Developers, investors and brokers are always trying to anticipate hot markets and areas of potential growth.

As we prepare to ring in the New Year, let’s take a brief look at select areas in Greater Portland poised for significant growth in 2008 and beyond.

In Portland, Whole Foods grabbed people’s attention in the Bayside area, but it was really just the

beginning.

Looking ahead, another large development in Bayside is the 259,000-square-foot, 10-floor office building anchored by InterMed, under construction at 84 Marginal Way and scheduled for completion in 2008.

In South Portland, Mill Creek and the immediate surrounding area are showing signs of revitalization.

Several factors contributed to renewed interest after traffic was diverted to the Casco Bay Bridge: close proximity to downtown Portland, favorable demographics and increased traffic on Broadway and Route 77. (Continued on PDF)

Between 1946 and 1964, about 75 million people were born in the United States – the “baby boom.” In less than two months, millions of these baby boomers will begin to retire, about 16 percent of which own their own business.

Not surprisingly, many business owners are too busy performing the daily operations and don’t have an exit strategy.

For all you business owners out there, PLAN AHEAD! The largest asset you own may very well be your business.

Here are two things to keep in mind while planning your exit strategy. (In another column in the

near future, I’ll address several more.)

First, choose the right people to work with and pick the right time. Good business brokers are ones that aren’t afraid to tell you, “This isn’t the right time for you to sell.” Many businesses need to improve their growth or some other aspect for a few years prior to a sale as selling on an upward trend will gain the owner a greater profit.

Second, determine a realistic price and be willing to hold some paper. (Continued on PDF)

Recently a client asked me to find an industrial building to purchase in Portland, South Portland, Westbrook or Scarborough. Using an online database shared by most commercial real estate brokers in Greater Portland, I searched for industrial buildings ranging from 5,000 square feet to 10,000 square feet.

I was astounded at the results: On September 19, only four properties met these criteria, and one was under contract.

Wondering if this was a symptom of the industrial real estate market in general, I searched for space available for lease that fit the same parameters.

Using the same cities, size range and property type, I found 33 availabilities.

Although many available spaces for lease are in larger buildings with multiple units, the vast difference between sale and lease opportunities is striking. A few factors account for this difference. (Continued on PDF)

It is widely agreed that under most circumstances, your first real estate purchase should be a permanent residence, but what about your second real estate investment? A lakeside cottage? Maybe an island home? What about a commercial property?

We often find that people don’t take the time to understand commercial investment before considering their real estate options. Buying a commercial property does not need to be a high risk venture exclusive to wealthy clients.

A buyer’s expectations and realized benefits should be very different from that of a residential real estate purchase.

In most cases, first time investors are looking for safer properties with tenants already in place.

Unlike residential tenants, lease terms for commercial tenants are usually a minimum of three to five years, so turnover is less of a concern.

In addition, most tenants provide a personal or corporate guarantee within the lease contract, which helps ensure that the tenant will uphold his or her financial responsibility. (Continued on PDF)

As prices for residential real estate throughout Maine and New England have either fallen or held steady over the past several years, commercial real estate, especially in the retail, office and development sectors continues to thrive. Those of us who sell or lease commercial/ investment real estate in Maine, are often asked the questions “How is the market?”, “Are you seeing a slowdown/softening of the market?”, “How have the interest rates affected sales?” and so on.

The truth of the matter is that commercial real estate in Maine, especially in Southern Maine, remains a good (great) investment for any and all who have chosen that route over the last 15+ years. I personally started selling commercial real estate in Portland in 1991. For the purposes of this article, I have chosen to highlight a number of different office and retail properties that have changed hands at least twice over the course of the last 10-15 years.

These particular properties involved some fitup and investment by the owners, but relatively small in comparison to the gains that they realized by leasing up their properties and then eventually putting them back on the market. Some of these properties, I am aware of personally because I was involved in the sales and/or leasing. Some of them, I am just aware of from being in the marketplace and had no broker involvement on my part whatsoever. Typically, the owners realized a significant profit, even after considering their fitup costs, brokerage commissions, capital improvements and other costs associated with owning commercial real estate. (Continued on PDF)