"It was a real challenge," Baird tells GlobeSt.com of the $1.6-million deal between seller Japan Investments Inc. and Los Angeles-based buyer Madonna Properties LP.Negotiating mainly through e-mails translated from English to Japanese, Baird spent hours convincing the seller to drop its original $2-million asking price on the 50-unit apartment complex and ironing out the final details between the two parties, each half a world apart.
Other investors weren't quite as patient as Madonna Properties, which holds a portfolio of several other apartment properties in Los Angeles and Las Vegas. "We had other bidders in the past, but they didn't have the patience to see it through," says Baird, with Sperry Van Ness' Las Vegas office. But the wait was worth it for the new owner, who got the single-building asset at 3427 McCormick St. for $400,000 below the original asking price.
"It was a good price per unit," says Baird, who represented both parties in the negotiations. Still, Madonna Properties is facing some occupancy challenges. The property was just 60% rented at the time of sale.
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