Updated July 21, 2026
A net lease (commonly "triple net" or NNN) shifts property taxes, insurance, and maintenance costs from the landlord to the tenant, on top of base rent — common on single-tenant retail like the net-lease properties in the Sterman Multifamily Group's own closed-deal archive: a Walmart in San Antonio ($11.75M, 2016), two separate 7-Eleven locations ($5.38M and $3.59M, both 2021), and an Aldi in Hesperia ($3.7M, 2020).
Because the tenant — often a national or investment-grade credit — bears the operating expenses, a net-lease investment trades primarily on lease term, tenant credit quality, and rent escalations rather than the hands-on property management a multifamily building requires — a fundamentally different underwriting exercise than an apartment building.
Net-lease retail occasionally comes across a multifamily broker's desk as part of a client's broader portfolio, or as a 1031 replacement option for a seller who wants to trade active apartment management for a passive, credit-tenant income stream — a real, common motivation behind an LA multifamily seller's exchange into net lease.
From the Sterman LA Multifamily Glossary — defined the way a broker actually uses these terms.
Michael Sterman, Senior Managing Director Investments, Marcus & Millichap.
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