First Real Estate Commercial Investment.

[Steve Polyakov]

Investment Info:

Office Space commercial investment investment in Miami.

Purchase price: $420,000
Cash invested: $100,000

Miami Office of SAPG Legal, which the partners purchased. The idea is to keep the property until the firm outgrows it and then rent it.

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

We were looking for a new Miami office and decided that we needed a custom office, which we owned as opposed to what was available on the rental market at the time.

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

Through a broker. We found a motivated seller.

How did you finance this deal?

We financed it through an SBA mortgage from Citibank.

How did you add value to the deal?

It was an open space with 2 rooms. Instead we made it a fully functional work space with 4 offices, 1 conference room, a reception area, a filing room and kitchen.

What was the outcome?

Our firm currently occupies the space.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Contractors lie and dealing with the government it very difficult. Having to do it all over again, we would use a different contractor and seek other financing than through SBA. It was a very long and tedious process forcing us to lose months from being operational. Additionally, because it's SBA we were forced to get flood insurance for the 12th floor. There are probably bigger problems with the world than our office if it get flooded.

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

Worked with a real estate broker from Compass.