9 Questions Entrepreneurs Should Ask Before Investing in Commercial Real Estate

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“Skills can be taught. Character you either have or you don’t have.” 

 

August 25, 2016

Is commercial real estate (CRE) a good investment for entrepreneurs? There’s no one-size-fits-all answer. While CRE can provide investors with better returns than residential properties (an average of six percent to 12 percent annually versus one percent to four percent in residential properties), they also require more of an initial cash outlay.

Entrepreneurs need to know the facts about commercial real estate before deciding whether it’s a good investment for them. Here are nine things to consider.

  1. What Are Your Goals?

This one is key to every financial decision, and it’s no less true of CRE. Are your goals to buy and hold for annual return? To buy and sell in a few years to realize profit? For each, how much return or profit are you seeking? Are you looking at CRE to enhance your tax picture? Do you want to own a single property? Redevelop a property for more future income? Own a portfolio of properties?

A disciplined plan needs this bedrock analysis of your own investment goals.

  1. What Is the Outlook for the CRE Market?

The robustness of CRE real estate markets, like residential real estate, varies greatly by region and city in the US. Some places, such as Las Vegas, have suffered downturns both in rents and in vacancies. Others, such as the San Francisco Bay Area, have high rents and few vacancies. The fortunes of commercial real estate often reflect those of the overall economy in the area.

Do research to determine the current and past economic performance, as well as the forecast for the future.

  1. What Are Your Investment Parameters?

While CRE might offer a higher annual return, it also requires a higher annual investment. Robust real estate markets might offer low vacancy rates, but they are also more likely to be higher-priced. Assess how much of an investment you are prepared to make. How much of a return are you aiming for?

The answers to these questions will tell you the number of buildings, type and market that suit your investment profile.

  1. What Type of CRE Do You Want to Invest In?

CRE covers a wide range of property types. Office parks, warehouses, industrial buildings and malls are all CRE properties. So are large apartment buildings and mixed-use buildings that combine, say, offices with a residential tenant. Each of these types have a profile for the amount of involvement required of an investor and the investment picture.

There are also CRE Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs), which allow investors to purchase a portfolio of properties managed by asset managers. In this case, investors are not themselves managers of the CRE and do not directly engage with the physical property.

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  1. What Are the Financial Parameters of Potential Properties?

There is no substitute for a detailed financial analysis of the properties you are thinking about. At a minimum, you should know net income (income less expenses), expected return on investment (the cash flow less any investment costs), the cash flow (net income minus any debt financing payments), the capitalization rate, the total return on investment (cash flow, accrual of equity, appreciation of the property and taxes), and the cash-on-cash return.

  1. What Is Your Risk-Reward Profile?

Before placing your investment capital into CRE, think about your risk-reward profile for all your investments and how CRE contribute to your overall portfolio. For example, many investors want to move into real estate investments because other types of investments are getting low returns and/or they want to diversify their investments. US bond yields, for example, have been very low. The stock market fluctuates, and an individual investor might see real estate as more stable.

In periods of rapid real estate price appreciation, CRE investments can return handsomely. However, if real estate depreciates, or the economy affects prices and vacancy rates, CRE investments can also fall.

Another factor is ease of selling the investment. Real estate in general is not as liquid as bonds or stocks, which can be sold on an open market relatively quickly. REITs, on the other hand, trade as stocks with real estate as the underlying investment. As a result, REITs are as liquid as stocks. Investors need to consider their comfort with physical CRE versus REITs.

  1. What Do Your Tenants Contribute to the Investment?

As investors are thinking through the type of CRE to invest in, they need to consider the tenants and how they contribute to the investment. Small business tenants who are open to the public, for example, have a vested interest in the upkeep and maintenance of the property. A better-maintained property will draw more clients and customers.

A factory or warehouse, in contrast, may have less incentive to maintain and upkeep the properties. That may place more responsibility for upkeep and maintenance on the property owner.

  1. Are You Comfortable With Landlord Responsibilities?

CRE landlords often have fewer responsibilities than residential ones. Most CRE property is maintained by a professional organization, for example, so CRE landlords are not called upon to fix a broken water heater themselves. However, business CRE can have more risk simply from the variety of people entering the business property — far more than would enter the average business property.

That’s more opportunity for broken windows and damaged displays. Assess whether you would be comfortable responding to this in your own property.

  1. What Variety of Leases Are Available?

Some tenants would prefer to hold a type of lease known as a triple net. They pay the property expenses themselves (including taxes), rather than paying rent to a CRE landlord who then pays the expenses. In these cases, the CRE property holder pays only the mortgage. Why would a tenant prefer these? Many large chains, such a Starbucks and CVS, want to maintain the property to reflect their brand. Via being responsible for the expenses, they can set up things like signage and frontage to their specifications.

These types of leases can be very advantageous to a landlord, because it reduces the outlay. However, it may also reduce the tax advantages of property ownership.

Making sure you know the answers to these questions will ensure success as a CRE investor. Take the time to know the answers to each.
Read more at http://www.business2community.com/startups/9-questions-entrepreneurs-ask-investing-commercial-real-estate-01639990#Kch2HArM4b4bSbCx.99

 

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Phoenix Commercial Real Estate and Investment Real Estate: investors and Owner / Users need to really know the market today before making a move in Commercial Properties or Investment Properties in Phoenix / Tucson / Arizona, as the market has a lot of moving parts today. What is going on socio-economically, what is going on demographically, what is going on with location, with competing businesses, with public policy in general — all of these things affect the quality of selling or purchasing your Commercial Properties, Commercial Investment Properties and Commercial and large tracts of Residential Land in Phoenix / Tucson / Arizona.  Therefore, you need a broker, a CCIM (Certified Commercial Investment Member) who is a recognized expert in the commercial and investment real estate industry and who understands Commercial Properties and Investment Properties.

I am marketing my listings on Costar, Loop-net CCIM, Kasten Long Commercial Group.  I also sold  hundreds millions of dollars’ worth of  Investment Properties / Owner User Properties in Retail, Office Industrial, Multi-family and Land in Arizona and therefore I am working with  brokers, Investors and Developers. I am also a CCIM and through this origination ( www.ccim.com ) I have access to marketing not only in the United States, but also international.  Click here to find out what is a CCIM:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CCIM

 

 

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Interactive Map Of All 10+ Unit Apartment Listings in Metro Phoenix

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Interactive  Metro Phoenix Map of New Apartment Construction by Completion Status

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AZREIA Market Update | March 2016

https://azreia.memberize.net/clubportal/images/clubimages/2645/Market%20Update%20Files/2016/AZREIA%20201603%20Meeting.pdf

 

 

Walter Unger CCIM –  walterunger@ccim.net   – 1-520-975-5207  –  http://walter-unger.com

2016 Official Arizona Visitors Guide

Visit Arizona

Why Phoenix?  This is a very interesting article, you should read it, amazing, there were only 350 K people living in Phoenix in 1950

http://walter-unger.com/why-phoenix-2/

 

1

Timeline of Phoenix, Arizona history

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Phoenix,_Arizona_history

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Phoenix, Arizona

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix,_Arizona

 

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Facts of Arizona – year 1848 to 2013

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Feel free to contact Walter regarding any of these stories, the current market, distressed commercial real estate opportunities and needs, your property or your Investment Needs for Comercial Properties in Phoenix, Tucson, Arizona.

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  1. Interactive Map Of All 10+ Unit Apartment Listings in Metro Phoenix

http://www.easymapmaker.com/map/28cb3b8b3206c377a6f282d980dc7974

 

  1. Interactive  Metro Phoenix Map of New Apartment Construction by Completion Status

http://www.easymapmaker.com/map/955edc17e00b08ce270fb7afb1523cc2

 

 

Kasten Long Commercial Group tracks all advertised apartment communities, including those advertised by other brokerages.  The interactive map  shows the location of each community (10+ units) and each location is color coded by the size (number of total units). 

Click here for Map of Apartments for Sale (10+units)

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Walter Unger CCIM, CCSS, CCLS

I am a successful Commercial / Investment Real Estate Broker in Arizona now for 20 years.  If you have any questions about Commercial / Investment Properties in Phoenix or Commercial /  Investment Properties in Arizona,  I will gladly sit down with you and share my expertise and my professional opinion with you. I am also in this to make money therefore it will be a win-win situation for all of us. 

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Please reply by e-mail walterunger@ccim.net or call me on my cell 520-975-5207

 

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Walter Unger CCIM

Senior Associate Broker 

Kasten Long Commercial Group

2821 E. Camelback Rd. Suite 600

Phoenix , AZ 85016

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