After marketing a what I knew would be a very attractive Southern California single tenant NNN investment for the last week and speaking with many brokers & principals on about the opportunity, it has become readily apparent that a large percentage of the active buyers in today’s market are applying their same arbitrary return hurdle [...]
Apr
29
Apr
29
No Value Premium for Assumable/Owner Financing
This is just a quick opinion on the role assumable financing plays in the value of an investment property. It is very interesting that many properties are marketed with the assumable financing being a major benefit, when many times it really is more of a detriment or unattractive. Even worse is that some sellers believe [...]
Apr
25
Breakdown: My Analysis of a Deal That Was Too Good To Be True
I have been asked by more than a handful of friends and colleagues to write a post on a specific listing in Simi Valley, CA that was recently brought to market by CBRE. I decided to put my thoughts in writing and attempt to explain how exactly I would break this particular deal down and [...]
Mar
02
Are CAP Rates Heading Back Down?
That is a pretty broad question. I can’t say for sure for every single product type nor do I really care about CAP Rate trends for multi-tenant office/industrial/multi-family/etc. buildings in the midwest/south/east/etc. I can make an intelligent guess and say no, CAP Rates are not heading back down, they are continuing to rise – industry-wide. [...]
Mar
01
Sale/Leaseback Article from Phoenix Business Journal
This article published on Friday, February 26th, 2010 is quite possibly one of the worst articles you will ever read discussing the merits of a sale/leaseback transaction. I feel sorry for the brokers quoted in the publication. It feels like the author chopped up their quotes and used them where she thought best rather than [...]
Jan
19
Fresh & Easy Real Estate Director Making Empty Threats
I just had to post this. I just closed a Fresh & Easy ground lease that was purchased by Fresh & Easy on 12/31/09. Earlier today, we sent out an email blast announcing the sale of the property. I received the following email (with his attorney cc’d as well) from UK transplant Tom Scorer, Real [...]
Nov
12
Comments on CoStar Article About Institutional Transactions
This morning, CoStar published an article entitled Institutional Investors Throwing Big Money Around Class A Quality Retail Property. The article highlights several recent large transactions that have taken place and interviews guys from CBRE, Marcus & Millichap and Jones Lange LaSalle for opinions. A few of the points/quotes caught my attention and I thought I’d [...]
Oct
28
CRE Takeaways From Bill Gross’ Investment Outlook
Bill Gross, PIMCO’s revered managing director, has just published his most recent investment outlook. In it, he calls the end of the recent market rally and warns of a necessity to come to grips with the fact that a new normal is headed our way. The closing sentences sum up his point nicely and he [...]
Oct
26
CMBS Bonds Downgraded on Special Servicing Action
Standard & Poor’s had downgraded 15 classes of bonds backed by a $425 million loan secured against the Four Seasons Hotel in New York and 3 other luxury resort hotels. The action was triggered by a drop in cash flow which was 46% below S&P expectations. Surely, the expected cash flow figure had already been [...]
Oct
02
Never Mind, No Green Shoots for Retail
It looks like retailers are not faring so well after all. From an article published today at DallasNews.com titled “Speakers at Retailing Summit in Dallas offer sobering assessment” (emphasis mine): Retailers shouldn’t expect to see the pre-recession shopper in this economic recovery, and a shakeout with store closings is still ahead, speakers said Thursday at [...]
Oct
01
Green Shoots in Retail?
I just read a post on the CRE blog Net Lease Nation talking about the upcoming holiday season. Apparently, Fitch Ratings is bullish on the retail sector: “Many companies across Fitch’s U.S. retail coverage have been managing inventory positions well. Gross margins have rebounded for those companies in the discretionary categories that were hit particularly [...]
Oct
01
Calls From Appraisers Increasing – Banks Clearly Worried About Losses
Lately I have been receiving a high volume of calls from appraisers. Appraiser calls are nothing new. Normally, I receive a handful a month calling to ask questions about properties I have sold or asking for my opinion on a particular property they are trying to value. Now, I am receiving several appraisal calls per [...]
Sep
30
Goldman Sachs Bearish on CRE REITs
Zero Hedge has a post up on Goldman Sachs’ outlook for CRE REITs. Long story short – Goldman is not positive. Zero Hedge refers to REITs as “arguably the most overbought (by a metric mile) sector” in the stock market and cites a few key points from the Goldman forecast: Cautious coverage view: we expect [...]
Sep
29
Inland Empire Shopping Center For Sale – Calling All Investors Seeking To Lose Money
The package embedded below (see update below) just came across my desk today. It is an offering for a shopping center in Moreno Valley, CA (Inland Empire). The property consists of three ground leased fast food pads (El Pollo Loco, Del Taco and Wendy’s) as well as approximately 22,670 square feet of retail shops in [...]
Sep
24
Citi Considering Reducing Retail Branch Count
Citigroup may be looking to sell or shut down some of its 1,001 retail bank branches in the U.S. and Canada. Citi wants to focus on their core markets of New York, Washington, Miami, Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles. DealBook has more here. Needless to say, this is not good news for capitalization rates [...]