Even as buyers are eager to find assets, sellers can’t neglect a strategic plan, Irvine-based Faris Lee Investments CEO Richard Chichester tells us. For retail, that can include separating an asset from the rest of the retail center, or a pay-off to defease the loan. Also, lease auditing gives a chance to "reconcile the lease provisions with the operations of the asset,” Richard says. “Too many times there are gaps in how the lease is being interpreted and managed, and there are opportunities to reconcile it to maximize value.”

Recently Richard, with colleagues Matt Mousavi, Patrick Luther, and Tom Chichester, repped both the buyer, Arizona-based STORE Capital, and a private Kentucky-based seller, in the $36M sale of four retail properties in Kentucky and Tennessee, each occupied by LA Fitness. According to Richard, lease audits of each property uncovered a total of over $3M in additional value by IDing areas where NOI could be increased. “Abstracting the lease to clarify and reconcile all key financial, business and legal information is critical,” he says. (It's the legal jargon equivalent of looking under every couch cushion for change.)