All Forum Posts by: Barb D

You can take courses offered by the CCIM Institute even if aren't a real estate broker and have no interest in the CCIM designation. (Certified Commercial Investment Manager). The courses are pricey, but as professional as you will find. www.ccim.com

Good luck!

Hi Thomas. If you are planning to build a commercial building on your land, you will probably be able to secure a short-term construction loan that lets you use your land for the downpayment toward the cost of construction. But your lender will want to see blueprints and construction specifications in order to get an appraisal done and make sure your building will be worth at least the cost of construction. When construction is done, you'll need to get long-term financing to pay off your construction loan. This will probably require a signed lease from your tenant(s). If your commercial market is even a little bit soft (and a lot are downright squishy these days) you should have your tenant in place before you even approach your lender for construction financing. Unless you have a tenant for your proposed building, you might want to sell to an experienced developer and let him/her take the risk in this market. It's not a great time for speculative development. Just my two cents. :)

Well, it depends. The CAP rate is only as strong as the tenant. Can you afford to carry the debt service if the AA tenant hits hard economic times and files bankruptcy? How high would the CAP have to be to make that risk worth it to you ... a very subjective question. Personally, I'd rather have a portfolio of ten $1,000,000 properties than one $10,000,000 property, but that's just personal investing style. What's yours?

OK, I'll limit myself to just 3 -

1) "The Traveler's Gift" by Andy Andrews. Best book ever for teaching the mindset that's necessary to persevere in this business.

2) "The E-Myth" by Michael Gerber. Teaches the importance of systemizing any business. And yes, real estate investing is a business.

3) "Negotiating Commercial Real Estate Leases" by Martin Zankel. Great for peeking behind the commercial curtain and realizing there is no Oz. If you can do residential, you can do commercial, because real estate is still just a people business regardless of the type of property.

If you are planning to concentrate on commercial investments as your long term investment strategy (not just one deal), I would highly recommend taking a few CCIM classes. The CCIM designation (Certified Commercial Investment Manager) is designed for commercial real estate brokers, but you don't have to be a broker to take classes. A couple of the core classes focus on valuation and provide you with the software you need to run the numbers. The classes run about $1,000 for non-members, but worth it. Good luck with your deal! The web site is www.ccim.com

Thanks for the welcome. I actually started selling residential real estate in the 1980's with the intent of investing. But I learned early on that the Michigan market wasn't going anywhere and the numbers didn't work. In 2000, I pieced together a no-money-down deal on a $1Million office building. A lot fewer headaches than residential and the numbers are big enough to provide significant equity build-up. This kind of leverage is not for the faint of heart, but if you're in it to win it, you have to play big. I refinanced that property in 2007 and bought a single tenant NNN property, this time with 25% down, making my banker a lot happier with me. I'm experiencing vacancy for the first time since I've owned the office building, so I'll be hanging out in the commercial forum to exchange marketing ideas.

I just closed last week on a new lease that I never would have gotten without CoStar. I own an office building in Battle Creek, MI, the new tenant was coming from Detroit and working with a Chicago broker. When I asked the broker how she found me, she replied "CoStar of course!".

Hi, MidMich. I'm in Battle Creek. I really don't know where Breckenridge is located, but we can't be too far from each other. It looks like our investing strategies are quite different, but please let me know if I can be helpful. Barb

My name is Barb Dearing, I have 20 years of real estate experience, but not much blogging experience. I'm a buy & hold investor who loves commercial property and hanging out with other entrepreneurs. I own and manage a multi-tenant office building and a single-tenant NNN industrial property. Always looking for the next deal. Glad to be here.