All Forum Posts by: Chris Winterhalter

@J. Martin

Thanks for you kind words. And I am sure we will run into each other sooner or later.

Just an update....my total loan fee is 1k (negotiated down) + 3rd party costs. That includes all fees from the bank on the acquisition and construction loan. There's no hidden document fee, underwriting fee, etc...it's just 1k.

@Eric Robertson

How carefully did you evaluate your comps? A few really good things to do when evaluating comps for wholesale deals:

• Look at all of the lowest sold comps over the past 6-12 months. Drive the comps to make sure they are comparable. How long did those deals stay on the market? What is the lowest sold comp that is most comparable to your prospect property? Also look at the lowest pending comps. You will start to paint a picture of as-is value for the area. Is there a lot of distressed product on the market? Does it sit or does it sell?
• Carefully review your competition for on-market properties in your price range. Are there properties on the market at the 72k price range?
• From an ARV standpoint really look at days on market and list price vs sales price. Drove those comps and dive into the sub-market.

I like that you can also make some cash from the furniture etc. Don't put that into the numbers but let it be the icing on the cake. I once pulled a pinball machine out of a hoarders property. It was a nice snag.

Good luck!

@Jeff Greenberg

What do you mean 10% has been the going rate for sponsoring a non-recourse loan? You mean a 90/10 split with 90% going to the investors and 10% going to the sponsor? In my opinion it takes way too much work to put together a project for only 10% equity. A lot depends on syndicator fees and the size of the project however I'm seeing most spreads at the 70/30, 60/40, & 50/50 level. I know a lot of hotel management companies that will get 5-10% sliver equity in a deal for finding/managing the deal however it's more a business model of adding hotels to the management portfolio. And those deals can be quite large.

@Robert Piller

Most syndicators will at least front their own money for earnest money (or at least the people I know). That isn't necessarily a red flag however I would be asking him why he isn't fronting the money while he puts the deal together. You say non-refundable earnest money...can you clarify? Did you go hard from day 1 on the 150k? Or do you have contingencies in the contract? What is your closing timeline?

It's strange to me that the bank would tell him that only one person needs to guarantee the entire loan. For bank loans generally it's anyone with more than 20% ownership (including the sponsor). And banking regulations are such that each guarantor is responsible for the entire amount. You use to be able to guarantee your portion of the loan however that isn't the case anymore (you can still ask).

How well do you know the sponsor? What is his track record? Has he been through any bankruptcies or foreclosures both personally or professionally? I would ask him if you can pull his credit and get a background check. If he pushes back that is a red flag.

A 50/50 deal split could be completely fine if you are happy with your return. Is he handling the rehab? Making any other fees i.e. developer fees, acquisition fees, asset management fees? From your quick story it sounds like this syndicator lacks credibility and/or experience. If that is the case then a 90/10 split still might not be the right decision. It's extremely hard to state what a fair split would be without all the information. If he is a credible syndicator and you don't feel comfortable with the split then push for a larger share. You need to feel comfortable with the return based on the amount of risk you are taking. That is different for every investor. Also compare this investment to other opportunities in the market place.

And as many have said...you could have a crook on your hands so be careful and do your due diligence. No legal advice.

@Phillip Vincent

Thanks for the help! It was great meeting you in Agoura Hills.

@Phillip Vincent

63031 in Florissant (not on the river)

@Justin S. I don't....they accepted another offer a day before I was able to submit mine. Mine is still in as a backup offer...we will see what happens. It just shows you how hot this market is. And this was a non-listed property.

@Andrew Hofing

Here's a copy and paste I wrote to that question from another thread....

So I used Loopnet Platinum for around 6 months before returning to the Premium account. Here is my review of the additional features for the Platinum user.

1. Sales Comps - The sales comp feature is rather worthless...it's no match to pulling straight from CoStar. I really don't need this as I can get the broker to do it for me based on my comp parameters.
2. Owner & Mortgage History - I can still get this information from time to time on my Loopnet Premium account...the information isn't always accurate especially the mortgage information. The mortgage information is never going to be very accurate with commercial (except for the initial loan or refi's) because commercial loans are not reported. Once again I found that I can pull the owner history from the County website and then verify through my broker's CoStar account or my title company.
3. Historical Sale & Lease Listing - This can be somewhat accurate and was an okay feature however due to the system glitch it still comes up from time to time on the Premium account. Overall this information is much more reliable from CoStar which I get from my broker.
4. Tenant History - Doesn't really apply on my end.
5. Market Trends & Analysis - I didn't really explore this feature much however from what I could tell it didn't really have any real value.
6. Unlimited REOs & Pre-foreclosures - The "new" unlisted pre-foreclosure & REO listings that they advertise are a joke. It's only added to this list if someone posts the deal and clicks the checkbox for these two items. I never saw a deal or really anything for that matter listed under this feature. The loopnet customer service people also had really no clue on the additional feature.

It definitely seems like CoStar is just maintaining Loopnet at this point vs. working on growing that side of the business. Overall Loopnet Platinum is NOT worth the money. Save your $50-60/month taking a broker out to lunch. It will be much more beneficial. Loopnet Premium still has value however more so in maintaining relationships with active brokers, keeping your finger on the pulse of the market, and by catching that rare foreclosure property (that gets 50 offers).

Five years ago I wrote down a huge list of all of my life goals both personally and professionally. I've been surprised with how many I have already reached but I still have a long way to go! Many of my long term goals revolve around Latin America. I studied abroad in college twice, first for 6 months in Central America and then for 3 months in Mexico. I've traveled throughout Latin America and love everything about it, from the culture and the language to the mountains and the beaches. I was lucky enough to visit Cuba in 2006 and completely fell in love with country. I plan on re-developing Havana once the country breaks away from the Castro regimen. I love the historic buildings and would love to do upscale hotels and apartments. I also have a goal to build language schools throughout Latin America with a cool twist for college students.

@Stephen Masek

In my opinion it's not worth the money on a two story building in the city with no visual structural issues.

I do have earthquake insurance on my St Louis buildings though.