We have been growing our portfolio of investment homes since 2005. We enjoy helping our clients to find properties to add to their portfolio as well. The market is tighter than ever and good rental homes are a bit harder to find. You have to be prepared to do some major rehab (HGTV style) in order to get the value that you need to make a "good sense" real estate deal. We ran across this article recently that is a good introduction to what you need to think about in order to be successful on your first rental property. Here is the link:
https://www.bankrate.com/mortgages/refinancing/how-to-establish-a-rental-property/ 
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If you decide that you would like to start investing in rental property we would love to sit down with you and tell you the in's and the out's and help you put a plan together. Give us a call! 

Recently we were asked to help out a potential client with their lease. After a bit of investigation, we found out that their current lease was up in four short months. YIKES. 
The lead time in commercial real estate is somewhere between seven months to a full year if you are looking for a smaller location. If the location that you seek is greater than say 12,000 square feet, you need to really have up to a year or more to complete the deal.
Why you might ask? There are many steps to the process of moving your business. But here is our thought process of the order of operations:

• Due diligence - searching for possible locations can be a long process
• Negotiations - we find that many times depending on what the landlord is looking for, these negotiations can take a while. We need time to communicate effectively what exactly you are looking for, a "meeting of the minds" is a process, not an event. 
• Find the appropriate Design team to plan your new space.
• Get bids on the construction (tenant improvements). 
• Get construction permits and complete the improvements.

We need time to get all of this worked out in order to minimize your out of pocket expenses. If you plan ahead you and give your company a reasonable lead time, you will be able to save money in the long run without having to pay rent in two places. (ouch). 

If you or someone you know is looking to move their business in the future (hopefully 7 to 12 to 18 months from now), send them our way. We would love the referral. 

Here is a summary of our preliminary advice during a recent consultation with one of our investors. This investor wanted to move into commercial property and was specifically targeting a retail deal.

1. Go to the bank NOW – get qualified to purchase a commercial property. Give your banker the parameters of the deal(s) that you may be considering. Do this BEFORE you find the perfect deal. This way you know what you need to do to qualify and what loan programs you may be looking at. Commercial loans are very different.
2. Get Educated about realistic funds needed on the upstart of your retail deal. You will need funds to properly tenant your property in the form of tenant improvements, lease fees and retention in addition to normal loan acquisition costs. Be prepared.
3. Learn how to analyze existing lease structures – When you inherit mom and pop leases that were printed from the internet, you will have hidden pitfalls in the lease language that can break the deal. DIY internet leases will cost you the deal, beware. (see our blog, “All in the Clause” for a few more pointers here).
4. Get to know the physical property Inside and Out - Don’t think you are saving money by skipping thorough professional inspections. What inspections can tease out, you can take care of “in the deal” now.
5. Be ready with a management plan – Understand what costs you will incur. You truly get what you pay for in most cases. Negotiating a management fee right out of the gate when there is much work to be done is in your best interests. If you leave a short window in which to procure management then you have lost out on having a professional team behind you to help with all of the important decisions prior to purchase. Also, that team can make the difference in your negotiations and likely save you money on the front side. 
6. Use a professional to assist you – in acquisition and management enough said!

It's easy to make a few mistakes when you hire contractors for your special projects, but boy those mistakes can cost you time and money, especially when your business is on the line. We thought this was some very good advice on hiring contractors. We like to track all changes that are made and make 100% sure that they are included in the contract. You just don't want to get into a "he said, she said" situation, that will lead to communication break down. Enjoy!