Commercial BRRR! Who has experience?

[Shane Craig]

I purchased a commercial/ mix used building(Sq 3500)( 2 commercial spaces and one large apartment on the second floor) last year for 65,000. I was told the building appraised for 110K back in 2013 in the same condition in which I bought it( it was a wreck and wasn't producing any cash flow at all).

Immediately after I bought it I renovated everything upstairs( electrical, plumbing, floors, removed plaster , drywall, added insulation, and ceilings) on the second floor. I took the second floor which was outdated space and made it 2 super nice apartments that have tenants now and are renting for $650 a month each. I found a tenant down stairs in the large commercial space and it rents for $500 a month. The smaller commercial space I completely renovated and I'm using as my office and it rents out for $500 a month to my business. 

I dumped about 60k into the building altogether and now it's grossing 2300 in rents each month.  I know it has gained value but how much?

I'm a real estate agent understand how appraisals work for residential properties( comparable sales)but I'm curios to see how this appraisal will work for a commercial property. Hopefully they use income approach and not comparable sales because their are multiple buildings near me that are similar in size but not in condition or cash flow. If they only use comparable sales I will be lucky to get 125K but I'm hoping to get 160-170K( or more).

What are your thoughts and opinions?

[John Warren]

@Shane Craig in theory they should use the income approach, but you are correct that small mixed use buildings can be challenging as appraisers often times will use comps as well. I think you have a strong case though based on the cash flow. Do you know your NOI? Do you know the going cap rate in the area for mixed use? residential? All of these things should be presented to the appraiser when they show up. As a realtor, you should have access to most of this data and it is worth your time to prepare it.

I normally prepare a full CMA when my clients are doing an appraisal. I find here in the Chicago market that most appraisers are not local and don't know the local sub market here in the western suburbs nearly as well as I do since they have to cover a much larger area. I like to make their job easy for them!