All Forum Posts by: Annie Dickerson

@Taneisha Phillips How exciting that you’re looking into buying your first multifamily property!

For a small multifamily that you’re buying on your own, I think you’ll be able to find plenty of free resources here and elsewhere to help you get the deal done.

And, if you find the right team (realtor, property manager, CPA, etc.), they can help provide any information or answer any questions you may have. That’s how I got my first house hack done years ago, before BP was around, by leaning on the experience and wisdom of my realtor, who had house hacking experience.

I also agree with @Shafi Noss that paid mentorships are most valuable after you have some experience under your belt and want to get to the more advanced and nuanced stages.

Good luck!

@Arn Cenedella This is such a great question, and I'm glad you're looking into getting a coach or mentor so that you can hit the ground running and don't have to reinvent the wheel.

Personally, I've been part of multiple training groups and mentoring programs and have found value from each of them. I'd be happy to further discuss my thoughts and feedback on each of them; just message me.

I think it comes down to your personal goals, business goals, strengths and weaknesses, and what specifically you're looking for out of a coach or program.

For example, if you are fairly comfortable with numbers and know that you want to focus on acquisitions and underwriting, you might look for a mentor that can help you further hone those skills. That way, you can bring that skill to the table when looking for potential partners.

Alternatively, if you're strong in underwriting but want to be able to take down a deal on your own, you might look for a program that will help you with the areas where you're lacking, like raising capital. That way, you can continue to learn things on your own that come naturally to you (like underwriting, in this example), while having someone guide you through the areas where you have less experience.

Hope that helps!

@Victor Chen Welcome! I’m based in Oakland and would love to connect. What are your goals for getting into real estate?

If you're raising capital for a 506(b) syndication deal, you will need a pre-existing relationship with all the investors in your deal. If you're doing a 506(c) deal, you don't need a pre-existing relationship, but all your investors must be accredited.

The best way to raise capital is to start with friends and family. Share what you're doing in real estate and what you hope to achieve. For those who might be interested, offer to share a sample deal with them to gauge their interest in investing in an actual deal with you.

As you do so, be sure to also ask for referrals to people in their networks who might be interested in the types of opportunities you're hoping to put together. This is the best way to start growing your network.

A mastermind is a great way to share ideas around raising capital, and now is the perfect time to start or join one. In my experience, the best masterminds are the paid ones, where the host has some incentive to continue to organize the mastermind and bring fresh content and speakers.

I've been part of multiple free and/or casual masterminds that start out strong but fizzle out over time. If you're interested, we have a coaching program and mastermind specifically for raising capital and building your brand. Feel free to message me if you're interested. Good luck!

I totally agree with Alina - house hacking is a fantastic way to get started, and that's exactly how I got into real estate 12+ years ago, was through house hacking a duplex in Washington, DC.

House hacking is a great way to dip your toes in, try out being a landlord, reduce your living expenses, get some monthly cash flow going, and start building equity.

My husband and I started house hacking at age 23 and have house hacked multiple duplexes at this point (we're still house hacking!). After the first couple, we started to build up some momentum and equity, which we then used to invest in other rentals and scale our portfolio.

Another way you might consider is partnering with others, especially those with lots of capital but very little time. You do the heavy lifting and bring your real estate knowledge and skills to the table, they bring the capital, and everyone wins!

The best way to attract private capital is to provide value and to position yourself as a leader in the space. Start by just sharing what you're doing and learning about in real estate. Don't ask for anything in return. 

You can do this through organic conversations with friends and family, posting on social media, starting a blog, or creating a YouTube channel. Even if you don't know it all and you're still learning, share that with others. Share with them the questions you have and how you're finding answers to those questions. Share with them the markets you're researching, what you're learning about underwriting, etc.

As you give freely to people, this will help them start to trust you and see you as a leader and naturally want to invest alongside you.

This is exactly how I got started - first through organic conversations with friends and family, then starting a blog and posting on BiggerPockets, then building out a full website and brand. 

If you start from a place of wanting to help others and provide value, people will naturally flock to you and follow you, and the capital will come. Good luck!

The best way to raise capital is to start with friends and family, because they already know, like, and trust you. Start by organically talking with them about what you're learning about and what you hope to achieve in real estate.

As they express interest, share more of what you know, perhaps about specific markets, where we are in the market cycle, deals you're looking at, etc. You can also share a sample deal with them, to walk them through the process, answer any questions, and see how much they might want to invest with you when you do have a deal.

In addition, start to build up your own brand and thought leadership platform through creating content that teaches people about the types of opportunities you're looking to put together. That way, people will start to see you as a leader in the space, thus deepening their trust in you and your brand.

Then, once you've built up a short list of people who have capital and are interested in investing alongside you, then go out and find a deal.

The best place to start with raising capital, whether it's for development deals, fix-and-flips, or commercial syndications, is to start with organic conversations with friends and family. 

Talk to people about what you're doing, and share with them what you know about real estate. Through those conversations, you'll inevitably pique some curiosity, and some of your friends and family will want to learn more or invest with you.

And if they don't, ask if they know anyone who might be interested.

Once you have some people who have expressed interest, share an example deal with them. For development deals, put together a sample walkthrough of what the deal would look like and what the potential returns, hold time, etc. would be.

Then, walk people through it, answer their questions, and see how much they might be interested in investing when you have a deal like that available.

As you start to gain traction, your investors will start to refer more people to you, and you'll be able to grow your investor base and increase your raise capacity so you can do more and bigger deals.

Hope that helps!

@Sean Yuan It sounds like you're looking to do a joint venture partnership, with everyone having some capital invested and an active role in the investment. If you have passive investors (those who just put their capital in and don't have any active role), you would need to put together a syndication, which is a whole other ball of wax.

The best way to set this up would be to create an LLC for each investment. You, your brother, and any other partners would all have ownership in that LLC. That LLC should have its own bank account and bookkeeping and would be on title as the owner of the property that you purchase.

As for tax time, an LLC is a pass-through tax entity, so each of the LLC owners would pay taxes on their share of the profits and losses. Each LLC member's share of profits and losses should be set out in the LLC operating agreement. (I'd also highly recommend consulting your own CPA before you set any of this up.)