Post Investment Group, LLC, Acquires Distressed Apartment Units

PR Newswire

HOUSTON, Post Investment Group, LLC, a Los Angeles based opportunistic real estate investment firm recently announced the acquisition of two distressed multi-family projects: the 438 unit Serrano Apartments in Houston, Texas and the 300 unit Longhorn Station Apartments in Austin, Texas. These latest acquisitions serve to expand Post's distressed real estate platform. Post acquired the assets through separate joint ventures with two existing equity partners.

The two assets, though purchased separately, carried similar transaction structures characteristic of both the current real estate environment and Post's strategic directive. The properties were acquired directly from or through the special servicers, in both circumstances requiring the lender to substantially discount the outstanding principal balance of the notes and amend financing terms in favor of Post. In each case, Post will infuse significant rehabilitation and renovation capital through a focused, individualized investment thesis tailored toward short term stabilization and long term operational viability.

This method of distressed investment is a transactional direction Post has been pursuing over the past calendar year. However, until recently lenders were either unwilling or unable to discount the outstanding balance of their holdings to levels that were both in-line with market and operationally accretive. "These two acquisitions signify a discernible shift in lender expectations," remarks Jack Ehrman, Principal of Post, "in that expanded consideration is now given to the active preservation of remaining equity in lieu of blindly pursing an exit at par, an argument we have been touting for some time." In contrast to the bandwagon flock to direct note acquisition, Post has identified the foregoing as a way to capitalize on the depressed real estate market while avoiding the intangibility of loan purchases consistently void of solid underlying collateral and absent of direct operational oversight at the entity level. Mr. Ehrman goes on to add that, "While this approach may not be as lucrative on exceptional assets, it enables us to significantly reduce an investments risk-coefficient and still attain market leading returns."

The acquisitions of Houston apartments and Austin apartments increase Post's collective holdings to over 6,200 units, 1,400 of which were acquired in the second half of 2009. Jason Post, President of Post comments, "The next two to three year period will provide multiple unique and opportunistic prospects for our company." He went on to emphasize the increased importance of developing strategic relationships with lending institutions and special servicers, stating, "The processes and protections Post employs from both an operational and transactional standpoint have enabled us to further access these entities and produce constructive conversations unthinkable in prior years".

About Post Investment Group, LLC

Post Investment Group is an opportunistic real estate investment firm focused on the acquisition of multi-family assets nationwide. The company specializes is both core plus and distressed investment opportunities capitalized through private and institutional investors.

Galaxy Builders Wins Awards For Texas Apartments

San Antonio Business Journal

Galaxy Builders Ltd. earned construction awards for two apartment complexes the company completed earlier this year.

San Antonio-based Galaxy earned a first place award in the Multifamily Residential category by the Associated General Contractors Texas Building Branch for its work on the Town Square Apartments project in Converse. The company also won an “Excellence in Construction” Eagle Award for the Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) South Texas Chapter for The Park at Brushy Creek, a complex of Round Rock apartments.

Galaxy earns its two awards based on project safety, ingenuity and scope of work.

“These projects directly reflect our company and staffs’ commitment to quality and attention to detail,” says Arun Verma, president of Galaxy Builders.

Galaxy is a privately owned general contracting firm. The company has specialized in the building of multi-family and commercial construction projects since 1991.

MC Companies Aquires Saddle Creek Apartments

Reuters

MC Companies continues to attract new investors and acquires Saddle Creek Apartments in Carrollton, Texas. The acquisition adds 238 Carrollton apartments, bringing the investment and management portfolio total to nearly 7,000 units. 

Ross McCallister, Co-Principal and Partner of MC Companies said the company continues to favor Texas for its pro-business climate, job creation and population growth. McCallister said, "The property was acquired significantly below replacement cost making it attractive to our investors. The acquisition was financed by PNC ARCS who provided FHLMC (Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation) financing at an attractive rate."

About the Deal
Saddle Creek, a 238 unit, class B, garden style apartment community is a perfect fit in MC's portfolio of work force housing. The Dallas apartments are located in the suburb of Carrollton.

MC's Co-Principal and Partner, Ken McElroy said, "We were seeking a stable cash flow investment. We bought this property from Equity Residential (EQR) because the property is in excellent condition, well managed and in a great location. Employing our own management strategies will increase its operational value over the long term."

MC Residential will manage the apartment community.

Texas Luring Seniors With Sun And Low Living Costs

from the Baltimore Sun

After trying out Atlanta, Miami and Pasadena, Calif., Lilian Junco decided this was the place to retire. Being near her son was the first attraction, but soon she was drawn in by the same combination of features that has lured tens of thousands of others from out of state: Gulf Coast living, plus super-low costs.

With some of the country's cheapest prices for housing, gas and food, no state income tax and one of the most resilient economies in the nation, Galveston and other parts of the Lone Star state are emerging as the new Florida.

Next week, when Florida demographers announce new population figures, they are expected to reveal a decline of 57,000 over the 12 months ended in April -- the first annual drop since the 1940s. Much of the loss has come in parts of southern Florida that long attracted retirees.

Meantime, other Sun Belt states such as Nevada and Arizona have been hit hard by the recession, and expensive California has long seen more residents leave than move in from other states.

But Texas, which has weathered the current recession better than most parts of the country, is almost booming--in part because an earlier oil industry crash had left the state's banks too shaken to go on the home mortgage binge that crippled so many other states when the market collapsed. Texas's population, the nation's second largest at about 25 million, is expected to be boosted this year by net inflows of at least 150,000 people from other states, says Karl Eschbach, the state demographer. Seniors are a growing part of that trend, pushed by aggressive campaigns from state officials and developers.

"It's an easy sell," claims Texas Agricultural Commissioner Todd Staples, who's trying to recruit out-of-state seniors by establishing dozens of high-quality "certified" retirement communities. "All we need to do is get retirees to have a good look at Texas."

They'll see big drawbacks along with the advantages. Poverty, highway gridlock, crime and humidity can be stifling in some parts. And places along the Gulf Coast are notoriously susceptible to ferocious weather, such as Hurricane Ike that slammed the Galveston area last year. Ike flooded downtown and sent waves crashing over a 17-foot-tall seawall built after the devastating Galveston Hurricane of 1900, which is still considered the worst natural disaster in American history.

None of that fazed Junco. Having grown up in Cuba, she didn't fear tropical storms. Florida isn't any better, she says, nor is California with its earthquakes. She remembers the panic when her Pasadena condo rattled a few years ago. "The whole bed was shaking," she says.

Moving to Galveston two years ago, Junco paid $130,000 for a one-bedroom condo with a view of the Gulf. A cap on property taxes for seniors keeps her payments low, leaving a little more money for the 70-year-old widow to travel and frequent the restaurants and shops in this touristy island.

For most of her adult life, Junco lived in Long Island and worked as a computer technician in Manhattan. She says retiring to Hawaii was too expensive. Her second choice was here. "Life is more quiet, it's more simple," she says, sipping a chocolate martini with friends at a café on a balmy Thursday evening.

For health care, she goes to the University of Texas Medical Branch here, or drives an hour west to Houston, which has world-class medical facilities. The downside is that it's not easy for seniors to get from place to place if they don't drive: big Texas cities have poor public transportation, says demographer Eschbach. "It's really hard to get around," he says, "and we have relatively little social services."

Undeterred, retirees head for places like the Rio Grande Valley, in the southernmost tip of the state abutting Mexico. Seniors from the Midwest and other northern states have long flocked here for the winter. Locals call them winter Texans.

Doug and Cheryl Lundy used to keep two homes -- their primary one in Avis, Pa., and the other in a mobile home park outside Brownsville, Texas. They were typical snowbirds, arriving in January. Come April, they'd head up to the Jersey Shore in April. But starting this year the couple decided to stay put.

Cheryl Lundy loves the hot weather, and the living costs. She says butter costs her $1.77 a pound now, not $2.29 in her old market in Pennsylvania. "It's not just the butter," she says. "It's everything in the store."

Government reports confirm food prices are cheaper in America's breadbasket states. And for seniors on social security and other retirement income, their checks don't change from place to place.

Annual cost of living adjustments are the same nationwide, so their income may actually go farther where prices are lower. Find out why people are choosing low cost housing in:

Houston Apartments

Dallas Apartments

Fort Worth Apartments

Austin Apartments

San Antonio Apartments

Then there's the Mexico price. Every couple of months, retirees Thomas and Shirley Jones, transplants from Indiana, cross the bridge nearby McClellan into Nuevo Progresso, where he buys medicine for his emphysema at half price. Last year Shirley Jones got a full plate of upper dentures for $325, a fraction of what it costs in the states.

The Joneses used to be Floridians, but "Florida got so high on everything," she says. "We couldn't afford it."

Stanley Smith, the University of Florida demographer who produces official population reports for the state, says the latest recession will make Florida's cost of living more competitive. Home prices have fallen by as much as 60% in parts of the state. What's not yet clear is how Texas will fare with Baby Boomers, whose retirement path remains undefined, experts say.

The oldest of that generation is 63 this year. The recession and loss of wealth may hold back their migration, and many Boomers may look to settle in places where they can find part-time work.

That could be a big plus for Texas. It's expected to outstrip the nation in job growth in the next few years. Already four of the nation's top 10 fastest aging metro areas over the last decade have been in Texas, says the Brookings Institution.

"I think Texas has been attracting many seniors in large numbers and has many amenities along with low living costs which lure them," says William Frey, a Brookings demographer.

California is a primary target for Lone Star boosters. Last year more than 82,000 people from California moved to Texas, while some 32,000 from Texas went to the Golden State, according to data from the Internal Revenue Service.

George and Joan Baker will be adding to that trend this year. Even before selling their Rancho Santa Fe townhome, now on the market for $829,000, the California couple closed on a ranch-style house in the Sun City retirement community north of Austin.

Joan Baker, who is in her 60s, wouldn't say how much they paid for the new place, which is slightly larger than their property in San Diego County. But a Sun City spokesperson says the average home in the community of rolling hills is currently running about $218,000.

"I'm not saying it's easy to leave," says Joan Baker, a retired schoolteacher. "The whole San Diego area is lovely. To go north and south, east or west, and be able to see the water, it's pretty unique.

"But other things are beginning to outweigh it," she says, complaining about overcrowding and the state's budget mess. She says her husband is semi-retired and will continue his consulting work in Texas.

"It's just real convenient living," she says. "The terrain's a little higher so you get a breeze. There are lots of oak trees. You've got three golf courses that are drop-dead gorgeous…And in Texas, you don't have income tax."

Tulsa Firm Buys Grand Prairie Apartment Complex

Dallas News

A Tulsa firm has completed the purchase of more than 900 Oklahoma and Texas apartments - including a Grand Prairie rental complex.

The properties were valued at almost $30 million and were sold by American Residential Group of Tulsa in partnership with Lincoln Properties of Dallas apartments.

Capital Assets Inc. of Tulsa put together the 928-unit sale, which includes the Windridge Grand Prairie apartments.

Windridge contains 720 Texas apartments built in two phases.

Apartments in Tulsa and Oklahoma City were also part of the deal.

All the properties were constructed in the mid to late 1980s.