Lessons from my investments in syndications: Delinquency

[Solomon Rosenberg]

Things I'm learning on my investments in syndications:

Delinquency (tenants living in a property who are behind or not paying rent) is a killer of cash flow, which you will find in the income section of the monthly report.

Delinquency is worse than vacancy for several reasons:

1. You still have all the costs without the income.

2. The costs to evict can quickly add up.

3. It's contagious.

Almost every property will have some delinquency, especially Class C where most tenants live paycheck to paycheck. Without strong management, it is easy for delinquency to get out of control.

It's normal for a value-add deal to start out with high delinquency, but within 9-12 months, it should be no more than 5-6% of collections. Stabilized Class B properties should be at 3-4%. (These figures are approximate and vary by market and class.)

As an LP, there isn't much you can do, but an informed investor makes a successful investor.

Also, when looking at a potential deal that is underwritten at 95% economic occupancy, understand that while it's possible, achieving this is a rare thing.