All Forum Posts by: Tony Lin

Kind of sad that it has come to this. I'm looking for attorney referrals to explore a lawsuit against the first syndication investment I've joined. 

Without going into specifics, it was a business acquisition deal that was undercapitalized to start and eventually ran to the ground. The sponsorship group gave little to no updates (maybe once every 6-9 months when forced) without any financials. There were additional loans taken out without informing the investor and had 2 capital calls. Even after the capital call there were very little communication to how much was raised and how the business was performing, or the outcome of a failed sale attempt. At this point I have really no recourse but a lawsuit to try to at least get back what I can. 

I don't know if any of you had experience with failed syndications. Would love to hear the resolutions and attorney referrals. 

Thanks. 

Hi guys, looking to network with folks who have apartment properties in the San Francisco Bay Area. Would like to see how their properties are doing and share ideas. Thx.

Hi guys, looking to network with folks who have apartment properties in the Bay Area (not out of state). Would like to see how their properties are doing and share ideas. Thx. 

Be very careful with this as getting compensation (cash or share of equity) in exchange for raising funds could be violation of SEC laws. The capital raisers need to have a defined role in the active manager partners. Just a heads up. 

You're also putting your reputation on the line, so make sure you know these partners well and how their current properties are performing. If they skip town you may be left holding the bag and the target of investor's ire. At worst, you may now be liable for the recourse loan or a non-recourse loan that turns recourse due to bad boy clause. 

If you're starting out 30% is a very high split. Newcomers usually do less than 20% and get to 20% once you got a couple of deals under your belt. 

Tenant screening. Accept lower rent to get more traffic and select better tenants. You'll take in less income in the beginning but then you can change the community then slowly. 

I recommend Old Capital Podcast. 

Self storage and multifamily do well in a downturn. People always need to live and apartments is go-to when you get kicked out of your house for being unable to pay the mortgage. 

Now the class of multifamily matters a lot. Class A will see a lot of vacancies due to affordability and they have to use deep concessions to be competitive. Class B/C are more affordable and you'll find that families will move in together in order to save costs, but the units will still stay occupied. 

Personally I feel class B/C multifamily will be one of the better assets to survive the downturn. Which is why there's so much capital chasing these deals. 

You can get started by getting educated on commercial multifamily. How it's structured, operates, and how to tell a good syndicator vs another. There are a lot of good material on BP and books as well. What I found most helpful was to attend local meetups and chat with others that have invested and their experience. 

I did a podcast with Old Capital on how I went from single family to passively investing in multifamily to acquiring 100+ unit multifamily deals. You can check it out in my profile. 

I would recommend Old Capital lending in Texas. They're a large brokerage and work with Fannie Mae DUS lenders, Freddie, CMBS, local banks, etc. Pretty well known. They do business all over the country.