10 Questions To Ask Before Buying A Distress Sale Property In Lagos

Call the appraiser and ask them who’s buying appraisals at the moment or what kind of trends they are seeing (if they won’t give you specifics). They may tell you which banks have suddenly started conducting a refresh of all their asset appraisals which might be a sign that a bank is marking to market its portfolio and gearing up to do some divestments. They may set up an internal ‘special assets group,’ euphemistically named, to handle all distressed assets especially if a trickle begins to threaten to be a flood.

Lenders are another great resource for information about distressed properties. While lenders rarely proactively discuss borrowers’ distressed situations, developing good relationships with lenders can help you uncover opportunities. Another way to evaluate distressed property is based on what a resulting debt-to-value ratio may be upon stabilization and refinance. Private companies do not have an easily determined market, which brings us to an alternate form of valuation – the income stream method.

Even bought at substantial discounts, you’ll need a robust business plan to demonstrate to private equity that you are going to be able to resolve problems that prior owners could not. In order to refinance the property upon stabilization, most lenders will want to see at least a 70% loan-to-value ratio. So, once the asset is stabilized you’ll be able to refinance with $840,000 of debt assuming you are able to generate enough revenue to bring the asset value back up to its original valuation of $1.2 million.

Why do you have to verify debt?

But as we’ll go on to show, there’s an important distinction to be made between a property that is physically distressed versus one that is financially distressed. Step 2 in the D.O.V. Method is Ownership, meaning you need to verify that the party you are dealing with actually owns the asset. If they do not, it could mean that someone else really owns the asset and/or you could be participating in a scam to defraud the true owner from their asset.

It’s not uncommon to invest 30% of the property’s going-in value only to realize a 50% or more return in the property’s actual value upon stabilization. During the Covid crisis, some owners are finding that it is desirable to sell less well performing assets in order to free up cash that they need to shore up other better performing assets. It may be that they own real estate as a way to supplement their income but have other ‘day jobs’ operating private companies that are their primary source of income. If the business is suffering from a cash crunch due to Covid, liquidating real estate may be a viable option as a way to access money to support their primary business.

What Is A Distressed Property?

The trick, though, is to determine if the value really is that much higher than the asking price or whether buying the asset will be more trouble and cost than it is worth. The answer comes in a method called the D.O.V. Method (pronounced « Dove »), which stands for Debt, Ownership, and Value. The D.O.V. Method allows you to distinguish between hidden headaches and true gems before you buy them. If you’re buying a distress sale property for rent and other commercial purposes, you need to find out the cost of rent in the location. If you want to buy a distressed property, you should plan to spend a lot of time inspecting it and negotiating the price. Speak with a real estate professional who can assist you in finding the perfect property.

What was happening was, there were fewer sales happening at the low end than at the high end. And because of that, you had mix shift going on where a higher percentage of the sales were at the high end. Well, that moves the median up, even though the price at the high end was coming down. Even when there is no downturn, there are plenty of situations in which an owner simply “gets busy” and can’t pay as close of attention to the property operations or maintenance. This is often the case with smaller properties, such as 1-10-unit apartment buildings that the owner has opted to self-manage in lieu of hiring a property manager. The owner lives 45 minutes away and just hasn’t made the time to get over there to repair the siding.

• This is a hugely important factor when buying an asset because you may or may not be able to deduct depreciation of the asset from your tax liability.
• Whether you are securing, buying or selling, whether your assets are real estate, equity in a company or personal property, you came to the right place.
• Such sales typically occur when the seller is experiencing some form of financial hardship or unexpected circumstances that leave them with no choice but to sell quickly.
• Occasionally, the lender may accept a deed in lieu of foreclosure to assume ownership.

That is why the word of the seller is never sufficient to warrant the purchase of a business without the additional searches mentioned above. This is better than losing millions of naira on a dubious distress sale property. A distressed sale occurs when a property or other asset must be sold immediately for the seller to meet other financial obligations. The more distressed a property is, the better the chance it has of being purchased at a price below the market value. If the seller was in a hurry to sell, there is a good chance that he or she would have had to repair the house before listing it for sale.

The history of the land where the property is erected

So, if you know where to look, you might be able to snag a good deal by purchasing REO property. In the case of a foreclosure, lenders are often anxious to sell these homes quickly, in accordance with state laws. This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks. There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase, a SQL command or malformed data. The wonderful thing about doing this is that you’re not going to be doing anything different than you’re already doing and, guess what, you’ll never have to sit through investor meetings again.

Business ownership (equity) is also governed by the UCC, as well as individual state and federal securities laws. Real property includes actual land or dirt, as well as fixtures and improvements made to the land. Fixtures are a grey area, so they can either be personal property or real property.

Because most CRE brokers work on a commission basis, they must always have their ear to the ground for potential listings well before these properties ever hit the market. For example, the owner of a big-box fitness center might have fallen behind on their rent payments – a situation exacerbated during the COVID-19 crisis, having been forced to shut down for weeks on end. You might also consider the Carlton Group who do a lot of lending and have a huge network of both borrowers and investors. Get close to their basket as they’re already beginning to share access to distressed deals through buyouts of minority partnerships at discounted pricing. And this was really one of the things that got me started on this company, in this journey is, I’m selling these properties off in 2005…or beginning of 2006, when I see a problem. I have high end homes and I have low end homes and prices are going down across the board.

How do I determine ownership of a business entity?

A savvy investor can work with the buyer to structure a sale that works for both parties, buyer and seller alike. Prior to investing in distressed real estate near you, it is important to have a sound business strategy in place. Many businesses own both real estate and personal property, so the value determinations mentioned above must be applied to the overall value of the business. Second, there are also personnel issues, referred to sometimes as the human capital aspect of running a business. So in addition to all of the other issues and even beyond the dollar value of keeping those employees, there are personnel issues to be addressed. Add to this that in most business purchases, the current owner normally wants to keep the sale as quiet as possible to avoid losing its employees, so employee interviews are often not possible prior to the purchase.

In the interim, water gets to the structure and causes a slow leak, which eventually leads to a combination of mold and rot. This speaks specifically to the debt layers on a property; if they are too burdensome for the cash flow to carry, then the asset becomes distressed. Once a mortgage goes beyond 90 days delinquent it technically becomes a non-curable loan. Personal property also has a market, and there are a variety of ways to measure its value using comparisons found at used car and equipment companies and websites. The IRS has a variety of charts and rules when it comes to whether or not and how to depreciate the life of a piece of equipment. This is a hugely important factor when buying an asset because you may or may not be able to deduct depreciation of the asset from your tax liability.

Ultimately, your business broker and your accountant will help determine the value of the asset if there is no ready market by which to value it. Additionally, reviewing all of distress sale means these methods together will often yield a solid dollar value of the worth of the asset. A distressed sale may also involve various types of securities, such as stocks or bonds.

Foreclosures can damage your credit by more than 250 points, while a short sale will likely only cause about a 100-point reduction — not great, but definitely something you can overcome with time. Look to see what buildings are in the planning pipeline, going through the permitting process, or have just recently received their certificate of occupancy. Any of these may be struggling to keep up with their budgeted cash flows and coming under stress i.e. turning to distress.

Is the location notorious for cultism, incessant armed robbery, and avoidable violence? This is very important so that you don’t end up investing in a property where you won’t be able to live or rent. But regardless of which path you choose to take, there’s always the possibility that you could be outbid at auction. There’s no guarantee you’ll be able to purchase the property until the sale has been finalized. Based on the information you have provided, you are eligible to continue your home loan process online with Rocket Mortgage. Lenders don’t typically want the responsibility of maintaining or repairing these properties and may be willing to sell them at a discount.

A distressed property is a home that is either in the process of being foreclosed, pre-occupied, or controlled by the lender or bank. Distressed properties are those that the owner is unable to make mortgage payments and/or property tax payments on. Distressed assets are assets whose market value is lower than their true worth due to solvency or cash flow issues on the part of the asset’s current operator, manager, or owner. Even so, becoming a real estate investor can be rewarding and easier if you build a solid reputation.

Such sales typically occur when the seller is experiencing some form of financial hardship or unexpected circumstances that leave them with no choice but to sell quickly. Distress sales are common in the real estate market, but they can also occur in other markets, such as the automobile, furniture, or electronics markets. Check out DistressedAssetLaw.com, your source for legal guidance in the securitization, sale or purchase of distressed assets. In these troubling economic times, it is more important than ever to have good counsel when buying or selling your assets, and we strive to provide solid and to-the-point references to help you make these tough decisions. Whether you are securing, buying or selling, whether your assets are real estate, equity in a company or personal property, you came to the right place.

Even if it does, there are dubious people out there who could forge receipt and title. Some of them do this when the property has a pending case in court and they have a slim chance of coming out victorious. They just want to collect any amount the prospective buyer is offering and they disappear. You’re the price determinant, you call the shots, because the seller is willing and most times desperate to sell because of the urgency in financial obligation. The commonest among Nigerians right now is to sell their property to offset their travelling bill for those who want to permanently relocate their family abroad.