All Forum Posts by: Amy Wan

Actually, with each rule, there are different amounts you can raise. But it depends entirely on your marketing strategy (i.e. are you reaching accredited investors? non-accredited? do you want to advertise? etc.)

echoing @David Thompson, educate yourself and go find a coach that will help you. And when evaluating the coach, remember that there are as many good ones and even more bad ones.

To answer @Ian Ippolito's question in the most unsatisfying way, the answer is 'it depends.' Every person, every company, is different. There is not one-size-fits-all marketing strategy. For a lot of folks with personal RECF platforms, the tech makes investing easier and helps with conversion, but it doesn't market per se. The real answer for those without VC backing or a multi-million marketing budget is ABN-- always be networking ;) and speaking. And doing thought leadership.

Hmm, I don't see anything wrong with this thread per se. Though I certainly see other eyebrow raising things on BP sometimes--especially when people solicit for investors on current raises with no docs/legal or raising under the wrong regs :P

I would rethink your marketing strategy. Online, and offline, capital raising requires trust. (As a former GC of a real estate crowdfunding platform that did 506cs all day long, trust me. It's not a "hands-off, if you build it, they will come" type of business. Pure digital advertising should only be only one layer of an overarching 506c marketing strategy. Unless you list/post on someone else' platform (in which case, make sure you have a backup plan if they don't raise what they say they'll raise).

My partner Gene Trowbridge wrote the textbook (its commonly mentioned in some other threads): https://www.amazon.com/Its-Whole-New-Business-how/...

Otherwise, the best thing you can do for your first syndication is find a coach or an experienced syndicator to partner with, bring money to the deal, and help you figure out all the kinks. In my experience, as an attorney who sees a lot of clients of all degrees of sophistication come through, I generally find that those with a mentor or coach have a higher rate of success than those without. It's not impossible without--just a lot harder (and you may fail to raise a couple of times before your first successful raise if you don't have the network). And who that mentor/coach is depends on what asset class you're working in and where you're geographically located.

The legal is not the difficult part. It's building a good network of investors who trust you.

This is my partner Gene Trowbridge's book, who is a CCIM and former syndicator of commercial property (now RE private equity attorney). He also does workshops around the country on this topic. You might also consider joining a local or national real estate syndication group (though be careful to make sure its reputable, since there are a lot of scams out there). Often for the first deal, I tend to recommend that people JV or partner up with a mentor/coach/experienced syndicator. If your current network of investors isn't large, there will be a high failure rate (though its certainly not impossible). If you bring someone experienced into the deal who can help bring capital, it'll be less terrifying the first time around.

Here's an article that explains real estate syndication: http://www.crowdfundinglawyers.net/2017/03/real-estate-syndication/

From my research, it usually costs a minimum of $10K (and sometimes several times that) for a securities attorney to draft offering documents (PPMs and the sort) for real estate syndications, which means that deals below a certain threshold don't make sense to syndication because the cost of legal fees eats into the deal too much.

Is this a legitimate pain point? What's the threshold below which a syndication doesn't make sense? Are the legal fees too high a hurdle for beginner syndicators? What would you pay for legal help on a raise under $1M?

I'm interested in ways to lower the legal fees for smaller syndications, but still provide folks with a proper set of legal documents.

You can also private message me if you dont want to throw numbers out there.

For #5, note that there are nowadays "tech startup" solutions to financing one's primary residence (see Unison and Point.com), but the money comes from private institutions or private sources--the money is not "crowdfunded" for many reasons--in part, because there are a lot of strange privacy issues (imagine if your home was partially owned by 50 other people. Strangers would be coming to knock on your down, walk across the lawn, etc.)