As Jerry Lee Lewis once sang, “There’s a Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On.” Of course, he was referring to anatomical body parts and I’m writing about NAI Capital.

Tom Nguyen has decided to relocate his Pacific Rim Division Team to our Newport Beach office effective July 15, 2008. While their business model of focusing on the Asian market is sound, having an office that is market as opposed to geographically located didn’t work as efficiently or effectively as we had anticipated. So, NAI Capital will be closing Pacific Rim’s location in Westminster and Tom will market the space for sublease. We view this relocation as an opportunity to increase profitability while decreasing costs.

Clearly, we have experienced problems in our I.T. Department over the past several months. As a result, we have reluctantly accepted the resignation of Hum Lee. Hum is a good friend and a fine man and we only wish him the best in all of his future endeavors. At the same time we welcome Neil Wolf (nwolf@naicapital.com) as our new I.T. Manager. Neil has already demonstrated his technological expertise by resolving our ongoing email issues while redesigning, upgrading and relocating the email system. A big thank you to Michael Schiff of our Westlake Village office, who has been friends with Neil since they were ten years old and has been of invaluable assistance during this technologically difficult period of time.

With the reconfiguration of our I.T. department, including offsite location for our servers and remote monitoring, we laid-off Erica Prado. We wish her well in all of her future endeavors.

Jones Lang LaSalle acquired The Staubach Company which is consistent with predictions of consolidation within our industry, starting with corporate service providers and tenant representation brokerages. Is Studley/Cresa next?

Oncor International terminated its President and executive staff. Its administration has been consolidated under Coldwell Banker (both are owned by Realogy). What does this mean for Oncor’s local member, Daum? Nothing good.

Coldwell Banker Commercial is closing at least two of its offices; a NRT (corporate) office in La Cañada and a franchise in Temecula. With over $5.6 billion in debt and the residential real estate market in the tank, it’s probably only the beginning.

Grubb & Ellis has terminated its relationship with Bob Osbrink, their newest CEO Scott Peters just resigned, they also just suspended their dividend and Tony Thompson, G&E’s second largest shareholder at 13.9%, is lobbying for reappointment to their Board of Directors due to plunging share price (-42%).

Carla Gazzola resigned as the Regional Manger of Colliers International in the Greater Los Angeles Market. Local Colliers insiders tell us they were surprised and don’t know the reason or reasons why or internal/external repercussions.

While we hear rumors of competitors cutting and/or charging for services, “across the board” commission cuts, weekly pipeline requirements, unrealistic production targets and debt renegotiations/cash calls, NAI Capital has not had to institute any draconian measures to deal with the sharp downturn in the economy and in fact we remain “up” 2008 vs. 2007 4.46% at the end of June and debt free (even though expenses are rising exponentially). We have and continue to significantly invest in our I.T. service delivery platform with an eye to the future as well as expanding our Palm Desert office. I’m personally enthused and expect to learn a lot from our “Success Panel” at next Thursday's Capital College Semester Training. So, see you there!