Investing in Parking Lots & Garages - My story so far

[Michael Bell]

Greetings BP,

I wanted to share my parking "activities" within the BP community since I see this a pretty obscure topic.  I have made strides to help another investor find deals as well as take my own down.  I wrote another post last week, and will continue to do so regularly to chronicle my parking experience.  I strongly follow the abundance mindset and believe the more I share the better I am for it.

Over the past 6 months, I have explored the parking niche with great enthusiasm. What started out as an opportunity to help an experienced investor find parking deals has morphed into a full blown obsession for me. This opportunity has allowed me to not only gain great knowledge about parking, but commercial real estate as a whole. I have also begun to set the stage to do my own parking deals. 

My goal is to partner on or syndicate a parking garage or lot in a secondary or tertiary market located in the Midwest, Northeast, or South by the end of this year. Primary targets are located in cities (100k+) with positive population growth over the past five years; possessing easily identifiable macroeconomics.  Within those cities, I am targeting assets in central business districts (CBDs) and popular entertainment areas where large amounts of people congregate daily.  Essentially, there must be a paid parking footprint in the area already.

The ideal asset would cashflow from day one with the ability to add value via technology, operations improvements, and/or NN lease addition (or renegotiation). 

I am targeting parking garages less than 25 years old, with no major structural issues, and busy street access.  First floor commercial is a plus to help increase value.  I do not have an age requirement for parking lots; the location and surrounding competition are my main concerns.  

* A bonus play would be purchasing a small commercial property with at least a 25 space lot in the aforementioned areas; the idea is to convert the lot into paid parking to increase value.   

I have learned that self management
 is not advantageous to most parking owners.  Relying on parking companies to manage and improve your "product" is paramount.  Below you will find a list of my activities over the past 6 months as well as my intended actions for the next 6 months.

***What I have done so far***

- I created a database of over 300 "mom & pop" paid lots spanning 27 cities.  This took me about 6 weeks since there was no easy way (trust me, I tried) to find the lots.

- I was able to get access to private investigator software to find the true owners of these properties since conventional skiptracing produced poor results.  Over time I have dwindled that 300 owner list down to approx. 200 owners that I have sent 3 rounds of direct mail to this year. Response rate has increased each time.  1st round only one callback; which translated to one offer and no deal.  2nd round 5 callbacks; one offer (cold call); and no deal. 3rd round (just went out), 2 callbacks so far.

- Last November, while researching the parking industry, I came across a non-profit organization called Veterans in Parking (ViP). They are dedicated to connecting veterans to jobs in the parking industry. Since I am active duty Navy with a recruiting and personnel background, I decided to reach out to see if I could help out in some way.  I figured at the very least it would be a great opportunity to network with veterans in the parking industry, find a few jobs to pass to my Sailors, and I might even get a lead on a deal. 

After a series of phone calls and emails, Veterans in Parking subsequently offered me a seat on their board of directors; which I accepted.  To date, I have created two strategic partnerships with other veteran organizations to match veterans with parking industry jobs of varying skill levels.  

- In addition to cold calling and mailing directly to owners, I have also engaged with parking operators at the corporate and regional director level in order to generate leads. I was able to connect my mentor with a CEO, COO, and Chief Development Officer all from different parking companies. This has generated a good amount of leads but no deal as of yet.

***What I am planning to do***

- Continue the aforementioned activities to find a parking lot or garage for my mentor to close on (which I get a finder's fee).

- Partner with an experienced syndicator or investor who is interested in taking down parking deals for long term holds.  I believe that purposely connecting private capital with the parking industry is mutually beneficial.  1. It keeps the industry employed. 2. Provides solid returns for investors in an uncertain and compressed residential real estate market.

- Educate veterans about all the tech and operations jobs the industry has to offer.  Hopefully, we can drive a significant amount of veterans to the industry.

- Attend the three major parking industry conventions this year.  I am really excited to put names to faces of all the people I have spoken to.  I also want to spread the good word about why the industry should hire veterans.  And of course, drum up some off-market deals.

Thank you for taking the time read my LONG post; as you can tell I am passionate about parking and veteran employment. I would love to continue the conversation below for anyone interested.  Feel free to shoot me a PM as well.  Let's talk parking!

[Charlie Hobbs]

@Michael Bell love your story I have always wondered about this side of investing. I will be in touch camt wait to learn more.

[Michael Bell]

@Charlie Hobbs Thank you! I really appreciate it! I am definitely walking a non-traditional route in real estate, but truly enjoying the journey.

[Ronald Rohde]

Love the story, you are doing it the right way. If you have any legal questions, contracts, financing, etc. 

Please PM me, would love to chat.

[Gabriela Gonzalez]

Do you know of any formal education OR do you provide mentorship for parking lot investment? I’m just now getting into real estate and I already know I’m not a fan of dealing with tenants. And I will most likely be an out of state investor. Thanks