All Forum Posts by: Michelle R.

Have you all been asking tenants for proof of application for the PPP loan? Below I describe a difficult tenant.

I have one sports bar tenant who is kind of a jerk, untimely with payments even before the pandemic. Unfortunately he occupies near 5000 square feet. It would be very difficult to lease the space in the current market conditions to someone else.

Most of my tenants were proactive in reaching out, are kind people, and I bent over backwards to help them with deferrals. Most were very timely with the rent before Covid19. 

The sports bar owner has said his business is for sale since around November. We asked him several times what is his requested sale price and he did not reply as to that. This tenant is nearing 30k in open rent for March, April, May, that's not even including late fees as he always pays late and has never paid late fees.

I am not sure what I can do. I have called a few lawyers all of whom say I can sue for a monetary judgment we will likely never see paid. Evictions are not allowed currently in my state.

Thank you @Nicole Heasley Beitenman for the insight. 

This plaza has been particularly annoying for us to manage, as the previous owner had a handyman that they would bill to the plaza, as CAM for everone, for things like repairs of individual tenant's doors. Understood that this is not supposed to be CAM, as it pertains to individual tenant's units, but that was how they were operating and what the tenants have been accustomed to.

Thank you @Jessica Zolotorofe for your reply. Previous ownership was absorbing way too much into the CAM - repairing doors, broken locks, even changing lightbulbs in the stores, etc and billing it to the CAM for the entire plaza. The CAM is a very high $8.50 per foot from the previous owner, which we have cut somewhat just by shopping for new providers. It's kind of harming us when we try to get new tenants as the CAM is so high. I was hoping to get some input from other Biggerpockets members how they handle these types of repairs. A few of the tenants do have CAM caps but most do not, and so this would be above the CAM those tenants are paying. 

We have purchased a shopping center with 20+ tenants. They are on NNN leases. The leases do not specify landlord has to handle fire exit batteries, bulbs, etc. The leases actually say the tenant is responsible for keeping the units up to fire code.

I am wondering if this something customary for a landlord to handle, in a NNN shopping center. The tenants are certainly used to the previous landlord taking care of this. However, as it's not a requirement, we were looking to be rid of such responsibilities in order to allocate CAM toward needed repairs for the shopping center, instead of something that could be an operating expense of the tenants.

@Sovat C. Basically, an agent is not going to want to bother working to lease this. Reason being, leasing commission is typically paid out only on the base rent, not the CAM or taxes. Leasing commissions in my area area are typically 6%. So the agent would be earning $1600, which is not much of an enticement.

I do recommend to paint your unit, at a minimum, so it will show well when you finally do get some prospects.

We have a few second floor vacancies similar in size to yours in a property we have owned for 1 year. From what we have seen, the typical prospective tenant who has been contacting us has been a C level tenant with not much credit nor a long history in business. (Often their current business location is their house.) We did lease out one vacancy upstairs, to someone who contacted us from our listing on Costar/Loopnet. Otherwise, inquiries from Costar/Loopnet for the upstairs spaces have been few and far between.

We are going to try Facebook marketing. Basically if someone has searched for office space on Google, Facebook would retarget them with our ad. We haven't done it before so can't say how effective it will be. Listing to MLS is also an option, as is mentioning your vacancy on local Facebook groups for your area.

Anyone have other ideas on how to get vacant space in front of office tenants? Office in many markets currently has 25-40% vacancy as it is quite difficult to fill.

Be careful of using a residential property for a non-permitted use. It takes just one neighbor who doesn't like you or what you are doing to cause you issues.

We have made a cash offer on a warehouse property (17,000 square feet). The property is being sold with all the junk/debris that is inside included. We would be purchasing at a substantially below market price. 

We will be allowed to conduct a phase I during due diligence. I did not see any barrels containing who-knows-what contaminants inside the building. 

Would I need to take a video of all the contents at contract signing and then inspect on day of closing to ensure nothing has been added? Is there anything that we would need to consider in buying this with random junk included?

Thanks in advance for any thoughts.

Thank you @Dave Foster.

So this is something people do? 

Does it matter if I refi and sign paperwork with the same date as the day of the purchase? Or is it 'better' to sign papers dated for the day after the closing?

My question is : how soon can we refinance after closing on the replacement property?  

We sold a property for 1.95 million.  The replacement property we will be purchasing is at a price of 2.9 million. We want to have 25% down in the new property but I believe we have to spend all our proceeds for the 1031 exchange to be done correctly.  We have a good relationship with our bank and they will help us conform to the 1031 exchange rules. 

How soon can we refinance? (Can we close and then refinance that same day? Or can we sign papers at the closing table for a refinance that will go through the following day?). What is the best way to handle this? Thank you for your input. :-)