Got approached by a property manager with 8 small commercial units in a strip mall outside Atlanta - all Georgia Power accounts. Mix of restaurants, nail salon, insurance office, etc. Bills range from $800 to $2,400/month. Anyone had success with these multi-tenant situations? Feels like a lot of coordination for potentially small recoveries.
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Strip mall portfolio - worth the headache?
I've done a few strip centers and honestly it's hit or miss. The coordination is definitely a pain - you're dealing with multiple tenants, some who've been there years, others just moved in. But I found a 4-unit center in Phoenix where 3 of the 4 were on wrong rate schedules. Recovered about $18K total over 2 years.
Angela's right about the coordination headaches. I require the property manager to handle all tenant communications and get written authorization from each unit. If they can't deliver that upfront, I walk away. Too much liability otherwise.
Good point Pete about the authorizations. This PM seems organized - already has all the account numbers and contact info ready. Might be worth a deeper look. What's your typical fee structure for multi-tenant deals?
I usually do 40% instead of my normal 35% for strip centers due to the extra coordination work. Make sure you get copies of all the leases too - sometimes there are clauses about who's responsible for utility errors.