Commercial Real Estate Investing From A-Z

What is happening to retail during Covid-19? What is happening to offices? Which REITs could be good investments right now? Which areas are going to thrive, or not, during this crisis? Which asset classes should you keep in mind? Deidre Woollard is a writer and editor for Million Acres with two decades of experience covering all aspects of real estate. You can read this entire interview here: https://montecarlorei.com/which-areas-are-good-to-invest-in-commercial-real-estate-today/ What are you seeing is happening in commercial real estate nowadays? I think there's a lot of things happening right now. Certainly the biggest impact is definitely being felt in commercial across the hospitality and retail with so many closures in different states. We're starting to open up in various areas, but it's all still very tentative. And one of the things I think that everyone is worried about is is a secondary outbreak and another round of closures. What do you think is going to happen to the real estate market, given your thoughts of where the shutdown is going, and if we’re going to have a second outbreak? I certainly think it’s challenging, definitely certain sectors are being affected more than others and some sectors are benefiting a little bit. One of the things that we’re seeing is industrial real estate, there’s an ongoing need for last mile warehousing. Industrial was the top performing sector last year, and it will probably be a relatively strong sector this year. Whereas hospitality and retail are being very heavily affected. The revenue per room in hotels is at historic lows, and it’ll be a slow recovery for some of those sectors. If you had unlimited funds to invest today, when do you think you would deploy that? And in which asset classes would you focus on? One of the interesting things is that everyone is watching the residential real estate market and looking for prices to drop, and it doesn’t seem like that’s going to happen anytime soon, because supply and demand are pretty well matched right now. One of the sectors that we’ve been looking at over Million Acres is multi-family real estate investment trusts, for example. Multi-family was already predicted to have a pretty strong year this year. There’s obviously a lot of demographics that support multi-family continuing to grow. Household formation is on the rise. I feel like multi-family is still going to be strong, especially in those markets where you have a lot of tech employment. Places like Seattle, Charlotte is a good example. Southern states have really seen a lot of people moving in and so you when you have that high population, those are good spots for multi-family. What do you think will happen to the retail sector? It's an interesting sector because there are different parts of retail that will be strong and different parts that will suffer more. Simon Property Group is reopening some of their malls. As they’re doing this, they’re starting to put different rules in place in terms of how many people you can have in the mall, or an individual store, having hand sanitizers available, and things like that. But how much foot traffic can you have in a store? And how much foot traffic do you need in order to pay your rent? Cheesecake Factory stopped paying rent in April. The Gap had stopped paying rent. So the large malls are definitely having difficulty. Deidre Woollard Deidre.Woollard@fool.com Join our facebook group here: https://facebook.com/groups/montecarlorei --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/best-commercial-retail-real-estate-investing-advice-ever/support

Today I am covering what I think is going to happen to the economy, which will inevitably affect real estate prices. You can read this entire episode here: https://montecarlorei.com/is-now-a-good-time-to-buy-commercial-real-estate/ If you are a listener of this podcast, you know that common sense is not common. And up until now I am not seeing a lot of common sense thinking out there. Starting with how the stock market is doing. Stocks are very high given what is happening in the world. On top of that, I don’t see too many people talking about the consequences of how everything is interconnected. And they’re not talking about how, in my opinion, this will trickle down to what I think will be a very bad recession. For all of you who have been taking the time to hone your skills, to learn, to make connections in the real estate world, to build your reputation: congratulations, our time has finally arrived. Why? It pretty much consists of four factors that are all correlated: rents going down, vacancy going up, cap rates going up and lending getting tight – which is exactly what is happening right now, and will continue to happen. So why do I think things will get bad because of the Coronavirus / Covid-19? It’s simple, everything is interconnected, let’s take just one example: if people cannot hold large events for at least one year, that alone is already a huge portion of our economy, so how can that be? It’s simple, it trickles down to everything else. Let’s take some industries that are connected to holding large events: the music industry with concerts, sporting events, conferences, the entire economy of Las Vegas, and every company that depends on holding live events, for example Tony Robbins. Most of the employees that work for these industries, will be let go or furloughed. These employees all have bills to pay, food to buy, they have kids, mortgages, rent, etc. Even with unemployment checks, they won’t be splurging, going to restaurants, or going on trips. And with that, the restaurant business gets hurt, the travel industry, and that is obviously already happening, (Airbnb just got $2 billion dollars in loans at half of their last valuation, and they’re paying 10% in interest on that money!), the clothing industry also goes down, and every industry that is related to disposable income: nail salons, massages, buying new cars, etc. And now all of the employees in these industries get hurt: they are let go, or get furloughed. And these companies not only let go of employees, but they also cut their costs, they won’t be investing much in new technology, in advertising, etc, That trickles down to the tech industry. I get a daily digest of what’s going on in the tech world, and today alone, the digest had the following news: Netflix sales are up, another tech company is cutting the salary of all staff by 25%, another tech company furloughs 600 people, another let go of 13% of its workforce. This is how everything is interconnected. Listen to our How You Can Lose 50% of Your Property Value in One Downturn episode: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-you-can-lose-50-your-property-value-in-one-downturn/id1451874700?i=1000454715311 Join our facebook group discussion here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/montecarlorei Contact us here: https://montecarlorei.com/contact-us/ --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/best-commercial-retail-real-estate-investing-advice-ever/support

Commercial loans are what brings your real estate deals to life, and given the fact that the Coronavirus has affected lending significantly, we are keeping a pulse on what is going on, and what the potential impacts will be in real estate. Some topics we are curious about are: How should borrowers prepare for lending as we start to come out of this? What will likely happen in the lending industry over the next 6+ months? How should loan contracts look like moving forward? Billy Brown will help us with some answers. You can read this entire episode here: https://montecarlorei.com/how-is-lending-changing-with-covid-19-and-what-are-the-impacts-in-real-estate-prices/ Has much changed in the lending industry over the last two weeks? Agency debt: if you haven't talked to your agency debt lender, do. Right now they are up and running, but expect delays in that, especially if you're putting contracts or offers in properties right now. Expect at least a 90 day close. And you're going to need escrow for 12 to 18 months of payments and reserves at closing. So your raise is going to be much higher. They're going to scrutinize properties left and right, as far as your rent rolls and payments and all of that are getting scrutinized, with good reason. Bank lenders or depository lenders: right now they are scrambling. They were already low on deposits. And they’re going to get lower. So lending for them is going to be tighter for a couple reasons. One is the fact that you’ve the SBA program which is running through the depository lenders that they’re going to have to facilitate. People don’t understand what’s going on with that process so they don’t know how to even answer questions. The other part of it is the forbearance from the existing loans. Non bank lenders, lenders that actually do the more unique things, Non-QM lenders, hedge fund type of lending where they create loans, balance sheet them, and then sell off the notes to Wall Street. Wall Street doesn’t buy anything right now. How should borrowers prepare for lending as we start to come out of this? It really depends on where you’re at in the process, if you’re in the middle of a purchase, or even a refinance that you’re trying to close the next 30 days. You have to ask yourself a lot of serious questions around your third party risk. Are your tenants going to be able to pay? If they can’t pay, do you have enough reserves to be able to withstand 6, 12, 18 months of lower income. We’ve seen some lenders on good properties, on a refinance, say that they’re going to refinance more properties worth this, we do believe is going to be a shorter recovery. But what we’re going to do is just protect you and us we’re going to ask for payments, we’re going to cash you out, but we’re going to ask for payments to make sure that we’re paid, that you’re paid, as well as CapX and all that. They’re not going to release funds for you to go pay off credit cards, or go buy another property. If you’re in the middle of a purchase, the lender is your friend. Find out what information do we need to have to make sure that the asset I’m buying is still going to be a good asset after this is done. If you’re not a buyer right now, and think that some sales will be going on. What do you need to do to get prepared? The first thing is let’s get your finances in order. Get your loan package already prepared. Organize all your documents, your taxes, W-2’s, 1099’s, pay stubs, bank statements, PFS, all of that into one place where it’s easy to access. Billy Brown www.billybrown.me Join our conversation here: https://facebook.com/groups/montecarlorei --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/best-commercial-retail-real-estate-investing-advice-ever/support

What is the state of the self storage market in this environment? What should operators prepare for? Where should you look for opportunities? We talked with RK Kliebenstein, President of Coast to Coast Storage, an industry veteran with over 30 yrs of experience. You can read this entire episode here: https://montecarlorei.com/step-by-step-actions-for-self-storage-operators-to-take-during-downturn/ How should the operators prepare for this potential economic hit? For storage managers, your health comes first. I know that that’s going to be an unpopular position with some of the owner operators as employers, that their staff would perhaps not come to work, but I think that we can work from home in many cases, we don’t have to have a lot of contact with the public. But more than anything else, I honestly believe that a self storage manager’s first responsibility Is to themselves, and their family. Going to work in an unnecessary capacity is not a recommendation that I would give them. If it’s safe for them to go to work because they don’t have public contact, and they’re not in high contact with places and objects that have been touched by the public, that’s a consideration, certainly, but I know a lot of offices have just said that they’re not going to have contact with tenants directly. They’re open via chat, email, telephone. For storage owners, it’s a different consideration as we now go into where are you at in the debt cycle. Those stores that are in highly competitive markets, where they themselves or their competitors are in lease up and there are a lot of vacant spaces, and those in the third category, the very high levered owners are going to be the hardest hit by the event and will have to make the toughest decisions. I don’t know that we’re going to see the real effect of this for perhaps 60 or 90 days as loan clauses with MAC clauses in them (Materially Adverse Condition clauses) begin to be in effect from the lenders and then also the consideration of force majeure clauses, which don’t occur in self storage month to month rental agreements, but certainly would occur in finance arrangements and contracts. It will be interesting to see how that all begins to play out and how the Self Storage sector may fare against other asset class type of lending. Keeping in mind, Self Storage has notoriously had the lowest foreclosure rates, regardless of economic conditions of any other asset class. The only one that ever has come really, really close to it are NNN leases and with triple A credit companies, and also, interestingly enough mobile home parks. Loans What I’m seeing in terms of new loans right now is interesting. The CMBS market, securitized loans, for self storage at least, has pretty much collapsed completely. The bond market being unstable, and that being where these loans are sold, until that bond market is firmed up and we know where the pricing is going to be, I would say the CMBS market is likely to be on hold. I’ve even seen them because of the Material Adverse Conditions or MAC clauses commitments that were set to fund over the last 10 to 15 days. We’ve seen a number of different reactions to the current environment but I think the CMBS market is basically collapsed. I think the only viable market right now is the life insurance company market, they seem to still be quoting, and closing loans that were in process. I think that their underwriting has changed a bit. But that market is still a little bit active. When the first reaction to the turn in the economy was to lower the Fed rate, that actually put a lot of lenders in a position to increase the interest rate floors. RK Kliebenstein rk@askrk.com www.askrk.com --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/best-commercial-retail-real-estate-investing-advice-ever/support

With over 200 years of combined real estate investing experience in one call, we hosted a mastermind call with several highly experienced investors, and multiple asset classes. They are investors in retail, office, industrial, mobile home park, multi-family. Below are the takeaways. You can read the entire call script here: https://montecarlorei.com/steps-to-take-during-a-crisis-all-asset-classes-top-investors-mastermind/ Timing Lots of people have a wait and see attitude. Others are taking a hands on approach and reaching out to tenants in advance. It's in times like this, that fortunes get made. That's exactly what Warren Buffett does. He has a ton of cash available for situations like this. George Ross, who has been working with Trump for several years said that now it's a great time to buy, all you need is courage. Retail Reality is starting to sink in as tenants don't pay rent, some tenants are saying they won't pay rent for at least 4 months. Some investors are saying that the most realistic datapoint will actually be on May 1st. We are working through lots of loan reworks as well as lease amendments are being negotiated. We're interpreting the CARES Act that was recently passed, updating all of our tenants on what they can apply for through the SBA and really trying to dial in on the loan forgiveness for April and May. So that has been a huge initiative of ours. We've a lot of legal documents and collaborating with other like minded folks across the country to figure out best practices. We were under contract in a deal, thank God, our money didn't go hard. We got in front of this guy a few weeks, we asked for an extension. But we are seeing some slowdown in CMBS and that was one of the vehicles that we were going to use, which required us to pivot a little bit and rethink this. Trammell Crow executives were sending memos to one another and the same message was sent over and over again from some of the best guys in the business: not getting over leveraged, staying lean and focused, hiring the right people, and just really doubling down on the fundamentals of the business. Developer  I did survive the 2009 crisis, and was heavy in real estate when that happened and watched a number of people get wiped out. This is very different, it's not the same at all. But this is interesting times. I'm not a typical value add guy. I've worked in all spaces, I'm hearing from people all over the country in all different types of properties in different classes and with different challenges and different issues right now. And the one common theme is it's too early to tell really anything, we just don't know. It depends on how far and how deep this goes. We do know that the capital markets are a little tight right now, and the rules are changing daily with that, in terms of what they're asking for and covenants and reserves. And they're getting down now to where they're underwriting specific assets and specific markets by the street and block on refinances, and especially cash out refinance, and acquisitions. So the credit markets are getting very interesting. Senior Housing, Hospitality, Multi-Family (Developer and Operator) We are in an environment where the rules have changed and we don't know what they are. Until we know what the new rules are, it's going to be very difficult to play the game. Oftentimes you see people trying to play a new game by the old rules. And if they do, they'll get crushed. It really is like no other game. We're trying to do something that's unprecedented. Join the conversation here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/montecarlorei What are you doing to prepare for what's ahead? --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/best-commercial-retail-real-estate-investing-advice-ever/support

What is happening with lending during these times? We are having a timely conversation with John Pascal, Managing Director of Paramount Capital Advisors a highly experienced professional that has been through a few downturns and has some timely advice. You can read the entire interview here: https://montecarlorei.com/state-of-commercial-loans-during-the-coronavirus-what-are-the-available-options/ As of today, and we know that things can change tomorrow for the better or worse, what is happening in the lending world? In a nutshell, it’s ugly. In general, from the bank’s perspective as it relates to some of the real estate types that are more sensitive to economic issues such as hotels, and retail to a lesser extent, they’re basically pressing the pause button. With respect to hotels, what you’re seeing is a lot of hotels are closing. Last week, hotels were maybe doing a little bit of revenue, and now they’ve basically closed. So you have a really unique situation where lenders really just don’t know how to evaluate new opportunities. Because the big question is, how quickly will come out of this, and what the environment will look like, over the next 3 to 12 months, as it relates to the hospitality. As it relates to retail, you have a situation where restaurants and larger retailers, who had issues, or some credit issues before, what are they going to look like over the next year? If you’re a grocery retail center, you certainly have a higher likelihood of getting financing because obviously grocers are one of the businesses that are really flourishing in this environment. In terms of creative solutions, if people find deals at this point in time, what are some creative lending solutions that you might recommend people looking for, or negotiating? Depending on the product type, I’d say, hotel is very difficult. If you’re buying a hotel or refinancing a hotel, I think the best option is through an SBA program, probably 7(a) because banks can securitize a good portion of the loan and get it off their balance sheet. As it relates to other product types, there are dead funds out there that are lending today. They’re being obviously more thoughtful about what they’ll lend on and looking for existing cash flow a good sponsorship, etc. But those debt funds will tend to be a little bit more expensive, maybe in the 7-10% range, non recourse. So those options are still available, those are typically floating rate. So there are lenders out there that are still lending, looking to take advantage of the lack of conventional capital market today. What are your thoughts on what you think will happen in the next six months to a year? I think that the economy will bounce back. It's just a question of time, for how long it takes to get back there. I think you're going to see V shaped recovery and I think it may take three to six months to get there. And I'm not suggesting it's going to be a full recovery. But I think you're going to see businesses ramp back up fairly quickly. I think there certainly is going to be casualties. And I think there's certainly going to be caution on the part of businesses, small businesses, etc, to ramp back up. But I do think you'll see a pretty significant recovery. The government is going to keep rates low for a while. John Pascal www.paramountcapitaladvisors.com john@paramountcapitaladvisors.com (312) 767-3320 To join our facebook group and share/learn some tips, go to: https://facebook.com/groups/montecarlorei --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/best-commercial-retail-real-estate-investing-advice-ever/support

The black swan has arrived in our economy, the Coronavirus has taken an unprecedented, unanticipated curve in our economy. What will the impacts be in the commercial real estate market? We talked with experienced real estate investors that have been through a few economic downturns to get their perspective on what we should do during this time. We spoke with George Ross, he has done more real estate deals in New York City than virtually anyone else alive today. We also noted thoughts from other notable investors like Neal Bawa and Kathy Fettke. You can read this entire episode here: https://montecarlorei.com/how-will-the-coronavirus-impact-the-real-estate-market/ What are specific steps that we can take to prepare ourselves? If we currently own commercial properties, should we start talking to banks, or any other ideas? No, wait. Banks will talk to you, because they don’t know what to do either. Imagine, for example, that a bank has so many millions of dollars in mortgages in houses and all the people stopped paying. Now, what does the bank do? Well, they’re not going to be solvent. This is money that they anticipated coming in. And they don’t have it. So what do you do? The banks don’t know what to do. That’s where they come to the government and say, hey, here’s my problem. I don’t know what the end result is, but I do feel that, and I feel very strongly about it, that ultimately the government will come in and step in and help the banks if they have a need. They’ll pump a tremendous amount of money in. And we’re talking about trillions if necessary. We only know it’s necessary once the effect has become critical. It’s not a big problem if somebody misses a payment for a month on a mortgage. What happens if they miss it for a year? Now you’re talking about an entirely different situation. What happens if they never have the money to repay it? Do you also think we should wait if we think now is the right time to buy real estate? Where are you going to get the money? If you went out to buy a piece of property, you’ll want to get a bank loan. They’re going to be very hesitant because they’re not going to want to make loans. They should, they have plenty of money. But they don’t want to make loans. I don’t know the answer to it. But if you had some money sitting there, or you can raise the money yourself from savings, or from refinancing debt that you have, and you have excess money – that’s your down payment. So don’t put up a lot of cash. Just put a down payment, take an option to buy. I wouldn’t go haywire. But if a deal comes up that you think is really good, you’ll get unbelievable negotiating position because they’ll panic. And those who panic just overreact. I can see overreaction in certain instances, but I can’t see overreaction when it comes to real estate. It has a long history with ups and downs. If the seller is very nervous and wants to do the deal, you’ll get some fantastic deals. You’ll be able to buy property with no cash. But you will have some kind of agreement to pay with something down. People will want to get out of it because it’s not money making. the money that I was anticipating, therefore, they don’t like that and they say let that be somebody else’s headache. Somebody buys and says, okay, I’ll take the headache. But they’re not going to pay cash dollars upfront because they have the headache. Somehow they’re going to have to solve that problem. But would it be a good time? Absolutely. To join Victor Menasce’s mastermind go to: http://www.victorjm.com/mastermind-series/ To join our newsletter go to: https://montecarlorei.com/ and subscribe at the top of the page --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/best-commercial-retail-real-estate-investing-advice-ever/support

What makes investing in commercial real estate attractive in the United States, how to get over paralysis by analysis and how to find a great business partner? We are interviewing Reed Goossens, author of Investing in the US, the Ultimate Guide to US Real Estate. You can read this entire interview here: https://montecarlorei.com/how-to-overcome-paralysis-by-analysis-in-your-real-estate-investments/ Let’s talk about paralysis by analysis. What would you recommend people doing? How much do you recommend people learning in order for them to buy their first property? Analysis paralysis is needed. And I think I’d rather be at the analysis paralysis stage than not doing anything other than jumping in too soon. You always have to start with education, education, education, education. And even today with 1,800 units in multi-family, I’m still learning, and continue to learn. It’s really important, if you are getting into this game, to understand how to underwrite deals, because that is the most important thing. If you don’t know what a deal looks like, you won’t know how to act. You don’t know how to go get it under contract. Understanding the numbers behind a particular commercial is really, really important. Understanding how the income is generated, how revenue is generated from a property, whether it be from a multifamily, or a hotel, a warehouse, self-storage, whatever it might be, you need to understand how the top line is created and how do you increase that top line. The second thing you need to understand is what expenses do each individual assets in the commercial “sector”. Multifamily has different expenses than a hotel, and the hotel has different expenses than a self-storage facility. So you need to understand line by line what those expenses are. You need to understand how to read a P&L statement. Once you know how to read a profit loss statement, you want to understand how to generate revenue and reduce expenses, or maintain expenses at a reasonable rate. That’s how you learn how to increase the net operating income and thus the cash flow and thus the overall value of the asset. If you don’t know how to do that, then you need to start there. If you do know how to do that and you’re trying to get out of your own way for analysis paralysis, you have to surround yourself with people who are doing it, because analysis paralysis just means that you are too scared. You haven’t seen or experienced enough things or people around you to order to be confident to go do it. So the analogy I like is, if you’ve ever been jumping off a diving platform at a pool and it might an intimidating diving platform, it’s fun, it’s scary, but, your friend does it first and then you’re like, oh, he did it, I can do it. It’s the same thing with analysis paralysis. If you’re not surrounding herself with people who are actually doing commercial real estate deals, then you’re not going to have the confidence to go and do it yourself. But what it does mean is if you are surrounding yourself with people who are doing commercial real estate deals, maybe you can learn from them. Maybe they can be a mentor of yours to give you credibility, to give you the confidence to go out and be an operator. The analysis paralysis can be overcome by understanding numbers, understanding how to find deals and surrounding yourself with the right people in order to be successful, in order to use their credibility or to ride on their coattails towards helping you become a successful operator. If that’s what you want to be. Reed Goossens reedgoossens.com info@reedgoossens.com --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/best-commercial-retail-real-estate-investing-advice-ever/support

What happens as soon as you get in contract to purchase a property? What are some of the things that you need to keep in mind? What do you need to do and how do you need to organize yourself? You can read this entire episode here: https://montecarlorei.com/things-to-do-when-youre-in-contract-to-purchase-a-commercial-property/ The first step is to have something really simple, like a word document where you will have all of the information on the property in this document. My document has: - The contact info for the real estate agents. - The timeline for the deal. - The link to the property listing. - How many days I have until closing. - A link to all of the documents for the due diligence. - All of the information from the lenders that I have so far and that I have contacted. - A list of potential property managers for this property. - My to do list for the next week. - Things that the real estate agent owes me in terms of documents. - A list of things that are outstanding that I need to take care of in terms of hiring people, or asking for recommendations for lawyers. - A list of "surprises" that you find out during the due diligence process. Week 1 - Reach out to a couple of lenders and finalize a loan application. - Look for a few more lenders that are local to the area, as well as about three national banks. - Break down the finances for the lender, and this is going to be breaking down what you're going to do to the property to increase value. For example, we can increase rents on the property by about five to 10 percent (this is self-storage). We can also decrease vacancy. This is going to have to be completely broken down into an excel sheet, by unit. - Pick a shortlist of inspectors for this property that are local and that can deliver the inspection within a few days of having it done. - Review a copy of the existing management contract. - Find a lawyer that is local and familiar with that states laws. - Find a copy of the state's lease which is a standard lease for that state. - Get all the documentation for that income and expenses for the last two years for this property. And this will also be for the lender. - Look for potential new property managers, if that is our plan. Week 2 - Have the lawyer review the management contract and make any adjustments for the actual lease contract for the units. - Finalize the profit and loss statement and our projected vacancy for that first year. - Finalize how we're going to structure the payment for a potential contractor that will work on renting the vacant units. - Finalize the loan packages for the banks. - Call the remainder lenders that are on our list that we found on the first week. - Look for an insurance company, and we might just continue using the same insurance company that is insuring the property to make things easier. So we need to get their contact information. Week 3 - Make sure that we get the final inspection reports from the inspectors. - Start narrowing down the list of lenders that will move forward with this property. Week 4 This week is currently open for the items that will come up during weeks 1, 2 and 3. We're going to be dealing with whatever we uncover, or still need at that time. Week 5 - Finalize things with the lender and we will be looking at the miscellaneous things that we need to get done after we close on the property. - Find phone centers that are familiar with taking calls for self-storage properties. Subscribe to our newsletter here: https://montecarlorei.com/ --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/best-commercial-retail-real-estate-investing-advice-ever/support

When you're ready to sell your commercial property, it is a wise idea to hire a professional photographer. What should you look for when hiring a professional commercial real estate photographer? What are some technologies that could be useful in marketing your properties visually? We are interviewing Brian Balduf, CEO and co-founder of VHT Studios, a visual marketing company with over 1,000 photographers and videographers, focused in real estate. You can read this episode here: https://montecarlorei.com/top-tips-for-hiring-a-commercial-real-estate-photographer/ What are some tips for screening a good photographer and videographer that has focused in commercial real estate? I would say the most important thing in screening or choosing a partner or provider for photography or video is look at their experience. Anybody could push a button on a camera and take a picture. But that's not the point here. The point is you want to impact, make an impression, create a perception and sell or rent the property. So you're really looking for a return on your investment. The best way to do that is to see what they've done before that's similar. Not just their work, not just photographs of weddings, or puppies, or things like that. Show me what you've done with properties that are similar to mine. Whether it's a hotel, a retail location, or a manufacturing location. I want to see it. You also want to work with that photographer on what are you trying to convey? What are you trying to present to potential buyers and renters? What's the story of this property? What are the highlights or features of this property that should be focused on and make sure that they understand that. That they're not just coming through and taking pictures to take pictures. You want to show it in its best light, make great first impressions and appeal to certain audiences. Third, I would say, is understanding your licenses and rights to use those photographs. The way it works in the United States is the producer or creator of the visual assets or the intellectual property owns it and owns all the rights. Unless they give rights to you, and you always want that in writing so it's very clear. Here's what I can and can't do with these photographs. It's a very big topic in the industry today because I think a lot of people assume that once they have the photographs I can do anything I want, but that's not necessarily true. The license could be restricted to just print, just brochures in magazines, or it could be restricted to just the Internet. If it's not in writing, you really don't have it. You need to ask for it and have that agreement. So I think those are three important things in screening a photographer: the quality of their work experience, their ability to understand your story and your audience, and getting those licenses in writing. How do photographers charge for commercial properties? Is it per square foot? Per room? How does that work? That’s a good question. Generally, it’s per photograph. So you’ll have a rate for the artist, photographer, a pilot to come out to the property. Think of that as a session fee. So you pay them to come out and shoot everything that’s applicable. Everything that makes sense. And then on the back end, you proof those photographs and get to choose the ones that you want to license. And it’s just a per photograph license fee. So it’s a combination of those two. The range could go anywhere from a couple hundred to a couple of thousand dollars depending on the size of the property. How many photographs are being taken and the mix of services. Brian Balduf https://vht.com/ --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/best-commercial-retail-real-estate-investing-advice-ever/support