All Forum Posts by: Dominic Jacquot

@Dominic Jacquot, what are you looking to learn?

At a high level, all real estate is fairly easy: keep spaces full with paying tenants. I don't mean to be glib, but when I was in college at networking events with real estate professionals, almost all the most successful real estate people in the room said similar things: they got into real estate because they were C students.

Leasing is sales: sell a potential tenant the dream of how great the space is, how the traffic flows into the lot, how the anchor is the highest grossing store in the area, etc. NNN leases are better than gross, unless you are a leasing agent and your commissions are based on the base term rents (but as an owner NNN is where you want to be). High credit tenants are better than low credit. Think of signing a lease like issuing a loan: you want people that have the means to pay their loans.

Property Management: keep things working and clean.  If the lot needs sealed, seal it and restripe it.  If the roof is leaking, patch it or replace it.  Keep your sprinklers in good working order.  Respond to tenant request in a timely, professional manner.  Keep the beds and sidewalk cracks clear of weeds.

Financing: expect higher down payments and higher interest rates. You can do short term or long term. Fixed or floating, etc. You just need to call people and ask what they can do for the projects you are looking at. CMBS is the long term, fixed option, but typically you are going to need a strong balance sheet and experience before this becomes a real option for you.

Again, I don't know any books because the commercial space, unlike multifamily, has never really become as marketed to newbies as multifamily has.  Like Chris noted, most people that launch retail/office/industrial companies learned by working for others for many years first.  Clearly my summary is very simple, and there are a lot of areas you can get tripped up on in retail, i.e. did the center you are buying have a dry cleaner in it 40 years ago that dumped their chemicals down the floor drain?  This could become a major environmental issue for you.

 The same applies. Somehow get or take pictures/videos of all of the property. Tell them exactly what you want done and everything you know about the property (type of plumbing/electric, age of house, roof, walls, etc.). Do this for multiple contractors.

Reach out to the town to see if it is legal, first. Then reach out to a contractor to get bids. The best way to see the pricing is to propose the plan to a couple of local contractors. 

@Dominic Jacquot No, you can not get fha or conventional (Fannie/Freddie) with any entity.

@Dominic Jacquot

RBC and Scotiabank don't have retail banking operations in Japan so no.

Hello fellow Canuck,

Only local banks will lend and, in most countries, they won't lend to foreigners but there are exceptions and there are alternative financing sources in certain cases. I have replied to many posts on that topic here in the BiggerPockets forums and you might be able to retrieve them through my profile. I know it's not easy though so feel free to DM me directly if needed.