All Forum Posts by: John Lasher

@John Lasher if you want to focus on MF, especially in the North Florida markets, I highly recommend you speak to Beau Beery. He's not a coach for investors but he's my coach as a commercial multifamily broker. He KNOWS multifamily and even wrote a book on how to be a solid MF investor. Speak to him before you hire a guru.

Also, I went through the Michael Blank mentor program a few years ago for $30,000. Like you, I wanted accelerated learning and a network. It taught me high level knowledge of syndication and a lot of the legal aspects, which I found very valuable in order to speak to a higher level of investors, beyond mom & pops. I also got the deal analyzer, which was handy and a free t-shirt. LOL!

Best wishes on your journey!

@John Lasher

i agree with you, you'd be surprised at how many people listen to Grant Cardone though, and decide that they're going to go buy a 100 unit with 'OPM' as their first deal and quit their job.

i think buying something of that size with a few partners is a perfectly good goal.  you probably just need to find a few other John Lashers and work on it together.  I don't know if coaching will help or not.  I know that's what you started this thread for.  I'm just dialoguing / thinking out loud here.

I've noticed end of 2024 to heat up and seeing that as 2025 starts. We did get a nasty snowstorm and the artic blast so Jan was calm due to that. I think it'll pick up as we get into Feb. I don' expect it to be a crazy market but better then 2023/2024

Quote from @John Lasher:

I'm curious, how did everyone here get into commercial multifamily investing? Are you full time in real estate? How long did it take to go full time? Did you join any coaching programs?

Thanks for any input!

I got into commercial properties after my first investment. It took about 5 years for my assets to start covering my expenses. Now I'm 9 years into it and my assets pay for everything. I used Youtube and BP forums for coaching. If you can critically think, there's enough knowledge on this website to get you started for free.

Quote from @John Lasher:

I'm curious, how did everyone here get into commercial multifamily investing? Are you full time in real estate? How long did it take to go full time? Did you join any coaching programs?

Thanks for any input!

I was working as a financial advisor for Merrill Lynch. A client came in and I was looking at his financials and saw that he was bringing in about $50k a month and asked him what the heck he was doing to make that. He was always dressed like he was going to the beach so I assumed it wasn't a white collar job. He told me that he owned a couple large mobile home parks in town and that's what started everything for me.

When I first got started I didn't officially join any coaching programs, but I did buy the materials at mobile home university. I'm not into the guru thing at all, but I can say for a fact their system worked for me. I don't necessarily follow that model anymore, but it was a great place to start.

I only invest in opportunities - not property types.  "Getting in" is easy; making money, managing the business, with the increased financial risk of commercial properties is a whole different game.  My recommendation to serious real estate investors is buy an opportunity in any segment, do the math (it's all about the ROI; some investors fall for the 'commercial' is more prestigious chest thump to find that losing money isn't very prestigious at all), and plan on proactively running a business.  This is not a side-hustle.  

John, I have (I think) a longer, interesting story about how I did. But in a nutshell I joined RE Mentor - David Lindahl from Boston area. His program taught me everything I needed to know, I met a ton of people, and found a partner. Together we owned 330 units in Chattanooga (before it was cool) and did extremely well there. We sold out in 2018 and now in a new market but we still own together a 42-Unit.

The coaching program was for sure the best thing I ever did. Coming up with the money for tuition was hard as my business (construction) was not doing great at the time.

My whole life changed when I went for it.

@John Lasher I bought a SFH and then a duplex about 6 years ago. Around this time I discovered Bigger Pockets and a bunch of real estate platforms online.

I joined 2 mentor programs over time. The first closed shop 2 weeks into my mentorship and stole my money and removed all of their content from online. The second was Hugh Jones and it started out ok but eventually they started really pressuring me to buy Big deals, 30-100 units. Despite my explanation that I had the funding for smaller deals, 10-20 units they doubled down on me needing to find investors to partner with or to form a syndicate. After about 8 weeks I just stopped participating.

On a different journey I completed AJ Osbornes self storage program and thought it was very useful.

I’ve since just gone it alone with help from books and what I see/read online. I’ve got a great team including contractors, real estate agents, and lenders.

I’m not the biggest fish in the sea but I’m doing it fairly well with 8 buildings and 31 units. I’m currently biding my time waiting to find the next deal.