Over 100 ULI Charlotte members came together to hear about the ULI Fall Meeting in Washington, DC.  The meeting was kicked off by Charles Teal, followed by a panel of Chuck Graham, John Porter and Dave Chandler, moderated by Mike Burnett.

The following insights were shared:

Charles Teal

• Disruptive economics – Charlotte’s employment declines during the second quarter while Raleigh gains.

Mike Burnett

• Consumer Trends—there is a market! Boomers are entering a new phase: lifestyle longevity, and Generation X is focused on family and friends and place more importance on the community attributes than the characteristics of their individual homes.
• www.intrade.com trades political futures.  It might be interesting to see how accurate they are with Tuesday’s election.

Dave Chandler

• 80/20 rule now exists: 80% of the lenders chase the same 20% of the deals.   The rest are getting lost in the marketplace.
• From Charles Teal: it was an eye-opener to hear that the Charlotte area was actually losing traction on the job front.

John Porter

• There is $75B of apartment debt each year for the next three years that will come due and there is nowhere near the capacity to handle it today. Problem solvers with cash, institutional and/or entrepreneurial, stand to make a lot of money as white knights.

Chuck Graham

• Employment growth is key to a vibrant economy. One speaker (Dr. Tyson) suggested it could take 12 years to the unemployment rate down to 5 percent.

For more information on the information presented by this panel, visit the ULI Charlotte website (http://charlotte.uli.org) and see the powerpoints and handouts provided.  Plan to attend the Spring members only event to capture even more