Earlier this year, Katerra, a Silicon Valley company, began announcing its acquisition of a number of architectural firms, including Michael Green Architecture (Vancouver, British Columbia) and Lord Aeck Sargent (Atlanta, GA). With the industry ripe for disruption, Katerra is on a mission to streamline what has always been a notoriously unwieldy and frustrating process.

Have you ever wondered why smartphones took off the way they did? Chances are good that you really haven’t given it much thought… but the chances are even better that you have one of these (now ubiquitous) devices within your reach. But the answer is simple: smartphones rolled all of the most essential everyday tools, such as GPS maps, your calendars, and your camera and phone into one easy access point -- that fits in the palm of your hand. And if society is so easily able to embrace this life-changing convenience, surely adopting other life-changing innovations would be just as simple, right?

Access to talent. Less regulation. Lower operational costs. High quality of life.These are the common factors expressed to the Opportunity Austin team from companies that select the Austin region as a place to relocate and/or grow their business operations. Since 2004, that represents about 1500 companies.

Recently, Forbes made a point about how, not too long ago, the Apple iPhone completely disrupted Nokia’s long-standing dominance in the cell phone industry -- and then goes on to compare that to the way that WeWork and other new coworking models are changing literally everything about the ways in which we work. And they do mean literally everything -- the types of places in which offices are located, the way that offices are targeting workers and new talent, and even the very ways that offices are being designed.

More than 6,000 retail stores closed their doors for good throughout the United States in 2017, according to research conducted by Business Insider. Among those on the list are plenty of big names in the retail industry that have been in business a long time, such as Macy’s, Sears, Radio Shack, and more. In the face of declining sales year after year and less traffic from customers, many retailers are faced with no other choice.

We’ve released a slew of new feature sets dedicated to optimizing the broker workflow and helping brokers be much more efficient as they find, win, and execute business.

Choosing a commercial real estate broker can be a daunting task, particularly for those unfamiliar with the process or for companies entering a new market. Real estate costs typically make up 20-25 percent of the operating expenses for any business, so making informed real estate choices is crucial to the profitability of your company.

The last mile is undergoing a major transformative shift in countries around the world. The increasing demand for shorter delivery times from an ever-growing population of online shoppers is pushing the industry in an entirely new direction. And while e-commerce makes up 10% of all retail sales in USA, it is forecast to be a staggering 28.6% of sales in China in 2018.

With multifamily communities representing a large percentage of the existing buildings in many major metro areas, and with many of these buildings being older and with less energy efficient or sustainability features, there is a prime opportunity to improve sustainability and add value to existing multifamily communities.

As traditional banks continue to pull back from commercial real estate lending, savvy players in the CRE space are taking advantage of emerging opportunities to fill the voids. This has, in effect, created a perfect storm -- the combination of tightened rules and regulations, ever increasing demand from lenders, and interest from new entrants to the commercial lending space, have all allowed alternative lenders to become real, active, and significant players in commercial real estate finance.

When it comes to lasting and impactful developments on our everyday lives, the FinTech movement is certainly high on the list. In fact, we would venture to say that it comes in at a solid second, behind only the Industrial Revolution. For the past century or so, we have seen technology growing at lightning speed, much to the amazement and convenience of mankind (well, most of it, anyway).

Social media is not another task piled atop the other daily work of a real estate professional. Understanding and leveraging social media is vital to building brand success. The right strategies prevent managing social media from overwhelming busy brokers and agents. Stay organized and control your social media program with these five suggestions.