Here are examples of small industrial units that were recently taken back by their lenders. They show exceptional value for either an owner/user or an investor looking to acquire small industrial units.

This photo is of 2 adjacent condo units on Dupont Circle, Ventura. Each are about 1,200 square feet, have an  office in front with warehouse in back. Currently, the front offices are open to each other but could easily be put back into individual offices. The opening bid for the pair at auction was $240,000 but there were no bidders so the units reverted back to the lender. Comparable units in the area have been selling for $170,000. Read the rest of this article »

Representing the buyers, Don recently closed a 7.5 acre industrial site in Santa Paula that was owned by First California Bank. He was instrumental in locating the bank owned property, finding the buyers and negotiating the transaction.

Here is a partial list of commercial properties that have become REO (Real Estate Owned) properties within the past couple of months or so. Each transaction is different, but ultimately the lender will want to sell the asset. If you are looking to buy commercial property, either as an investor or owner/user, call me.  To see other new REO properties, click and read the rest of this article.

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The downturn has produced an unprecedented number of foreclosed commercial properties in Ventura County covering all asset types from hospitality to industrial and office condos. Investors looking for value are taking advantage of higher capitalization rates, and business owners are finding that substantially lower acquisition price points (combined with low SBA financing rates) are making ownership vs. leasing a smart financial option. Here are a sampling of specific properties in various asset classes that have reverted back to their lender this year:

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Who reads and tracks our blog? The Ventura County Star! The statistics and other info we publish is one source they use in tracking our local real estate market.  Read the article in todays paper about “flippers” – investors who buy houses, fix them up and sell them for a profit.  A reporter from the Ventura County Star, Stephanie Hoops, wanted to know what’s happening in our local market and interviewed Don Nelson.

I had the opportunity to spend two full days in the classroom this week up in San Jose studying investment analysis, specifically geared to commercial real estate. Internal rates of return (IRR), uneven cash flows, cap rates, interest rates, discounted cash flows, analytical tools – good stuff! We even had home work at night! We only covered enough in class so we could complete a case study of a mythical office building once we got back home.

I enjoy going to conferences, seminars and the like. Besides learning new skills and brushing up on the old, these interactions with other attendees often end up with me getting one of those “ah hah!” light bulb going off moments. Now if I could only convince Leslie to send me off on one of these things more often…!

Don recently closed on this 40,000 plus square foot office building in Camarillo. He represented the buyers in tracking this property through foreclosure and negotiating the sale with the lender. While much has been written about the housing crisis over the past 2 years or so, commercial real estate is beginning to be hit by the same pressures of falling values and lack of financing. Commercial properties were commonly financed through the CMBS (Commercial Mortgage Backed Securities) market, but that marketplace has essentially been frozen since our near financial meltdown in late 2008. This financial pressure on commercial properties, however, brings excellent opportunities for institutional and/or commercial investors. Interested in this arena of investment possibilities? Give Don a call to find out more.

A couple weeks ago I wrote a post (see “Investors and buying opportunities in a down market”) about investors looking to acquire commercial and multi-family properties in this market.

We’ll have a casual working lunch in our office on Thursday, October 22 from 11:30 to 1 p.m. as I discuss how investors are taking advantage of disruptions in the marketplace to acquire assets for their portfolios and the pros and cons of various strategies investors are using.

Interested? Please email or call Leslie to RSVP so we get a head count for lunch.

Savvy investors with the financial wherewithal are taking long hard looks at commercial properties that are either in foreclosure or have already gone to sale. The “vulture capitalists” are swarming! They’re taking advantage of the plunge in values from our current economic crisis.

So how are investors finding the deals? Read the rest of this article »

It’s late Friday afternoon (yesterday) and I’m clearing out old paperwork that inevitably stacks up on the counter behind my desk, when I stumble upon a ripped out page from an auction catalog from earlier this year. Wow – look at those great deals!

I’d been curious last March to see what the ultimate results would be from those “great deals” so I’d ripped out the page and promised myself that someday I’d check out the final bid prices to see what really transpired on each home.

I’d circled the bid items for our local towns in Hueneme, Ventura, Camarillo and Oxnard – what did I discover yesterday on those homes?

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