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Peter Neill
Pro Member
  • Investor
  • Newtown Square, PA
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From PPR Note Co. to GSP REI: Finding My Freedom Raising Capital

Peter Neill
Pro Member
  • Investor
  • Newtown Square, PA
Posted Nov 5 2019, 06:05

Let me preface my story with my definition of freedom: doing what you enjoy for a living with the people you care about.

My name is Peter Neill. I am a capital raiser, real estate and note investor, community organizer, speaker and entrepreneur. I am a co-owner of GSP REI and the Vice President of Investor Relations. GSP REI is a diversified real estate investment company based in the Philadelphia area. Our current focus is workforce and affordable housing investing. We are actively managing two fund offerings, one focusing on real property (REO and off market properties), the other focusing on Pre-REO (vacant first mortgages). I am also the founder and owner of Accredited Life, a lifestyle community, brand, and experience for accredited investors, soon-to-be accredited investors and their families.

I started my real estate career in 2014 working in marketing at PPR Note Co. with Dave Van Horn. I was 22 years old and fresh out of Temple University.

Laying the Foundation

When I started at PPR, I had no idea what a note was and knew nothing about real estate investing. My only experience with real estate was my father being a property manager (something I didn’t want to do). One of the first books Dave gave me to read was, Rich Dad Poor Dad. This book introduced me to financial concepts and made me look at money and investing in a completely different way. The next resource Dave gave me was Earl Nightingale's The Strangest Secret. The content in that audio, changed my entire life and to this day has me conscious of what I am thinking about. Then came Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People. The ultimate guide to building rapport and great relationships. Dave introduced me to many life changing, perception alternating, authors and speakers such as David Phelps, George Antone, Jim Rohn, Tony Robbins, Tom Hopkins and Jeffrey Gitomer to name a few. These resources, along with Dave’s inspiration sparked within me a passion for alternative investing and personal development.

My PPR Beginnings

Determined to understand the business I was working in, I immersed myself in all things note and real estate investing related. I read, listened to audios, took courses, and attended events and seminars. I absorbed everything I could get my hands on. At the time, PPR was selling courses for investing in distressed 2nd mortgages. A large part of my work day was selling the courses and assisting the students.

Learn By Doing

Note and real estate investing is a learn by doing business. You can read all the books, attend all the seminars and gain great insight from others, however nothing teaches like real life experience. I learned this first hand selling courses to some very active 2nd lien investing students. I would spend hours on the phone assisting them with their deals, I’d write all their questions down and then sit with Dave and the other PPR partners, after work getting their answers. I was able to build a great understanding of the distressed 2nd mortgage industry. (I also experienced the power of learn by doing buying my 1st investment property, more on that to come.)

The Investor Relations Department is Born

During my time working with the students and selling performing and non-performing notes, people started asking a lot about the company’s fund opportunities. At that time, Dave was doing all the fund investor calls. I would set up calls and then sit in and listen, every day, typically a few times a day for around 6 months. I learned from Dave, how to talk to potential investors, how to build rapport, how to answer questions and explain the company’s strategy and operations and the secondary mortgage industry. I listened intently and wrote down everything Dave said, over and over and over again. Over time I internalized Dave’s words and made them my own; taking on nearly all the fund investor calls, building and managing the Investor Relations team and overseeing the process of raising over $80MM together. We made a great team and grew an efficient department.

Buying My First Rental

I was 24, being mentored by Dave for two years and I was ready to jump into real estate investing for myself. We decided I'd utilize an FHA loan to buy my first property. I searched for a few months and ended up buying a rent-ready, duplex in Brookhaven, PA. I lived in the downstairs unit and rented the upstairs apartment. I was there for about a year when my parents got into a terrible car accident. They both spent over a week in the ICU and weeks in the hospital. I leased out my unit and moved back home to take care of them. I helped around the house, helped them with getting around, running earnings and making dinners. It was a hard time for my family and I can't thank PPR enough for all their support during that time. Let me also take a moment to thank my parents who instilled in me strong values and the foundation for success!

Owning the duplex has certainly taught me a lot over the past few years. One of the greatest, most important lessons has been, staying in my lane! Not that I don’t enjoy dealing with tenants, maintenance, lawn care, Home Depot and Lowe’s trips and tenant change overs (I recently put new carpets, kitchen floor, appliances, vanity and mirror in the bathroom and fresh paint in my upstairs unit). The experience has assured me that raising capital is for me! What I enjoy most about real estate investing and life in general is the people. I love talking with investors, sharing values, discussing their wants and needs, helping them fully understand what they’re investing in and helping them achieve their passive income goals is very rewarding.

Raising Capital – Acquiring Assets – Executing Effectively

What I like about raising capital is you have to know about all aspects of the business. You need to have a solid understanding of the business as a whole.

I’ve come to understand, investment companies and successful investors do three things. They obtain and manage capital, whether it’s private equity/debt, bank financing or personal capital. They acquire assets, that can be paper assets (notes, stocks, etc.), hard assets (properties, land, etc.), businesses or commodities (gold, silver, oil, etc.). And they execute their investment strategy/model (develop, resell, hold, etc.) effectively to generate a return and/or equity and make a living. As an individual investor it’s nearly impossible to wear all three hats and execute efficiently and effectively, especially on a large scale. This is why staying in your lane, doing what you do best and leveraging others that are doing what they do best is so important. Building strategic relationships in business and investing is not only crucial, it’s mandatory!

From 2nd Mortgages to 1st Mortgages

When I started, PPR was buying primarily 2nd mortgages. 2nd mortgages is essentially loss mitigation (helping the borrower get back on track and stay in their home). During my time with the company they transitioned primarily into 1st mortgages. First mortgages involves loss mitigation (occupied 1st) and asset management (vacant 1st). Watching and playing an active role in the transition from primarily 2nd liens to 1st and 2nd liens, laid the foundation for me partnering with GSP REI. I learned first hand exactly what is needed to successfully execute in the 1st mortgage and hard asset/real property industry.

Building My Personal Brand

After 4 years with PPR I was ready to expand my experience and grow my personal brand and investor family. Dave understood it was time and was very supportive. I trained my replacement for about 6 months and handed over my baby, the investor relations department, it was a bittersweet moment. PPR was like my real world masters degree in raising capital, marketing, real estate and note investing, small business and fund management.

Living the Accredited Life

After PPR my goal was to focus on a few hard asset deals I had in the works and grow Accredited Life, the side business I started in 2017. Accredited Life a lifestyle community, brand, and experience for accredited investors, soon-to-be accredited investors and their families. We share values, ideas and investment opportunities (modeling groups like Tiger 21 and David Phelps’ Freedom Founders Mastermind). One of the hard asset deals I was working on was opening a sports complex in Chester County, PA. The plan was to buy a warehouse, lay down turf and hard courts and lease the space to local schools and leagues and host tournaments. I called a good friend of mine, Brian who played minor league baseball and coached at local schools and sports complexes. We talked about the pros and cons and he said I had to meet his partner, Ron who is a part owner in a CrossFit gym and sits on the board of a sports marketing and gaming company. Brian also mentioned, him and Ron were renovating houses on a large scale and had been building a foundation for massive traction in the workforce and affordable housing market in the Mid Atlantic (my friend Brian is an active real estate investor and GSP’s lead project/property manager). That week I met with Brian and Ron at Ron’s CrossFit gym, we discussed my sports complex and what they were doing in real estate. I was very impressed and extremely intrigued.

Competency

After 4 and a half years of Dave’s mentoring, attending Strategic Investor Alliance meetings (accredited investor group in the Philly area), and thousands of accredited investor calls, I know a good deal when I hear/see one. I liked Ron’s 20+ year asset/construction management and investment background. The foundation and portfolio they built in under 18 months was impressive and I really liked the workforce and affordable housing model. What really hooked me was they are the asset/construction managers and have the crews and access to project managers. That gives them the ability to maintain control over the entire real estate investing process, from acquisition to renovation and then resale or lease and manage the properties in house. I was also impressed by their vast network and access to off market properties. Those are all the things needed to be successful in the hard asset/real property and vacant first mortgage space.

In-House, All-In-One Asset Management

Over the next 6 months I started spending a lot of time with Ron. We got to know each other, I observed him working and managing his company and crews, while inspected all the resale and rental projects. I knew pretty quickly that he had built the systems and processes to succeed. Ron and his team manage everything in-house. I like to call it all-in-one asset management; capital, project, construction and property management. This allows him to maintain control over all sides of the deal, from beginning to end while staying on time and on budget.

Ron has taught me a lot about asset, construction and property management. He has also introduced me to a new network of great people with diverse experience in business, investing and life.

Buying Government Product

During our time getting to know one another, Ron told me he had been buying government product from a guy I had known PPR was purchasing government product with, Wade Carroll. Wade is extremely well respected and has a great reputation in the 1st lien space. He is one of the smartest, most humble people I know and truly a legend in the 1st mortgage industry. Wade executed the very first "non-profit only" government non-performing note trade with HUD. Before getting into note investing, Wade owned and managed over 650 rental units as well. Wade is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to real estate and note investing.

GSP REI is Born

After 6 months of extensive due diligence and getting to know each other I decided to partner with Ron in the beginning of September, 2019. We rebranded his company, L2L Investments to GSP REI, standing for German Shorthair Pointer Real Estate Investments. Ron has two GSP's and I instantly became enamored with these beautiful, energetic dogs. It also seemed like an appropriate name since GSP's are energetic, aggressive hunting dogs just like us when it comes to hunting for great deals and aggressive asset management.

Wade who was looking to partner with a company with strong in-house, asset management decided to join the team as well. A perfect fit in many ways, especially since Wade has owned GSP’s his entire life and his family currently owns one.

I started to create our company website with my good friend, Scott Corbett (Lightmark Media), and we started working with our securities attorney to put together two 506(c) offerings.

My GSP REI Goals

My goal partnering with GSP REI is to expand the company into the private equity market. Introducing accredited investors to a diversified stream of consistent monthly preferred returns backed by real estate and real estate backed assets (notes) in a completely transparent environment. I want my investors to know everything I know as a co-owner of the company. You will know where/how your money is being invested, our current trades, our acquisition pipeline, what we're doing day to day, and the performance of our trades.

I want to grow a family of investors and provide that family with the absolute best, most transparent experience in the alternative investment industry. I promise to always be upfront, honest, and to the point. I host Fund Progress Report Calls and in-person fund progress meetings weekly. The calls and meetings are designed to provide our investors and potential investors full transparency. I openly discuss our pipeline, purchases and performance and answer any questions.

Experiencing My Freedom

I have found and experience my freedom each day. I do what I enjoy for a living with the people I care about. I build lifelong relationships with amazing people, share ideas, strategies and values, grow my network, knowledge and portfolio each day. If you know me, I always say life is beyond heaven! There is so much joy and love to experience right here and now. Raising capital, real estate and note investing and community organizing are all huge parts of my freedom experience!

Goals for the Future

I am a believer in sharing and discussing goals openly. It keeps me accountable and helps me to refine and define my plans while gaining different perspectives. Here are a few of my professional goals for the future:

*Growing the GSP REI investor family and fund offerings, while growing our workforce and affordable housing portfolio and expanding our business into different real estate verticals (ask me about our 100 unit affordable housing apartment development project).

*Growing the Accredited Life community and brand assisting accredited investors, soon-to-be accredited investors and their families build and preserve wealth, make an impact investing and building their legacy. The goal is to build my foundation, network and blueprint for success and expand the brand to everyone, especially teens and young adults! In my eyes, everyone is truly soon-to-be accredited, my goal after meeting Dave at age 22 was to be accredited by the age of 30 (income and net worth) and if I stay on track I will be!

*Opening my sports complex! A place where the community and families can come together over sports and entertainment. Where kids can have fun while learning teamwork and other important skills.

*Opening a family owned, neighborhood supermarket! It has been a dream of mine to own and operate a grocery store since the first time I went to Shady Maple Supermarket in Lancaster, PA.

*Opening an ice cream and cake parlor, where our specialty is cake and ice cream. Building a franchise and getting a version of our world famous cake and ice cream in supermarkets everywhere! It’s been a dream of mine since having the cake and ice cream at the Charcoal Pit in DE.

Those are just a few of my future professional goals. There are many more and many more personal goals such as getting married and starting a family, adopting my first GSP dog, traveling to Wyoming and Montana and spending more time in nature, just to share a few.

If you can support me with my goals in anyway, please reach out to me! I will do whatever I can to support you, inspire you, and help you to find and fund your freedom!

It is my personal promise to everyone who ask me for support to support in anyway that I can.I am always here to assist, listen and pray with you!

Thank you for reading!

Peter Neill

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