Net Lease Properties are the traditional real estate investment with no management obligation for the owner. In its purest form (called a NNN – Triple Net Lease) the tenant manages the property, doing everything from paying all the operating expenses, property taxes, utilities, insurance premiums, maintenance and repairs. The landlord gets to collect monthly net rental income just as he or she would with a traditional real estate investment.
NNN’s are typically purchased on a cap rate. A cap rate is essentially a yield which is determined by dividing the tenant’s annual rent by the purchase price. For example, if Walgreens is paying $350,000 annually and the purchase price is $4,375,000, the cap rate is 8% ($350,000/$4,375,000).
A NNN Property can either be a single or multi tenant investment like a shopping center, office building or a free standing building. A NNN Leased investment gives you total (fee-simple) ownership of a commercial property, which is pre-leased to a high credit retail tenant – (Walgreens, Burger King, Lowe’s, or Dunkin Donuts, etc.) – on a long-term basis (usually between 10-25 years), providing you with a stable, long-term cash flow. NNN leased property can be an excellent replacement property in completing a 1031 real estate exchange transaction.
BUILD-TO-SUIT
Lease form is designed for a single tenant build to suit transaction, where the landlord builds the entire premises for the tenant. The rent payable by the tenant is pegged to the total construction and financing costs of the project, and is usually subject to percentage increases in specified years. This basically allows the tenant to move in and occupy the property with zero costs up front. Once the tenant & developer execute a lease, the developer acquires the land and constructs the property with his owns funds. This enables the tenant to have new construction, including the cost of the land acquisition, without actually using any of its own capital or credit in land and buildings. With no mortgage or other indebtedness to be carried as debt on the tenants balance sheet, the book value of the company’s assets is effectively understated — enhancing the company’s Return on Assets (ROA). The rent is fully deductible over the lease term, making the tenant’s after-tax cost less than with alternative forms of asset-based financing. The owner of the property can depreciate the building because you own the building and the ground.
