Investing in new townhome construction

[Serdar C.]

A townhome developer in my town is looking for an investor for one of his new townhome development. He already purchased the land and did the due diligence. He needs investors to finance the down payment required for the construction loan. If everything goes as planned, investors will get 15% annualized return. The return could be higher if there is appreciation during the development phase. The minimum investment is 100k. If the investment is profitable, investors will get the first 6% of the profits before he gets anything. If there is a loss, bank will be paid first and then the investors will be paid according to their contribution.  He showed us his data about his prior developments and none of his developments for the last 10 years lost money. His past average was about 13-14%. One other thing I need to mention that this is an equity investment, not debt investment. Every investor becomes a partner in the townhouse development.

I read so many books about real estate investments, but have never seen such investment mentioned. Even in biggerpockets, I only saw one thread about this. Why is that? 15% seems like a great deal in the zero bank interest world. What am I missing?

[Nathan Gesner]

Originally posted by @Serdar C.:

A townhome developer in my town is looking for an investor for one of his new townhome development. He already purchased the land and did the due diligence. He needs investors to finance the down payment required for the construction loan. If everything goes as planned, investors will get 15% annualized return. The return could be higher if there is appreciation during the development phase. The minimum investment is 100k. If the investment is profitable, investors will get the first 6% of the profits before he gets anything. If there is a loss, bank will be paid first and then the investors will be paid according to their contribution.  He showed us his data about his prior developments and none of his developments for the last 10 years lost money. His past average was about 13-14%. One other thing I need to mention that this is an equity investment, not debt investment. Every investor becomes a partner in the townhouse development.

I read so many books about real estate investments, but have never seen such investment mentioned. Even in biggerpockets, I only saw one thread about this. Why is that? 15% seems like a great deal in the zero bank interest world. What am I missing?

Devil's advocate: if he's been successful for 10 years, why isn't he funding this himself? Why would he be looking for new investors if his previous investors were making such a great return?

Something doesn't smell right. I would definitely be checking references and speaking with previous investors.