All Forum Posts by: Tamiel Kenney

Hi Ian! Mark and I are from Michigan and our families are still there. We have owned multi-units in Michigan before and we do not buy in Michigan anymore.  One of the main reasons is that it is not landlord friendly. When we buy properties (now we only focus on 150+ units) it must be in a Market with job growth, population growth and  be landlord friendly.  Thank you for reaching out to me with this opportunity.  I truly appreciate it.

@Sean Kirkham  Absolutley.

@Harry Sevin Hi Harry!  I live in a Dallas, TX and buy large Multifamily Apartments.  Do u have specific questions regarding MF Investing?  I would like to help if I can.

Hi Lee, You could consider being part of a Syndication which buys larger apartment complexes. You could find someone who has done it and JV partner with them, if you want to be hands-on and learn that role...or you can just invest passively and sit back and collect the dividend checks. If you choose to move in this direction, read everything you can on syndication and listen to podcasts. It is a bit different than Multi-Family Residential...anything over 5 units is considered Multi-Family Commercial. When you are looking at buying 100+ units (in general) you want to look at a property management company to do the day to day management and You or your partner will be the Asset Manager...to make sure your goals/plans for the complex are being met and basically to make sure the management company is doing what they should be doing. This is definitely NOT a Passive Role...but if you have a passion for it...You will enjoy it. If not, Passive investing is the way to go. $50k-$100k is the typical minimum buy in for a syndication.

If you decide to move in this direction...please let me know if there are any questions I can answer for you.

This business is exciting and I am excited for you as your explore ways to grow!

I have spent a lot of time analyzing deals and I would agree with @Chris Grenzig that 50% is actually a pretty accurate rule of thumb to determine if we should look at a deal further.

@Blake Jarrett We primarily focus on Class B & C, but have pursued some Class A. While maintenance costs can be lower, it is very common that payroll will be much higher than Class B & C. And, taxes will also be much higher. So, on the deals we have analyzed, I have found that 50% is still a pretty good rule of thumb. It is not perfect, but does let us quickly sift through a lot of deals.

Mark Kenney

@Chris Grenzig

@James Caruso Welcome, James! My husband Mark worked IT for many years doing SAP consulting and custom app development. We started purchasing real estate over 20 years ago, but always as a side gig. Mark started his own IT company which did quite well, but it was still a beating and did not provide passive income. So, he left IT and we started acquiring larger multifamily real estate. We took an income hit initially, but it is the best decision we have ever made.

There are certainly things to deal with in real estate, but in my opinion it is much better than IT. There is a lot more flexibility and you truly can build passive income that keeps coming in. Mark was making good money with his IT company, so it took a bit to get the income up to what we were making with his IT company…but all is going great and we have 1300 units and another 454 closing this month.

Just remember though…you need to really like real estate because you will be trading one job for another. That is not to discourage you, but just to let you know it can be a lot of work if you want to go fast. You will have challenges, but we absolutely love it!

I would say figure out your goals and then determine what you need to reach the goal. Partner up with others if you can because you can go a lot faster that way. 

So...I cannot vote from my Mac (no icon), but I can vote from my phone.

The other thing to consider for multifamily is…you will likely want to engage a 3rd party professional mgt. company. This can vary, but as a general rule, this is typically approx. $1,100/unit/year. So, for 100 units, it would cost you $100k. But, as long as you account for this on your pro forma then you are good. This is one of the major advantages to buying a larger property…you get to engage others to run the day-to-day while you can focus on finding new deals.

Note: For Utilities…it is not uncommon in some areas to implement RUBS (Ratio Utility Billing System) whereby you bill back tenants for the utilities.

On the topic of gurus…

There are a lot of gurus out there and we have taken a lot of training on multifamily. We are syndicators ourselves and have been involved with gurus in the past. We have had good ones and some that are not so good. For the good ones, I have no issue paying them and in some cases a lot of money because I make it back quickly. But, the good ones are hard to find.

We started doing our own real estate training because we have found there are too many people that spend all kinds of money and end up still not having a clue what to do and/or having a guru that takes their money and then are no longer available. This is what gives gurus a bad name and rightfully so!

Our goal is to share information and we don’t hold back on that…anything we know, we share with others. We want people to be educated because it helps everyone.

I would highly recommend before you join any program...

Ask how many personal students do they have? Some groups limit this to a small number so you know you are actually getting what you paid for. Other groups have a lot of students (sometimes in the hundreds) for one guru.

I would ask…have they ever kicked anyone out of their group and if so, why? Have people ever left their group and if so, why?

Ask others how responsive the guru is and if anyone has ever lost a deal due to the guru not being responsive.

Make sure you understand the RULES of any group (written or unwritten, that are expected to be followed) - and that they support your personal business plan.

Can multiple students go after the same deal?

Do they teach by talking or by having you actually do?

It is a small world out there, so ask around before you pay a guru any money. 

I totally agree hiring professionals is a must. But...lenders do not necessarily look at deals the same way an investor does.

There are a lot of agents out there, but they are not all good. 

If you are trying to purchase larger assets, I personally feel it is imperative that you understand all aspects yourself and don't just rely on other professionals.  Because...how do you know what you are being told is reasonable?

Also, if you hire a professional Mgt company, you need to make sure they are operating efficiently.  There are plenty of stories of 3rd party professional management companies being deceitful.

Overall...becoming knowledgeable in all aspects of Multifamily will become critical for your success. 

Hi Lennon!!! We have over 1300 units (Apartments) with 454 more closing this month... mostly in Dallas and the new one in Atlanta. We are more than capable of doing deals on our own without a partner...but we really like the acronym T.E.A.M. (together everyone achieves more). Have you had any multifamily education? In general, JV partners each bring something to the table such as...

(1) Broker Relationships for the deal flow

(2) Investor Relationships for the money flow

(3) Knowledge or connections in a desirable market that your JV Partner does not currently have

(4) Your own capital

(5) Lender experience such as Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, etc.

(6) Strong deal analysis skills

Happy Networking!!

Tamiel