All Forum Posts by: Cherie Ganesh

The Memphis Metro CCIM Chapter is offering this Foundations class that includes templates for doing a financial analysis of an investment and create amortization tables.  You'll also get the CCIM calculator app.  This class would be valuable to investors buying or selling SF houses, apartments or any type of commercial property.  The class also touches on market analysis and it's importance in analyzing an investment property.

For more info & registration for this class on Sept 8 & 9, please visit this link:

https://fontevacustomer-163835...

My first concern is the low monthly charge.  You definitely need to get Financials from the Property manager showing reserves for roofs, exterior of buildings, etc.  Also need to know what utilities are included in the monthly fee.  To me townhouses/condos are pretty risky since you could get hit at anytime with a special assessment.  If planning to renovate and flip, check to see who a buyer can get a loan from.  Many condo developments don't qualify for anything other than traditional 20% down loans.  Where it is on Winchester is critical also.   

Be careful with properties. You have no control over how well the association manages the property. If the infrastructive isn't properly maintained, one major repair could easily eat the small cash flow that may exist. As mentioned, in the hot Memphis market, I'd really do a lot of soul searching before buying multiple condo package that has been on the market for awhile. Be sure to include both city and county taxes since a lot of listings only show one of the other. I think I'd be patient and look for small multi-unit apartments or houses split into apartments. That might be an easier move from having SFR properties to multi-family. If you have any SFR that have increased in value you might see how much you can pull out of each one to take on a project larger than SFR. Also, if you have to get private financing, rates will probably be at least 2x a bank loan with 20% down.

I haven't used this company yet but they were recommended to me because they have residential focus and do remodeling architectural plans.  Most architects I've worked with over the years specialize in commercial architectural work. They should have the staff to do "as built" plans since they do remodeling plans.  https://www.legacyhomeplans.co...

The true need here in Memphis is affordable housing.  Investors have renovated a lot of SFRs and improved the condition of the housing stock but the higher rents are putting people out on the streets.  There is a lot of unused land within the city of Memphis where small houses could be built and leased for less than $1000 a month.  A huge part of the population works in service industries and more than $750 a month is more than they can pay and still put food on the table.  Every day on social media I see families having the move out of houses they have lived in when the property gets sold.  There is literally no vacancies in Memphis currently.  Until the zoning codes are relaxed in Memphis to allow more duplexes or small homes clustered on lots with with common areas, it will be too expensive to build replacement housing and rent them for under $750. I'm anxious to see how well the planned redevelopment of land near the medical center into small houses will do.  Hopefully it will be successful and open the door to more projects like it. 

You're definitely guaranteed to get your rent but should probably check to make sure of the cost of insurance.  We've even seen insurance on our Berclair houses continue to increase more than ever the last 2 years.  Does the section 8 program provide any repair/replacement funds if house is trashed?  I would hope that if a section 8 tenant trashes a house and you report it to Section 8 folks, the voucher would be taken away from the tenant.  There are some areas in that zip code that do show a pride of ownership by residents.  If none of the houses are maintained, I think I'd have concerns about the area . You should probably check out crime reports for neighborhood, not just by zipcode.  

Our houses are in same area and we get most tenants from existing tenant referrals.  We give them a $50 rent credit if their referral qualifies and moves in.  Demand is high now and I'm more and more people posting in FB groups for the area where they're looking for a place and on Next Door groups for those areas.  

I'm a semi-retired commercial broker who specializes in retail, site selection for retail and restaurant clients and personally own  retail investments.  As a CCIM, I have access to demographic data and also know Memphis well to validate data.  Commercial investments typically require a more complex market analysis than SF investments.  I'd be happy to discuss the particular property you're looking at, get an understanding of your risk tolerance and what kind of tenant is either currently there or you would expect to lease or buy the property.  

Cherie Ganesh, CCIM

Lifetime Member of Certified Commercial Investment Member (CCIM) Institute

I highly recommend Steve Woodyard, CCIM who is a longtime multi-family specialist who has great contacts with apartment owners, developers, bankers, builders, architects and other professionals you'll need for a development project.  Please let him know I recommended him to you.  steve at woodyardrealty dot com

Cherie Ganesh CCIM Lifetime Member

We use Ellendale Electric.  We did have a tenant who did really good roofing but he moved to Texas and we haven't found a replacement roofer that doesn't charge a small fortune.