John Zikos

The good news is that there is a lot of deal flow in the retail sector. Tenants are becoming more active and the sales volume is high. With pending tax changes, there are a lot of year-end closings happening. The bad news is that it seems like every deal is brutally hard to get done.

Completing deals today reminds me of climbing a mountain in the Colorado Rockies. You see the peak in the distance and, although you are exhausted from the hard climb you have already made, you are determined to make it to the top of the peak. Unfortunately, as you get closer and feel like you are almost there, you realize that what you thought was the peak is actually not the peak at all. The real peak is beyond that false peak and you are required to climb even higher if you want to make it to the top.

So it is with real estate deals these days. Just hen you think you are about to get a lease signed or a sale closed, there are new objections or obstacles that must be overcome. Often times, deal fatigue starts to set in on all of the parties involved. Sometimes it feels like we have to put everyone on our backs and haul them up the mountain with us. But if that is what it takes to get a deal done, then climb on!

John Zikos is a partner at Venture Commercial Real Estate. Contact him at jzikos@venturedfw.com.