Real Estate Broker Comments: By Ronald Miller
Commercial Real Estate in Jackson Hole can be a perfect opportunity when the investment property and or business is managed well, has good cash flow and produces a sizable accumulated depreciation for the investor. These factors coupled with the appreciation of buildings and land we have been enjoying with commercial investments in good locations have produced huge returns on investment for our clients. Our own Jackson Hole investment team specializes in buying hotel and motel properties that are Mom and Pop operations located within good proximity to Jackson Hole. A few of the properties we have purchased since 2001 were in trouble when we bought them at a reduced valuation and a few others were properly managed and we paid a fair price for them. In both cases we have done very well with our own commercial investments in Jackson Hole. The properly managed motels have good repeat customers where the poorly managed properties took a few years to get back in good shape financially but we paid less up front to acquire them.
Here are the most frequently asked questions I receive for Commercial Real Estate in Jackson Hole:
Questions and Answers by Ronald Miller.
1. If I buy a commercial investment lodging property, who will fix the toilet or repair the walls if they need repairs?
Answer: You can do it yourself but if a property has a good manager in place, they have all of those people on call. It took me a few years to find a good team of repair people and since then I just do not deal these things. Occasionally I am called if the expense is greater than $200.00 to get my approval.
2. Who makes the reservations and collects the rent?
Answer: Again, our managers do both. We collect all deposits and short term vacation rental money through a credit card machine that sends the money to our account. We pull daily reports on all of our properties and our accountant reconciles all revenue and expenses monthly.
3. What about the marketing needed to be done to increase revenue.
Answer: This is important and we focus on dedicating sufficient time to create a strategic plan as well as allocate funds as needed to boost occupancy. This is truly where the investor wins in Jackson Hole. Remember that the income approach rewards or penalizes you as an investor if you do well in this area.
4. Are you able to find good help in Jackson Hole?
Answer: I am getting better in this area as I learn the needs of each employee. My first property was tough because I did not pay attention and the employees took advantage of my generosity and did not perform well. Now, when I am closing on a property, I usually sit with each employee and discuss with them that things will not change immediately. We adjust pay as needed and clearly let them know we run our business well and expect top performance for our generosity.
