The Dirt Lawyer's Blog Archive

You will see that my blogroll consists of almost all real estate blogs. But there is always room for an exception. Accordingly, note my newest exception - Jay Shepherd's Gruntled Employees . I am not an employment lawyer (though I worked at huge one as a dirt guy for a couple years), but I know good advice and ideas when I see them. And Jay's simply-put, practical advice is, in my humble opinion, spot on. Go take a look -- you will not be disappointed.

I've been mulling over writing this article for a while. To quote the late (and improperly maligned) Adm. James Stockdale, "Why am I here?" And in tandem with that: what is my purpose for writing this blog? I like to write. I always have. Whether I am any good at it is another story, but some people seem to think so. And yes, that is flattering. This blog is just one person's opinions about the world, primary that of real estate. I sometimes go off on tangents, and I try not to get too political. I might be full of it, but if you think I am, don't read. That's the beauty of the blogosphere. You will not see much bad written about individual people here, with some exceptions for notable public figures. I try as much as I can to adhere to the principle that if you have nothing nice to write about someone, don't write anything. I rededicate that in writing today, and to those against whom I may have transgressed, I'm sorry. If you want to read...

Magandang Umaga! It is mid-morning Monday in the Philippines and Sunday evening in Chicago, and I just learned the Bears lost , blowing any chance they had of the playoffs. I never expected them to be even close, so I am not bummed out. Now I pin my hopes on a Rose Bowl victory by USC against Penn State. I am still astounded by the amount of dirt being pushed here in the Philippines. We had a terrific visit yesterday to Tagaytay Highlands , an upscale, private real estate development about 60 minutes from Manila. The facilities, security and dirt were all nothing short of magnificent. The views are among the most beautiful I have seen. Gichael de Leon was kind enough to give us a grand tour of the facility, and his boss was good enough to give us a guest pass to the club facilities, which allowed us to eat at one of the many restaurants on site. We chose the American style steakhouse, and my US-imported ribeye was a touch of home 800 miles away. Many of the buildings are cons...

So much to write about, but so little time. Tales from the front? Deals are closing, but lenders are still stalling. One great story I heard today: a lender has been putting off a borrower for six months now for various reasons; the latest is that the appraisal is more than six months old and therefore stale, thus requiring a new appraisal. Gotta love that one. On the good front, I appear to have wrapped up a deal or two today. Many institutional buyers are still sitting out of the commercial market, even cash buyers. Why? They say there's just no confidence at all that we are anywhere near a bottom. I guess the mentality is why buy a 7 cap when it might be an 8 or 9 in a year? Of course, there is still a lost opportunity risk associated with being on the sidelines. You eventually have to move money to make money. (H/T Traffic Court .) One of the better real estate bloggers out there, Doug Cornelius, has moved on from Goodwin Proctor to an in-house gig. I wish Doug we...

The Huffington Post debuted its first local edition, for Chicago , today. I'm surprised but happy to see that I was included in the initial blogroll for the site. I try not to talk about my political views here. That's not the point of my blog. But I do read plenty of news sources everyday from every part of the political spectrum I can. Obviously I'm happy that someone thought enough of me to be rolled on such a high traffic place such as HuffPo Chicago. I'm looking forward to reading it.

Jacob Cynamon has some very good analysis of Chicago office trends here . The post picks apart a recent story in National Real Estate Investor on the topic. What I also like is that Jacob picked up on some editorial problems within some good content. Those were nice catches, and I half-jokingly told Jacob he should have considered law school. Seriously, though, lawyers have to sweat details like editing. I'll never forget having to proofread a metes and bounds legal description of an 878.3960 acre property. This was almost ten years ago, and yes, I still remember that number. The description was seven or eight pages long, and the description in the title commitment had to match the legal in the survey call for call. Yes, you can get a title insurance endorsement for this, but this was a big deal, especially to the partner running the real estate side of things. What I am getting at is this: details can matter. Sometimes they are trifling, and if so, I tend to let them go so...

I really try not to be a big horn tooter on my blog. Heck, I sometimes wonder if I am just writing for my own amusement or ego. I truly enjoy writing, not as a money-making exercise or a client-attracting bait; I consider any business that comes from my blog as a bonus or a fringe benefit. I am liberal arts kind of guy, so while I don't think I can say with certainty why I blog, to some extent it is because I enjoy learning for learning's sake. And believe me, I am learning. So now I'm breaking the rule and blowing my trumpet, even though I am really a timpanist in my spare time: Commercial Property News has a story out about commercial real estate bloggers, and Brad Berton was nice enough to write about me. I think Brad captured my enthusiasm for practicing law and blogging in this article . Thanks, Brad. (It turns out that Brad and I have a number of common friends in the business, which just proves my axiom that we play in a very small world.) All right, I'm ...