Announcing BiggerPockets Podcast #3: Interview with Brian Burke

[Joshua Dorkin]

This week we've got another great new Podcast featuring a familar face from the BiggerPockets Forums, Brian Burke. Brian is a full-time real estate investor that currently has hundreds of rental units and flips more than a hundred homes per year.

In todays interview, you'll learn:

- How Brian got started with no money and no experience
- Tips for building and scaling a big real estate business
- Advanced tips for raising capital to fund your real estate deals

Check it out at:
BiggerPockets Radio Podcast 003: Getting Started in Real Estate and Raising Money with Brian Burke

As always, please do listen to the show on iTunes if you can and be sure to leave us a rating and review there. Every one helps us gain momentum and climb the charts . . . ultimately leading to more listeners and new members here on BiggerPockets! We currently have 52 5-Star Reviews, and we're hoping to reach 75-100 before next show. Hopefully you can help us get closer!

Let us know your thoughts on the show!

[Brian Burke]

Originally posted by Joel Owens:

Eventually I would like to look into Reg D and all of that. I already have some people that have approached me that want to lend money for a return. They do not like the stock market or there trade brokers etc.

So true, most of my investors tell me the same thing. They are looking for alternative investments that contain volatility and have a high probability of being a winner. I think the timing is right for real estate to accomplish that objective.

No. I have several currently active funds. Many of them are single-asset, where the investors contributed and a multifamily property was purchased. The only funds there are operating reserves.

I also have a few funds that are discretionary blind pools. In these funds, investors contribute their capital directly into that entity's account. From there, I can make asset purchases at-will. In funds that resell assets as a normal course of business, funds are returned to the bank account at the time of the sale. Each entity is overseen by my accounting firm as they review the financial statements annually for the preparation of tax returns, however they are not audited financials. As the size of the offerings increase, audits will likely become a component. Of course, track record is important, and I'm fortunate to have funds that have passed the 10 year mark, surviving in some pretty extreme market conditions.

You're right, Joel. Having a large scale comes with risk, and I worry about it every day! My staff is a mix of hourly/salary and commission, with the majority on hourly. So far, deal flow is not a problem for me. Rather, my deal flow has exceeded my ability to raise capital. The company will change over time, as fix & flip scales down to some degree, however our SFR rental portfolio is growing and the multifamily side is showing a lot of promise. We can shift staff from one discipline to another. My partners had over 50 employees when the market was full-speed, and had scaled down to less than a dozen right before the market tanked. It's a drag to down-scale, and I hope we never have to do it. Relative to the amount of business we are doing, I think our staffing is rather small, so we have an advantage because we do a lot of work with only 25 people.