All Forum Posts by: Dan Zambrano

I started the business plan and presentation, which is always the hardest part. Now I just have to chip away at it everyday! who knows, might be putting in an offer on a lot this month fingers crossed. Lets go yall, 1st quarter 2024 is almost in the rearview!

Quote from @Jonathan Klemm:

Hey @Dan Zambrano - Really appreciate the share.  Thank you for your service, it goes without saying that you are an amazing civil servant.  

Your story caught my eye...I started out studying architecture and quickly shifted to construction engineering as I was a bit more analytical than I was creative at the time.  Nonetheless, I still appreciate great architecture.  Love the part of your post about "worshiping God and serving men and women!"

I am down in Chicago, but out in that area often so if you ever want to talk architecture and construction let me know.  Excited to see your weekly updates!  Given your background I expect you to be pretty disciplined in that task.

 Thanks for the recognition and for dropping a comment :). I would love to connect at some point.

Little update, I got a silent partner to go halfies with me on a lot. Very excited for this Spring Summer as I anticipate the market shifting a bit more to buyers market for land. Current strategy will be to build out as short term rental, 2br 1 ba.

Still have not sat down to do business plan, admittedly this is my growth area, but I know its a necessary component to the journey.

cheers yall, hope everyone is getting out to enjoy the weather this weekend.

Hey all,

After thinking it over I decided to create a new thread.

I am a small time passive real estate investor who has ambitions to expand greatly, first to $20M and perhaps maybe more. i guess I will give a little bit of background on my journey up to now.

I am 38 y/o, Electrical Engineer by day, Architectural enthusiast by night. I was deployed to Iraq in 2007 and through a mentor got word of a book called The Fountainhead. Incredible book that has probably changed my life more than any other book I have read (though admittedly I do not read much) As I poured over the 700+ pages I fell in love with the spirit that was protagonist Howard Roark, who defied convention to make more beautiful architecture and was loathed by society, especially the ruling class. I forgot how the book ends but one of the high points was his design of a chapel "for the worship of God and the service of Man". I had no idea what Ayn Rand was writing about was a REAL person: Frank Lloyd Wright. Fast forward a year later I am at home (Chicago) and find myself in the beautiful suburb of Oak Park. Imagine my surprise as I walk up to this structure, thank god I was "awake" enough to be able to notice this beautiful piece of Architecture:

The enigma that was Roark hopped out at me in real life in the form of his temple, in reality it was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. This was a turning point in my life. Since then I have dedicated most of my free time to study Wrights work, developing myself as 1st an Architectural Drafter, and now as a conduit of beautiful Architecture and interior/exterior design in the spirit and style of Frank Lloyd Wright. I have moonlighted for several Architects and through hard work and good fortune stumbled on an opportunity to become an apprentice electrical engineer. 10 years later I am a senior engineer, together with my wife, have a decent portfolio of Real Estate. I always suspected that to achieve anything of great notoriety in Architecture one needed to have access to wealthy friends or develop projects oneself. Not having the latter I find myself on a journey to build a portfolio not just for wealth's sake, but to move the proverbial needle on beautiful design and provide a more pleasant built environment for all!

So that is me. Thanks for reading and I look forward to posting weekly progress on here. Cheers and hope you all have a great weekend!

Youtube channel in case anyone is interested: https://youtube.com/@dzdevil1?si=SME4neo_DtyQ--SI

Small update on here. I was initially looking to buy a lot in Northern IL, and my agent alerted me that there have been some scams where people are posing as the owners of lots that they do not truly own, and then somehow potential buyer gets taken for the EMD. Anyone heard of this?

At this point I am just saving money until it financially makes sense to move on a lot, and then will slowly save up to build a simple 2 BR 1 Ba for short term or long term rental. One thing I haven't done that I really need to do is put together a business plan, even a rough draft would be good to keep things in perspective and measure progress against.

Hope everyone has a wonderful rest of the week!

US Bank I think is the biggest construction to perm lenders, if I were doing a construction loan for a primary residence I would look there first.

Good luck!

I am going to also try posting updates on this thread weekly, I wish there was a way to re-title this thread as "My journey to 20M in Real Estate Assets" I think that is a good goal for me. I am a total Newb to this board guys so feel free to yell at me if I can do things different for the benefit of the community :)

I want to use this as a space to chronical my journey and stay connected with folks in the industry so yeah.

Quote from @Robert Ellis:

Quote from @Dan Zambrano:

Hi Everyone,

I am making a commitment to be more active on here, and going to try to post here a few times a month and also answer questions from my perspective for the younger investors.

As the title suggests, I am a long time RE investor, have 3 properties 2 of which I rent out (one is cash flowing $700/mo , YES) I control 1M in assets, have about 250k in equity total. I want to spend the rest of my life developing Real Estate but I am new to construction. I am looking into purchasing a plot of land somewhere around my state of Illinois to give myself leverage and motivation to develop it. Any advice is greatly appreciated, below are a few of the questions I am kicking around curious if anyone with experience can weight in:

1. What is the best way to network with successful developers?

2. I am currently a utility engineer making over 100k/ yr, should I consider pivoting into the developer or construction management space for experience?

3. If so, what are some good certs or proven path to break into employment in those areas?

4. How in the world can I find a great reviewed CPA that will help with my tax situation? I am even willing to overpay for some great help

I think those 4 are good for now, feel free to answer 1 or none if they sound silly lol.

Thanks in advance and look forward to connecting more with folks on here!

 ULI to mee is a little too focused I was in it in columbus and wasn't really worth it. I'd recommend actually looking at the top performing asset classes in your market. define the market you want to do. We have a tight 35 mile radius around columbus and 4 cities in florida (Tampa, Jacksonville, Orlando, Miami) with the same radius. After that, I'd look at your cash. What sized land can you buy. Experienced developers are vertically integrated and don't need new friends or want to do mentorships. tie a site up, record videos, establish yourself as someone they need to do through marketing. if you want to really do that it's what you need to do. I post 2 videos a week for development and look at lots all over and talk about it and post on every platform. it's all I do. sounds like you have a lot going on so I'd decide what you really want and take the risk. 

 Wow amazing advice! I actually do record youtube videos once a week and will be implementing that on the purchase of any new land. I see so much opportunity out now in terms of inexpensive lots, I was just out to see one in Northern IL that looks promising in a B+ area. Thanks for the advice and chiming in. What is your youtube channel so I can follow?

Thanks for all of those that provided constructive feedback. I was strongly considering joining before I read this, now I am going to go the hard route, but probably best to just stay active on here and go the extra effort to network with accomplished developers in my area. Loving this community....

Quote from @Bryant Brislin:

I'm a land broker in southern California, been working on development sites with large, medium and small homebuilders for a long time.  Not sure how far you are from Chicago proper, but the ULI (Urban Land Institute) is a global group with chapters in most big cities.  They have great networking events, panels, programs, etc.  Also, in Southern CA, we have a lobbying group named the BIA (Building Industry Association)...they lobby for pro housing legislation both at the state level and city/county level.  They have great networking, panels, programs, etc.  I'm assuming there is something like that in your neck of the woods or Chicago proper. If you wanted to work with a developer/builder, I would think with our engineering backgroud, you should be able to be a project manager, forward planning, even acquistions associate, albeit with some training. 

 Love the feedback and tip on ULI, had never heard of them, i will definitely look for an event of theirs to attend.

thank you!