Globalization of the Real Estate Professional

REmatrix Interview with Forbes J. Rutherford, President of Rutherford International Executive Search Group Inc.

June – Toronto, Canada

An Overview of Global Real Estate Markets & Potential for Career Opportunities

Forbes Rutherford has provided specialized HR consulting and Executive Search services to both national and international property and investment firms for the past twenty-one years. Having dealt with a broad cross section of the industry’s senior executives and rising stars, Mr. Rutherford is in a unique position to observe the changing macro trends and oncoming challenges facing the Canadian and International real estate community. Additional information on Mr. Rutherford’s background may be viewed at the following web links: http://www.rutherfordinternational.com or http://www.linkedin.com/in/rutherfordintl

REmatrix.com
What would you consider a fundamental consideration for choosing a career in commercial real estate?

Forbes Rutherford
I’ve been involved in real estate executive search since 1986 and prior to this profession, I worked in real estate development in Canada and property investment overseas. I’ve experienced all the market cycles and am intimately aware of the economic machinations associated with oil price shocks, double digit interest rates, “loan to own” commercial lending, tax driven squeezing and pumping of industry sectors, economic recessions and industry specific depressions. Real estate is the first industry sector to be cooled by a country’s monetary policy; and the last to be warmed up by it.

A fundamental consideration for choosing a career in real estate is to understand its structure and economic role in our lives. In business theoretical terms, commercial real estate is a “complex adaptive system;” meaning it can move to the brink of chaos before new patterns emerge and new forms of organizations take place.

For more than ten years, we have witnessed the rise of domestic oligarchic ownership through the acquisition of institutional investment grade trophy portfolios and assets however new transnational capital pools and service companies are emerging – they’re nimble, unwedded to the asset and focused on their particular niche within the risk/reward investment spectrum.

REmatrix.com
What advice do you give to young real estate professionals starting out?

Forbes Rutherford
Stay current, plan for rainy days and be as adaptive as the system you’re entering. Real estate is cyclical and dynamic; and one should be comfortable with the concept of living with uncertainty. A large percentage of our real estate professionals haven’t experienced a full market cycle – but in time they will, as financial gravity does exist. It's part of the natural order of a market economy. The framework for doing business today may not exist tomorrow. To understand this assertion, one only needs to review business history and list the iconic names that no longer exist but for a shell company on a receiver’s shelf.

REmatrix.com
What trends have you observed in the globalization of real estate and what will the impact of globalization have on careers?

Forbes Rutherford
It’s not globalization of real estate per se, as all real estate is local; it’s really the globalization of real estate investment, portfolio management, infrastructure investment in emerging markets and the rapid consolidation of global service companies to support these transnational property owners.

It’s not a comprehensive list of observed trends, but some that come to mind are:
Go to http://www.rematrix.com/careers/careers_07sum-let-3.html