Atlanta Meetup Success Story: The Power of BP Networking

[Azeez K.]

What is this post about?

• Meetup Success story resulting in our purchase of a 32 - Unit MF in Marietta, GA

Why I am I posting this?

• Share our success story
• Highlight benefits of networking and being active on BP
• Encourage others to network and seek out like minded individuals in local communities
• Share tips
• Brandon and @Joshua Dorkin enjoy reading success stories here on BP
• To thank all of the BP Community members who provided their valuable insight during the initial phase of this deal

How did this deal come about?

The foundation of this deal started with a simple colleague request from two other BP members, @Matt Wood  and @Mike O'Connor A special thanks to @Rick Baggenstoss for pointing Matt and Mike in my direction.

After a few casual email exchanges and phone conversations I invited Matt and Mike to join our bi-monthly networking event here in Atlanta. We started talking about our real estate goals and identified that we had similar interest in MF. At the time, I was looking to buy my next MF property and was targeting a 10-12 unit deal. As it turns out, Matt and Mike were also interested in acquiring a similar type property. Throughout the next few weeks when they would find either an off-market or an on-market deal they would give me a call because not only did my real estate license allow us to quickly check out the property but also because they valued my experience in the MF space… or so they claim. (Tip: Get a Real Estate License if you plan on being in Real Estate. It’s additional tool in your tool belt) We spend the next few weeks analyzing deal after deal until…

One such deal came in the form of a seller who had previously mentored Matt and Mike on a SFR acquisition. This individual had recently purchased the 32 Unit from a Non-Profit and was contemplating selling. Matt and Mike had a good rapport with the seller and mutually agreed to evaluate the property for purchase. (Tip: It's all about relationships. Be genuine and be yourself don't try to oversell or over promise and under deliver) During our analysis we brought in @Kiran K, a long time SFR investor with a lot of deals under his belt who was also looking to get into MF properties. Fast forward 4 months and the property is now ours and the process couldn't have been smoother. We also found that our skill sets complement each other well and we have already started to look for our next deal as a team.

How do the numbers look?

Cash on Cash – 33.7% , Cap Rate – 14.4%

A special thanks to BP Community Members who provided their valuable insight during the initial phase of this deal especially @Joel Owens 

How does the property look?

What are the key takeaways?

• Be genuine. You never know where your next deal may come from.
• Be an active member of the BP community. Don’t just take from the BP community, give back
• Genuinely assist others and provide your insights and experiences
• As @Brandon Turner would put it...Network your way to Networth
• Knowledge is power
• Never stop learning and continually invest in yourself (e.g., education, invest in your family and community etc.)
• Surround yourself with like-minded individuals as well as those who help make you more well-rounded
• Try to connect with people who you think share the same goals

I am confident that I will be posting more of these stories in the very near future. Thanks to the BP team for providing this valuable platform and awesome community of investors here on BP and in Atlanta. 

@J Scott @Todd Whiddon @David T. @Vish Iyer, @Nick B Thanks all for providing your guidance on the BP post. 

@Mike O'Connor

[Mike O'Connor]

Thanks all!

@Joel Owens, the final purchase price was $640k, with 40k of that being put into renovating 12 of the units.

The land use restrictions are still in place and we are actively working on determining if we can fully clear them out. However, since the numbers still looked great on paper whether they exist or not, we still closed on the deal. We would be happy to meet up with you in a month or two once we have more/less/or no progress on these restrictions. Either way, dealing with these restrictions to date has been a very interesting learning experience.