News
Cushy Digs
August 16, 2010
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| For multifamily deals, those handled by special servicers are dominating the listings, although more private owners are starting to market their assets slowly, Cushman & Wakefield sales specialist Lamont Rattler tells us. We stopped by the Cushman's cushy new digs in Rosewood Court last week and were greeted by Lamont, with Sarah Fossier and senior director Mart Martindale, who says Class B assets are moving with lots of competition from buyers. “The trophy Class A's haven't hit the market yet because most banks and special servicers are extending and trying to work out those loans. Special servicers are moving the lesser quality assets first,†he says. Cushman has closed 10 multifamily deals so far this year, compared with 12 in all of 2009. | |
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| C&W's Dallas Capital Markets Group, led by Stephannie Mower with multifamily sales specialists David Ellis and Ed Nwokedi (out of the Houston office), Mart, and Lamont, sold the 195-unit Woodside Villas in Irving (out of foreclosure for—you guessed it—a special servicer) for $3.5M to Vino T. Patel Real Estate. Woodside Villas got about a dozen offers, with the buyer securing financing from a bank and closing the deal in less than 30 days, Mart says. The special servicer invested about $200k to bring the property up to code prior to the sale. The team also sold another Irving property, the 107-unit Brentwood Apartments for $1.4M on behalf of a special servicer. Plano-based QT Properties was the buyer. Stephannie, Mart, Lamont, and David worked this deal, too. | |
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| Complexes like Woodside Villas require intensive management, chiefly to oversee the employees and staff, Lamont tells us. But what he's seen is that the majority of foreclosures they're marketing have resulted from absentee owners. Mart says debt was cheap from '05 through '07, and many out-of-state buyers were snapping up properties for more than they were worth and then later they fell into disrepair. The team is also marketing another special-servicer foreclosure: The Oaks in Balch Springs (pictured). The 147-unit complex is 92% occupied and listed for $3.3M. In less than two weeks, the property had 150 registered buyers, we're told. |
