Bill Walston - Understanding Master Lease Options

My guest today is my friend Bill Walston, and we're talking about master lease options. This is one of the creative buying strategies that Bill uses in his business and has for more than 3 decades.

You have to admit that this is a fascinating concept. The master lease option strategy allows anyone to invest in commercial property with no money down and without ever going to a bank.  Even more fascinating is the idea that this strategy works for pretty much any type of property that has units that are leased. A lot of people think the master lease option strategy is complicated, but you're going to learn that just isn't the case.

 

What types of Property Does this Strategy Work For?

Most of us think of apartment buildings when we think of master lease options and those are certainly at the top of the list.  Bill has put somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 properties in his portfolio in the last 4 years (there could be more by the time this is posted).

But there are many other types of properties that will work with master lease options such as:

• Mixed-use commercial
• Storage facilities
• Warehouses
• Townhouses
• Marinas (I’ll bet that one caught you by surprise)
• And a whole lot more

 

Show Notes

The great thing about the master lease option strategy is that you can get in and “try before you buy”.  You can find out if a particular property will be a good fit in your portfolio. Then at the end of the option period, you can exercise your option and finalize the sale.  Here are some of the things we covered in this episode:

• What exactly is a master lease option?
• Why Bill decided to pursue this particular investing strategy
• How he finds these properties
• Websites for finding motivated sellers of multifamily properties
• How to start the buying conversation, and why you are always just a “regular buyer” early in the conversation
• Analyzing a commercial property; how this process is different from SFH
• How much Bill looks for “per door” when analyzing a property
• Skills you need for this investing strategy
• The typical length of an option for apartment buildings
• Deciding whether or not to “exercise the option”; how Bill decides

This is just the tip of the iceberg.  If you have ever given any thought to investing in commercial property and specifically using master lease options, you don’t want to miss this episode.   Please leave us your comments and questions below.

 

Be sure to stop by the Louisville Gal’s Real Estate Blog for more great content.

 

 

 

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