Services

A loan officer has been working for a year to secure a client in a real estate deal. The client finally moves forward with the officer’s banking institution and the officer orders an appraisal for the property. It takes a month for the appraisal to get completed. Meanwhile, the client and the banking institution are in limbo, wondering whether the deal is going to close. How does the loan officer look to that client, now? Rittenhouse Appraisals understands that transactions need to occur faster than ever before. Our systems allow a faster turnaround time, which gets deals closed quicker.

Rittenhouse Appraisals recently worked with a client who owned several key pieces of real estate in Philadelphia for several years and routinely paid real estate taxes, without an understanding of their assessment. We worked with the client in the tax appeal process in partnership with their accountant and legal representation. Our work on each of the properties lowered the assessments by 30%, and reduced the overall tax burden by several tens of thousands of dollars. The reduction of the tax burden allowed more income to flow through to ownership, which allowed for the placement of additional income into new investments.

A homebuilder from Northern New Jersey was interested in entering the Southern New Jersey housing market. The project was a 300+ unit development site that included approval that was about to expire. The approved project included a mixture of single-family townhouses and several multi-family buildings that could be utilized as condominiums or apartments. We assisted the developer in understanding the local market and the market forces that would potentially compete against each project type. Our market research and analysis found that the local market was dominated by a national homebuilder.  The client ultimately moved forward with a mixed-use townhome community.

Rittenhouse Appraisals developed a market analysis of a corridor project which was centralized around a major transportation stop and line in a city.  As part of this project, Rittenhouse Appraisals completed a survey of the existing real estate assets, analyzed demographic trends from the immediate neighborhood, and provided absorption projections for the residential and commercial units along the corridor.

A local university in the greater Delaware Valley had acquired a large portfolio of real estate, including a significant amount of holdings around the main campus. The university was looking to develop a strategy to utilize the real estate to generate additional income not associated with typical general real estate operations. We worked with the client to develop a feasibility analysis of the real estate holdings, looking at the local market and current demand from the local residential and business community. Based on our analysis we were able to assist the institution with developing a successful strategy to utilize and optimize the newly acquired assets.

A small business owner in the local market ran a successful industrial operation for several decades and finally reached retirement. Over the years, the company acquired several pieces of real estate including its primary industrial building as well as other surrounding properties. The owner acquired the real estate as part of his retirement planning and to fund his grandchildren’s college education. The owner was contacted by several interested developers and brokers, and he searched for an appraisal company to determine the market value. Rittenhouse Appraisals provided a fee quote and timing.  Once completed, a strategy was developed for the owner to sell the property in pieces.

Our office was contacted by a local school that acquired a prime piece of real estate in the core office market, which included an office building that was in good condition and an additional location for development. The site was under a long-term ground lease agreement, that also included several office leases. A national development company, which had lofty development plans in the market area, had initiated negotiations with the school to acquire the property, even providing an appraisal report with an indication of market value. Rittenhouse Appraisals was brought in to assist with valuation of the property and found the returns being offered were well below the value of the property.  The school ultimately decided to hold on the potential transaction because the ground lease was more valuable.