All Forum Posts by: Matt A.

My view of BAM is still the same, very positive. We are invested with a couple other operators as well as BAM, and I have to agree with Ivans position, its the tortoise vs. the hare....

The overall proof is in the exit and I dont see that for a few years - but have been surprised before. Reporting is regular and sufficient. The team is very transparent and responsive.

In short, I have nothing negative to say and am overall pleased with the responsiveness.

Hey @Bradley Miller - while a tad late on the reply, I figured better later than nothing!

We have been with DLP over 5 years now, extremely happy with them. I tried the same with Fidelity several years ago, however they insisted that I keep 7 figures in brokerage (outside of private equity), so we didn't stick around long... in fact Im all but liquidated there myself. DLP can turn you onto several third party custodians... Im currently using Midland and Forge for qualified funds. 

As for "who might be the preferred operators"? Over time we have changed out buy-box and that seems to weed out most of the 'questionable' operators... Were looking for tenure (15+ years) - that right there eliminates 80%+ of the list.... Significant AUM - like 1B+ (further cuts that list down)... but watch you don't get into something that's "too large". This far its produced three that we work and invest with. There are a few that are either "really close" of simply don't fit other criteria that we want (one example, a group looked quite promising, however when digging into the PPM / OM's we found that the whole thing was based in the Caymans... that's a great place to vacation, and I really liked the Caymans... however I don't want to have to figure out the legal structure of something that's not US based should I ever need to.... so, that's not one were invested in).

Feel free to reach out privately - always willing to chat.

Hey @Joseph S., Ive replied to similar posts a few times int he past and am a current investor with two of your three mentioned (although I didnt invest with the third, I do have some experiences with them as well).
A couple others have pointed out some differences, I appreciate those insights but would also look at the structure and reporting. My wife and I no longer actively operate our own portfolio and took the LP route... to that point, give liquidity a consideration as well. I use a mix of qualified and nonqualified monies, map out what liquidity looks like and what life events might drive that need. If you are in a closed-end fund and relying on "pref", "Class A" or other distribution type you may be in for a rude awakening with some operators (again, the devil is in the details, aka the OM/PPM). What is YOUR exit timeframe and strategy (not the funds)? From what I know, all the three operators (currently) are closed ended funds.... you are along for the full ride (just like me), so your going to be there awhile till they close it down. I also invest in some evergreen funds... this allows ME to exit at my leisure (with some notice), and the underlying assets can be a mix of things... multifamily, development, debt - pick your fund objectives and commit. 
I know Praxis has a smaller debt fund (although I didnt like the returns or overall size), Ive chosen to stick with Brian's closed end Fund III. BAM has some interesting things on the roadmap that really have my interest (speak directly with them), but for now I have a stake in Fund II, I also do a larger amount with DLP Capital - but rarely hear them mentioned on BP.... take a look!

I mentioned reporting - this is where you are seeing how the sausage is made (or no, and just get to see the finished product). I would als for quarterly & EoY reports from the past, know what your monthly/quarterly reports look like (in advance), adn what platform is it delivered from. Nothing is a 'standard' here.... its all private equity, so know who your going to get married to! (hint, your better darn well like them.... its going to be a few years till you go different directions). Lastly, listen to whats NOT being said, and from whom. There are a lot of people pushing their own funds, and thats okay if this is where you like to invest. My buy-box just happens to filter out a LOT of noise and doesn't leave too many operators to work with, hence were seeking 1) experience, 2) size, adn 3) AUM or the ability to weather bad times.

Best to you navigating this... guess that why its "accredited investors only"!

Quote from @David Samuelson:

Hi.  What’s the latest on BAM right now?  Anyone recently added to Fund IV?  Anyone extra cautious with these types of investments right now?  Just spoke with a business dev rep from BAM today, good conversation, said theyre not worried about rates right now and have plans in place to account for them. 

While I haven't personally done anything with this particular fund, I do have capital deployed with BAM. I had a brief F2F with Ivan a couple weeks ago when I ran into him at a conference in FLorida. There are a LOT of operators that are scrambling at the moment, and dont come close to our buy-box, however I do invest with 3 larger operators (BAM is one of them), and overall I still believe their underwriting is sound and viable.

Im not at liberty to discuss details, however I see some good things on the horizon with this group. Stay tuned and work with their folks for details, should be some exiting things in the future.

Yes - I spoke with Ivan Barratt several years back many times over the course of a year, and put considerable efforts into due-diligence. They at one point had a guy working for them that honestly turned us off and we decided NOT to invest at that juncture (he is no longer there)... only to reconnect with the team and began to work with them in a fund closing in early 2022. We really like their approach and communication has been timely and meaningful. While Im not currently seeking distributions (we are in series B shares - those that participate in the upside and "may" accrue), they have made distributions and we are simply building another cash reserve. Im a bit put-off by the detail in their reporting however, They have only provided a consolidated summary at this point, and the other operators give far more detail. Ive asked about getting essentially T-12 type info on the assets, but that hasnt been provided thus far. While the "narrative" is good, the devil is in the details, and I see this as more of a black-box than an open system.

We work with a couple other larger operators besides BAM, but in short my only complaint is the detail in the reporting, especially in tough times.

@Eric E. - I think you know what bank Id refer you to, however they dont necessarily operate in your market. I also used Americn Bank of the Lehigh Valley... that might be a logistical headache for you as they only have a single 'brick n mortar' location.

@Rich Lavery - Brian's book is a great start, in fact I was invested (adn still currently AM invested) with Praxis long before the book came out. The road-map is essentially in those pages, adn I presume that you are looking for opinions on companies from current / former investors. MY opinion of Brian's company is solid - they under-promise and over deliver. While Im an information junkie, I would always like to see more into what the sponsor is doing, however the quarterly reports are factual, and while I was a bit disappointed with some of the quarterly numbers, there were clear explanations as to WHY that was the case... and a plan to correct them. When the last fund went full-circle adn I looked at overall returns I was again reminded of why I chose that - it simply was fantastic!

I also recently placed some capital with another operator (fairly large one from Indiana that responded a couple days before me above)... and will see how they perform. In full disclosure I also spent a couple years watching them pretty close before committing capital as well. As for my third company - they are rather unique in that not too many people seem to know about them as they dont appear on anyone's podcast, however I've had a personal relationship for over 5 years now (Invested with them over 3), they offer ONLY notes and evergreen funds, and DLP Capital has roughly 3+ Billion or so AUM. 

Personally I tend to look for very established track records, low-profile (Not looking for the guru's or podcast types, flashy social media, etc.) - someone focused on the business. Its been my experience that a lot of the guys mentioned in previous responses have a pretty interesting business model where they offer some level of "training', then for those that actually have paid some significant sums the next hurdle is getting to their Rolodex (by offering these "elite" students part of the GP in exchange for raising capital)... when ya sit back and actually run the numbers its a pretty good model for the master sponsor. I only hobbled across this as I specifically reached out to one of the named individuals above and was met wiht some very curt "I wont talk to you, but you can speak with the person who refereed you) type language... needless while Im not going to tip a 100MM scale investment, If someone that is ultimately asking for MY investment wont take a few minutes to speak directly to me, well I think you get the picture.

There are a LOT of new sponsors to this game, adn its often the subtleties that you have to find to ferret them out with. Look VERY carefully at all documentation - speak with the legal council, look for VERIFIABLE information. Im amazed at how many folks want to literally pull a fast one to raise some capital and move on, never to be heard form again. As has been said, "the Devil is int eh details".  Good Luck!

I was in Fund V and honestly they crushed it IMO... >26% IRR! I just invested in Fund VII as well. Been following Brian for almost 4 years now and always happy with his conservative approach.

I've been 'lurking' on this thread (and the entire BP community for that matter) for over a year now... and being a previous MF operator with our small portfolio, we decided to sell during the pandemic last fall. That in itself was a journey as we did an off-market deal with a group I met on BP. It wasn't without its challenges and took longer than expected to get across the goal line, however we also made some great contacts and still stay in touch with the new group to this day. Was "that" a recession... depends on the lens your looking through. We had a couple tenants vacate (the income went down) and that skewed the numbers... however with adversity comes opportunity. Its all perspective.

So, back to Brian Burk's post... we have been passive as well for a number of years (while still operating our own). and watching while learning (and investing) in "better known" operators with a track record. In full disclosure we were in one of Brian's funds that just went full circle a couple weeks ago, and this too was a winner! (I wish I put more with him... were awaiting the new fund to open) This wasn't without its issues, COVID, building fire, etc. although reading between the lines of what WAS said gave us a really good picture of how a good operator operates! Being conservative in the assumptions, underwriting for the worst... this is what one SHOULD do, and interestingly one of the properties seemed to run real close to the worst. It did underscore the importance of diversity, without it I doubt that we would have seen any cash-flow (not that thats what we invest for presently), but hitting an IRR of 26+% is why we "do what we do" and take time to find guys like Brian that know what they are doing.

So whats a recession? Id argue were in one, however without hindsight its hard to tell. The immediate might look overcast, but there are some bright days ahead with proper planning and contingencies. Know who your getting involved with - I've been approached by numerous "operators" that are really salespeople raising money for someone else (trying to get a piece of the GP in someones deal - and usually someone without a track record), that make some really optimistic projections. Look deep into whats happening and you can find numerous things that WILL go wrong. In short, Ill take conservative and realistic (singles and doubles) all the time over the home run pro-forma thats sure to crash and burn (well maybe not quite that bad, but I do like to hear 'good news' and have my team under promise and over deliver rather than make excuses for promising a huge win and delivering sub-par performance). Be realistic in your expectations, partner with experience, and chances are youll weather the recessions quite well.

This site has a great feature... SEARCH! Before y'all get into bed with a payment processor - ask some hard questions and get educated on EXACTLY how this works. Imagine a scenario where someone in the food chain actually has your rent unbeknownst to you, its NOT the processor who you signed up with, rather another outsourced service that the processor is using... then that 3rd party falls off the rails. What happens with your rent?

Great question - and there is an answer on Bigger Pockets. Its happened in teh past, and I would be extremely careful about shopping on "lowest price" (ever wonder why the government is so screwed up - lowest bid, RFP's, poorest quality...).

there are a lot of folks that know about one of the rent payment companies recommended above. Dig a little deeper and follow the money.

Dont ask how I know :-)