| |
March 2001
Real
Estate Investments—An Understanding of Many Important Subject Areas
Real Estate Conference Scrutinizes
the Real Estate Decision-making Process
By
Don A. Kiamie, CPA
A host of diverse and important real estate issues were tackled during
the New York State Society of CPA’s Real Estate Conference, held on Jan.
18.
A discussion of the future of commercial real estate was the topic of discussion that launched this year’s conference. Barry M. Gosin, the chief executive of Newmark & Co., gave his insights into what was on the horizon for the commercial real estate market in the new millennium to the audience of Society members and real estate practitioners.
Gosin’s opening talk was followed by a variety of speakers discussing a number of important real estate issues, including:
Co-ops and condos update by Abraham Kleiman of Kleiman & Weinshank LLP, and Charles Zucker of Zucker & Shernicoff;
Tax update by Robert E. Demmett of Eisner & Lubin LLP;
Cost segmentation by David Barrett of Freed Maxick Group;
E-commerce and real estate by Scott Hileman of Ernst & Young LLP;
Accounting update and review by David Frankel and Kenneth Leventhal of Ernst &Young’s Real Estate Group;
Estate planning and real estate valuation by James R. MacCrate of MacCrate Associates LLC;
Understanding lease provisions by Roger Kahn of SL Green Realty;
Residential update by Barbara Corcoran of The Corcoran Group.
James J. Houlihan of Houlihan-Parnes Realtors gave the luncheon speech. During his speech, Houlihan reviewed real estate finance and investment during the past year and looked forward to the year 2001. He summed up his presentation focusing on industry trends with need for the real estate industry to provide better, quicker service in the face of narrowing margins.
Overall, many diverse, real-world situations were addressed by the conference speakers. Those who attended gained better insights into possible strategies for tackling a number of varying scenarios, including—
an investment advisor who wants to know where the commercial and residential real estate markets are headed in the new millennium;
an investor who is offered the opportunity to buy a $10 million interest in an ownership entity being formed to develop residential properties;
a real estate owner who exchanges a commercial property with another real estate owner;
a building owner who wants to know about the cash flow and tax saving benefits of cost segmentation;
a prospective tenant searching for retail space on the Internet;
a CPA asked to assist a client to value his/her ownership interest in a limited partnership that owns and manages residential real estate;
an equity owner in a privately held corporation whose primary assets are commercial real estate properties that is seeking estate planning advice;
a lessee who is confronted with a real estate pass through lease clause.
For more information about the committee and its activities, contact Alan J. Hoffman at (212) 372-1900.
Don A. Kiamie, CPA, is the co-chair of the 2001 Real Estate Committee Conference. One of the objectives of the Real Estate Committee is to provide interdisciplinary service by exploring, analyzing, and developing topics of interest to both members in industry and CPAs with real estate clients, which add value to the Society membership.
|
