All Forum Posts by: John Lenhart

Nothing better than trial by fire. I do not know of any books or anything that give you a step by step overview of it if that is what you are looking for. 

Ultimately, start talking with bankers, get their thoughts on the products out there in the marketplace. Depending on your property, CMBS may not be a fit while a Life Insurance loan could be. If you are in multi-family Fannie/Freddie could be a great option. You will want to ask questions as to the prepayment schedule as it varies by product and can be negotiable in certain cases. Term length is also negotiable and you will want to ask questions to your banker/loan broker.

Don't be afraid of coming across like a newbie, you don't know what you don't know. These brokers and bankers (the good ones) make their money by educating you on the various choices you have to get you into the right product because they want repeat business. Typically, you are not doing just one perm loan in your life.  Dont be afraid to ask your banker what the difference between yield maintenance and defeasance are, or if you want a step down schedule. Dont be afraid to question them about a legal opinion letter or even the personal recourse carve outs required in an agency loan. Yes, it may make you sound like a newbie, but the worst thing they will tell you is no. 

I guess, if you are using a reputable loan broker or banker for such a loan, they are not going to be sharks and are there to help you and educate you along the way. They want your business, and it does not pay for them to be a shark when they are dealing with a sophisticated clientele. It is much better to them to be in the role of educator to grow their clientele that way.  

#3 Raise long-term capital gains tax rates for high-income earners

I had an interesting conversation with a RE Tax expert re the Cap Gains rate. He said, even in the best of times, it would be absolute suicide to raise such rates. They tried this a while back and it really killed investment, especially foreign investment. Given the low savings rate in our country, it is more imperative to attract investment from overseas dollars. The capital gains rate is designed to attract that money more than anything and have foreign investors invest in the US and get a better return than they could if they kept the money in their home countries.

He said without the preferential capital gains treatment, it could kill all foreign investment dollars coming in.

Fortunately, I see the Republicans keeping the Senate so this wish list is not likely to happen.

We use both WebSelfStorage and Sitelink at various facilities. There are benefits to both. Webselfstorage has some limitations but the price is very good, Sitelink I think is a bit clunky but the open API is nice. Both can be good products. Storedge is easier to use than Sitelink, but last time I demo'd it, it was a bit locked down and limited in what you could make it do. 

@Account Closed. Thank you for your reply, approximately how much are you seeing on legal fees on the assumption?

What do fees look like traditionally? I have seen a lump sum like $25k flat fee and additional 1%. Seems like it would run close to 50-70k in costs to do the assumption when you factor in legal costs? Is this what others have seen?

We have a similar property, and that is what we have on it. We have a few storage units on skids but we put a fence around the perimeter (utility has a gate code) and we use it for boat and RV parking. 

This is a rural facility. It has gates and cameras. I believe most tenants feel safe. Some tenants want to see someone at the office but you explain to them that everything is handled via phone email or kiosk which has a 24 hour call center. 

If you want added security you can always contact with a private security company for drive through visits as an added layer. Also, the local police will often drive through on their patrols if you give them a gate code

We have a 30k facility that runs remote with a kiosk. Still need someone to visit the site weekly to check on maint issues, empty kiosk locks, etc. overall it works well. 

At all of our facilities the police have gate codes and they will do patrols through it on a regular basis. Furthermore, if you contracted with a private security company they can also do patrols through there on a regular basis to monitor the site. 

I don’t know the area. However, most self storage contracts are store at your own risk and even if someone Has something stolen or damaged, you will not be liable. He will want to have an attorney prepare you the storage contract.