PikeNet Dispatch, May 27, 2003
Vol 8 No. 41 (670), "More than 9,000 subscribers"

The Real Estate Whisperer... Way, way back in economic history (December 11, 2000), I wrote a Dispatch titled Psst, What Are People Whispering About Your Market? The theory went something like this. Collecting the impressions of individual investors about future corporate earnings would be more accurate than high priced Wall Street analysts. Oops. I guess that turned out to be true for the wrong reason. (See WhisperNumber.com.)

So reading the New York Times article about "shadow space" in New York City, Some Best-Priced Space Isn't Even on the Market (May 21, 2003), got me thinking about the role of "whisper space" in a real estate market. Might there be such a person as a "real estate whisperer" (albeit not quite as handsome as Robert Redford) with the mysterious ability to know exactly how much space is available in real time?

Could real estate brokers pool their collective knowledge about shadow space? All four firms mentioned in the NYT article -- Cresa Partners, Jones Lang LaSalle, Staubach, and Studley -- agreed that such space existed. And a complete and accurate record of space available would make the real estate market more efficient. At least in theory. But how could you maintain confidentiality? Is shadow space important in your market?

--Peter Pike