The quest for returns—which is a little tough in these low-interest-rate days—has investors looking in new places. Such as net lease properties in secondary and even tertiary markets.

Recently NNN Acquisitions bought 17 industrial properties in six states, all of which are leased to single long-term tenants, for a total of $40M. Lee & Associates’ Brian Garbutt (right, snapped with colleague Allen Basso), tells us that NNN will buy in secondary and tertiary markets as long as the tenants have a solid reason for being in their locations, and a strong motivation to stay there. Brian, along with colleagues Matt Kemp and Alex Lyon, all in the company’s Irvine office, repped the buyer in the deals. Nevada-based NNN is a newly formed company of Mark Weber, the owner of 180 Capital.

Part of the portfolio is in SoCal--including locations in LA, Santa Clara and Garden Grove--while others are in various parts of the the country, such as Texas (pictured, a property in Fort Worth), North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland. Brian says that in the case of these properties, their tenants would have a hard time relocating because of on-site, specialized infrastructure. He adds that that NNN intends to buy another $60M in net lease properties over the next four months, much of that by the end of the year.

Faris Lee Investments senior managing director Jeff Conover, who’s in the company’s Irvine office, tells us that the parts of the country that have the most net lease opportunities are tax-free states—no income tax, that is—including Texas, Nevada, Arizona and Florida, and investors are eager to put their money into those states. Even so, other places also offer strong net lease properties. Recently Jeff, along with colleague Patrick Luther, repped Excel Trust in its sale of a 140k SF net lease retail property in Shippensburg, PA, for more than $24M.

The property is fully occupied by Lowe’s Home Improvement, with 18 years to go on its 22-year initial lease, along with set rental increases and options to renew. The closing cap rate was 6%. Jeff says that the property attracted an impressive amount of interest and six offers. The buyer, New York-based ARC Real Estate Group, was repped by Marcus & Millichap.