February 15, 2009

Tim Leigh’s Weekend Market Report
Hoff & Leigh, Inc.
4445 Northpark Drive, Suite 200
Colorado Springs, CO 80907
February 15, 2009

Attached is our complete listing of all properties for sale in Colorado Springs, based on property type - office, industrial and condo. This is the most complete listing that we are aware of. It’s our goal to provide this information, updated weekly. We develop these lists by basic research and cross-checking data points from the PPCIE, local broker's individual web sites, The Turner Book and any other public information domain we can find.

You are receiving this information because, at some point, you asked or a friend referred your name to be included in our e-mail Insider’s List. If you no longer wish to receive this information, send an e-mail reply to me (tim@hoffleigh.com) and ask to be removed. Alternatively, if you know someone who could benefit from the receipt of this information, forward this e-mail to them, and suggest they contact us, so we can consider adding them to our exclusive list.

All Market Average Office Building Sale Price PSF = $113.23 (DOWN from $113.29 last week.)
We are currently tracking 109 office buildings for sale.
This is 1,156,399 square feet, which represents a total market value of $130,937,800.

All Market Average Industrial Building Sale Price PSF = $73.07 (DOWN from $73.52 last week.)
We are currently tracking 90 industrial buildings for sale.
This is 1,280,119 square feet, which represents a total market value of $93,533,606.

Somewhat interesting Property for Sale or Lease:

UPDATES

4038 Dover Drive: This is the Colorado City manufacturing facility you see on the right side of I-25 on the way to Sante Fe. It’s a very clean and functional manufacturing building, but from Colorado Springs, it’s just too far to-work everyday. The facility is 250,000 square feet and it’s priced right - $2.40 per square foot! Someone once told me that with real estate, location is everything. This is evidence of that claim.

6031 East Galley Road: This listing has 2 industrial buildings, (34,000 sf concrete tilt-up & 6,250 metal warehouse), on 5 ½ acres. It’s well suited for most industrial uses and could be alternatively used for a church or non-profit needing low-cost, large volume space. The price, at $39 psf, is about ½ of the average price for all-market industrial buildings.

1465 North Uniion Boulevard: This sale closed last week. This is a 7,100 sf office building that Barry Boals built in the early 1980’s. It’s fully tenanted with small office users; some of them in 1-room offices. The building’s in good physical condition. It sold for $90 psf and the current income produces a strong 10% cap rate. This was a cash transaction.

315 South Wahsatch Avenue: This property NOT-generally-advertised for sale. The NOI is just north of $40,000 and the note fully amortizes in 5 years. At $725,000, these 90 storage units + the 1,500 sf newly renovated office building is a cash cow, and when the note is fully amortized, it will produce rich, high-fat, chocolate milk.

825 North Circle Drive: This is a new listing where the Seller’s in trouble and is looking for a partner or someone to take over his payments. The property’s had the Wig Lady as a tenant for nearly 25 years. This is a sleeper for someone with a strong-enough statement to assume some debt and wait for the market to turn around. You can see the listing at: http://www.hoffleigh.com/PropertyDetails.aspx?ID=369

1721 West Colorado Avenue: Holly asked me to post this listing in this column. She feels that it’s a pretty neat deal; a small house, commercially zoned, on West Colorado Avenue. It’s 800 sf for $$147,000. And truthfully, for the right user, it is a good deal. http://www.hoffleigh.com/PropertyDetails.aspx?ID=263

1923 West Colorado Avenue: This is an estate sale. I was negotiating with the Seller to list the property. Tragically, he was run-over and killed in a motor cycle accident and Brand X got the listing. This is a nice, small, brick office building for sale for way too much. On its best day, it should sell for less than $150 psf; it’s listed for $185 psf. With its functional obsolescence & deferred maintenance, it is a buy at $125 psf ($180,000; or about $100,000 less than the current list price).

2760 North Academy Boulevard: The guys who own this property have decided to form an investment syndicate and sell the property to the syndicate. They plan to find investors with sufficient cash to purchase the property at their discount; they’ll manage the renovation including a new elevator; when done, they’ll put the newly renovated space into the rental pool. This should be a very good long-term, passive investment opportunity. (By the way; you can use retirement plan funds to make these types of investments.)

Recall, the building is a 13,177 sf office building with a firm asking price of $540,000 - that’s $40.98 psf. Located on the back of Palmer Park, the views, parking, access, location and potential upside in the income make this a winner. And if you don’t want to wait for the syndication – buy it yourself! There’s lots of upside! You can see the offering at http://www.hoffleigh.com/PropertyDetails.aspx?ID=206

3707 Parkmoor Village Drive: This is a 2 building office project built in the 1908’s. The buildings are typical wood & frame construction. They are fully-occupied by Mom & Pop, who normally occupy Class B property and who have Joe the Plumber’s credit. Once in place, Mom & Pop normally stay forever. The asking price is only $50 psf.

13570 Meadowgrass: This is our office condo project at I-25 & Northgate. We’ve lowered our prices to get a lease or sale. If you know anyone looking for an office or office-condo on the north-end with unbelievable views of the Air Force Academy & the Front Range this is the ticket. To view this property’s listing information, see the link: http://www.hoffleigh.com/PropertyDetails.aspx?ID=98

3729 Austin Bluffs Parkway: This is a retail condo for sale. The unit is 2,075 square feet. It’s priced so a buyer would pay less in occupancy costs than if he was a tenant. This is a great option for someone looking to be near Academy & Austin Bluffs and wants retail visibility. This could be a retail or office space. I’ve told many of my friends who are in retail sales, “Buy your building & you’ll build equity while you wait for your customers”.

Want to know more? Tim@HoffLeigh.com
100’s of listings on our web site www.HoffLeigh.com.
719-630-2277

Tim’s Market Notes:

“In this country all men are Realtors. As the prime symbol of our civilization, neither the pilgrim father, nor the pioneer, nor the captain of industry, suffices so well as the real estate man to explain certain habits of mind, certain ideals and certain inconsistencies of the behavior of the American people.”
Robert Binkley, 1929
A Nation of Realtors

And there is much to explain; that it’s not the end of the world as we know it and no, you can’t save it; that the world if full of nut-jobs; that politics is politics – it’s corrupt and mostly no honorable person can survive the game at a high level and the only point is reelection; that the economy is a stinker right now; that Washington can’t solve your problem; and help’s not on the way. If you’re reading this, it’s most likely that you make too much money (or used to) to qualify for any food from “the trough”.

And there is always much to explain; like, why did the city force the county to spend $6.2 million enlarging a parking garage it didn’t need so it could get an “occupancy permit” for the expansion of a Court House? Who’s running the nut-bin anyway? What happened to team-play and common-sense?

And there is always much to explain; to Heath & Kelly Deutsch, who are losing their home because of an inability to connect with Countrywide Mortgage to work-out “a deal” in time; Kelly claims Marguerite, a service rep with Countrywide told them, “They (Countrywide) would rather take the keys back to the house than let us keep it.” Nice.

And there is always much to explain; to my daughter who is the poster child for the mortgage crisis; she and her husband have exceptional educations; they had great jobs near Sacramento; they bought a terrific home; they did all the right things. He lost his job; they couldn’t afford the payments; they tried to work with CitiBank and nobody would listen; in frustration, they quit making payments; somebody finally listened; they short-sold the house about 9 months later (at a 50% discount). She laments, “We did all the right stuff; we got educations; jobs; paid our bills; we’re good people.” Who knew Solano County would become the epicenter of the bad stuff?

And there is always much to explain; to many of my friends who over the past several months have expressed real fear about the lack of demand for their products or services. That would be the “total lack of demand in the marketplace.” What happens if nobody wants to buy anything from anyone? Where does an over-weight, over-educated, middle-aged man find a new job? What do you do when you’re the safety net and you run out of net?

And there is always much to explain; that the government’s budget deficit (as reported by the Department of the Treasury) will be twice as much in 2009 as it was in 2008; that it was twice as much in 2008 as it was in 2007; and that the government’s operating costs have nearly quadrupled from $267B in 2007 to $1Trillion in 2008; http://www.fms.treas.gov/fr/

And there is always much to explain; that money and wealth gravitates toward the top of the pyramid and that unless we figure out a way to get money to the consuming-class, we’ll never solve the problems of the global economy.

And there is always much to explain; it’s not the end of the world.

Quit worrying about trying to explain everything to everyone. Focus on your world. Provide better service; provide better products; be better and different from your competition. We live in small, diverse communities and it’s in those communities that some sanity can be made from the craziness.

Want to know more? Contact me at Tim@HoffLeigh.com

Vendors we like:

We offer a property management & property maintenance concierge service where we can help you find any vendor for any property need. For example, if you need help with snow removal, electrical repairs, plumbing or heating, roofing or lawn mowing, we can assist with that work. We bill on an hourly basis. It’s like having a full-time property manager at a fraction of the cost. If you’d like to know more about this service, call me - 719-630-2277.

Focus on Charity

The Salvation Army – they feed 52,000 meals per year
The American Red Cross – they do the emergency assist at every disaster in the Pikes Peak region
The Boy Scouts – they are 10,000 kids strong, and growing.

Want to know more? Contact me at Tim@HoffLeigh.com

Have a profitable week!

Sincerely,

TJL
Tim Leigh
719-337-9551
Tim@HoffLeigh.com


To view our Office Matrix List please click below
http://hoffleigh.com/OfficeInsider.aspx

To view our Industrial Matrix List please click below
http://hoffleigh.com/IndustrialInsider.aspx