It is often discussed in Business Management Program or MBA School history books that Ray Kroc's McDonalds was successful due to the fact that they controlled the real estate underneath every store, and the appreciation was their true asset. There is some truth to this, but that is not the only thing that made Ray Kroc successful.
Nevertheless, a business-person who can control their costs thru owning the real estate and their business location, has a huge advantage and franchisors know the value of being able to control the real estate. Most franchisors, which sell franchised outlets that include locations, at minimum want to have a master lease, which allows them to terminate a franchisee, kick them out and control the location, until they put in a new franchisee.
Franchisors often have site selection teams, and now there are tools used by Commercial Real Estate people, along with ESRI software, can give location intelligence in a heartbeat. Smaller Franchisors just starting out use all sorts of strategies, some use very simple solutions, as all you need is someone who knows how to run it, in a room with a computer, online, even a stay at home mom, former Real Estate person. Then quick overview of the area or territory from locals. Large franchisors of course, have large real-estate departments.
Not all Franchised businesses need locations, those that do, well their franchisees can use help in securing funding, but owning the real estate does not "Always" make sense. When it does, it pays to have a real-estate person to be a go-between with franchisees, franchisors and locals who understand the market. Real Estate is a big part of modern day franchising for many franchised companies.
L. Winslow is an Economic, Political and Technology Advisor to the Online Think Tank, a Futurist and retired entrepreneur http://www.worldthinktank.net Mr. Winslow's motto in life is; "Work Hard, Work Smart, Make Lots of Friends and Never Give Up!" Lance's future challenges include bicycling across the US and writing 100 eBooks, he has written 10 so far, even considering co-authors for a few, perhaps you wish to write a book too?
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There are three primary financial terms that affect how we determine the value of real estate. Without a working knowledge of these terms, investors and Realtors are at a disadvantage in the market place. These terms may sound difficult to grasp but are an integral part in understanding how we determine the value of real estate and are important for commercial and residential investors alike.
The first term, net operating income, refers to the income received from an investment prior to any mortgage debt being deducted from the equation. In general, net operating income, or NOI, is defined as the total possible rents minus a vacancy rate and any operating expenses.
NOI is used to help compare investments without the uncertainty of what mortgage product you'll be using. The vacancy rate is a general rule of thumb depending upon market conditions and the type of investment. It is expressed in a percentage of gross rents. Operating expenses are those normally recurring expenses such as property taxes, insurance, management fees, repairs, etc.
So, a simple example would be an investment with $13,000 in potential yearly rent, minus a 7 percent vacancy rate, and $2,000 in operating expenses, would give us a NOI of roughly $10,000 per year.
The second term, capitalization rate, is probably least understood of all. The cap rate, for short, is an easy way to compare investments by the amount of net cash flow and their subsequent value. A simplified definition for cap rate is the cash on cash return on your investment if you paid cash for the property. The formula for the capitalization rate is: cap rate = NOI / Value.
Let's look at an example. If the NOI from our previous example is $10,000 and you determine that the property is worth $100,000, then your cap rate would be 10 percent. So, if you paid $100,000 in cash for the property you would receive $10,000 in income; and hence, a 10 percent return. That 10 percent is also your cap rate. The cap rate, as well as the NOI, has nothing to do with financing of the property. It is merely a simplified equation to determine value of a property.
The third term, which is more encompassing than the previous two, is IRR, or Internal Rate of Return. Some refer to this as ROI, Return On Investment. IRR takes the best of the previous two terms and injects the mortgage debt into the picture. It also injects the amount of your initial investment into the equation.
A quick study of IRR will prove why investors use financing. Let's use our previous example of a property with $10,000 of NOI. With 20 percent down on this investment and a 30-year mortgage of 7 percent, the annual income would be reduced to $3,613, due to the mortgage debt. But, the IRR would increase to 18 percent. This increase would be achieved even with selling the property for what you paid for it and holding it for five years. This is a definitive example of how financing greatly enhances your return on the investment.
While you can invest in real estate and never understand these financial terms, having a working knowledge of them will provide greater clarity on your future real estate decisions.
Brian Patton, CCIM is a broker and frequent speaker at the Georgia Real Estate Investors Association, the largest real estate association in the nation. For free real estate calculators to help you with investment analysis on your next real estate purchase, visit his company's website: www.capitallistings.com
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Brian Patton, CCIM, owner of Capital Realty Advisors, LLC, of Atlanta, Georgia, is an author, columnist, and speaker on commercial real estate issues.
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