Commercial office condo space investment

[Kumar Gaurav]

Hello,

I would like to get started investing in commercial investment office such as office condos investment .As i started researching I started observing there are opportunities

where two or more condos available as a suite.When such an opportunity presents what would be the best way to communicate with the agent,what are some right questions to ask to make an impression that are you are serious prospective buyer.Appreciate your inputs.

Thanks

Thanks

[Joel Owens]

When it's condo you have to look at how the board is ran and how they have balanced the books over the years. Sometimes there can be lots of managers going in and out and poor money management for the association and losses. This can cause regular condo association fees to keep going up and you can also have special assessments to pay for. If you are minority owner and not controlling declarant you have limited control over the property as a whole.

Look at exactly what the monthly dues cover and what they do not cover. I am not a big fan of office parks for condo. I own one for my business but luckily the association manager does a good job and monthly rates have not gone up the last 3 years and the property is in great shape. For my investments I like retail better. Retail has condo for some strip centers as well. Most times an investor buys a office or retail condo because price is cheaper such as 200k to 500k per unit versus a free standing building. Look at items that condo association does not cover and review age and useful life span of those items. You want to get your space rent ready if it does not already have a tenant and do not want to pay lots of cash outlay for capex items going in but instead get a credit from the seller to use post closing on those items.

Check saturation and vacancy levels for the office you want to buy and how it is positioned in the complex. Is it upstairs with no elevator (hard to rent), on the back side down below and not street side (harder to rent).