All Forum Posts by: Ronan Donnelly

Hi @Account Closed, your case is certainly one of the worst examples I have seen on how individual tenants can take money off small business owners like yourself with what appears to be impunity. Whilst you continue to pursue the legal options available to you, and incur further expense, have you considered offering this individual a lump sum to leave I.e. “Cash for Keys”? Although this options feels totally wrong you have to consider what the financial cost of continuing to have the individual in your home. Good luck!

Hi @Johnny Lau, I went down a similar path to you whereby I built up a portfolio of SFH's and subsequently moved to multifamily syndication, firstly as a LP and subsequently as a GP.

I think that the SFH's are a great way to get started and to see the power of real estate as a means by which to generate wealth via cash flow, equity upside and tax benefits. I ultimately decided to move away from SFH's because the amount of work required to continue to scale wasn't feasible alongside a full time job.

Investing passively via syndicates opened my eyes to how I could benefit from real professionals sourcing, acquiring, doing due diligence and managing my asset all without any ongoing time commitment from me. I particularly like the value-add strategy since it puts equity growth within my control.

At the end of the day you can be successful in real estate investing 50 different ways so it just comes down to deciding which strategy is the best fit for you. Good luck!

@Delvon A Byrd, one option would be to map out your objectives (active vs passive, asset class, geography) followed by your constraints, (time, experience, capital) and let that inform the answer? Good luck.

@Wilson Lin, If you spend some time writing down your specific goals as they relate to your real estate business it might guide you to the right answer. If you want to build your own real estate business and create a job for yourself you should get started by buying your own properties. If you want to leverage the power of real estate to grow your wealth but don’t want to commit a significant amount of your time then you may want to think about providing the capital to a professional team that will source, due diligence and manage the asset. Good luck!

@Tyler Eastman, finding ways to force equity to your existing property is a great idea. In addition to that it will be very easy to manage the property since you will live so nearby. Going through this process will undoubtedly give you many valuable lessons that you can apply when you scale your business outside of your own property. Good luck!

It is close to impossible to time a market however there are specific actions that you can take to ensure that your strategy is considerate of where we are in the market and credit cycles.

1) Buy for cashflow - this is the golden rule, if you have cashflow you can hold on to your asset

2) Buy in areas with strong underlying economic fundamentals (population growth, jobs growth, wage growth and employment diversity), avoid markets that are speculative

3) Focus on asset classes that can potentially do better in a recession e.g. class B/C multifamily versus Class A development

4) Lock in long term financing

5) Be conservative with how much leverage you use

6) Build up cash reserves so that you can capitalize on any opportunities

It can be very expensive to sit on the sidelines waiting for something to happen, better to figure out a way to stay involved safely. Good luck! 

I agree with Hai, it's all about incentives being aligned and having skin in the game. Good luck!

I’d recommend starting as a LP investor which will give you enough exposure to see whether or not you see value in becoming more active in the future. Good luck!

Hi @Ben Sears, the right strategy is the one that is the best fit for your skills and goals. You can make money via real estate in numerous ways so evaluate your own skills and goals and map that to a real estate strategy. Good luck!

@Kevin Trapani, the easiest time to make change is when you first take over the property, set your expectations up front and let the cards fall where they may. Good luck!