All Forum Posts by: Cole Davis

A prospective tenant with (great credit / clean background) of ours has a roommate that is here on a work permit. He has a Tax ID number but no Social Security number. Our current tenant screening company can only search criminal records by SS#. 

Has anyone been about to search criminal records by a Tax Id number? We've run a background check on just his name / birthdate (which was verified by his passport) and nothing is popping up in terms of criminal history. 

Thank you!

Thanks @Gita Faust! 

Given the size of Appfolio, I'm somewhat surprised there are not more bookkeeping firms that have specialized in their software. I suppose I'll just have to train a bookkeeper to learn their software.

Does anyone know any good Appfolio bookkeeping services or perhaps a couple bookkeepers that are Appfolio experts? We love the software but are spending too much time using it. 

Also any thoughts on what we should expect to pay per hour would be helpful. 

Thank you! 

I think of raising money as getting cash from family & friends and perhaps local investors (private money), mostly for smaller deals (perhaps fix and flips, or rehab rentals).

I think of syndication as a business, which will help you raise a significant amount of capital for 

They can be the same thing, but the difference is you can raise small amounts of capital without a defined legal / operating structure private offering docs (syndication), but you cannot raise large amounts of capital (at least legally) without putting together a formal syndication. 

You can make a great living cranking out a lot of little deals, but it's labor intensive. I would recommend you start leaning the syndication business as it will enable you to purchase large multifamily (or other asset class) deals that can often take less work (larger deals can support full property management teams) and can translate to a lot more equity for the deal sponsor (you).  

About 5 years - I learned a lot - made a ton of mistakes. 

Now we try to help newbies avoid those costly mistakes. 

Best of luck! 

Bumping this forward.

Unfortunately, the inexperienced real estate syndicator is not going to have much luck getting access to these real estate crowdfunding platforms. Understandably, these platforms are unwilling to put the future of RE crowdfunding in the hands of newbies. 

For example Realty Mogul want's $100MM in money raised and 10 years of prior experience from the operators they fundraise for. I'm sure there are exceptions, but the point is your first flip is not going to be on Realty Mogul. 

While the real estate crowdfunding space is rapidly growing its still fragile. A couple fraudulent deals would really set the industry back. I'm assuming that once these platforms become more accepted as just another asset class (no different then mutual funds) to invest in for one's retirement (and I do believe we're going that direction) the restrictions on who they let fundraise on their sites will actually decrease a bit as the occasional blow up will do far less damage once RE crowdfunding has a lengthy track record. 

Until then, new operators are far more likely to fund their deals the old school syndication way (friends & family / country club network / Reg D offerings). 

Counter-intuitively, the larger in deal size ($2MM+) you go, the less this will be an issue as the banks will largely be looking at the equity in the deal and the property as the collaterally (not your personal balance sheet). 

Of course, you'll need to be able to partner with someone that has that kind of capital or syndication experience in order to take down larger deals.

I would first read every recommended book on real estate investing I could get my hands on. I would also get smart on the math and technology used to find and analyze deals. Presumably, you have a huge advantage on that front as you "know how to program the VCR' so to speak (this was considered tech savvy when I grew up).  

Then you can offer your skills to a mentor or three who might give you a piece of the deal in exchange for some analysis work (excel modeling), deal sourcing, or internet marketing (we're all looking for new, cheap ways to source deals - but not all of us have the time to learn software or deal with mass mailings / craigslist searching / website creation, when we're busy working on the deals we currently own and operate. 

Or...just get your parents to check some big checks, buy some buildings and wing it. 

If you don't have a lot of capital to do it on your own, I would team up with an experienced syndicator - he / she has the track record and helps raises the money and you hustle to find the deals. You essentially are leveraging their experience to grow and learn the business so you can someday run your own syndications. If you have a successful track record with the first partnership, fundraising shouldn't bee overly difficult. 

Value Hound Academy has some solid articles and podcasts on this topic. I'd like to think you'll find the resources we offer on structuring syndications / private offerings to start your own RE investment firm informative as well (pretty sure I'm biased though).

The terminology, process, necessary documents and decisions (PPM, Reg D 506 (b vs c), blind bool preferred return, etc. all seem a bit overwhelming at first, but it's pretty straight forward once you understand the basics and get some exposure to the moving parts.