Find the freight trains in your life and get on them instead of in front of them.- Barry Sternlicht Video via @Michael_MBA
Filed under: Commercial Real Estate, Multifamily Design & Development, Multifamily Investments, The Economy and Current Affairs
Great advice from Barry Sternlicht plus much, much more on real estate, investment, capital, leadership, opportunity, Europe, China while speaking at the Schack real estate conference. He is one very smart guy while being personable and humble, a rare but valuable combination. Reminds me a bit of my virtual mentor Tom Barrack, and not just because of the haircut! Barry even mentions wanting to learn how to surf, something Tom could definitely help with.
Here’s the link to the video: Barry Sternlicht at Schack RE Conference For more great video from the conference Read more
Seattle Apartment Building Investment Cycle peaking or just taking a breather?
Filed under: Commercial Real Estate, Multifamily Investments, The Economy and Current Affairs
In his Q4 report on the Seattle multifamily market ARA’s Jim Claeys says:
Vacancies and Concessions UP
Absorption and Rents DOWN
New Construction Pipeline UP 140% from year ago
Also Home and Condo Sales UP 41, 70% respectively
Sounds kind of like the cycle is moving to the next phase doesn’t it? See the whole article here: This may be a good time for developers to reassess their projections
Top 10 Tips for Acquiring Distressed Multifamily Properties
Filed under: Commercial Real Estate, Multifamily Investments
Nice article in MHN Online, good tips and reminders. There are still plenty of properties worth less than the debt, and there are more foreclosures to come. Most of the distressed multifamily properties are B, C and D class properties. These properties can provide great returns with cap rates from 8 percent to 12 percent on existing income, and in most cases have plenty of vacancy for even more upside.
My top two that apply to all properties distressed or otherwise:
Good management: Distressed B, C and D properties require experienced and diligent asset and property management. Your management team should be top notch. Your turnaround plan should be realistic and properly implemented.
Talented leasing staff: Your leasing team should be properly motivated and for lease marketing extremely thorough. You want a well-thought-out, multi-disciplined lease up plan to stabilize properties in this cycle.
See the article here: http://bit.ly/xW6fZp
Converting Cap Rates to Earnings Multiples
Filed under: Multifamily Investments, Value Investor's Guide to Apartment Buildings
Converting Cap Rates to Earnings Multiples
After a recent speaking engagement I was asked about how and why I use the earnings multiple concept when evaluating apartment investments. It was a great question and so I’m sharing my answer here in this blog post.
As a value investor two of the fundamental questions I always ask is what am I buying and how much do I have to pay for it. With an apartment investment (or really any investment) I am buying current income and the potential for appreciation so the second question comes down to “How many years of earnings do I have to pay for these returns?” The question can be answered by converting the cap rate to an earnings multiple. The Cap Rate is the return in current income on an apartment investment you could expect if you paid all cash. To convert a Cap Rate into a Earnings Multiple use the formula: Read more
Why are Cap Rate explanations so complicated?
Filed under: Multifamily Investments, Value Investor's Guide to Apartment Buildings
If you listen to any conversation about commercial real estate (CRE) within a minute the subject of cap rates will come up. Those who are just beginning to explore CRE are often thrown off by what one is and how it is calculated. A cap rate is really a simple thing that is often made overly complicated by the way it is explained. Let’s walk through what a cap rate is and then we’ll look at how they are used so that the next time the conversation turns to CRE you’ll be right there in sixty seconds when they get to cap rates.
A Capitalization Rate or Cap Rate for short is simply what you would earn on a property if you Read more
Why We Like Apartments- Owning them that is.
Filed under: Multifamily Investments, Value Investor's Guide to Apartment Buildings
Recently I’ve been working with several new clients who are conservative investors looking for better returns than CDs and Treasuries but aren’t interested in taking on the volatile market risk of stocks, bonds and derivatives. I was explaining why apartment investments make sense and there are quite a few reasons but the biggest one is how the math of an apartment building investment works. In this post I’d like to share that with you in case you’re also looking for conservative income producing investments with inflation protection and upside potential.
Here’s the numbers on a typical apartment investment:
In this example is a 100 unit building with 850 per month per unit average rents which is purchased with a down payment of 25% and a 30 year loan for the balance at 5.5% interest. Vacancy is 5% of Gross Potential Rent, expenses total 50% of Gross Operating Income and a cap rate of 7.5% is used. Today in some markets cap rates are higher (buildings less expensive) and in a few others cap rates are lower (buildings more expensive).
Apartment Buildings are valued on the income they produce. (This post is about properties larger than 4 units, smaller properties are valued more similarly to single family homes.) There are several ways to calculate the value based on the income but the most common is the capitalization rate, or cap rate for short. The cap rate is the percent of the property value that the Net Operating Income (NOI) represents: Read more
Top Ten Reasons To Own Apartments Now
Filed under: Multifamily Investments, Value Investor's Guide to Apartment Buildings
I believe that apartment building investment should be a core holding for every successful conservative investor. Briefly here are the top ten reasons for low risk investors:
1. Monthly Income. Properly acquired apartments generate monthly checks in 6-8% or higher annual cash on cash returns.
2. Straight forward, conservative investment strategy. Buying existing apartment buildings with good due diligence means that you know what you’re getting going into the investment. Apartments are not subject to sudden changes in investor sentiment and/or valuations.
3. The numbers determine the value. Apartments are valued based on rents less expenses (Net Operating Income) and increases in rents can go straight to the bottom line increasing the value.
4. Inflation protection. Rents rise with inflation and with 12 month leases every year there is the opportunity to adjust rates. With fixed rate financing your income goes up while your biggest cost stays the same. Read more
It’s painful, it’s ugly, it’s what a real estate bottom feels like.
Filed under: Multifamily Investments, The Economy and Current Affairs, Value Investor's Guide to Apartment Buildings
Does the market feel like you are in the opening sequence from Terminator II? Are you fighting amidst the wreckage of the previous boom? Surrounded by foreclosures, scarce money, economic gloom and doom? Real estate going into nuclear winter? That’s what market bottoms feel like and as investors we need to get comfortable with that feeling because this is our time to make solid, reasoned investments that produce good results on improving fundamentals. Conditions like this create the opportunities for savvy investors who were patient through the bubble and have waited for the speculative, greater fool market to come to its inevitable end.
Many great real estate investors got their start in rough times like Sam Zell of Equity Residential for instance. He started out buying properties from distressed owners in the late sixties. Tom Barrack of Colony Capital waded through the carnage of the S&L meltdown to buy properties at a discount. Barry Sternlicht of Starwood Capital also started in the wake of the S&L crisis buying multifamily properties. What will your story be? It’s time get to work and seize the opportunities. Put on your hardhat though because it’s about to start raining real estate, and while not every distressed property is worth pursuing if you stick to your niche and learn your market good deals will surface. Read more
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