All Forum Posts by: Luke Miller

Hey @Matthew W Croulet you're talking about syndications or joint ventures. Both will allow you to partner and raise money, but there are big differences. Learning how to structure the deal properly and raise money will protect you and your investors. 

I'd recommend you start with this book: Best Ever Apartment Syndication Book by Joe Fairless and Theo Hicks. 

@Thomas Wang hi neighbor! Where are your rentals here in Colorado? 

The expense of Colorado's market was what initially made me start looking out of state. Seems like you have an idea of what you want to be looking at. Are you looking for passive investments or looking to actively purchase and manage? 

For active, i'd recommend Kansas City, Tulsa, Oklahoma City, and a few others. Cash flow is great and entry point is low. 

For more passive investing, i'd recommend getting hooked up with a good sponsor and investing in multifamily syndications. Take it with a grain of salt (it's what I do), but the returns can be great and the time investment is low.

Hi @Tom Sharkey sounds like you/your friend found an opportunity. Did you say that squatters have been in there for decades? That's crazy! Why hasn't he evicted them sooner? That's a lot of lost income.

I would personally approach his father with a seller financing agreement. Purchase the house, use a private/hard money loan to rehab it, get it rented up and then refinance it out into long-term debt. You will be able to find someone to lend you money, but I doubt it will be easy. It's more about the deal at that point. 

I've house hacked in Denver and, while it's not like you'll be making a ton of money, you can subsidize your rent. I think most people buying here are taking a risk by buying holds that will have to be longer term to come out ahead. Basically banking on appreciation to get you out. 

The other option is to Airbnb a guest house. This is something that i'm considering down the road, but don't have the time to right now. 

Sorry, I should have been more specific. Other owners in the association have voting rights as well as HOA rights (depending on how it's structured). That's why most people shy away from buy and hold condos, but with the majority vote you should be covered for most assessments and other expensive problems.

@Robin Casper what's your exit strategy? If you're forcing appreciation on these and it is truly in the path of progress, then you should be able to spread that risk out among the entire portfolio. Over paying for one property to own the whole block doesn't seem like the worst thing for me, but I have no idea what Syracuse is like. It's certainly more of a speculative play, but if the zoning is flexible and the City will work with you on back taxes, it seems like a good deal. The only hesitation would be banking on the City for funds. Those projects, especially if they are federal, are under more scrutiny right now. 

@Eric L. he has (or had) his own podcast filled with tons of useful information. 

@Kevin Danikowski the unforeseen risk is that you're hitching your wagon to an already existing business. That business has a track record and it can be good or bad. In addition to property due diligence, you need to really dive into the condo association and figure out what the liabilities are. If you own the majority, it means nothing other than you have the majority votes. There's still outside people that will have influence over your investment. 

However, if everything in the past points to a solid investment, having a majority vote is huge and should get you out of most assessment problems. I've known a couple of people that have bought condos and done just fine. I would highly suggest not running the association yourself, hire an HOA management company and take that off your plate.

@Eric L. To start, nothing is out of of your reach financially if you have the education and network. If it's truly a good deal, you'll be able to find someone to help you (think Syndication or JVs). 

If you're truly interested in the property then you need to get in front of this person. Find their contact information and call them. Seller financing is a tough thing for seller's to wrap their heads around. I would start by listening to @Erik Stark's podcast from Bigger Pockets. He has a seller financing book that he gives to potential sellers. I found it to be so powerful that I made my own and it worked well. 

Either way, if it is a good deal you owe it to yourself to pursue it. 

@Mitchell Handley Do you have a deal in mind? You might want to have an attorney review the PPM with you to tell you exactly how that's going to play out. 

Like @Brian Burke said, there's investors that seek out unsophisticated investors to line their pocketbooks with unnecessary fees and structures. However, don't be scared off because the operator is making money either, you want the person managing the deal to make money, just ensure that your goals are aligned and they aren't profiting when you aren't.