Real estate investment advice and opinion for the independent investor

Bigger Multifamily Properties Hit the Block

Brecht Palombo — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 01:29:27 +0000

It seems default is creeping out of the residential sector and we’re seeing it in some larger multis. This month we are quarterbacking the sale of 20 units in a bankruptcy auction in Cambridge Massachusetts. This is a Tranzon Auction Properties Deal (you might know I represent Tranzon in southern New England).I also saw that [...]

Real Estate Investing and the Mob Mentality

Brecht Palombo — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 17:08:47 +0000

A friend of mine sent me a copy of the Property section of the South China Morning Post during a recent business trip. It seems there’s no end to the abuse the US real estate market is getting in the press, ALL the press. Click on this link to see what’s being said overseas. Chinese [...]

Shutting Down a Sale

Brecht Palombo — Fri, 23 May 2008 01:02:52 +0000

There were at least two fairly major auctions that I know of that were shut down for lack of bidders this past weekend. The first was Peabody Crossing, and the second was The Modern in Boston’s South End. Both of these sales were promoted with campaigns that have seemed to become the “norm” in condo liquidations. [...]

April 08 Multifamily Sales Report Now Available

Brecht Palombo — Thu, 15 May 2008 19:51:01 +0000

I just updated the sales figures for April 2008. This data is compiled from MLS and as I’ve mentioned here previously this data largely excludes the bigger commercial multifamily sales but is inclusive of probably 85% or more of the small and mid-sized buildings, that is what seems to make it into MLS. The average [...]

Make Your Goals Match Your Market

Brecht Palombo — Wed, 14 May 2008 20:49:06 +0000

I write from time to time about how to size up a real estate investment. We’ve discussed cap rate and gross rent multiplier and briefly IRR. In the multifamily market though it seems there are as many measures of a good investment as there are investors. Recently we were talking with an investor who is [...]

More Banks May HAVE to Sell at Foreclosure

Brecht Palombo — Mon, 12 May 2008 13:33:57 +0000

It is the norm for big banks foreclosing in Massachusetts to use the process simply as a title clearing procedure. The way it works is that there is minimal marketing and the bid process involves the foreclosing attorney “bidding the debt” or bidding the full amount that the bank has into the property. Very often [...]

The Secret to Buying Real Estate with Your IRA

Brecht Palombo — Fri, 09 May 2008 19:14:10 +0000

The secret sauce for making a real estate purchase with your IRA is non-recourse debt. Debt must always be non-recourse debt when your IRA purchases real estate. Say what? Non-recourse means that the only thing on the hook is the property, that’s it, you can’t personally guarantee the loan. Not being on the hook for anything [...]

Massachusetts Foreclosures Break Another Record

Brecht Palombo — Fri, 09 May 2008 00:02:21 +0000

I want to stop writing this type of headline quarter after quarter. This news from a press release just out from foreclosuresmass.com. This comes on the heels of the National Association of Realtors report that pending home sales dropped to a new low...which was immediately followed by a report, from the same organization, that said that home sales were going to improve over the summer.

Bank Owned Multifamily: FAQ

Brecht Palombo — Thu, 08 May 2008 11:54:34 +0000

These questions were emailed to me today after a recent inquirer reviewed the list of bank owned multifamilies: In the listings, there’s a list price. Is this how much the bank wants or is that the original list price prior to the bank owning the property? The list price is the ‘ask price’ what we’re [...]

Mortgage Heat Maps

Brecht Palombo — Wed, 07 May 2008 18:16:39 +0000

I don’t know how useful this thing is going to be but here it is. Homethinking.com went and compiled mortgage data for the entire US from the FDIC website and then they try to make sense of it with various charts and graphs and heat maps and whatnot. I suppose it shows us to some [...]