"Industry wide, too many associates spend too much time focused on transactions," Lipsey told the facilities group at its five-day winter conference here. "This is a service industry and there are a lot more services than negotiating sale and lease transactions."

The most successful brokerages over the next five years will be those that learn how to put "more 'service" into real estate services," he says.

Technologically, the commercial real estate industry is still in the dark ages, the consultant says. "Most of the service-oriented technology in use in commercial real estate services and commercial development industries today is 15-year-old technology," Lipsey says.

Successful real estate companies in the New Economy will be those that respond to their clients' needs quicker, better and clearer, he says. "The Internet has reduced the entire world to a few mouse clicks," says the president of Longwood, FL-based Lipsey Co.

"Billions of dollars worth of merchandise ships out overnight every single day, and the future of commercial real estate follows the pattern: greater flexibility; shorter term documents; the ability to expand office space quickly if the company grows; and much more service from the landlord, not just day care and car service, but rooftop and riser management, telecommunications and more," Lipsey says.

He told the corporate real estate chieftains, "Your future depends on being more productive and that means providing more services." Sophisticated firms already are repositioning themselves for the New Economy, he says. "You can see it in real estate documents. Instead of complicated 50-page lease contracts, we're seeing streamlined, eight-page service agreements that don't even mention the word tenant or landlord."

Lipsey says, "There are no landlords in the New Economy. There are service companies and there are user companies."

CORFAC is a 38-member global facilities network active in 50 North American markets and 80 international locations. Members collectively negotiated $7 billion worth of transactions last year.

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Real Estate Industry Still in Dark Technological Ages, Consultant tells CORFAC

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