All Forum Posts by: Josh Edwards

Title says it all. Please contact me via direct message to discuss. 

Property Type: Single Family

Project Type: Value add

Investment timeline: Looking to acquire within the next three months

Funding Method: All cash to seller

Investment location: We're open to opportunities within a 45-minute driving radius of the 11940 zip code on Long Island.

All the above are great recommendations. I'll also recommend Bisnow and Commercial Observer as well. Not specifically multifamily, but focuses on commercial real estate as a whole. 

Hey Leslie,

Not sure what kind of mentorship you're looking for, or what your goals are, but I may know a few people who do paid mentorship. If you're interested, shoot me a DM and we can discuss. 

If you're looking for an unpaid mentor, you're going to have to do something in exchange for the other person's time. Maybe you can look for deals for someone by helping write letters, doorknock, or cold call owners. 

Hey Emma,

Glad to see you're interested in pursuing multi-family! Are you interested in raising capital to do deals? Or are you planning to do deals with your own money? 

Just because a market is cheaper than your own doesn't necessarily mean that's a good market to invest in. It's important to remember that real estate is more than just numbers! You have to actively manage these properties, or manage the property manager. The national average for multifamily cap rates is in the five percent range. 

I don't know much about this property or the area, but if I saw something with an 18% cap rate, I'd be skeptical, and I'm not sure I'd like to invest there. There's a reason why Salt Lake City real estate is expensive. It's because investors believe in the fundamentals of the area! You just have to look at investing there from a different perspective. Instead of investing for cash flow, you can invets for appreciation. 

If you don't believe in the fundamentals of Salt Lake City though, don't invest there. Hope this helps and I didn't confuse you, lol. If you have any other questions, feel free to reach out!

Hi Eric, I don't have a website that tells your crime rate based on property address, but I'd recommend city-data.com We use them a lot when looking at deals in markets we aren't familiar with. We typically like to see a crime rate trending down and see it below 450 if we're looking at C-class property. 

I hope that helps! Let me know if you have any other questions. 

This is entirely market and deal-dependent. The larger the unit count, the lower the percentages will be, but the higher the expense. 

I'd recommend you start underwriting deals in one market and stick to it. You will start to get a general idea of how much your typical expenses per unit will be. Keep a deal sheet and track how many deals you've underwritten, the cost of the deal, location, and notes. This will help provide some credibility to investors if you're looking to raise capital. 

I'd also recommend you find a mentor or a coach that will serve as a second pair of eyes when underwriting your deals. Having an unbiased opinion of your deals can make the difference between a good deal and a bad deal, and it's important to remember that, especially heading into times of such uncertainty.

Hi everyone, I don't post on here often, but I figured I'd get BP's thoughts on my situation. Currently, I am working for a commercial real estate firm that invests in Multifamily Real Estate properties in the Southeast. I mainly analyze deals and work with my boss' investors and partners. Much of my time is spent working or learning about underwriting to analyze deals effectively. This is the path I'd like to continue down long term, eventually doing ground-up development and running my own shop.

I've always had the mindset of trying to focus on one thing exclusively, to try and be the best at it that I can be. But, a few years ago, I was under the assumption that I wanted to be a real estate broker, and got my salespersons license. Since then, I tried real estate brokerage in commercial real estate leasing and didn't really like it. So that's when I started to exclusively focus on the investing path.

My question to you guys is, do you think I can add value to investors looking to purchase small-scale properties with the experience that I've gained in my current role? Or do you think that I should continue focusing on what I do now? I worry that I won't be able to provide my clients the attention they deserve and will get elsewhere if I am just doing small-scale real estate sales/investment advisory on the side. I just thought it could be a good way to make a few commissions throughout the year. What are your guys' thoughts?

Thanks in advance!

Hey Amanda,

Typically when analyzing multifamily properties, or any other commercial real estate property for that matter, investors will use what’s called a pro forma real estate financial model. I’ve noticed that most beginners like to use the Michael Blank Syndicated Deal Analyzer, as it’s pretty intuitive to start out with, and he gives you a tutorial on how to use it. I’ve linked it below. It is quite costly, I think about $150, but like anything, you get what you pay for. There are other options like David Toupins model, but I’ve never used it. It’s all personal preference. The most important point is that you start to get comfortable underwriting deals with an actual financial model. 

https://themichaelblank.com/sy...

 Like @Chris Levarek, the best way to get started is to educate yourself. I wouldn't go rushing around looking to raise capital from friends & family when you're not totally familiar with how the whole process works. If you can afford it, you can join one of the many mentorship programs, or you can work for a syndicator/investor for free as I did. These are probably the best ways to get involved. You can read/watch videos on investing, but this will only get you so far. Some books I'd recommend to get started are

- Raising Capital for Real Estate by Hunter Thompson

- The Real Estate Game by William Poorvu

- The Obstacle is the Way by Ryan Holiday

If you'd like to connect, feel free to reach out!

 Hey @Michelle Dong that's not a silly question Michelle! A Real Estate syndication is when a group of investors pool their money together to buy an asset (in our case, apartment buildings). We, the General Partner look for, manage, and raise capital for the deal, and we usually get 30% of the equity in the deal. We raise capital from investors (the limited partner) to fund the down payment plus any other closing costs, and they get 70% of the equity.