Courtesy / Redfin
The per-unit cost of $40,000 is about average for an apartment building like this one, at 28 State St. in Sanford.
November 26, 2018
Private offer yields purchase of 21 buildings in Sanford and Springvale
Courtesy / Redfin
5 Church St., in Sanford, was one of 21 buildings, comprising 106 apartment units, that recently sold as a package for $4 million.
After reaching out privately to potential buyers, David Jones and Thomas Gadbois of F.O. Bailey Real Estate were able to find a buyer for 106 apartment units in 21 different buildings in Sanford and Springvale.
“We didn’t advertise it,” said Jones, who represented the seller, George Sleeper. “It was a very quiet thing. We only asked people whom we knew had the capability of buying it. So we put it out two or three people and one said, ‘OK,’ and bought it.”
The buyer, White Bark Properties LLC, purchased the portfolio for $4 million. The deal closed Nov. 5. Gadbois represented the buyer, who is from New York but has some roots in Maine.
In Sanford/Springvale, the addresses are 9-14 Riverbank St., 19 and 21 Riverbank Court and 28 Mill St.
In Sanford, the addresses are 901 and 907 Main St., 23 Mousam St., 3 and 7 Island Ave., 43, 45, 47 and 49 Winter St., 34 River St., 5 Church St., and 28 State St.
The cost per unit, $40,000, is about average for a package deal like this one, and for the area, Jones said.
'Six degrees of separation'
Many of the buildings date back to the early or mid-1900s, said Jones, noting that Sleeper acquired them over the course of several decades.
“He bought these buildings, fixed them up and rented them out,” he said. Most of the buildings are multi-unit residential apartments, and there are several single-family homes.
The portfolio went on the market about a year ago.
“It’s a process,” Jones said. “It’s not something you do overnight. We had to accumulate the information and get everything ready so buyers could look at it.”
As a proactive landlord with regular property managers, he said, Sleeper kept the properties in good condition. An excellent indication of the care with which the units have been maintained, he said, is the long tenure of some of the renters — up to 21 years in at least one case.
Jones said he and Gadbois were able to scout the potential buyer pool through their connections.
“Everyone in real estate knows potential buyers and sellers,” he said. “We sell a lot of multi-units and commercial real estate, so we have buyers who say, ‘If you see this, let me know.’ It’s that six degrees of separation. Someone who knows somebody who knows somebody. It works out well if you have a nice package and the numbers are right. Working with commercial real estate, you’re dealing with numbers, not emotions.”
The units are targeted to low- to moderate-income renters, he said. They’re all rented and there’s a waiting list of applicants, he said. Any rehab that the buyer puts into the buildings will likely take place when a unit turns over, he said.
“The buyer has been in construction and apartment management for a long time,” he said. “So this was a perfect fit.”
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