Comments on: Investment Team - A Real Investment Team

By: st george rentals

st george rentals — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 21:47:01 +0000

I agree that having a technical team should be incorporated in every real estate office and investing team. Business 2.0 is a good term that I have never heard of before.

I like it and think it will be used more.

By: Mike Farmer

Mike Farmer — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 15:36:23 +0000

Thanks, Miami, this is a very, very helpful addition to the article. It strengthens the point of planning smartly.

By: Miami Contract Attorney

Miami Contract Attorney — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 15:02:37 +0000

Great article. I want to stress the point that was touched on regarding roles and exit strategies. I see a lot of new investors with the variety of skills needed get together with the team concept that “the five of us will do a project together” and share in it equally, but by the end, it is painful. I have a number of team client companies with big problems due to the change in the market. The standard operating agreements for LLCs, etc., are often not helpful in the specific cases of real estate projects, especially when things get tough and some members do not have the stomach or financial resources to stick it out. Also important is setting out very specifically the roles and expected time requirements for each member as compared to distributions, etc. For example, the accountant member may have a very different time investment than the governmental member, as well as the Realtor member, and each has to have an appropriate compensation schedule. I always suggest that groups very specifically plan out the scope and duration of the project, and the rolls of the team members, so everybody can be aware of what is expected in terms of time and money, as well as when it will end. In my experience, such planning is not always fun, but it helps guarantee that when the project is done, for good or bad, nobody feels that they were taken advantage of and the parties are often willing to undertake the next project together, ready to apply what they learned.

By: tom

tom — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 13:56:55 +0000

nice info. thanks

By: Mike Farmer

Mike Farmer — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 03:17:23 +0000

Thanks, Marty.

By: Marty Reynolds

Marty Reynolds — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 00:31:10 +0000

Wow!!! For me this article is about thinking BIG. I usually hear an investment team needs a handyman, accounting person, etc. These are important but your article seems to hit me “with this team we could develop a large project”. I do see deals die, and a lot of money wasted if there is not a government team member. The Real Estate specialist and the local government guru on the team should be in very close communication. The government guru can show the agent areas where rezoning or redevelopment is going to take place, or the agent can ask if certain areas have the possibility of being rezoned or redeveloped. Very interesting article thanks!!!! it sure gets the wheels turning.

By: Mike Farmer

Mike Farmer — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 19:55:39 +0000

Sean, that’s a good idea. It’s sort of what I had in mind when i wrote it would attract private money from those who don’t want to get into the nuts and bolts — but, yes, you’d need to formailze it into a boutique operation.

As a matter of afct, I know a guy locally who does this to a certain degree. He hasn’t gotten connected and he doesn’t have a team such as this, but he works with local doctors and lawyers and Indian chiefs who invest money with him, then he puts the money to work in real estate.

He says he goes around to some of them monthly and gives them a check for the return on their investment — he says here are people making hundreds of thousand a year, but when he brings that monthly check they look as happy as kids at Christmas — he says they hide that away from the spouses for golf and other extracurricla activity