Commercial notes during pandemic

[Jim Hartmann]

We have been marketing with letters to seller financed note holders of commercial properties and have been able to close a couple of them over the last year.  In the last month, we received two calls from note holders wanting a quote.  We typically wholesale the notes when we get these types of leads.  Our list of buyers was not very large and we asked our buyers if they are interested and it seems that the pandemic has caused everyone to be more cautious toward buying commercial notes at this time.  One of the notes was on a building housing a restaurant in southern Colorado and another was a retail store in the mountains of Colorado.  Is anyone else looking at commercial notes?  If so, is it just a time to wait this out and then find out if the seller is still interested once this all passes or are you actively doing something different with selling these types of notes?  I understand the concerns in the market, but just don't want to miss opportunities if they are still available and I can help others as well as continue to make a little profit.

Thanks for your responses and input

[Bob Malecki]

With the "shelter in place" events happening in most states like CO, notes on a restaurant and retail store are highly likely to go into default since the shop owners most like have had to close their doors to customers. The current note holders are looking for someone to absorb the defaults and reduction in income from foreclosure or forbearance so they don't have to take the hit. Assume that any office/retail notes you buy, you may end up owning the building with no/little income.