New to Real Estate Investing but My First Project=Big One

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[b]I have read a lot of posts here and I am pleasantly surprised to see a place on the internet where professionals are willing to share their knowledge. Here is some info to give you a little background about me. I am currently the owner of Starline Finance, Inc, in which I specialize in Residential lending. I have 11 years experience in the Finance industry. I have worked every position possible to facilitate a loan from beginning to end. Iv'e done it all, data entry, telemarketing, underwriting, processing, manager, funder, account executive, loan officer, and broker. This has helped me be extremely successful in my endeavors.
I am involved with the City of Fullerton and have a lot of good contacts. One of these contacts has given me an opportunity to purchase a large piece of commercial property to convert to residential. This is my first invesment venture and I have a few holes I need filled hopefully by your guidance to make this successful.
Here are the things I know I need to do:
I am looking for lenders who specialize in these types of transactions. I am a subscriber to Lenderlab.com which has given me a preliminary list of about 13 lenders who the transaction fits their parameters. I would like to set up an LLC and have the LLC qualify for the loan but I kow I will have to use my own personal credit to qualify due to the LLC having no credit history. With the loan, I am probably going to get 70% LTV which requires me to raise approximately 2.1 Million dollars from private investors. I have some contacts but how do I go about presenting the opportunity to these investors? Is there a template of some sort available to use to show them how much money they would invest, what type of return they would get and when they could expect this return?
My partner is an expert at developing but I have no experience in commercial lending so I need some pointers.
The next thing is I dont know about the appraisal. For commercial, is it ordered through the potential lender or do I order it? Does it need to be a narrative or one based off of cap rate? How would I find a commerical appraiser?
Next is setting up the investment vehicles for thsi project. Should I create the LLC and have my investors buy into the LLC which in turn owns the property or do I offer in exchange for their investment funds, a percentage of the title? What techniques must I use to get the best tax advantage for my investors, partners and I?
I have full confidence in this investment as I have close relationships with the city directors and staff and know that my plans for this property and the will of the city go hand in hand. We plan on developing this property into a mixed use condo project with retail units available on the 1st level encasing the parking structure which probably would be 1 unit above ground and 2 units below ground and approximately 30 condo units. the development close to my property that is similiar to my plans in every way has sold out on all 3 phases already so I know the demad is there for us to continue to make residential units available. I know I can be successful with this project because of my experience in fiancing also I can admit I dont know a lot of things I need to know to make the project successful but I have contacts and people who I consider close friends telling me they are on board to help me with whatever I need from them. What are some tips to attracting investors and what return are they usually anticipating? If you have any more questions, or are someone who is interested in investing in this project please feel free to e-mail me at [email protected]. Your responses and help is extremely appreciated.
Thank You,
Robert G.[/b]