ROSEVILLE, CA-Westwood Financial Corp. has just foreclosed on a defaulted loan the firm purchased that had been in receivership on Woodcreek Plaza, a 23,112-square-foot retail center here. The center had been on the market for 39 days, marketed by Auction.com.
According to Taylor Grant, a judicial receiver with Newport Beach, CA-based Real Estate Receiverships, the court-appointed receiver for the property prior to Westwood's purchase of the loan, the success of the note sale was in part due to the receiver sustaining the property's value by maintaining occupancy levels, accommodating needed repairs and providing all the property-level information regarding rents and operating costs to inform potential buyers. Grant also credits the success to Auction.com's innovative platform and comprehensive marketing reach that resulted in 873 hits on its website and 29 offers for the note, with escrow taking only 20 days to close.
Grant tells GlobeSt.com that the property is in a new master-planned park, surrounded by new housing, and is in good condition. “The building owner's association continued to collect common-area costs from all the buildings, so it's in pretty good shape.”
Grant adds that his firm's ability to supply Auction.com with information about the property that prospective qualified buyers needed to know before bidding allowed the note to sell quickly to Westwood because they buyer knew exactly what they were getting before bidding. He maintains that the auction process is the direction that real estate property sales are headed and that more brokers are adopting this effective process as part of their sales strategy, even though they may not be calling it an auction.
As GlobeSt.com reported earlier this month, Chicago-based REIT Retail Properties of America Inc. has sold the remaining two centers of the five-property retail portfolio brought to market—the 113,528-square-foot Southwest Crossing and the 89,873-square-foot Carrier Towne Crossing—receiving a combined $36.9 million from buyer Tri-State Commercial. The acquisitions follow the closing of three other North Texas properties in the portfolio that were sold to Westwood Financial in November. The three were the 59,986-square-foot South Towne Crossing in Burleson; the 29,897-square-foot Lake Forest Crossing in McKinney and the 42,700-square-foot McDermott Towne Crossing in Allen.
As GlobeSt.com also reported exclusively earlier this month, Westwood had one of the most successful years in its 42-year history with more than $200 million in acquisitions and dispositions in 2012.
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Carrie Rossenfeld
Carrie Rossenfeld is a reporter for the San Diego and Orange County markets on GlobeSt.com and a contributor to Real Estate Forum. She was a trade-magazine and newsletter editor in New York City before moving to Southern California to become a freelance writer and editor for magazines, books and websites. Rossenfeld has written extensively on topics including commercial real estate, running a medical practice, intellectual-property licensing and giftware. She has edited books about profiting from real estate and has ghostwritten a book about starting a home-based business.
