All Forum Posts by: Matthew Drouin

If you only knew…

How long it took me to achieve this (10 years+) and how much work it was…

Quite frankly, you wouldn’t be impressed. I just closed the sale of the first four investment properties I ever bought.  It was hard to say goodbye to my babies

I started this journey back in 2006 (18 years ago) The truly sobering thing about this event is that I was able to achieve these same financial results in ONE year with my first larger commercial deal; and replace my wife's income with that deal.  All that opportunity cost incurred because I didn’t feel ready to go big.  I try to imagine where I would have been if I just would have started my go big journey sooner, but then I just get mad at myself and makes me a little sick...

Here are the things I learned:

1.)  You can start doing larger deals much sooner than you think.  It took me 11 years, 25 properties, and 76 doors before I thought I was ready.  Don't make the same mistake I did.

2.)  You do not have to be a syndicator to raise capital.  I've raised millions of dollars of capital and built a $16M portfolio without ever having to do a complicated syndication.

3.)  Stack up as much cash as you can while growing your empire.  When you do a cash out refinance on a deal, DONT take that cash and plow it into another deal.  Asset rich and cash poor works for a while but at a certain point it doesn't.  This is actually why I sold these properties.  As my relationships started growing with banks they started becoming more scrutinizing on me; my liquidity and my balance sheet.  I had a wake up call last year when our lender required us to get an additional guarantor on a commercial deal.  We had the capital raised but the bank didn't like our liquidity position.  We had to give up substantial equity, just for this signature on the debt.  Maintain a fortress balance sheet; therefore your strength as a guarantor and keep most if not all of the equity in your deals. (this whole sale where you see the proceeds pictured above, was I realized I had to get more liquid and retool my balance sheet for long term growth.  I made the goal to become liquid by seven figures plus last year and just accomplished that.)

4.)  Use other people's money always.  Even if you have the money to put down on your deals.  There will be a point in time as you scale where you WILL run out of money.  It's best practice to start early and build those relationships.  As you over perform for your investment partners, the well will get deeper and wider.  For instance, 4 years ago I was doing a raise of $400k.  One high net worth investor wouldn't give me more than $50k for that deal.  I almost passed on the opportunity to work with them.... Fast forward to last year they wrote a check for $1.5M for a deal that we did, where that one deal alone added over $1.7M to my net worth alone.

If you are interested in learning more about going big on your goals and deals, I'm going to start documenting more of my journey here.

Hope you enjoy!

Real Estate Rookie Podcast Cohost Ashley Kehr is taking over our REIA (Real Estate Investors Association) this May!

Ashley will be giving the run down on how to land your first rental property in 90 days or less.  This won't only be an opportunity to learn but an opportunity to also network and build relationships with other active real estate investors in Western NY.

Take your real estate biz to the next level while being in a super cool, casual, supportive environment.

Pizza is provided.  Cash bar - Beer, Wine, Cocktails

Make sure to register on eventbrite.  If you don't register, you'll be turned away at the door!

Mandy, since August 1st is on your door step I would find an already existing church and rent space from them.

I like the idea of a church because most of them are still struggling post COVID and could use the extra income and probably won’t kill you on rent.

I would set up meetings with pastors and get face to face with them and communicate your needs.

If they don’t have space, they usually would know of one who would.  Get set up and then if a purchase was something that you wanted you have the time to find a permanent home!

@David Friedman I love this.

You have huge parking options.

You have two arts and cultural destinations there.

I think your idea of attracting a restaurant is a great idea to help with the place making of that corner.  That being said, I'm wondering if you attracted an operator at the far corner near F and 4th street would be most ideal.  The corner is the highest profile space and makes that building look less vacant (if you filled it), plus theatre goers would have to walk by all the other store fronts in order to get to the performing arts theatre and regal so that would add foot traffic.  Plus you have a big honking parking lot which would be a great benefit to have people come after hours, get a drink and bite before going to a show.

That being said.  In regard to marketing, you probably have to go guerilla on this one and do facebook marketplace.  A broker is not going to be as motivated as you are to lease a 1600 sqft space or a 3200 sqft space if you combine two suites together.  It's a little off the beaten path so it's not going to be a fit for a national retailer.  I'm looking at traffic count around 12,000 cars a day there.  Those types of users are going to want to be around West 2nd street.

Some people here were talking about monument signs etc.  Screw that.  Get a gorgeous mural put on the F street side of the building.  Might cost you $5k to $10k but it will help you lease that space to a restaurant.  I've used this tactic several times.

I wish you the best.  May the odds be ever in your favor.  Cheers!

If you want to scale to an unstoppable real estate empire of epic proportion, you need to learn how to raise private capital and become an OPM Master! Jack Krupey of JKAM Investmens is going to show you how!

This is an completely educational event for investors.  There will be no pitching or programs, products or services.

The event is hosted by FFREIA Freedom First Real Estate Investors Association - The only nationally recognized REIA West of Albany.  We are a non profit organization dedicated to building fellowship and educational IQ among local investors in Upstate NY.  Our mission is simple, to help investors build multi generational wealth across our communities!

Event registration and ticket sales are here:

https://www.ffreia.com/Events.aspx?ID=OPM-Mastery-A-Guide-To...

Right now tickets are $89 on early bird but early bird pricing ends on March 31st and goes up to $129!  So get your tickets now!

(Breakfast provided to attendees and then we will have happy hour after the event at the world famous Dinosaur BBQ!)

Want to do bigger real estate deals that deliver you life changing results but you just don't have the capital to pull it off?

Like have you found a large apartment building that if you bought it, it could replace the income from your job with that ONE deal but you didn't have the hundreds of thousands of dollars laying around to do it?

We've all been there. Had a life changing opportunity right in front of our eyes and watched it slipped through our fingers. When you have access to abundant private capital, you never have to pass on a smoking hot deal. So how do the big guys do it?

Chances are, they use other peoples money (OPM) by becoming MASTERS of raising private capital for their deals.

But here's the secret...

They all started from somewhere and that somewhere is where you are sitting right now.

No you don't need to have a membership at a fancy country club.

Or be best buds with a billion dollar hedge fund manager.

You need a plan and need to take action in accordance with that plan. 

At our upcoming workshop I'm going to show you exactly how to raise private capital for your own real estate deals so that access to capital will never hold you back. Jack Krupey, founder of JKAM Alternative Investments is going to pull back the curtain on his strategy and show investors specifically what they can do RIGHT now to help them do monster real estate deals with none of their own money. He's going to train attendees on the scripts and systems he uses. The types of creative deal structures that have helped him and his company raise private capital and do BILLIONS of dollars worth of deals.

Sounds impressive, right?

Jack started right where you may have started. Wholesaling, fix and flipping, property management, etc.

He's a real estate veteran of over 20 years.

His diverse background has taken him in many twists and turns from retail investing, working for a billion dollar hedge fund that acquired distressed mortgage notes to everything in between.

This is a niche topic, not all real estate investors are looking to scale so seating is extremely limited so make sure to register today!

@Mario Keophilalay where are you looking to acquire property?  If it’s in your own backyard, then community banks and credit unions are a great place to start.

lots of them love to lend on commercial real estate because they are shorter term and backed by a hard asset.

@Kay Faith many when I bought my first property I ran my numbers the exact same way. Rent minus mortgage, taxes, and insurance equal cash flow.

Problem is, I didn’t take into consideration repairs and maintenance, vacancy and collection loss, cap ex, water, property management fee etc.

After accounting for all these, you might be break even or slightly negative cash flow.

I’ve bought deals like that before. It’s ok. But only if you know you can raise rents, assuming they are under market etc.

Cash flow is overrated anyways so if you can own a property that is in a great location where your tenants are paying all the bills for the property and you have a growing reserve account for the property, you’ll make your money up on the equity appreciation.

Register For Your Free Guest Pass Here

https://www.ffreia.com/GuestPass.aspx?ID=53192754-864c-4568-...

🏡 Supercharge Your Real Estate Empire 🚀

Are you ready to level up your real estate game? Join us on November 9th at the Eagle Vale Banquet Center in Fairport, NY, for the most exciting real estate event of the year!

🌟 Freedom First Real Estate Investors Association presents the largest gathering of active real estate investors in Western New York! 🌟

Discover insider secrets, build your dream team, and network with like-minded investors, whether you're into fix and flips, wholesales, rentals, or commercial properties. All experience levels are welcome!

🎉 Best of all, it's FREE! 🎉

But here's the catch: this exclusive event is just around the corner! Don't miss your chance to supercharge your real estate business and be in the running to win a $500 Home Depot gift card.

Secure your spot today - click the link below! Your real estate empire awaits, but act fast – time is running out!

Free to attend for everyone - our price is your email address so we can make you a free member and get you discounts & rebates from Home Depot and other national partners. WE DO NOT SELL OR DISTRIBUTE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS TO ANYONE.

Every 2nd Thursday of the Month at Eagle Vale Banquet Center in Fairport.

5:30PM - Networking Start
6:15PM - Pizza & Refreshments
7PM - Open Networking And Trade Show Scavenger Hunt!

@Scott Loud I do HML as well as PML and many people face the same challenge:

"I get a good ROI while my funds are on the street but it gets blended down when I get paid back."

For instance if you lent our at 12% for 6 months, got paid back in 6 months, and then your cash was sitting in an account earning 5%, your total effective rate earned is 8.5%

Not everybody is a fan but this is what I do:

I lend out longer term.

My interest rate is going to depend upon the environment but I’ll have a 3% pre payment penalty if the loan is paid back less than 3 years.

The operator has to have a good track record of doing value add deals and a good business plan for the opportunity.

Let me know if I can be of any further help!

THIS IS A FREE EVENT, JUST MAKE SURE YOU GRAB YOUR FREE GUEST PASS ON OUR WEBSITE AT:

https://www.ffreia.com/GuestPass.aspx?ID=1d902733-a198-4801-...

Join us at our main monthly meeting - networking focused with a short educational segment. Show up any time after 5:30 for networking and refreshments, stay for our speaker at 7 and hang out for more networking until they kick us out!

Income tax is a significant expense for most Americans.  You've probably heard about the tax benefits of investing in real estate but what does it really mean?

This month, our special guest Chris Sardone, CPA will deliver a short tax update for real estate investors and engage with a live Q and A with our attendees.

Some of the updates Chris will be delivering are:

- Common misconceptions surrounding 1031 exchanges.
- Update on current depreciation strategies.
- Changes to contributions to Self Directed IRAs.

Our meet up is a little different at FFREIA - Freedom First Real Estate Investors Association.  We don't want to just help you up your real estate IQ but we want you to have fun and build new relationships in the process!  So most of our events are dedicated to networking.

FFREIA is the largest most active National chapter of REIA West of Albany. We have consistently over 100 people at each of our meetups. So whether you are looking for mentors, private lenders, or simply just trying to find your tribe, you are bound to find life changing connections!

Agenda:

5:30PM - Networking Start
6:15PM - Pizza & Refreshments
7PM - Speaker
7:45PM - more Networking!