Larry has asked me to write a series of articles for this column on single tenant commercial NNN investment properties.  For those of you who do not know me, I am a commercial investment broker and work exclusively with investors.  Larry and I have worked together for some timenow and recently he and I wrote a book together.  I am also an investor and have doubled my own assets every year for the last six years.  I also get the same results for all of my clients.  I study different forms of investments and analyze their risks and returns and help investors grow their income, assets, and net worth by buying commercial investment properties that have very low risk but high returns.  The first tule in investing is — it is more important to minimize risk than to try to get higher returns, if you want your wealth to grow in the long run.

The one thing that all eal estate gurus agree on is if you want to attain financial security or retire, you need to have more passive residual income than your living expenses.  I would add that you not only want enough passive residual income to coer yoru living expenses, but you also want a little bit more so to keep up with inflation and any unexpected financial needs.

Passive residual income is income you get without doing anything in the future.  In other words, getting paid without havin ga JOB!  Examples of NON passive income include working for others or having others work for you.  It also includes flipping residential properties.  It takes work to buy them and work to sell them, not to mention all the work that you have to do in betwen those two pionts to maintain the property.  Examples of passive residual income include interst from money in a bank savings account, yield from stocks, etc.

Why single tenant commercial NNN investment properties?  Residential rental properties may give you cash flow but they an be a major headache.  With commercial properties, the tenant is a business and the business has an incentive to maintain the premises because otherwise their business suffers.  A triple net or NNN property is a property where the business tenant takes care of all the maintenance, taxes and insurance.  Now not only has the headach of maintaining the property moved to the tenant but even the risk of taces, insurance and maintenance increasing have passed to the tenant.

Furthermore the better the tenant’s credit, the better the property is because there is a lower risk of the tenant defaulting on the lease.  A single tenant property means there is no management.  With multiple tenants, you have different leases having different lengths and termination dates.  Furthermore you are going to have some vacancy and have to go through the hassle of finding a new tenant.  That costs time and money and is a headache.

If you buy a property with a single credit tenant, who also takes care of all the maintenance, taxes, and insurance, you get a predictable rent check every month.  You do what I do and set up to receibve the rent by automatic deposit and pay the mortage by automatic withdrawal.  I even have a portion going over to my personal checking account and then have all my bills paid by online banking.

Now my income and expenses are handled by autopilot and there is nothing I have to do.  It is easy to see why single tenant commercial NNN investment properties are such a good deal and low risk.

Next month we will cover why single tenant commercial NNN investment properties give such high returns.

Winston T Rego is a multi-millionaire commercial real estate investor.

How to make a million dollars investing in real estate

As a real estate investor with more than 4,000 properties to my name and a million dollars in the bank you could argue that I am a little more qualified than most to give advice on how to make it big in real estate.

When I was starting out in my career there were no courses, no help and no advice I could really tap into and, as a result, I ended up making almost every mistake in the book and learnt from each one and this is one of the reasons I decided to run courses and give workshops to real estate investors ready to take their career to a new level.

I know that in order to make a million dollars in real estate you have to be in for the long haul rather than a fast stake in and out kind of deal and this is exactly where the professionals from the amateurs really stand out.

In order to make that million dollars in real estate you need to get into it with a vision and a coherent strategy. I know that this is news to you because when I first got in I too was in there chasing almost every deal I could and the result was that I used to get fragmented ways of working and was finding it difficult to make much headway in anything.

I learnt the hard way by falling down and picking myself up that you need to have that focussed strategy so that when an unexpected deal does come along you are very clear in your head why you are taking it and where it is going to get you.

Most of those who come to my real estate investment workshops know that I favour multi-family dwellings as a means of creating robust, parallel income streams, minimising risks and achieving economies of scale which then make it easier for me to automate some of the processes such as the day-to-day running of more than 4,000 apartments which would otherwise be crippling.

This does not mean I do not deal in single-family properties however. Quite the contrary, but I do deal with them in a way that fits within my real estate investment strategy, takes my plans further and helps me to further my goals of building a robust real estate portfolio and continuing to be financially independent.

Making it big in real estate is not easy but it is achievable, as my case proves, and the only way to achieve your dreams and become successful is to make sure that, just as in life, you have clearly stated goals, a philosophy you can stick to and a strategy that fits in with the way you work and allows you to make the right decisions.

David Lindahl, also known as the “Apartment King” has been successfully investing in single-family homes and apartments for the last eight years. He is the author of four popular, money making home study courses “Apartment House Riches”, “How To Estimate And Renovate House For Huge Profits” “Managing For Maximum Profits” and “The Real Estate Investors Marketing Tool Kit”. He can be reached at dave@real-estate-fortune.com and www.rementor.com.

Overcoming How Do I Get Paid with Realtors When Doing a Lease Option or a Rent to Own

By Wendy Patton

The number 1 objection I hear from real estate agents when the subject of doing a lease option or rent-to-own is broached is “How do I get paid?” Sometimes the agent will be concerned about how they get paid but don’t want to flat out ask it. So instead they’ll say things like “Lease Options are too risky! You(home seller or home buyer) don’t want to do that.” This sounds a whole lot better than, “I don’t want to do a lease option sale because I’m not sure how I’ll get paid.” Now keep in mind that not all agents are like this, it’s just that the ones who do object usually object for this reason.

Times have changed now and many real estate agents are more open to the idea of lease options or rent to owns. That’s because the real estate market is down and more and more agents are willing to be creative to get things done. But there are definitely still some holdouts who only want to do conventional sales. The reality is that some of these agents will never change their mind but some will, especially if you are their client and you insist on it or suggest you’ll find someone who will. So bear in mind that the suggestions I’m going to offer will work with some agents (the ones who still want to make a living in this market) and won’t work with others (the ones who absolutely refuse to do anything besides conventional sales).

So, let’s look at how to tackle the “How do I get paid?” question.

With a lease option or rent to own a real estate agent will get paid PART of their commission (maybe 1% to 2% in this market) when a tenant-buyer signs contracts with a rent to own seller and pays an option fee. The real estate agent’s partial commission will come out of the option fee. The remainder of their commission will get paid when the lease option buyer actually buys the seller’s home. Obviously this is not as desirable as doing a conventional sale where they get paid their full commission right away.

BUT, conventional sales are a lot harder to come by now. The mortgage crisis is affecting everyone, even A+ credit buyers need to have larger down payments than before. This means that if a real estate agent is only doing conventional sales their income has dropped. Look, I’m not saying that rent to owns are the perfect solution for EVERY situation. They aren’t.

So how do you handle a real estate agent’s objection to rent-to-owns?

Let’s say you want to buy a home on a lease with an option to buy. You approach a real estate agent to be your buyer’s agent and tell them that you can’t qualify for a mortgage right now but you want to buy with a lease with an option to buy. The agent objects and says “You don’t want to do that it’s too risky!” You can tell the agent that you understand the risks, (read my book – Rent-to-Buy – and you will definitely understand the ins and outs of rent to own) and that you are interested in finding a rent to own home. If the agent still poses some objection explain to him that you are a real buyer, while they won’t get a full commission up front as they would with a conventional buyer, they will still get paid and isn’t that better than just turning you away? If the agent still objects after that, find another agent. By the way, once you find a real estate agent who is willing to represent you for rent to own make sure they read my book Rent-to-Buy to be sure they are giving you good representation.

Now if you are a home seller and you’ve decided that rent to own is right for you (again, read my book – Rent-to-Sell – and you will definitely know whether this is something you want to do) so you suggest it to your real estate agent. Your agent objects. Explain to your agent that your home has sat on the market for a while now and if you don’t find a buyer soon you would have to rent it out because you don’t want to keep paying that mortgage. If you just rent the home the agent is only going to get about 1/2 months rent for their commission, which is definitely less than they would get if you do a lease with an option to buy. Your other option is to find another agent in which case your current agent would get no commission at all. Now isn’t it better to consider rent to own instead of the alternatives? When you explain these things to your agent don’t be confrontational, do it in a way that makes it clear you want to work with them but that the current method of selling your home just isn’t working. Also, once they agree to do a rent to own with you make sure they read Rent-to-Sell!

Resident Portals

The proper use of resident portals combines old fashioned resident service with the latest technology.  Resident portals are a fantastic way to facilitate communications with your customers.  If you do not know about this innovation, it is a good time to find out about it. 

The idea of a resident portal is to provide an internet website that is secure and is for use only be residents and staff of the properties.  Through this website, a host of features are offered for those who like to do business and socialize online.  A resident portal makes your community come together. 

One idea to fund resident portals is to use advertising from the local area.  You can get businesses near your property to announce their openings and special sales on your websites.  The price they pay for the ads will help pay for the website. 

At the same time, you have made available information about the area.  You could take this one step further by having a mapping feature on the resident portal.  This could provide directions to get to these businesses. 

Probably the most important function of the resident portals is to allow your customers to put in a request for work to be done on their apartment or condo.  You can make this easier if you have your resident portal designed to have the resident’s personal and apartment information come up in a form as soon as they log in and go to the work order section. 

Your resident portals can also be used to send personalized greetings.  This way your customer can receive a nice surprise on their birthday when the get your greeting.  Or, you can give them a gentle reminder that their rent is due.  This is much less embarrassing than a knock on their door, and less intimidating than a phone call.  Assuming it was just an oversight; they will probably log on and pay it right away. 

A part of the happiness of the residents of your multi-family properties will depend on their ability to conduct business online.  They can do this if you have an adequate resident portal in place.  They can pay their rent over their internet connection with the company by using a debit or credit card. 

Other services offered through resident portals are things like dealing with the utility companies and ordering tickets online.  You can have a chat room for residents.  Then, when these people meet each other, it will be like meeting an old friend. 

You can also set up a newsletter about the properties.  You can put sections in it about your policies.  There can be announcements about upcoming events.  It can also offer information about the neighborhood.  A newsletter like this can make for a more cohesive community. 

So, set up a resident portal for your customers to use.  It will be handy for them and for you as well.  It can attract customers, especially the younger and computer savvy ones.  It can also help you retain residents who learn to love the convenience. 

 http://www.thecoachingclub.com/event-archives/brain-pick-a-pro/apartment-houses/dave-lindahl/

Resident Retention

Resident retention is an important consideration for managers of multi-family properties.  It takes quite a bit of salesmanship and effort to bring in new customers.  It is much easier to keep your residents happy and give them reason to stay. 

Your residents will develop good memories of their new homes after they move into them.  There are ways to capitalize on this idea.  You can start a time capsule each year for all the tenants.  It could be a box or other container to hold all the residents’ memories. 

You could have them put in their own opinions of what was most important about the year.  They could put in the best media of the year-DVD’s, CD’s, books, or anything else.  You could incorporate advertisements from new businesses in the area. 

Photos or other types of visual media showing residents can be put in the time capsule, too.  You can have the residents put in surveys listing their favorite items.  All this will help with resident retention, because the residents will be excited when the time capsule is opened. 

This fosters a sense of community.  Another idea to do the same thing revolves around the swimming pool.  Many people like to get together and sit around the pool to talk.  Make this situation available by making the area around the pool larger.  Also, add more seating. 

Helps with resident retention to have resident portals by which residents can connect up by internet to the property’s office.  This way they can take care of any business that comes up.  Have people always available to answer the phones.  If this is done around the clock, the residents will feel that their needs are being met. 

It is also good to have maintenance people available at times when people are at home.  Resident retention goes up when people do not have to sit at home and wait for a technician to make a repair.  They also do not want someone coming into their home when they are gone.  This makes them more at ease. 

Gifts can help with resident retention.  A resident might not stay solely for a gift, but it could be the tipping point.  One idea is to give year-long subscriptions to NetFlix when the residents sign up for another year.  This interests most people. 

What is more, it keeps them happier within their homes while they live at your property for another year.  This might mean you have resident retention at least partially accomplished for the next year, too. 

Anything you can do during the year the resident has leased for to encourage them to stay is wonderful.  Your personal attention to the resident is of utmost importance.  Making the community come together helps everyone feel a part of things.  This, too, brings residents a feeling of home.  This is a boon to resident retention.  After all, you do not want to leave your home.

Resident retention is indeed an important subject.  Try to bring some imagination to the way you treat your residents.  Find ways to give them reasons to make your property their permanent home. 

By Tony Longeron

Ten Ways to Keep your Senior Tenants Happy

Most of the complaints from tenants are the fact that once they move into their apartments they feel like they are forgotten.  They feel like they are just there to pay rent and no one cares about them or their needs.  Most of the elderly want to be as independent as possible for as long as possible and they are seeking that independence in your apartment. The only thing they depend on is for someone to fix and repair things when they break. When Senior’s move in they want to know that their apartment is available to them as long as they pay rent.  Your job is to make sure that they feel secure about their decision to move there. Most of the time, seniors will downsize to an apartment for various reasons; their health makes them unable to keep up a home on their own, they can no longer afford to live in their own home, or their family prefers that they live somewhere that maintenance and basic needs are met. For which ever reason they decide to move, they chose your place for a particular reason.

Here is a list of ways to keep your seniors happy.

1. Address them by their name.  They pay their rent just like the other renters do and they want to be acknowledged as such. They don’t want to be just another tenant.

2. If you or the neighbors haven’t seen them outside for a day or two, give them a call to make sure everything is okay.

3. Start a buddy watch.  This is where neighbors check on their next door neighbors.  This is good to start if the majority of your tenants are seniors.  They watch out for each other and call for help when they need it.

4. Make sure that the lighting on the steps and in the halls is adequate.  It’s sometimes hard for seniors to see without their glasses.  Without proper lighting, they may fall.

5. Keep sidewalks and parking lots clear when there is snow and ice out.  They don’t want to walk to their car only to fall in the parking lot.

6. Handicap accessibility.  If the senior is in a wheelchair make sure to put up rails outside leading to their room as well as safety rails in their bathrooms.

7. Consider any added safety feature that you can add or install in their apartment to offer them even more security.

8. Respond to their service calls as quickly as possible.

9. If they are housed beside what they call “Bad Neighbors” try to work with them on their situation to keep them there.

10. Respond to all their calls, big or small, regardless.  Let them know that they are very important to you.

Seniors try to be a big part of the community when they are given the chance.  Respond in a positive manner and the results will be successful. They have been through a lot throughout the years and they want to establish themselves in your community.