With so many distressed real estate assets already hitting the market, and so many more assets projected to, it is sometimes difficult to optimize those assets. In order to meet the needs of the industry, many companies formed distressed groups to help navigate, or created specific services to address distressed assets in one way or another. Permit Place, one such project management company that provides entitlement and building permit services nationwide, has introduced a package of services named “Asset Advantage.” Mike Robinson, president of Los Angeles-based Permit Place, recently spoke with GlobeSt.com about the creation of this new venture.

GlobeSt.com: Why did you decide to create this package of services now?

Robinson: The concept of Asset Advantage grew out of Permit Place's response to the needs of existing clients searching to optimize their assets in today’s distressed real estate market.

GlobeSt.com: What do you offer?

Robinson: The Asset Advantage suite of services helps financial institutions, private investors, government agencies, receivers of special assets and individual property owners to quickly find and fix building permit and entitlement information and issues that may affect their portfolios. Permit Place provides practical assessment services and risk ratings for clients so that they can better know the value and risk associated within those portfolios. We take care of this time-consuming, detailed work so that our clients can focus on bigger picture issues.

GlobeSt.com: How often do you discover that permits are a stumbling block for your clients?

Robinson: In data collected from work with over 22,000 properties between 2003 and 2009, Permit Place found that nearly half of these properties did not have an active building permit on file. Quickly discovering a property’s permit and entitlement status can provide a significant advantage to the professional team charged with analyzing the full risk and value of a property or portfolio.

GlobeSt.com: So how would the Asset Advantage actually help clients “optimize value”?

Asset Advantage helps clients to optimize the value of their assets or potential assets by providing services including: research, reporting and remediation for entitlements, tentative tract maps, final tract maps, permits, inspection records, code violations and certificate of occupancy. Asset Advantage also confirms construction in place, zoning analysis, use of right, conditions of approval, planning affidavits, development agreements, fines and fees allowing clients with incomplete assets to estimate the true cost to complete.

GlobeSt.com: Who are the Asset Advantage team members?

Robinson: Permit Place’s Asset Advantage team members are experienced urban planners, real estate and construction managers who use web-based technology and personal relationships to provide entitlement and permit assessment for commercial and residential properties located throughout the nation.

GlobeSt.com: Are there any specific type of requirements in order to use the service, such as a specific asset class or geographic region for example?

Robinson: A customizable package of services is available for all asset classes at any phase of the project: single-family dwelling, multifamily, commercial, retail, industrial, undeveloped land.

GlobeSt.com: Can you give me a specific example of one of your clients and how the Asset Advantage is helping them?

Robinson: One of Permit Place’s clients is a national bank specializing in construction lending. Permit Place has confirmed permit status for up to 5,000 properties a year for this bank in order to assess risk and determine the value of the portfolio. Before contracting with Permit Place, the process was taking eight full-time employees working seven days a week for this bank, because they did not have Permit Place’s streamlined web-based system, extensive relationships, direct access and experience.