All Forum Posts by: Chris Winterhalter

@Isaac Abeyta 

Search the forum and you will find quite a few threads on the subject. I know several people with the designation and they were more than happy with the coursework (mostly brokers though). It's probably the best CRE course work outside of top notch university real estate programs. Just like anything it will take a commitment and a small capital investment. Also if you want to take the course work in person you will more than likely have to travel. They have online classes but half the exposure is networking with other professionals. The in person classes are spread across the country so if you want to complete the certification in under 12 months it will take a significant amount of travel (especially from Wyoming).

There are several investors on the forum that have just taken certain courses and found great value.  As an investor we don't necessarily need the designation (although it could bring credibility).  Good luck! 

@Bruce Lee 

National Real Estate Investor is a great publication to subscribe to both digitally & by mail. You can sign up for free on their website. They have publications based on asset class as well. CoStar Group provides great news (National Commercial Real Estate News by CoStar Group) on CRE as well. WSJ real estate isn't bad to read either. Beyond that read your local business courier for local commercial real estate news.

What type of CRE are you interesting in? I read HotelNewsNow & Hotel Management magazine to stay up to date on the hotel sector (among others). For multi-family there are several others as well.

I'm not really sure of any iTunes podcast for specific CRE niches though.

@Account Closed 

How big is the area?  Where is it trending?  What's the retail scene like in the area?  Does it have a solid location on a high traffic road?  How's the ingress & egress?  

Regarding the tenants, you mentioned they are independent, are these their only locations?  How long have they been in business?  You will underwrite the tenants as much as the deal especially on something like this.  What do their yelp scores look like?  How much competition do they have in the area?  

Have you talked to the seller directly?  Are they willing to seller finance or are they leveraged?  Are they flexible on price?  Is a broker involved?  

Who's going to be responsible for the TI (tenant improvement) or build out?  If they need you to handle this make sure to account for the increased cost.  

What's the going rate for space in this area per square foot.  You will probably lease the property on a NN basis where the tenant is responsible for property taxes, insurance, maintenance, utilities, etc, but you would be responsible for the roof & structure.  It just depends on the NN structure.  You will also need to account for CAM (common area maintenance) if it's a shared space with the gym & salon.  

You probably want to consult a commercial broker in the area that is familiar with this type of property, pricing, leasing, etc.  What would you do if the tenant moved out?  Make sure to account for long periods of vacancy as leasing can take much longer. 

It could be a solid deal though, underwrite it as if you don't have a tenant lined up though.  

Good luck! 

@Brian Flounders 

I don't have a lot to add however consistency might play a role in the legality.  Meaning that if you only allow under 25 year olds on a case by case basis or because you "feel" good about certain individuals over others than that could be perceived as discriminatory.  However if you are consistent, like you allow 25 year olds with a co-signer & double deposit then that could potentially work (depending on the laws of your state).  

@David Cohen Like @Rick Baggenstoss  mentioned you can always hire a professional.  I've been working with a real estate attorney that specializes in property tax appeals for 5 years.  She works off of contingency and takes a 50% cut for any savings she gets in an alternate assessment year or 33% for two years if it falls on the assessment year.  I don't pay anything up front and we've had great success across the board.  However she tends only to want commercial or decent size multi-family properties (so it's worth her time).  But now that we give her all of our business she will take on the few single families that we have left in the portfolio.  

However like many others have mentioned, depending on your County the process is doable by yourself if properly researched & put together.  It just depends where you want to  spend your time.  

@David Greenberg 

New construction loans for hotel development have been historically very difficult to get especially if you don't have a strong track record in the industry. Even in a robust hotel market like we're in today. Many people believe it's very good for the market, basically so inexperienced developers don't add supply to a healthy marketplace and push down RevPar across the board. A 10MM hotel is rather small though, think a select service major branded hotel in a secondary or tertiary market with somewhat lower land costs (or maybe you are talking about a small boutique hotel). A lot of lenders were not allowing land to be added to the construction loan, or if they were it was being discounted. That has changed as the hotel market has heated up however you would still be looking at 60-70 LTC on a hotel deal. You would also need to partner with a successful management company that is approved to manage the brand affiliation (if you go the branded route). If you don't go the branded route it can be even more difficult to obtain financing without a strong track record and excellent financials. If you find the right developer/operator and you have a good potential hotel site you could probably work a JV deal by bringing the land to the table. Are you talking about a specific property or speaking hypothetically?

@Jay H. 

Any update for us?  It looks like you are making great progress!  

As already mentioned the answer is NO for any non-seasoned CRE investor. And it's very uncommon unless something comes up during the due diligence process to trigger an assignment. Residential wholesale can have an element of deception to it (not all wholesalers) and that doesn't play well with the CRE community. It's too small a circle with too many bright, experienced, & well capitalized professionals inside. The experienced "wholesalers" in commercial are brokers.

@Diem Tran 

It's definitely a skill worth learning if you are interesting in purchasing any type of real estate especially B/C class multi-families.  Working with a competent construction partner is extremely important however you will want to become proficient in creating your own rehab budget.  The best and worst thing about budgeting for an apartment complex is having multiple identical units.  If you see a pattern (which is common) of distress within the units then it's easy to multiply across unit types.  You might only have 2-5 unit types in a 100 unit complex (or you could have 30!).  However this is also the worst thing about budgeting, because if you miss a line item it's times whatever number of units.  Well a $750 mistake becomes much more costly when it's across 100 units ($75,000).  Be extremely detailed within your property walks and learn pricing from your local contractors.  Pricing in the construction industry can obviously range greatly however if you get comfortable with your team & material selections then you should start understanding pricing for future offers.  

If you are going to make an offer set up a budget prior to a 2nd walk through with your contractor.  Walk the unit & then go over your budget with the contractor.  Then submit your offer.  Obviously if you have a deal on your hands this will have to happen quickly but you get the drift.  

@Anthony Caleca 

Welcome to BP! You should always reach for the sky with your goals however you need to make sure you learn how to walk before you run. I really like that you've secured an internship with an NYC developer who is successful in the type of real estate you are pursing. Also I really like the fact that you are taking real estate classes at NYC. As everyone knows New York real estate is crazy, it's underwritten without conventional rules, it always breaks the mold, & constantly surprises even the most successful investor. Although a lot of new development is happening in New York the large majority of the development & CRE deals have a component of foreign investment. With increased land costs, air rights, & union labor costs it can be very difficult to make a new development deal pencil.

I would continue focusing on getting experience & an education in real estate.  That doesn't mean you can't start planning your business it just means that you need to be strategic about it.  You're swimming in a small pool filled with large sharks, make sure to bring your spear gun.  Start networking in your city and start identifying neighborhoods where you would like to focus.  Get comfortable with pricing & start learning how to underwrite your own deals.  Good Luck!