LOS ANGELES-The Irvine-based Bascom Group has placed a portfolio of five multifamily properties totaling 1,526 units on the market at an asking price of $200 million and has named SVP Kitty Wallace of the West Los Angeles office of Sperry Van Ness to market the portfolio. The properties, in the Antelope Valley in the northern part of Los Angeles County, include four in the City of Lancaster and one in the City of Palmdale.

Bascom is offering prospective buyers the option of acquiring the complexes either individually or as a portfolio. Wallace describes the portfolio as "a rare opportunity to acquire a collection of five multifamily properties in a high-barrier-to-entry market that is expected to double in population size over the next 25 years."

The properties in Lancaster are the 314-unit Sienna Heights at 43519 Kirkland Ave., the 416-unit Cordova Park at 43570 Gadsden Ave., the 320-unit Granada Villas at 43230 Gadsden Ave. and the 311-unit Woodlands West Townhomes at 44012 Engle Way. The Palmdale complex is the 336-unit Fountains at 38300 30th St. E.

Wallace notes that Bascom spent more than $10.7 million in renovations on the properties from 2005 through 2007. The unit mix of the complexes is primarily two- and three-bedroom floor plans as well as a list of amenities that includes swimming pools, spas, fitness centers, tennis courts, basketball courts and tot lots.

Wallace observes that one of the factors that investors likely will find appealing about the properties is their relative affordability for renters compared to the cost of leasing or mortgaging a single-family home in the area. Specifically, the average monthly mortgage rate in the Antelope Valley is $2,000 per month, compared with an average asking rent of $977 at the Fountains complex in Palmdale and the Lancaster portfolio average rent of $1,059.

The properties in the Bascom portfolio are primarily multiple-building complexes on expansive grounds. The Sienna Heights consists of 53 buildings on 14 acres, Cordova Park is situated on 18 acres, Granada Villas covers 17 acres and Woodlands West Townhomes sits on seven acres. The Fountains in Palmdale comprises 40 two-story buildings spread out over 21.2 acres.