$1M to SFHs or Syndications

[Matt Ward]

Here is a general post to the group, which I'm sure will solicit a variety of responses :)

If you had $1m to invest in either SFH or Syndications, what would you choose and why? I ask because I don't see a lot of high net worth real estate investors buying SFH in Detroit or Columbus for cash flow. They are measuring their IRR and EM goals and deploying capital to operators where they can achieve true risk adjusted returns without being hands on and spending their time elsewhere to make money. This begs the question, is the average BP investor jumping into a SFH investment because that is what is available to them based on capital, and if so, that's totally fine IMO... or is there a population of investors that fundamentally prefer buying SFH in deteriorating economic markets for short term cash flow over the longer term, risk adjusted growth of a successful syndication? Or do some people simply not see the risk of the SFH investment and jump in anyways?

I'm not trying to stoke the fire or say my opinion is the best, I'm honestly curious as to peoples thoughts on this topic

Cheers.

[Alexander Felice]

Some of it is resources, some of it is confidence, some it is knowledge. 

If you're new and broke, SFR can get you a solid retirement with low resources and fairly low understanding of finance. That's exactly why I started with SFR

Now I'm buying multi because my confidence (track record) has grown, I've spent a few years in commercial underwriting, and my network of resources is much higher.

The single family model was never the better method, but it fit my situation and I think that's the case with a lot of people. Biggerpockets is far more geared towards us new investors so you'll find a skewed voice from participants on the boards. If you spent time in social groups where investors had 1MM in resources to allocate, I'm pretty sure you would find a lot less SFR talk.