When it Comes to Information, ASSETrac Provides the Competitive Edge Whether investing in real estate securities or transacting business with the industry's fastest growing property acquisitions group -- REITs -- savvy professionals are turning to ASSETrac's innovative suite of information products to assist them in expediting the decision process.
Furthermore, demand for greater disclosure from the capital markets and stricter reporting requirements for securitized real estate assets have made access to targeted property portfolio-related information critical to success in the rapidly changing real estate securities market. Experts say that those firms with ready access to comprehensive, timely information and the ability to easily manipulate property portfolio performance data will have a decisive competitive edge in the marketplace.
ASSETrac, a leading independent source of securitized real estate data and financial information based in Bloomfield, N.J., has a long history of offering a comprehensive range of information about securitized real estate assets. Their strength is their ability to provide quality data that goes far beyond generic information contained in existing public documents and other commercial databases. Market information is collected by ASSETrac's own in-house team of researchers often working directly with the REITs themselves or sources selected for their expertise and high standards for data integrity.
A division of IBC USA Financial Services, a global business and financial information company, ASSETrac has filled a much needed void in the real estate securities marketplace by offering a timely, accurate resource of vital information.
The company's mission is to provide real estate professionals and investors with timely, detailed information on the real estate securities marketplace with particular emphasis on Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) and Commercial Mortgage Backed Securities (CMBS). ASSETrac updates all of its primary and secondary source data on a continuous basis to ensure that its clients have ready access to the most current, accurate information available. This information is delivered through a variety of services via disk, the Internet, or #CC9966
ASSEtrac, was founded by Joyce Geiger, CRE, and predicated on her extensive expertise in formulating financial and analytical databases and models during her tenure in such positions as a Senior Real Estate Manager for the Roulac Consulting Group of Deloitte & Touche; as Director of Real Estate Research for Cushman & Wakefield; and as a vice president, Real Estate Research for Deutsche Bank Realty Advisors. This experience entailed development of numerous proprietary financial analysis models, property tracking systems, and real estate analysis measurement tools.
"ASSETrac was designed to meet the needs of the real estate securities marketplace for a flexible, up-to-date source of reliable financial and property specific data that could be used as input for proprietary property databases, or to provide a foundation for constructing analytical models, evaluating trends, and benchmarking performance," said Geiger.
Flexibility and Unmatched Data are Key Features The key to ASSETrac Information Services' suite of products is its open architecture software that readily enables the exporting of data from the database to a diverse range of popular applications, including spreadsheets, financial models, graphics, mapping, and word processing. ASSETrac's proprietary software allows the user to readily access specific information through its powerful query engine. Data can be viewed in a multitude of user-friendly displays, printed in a wide range of lists or profile reports, and exported in a variety of formats.
The diversity of information available form ASSETrac includes a range of essential, investment-oriented variables, such as corporate structure, asset valuation, financial performance, and numerous other critical factors that must be addressed when evaluating management and investment opportunities in a rapidly expanding and dynamic market.
Services provided by ASSETrac include: REITSearch Business Profile & Contact Directory with profiles on more than 200 public REITs, 80 private REITs, and 75 international REITs. More than 3,000 contact names are included in this directory. REITMonitor, a major new information service for tracking REITs with property level detail and historical performance data; RealEstateTrac, a complete resource for monitoring and evaluating REITs and other real estate securities available via Bloomberg; and REITNet.com, a comprehensive securitized real estate information service on the web.
New REITMonitor Service Tracks REIT Owned Property ASSETrac has recently launched an innovative new data service that tracks REIT owned property portfolios and provides a comprehensive source of property level detail, including historical performance and multi-year performance trends.
"The best way to analyze a REIT is to look at its property portfolio," said Joyce Geiger, managing director of ASSETrac and the creator of REITMonitor. "And few investors had that capability before, whether they were a major institutional investor, a small fund manager or a private investor. We built this system so current and historic data would be available to everyone. It's simply impossible to make rational decisions without being able to look at the performance of the basic asset in the category, the property."
Available on CD-ROM, REITMonitor contains detailed information, property descriptions, and performance statistics on more than 22,000 properties, and more than 200 REITs.
REITMonitor provides powerful analytical tools for tracking, comparing, and evaluating the performance of REITs, including historical benchmarking information for individual properties unavailable from any other sources. Data can be exported to any word processing or spreadsheet application and into most mapping programs.
"REITMonitor offers several advantages to its users. For example, those who use our service no longer need to gather data, but can better use their time to analyze trends, track competitors or find new clients," says Geiger. "Furthermore, REITMonitor is the perfect tool for keeping pace with a rapidly evolving industry, its players and its trends."
Detailed information contained in REITMonitor includes property description, address, geocoding, size, composition and type; occupancy rate and rental rate trends from 1994 to the present; major tenants and project amenities; management and leasing agent contacts; capital expenditures, depreciation and financing trends; acquisition and disposition pricing, and many other data points.
REITSearch For a current, comprehensive information on REITs, it's difficult to find a better resource than ASSETrac's REITSearch Business Profile & Contact Directory. This compendium contains profiles on more than 200 public REITs, 80 private REITs, and 75 international REITs. The information comes in a user-friendly format that runs on Windows and is accompanied by a handy companion desk reference.
The directory contains more than 3,500 contact names of key executives, corporate officers, board of directors, corporate affiliations, and support services. There are 50 different categories of searchable information. Customized searches can be used to meet specific criteria. Data can be easily exported to contact management programs, such as ACT, spreadsheet and database applications, and word processing programs. Dialog boxes and pre-formatted reports make it easy to generate mailing lists, labels, and telemarketing lists and users can link directly to REIT web sites and E-mail.
"There's no better way to access the real players in the real estate market today," said Tim Call of Alliance Capital, adding that he found REITSearch to be "accurate and thorough."
REITNet.Com Readily accessible via the web, REITNet.com provides a full service real estate information service available 24 hours per day, seven days per week. The information is current, searchable and well organized in a way that enhances usability.
This information is structured on the needs of actual REIT investors who helped develop the site. The end result is a buy-side perspective which differs completely from the sell-side slant commonly available in the market.
According to his column in the June 1998 issue of Dow Jones Investment Adv isor, James Lowell III said of REITNet.com, "This site is one of the best virtual doors to the otherwise obscure realm of REITs. The single biggest advantage of REITNet.com is that it gives you a place to go to answer all of your REIT questions. Just bookmark this site and proceed there with confidence whenever you need REIT information."
The site offers:
* REIT Profiles
* Up-to-the-minute Stock
* Information
* Daily News
* Analyst Reviews
* Security Ratings
* Financial information
* Market Date
* Real Estate Web Links
In the same article in the June 1998 issue of Dow Jones Investment Advisor, Jeffrey D. Fisher, director of the Center for Real Estate Studies and professor of finance and real estate at the Indiana University School of Business stated, "REITNet offers access to a collection of REIT information that was previously available only through many disparate sources or through very large commercial databases. For the small advisor, neither of these two mechanisms has been practical because of time or financial constraints."
RealEstateTrac Available via the Bloomberg Financial System and on the REITNet web site, RealEstateTrac provides another way to monitor and evaluate REITs and other real estate securities with continuous updates.
Information includes real estate security profiles and trends, as well as real estate fund profiles and performance trends. Also available are real estate indices, financial statistics, industry trends by property type and investment focus. The latest market indicators and daily news are updated continually. In addition, users can access REIT Investment FAQs, glossary, analytics, and other helpful resources.
Industry Leading Resources for Investors Combined, ASSETrac's information services provide an unparalleled resource for investors and real estate professionals. While the firm's primary emphasis is on REITs, it does provide extensive information on other real estate securities, general trends, and relevant news and events.
The company continues to refine its information resources and develop innovative new products. In the near future, ASSETrac plans to unveil its Commercial Mortgage Backed Securities (CMBS) tracking services, thus filling a major void in the world of CMBS analysis.
To obtain more information on ASSETrac Information Services: ASSETrac Information Services A division of IBC USA Financial Services 256 Broad Street, Third Floor Bloomfield, NJ 07003 (973) 566-9300 Fax: (973) 566-9399 E-mail: [email protected]
Leveraging ASSETrac's Property Level Information For Successful Investments The key advantage to REITMonitor is its ability to provide property level perspectives on portfolios through detailed property profiles. This information consists of a wealth of detailed criteria on each property, including:
Property Basics This section contains data on geographic location; property type by category and date built; property status; the date acquired, and the purchase price.
Property Characteristics This section covers the number of units/buildings, and floors; total square footage; amenities; property performance; rental rates, occupancy rates; and revenue trends over a multi-year period.
Contacts Current information on property leasing and managing agent contacts
Ownership Details on the percentage owned and joint venture partners; groundlease (yes/no) and expiration dates.
Financing Here you'll find all the financial details about the property, including: mortgage amount; maturity; interest rate; and a description of the financing structure.
Historical Cost Data shows the initial cost of land, buildings, and improvements; capitalized cost for land and building improvements; gross cost of land and improvements; and total gross cost over a multi-year period.
Property Specific Variables
* Criteria specific to property types enable the user to access critical data relevant to a specific property type.
* Apartment criteria shows the number of units by type, average square feet and average rent per unit
* Health Care data lists services and details on the operator.
* Hotel properties have average room rate; chain/franchise; operator; quality rating; and REVPAR.
* Industrial properties show column height, number of loading dock doors, and construction type. Information is also included on major tenants; major tenant industry; major tenants' lease expiration data; and single tenant/multiple tenant indicator.
* Office market data reports location (CBD or suburban), submarket, and class. Major tenants are listed by industry and lease expiration dates, and single/multiple tenant indicators.
* Retail properties cite GLA ownership, theme, layout, number of stores, parking spaces, levels and enclosures (yes/no). Details on major tenants include square footage, industry, lease expiration data and single/multiple tenant indicators.