Major decision on commercial property

Major decision on commercial property

Investor · Member since 2020 · 34 posts · 6 votes

I have an urgent decision that I could use help on... My wife and I bought an 11,000 ft² Warehouse space and have white boxed it. It appraises for $800,000 and as of today we have about $550,000 into it with renovations and purchase cost. Unfortunately, we just found out that we're going to need a brand new roof for $105,000 plus an additional cost of $65,000 in other construction costs for a grand total of $175,000 more than our original budget.

Our current loan is almost maxed out and we don't have enough money to complete the project using just cash we have saved personally. We need an additional $175,000 to bring it to market ready ASAP. This brings me to the decision...

We own a rental house that is worth $300,000 and that is completely paid off. That house brings in $2,100 a month cash flow today. In order to complete the warehouse, the bank is suggesting that I take out a loan at 5.95% against the house in order to get the cash we need. That works out to about a 1400-1700 loan payment each month on the house.

My question is should I go ahead and take out the full 80% that I can possibly take out of the house equity? This would leave me approximately $65,000 cash to invest in another property after the warehouses leased. Alternatively, I could just take out the $175,000 that I need. If I only take out the 175k I'm left with the lower mortgage amount and more cash flow out of the house each month, but I can't buy another property.

I am thinking it doesn't make sense to leave the cash in the house and not deploy it especially since I'm going to incur closing and title cost either way. With the additional 175,000 on the warehouse we will be at a total of about $725,000 debt and it is worth at least $800,000 and it will be 100% updated and ready to lease. I'm looking to hold because it's in a developing area and the long-term equity play is significant.

So again, do I take out the $175,000 or do I max out the equity withdrawal at $240,000? Is there a better way to get the cash that I need? This is certainly the fastest and cheapest way I can think of vs trying to get another commercial appraisal on the warehouse. If I paid for another commercial appraisal on the warehouse the appraised value will likely have gone up but probably not enough to borrow another $175 against it anyway.

I really appreciate your thoughts! I need to make a decision Monday.

Justin

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Flipper/Rehabber · Bryan, TX · Member since 2014 · 258 posts · 170 votes
4y

if it were me, I would want to prelease the warehouse before I took the money out of the rental. If it takes 6-12 months to lease can you cover the debt payments? 


I would max out what you take out if you can put it to work for you. You can always give it right back by paying down the principal if you don’t use it. 

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  • Member since 2022 · 8 posts · 1 vote
    4y

    Great information on the roof not leaking after the rains!

    Couple follow up questions and comments. What was the bridge loan amortized over? 20/25 yrs? Either way, the 3.5% is a great rate, and Oct 21 definitely supported those rates. I presume you spoke with your existing lender, however have you asked about doing a second for the additional $105M for the roof?

    Regarding the HELOC / Fixed rate option, there are some advantages, however I would only do the fixed rate option if you were going to use the funds within a year or two (sounds as you would). Benefits - fixed rate (in a rising interest rate environment), long am, lower rates than revolving. Additionally, if we are to see further economic financial difficulties, 2007/2008 (although extremely different circumstances) showed us that financial institutions were more likely to call notes / lower amounts of HELOCS.

    With this said, the reason I would not pull monies out of a property that are not going to be used immediately, the obvious, you are paying interest on funds not used. Regardless of which route, if you were to use those funds on another project and you could get that money working for you; this is beneficial, along with the fact it is advantageous to display additional liquidity for underwriting purposes.

    Lastly, the only reason I inquire on the amortization of the commercial note, I don't know what the ratio of one year of payments and paying contractor is. If you are on a 20 or 25 year, I would not touch it. But if you were on a 15 year ($54M annual debt service at 3.5%), then you could find a refi option that could provide long ams, lower your debt service, increase cash flow, still good rates and a lender to provide the $105M in addition to the $558M. Your LTV would be strong, the as is and ARV would be strong, however this is based off having a lease in place. Just talking about an external refinance with your existing lender may persuade them to modify your existing note / providing a second for the roof, as long as there is not an egregious early payoff amount and they call the bluff : )

    All the best Justin, and I look forwards to hearing of the project.

  • Rental Property Investor · Houston, TX · Member since 2019 · 184 posts · 147 votes
    4y

    @Justin Mathews I would personally take the heloc and get the additional cash for the next investment (I’m a big risk taker). There’s going to be some good opportunities in real estate with what’s going on in the market. Cash is king! 

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