All Forum Posts by: Matt Skinner

Ha ha.  That should have said "I am NOW pursuing Phoenix and Central CA for my Cash Flow markets".  lol

Hey fellas, Although I am in Southern California I would like to connect.

I was an "All In" student about six years ago; I did the coaching, the L Society and everything.   I would say Dave's programs are top notch all the way.

I have nearly 100 units here in LA, and have bought and sold about 600 units over the last couple of years.  I am not pursuing Phoenix and central California for my cash flow markets..

Let's connect!

It sounds to me like what you're are putting together is a syndication; many real estate entrepreneurs are unnecessarily afraid of syndicating a deal and that's probably due to the same factors anybody is afraid of anything; lack of understanding, and experience. By the way, syndicating is a game of kings. It's how Magic Johnson raised $2billion to buy the Dodgers. It's how most private businesses stay private. Syndications are used to buy thoroughbred race horses and yachts, to finance movies, and TV shows, and all kinds of other ventures. A syndication by definition is simply organizing a group of investors with a common goal. It becomes a security (another unnecessarily scary word) when you have one or more investors, members, share holders, or limited partners who's only contribution is financial and you assume all management decisions for their money. But guess what... If you file some proper paperwork you can register your company (no matter the legal form) with the SEC and the states you are either operating in or taking investment capital from. You can set up your business in any manner you see fit but I would encourage you to think about your customer first - and your customer is your investor. What does your customer need and want out of being a part of your organization? Is it purely financial? Do they want to learn? Do they just want cocktail party stories about how many houses "they" are flipping? How you determine your investors return on investment should start with a risk reward analysis. Fixing and flipping houses is one of the highest risk investment activities in all of financial vehicles. You just never know what you will find in those walls or below the soil. But that is why fix&flip has one of the highest rewards- and your investors are going to know that and want to be rewarded for exposing their money to this risk. Your track record will also play a factor at how much risk they will assume they are taking. My first syndication I gave my investors 80% of the company (LLC back then) and I retained 20%. I knew having a win under my belt was more important than trying to keep all the profit for myself. My latest development deal I sold 25% of the company to my investors for 100% of the equity raised; but these investors will make over 30% on their money in about a year with relatively no downside. Hire an experienced syndicator to walk you through your first raise. Then go out and talk to your potential customers/clients first- find out what they want/need and then create your business upon that. Next hire a reasonable Securities Attorney to take care of the paperwork. Remember, a securities or contract attorney's job is not to help you market, sell, get funded, nor do they care how you plan to operate your business. Their job is to keep your *** out of a sling if/when things go bad. You don't buy your car based on your auto insurance brokers advice just like you probably aren't going to design your business around your attorneys advice for safety. You need to design a high performance vehicle and then add in the safety features. The inherent nature of business is taking risks in exchange for reward. The inherent nature of an attorney is to protect you (not your investors, by the way) from risk. Design your plan and your operation to meet your needs first, then your customers, and then get an attorney to make sure you're in compliance. A good syndicator consultant will walk you through all of these steps. And their primary objective should be designing a viable business model and getting you funded. Bombsaway.

I may have a different take on this topic than others.  

First of all, not all seminars are created equal, however I have been a full time real estate investor for 14 years and I still go to real estate seminars and clubs.

#1.  If you learn one thing it's usually worth the price of admission.

#2.  Yes the seminar host probably will have people selling different products or services at the event and guess what, you may want to buy some of them.  A good seminar host will have outside speaker/salesmen come in with complimentary products or services to what they are teaching about.  For an example, if the seminar is about flipping pre-foreclosures the speaker BETTER bring in someone to sell pre-foreclosure lists to you.  

#3.  I have always met other investors (like-minded individuals) who I have developed long term friendships with and have done deals with them.  Seminars are the best place to go to meet people that interested in the same thing you are interested in.  You never know, you could meet your next mentor at a seminar; or your next assistant.  Either way, worth the price of admission.

#4.  I think you're going to like number four.  A few years ago I invested $27,000 to attend all of a certain "guru's" seminars on a particular topic that I wanted to master.   For this I got to attend unlimited number of his events and got to be in his 1 on 1 coaching program.  The seminars were awesome.  The coaching program was armature.  But guess what:  I raised almost $2,000,000 from the other attendees because they were there because they were interested in getting involved financially with the types of deals I was learning to do better.  They were the best investors because they had the same training as I did, they knew immediately when I had a good deal and knew how to underwrite it themselves and how to review the due diligence.  

So is going to seminars a good idea?  If you are willing and able to take action on what you learn then I can't see any reason why you wouldn't.  

Oh, by the way, if you think seminar guys make a lot of money from their events, maybe after you master your craft, and after you watch the guy in the front of the room clean house teaching what he knows like the back of his hand, then maybe you get into the seminar business too.    

People Helping People.  

Real People.  Real Returns. 

If you have the lots it would be worth while to explore a feasibility study. A feasibility study will answer these questions: If you build it will "they" come? Does the market need the product you are considering building? Is there a higher an better use for the land than the one you had in mind? Absorption rate: how long will it take to stabilize once it's built? How much should it cost to build? Market rents. Rent rent trends (over last 10 years). Cap rate trends. A feasibility study will cost you a few thousand but could save you millions. Even the best of us can get too emotionally involved (especially in a development project; building your vision) to heed all the pre construction red flags. A favorable feasibility study will also be a great tool on that first visit to your bank.

Record setting price for a home in Beverly Hills closed today.

A friend of mines brokerage worked on this $70million transaction that closed today. 

Thirty five year old Markus Persson (inventor of the popular video game Minecraft) closed today on this home after winning the bid just 6 days ago for $15million below the asking price of $85million. 

Apparently there were multiple offers and somewhat of a bidding war and at the end of the day the "all cash 6 day close" offer (so aggressive that would make even a Ron Legrand proud) won the bid. 

Let me know what you think of this house.  

I personally think the house would have sold for more with a shorter escrow had the videographer put the shots of the garage (starts at approx 2:45) more toward the beginning of this video tour:

http://vimeo.com/102897742

What say you?

great meeting you @Logan Allec 

I'm glad you were able to make it out to the mastermind last night!  

come on down @Logan Allec 

It's at Burbank chamber of commerce

Meeting starts sharp at 7:00 TONIGHT

Come early for a glass of wine or a cold beer

@Matt R. you coming to the club/mastermind in Burbank tomorrow?  

Www.clubinaction.com

I want you teach my group about house hacking...  And you can meet my rent control "hacking" buddy.  

oh that's cool.  I should have done that. 

Dude there's a ton that I don't know!