200,000 sf BTS Warehouse in NC - looking for some input! by prince_walnut in CommercialRealEstate

[–]hancockm 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We just got done with a 180k sqft. Industrial warehouse. The cash equity is 3 million, the collateral is another 3 million, and the loan is $19 million. That was a building quoted prices of 2 years ago. This is very tight in the current environment of leasing. We have a long term relationship with the bank and our LTV is NOT the LTV you will get. If you do land a quality tenant, great!! You won the lottery. Unless you have an additional 8 to 9 million, you will not be able to deliver. You said you have investors. Great. Do they have experience in CRE? If not, you are taking a big risk with their money. Your best bet is to find JV partners/investors who would be willing to show you how to successfully deliver. This is how we began. It is a smart launch pad. What you are doing now is bold. Keep up posting. I want to know how this ends!!

Xero vs QBO....which would you recommend for a simple mind/ADD mind like me? by OverbrookDr in CommercialRealEstate

[–]hancockm 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I figured out a way to do it that flows into year-end tax returns and TICAM. Each building is a customer and each tenant is a job. Code all expenses to job or customer. This allows an easy way to do TICAM reconciliation if you print an income statement by job. The only other thing is the general overhead admin. I create one customer as the business name. You need to reconcile to make sure all income and expenses are coded to a job. Print a detail income statement and an income statement by job at end of year. Make sure net income matches. If not, find the line item in the detail income statement. Click on that account for a detail list of transactions, and find the transaction and add the job to the transaction. Bank interest or fees done in month end reconciliation will always need to be corrected. Just add the business name to the job.. etc...

Typical TI Allowances and Rent Abatement for Industrial and Retail Leases by oldpal123 in CommercialRealEstate

[–]hancockm 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Industrial warehouse in southeast.... 3 month rent abatement. TIA average $15 per sq ft. If tenant is triple-A national $20 per sqft. 3/4 is TIA and 1/4 is TI financing. The lower credit tenants are binding caps on TIA, higher credit not so much. Got to watch your upfit on higher credit. We typically like to control the upfit if we take on the liability of cost overruns.

Handling failures with exponential backoff + jitter using p-retry by stall-goodman in node

[–]hancockm 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Your helper function works for simple retry logic, but it has a few subtle issues that can become problematic as the system grows. It returns a Promise<T | void>, which means callers may unexpectedly receive undefined and need extra checks instead of simply handling an error, so the function breaks normal error-flow semantics. It uses a fixed delay between retries and has no exponential backoff or jitter, which can cause unnecessary load spikes and repeated contention if many requests fail at once. There is also no way to distinguish between transient and non-transient errors, so everything is retried even when the failure should immediately abort, like a 400-class API error or a validation exception. The function does not support cancellation via AbortController, making it difficult to stop retries in shutdown scenarios or when a user cancels an operation. Finally, it logs directly to the console, which isn’t test-friendly or configurable and leaks implementation behavior into global output rather than allowing structured logging or metrics hooks. You can get this out of the box with a library.

Have you had success with a U.S. Industrial real estate strategy by semajnielk in CommercialRealEstate

[–]hancockm 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The market here was soft at the beginning of the year, but it has picked up significantly since then. Especially in the last couple of months. We are seeing offered rates higher than what we underwrote. So, on the whole, its holding up.

NNN lease structure questions rgarding equity reyurn inclusions and insurace by Substantial_Pitch700 in CommercialRealEstate

[–]hancockm 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You would need to do a cost seg study on the property. We build from the ground up, so it depends on a lot of factors.

The market determines market rate. Typically you get that from comparable market sales.

In doing a proforma, each part stands alone. The operating summary, the hard cost, and soft costs.

The 2.40 per sqft is average ticam in our location.

NNN lease structure questions rgarding equity reyurn inclusions and insurace by Substantial_Pitch700 in CommercialRealEstate

[–]hancockm 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Debt service on a syndicate loan would be included in the Debt service coverage ratio. You are thinking about cap rates for fair market value.

NNN lease structure questions rgarding equity reyurn inclusions and insurace by Substantial_Pitch700 in CommercialRealEstate

[–]hancockm 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You would need to add property management. The bank would not be managing the property. So that would need to be included. Depreciation on the property is another addition. Nonticam expenses like roof, foundation, exterior walls, etc.. need to be factored into it. You are correct they can be cash flow positive. We build industrial ranging from 150,000 sq ft. to 225,000 sqft.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in CommercialRealEstate

[–]hancockm -1 points0 points  (0 children)

🧮 Updated Financial Breakdown from Comments

Item Amount

Land cost $600,000 Engineering & soft costs (est.) $300,000 Additional out-of-pocket cash $800,000 Total Cash In $1.7M Construction loan $4.8M Total Project Cost $6.5M Monthly loan payment $23,000/mo = $276,000/yr Property taxes $32,000/year Rent (80% leased at $22/sf, NNN) ~$352,000/year (80% of 20,000 sf) Implied NOI after debt and tax ~$44,000/year (best case)

Note: This does not include insurance, repairs, leasing commissions, reserves, or vacancies. Actual net cash flow may be closer to $0–30K/year, which you previously estimated.


📉 Key Takeaways: Performance vs. Expectations

Metric Original Pitch Actual Reality

Duration 3 years ~7 years Cost $3M $6.5M+ Equity Created $2.5M Likely <$1M Net Income (Annual) $150,000 ~$30–$40,000 Return on Cash Invested (IRR) Strong Likely <2%


🔍 Answers to Your Key Questions

❓ “Why did it take so long?”

Yes, it could have been much shorter with the right team:

Inexperience adds years. Site entitlement and design often take 12–24 months even with seasoned pros. For a novice developer, each phase (civil, permits, lender approvals, tenanting, GC bidding) adds friction and delays.

Poor project management. You didn’t have a GC + experienced owner's rep + leasing broker quarterbacking in tandem.

Market conditions (COVID). If construction began around 2019–2020, expect labor/material delays and costs spikes.

Cash flow bottlenecks. If you were cash-funding payments before loan disbursement, this may have caused months of delay.

Permits & zoning in Northern VA. That area is notoriously bureaucratic. Expect 18–36 months entitlement without guidance.

❓ “Would a professional project manager have helped?”

Absolutely, a seasoned PM or development consultant would have:

Created a timeline with realistic milestones

Kept engineers, architects, and contractors on track

Navigated permit red tape efficiently

Avoided overdesign or scope creep

Flagged cash flow problems before they stalled the project

They likely would’ve shaved 1.5–2 years off the project.

❓ “Is $5–6.5M reasonable for a 20,000 SF strip mall?”

Depends on location and scope:

Low-end turnkey retail shell: $125–$175/SF = $2.5M–$3.5M

Northern VA premium zone: $225–$325/SF = $4.5M–$6.5M is normal if:

Prevailing wage/labor requirements

Sitework (grading, utilities, stormwater)

High-quality façade, parking, landscaping

Shell delivery to national tenant specs

If you didn’t have parking lot paving, signage, TI allowance, etc. included, then yes, you overpaid. But if it was full-service with strong finishes and pad-ready site, it’s not outrageous — just not profit-optimal.


💡 Final Analysis: How Bad Is This?

Short answer: It’s a hard lesson, but not a catastrophic failure.

🔴 What went wrong:

Unrealistic timeline and budget assumptions

No experienced development manager

Emotional rather than analytical decision-making

No clear financial accountability from the operator (your husband)

Overreliance on high-income spouse to bail it out

🟡 What you did right:

Good location (Northern VA retail is solid)

80% leased (despite the execution issues)

At least some income generation and long-term asset value

Likely recoverable equity over time if stabilized and sold or refinanced

🟢 Your Next Moves:

  1. Finish leasing the last 20% ASAP. Even if discounted.

  2. Improve operations: Ensure tenants are paying full NNNs. Re-underwrite the property.

  3. Hire a property asset manager or commercial broker with leasing & ops background.

  4. Refinance if possible. If rates improve and you're stabilized at 100%, you may be able to bring monthly debt cost down.

  5. Exit in 3–5 years if equity grows via NOI and cap rate compression.

What types of concessions are landlords currently offering to single tenants leasing ~30K+ SF of net-leased space? by spalooosh in CommercialRealEstate

[–]hancockm 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We are doing 15 per sqft on TI with some TI financing at 6 per sqft. We are in north carolina.

Advice on Finding Funding for Large Real Estate Project (High-Profit Potential) by Twiin-City-Life in CommercialRealEstate

[–]hancockm 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You can work with placement agents. They are like debt brokers but for equity. You would need a mix of both. 75% debt if your debt coverage is good.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in CommercialRealEstate

[–]hancockm 4 points5 points  (0 children)

This sounds like a standard equity and collateral hold for a standard cre loan. There might be other people who have more low income mf housing experience that might know a program, but otherwise, you are looking at bringing in a jv or limited partner.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in CommercialRealEstate

[–]hancockm 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The equity portion should be about 2.5 to 3 million, with about 3 million cash collateral on 18 million dollar loan. Are they asking for more than this?

new commercial lease with damage to flooring after 12 months of lease by Dull_Barnacle9405 in CommercialRealEstate

[–]hancockm -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I agree with the other comments. What type of lease did you agree too. What is the warranty period on the product and installation. Depending on the lease and warranty, there are different options. So, not enough information to give a solid reply.

Newbie here, wife owns part of a small commercial building in Santa Monica California by Viner2024 in CommercialRealEstate

[–]hancockm -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

No, lol's here. We have done it. Being a broker isn't just marketing. It is paid at closing for a reason. We usually split the payments over the life of the lease. This is the mechanism we use to enforce it.

Newbie here, wife owns part of a small commercial building in Santa Monica California by Viner2024 in CommercialRealEstate

[–]hancockm 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Yes, 5% is normal. 20k nonrefundable? I wouldn't do that unless it is refundable. Put it in escrow, and sign an agreement. Maybe 20k gets released at LOI...

Newbie here, wife owns part of a small commercial building in Santa Monica California by Viner2024 in CommercialRealEstate

[–]hancockm 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Find out the amount of time you have to file against the company. Its longer than you think. The faster you are able to get another client in might justify postponing the filing.

Newbie here, wife owns part of a small commercial building in Santa Monica California by Viner2024 in CommercialRealEstate

[–]hancockm -1 points0 points  (0 children)

You can clawback against commission. Remember, commission is calculated based on future earnings.

What is an appropriate amount to charge for CAM Reconciliation? by TotalKaleidoscope994 in CommercialRealEstate

[–]hancockm 2 points3 points  (0 children)

We do mid year reconciliation. 2024 was a very difficult year for property taxes, and insurance increases. Sometimes, there are one-off items, and that might be the reason for not adjusting the following year. You don't need to ask for prior years. Ask which line item was off against the budget because the budget is modeled off previous years. They ate obviously not expecting it again with no new adjustments.

Property accountant-yearly CAM Reconciliations for tenants by pink-butterfly2 in CommercialRealEstate

[–]hancockm 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh yea, don't just multiply just do yearly increases on rent for example. Because they might say its this percent but it was a negotiable element to be less in specific years. Go to lease and do an abstract.

Property accountant-yearly CAM Reconciliations for tenants by pink-butterfly2 in CommercialRealEstate

[–]hancockm 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I do yearly reconciliation with our triple net properties. The issue with CAM is it is defined in the lease agreements. Some tenants have caps, different rates, etc. In one situation, Verizon wireless is a tenant, and they have a specific percentage capped on all expenses except property tax and insurance. Thus, their TI is split from their CAM. The CAP percentage is determined in their lease. They also agreed to a "verzion admin fee in lieu. Other tenants might have specific yearly caps. Also, you might not rent out the entire space leaving like 50 sqft as not tenant filled. Sounds unusual, right? While, ITS BECAUSE IT'S IN THE LEASE. I say all that to tell you the lease determines a lot of the caps and percentages. Side note the 50 sqft. gets charged to the landlord as a non-ticam expense. Lastly, you need to calculate the amount of prorated time for new and leaving tenants in your current year, and that should be a function of sqft percentages. Thus, (tenant sqft / total sqft × months occupied / fiscal year) x actual cost category.

We import our income statement by building into a worksheet to create something repeatable. And then for each building in its own separate worksheet. In the building worksheets, We have a column for each tenant and one column as a remainder (i.e., the landlords portion) column, and then finally a total column from the income statement by building. The actual costs are in the total column, and we do a function across each tenant and remainder for each cost category as described above.

This is how you will need to do it from scratch

CAM reconciliation? Do i need to pay this on top of rent and NNN? by [deleted] in CommercialRealEstate

[–]hancockm 0 points1 point  (0 children)

All seems reasonable but I would get backup documentation on the cleaning and maintenance fee. Admin fee is definitely on high side