Vintage Asset Flips for $59,583 Per Door

La Escondida at 4520 Holland Ave. was flipped after a one-year hold by Ivanyi Inc. of White Rock, British Columbia. The new owner, also from British Columbia, is Nafco Financial Services Inc., which is preparing to put $12,000 per unit into its newest portfolio member, Steve Defterios of Dallas-based Henry S. Miller Commercial tells GlobeSt.com.

The Oaklawn asset was on the market four months at $1.2 million. The Vancouver-based Nafco bested four others with an offer pushing $1.1 million or $94 per sf, winning an infill property across the street from Highland Park and a half block from a Whole Foods grocery store. Not only is the location a definite plus, but added leverage to make the deal fly came from a condo registration with the state that's been in place since the building rose even though it's been maintained as a rental property, Defterios explains of a holding primed for conversion. There were three vacancies at sale time, each now being retooled with hardwood floors, granite countertops and stainless steel appliances...must-have elements for successful sales to the target market of young professionals.

La Escondida, most likely in line for a name change, has four two-bedroom units with 1,000 sf and 14 one-bedroom designs ranging from 600 sf to 750 sf. Monthly rents range from $650 to $850.

"The square footage isn't that great, but where else can you buy a condo for $100,000," he says of a conversion plan priced at $140 per sf or slightly more. The conversion is expected to go faster than usual because most tenants are on month-to-month leases. The longest-running lease, he says, expires in January 2005.

Nafco took out short-term, interest-only financing with First International Bank of Dallas for acquisition and rehab money. Estela Reynoso with Henry S. Miller Commercial represented the buyer. Defterios brokered for the seller, who bought the half-acre property in May 2003 for $800,000.