All Forum Posts by: Brian Briscoe

@David Zeek

You’re asking a bunch of real estate enthusiasts if you should invest in real estate... The answers are going to be overwhelmingly biased toward “yes”... It’s like asking a bunch of dope-smoking teens if we should legalize marijuana.... just sayin...

Investments should be picked to help you reach your financial goals keeping your risk tolerance in mind. Something else to mention, investing in real estate is going to take a lot more time and effort than investing in the stock market. So, before you make a decision, also look at how much time you’ll have to devote to real estate. It will take time to evaluate and purchase investment properties...

Of course, there are also passive means of investing in syndications, but $20k usually doesn’t hit the minimum buy-in.

I have money in the stock market and money in real estate. Each investment has its own purpose and timeline...

Gaithersburg Apartment Building Investors (GABI) is pleased to announce Jerome Myers as our guest speaker for August. This will be a virtual event.

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/8390...

7:00-8:00: Guest speaker and Q&A
8:00-9:00: Online networking

Jerome Myers leads The Myers Development Group, LLC, which focuses on buying broken apartment building businesses and using innovative thinking and solid execution strategies to optimize the operational efficiency of the business. Currently, Mr. Myers is asset manager for approximately 90 units and 90,000 square feet of workforce housing across Virginia and North Carolina and on a mission to hold 1,000 doors by the end of 2028. When not actively working on his personal portfolio he coaches other real estate investors on the Myers Methods of Multifamily Investing. Outside of real estate Jerome hosts the DreamCatchers and Myers Methods presents Multifamily Missteps Podcast, volunteers on STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) boards and enjoys traveling internationally.

Gaithersburg Apartment Building Investors (GABI) is pleased to announce Jerome Myers as our guest speaker for August. This will be a virtual event hosted by Brian Briscoe.

7:00-8:00: Guest speaker and Q&A
8:00-9:00: Online networking

Jerome Myers leads The Myers Development Group, LLC, which focuses on buying broken apartment building businesses and using innovative thinking and solid execution strategies to optimize the operational efficiency of the business. Currently, Mr. Myers is asset manager for approximately 90 units and 90,000 square feet of workforce housing across Virginia and North Carolina and on a mission to hold 1,000 doors by the end of 2028. When not actively working on his personal portfolio he coaches other real estate investors on the Myers Methods of Multifamily Investing. Outside of real estate Jerome hosts the DreamCatchers and Myers Methods presents Multifamily Missteps Podcast, volunteers on STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) boards and enjoys traveling internationally.

Give bonuses to those you think went the extra mile.  I'd suggest you remind him that you paid his company for services rendered and leave it at that.  In this case, if you want to give bonuses to specific people, make them personal gifts and don't tie them to job or performance.  Take them to lunch and give them a "Labor Day" present for being your friend.

Several ways to invest -- do you have a preferred property type?  I do apartments and can walk you through what that looks like.  We provide low-risk, passive investments for people who are able to invest.  If you buy a duplex or a quad or any number of single family homes, you can put property management on it, but you'll have to work to get the best returns.  Investing passively in apartments means you don't work, the deal sponsors do.  You just get returns.  If that's something you're interested in, I can explain in more detail.

@Sachin Maskey - you definitely want to nail down your location before building your team.  We've focused on one specific region and then try to get all of our third-party people from that same region.  Our lending team, insurance, etc. are all in the area in which we're investing.  Of course the property manager and contractors are in that region too...

We like the Carolinas - specifically, Upstate South Carolina.

On the East Coast - money and people are moving from high cost of living and cold-winter states (NY, MA, NJ, etc) to low cost of living, warmer states (NC, SC, FL).  Two of the metros that are experiencing the most growth are Charlotte and Atlanta...  We like Upstate SC for many reasons, but the fact that it's on the I-85 corridor between these two cities is one factor driving the growth in this region...

Like I said, recommend you choose your market first, then build a team in that market.

@Kenneth Garrett and @Stephen Keighery have solid answers already.  I'll just add that you need to engage people.  On social media you can react/like and comment on posts... but try to make your comments the type that add value.  It may take several weeks of reading what's in the forum to learn enough before your comments are truly helpful, but it's a start.  You can start posting stuff, but depending on the platform, you may not get much traction at first until you've made several connections... You want people to recognize your name, then they'll start engaging with your posts...

It's actually similar at the in-person events.  Once people start to recognize you, you'll get more engagement.  Introduce yourself to the speaker afterwards and tell them you enjoyed their presentation.  Talk with the host and say thanks for putting the meetup together and let him/her know what you're looking for.  When more experienced investors spend a few minutes talking with you, tell them that their comments were valuable...  Keep doing this, and you'll go from noob to where people know who you are and then to where people are asking your opinions...

@Kaylee Walterbach

I'd have to say my best deal was the first apartment syndication we did.  It's not the biggest deal and it likely won't be the most profitable, but it opened the doors to bigger and better deals.

I did something similar...  I'm military and I bought a few houses as I moved across the country, lived there, then turned into rentals.

Few things I learned... 

Getting an owner-occupant loan requires much lower down payment - definite plus for you.

Make sure you've researched rental rates thoroughly.  One of the homes I purchased never cash-flowed.  Don't make that mistake.

Also, be conservative on your growth projections - both rent growth and equity.  You can't count on 5-10% growth to carry you through.

Unless you make a ton of money in your day job, eventually the banks will stop lending to you and you'll have to pick a different strategy.  If you're only doing this 2-3 times, you may not ever hit this hurdle.  In my case, the debt-income ratio ended up getting too high for to get another loan, even though it was also to be owner-occupant.  Banks will count rental income, but unless you're cash-flowing a lot, each purchase will negatively affect your ratio.  There's also the 10-home rule, but you'll likely cap out on debt-income before hitting that hurdle.

Look at the overall numbers on the property and shop around for the best rate and terms among the lenders.  As mentioned, you can also ask family and friends to lend you money at a lower rate.  Seller financing is an attractive option if the seller is amenable... maybe you could give them a lump sum at closing and have them carry a note with a 12-month term and no prepayment penalty.

Don't discount the local banks and credit unions either.  Approach them with the property and the business plan and see if they'll lend.  We have a regular bank loan and are applying for a loan from a credit union to do similar rehabs, and they're both including renovation costs in proceeds.  I've found that the smaller banks with fewer branches are usually more likely to lend in such situations - especially the institutions that don't sell their notes on the secondary market.