03/26/2026
"Wait, my property is on two parcels?" A lesson in asset management in real time.
On an assignment where I was engaged as the landlord rep, I toured a building that a local owner/user had for his business.
After moving back to his original location, the building sat vacant for the past two years and was constantly getting broken into with no real tenants in sight that would pay market rent.
While touring the site, I already had a couple of multi unit grocery operators in mind to pitch before we even hit the market.
We were still able to position a competitive rate for the landlord, get tours lined up, and shortly after, we had an LOI to review with the owner.
The owner mentioned he had some back taxes, so we structured the deal to include a deposit outside of the security deposit to provide some relief, in exchange for a favorable rent structure and a locked in purchase option.
But as we were reviewing the LOI with the owner’s wife, they asked why I had included two parcels. My response was, “Well, the parking stalls are on a separate lot.”
After checking the tax card, we realized that smaller lot had already been sold at tax sale, and they believed they still had time to redeem it thus making the original building inoperable with the remaining parking.
Now we are working to locate the buyer of that lot to see if we can buy it back and salvage the deal.
The takeaway: no matter the size of the property, details that seem small like understanding how many parcels are tied to a site can make or break a deal and should always be verified upfront.
