All Forum Posts by: Pat G.

Matt:

No problem on the time getting back. Yes, you can reach out and get in touch with me if you have any questions, I would like to network with others.

Look forward to hearing from you.

Pat Gage

P.S. Use the email and cell on my profile page for the best results. 

Matt:

I don't believe there are any industry standards as of yet. That type of info is a closely guarded secret. 

It is like any other negotiations, if you have the only roof top in town, you have the power.  I don't know the area so here are some questions to think about:

1. Is there another building that they can go to instead of yours?

2. What was their offer per month/per year?

3. I know of a cell tower with building and 5-6 carriers making $60,000 per year. 

4. Can you contact other building owners that have cell towers and ask them?

5. Ask them how many carriers are going to be on the tower. i.e. AT&T, T-Mobile, etc. you should get more for more carriers. Because whomever owns the tower then sub-leases to the other carriers for a price. 

Good Luck

Jo-Ann:

I think that the Banks are starting to panic a bit. But on the other side of the coin they are the ones that lobby to get these type of things more like their business. 

I think it is a good thing, you still have to watch out and follow the SEC rules for this type of fund raising. 

Rigoberto:

Awesome on your opportunity. Seeing that it was a dealership, I am assuming a car dealer here, but regardless you may have an environmental issue on your hands. 

Go to the city/town hall that this building is in and ask the building department what is going on with that property. Be nice and you can find out a ton of info. Also, search Loopnet and see if it has been listed before. 

Do your due diligence well if the seller is not to be trusted. 

Good Luck

Pat

Timothy:

Find a local tax attorney by searching Google that does Tax assessment disputes and ask him/her. You can't tell from given information. 

There are lawyers that that is all they do, since the crash. It is worth the investment. Now, you can't do this until your client owns the building, but talk to the adjuster for a estimate before you buy. 

Good Luck

Benjamin:

Congrats on taking action. I agree with Bill and David. The building is vacant for a reason, I would check with the building department in the town/city it is located in and ask them. They would know what is going on with the building. 

Also, make sure that the building has tall ceilings to accommodate the larger medical equipment. Make sure that the building can or does have a T1 line for internet (or something with high speed) as most newer offices use that as well as some of the equipment might as well. 

Good Luck

Aaron:

I agree with Steven's points. You have a lot more experience than him and owning your own home prepares you in no way for being a landlord or a RE investor. 

You have to think really hard about this friendship and is it worth the strain. There will be times that you will disagree on things. 

I would put each investment into it's own LLC with shares divided based on either $ amount input or just make him a non-voting member or less 50% owner of the shares so you can take charge. LLC profit and loss will flow onto your tax return and they are usually a lot less money to set up. A Corp -S or C have a lot of recording issues you have to do. Use them later when you have 5-10 homes and then that S or C corp becomes the management corp for the LLC's.

Spell out in detail within the operating agreement of the LLC what happens when this happens, or when that happens. Who is going to do what, when, how a tie in to be broken, things like that. Decide all that stuff now while you have cool heads, if you don't and then try to do it when tempers or emotions are high, well it will not be nice. How do I know that.

And then if you do this, after each investment is done/sold get together and talk out the points of disagreement, if any. And then decide if you are going to move forward on the next investment together. 

Maricel:

Congrats on coming to BP. First I would keep coming to BP and then I would look for real estate clubs in your area -if you have them in Canada. Join one of them and just start to talk to people to see what type of RE investing is out there. Choose one and then go take a seminar on that topic. 

Instead of goals, what do you like to do: i.e. talk to people, negotiate, etc, that may lead you to something in RE. I know you said you liked business, what about business do you like, the marketing, the deal searching, etc. Take an inventory of your strengths also. If you are good with a hammer, maybe rehabbing is for you. 

Second decide on residential or commercial real estate or related business like note buying or private investing. 

Look around where you live and work, what do you see in the way of real estate - are homes sitting on the market a long time, are foreclosures all over, etc. that may be where you start to.

Good luck in whatever you do.

Cheri:

Great post. I think that trying to be an assistant to somebody is not the correct way to do it. Meaning, when I have had VA's or assistance they were given specific tasks to perform that may not be directly related to the biz. And typically when I do have VA's they work on one part of my business without knowledge of the others.

Also, unless you tell that person up front your intentions they may be mad when you start asking all those questions. 

A better way to get the experience is to have somebody mentor you or you shadow an investor in your area. That way everybody knows each others roles. Because if I was looking to hire a person to do X and you came in saying I can do X and then started asking and inquiring about the ABC, I would be thinking, I just hired you to do X not ABC.

Just a though.

I agree with Brian's response. What specifically is the Syndicator doing besides guaranteeing the loan to warrant the 80%? Make sure everything is spelled out in the LLC documents on who does what or else the syndicator might have you doing a lot more for your smaller %.

If you have not closed yet, you still have time to make or suggest some changes, and if the syndicator balks or won't change things - well you will know then that he/she is not somebody to work with in future. Also you may want to consult with a lawyer to see if you can get out of this if the syndicator won't modify. 

Good luck

P.S. At least you took action, you will only learn something from all this.