Ep30 Tony DiBiase: Leading International Expansion at CA Ventures
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As president and head of CA\\u2019s Latin American division, Tony DiBiase focuses on international investment and development opportunities.
Prior to joining CA, Tony served as chief operating officer at U.S. Equities Realty, a Chicago based real estate company also in Latin America. In real estate for over 25 years, Tony has spent over 15 years growing operating companies and working with large-scale real estate projects in international markets. His real estate experience includes commercial management and leasing, property and facility management, retail and mixed-use properties, student housing, receiverships, start-ups, and business unit sales.\\xa0
In today\\u2019s episode, we dive into:
- Navigating the finance challenges with banks outside the US and how to get buy-in when the concept is completely new to their market.
- Growth and competition in global student housing and how CA Ventures defines a potential growth market.\\xa0
FROM THIS EPISODE:
ON US MARKET TRENDS
\\u201cThe Sun Belt in general has been the focus of people moving in those states and cities and I think that will continue to happen especially within this economy where we\\u2019re finding we can work almost anywhere. They are going to choose small-town living and temperate weather\\u201d.\\xa0
\\u201cThis is why multi-family is the trend of the next foreseeable future. It\\u2019s primarily because of the younger generation who are valuing experience over ownership. The younger generation worldwide isn\\u2019t seeing the value in (homeownership). They would rather have a mobile lifestyle. They rather have an experience of living rather than an asset on their balance sheet.\\u201d
ON FACILITY MANAGEMENT
\\u201cFacility managers are the owners of the real estate but they are also the tenants of the real estate. They need real estate executives to make their space-efficient. They are not looking for a return on investment for space. What they want is an efficient use of the space.\\u201d
ON MARKET OPPORTUNITIES ABROAD
\\u201cWe look at opportunities agnostic of the country. And what we find is Latin America has a massive need that\\u2019s not being met in student housing, industrial, and also in multi-family.\\u201d
\\u201cReal estate is a transferable skill and a transferable product. The United States may be ahead of the curve in a lot of these product types but the rest of the world wants and needs it also. The challenge is having the financial systems in place that can keep up with the evolution of real estate.\\u201d
ON RISK
\\u201cHere\\u2019s the reality - there\\u2019s risk everywhere. It\\u2019s just a matter of getting comfortable with it. And that\\u2019s something I would like to see our universities do a better job with because I don\\u2019t think we are well-educated on identifying risk and overcoming risk.\\u201d
\\u201cWith student housing, you're underwriting the University, not the city. The difference is that without the University there is no secondary market. Whereas with multi-family, you\\u2019re underwriting the city or the geographic area and asking - does that area have growth? What type of growth? Are people moving to that area because jobs are prevalent or leaving because it\\u2019s a dying area?\\u201d
\\u201cI think the market is not never-ending. Already we see that there is some slow down in student housing because it\\u2019s starting to get built up to the demand that it has today. Moving forward I think universities have a really big and important struggle that they will have to get through over the next decade which is maintaining their costs and/or lowering their costs of education.\\u201d
Book mentioned in this episode: How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie
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