All Forum Posts by: Marina Wong

@Brian Burke At my local REIA, one of the founders has a similar story. He was underwater but he had to do right by his investors. Now he is very successful. I agree that sharing stories like this probably earn you more investors than sharing only success stories. Sharing only the success stories, you earn people's respect for your knowledge. Sharing your failure, you earn people's respect for your character.

May I ask you whether that property is in a primary, secondary or tertiary market? Was it a class B or class C apartment building? Was it in an area with diversified economy? In retrospect, would it have made any difference if it were in a different market (primary instead of secondary, for example) or a better class apartment? Thank you.

@Brian Burke

  I have been looking at passive investment in syndicated deals and recently listened to the multifamily investor nation forum, where you were one of the panelist. The number one question I have is what was it like having acquired properties before 2006 and did not sell prior to the crash? Did people lose money or simply did not have as good a return given a valid strategy with an experienced syndicator but just in the wrong part of the market cycle? Thank you. 

@Mark Nolan If you are self employed and open a solo 401k, does it make sense to transfer the money that is in a SDIRA to a solo 401k in terms of tax implication during distribution in the future? Thank you.

@Ricardo R. You are in first place if you are funding the entire project. I have asked builder to put 20-30% for my first few deals. As I get more comfortable, I may look at other things and less a %. I don't understand the move up from 2nd position thing. If there is a 1st position and if it is private lender, you could potentially be both in 1st position. I have done that with my friends pull money together and fund the entire deal and be all in the first position. However I have talked to private lenders who told me this cannot be done. Not sure why. If you are a debt partner of course you want collateral. Though I have had builder who want to pay high interest without collateral. I did not take that. I have done  investment in draws. But if you do it this way, the builder probably wants to make sure that the money is there. When I did the investment in draws, we put it in a joint account so they can see the money is there and they will send us pictures ( so we can see the progress ) when they need to draw.

@Alex R. based on the fact you have a lien on the property, I assume you are a debt partner, not an equity partner. I agree equity partner should be higher, just like what Jay said but if the market goes down a bit, you could lose money. So you need to see if this house the builder is going to build not something on the high end of the market. Ask the realtor to show you the days on market of similar properties. Yes to asking them to have some skin in the game.

@Ricardo R. The deal was a success. I can't imagine it's already been 4 years. I really appreciate everyone who advised me then. I have since been involved in multiple deals. First and foremost, that the builder has to be experienced and that's very easy to check. Ask what SIMILAR projects the builder has done and hopefully it is in the same town that this new project is in. Make sure the builder has already obtained all permits. Ask the realtor to give you comps for the finished product (so you know that even with a 10% down market that the builder has wiggle room and can pay you). Are you in first position? The only thing is 6-7% return is not that great if this is an annual return. Are there points? Here people are getting 9-12 % and 2-4 points sometimes (some deals have no points). Also the market is softening. Make sure there is a deadline for the builder to pay you back. Let's say 6 months beyond the planned construction period. Builder can refinance if property is still on the market.

I think you need to let the tenant know about the security deposit requirement way ahead of time. Give them some time to come up with the money. That will be a win-win for both of you. 

Hi Chan,

    Have you found a bank that has reasonable rate in the area with less than 30% down? I am looking for a commercial lender and so far I have talked to 2 and both require 30% down. Thank you.

Sorry, de-humidifier it is.

Thank you @Account Closed. I am not sure what the material is on the roof but I know there was no prior issue in the basketball court. Mostly because the built in humidifier was not used during the summer.

I eventually did use Green Home Solutions of North Shore. They did a fantastic job and cost only half or what some other contractors quoted me. The process is also much faster. Not only that, they repaired the scissors lift for free!