All Forum Posts by: Olu Efunwoye

I thought to share my recent experiences to encourage someone out there.

Someone that I know (Saji Ijiyemi) read "How To Invest In Real Estate" by Josh Dorkin and Brandon Turner and he posted a review on Good Reads. I stumbled on that review and decided to grab my copy. It took me only a few days to finish the book as I was fascinated by the depth of the content and the documented podcast experiences. Up until that time, I never heard of BP. I decided to sign up for a free membership (and later signed up for pro membership) - all in Dec 2018. I picked up more BP books to read that same month.

Prior to that time, I owned 1 townhouse in GA, 1 townhouse in Maryland (renting this in a duplex style - basement separate from the main house) and my primary residence. I have always rented out the basement in my primary residence for the last 9 years. I am not exactly a newbie but have learned a great deal here at BP - listening to the weekly podcast, reading up forum post and connecting with folk privately. 

Speaking of connecting privately. I connected with Ryan Daniher here on BP sometime in Jan 2019. He is a cool agent and investor out of Salisbury, MD. I shared my goal of multi-family investing and he got it, went to work and was sharing deals with me. 

On one of the Podcast episodes, the guest shared that he'll encourage people to leverage the equity on their house (through HELOC) before any impending crash. I took that literarily and got $30k and $40k HELOC on my 2 investment properties. Initially, I thought it was impossible, but digging through forum posts where people recommended banks that would do it, I found one. Before you ask I'll just mention the name - PenFed. They will only do 80%LTV - still a good deal. Now I have the ammunition to go to market.

Ryan found me a good deal - duplex (3bd/1 & 1bd/1) both rented. I called it a good deal not just because it was cash-flowing from day 1 but because of the seller financing option that he negotiated in the deal with the seller. I only had to put down 15% of the $85k purchase price. While we were negotiating that deal, another deal came along - a sfh for $40k. We got it under contract for $35k, but after inspection, we got it further down to $28k. Now that's what I call a sweet deal. I deliberately insisted on the 2 closings happening on the same day because I have a 2-hour drive each way from my home to Salisbury. Both closings happened on the same day after four round trips to Salisbury. At the closing table, I got a check of the prorated rent for the duplex and the title company had to refund me some overcharged closing estimate. It was funny but real, I walked away with 2 new houses and 2 checks. This was barely 2weeks ago. If you are looking for a good deal in Salisbury, MD area, look for Ryan Daniher first. LOOL. Both deals were off-market deals.

Still hungry for more, I kept looking and asking for more deals. Just got a townhouse under contract just yesterday in Laurel, MD. I plan to try out the Airbnb model with it.

This is a story of being resolute on your goals. Explore every avenue to gain knowledge but more importantly explore every opportunity to apply that knowledge. Let me wrap this piece up with one of my recent quotes "Knowledge is your fishing tool at sea, without it you catch nothing and you go hungry. What's in your head (or hand)?"

Thank you Saji Ijiyemi for writing that review that pushed me over here to BP. Thank you BP for the platform and thanks to the BP community for the knowledge. Thank you Ryan Daniher for the deals and the boot-on-ground services. And, thank you all for reading and hopefully taking action.

I want one of this. Can you PM me? I just submitted a contact form.

I left you a message 2days ago. Can you PM me to share some of your off-market deals? I have a property in Hiram and actively looking to purchase in the Atlanta area again.

@Spencer Gray Yes that clarification helps a lot! In my case, I am not charing an acquisition fee. I'll definitely go back to the drawing board with the inclusion of the acquisition fee and simulation the various split scenarios you described. Thanks again.

@Spencer Gray thank for your response. clarifying question: is your various scenario based on the investor financing the deal 100% or just the downpayment (say 20-25%) as I initially described? If the passive investor is only putting down the downpayment, then I as the sponsor is responsible for the leverage (75-80%). Although, that's not exactly cash that i am bringing to the table, but that's a huge part of the deal PLUS all other operational stuff. Owing to this, would your various proposed splits still hold? Just curious to learn here. thanks in advance

@Steve K. thanks for your response. I know in a typical syndication, we'll be talking of finders fee, asset mgt fee etc. but in the scenario that I shared above, would a 50/50 split be out of the ordinary? In this case, the other partner is only bringing the down payment for the deal, and i'm finding the deal, getting leverage in my name, managing the PM, paperwork, basically putting in the hustle and managing the deal throughout the life of the investment. I just want to have a feel of what people out there are doing.

Also would a LLC suffice for the legal entity structure? or is LP the definite way to go here?

One thing I'm not yet seeing is a 1:1 syndication where there is a passive investor with the active sponsor. The passive investor brings in the cash down payment and the sponsor bring the loan; both split the equity in the deal. Is this not called syndication? Or is it better referred to as equity partnership?

How many investors in a deal qualifies the deal to be referred to as syndication? Thanks in advance for the education on this.

@Ade Babasola

I'll be following expert response to this as I'm putting together a similar proposition at the moment. Thanks for raising the question

@Tamiel Kenney

I like the way you break down the fee structure here. Thanks

Thanks @Stephen Krzyzak msg sent.