Mediaboss Marketing

NORTHBROOK, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Hilco Trading, LLC, a world leader in tangible and intangible asset monetization services, today announced the launch of Hilco Real Estate Auctions, LLC (HREA). URL: http://www.HilcoREAL.com. The new operating unit will provide open-outcry and online real estate auction solutions for local, national and multi-national corporations, financial institutions, developers and others needing to sell real property and notes. Hilco Real Estate, LLC, also a unit of Hilco Trading, will continue to provide disposition brokerage services through sealed bid auctions and private treaty negotiated sales.

HREA was formed by Hilco and real estate auction veterans Michael A. Fine, CCIM, CAI, AARE, and Alan R. Kravets, Esq. Mr. Fine, Chief Executive Officer and Principal, has earned a reputation over 25 years as one of the industrys most knowledgeable and experienced real estate auction professionals. Mr. Kravets, Executive Vice President and Principal, also has more than 25 years as a real estate workout specialist and auction strategist.

HREA is an auction-driven real estate marketplace, said Mr. Fine. Weve combined high-touch, open-outcry auctions with technologically-advanced online auctions, and added extraordinary customization. HREA will provide buyers and sellers with unmatched expertise along with efficiently-managed and completely transparent sale methodologies for conducting real estate transactions." He added, Our structured auctions are best-in-class for all categories of real estate. We can serve sellers in the United States, Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean. Buyers, of course, can come from anywhere on earth.

Over the years, Mr. Fine and Mr. Kravets have structured and conducted successful real estate auctions totaling over $6 billion for hundreds of companies, including Pritzker Realty, Hartz Mountain Industries, Alcoa, Intrawest, Conrail, BP Oil, Amoco, American Skiing Company, and financial institutions including The Northern Trust Company, Wells Fargo, Citicorp and Bank of America-LaSalle. They have sold the broadest range of asset types, including mega-mansions, private island homes, gold mines, schools and libraries, hotels, corporate headquarters, ranches and large development sites.

Mr. Fine added, What differentiates HREA from other real estate auction providers, beyond decades of experience across the broadest array of real estate asset types and the widest geography, is our high-touch service. We are the first online auction to deliver a level of service to our clients that had previously only been available in traditional auctions. It begins with an offering strategy to meet the sellers objectives, then continues with an exhaustive marketing program to maximize the number of potential buyers and foster higher bid prices. Our high-touch approach even includes steps to ensure a smooth closing.

Mr. Kravets said, Every asset and every seller is unique, so maximizing the outcome of an auction requires a thoroughly customized program from beginning to end. HREA will successfully meld high-touch customer service with advanced internet bidding technology. Our auction site, for example, is hack-proof. Theres no chance of disrupting an auction, thus no worries about completing a sale on time or having to reschedule a disrupted auction, which can be costly.

Jeffrey B. Hecktman, Chairman and CEO of Hilco Trading, said, The launch of Hilco Real Estate Auctions alongside Hilco Real Estate advances our strategic goal of becoming the premier international provider of real estate disposition services. He added, Weve assembled a remarkable team of real estate professionals, who probably know more about conducting online and open outcry auction transactions than anyone. Hilco Real Estate Auctions positions Hilco as the go-to service provider.

About Hilco

Headquartered in Northbrook, Illinois (USA), Hilco is a privately-held, diversified financial and operational services firm whose principal competency is understanding and maximizing the value of business assets, including retail, consumer and industrial inventory, machinery and equipment, real estate, accounts receivable, intellectual property and going-concern enterprises. Through an integrated platform of more than 20 business units on five continents, Hilco helps companies and their professional advisors derive the maximum value for said assets through appraisals, asset disposition and acquisition services, private equity investment and consulting services. Hilco serves retailers, wholesalers, distributors, manufacturers, directly and through their lenders, investors and advisors, including private equity firms, hedge funds, investment banks, law firms, turnaround professionals, accounting professionals, bankruptcy trustees and receivers. Web: http://www.hilcotrading.com.

Read this article:
Hilco Launches Business Unit to Provide Open Outcry and Online Real Estate Auction Services

How Jason Freedman and 42Floors cooked up a killer business idea that could turn commercial real estate on its head.

David H. Freedman

Creating Serendipity: Jason Freedman (left) and David Woodworth head to yet another meeting in New York City. Freedman believes that if you have a compelling story and tell it enough times, good things will happen.

David H. Freedman

Home Base 42Floor's co-founders (from left) Ben Ehmke, David Woodworth, Jason Freedman, and Jon and James Bracy live and work in a four-bedroom house as they prepare to launch.

Jason Freedman hunches his shoulders against New York City's December chill and walks faster, nudged both by the cold and by being late. He and David Woodworth, co-founders of an Internet company called 42Floors, both stand out a bit with their buoyant, vulnerable Californianess as they swim against the trudging, elbowing crowds.

Focused on the iPhone he clutches a foot in front of his face for navigational purposes, oblivious to how dorky and unsafe this seems on these streets, Freedman races on to the next stop in a two-day string of meetings, Woodworth trailing a few feet behind.

Freedman and Woodworth are several months into the creation of 42Floors, which aims to make finding office space as easy as searching for plane tickets. They're here in New York to...well, it's not entirely clear why they're here. For sure, they hope large New York real estate companies will eventually agree to share office-space listings with their start-up, though it's too early to ask for that sort of commitment. Mainly, they're here to share their plans for 42Floors and get feedback, given that New York will be an early market for them. But they also want to open doors to possible, as yet unspecified alliances or just somehow make something good happen, whatever that might be. If nothing else, Freedman hopes the meetings will generate leads for more meetings. "If they can't help me, maybe they play golf with someone who does," he says.

Freedman believes that start-ups need a certain amount of serendipity to succeed and that this serendipity comes to those who go out and take meetings. "Serendipity is a function of how compelling your story is and how many times you repeat it to people," he says.

Link:
Disruption Comes (Finally!) to Commercial Real Estate

TORONTO , May 1, 2012 /CNW/ - Brookfield Real Estate Services Inc. (the Company) (BRE.TO), a leading provider of services to residential real estate brokers and their REALTORS, today announced that cash flow from operations ("CFFO") for the three months ended March 31, 2012 was $5.6 million as compared to $5.7 million for the same period in 2011.

CFFO for the rolling 12 month period ended March 31, 2012 is $1.96 per restricted voting share ("RVS") as compared to $1.97 for the rolling 12 month period ended March 31, 2011 . Royalties were $8.2 million for the quarter, the same level as the first quarter of 2011. The net loss for the three months ended March 31, 2012 was $3.2 million or $0.34 per RVS, as compared to a loss of $1.8 million for the same period in 2011.

OVERVIEW OF FIRST QUARTER OPERATING RESULTS

During the quarter, the Company generated cash flow from operations ("CFFO") of $5.6 million as compared to $5.7 million for the same period in 2011. The Company had an increase in variable franchise fees due to increased market activity, offset by a decrease in fixed royalty fees as a result of net attrition experienced in the underlying agent network during 2011 and the decrease in other revenue and services. Other revenue and services decreased by 10% quarter over quarter (1.2% of overall revenue), as the Company discontinued an agent website program that was no longer relevant.

On a rolling twelve-month basis, the Canadian market transactional dollar volume of $168.0 billion increased by 11% from March 31, 2011 , driven by a 6% and 5% increase in selling price and home sale activity, respectively. For the three months ended March 31, 2012 , the Canadian market transactional dollar volume was up 5% over the same period in 2011, driven by a 1% and 4% increase in selling price and home sale activity, respectively.

On a rolling twelve-month basis, the GTA Market experienced a quarter-over-same-quarter increase of 19% driven by a 9% increase in selling price and 10% increase in home sale activity. For the three months ended March 31, 2012 , the GTA Market experienced an 18% increase on a 10% and 8% increase in selling price and home sale activity, respectively over the same period in 2011. The higher than anticipated rise in home prices is largely driven by the consistent shortage of listings, resulting in competition among home buyers for the Quarter, and low interest rates, which continue to draw home buyers into the Market.

The Company's revenue is primarily fixed in nature, based on the number of REALTORS in the network, which was essentially flat, period over period. This structure provides revenue protection from the impact of revenue dips when the market cools, but also reduces the degree to which the Company participates in periods of rapid market expansion.

"In terms of network expansion, our contract sales funnel is healthy," said Phil Soper , President and Chief Executive Officer, Brookfield Real Estate Services, Inc. "On a year-over-year basis, the number of agents in our growth funnel is up considerably."

Since the Company recognizes variable fees when home sales close, which typically is 45 to 60 days after the sales date used for Canadian market data, the improved market activity is expected to materialize as increased variable and premium fees in the second quarter.

"Price appreciation and strong unit sales reflect Canadians taking advantage of a highly competitive banking environment and borrowing rates that for the first time fell below 3.0 per cent for a five year fixed mortgage," continued Mr. Soper . "The lure of historically low mortgage rates, as well as unseasonably warm weather, particularly in Central Canada , encouraged sellers to list their homes earlier than normal, pulling ahead transactions into the early part of the year."

More:
Brookfield Real Estate Services Inc. reports first quarter 2012 results and monthly dividend

TORONTO, April 30, 2012 /PRNewswire/ - Tucows Inc. (TSX: TC, AMEX: TCX) plans to report its first quarter fiscal 2012 financial results via news release on Tuesday, May 8, 2012 at approximately 4:00 p.m. (ET). Tucows management will host a conference call the same day at 5:00 p.m. (ET) to discuss the results and the outlook for the company.

Participants can access the conference call via the Internet at http://tucowsinc.com/investors.

For those unable to participate in the conference call at the scheduled time, it will be archived for replay both by telephone and via the Internet beginning approximately one hour following completion of the call. To access the archived conference call by telephone, dial 416-849-0833 or 1-855-859-2056 and enter the pass code 74551438 followed by the pound key. The telephone replay will be available until Tuesday, May 15, 2012 at midnight. To access the archived conference call as an MP3 via the Internet, go to http://tucowsinc.com/investors.

About Tucows

Tucows is a global Internet services company. OpenSRS (http://opensrs.com) manages over eleven million domain names and millions of email boxes through a reseller network of over 12,000 web hosts and ISPs. Hover (http://hover.com) is the easiest way for individuals and small businesses to manage their domain names and email addresses. Ting (http://ting.com) is a mobile phone service provider dedicated to bringing clarity and control to US mobile phone users. YummyNames (http://yummynames.com) owns premium domain names that generate revenue through advertising or resale. More information can be found on Tucows' corporate website (http://tucows.com).

Tucows, OpenSRS, Hover, Ting, and YummyNames are registered trademark of Tucows Inc. or its subsidiaries.

Read the rest here:
Tucows First Quarter Investment Community Conference Call is Tuesday, May 8, 2012 AT 5:00 P.M. (ET)

(MoneyWatch) Where do you host your important business deals, negotiations or meetings? Your office? A local restaurant? Maybe even the golf course? Some people are getting more creative -- way more creative. For instance, ever thought about taking your clients and colleagues on a night-fishing boat, in a helicopter or in a karaoke room?

Read about these and other stories of unusual locations for business deals below. You just might consider canceling your conference room booking and trying something a bit more outside the box.

At 750 feet up in the air We recently made a deal in an Augusta Bell Helicopter, one mile offshore and 750 feet in the air. [We used it for] signing a contract so as to save taxes and sign an offshore contract. In the above unique location for a business transaction, we were providing a $17 million loan. The savings were more than $900,000 and the cost of the helicopter was $23,000 for 20 minutes of use. The savings far outweighed the cost of the helicopter. -- Jim Angleton, president of Aegis, a financial services corporation.

Network without trying Elevator pitch: 8 ways to take yours to a higher level

While rocking out at karaoke I flew to Guangzhou to meet members of the SFDA (Chinese State Food and Drug Administration) to discuss distribution of drug information data to the pharmaceutical market. We ate dinner without touching on business at all. Then, the driver brought us to a KTV establishment where we were shepherded into a private, dimly lit room with Chinese pop music playing. (In China, many deals are closed in places called "KTV" and they are private establishments for karaoke.) It was quite odd. We drank, sang (only American songs for me) and discussed business. By the end of the night, we arrived at a deal. -- Michael A. Puscar, President/CEO, Yuxi Pacific Group, a software consulting firm.

While getting a sweat going I love to schedule workouts, especially with vendors or clients in from out of town. I bring them to my gym and we train together. They love it because they can squeeze in a work out, and I love it because I get two or three hours of uninterrupted quality time with them. The adrenaline helps bond us too. -- Andrew Blickstein, Founder/CVO, Home Run Media, Inc., a consulting firm.

While night-fishing Recently, my business partner, a friend and I all went on a night fishing trip for striped bass out of Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn. While we were on the boat the topic of domaining came up and after some discussions, our friend who is a domainer discovered that we were selling a portfolio. Before we got back to land, we sealed a deal to sell him the domain name portfolio. Not only was the trip a super fun time but it also provided us with a great business opportunity. --Ian Aronovich, CEO of GovernmentAuctions.org.

In a moving taco truck We just closed our biggest deal to date in the back of a moving taco truck. The executive we were dealing with had his car towed, and he was late for his daughter's soccer game. We paid the taco truck outside our restaurant $200 to drive us to the soccer game. We literally signed papers on the way in the middle of tacos and lettuce. -- Ben Smith, CEO of Chancebending Media, a digital strategy firm.

While hiking a mountain My last business deal [was completed on a] hike 1.2 miles straight up the mountain in under an hour. We took a break from [a] conference and hiked Camelback Mountain, in Scottsdale, Arizona. It was a great bonding experience and I have a new partnership to boot. I feel unique locations and surroundings make for a better meeting. My next scheduled meeting is at a picnic table in an olive orchard! These new partnerships add thousands of dollars in new revenue for my business. -- Elizabeth Hannan, CEO of Blue Blazing Media, a digital marketing agency.

Where is the most unusual place you've conducted business? Share your stories in the comments below!

See more here:
Unusual, creative locations for business meetings