All Forum Posts by: Christine Bellish

Agree with @Landon Bleau - if you want truly hands-off, low involvement real estate investing opportunities, syndication is the way. One of my syndication partners is based in TX, and he works on deals locally, but the beauty of syndication is being able to get involved in other markets (that may have better returns) too - he does a lot in Cleveland as well.

Hey @Kim Durst - congrats! This is so exciting. Like @Larry Fried mentioned, investing in real estate syndications could be a great option for you. As someone who already understands the benefits of real estate investing, but is looking for something that's more hands-off, being a limited partner/passive investor in real estate syndications sounds like it's something you should look more into.

You definitely need to do your research and get to know and trust whoever you decide to invest with, but beyond your upfront due diligence in researching a great syndicator and making sure the deal/s you are investing in meet your investing goals, there's no other work required from you - it's TRULY passive. Not to mention, as a passive real estate syndication investor, you can still get awesome tax benefits associated with RE investing thanks to depreciation, that you wouldn't get from most other types of investments - if you are looking for a steady, reliable, predictable form of real estate syndication investing I would encourage you to consider investing in net lease deals versus value-add multifamily or development deals that can be a bit more up and down - of course depends on your goals, timelines, level of risk tolerance, and whether you are looking for more cash flow in the short term v appreciation in the long term...or diversify into a combination of these types of deals. 

@Travis Walker and I forgot to mention this as an option too, but what about house hacking? Would you consider buying a multifamily property and living in one of the units? If so, you can put down a lower down payment as an owner occupant and get better lending terms. The rent you collect for the other units can cover all or some of your living costs, and you can rinse and repeat after a year (if you buy something as an owner occupant the lender usually wants you to be there at least a year). 

Totally agree with @Emily And Eric Erickson "no wrong answers, just bad fits" and absolutely echo what many others have been saying about weighing your options, considering pros and cons, and ultimately deciding what makes the most sense for you personally based on YOUR preferences and risk tolerance, which are going to be 100% unique to you. Here are some things to consider...

@Travis Walker when you say "I don't want to get in over my head" - you're smart to be cautious! No matter how much reading, research, preparation, etc you do, there's always going to be something that comes up that you couldn't plan for, but that's the nature of investing - there's always a level of risk associated with it no matter how much you due diligence you do. That being said, the best thing you can do is educate yourself about your options and do exactly what you're doing now by trying to learn from others' expertise. Have you considered maybe partnering with someone else who already has some investing experience to lower your risk by leveraging their knowledge and wisdom for your first investment? 

Or like @Matt Pursley said - maybe look into investing passively in a couple syndications - that'll get you access to learn from the syndicators how they identify markets, underwrite deals, work with property management, and more. You might decide you only want to passively invest as a limited partner, or maybe you'll use your learnings to become a general partner yourself one day. If you think you may want to be a GP, you should make sure you invest with someone who will be accessible to answer you questions so you can have the best learning experience.

If you use your $100K to invest in two syndication deals that have $50K minimums, versus only using the $100K to invest in one property you are diversifying your real estate investments right off the bat, which is a major plus.

You **could** find larger return potentials if you buy a property that needs work and BRRRR it versus passively investing in a syndication, but taking on a major renovation project as your first investment project is riskier in my opinion than some of the other options discussed...higher risk higher reward is a saying for a reason :)

If you decide you'd rather buy a property personally, I would consider learning towards a long term multifamily rental over a single family or short term rental as your first investment because that helps diversify a bit (multiple units v one), and with STR you will be dealing with more frequent turnovers and furnishing the property, which can require more work unless you hire a PM to handle it like some others mentioned. Rental prices for STRs are generally higher, so potential returns could be higher, but it depends on whether you prefer the opportunity for higher returns or lower risk. Vacancy in a SFH will hurt a lot more than one vacancy in a multifamily property - if you have a duplex and at least if 1 of the two apartments is rented, some or all of your expenses will be covered, but if your single family home is vacant you have to cover all the expenses.

There are merits to all of these options, but deciding which one makes the most sense for you right now is ultimately up to you. Good luck on getting your real estate investing journey started - so exciting!!

@Justin Hoggatt - love it! Keep up the good work! We work on 506b deals too. Multifamily value add, as well as commercial net lease deals. When my husband I started passively investing in syndications we weren't accredited, so were really grateful that there were opportunities for us to still get involved, and we are happy to provide others with these types of opportunities as well. 

@Paul Moore "I want an expert team managing these deals. And I want diversification across asset types, geographies, and strategies. I can’t do all that myself. And if I could do 20% of it, I’d be extremely stressed and would have no life. It would certainly not be passive." Yes 100% to this!!!!!!

Hi! Anyone interested in learning more about syndication should plan to attend the free webinar I am hosting on 3.24.22 at 7pm ET - link to BP thread about it HERE!

My husband and I are hosting a webinar to introduce the concept of real estate syndication, with our friend and partner, Agostino Pintus as a special guest. REGISTER HERE!

Why? Because we realize many are not familiar with what syndication is, how it works, or how to get involved on either the passive or active side of things.

Who should attend? 1. People who want to invest passively. 2. People who are aspiring syndicators and want to learn how to get started.

In this session we will share why we personally got involved with this type of investing, and how partnering with pros, like Agostino, helped us scale our portfolio and grow our passive income - going from small multifamily properties in NJ to equity partners in 900+ units across three states in under a year. We started as passive investors in 2020, and transitioned to the GP side in 2021. Passively investing was a great way for us to learn.

Agostino is a former C-Level Executive turned syndicator with more than a decade of real estate investing experience, 1600 units and 3 development projects, totaling over $250M worth of assets under management currently. He will be sharing his priceless advice with attendees and answering your questions live.

During the webinar you will learn:

1. The difference between passive and active real estate investing

2. What syndication is, how it works, and how it can build wealth

3. Types of opportunities, deal structures, time lines, and investment requirements

4. How to spot great deals and vet syndicators

5. Creative ways to fund syndication investments

Plus we will have a Q&A session at the end.

Even if you can't make it, you should register so we can email you the recording afterwards.

Hope to see you there!

Hi @Tasheena Cole - yes! As Jim and Charles mentioned there are plenty of opportunities that allowed non-accredited investors (506b), but they may be harder for you to find because they aren't allowed to be marketed or advertised - you have to know the syndicator/GP group personally, which requires networking. All the deals you may be seeing posted on social media are 506c opportunities that are only open to accredited investors (unless they are illegally advertising 506b deals).

My husband and I met the first syndicator we ended up passively investing with at a networking event - we followed up with him after and had a bunch of conversations to learn more about how syndication works, what his track record was like, what kind of deals he worked on etc - got on his email list to get access to his deals, evaluated a bunch and finally pulled the trigger.

Definitely join in person and virtual meet up groups, go to networking events, attend webinars, keep connecting with people on here and you will get access to the 506b deals you're looking for!

Getting references from other people is a great way to connect with quality syndicators that offer these types of deals too. I'm happy to share the contact info for the few syndicators I personally know who offer 506b deals if you want to check them out. 

Hey @Melissa S Vrobel congrats on the success of your deal! I hear you about putting your money into more truly passive income producing opportunities - have you considered syndication?