Seller Financing of Commercial Property in Tampa Florida

Liberty Mills
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As the commercial real estate market softens there are many that argue that it is better to lease rather than purchase a commercial property and let the property owner have the headache of management. This argument may be or may not be right. The situation is always specific to the property and the circumstances of the Buyer/Tenant.

In the long run, if the property is purchased correctly and the Buyer’s circumstances warrant it , it is still better to own real estate rather than lease. With ownership you get tax benefits such as interest deduction and depreciation which reduce your after tax cost. Also, you each month you pay down some of the debt and build equity. The property should also appreciate and keep pace with inflation. Ownership creates wealth in the long term.

In these uncertain times, lack of financing in the financial markets hurts Buyers because they can’t obtain financing to purchase a property. But it also hurts Sellers. The Sellers do want to sell, a lot of them use online sites to promote their properties, sites like houseofcashin.com. Sellers have all kinds of reasons for wanting to sell.  It may not always be about the Seller maximizing the cash at closing; they just may no longer want the responsibility of ownership. However, the Seller won’t be able to sell if  Buyers are unable to obtain financing. If you find a property that the Seller owns free and clear, or has paid down a good portion of the debt, ask the Seller to help with financing. It is simpler to do Seller financing without a bank involvement, but even if the Seller helps with only a portion of seller financing, it helps the Buyer a great deal, I was able to Sell My House to Smith pretty fast thanks to their site.
For instance, one of my sellers has a free standing building for sale. The price is $800,000. If the Buyer obtains only bank financing, the bank will require the Buyer to put down 25% , or $200,000 as a down-payment and a bank loan will be $600,000 (75%) which is why they should contact forbrukslån for financing help as well. In the case of this building, the Seller is willing to finance $200,000. This means that at closing the Buyer is required to give the Seller $600,000 instead of $800,000. The Bank may still require the Buyer to put down 25% of $600,000 loan or $150,000. The purchase price remains at $800,000 and is broken down as follows:
• A Bank loan of         $450,000
• Seller Financing of $200,000
• Buyer payment of $150,000

Because of the seller financing, the bank is lending only $450,000 on a building that is worth $800,000. The Bank is in first position and feels more secure because they are well protected should the Buyer default. Therefore the Bank is more likely to lend.

The Buyer comes out ahead because he puts down less money ($150,000 vs $200,000) and obtains more financing dollars, so the Buyer has more working capital. The Seller wins also because he can sell the property and have an income stream. It is true that the Sellers are in second position to the Bank, so it is very important  that the Seller who offers financing should do due diligence on the Buyer and feel comfortable with the Buyers business plans for his property.   It is not fair for only the Seller to have some risk. The Buyer should understand that the Seller is entitled to ask for a substantial downpayment. If not, it is easy for a Buyer to abandon a property in which he has only a minimal investment. The Seller conceivably runs the risk of having to foreclose on damaged property, therefore the Buyer should also understand if the Seller requires certain insurance standards to be adhered to like prior DMP advice or a previous DAS agreement.

There are other advantages. Seller financing  has the advantage in reducing the closing costs for both  Buyer and the Seller. The interest paid on the note from the Buyer may be substantially higher than the yield the Seller can obtain by investing the proceeds, which is an advantage to the Seller. A disadvantage for the Buyer is that he will not be able to take a future loan on the property which he may be able do with a conventional property Although Wylie holds its own in terms of job prospects, its proximity to major commercial developments and areas of employment such as both the outlying office buildings of the Dallas and Fort Worth central business districts help make Wylie an incredibly attractive residental location.

I have other properties for sale such as an office building in Tampa and a Retail property for sale in Brandon. Both these Sellers are willing to sell with seller financing. Sellers such as these, who are willing to finance, will facilitate a transaction. Don’t be shy. If you find a property that  fits your needs and financing may be an issue, ask the Seller if they will offer seller-financing. The worst that can happen is that the Seller can cay no. They may just surprise you and say yes. But if they indeed say no, you can still finance with middle man who is willing to help you out. A few years back I used Shoreline Financial Services and they were fantastic. It’s important to be creative in these times of economic uncertainly and restrictive credit from Lenders. Seller financing is a useful tool in your toolbox to help you purchase a commercial property, or you can simply use houseofcashin.com to sell as many properties as you desire.

The purpose of this blog is to share information on questions that I have answered or information I have given to my commercial real estate clients in the Tampa Bay, FL area. I hope that others may find the information useful.

Steven Silverman, CCIM is the broker at Tampa Commercial Real Estate, a commercial real estate brokerage firm based in Tampa, FL. Please contact us if you are looking to purchase, sell or lease commercial property in the Tampa Bay area.

email: Steven@TampaCommercialRealEstate.com.

WebSite: www.TampaCommercialRealestate.com

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Importance of Measuring SF when Leasing or Purchasing Commercial Real Estate

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The area or square footage of the property is a major determinant of the value attributed to the asset. Lease rates and sales prices are often determined by the square footage. Yet few participants in the transaction ever verify the properties actual square footage. There are often errors regarding the total square feet in the space being leased or purchased.   Prior tenants may have shifted walls many times and the Landords records may not be current. Often, the square footage quoted by the Landlord or reflected in County records, floor plans or Tax records is accepted as gospel. Property Appraiser records and Tax records were never meant to be used in this manner.

The problem is further compounded by having different measurement standards. Different people measuring will obtain different results. Often a lease will specify the square footage, but does not specify which measuring standards to use. A small difference in square footage can make a difference of thousands of dollars. Sometimes tenants are overcharged. Very often, the owner does not charge enough

Then new BOMA/ANSI made significant changes in the manner of measuring an office building compared to the earlier versions: Under this version the structure is measured and evaluated as a whole as opposed to floor by floor classification. Such classification allows for a better comparison between the office structures, many of which have elaborate common area configurations,

Under BOMA standards, uniform guidelines are established for measuring interior space. BOMA takes into consideration the following areas when calculating the total square feet:
• Useable area (space being occupied by the tenant)
• Floor Common Area on the tenants floor
• Building Common Area
• Accounting for walls and the width of walls is clarified by BOMA.

First the tenants useable area is measured. The useable area on each floor is then increased to support the tenant share of the common area on their floor. A typical amount for floor common area is a range of 8-18% depending on the configuration of the floor That figure is again increased by the tenant’s proportionate share of the building common areas. These areas include main floor lobbies, storage rooms and building service rooms, all of which where not included in the rentable areas when using the previous methods

This Site gives a good definitions of the BOMA concepts: http://www.officefinder.com/boma.html

The BOMA standards were created to apply to office buildings only. Although the basic concepts are often implemented into leases of other building types, the standard does not recognize them.

Retail and industrial buildings are most often measured from the outside face of exterior walls and the center of demising walls, with no increase or gross-up factors for common areas.
Government and residential buildings can vary from this as well. The methods of measurement are unlimited to whatever any one lease may stipulate.

Make sure that your lease specifies which measurement standard to use. For instance BOMA. Services are available to verify the actual square footage using the latest BOMA standards. There is a cost to this, but it may be well worth it if you feel that you are getting the short end of the stick.

ANSI/BOMA Standard, which has become the de-facto standard for the measurement of commercial office and retail space. (NOTE: BOMA and ANSI are currently in the process of incorporating industrial space into this Standard as well.)

The ANSI/BOMA Standard lays out a fairly rigid set of guidelines and definitions, clearly defining such things as common areas, vertical penetrations, usable and rentable areas. Probably the most confusing aspect of the Standard is “where to draw the lease lines”. There are many factors which have to be taken into consideration when deciding whether a lease boundary goes to the inside of a wall, the outside, the center-line, or to the glass. As well, common areas must be distinguished between “Floor Common” (for the benefit of tenants on that floor only), or “Building Common” (for the benefit of all tenants in the building).

This differentiation also affects where the lease lines are drawn, and the resulting areas. Calculating a lease to the wrong side of a wall can dramatically affect not only that tenant, but an entire building when dealing with Building Common Area.

Having buildings measured to ANSI/BOMA Standards makes sense in many ways:

First, it facilitates the comparison of your building with others, as it is the industry-wide standard on which rents are based.

Second, the latest ANSI/BOMA Standard (1996) represents a major change from previous versions, and results in the ability to capture many areas previously not considered as part of Rentable space, in particular large building common areas such as ground-floor lobbies, mechanical rooms, storage facilities, exercise rooms, etc. In most cases, the increase in Rentable area upon resurvey to the latest ANSI/BOMA Standard more than offsets the cost of the survey and plans. And as an added benefit, when using the AccuMeasure system, you end up with a great-looking set of As-Built drawings for each floor!

The new Edition includes very significant changes in a way the measuring office building compared to the earlier versions: structure is measured and evaluated as a whole as opposed to floor by floor classification. Such classification allows for a better comparison between the office structures, many of which have elaborate common area configurations, which have not been classified using earlier BOMA standards.

The most significant change in the 1996 method includes the inclusion of building common areas in each tenant’s rentable area. These areas include such locations as main floor lobbies, electrical and mechanical rooms, service rooms, etc. – none of these were included in the rentable areas in prior BOMA Standards.

The purpose of this blog is to share information on questions that I have answered or given to  my commercail real estate clients  in the Tampa Bay, FL area. I hope that others may find the information useful.

Steven Silverman, CCIM is the broker at Tampa Commercial Real Estate, a commercial real estate brokerage firm based in Tampa, FL. Please contact us if you are looking to purchase, sell or lease commercial property in the Tampa Bay area.

email: Steven@TampaCommercialRealEstate.com.

WebSite: www.TampaCommercialRealestate.com

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