Momentum

September 1, 2020

Hello Clients/Friends/Colleagues:

Hope all is well with you and yours. Now that Summer is over and school is back “in”, I thought I’d touch base. It’s been a crazy few months and I’m sure you all have been working hard to sustain your businesses and keep some sanity. I think we will all look back on 2020 and say we were just glad to have that behind us…

I’d love to hear from you on how things have gone with your businesses as I can share insights from many of my other clients who have survived and some of which have actually thrived. Many businesses have had to make adjustments to overall strategic plans and certainly space plans, so I’ve been doing a lot of advising and counseling and talking and spit-balling ideas. I enjoy when clients confide in me and trust that I can help find solutions to their challenges—even if it has nothing to do with their commercial real estate!

I want to emphasize how it’s more important than ever to get a grasp on your leases and mortgages. That means you can tell me when your lease is expiring, when you have to notify the Landlord of your intention to renew, and how much rent you are paying. And if you own your building, you can tell me your monthly payment and annual interest rate. Don’t be embarrassed if these details aren’t top-of-mind. Just don’t get blindsided when something in your real estate world sneaks up with a surprise like a lease expiration. And knowing your mortgage information will enable you to understand if you can free up some cash with a refinance with the historic low interest rates!

Your lease/mortgage expenses represent a large percentage of your overall expenses and it’s an area that I am uniquely qualified to share an opinion that may help in this area. If you even have 18 to 24-months remaining on your lease term, it’s not too soon to think about whether you want to stay/go or buy/sell. And if you need capital for your core business, a refinance or a sale-leaseback may be something worth a short discussion.

If you are uncertain about your situation and would like to explore your options after a quick review, let’s talk. This is a time to leverage your professional networks, including your commercial real estate advisor(s), so please call me if I can be of service!

And as an aside, as I look at my pipeline, so much of it is repeat-business and referral business. That hopefully means I’ve taken good care of my clients! If you know of anyone that needs help with their commercial real estate, I’m always happy to talk and share my thoughts.

Since I’ve been fairly absent from social media and email blasts since April, I’d like to share what we’ve been up to. We’ve stayed very busy helping our clients and I am excited about the momentum we’re seeing on the commercial real estate front!

Here are some highlights of what we’ve been up to along with some takeaways:

➡️ We’ve worked on several lease renewals. One of my client deals had started as an expansion that had to be renegotiated to a simple renewal in lieu of the downturn. We found all the respective landlords were great to work with. Tenants and Landlords have all been impacted and it’s nice when everyone can pull together and keep relationships intact through challenging times!

➡️ One multi-city search for a client was pulled in lieu of Covid and we’ve regrouped to focus more effort on their core operations here in Charlotte. I hope to have a deal to announce in next week or so. This unprecedented business interruption has made it important to focus on the core competencies. As the economy regains strength, we can all aim for more growth, but we’ve got to survive the present first!

➡️ We have several site selection closings in the pipeline. I’m grateful that carwash and automotive service sectors remained fairly resilient in the Covid-economy. You’ll see several of my deal announcements in social media soon. One that closed last month was over 4-years from LOI to Closing! That’s unusually long for any deal, but both sides were patient and very communicative and stayed focused on the prize!

➡️ We relocated an industrial client that had been pushed out of the light-rail corridor near NODA. We found a great lease in a warehouse on Hovis Road and secured a long-term lease. There was even a change in ownership at the tail-end of our lease negotiation, but thankfully, the new owners moved right along in stride. I was impressed that City plan reviews and construction inspections were not drastically impacted and the construction timelines were achieved!

➡️ We helped secure a new dental office for a repeat-client in Cary this month and have two more dental office searches in the pipeline. The dental industry got hit pretty hard, but has bounced back. I love this segment of our business because independent dentists are all entrepreneurs at heart!

➡️ We just signed a new listing on a vacant Walgreens in Walterboro, SC that you’ll see info on soon. It’s cool to see a project last 25 years in its intended use. Maybe it will attract another tenant and live on, or maybe be demo’d and become something new and exciting! We’ll be sure to explore any and all options, so our Owner will make the best decision based on all the information available!

So thanks for tuning in this far as I hope to put out a monthly version of My Two Cents going forward. We appreciate that our clients and colleagues help us continue to do what we love to do—help people and businesses establish a firm foundation for success with commercial real estate!

Stay well and stay in touch!

Sincerely,

Matt

7227 Pineville Matthews Road
Suite 600
Charlotte, NC 28226
o. 704-541-0901
info@sterlingpropertiesgroup.com

Buyer/Tenant Representation & Site Selection

Seller & Landlord Representation

Development & Consulting Services

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