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.

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.

The Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal

Essex Property Trust Inc. has bought the Chestnut Street Apartments in Santa Cruz for $22.1 million.

The 96-unit garden-style complex was built in 2002 and is located near the ocean and the University of California Santa Cruz. The property also has 9,000 square feet of retail and commercial space.

Palo Alto-based Essex (NYSE:ESS) acquires, develops, redevelops and manages apartments in California and the Seattle metropolitan area. The company owns nearly 27,000 apartment units in more than 130 communities. Nearly 6,700 of the units are in Northern California, including Silicon Valley; about 13,000 of the apartments are in Southern California.

As a real estate broker agent at the RE/MAX Napa Valley office RE/MAX Cornerstone I specialize in selling just multifamily apartment investments and working with buyers of multifamily around the bay area. 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.

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.

Contact me Mike Bolen a commercial real estate agent here at the RE/MAX Napa Valley office, RE/MAX Cornerstone we are located in downtown Napa on the corner of 1st and Main you can reach me by calling 707-254-9999 or email Mike@MikeBolen.com

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

RE/MAX research said California’s foreclosure activity increased 5 percent from the previous month and was up 85 percent from July 2007. On a year-over-year basis, bank repossessions in California were up 427 percent, while auction notices were up 67 percent and default notices were up 34 percent. However, default notices declined 4 percent from the previous month.

Throughout the country, foreclosure filings — default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions — were reported on 272,171 properties during the month, an 8 percent increase from the previous month and a 55 percent increase from July 2007. The report also shows one in every 464 U.S. households received a foreclosure filing during the month.

In actual foreclosures Nevada continued to document the nation’s highest state rate in July, with one in every 106 households receiving a foreclosure filing during the month. Foreclosure activity in Nevada was up 15 percent from the previous month and 97 percent from July 2007, pushing the total number of properties with foreclosure filings to over 10,000. Bank repossessions in Nevada were up 384 percent on a year-over-year basis, while default notices were up 59 percent and auction notices were up 31 percent.

One in every 182 California properties received a foreclosure filing in July, the nation’s second highest state actual foreclosure rate, while one in every 186 Florida properties received a foreclosure filing.

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. Put the power of the RE/MAX Napa Valley team to work for you.

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.

“So far this year, more than 1.25 million Americans faced the risk of loosing their homes to foreclosure, up 7.3% from June 2008, and up 88.62% from July 2007,” says Alexis McGee, real estate expert, educator, and president of ForeclosureS.com.

California-based ForeclosureS.com bases its analysis on the number of formal notices filed against a property during the foreclosure process. That can include notice of default, foreclosure auction, and/or REO (lender-owned real estate after a foreclosed property reverts back to the lender). Pre-foreclosure filings are the first initial notice and do not all end up foreclosed.

Foreclosures and short sales (selling homes for less than their loan value) make up a huge chunk of today’s sales market and those low sales prices are skewing sales values down. Now thanks to the new housing bill recently passed first time home buyers are coming into the market to grab their $7,500 tax credits, FHA reform is easing their loan process, and there is a ton of affordable housing to chose from. Plus, for the first time in a long time you can buy a near-new home for less than its replacement cost and buy multifamily with positive cash flow.

A look at a few of the July numbers from ForeclosureS.com:

-- Pre-foreclosures by region based on filings per 1,000 households

 July 2008 YTD versus July 2007 YTD 2007:

     -- Southwest, 21.4 pre-foreclosures per 1,000 households YTD vs.

      10.5 per 1,000 YTD 2007;

     -- Southeast, 24.1 per 1,000 vs. 11 per 1,000 YTD 2007;

     -- Northeast, 8.4 per 1,000 vs. 6.7 per 1,000 YTD 2007;

     -- Midwest, 11.3 per 1,000 vs. 9.3 per 1,000 YTD 2007.).

-- States with the most pre-foreclosure filings per 1,000 households

 July 2008 YTD:

     -- Nevada (59.1 per 1,000 up 126.44% from YTD 2007);

     -- Arizona (54.9 per 1,000, up 403.67% from YTD 2007);

     -- Florida (48.3 per 1,000 up 176% from YTD 2007);

     -- California (25.2 per 1,000, up 119.13% from YTD 2007).

Until the foreclosure and short sales move out of the market downward pressure will continue on small to medium size multifamily properties. Larger multifamily where foreclosure on commercial loans is near non-existent will have little downward pressure from the foreclosure market with higher cap rates being propelled by tough capital markets.

Now is the time to buy multifamily rents are exceptional, vacancy is at record lows and prices have fallen to record lows when compared to income. Here at the RE/MAX Napa Valley office, RE/MAX Cornerstone I specialize in multifamily property contact me, Mike Bolen at 707-254-9999 or email anytime Mike@MikeBolen.com. I look forward to hearing from you.

Read more here:

Here at the RE/MAX Napa Valley office RE/MAX Cornerstone I specialize in multifamily investments. Foreclosure, off market, short sales and soft market proeprties. Most multifamily is never advertised I mail over 12,000 postcards each and every month and make 1000’s of phone calls. Call or email me anytime with questions or to view a property. You can reach me, Mike Bolen anytime via email Mike@MikeBolen.com or give me a call 707-254-9999. I look forward to finding the perfect investment for you.