All Forum Posts by: Steve K.

@Zachary Zinn thanks for the input... The inside flows well, the 3rd bedroom in the house is now the hallway leading up to the addition... We are thinking of converting that addition into the master bedroom, here are some pictures of the inside.

Syndication and HML are great options. From my observation, hard money lending seems to require more industry knowledge and deal volume than syndication passive investing - but I say that as a syndicator and passive syndication investor, without HML experience.

For syndications, I like "What Every Real Estate Investor Needs to Know About Cash Flow... And 36 Other Key Financial Measures" By Frank Gallinelli, which can be found on Amazon. It'll be a breeze to read for a tech guy and it'll give your friend a solid introduction to the financial side of commercial real estate.

Jeremy Roll is a great guy to follow. He is a professional passive investor and has a ton of knowledge. Super nice guy.

Brian Burke from Praxis Capital is another fantastic font of knowledge on syndications. He's an active syndicator with significant experience, before and after the GFC in 2008. It'd probably be a good use of time to just read every post he writes, and see if your buddy can get a few minutes with him to chat on the phone.

I would also recommend that you and your buddy go to every single local real estate networking event you can get to. Pick a few to become regulars at and always go.

Another option for your friend is turnkey residential properties. 

To be honest, it can be very difficult to lead the retired horse to passive income water. If he's not open to it you could be banging your head against the wall.

@Sondra Tapper When I started investing about 15 years ago I only invested money that I was ok losing if things ever went seriously south. The way I looked at it was if I lost it I would have my entire lifetime to save it back because it was just sitting in a savings account anyway. 

Thank you, Sam! I could certainly be actively involved in a reno/rehab.  If it were in my area, I have connections for contractors and handymen. 

I know eventually, I want to get into large commercial apartment buildings and corp. offices, but I only have so much money to start now.  If I were to jump into a syndicate, my biggest concern is tieing up all my capital in one deal.  Thoughts?

 Even some podcast guests have been accused of taking advantage of investors. People need to understand that neither BP or really no website is vetting people. 

You have to do your own due diligence in all aspects of business. I had a friend recommend a local investment that turned out to be a total scam. It was an organic fish farm - sounds boring and hardly what you would expect from a scam. The people running the scam had a nice office and smooth pitch. They targeted dentists and doctors, then used that as credibility for getting other investors. Saying "Doctor XYZ invested" as a way to lend credibility. Ultimately it turned out the two founders were a total fraud. They had lied about relationships and even their college credentials was a lie. They had not paid rent on the office space for months. If any of the investors had just made a couple phone calls, they would have been caught earlier. All they had in the end was a fancy PowerPoint and a high rent office down town.

Funny thing about targeting dentists and doctors (watch the movie Boiler Room) is that you have smart people, who are usually not financially smart, but have big egos. The scammer uses their intelligence and pride to talk them into things. They play off the ego by saying things like, "well you understand how these things work". So instead of the doctor or dentist saying, "no, I have no idea, please explain" they will usually just agree. This leaves high income professionals as a major "mark" for scammers.

Me personally, I am never ashamed to admit when I don't understand. I am the annoying guy in the audience that has ten questions at the end of the presentation. Every time people walk up to me afterwords and say, "I am glad you asked those questions, I didn't understand it either".

I am so grateful for y'alls time and advice. I appreciate it greatly!!