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Stories: “He advised me not to buy a piece of land that was worth millions of dollars and we ended up working together” - La Nacion Propiedades
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Historias: “Me aconsejó que no comprara un terreno que valía millones de dólares y terminamos trabajando juntos”
Alejandro Reyser desembarcó en Toribio Achával para hacerse cargo del área de inmuebles comerciales, pero conoció a los dueños de la inmobiliaria hace 30 años atrás negociando un lote para Walmart
www.lanacion.com.ar
August 26, 2024
Alejandro Reyser landed in Toribio Achával to take charge of the commercial real estate area, but he met the owners of the real estate company 30 years ago when negotiating a lot for Walmart
Facundo and Toribio Achával, Martin Boquete and Alejandro Reyser from Toribio Achával remember the anecdote they experienced with the man who now runs the commercial real estate business
“We have to get out of this operation” was the advice that Martín Boquete, current director of Toribio Achával, gave to Alejandro Reyser, when they met in the 2000s. At that time, Reyser worked for Walmart and was in charge of managing the purchase of a piece of land so that the company could land in the city of Mar del Plata and Boquete was the broker who was managing the operation. “I never imagined that 25 years later I would end up working with a salesman who told me not to buy a property for which he was going to charge millions in commission ,” Reyser confesses.
“That advice saved us,” he confesses. It was a US$3.5 million plot of land, which the competition ended up buying, but which they were never able to open; a plot of land in Mar del Plata that is still a vacant lot today.
Currently, Reyser is the director of commercial real estate at Toribio Achával and works alongside Boquete at the same real estate agency, famous for marketing the top properties on the market. He studied Economics in the United States, was one of the first Walmart employees in Argentina and has more than 30 years of experience in the real estate business .
A few months ago, he took on the challenge of strengthening Toribio Achával's commercial real estate business area in a period of full change for that market. “Today the focus is on the client,” says Reyser and explains that, for example, in offices, previously, if there was a good building, in a strategic location, it was simply valued and waited for the market to inquire. “But today that work system is obsolete and an investor who previously had a good office floor today does not necessarily have the market assured ,” explains the broker and assures that the focus is on the client, on actively going out to find them and understanding what they need.
Alejandro Reyser landed a few months ago in Toribio Achaval to boost the commercial real estate business
This paradigm shift is accompanied by another challenge: Reyser reveals that today the amount of surface area that companies require to manage their business has been reduced by between 30% and 40% . “ We went from needing one position for every 10 m² to one for every 5 m², the surface area per employee was reduced ,” he explains, adding: “Today we have a 20% vacancy rate in the corporate space market.” In any case, he explains that the demand for offices is related to economic activity and, therefore, there are good omens for the sector: “We have had many years of lack of growth and the situation had an impact on the office market; but when companies transform themselves, they will absorb the free square meters that they have today on the market.”
On the other hand, he highlights that “if you compare it with the region, Argentina has a world of opportunities,” and details that there are other countries in Latin America with the same population and economy size, but with twice as many offices. “Owners and developers have to be calm, because when the economy grows and establishes itself, the square meters will be absorbed,” assures the broker .
Reyser argues that they are proposing to companies to work with a diagnosis of the situation, since, from the cultural side, companies are going through a process of transformation, but they remain with layouts that do not respond to these changes. He assures that they need more modern places, more collaborative and meeting spaces.
The commercial real estate expert assures that Argentina has a world of opportunities in the office sector
A sector that continues to grow
Within commercial real estate, the industrial sector is the one that is going through the best moment. These are industrial and logistics warehouses that are rented for around US$6 and US$8 per square meter, with a rent of between 7% and 8% in “a market that has almost no supply for those who demand it.”Reyser says that there are still few players in this business, as the same family groups continue as always. “I am convinced that there is room for more logistics centers. When Argentina starts to have more foreign investors and a little more mortgage credit, this business will explode ,” he says.
Finally, he refers to the market for commercial premises and explains that the main arteries such as Santa Fe Avenue, or areas such as Palermo Hollywood and Soho have re-emerged strongly with high demand. He also details that local convenience centres have grown a lot and he believes that these are products that have a future in areas such as Benavídez and Buenavista. Regarding the profitability of the premises, he believes that “it remains low, since rental prices have fallen, but the value of the properties has remained the same.”
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