Retail property review
Price Edwards & Co. says Oklahoma City retail property held up in 2016 but faces challenges for 2017.
Price Edwards & Co. should have quoted Donald H. Rumsfeld before weighing in on President Donald J. Trump in its 2016 year-end retail market summary.
Fifteen years ago, Rumsfeld, seasoned secretary of defense under President George W. Bush — his second time around, recall, since he served in the same post under President Gerald R. Ford — famously said, regarding Iraq, WMD and the lack of evidence connecting them:
“Reports that say that something hasn’t happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know.
“But there are also unknown unknowns — the ones we don’t know we don’t know. And if one looks throughout the history of our country and other free countries, it is the latter category that tend to be the difficult ones.”
Not much having happened or been said yet under President Trump, at least compared to all that was said and foreshadowed, or not, by President-elect Trump, the unknown unknowns under the Trump administration still have lots of people concerned.
Price Edwards stuck with the known unknowns for stores and retail property in general.
“One unknown that could help our economy and possibly change the market dynamics is President Trump,” the firm said in the report, available at. www.priceedwards. com. “It is anticipated that the new administration’s policies will be good for business in general and the oil industry in particular by ushering in reduced regulations and lower taxes.”
Alas, “Whether or not these policies come to pass or give Oklahoma a positive bump in 2017 is unknown.”
As for investment sales? Unknown.
“The industry is closely watching the postelection tea leaves, particularly policy as it relates to 1031 exchanges, capital gains and interest rates,” Price Edwards said. “Many believe this administration will take positions favorable to the real estate market that will spur transactions.
“However, there may very well be a pause in activity at the beginning of the year until we see how these questions are answered. In the meantime, the lack of available product continues to limit sales despite significant buyer interest.”
What about the person of the president himself? Some people in real estate are just happy to have a real estate man in the White House.
But can the art of deals by a Manhattan-New York-global dealer like President Trump — net worth estimated at $3.7 billion by Forbes.com — mean anything to anyone out here? Well, art can inspire. “I will say President Trump clearly understands the real estate business,” said Jim Parrack, vice president and retail specialist at Price Edwards. “But without a doubt, he is a different — he is in rarefied air compared to the midmarket real estate people, and particularly this part of the country.
“He deals in big properties in big markets, and whether his expertise in those markets helps the smaller guys or not, I don’t know.”
Mark it down as another known unknown.