published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Geography and Geology / Master / Master of Geographic Information System

The service industry has been growing fast as national economies grew therefore becoming a major contributor to national gross domestic products (GDP). This growth in the services sector has led to questions around the issue of service quality. The aim of this study was to identify the determinants of service, assess the level of service quality in commercial real estate leasing and identify possible quality improvement measures. In carrying out the study, the service quality model developed by Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry (1988:14), SERVQUAL, was used. The study was based on the leasing services of the broking department of one of the leading commercial real estate companies operating in Durban. The study was restricted to the Durban market. A non-probabilistic sample of 120 customers was drawn from a list of lease transactions concluded in the last one year. From this sample, 84 questionnaires were successfully completed either by way of a face to face interview or by telephone, showing a response rate of 70 percent. Data was collected using a questionnaire based on the SERVQUAL model and adjusted by the researcher in order to be relevant to the commercial real estate industry. The questionnaire comprised two sections each with 22 questions divided into the five determinants of service quality, which are service tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy. The first section of 22 questions was on customer expectations of service while the second section of 22 questions was on customer perceptions of service quality received and factor rating at the end. Factor analysis of survey response data was used to analyze the data and draw conclusions. The study findings are that commercial real estate service quality determinants match those in other industries except for rank and order. In general, service quality was found to be below customer expectations and commercial real estate firms need to work on ways to improve it. The study is limited to the specific settings of customers of property brokers in the Durban commercial real estate market. It is uncertain as to whether the findings can be generalized to other areas. / Thesis (MBA)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2010.

An ongoing debate in the corporate finance world concerns the question of a firm's optimal capital structure. More specifically, is there a way of dividing a firm's capital into debt and equity so as to maximize the value of the firm? From a practical standpoint, this question is of utmost importance for corporate financial officers. Yet, the academic literature has not been very helpful to provide clear guidance on practical issues. Except for a few theoretical models, there is a lack of literature concernmg how companies should decide their leverage ratios in practice. These models are unfortunately not applicable in real practice because of their inability to provide managers with a precise optimal leverage level. The purpose of this study concerns the practical matter of deciding the appropriate capital structure and the possibility of improvement for the companies. Specifically: How do the case companies decide their capital structure? Are their current capital stmctures optimal or is there room for improvement? To be able to examine these questions it was necessary to investigate companies that are as comparable as possible within the same industry. Different industries were identified based on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange industry classification and were analyzed for comparability issues. The real estate industry was found to experiences very similar business and has an opportunity to take more debt due to the nature of its asset structure. Three companies were selected from the property segment of the real estate industry based on their leverage ratios and companies with highest, medium, and lowest leverages in the industry were selected. Gold-edge was found to be the highest levered company in the industry, while Samrand and Putprop were found to be average and least levered in the industry respectively. The findings indicate that none of the companies uses capital structure models when deciding their capital structure. The case companies' capital structure indicates that Gold-edge's current capital structure is considered as close to optimal as possible while Putprop and Samrand current capital structure are not optimal and there is room for improvement. / Thesis (MBA)-University of Natal, Durban, 2003.

The goal of my thesis is to assess the Real estate market in terms of law. I chose this topic because I take an interest in it both as a graduate of The Faculty Of Law and as a student of The Real Estate Engineering. There is no such thing as legal regulations of the reality matters in an integrated lex so far; the regulations are divided into several laws and ordinances. In the routine practise there often occur cases that are not governed by law at all. My task is not only to explain some problems and situations that may arise in this area and consider main advantages of the up to now legislation within the Czech Republic, but also to point out the main deficiencies and suggest a possibility of legislative changes. In the first chapter I explain several basic concepts that often appear in my thesis. The second chapter concerns the realities and the Real estate markets, where I put forward the legal regulations and also furnish information on the realities abroad and in Space. In the third chapter I deal with Real estate agencies, their importance, origin, structure, sorts and also other organisations that are connected to Real estate agencies. In the fourth chapter I describe the Real estate business, meaning juristic services of a Real estate agency and selling and leasing a real property. I also present contracts related to the Real estate business and the tax matters concerned while dealing with realties. In the fifth chapter I explain the work of a Real estate broker, his certification, professional education and at the end I explain what an ethical codex is. The sixth chapter sums up the whole thesis and evaluates individual parts.

The premise of this paper is to investigate the competition in the real estate brokery industry which could have a distortion caused by bank owned real estate brokery firms. In this investigation we could not confirm that we have a distortion of competition caused by bank owned real estate brokery firms but we can confirm that if bank owned real estate brokery firms would centralize their ownership even further we could have a situation that could look like a distortion of competition caused by bank owned real estate brokery firms. The competition in the real estate brokery business seemed healthy today according to real estate agents in the market but the situation could change rapidly if the political decisions change the amortization requirements, changes in interest rates, turbulence in the global economy etc. / Utgångspunkten i detta examensarbete har varit att undersöka konkurrenssituationen på fastighetsmäklarmarknaden med fokus på begränsningar av konkurrensen som kan orsakas av bland annat bankstyrda mäklarföretag. I detta arbeta har det inte klarlagts att det råder en märkbar begränsning av konkurrenssituationen orsakat av bankstyrda mäklarföretag idag, däremot kan vi konstatera att om ägandet koncentreras ytterligare av de större äklarfirmorna så ökar risken för en begränsning av konkurrenssituationen. Konkurrenssituationen upplevdes som relativ hanterbar av intervjuade mäklare i branschen idag, men den uppfattningen kan lätt ändras då konkurrensförutsättningarna ändras orsakat av bland annat politiska beslut såsom amorteringskrav, förändrat ränteläge, turbulens i den globala ekonomin osv.

Sverige förväntas återigen gå in i en lågkonjunktur och det förekommer hög inflation samt kraftiga ränteökningar. Andra samhällsfaktorer såsom konflikter i Ukraina, globala utbudsstörningar och ökade energipriser bidrar också till förändringar i ekonomin. För fastighetsföretag innebär det svårare finansiering, ökade räntor och kostnader samt begränsningar i hyreshöjning vilket leder till att företagen behöver anpassa sin strategi för att bemöta de ekonomiska förutsättningarna. Syftet med studien är att undersöka svenska privata fastighetsföretags strategier inför en lågkonjunktur avseende strategisk planering, kostnadsbesparingar, diversifiering och investering. En kvalitativ metod har använts och empirin grundar sig på sex semistrukturerade intervjuer med respondenter från fastighetsföretag med hyresbostäder. Det empiriska materialet har därefter sammanställts och analyserats med hjälp av den teoretiska referensramen. Resultatet visar att fastighetsföretagen inte antar en specifik förberedande strategi inför en lågkonjunktur, utan har anpassat strategin i samband med att de ekonomiska förutsättningarna ändrats. Med tanke på begränsningar i hyreshöjning så kan de inte kompensera de ökade kostnaderna med hjälp av intäkter vilket leder till att kostnadsbesparingar är en central aspekt vid utformandet av strategi. Kostnadsbesparingar görs främst på underhåll, energiförbrukning och investeringar samt att entreprenörer konkurrensutsätts. Dock förekommer nödvändiga investeringar, vilket gör att företagen prioriterar de av störst behov. Generellt sett använder sig företagen av en kärnstrategi vilket innebär att de håller sig på samma marknad oavsett konjunkturläget. Företagen tenderar att fokusera mer på det befintliga beståndet snarare än nyproduktion med tanke på svårare att få lån och ökade räntekostnader samt byggkostnader. Eftersom fastighetsföretagen anser att fastighetsmarknaden är statisk för tillfället så väger konkurrensrisken inte mer än den finansiella risken. / Sweden is once again expected to enter a recession and there is high inflation and sharp interest rate increases. Other factors such as conflicts in Ukraine, global supply disruptions and increased energy prices also contribute to changes in the economy. For real estate companies, this means more difficult financing, increased interest rates and costs as well as restrictions on rent increases, which means they need to adapt their strategy to meet the economic changes.The purpose of the study is to investigate the strategies of Swedish private real estate companies in an upcoming recession regarding strategic planning, cost savings, diversification and investment. A qualitative method has been applied and the empirical evidence is based on six semi-structured interviews of real estate companies with rental housing. The empirical material has then been compiled and analyzed using the theories presented.The result shows that real estate companies do not adopt a specific preparatory strategy for a recession but have modified the strategy in connection with changes in economic conditions. Given the limitations in rent increases, they cannot compensate for the increased costs with the help of income, which means that cost savings are a central aspect in the making of the strategy. Cost savings are mainly made on maintenance, energy consumption and investments, and that contractors are exposed to competition. However, there are necessary investments within the various aspects, which means that the companies must prioritize. Generally speaking, the companies use a core strategy, which means that they stay in the same market regardless of the state of the economy. The companies tend to focus more on the existing stock rather than new production because of difficulties regarding loans and increased interest rates as well as construction costs. Since the real estate companies believe that the real estate market is static at the moment, the competitive risk does not weigh more than the financial risk.

Bakgrund: Fastighetsmäklaren är en oberoende part mellan köpare och säljare och har flera viktiga uppgifter under en försäljningsprocess. För att bli en registrerad fastighetsmäklare krävs i skrivande stund en högskoleutbildning på minst 120 högskolepoäng samt 10 veckors praktik, men utbildningskraven kommer under de närmaste åren att bli högre. Trots den tid och ansträngning som utbildningen kräver väljer många att i slutändan avsluta sin karriär som mäklare under de första åren. Varför? Detta är ett problemområde som denna studie kommer ta i beaktning och analysera på djupet.  Syfte och frågeställning: Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka varför fastighetsmäklare väljer att avsluta sina karriärer. Studien grundar sig på frågeställningen; varför lämnar fastighetsmäklare sitt yrke så tidigt i sin karriär?  Teori: Det teoretiska underlaget grundar sig på organisationskultur, både generellt och i tjänsteföretag, samt personalomsättning i säljyrken och i fastighetsmäklarbranschen.  Metod: Studien är uppbyggd på en kvalitativ forskningsmetod där vi har genomfört sju intervjuer med tidigare registrerade fastighetsmäklare.  Resultat och slutsats: Resultatet av vår studie visar att arbetstillfredsställelse, tidspress, stress, kravet på tillgänglighet, den provisionsbaserade lönen samt svårigheten att definiera arbetstid och fritid är de främsta anledningarna till att mäklare lämnar yrket. Bristen på ledarskap på företaget gjorde dessutom att mäklarna saknade stöttning och vägledning vilket i sin tur skapade dåliga förutsättningar för de nyexaminerade mäklarna. Fler än hälften av våra respondenter arbetar fortfarande kvar inom fastighetsmäklarbranschen men i andra yrkesroller, till exempel som mäklarassistent. Resterande respondenter har valt att lämna branschen och sökt sig vidare till andra arbeten och branscher, bland annat fastighetsförvaltning. / Background: The real estate agent is an independent intermediary between the buyer and the seller and has several important tasks during a sales process. To become a registered real estate agent, a higher education of at least 120 higher education credits and 10 weeks of internship are required at the time, but the education requirements will be higher in the next few years. Despite the time and effort required by the education, many choose to eventually end their careers as brokers during the first few years. Why? This is a problem area that this study will consider and analyze in depth. Aim and research question: The purpose of this study is to find out the reasons that are based on real estate agents choosing to quit early in their careers. The study is based on one issue; why do real estate agents leave their profession so early in their careers?  Theory: The theoretical basis is based on organizational culture, both in general and in service companies, as well as staff turnover in the sales professions and in the real estate industry. Method: The study is based on a qualitative research method where we have conducted seven interviews with previously registered real estate agents.  Result and conclusion: The results of our study show that job satisfaction, time pressure, stress, the requirement for availability, the commission-based salary and the difficulty of defining working hours and leisure time are the main reasons why brokers leave the profession. The lack of leadership at the company also meant that the brokers lacked support and guidance, which in turn created poor conditions for the newly graduated brokers. More than half of our respondents still work in the real estate industry but in other professional roles, as real estate assistants, for example. The remaining respondents have chosen to leave the industry and apply for other jobs and industries, including property management.

The problem in this study was to discover if the public relations program of the Dallas Petroleum Center was useful in leasing and if the program played a significant role in a leasing increase. The study was carried out by describing the development of the building project, by analyzing the planning and execution of the public relations program, by testing the program's effectiveness, and by drawing conclusions about the program and by making recommendations for this specific program and for office leasing in general. The effectiveness of the program was tested by questionnaires and interviews. The public relations program proved to be an effective tool in leasing office space; and a similar program was recommended for other buildings.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-12-03T18:33:10Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Daniel_Scolese.pdf: 741904 bytes, checksum: 72e559eedf1f1c365555a4d3ec62ee60 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-06-25 / The investments through Real Estate Funds provided access to the little investors to put money in the Real Estate segment. The hike of investors in this type of investment is increasingly perceived, what encourages the market to increase the supply of new products to attend this demand. In this sense, it presents results regarding the risks and factors that may influence the profitability of these investments, taking into account the limited information available to retail investors. This paper explores the return of Real Estate Funds, seeking to measure the sensitivity of its return comparing to indexes of financial market indexes of fixed income, equities and Real Estate. The methodology adopted in this study was the regression, arranged through panel data, being the returns of the funds the variable to be explained. As explanatory variables it was tested indexes of the financial market on fixed income, equities and Real Estate. The study concluded that the investment in Real Estate Funds had its return linked to the housing/Real Estate, the fixed income and equities markets / Os Fundos Imobili??rios possibilitam o acesso de pequenos poupadores ao investimento no segmento imobili??rio. Cada vez mais se percebe o aumento de investidores nesse tipo de aplica????o, o que incentiva o mercado a aumentar a oferta de novos produtos para atender essa demanda. Nesse sentido, s??o apresentados os resultados em rela????o aos riscos e fatores que podem influenciar a rentabilidade desses investimentos, levando em considera????o a pouca informa????o dispon??vel aos pequenos investidores. Este trabalho explora o retorno dos fundos de investimentos imobili??rios, buscando medir a sensibilidade de seu retorno frente a ??ndices do mercado financeiro do segmento de renda fixa, de renda vari??vel e do segmento imobili??rio. A metodologia adotada neste estudo foi a da regress??o m??ltipla, sendo o retorno dos fundos selecionados a vari??vel a ser explicada. Como vari??veis explicativas foram testados os ??ndices do mercado financeiro dos segmentos de renda fixa, renda vari??vel e do segmento imobili??rio. O estudo concluiu que o investimento em Fundo Imobili??rio n??o tem seu retorno associado somente ao mercado imobili??rio, mas, traz consigo, componentes da varia????o do segmento de renda fixa e da renda vari??vel

The goal of this thesis is to identify the main political and economic implications of Dubai’s debt crisis and subsequent bailout by her wealthier and more powerful sister emirate Abu Dhabi. This paper examines the implications of the bailout of Dubai on two levels: Dubai’s relationship with Abu Dhabi and Dubai’s relationship with the international investment community. The paper first provides a brief background on Dubai, one of the seven emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and discusses Dubai’s key characteristics that helped give Dubai her nickname Dubai Inc. – an opportune location, the Al-Maktoum ruling family, and state-led entrepreneurship. It then discusses Dubai’s historically competitive relationship with Abu Dhabi and Dubai’s push to diversify economically away from oil. The paper outlines two key economic developments – the rise of Dubai’s real estate and tourism sectors and the creation of Dubai’s government-related enterprises (GREs), which helped finance the real estate bubble. This thesis suggests that Abu Dhabi now holds unquestionable power over Dubai and can control Dubai’s GREs and their subsidiaries such as Dubai World. This paper also argues that the international investment community will demand increased transparency and higher standards of corporate governance of Dubai’s businesses in light of the entrenched poor practices that the bailout exposed within the tiny-city state's GREs and companies. / text