates would go up. All agreed that well-located apartments in the inner East Bay area would do the best in any future market turbulence, however.
Bill and Don Januta own a lot of apartments in Oakland and Jon Shahoian manages probably more Oakland apartments than any other management company. Larry Cahn, a former director at our association in the early '90s, used to own in Oakland before moving his portfolio to Contra Costa, so Oakland got quite a bit of attention.
All agreed that Oakland had more than its share of problems but that as far as apartment economics are concerned, Oakland apartment owners should continue to well. I think most Greater Oakland area apartment owners who listened to the discussion walked away feeling good, although Larry Cahn pointed out that he sold his Oakland apartments and moved to Contra Costa County precisely because of some of Oakland’s problems like rent and eviction controls.
I was also honored to get to introduce our keynote speaker to the Expo attendees. Dr. Karen Engel, an economist and Executive Director of the East Bay Economic Development Alliance, gave a presentation called “Building on our Assets: Facts and Future of the East Bay Economy” and it was an informative and captivating presentation.
Thank You
For all those of you who attended our Trade Expo, thank you, and I hope you thought it was worthwhile. Please fill out the rent survey forms you receive from us and send them back. We wish you a very prosperous 2012.
Also see Trade Expo Participant bios |
