All Forum Posts by: Mary-Beth Morgan ccl

Hello,
Would love some opinions on this if anyone has dealt with it before.
If you bought a commercial building that is mixed use residential/retail and you know the most thriving business would be a certain type of restaurant in the retail space, how would you go about finding a tenant?
The property will break even with the residential and retail will be profit. Need to get a lease tenant in the retail and KNOW a certain type of restaurant (upscale, fine dinning) would make a killing in the city. Now to find the restaurateur that will move in there? Would love to structure the lease to be x per sq ft plus percentage as I know it would be a success. But how do you find the non chain restaurant owners that want to expand to a new city? No, there are no other establishments of the type already in the area that need to re locate.
Any thoughts?

LOL! Hey, I actually bought a house and fliped with that panelling and green shag carpet a few years back LOL!. Made and easy 25k on it. All I did was rip out the carpet to show the beautifuly preserved T&G oak floor, took off the paneling and repaired some of the plaster, done. :)
So if you are an investor, LOOK for the shag carpet and panelling hahahahha.

If it is an investment property I would say no, Refi get the cash to buy more investment properties. If it is your primary home I would say leave it and enjoy the tax benifits if you don't have any little dependants running around. If you don't need the tax benifit and your main goal is debt free, then yes pay it off. But in your situation I would look into some investments, set your self up for a great retirerment while you can.

I suggest you find a good mortgage broker in your area that specializes in investment property. Sure, there are lenders out there who will refinance those SFH as investment held. Brokers know what lenders will do what and their guidelines. One stop shop kinda thing. save you a bunch of cold calling. :)

Ok, what did I do wrong here? My join date says Jan 1st 1970 and well seeing as that is about 6 months before I was born, I would say there is a mistake made somewhere?? :lol:
How do I correct this?

It all depends on what state/city/area you are in and looking at. There are many local markets that have not seen a decline in values but yet still keep trudging along at the same equity growth as before the "mess". This is where I believe there will be a huge investment opportunities for lease purchases in the residential market. Lease purchases were big and successful in the 80's when prime rate was 10%-12%. Even though I do not believe we will see those rates again any time soon. There is now a HUGE surplus of very good homeowners that had to foreclose on their home in the bubble states or folks that have to move for jobs but are no longer qualified for a mortgage right now.
I believe this opens up many opportunities for investors.

I know I am new here but just thought I would throw this in here.
What does your 70 year old friend want to leave behind and to whom? I know that sounds awful but it is time for him to be realistic. Is he trying to just have income for himself or set up some children and or grandchildren for a better life for years to come? If setting up his family member for success is not his intention, why pay all of his money into one or two places to only leave it the family to sell and have all the cash to play with? If his goal is to have an income and enjoy his life, I say do not pay off the mortgage. I say invest the funds into other income producing investments with as little cash in as possible (and still see a monthly income of course) and use those tax benefits as much as possible now. Let the family worry about selling the properties years down the road. Of course he doesn't want to leave the family debt so he should have a fund set up in an estate with at least 6 months if not more of payments to allot time for the property to be sold.
Just a suggestion from this little corner. :)

Hello Bart,
I was in property management several years ago. Here are some things I did that really helped increase the occupancy rate. Not sure where you are located which might make a difference but these may work anywhere.

Yes, call your section 8 and local Rural Development offices, let them know you have vacancies, send them your contact info and make a note to call them at least once a month. Also remember to be courteous to them and if you do get full, tell them that as well.

Go talk to your local chamber of commerce office as well as the library and any other local office you can think of where people who are moving to your town go to for information. Leave some cards with them. There are a lot of people moving around the country right now. With the housing market as it is many people are renting in an area before they buy. They want to see what the local market is doing before they decide to buy. These folks usually make great tenants too.

Look and see if people are moving to your area primarily from one or two other states. (you can talk to a few Realtors and find out the current trends there) then maybe put an add in some news papers or web boards in that state. Get their attention before they even get to your area. This can be an added service by offering a short term lease. Then they will refer your complex to their friends and family who will inevitability be following them to your state.

Hope that gives you some ideas and helps. :)

Hello all,
I made a wrong turn on the web while doing a search today and found this site. I think after reading some of the posts here that it was a right turn after all! What a great concept and site. I love moderated forums as you can really get good info and not just adds and spam and trolls.
I am a commercial lender that is very much involved with a downtown revitalization project and am looking forward to swapping ideas and thoughts with others in the "biz". I love learning of others experiences of past investments and thrilled to share in success stories when it comes to Real Estate investments.
I am looking forward to becoming an active member in your community as well. :)
Oh, I should mention I am in Beautiful North East TN.