Commercial real-estate firm Grubb & Ellis filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as it faces liquidity problems and $30 million in debt that matures on March 1.

Financial brokerage firm BGC Partners agreed to acquire the Santa Ana, Calif.-based firm with a $30 million credit bid.

In a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Tuesday, the firm said it intends to make the “sale as expeditiously as possible” and continue to operate as a debtor-in-possession under jurisdiction of bankruptcy court.

Grubb & Ellis cited the loss of a major account, an ill-conceived merger and continued operating losses resulting from the economic crisis for its financial troubles in court documents filed Monday with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan.

The New York Stock Exchange delisted the firm’s stock in January. The stock fell well below $1 before the delisting. It now trades on the OTCQB, which does not have any financial or qualitative standards for listing.

Source. HousingWire

DON’T FORGET, I am still buying properties in Socal La, Fixing and Selling. However, for Apts, I am looking in Socal LA, Nevada, Arizona.. Anybody outthere looking for Cash Flow???

Many real estate investors coming from the single-family, fix-and-flip world look at multi-family real estate as the next great mountain to climb. Their success in finding fixer-uppers and then turning them into beautiful swans for consistent profits may give one a false sense of having a Midas touch that can be transitioned to any other aspect of the real estate world. Be careful. These two business models have real estate in common, but the similarities sometimes end there.

Let’s look at a hypothetical example to prove this point. Let’s say that you have two, 100-unit apartment complexes directly across the street from each other. They are identical in every way; they purchased their appliances at the same time, the have the same wear and tear, etc. The fact that they are located across the street has no demonstrative impact on their value. The only difference is this; one property has 100% occupancy and the other has 100% vacancy. Which one has a greater value?

The ‘Flipper’ might say that, using the sales comp method of valuation, the properties are equal in value. All you need to do is increase the occupancy and you are all set.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

These properties may be identical in every way from a real estate point of view, but their value is not. One of them would be able to command top dollar in the market, the other would be worth the land value less demolition costs. But how can this be? What is the real difference between these two properties?

The answer lies in what one property has over the other, that is – lease contracts. When you are in the multi-family business, you are technically not in the real estate business; you are in the “contract” business. When you analyze a multi-family investment, the number one thing that you have to look at is the leases and the second thing you need to look at is the ‘factory’ that generates those leases. That’s right; you have to look at the real estate as nothing more than a factory that produces a product.

When you think of a multi-family property as a business that generates a product, you will begin to view the buildings in an entirely different light. Using the above example, let’s change a few facts. Instead of it being two identical apartment complexes across the street from each other, let’s say that they are two identical factories and that you are buying the businesses that are housed in those factories.

Now I ask you, which one is more valuable? Of course, you can’t answer that without knowing what products they are manufacturing. If one builds Ipads and the other builds Wang computers, I think you would easily find more value in one business than the other. The same is true when looking at lease contracts when evaluating an investment.
When you understand multi-family real estate in this frame of mind, you must realize that you are not buying real estate, you are buying a business. As such, you must understand how to value these businesses and then, you need to know how to run these businesses.

When a bank looks at making a loan on an apartment building, part of their analysis is on the viability of the leases that exist on the property. They want to understand trends in rent increases/decreases, and turnover ratios of units just to name a few benchmarks.

As the potential owner of the property, you want to know much more. You need to review each and every contract to understand who your new “customer” is going to be and whether they are going to be a good customer or someone that you would like to see follow the old owner out the door.

Some of the elements of a good customer/contract would be the length of time that the resident has been staying on the property. The upside to long-term residents is that it shows stability. Another element to look for is systematic rent increases. Do they exist? Many people might walk onto a new property and see that the rents are well below market and think, “Wow, the old owner hasn’t raised rents in years. Look how much money I am going to generate off this property if I just bring the rents up to market.” Unfortunately, it doesn’t always work this way. There might be a very good reason why he has not increased the rents in years. Maybe his residents can’t afford anything higher! And that creates a whole new set of issues when attempting to understand the potential for a property.

Many of my clients make the mistake that the most important aspect when evaluating a property during the due diligence process is the property inspection. They line up the inspector, negotiate the fee and then follow them around the property like puppies as they crawl up in attics, go into foundations, etc. I am here to tell you that the value of the deal is not in the inspector’s knowledge. It is in the filing cabinets back in the manager’s office.
Don’t get me wrong. I would never buy a property without having another set of eyes, more experienced in inspections and buildings than I am, go through the property. But the fact remains that anything that an inspector can uncover as being wrong with the property can be fixed with one thing – Money. Either negotiated pre-closing or spent out of your pocket post-closing.

But a leaky roof will not destroy your investment overnight. What will? In my experience, one thing that will clear out an apartment building and change its reputation overnight is this – Criminals; more specifically, felons and child molesters. Nothing could be worse than a property having a reputation among the criminal crowd that it is a haven for felons and child molesters. Once you have them living on the property, you can watch an A asset turn to a B, then a C in very short order. Your ability to evaluate leases will help you quickly identify whether this business has this problem or not.

Many investors move their way up the property food chain and view multi-family as the panacea of the real estate world. As an experienced owner/operator, I can tell you that success in the multi-family world is entirely dependent upon approaching it the right way. If you are a good business owner, you will do great. If you can’t read a profit and loss statement, you will have a very large learning curve.

Regardless, never go it alone!
Happy Investing.

Christian Yepez, Real Estate Investor here in Socal Los Angeles Area and Vegas and Phoenix, provides consulting services to multi-family investors and those interested in becoming owners of multi-family property. His experience in real estate and securities matters is the result of counseling a diverse and dynamic group of investors throughout all aspects of the process of acquiring multi-family real estate assets throughout the country, he still syndicating deals with students and partners and share cash flow and equity.

If you are interested in contact him, go here..  www.investorsnetworking.com

Commercial Real Estate Market Recovery Has Already Begun, Says New White Paper From Forward

SAN FRANCISCO ,  Jan. 11, 2012  /PRNewswire/ — While residential property markets remain troubled, commercial real estate markets have already entered an up cycle and are poised for “slow, steady improvement” over the next five to seven years, says a new white paper from Forward Management, LLC (“Forward”).

Titled Inflection Point: The Start of a New Cycle in Real Estate?, the paper posits that the recovery will play out in uneven waves across U.S. and international markets.  Knowledge-based “gateway” cities and technology corridors are already recovering as job growth fuels demand across commercial property sectors. As vacancies drop and rents rise in those areas, demand will likely spill over into suburban job centers and secondary markets, the paper suggests.

“Many investors see commercial real estate as tarred with the same brush as the residential market, but  the dynamics of the two sectors are quite different. Commercial real estate didn’t have the same kind of massive, debt-fueled bubble that brought down the residential sector, and commercial property prices and rents recovered fairly quickly after the financial crisis,” said  Joel Beam , one of the three Forward real estate portfolio managers who authored the paper.

“Even with weak U.S. job growth, the supply/demand picture appears favorable on the commercial side, especially in the apartment and lodging sectors, while housing is still in the weeds. Meanwhile, commercial properties are relatively inexpensive by historical standards,” said  Ian Goltra , also a co-author of the paper.  He noted that in 2011, private equity fundraising for direct property purchases hit a new peak of more than  $150 billion [1].

Among other evidence of the commercial property sector’s improving prospects, the paper cites:

-  Improving property operating results, due largely to declining vacancies and rising rents.  Same-property operating income across the five major property sectors shrank in 2009 and 2010, but is expected to grow by 2.4% in 2011 and rise further in the ensuing five years, according to forecasts by Green Street Advisors, Inc.

- Historically low growth in the supply of commercial properties, due to tight credit and weak economic growth. Construction is barely sufficient to replace obsolete properties, pointing to a further decline in vacancies and rise in rents.

- The continued profitability of many real estate companies during the recession. As one indicator, the paper shows that four of the five largest companies in the FTSE NAREIT Equity REITs Index had greater cash flow from operations in 2009 than they did pre-crisis.

The paper cautions that expectations for a new real estate cycle are predicated on continued improvement in the economy and job picture, and that the recovery of equity markets generally could be derailed by some unforeseen shock to financial systems. “In spite of the uncertainties, investors still need to earn a return on their money,” commented Beam. “We believe that, with its relatively predictable cash flow, real estate remains a sensible way to invest for the long term. If anything, the market turmoil of the last few years has reaffirmed just how sensible it is.”

Individuals who want to invest in commercial real estate should consider publicly-traded REITs among the options, particularly if they are seeking investment income, the paper suggests. Among the advantages of public REITs, it cites their liquidity, predictable cash flow from long-term leases, and low correlation to the broad equity markets, as well as their dividend streams. Under federal law, U.S. REITs must distribute 90% of their taxable income to shareholders if they want to avoid corporate income taxes[2].

“We see real estate as an essential portfolio building block for investors who want to pursue long-term returns, find investment income, and manage portfolio risk through diversification,” said  J. Alan Reid, Jr. , CEO of Forward Management. “As a broad asset class, real estate has returned an average of 11% annually over the past 30 years and has often been a reliable source of dividends. Our analysis suggests that it may continue to hold a variety of opportunities going forward.”

The three authors of the study team-manage four mutual funds with more than  $1.3 billion  in total assets as of  December 31, 2011 .  Joel Beam  is lead portfolio manager of the Forward Select Income Fund, which focuses on REIT preferred securities;  Ian Goltra  is lead portfolio manager of the Forward Real Estate Long/Short Fund; the two co-manage the Forward Real Estate Fund.  Michael McGowan  is portfolio manager of the Forward International Real Estate Fund.

The team is unusual in having more than 20 years of shared history that spans four major real estate industry cycles. The lessons learned through that experience are reflected in the team’s two-pronged approach to valuation, its analytical disciplines, and its emphasis on on-the-ground fundamental research.

Remember Investors, I am now buying properties in Vegas. If you wanna chat with me about Vegas Apartments Market, call me email me in the contact form tab above.  Dont forget, share this post with your friends and have them go to my site http://www.investorsnetworking.com

In the Moment, For the Moment
Christian Yepez, Investor, Syndicator

While the roots of the financial crisis can be found in the nation’s residential housing sector, it’s now exposure to badcommercial real estate loans that’s battering banks’ balance sheets.

I am looking for Apartment Investors.. I am going to Vegas to Buy APTS deals.. If you are interested in going with me, NO COST, just meet and go.. contact me now. 562 304 7787 or email me christian@californiahomesrepos.com 

Here’s more on my recent blog “Foreclosure Apartment Market Rebounds and Foreclosure “…

No matter what the economy is doing, people are always going to need a place to live. It’s easy to see how an increase in residential foreclosures means a huge increase in demand for apartments. People need a place to live after they lose their house.

But did you know over the next two years there will be tons of apartment foreclosures?

This is because investors bought apartments with short-term debt when the market was hot a few years ago. Now those short-term loans are coming due and investors can’t refinance. Even though the rents are coming in and they have the money to make the payments, they can’t qualify for new financing because the values are less than what is owed and banks would not refinance.

Now is the time to scoop up these performing properties at huge discounts before the values go back up again. You need to get educated on the apartment and foreclosure market right now, before you jump in blind and make some very expensive mistakes.

Remember that it is just as easy to flip a house for $10,000 profit as it is for a $100,000 profit. If you don’t have lots of money and cash in the bank then there is no need to worry. You can invest in real estate using your own money, or you can invest using other people’s money.

And you make your money when you buy the right property, in the right market, at the right price. The secret to huge profits in apartment foreclosures is learning how to dramatically increase the property values without spending a dime. You can also increase your monthly cash flow by creating higher rents and lower vacancies. So it is important to know how and where to track apartment properties in distress. Knowing this keeps profitable deals in the pipeline.

As you can see Foreclosures in Apartments can be a great opportunity for us, investor to pick good deals for cash flow and future appreciation..

I am looking for Apartment Investors.. I am going to Vegas to Buy deals.. If you are interested in going with me, NO COST, just meet and go.. contact me now. 562 304 7787 or email me christian@californiahomesrepos.com 

Don’t forget,  Keep visiting this page for commercial news and updates.  www.investorsnetworking.com

New data from Lender Processing Services (LPS) shows the population of mortgages going unpaid in the U.S. contracted during the month of August.
LPS offered the media a sneak peak at several key mortgage performance statistics slated for public release later this month. The company’s analysts derive their findings from LPS’ loan-level database of nearly 40 million mortgage loans.They say there were 6,397,000 home loans at least 30 days delinquent or in foreclosure as of the end of August. That’s down from 6,538,000 the month before.LPS puts the delinquency rate of mortgages 30 or more days past due, but not yet in foreclosure at 8.13 percent.

Source: DSNews.  Full Story here shared by. investorsnetworking.com  where investors network.

Banks held about 476,000 homes that they repossessed from delinquent mortgage borrowers as of the end of July, according to Barclays Capital.
That tally represents a 17 percent contraction from 574,000 REOs on the books just 10 months earlier, in September of 2010, just as the robo-signing scandal began grabbing headlines.At the same time, the research firm estimates there were 1.57 million home loans 90-plus days delinquent but not yet in foreclosure at the end of July of this year, and another 1.91 million already in the foreclosure process.Barclays says the rise in processing times has been driven almost entirely by the time that loans spend in delinquency and foreclosure. The average period that loans spend in REO has risen only modestly since 2007, suggesting that any lengthening in disposition timelines has been a function of weaker demand for homes than of processing delays, Barclays explained.While processing timeframes have been trending up since 2007 as a result of the industry’s modification efforts and the deluge of delinquent loans, the research firm notes that timelines increased even more dramatically once mortgage documentation issues were uncovered in late 2010.According to Barclays’ analysis, the average number of months a loan has spent in foreclosure has climbed from around 10 months just before October 2010 to more than 12 months today

Source: DSNEWS and Full Story to read here

Affordable-Housing Owners Boosted Multifamily Acquisitions in 2010

Commercial Real Estate Direct Staff Report

Acquisitions of multifamily properties by the sector’s largest players more than doubled to $31 billion in volume last year as owners of affordable housing became more prominent, according to the National Multi Housing Council.

The Washington, D.C., trade group’s new list of the 50 largest apartment owners includes 42 affordable-housing providers, up from about 30 a year ago. Also, this year’s four largest firms are all affordable-housing providers, which for the most part invest in properties that qualify for government subsidies, particularly tax credits.

The roughly 30 affordable-housing providers on last year’s top-50 list is an estimate. The council just this year began asking respondents to specify whether they consider themselves affordable-housing providers.

The total number of apartments owned by the top-50 rose about 7 percent to 2.93 million units in 2010.

Marc Obrinsky, the council’s chief economist, said that affordable-housing providers wound up increasing their prominence primarily because “many of them continued past practices of being steady buyers in a year when some other investors decided to revamp their portfolios and shed assets.” He added, “It’s just been a gradual move.”

Thirty of the firms in the top-50 were net buyers last year, when they added a combined 98,817 units, while 20 net sellers shed 81,724 units

Large affordable-housing groups that grew include Richman Group Affordable Housing Corp., whose portfolio increased 5 percent to 94,925 units, and Alliant Capital, whose unit count rose 8 percent to 62,245.

Affordable-housing owners added to the top-50 list include Centerline Capital Group, which was established last year after its parent, Centerline Holding Co., recapitalized its business and revived an affordable-housing business. Centerline ranks second with 152,600 units.

Another affordable-housing newcomer to the top-50 list is Boston Financial Investment Management, created in late 2009 with the low-income housing tax credit business that its parent, JEN Partners, acquired from MMA Equity Corp. It’s third on the list with 145,454 units.

MMA topped the council’s list in 2009, but did not appear in the 2010 list. CharterMac also did not participate in the survey for last year’s top 50.

Source: National Multi Housing Council

The council also attributes the overall increase in sales activity to a rebound in sector fundamentals that began in 2010.

A total of 228,215 multifamily units were absorbed last year versus 2009, when the number of units that became available exceeded leasing activity by 1,649 units, according to market research firm Reis Inc. The New York company reported that the national vacancy rate in the first quarter of this year fell 40 basis points to 6.2 percent, its lowest level since the second quarter of 2008.

However, the role of REITs in the multifamily sector has diminished as their 3.4 percent share of the universe of properties held in the current top 50 is their lowest share since 1997 when it was 2.3 percent.

Apartment Investment and Management Co. of Denver was the multifamily REIT sector’s largest net seller last year, selling 22,524 units, or 17 percent of its portfolio.

Equity Residential, a Chicago REIT, reduced its unit count by 5 percent to 129,604 units.

However, five REITs increased their portfolios last year, led by UDR Inc. of Denver, whose unit count increased by 14.5 percent to 58,796. That helped it retain its number 15 ranking on the list.

Source: crenews.com

If you are still looking for deals in Apartments or Single Family homes, please shoot me an email. As you may know, I am also involved in Foreclosure flipping here in Socal LA. go to my site and check me out… www.californiahomesrepos.com

In the Moment, For the Moment,

Christian Yepez, Investor

Just want to share this Great Article with you.
On February 8, 2011, The Wall Street Journal released a front-page story titled
“Cash Buyers Lift Housing“.

In the story some startling statistics were released. “Cash buyers represented more than half of all transactions in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale area last year, according to an analysis from real-estate portal Zillow.com. The percentage of buyers in Phoenix paying cash hit 42% in 2010 – more than triple the rate in 2008, according to Raymond James’s equity research division.” See Story Here and see the statistics below

In my Opinion, Real Estate drives the economy. I dont know why banks don’t Trust Investors like ourselves to improve neightboorhoods. Banks need to be more Flexibe to Investors and Approve good prices on thier shortsales or REO’s so the investor can help the economy. My words are  ”Thank you Investors” with out you this county will be a mess”.

In the Moment, For the Moment

Christian Yepez, Investor/Syndicator
http://investorsnetworking.com

Cash Buyers Stats

14% increase creates record number of new bank owned properties

If you’d like to capitalize on one of the easiest ways to
make great cash flow with the current foreclosure epidemic,
read this article closely. You don’t need any experience in
real estate to start making a great part time income working
only a few hours a week.

Here are the facts:

Lenders repossessed 1,050,500 homes last year, according to
the 2010 end-of-year foreclosure report from RealtyTrac.

The annual figure marks a record-high number of new
bank-owned properties tracked by the company. The 2010 tally
is up 14 percent from the previous year, when banks seized
918,376 homes, according to RealtyTrac’s historical data.

Just to put things into perspective, in 2008 RealtyTrac
reports there were 861,664 new REOs. That year the figure
more than doubled from 2007, when there were 404,849 newly
repossessed homes. In 2006, RealtyTrac tracked 268,532 new
REOs.

While the number of homes taken back by lenders jumped by
more than 130,000 from 2009 to 2010, RealtyTrac’s data shows
the number of default filings declined by 20 percent over
the same period. The industry is still wading through a
severe backlog of unpaid mortgages, but with new defaults
apparently tapering off, it’s plausible that the size of
that backlog may begin contracting.

According to RealtyTrac’s 2010 report, a total of 3,825,637
foreclosure filings – including default notices, scheduled
auctions and bank repossessions – were reported on a record
2,871,891 U.S. properties during the year. The company says
2.23 percent of all U.S. housing units, or one in 45,
received at least one foreclosure filing last year.

Total filings are up nearly 2 percent from 2009 and 23
percent from 2008, despite a sharp drop-off in activity
during the latter part of 2010.

Foreclosure filings were reported on 257,747 properties
during the month of December, a decrease of nearly 2 percent
from the previous month and down 26 percent from December
2009.

It’s the biggest annual drop in foreclosure activity for any
one month since RealtyTrac began publishing its foreclosure
report in January 2005. December’s total filings are the
lowest monthly total recorded by the company since June
2008.

Fourth-quarter activity overall dropped considerably, with
filings during the October to December timeframe down 14
percent from the previous quarter and 8 percent lower than
the same period last year. The fourth quarter total was the
lowest quarterly total since Q4 2008.

“Total properties receiving foreclosure filings would have
easily exceeded 3 million in 2010 had it not been for the
fourth quarter drop in foreclosure activity, triggered
primarily by the continuing controversy surrounding
foreclosure documentation,” said James Saccacio,
RealtyTrac’s CEO.

“Even so, 2010 foreclosure activity still hit a record high
for our report, and many of the foreclosure proceedings that
were stopped in late 2010 — which we estimate may be as high
as a quarter million — will likely be re-started and add to
the numbers in early 2011,” Saccacio added.

All the usual suspects held their spots at the top of
RealtyTrac’s list of states with the highest foreclosure
rates for the 2010 calendar year. The company pointed out,
however, that foreclosure activity dropped 22 percent in
December in the judicial state of Florida, although bank
repossessions spiked more than 45 percent that month in
Nevada, Arizona, and California.

More than 9 percent of Nevada housing units (one in 11)
received at least one foreclosure filing in 2010, giving it
the nation’s highest state foreclosure rate for the fourth
consecutive year, despite a 5 percent decrease in
foreclosure activity from 2009.

Arizona registered the nation’s second highest state
foreclosure rate for the second year in a row, with 5.73
percent of its homes (one in 17) receiving at least one
foreclosure filing in 2010.

Florida claimed the nation’s third highest foreclosure rate,
with 5.51 percent of its housing units (one in 18) receiving
at least one foreclosure filing during the year.

Other states with 2010 foreclosure rates ranking among the
nation’s 10 highest were: California (4.08 percent), Utah
(3.44 percent), Georgia (3.25 percent), Michigan (3.00
percent), Idaho (2.98 percent), Illinois (2.87 percent), and
Colorado (2.51 percent).

RealtyTrac says five states accounted for 51 percent of the
nation’s total foreclosure activity in 2010: California,
Florida, Arizona, Illinois, and Michigan. Together these
five states documented nearly 1.5 million properties
receiving a foreclosure filing during the year despite
annual decreases in the three states with the most
foreclosure activity.

Lenders are foreclosing on homes more than ever and this
forces lenders to take more and more properties to auction
every day. Because more properties are going to auction and
the number of buyers are very low at the auctions, its one
of the best places to find properties right now.

One of the easiest ways to make quick cash is to bird dog
for properties at the auction for cash buyers. You’ll be
surprised at how much cash you can make quickly without any
of your own cash or credit even if you have no experienc’e in
real estate at all.

For beginning investors using this strategy, the average
number of hours it takes to do a deal is 8 hrs and the
average profit is $3000 to $4000. That comes out to $375 to
$500 per hour.

Are you now interested in making $375 per hour working part
time to generate more income in your life?

How would that affect you?

Is that more than you’re making now?

At this stage of the game, the money is not the important
part. It’s the investment in yourself and the experience
that’s more important. In fact, it doesn’t matter if you
don’t make much money on your first few deals. The
experience and the practice is most important because you
are learning the strategy at this point.

Here’s why:

As you get more knowledge and experience, the profit per
deal goes up and the time it takes to do a deal goes down by
50%. That means after you do 2-3 deals, you should expect to
be making $7000-$12,000 on average per deal with 4 hours of
work. This is why it’s important to get your first 2-3 deals
done fast so you can start making the $1750.00 to $3000.00
per hour.

For more articles and updates in Real Estate
go here…>> http://investorsnetworking.com