HOLLYWOOD-The sale of a stabilized apartment here, a bankruptcy deal and a note sale illustrate that every deal today is unique, according to the brokers who negotiated them. Principal Matt Ayer of Agoura Hills-based RcmaGroup, who engineered the deals along with partner Ryan Cassidy, tells GlobeSt.com that the three sales "illustrate the market we are in today" in that all three of the transactions are "uniquely different."

In the Hollywood sale, a local buyer acquired a 30-unit apartment complex at 2330 N. Cahuenga Blvd., across from the Hollywood Bowl, in a sale that generated 20 offers in a matter of days. Ayer says the property generated such strong investor interest because of the quality of the complex, which was built in 1987, its location near the Hollywood Bowl, its 98% occupancy and its lack of rent control.

Price was not disclosed, but Ayer says the property, which had never traded before, closed at a cap rate in the range of 5.5%, with Ayer and Cassidy representing both the buyer and the family trust that sold the property. "In that location, for that type of product, there is hardly any inventory, and there is a lot of money chasing it," Ayer says. He notes that rents in the building are below-market, which creates the potential for upside in a non-rent-controlled building. He also notes that, although there were no contingencies to the transaction, the buyer was able to get a 65% loan.

In the note sale, a Northern California developer and investor paid $1.56 million for a non-performing loan secured by a 110-unit apartment complex in Sacramento on which the original loan amount was $5.8 million. Ayer says the key to the deal for the buyer of the note was to acquire it only a short time before a scheduled trustee sale where the property would be offered for sale for the $5.8 million par value of the note. The buyer's plan was to take title to the property through foreclosure, then repair and improve the property to hold it for the long term, Ayer says. The seller of the note, which was more than 12 months delinquent, was a national bank.

In the Chapter 11 bankruptcy deal, Texas-based Amani Investments bought a 95,000-square-foot shopping center in Houston called the Commons at South Green, paying $5.5 million at a 12.74% cap rate, according to Ayer. RcmaGroup advised both the buyer and the seller, garnering multiple offers, mainly from private investment groups.

Ayer notes that the buyer is an owner-user that will use a significant portion of the shopping center space itself and acquired the property at a low cost per square foot and high cap rate.