Davis J. Cable
“Henry David Thoreau meets Benjamin Graham"
Senior Analyst
dc@miradorrea.com || vCard || Download Bio
“The goal is clear: help our clients make good decisions while bettering the community and having some fun.”
Dave Cable is a real estate professional, passionate conservationist, and experienced nonprofit leader. An equal contributor to the founding and development of the company, Dave serves as an independent contractor and advisor to Mirador, in addition to leading his real estate valuation and consulting firm, Springside Partners. Along with providing third-party consulting work, Dave conducts ongoing economic and market research for Mirador, including production of our bi-annual House View Report.
He previously served as executive director of TreesCharlotte, an urban forestry initiative he helped launch in 2012. Always proving you can make a living doing what you love, Dave also led the Catawba Lands Conservancy and the Carolina Thread Trail, a 15-county collaboration with the Foundation For The Carolinas and Duke Energy.
Prior to joining the Conservancy in 2004, he was director of real estate research and corporate and investment banking with Wachovia Securities, where he focused on structured products research, specifically supporting the bank’s commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) function.
He was president of Allen & Cable, a real estate appraisal and consulting company in Vermont, before moving to Charlotte in 1998.
Dave spends his spare time hiking, paddling, and biking. (Warning: He may try to convince you to hold a business meeting in a kayak.) Favorite hiking spots include the Carolina Thread Trail (a portion of which bears his name) and the mountains of Vermont near the family cabin.
“I’m passionate about conservation of our natural resources, specifically land and trees, and have dedicated significant time, energy, and resources to protecting some of what remains,” he said. Like Teddy Roosevelt, Dave considers conservation “a great moral issue.”
Dave and his wife introduced their now-adult children to their love of the outdoors, and now he’s doing the same with his three “superstar” grandkids, for whom he “makes stuff” out of wood.
“I’m a lucky guy,” Dave will tell you. “My attitude is gratitude.”
What has Dave done for clients and the organizations he’s led?
- Provided real estate appraisal review and valuation consulting services on complex properties across the US
- Led all aspects of TreesCharlotte, Catawba Lands Conservancy, and the Carolina Thread Trail, conservation nonprofit agencies serving the Piedmont region of NC
- Assisted in raising more than $35 million in private and public capital for conservation projects in the Charlotte region
- Served as senior real estate strategist for Wachovia’s real estate business units and institutional investors
- Developed PRISM, a web based market risk assessment system for internal Wachovia teams and investors
- Led Capital Markets loan and leasing $110 billion portfolio analysis, including exposure, concentration levels, and problem asset projections
- Analyzed real estate collateral, market, and economic conditions affected by concentrated collateral markets
- Developed valuation policies and procedures and vendor scope agreement; enhanced appraisal management system; led staff training
- Appraised commercial, industrial, agricultural, conservation easements and special-use properties in northern New England for mortgage lenders, US Park Service, local, state and federal agencies.
- Provided significant court testimony, consulting experience, and appraisal review
Professional affiliations
- Counselors of Real Estate 2000-present; Carolinas Chapter Board of Directors, 2010-present, Treasurer, 2010-2015
- Appraisal Institute, Chicago 1990-present
- AI-GRS (Appraisal Institute – General Review Specialist), professional commercial appraisal reviewer’s designation
- MAI Designation. Local and national committee involvement
- Young Advisory Council: 1994 National Chair
- Licensed as Certified General Real Estate Appraiser, NC (1998) and VT (1987)
- Society of Municipal Arborists, Member 2012-present
- International Society of Arboriculture, Professional Member 2014-present
- Municipal Forestry Institute, February 2012
Community affiliations
- Board member, WDAV, public radio station, Davidson, NC, 2017-present
- Active committee involvement, Town of Davidson
Davidson Lands Conservancy 2014-present, Chair Land Acquisition Committee 2017-present
- Redlair Foundation Board 2012-present, Chair 2012-present
- Member of professional delegation traveling to Latvia and Russia, Appraisal Institute, 1993
Instruction and publications
- Lecturer, Environmental Science 101, Queens University, Charlotte, NC. Fall 2011. Modules: Conservation Policy and Urban Conservation 2014-2016
- Developed and delivered numerous presentations throughout the Charlotte region on conservation and urban forestry-related topics
- Developed and presented real estate valuation and analytics seminars
- NC and Mecklenburg County Bar Association – CLE seminars on conservation easements and appraisal issues 2003, 2005, and 2009
- CMBS and real estate research publications while at Wachovia (partial listing):
- Outlook for CMBS and Commercial Real Estate
- “Hotels: Bottoming but Still Vulnerable”
- “Apartments Still Deteriorating: Analysis of Real Estate, CMBS, and REIT Debt Markets”
- “Hotels: The Return Trip Slows”
- CMBS Performance in a Rising Interest Rate Environment
- MetroView (quarterly)
- SectorView (quarterly)
- Stormy CMBS Spreads Settle In
- “CMBS: An Impressive Performance” (Comprehensive default and loss study)
- “CMBS: California Wild Fire Impacts Minimal”
- Co-authored the Allen & Cable Report covering the greater Burlington, VT area real estate markets, 1993-1998
Honors and awards
- Counselors of Real Estate Creative Thinkers Award for the Carolina Thread Trail, 2013
- Outstanding Individual Award, NC Urban Forestry Council, 2014
- Counselors of Real Estate, National Chair’s Award, 2012
Education
- University of Vermont, MS, 1980
- Bowdoin College, AB, 1978