All Forum Posts by: Trevor Ewen

@Patrick Crotty

I do think the risk premiums have gone up in the state despite what towns choose to participate, as @Gregory DeRosso mentioned. A key issue here is the fact that the state legislature is willing to take these measures, despite the views of almost every reputable economist. It's entirely possible that they double down in the future, insisting that the affordability law was not 'strong enough.' There are already too many headwinds in New York: Demographics, Industry, Taxes, Weather, State Obligations. I made my decision to invest out-of-state years ago, and I have never looked back.

@Billy Guthrie

There are plenty of syndicators that will work with non-accredited or 'sophisticated' investors as mentioned by @Theo Hicks.

The minimums are likely to stop you up. $50,000 is very common in my experience. The VA loan option mentioned here may be a smart bet. I would keep the money warm and work on some of your saving plans to figure out when you'd be ready to launch on a syndication in the $50k range. Until then, as @Stuart Grazier mentioned, meet with investors and syndication sponsors. That will give you the necessary legal (and opportunistic) access when the time is right.

@Eli Schwartz

Welcome to BP! Although I have invested in New Jersey in the past, I am entirely focused on out-of-state these days. Feel free to drop me a line if you need anything.

@Yaakov Sibony

Same question. I would start by listing some of your goals and current areas of interest.

@Jake Taylor

Numbers are hard to make work. New developments and government kickbacks are the only way to play without really getting tarred. I have invested before, and there still are some decent deals in a couple small markets. But it's tough compared to the numbers you can find in the south and midwest.

@Ryan Hanrahan

I am in your ohh, too noisy neighbor to the East. That being said, happy to talk about my experience as someone that has invested in New Jersey and still lives in the area.

@Mike McKinzie

The legal aspect of raising money from sophisticated investors does make this a bit more challenging. A lot of the good opportunities that raise retail money will be in that space. As such, there is no way around developing relationships. The good news is that it's likely to work out for you in the long run. This business is built on relationships.

@Stephanie Yi

My personal strategy is to diversify 50% into traditional public markets. I don't recommend this for everyone. It's a threshold and exposure that I have used for years, and it works for my goals.

Assuming $500k is in that market, I would take the remaining $500k and put it into real estate syndications. $400k would go to equity projects and $100k to private debt.

I presume I would do 2-4 syndications, depending on the variety that is out there, and the kind of relationships I had built. This is very similar to a modern portfolio theory strategy in the sense that is has both a debt and equity component that is maintained in the ratios of the portfolio (80% equity, 20% debt).

@Zac Rogers

It depends on your available time and interest in self-managing the process.

I am on the passive side, so my intuition would be to find 1-2 great syndicators for him to invest with. If you choose to go this route, you could make relationships and look at offerings on his behalf. Learn to run the numbers, make some calls. Maybe he would be happy to pay you an analysis / finders fee during the course of the investment.

The important thing you would gain is the knowledge and relationships. 

@Dylan Barnard

I tend to approach this more from the side of SEO optimization. One of the best things you can do is optimize on less common keywords that are nonetheless relevant to what you are doing. It's easier to establish dominance on the first page on a rarer keyword. For instance:

"We buy houses" - Tons of competition

"We buy houses denton" - Less competition

"We buy fixer uppers denton" - Much less competition

You have to be careful, because some keywords are completely useless (they have low competition, because they get no hits). What you are really looking for is the keyword where you have a dominant strategy due to lower competition, given specificity or choice of words.

Google Trends is a good way to do research if you have not already used the tool.