Mike Bolen

RE/MAX Napa Valley

The city of Napa is now experiencing an apartment vacancy rate of 1.6 percent, which is fueling increased rents.

Just three years ago in 2005 the vacancy rate peaked at 5.6 percent. Last year in 2007, the vacancy rate was 2.6 percent. Population growth, credit tightening, surging foreclosures and lack of new construction of multifamily product in Napa Valley all contribute to the ultra low vacancy rate in 2008.

Now is the time for multifamily builders to enter the Napa Valley market and place new apartment product on the market. Currently at RE/MAX in Napa Valley I represent sellers of a combined total in excess of 16 acres of buildable multifamily ground. Most offered for sale off market to pre qualified buyers. To gain access to the off market Napa Valley multifamily market contact me today.

I am a real estate broker agent at the RE/MAX Napa Valley office RE/MAX Cornerstone I specialize in working with buyers and sellers of multifamily apartment investments. My colleague Armando Lincoln 707-299-9779 part of the team handles all real estate commercial and residential that is not multifamily. Over 65% of our sold real estate deals are never advertised. Most are offered to sale only to buyers represented by our team. To gain access to the off market inventory or to learn how we work with buyers contact Mike Bolen for multifamily Mike@MikeBolen.com or 707-254-9999. Contact Armando Lincoln 707-299-9779 for all other commercial and residential ie. homes, land and other real estate opportunities, and Ken Dunbar 707-365-9070 for all commercial leasing needs. View more at http://www.MikeBolen.com

Here is a quick market snapshot of available multifamily investments in Napa Valley and Sonoma county. There is excellent value in apartment buildings throughout Napa Valley & Sonoma from the "Pits to the Ritz". In addition RE/MAX Napa Valley offers pre-foreclosure lists for multifamily investments in Napa, San Francisco, Marin, Sonoma, and Solano counties.

· 68 Units (Napa) $9,695,000

· 38 Units (Napa) $5,472,000

· 10 Units (Napa) $1,100,000

· 9 Units (Napa) $849,000

· 2 Units (Napa) $374,900

· 2 Units (Napa) $367,900

· 2 Units (Napa) $237,900

· 1 Acre Land Zoned MU-T (Napa) $1,050,000

· 1/2 Acre Land Zoned 14U (Napa) $725,000

· 178 Units (Santa Rosa) $24,500,000

· 78 Units (Santa Rosa) $15,500,000

· 77 Units (Santa Rosa) $8,500,000

· 60 Units (Rohnert Park) $6,750,000

· 19 Units (Santa Rosa) $2,185,000

· 20 Units (Sonoma) $1,495,000

· 15 Units (Santa Rosa) $1,039,000

· 7 Units (Cloverdale) $820,000

My team is availble to show any of these properties by using the contact info below. My next posts will cover Solano, Marin, and San Francisco multifamily investments.

I am a real estate broker agent at the RE/MAX Napa Valley office RE/MAX Cornerstone I specialize in working with buyers and sellers of multifamily apartment investments. My colleague Armando Lincoln 707-299-9779 part of the team handles all real estate commercial and residential that is not multifamily. Over 65% of our sold real estate deals are never advertised. Most are offered to sale only to buyers represented by our team. To gain access to the off market inventory or to learn how we work with buyers contact Mike Bolen for multifamily Mike@MikeBolen.com or 707-254-9999. Contact Armando Lincoln 707-299-9779 for all other commercial and residential ie. homes, land and other real estate opportunities, and Ken Dunbar 707-365-9070 for all commercial leasing needs.

In July of 2008 we witnessed the sale of 23 Napa county multifamily units. For August we see nearly a 50% reduction in sales to 12 units all with "special" attributes which skewed prices upwards and none were true multifamily investor deals. Here is a breakdown:

August 2008 Napa County multifamily sales:

August 2008 average unit sale price- $263,750

6778 Yount Street - $223,750 per unit (8 units)

5200 Wragg Canyon - $325,000 per unit (2 Units)

618 Seminary - $362,500 per unit (2 Units)

In June of this year I commentedon the extreme valuation of this property and how a bank would be hard pressed to lend on this property. I search of tax records reveals the new owners borrowed a meager $600,000 of the purchase price and put down $1,190,000!!! Holy cow!!! The seller Jim Keller purchased the property in September 2002 for $850,000 netting over $1,000,000 on this sale 6 years later after tax depreciation and rental income...not bad. Buying opportunities like the one Jim Keller found in 2002 exist right now in the city of Napa. In 2002 Yountville was depressed and forgotten much like Napa now. Although Napa is going through a massive transformation much like Yountville in 2004-2006. The future Napa can be seen, the likes of Ritz Carlton, Westin, La Toque, Oxbow and many others backed by "smart" money are now pouring into Napa. Multifamily in Napa has never been cheaper when compared to money paid for rents received.

So it is now possible to purchase a Napa Valley multifamily apartment real estate investment with 100% financing and still have positive cash flow after paying principal, interest, taxes, maintenance and management. Coupled with extremely strong rents and an ultra low vacancy rate it makes you wonder why we still don't have more buyers for multifamily.

I am a real estate broker agent at the RE/MAX Napa Valley office RE/MAX Cornerstone I specialize in selling just multifamily apartment investments. My colleague Armando Lincoln 707-299-9779 part of the team handles all real estate commercial and residential that is not multifamily. Over 65% of our sold real estate deals are never advertised. Most are offered to sale only to buyers represented by our team. To gain access to the off market inventory or to learn how we work with buyers contact Mike Bolen for multifamily Mike@MikeBolen.com or 707-254-9999. Contact Armando Lincoln 707-299-9779 for all other commercial and residential ie. homes, land and other real estate opportunities, and Ken Dunbar 707-365-9070 for all commercial leasing needs.

We also work with over 20 investment buyers in an exclusive buyer agency agreement if you are looking to sell no one has more commercial real estate investment buyers than our team.

For multifamily investors nationwide, concerns about falling rents and rising vacancy has resulted in a decline in prices for apartment buildings. The "capitalization rate," which measures the relationship between the price and cash flow of properties, increased yet again this time one-quarter of one percent from the second quarter of 2007 to second quarter of this year, according to Real Capital Analytics Inc., a real-estate research firm. The cap rates are now at levels last seen at the end of 2004, the firm says.
The decline in prices has led to a pickup in sales activity across the nation. Real Capital Analytics reported last month that sales in June were "well above" recent months' figures, with $5.5 billion already having closed or in contract in the third quarter compared with $8.7 billion in sales in the second quarter.
Multifamily apartment building sales already were far outpacing deals involving other commercial property, such as office buildings and strip malls. The availability of credit from government-sponsored Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac has buoyed values and fueled new deals. Turbulence at the mortgage titans, which together with Ginnie Mae hold 35% of the mortgage debt on multifamily housing, riled apartment owners last month as investors worried about the fate of Fannie and Freddie. But those worries dissipated as the housing bill signed into law last month made the government's implied guarantee of Fannie and Freddie's $5.2 trillion in mortgage securities more explicit.
There appears to be no indication that the hunger for these multifamily loans by the government backed agencies will end anytime soon. Indeed, Fannie Mae announced last month that it would increase its commitment to buy loans on multifamily housing of up to $5 million to provide additional liquidity for rental housing. Fannie said it invested $20 billion in multifamily housing in the first half of the year. While that is down 25% from $27 billion in the first half of 2007, the number of total deals has fallen by 45%. Multifamily also remains a safe investment so far this year: Delinquencies on Fannie- and Freddie-backed multifamily loans in the first quarter were just .09% and .04%, respectively.
Here at the RE/MAX Napa Valley office, RE/MAX Cornerstone Commercial I specialize in multifamily investment real estate. I am an avid student of the bay area market with an emphasis on the Napa Valley wine country. Put my 16 years of experience and expertise to work for you in your next multifamily real estate investment. You can contact me Mike Bolen at 707-254-9999 or Mike@MikeBolen.com.

This article was written primarily by Nick Timiraos with the Wall Street Journal

Here at the RE/MAX Napa Valley office, RE/MAX Cornerstone the company has created a press release to announce the affiliation of me, Mike Bolen, Armando Lincoln and Ken Dunbar to the new RE/MAX Napa Valley office, RE/MAX Cornerstone. Our three person commercial team was ranked by the North Bay Business Journal at the 11th largest in the Bay area in 2006 and the 10th largest in 2007. Prior to our affiliation with the RE/MAX Napa Valley office RE/MAX Cornerstone the three of us were affiliated with Intero Real Estate Services.

We are very proud of our new affiliation with the new RE/MAX Napa Valley office, RE/MAX Cornerstone. Our affiliation with the RE/MAX Napa Valley office will benefit our clients in multiple ways including:

•1. RE/MAX has over 108,000 licensed agents to market property to through our global proprietary intranet.

•2. 400,000 page views per month on RemaxCommercial.com

•3. RE/MAX is the highest ranked real estate search for keywords "commercial real estate" and "commercial properties"

•4. 53% of all real estate TV commercials are RE/MAX

•5. Quarterly Wall Street Journal commercial property ads and RE/MAX Napa Valley always participates

•6. RE/MAX commercial practitioners completed over $12 billion in sales last year

•7. The president of CCIM is a RE/MAX agent

•8. The RE/MAX Napa Valley office has a AAA+ corner of 1st & Main location to showcase your listing.

•9. RE/MAX Napa Valley has the strongest internet presence of any real estate office in North Bay, visit www.MikeBolen.com, www.RemaxNV.com, www.RemaxNapaValley.com, & www.JoinRemaxNV.com

•10. The RE/MAX logo is one of the 10 most recognized brands in the world and we put the 800 pound gorilla to work for you.

For these reasons and many more, myself, Armando Lincoln and Ken Dunbar feel we can complete more transactions in a successful fashion by being a part of RE/MAX International through our affiliation at the new RE/MAX Napa Valley office, RE/MAX Cornerstone.

Here at the RE/MAX Napa Valley office RE/MAX Cornerstone I specialize in selling just multifamily apartment investments. My colleague Armando Lincoln 707-299-9779 part of the team handles all real estate commercial and residential that is not multifamily. Over 65% of our sold real estate deals are never advertised. Most are offered to sale only to buyers represented by our team. To gain access to the off market inventory or to learn how we work with buyers contact Mike Bolen for multifamily Mike@MikeBolen.com or 707-254-9999. Contact Armando Lincoln 707-299-9779 for all other commercial and residential real estate opportunities, and Ken Dunbar 707-365-9070 for all commercial leasing needs.

We also work with over 25 investment buyers in an exclusive buyer agency agreement if you are looking to sell no one has more commercial real estate investment buyers than our team.