All Forum Posts by: Sarah Martin

Investment Info:

Industrial commercial investment investment.

Six Unit Industrial/Commercial Space

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

Commercial space in this area of town is very hard to find- for sale or for rent. We like the stability of knowing we will be able to keep this space rented along with a lower amount of time needed for management.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

We found this deal on Loopnet.

How did you finance this deal?

We used traditional bank financing and are after a few changes, we will be able to partially refinance out of it.

How did you add value to the deal?

We are bringing rents up to the market rate.

Investment Info:

Large multi-family (5+ units) buy & hold investment.

7 Unit Apartments

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

We found this deal through a referral from a coworker. We handled the sale off market with a private negotiation with the seller and all the paperwork was processed through the title company.

How did you finance this deal?

All cash... with a refinance in the works.

How did you add value to the deal?

We will be renovating one unit at a time as well as taking care of deferred maintenance on the exterior.

Thanks all!  Drafting the disposition now.  Thanks @Kyle J for suggesting I mail it back to the rental address. If I can't track them down, this will work to cover me. 

I had a month to month tenant in California move out without warning on the 4th in order to avoid paying rent on the 5th. 

She told me to keep her deposit ($450),  to cover her moving out and a hole that was left in the wall.  Do I still need to send her a disposition of deposit?  Do I need to itemize the repairs and cleaning needed or is the fact that the lease was broken without warning enough to justify keeping the deposit?

@Jon Schwartz Thanks for your response!  Our property is a little outside of Fresno.  Still subject to CA laws, but less stringent than in the major metros.  I'm thinking the renovation will be our best long term play.  This is a lower income area so we can buy the tenants out more easily than in more expensive cities. 

@Katie L.  Thanks for the link!  Great article!  I'm in the Central Valley- Fresno area- and there don't appear to be any local ordinances here that prohibit RUBS. In the short term, we are leaning towards raising the rent 6% (limit for the area) and then billing back a portion of the utilities.  Long term, this property has quite a bit of deferred maintenance so we will more than likely need to evict for a large scale renovation. 

We are closing on a 7 unit in California in just a few days with rents that are very low- $450 instead of $630.  Long-term, month to month tenants, rents have not been raised in years.  We will immediately raise the rents as much as we can but we are limited in CA regarding how much we can raise them. I am looking for creative ideas for bringing the rents up to the market rate. 

Is it worth having the tenants sign a year lease so that at the end, I can opt to not renew it and move them out that way?  RUBS?  Any other thoughts? Look for violations that would provide just cause?  Renovations that would be serious enough to require permits and needing to vacate the building?  I'm not set on getting everyone out, but I do want to see this property perform. 

@Frank Hink- I like the idea of local moving companies storing trucks!  That's exactly the kind of idea I was looking for!

Henry Clark- Are there any specific cautions/concerns for renting to non-tenants?  We are planning to begin charging the tenant who has been using the lot for free, but no other current tenants need the space that will be left over and we want to make use of all the space we have available.

Thanks Ronald, I will definitely watch for any of that type of activity.  We will be managing the site ourselves and will be at the property several times a week so the oversight will help.  The lot isn't set up for much other than storage of construction equipment or RV storage.