All Forum Posts by: Theo Hicks

Start your own meetup group!

Offer furnished units

Location/view premiums

Clubhouse rental

Appliance rentals

bike rack rental

Dog washing station

Install and lease a billboard

Lots of great advice on this thread on how to find a market. 

However, in order to put together an apartment syndication, you are going to need an experienced team and passive investors. And you are going to have a hard time attracting passive investor and proving to team members that you can close on an apartment deal if you lack multifamily investing experience. It is possible, but difficult. 

I would complete a few smaller MF deals first and then leverage that experience and success to raise capital. Then, you can worry about selecting an apartment market. 

The costs of syndication typically don't make sense on smaller deals (10 to 20 units and below). As others have said, JV would be the ideal structure, which means that the investors would need to have a defined, ongoing, active role in the project.

@Neal Bawa what are the major differences when underwriting student housing compared to a regular apartment community?

@Dennis Johnson Think in terms of their interests and how you will help them achieve their financial goals.

@Steven Foster Wilson If you syndicate a deal, you will be a general partner. The amount of cash flow and equity you receive is entirely negotiable. A common structure is to offer a preferred return to the investors (limited partners) and then profits above the preferred return are split between the LP and GP. 8% preferred return and a 50/50 split is common.

@Allyssa McCleery Thanks for ordering the book and for being a loyal best ever listener. If you have any more specific questions, feel free to send me a DM.

Having verbal commitments from investors before doing a deal is beneficial for those two reasons you laid out: 1) won't miss out on those fast moving deals and 2) have more credibility with brokers, lenders, property managers, etc. Also, you need to know how much money you are capable of raising in order to know what sized deals you can pursue.

I know of a few syndicators who do what you are referring to - they will sponsor the deal for a % stake in the GP. But I am not 100% sure about whether they monitor the deal. Now, if you hire a mentor, you will have access to their connections and expertise. They won't monitor the deal per say, but you will have access to them so that you can ask them questions to help you navigate the gray areas. At the end of the day, you should know how to asset manage a deal (or have someone on your team that can asset manage the deal) before you do your first syndication. The mentor/sponsor is just there to help you manage the deal more effectively.

@Dennis Johnson thanks for listening to the podcast. If you have any other specific questions, feel free to reply on this forum or send me a DM.

@Jorjio Hopkins Exactly. Don't pigeon hole yourself with one of anything (mortgage broker, commercial broker, property management company, etc.). Every deal is difference, therefore every deal will thrive with a different combination of team members. Build relationships with at least 3 mortgage brokers so that you have at least 3 quotes for every deal.