All Forum Posts by: Gabriel Graumann

@Tyra General great question, and the answer is really dependent on what information you are looking for and how you intend to use it. If the goal is simply to better understand the commercial landscape, values, and happenings, skip buying any course and start subscribing to the Business Journal for your closest major metro. They'll have numerous articles and contacts highlighted monthly that will give you an education in itself over time. If the goal is to start investing yourself or wanting to be a pro on analyzing the numbers of a deal, I agree with everyone that has already commented on CCIM classes. They aren't cheap, but they give you a great system to use. I completed all of those classes and had the portfolio requirements to get the pin, so for me it was a no-brainer. If you can find one, the very best option would be to find a mentor that is actively investing in commercial deals and work alongside. You'll learn a ton and a lot that is never covered in a class. CCIM, SIOR, and all of the other designations you can amass never teach you how to pick up the phone and prospect for leads, track down growing/expanding businesses to convert to clients, how to manage tenants in a retail strip center, or do the myriad of other daily activities required to be a good commercial investment broker/owner. Hope this helps point you in the right direction. Happy to connect privately if that's helpful in some way.

@Roger Garner Hey Roger, and fellow former Mill Creek resident! I was born and raised in the Mill Creek area, and owned a few properties there for several years. When we opted to move to Phoenix full-time, we opted to sell our property for a few reasons. Primary reason was as you already stated, that tenant laws in WA heavily favor tenants when compared to other states across the country. We chose to limit our liability, especially coming out of the pandemic situation by rebuying a rental closer to where we'd be in a market more favorable to landlords, so we bought in the Phoenix area. That said, long-term the appreciation you get in the Puget Sound region is superior to many other markets, so assuming you find an excellent property management company that is able to screen tenants and only put in very well qualified, vetted occupants and you experience limited issues over the holding period, you'd likely come out ahead retaining the Mill Creek property if your financially able to do so and still buy wherever you are headed out of state. Happy to connect on this as I'm still actively brokering deals (commercial) in Washington all the time and I'm frequently traveling up there to view properties and meet with other brokers. I have some fabulous broker relationships that serve the Mill Creek market if that's a need also.

@Priscilla Sanpraphet I've developed land for single-family, duplexes and for small sub-divisions. What all types of residential development have in common is the due diligence and planning process on the front end. Typically before the land is purchased, I advise buyers to perform all of the due diligence starting with the zoning and development code to know what is even possible within the confines of the existing zoning with the city/county. Let's assume for a moment that townhomes are an approved use for your property, I would want to quickly determine the availablity of all necessary utilities to service the property. If you don't have water, sewer, and power at the property already, it will substantially limit how many units you could feasibility build even if 100% of the land was otherwise usable. This leads to determining how usable the land is. Ordering a full topographical survey of the property (which will be required for future development and application processes anyway) will give you the ability to show engineering/design groups what you have, and they can give thoughts and bids leading to a site plan. You referenced potential wetlands, so having a wetland delineation report completed would be imperative, showing any potential critical areas on the property, setback requirements, etc. which all feed into the usable area of your property. Once all of the above is known, and you have a preliminary site plan showing how many lots (and the size of lots) are available, you can start putting together numbers on the cost of the whole project. There will be the soft costs, like planning, permits, infrastructure, utility extensions, roads, etc.. Once those are completed you'll have finished lots that either you can build on or you can sell to a builder directly for them to finish. You could also look at selling the "paper lots" in advance of building out the infrastructure, but that depends on your financial ability to take this from dirt to finished product, and ultimately for holding long-term if that's the goal. Hopefully, you have a team of trusted advisers walking you through this process from start to finish. Paying a professional to help guide you through this process is VITAL on your first several development deals. It's costly, takes time, requires a specific process to be followed to the letter, and it's not for the faint of heart. There will be issues to overcome, like every other development in Washington, but with a good team, plan and time, you can get through it. Feel free to reach out if you have questions.

@Andrew Tinnon If you're planning to make a career out of this like it sounds, make the time and get your license. Then you can act as GC on each project when desired. There are also limits to what does/doesn't need a permit, so attempting to find properties that don't require walls to be moved or other issues that may require a permit would be helpful too in the interim.

@Brittney Harycki welcome to the BO community. Where are your flex properties located?

@Adam Taylor like Jordan shared, I will always recommend working with a seasoned and high quality broker in whatever market you choose to invest. They can provide you with any report and market data you could ever want. If they can't, they aren't the right broker for you. Interview at least 10 and you'll quickly start seeing the difference in what they can offer you.

Happy to connect more if you want, just send a connection request.

@Frank James Batignani if you're just starting out, I would recommend investing in the market you are located in. While long distance investing does work, there are few markets you'll ever learn or know like the one you live in yourself. 

Happy to connect more if you want, just send a connection request.

@John Faulk Jr if the goal is to ultimately purchase a property in a market outside of your own, I would strongly suggest working with a local realtor in whatever market(s) you are considering. If they are a high producing broker, they should be able to provide you with an abundance of insights related to that market. For questions on taxes, you can find every states guidelines easily online, but talking with a quality CPA would be the best option. If you're really just getting started and you are trying to narrow down a list of potential markets, there are numerous publications that provide reports on everything from employment to housing to trends to major changes within cities, etc. I subscribe to The Business Journal, and they have a version of it with quality content on each of the major metros across the country. Happy to connect more if you want, just send a connection request.

@Liran Afergan Costar is simply a real estate data dump. It is a strong and versatile program, and it can more easily provide you with any list you want for larger properties and MF owners (among other asset classes). However, you'll still have to get a fair amount of phone numbers and personal contact info from other sources as I've found the ones provided within the contacts tabs in Costar are not accurate 70%+ of the time on smaller properties, or for ones where the ownership has one asset or less. Find a good broker to work with that is already in the MF space and create a partnership with him to source properties for you. Sign a representation agreement with him for any potential deals he brings your way, and you both win.

@Konstantin Komkov glad to hear you're getting your questions answered. That said, if the property is of serious interest to you, to the point of potentially writing a LOI, it's worth your time and work with a local commercial broker to walk you through the process. Doing so will help mitigate the risk of getting into a property without knowing all of the issues, good and bad, about the property. Also, part of the due diligence process if debt is being used will be a formal commercial appraisal, so value from a lenders perspective will be identified.