Downtown Bellevue Condo and Apartment Projects in Trouble - and Ignoring Offers of Help
During the building boom in downtown Bellevue over the last few years, many people were amazed at the many high rise condo and apartment buildings going up here. After all, they were all supposed to sell out or become fully leased, virtually doubling or tripling the number of downtown residents almost over night.
Although I didn’t have a crystal ball, I did see a lot of challenges in getting these projects to market and this real estate broker was highly skeptical that they would sell at the prices initially being asked. As it turns out, there are many projects here that are finished or being completed that are nowhere near to close to being sold out or fully rented.
Bellevue Towers, Washington Square, Ten20 Apartments, Ashton Apartments and a number of other projects are all experiencing vary degrees of hardships.
The developers and property managers for these projects have big challenges ahead. Numbers are down all the way around from initial projections - both in numbers sold/rented and prices being paid. Loans are more difficult to get - both for potential buyers and for developers with projects in progress.
What would you do if you were a real estate developer or property management company and you were caught in this situation? Would you start “thinking outside the box”? (geeze I really don’t like cliches) . Some have started trying different strategies - including a lease to own option at one local condo complex. It’s my feeling that to be as successful as possible, local developers and management/marketing companies need to start using ideas and techniques to give their projects constant exposure in ways the ‘other guys’ aren’t.
It is very surprising to me that most are not doing this - or even considering great, new marketing opportunities that are brought their way.
A couple of months ago or so, I drafted my first partnership proposal for a downtown Bellevue condo tower (the names here will be omitted to protect everyone). I felt it was a very good and mutually beneficial proposal, with some room for discussion and negotiation. Despite the fact that I had previously helped this project with HUGE exposure through Eastside Business newspaper and had held Eastside Entrepreneurs events there to promote their project, they didn’t even have the courtesy to respond to a hand signed letter.
The next proposal went out to a recently opened apartment complex where we had also held an Eastside Entrepreneurs event and packed the place out. Again, not even the courtesy of a reply.
If I was an owner, investor or shareholder in one of these downtown Bellevue developments and I found out that a marketing proposal with fresh, new and proven ideas (and low/no cost) had been dismissed without even a meeting, I would be PISSED OFF and heads would roll.
Since then I did a bit of the shotgun approach and sent similar proposals to other developers in the area who I know are in tough situations. One replied that they were not interested, but in the process of hiring a marketing person (still have not heard from her).
On the bright side - there is one local developer who has seen the benefit of a partnership with Bellevue Business Journal. I’m looking forward to meeting with them to discuss how we can give them non-parallelled local exposure through print, online and the social media tools we are now using to help give our advertising clients additional exposure. I have a feeling that you will be hearing more about this in the very near future.
Do you know of any local projects that may be in trouble and can use help with advertising/marketing and amazing exposure? Do you have any great, new, innovative ideas that they should be using? I’d love to hear them.
Note: this was originally posted at BellevueBusinessJournal.com
On A Mission to Increase the Employment Rate
I just decided this morning that I am going to do my part to help increase the employment rate. I know most of you are thinking: What? He’s going to get a job? It’s true - I haven’t had a job for some time. I’ve had the “luxury” of running my own business and working 70-80 hours a week. Chances are if you owned your own business, you know what it’s like.
Actually that could happen at any point, but my real contribution to increasing the employment rate is by hiring people. I’m looking for one salesperson for each Eastside city to sell advertising for Eastside Business and Eastside Life newspapers. Bothell, Kirkland, Newcastle, Snoqualmie are still available - it looks like I may have coverage for Bellevue, Issaquah, Mercer Island, Redmond, Samammish and Woodinville. If someone has contacts, we might even stray down to Renton - they have always wanted us to consider them Eastside.
If you know someone who is interested in a commissioned ad sales rep, please send them the link to the ad on Craigslist: http://seattle.craigslist.org/est/sls/1011307673.html Thank you for helping me help increase the employment rate!
Blog About PNW Weather Gets A Lot of Comments
I guess that everyone wants to know about the weather - and by reading the Cliff Mass Weather Blog, it is apparent that many people like to discuss the weather online. He gets a lot of comments!
How Can You Promote Yourself Online?
Social networking guru Eric Pratum just wrote a great post on 10 Ways to Promote Yourself Online on The Eastside Life Blog. Check it out - and then check out his blog.
Want to Partner with Hair Farmer Joe?
Despite all the difficult news all around us, there are still a lot of great things going on. Business has actually been improving for my businesses and I’m very optimistic about the future of all of them. For the past six months or longer, I have been preaching connecting and partnering and I have decided that I want to do both with all of my businesses.
It is my intention to have partnerships in place for each of my businesses within the next six months (or much sooner). Key partners I am looking for include:
Partner or two to run Eastside Business and Eastside Life newspapers. After almost four years in publication the last three months have been record months for advertising revenue. Ideal partner is probably a team of two: someone who can sell and/or build a sales team and someone who can run the day to day operations and collection of news.
Partner to run Eastside Business and Eastside Life news sites. This should probably be the same partner(s) as above, but everything is negotiable.
Partner to run Eastside Entrepreneurs Social Network and events. The Eastside Entrepreneurs Social Network has great momentum after just 5 weeks in existence. People seem to love our parties and always make great connections. I am looking for someone with the energy, desire and follow through to help our members, grow and eventually manage the organization.
Partner to run AAA Properties real estate brokerage. Must be a licensed agent and willing to become a broker. Manage a small, but growing real estate company with residential and commercial agents. Up until recently, I have been concentrating on $500 flat fee listings for investors, but I know have one agent and will soon have my second. AAA Properties will be expanding number of agents, as our fees are per deal and very reasonable - great for these times and agents who may not be closing a deal every month. We also have the advantage of FREE advertising to the best audience in the world.
Partner to do marketing and PR for my Hair Farmer project. This would be a volunteer position, but is for a very worthwhile cause and would be greatly appreciated. Could be a great experience as well.
If you are interested in any of the above opportunities or know someone who is, I’d love to hear from you. I figure if I can find partners to help manage and grow these ventures, they will be even more successful with new people and new talents and I will have more free time to dedicate to what I am best at (or trying to find what that is). I’d prefer to hear from people that are self-starters and want to make a proposal for a possible partnership. Cash buy in is possible, but I do prefer a partner that wants to work on a performance basis and is willing to do what it takes to achieve mutually agreed upon goals to gain a percentage of ownership over time.
Thank You to All Who Attended the Eastside Entrepreneurs Net-Fest at The Village Bellevue
Thank you to all who attended last night’s Eastside Entrepreneurs “Net-Fest” at The Village Bellevue. › Continue reading
Joe Kennedy is NOT the World’s Best Blogger
Probably not even the best blogger in his, er .. my, neighborhood. But I did get on the list for the CES blogger party It Won’t Stay in Vegas. Robert Scoble will be there along from the good people at the Parnassus Group and a bunch of famous, semi-famous and near-famous bloggers.
You also need to know about the contest to fly on a private jet from Seattle to CES in Las Vegas.
Just wanted to see how/if this would show up in the searches. If I write Google here do I get more juice, or if I use the word Microsoft, does it dock me points. What happens if I just scream out Yahoo!?
Wow - So Much to Blog About!
I haven’t been writing much for the past 2 or 3 weeks - and I just realized that I’m probably keeping a lot of crap inside. Not sure why, but I’ve just wanted to think about things before writing about them (very unusual for me ;-)) I think part of it is that I’ve been needing to make some important decisions and don’t want to hit the wrong buttons. At any rate, I am going to work to get back to letting my fingers do the talking - hope I don’t bore you. › Continue reading
Eastside Bubble Becoming Known
It looks like things are really taking off over at www.EastsideBubble.com. I know that Jordan Nilssen is constantly working overtime on this site and others and wants to be the go to real estate site for the Eastside.
