The Inland Real Estate Group of Companies, Inc. has announced the formation of a new company, Inland Real Estate Brokerage & Auctions, Inc., the result of a strategic business combination between Inland Real Estate Brokerage, Inc. and Inland Real Estate Auctions, Inc.
Officials at Inland are expecting investment sales activity to pick up in 2011
as banks and financial institutions begin to unload nonperforming assets. In order to meet this predicted demand, Inland has combined its brokerage services and auction services under one roof. The two separate firms facilitated $15.8 million in combined sales in January of this year.
Paul Rogers, formerly the senior vice president and managing broker of Inland Real Estate Auctions, Inc., will be the president of Inland Real Estate Brokerage & Auctions. Prior to his work with Inland, Rogers spent 10 years with Sheldon Good and Co. and seven years with Benjamin Sherman & Sons.
“One thing we expect to see this year that we have not seen in the last two years is banks selling real estate,” says Rogers. “We are getting indication from banks that they are ready to sell. Previously, they have been tucking that real estate away and waiting for the opportune time.”
If that opportune time is indeed near, Rogers and other Inland officials believe that the combination of the brokerage services and the auction services will be able to provide a comprehensive platform for potential clients.
“Previously, we provided only brokerage services at Inland Real Estate Brokerage and only auction services at Inland Real Estate Auctions,” says Rogers. “To some extent, it was two separate companies with two separate agendas. We brought them together to create some synergy.”
The firm will be able to review and make commercial real estate decisions for clients by recommending conventional sales or accelerated sales for specific properties.
Rogers says that financial institutions with large real estate portfolios, government agencies, and corporate users with obsolete facilities are ideal candidates for the firm’s combined services.
