"Even though they are first-time buyers, this is the one that we felt would stay with it and not re-trade it," Tom Burns, senior adviser in Dallas for Phoenix-based Hendricks & Partners, tells GlobeSt.com about Opis Assets Inc. of Fremont, CA. The complex at 180 St. Donovan St., trading at a 7.9% cap rate, brought close to the $5.2-million asking price. "Once they saw it, they just had to have it," he says.

Burns says the deal took six months start to finish, with the last 12 weeks spent on working through the assumption process on a Wells Fargo-held first mortgage with a 5.87% fixed-rate interest. Seller Monticello Partners LP of Gunnison, CO acquired the 35-year-old complex in 1999 and completed a major rehab the following year.

Burns, the sole broker working the transaction, says the new owners most likely will "ride it out until the loan can be paid off and possibly turn it into condos. If they run it right, they'll get a 13.5% cash on cash pro forma."

Monticello Crossroads is in the city's Museum, District and close to RadioShack's $90-million corporate headquarters project and Pier One's $60-million HQ development. The complex contains 24 one-bedroom and 81 two-bedroom apartments. Units average 1,011 sf with the median monthly rent at $712. The layout is a mix of two-story townhouses, some with spiral staircases, and single-story flats.