The loan happened through creating a friendship, aligning goals, building trust, ASKING for the money.

I wouldn’t want hard feelings over some perceived slight or other to ruin a friendship.

We invested with them passively two times and consulted on their business for free for a year in exchange for mentorship - we asked them a million questions about syndication, dug deep into the legal, spoke to their investors, their attorney, etc and during that time we built great rapport - trust, credibility, respect and friendship, so finally we just asked for the opportunity to partner on the GP side of things, and they gave us a shot.Who I don’t like: honestly, it’s a pretty generous community and everyone I’ve met has been kind and informative - not saying I would invest with everyone, but that is a personal preference more than a sign that they are a bad person or wouldn’t do a good job.

Found a few really good restaurants, love my gym and my coffee shop, just need to establish more solid friendships.

Navigating house rules, rent payments, and other responsibilities while maintaining a friendship requires a delicate balance.

Also for MTR, I'm looking into Bloomfield, Friendship, East Liberty, West Oakland, the areas that close to hospitals and business corporates. 

If you're bad with creating value, forming new friendships and cold-market marketing, then it is going to be rough.

In 1997 I lived in Mazatlan, Mexico, for a year, and while I have not been back, I have fond memories of the friendships I made and the great cuisine. 

This friendship lasted several months until he was ready to move on.

I have invested with family friends and I think it is easier, but the potential to ruin the friendship is much greater - nothing goes as planned in my experience, especially when you are just starting out.