On 2010-09-13, Ignoramus20659 wrote:
Been looking at finding some investment to make. There is a big
liquidation auction coming up. Some CNC/screw machine company is
bankrupt.

Along with it, a warehouse is offered for sale. It is actually big,
19,000 square feet (not a typo) on 1.4 acres of land.

The building is in good condition. The starting price for the building
is 200,000, which works out to slightly over 10 dollars per square foot.
For those who have not been buying and selling warehouses, this is a
very cheap price. (but see below)

This building is being currently marketed by a real estate firm and
the asking price is $299,000.

There is no evidence that there were any recent breakins into this
building (all windows are intact, old and dusty).

The building is located in a town (Dolton, IL) that is 81% black.

I compared crime stats of Dolton and Naperville, which is a big city
next to me. Some crime rares are about same (murder) but some (such as
burglaries) are about 4 times higher.

I drove around the area a lot just to get a feel and my feel is that
it is not a very high crime area. (houses are maintained, shops not
boarded up).

This place is 1 hour away from me.

I am not even sure of basic things, like will I be required to give
bribes to everyone, how will police treat me, will I be asked to pay
for protection to gangs etc.

But in any case, while I am considering making a low bid, I want to
make sure that it does not become an expensive educational project in
how not to invest in real estate.

Forgot to add. This is a sealed bid sale.

The building is owned by an "investor". This "investor" bought it in
2008. I looked up some online stuff on the Cook County recorder of
deeds website. It was bought from MB Financial and all I know is that
there is currently a 238,000 mortgage on it. So if I, say, bid $205k
it would be even below the mortgage. I realize that the possibility of
such a low bid (which is still hypothetical, I did not yet bid), is
low, but that's how I operate, I submit low bids.

I talked to this investor. He told me that he was getting $15k/month
in rent. However, the company went bankrupt a year ago and so he only
received that amount for a year. And this is if I was to believe his
number. I am not sure if I would believe it, as it sounds a bit good
to be true wrt the price that is being asked.

If I can get, say, $2 per square foot per yeat triple net, then it
would amount to $40k/year, which is almost 20% return. That seems
pretty doable.

But I have no experience dealing with problems such as breaking etc.

i

Ignoramus20659 wrote:

On 2010-09-13, Ignoramus20659 wrote:
Been looking at finding some investment to make. There is a big
liquidation auction coming up. Some CNC/screw machine company is
bankrupt.

Along with it, a warehouse is offered for sale. It is actually big,
19,000 square feet (not a typo) on 1.4 acres of land.

The building is in good condition. The starting price for the building
is 200,000, which works out to slightly over 10 dollars per square foot.
For those who have not been buying and selling warehouses, this is a
very cheap price. (but see below)

This building is being currently marketed by a real estate firm and
the asking price is $299,000.

There is no evidence that there were any recent breakins into this
building (all windows are intact, old and dusty).

The building is located in a town (Dolton, IL) that is 81% black.

I compared crime stats of Dolton and Naperville, which is a big city
next to me. Some crime rares are about same (murder) but some (such as
burglaries) are about 4 times higher.

I drove around the area a lot just to get a feel and my feel is that
it is not a very high crime area. (houses are maintained, shops not
boarded up).

This place is 1 hour away from me.

I am not even sure of basic things, like will I be required to give
bribes to everyone, how will police treat me, will I be asked to pay
for protection to gangs etc.

But in any case, while I am considering making a low bid, I want to
make sure that it does not become an expensive educational project in
how not to invest in real estate.

Forgot to add. This is a sealed bid sale.

The building is owned by an "investor". This "investor" bought it in
2008. I looked up some online stuff on the Cook County recorder of
deeds website. It was bought from MB Financial and all I know is that
there is currently a 238,000 mortgage on it. So if I, say, bid $205k
it would be even below the mortgage. I realize that the possibility of
such a low bid (which is still hypothetical, I did not yet bid), is
low, but that's how I operate, I submit low bids.

I talked to this investor. He told me that he was getting $15k/month
in rent. However, the company went bankrupt a year ago and so he only
received that amount for a year. And this is if I was to believe his
number. I am not sure if I would believe it, as it sounds a bit good
to be true wrt the price that is being asked.

If I can get, say, $2 per square foot per yeat triple net, then it
would amount to $40k/year, which is almost 20% return. That seems
pretty doable.

But I have no experience dealing with problems such as breaking etc.

i

Tax and insurance load would be my big concern. If you are looking to do
this without a mortgage, then at least that's one less expense to worry
about when the building is vacant. You'd still have taxes, insurance,
utilities and maintenance to take care of when the building is vacant,
so it's important to know what your worst case monthly expenses will be
while trying to find a tenant. You should also investigate the costs of
having a professional commercial property management company manage it
for you. The cost of such management cuts into your profits, but a
decent management company can go a long way towards keeping the building
occupied and avoiding some problems.

As for the neighborhood, the racial makeup of the area is far less
important than the character makeup of the area. If it is an area where
people maintain their property, and particularly an area with mostly
single family houses that are reasonably maintained, it's likely a good
area.

What do you figure, section off 4k sq. ft. for your own use and lease
the other 15k?

On 2010-09-13, Pete C. wrote:

Ignoramus20659 wrote:

On 2010-09-13, Ignoramus20659 wrote:
Been looking at finding some investment to make. There is a big
liquidation auction coming up. Some CNC/screw machine company is
bankrupt.

Along with it, a warehouse is offered for sale. It is actually big,
19,000 square feet (not a typo) on 1.4 acres of land.

The building is in good condition. The starting price for the building
is 200,000, which works out to slightly over 10 dollars per square foot.
For those who have not been buying and selling warehouses, this is a
very cheap price. (but see below)

This building is being currently marketed by a real estate firm and
the asking price is $299,000.

There is no evidence that there were any recent breakins into this
building (all windows are intact, old and dusty).

The building is located in a town (Dolton, IL) that is 81% black.

I compared crime stats of Dolton and Naperville, which is a big city
next to me. Some crime rares are about same (murder) but some (such as
burglaries) are about 4 times higher.

I drove around the area a lot just to get a feel and my feel is that
it is not a very high crime area. (houses are maintained, shops not
boarded up).

This place is 1 hour away from me.

I am not even sure of basic things, like will I be required to give
bribes to everyone, how will police treat me, will I be asked to pay
for protection to gangs etc.

But in any case, while I am considering making a low bid, I want to
make sure that it does not become an expensive educational project in
how not to invest in real estate.

Forgot to add. This is a sealed bid sale.

The building is owned by an "investor". This "investor" bought it in
2008. I looked up some online stuff on the Cook County recorder of
deeds website. It was bought from MB Financial and all I know is that
there is currently a 238,000 mortgage on it. So if I, say, bid $205k
it would be even below the mortgage. I realize that the possibility of
such a low bid (which is still hypothetical, I did not yet bid), is
low, but that's how I operate, I submit low bids.

I talked to this investor. He told me that he was getting $15k/month
in rent. However, the company went bankrupt a year ago and so he only
received that amount for a year. And this is if I was to believe his
number. I am not sure if I would believe it, as it sounds a bit good
to be true wrt the price that is being asked.

If I can get, say, $2 per square foot per yeat triple net, then it
would amount to $40k/year, which is almost 20% return. That seems
pretty doable.

But I have no experience dealing with problems such as breaking etc.

i

Tax and insurance load would be my big concern. If you are looking to do
this without a mortgage

Definitely without a mortgage.

, then at least that's one less expense to worry about when the
building is vacant. You'd still have taxes, insurance, utilities and
maintenance to take care of when the building is vacant, so it's
important to know what your worst case monthly expenses will be
while trying to find a tenant.

Taxes are 31k per year, but supposedly were just reduced due to
unoccupies status. The owner will send me some paperwork today.

You should also investigate the costs
of having a professional commercial property management company
manage it for you. The cost of such management cuts into your
profits, but a decent management company can go a long way towards
keeping the building occupied and avoiding some problems.

That would be good if that would free up my time.

As for the neighborhood, the racial makeup of the area is far less
important than the character makeup of the area. If it is an area where
people maintain their property, and particularly an area with mostly
single family houses that are reasonably maintained, it's likely a good
area.

Yes, it did seem to be this way, maintained single family homes. Not
mansions to be sure, but painted, clean, streets not full of garbage
etc.

What do you figure, section off 4k sq. ft. for your own use and lease
the other 15k?

I might do that, the building does have two sections. It is kind of
far from me to use on a regular basis (50-60 minutes drive).

i

Ignoramus20659 wrote:

On 2010-09-13, Pete C. wrote:

Ignoramus20659 wrote:

On 2010-09-13, Ignoramus20659 wrote:
Been looking at finding some investment to make. There is a big
liquidation auction coming up. Some CNC/screw machine company is
bankrupt.

Along with it, a warehouse is offered for sale. It is actually big,
19,000 square feet (not a typo) on 1.4 acres of land.

The building is in good condition. The starting price for the building
is 200,000, which works out to slightly over 10 dollars per square foot.
For those who have not been buying and selling warehouses, this is a
very cheap price. (but see below)

This building is being currently marketed by a real estate firm and
the asking price is $299,000.

There is no evidence that there were any recent breakins into this
building (all windows are intact, old and dusty).

The building is located in a town (Dolton, IL) that is 81% black.

I compared crime stats of Dolton and Naperville, which is a big city
next to me. Some crime rares are about same (murder) but some (such as
burglaries) are about 4 times higher.

I drove around the area a lot just to get a feel and my feel is that
it is not a very high crime area. (houses are maintained, shops not
boarded up).

This place is 1 hour away from me.

I am not even sure of basic things, like will I be required to give
bribes to everyone, how will police treat me, will I be asked to pay
for protection to gangs etc.

But in any case, while I am considering making a low bid, I want to
make sure that it does not become an expensive educational project in
how not to invest in real estate.

Forgot to add. This is a sealed bid sale.

The building is owned by an "investor". This "investor" bought it in
2008. I looked up some online stuff on the Cook County recorder of
deeds website. It was bought from MB Financial and all I know is that
there is currently a 238,000 mortgage on it. So if I, say, bid $205k
it would be even below the mortgage. I realize that the possibility of
such a low bid (which is still hypothetical, I did not yet bid), is
low, but that's how I operate, I submit low bids.

I talked to this investor. He told me that he was getting $15k/month
in rent. However, the company went bankrupt a year ago and so he only
received that amount for a year. And this is if I was to believe his
number. I am not sure if I would believe it, as it sounds a bit good
to be true wrt the price that is being asked.

If I can get, say, $2 per square foot per yeat triple net, then it
would amount to $40k/year, which is almost 20% return. That seems
pretty doable.

But I have no experience dealing with problems such as breaking etc.

i

Tax and insurance load would be my big concern. If you are looking to do
this without a mortgage

Definitely without a mortgage.

, then at least that's one less expense to worry about when the
building is vacant. You'd still have taxes, insurance, utilities and
maintenance to take care of when the building is vacant, so it's
important to know what your worst case monthly expenses will be
while trying to find a tenant.

Taxes are 31k per year, but supposedly were just reduced due to
unoccupies status. The owner will send me some paperwork today.

Don't forget insurance. The commercial insurance you will need (and
plenty of it) is *not* cheap.


You should also investigate the costs
of having a professional commercial property management company
manage it for you. The cost of such management cuts into your
profits, but a decent management company can go a long way towards
keeping the building occupied and avoiding some problems.

That would be good if that would free up my time.

As for the neighborhood, the racial makeup of the area is far less
important than the character makeup of the area. If it is an area where
people maintain their property, and particularly an area with mostly
single family houses that are reasonably maintained, it's likely a good
area.

Yes, it did seem to be this way, maintained single family homes. Not
mansions to be sure, but painted, clean, streets not full of garbage
etc.

What do you figure, section off 4k sq. ft. for your own use and lease
the other 15k?

I might do that, the building does have two sections. It is kind of
far from me to use on a regular basis (50-60 minutes drive).

That's a pretty routine trip for me, I'm about from Dallas. I do try to
organize my trips so I get a number of things accomplished each time I
go down, but it's not a big deal.

Another thing to check carefully but before purchase as well as with
prospective tenants is environmental. You don't want to buy a Superfund
site, or even something that will require smaller remediation as even
tiny remediation is $$$$.

On 2010-09-13, Pete C. wrote:

Ignoramus20659 wrote:

On 2010-09-13, Pete C. wrote:

Ignoramus20659 wrote:

On 2010-09-13, Ignoramus20659 wrote:
Been looking at finding some investment to make. There is a big
liquidation auction coming up. Some CNC/screw machine company is
bankrupt.

Along with it, a warehouse is offered for sale. It is actually big,
19,000 square feet (not a typo) on 1.4 acres of land.

The building is in good condition. The starting price for the building
is 200,000, which works out to slightly over 10 dollars per square foot.
For those who have not been buying and selling warehouses, this is a
very cheap price. (but see below)

This building is being currently marketed by a real estate firm and
the asking price is $299,000.

There is no evidence that there were any recent breakins into this
building (all windows are intact, old and dusty).

The building is located in a town (Dolton, IL) that is 81% black.

I compared crime stats of Dolton and Naperville, which is a big city
next to me. Some crime rares are about same (murder) but some (such as
burglaries) are about 4 times higher.

I drove around the area a lot just to get a feel and my feel is that
it is not a very high crime area. (houses are maintained, shops not
boarded up).

This place is 1 hour away from me.

I am not even sure of basic things, like will I be required to give
bribes to everyone, how will police treat me, will I be asked to pay
for protection to gangs etc.

But in any case, while I am considering making a low bid, I want to
make sure that it does not become an expensive educational project in
how not to invest in real estate.

Forgot to add. This is a sealed bid sale.

The building is owned by an "investor". This "investor" bought it in
2008. I looked up some online stuff on the Cook County recorder of
deeds website. It was bought from MB Financial and all I know is that
there is currently a 238,000 mortgage on it. So if I, say, bid $205k
it would be even below the mortgage. I realize that the possibility of
such a low bid (which is still hypothetical, I did not yet bid), is
low, but that's how I operate, I submit low bids.

I talked to this investor. He told me that he was getting $15k/month
in rent. However, the company went bankrupt a year ago and so he only
received that amount for a year. And this is if I was to believe his
number. I am not sure if I would believe it, as it sounds a bit good
to be true wrt the price that is being asked.

If I can get, say, $2 per square foot per yeat triple net, then it
would amount to $40k/year, which is almost 20% return. That seems
pretty doable.

But I have no experience dealing with problems such as breaking etc.

i

Tax and insurance load would be my big concern. If you are looking to do
this without a mortgage

Definitely without a mortgage.

, then at least that's one less expense to worry about when the
building is vacant. You'd still have taxes, insurance, utilities and
maintenance to take care of when the building is vacant, so it's
important to know what your worst case monthly expenses will be
while trying to find a tenant.

Taxes are 31k per year, but supposedly were just reduced due to
unoccupies status. The owner will send me some paperwork today.

Don't forget insurance. The commercial insurance you will need (and
plenty of it) is *not* cheap.


You should also investigate the costs
of having a professional commercial property management company
manage it for you. The cost of such management cuts into your
profits, but a decent management company can go a long way towards
keeping the building occupied and avoiding some problems.

That would be good if that would free up my time.

As for the neighborhood, the racial makeup of the area is far less
important than the character makeup of the area. If it is an area where
people maintain their property, and particularly an area with mostly
single family houses that are reasonably maintained, it's likely a good
area.

Yes, it did seem to be this way, maintained single family homes. Not
mansions to be sure, but painted, clean, streets not full of garbage
etc.

What do you figure, section off 4k sq. ft. for your own use and lease
the other 15k?

I might do that, the building does have two sections. It is kind of
far from me to use on a regular basis (50-60 minutes drive).

That's a pretty routine trip for me, I'm about from Dallas. I do try to
organize my trips so I get a number of things accomplished each time I
go down, but it's not a big deal.

Another thing to check carefully but before purchase as well as with
prospective tenants is environmental. You don't want to buy a Superfund
site, or even something that will require smaller remediation as even
tiny remediation is $$$$.

The owner says that his 2008 environmental report is clean. Village of
Dolton does not have anything disparaging. The place looks relatively
clean.

i

Ignoramus20659 wrote:

On 2010-09-13, Pete C. wrote:

Ignoramus20659 wrote:

On 2010-09-13, Pete C. wrote:

Ignoramus20659 wrote:

On 2010-09-13, Ignoramus20659 wrote:
Been looking at finding some investment to make. There is a big
liquidation auction coming up. Some CNC/screw machine company is
bankrupt.

Along with it, a warehouse is offered for sale. It is actually big,
19,000 square feet (not a typo) on 1.4 acres of land.

The building is in good condition. The starting price for the building
is 200,000, which works out to slightly over 10 dollars per square foot.
For those who have not been buying and selling warehouses, this is a
very cheap price. (but see below)

This building is being currently marketed by a real estate firm and
the asking price is $299,000.

There is no evidence that there were any recent breakins into this
building (all windows are intact, old and dusty).

The building is located in a town (Dolton, IL) that is 81% black.

I compared crime stats of Dolton and Naperville, which is a big city
next to me. Some crime rares are about same (murder) but some (such as
burglaries) are about 4 times higher.

I drove around the area a lot just to get a feel and my feel is that
it is not a very high crime area. (houses are maintained, shops not
boarded up).

This place is 1 hour away from me.

I am not even sure of basic things, like will I be required to give
bribes to everyone, how will police treat me, will I be asked to pay
for protection to gangs etc.

But in any case, while I am considering making a low bid, I want to
make sure that it does not become an expensive educational project in
how not to invest in real estate.

Forgot to add. This is a sealed bid sale.

The building is owned by an "investor". This "investor" bought it in
2008. I looked up some online stuff on the Cook County recorder of
deeds website. It was bought from MB Financial and all I know is that
there is currently a 238,000 mortgage on it. So if I, say, bid $205k
it would be even below the mortgage. I realize that the possibility of
such a low bid (which is still hypothetical, I did not yet bid), is
low, but that's how I operate, I submit low bids.

I talked to this investor. He told me that he was getting $15k/month
in rent. However, the company went bankrupt a year ago and so he only
received that amount for a year. And this is if I was to believe his
number. I am not sure if I would believe it, as it sounds a bit good
to be true wrt the price that is being asked.

If I can get, say, $2 per square foot per yeat triple net, then it
would amount to $40k/year, which is almost 20% return. That seems
pretty doable.

But I have no experience dealing with problems such as breaking etc.

i

Tax and insurance load would be my big concern. If you are looking to do
this without a mortgage

Definitely without a mortgage.

, then at least that's one less expense to worry about when the
building is vacant. You'd still have taxes, insurance, utilities and
maintenance to take care of when the building is vacant, so it's
important to know what your worst case monthly expenses will be
while trying to find a tenant.

Taxes are 31k per year, but supposedly were just reduced due to
unoccupies status. The owner will send me some paperwork today.

Don't forget insurance. The commercial insurance you will need (and
plenty of it) is *not* cheap.


You should also investigate the costs
of having a professional commercial property management company
manage it for you. The cost of such management cuts into your
profits, but a decent management company can go a long way towards
keeping the building occupied and avoiding some problems.

That would be good if that would free up my time.

As for the neighborhood, the racial makeup of the area is far less
important than the character makeup of the area. If it is an area where
people maintain their property, and particularly an area with mostly
single family houses that are reasonably maintained, it's likely a good
area.

Yes, it did seem to be this way, maintained single family homes. Not
mansions to be sure, but painted, clean, streets not full of garbage
etc.

What do you figure, section off 4k sq. ft. for your own use and lease
the other 15k?

I might do that, the building does have two sections. It is kind of
far from me to use on a regular basis (50-60 minutes drive).

That's a pretty routine trip for me, I'm about from Dallas. I do try to
organize my trips so I get a number of things accomplished each time I
go down, but it's not a big deal.

Another thing to check carefully but before purchase as well as with
prospective tenants is environmental. You don't want to buy a Superfund
site, or even something that will require smaller remediation as even
tiny remediation is $$$$.

The owner says that his 2008 environmental report is clean. Village of
Dolton does not have anything disparaging. The place looks relatively
clean.

i

That's good, but don't forget to check on insurance, you may find
premiums are a lot higher than you might think. And you certainly don't
want to get into this without proper insurance, particularly commercial
liability.

If you don't already have one, you should also be looking for a "PLUP"
personal liability umbrella policy, those are pretty inexpensive and can
be very helpful.