Buyer Requirement Email – What Not to Write
Below is the text of an email I received this morning from a broker seeking investment property submissions from the CRE community. The only problem is that the stated requirement is a buyer’s dream wish list and it warrants nothing more than an immediate “delete.” Here is the email:
Please forward me available properties that meet the criteria in this email, including both on and off market properties. Please call me with any questions, thanks.
$1 – 10 MILLION ALL CASH BUYER REQUIREMENT: Retail Properties with Low Current Lease Rates | 8-10% Minimum Cap on Actual Income
1. 1-3 Tenant property, $1-10 million. Well-positioned properties, with good parking, access, signage, frontage, and visibility in established retail areas.
2. 8-10% minimum initial CAP rate on actual income based on very conservative or below-market rents. Leases must be less than 10 years (including options) or provide substantial increase potential within 10 years (substantial scheduled increases, full CPI, or fair market rental in option periods).
3. Lower CAP rates will be considered for extremely strong properties with substantial upside.
4. Buyer is looking at the Underlying Value of the Real Estate.
We are working with an all cash investor who is looking to Purchase single and/or multi-tenant retail properties between $1M – $10M in CA, AZ, & NV. The Buyer will close each transaction ALL CASH in 30-45 days or less. The Buyer is specifically looking to purchase properties in “Built Out” areas (generally speaking 100,000+ Population – 3 Mile Radius) of the following Counties:
1) Clark County/Las Vegas (NV)
2) Maricopa County/ Phoenix & Scottsdale (AZ)
3) Los Angeles County (CA)
4) Orange County (CA)
5) San Diego County (CA)
6) Ventura County (CA)
7) Santa Barbara County (CA)
8 ) San Bernardino (CA)
9) Riverside (CA)
10) San Francisco County (CA)
11) Alameda County (CA)
12) Sacramento County (CA)
** OTHER COUNTIES IN CALIFORNIA WILL BE CONSIDERED IF DEMOGRAPHICS ARE IN LINE.
Translation: Please send me the best deals you may come across. I really don’t have a specific buyer but would like you to show me the type of deals that every single buyer in the market is looking for. The translated copy of the email would read as follows:
1) Seeking the most well-located, functional properties with the best real estate fundamentals in the most impacted trade areas.
2) Buyer wants to pay a below market CAP rate and would be ideally paired with a stupid seller that does not understand the value of their property. Buyer also seeks to have the seller leave 100% of the upside on the table for buyer’s benefit.
3) We will pay a price that makes a dumb seller think they are getting a good deal if we can double or triple our money in 2 – 3 years.
4) Again, only A+ sites please.
These types of emails drive me crazy. The extremely broad nature of the stated requirement insures that responses will be poor and untargeted. Nobody with a property that even approaches these requirements will submit it to this guy. Why would they? A property meeting this requirement would sell itself. If this guy really wanted to be taken seriously (or if he really had a real buyer with a real requirement) he would have written a much more specific email. I’m not saying that a buyer didn’t communicate this requirement to this broker. What I am saying is that if this requirement was communicated to the broker from a buyer, the broker clearly has not realized that he is wasting his time. There are no deals in the market for this guy – at least not ON the market. If you want this type of deal, you need to find it yourself because nobody is going to send it to you.
ahahhahaha. if i had a deal like that id buy that mother myself. immediately. shit, were all trying to find that type of deal in any market. buyer req emails usually make me laugh. cause they ask for the world and complain when you send them stuff that doest meet the reqs (i get a good laugh out of that) or cause its PCGNB saying "our client will pay our fee! only 30 days left to identify!" PCGNB = hacks.
I’m not quite sure I would say that.
Ive never had a good deal with them. either trying to big league or too busy to pay attention to whats going on. i know more people that have said they wont work with them again than say they will. i can point to a couple deals where millions were left on the table due to lack of attention and clients were screwed for fee. they are obviously good at what they do to be where they are. but ive never dealt with them in a way where they werent sloppy. literally saying "go ahead and call [the client] and negotiate those PSA details yourself. send me the final copy". things that no broker would ever do. either a testament to our trustworthiness or their sloppiness.