All Forum Posts by: Patrick Murray

Loopnet is really good, especially the premium membership. I have recently started using Costar more. They do not offer a free membership, but they do have a better database of what is on the market. Catylist is another database with a free membership, but it does not receive as much traffic and listings as the other two.

lani35,

If you are looking for an agent in NC or SC, you should hire me of course :lol: . Otherwise, I would definitely hire a CCIM that is experienced in the type of property you are considering purchasing. I work in retail and office property, but there are others that focus just on apartment complexs, medical office buildings, drug stores, etc.

One of the benefits to owning a shopping center is that the typical retail lease will require the tenant to reimburse the owner for the common area maintenance, taxes, and insurance ("triple net lease"). The ability to do this can significantly boost your bottom line.

For tax and depreciation purposes, an apartment complex is not a commercial property. Residential and non-residential properties have different depreciable useful lifespans, 27.5 and 39 years respectively. However, because an apartment complex is an income producing asset, you should hire a commercial broker expirienced in this property type when buying or selling.

I will be in San Antonio next week; are there any restaurants you would recommend on the River Walk?

Try advertising on Realtor.org or any other site where agents go to frequently. Maybe speak to someone with the local realtor association.

If they are commercial properties, use Loopnet or CoStar. Those are the two best commercial databases. Loopnet will allow you to put some residential income properties on there as well.

I would appreciate everyones comments and critiques on my company's new website. It has been up and running for several months, but we've been making minor changes here and there. I am not quite satisfied yet with the content. Any suggestions are welcome. Thanks.
www.reitnc.com

I like to only use an appraiser that I have used in the past or one that has been recommended to me by someone I trust. But if the bank picks the appraiser as in many cases it won't matter.

I've used Vistaprint several times in the past. Their prices are good and they have a good product line.

How successful have you been with postcard campaigns? I've done this several times but not received many (if any) leads from them. Has anyone else had similar success rates?

I had been working on developing my company's website for a while and finally gave up on it earlier this year. I hired a local company to design and host the site. A professional looking website will leave an image of a professional company. Pay the extra bucks to have someone experienced make it. My website uses a program called Joomla which makes it very easy to edit and add content on your own.