How to find the market and partner up

Question

Hi everyone, I'm from NJ and I'm just getting started with my real estate investment journey. I have been reading books, listening to podcasts, watching Youtube videos etc. for the past 1 year and recently decided to get started.

I have my fully remote day job as a data scientist which I enjoy but I want to get to a point where I can be financially independent and have the freedom to decide whether I want to keep working at a 9-5 job or not. I also realized that I LOVE reading, listening and talking about real estate and can focus on it for hours while fully enjoying it, so wouldn't really mind switching to RE investing full-time at some point! :) I recently set a stretch goal of owning 50 cash flowing units in 3 years.

I started taking action a month ago by connecting with agents, lenders, investors in the area I want to invest in but still struggled to define a route that would help me achieve my goal. Talking to other investors in the area I realized that it might take a while to come across a good deal (or even find contractors that are available) and I found myself looking at "almost turn-key" properties. Soon after, I realized that that's not going to help me get where I want to be. So I started attending meetups and digging through BP forums a bit more and realized that I might want to jump into more commercial real estate (5+) units on my first deal and potentially partner up with a more seasoned investor to learn the process. I have some capital saved up for it too depending on the area.

Thank you for bearing with me so far :) My questions are:

1) Any books or podcasts you would recommend for getting into multifamily? So far I have been reading MultiFamily Millionaire Vol I, and getting started on Vol 2.

2) I really want to partner with a seasoned investor to learn in the process or get a mentor but not sure how I can bring value as I'm just getting started. Any advice on approaching other investors and how to find a good partner or mentor? Also, any meetups you would recommend?

3) I decided to invest in Pennsylvania since it's close and the numbers make sense but I know there might be better markets out there. What was your process in chosing your market?

Thank you!

John Casmon · Answer

Thanks for the shoutout @Jonathan Greene. Great insights for sure.@Tuna Sakallioglu - First off, awesome name. Second, you got some great feedback here. The only question for you is to decide if that partner/mentor needs to be the same person. Said differently, you can have a mentor and someone else as a partner. I find that with partnerships, it's best to find someone who's goals and mission aligns with your own and someone who is more seasoned may be in a different place in their life. However, if you can find a great partner (even if they have less experience), you can still get a mentor to help lessen the knowledge gap.As far as selecting markets, when you are investing for yourself, you don't need to overcomplicate it. Find a place you are familiar with and look for growing submarkets where you can have an edge. But when working with passive investors, you need to anticipate the dynamics of the market and understand how it can impact your investment returns. Go to the events tab on BP and search for RE events in your area. Check out the meetup page as well. Attend events until you find a couple that fit what you're looking for.

Jonathan Greene · Answer

1) Listen to Mulitfamily Insights with @John Casmon. It's great. If you scroll back an episode or two you will find my guest spot where we talked about target markets, house hacking, and a bunch of other things. 2) You have a built-in way of helping other investors that could help you gain a solid mentor quicker because of your data background. What are you doing with your data skills now to evaluate markets and areas? If you can crunch data quickly for an investor, it can help them and in turn, help you develop that relationship. 3) PA is great compared to NJ. Our Zoom meetup group did more than 30 deals in PA this year. Make a list of all the places you have lived. The make a list of where you closest friends and family live now (the ones you like). Compare those lists with areas of interest and see where they intersect. These are areas where you have a competitive advantage over other OOS investors because you either know the area or have boots on the ground that you trust.

Tuna Sakallioglu · Answer

Thank you @Jonathan Greene! Listening to the Multifamily Insights podcast now where you were a guest and absolutely love it! It answers pretty much all of the questions I was asking in my post :) Especially love your advice on the podcast which you mentioned here as well which is finding markets where you have a competitive advantage. Unfortunately I just moved to US 8 years ago and only lived in Brooklyn NY and NJ so far, which are the two markets I didn't want to get into due to higher prices and taxes. Similarly all my friends and family are in this area as well.. but you also mentioned to trust the data instead of others so I will definitely work more on that!Regarding the data background and how I use it; at some point I thought of digging into some public data to see if I can find something insightful but didn't have time to pursue it due to spending more time on analyzing deals, connecting with people, attending meet-ups/seminars etc. but this is a great point and thanks for the advice, maybe I should go back and spend more time on this and see how I can bring value with this to others or even myself.Thanks again for all the advice!

Tuna Sakallioglu · Answer

@John Casmon thank you :) that's great advice, really appreciate it!

Tuna Sakallioglu · Answer

Thank you @Danielle Jackson for the great advice. Will work on writing up my plan and analysis.

Danielle Jackson · Answer

You certainly have something to offer with your background re: data scientist. Data analytics is critical to how quickly you can complete due diligence on an opportunity. There are a lot of great investors who could utilize that asset. Two things. 1) you are in a great forum to find like-minded investors who are also looking to partner. It sounds like you are already connected with investors in your local REI groups which is another great resource to identifying a partner. 2) write something up so that its clear you have a plan. Strategy, asset type, market(s), total capital you are contributing and total capital needed (roughly), show some of your deals you have analyzed and why you would/wouldn't invest. Finally be clear on what you bring to the table and what you are looking for in a partner. Good luck!