How to Approach a Big Investor (friend) with a deal?

[Chris H.]

Hi Everybody

Newbie first post here. so excuse the ramble here. I am kind of caught up on something and just don't know how to approach exactly. A Little Back Story : So i have a friend he is CEO of big company (all over the world) he has a few planes very well off but down to earth i have known him for quit a few years. he has a background in real estate (not sure to what extent) but he mainly owns commercial. i am a contractor and do a lot of work for him on his personal house, lots of his properties, some years probably close to 100k a year. He has  brought up the fact of selling off some of his properties to me. But i am looking into multifamily and thinking about approaching him with a deal. Before i do i want to make sure i have everything together so i can lay it all on the table so he can see the numbers. I am sure he would be for it if it was worth his while. so my question is what would make it worth his while?  For example if he gave me 250k for a 1 million dollar multifamily property(assuming it was a deal and everything worked) What would be a good return for his side? And how would i go about structuring that?  Or any other possible deal structure? considering he could probably just buy the whole thing out right. So if i approach him and he says yes "what are the terms"? i want to be ready with an answer. 

[Nathan Gesner]

@Chris H. you need to ask him, not us.

Maybe he won't accept less than a 12% return on his money. Maybe 7%. Or maybe you are truly a friend and he's feeling charitable and would accept a deal that only offers a 4% return.

Ask him what it would take for him to help you get started. Find out what he needs/wants, and then find ways to make that happen.

He didn't get to where he's at by throwing money away but he may be feeling generous. The only way to know is to speak with him directly. Invite him to dinner, talk to him honestly, and see what happens.