New BP member... from a long way away...

[Rafi K.]

Hi there BP world,

My name is Rafi, and I joined BP a few weeks ago, but it's taken me a while to introduce myself. Basically, I'm an Aussie, living in Israel, interested in US real estate.

I sort of got into RE by accident - I was looking for a job in Israel, using my background in financial analysis. I ended up being offered a position at a family office that invests in US multifamily, and I'm now their senior acquisitions analyst. I've been at the firm for 4.5 years and seen and learned a lot in that time about commercial real estate.

Throughout that period, I started taking a personal interest in RE investing, which is how I found BP. I've been listening to BP podcasts now for a couple of years - not religiously, but whenever I have some time. It's usually while I'm washing the dishes, or cleaning up around the house after my kids are in bed.

Although I've anlayzed, modeled, underwritten and participated in the purchases and sales of some very large deals and thousands of multifamily units, none of it's been with my own money on the line, and I'm yet to personally invest in the US RE market. I like to imagine that if I was living in the US, I'd be BRRRRing left right and center, and flipping the odd house here and there. But being situated where I am, things are less simple. And the Israeli RE market is a very different beast to the US - one I'm not sure I'm so interested in taming.

I'd like to start generating some income through single family rentals, small multifamily, or self storage, and I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on how I can best do this from afar. I want to be more involved than simply bringing some equity to the table, but I'm not yet sure how to best do this. So, I'd be very interested to hear your thoughts on what you think some of my first steps should be.

Thanks for taking the time to read . Cheers!

[Mike Krieg]

@Rafi K. Welcome to BP. First steps depends on your capital and your willingness to landlord etc. If you have more than 25k or 50k of liquid reserves and are accredited, then you can go right into commercial multifmamily, storage, and even funds that hold things like mobile home parks, assisted living facilities, etc. Many of us started out with smaller residential rentals and moved up from there. But if you can skip the landlording and move into the syndication model whether participating as an LP, or passive investor managing your capital in multiple deals and building a portfolio, or syndicating a deal yourself, then that's a good move. I'd recommend starting as an LP first however. Here are a couple articles I've written I hope you'll find helpful

Seven Reasons I Prefer to Invest in Multifamily Apartments

Self Storage Investing

Investing in a Mobile Home Park Fund

Best Questions to Ask When Evaluating a Syndication Deal