Lone Star Capital first began pursuing the acquisition of Verandas at Bear Creek in early 2019 when the seller engaged a local brokerage firm to market the property for sale. Lone Star participated in the bidding process, but a buyer was never chosen since no one was able to meet the seller’s initial high price expectation. Lone Star continued to engage with the sales broker to see if the seller would be willing to lower their pricing and potentially transact outside of a competitive marketing process (also known as a “best and final offer” process which can go on for multiple rounds and often squeezes pricing to the absolute maximum). Finally, in February 2018, Lone Star was awarded the property for $11,500,000 ($71,875 per unit) and closed on the asset on June 26, 2019. We found this acquisition compelling due to its low basis and the possible upside through lease up and improved management, neither strategy being capital intensive. Lone Star planned an initial capital expenditures budget of $500,000 (a modest $3,125 per unit). The capex spend ended up marginally over budget at $518,000 but the business plan proved effective as demonstrated by the speedy and successful lease up of the asset, reaching 100% occupancy in less than 12 months while raising rental rates by over $50 (6.6% increase).
