• Policy & Regulation8 min read·April 2026

  California's Prop 13 Reset Risk: What Net Lease Brokers Need to Know

  California's Proposition 13 caps property tax increases at 2% per year on properties that haven't changed hands since their last assessment — but a transfer triggers full reassessment to current market value. For a net lease deal in California, this can mean a property tax bill that doubles or triples at closing. How the rule works, when it applies, and how to underwrite it.

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• Tenant Analysis7 min read·April 2026

  Tractor Supply Company: The Overlooked Net Lease Tenant

  Tractor Supply Company operates a distinctive rural-focused retail footprint that doesn't fit neatly into the usual net lease categories. The company is publicly-traded, investment-grade, and has shown consistent growth — yet often trades at materially wider cap rates than comparable investment-grade retail net lease deals. For investors willing to understand the unique trade area profile, Tractor Supply can be an attractive underfollowed tenant category.

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• Policy & Regulation9 min read·April 2026

  State-by-State Commercial Mortgage Licensing: When You Need a License and When You Don't

  Most states don't require a license to facilitate a commercial mortgage — but a handful of the biggest real estate markets do. This post breaks down the federal-state framework, the four big states where licensing is typically required for commercial mortgage brokerage or referral (California, Arizona, Nevada, New York), and the structuring principles that keep activity in scope.

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• Tenant Analysis8 min read·April 2026

  Starbucks Ground Leases: What Changed with the Back-to-Starbucks Turnaround

  Starbucks announced in October 2024 a multi-year turnaround plan under new CEO Brian Niccol — including store closures, renovations, and a return to third-place coffee-shop positioning. For net lease investors holding Starbucks ground leases, the turnaround creates specific underwriting considerations around store-closure risk, renovation capex flowing to the tenant, and what happens if a specific location falls out of favor.

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• Tenant Analysis8 min read·April 2026

  7-Eleven After the Speedway Acquisition: Lease Structure and Credit Implications

  7-Eleven's acquisition of Speedway in 2021 combined two of the largest convenience store networks in the United States into a single footprint. The resulting real estate portfolio spans company-operated, franchisee, and corporate-leased locations — with meaningfully different credit and structural profiles. For net lease investors, a '7-Eleven' deal could now be any of several very different things under the hood.

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• Underwriting8 min read·April 2026

  Reading a Net Lease Rent Roll: Five Things Most Brokers Miss

  A rent roll looks like a simple spreadsheet, but the wrong reading turns a solid deal into a headache three months into escrow. The five things experienced brokers and underwriters check first: base rent vs effective rent, the escalation schedule in real dollars, lease-year vs calendar-year accounting, option fees and renewal probability, and what's actually in CAM/expense recovery math.

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• Policy & Regulation11 min read·April 2026

  The 1031 Exchange Rules Every Net Lease Broker Should Know in 2026

  A plain-English walkthrough of IRC § 1031: what qualifies as like-kind real property, the 45-day identification and 180-day closing windows, the three identification rules, qualified intermediary requirements, boot, related-party holding periods, and the state tax wrinkles that trip up out-of-state investors. Everything you need to underwrite or structure a net lease exchange without a surprise tax bill.

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• Tenant Analysis11 min read·April 2026

  CVS Health vs Walgreens Boots Alliance: A Five-Year Credit Trajectory

  CVS Health and Walgreens Boots Alliance sit on the same street corners but have traveled very different credit paths. CVS remains investment-grade with a negative outlook; Walgreens has fallen into speculative-grade territory. Both have announced massive store closures. For net lease investors, the divergence is the story — and has direct implications for cap rates, lease duration analysis, and vacancy-risk underwriting.

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• Tenant Analysis10 min read·April 2026

  Dollar General vs Dollar Tree vs Family Dollar: A Credit and Lease Structure Comparison

  All three dollar-store chains dominate the small-box net lease market but have materially different credit profiles, store-expansion strategies, and lease structures. Dollar General and Dollar Tree are both investment-grade; Family Dollar is a subsidiary of Dollar Tree and effectively rides on the parent's balance sheet. This post compares what brokers need to know about each tenant: credit ratings, typical lease term, store box sizes, real estate strategy, and what distinguishes them in underwriting.

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• Policy & Regulation9 min read·April 2026

  FIRREA Appraisal Exemptions: When Net Lease Deals Don't Need a Bank-Ordered Appraisal

  A significant share of net lease financing isn't subject to FIRREA's appraisal requirements. Here's a plain-English walkthrough of what the statute actually requires, the $500,000 de minimis threshold, and why life insurance companies, debt funds, and CMBS lenders operate under different rules than FDIC-regulated banks.

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• How-To10 min read·April 2026

  How to Read a Phase I Environmental Site Assessment Without Missing the Red Flags

  A Phase I ESA is a 60-to-150-page report that buyers, lenders, and brokers all skim and nobody reads carefully. This guide shows you what to look for: what a Recognized Environmental Condition actually is, how HRECs differ from CRECs, the limitations section where the real uncertainty lives, and the historical-use red flags (dry cleaners, gas stations, auto body shops) that should trigger a Phase II.

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• Underwriting8 min read·April 2026

  Percentage Rent Clauses in Retail Leases: Upside or Underwriting Noise?

  Percentage rent clauses let the landlord participate in tenant sales above a breakpoint — historically common in mall leases, now less frequent but still present. How percentage rent actually calculates, when it produces meaningful upside vs when it's analytical noise, and what to underwrite when a deal's projected NOI includes percentage rent.

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• How-To8 min read·March 2026

  How to Verify an OM's Rent Roll Against the Actual Lease Stack

  The rent roll in an offering memorandum is a summary. The leases are the truth. Discrepancies between the two cost buyers and sellers real money in closing escrow. This post walks through a systematic approach to reconciling OM rent roll against lease stack — field by field — and flags the discrepancies most commonly found.

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• Underwriting10 min read·March 2026

  How to Actually Underwrite a Sale-Leaseback (Not Just Apply a Cap Rate)

  Sale-leasebacks sit at the intersection of credit underwriting and real estate underwriting — neither alone is sufficient. The seller is also the tenant, the lease terms are negotiated as part of the deal, and the long-term investment return depends on factors most traditional real estate diligence doesn't capture. This post walks through the specific underwriting framework for sale-leaseback deals.

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• How-To9 min read·March 2026

  How to Spot a 'Dressed-Up' NOI: Five Adjustments That Inflate Deal Numbers

  Every OM shows a clean NOI number. The number on the cover page and the number you can actually underwrite to are often different. Five specific places to look for inflated NOI: pro forma vs actual rent, understated operating expenses, capitalized recurring costs, improperly modeled vacancy, and management fees handled inconsistently. A buy-side broker's checklist.

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• How-To9 min read·March 2026

  How to Evaluate a Tenant You've Never Heard Of: A Credit Research Walkthrough

  Net lease deals involve national-brand tenants every broker recognizes — but also plenty of regional chains, local operators, and private companies without name recognition. When the OM crosses your desk for an unfamiliar tenant, you need a systematic way to assess credit quality quickly. This post walks through the research process step by step.

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• Policy & Regulation10 min read·March 2026

  How CMBS Servicing Works (And Why It Matters for Your Loan Assumption)

  A CMBS loan isn't serviced by the lender who originated it. Once securitized, the loan is administered by a specialized master servicer, with special servicing taking over if the loan goes into trouble. For a buyer considering assuming a CMBS loan — or a seller whose deal depends on a clean assumption — understanding the servicer roles, approval process, and typical timeline is essential.

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• Underwriting9 min read·March 2026

  Ground Lease Valuation: The Math Behind the 20-25x Multiple

  Market shorthand says high-quality ground leases trade at 20-25x ground rent. That multiple reflects specific underlying assumptions about cap rates, coverage ratios, and credit quality. This post derives the math transparently, explains when the rule-of-thumb breaks, and walks through how to underwrite a ground lease position for your specific deal.

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• Underwriting10 min read·March 2026

  Discount Rates for Net Lease DCFs: A Practical Framework

  Every DCF on a commercial real estate deal requires a discount rate, and the difference between a 6.5% discount rate and an 8.5% discount rate on the same cash flows is often 15-25% of valuation. This post walks through the practical framework for selecting a discount rate on a net lease investment: risk-free rate plus equity risk premium plus property-specific adjustments, with concrete guidance on what each layer should look like.

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• Policy & Regulation9 min read·March 2026

  Defeasance vs Yield Maintenance: A Prepayment Penalty Walkthrough

  Most CMBS and life insurance company loans on net lease deals carry defeasance or yield maintenance prepayment penalties. Both are triggered when rates have moved lower than the original loan coupon, and both can cost real money on early payoff — but they work mechanically very differently. This post walks through how each one calculates, when one is cheaper than the other, and what a broker or buyer should ask before signing up for either structure.

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• Underwriting10 min read·March 2026

  Corporate Guarantee vs Franchisee Lease: How to Price the Credit Spread

  Two net lease properties with the same tenant name can have wildly different credit quality. A corporate-guaranteed Chick-fil-A is a different investment than a single-unit franchisee lease — and the cap rate spread reflects that. This post walks through how to read the guaranty structure, what makes a franchisee creditworthy or not, and how to underwrite each case for loan sizing and exit pricing.

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• Underwriting11 min read·March 2026

  CMBS vs Life Insurance Company vs Debt Fund: Which Lender Fits Your Net Lease Deal?

  Net lease deals get financed by CMBS conduits, life insurance companies, debt funds, and banks — each with its own sweet spot, pricing behavior, and closing cadence. This post compares the four capital sources across leverage, non-recourse availability, prepayment flexibility, assumability, timing, and what kinds of deals each one actually wants.

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• Tenant Analysis8 min read·February 2026

  Chipotle Unit Economics and What They Mean for Ground Lease Cap Rates

  Chipotle Mexican Grill operates some of the highest average unit volumes in US casual dining. The underlying unit economics are a key part of why Chipotle ground leases command tight cap rates — rent coverage on a typical Chipotle store is comfortable by any underwriting standard. This post walks through the economics, the credit rating profile, and what to underwrite on a Chipotle net lease deal.

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• Tenant Analysis9 min read·February 2026

  Chick-fil-A Unit Economics: Why the Real Estate Is Different

  Chick-fil-A operates the highest-volume QSR units in the United States under a franchise structure that looks nothing like McDonald's, Burger King, or Subway. Understanding the structural difference — operator agreements rather than traditional franchises, company-retained real estate on many sites, restricted ownership rights — is essential for net lease brokers pricing Chick-fil-A deals accurately.

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• Underwriting8 min read·February 2026

  CAM Reconciliation Risk: How to Underwrite It Properly

  Common Area Maintenance (CAM) reconciliation is the annual process where landlord and tenant settle up on estimated vs actual CAM costs. For multi-tenant retail or any lease with significant expense reimbursements, CAM reconciliation can produce unexpected landlord economic exposure — or unexpected tenant pushback. How to underwrite CAM risk correctly before closing.

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• Tenant Analysis8 min read·February 2026

  Burger King Franchisees After the Carrols Acquisition: Underwriting in a Consolidated Environment

  Restaurant Brands International (parent of Burger King, Tim Hortons, Popeyes) acquired Carrols Restaurant Group — the largest Burger King franchisee — in May 2024. The consolidation significantly reshaped Burger King's US real estate picture: many locations that were franchisee-operated are now corporate-held. For net lease investors, this changes how to evaluate both existing BK leases and new opportunities.

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