All Forum Posts by: Roger Lin

I've been a real estate investor for 9 years, I started out on the legal and lending sides of things, did one flip and several spec homes, finally settling in the fix and rent sort of buy & hold strategy about 5 years ago. About a year later, I recognized the limitations in SFH in terms of financing options and viable strategies in high price markets like the D.C. Maryland, Virginia markets that I operate in, I started on this path to commercial real estate investing.

This is really the year that I've finally made the move to get out of my comfort zone of SFHs and direct ownership of properties. I am starting to liquidate my SFH portfolio and investing as an equity partner with others. We've already closed two deals this year. The first one is a $18 million build-to-suit office building. The second is a $6 million apartment complex (98 units).

I am very excited about this development because I am no longer doing everything on my own. Instead, I am able to team up with folks who have more experience, skills and manpower. I know there is no one strategy that works for everyone but I am a true believer that real estate is a team sport, we all need to work with each other.   

I am suspicious of the construction number too. I think you will get some economy of scale but not that much. Also, who is signing for the loan? Are you the one purchasing the land and signing for the loan? Be aware of situations where a builder who does not have two cents to rub together comes to you with an "opportunity". Someone with enough assets and liquidity will be on the loan and if you are the one with the assets, guess what? The bank is really only looking at you for the "joint and several" liability.

@Sumner Gaber: Congratulations on diversifying into CRE. I think you want to be careful. First, I would study the zoning ordinance for the property to understand the appropriate uses (permitted by-right use, special exception and secondary uses). Whether your tenant vacates next year or 5 years from now, you want to know your options and what sort of tenant you can backfill the space. The scenario where this plays an important role is if the permitted uses are ones that do not pay as well as the current "retail" type use. This may cause your NOI to drop and negatively affecting your CAP rate. Also, keep in mind that if the beauty salon is operating under a nonconforming use variance, once they leave, you might not be able to get another variance for another beauty salon tenant. This means your rent will be different as described previously and perhaps more costly, you will have to spend a lot of money to renovate the space for a less specialized use. So, I would really think if this property will really perform as you anticipate before pulling the trigger. Good luck!

@HsinHo Huang please private message me your email address and I can add you to it. Our next meeting is on May 25th.

Zakiya,

Thanks for reaching out. can you PM me your email address and I can add you to the list?

Thanks!

Roger

@Kristina Inglis I sent you an evite. Typically, we send out an evite about three weeks ahead and we post the evite on FB and on Meetup. Since I added you in our distribution its, you will be receiving all future evites.

Thanks Carson for sharing that information with Kristina.

@Kristina Inglis I can also add you to our evite list if you PM me your email address.

Thanks! Happy Investing. 

@Doug W. Thanks for the mention! And although I haven't been to Jessica Swingle's group, I've met with her personally and can tell you she knows her stuff.

@Anthony Reale, don't lose heart. There are folks who run these clubs/meetups primarily to sell stuff but there are some good ones too. I co-host the Capital REI Group with John Rubino and Justin Pierce, we are all active investors. Personally, what drove me to start this group almost three years ago was because of the abundance of marketing driven groups out there. I can tell you our group sucks at marketing! This is partly by design. We are more of an exchange group than anything else. We meet to exchange experience, knowledge and skills, if we have hundreds of people show up at our meetings each month, there would be no opportunity to really network and learn from each other.

PM me your email and I'll put you on our list.

Interesting! I would engage a title company to do it. Since this is not a foreclosure auction, the process does not "clean the slade", I would want to be sure that the title is marketable and you can purchase owner's title insurance at a regular rate. If this isn't a condo, I would also get a boundary survey, you don't want your title work to include survey exceptions. Special warranty deed is not the best but it is good enough and generally insurable. Quitclaim is essentially saying, "I will grant you whatever rights I have to you." This may mean really good title, absolutely nothing and anything in between. 

Depending on the county, it may only take a few minutes of electronic search and an hour of attorney review time. Let me know if you need a referral. 

Roger

Hi Danyiel,

I love your "I'd like to cut through the BS and get down to really starting my business off right by surrounding myself with successful people who do this day-in and day-out." Years ago, when I decided to stop practicing law, that was what I was looking for. I've been blessed with incredible luck to have found a few good mentors and a lot of great partners. I had been to a few REIA meetings where it was about 5% content and 95% sale pitch. I know people need to make a living but I just never found the "gurus" believable when all that they seem to do is seminars and coaching.

We are sort of an exchange group. We meet once a month in Fairfax City at a space I rent. It is hosted by me, Justin Pierce (look him up, quite famous:)) and John Rubino. We typically have a specific topic in real estate investing  that we do a more in-depth discussion on (we just did one on commercial real estate last week). Then we network and discuss what we are currently working, trade experiences and expertise on various situations and provide real estate entrepreneur therapy to each other. We just started having sponsorships but we make it a point to NOT sale anything.

So, if you are interested in checking us out. Private message me and I can add you to the distribution list.

 And Andrew and Mayank, thanks for looping me in.

Roger