Strip center redevelopment

[Joshua Watts]

Investment Info:

commercial investment investment.

Purchase price: $475,000
Cash invested: $1

One of my local grocery stores closed down leaving the strip center almost vacant. After a few months the family that own the building put out signs for lease. I own a real estate holding business that largely invested in self storage. (We also invest in single family up to small apartments) We own some facilities in the area yet they stay fairly full. (We also own facilities out of town) I cold called the family from the number right off the sign. I asked if they had interest in selling and they said they really wanted to rent for now but they would sell for 1 million dollars!!! (its funny everyone wants 1 million) I said sorry that was way out of my price range but if they needed any real estate advice or had questions to call me. I was guessing that I would never hear from them again but I wanted to leave the door open.
Luck have it they called back a week latter and asked what I was willing to pay for the strip center that is when I said we are so far off and I did not want to piss you off. After they said they would not get mad I told them that the building was worth about half what they were asking but I would have to look at the building before I gave them a hard offer. I also told them how to get there property taxes reduced because they lost there renter and the county is over valuing there buildings. They did what I said and saved a lot of money and then I think they liked me.. To be continued.....

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

I believe a real estate investor needs to specialize. We specialize in single family up to small apartment building and self storage.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

Cold call

How did you finance this deal?

We pledged other real estate owned for the down payment.

How did you add value to the deal?

Redevelopment of property

What was the outcome?

In process of redevelopment.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

So far befriend the owner and stay in touch. I am sure I will learn more when this get done.

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

No