Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Commercial Real Estate In Castro Valley California

Planning on investing? If so, you have several options. One of these options is to invest in commercial properties. There are several ways you can invest in commercial properties. If you have your own business you can buy more office space than you need, and lease out what you don’t use. Or, even if you don’t have a business of your own, you can purchase an office building (they come in all sizes) and lease out the office space, or build a strip mall or office and lease out the space.

Finding the property:
Finding commercial properties may be easy. Finding the best commercial property may not be so easy. If you have no experience in buying commercial real estate you will want to study and learn as much as you can (since you are reading this you are headed in the right direction). But, reading and learning doesn’t give you the experience of someone who has purchased a lot of commercial property. To be on the safe side, you may want to hire, or at least consult, a real estate agent. They will be able to help you find the most profitable property.

Inspecting the property:
If you are buying commercial property, make sure you have it inspected before you sign any paperwork. It is a good idea to hire someone who is experienced in inspecting commercial properties. It is better to find out what problems exist before you purchase, rather than blaming the company you are leasing the property out to.

Appraising the property:
With any type of commercial property you will want to have it appraised. If you pay too much for the property you will have to charge more rent than those you will be competing with that did not overpay, causing you to lose business leasers.

Writing the contract:
Have a written contract—no matter what! If you don’t feel qualified to write out a contract you can either hire an attorney or there are several sites on the Internet where copies of contracts are available for a minimal fee or for free. If you are writing the contract, there are several items that you should include in the contract. These include, but are not limited to, the following:

How long the lease will be
Whether there is any equipment included with the property (sheds, fork lifts, shelves, etc.)
A detailed description of the land, the building, or both if the lease includes both. This includes any problems with the building and the name of who is required to fix it.
Who will be paying the power, water, gas, taxes, and other bills.
How much the property sold for, and (this is important) the payment agreements. Include with this the amount to be paid and the date the amount is to be paid.
The signatures of both persons involved in the transaction.
Make sure that the amount you are charging for rent is going to make you money. If you are paying for taxes and utilities, include this in the rent price.

Monday, December 25, 2006

Commercial Real Estate: Assessing The Unique Features Of Commercial Real Estate Parcels

As commercial existent estate development comes on into the 21st century, many of the rules upon which the market was founded stay the same. Whether you are a property owner, developer, or commercial existent estate agent, identifying and marketing the alone characteristics of your commercial property will maximise the attractiveness of the land land site to prospective buyers or tenants.

Depending on the highest and best utilize for the property, you may be able to attract a broad spectrum of possible buyers to your site. In improver to rudiments such as as terms or zoning, experienced buyers – local or national – volition see respective key factors of each possible site, including:

• Location and visibility

• Any existing physical improvements on the site

• Average day-to-day traffic count, or ADTC

• Site access

• Utility availability

• Environmental status of the property

• Any existing or planned encompassing commerce

Let’s research some of the primary characteristics of commercial land, and how each is interpreted by buyers.

Location, Location, Location

Because existent estate is finite, location is a cardinal consideration in the purchase determination expression for buyers. Unless a property is undevelopable, each land site have alone benefits that volition ran into the needs of a buyer seeking a peculiar criteria. Increasing the number of possible buyers is dependent on attempts to recognize and market the full value of a parcel’s location.

Location not only encompasses city and state, but also variables such as as traffic arterias and surrounding commerce. Research neighbour packages to learn what kind of future commerce, residential communities, or roadways are planned for development.

Aerial photographs are a great manner to show window a site’s potential. Google’s free artificial satellite correspondence service supplies detailed aerial images for most of the United States. To see your property, visit: http://maps.google.com.

Existing Physical Improvements

Contrary to popular belief, existing physical constructions on a package may impede a property’s value, as opposing to increasing it. If a land land site have exceeding location, access, and traffic, but includes a functionally obsolescent structure, the cost of razing the construction will be a primary consideration for any prospective buyer.

If your property includes an outdated or deteriorating structure, see razing the construction before marketing the site. Incorporating this disbursal into the request terms is oftentimes easier and more than profitable than deducting it from the terms during dialogues with the buyer.

Average Daily Traffic Count (ADTC)

The amount of day-to-day traffic traveling on nearby roadways can be an first-class merchandising point for even the most hard properties. Many counties keep Average Daily Traffic Counts (ADTC) records for major roadways. If the property is located near or next to an intersection, get the ADTC for both roads. Prospective buyers will appreciate these figs being readily available in the site’s marketing materials.

ADTC is a important factor particularly for national entities, such as as quick- and full-service restaurants, gas/convenience stores, hotels, and other physical things that depend heavily on day-to-day traffic patterns to pull patrons.

Site Access Options

Site access – that is, legally permissible access to the land site from nearby roadways – tin do or interruption a transaction. Even the best land land site can go a lemon, depending on access limitations.

Generally speaking, there are two types of access to a site. The first is “full” access, for oncoming traffic from both directions. Depending on a roadway’s existing configuration, this may necessitate the installment of acceleration/deceleration lanes, blisters, or traffic signals.

The second (and less favorable) option is “right in, right out” access, which restricts vehicle access to right turns from a single lane of traffic. Because right in, right out bounds the site’s access to a single direction, depending on the ADTC of the affected lane, this may restrict the interest of certain buyers.

If a land site have possible for broader access options, the property proprietor may desire to see requesting a alteration from the applicable municipality. Performing this legwork before placing the land land site on the market will significantly increase possible for realizing the full request price.

Utility Availability

Although still common pattern in many areas, places that use well and septic systems are regarded as secondary land sites in comparison to those with modern public utility infrastructure.

The cost of bringing public utilities to a site may be a important factor to some buyers. If possible, property proprietors should see having electric, water, and sewage improvements brought to the land site before marketing the property. Again, such as a preparative measurement can optimize statuses for realizing the site’s full request price.

Environmental Concerns

With a rapidly growing number of possible environmental issues, buyers have got increasingly made environmental land site appraisals a contingency in their purchase agreements. This is a must in transactions involving places prostrate to environmental issues, such as as aging gas/convenience stores, as well as packages next to these entities.

The disbursal of an environmental appraisal can be deserving its weight in gold. A marketer can be held apt for undetected environmental property defects, even after a transaction is consummated. The cardinal to a successful transaction is full disclosure.

If it is determined your property have environmental issues, such as a status makes not do the land site broadly undesirable. The cost of clean-up can be integrated into the request price, made the duty of the buyer, or even shared between both buyer and seller. Other unrelated factors, such as as location or ADTC, may outweigh negative facets of the property.

Surrounding Commerce

Surrounding commercialism can play a important function in the hereafter of any property. Even if physical constructions have got got yet to be developed, knowing the programs for nearby packages can assist determine the highest and best utilize of your property.

If your land site is located within an expansive commercial district, you’ll have small trouble in identifying encompassing commercialism to determine possible usages for your property. Conversely, if the land site is located in an country gradually shifting from residential to commercial use, or a piece of land of vacant land with minimum encompassing commerce, it will be necessary to talk with other property proprietors as well as the county tax assessor to determine future development programs for next properties.

Becoming familiar with the alone characteristics of your commercial property is the best manner to accomplish a upper limit ROI on your investment. A competent commercial existent estate agent will have got to accomplishments and resources necessary to assist property proprietors research these of import facets of their property.

Monday, December 18, 2006

Bridging Loan Basics

A Bridging Loan is a short-term loan used as a way to provide funding for the purchase of a new property while the borrower awaits the sale of an existing property. Unless all the stars are in perfect alignment, it’s tricky to coordinate the sale of one property and the purchase of another property in such a way that the transactions occur simultaneously.

A Bridging Loan or “Bridging Finance” as it is also commonly known, makes such transactions possible. They keep the borrower from getting stuck in a rough financial corner, which typically means being forced to pay two mortgages at the same time. Bridging Loans can be used either for commercial or personal reasons.

Short term in nature, the application process for a Bridging Loan is similar to that of a standard loan. Most importantly, it’s advisable to work with a lender that is experienced with this type of loan. Plus, as the need for a Bridging Loan often arises with little advance notice, being pre-approved for such a loan is a smart move.

Bridging Loans are usually interest only meaning that the borrower pays only the interest on the loan each month. The borrower continues with this repayment plan until the property the loan is being used for is sold. When the sale finally does occur, the proceeds of that sale are used to repay the principal. The principal payment typically is in the form of a one-time, lump-sum payment.

The lender need not be too concerned about default because the borrower is required to put up collateral to secure the loan. This is typically in the form of another piece of property. But rest assured the lender will still thoroughly review the credit history of the applicant, the business and any partners or others with an ownership interest to assess the level of risk it is undertaking. Poor credit however need not be an obstacle.

The interest rate on a Bridging Loan is based on several key factors: the potential risk associated with the loan, the current interest rates and a premium added by the lender. As Bridging Loans are short-term, generally not longer than two years, and in most cases only a metter of months, the lender has only a short time to make a profit on the deal. The profit is derived from the interest rate.

Expect to pay a higher rate of interest for a Bridging Loan. And remember, the monthly payments are generally interest only. You should also expect to pay off the Bridging Loan in full, usually as a one time payment, as soon as the property is sold.

In the off chance that the property is not sold before the Bridging Loan matures, it can usually be converted to a conventional loan without a payment penalty. But as ever you should not assume this is the case and be sure to check with your lender that this is an option if circumstances call for it.

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

Condo Conversions

The past few years has seen a boom in condo conversions, which allows buyers to generate cash-on-cash returns within a short period of time. This, in turn, allows prior apartment owners to cash out at the top of the market.

The condo conversion craze began with the low interest rate affliction that was crippling apartment fundamentals. Condo developers were willing to pay a premium to buy and turn rental properties into condos.

The cash-on-cash returns that successful condo sales can generate are between 15% and 30% or more in a matter of months. Another benefit seen from condo conversions is the creation of more affordable housing in areas famous for steep single-family home prices.

Condo conversions can be a double edge sword, however, as conversions likely will hurt most rental markets. While condo conversions benefit multifamily owners by shrinking the supply of apartments, condo buyers are typically renters, so conversions won't necessarily lead to a jump in occupancy rates. In fact, some conversions directly compete with apartments because they end up as rentals. Also, many renters currently living in an apartment when it is bought and turned into a condo cannot afford the price of the condo. They are left searching for a new place to live. If they can afford to stay and choose to buy the condo, they are most often offered a much cheaper price than outside buyers.

Despite any controversy that condo conversions have created in the real estate market, it is still a smart, beneficial way to invest in real estate.

To learn more about condo conversion loans, visit Security National Capital at www.sncloans.com.

Sunday, December 03, 2006

Why Commercial Real Estate is the Hottest Retirement Asset

For small business owners, commercial existent estate investing is the hottest new retirement asset. If your head have already jumped to “REITs” — Oregon shares in Real Number Estate Investing Trusts — think again. I’m referring to the ownership of the commercial installations small business proprietors currently lease, or new commercial installations they can purchase or develop.

Small business proprietors can give thanks the U.S. Small Business Administration for this rather significant opportunity.

The SBA patrons a forte lending programme designed to help successful small business proprietors who desire to get or develop their ain facilities. The SBA did not plan the programme as a vehicle for creating superior retirement assets, but it doesn’t take a financial genius to link the points — and the business proprietors who have got done so already are profiting enormously from their decision.

It’s called the SBA 504 programme and it’s been around, though not well promoted, for nearly twenty years. If a banker failed to advert it as an alternative, don’t be too dismayed. Traditional lending establishments prefer conventional financial instruments because they offer traditional lending establishments greater net income margins. The SBA 504 programme is clearly intended to profit small business owners, not necessarily the financial community.

Here’s what SBA 504 loans offer qualified small business owners: below market fixed interest rates, longer terms and with a cash investing as low as 10 percent of the sum undertaking cost. Typically, small business proprietors can reduce existent estate disbursals by up to 40 percent while edifice an plus that benefits them long after they’ve sold or shuttered their business. As an investment, this type of funding offers the highest cash-on-cash tax return available for commercial existent estate, which intends not only makes their capital work harder for them, but they maintain more than of it to turn their business too. You can’t happen a traditional lending merchandise that tin beat out this.

Next to home ownership, being your ain foreman is the number 1 American Dream. That’s wherefore most small business proprietors started (or acquired) their ain business. And their success is almost entirely dependent on their drive, ambition, invention and attention to detail. Eventually, however, they’ll sell their business or travel through it along to their children or close it down (very few small businesses go public). With SBA 504 financing, they can turn that drive and aspiration into another long-term asset that offers contiguous and of import tax advantages, as well as brands great sense for long-term financial planning.

It’s important to take an advanced attack to commercial existent estate ownership. For most clients, it is good to set up a separate existent estate retention company to have got got got the existent estate plus — it separates their operating company – the 1 they may eventually sell or go through on to their children — from this new and of import existent estate asset.

The consequence is that, in 10 old age or 25, when a small business proprietor sells their business or gift it to their children or shutters it, the existent estate plus will reserve of import appreciated value in a separate retention company.

They will also have been paying themselves lease instead of some faceless landlord, effectively growing their existent estate asset, edifice their equity and benefiting from the tax advantages all at the same time.

And once they sell their business, they’ll still have an income-generating plus that is one of the soundest long-term investments anyone can make.

Small business proprietors can go on to be landlords in their retirement, or they can sell the plus — typically at a rather significantly appreciated value.

Even if they gift the business to their children, the new proprietors will have to go on paying rent. Who would do a better landlord their children than themselves?

The value of the SBA 504 lending programme is clear. Most business proprietors that are educated about this financial planning strategy follow it.

For successful small business owners, this is almost a no-brainer. If they haven’t already done so, it’s clip to halt paying rent to person else and see owning for all the right reasons.

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