All Forum Posts by: Tamiel Kenney

@Kevin Jorgensen Just sent you a message... You need to accept my colleague request in order for me to send you the attachment.  Looking forward to connecting...

@Edward Opong I would say start reading books on Apartment Investing.  This will help give you an idea on the steps and what to look for in a market (what makes a good market for apartments), etc.  You don't have to think small.  It is just as much work to buy a 20 unit as it is to buy a 200 unit.  In a good market, there is just as much competition for that 20 unit as there is for a 200 unit.  One main difference is if you want to go big and use other people's money (I suggest in addition to your own), you will need to find an experienced partner for your first couple of deals...as you will not be able to get a Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac loan on your own.  

A few great books worth the read:  

Trump University Commercial Real Estate 101: How Small Investors Can Get Started and Make It Big

Lindahl, David

The ABCs of Real Estate Investing: The Secrets of Finding Hidden Profits Most Investors Miss (Rich Dad's Advisors (Paperback))

McElroy, Ken

Rich Dad's Advisors: OPM: How to Attract Other People's Money for Your Investments--The Ultimate Leverage

Michael A. Lechter

The Advanced Guide to Real Estate Investing: How to Identify the Hottest Markets and Secure the Best Deals (Rich Dad's Advisors (Paperback))

McElroy, Ken

Multi-Family Millions: How Anyone Can Reposition Apartments for Big Profits (This one has steps to investing in Apartments)

Lindahl, David

Hope this helps Edward!  These books above are great starting points for anyone interested in expanding their knowledge or getting started in apartments.

Kenneth Noronha - Hi Kenneth! Real Estate Investing is a relationship business. I encourage you to stay in school for now and develop good relationships with your engineer classmates. You can still work on real estate while you are in school. If the real estate business takes off, then u could certainly consider doing it full time. Staying in school is a personal decision. Having a degree is very helpful on paper, but reality is most of us use very little or nothing of what we learned in college. Real world experience is much more valuable, but you can get that on the side while you are in school. A few points... 1) You typically need money to be a real estate investor or you need to find others that have money. (2) Read books and listen to everything you can on real estate investing to see what investment type interests you: Single Family, Multifamily, Storage, Commercial, etc. The Real Estate Guys Radio is a great resource...in addition to Bigger Pockets! (3) Attend local REIA meetings and conferences (4) Zig Ziglar said "if you can help enough people get what they what, you will eventually get what you want." The idea of this is Learn to be Others-Minded. When you are building relationships and networking...find out what their goals are. Is there anything that you can do to help them? Is there a connection to someone you already know that might be able to help them? (5) Learn about syndication - Using other people's money - to pool together with yours - to buy larger properties that you normally would not have been able to buy. You will need a track record before you can do this. I encourage you to stay in school for now and build strategic relationships and learn as much as you can on the side about investing until you can start to transition from the rat race to your passion of real estate investing. Good luck! Tami

@Kevin Jorgensen @Nishant George  Syndication is very common.  We syndicate deals in Dallas and Atlanta with 1750 apartment units currently.  Syndication allows people to pool together money to buy a larger investment that is otherwise unobtainable, by teaming up with people who already have experience and other investors who just wish to have passive income. This being said, you definitely want to do your research on the lead investor/syndicator, know the kind of return you are looking for an investment and study the markets that you are interested in investing.  The Real Estate Guys say "Live where you want, but invest where the deals make sense."  

Markets that we look at have the following:  population growth, job growth, landlord friendly, low cost of living, city investment/re-development... 

We like Texas as a whole (we live in Dallas), but Houston, San Antonio are great markets...Austin is great, just higher priced.  We also like Atlanta, GA and have been looking in Tennessee as well.  I know some syndicators are doing well in OH and OK too.

You could find a local REIA (Real Estate Investing Association) and attend their meetings. Research BP on syndication to learn what you can about it before you decide to invest your money with someone else. Also, if you want to learn more about Apartments (not just the small multi-units)...research the forums on Apartments. There is a lot of great information on BP to get most of your questions answered.

If you decide to get involved as a passive investor with a syndicator, feel free to reach out to me.  We can send you a list of questions that you can ask a syndicator. 

Good Luck!

We have purchased SF to larger MF and now have 1750 units. There is no question that management fees will be less when you purchase larger MF properties…approx. half. The capital expenditure costs depend on the property you are purchasing. The one advantage for MF is you have one location so expenses will typically be less….also, if you are buying in volume, you will get a better price. If you have a large enough property, you will have full time employees in the office and maintenance. So, you can likely use the in-house maintenance team for some of the capex work and typically using in-house is much less expensive

I would agree with Jackson that MF is harder. I don’t think it is harder due to it being complicated…it is harder because as Jackson mentioned, you are buying from an investor and you are buying a business which will likely have more competition and a more educated seller.

It typically takes much longer to get a MF from beginning to close when compared to SF.

All in all, I would always choose MF over SF, but there is nothing wrong with SF.

@Benton Moss.  For due diligence...just remember, this is not just the physical asset.  It also includes things such as lease audit, review of contracts you will assume, etc.  There are many pieces to due diligence and I would not necessarily say there is one thing that would be a deal breaker.  The main thing is...if you get through due diligence and you update your projections...if the deal no longer works and the seller is not willing to provide a credit, then you are best to walk away.  This is a hard thing to do after you have invested time and money, but it is the best thing to do in the long run.  

For Financing...There are many options for financing and you really need to look at deal-by-deal. For example, if the property is not performing well yet, you might consider a bridge loan. You might consider HUD, but in my opinion, you should only do this if you have someone in your group that knows what they are doing. There are a lot of pros (better leverage, lower rates, longer amo) to HUD loans, but there are also some downsides such as more reporting, can only provide distributions 2 times a year, higher replacement reserve. Banks vs Agency...banks typically also have lower leverage than Agency. If you have not done much in the financing area, it would be really good to work with a mortgage broker who can help you. If you are looking for a mortgage broker, we have a couple we can recommend.

@Benton Moss 

We have purchased various sized of real estate from SF to larger MF and now have 1750 units. We do look at other CRE such as self storage. We love all real estate, but the one reason we like MF is because it meets one of the most basic needs of shelter. All things being equal, I would pay for my apartment before I paid for an office that I rent.

You might never feel comfortable making the jump until you actually make the jump. The fact is, we get nervous on deals and I personally think you should get a little nervous because it shows you care.

There is really no reason to wait before you go to MF. You can just as easily start with MF provided you get educated.

Financing…there are many options. We prefer to go with agency (Fannie or Freddie) if we can as this provides non-recourse and high leverage. You can get as creative as you want to, but the reality is once you start purchasing larger properties, you generally are not going to find many sellers willing to provide seller financing, so don’t plan on it.

Make sure you engage a good 3rd party due diligence team to inspect the property. You will want to make sure the 3rd party company provides estimates for any repairs.

One thing I wish we knew…go bigger quicker. It is just as much work to purchase a 20 units as it is to purchase a 300 unit property.

@Karen Harris  My husband bought his 1st duplex just before we were married, with his twin brother. We married when I was 20...so I have pretty much always known about Real Estate Investing.  Reach out if you have any questions as you start to listen to podcasts and follow the forums.  

Karen Harris Hi Karen! My husband and I do Real Estate Investing together. He was an IT guy...We started off buying 1-4 unit properties when we were married 22 years ago. We did not like being landlords or handymen/women. It was done as a 2nd job for both of us. I could not understand his IT business and basically it was over my head. As the years past, we had all of our money in stocks which we lost a lot in 2008. A few years back we started off passively investing in Apartments (100+ units). Now we syndicate our own deals (group purchasing with other investors)...where we are the active investor and our group of investors are all passive. This could be an option for you, to invest passively - (make sure u know the numbers and the lead investor before you do). We pay our investors a dividend check quarterly...based on the amount they invested. Some people pay out monthly. If this interests you...look at BP Forums on Syndication and Passive Investing. The Real Estate Guys Radio is another great Podcast to listen to. They hold 2 Syndication events a year and have a pretty big following - as their culture and integrity in the group is amazing! If you know what your husband currently invests in...it might be a good idea to learn a little about that so that you can make compare/contrast statements every now and then...so he can understand REI (real estate investing) based off his current knowledge of investing in general. Good Luck! Marriage is challenging no matter how long we have been married. Finding something that you both can do together or be passionate about together is key I think. Doing this business with my husband has increased my confidence significantly and increased his respect me significantly as well. We love what we do and that we can do it together!

@Jeff Banky  HI Jeff!!  "The Real Estate Guys" are a great source for syndication and sales training.  They also have a great Culture within their group and events that are like no other.  We have found that having integrity and authenticity are paramount in this industry, as with most industries, and they have both!  They have a very "Abundant" mindset (meaning they believe that there is more than enough to go around and that competition is actually a "good thing").  They definitely talk against the "typical guru" for a reason! Gurus may preach integrity and Abundance...but do your due diligence and keep your guard up when evaluating who to give your money to.  I wish you Good luck as you begin your search!