All Forum Posts by: John Lenhart

I use Buildium primarily. Not in love with the product but ok for where we are now

I gave innago a test drive a few months back. I was impressed with what it did. Good for under 100 units but over that I would recommend something more robust 

Check out innago.com

It’s free to use and a good system for when you are just scaling up

Many banks will require 20-25% down, however, depending on the borrower I have seen options 90% LTV. I believe you can do an SBA loan for storage up to 90% LTV.

Look into Scott Meyer’s training. He is great for teaching people looking to get into storage investing 

@Nik S.

@Stanley Bronstein

To go along with what Stanley said, I would make sure the title company is 

1) one that does commercial deals and

2) connected with a law firm based in Ohio

Not all title companies are made equal and not all law firms are made equal. Don’t hire a firm from Sharon PA to close a deal in Youngstown even if the attorney has an Ohio license. Make sure they are experts in Ohio real estate law

@Nik S. your title company should handle this and the documents that need to be prepared, however, make sure you are using a title company that handles a lot of commercial transactions. If your title company pretty much does residential real estate and single family transactions, I would use someone else, because this is a very form driven and procedural transaction, And if the title company doesn’t know what they’re doing, they can easily screw this up. You’re welcome to PM me if you need anybody in Ohio that can do this

@Nik S. in Ohio, When you do the into the transaction it involves two transactions. First, there's the drop-down LLC. The property is transferred from the original LLC into the drop-down. You do not own the drop-down LLC, This is owned by the seller. Well technically the property transfers, since the transfer is between an entity to another entity with the same beneficial ownership, it is a transfer for no consideration. This is what will be reported on the public record. This transaction happens first. Then, on closing day, you were by the beneficial interest in the new LLC. There is no transfer of the real estate at that time, so nobody knows what your truly paid for the property Besides you your accountant and the bank, and the seller.

We use a lot of broker relationships. We just went under contract on a similar off market deal through a broker where we got it done before it was even listed. 

Check out Scott Meyers

He is the guru on self storage investing. 

I learned from his seminars and videos. We are about to get our 5th facility now. Learned the ropes from Scott 

Investment Info:

Large multi-family (5+ units) commercial investment investment.

38 Unit apartment building in Cincinnati, Ohio. Strong value add opportunity. An example of finding an underperforming asset and putting renovation dollars into the building to improve the units and raise rents.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

It was a class C property in an improving neighborhood on a bus line within a short drive to the city. There were lots of amenities in the area that catered to younger professionals.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

Through a local broker. It was part of a 1031 acquisition where we traded 2 smaller properties in for the larger complex.

How did you finance this deal?

We used traditional bank financing initially and will refinance with non-recourse in a couple of years once we complete the improvements.

How did you add value to the deal?

Renovation of units and raising rents. Also, working on deferred maint and catching up to that. Showing the tenants that we care about the property.

What was the outcome?

Still a work in process. To date, 1/3 of the units have been renovated.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

There has been unexpected deferred maintenance that has delayed some of the process recently, and we have been investing a lot of time and efforts to catch up on that.

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

Greg Vollman