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Seeking advice on this lead

rzach41

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Oct 23, 2007
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I got a lead through my real estate property management class. Basically, this gentlemen owns a motor home business, with multiple commercial properties which he uses to showcase his inventory. Anyways, I heard from my teacher that his business is slow so hes consolidating all his inventory to one location. I tracked down the commercial property that he abandoned, photographed it, then got a property profile from a title company.

Here are some numbers:

The gentlemen bought the property in 1988 for $160,000
It currently has a tax value of: $825,553, so my guesstimation of its real value is around $900,000 - $1,000,000 +
It shows one mortgage at $125,000
The zoning is C2
It's about 65,000 square feet (1.49 acres)

Here is my plan of attack:

Talk to my private investor, and get a signed referral memorandum ensuring a finders fee PRIOR to me discussing anything about the property.

Hand the lead over to my private investor and let them hammer out the deal.

Only when all the numbers have been worked out will we discuss my finders fee

Add my referral memorandum into escrow as demand for payment

This would be my first deal, so I feel it would be better for me get my finders fee and then watch it from the sidelines- while learning of course!

Here is what I am unsure of:

Today is saturday morning. By mid-day monday I will have CMA's on this property.

Should I wait until I have CMA's before I approach my private investor with this deal?

Half of me thinks I should wait until I have the CMA's, because I will have more ammo so to speak.

The other half is telling me to POUNCE on this deal immediately.


NOTE*** Owner has not specified if he wants to sell, HOWEVER- he consolidated because business is SLOW. It is my hope that this gentlemen would prefer to sell the property and reinvest the cash into his motor home business.


Do I pounce on this prospect, or do I wait until I have CMA's


Thank you to everybody in advance who reads and or responds to this

Ryan :coffee:
 
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Last edited:

rzach41

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I was really looking forward to what some of you had to say, oh well.

I am waiting until I have CMA's before I do anything else.

Feel free to delete this thread, seeing as how nobody is interested in it anyways.
 

PurEnergy

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Business might be slow but that may mean nothing to this guy.

I don't think you want to run your investors through hoops everytime you think you've got a lead. I would call the guy up and basically tap him on the shoulder in a sense and ask him what's up.

Ask probing questions that will give you a sense of whether or not he's motivated. I wouldn't wing it I'd have some questions ready to go. If he's interested in selling at all ask questions like "how soon do you want to get this done" or "is this just something you're looking to get out from under" or "are you willing to finance any part of the deal." Be creative and adjust your questions accordingly.

Look in the public records to see what's going on with him. See if he is in distress. Is he in foreclosure already, does he have judgments and liens against him. You need to find out if the properties are already listed with a broker.

I've never flipped commercial property and I commend you for trying. If the oppourtunity presented itself I would figure it out real quick though. So I don't know the exact way to do it. I just know the general path that one wants to take when doing something like this. Personally I don't have a lot of trust in others when it comes to this sort of thing. I think you want to secure your position and then sell that position to your buyer. Bird dogging your deal to your investor doesn't sound like a good idea to me.

From what I hear, commercial property deals don't go down like residential. The discounts aren't as deep. You'll need to know your numbers and possibly get your investors to write you up some sort of pre-approval for credibility. It could be just that simple. You need to know what you can sell it for today, add your profit and this will be your offer.

Regardless of what you do, I suggest being very careful in how you structure your offer. You need an OUT. Not to mention, I'm sure the seller is going to want a reasonable deposit. Unless of course the guy is seriously motivated. I think if you move forward with this one and actually step up to the plate and take a swing, you will far ahead of most people who aren't even willing to take a chance.

Good Luck and keep us posted.
 

Kalantar

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Dont waste investors time unless you have the deal under contract.
1.5 acres is small, what do you plan on doing withthe land?
What is the highest and best use?

Is this a redevelopment? If so, how long does it take to get it entitled? Is the city easy to work with? etc...

Many ways to angle this, need more info.

BTW, you can make a killing on flipping in commercial.... and I am talking a 7 figure amount!
 
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reipro

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Sep 27, 2007
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Here are some things that you need to know from and investors stand point and to help you grow.

Please learn these terms it will make a world of difference.

1) You do not have a deal you have suspect. A suspect is every house, lot, commercial lot, building ect in the world.

2) You need to qualify your suspect and turn it into a prospect. A prospect is someone who is willing to talk you about selling the property. You can further qualify your prospect by gaining information about the prospect and why they would be willing to sell? Foreclosure, BK, partnership split up, business is slow ect

3) Once and only once you have the prospect qualifed, the numbers work out, you have the paperwork signed, and cash in hand do you have a deal.

Please be clear on what you have. If it starts at suspect with me the lead is worth nothing as I have to do all of the work, plus come up with the most important part THE MONEY!

I hope this helps!
 

rzach41

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I called the owner today, and unfortunately I was directed to a co-workers voicemail (shes on vacation, returning today). I left a brief message explaining my intentions, and that's about it.

Reipro,
Sorry if I sounded like I already had a "deal" in place. I understood that I didn't, but that was not made clear in my original post. Heh, now I definitely know the difference though! Thanks for the clarification!

PurEnergy,
Thank you for the guidance. I had originally intended on calling him myself, but I figured since this is my first "suspect" (reipro :eusa_clap:) I would let somebody else handle the negotiations. However, getting a gauge on the gentlemans motivation to sell is the first step. If hes not interested in selling- I am wasting my time.

Kalantar,
The building itself has three large garages with a little office room attached to it, and a decent amount of open concrete space around it. Imagine 3 large garages where his finest RV's were showcased... with the rest of them outside and surrounding the building. What it would be used for in the future is beyond me. However, I know through a local investor and our REI club that there is demand for many different types of commercial lots. I now realize I should hammer out of em some criteria thats a little bit more in depth.

Through some research to another title company I found out that he is not in foreclosure, and that he has a trust deed or two against it. (Couldn't find out anything more)

At this point I am going to try and reach the owner personally. I need to transform this suspect into a prospect, and the only way I can accomplish this runs through the owner.

What would you do if you were in my shoes?

Thanks again for whoever reads and or responds to this

Ryan


Ryan
 

PurEnergy

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If you made your intentions clear to whoever you spoke with then I would now wait. If he's interested in selling he'll call you back. Then you probe.

You said you had a CMA being done, that's good. You also said you found deeds of trust against the property. How much does he owe and what's it worth? Is there room for negotiation to make a profit.

You said you've got buyers for commercial properties already? If that's true, man you need to find out exactly what they're looking for and go find it for them. You need to know what traditional paperwork is involved in buying commercial property. You need to at least appear to be for real. To start out with you could actually make your offers "subject to approval buy John Smith" your buyer. This limits your options but it's a start.

If you've got a LEGITIMATE buyer you need to talk to him and find out exactly what he's looking for and how much he is willing to pay for whatever it is he's looking for. You've got to nail down what it is he's willing to spend his money on. How is he going to evaluate the property when he actually looks at whatever it is you brought him. Is he LEGITIMATE and looking to buy now. Those are the guys you're looking for. If you can find them a deal they'll be looking for you too.

You need to make sure your contract is assignable! Is it? Something else to think about. Real estate investors are notorious for going right around you. They'll let you find the deal, wait out your contract and go straight to the seller. Unfortunately there's just not much you can do about that unless you're willing to close yourself. He may appreciate your work and do the deal with you or he may not.

If this is what you are chasing then go find some other properties and more buyers to work with. Brokers go broke waiting for deals to happen. The good ones use the melting pot theory. You fill up the pot with leads until the pot starts spilling over with deals.

You need to learn to evaluate these deals realistically. There are some good courses on that I believe at uh CREOnline.com. You could always go be a broker to learn the ropes. Nothing fast lane about that but you could get some much needed experience.
 
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