CRE Fundamentals

How do you feel about a criminal conviction on your record? Defending against a civil suit for intentional infliction of emotional damage? They don’t sound too bad? Well, how about a fistfight with a tenant on the front lawn of your rental property? If you’d prefer to avoid these scenarios, it might be a good idea to understand the process required to lawfully evict a tenant. While the details of the eviction process vary from state to state, the general principles discussed here are almost universal.

What is a tenancy in common (TIC)? What are its characteristics? Its advantages and disadvantages?

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, but also an opportunity for those landlords who chose to participate to potentially make their property more profitable.

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.

Many real estate investors fail to recognize the importance of the market analysis. Whether they lack the skills and knowledge to complete the market analysis or just don’t understand the benefits, market analysis is an undervalued asset in real estate investment.

A detailed market analysis is key to any real estate investment decision. Even though the financial projections have far more impact in management and investment decisions, market analysis is behind each and every number in the financial statements.