New to multifamily and syndication investments

[Arnel Bueno]

Like some members in this forum I'm also new to investing in multi-family rentals but I've been educating myself about it for the past couple of months. I'm a little late coming(hopefully retiring in about 5 years) in to this field but I think I have enough resources to (cautiously) dive in and get my feet wet. With my primary residence free and clear and using the equity on it with an average 830 credit score our local credit union estimated that I can qualify up to mid 200k on a heloc. I am mostly invested in index funds on my retirement and non retirement accounts and have had tremendous gains past few years but the uncertainty has always been a concern. From what I've read so far investing in 5-plus unit apartments would make more sense and may provide better ROI than single family assuming good cap rates and cash flow. Not sure if I can find potential investment here in Colorado Springs area since the market here seems to be peaking at the moment. I've also looked at some RE syndication companies offering attractive IRR with some tax benefits. I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one in this community with a similar situation and experience and would like to know what you think. Thanks and I appreciate your comments.

[Loren Jacobs]

Hey @Arnel Bueno,

As you mentioned, investing in multifamily passively can be a great place to start.  Although, @Eric Johnson is absolutely right, you must have a solid understanding of the entire multifamily process, acquisition all the way through disposition, in order to ask the right questions and effectively vet syndicators.  This isn't necessarily a bad thing, it sounds like you want to learn the process anyways and there are a lot of great resources out there.  The pros are that, if you decide to start by investing passively, you get a behind the scenes look at what actually goes on and how the deal is put together and executed.  You also get access to the management team and can ask away to further your education.  Then, take everything you've learned and put it into your own multifamily deal.