"These guys saw the opportunity and jumped on it," John Barker, senior associate and national director for Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Brokerage Co. in Dallas, tells GlobeSt.com. "It was over $50 per sf so it was pretty aggressive." The just-pocketed deed is a 98%-leased asset at 3304 Willow Creek Dr., right at the geographical epicenter of the current sales cycle and right in line with the dynamics of today's hot tickets.

Barker says the investment group's letter of intent with upfront earnest money and short inspection period were the decisionmakers for the seller, Mission Center Road LLC of Los Angeles. Dallas-based BMC Capital LP vice president Steve Sieling arranged 80% loan-to-value financing with Imperial Bank in Los Angeles, getting five-year, fixed-rate terms on a 30-year amortization schedule. "Full leverage with a step-down prepay schedule was very important to these investors," he says, citing the property's concessions were a stickling point for lenders.

The seller had bought Willows Apartments out of foreclosure in 2004, renovated it last year, re-tenanted and brought it back to market. The plan is to trade up to a class B asset, according to Barker.