Introduction

[Lauren Lee]

Hello,
My name is Lauren, I am currently residing in Abu Dhabi, UAE.

I am very new to real estate investing, and have a lot to learn.

My husband and I are currently working on building our foundation to buy a small (5-10 unit) apartment complex in South Carolina or Georgia.

This will be our first of many investments in real estate that we plan to make.

I look forward to meeting new people and hearing about the investment stories of others.

If you find your self in Abu Dhabi/Dubai we would love to meet up at chat!

[Joel Owens]

I would have to know your capital to start for you first purchase, net worth, liquidity, annual returns desired, the demands of your current businesses or your jobs etc.

It's something than generally happens over direct e-mails and phone calls.

There are tons of choices out there but it comes down to capital to start.

Also if you want to partner with other investors on a larger commercial project or go on it just your own to maintain total control.

Anything with small loans under 1 million you are mainly looking at local banks.

In commercial anything under 1 million is like a 50,000 loan on a house for residential. The lenders just do not make hardly any money on them and they are a pain in the butt to do.

Local banks like the small loans because to them it's a bigger loan versus there deposits. The downside to local banks is they want a personal guarantee, short loan term of 5 to 7 years and low amort. schedules which reduce your yearly cash on cash returns. The banks state over and over again that they cannot do long term loans in commercial because in coming years they have to draw customers into the branch and will be paying out higher interest rates on CD, savings, and checking to make yield.

Conversely the larger loan lenders are conduit, pension funds, insurance companies, private high net worth investors who can hang money out for 10,15,20 year terms. They do not operate like banks and take a long term approach to lending. The kicker is usually they do not do a loan under 2 million. On a good day if you have a relationship I can squeeze them to fund 1 million to 1.5 if the property is really strong.

Foreign investors run into funding issues here a lot. If you don't want to partner you are looking at an owner finance deal. It's hard to give the seller confidence in your abilities when you are thousands of miles away and especially if you just have the money down but not much liquid to handle issues that come up with the property once you own it.