All Forum Posts by: Thomas Dionne

Thank you... good advice.   I couldn't get to 50% on this one but that is an idea.  If you know any good brokers for this type SBA, id appreciate knowing. 

I wonder how much more than your loan payment one should expect to make on a reasonable deal?

So by "retail condo" you mean like small restaurants, all-state insurance offices type places?  What else is there other than that?

again thanks 

man I must be lame

Im just looking for some general advice when buying my first commercial property. I plan on using it for my own business but really would like to have multiple outs for the day I dont need it by having something that I can sell or rent without doing something today that will make that harder to do.

There is a decent looking strip center within 3 miles of me. 24 or so total units with 16 or so rented or owned by the tenant. It seems to me like most are owner occupied. Its not in best spot and I wouldn't consider it good for walking traffic but looks pretty good. It was built in 2006 or so time frame so it didnt go so well for developer. Back then people were spending 170-200 sq/ft for 1500 sq feet but only a few sold. All the units are bare, concrete floors, no ac or electric inside... I flipped residential so its not scary.

6 are for sale now, 3 from original owner and 3 from some subsequent owner. They are selling at 51/sq ft (asking a little bit more) for 1500 or so square feet. But that is 4 sales over last 18 months. The one im looking at has been on market for 300+ days like most of them.

I can buy either a 1500 sq ft inline store front for about 43/ft or one with a slightly better entrance for same price/ft but its 1850 sq ft. I only need like 1000 sq ft really but am wondering about down road what makes sense.

Stat summary

selling for 51/ft

asking 43/ft

days on market = 300+ days

Rent rate = 10/12 sq ft but doesn't seem like ton of demand.

condo fee = 1.55 sq/ft

taxes = 1.29/ft

My assumptions:

Build out 11-14/sq ft

Questions I was wondering?

1. I just think this spot isnt as rent-able, why wouldn't some other investor who seem to be happy with 10% cap take this? Doesnt that mean that these dont rent well and are mostly for owner occupants?

2. Would it scare you if most people tenants are owner occupants?

3. Whats the safest way to build something like this out. I dont need to do it any particular way for my business but would want to make it as rent-able as possible? What to stay away from. I was going to put down some laminate flooring and frame in a couple offices and a bath and have an open plan but who knows if thats stupid or not. Maybe Ill be there for 10 years but would like to have some options. Whats the smartest way to build out?

4. One is like an inline flat front store with glass front, The larger one has more curb appeal, its not an anchor but it just has columns on entrance and you just looks nicer.... should i even be thinking about that?

5. Am I missing something?

Thanks for any and all help. 

yea, put a post on craigslist and offer to pay the assistant fees in return for assistant access and letting the realtor get the commish on deals you buy. You may even find some paid relationships like flipcomp.com but for less money. 

For every realtor/broker who actually makes a living at this, who are right to worry I guess, there are 10 realtors who are not doing well and would love to offset fees.  In the end an "assistant" just does things the boss doesnt want to do, like all the research we do on 40k houses. 

@ken, What do u average on an annualized basis with something like a 4pts /13%? What do you find is the average holding time across all your people flipping?

I have had a few offers from people who want me to lend them hard money. I was wondering if anyone had longer term real world experience on what they grossed /netted as a hard money lender? Please let me know what rates/points you lent at and what you grossed, then netted. 

OK  If you dont have 700+ credit and can not get some unsecured loans/cards to flip at a much smaller unsecured rate/payment then use hard money, if the alternative is to sit at your day job wishing you were not there. 

But look at what hard money cost on an annual basis and how much its taking from you. 

If you pay 4 pts / 14% plus all the fees and you flip 2 houses a year (one after the other) you are paying 22-25% a year depending on fees.  

It would be a very rare market that will consistently allow you to pay someone that and stay competitive. 

I just picked up a house that has a lot of these post powdered beetle holes in the floor joist. You can only see it from under house in crawl space. 

It came back in inspection and I got a good discount for them. The house is structurally fine and its been treated for all pest. 

Problem is I still have all these pin size wholes in joist that bother me and could be a problem on a wdo down road. 

It would be ludicrous to replace all the joist as they are all over so im wondering what people do? I was thinking of a spray foam insulation.  But it just seems like either I rent it for ever or do something about this. 

I just picked up a house that has a lot of these post powdered beetle wholes in the floor joist. You can only see it from under house in crawl space. 

It came back in inspection and I got a good discount for them. The house is structurally fine and its been treated for all pest. 

Problem is I still have all these pin size wholes in joist that bother me and could be a problem on a wdo down road. 

It would be ludicrous to replace all the joist as they are all over so im wondering what people do? I was thinking of a spray foam insulation.  But it just seems like either I rent it for ever or do something about this. 

Yea im sure the fact that they are first in line if something happens makes them more relaxed about it all. 

They also gave me "90%" based off a valuation that was quite a bit under market value so they are covered in the unlikely event a owner occ with a paid off house lets his house go for about 75% of its worth.