All Forum Posts by: Ronan Donnelly

@Chad Simmons, you can make whatever strategy you select work by focusing on education, networking, risk identification and mitigation and of course action. Every investment has it's con's but they don't have to be a showstopper. Good luck

@D Turner, as the Cat said to Alice, "If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there"

One of the biggest challenges with real estate is that there are just so many ways to make money. In order to succeed however you will need focus and your focus should be aligned with your vision and goals. Spend an outsized proportion of time figuring out your why and then just execute relentlessly against that. Good luck!

 Hi Mike, I like to put a positive spin on everything so another way to look at what you are experiencing is that the very reason that there are big returns to be made in real estate is because people don’t understand it and how it could work for them too. Thank god for the naysayers, if they were all fully on board with real estate returns would be much less.

That said, the negative forces are real and best avoided in my opinion. Spend your time engaging with people who you aspire to be like and who will support and encourage you to reach your dreams. People who put others down often do so because success creates an insecurity in them. You will find many people who use negativity as a smokescreen for their own fear of taking risks. 

Here is a Quote from Theodore Roosevelt that sums it up for me:

““It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

Good luck!

Hi @Mike B., my approach is to find the people who are experts in sourcing deals and to partner with them by providing my expertise in investor relations and I also bring my own capital to deals. You can make it even easier for yourself by investing as a limited partner in a syndicate so that it is entirely passive. You may have to share some of the profits but it is a much faster way to scale.

Some other benefits are:

1) You can spread your risk by investing in multiple deals, geographies and asset classes (Multifamily, self storage, etc.)

2) You are gaining leverage by partnering with people who have got skills, relationships and time that you don’t

Good luck!

If they are taking a long time then I would ask them what the delay is. 

@Connor Koehler, congrats on taking action and narrowing down your focus to a market and asset class. JAX is a great market because of the demographics and I know that there are a number of active investors there. You could consider partnering as well as looking on your own as a way to potentially accelerate your progress.

Good luck and thank you for your service!

@Demetre Dyse, it really depends on how organized the seller is in terms of keeping books and records. For below market deals you may well be working with someone who does not have good records. Before sending the financials to you they will see how they compare to the OM/Pro-forma and they will look for anything that sticks out. Exercise caution when looking at the financial statements and be prepared to challenge and verify every single line item. Good luck!

@Faysal Alam, you are experiencing a common blocker to anyone doing something new. Try breaking down what it is that is causing you to experience 'fear' in taking action.

Try setting yourself smaller commitments that will get you towards your goal and list out what the risks are and how you might mitigate them.

An example of a commitment would be to make x offers per week on target properties

Breaking down a risk might be something like

-Risk - target rents not achieved

-Action/Mitigation - analyze comps to give you more confidence in the rental rates, model the deal more conservatively so that you can see if it works with lower rates

etc.

Do a bit of research and I am sure that you can find lots of actionable help on how to overcome fear of taking action. Good luck!

@Account Closed, congrats on getting started and I wish you well on your journey towards passive income and financial freedom. Good luck!

Way to go @Pancham G., wishing you much success! Love your podcast.