Ways To Minimize Risks In Your Commercial Real Estate Investment

December 30th, 2008

When you invest in a commercial property, you all hope that the property value will go up and the income will continue to increase. However, you also have to plan for the downturn too. There are ways to minimize your risks when you invest in a commercial property:

  1. Choose a property with multiple tenants instead of single tenant. This will spread out the risk as you don’t put all eggs in one basket. When a tenant terminates a lease, you will potentially just lose a portion of the total income. It’s also easy to find a tenant looking for a small 1000 SF unit.
  2. Choose a property with long term leases over month-to-month leases. Month to month tenants can move out with short notice when their businesses go down.
  3. Avoid having most of the leases expire at the same time. That way in the worst case, you will not have to face with a scenario that the whole building is vacant.
  4. Choose brand-name over no-brand tenants when you have a choice. Leases from brand-name companies like Walgreens, Subway, HR Block are sometimes guaranteed by the corporations. So when they have to shut down the store, the corporations will continue paying rents. According to statistics, brand name tenants are more likely to be in business next year than non-brand name tenants.
  5. Ask for lease guarantee. When a tenant is a small corporation, ask the owner of the corporation back up the lease with his or her personal assets. This way you are more likely to get your rent paid during bad times.
  6. Have a mixture of tenants with different businesses. For example, you don’t want to have 3 barbershops in a shopping center as they will compete against each other and take the other out of business. When the economy slows down, it may affect a certain industry. By having tenants with different businesses, you reduce the chance that the economy affects most of your tenants.
  7. Request seller for rent guarantee. When you purchase a commercial property that is not 100% leased, ask the seller to provide a 12-month rent guarantee for vacant units. That way you have up to 12 months to look for tenants.
  8. Invest in a stable and growing area instead of a declining area. Your tenants are more likely to do well and have money to pay you the rent.
  9. Invest in an area with strong income. The median household income in the US is about $46,000 per year. So if the area has median household income of only $28,000 per year, it’s likely a rough area with lots of graffiti’s. This is a risky area to invest.
  10. Choose triple-net leases over gross leases. Maintenance is something varies from year to year. On the triple-net lease, the tenant is responsible to reimburse you with all the expenses so your net income does not fluctuate.
  11. Avoid property that has chemical. If you are an investor looking for a passive investment, you should avoid gas station. When there is a gas leak, the soil is contaminated. You won’t be able to sell the property as no lender will provide financing.

David V. Tran is the President/CEO of eFunding Inc., a commercial real estate & loan brokerage, property management & leasing, and TIC company in San Jose, CA. His website is http://www.efundingcom.com He may be contacted at (408) 288-5500. eFunding does business in all 50 states. He is selected as Pensco Trust’s (a major self-directed IRA custodian) Preferred Professional and is the #1 among over 120 commercial real estate expert authors on ezinearticles.com. David currently offers 3 FREE real estate investment seminars till 12/07:r

How to invest in commercial real estate for retirement income NOW. How to maximize cash flow with 1031 tax-deferred exchange. TIC/Syndication: strategy for small investors and self-directed IRA investors to acquire high-valued properties.

You are welcome to share this report, unedited and in its entirety, with anyone you like. You may not remove this text. © 2007 eFunding, Inc

Taylor Wessing names new real estate head

December 29th, 2008

Taylor Wessing has appointed Keith Barnett to head its UK real estate practice following the decision by Adam Marks to step down on 1 November.

Barnett, who had been the firm�s head of development since 2002, will head the firm�s third most lucrative practice after corporate and IP, which houses 15 partners and a total of 70 lawyers.

Marks, who had led the real estate department since 2003, has returned to a fee-earning role within the practice.

Taylor Wessing�s recent real estate transactions have included London & Regional’s redevelopment of the former Marks & Spencer’s headquarters on the capital�s Baker Street as well as its redevelopment of Greenwich Wharf.

.

Habitat celebrates with tiny homes of hope

December 28th, 2008

Volunteers around the nation help build homes and change the lives of others every day through efforts associated with Habitat for Humanity. To help raise funds to support the good works of the local arm of the non-profit organization, more than 200 guests arrived at The Oaks Plantation recently to enjoy “Building on Faith: Tiny Homes of Hope,” the first fundraiser of its kind for Habitat for Humanity Montgomery.

Habitat Montgomery has built more than 64 homes in an effort to eliminate poverty housing and hopelessness. Last Thursday evening’s visual emphasis was placed on one-of-a-kind structures that could only be inhabited by small dolls and toys.

But by the end of the night, the interior and exterior of the expansive eastside property near Waugh was remembered as the scene of an event whose proceeds would help build homes for low-income families.

Big game in Blanchard

December 27th, 2008

Last year, Blanchard went to Little Axe and dominated the Indians 33-0.It was one of only two victories for the Lions in 2006.But when Little Axe heads down Highway 9 tonight for this year’s meeting, things could be a little closer. This is a different Little Axe team. Heck, this is a different Blanchard team.Last season, Dale Brown coached the Lions in a totally different manner than new coach Jeff Craig. The Lions were a run first, then run again type of team.This season Blanchard spreads the offense all over the field.”That’s the biggest thing for us, slowing down their offense,” Little Axe coach Tony Smith said. “We need to stop them defensively. They have the capability to put some points on the board in a hurry. They run a little bit of no-huddle, and we have to do a good job of getting lined up and getting the signals in.

Prime Brokerage

December 24th, 2008

Identified as assistance sold by investment bank to hedge funds, prime brokerage has core services that normally appear in a package. They have the likes of global custody, securities lending, financing, customized technology and operational support.

Global custody involves defrayal and supervision as well as asset examination. Securities lending is the sale of guardianship affiliated to the ensuing buy- back of equivalent safety by means of an accord. This is done to ensure that the one who borrowed is capable to meeting the liabilities upon deadlines. It is prepared by putting it up in collaterals that can come in cash as well as in other items. Financing studies and addresses the means by which entities, single or multiple, raise and allocate the pecuniary resources over a certain period. It is also there that the risks involved will be taken into significant consideration. Customized technology offers circumvent subsidy executives with updated reporting in a portfolio style. This is important in order to effectively handle accounts. Also, this is another way of handling it in full responsibility especially when the amounts are substantial. There is that tendency to be confused on what should be the correct action to take. Operational support crafted for chief agents that functions as a hedge fiscal primary procedures communicate with the rest of the other dealers.

Prime brokerage is also to give supplemental service that will include capital introduction, space leasing, risk management and consultancy check.

Capital introduction is a process in prime brokerage wherein the agent tries to launch its prevaricate supply customers to those that are qualified as well as those who are interested in venturing into fresh opportunities for investments. Space leasing is where particular agents rent a commercial real estate then will also have some blocks chartered in order to support its tenants. This typically grants a group of on- site services for customers who use their area. Risk management is a provision of risk analytical method. This is usually added by discussing it with senior professionals. There is no more better way than to obtain sound advice than to those that are experts on the said aspect. Consulting services is where in prime brokerage, it is backed- up in fiscal matters as it concentrates in issues that have something to do with regulatory establishment requirements in the boundary where the manger will reside as well as in the jurisdiction where the accounts are domiciled.

History would render that the term was generally attributed to an American citizen named Furman Selz. It was in the late 1970’s that it had a niche in the market, portfolio management was an important test. It was also where fiscal managers had to religiously look into their own trades as well as collaborate their positions and compute their performance.

Subprime Mortgages

October 16th, 2008

It sounds terrible. Subprime Mortgage. But in reality it has many different benefits that other loans do not.

A subprime loan typically has a higher interest rate than other loans because the people who need it usually have a poor credit history or very low credit score.

These high interest loans do make people pay a lot more for a house they want but actually have some benefits.

There are many financial institutions that specifically deal with subprime lenders. This means they know how to help those with poor credit.

Some banks also offer prime and subprime mortgages because they know their community well and some areas just don’t have the types of jobs that prime mortgages will need to ensure their monthly payments.

It can be embarrassing to go to a local bank if you live in a relatively small town so you may want to choose a subprime only lender.

A good benefit of a subprime mortgage is that you don’t have to take the time to raise your credit score. This can take years of payments and credit building and many people just don’t have the time for all of that.

They realize they made some late payments here and there but are past that and want to own a home. Not everyone with bad credit got it by not paying their bills on time.

Many times, wives and husbands who are irresponsible can annihilate their significant other’s credit and even after divorce, it’s still bad.

A subprime mortgage to many people is a chance for a new beginning.