There are a lot of iPad and iPone applications (Apps) that I have found to be very useful in my commercial real estate business, however I think I am just scratching the service on the possible uses.  Below are some of my favorite Apps to use that have saved me a tremendous amount of time.  I would love to hear about how others are successfully using these tools so please reply with any that you are using!

Evernote.com – This one is my alltime favorite.  Remember the days of having little yellow stickynotes all over your desk or notebook?  Now I am able to enter all my notes here via Ipad or Iphone.  I am able to create notebooks for each of my topics and I can search all notebooks to find that one particular note that I may have jotted down last year.

Dropbox.com – This is basically a virtual hard drive that allows you to digitally store and share documents, photos, and videos.  Great tool for sharing flyers and floor plans with clients and brokers.  Remember all the client tour books you would make by prining off flyers and floor plans and then binding them to share with clients?  Not anymore with this app.  Now I upload all that info to dropbox and then hand my client an iPad to view them as we tour.

Walkscore.com – This is great for retail users and people looking for the most walkable friendly locations!  Allows you to enter an address and find out how many minutes it would take someone to walk to the nearest retail, neighborhoods, and other nearby places.

BatchGeo.com – Need a map overview of a list of addresses?  Simply enter your list of addresses and a google map overview will be created.  Great for showing users of real estate how far certain commercial real estate properties are from each other.  Can color code and label each location.

MagicPlan – Using your Iphone you can measure rooms and draw up a simple floor plan by taking pictures.  It will then allow you to send the plan in PDF format via email or text.

Scanner Pro – This is basically a mobile scanner using your Iphone or Ipad.  Simply take a picture of whatever you want (receipts, documents, etc..) and then you can email or text the pdf document or you can upload to Dropbox or Evernote or to your hard drive.

Skitch – This is owned by Evernote.  It allows you to take a photo and then make annotations, markups, shapes, sketches on the photo.  Pretty cool for when you are trying to visually explain something on a photo to someone who can’t see it in person.

Any other ipad or iphone Apps that you can recommend?  If so I would love to hear about them.

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According to a study done by Dell Inc., Small businesses in Austin are among the most positive in the U.S. about the future of their business growth.  They are highly optimistic about the potential for improvements and growth in finances, sales, and opportunities in 2013.  More and more startups and small business are reling on technology investments to continue this growth trend.

You can read more about the Small Business “Go Local” Think Tank discussion here:  ttp://www.flickr.com/photos/dellphotos/8266736913/in/set-72157632228788275/

Here is the press release from Dell dated 5/13/2013 that talks more about the optimism among U.S. Small Businesses:  http://www.dell.com/Learn/us/en/uscorp1/press-releases/2013-05-13-dell-intel-research-small-business-growth?c=us&l=en&s=corp

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When purchasing a retail or other commercial property buyers typically negotiate time to perform “Due Diligence” to inspect and confirm certain facts about the property and it’s potential uses, however these items are often overlooked when leasing retail space.  Even if you are leasing retail space it’s important that the Due Diligence process be followed.  Below are a just a few Due Diligence items that you must consider when leasing retail space:

Exclusivity Clauses That Other Retail Tenants May Have

The landlord may tell you verbally that you have nothing to worry and that your use is allowed in the retail property, however it’s important that you confirm this.  Ask to see a copy of the exculsivity clauses for all of the tenants and have your real estate lawyer review them.  Confirm that the services and products that you intend on selling will not conflict with the other tenants.  The last thing you want is for the tenant and their lawyer to to review the actual text and find that you violating their exclusivity clause and then present you with a lawsuit.  At this point it’s not the landlords problem……..it’s yours.

Receiving and Shipping Products

If you need to receive and ship products make sure the parking lot has plenty of room for the trucks to get through.  Obviously it’s also important to know the types of trucks that will be delivering or picking up your goods.

Common Area Maintenance Charges

Ask to see a copy of the common area maintenance (CAM) for the last few years.  Wouldn’t it be nice to know what currently and historically has been included in CAM calculations?

Request to See Some of the Title Work

The title work can confirm that the owner is in good standing with the mortgage company or if the lender is required to approve your lease. Additionally it can reveal restrictions and exclusive rights of existing tenants, ensure the accuracy of the owners name, etc..

Zoning and Use Policies

Just because the landlord says it’s ok for you to lease space and operate your business in his retail center doesn’t mean the city will allow it.  You know your business better than anyone else.  Make sure you find out what the property is zoned for and what retail uses are allowed.  A quick call or visit to the city planning and zoning commission is necessary to ensure that the retail property is zoned property and that the products and services you provide are allowed in that area.

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The Austin Chamber of Commerce will host a panel discussion that focuses on Austin’s evolving brand and reputation. The dicussion, titled “Brand Austin: Is It At Risk?”, will be held at the Hyatt Regency Austin on June 6 at 11 A.M.

The panel will take a look at the factors currently shaping Austin’s culture, and discuss the long-term effects on the city’s brand and reputation. Discussion topics will include the city’s increasing population, and the effects of development and business culture on the city’s reputation as a creative hub and as the “Live Music Capital of the World.”

Panelists will include local tech leaders, live music promoters and representatives from Austin Ventures and GSD&M. Tickets will range from $40 to $65 and are available here.

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Austin-based software maker ProspX Inc. has raised $8.2 million in a planned round of $9.2 million financing. ProspX was founded in 2005 and develops software for brokers, commercial insurance agents and carriers. The company employs 59 workers and operates out of Austin, Chicago and the Ukraine.

This round of funding follows a previous investment of $1.5 million in April 2011, as well as another investment of $8 million Series B funding in 2011.

ProspX has not stated how it intends to use the financing, but the company announced on Wednesday that it would be hiring Steve Gold of American International Group as their new CEO.

Read more about ProspX here.

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Apple finally broke ground on it’s planned 1 million square foot office building in Northwest Austin.  Apple current employs over 3500 people in Austin however the new office building will house over 7,000 people within 10 years!  This is the largest job creation project in a long time.  The largest to date only created 1,000 jobs.

• Phase I will consist of two buildings with a combined 200,000 sf that will cost $56 million expected to be completed in 2015
• Phase II will consist of several buildings with a total of 800,000 sf that will be completed by the end of 2021.

Read more about the story here

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This is a great blog post that talks about how important it is for businesses to move away from a culture of business processes and more towards a social cooperative one.  The nature of work has changed and more people have jobs that are non-routine as opposed to a fixed routine.

• We are moving towards a cooperative culture which typically have more connections however not as strong as relationships as in collaborative cultures
• Some company cultures have the employees competing internally with each other.
• Entrepreneurs prefer working in collaborative and competitive cultures as opposed to cooperative ones.
• Employees are typically more happy in cooperative working relationships
• In todays digitally focused and fast paced world, Cooperative work environments will be more successful.

Read the full story here

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Texas is ranked as second in the nation for high tech employment, according to a study released by TechAmerica Foundation. Between 2011 and 2012, Texas added 10,000 tech industry jobs for a total of 485,600. Texas ranks behind California in high tech jobs.

These high tech jobs were driven primarily by growth in the field of computer systems design and engineering services. Beyond having the second most tech jobs nationwide, Texas also ranks second for internet and telecommunication service employment with 118,700 jobs.

Texas also ranked second in semiconductor manufacturing with 29,000 jobs. Nationally, the U.S. tech industry added 64,700 jobs in 2012.

Read more about Texas’ high tech job growth here.

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TechStars, a Colorado-based startup accelerator, is bringing its mentoring program to Austin. The program is three months long, and will be operating out of Capital Factory’s downtown location.

12 companies will be selected to participate in the program, and TechStars will provide participants with $18,000 in seed funding and a $100,000 convertible debt note in exchange for a 6 percent stake.

The program begins in August, and interested companies can apply here for the program.

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Philip Tidd, consultant at Gensler gives his perspective on the future of work and work spaces. He believes office spaces are underutilized and thinks that we will see more changes in the next decade in how employees work and how spaces are designed. He goes on to say that it’s important to have efficient workspace however in some cases companies have gone too far. The main thing to keep in mind is that you want a space that is functional and that will attract and retain employees however not at the expense of it being functional and the employees being happy and productive.  The move towards office mobility is imminent however it’s not only outside.  Mobility is occuring inside the office as well.

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