All Forum Posts by: Kristi Kandel

As I think about this post on Coaching.  I think BP would create more value to the RE community by doing for coaching what they are doing for LP syndication investors.  

I personally don’t see LP syndication investors as Real Estate investors.  View them as bankers who better know how to do due diligence.  

Whereas as a Coach segment would provide far more support for new REI people to find resources that fit their needs. BRRRR, Fix Flip, taxes, deal analysis, market analysis, marketing, financing, etc.

Realize BP has a boot camp program but don't know what that entails. But opening up vetted Coach programs would supply a lot more bandwidth to the REI community. Plus different approaches versus one size fits all.

Good morning,
Some updates, we did home inspection and the house is not good condition since it was built in 1950 and was not maintained well. It is ready for complete demo. Hence, there is not need to move it and just do the demolition. The options are, demo the lot, split the lot and then sell 2 lots to the builder or build myself. Still need to close on the property because I have already put 18K downpayment and then work with city on split process.

Hi,

I am looking to invest first time with a turnkey developer,  who is buying the land and building a multi unit commercial retail center and some apartments. He is looking at a group of investors like myself to bring 25% of the project value and then procure a bank loan for the remaining 75%. He will be selling the project to buyers once completed and not interested in operating.

How should I evaluate this deal from an investment point? What are the financial metrics i should be asking for? What kind of ROI i should look at, considering project completion will be 3 years roughly?

Other questions I should be asking?

thanks for the guidance

Joining a coaching program is a big decision for any real estate investor. Whether you’re just starting or looking to scale your portfolio, a coaching program can provide valuable guidance—but it’s not without its downsides. As someone who’s spent years building a real estate business from the ground up, I’ve seen both sides of the equation. Here’s an honest breakdown of the pros and cons to help you determine if investing in a coaching program aligns with your goals.

Pros of Joining a Coaching Program

1. Expert Guidance

The most obvious advantage of joining a coaching program is access to experienced mentors. These individuals have often walked the same path you’re on and can provide insights that save you time, money, and stress. Instead of learning through trial and error, you learn from someone else’s mistakes. This will hopefully allow you to leapfrog your way to success!

2. Accountability

Another obvious and much-needed benefit of a coaching program is having someone hold you accountable. This can be the difference between setting goals and achieving them. A good coach will push you to take action, focus on the action that creates traction, stay consistent, and follow through on your commitments.

3. Structured Learning

Real estate tends to attract people who have shiny object syndrome. It’s a blessing (the reason you found real estate in the first place) and a curse (you probably get distracted easily on what asset class to focus on). Since it is easy to feel overwhelmed a coaching program provides a clear, step-by-step framework that helps you focus on what matters most. Instead of piecing together information from random online sources, you get a cohesive learning experience.

4. Confidence Boost

When you have a coach in your corner, it can significantly boost your confidence. Knowing you have someone to turn to for advice and validation can make navigating challenges feel less intimidating.

5. Networking Opportunities

The most underrated benefit of joining a coaching program is the networking. Many coaching programs include group sessions, masterminds, or events where you can connect with other like-minded investors. Building relationships with people in the sam

Cons of Joining a Coaching Program

1. Cost

Coaching programs can be expensive, ranging from a few thousand dollars to six figures. While the right program can provide a strong ROI, it's crucial to evaluate whether the cost fits within your budget and aligns with your current investment goals.

2. Quality Varies

Not all coaching programs are created equal. Some are led by seasoned investors with a wealth of knowledge, while others may be run by people with minimal experience. Do your homework before committing to ensure you’re getting real value.

3. Time Commitment

Joining a coaching program requires both time and effort. If you’re not prepared to put in the work, even the best coach in the world won’t be able to help you. Be honest with yourself about whether you’re ready to prioritize your education and growth.

4. Potential for Over-Reliance

While guidance is valuable, it’s important to maintain your independence as an investor. Over-relying on a coach for every decision can hinder your ability to develop critical thinking skills and confidence in your own judgment.

5. Not a Guaranteed Success

A coaching program is not a magic pill. Success still depends on your effort, discipline, and ability to execute. If you’re expecting a coach to do the work for you, you may end up disappointed.

How to Decide if a Coaching Program is Right for You

Before investing in a coaching program, ask yourself these questions:

• What are my goals? Be specific about what you want to achieve and whether a coach can help you get there.
• Can I afford it? Consider both the financial cost and the time commitment.
• Have I researched the program? Look for reviews, testimonials, and case studies to gauge the program’s effectiveness.
• Am I ready to put in the work? A coaching program is a partnership, and your success depends on your willingness to take action.

Final Thoughts

A coaching program can be a powerful tool for accelerating your real estate investing journey. But it’s not for everyone. Personally, I started investing in both single-family and multifamily without joining any coaching programs. To be honest, in the beginning, I was so against coaching programs when I first started in real estate. Why? I was convinced if all of these Coaches were able to grow their real estate businesses without joining coaching programs, I could too.

A year into my multifamily journey everything changed. I came across a program that convinced me that the program’s tools alone were worth the cost of joining. So, I joined. In just a few months, I connected with several partners that I still partner with today. These partners and opportunities helped me grow my wealth by seven figures.

I recognize this is not everyone’s experience. In fact, I think being skeptical about coaching programs allowed me to be very critical on each program that was presented to me. I think this perspective is what ultimately led to the right program for me that aligned with my personal and professional goals. Remember, no matter what path you choose, consistent action and a commitment to learning will always be the foundation of your success.

Hello- also in a longterm build in Cape Coral for new construction. Current status is that the Dept of Health has not yet issued the Septic Permit yet. This has been ongoing since August. I am visiting CC later this month, and will call again this week. 

Is there any benefit to visiting DoH offices in person? When calling or visiting, are there any suggestions to get them to expedite this?  I know the average turnaround for Septic Permit has been 10-12 weeks, but we are now at 20 weeks, which seems excessive.

If anyone has experience with this, would welcome any suggestions.  Thank you. 

Quote from @Kristi Kandel:

Quote from @Jay Hinrichs:

Quote from @Kristi Kandel:

Quote from @Manuel Angeles:

When developing affordable housing in California (more specifically Los Angeles), how complicated is it to raise capital using subsidies?

Is it common for developers to use subsidies to cover 100% of the construction costs without needing to obtaining debt or raising equity?

Or do they leverage debt, and use the subsidies to cover the equity needed?

When dealing with federal, state, and local NOFA (notice of funds availabilities), do government funds allocated for affordable housing often get depleted from too many developers requesting funds for new projects?

When a developer can't obtain subsidies for their affordable housing projects, do they just wait until the next round of subsidies availability?

 The capital stack especially in CA is VERY complex and typically involves everything and more that you mentioned. A couple developers we work with skip LIHTC and the tax credits and go the route of impact funds to help alongside other debt and sometimes equity.  When relying on LIHTC to make the deal pencil, yes developers wait BUT only if they have the resources to wait and only if the property owner is willing to not close on the property until the project is fully funded. Or the developer can close on the land at risk but they have a lot of capital when that's the case. 

I tried one in Oregon on a 120 door parcel I had over in Lincoln city.. Super complicated and an absolute specialty I dont know how smaller players bust into this.

 @Jay Hinrichs Exactly. Good concept but so much red tape it does keep us little guys out unless the qualified developers are willing to bring us into their deals. My team personally has pivoted to more local affordable housing with local and county grants and incentives and we'll leave the more complex LIHTC deals to the big firms. 

what happened to me is all the good rate bonds are snatched up before we could get them. For me just too much work.. as I stated its a specialty niche.. plus putting the deals together can run 100 to 250k in consultant fees up front.  I think I blew 75k before I said screw it this is no fun.. 

Quote from @Kristi Kandel:

Quote from @Manuel Angeles:

When developing affordable housing in California (more specifically Los Angeles), how complicated is it to raise capital using subsidies?

Is it common for developers to use subsidies to cover 100% of the construction costs without needing to obtaining debt or raising equity?

Or do they leverage debt, and use the subsidies to cover the equity needed?

When dealing with federal, state, and local NOFA (notice of funds availabilities), do government funds allocated for affordable housing often get depleted from too many developers requesting funds for new projects?

When a developer can't obtain subsidies for their affordable housing projects, do they just wait until the next round of subsidies availability?

 The capital stack especially in CA is VERY complex and typically involves everything and more that you mentioned. A couple developers we work with skip LIHTC and the tax credits and go the route of impact funds to help alongside other debt and sometimes equity.  When relying on LIHTC to make the deal pencil, yes developers wait BUT only if they have the resources to wait and only if the property owner is willing to not close on the property until the project is fully funded. Or the developer can close on the land at risk but they have a lot of capital when that's the case. 

I tried one in Oregon on a 120 door parcel I had over in Lincoln city.. Super complicated and an absolute specialty I dont know how smaller players bust into this.

When developing affordable housing in California (more specifically Los Angeles), how complicated is it to raise capital using subsidies?

Is it common for developers to use subsidies to cover 100% of the construction costs without needing to obtaining debt or raising equity?

Or do they leverage debt, and use the subsidies to cover the equity needed?

When dealing with federal, state, and local NOFA (notice of funds availabilities), do government funds allocated for affordable housing often get depleted from too many developers requesting funds for new projects?

When a developer can't obtain subsidies for their affordable housing projects, do they just wait until the next round of subsidies availability?

Does anyone have experience with ADU's (accessory dwelling units) in any market, but particularly Cincinnati? I've had a couple OOS investors ask about ADU potential in our market... not sure what hurdles there might be with the city (permitting, zoning, or otherwise).

Anyone have a cheat sheet or checklist for covering your ADU bases? Any/all advice welcome. 

Quote from @Kristi Kandel:

Quote from @Rene Hosman:

Quote from @Kristi Kandel:

Quote from @Rene Hosman:

Quote from @Kristi Kandel:

Quote from @Rene Hosman:

Where are my Denverites at?! 

This is the first time I've heard of a city or municipality doing something like this. I'd love to get takes from folks who have been around the investing & development scene longer than me - The city of Denver announced yesterday that the mayor has coordinated a land swap with a private developer. 

If you live in or around Denver you've probably heard of the Park Hill golf course - if not, here's a quick rundown

Background: 

1. Park Hill Golf Course was owned by a trust, in the wayyy distant past it was previously a dairy farm, but it has been operated as a golf course since the 1930's! 

2. In 1997, I don't fully understand why, the City of Denver paid the golf course owners $2mil to rezone this parcel as a "conservation easement" this was extremely restrictive zoning and meant it would essentially be destined to be a golf course for eternity 

3. 2018 golf course closes citing low revenue and high operating costs. 2019, the parcel was sold to a developer named Westside Investment Partners (WIP)  who intended to remove the conservation easement and develop this parcel in a highly sought after neighborhood of Denver

4. From around 2018, when the golf course closed, until 2021 local residents essentially used this giant open parcel of grassy land right in the city as open space. On most any day you could find people walking dogs, or children playing in the area.

Starting around 2021 WIP who clearly thought rezoning would be a no-brainer seemingly started to get frustrated with the pushback from the city and residents.

I can't say for sure what the reasoning was, but the developers at some point around this time put a chainlink fence around the entire property - its 155 acres. They cited insurance reasons, which could very well be true, but many residents felt it as a big "f you" 
Now folks from outside the community could argue this was an entitled stance from the residents, to feel they had access to this private land when they didn't, and that on the face is certainly true. But it's also true that this had been open space provided to the community for the better part of a century and now it was fenced off with not even a path or sidewalks around most of the perimeter. 

5. In 2021 there were two competing ballot measures that the citizens of Denver voted on - one measure from open-space advocates that would "keep status quo" and continue to prevent WIP from developing this parcel, the second measure sponsored by the WIP themselves that would exempt the property from the current zoning restrictions. 
What in the world would have happened if both completely opposing measures passed?? We still have no idea. And will never find out because the open-space advocates won their measure while the developers measure failed by a whopping 63%! 

6. in 2023, two years after losing the first ballot measure, WIP tried AGAIN, and this time they still lost with 58% of the vote against them

7. This second defeat at the ballot seemingly left WIP with few options, and it was looking like they way overpaid for this land that in it's current legal state could only be used as a golf course or park. 

Fast forward to today in January 2025:

Mayor Johnston of Denver, who has now been in office about 1.5 years, announced that the city had completed a deal with Westside Investment Partners to essentially trade this 155-acre plot in the middle of the city, for a 145-acre plot that the city owned near the Denver International Airport. 

The parcel formerly known as Park Hill Golf Course will now become Denver's 4th largest public park. It remains to be seen what the parcel by the airport now owned by the developers will become.

Now what?

This is the first time I've heard of such a thing as a land swap, especially between a municipality and a private entity. Does anyone else have examples of this happening in the past in other places? If so what were the circumstances and what was the reasoning?

For those more entrenched in the Denver development market than I am, is this a fair trade for the city and for the developers? Or did one side clearly come out a winner? 

My initial thought is that the developers may have gotten a much better deal than they would have otherwise given the clear limitations on the land's use. Who else would have bought this land from them? And at what nominal price compared to the $24mil they paid in 2019? That being said, I have no idea what the land by the airport is worth or what they will be able to do with it. 

To me the biggest takeaway is that as real estate professionals, we always talk about location, location, location. When this has me thinking that we also need to be talking about zoning, zoning, zoning. Because in this case zoning took a 155 acre piece of real estate with incredibly prime location, and made it only worth at maximum 145 acres miles outside the city.

 @Rene Hosman

Generally, Reasons for Land Swaps are to:

1. - Resolving zoning conflicts
2. - Acquiring strategically important properties
3. - Consolidating land holdings
4. - Avoiding costly legal battles
5. - Achieving public policy goals

When I was a Planning Commissioner projects would discuss land swaps for larger development projects to make sure the community impact was greater (typically gaining conservation land for us) than just allowing a rezone to be approved without public benefit.

Urban Development land swaps are often used as a strategy to:

1. - Consolidate public land holdings
2. - Acquire important natural or recreational areas
3. - Facilitate development while ensuring community benefits

Land swaps can provide several benefits to communities:

1. - Preservation of open spaces and environmentally sensitive areas
2. - Creation of new public parks or recreational facilities
3. - Protection of wildlife habitats and corridors
4. - Improved land management efficiency

I searched for some Urban examples for reference:

1. 1. Los Cerritos Wetlands Oil Consolidation and Restoration Project (California): This project demonstrates how public-private land swap arrangements can be aligned with environmental restoration goals. The swap involved exchanging oil operations sites for wetland areas, allowing for habitat restoration while consolidating oil extraction activities/
2. 2. New Orleans Project Home Again (Louisiana): Implemented after Hurricane Katrina, this program involved a land swap and redevelopment initiative. Residents in flood-prone areas were offered newly built, elevated homes on safer ground in exchange for transferring the title of their damaged original homes to the city.
3. 3. Edgemere, Queens, New York (post-Superstorm Sandy): Similar to the New Orleans example, this program offered residents in high-risk coastal areas newly built, elevated homes on safer ground in exchange for their damaged properties.
4. 4. Battery Park City Exchange (New York City): The city of New York engaged in a land swap with the Battery Park City Authority, allowing for the creation of a new public school and affordable housing units in exchange for a parcel of land that was then developed into a high-value commercial property.
5. 5. Denver Union Station Project (Colorado): The city exchanged several smaller parcels of land with a private developer, who in turn constructed a mixed-use development that included retail, office space, and residential units. This swap catalyzed urban revitalization around a key transportation hub.
6. 6. University of Kentucky and Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government Land Swap: In 2018, the University of Kentucky exchanged 250 acres near its Coldstream Research Campus for control of several important roads in and around campus, contributing to economic development opportunities and improved urban planning.

 This is a very thorough overview of land swaps! I'm curious when you were planning commissioner, how long did these land swap deals take to hammer out? I have to imagine it's a bit more negotiating than just purchasing something with cash, since it's essentially bartering 

@Rene Hosman YEARS and that's if they actually got approved because it had to be so completely vetted to avoid lawsuits after approval. 5-10 years but the stance of that municipality was anti-change, anti-development, NIMBY on steroids, etc. Ironically most people MOVED to the area from somewhere else and then wanted to slam the door shut behind them...  

 That's kind of what I figured, the last public ballot measure vote to deny rezoning was late 2023. Which makes me wonder if this deal either 

A. Has been being negotiated behind closed doors for years longer than we've known

or 

B. Went through extra fast because the developer really had no other good options

I doubt we'll know the full details for years to come but I'm curious if you have an opinion, or if there's other probable options C,D,E I could be missing as just a public bystander to the situation

 @Rene Hosman It's very rare that anything gets done quietly behind the scenes. For the public unless you're attending EVERY planning commission and city council/county commissioner meeting you wont hear all of the back and forth. 

 Oh very interesting, I'll have to check the planning commission meeting notes because this was a hot topic in Denver the last few years so if it was discussed there on public record I'm surprised it wasn't in the news at all before! Thanks so much for the intel