Charlotte NC Commercial - Blog , UncategorizedCharlotte NC Commercial - Blog , Uncategorizedhttps://www.charlottenccommercial.com/blogs/UncategorizedFri, 17 Apr 2026 14:34:09 -0700http://zoho.com/sites/<![CDATA[Student Housing Solutions]]>https://www.charlottenccommercial.com/blogs/post/student-housing-solutions

Student Housing Solutions

When an owner has an apartment property near the campus of a University and they mainly rent apartments for student housing, there are particular problems. The competitive situation dictates that leases be offered for one semester of nine and a half months. A twelve-month lease for students is virtually unheard of. That means there are lots of vacancies as soon as final exams have ended. (This does not apply to a few University communities where there is always an apartment shortage. In those few places, the student must lease for   12 months or have no lodging.)


There are ways that might help turn the months of vacancies into extra rental income.
First, during graduation week, the vacant apartments are rented to parents and guests, by the management company, on 3-day or 5-day leases. The parents like being closer to the activities and a close place to rent is more attractive than an outlying motel or hotel.
Second, summer students taking courses at the university welcome the chance to rent an apartment on a week-to-week basis. This is particularly true of students and employees from other colleges who don’t have the time to search out living arrangements for, say, a six-week summer course.

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]]>Wed, 01 Apr 2026 13:16:00 -0500<![CDATA[The Importance Of A New Tenant Screening Process]]>https://www.charlottenccommercial.com/blogs/post/the-importance-of-a-new-tenant-screening-process

The Importance Of A New Tenant Screening Process

The property manager provides the tenant applicant with the lease application that must be filled out for the interview. A leasing agent may assist during the review process, but the final selection of tenants is ultimately the property manager and owner’s responsibility.


All leasing personnel should be informed that the company does not discriminate on the basis of an applicant’s race, sex, color, creed, or national origin.

The screening process helps determine the prospect’s desirability and verifies financial and nonfinancial qualifications. When all information has been received, the applicant’s file should be given to the property manager and/or owner for final review. Decisions made during this process are based on the following criteria:

    • Impressions created by the prospect when interviewed;
    • The prospect’s employment history if the prospect is applying for residential space; company or business history if the prospect is applying for commercial space;
    • Information gathered from verifying the prospect’s references and from the completion of a credit check;
    • Compatibility of the tenant to the property type.

When the application is approved, the property manager should prepare the lease and other appropriate documents that require the applicant’s signature. Commercial tenants will probably have an attorney review the lease, which may require a certain amount of negotiation. Upon approval, the lease is signed, and security deposits and rent payments are collected as specified in the lease.

When an applicant is disapproved, he/she should be promptly notified. If the disqualification resulted from a credit check, the law requires that the applicant be informed of this. To protect against possible litigation, rejected applications should be kept on file with complete statements about why applications were rejected.

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]]>Wed, 01 Apr 2026 13:14:00 -0500<![CDATA[Contingencies Between Buyer and Seller ]]>https://www.charlottenccommercial.com/blogs/post/contingencies-between-buyer-and-seller

Contingencies Between Buyer and Seller

The Buyer
You have found the investment property that you have been looking for. It’s time to make an offer.

To buy a piece of property or any other real estate without all of your homework completed means that you must have a way to cancel if something unusual and unexpected comes up. Waiting for all inspections, financing, etc. before making a purchase offer is a good way to lose that property to another buyer. Maybe another buyer knows about contingencies.

A contingency gives the buyer a way to cancel a purchase contract and getting any cash deposit back if some future event fails to materialize. Even though the sellers have accepted the offer, the well-written contract should contain these extremely important escape clauses.

The buyer’s partner may not be available until the weekend. A contingency for the inspection within a few days will usually be accepted. Normally, the seller will refuse no reasonable contingency. They know that any other buyer will also request reasonable escape clauses.

Typically, the following two contingencies are written into nearly every offer on a property:

Financing. You can get out of the transaction if the loan specified in your contract is not approved.

If it is a business, the buyers are allowed to take a look at the property’s financial records. The income and expense records are very necessary for a better evaluation of the overall cash flow. Also check out the property’s vendor records and operating invoices to better calculate the property’s financial health and whether it is turning an actual profit or not.

Property Inspections. You can cancel the transaction if you don’t approve the inspection reports or cannot reach an agreement with the seller about how to handle necessary repairs.

Before you invest in any real estate property, it is important to you to ensure that both the building and land are safe and suitable

When you place an inspection contingency on your proposal, you ensure that you get a chance to inspect and examine the condition of the building and the land that it is built on.

Some other things to check include:
  • The safety of construction,
  • The conditions of the amenities of the building and need for improvement (if any).
  • Verify the square footage and whether you can afford to invest in the deal or not.

Zoning contingency

It is necessary to be sure that you can do whatever you wish with the property. It is possible that the zoning laws set in the area or locality can forbid you from using the commercial property for what you plan for it.

Other standard contingencies can give the buyer the right to review and approve such things as a condominium’s master deed, bylaws, and budget as well as a property’s title report. You might want to make the contract contingent upon your lawyer’s approval of the contract or your partner’s inspection of the property.

What good is an accepted offer that has several escape clauses in it? An accepted offer with contingencies ties up the property for a short period of time. This gives the buyer time to check out the property, the traffic, the parking and any other things that affect the property. The buyer does not worry about the owner selling the property to someone else while he is spending time and money inspecting it and getting all of his questions answered.

The Seller’s Side

On the other side, the seller must protect himself. He or she must limit the time of the contingencies in a counteroffer if those time limits seem unreasonable. The seller does not want the property taken off the sales market for weeks just waiting for a simple walk-through inspection.

Inspections by partners or approval of existing deeds, bylaws, easements, etc. should not take more than two or three days. Financing may take a few days longer, but most loans can be approved very quickly. The seller’s real estate agent can give guidance on the typical time limits for various types of contingencies. The shorter the better for everyone!

By making strict time limits on removal in writing of all of the buyer’s contingencies, the seller can get the property back on the market within days if the buyer cannot perform.  Contact your experienced commercial real estate agent to ensure  that you get the best out of the deal. They will help you negotiate the terms and get the best offer for the property that you are looking at.
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]]>Fri, 16 Jan 2026 13:16:28 -0500<![CDATA[How To Modernize Older Buildings For Profits]]>https://www.charlottenccommercial.com/blogs/post/how-to-modernize-older-buildings-for-profits

How To Modernize Older Buildings For Profits

When you look around a community, you will usually find a number of properties that need to be upgraded. Some existing owners do not recognize the increased return that they could get with a remodel or they do not want to make the necessary upgrades on the investment. Often these buildings can be acquired at a price that reflects the return based on the current condition and income.

When you set out to modernize an older building, you will encounter physical deterioration, which starts immediately after the building is completed and continues throughout its entire life, unless it is handled along the way with proper maintenance and repair. Functional obsolescence then happens when the property loses its usefulness as a result of changes in styles or in the needs of tenants. Economic obsolescence is a change in value that is caused by circumstances that are not directly related to the property. Often this is a change in the area from residential to commercial or industrial. When a building is quite old, structural changes may be needed for safety reasons. Before you purchase the building, a professional engineer should make an inspection.

The building can be partially redesigned with architectural changes during the modernization. If a building has very distinctive architectural features these might make the building more desirable and be retained.

Functional changes and mechanical replacements can reduce costs in an old building and increase efficiency. Wiring will usually need to be replaced to provide safety for modern electrical and computer equipment. Old heating systems will usually be inefficient and cause high maintenance costs, and should be replaced.

Aesthetic improvements are the sprucing up of the property and can usually be done at a relatively little cost. When an investor is looking for a quick resale, this type of improvement may be done rather than some of the others. Cleaning up the property, inside and outside, installing new lighting and repainting the building can be enough sometimes to make a quick, small profit.

Modernize For Profit

When an investor is looking for the proper investment, older apartment or commercial buildings in good neighborhoods often look better for a long-term commitment than new construction. When a property is upgraded, rents can be raised substantially and, if the work can be done without disturbing the existing tenants, the investor will not have the expense of carrying the property as he would in new construction. The investor would also hope that most of the existing tenants would stay and pay the increased rents, so the costs related to acquiring new tenants, as would be needed with a new construction, would be avoided.

Finally, the overall costs may be less. Although the price of the property may be high in relation to the current rents, the final cost after modernization may be far less than the cost of new construction. With this lower cost, the investor may be able to charge lower rents than new buildings nearby, putting him into a very competitive position.

Converting To New Use
Unproductive properties can present opportunities for big profits. When a building is bringing in little or no income because obsolescence or because of changes in the neighborhood that have made the location unsuitable for the original use of the building, converting to a new use can make a new profitable income stream.

Don’t overlook properties that are still productive, but may have a much greater potential after a conversion. A chocolate factory was converted to a shopping center on the west coast. Movie theatres have been converted to supermarkets. Garages have been converted to condominium parking buildings. Seeing potential profits in older buildings takes imagination. Give our office a call if you see a building that has potential for another use.
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