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October 28, 2020 by nvh2

What Are the Benefits of Commercial Real Estate?

There are a lot of different options for people who want to get involved in real estate investing. Residential real estate is what commonly comes to mind, but that’s not all you can invest in. There are also opportunities in raw land, industrial real estate, and commercial real estate. While more difficult to break into than residential real estate, there are some benefits to getting into commercial real estate.

Greater Return

Commercial real estate has the potential to net its investors much greater returns than other types of real estate. Commercial properties are usually bigger than residential properties. Coupled with the tendency for commercial properties to be divided into different segments that can be rented to multiple entities, thus diversifying your risk, the amount of income generated is usually greater. What you can charge to rent your property will depend in part on the property value. This will have an impact on your rate of return, though there are other things you can do to boost your returns.

Additional Financing Options

One of the most common barriers to breaking into commercial real estate is how much more expensive the properties are to purchase. Fortunately for those getting into it, additional financing options are available that wouldn’t be options for residential investments. Commercial properties qualify for SBA loans, including 504 and 7a loans. In order for borrowers to qualify for SBA loans, they must meet requirements based on a few factors. These include the size of their business, the type of business, their credit background, and the business’s financial situation. Additionally, you’ll need to have some form of collateral, a 10% down payment, and a personal guarantee from anyone who owns at least 20% of the business.

Greater Income Stability

Income stability can be a major concern for real estate investors. After all, if you don’t have tenants paying rent, you still have to pay your mortgage and other expenses. Fortunately for commercial real estate investors, this type of real estate investing tends to offer greater income stability. More tenants in your property means that you are less impacted by losing one. Make sure you do your part to find the right tenants for your property to further increase your income stability.

Commercial real estate offers multiple benefits to investors. It offers the potential for greater returns, additional financing options, and greater income stability. If you have the resources and capital to get started in this type of real estate investing, it’s definitely worth your consideration.

Photo by Scott Graham on Unsplash

Ready to break into commercial real estate investing? Give us a call at 804-464-3898 and take a look at the properties we have for sale!

August 26, 2020 by nvh2

Why Now is the Time to Make a Move on Commercial Real Estate

Commercial Real Estate in Richmond Virginia

Photo by Derrick Brooks on Unsplash

With the coronavirus pandemic sweeping the world, many businesses have shut down, leaving many vacancies in commercial real estate. Now is the perfect time to make a move in commercial real estate because prices are down, interest rates are lower and there is an excess supply of buildings. If you play your cards right, you could be successful in the commercial real estate industry after the pandemic crisis has abated.

Lower Interest Rates

Because of the pandemic and the current recession, commercial real estate properties have a lower interest rate than normal. The interest rate has reached incredibly low proportions, meaning that you don’t have to worry about paying a lot of money in interest overtime for your properties. You can buy many properties, most likely more than you otherwise would have, though you should still be wise with your purchasing power. While you will still need to keep an eye on making the numbers work during the pandemic, the lower interest rate could prove to be incredibly beneficial to buying commercial real estate.

More Supply

With many businesses permanently closing, commercial real estate there are deals to be had. These closures have left a supply in commercial real estate. With reopening delays and shifting customer demand, many businesses will not be able to last if they don’t make the right moves — resulting in vacancies and those properties becoming available for purchase. A high number of businesses are likely to close their doors forever because of the pandemic, meaning that there is a surplus of commercial real estate buildings. You can purchase these buildings now to make a profit later when more people are looking to buy commercial properties again.

Affordable

Because of the low interest rates and the increased supply of commercial real estate properties, these properties have become more affordable than they have in a long time. Because of their affordability, now is the perfect time to invest in commercial real estate. If you have the means to do so, you can buy up properties for cheaper prices than they would have been pre-COVID-19. Buying now could be incredibly beneficial in your future if the demand for business properties once again increases.

While you may not think now is the best time to look into commercial real estate properties due to the pandemic, it is actually a great time to look into commercial real estate properties because of their affordability, the increased supply, and the low interest rates.

Ready to make a move on commercial real estate? Find your next property investment in our listings!

August 17, 2020 by nvh2

How to Protect Your Commercial Property During a Harsh Winter

Photo by Ramiz Dedaković on Unsplash

Snowflakes dance and twitter as they fall from the sky, but when they pile up on a roof, they can cause

long-lasting damage. Snow is heavy, and with the dancing snowflakes comes the bitter cold that seeps into the bones, and the interior workings of buildings and concrete. Cold and snow can be damaging to property, which is why you should know how to protect your commercial property to survive a harsh winter.

Winterize Your Roof

Your roof is an important factor to keeping your building safe and secure. If there are leaks, the winter storms can cause heavy damage to your roof come spring. It’s important to make sure that there are no places where the roof can leak, which requires an inspection. Most roof inspections are done in the fall, to assess how the winter will affect the roof and prevent damage, and in the spring to assess what to do to repair the winter damage. Winterizing your roof requires hiring a professional to look at and gauge what should be done to your roof to protect it for the long winter.

Keep Concrete and Asphalt Maintained

Another thing you can do is maintain the concrete and asphalt of your property. Cracked concrete can break apart further during the winter when water melts from the snow, seeps into the cracks, and then freezes, expanding the cracks. Ice can cause potholes to start to appear in your asphalt and concrete. Sealcoating your asphalt prevents the cold from expanding the surface and doing further damage. Maintaining your concrete and asphalt not only prevents damage, but it keeps your property looking professional throughout the winter.

Prepare the Grounds

Another way to prepare for a harsh winter is to prepare the grounds. If you have a lawn with trees and shrubbery, it’s important to give them the care they need so they can slumber the winter away. Trees should be pruned back, and the grounds should be fertilized and mulched to protect the plants during the long winter. If you have potted plants by the doors of your commercial property, take them inside for the winter so that they can have a warmer climate.

Your commercial property can survive the winter if you take the proper care of it. By winterizing your roof, maintaining concrete and asphalt and by preparing the grounds, you ensure your building will be ready for spring.

Do you want to buy a commercial property? We can help you find one! Contact us to get started.

June 10, 2020 by nvh2

Just Closed A Restaurant? 3 Problems You May Need to Address Before You Lease Again

If you just closed your restaurant and are looking to lease it again, it is important to be aware of potential problems that you may need to address first. Indeed, in real estate, knowledge is power. You may encounter problems, such as pests, lingering odors, and safety or health issues. These problems need to be addressed sooner rather than later before you can even think about leasing your restaurant space again.

Pests

Unfortunately, it is common to encounter pests after closing a restaurant. It’s important to address these problems because they can introduce dirt and disease to your property. When addressing this problem, be sure to clean thoroughly with disinfecting chemicals. Close all openings around wiring, vents, and drain pipes to ensure that bugs cannot return and bother the new renters. In addition to bugs and rats, other vermin might seek out food from the now-closed restaurant space. You can set up snap and sticky traps for rats and mice. If bugs and vermin continue to be a problem, calling an exterminator is a good course of action.

Lingering Odors

In addition to pests, it’s not out of the ordinary to encounter lingering odors after closing a restaurant. These odors can be unpleasant and unappealing for new renters, so they must be fixed before the property can be rented out again. Grease and burnt food are typical culprits of lingering odors. Vinegar, baking soda, and odor-removing cleaning agents are a few ways you can remove these odors. There are multiple odor elimination methods to choose from, so consider your circumstances and needs when selecting which method is right for you.

Damage, Safety, or Health Issues

There can be any number of circumstances which would cause a previous restaurant space to present safety or health issues or have internal damage. Before leasing the space again, it is essential to repair any structural damage to the property. It’s also essential to verify that all carbon monoxide and smoke detectors work, and that there are at least two forms of exit from the unit. Make sure to check for mold and lead-based paint hazards presented by old buildings.

Taking the time to check your property for pests, lingering odors, damage, safety, and health issues will allow you to eliminate unpleasant surprises. Taking care of these issues will help your leasing process to happen more smoothly, and ensure happy future tenants.

Need commercial real estate advice? Contact us today and we’ll be happy to help!

June 5, 2020 by nvh2

How to Make a Commercial Property Presentable Before Listing It

Commercial properties come in all shapes and sizes. They can be the size of a warehouse, or a small shop in a mall. Regardless of its size and purpose, there are a few key things that you can do to make your property stand out and justify a higher list price. To get going on your preparations, start with these three tips.

New Paint

Nothing makes a place feel rundown and depressing like peeling, chipped, or dirty paint. If this is the current state of your property, you should consider giving it a new paint job before listing. The new paint will give your property a much newer feel. Even if the paint is still in good condition you might want to paint it anyway.

By painting the walls white, you can help make the property seem bigger and give it the feeling of a blank canvas. This will make it much easier for potential buyers to imagine how their color schemes will fit in the room. There are a few ways you can paint your property while sticking to a tight budget. Since the paint is only temporary, you can use lower quality paint. If you choose to leave the paint as it is, you could just focus on touching up certain areas.

Kitchen and Bathroom Upgrades

Kitchens and bathrooms are key selling points, so these should be up-to-date. If you rent your property to businesses, these can make a huge impact on the business’s productivity. A nice kitchen/kitchenette makes a great break room for employees. A poor-quality bathroom will leave a poor impression on visiting customers. No matter who your potential buyers/renters are, they will be impressed if these rooms are in good condition.

Simple Furnishing

Depending on the type of commercial property, staging an empty location can be a big mistake. It makes the place look bare and boring. Consider putting in some simple furnishings to brighten the place up. You shouldn’t spend a lot of money on this. The furnishing is just for show, so it can be cheap, yet stylish. Try to anticipate your tenants’ preferred use for the property and design your furnishing accordingly.

These preparations may take some time and cost you a bit of money. But they will allow you to get the property sold or rented more quickly and at a far better price. Just be sure to plan out your actions well and keep careful track of your expenses.

If you’re planning to list your commercial property, we can help to connect you with buyers. Reach out to us to learn more about how we can assist you!

April 30, 2020 by nvh2

What Your Real Estate Website Needs to Be More Effective in Gaining Customers

These days, businesses simply can’t survive without a website. The internet is the first place a customer looks when they are looking to work with a business. With every business building a webpage, it can be hard to stand out. In order to get attention, you need to focus on your niche. If you run a real estate company, there are a few industry specific aspects of your website that deserve special attention. The following advice will help you focus your efforts so that customers are impressed when they view your page.

Add Quality Videos and Photos

There is absolutely no excuse for a pixelated image on your website. Pixelated photos and videos don’t allow customers to see the quality of the property. Instead, they get the impression that you don’t take pride in your work. On the other hand, HD photos and video show that you do high quality work. Video courses are a powerful type of lead magnet to include on your website. Quality video with nice music can help a customer build an emotional connection to the properties on display. It can be expensive to hire a quality photographer, but the returns are worth it.

Virtual Tours

The last thing you want to do to a customer is drag them through tours of properties that don’t catch their interest. This tires the customer, destroys their enthusiasm, and strains your relationship. You can avoid this with a virtual tour. With the emergence of 360-degree cameras, many real estate companies are starting to put together virtual tours of the properties that they sell and lease. This allows customers to get a better idea of what properties they want to visit in person. If a customer sees that you offer virtual tours, they will be much more interested in working with you, than a company that only shows pictures.

Engaging Content

In order to increase customer traffic to your website, you need to appear more in online searches. One of the best ways to do that is through content creation like a blog. Having a regularly updated blog will move you up in search engine algorithms. Having quality blog posts will create a good impression with your customers. It is a great way for you to show them your industry knowledge.

Working in real estate is a rewarding business. You are helping people find their dream space. You want to make sure that your hard work is paying off. By updating your website and following the above advice, you will see an increase in customers that trust in your ability to get the job done.

Looking for a new, bigger business location? We can help.

April 9, 2020 by nvh2

3 Commercial Real Estate Red Flags You Should Keep an Eye Out For

When a person decides to purchase or lease a new commercial property, it can be one of the most expensive investments they will make for their business. This is why it is so important to make sure that you are getting what you pay for. Unfortunately, one of the pitfalls of being a new buyer is not being able to see some of the most common red flags. The following list includes three commercial real estate red flags you should always keep an eye out for.

Problematic Areas

Most of the time, red flags within a commercial property will be in the details. These problematic areas can seem okay at a glance but can actually be at the brink of disrepair. An issue that will come up a lot is amateur repairs or additions to the property. Some businesses do not want to pay thousands of dollars in repairs and thus will attempt to cheaply repair certain areas. Although some jobs might be satisfactory, you should always ask for work permits and city inspection documents to have concrete evidence that everything is up and running correctly.

Major Damage

Although you should focus on the details, there are major areas that cannot be ignored. One of the most important ones of these includes the roof. Roof damage can do considerable damage to your business if you are planning to store products within your commercial property. An additional red flag you might run into is the seller attempting to fix the roof in order to close the deal. While roof repair can help, it can’t fix everything. Once water penetrates the building, a broken roof might be the least of your problems. Water can run down walls and destroy pipes and create dangerous mold.

Maintenance Agreement

Before you sign on the dotted line, you should always make sure to ask about who is liable for regular maintenance. If the contract places you as the responsible party to repair issues within areas such as the HVAC systems or plumbing, you might want to renegotiate your contract. This attempt to place this workload and cost on you can be seen as a red flag.

Purchasing a commercial real estate property can be quite an expensive endeavor, and thus it’s important to protect your investment. Apply the information above to help you look out for common red flags.

Looking for great business properties? Browse opportunities here!

April 4, 2020 by nvh2

What Can I Do to Increase My Pool of Prospective Tenants?

Owning rental properties can be a great source of income for many people. However, it can be challenging to attract quality tenants. If you follow a few useful tips, you can increase the number of people who apply to rent from you. Here are some things you should do to make sure you attract the cream of the crop when it comes to tenants.

Regular Maintenance

Keeping up with various maintenance tasks around the properties can provide a few key benefits you might use to attract more tenants. For one, it will help you make sure you don’t get overwhelmed by time-consuming or costly repairs that turn into a big job. Staying on top of things can give you more time to improve your reputation as a landlord and find additional renters. Scheduling regular maintenance in occupied properties shows the current tenants that you care about the state of their home and their well-being. You might be able to do much of this yourself. However, you should call in some experts to avoid overspending or wasting time on things that are hard to fix.

Build Your Reputation

A solid reputation can work wonders in most industries, and this is something that is true for landlords as well. In a way, your main job as a landlord is to provide not only four walls and a roof for tenants. You also need to give them some peace of mind and the certainty that you are there to help them with some of the major issues that might crop up in or around the property. People don’t just look for information about the state of the home or apartment they are hoping to rent from you. Consider that 84% of people trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations when deciding who they want for a landlord. Building a good reputation leads to positive word of mouth from people in the area. This kind of reputation management is something that can increase the number of tenants you get to the house.

Handle Security Deposits

Handling security deposits is part of the job of being a landlord. Since returning them is one of the last things you might do for a tenant, establishing a proper way of handling them can improve overall satisfaction among your tenants and lead to more rentals based on their recommendations. It’s important to avoid typical mistakes when it comes to handling these financial matters.

Getting more tenants in properties you own means more responsibility, but it also means more revenue in your pocket. If you’re able to keep both empty and occupied properties free of any maintenance woes and present yourself as a landlord to be trusted, you can become the ideal choice for new renters looking for a place to call home.

If you’re looking for a new property to rent out, see what properties we have for sale here!