With its connection through HHI to a wide network of university researchers, HAS is a unique entity that is able to call upon academic research for state-of-the-art techniques to answer industry's questions. Examples of HAS assignments include providing strategic planning counsel, performing local area analyses for hotel investment companies, integrating econometric and judgmental models for forecasting office space absorption, developing gravity models for retail site selection, and serving as expert witness on valuation matters. Other assignments include development of white papers, executive education curriculum, and a real estate center at a public university.

In addition to its consulting assignments, HAS maintains a rigorous program of internal research. Internal research programs include REIT valuation and risk analysis, REIT model development, model backward testing and development of three monographs dealing with various aspects of REITs.

In its capacity as the Institute's research and development unit, HAS identifies relevant research questions by working closely with real estate decision makers. In turn, it provides guidance to HHI on the relevance of research and data collection efforts. HAS' specialized assignments center on expanding the real estate body of knowledge through specifically selected work.

• Dr. Ron M. Donohue, C.R.E.
  
  Dr. Ron M. Donohue is President and Chairman of the Board for Hoyt Advisory Services. Hoyt Advisory Services (HAS) is a real estate consulting corporation focusing on complex real estate issues requiring cutting edge research. HAS is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Homer Hoyt Institute, one of the nation’s leading real estate research foundations. He has been with The Hoyt Group since 1992, when he served as a Fellow and as General Manager. He also serves on the Board of Directors of Hoyt Advisory Services, REIT Investment Advisory Services and the Homer Hoyt Institute of Maryland.
  
  Dr. Donohue holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science, a Master of Urban Planning Degree and a Ph.D. in Urban, Technological and Environmental Planning, all from the University of Michigan. His award-winning dissertation dealt with inner city retailing.
  
  Dr. Donohue writes frequently on a number of real estate related topics, ranging from analytic techniques to investment analysis. His work appears in a wide range of scholarly and popular media, including the Journal of Real Estate Research, Real Estate Issues, Properties, Urban Quality Indicators, International Journal of Simulation and Gaming, and the University of Michigan’s Leading Edge Series. He is also frequently cited in business publications and the popular press on real estate related topics. Recent citations include the New York Times, Reuters News Service, Chicago Tribune, Shopping Centers Today, Builder, Dow Jones Investment Advisor, Site Selection, Plants, Sites and Parks, and Expansion Management.
  
  Dr. Donohue provides a wide range of consulting services, including strategic planning, investment analysis, economic feasibility analysis, curriculum development and serving as an expert witness. Recent assignments include providing asset management and strategic planning for high net worth individuals and private real estate companies, investment, market and feasibility analysis, evaluating and analyzing alternative disposition strategies for a large multi-state portfolio, and providing valuation of complex private real estate securities and debt. Previous clients run the entire gamut of the industry, including REITs, REOCs, pension plan sponsors, real estate trade organizations, academic institutions, investment bankers and private investors.
  
  Dr. Donohue has developed presentations for the International Council of Shopping Centers, the Counselors of Real Estate, the Weimer School of Advanced Studies in Real Estate and Land Economics, The University of Wisconsin’s Center for Urban Land Economics Research, the Pension Real Estate Association, the Urban Land Institute and the Commercial Investment Real Estate Institute. He has taught courses at the University of Michigan, the University of Toledo and Florida Atlantic University in subjects ranging from land planning to real estate finance. He holds the Counselor of Real Estate designation. He holds memberships in the American Real Estate Society, the American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, the Counselors of Real Estate the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts, the Pension Real Estate Association and the Urban Land Institute.
  
  
  
• Dr. Ronald L. Racster
  
  Dr. Racster is President of the Homer Hoyt Institute, Dean of the Weimer School, and Chief Financial Officer for all Hoyt Group organizations. Dr. Racster is also Professor Emeritus, The Ohio State University. A past president of the American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, Dr. Racster has been involved with the research/education programs of various professional real estate organizations, including the American Institute of Real Estate Appraisers, the Industrial Development Research Council, the American Institute of Corporate Asset Management, and the National Association of Realtors. Dr. Racster has served as a consultant for numerous commercial, industrial, and residential developers, real estate investors, and financial institutions. He has written articles and contributed to textbooks on real estate principles, appraisal, and market analysis.
  
  
  
• Dr. Maury Seldin
  
  Dr. Seldin is a Chair Professor Emeritus of the Kogod College of Business Administration of The American University. His previous faculty appointments were with the University of Southern California and Indiana University. He is Chairman of the Board of the Homer Hoyt Institute, and Chairman and President of the Homer Hoyt Advanced Studies Institute, and Chairman Emeritus of Hoyt Advisory Services. He has BS and MBA degrees from the University of California, Los Angeles, with majors in real estate and urban land economics and a minor in finance. He has a doctorate in business administration from Indiana University, specializing in real estate administration with fields in finance and money and banking. Dr. Seldin is a past president of the American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association. Dr. Seldin has served as a consultant to the Executive Office of the President of the United States and the National Science Foundation as well as a wide array of business and professional organizations. He has given testimony on real estate issues before Congressional committees, and has served as an expert witness in landmark court cases. He holds the emeritus professional designation of CRE (Counselor of Real Estate)
  
  
  
• Dr. Halbert C. Smith
  
  Dr. Smith is a Professor Emeritus of Finance and Real Estate at the University of Florida, where he served on the faculty from 1972 to 1999 and was Director of the Center for Studies and Chairman of the Department of Finance and Real Estate for several years. In the Hoyt Group, he is Chairman of the Hoyt Fellows as well as an officer and director of the Homer Hoyt Institute, Hoyt Advisory Services and the Homer Hoyt Advanced Studies Institute. He is a past president of the American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association and received the Pioneer award of the American Real Estate Society. Prior to joining the faculty at Florida, he was Chief Economist for the Federal Home Loan Bank Board in Washington, DC. He is an emeritus MAI (Member, Appraisal Institute) and CRE (Counselor of Real Estate), and in 1995 was named a Fellow of the International Center for Economic Research in Turin, Italy. He has written some 10 books and numerous articles on real estate topics and has served on the editorial boards of several academic and professional journals.