Neal Hefferren

Historic Tax Credits Could Make Your Deal Doable

For months you’ve been looking. Best Technology Company, Inc. (BTC), your long-time national client, has charged you with finding office space they can lease for their new headquarters. Their requirements are few. In addition to the obvious (i.e., being cost effective and large enough to house their workforce), the building must: (1) have state-of-the-art office …

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Small Office Building Investing Case Study

Every day, and in every market, there are office deals to be made. The question, of course is which will become valuable assets in your real estate portfolio, and which could put the rest of your portfolio in jeopardy. The answer is a thorough and thoughtful investment analysis. We’re going to walk through an office …

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An Uncommon Examination of Common Area Maintenance (CAM)

Let’s start with the easy stuff. Common area maintenance charges, or CAM charges, are defined by USLegal as the fees: usually paid [by tenants] on a pro rata basis, to compensate the landlord for the costs of operating, repairing, and maintaining common areas. Well that’s a pretty good start, but let’s add one more category …

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The Definitive Guide to Understanding Section 8

Created to help low-income, elderly, and disabled households afford decent, safe and sanitary private housing, the Housing Choice Voucher Program (HCVP), commonly known as Section 8, provides a federally-funded subsidy to eligible families, paying for all or a portion of their rent and utilities costs. The Program provides not only significant benefits to these families, …

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Industrial Property Investing Case Study

Your broker just left you a voicemail. He’s got the scoop on a property that hasn’t yet been listed and is right in your industrial wheelhouse: a state-of-the-art intermodal center with three established tenants. Because he’s good at his job, he shares with you not only the sales price, tenant square footages and annual rent …

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New Markets Tax Credits: Understanding the Power Of The NMTC Program

The New Markets Tax (NMTC) Program was created in 2000 under the Community Renewal Tax Relief Act to attract private capital to those projects benefiting low-income communities and persons, create jobs, and encourage additional economic development. Projects in these communities have historically had trouble finding such investment, resulting in a lack of resources to meet …

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A Complete Guide to the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Program

To a developer, affordable housing means lower rents than a market-rate project, lower net operating income, and thus lower returns on their investment. Accordingly, without any outside incentive a developer has little motivation to build affordable housing. Unfortunately, the need for affordable housing is significant. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, “in 2013, for …

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The Essentials of Commercial Real Estate Sale and Purchase Agreements

A commercial real estate sales contract can be one page or one hundred pages. There are no rules, and every term, every word, is up for negotiation. Nonetheless, there are provisions that are typically included in most CRE purchase agreements, and understanding these provisions is essential for both buyer and seller to protect their interests. …

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Commercial Real Estate Deals Gone Bad and CRE Horror Stories

We recently asked our readers what they’d most like to read about on our Blog. Apparently you’re not getting your fix of nightmare material from the movies, because for many of you, your answer was, “CRE deals gone bad and horror stories!” You asked to hear about commercial real estate deals that didn’t pan out as …

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Understanding Defeasance in Five Minutes

Defeasance, in its simplest terms, is the substitution of collateral. In the world of commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS), the substitution involves a borrower replacing the real estate securing its a loan with a portfolio of U.S. securities. The portfolio is designed to generate the same debt-service through the term of the loan as the original …

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