All Forum Posts by: Caten Murphy

TOMORROW! We are going back to the basics and sitting down with a successful investor to see how he is running numbers and making deals work in this market. Ernest (Ernie) Smith is joining us this month: He is a successful investor, licensed GC, and real estate agent and he will be focusing on how he is successfully analyzing his portfolio of rental properties, high-margin flips, and out-of-state investments + he will even leave us with some resources to help you create a solid scope of work!

This month's Lake Norman Real Estate Meetup is Wednesday, March 19th at 6:30 pm and we will be meeting at Sabi Asian Bistro in Davidson (Exit 30) at 130 Harbour Place Drive, Davidson, NC 28036!

When we polled the group on what kind of topics you wanted to cover going forward, many of you wanted to get back to the basics and were curious how other investors are running their numbers and making deals work in this market. You ask and we deliver! We are super excited to have Ernest Smith as our speaker this month.

From drafting/design engineering to real estate powerhouse, Ernie's journey is nothing short of inspiring. At just 22, he bought his first property in Charlotte and started house hacking (before it was a popular trend). Twelve moves in six years taught him the do’s and don’ts of real estate— long before YouTube University existed! Now a licensed General Contractor and Real Estate Agent, he’s built a portfolio of rental properties, high-margin flips, and out-of-state investments. A firm believer that “Your Network is Your Net Worth,” Ernie connects with top entrepreneurs, CEOs, and even billionaires on his Ernest Goes To Network Podcast. Ernie will be focusing on how he analyzes a deal + determines renovation numbers as well as provide some great "hacks" on house hacking!

Don’t miss this chance to hear his insights, learn from his journey, and walk away with real estate and business strategies that could change your game! Please feel free to bring anyone you think may also enjoy this!

Caten Murphy

Hey friends!

Due to the impending weather forecasted to come our way, we have decided to go ahead and cancel tomorrow's meetup to prioritize everyone's safety. Even if we don't end up getting anything (classic Charlotte), we know most people would likely rather stay home in the gross/cold weather.

We will reschedule Mark to come back in April to speak on commercial lending, so save up those questions you had for him!

As always, if you have any questions email me at [email protected] or text me at (704) 614-6699.

Stay warm,

Caten Murphy

We are super excited to have Mark Lewis from People's Bank as our speaker this month. Mark is an experienced Commercial Business Development Officer with demonstrated history of working in the community banking industry for over 40 years and his experience ranges from builder finance, C&I, CRE and consumer construction loans with strong underwriting and memo skills. He specializes in working with investors who are seeking sub-$1M commercial investments and will be breaking down what/how to analyze a commercial deal, how to enlist a commercial lender to help you analyze/work through the lending process, as well as some great advice on commercial lending products investors should be utilizing!

Many of you have told us your objectives are to start or expand a portfolio in commercial properties, so this will be such a valuable opportunity to get inside an expert's mind and gather some amazing tips, so make sure to set aside some time to be here and come prepared with your questions!

We look forward to seeing you guys next week! Please feel free to bring anyone you think may also enjoy this!

We are SO excited to welcome Britt Loukos back as our speaker this month. Britt is a FORCE in real estate development and has an impressive resume to back it up. She is going to take us through lessons learned from spending the last 10 years as a fiduciary and asset manager all the way through to her newest exciting venture, starting her own development firm and building their own unique hospitality venue, The Lumen House, from the ground up.

Britt has been a LKN meetup attendee from the start, but if you haven't met her, her experience ranges from starting out with a track builder, to holding finance positions at Grubb Properties and Northlight Capital Partners, and was Deputy CEO of Aerial Development where she oversaw the development of a private island resort in BVI and multiple infill developments in Nashville. To date, Britt has managed 9 real estate funds totaling over $950MM in real estate assets and accomplished a track record IRR of 22.5%. Some of her most well-known projects include Link Apartments Montford, Skyhouse Charlotte, Enchantment Resort in Sedona, Seven Canyons Golf Course + Community in Sedona, and The Aerial BVI. Most recently, she created Lumen Development - a real estate development firm focused on creating luxury assets as well as serving our community by creating and preserving affordable housing where she currently has $15MM in assets under management, including The Lumen House and 135 apartment units.

Britt is excited to share more about the process of creating + building The Lumen House from the ground up, including the vision, property acquisition, the design process, underwriting, funding, construction, sales + marketing, and operations execution. This is going to be such a fun meeting and an amazing opportunity to get inside an expert's mind to learn A LOT; so make sure to set aside some time to be here and come prepared with your questions!

We look forward to seeing you guys next week! Please feel free to bring anyone you think may also enjoy this

Happy November!

This month's Lake Norman Real Estate Meetup is Wednesday, November 20th at 6:30 pm and we will be meeting at Sabi Asian Bistro in Davidson (Exit 30) at 130 Harbour Place Drive, Davidson, NC 28036!

We are super excited to have one of our own regular attendees, Dan Schiermeyer, back by popular demand as our speaker this month! Dan moved to Charlotte in 2016 and while working a W2 job, he began his journey into real estate investing. He started with residential investing, using house hacking strategies to grow his portfolio. In 2020, he purchased his first commercial real estate investment, Suds N’ Shine Car Wash, on Old Statesville Road. 7 months later, he purchased his first self storage facility! Dan was able to leave his W2 job in 2022 to dedicate his time to running his investments and has also started working on a few new exciting ventures that he is excited to share more about.

One of my favorite things about Dan is how he can so easily lay out his path to success in a way that anyone can follow. He is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to analyzing deals, utilizing funding sources (that are available to all of us) to minimize personal investment, and finding value-add strategies to supercharge his investments. Plus, the new ventures he's working on align perfectly with his current businesses and are really exciting to learn about!

This is going to be such a valuable opportunity to gain more knowledge about commercial real estate in addition to the residential investments we are all doing. I highly recommend you make sure you are in this room, and as always, feel free to bring anyone you think may also enjoy this!

Caten Murphy

LKN Meeting Update: Unfortunately, Britt Loukos, who was scheduled to speak at our meetup tonight, has come down with the flu and will no longer be able to attend. Tonight's meetup will transition to a networking/panel style meetup. We are hoping for a quick recovery for Britt and look forward to having her back out in the coming months! As always, the meetup will start at 6:30 pm and we will be meeting at Sabi Asian Bistro in Davidson (Exit 30) at 130 Harbour Place Drive, Davidson, NC 28036.

This month's Lake Norman Real Estate Meetup is Wednesday, October 16th at 6:30 pm and we will be meeting at Sabi Asian Bistro in Davidson (Exit 30) at 130 Harbour Place Drive, Davidson, NC 28036!

We are SO excited to have Britt Loukos as our speaker this month. Britt is a FORCE in real estate development and has an impressive resume to back it up. She is going to take us through lessons learned from spending the last 10 years as a fiduciary and asset manager for 63 commercial properties and 4,937 apartment units and starting her own development firm.

Britt has been a LKN meetup attendee from the start, but if you haven't met her, her experience ranges from working with a track builder, to completing economic studies for master plan communities including Swamp Rabbit Trail (Greenville, SC) and the City of Kannapolis, managing fund level finances and equity capital for real estate funds, institutional, and family office clients, deploying equity capital to acquire sub-performing loan pools secured by real estate, and overseeing the development of a private island resort in BVI and multiple infill developments in Nashville. Most recently, she created Lumen Development - a real estate development firm focused on creating luxury assets as well as serving our community by creating and preserving affordable housing. She currently has $15MM in assets under management and have completed $45MM of commercial and residential real estate development to date through Lumen to date.

As always, this is going to be such a valuable opportunity to get inside an expert's mind and gather some amazing tips, so make sure to set aside some time to be here and come prepared with your questions!

We look forward to seeing you guys this week! Please feel free to bring anyone you think may also enjoy this!

Caten

Happy (almost) Fall!

This month's Lake Norman Real Estate Meetup is Wednesday, September 18th at 6:30 pm and we will be meeting at Sabi Asian Bistro in Davidson (Exit 30) at 130 Harbour Place Drive, Davidson, NC 28036!

We are super excited to have Daniel Molina as our speaker this month. He will be giving us a state of the union from a lender's POV, how to present your deals to get funding, and products he's seeing gain popularity like ground up and build to rent (+ how to use them).

Daniel has been a LKN meetup attendee from the start, but if you haven't met him, he is a passionate Charlotte-based Lender with a wealth of hands-on expertise. Having an extensive background in finance and dealerships, he naturally gravitated towards lending. He has been cultivating his multifaceted skill set ever since. Currently, Daniel serves as one of the most prominent providers of financing solutions for residential real estate investors nationwide. He is currently SVP and Sales Director at Acra Lending; one of the largest private lenders in the nation. He is also the Sales Director & Founder of DM Designs, an eCommerce, SEO, and website UI development company founded in 2011. Furthermore, he is a speaker at REI conferences across the Southeast.

As always, this is going to be such a valuable opportunity to get inside an expert's mind and gather some amazing tips, so make sure to set aside some time to be here and come prepared with your questions!

We look forward to seeing you guys this week! Please feel free to bring anyone you think may also enjoy this!

Caten Murphy