All Forum Posts by: Ronan Donnelly

@Vik J., I have a few contacts in the UK who have asked the same question but as far as I am aware there is no BP equivalent in the UK. Maybe time for you to start one :)

@Roemello Lee, how about buying a 2-4 unit which qualified for a personal mortgage and house hack it by living in one of the units while fixing up and renting the others? There are a number of loans that allow you to put very little money down. House hacking is the #1 way for people to get started with real estate investing. Good luck!

@Andy P., I’m a big fan of https://enodoinc.com/ they have a free financial model for download and they can help automate parts of the process by turning pdf statements into useable data. 

Underwriting itself isn’t so complicated so a spreadsheet should work just fine. Focus more about getting confident with the assumptions and input data. Good luck!

Hi @Lisa Eckman, it would be great to get your insights as to why you want to lend directly, rather than through sites like peerstreet.com what are the pro’s and con’s?

Hi @Tab Teehee, I recently left my corporate job to focus full time of real estate having managed to do three deals, with partners, last year. Although my income today is much less that I was earning in a corporate role, with 100% of my focus I have an opportunity to accelerate my real estate business much faster than I could if I was still in my corporate role.

For me personally, I think I need to focus 100% on one thing to get the necessary traction. It’s like a jet taking off whereby the majority of the energy is required to actually take off and climb to cruising altitude.

There are significant benefits to staying in a corporate job namely being able to continue to build capital and also to build relationships with people who may become investors down the line. Good luck with whatever you decide.

Hi @Susan Elliott, do you have any insight into why the seller is selling? Understanding that might highlight some potential options to explore seller financing to cover at least the value add period, after which you could refinance at a higher valuation to minimize your cash outlay. Good luck

It's a good idea to search for an optimal market in which to invest, one with cashflow favorable economics (population growth, wage growth, employment growth etc) and a balance between supply and demand. Similar to strategies though there is money to be made in every market so don't obsess on this one.

Focus more on being able to identify, analyze and close on deals, this is the key. Good luck

Hi @Lisa Gauff, I started out investing in single family homes, via a turnkey provider in 2012 and eventually bought 7 homes. Today I invest in and sponsor commercial multifamily value add deals. With that to provide some context here are som things worth considering

1) One advantage with turnkey is that it can be a very nicely packaged way to invest in real estate and for that reason it can be a good way to get started

2) It is sold as being entirely passive but in reality it isn't. You need to manage the property manager, stay on top of expenses, maintain books and records per property for accounting, apply for the mortgage, get insurance, etc, etc, etc

3) If the turnkey manager isn't doing a good job then you may need to find alternate management and there aren't typically a ton of good options

4) There are many other ways to invest in real estate whether it's through a fund or through a syndicate. These forms of investing also require extensive due diligence but you will have access to more institutional quality sponsors/operators and management companies with pretty favorable economics

Taking some action is key but I would encourage you to look at all the options for investing passively in real estate before deciding on turnkey properties. Good luck!

Hi @Jared Ebert, I was in a similar position to you having a fairly intense W2 job which gave me excess cash and very little spare time. I started out with SFH's but as I got up towards 10 units I realized that it required many more hours of my time than I had available, even with property management in place. I subsequently started looking for more passive investments and ultimately landed on investing in multifamily syndicates as a limited partner. This gave me the ability to pick the market I want, to have a professional team in place and to get all of the benefits of physical ownership of real estate (depreciation, LT capital gains, etc.), all in return for a reasonable, performance based fee. I would encourage you to think about what you really want to achieve as this might guide you to the strategy most aligned with that. Good luck!

Hi @Danny Lee, I’d love to hear more about why you are keen to invest in NY, NJ or LI.