CREI Partners: Recent Episodes
CREI Partners
In today’s episode of The Untold Stories of Real Estate Investing, host Wayne Courreges III speaks with Mike Mannino II. Over the past 9 years, Mike has built a business that bought, fixed, and flipped over 80 homes and owns 60+ rentals by the age of 30. He has created multiple companies that generate over $1M per year in revenue.
He’s the founder of Real Estate Wealth Builders at REWBuilders.com, an educational company that helps real estate investors quickly scale their real estate business.
Topics on Today’s Episode: * Introduction to guest Mike Mannino II and his journey in real estate investing. Discussion of the critical importance of mindset. * Mike's early success, buying a house at 19 to renovate and house hack. He sold the house at 21 and chose to reinvest the equity in fix and flip homes. * Wayne relates discipline and going against the grain to invest in the future, during his time the Marine Corps. * Goal setting is important for both personal and business aspects. The feeling of achieving a goal feeds the next goal. Humans avoid pain more than seek pleasure, so the feeling of not achieving the goal is very motivating as well. * Mike's passion for retiring his father and already achieving a $100K/year goal for him. * Mike discusses his standardized pricing sheet and uniform set of decisions for each fix and flip property-same cabinets, floors, trim, paint color, etc. Defined process saves time and money for each flip. * Profiling key members of Mike's team, including his partner David and office manager Olivia and 3 construction crews. Mike’s goal to help others is manifested through helping them achieve higher income to support their families. * The inception of REWBuilders.com, Mike's real estate educational platform. Free resources and Facebook group are available on the website. * REWBuilders live event in Florida for networking and learning about various types of real estate investing. * Overview of Mike's nine years in real estate: flipping 80 houses and acquiring 60+ rentals. * Insights into flipping houses and the difference between being rich and being wealthy. Mike states that flipping single-family homes built cashflow, but multi-family helped him achieve financial freedom. * Leverage people that are in places you want to be. Learn from and partner with those who have done the thing you want to do, to reach your goals. * Mike and Wayne share the importance of focus and overcoming fears in real estate. * The conversation on building wealth over time and the significance of setting achievable goals. * Mike’s proudest moment was achieving his goal to retire his dad with $100k in income per year. * Wayne's gratitude for the conversation and a teaser for an upcoming podcast on entrepreneurial mindset. * Get more info from Mike through the free resources on REWBuilders.com and by joining his active Facebook group.
Links and Resources: Mike Mannino II https://www.rewbuilders.com/
https://www.facebook.com/MikeManninoII
CREI Partnershttps://www.creipartners.com
https://www.passiveinvestorcoaching.com
linktr.ee/creipartners
In today’s episode of The Untold Stories of Real Estate Investing, host Wayne Courreges III speaks with Mike Mannino II. Over the past 9 years, Mike has built a business that bought, fixed, and flipped over 80 homes and owns 60+ rentals by the age of 30. He has created multiple companies that generate over $1M per year in revenue.
He’s the founder of Real Estate Wealth Builders at REWBuilders.com, an educational company that helps real estate investors quickly scale their real estate business.
Topics on Today’s Episode: * Introduction to guest Mike Mannino II and his journey in real estate investing. Discussion of the critical importance of mindset. * Mike's early success, buying a house at 19 to renovate and house hack. He sold the house at 21 and chose to reinvest the equity in fix and flip homes. * Wayne relates discipline and going against the grain to invest in the future, during his time the Marine Corps. * Goal setting is important for both personal and business aspects. The feeling of achieving a goal feeds the next goal. Humans avoid pain more than seek pleasure, so the feeling of not achieving the goal is very motivating as well. * Mike's passion for retiring his father and already achieving a $100K/year goal for him. * Mike discusses his standardized pricing sheet and uniform set of decisions for each fix and flip property-same cabinets, floors, trim, paint color, etc. Defined process saves time and money for each flip. * Profiling key members of Mike's team, including his partner David and office manager Olivia and 3 construction crews. Mike’s goal to help others is manifested through helping them achieve higher income to support their families. * The inception of REWBuilders.com, Mike's real estate educational platform. Free resources and Facebook group are available on the website. * REWBuilders live event in Florida for networking and learning about various types of real estate investing. * Overview of Mike's nine years in real estate: flipping 80 houses and acquiring 60+ rentals. * Insights into flipping houses and the difference between being rich and being wealthy. Mike states that flipping single-family homes built cashflow, but multi-family helped him achieve financial freedom. * Leverage people that are in places you want to be. Learn from and partner with those who have done the thing you want to do, to reach your goals. * Mike and Wayne share the importance of focus and overcoming fears in real estate. * The conversation on building wealth over time and the significance of setting achievable goals. * Mike’s proudest moment was achieving his goal to retire his dad with $100k in income per year. * Wayne's gratitude for the conversation and a teaser for an upcoming podcast on entrepreneurial mindset. * Get more info from Mike through the free resources on REWBuilders.com and by joining his active Facebook group.
Links and Resources: Mike Mannino II
https://www.rewbuilders.com/
https://www.facebook.com/MikeManninoII
CREI Partners
https://www.creipartners.com
https://www.passiveinvestorcoaching.com
linktr.ee/creipartners
In today’s episode of The Untold Stories of Real Estate Investing, host Wayne Courreges III speaks with Tom Dunkle about the secrets of self-storage investing. After building a business in the distressed mortgage market, Tom and his partner sought an opportunity with increased stability and growth. Investing in distressed self-storage facilities has provided an amazing opportunity.
Tom Dunkel is the Chief Investment Officer of Belrose Storage Group LLC and brings over 27 years of real estate, finance and investment experience to the table. Working alongside his world-class team of professionals, Tom makes it his mission to find great investment opportunities for his clients while helping them meet their wealth-building goals.
Tom manages the firm’s financial underwriting, playing a critical role in creating win-win deal structures that ensure achievable investor returns. In addition, he works closely with private investors to communicate about new acquisitions and investing opportunities, as well as report on the progress of current investments.
Topics on Today’s Episode: * Introduction to Tom Dunkel and his background in real estate investment. * The focus of Bellrose Storage Group is on acquiring underperforming self-storage facilities. * Overview of the self-storage industry and its stability over the years. * Discussing remote management and contracted call centers for self-storage facilities. * Factors that contribute to the demand for self-storage, including both good and bad times. Home sales can drive traffic for retail self-storage, so during this time of low residential turnover, Tom is shifting focus to more stable commercial clients. * Utilizing social media advertising, such as Facebook geo ads, to target specific demographics. * Value-add opportunities in self-storage investing, including renovations, security upgrades, and management efficiency. * Interest rates and exit cap rates in self-storage deals. * The potential increase in properties coming on the market, due to capital stack distress. * Targeting specific markets and customers in the self-storage business. Shifting focus to commercial customers offers a variety of benefits. People using storage units for their business are more likely to pay on time and be long term clients. * The process of dealing with non-payment of rent and virtual auctions in self-storage facilities. Delinquencies are much lower cost and easier to turnover than multifamily evictions. * Building relationships with neighbors and communities for goodwill and to understand the market and their needs. * Risks and challenges in the self-storage asset class, including market shifts and control over variables. * The importance of grit and overcoming challenges in real estate investing. * Tom’s proudest moment: Building a successful, self-sustaining team. Tom’s goal is closing a deal without direct involvement, showcasing team growth.
Links and Resources: Tom Dunkel
Belrose Storage Group, LLC - Self Storage Investing
tom@belroseam.com
Belrose Storage Group - Facebook
Belrose Storage Group - Instagram
CREI Partners
https://www.creipartners.com
https://www.passiveinvestorcoaching.com
linktr.ee/creipartners
In today’s episode of The Untold Stories of Real Estate Investing, host Wayne Courreges III chats with the legendary Joel Friedland. Joel is a seasoned industrial real estate professional with an impressive track record spanning over 40 years. Joel takes us on a journey through his vast experience in the Chicago area, where he has visited a staggering 15,000 out of 16,000 buildings. Throughout the conversation, we delve into Joel's unique investment approach, his strategies for mitigating risk, and his insights on the current real estate market.
With over four decades of experience in industrial real estate, Joel leverages extensive brokerage expertise to lead conservative yet profitable syndications. After co-founding and growing Epic/Savage Realty Partners, a 60+ professional firm to successful exit, he founded Brit Properties. Joel has brokered over $250 million in transactions through valued long-term relationships.
Joel’s syndication approach uniquely utilizes 0% debt for principal conservation while targeting 8%+ cash returns. Having navigated the Great Recession, he employs a cautious strategy informed by cycles. For his investors, Joel delivers reliable cashflow, upside potential, and mitigated risk through dedication to the asset class and prudent deal structuring. His investments draw on a proven track record of 2,000+ industrial leases and sales totaling hundreds of millions acquired. Joel continually refined his real estate acumen over decades to create wealth for partners.
Joel attended the University of Michigan. He enjoys playing golf and spending time with his family, particularly his 3 young grandchildren.
Topics on Today’s Episode: * Introducing Joel Friedland, an experienced Real Estate investor with extensive experience in Chicago. * Friedland's focus is on mitigating drastic loss for investors through diligent and debt-free operations. * He offers insights into his investment preferences, such as smaller, older manufacturing buildings over large warehouse buildings. Defining your niche helps focus your efforts. * Friedland shares an example of a lucrative investment in downtown Chicago. * He discusses his unique approach to finding an 8% return on investment. * Friedland recommends investors diversify their investments, capping at 5% of their net worth with him. * He reveals his acquisition strategy, which involves buying properties from families experiencing internal transitions. * Friedland and Wayne discuss the importance of strong partnerships in the brokerage and real estate business. * They highlight the necessity of having a well-organized back office with efficient bookkeeping/accounting and property management. * Outsourcing, specifically in property management, is advised for individuals more attuned to sales. * Friedland's unique real estate investment strategy involving seller financing is discussed in detail. * Target investors for Joel are described, focusing on affluent older individuals. * Friedland emphasizes the approach of minimizing risk in investments. * As an investor, evaluating your own risk tolerance can guide you toward investment decisions that fit your needs and goals best. * Friedland's investment successes are highlighted, with narratives from successful collaborations. * Wayne and Joel both stress the importance of knowing an investor’s risk tolerance and how to mitigate risks to protect maximum returns. * The podcast ends with contact information for Joel Friedland and his company, Britt Properties. * Wayne introduces CREI Partners and the concept and benefits of passive Real Estate investing. * Joel shares experiences and lessons drawn from the 2008 recession. * The episode completes with a discussion on the current real estate market condition and a cautionary note on a potential upcoming downturn. * A comparison of Joel's strategy to specialized surgery. * Joel's proudest moment with a satisfied investor.
Links and Resources: Joel Friedland
Brit Properties
Joel Friedland (@investingwithjoel) - Instagram
Brit Properties - YouTube
Joel Friedland - LinkedIn
CREI Partners
https://www.creipartners.com
https://www.passiveinvestorcoaching.com
linktr.ee/creipartners
In today’s episode of The Untold Stories of Real Estate Investing, host Wayne Courreges III speaks with Susan Geist who shares her expertise and tips for investors. She details how to put money back into investor’s pockets using the tax bucket approach. As someone who has achieved incredible success in building a portfolio generating five figures in passive income, Susan has invaluable insights into using strategic investment deductions to optimize your taxes and maximize your wealth.
A few years ago, Susan was taken aback by a huge federal tax bill. In response, she developed a 'tax bucket' strategy to map out her future tax planning. This approach enabled her to effortlessly visualize her income and tax obligations, ultimately revealing remarkable opportunities for substantial tax savings. Today, she consistently saves over $100,000 annually on her taxes. In this presentation, we will delve into Susan's tax-saving secrets. We'll learn how to categorize income into the IRS's three distinct buckets and discover deductions tailor-made for each bucket. Prepare to unlock the potential for substantial tax savings that put money back into your own pockets!
Topics on Today’s Episode: * Overview of the importance of tax planning and optimization in real estate investing. * Explanation of the tax bucket formula and its divisions (active, portfolio, passive). * Discussion of a client example named Meredith, who has income from a W-2 job and stocks. * Discussion of tax-advantaged accounts and real estate as tax-saving strategies. * Explanation of how short-term rentals can be classified as active businesses for tax write-offs. * Case study of a client generating a $120,000 loss in the first year through depreciation and expenses. * Importance of tax-savvy savings and the long-term impact of saving on taxes. * Example of using a backdoor Roth IRA to add to the active bucket and reduce taxes. * Benefit of being in the 0% tax rate for dividends and long-term capital gains. * Comparison of previous and current tax burdens for a client, resulting in significant savings. * Mention of other income benefits related to the Affordable Care Act, FAFSA, and Medicare. * Discussion of the potential future wealth growth through compounding.
Links and Resources: Susan Geist
https://www.risingfemmewealth.com/
risingfemmewealth@gmail.com
https://calendly.com/risingfemmewealth
https://www.linkedin.com/in/susan-geist
CREI Partners
https://www.creipartners.com
https://www.meetup.com/texas-multi-family-investor-meet-up/
https://www.passiveinvestorcoaching.com
https://www.facebook.com/creipartners
In today’s episode of The Untold Stories of Real Estate Investing, host Wayne Courreges III speaks with Dr. Rob Scranton. Dr. Rob is an expert in the field of infinite banking, a concept that revolutionizes the way we think about insurance policies and real estate investing.
Dr. Rob Scranton uses accounting and finance expertise to teach the Infinite Banking Concept, or IBC, for wealth growth. He shows how to leverage debt and expenses with this little-known strategy instead of traditional scrimping and saving.
Infinite Banking predates the IRS so wealth accumulated through it is protected from government seizure. Dr. Rob has achieved financial success with this method without compromising lifestyle or going frugal. It's about staying wealthy by preserving and growing your money. The wealthy use this 200-year-old strategy to keep more money rather than working more or taking on more risk.
Dr. Rob is passionate about sharing these strategies from family traditions, like how private banking saved his great grandparents' farm in the Great Depression as public banks failed. He explains why personal banking is critical now. If you want true wealth, learn the Infinite Banking Concept - Dr. Rob can help.
Topics on Today’s Episode: * The benefits of using overfunded, cash-heavy whole life insurance policies that pay dividends through mutual companies, for loans, cash growth, accumulation, and compounding. * The importance of structuring insurance policies properly for the infinite banking concept. * The mistake of going to just any insurance agent without considering their knowledge of structuring policies for IBC. * The advantage is for the client rather than the agent in setting up policies properly for the banking concept, so be aware of what you need and read the policies. * The benefits of the death benefit attached to these policies and how it continues to grow when policies are set up properly for banking purposes. * An example of a long-standing policy showcasing significant returns on investment. * The concept of getting a return of premium in addition to the upside of an insurance policy. * The company's partnership with other companies that have designed policies specifically for infinite banking. * Dr. Rob Scranton’s personal experiences and success with their banking system. * The limitations and requirements for policies based on age and income. * The ability to continue earning interest on the cash value even after taking out loans. * The option of passive investing in real estate, using these accounts, and the benefits it can bring. * The differences between term life insurance policies and whole life insurance policies. * The challenges and misconceptions surrounding infinite banking.
Links and Resources: Book Recommendation
Becoming Your Own Banker: Unlock the Infinite Banking Concept: R. Nelson Nash: 9780972631617: Amazon.com: Books
Rob Scranton
https://www.tiktok.com/@robertscranton4
yourfinancialiq.org – Have your money work for you
CREI Partners
https://www.creipartners.com
https://www.passiveinvestorcoaching.com
https://www.facebook.com/creipartners
In today’s episode of The Untold Stories of Real Estate Investing, host Wayne Courreges III talks to Tom Zeeb about using his proven techniques to find profitable real estate wholesale deals. Tom shares his strategies for finding and negotiating real estate deals for any exit strategy.
Back in 2001, Tom was broke as a joke. A near-death experience while whitewater rafting pushed him to find a new way to break free of his 9-to-5 job. His first "deal" almost took him under as well, but real estate investing saved him in the end. Both personally and financially.
Hundreds of deals later, he is happy to share the same negotiation, marketing, and business techniques that set him free, so you can do the same. Simple, structured, and step-by-step techniques that take you from spinning your wheels to making profitable deals.
Investors of all levels struggle with their businesses. Newbies want to get started, but often keep hitting the wall of confusion and spinning their wheels. Intermediate and advanced investors often find that they made a wrong turn and built a business they aren’t actually happy with, but don't know how to fix and re-engineer it.
Tom Zeeb works with real estate investors of all levels to get their business built (or re-built) correctly, so that their personal goals and lifestyle stay at the center of everything they do, giving them more money, time, and freedom to spend as they please.
Topics on Today’s Episode: * Tom’s experience in real estate investing and how it saved them both personally and financially. * The role of networking and building relationships in finding good investment opportunities. Real Estate investing is a team sport. * The use of public records and other resources to identify potential investment opportunities. Divorce, death, being an out of state owner, etc, are all available in public record and may lead to owners that are trying to sell their homes quickly This allows targeting with direct mail or other outreach. * If the sellers are distressed and need to sell, helping them by wholesaling or buying as an investment is a helpful act of service. * Sellers may not have time or money to sell their property in a more traditional way. Wholesaling can be a service to “buy and hold” rental investors, or rehab investors, to help them find appropriate deals. * Be sure to understanding assignable contracts and options in investment opportunities. * The importance of marketing, negotiation, and having an exit strategy in real estate investing. * The 3 P’s of negotiations: Pinpoint the problem and get to the deeper layers of the problem, Package deal that solves the problem, and Persuade them to accept it. * The science of negotiation defines how to get predictable responses. 3 Tips are given. * Reacting to a number introduces doubt. Flinch about the number, every number, to get the upper hand. Act surprised. * Meeting location: The fairest place to meet is in the middle in negotiations. Bracketing: set your initial high to engineer where the middle of the bracket is and help the seller feel like you gave something. * Specific numbers: Offer a very precise number ex. $203,579 rather than $200k. Helps seller feel the number is higher, that the buyer has tried to maximize the purchase price, and it sounds heavily considered and calculated. * Negotiating residential real estate can be more emotional and pride based. Negotiating commercial real estate is more fact and spreadsheet based. * The importance of having a mentor in real estate investing and the benefits they provide. * Tom’s proudest moment: After Tom requests testimonials from sellers, there can be unexpected answers that reinforce that he is helping them in big ways.
Links and Resources: Tom Zeeb
https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomaszeeb/
https://www.tomzeeb.com/
https://tractionrealestatementors.com/
https://tractionreia.com/
CREI Partners
https://www.creipartners.com/
https://www.facebook.com/creipartners
https://www.passiveinvestorcoaching.com/Enrollnow
In today’s episode of the Untold Stories of Real Estate Investing, host Wayne Courreges III talks to Jack Krupey who has truly mastered the art of value-add investing. Jack is a firm believer in the power of strategic investing and the incredible opportunities that exist in the real estate market. He has been able to build wealth, achieve tax deferral, and help countless individuals reach their financial goals through his unique coaching program and investment partnerships.
Jack Krupey is the principal and founder of JKAM Investments. He has been investing in both real estate and distressed debt since 2001. He has built long-term relationships with experienced real estate developers, sponsors, and syndicators over his 20-year career. Jack leveraged the 2008 financial crisis as part of a private equity fund that yielded impressive returns off of distressed and restructured debt. He repositioned properties as well as modified and restructured loans for borrowers.
In 2014, Jack entered into a partnership with a large private equity fund and led the asset management arm of the firm that made over 3 billion dollars in purchases of non-performing and re-performing mortgage debt between 2015 and 2019. An entrepreneur by nature, Jack decided to launch JK Asset Management and the JKAM Diversified RE Fund to focus on alternative assets such as value-add multifamily real estate.
Prior to beginning his real estate investment career, Jack graduated from Rochester Institute of Technology with a bachelor's in information technology. Jack graduated with a dual MBA from Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management and from Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.
Topics on Today’s Episode: * Jack’s journey from an IT consultant to real estate entrepreneur and financial freedom. * Missed opportunities in the rental market for investors who did not take advantage of recent rent surges. * Jack’s take on value-add strategy of renovating units and raising rents to increase net operating income and the value of the building. * The benefits of real estate investment in terms of generating positive cash flow, tax deferral, and building long-term wealth. * Many reasons to be bullish in today’s market, especially in Houston. * The number one metric to look at is still net operating income (NOI). Interest rates can move up and inflation can increase, but NOI is the one thing we can control and if you are hitting this metric, then you should be stable in the midst of any storm. * For individuals in high tax brackets, real estate investing can be a game-changer. Building long-term wealth and achieving tax deferral through real estate can be a powerful tool for retirement planning. * The importance of investing with good operators who have the financial means to execute projects effectively. * How concepts like depreciation, passive losses, and tax-deferred income, investors can strategically reduce their tax liability and generate positive cash flow. * Jack shares his insights and wealth of knowledge on evaluating distressed deals and investing in stabilized assets. * Today’s multifamily climate and potential risk with Class A assets. * The national housing shortage has opened huge investment opportunities in the class B multifamily market. Rents are still rising in today’s market at a rate of up to 10-15% per year. * The power of tax losses and tax-deferred income in real estate syndication. * Reinvesting profits into other deals to defer taxes and achieve tax efficiency. * Jack’s experiences in helping individuals transition into the real estate business and their focus on assisting individuals in finding passive income and non-traditional financial options. * Finding opportunities in multifamily build-to-rent communities and RV boat storage facilities. Real Estate 101 is finding ways to unlock value. * Resources and information are available, such as a Passive Investor Coaching Program, podcast, blogs, and an Investor Club on our website at CREIPartners.com.
Links and Resources: Jack Krupey
https://jkaminvestments.com
JKrupey@JKAssetManagement.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jackkrupey
https://www.facebook.com/jkaminvestments
CREI Partners
https://www.creipartners.com
https://www.passiveinvestorcoaching.com
https://www.facebook.com/creipartners
In today’s landmark 50th episode of The Untold Stories of Real Estate Investing, host Wayne Courreges III is excited to learn about international perspectives in real estate investing with Igor Shaltanov. Igor is the founder and managing partner of Avista Fund and is a former professional athlete who transitioned into successful entrepreneurship and real estate investment.
Guided by discipline and a relentless drive for excellence, Igor has founded and managed thriving companies and businesses in Southern California. In 2015, Igor ventured into real estate and established Avista Fund in 2020. This privately held firm focuses on raising capital from investors and investing in income-generating, value-add multifamily properties. Their mission is to provide local as well as international investors with access to US real estate, safeguarding and growing their wealth amidst high inflation rates in their local countries and currencies. They are currently serving as a limited partner to 17 different real estate deals, 3,050+ multifamily units, with a cumulative value of over $483.5MM. They prioritize conservative underwriting and meticulous due diligence, ensuring a prudent approach to investing while delivering value to both investors and residents.
Igor's professional journey exemplifies a relentless pursuit of excellence, supported by his values driven approach to business and investment. Through Avista Fund, he not only empowers investors but also makes a positive impact on the lives of residents and communities
Topics on Today’s Episode: * Introduction to Igor Shaltanov and his perspective on ownership in real estate investing. * Comparison of different cultural perspectives on ownership and property rights. * Encouragement to ask questions about the legal framework and potential risks in real estate investing. * Discussion on the value proposition of converting currency to American dollars. * Analysis of the depreciation of other currencies and the potential long-term value of investing in the US dollar. * Exploration of the fear of losing what has been earned or gained as a potential reason for lack of investment interest among groups of people from various parts of the world. * Speculation on the number of investors like Igor who are purchasing apartments in Russia, Ukraine, or passive investing in the United States. * Personal experience of leasing a single-family home in California, including difficulties and frustrations. * Appreciation for the multifamily space and its ability to cover expenses even with vacant units. * Importance of taking pause and not letting emotions get involved in real estate investments * Personal background of Igor as part of the professional water polo team and his worldwide travels. * Meeting Igor's wife in Turkey and their journey to starting a family. * Roller coaster nature of a career in sports and the discipline required to navigate it. * Exploration of the potential for social media and the world to create division and conflict. Questions about personal experiences challenge negative expectations and stereotypes in South Africa and Russia. * Reflection on Igor's proudest moment: finding a real estate idea with high return and low risk. * Discussion on the importance of holding value in something stable and predictable in an unpredictable world.
Links and Resources: Igor Shaltanov
Igor@avistafund.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/igor-shaltanov-13682b43/
https://www.instagram.com/igorshaltanov/
CREI Partners
https://www.creipartners.com/
https://www.facebook.com/creipartners
https://www.passiveinvestorcoaching.com/Enrollnow
In this episode of The Untold Stories of Real Estate Investing, host Wayne Courreges III invites Jeff Greenberg, the CEO of Synergetic Investment Group, to share his final thoughts on a fruitful real estate journey. Jeff Greenberg goes deep into transitioning from being a GP to focusing on raising funds and working with investors. He also discusses the customizable equity fund offered by SIG, its benefits, and its structure for passive investors.
Jeff Greenberg is the CEO and managing member of Synergetic Investment Group LLC, also known as SIG. With over 12 years of experience managing all aspects of commercial real estate ownership, including acquisitions, operations, value-add implementations, and dispositions, Jeff is a seasoned expert in the field. He's been involved in projects worth nearly $150M, consisting of over 2000 units, including student housing, and short-term rental and market-rate multifamily properties. Through the SIG Wealth Fund, Jeff provides high-net-worth individuals the opportunity to passively invest in commercial real estate. With his extensive experience and network, Jeff uses the best-in-class commercial deal syndicators to help investors discover and invest in high-quality alternative investments.
Topics on Today’s Episode: * Introducing Jeff Greenberg, CEO and managing member of Synergetic Investment Group, LLC (SIG). * Background and experience of Jeff Greenberg, highlighting projects worth nearly $150 million. * Discussion on recent changes in Jeff's investment strategy, including selling off assets and focusing on raising money and working with investors. * Introduction to SIG and its offering of a diversified and customizable equity fund for high-net-worth individuals. * Explanation of the private equity funds created by Jeff, allowing investors to decide whether or not to invest in each deal brought into the fund. * Insight into the benefits of the fund, including the ability for investors to self-diversify and choose deals based on their criteria and goals. * Details on the flexibility and customization of the fund, providing investors with the opportunity to have a say in their real estate investments. * Explanation of the one K-1 form issued to investors at the end of the year, regardless of the number of deals they are involved in. * Discussion on the advantages of a single K-1 form for investors, simplifying the tax reporting process. * Insights into Jeff's focus on transparency and communication with investors in the fund. * Highlight of the student housing property in Georgia that Jeff still owns as a testament to his ongoing investment success. * Examples of successful deals and projects that Jeff has been involved in, showcasing his expertise and track record. * Explanation of the opportunities for passive investors to grow wealth through real estate by investing in SIG's equity fund or with CREI Partners, LLC.
Links and Resources: Jeff Greenberg
jeff@synergeticig.com
https://www.synergeticig.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeff-greenberg-a9974411/
CREI Partners:
https://www.creipartners.com/
https://www.creipartners.com/podcasts/
https://www.creipartners.com/ebook/
In this episode of The Untold Stories of Real Estate Investing, host Wayne Courreges III speaks with William Quinton Hollis about wholesale real estate investing and short-term rentals. Hollis is the principal of 24 Capital Group, a real estate private equity firm based in Connecticut that specializes in helping real estate professionals take back their time and own their futures by investing passively in cash-flowing real estate deals.
Hollis’ passion for real estate began when he was a kid, watching his family’s landlord collect rents. As he got older, he became an expert in creating opportunities and finding deals, and is committed to staying at the forefront of the latest technologies.
Hollis is also dedicated to sharing his knowledge and expertise with others, regularly speaking at real estate conferences across the country.
After growing 24 Capital Group’s asset portfolio to over 80 properties in 2022, Hollis is excited to tackle new opportunities, and to continue making a positive impact on the real estate community.
Topics on Today’s Episode: * Introduction to William Quinton Hollis and his real estate journey, beginning with inspiration from Mr. Carter, their landlord in Queens, NY. * After initially believing that real estate investing was out of reach, he attended a real estate conference and learned about wholesaling. Wholesaling was different from Mr. Carter's approach. * Economies of scale lead to transitioning to larger real estate deals and the importance of partnering with others, which led to starting their firm, 24 Capital Group. * Exploring specialized short-term rental companies. * Emphasizing the importance of partnering when investing in short-term rentals. * Partnering with individuals in different markets who are "boots on the ground." * Differentiating between hiring and partnering for a higher level of commitment and service. * Advice on finding a partner in a favorable short-term rental market. * Discussing the concept of commoditization using the example of milk: Create a product or property that has no competition. There is less competition at the top, where similar amenities are rare. Below the 75th percentile of revenue, it’s a race to the bottom of price, it’s a commodity. Above that, there’s little competition and much greater price flexibility. * Highlighting the unique vacation experience provided by Airbnb and praising incredible homes created by Airbnb with various amenities. * Involvement in a venture outside their portfolio partnering on smaller properties. * Importance of market analysis and attracting families or groups of friends to minimize risk. * Significance of design effort and amenities in distinguishing properties and charging premium rates. * Partnership with Tech investors on a short-term rental fund and its benefits. * Valuing trust, personal relationships, and having uncomfortable conversations in real estate.
Links and Resources: https://24capitalgroup.com/
https://www.instagram.com/reihollis/
https://techvestor.com/
https://www.propstream.com/
https://www.creipartners.com/
https://www.facebook.com/creipartners
In this episode of The Untold Stories of Real Estate Investing, host Wayne Courreges III speaks with William Quinton Hollis about wholesale real estate investing and short-term rentals. Hollis is the principal of 24 Capital Group, a real estate private equity firm based in Connecticut that specializes in helping real estate professionals take back their time and own their futures by investing passively in cash-flowing real estate deals.
Hollis’ passion for real estate began when he was a kid, watching his family’s landlord collect rents. As he got older, he became an expert in creating opportunities and finding deals, and is committed to staying at the forefront of the latest technologies.
Hollis is also dedicated to sharing his knowledge and expertise with others, regularly speaking at real estate conferences across the country.
After growing 24 Capital Group’s asset portfolio to over 80 properties in 2022, Hollis is excited to tackle new opportunities, and to continue making a positive impact on the real estate community.
Topics on Today’s Episode: * Introduction to William Quinton Hollis and his real estate journey, beginning with inspiration from Mr. Carter, their landlord in Queens, NY. * After initially believing that real estate investing was out of reach, he attended a real estate conference and learned about wholesaling. Wholesaling was different from Mr. Carter's approach. * Economies of scale lead to transitioning to larger real estate deals and the importance of partnering with others, which led to starting their firm, 24 Capital Group. * Exploring specialized short-term rental companies. * Emphasizing the importance of partnering when investing in short-term rentals. * Partnering with individuals in different markets who are "boots on the ground."
In this episode of The Untold Stories of Real Estate Investing, host Wayne Courreges III speaks with expert Matt Clark to dive into the details of how real estate investors can save thousands in taxes through cost segregation.
Matt Clark currently lives in Houston, TX, where he was born and raised and attended the University of Houston. His journey into the world of real estate was an exciting pivot from the software realm, where he honed his skills as a value-added seller.
Currently, Matt is part of the dynamic team at Madison SPECS, a company with over 15 years of experience in the field and an impressive track record of completing 10,000 studies nationwide. In his role, Matt specializes in offering Cost Segregation Studies, helping real estate investors unlock hidden value within their properties and optimize their financial returns.
With a passion for property and a commitment to delivering top-notch service, Matt is dedicated to helping clients achieve their real estate investment goals through the power of Cost Segregation.
Topics on Today’s Episode:* Cost segregation study timeframe: Typically, the IRS has a seven-year cutoff. Workarounds and special scenarios can extend the timeframe to up to ten years * There are workarounds to potentially extend the timeline up to ten years. * Cost segregation (cost seg) calculated per property, not per investor * Savings pass down to individual investors if the property has multiple investors * Classification of properties. Multifamily properties are typically considered commercial and fall under a 39-year scale. * Residential properties with long-term leases qualify for residential tax breaks * Cost segregations break down each component of the property into different asset classes. This allows depreciation deductions to be taken on shorter time frames for components that qualify. Therefore, this accelerates the rate at which depreciation deductions can reduce taxes on the property's income. * The depreciable basis is the property value minus the land value (around 15% in Texas) * Quicker tax savings are available by accelerating depreciation deductions * Bonus depreciation and carry-forward deduction: Upfront deduction of all five-year and fifteen-year assets. Rates are currently at 80% and phasing out in 20% increments. Deductions carry forward indefinitely * Eligibility and benefits of cost segregation: Anyone who invests in real estate and plans to hold the asset for more than a couple of years is eligible * Active investor status for real estate professionals with 750 hours of service in real estate activities. * Maximize tax savings with cost segregation: To meet this goal, it is important to add every little piece of the property for larger lump sum savings. * Cost segregation typically worth it for most investment properties * Depreciation schedules and savings: Multifamily properties are commercial, and residential properties can still save a significant amount * Investors will save on a 39-year schedule * Bonus depreciation phase-out and potential return. Last year was 100% bonus segregation, this year it's 80% and phasing out by 20% each year, but there is speculation on bonus depreciation potentially returning due to upcoming elections * In-person versus virtual property study: Depends on type of property and availability of online information. However, larger properties may require in-person study, while residential properties can be done virtually if extensive online information is available.
Links and Resources: Matt Clark https://www.linkedin.com/in/mczz/
CREI Partners https://www.creipartners.com/
https://www.facebook.com/creipartners
https://www.passiveinvestorcoaching.com/Enrollnow
In this episode of The Untold Stories of Real Estate Investing, host Wayne Courreges III speaks with Cost Segregation expert Matt Clark to dive into the details on how real estate investors can save thousands in taxes through cost segregation.
Matt Clark currently lives in Houston, TX, where he was born and raised and attended the University of Houston. His journey into the world of real estate was an exciting pivot from the software realm, where he honed his skills as a value-added seller.
Currently, Matt is part of the dynamic team at Madison SPECS, a company with over 15 years of experience in the field and an impressive track record of completing 10,000 studies nationwide. In his role, Matt specializes in offering Cost Segregation Studies, helping real estate investors unlock hidden value within their properties and optimize their financial returns.
With a passion for property and a commitment to delivering top-notch service, Matt is dedicated to helping clients achieve their real estate investment goals through the power of Cost Segregation.
Topics on Today’s Episode * Cost segregation study timeframe: Typically, the IRS has a seven-year cutoff- Workarounds and special scenarios can extend the timeframe to up to ten years * There are workarounds to potentially extend the timeline up to ten years. * Cost segregation (cost SEG) calculated per property, not per investor * Savings pass down to individual investors if property has multiple investors * Classification of properties. Multifamily properties typically considered commercial and fall under a 39-year scale. * Residential properties with long-term leases qualify for residential tax breaks * Cost segregations break down each component of the property into different asset classes * Depreciable basis is the property value minus the land value (around 15% in Texas) * There is quicker tax savings by accelerating depreciation deductions * Bonus depreciation and carry-forward deduction: upfront deduction of all five year and fifteen-year assets. Rates currently at 80% and phasing out in 20% increments- Deductions can be carried forward indefinitely * Eligibility and benefits of cost segregation: Anyone who invests in real estate and plans to hold the asset for more than a couple of years is eligible * Active investor status for real estate professionals with 750 hours of service in real estate activities. * Maximizing tax savings with cost segregation: It is important to add every little piece of the property for larger lump sum savings. * Cost segregation typically worth it for most investment properties * Depreciation schedules and savings: Multifamily properties are commercial, and residential properties can still save a significant amount * Investors will save on a 39-year schedule * Bonus depreciation phase-out and potential return- Last year was 100% bonus segregation, this year it's 80% and phasing out by 20% each year, but there is speculation on bonus depreciation potentially returning due to upcoming elections * In-person versus virtual property study: Depends on type of property and availability of online information. Larger properties may require in-person study, while residential properties can be done virtually if extensive online information is available.
Links and Resources Matt Clark
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mczz/
CREI Partners
https://www.creipartners.com/
https://www.facebook.com/creipartners
https://www.passiveinvestorcoaching.com/Enrollnow
In this episode, we have an insightful conversation with our managing principal, Wayne Courreges III, as he dives into the fascinating world of real estate investment. Wayne takes us through some of the most important aspects of underwriting and vetting deals from a passive investor’s perspective. He also discusses the role multifamily investors should play behind the scenes of multifamily underwriting.
Wayne leads the investment lifecycle and investor relations for CREI Partners as the lead sponsor and general partner. For more than 15 years Wayne has worked with a Fortune 150 commercial real estate firm leading property management services of 4.5M+ square feet for both institutional and non-instructional clients over his career. Wayne has worked closely with dozens of real estate professionals executing building strategic plans of over $60M and assisted owners through their investment lifecycle. His background in commercial real estate, passion for leading teams, and desire to increase his investor’s and team’s wealth pushed him to start CREI Partners.
Topics on Today’s Episode:
- Importance of understanding return rates and conducting sensitivity analyses
- Assessing projected interest rate increases and exit cap rates
- Emphasizing the importance of trust and relationships with the sponsor
- Importance of timely communication and responsiveness from the sponsor
- Goal of increasing net operating income, NOI
- Increasing revenues through various avenues
- Reducing shared property management expenses by managing multiple properties together
- Building a strong team for investors
- Importance of the rent roll in determining monthly rent and other charges
- Evaluating financials for a specific time period (T-12, the prior 12 months of financials)
- Calculation of net operating income by subtracting expenses from total rent revenue
- Use of income statement for underwriting
- Preference for multifamily investments due to cash flow potential and economies of scale
- Explanation of multiclass waterfall structures for profit distribution
- Importance of GP sensitivity analysis in investor presentations
- Approach to finding on-market and off-market opportunities
- Importance of rent roll and income statement in evaluating opportunities
- Staying conservative and assessing achievability of business plan
- Assessing competitors and listening to the company's story
- Trusting instincts and passing on questionable opportunities
- Benefits of interest-only payments for distressed properties
- Adjusting the exit cap rate in investment analysis
- Considering different scenarios for interest rates and cap rates
- Analyzing cap rates to determine if they make sense for the deal
- Explanation of property condition reports and working with trusted contractors
- Commercial real estate can have variable hold times. We shoot for 5-7 years but that can change based on market factors.
- Investors may have different preferences for cash flow over equity upside or longer holding periods.
Resources:
https://www.creipartners.com/
https://www.passiveinvestorcoaching.com/
https://www.creipartners.com/podcasts/
https://www.creipartners.com/ebook/
https://www.youtube.com/@creipartners
https://www.linkedin.com/company/creipartners/
Introduction:
In this episode, we have an insightful conversation with our managing principal, Wayne Courreges III, as he dives into the fascinating world of real estate investment. Wayne takes us through some of the most important aspects of underwriting and vetting deals from a passive investor’s perspective. He also discusses the role multifamily investors should play behind the scenes of multifamily underwriting.
Wayne leads the investment lifecycle and investor relations for CREI Partners as the lead sponsor and general partner. For more than 15 years Wayne has worked with a Fortune 150 commercial real estate firm leading property management services of 4.5M+ square feet for both institutional and non-instructional clients over his career. Wayne has worked closely with dozens of real estate professionals executing building strategic plans of over $60M and assisted owners through their investment lifecycle. His background in commercial real estate, passion for leading teams, and desire to increase his investor’s and team’s wealth pushed him to start CREI Partners.
Topics on Today’s Episode:
- Importance of understanding return rates and conducting sensitivity analyses
- Assessing projected interest rate increases and exit cap rates
On this episode of The Untold Stories of Real Estate Investing, host Wayne Courreges welcomes guest Zachary Wilson, an IRA specialist from Quest Trust Company. With over 20,000 clients and $2.8 billion in assets under administration, Quest Trust Company is the largest self-directed IRA custodian in Texas. In this episode, Zachary emphasizes the importance of individuals knowing and understanding their retirement accounts, as it is the money they will rely on in retirement. He stresses the value of due diligence and encourages investors to ask questions and seek information. Zachary and his team at Quest Trust Company provide assistance and information to clients, even those who are not Quest clients, and do not restrict access to information. They explain that when investing with an IRA, the entity's information should be used, not the individual's personal information, as the IRA is considered a separate entity. Additionally, the episode discusses the benefits of self-directed IRAs for investing. Self-directed IRAs allow individuals to invest in the same deals they are already doing in a tax-advantaged account. Zachary provides valuable insights on understanding self-directed IRAs and how they can benefit investors. The episode also highlights the monthly meetup organized by Zachary, which focuses on passive investing and networking in multifamily investment opportunities. With his meetup being ranked as the second largest passive investing meetup in the country, Zachary shares valuable advice and knowledge for passive investors. Overall, this episode provides informative content on self-directed IRAs, retirement account management, and the benefits of passive investing. Listeners will gain insights from Zachary Wilson's expertise and be inspired to seek further information and assistance from Quest Trust Company.
In this episode of "The Untold Stories of Real Estate Investing," host Wayne interviews Courtney Bhenderu about her experience in real estate asset management and investing. They discuss the current state of the market, investment opportunities, and the importance of making the numbers work. Additionally, Courtney shares her thoughts on entrepreneurship, parenting, and creating educational opportunities for children. This episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in real estate investing, syndication deals, or growing their wealth passively. Tune in now on your favorite podcast platform and let us know your thoughts in the comments!
Courtney Bhenderu is a passionate learner who has been involved in the creation of newsletters, blogs, and social media posts for over a year now. Her craving for knowledge and inspiration has led her to delve into the world of passive investing and real estate syndication, which has recently seen a surge in popularity. As she continues to create content for others to learn from, she is also excited to get to know her audience on a more personal level. Her journey towards a more fulfilling career in finance has just begun, and she can't wait to see where it takes her.
Coming from 10 years serving on teams managing assets along the skyline of Houston’s Central Business District and Galleria submarkets, Courtney has deep knowledge and experience in every aspect of high-end commercial property management—from building countless Fortune 500 tenant relationships to helping manage multi-million dollar high-rise renovations. She firmly believes in the foundational principles of good old-fashioned service, transparency and teamwork—values that mesh perfectly with the pillars of CREI.
Topics Covered:
-
Overview of the Real Estate Investment Market
-
The Speaker's Approach to Asset Management
-
Investment Opportunities and Criteria
-
About the Podcast: "The Untold Stories of Real Estate Investing"
-
Encouraging Entrepreneurial Skills in Children
-
Trends in Passive Investing in Real Estate Syndication
-
Raising Children to Be Confident and Curious Learners
-
Importance of Trusting the Deal Sponsor in Real Estate Syndications
-
Real estate investing stories for you.
- 7-day guarantee, not for profit, education modules.
- Newsletter and posts inspired with 200% increase.
- Raising confident daughters with traditional values.
- Kids create business plans and schemes creatively.
- "Steps for sophisticated investor to invest."
- Flexibility in investment approach for profitability.
- Large storage for boats and RVs.
- Prioritizing investment goals for syndication projects.
- Invest for long-term gains, not dividends.
- Hands-on asset manager prefers fewer deals.
- High investments, low rates, overinflated prices, wealth.
- Investor uncertain about multifamily investment advice.
- Commercial investment advice and helpful resources available.
- Excellent property manager perseveres amidst turnover.
- Investing is better than saving money.
- Believe and trust deal sponsor, avoid overthinking.
- Back out if deal doesn't feel right.
- Appreciative farewell, welcome to future meetups.
Resources:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/courtneybhenderu/
https://www.creipartners.com/invest-with-us/
CREI Partners LLC
https://www.creipartners.com/
https://www.creipartners.com/podcasts/
https://www.creipartners.com/ebook/
https://www.youtube.com/@creipartnershttps://www.linkedin.com/company/creipartners/
In this episode, Wayne talks to Sandhya Seshadri, who has invested as a limited partner, key principal and general partner in over 3000 doors, holding 200 million in assets throughout the United States. She's been a leader in the equities markets for over 30 years and moved to commercial real estate due to the tax advantages and the ability to uniquely force appreciate each asset become her mission to help others capitalize on all the benefits of real estate investing. Sonya is based in Dallas. She focuses exclusively in the Dallas area.
She will discuss how passive investors can save a deal and avoid potential train wrecks in the current environment, where rising interest rates, insurance costs, and property taxes are creating challenges. The conversation covers topics such as stress testing deals, communication and transparency, private placement memorandum, and evaluating distressed real estate opportunities. Seshadri shares her experiences dealing with a train wreck deal and offers advice on how limited partners can communicate concerns and take actions early to avoid potential pitfalls.
Show Notes:
Topics Covered in the Podcast:
-
Challenges in Real Estate Investing
-
Negative Cash Flow in Some Real Estate Deals
-
The "Perfect Storm" of Challenges for Real Estate Investors
-
Distressed Deals Available for High Returns
-
Transparency and Trust in Real Estate Investing
-
The Importance of Transparency in Building Trust
-
The Need for Access to Full Financial Picture of a Property
-
Scrutinizing Net Operating Income (NOI) and Net Cash Flow
-
Commercial Real Estate Investing Offers More Control Than Other Investments
-
Evaluating Investment Opportunities and Troubled Deals
-
Evaluating Private Placement Memorandum (PPM)
-
Communication with Sponsor Syndicator is Important
-
Importance of Monthly Financial Reports and Underwriting
-
Assessing Risks and Potential Outcomes
-
Taking Action When Deals Go Sour
-
Communicating Concerns with General Partners
-
Getting Other Limited Partners Involved to Request Clear Answers
-
Consulting Syndication Lawyer and Writing a Demand Letter
-
Considering Whether to Hold On or Quit
-
Investing in Distressed Real Estate Opportunities
-
The Importance of Communication and Transparency in Evaluating Investments
-
Being Prepared to Invest in Distressed Opportunities
-
Evaluating Financials, Net Operating Income (NOI), and Asking Questions.
Additional topics covered:
- Real estate experts talk on saving deals.
- Real estate beats stock market; analyze KPIs.
- Access all financial information with variance report.
- Real estate deals saw good times end.
- Assessing capital call risk for real estate.
- LPs get involved, demand answers and action.
- Opportunities in distressed real estate investments emphasized.
- Contact me via Wayne, Facebook, LinkedIn, website, book.
Resources:
Guest Sandhya Seshadri
linkedin.com/in/engineered-capital
engineered-capital.com
AcePassive.com
invest@multifamily4you.com
CREI Partners LLC
https://www.creipartners.com/
https://www.creipartners.com/podcasts/
https://www.creipartners.com/ebook/
https://www.youtube.com/@creipartners
https://www.linkedin.com/company/creipartners/
In this episode, Wayne talks to Senate Eskridge, who is an expert real estate investor who currently owns a managed portfolio of single and multifamily homes. He owns or manages over 500 units across the country. Senate has over 10 years of experience in real estate investing, and more than 20 years of experience in business development, management, and sales.
Senate Eskridge is a multifamily coach that teaches students how to purchase multi-family properties. On this episode, he shares valuable insights and experiences. Listeners will learn about the advantages and risks involved in passive investing and multifamily vs single-family investing. The speaker discusses key questions to ask when considering a deal and warns against working with people who may not know what they're talking about. They share their journey from accidentally becoming a landlord, to becoming a coach and investor with 595 multifamily units. Listeners will also gain knowledge about diversification, valuations, mentorship, and a lot more that goes into investing in real estate.
Topics on Today’s Episode:
- The speaker has been an entrepreneur most of his life, starting with selling things in school. He got into real estate by renting out a house he couldn't sell. He then discovered the BRRR strategy that involves buying, repairing, renting, and refinancing. He eventually moved into flipping houses and commercial multifamily apartment buildings. He sought mentorship and became a coach for investors in multifamily. Currently, he owns 595 multifamily units across twelve transactions.
- Start with multifamily if that's your end goal, but starting smaller is okay. Single family isn't a necessary step.
- Single-family houses are risky and not profitable. They generate around $100-200 per month, but require a lot of time, effort and carry significant risks for maintenance. Vacancy can lead to zero income and additional expenses. Investing in larger complexes spreads risk and is more profitable.
- Real estate investing can either be active or passive. For passive investing, investors need to network with known people and invest money, then read property updates and cash checks. For active investing, hiring a coach is essential to find out what kind of investment to pursue and what goals to set.
- The five buckets for active investing include deal finding, due diligence, risk capital, a key principle or deal sponsor, investor relations or capital raising, and asset management.
- Elite performers have many coaches, while beginners are resistant to coaching. Coaches help compress time frames and achieve success faster.
- Specialize in one thing, and get really good at it. Build a canyon of knowledge. Be a specialist in one thing and be the best and make a ton of money with that one thing and then use that money to diversify through other people that specialize in one thing.
- Networking is key to finding real estate investment opportunities. Join online forums, attend conferences and investor clubs to meet potential partners and passive investments.
- Investing in turbulent markets requires caution. But money can be made in any market if someone knows what they are doing.
- As a passive investor, vet the people you work with and ensure they know what they are doing. Look for long-term fixed debt with a 3-year minimum. Ask about rent escalations and expense projections.
- It is important that the sponsor has confident and transparent answers to these questions and knows what they are talking about. Lack of answers or transparency is a red flag.
- Senate loves high-interest rates and buys deals that make money with current rates. He anticipates rates will come down around election time. Higher rates help decrease competition to buy a property at a low price and allow refinance later when rates come down.
- Senate’s first proud moment: Senate bought a junkie property and raised rents with improvements. The tenant was initially anxious about rent increases, but after 9 months, she appreciated that he gave her a nicer home. She was happy to pay more, rather than an impersonal apartment in poor repair.
- Senate’s second proud moment: Real estate student came to Senate, wanting a big portfolio. They dove deep into the “why” behind the goal, and the student realized he wanted to retire but had been building a second job. Senate helped build a plan, so he could completely retire in less than 5 years with mailbox money.
- “Master your one thing, and partner with people who have mastered their one thing.”
Links and Resources:
The best way to reach Senate is through is website, which includes contact information and a free course:
https://senateeskridge.com/
Join us for Passive Investor Coaching, the course by CREI Partners and Wayne Courreges III that teaches you to confidently passively invest in real estate syndications in order to meet your wealth building goals:
https://www.passiveinvestorcoaching.com/
In this episode, Wayne talks to Senate Eskridge, who is an expert real estate investor who currently owns a managed portfolio of single and multifamily homes. He owns or manages over 500 units across the country. Senate has over 10 years of experience in real estate investing, and more than 20 years of experience in business development, management, and sales.
Senate Eskridge is a multifamily coach that teaches students how to purchase multi-family properties. On this episode, he shares valuable insights and experiences. Listeners will learn about the advantages and risks involved in passive investing and multifamily vs single-family investing. The speaker discusses key questions to ask when considering a deal and warns against working with people who may not know what they're talking about. They share their journey from accidentally becoming a landlord, to becoming a coach and investor with 595 multifamily units. Listeners will also gain knowledge about diversification, valuations, mentorship, and a lot more that goes into investing in real estate.
Topics on Today’s Episode:
- The speaker has been an entrepreneur most of his life, starting with selling things in school. He got into real estate by renting out a house he couldn't sell. He then discovered the BRRR strategy that involves buying, repairing, renting, and refinancing. He eventually moved into flipping houses and commercial multifamily apartment buildings. He sought mentorship and became a coach for investors in multifamily. Currently, he owns 595 multifamily units across twelve transactions.
- Start with multifamily if that's your end goal, but starting smaller is okay. Single family isn't a necessary step.
- Single-family houses are risky and not profitable. They generate around $100-200 per month, but require a lot of time, effort and carry significant risks for maintenance. Vacancy can lead to zero income and additional expenses. Investing in larger complexes spreads risk and is more profitable.
- Real estate investing can either be active or passive. For passive investing, investors need to network with known people and invest money, then read property updates and cash checks. For active investing, hiring a coach is essential to find out what kind of investment to pursue and what goals to set.
- The five buckets for active investing include deal finding, due diligence, risk capital, a key principle or deal sponsor, investor relations or capital raising, and asset management.
- Elite performers have many coaches, while beginners are resistant to coaching. Coaches help compress time frames and achieve success faster.
- Specialize in one thing, and get really good at it. Build a canyon of knowledge. Be a specialist in one thing and be the best and make a ton of money with that one thing and then use that money to diversify through other people that specialize in one thing.
- Networking is key to finding real estate investment opportunities. Join online forums, attend conferences and investor clubs to meet potential partners and passive investments.
- Investing in turbulent markets requires caution. But money can be made in any market if someone knows what they are doing.
- As a passive investor, vet the people you work with and ensure they know what they are doing. Look for long-term fixed debt with a 3-year minimum. Ask about rent escalations and expense projections.
- It is important that the sponsor has confident and transparent answers to these questions and knows what they are talking about. Lack of answers or transparency is a red flag.
- Senate loves high-interest rates and buys deals that make money with current rates. He anticipates rates will come down around election time. Higher rates help decrease competition to buy a property at a low price and allow refinance later when rates come down.
- Senate’s first proud moment: Senate bought a junkie property and raised rents with improvements. The tenant was initially anxious about rent increases, but after 9 months, she appreciated that he gave her a nicer home. She was happy to pay more, rather than an impersonal apartment in poor repair.
- Senate’s second proud moment: Real estate student came to Senate, wanting a big portfolio. They dove deep into the “why” behind the goal, and the student realized he wanted to retire but had been building a second job. Senate helped build a plan, so he could completely retire in less than 5 years with mailbox money.
- “Master your one thing, and partner with people who have mastered their one thing.”
Links and Resources:
The best way to reach Senate is through is website, which includes contact information and a free course:
https://senateeskridge.com/
Join us for Passive Investor Coaching, the course by CREI Partners and Wayne Courreges III that teaches you to confidently passively invest in real estate syndications in order to meet your wealth building goals:
https://www.passiveinvestorcoaching.com/
In this episode, Wayne talks to Rob Beardsley. Rob oversees acquisitions and capital markets for Lone Star Capital and has acquired over $350M of multifamily properties. He has evaluated thousands of opportunities using proprietary underwriting models and sold over 10,000 copies of his book, The Definitive Guide to Underwriting Multifamily Acquisitions. He has written over 50 articles about underwriting, deal structures, and capital markets and hosts the Capital Spotlight podcast, which is focused on interviewing institutional investors. Rob’s areas of expertise include: * Multifamily Underwriting: Basic overview, key metrics, sensitivity analyses, stress tests, comparables, cap rates * Partnership Structures: How to structure deals with investors, waterfalls, preferred equity, matching your strategy * Raising Capital: How to partner with institutional investors, how to form joint ventures and co-GPs * Financing: Overview of debt options for multifamily, matching debt product to investment strategy, loan term nuance
Topics on Today’s Episode: * Rob got an early start in real estate through his parent’s brokage firm that focused primarily on construction and fix and flips. This led Rob to dive into multifamily as the best way to accumulate wealth and assets. * At 20 years old Rob, alongside his partner Kent Piotrkowski, started Loan Star Capital about 7 years ago. In that span of time, the firm has acquired close to $400M worth of multifamily properties. * Growing up around real estate and his father’s mature conversations contributed immensely to Rob’s entrepreneur mindset and his ability to lead and inspire others. * You really do not understand business until you are in business. Higher education is only textbook knowledge, real-life business is the best teacher. * Risk factors are so important when starting a business, however the stakes become higher when you have a family and other responsibilities. The best time to take a risk is early in life when liabilities are less. * Being Bullish on Houston makes sense because it's a diverse city. Houston is not only an oil city, but also the largest medical center in the world and the busiest port in the US in terms of foreign tonnage. It is often overlooked, making it one of the most accessible large markets to penetrate. * Insurance is one of the biggest obstacles in today’s Houston market. Not to mention that interest rates have affected all markets. * Rob and Wayne discuss the main factors behind high insurance premiums. The spike of property insurance in Houston has been caused by:
- Many hurricanes have made landfall, and repetitive major losses have followed. 2. The number of carriers that are willing to insure in Houston has decreased. * Rob talks about what the risk is in today’s market. Being mindful of risk is key. Consider whether a value-add deal will yield the same return as a clean stabilized deal. If you are not getting paid for the risk, it's better not to take it. There are cycles in the market that will recenter prices and insurance costs.
- Operational headwinds are likely to approach in the near term, such a recession which will impact collections, rents, occupancy. This makes it critical to be tighter on proforma rents, growth assumptions and wider exit cap rates.
- Good Underwriting fundamentals are key when considering Cap Rates. Taking the current market cap rate and widening returns by 50 basis points (0.5%) is a good strategy.
- Debt is the biggest strategic difference, focusing only fixed rate permanent financing. No more bridge loans. Doing 70% LTV Ration is typically the sweet spot, where there is a long-term view but short term enough to be an opportunistic seller or refinance into a better capital market.
- In today’s climate, it is hard to know exactly where the market is since very few deals are getting done.
- There is so much liquidity in the market right now that we are not going to see a deep and prolonged buying opportunity. Buying when the market is going down will be the best option.
- What is the best deal you’ve ever done? It is the one you don’t do. The best deal is walking away from the wrong one. Its better to walk away from that wrong deal that can break you.
- On the retail side of capital raising, private high net worth investors, we are still seeing a sustainable amount of capital, despite a 75% transaction decline. Capital is available but there are few places to put it.
- On the institutional side, however, it is completely dry since institutional investors pay attention more to “headline risk” and tend to operate in unison, waiting to see what the next person will do.
- The Dallas market is very competitive and forces you to spread your numbers when underwriting.
- Rob talks about his book, “The Definitive Guide to Underwriting Multifamily Acquisitions” which has sold almost 15,000 copies. He felt there was a gap in the industry to show the true process of underwriting multifamily from someone doing it in real life.
- Rob recorded the audio version of the book himself to take advantage of the opportunity to highlight his personality and build a relationship with the audio listener.
- When underwriting a deal, it is important to leave room for failure. If you are aggressive on some parts and conservative on others, it can balance out.
- There are 2 ways to stretch the numbers in underwriting. 1. To get more aggressive on assumptions. 2. Accept a lower return.
- However, #2 is less likely to excite the investor hence over-promising by deal sponsors.
- Under-promising and over-delivering is the name of the game. This is the way you win in the long term.
- Rob’s lesson learned: It is best to have your team in place prior to getting the property under contract. It is a mistake to put the property under contract and then go look for a managing partner.
- Rob’s proudest moment was when they closed their first deal in Houston. It validated everything he had been working for. He was prouder closing the deal than selling it.
Links and Resources: https://lscre.com/ https://www.amazon.com/Definitive-Guide-Underwriting-Multifamily-Acquisitions-ebook/dp/B087114QRT Amazon.com: Structuring and Raising Debt & Equity for Real Estate eBook : Beardsley, Rob: Kindle Store https://www.youtube.com/@RobBeardsley-LoneStarCapital https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-beardsley/ https://www.creipartners.com/invest-with-us/
In this episode, Wayne talks to Rob Beardsley. Rob oversees acquisitions and capital markets for Lone Star Capital and has acquired over $350M of multifamily properties. He has evaluated thousands of opportunities using proprietary underwriting models and sold over 10,000 copies of his book, The Definitive Guide to Underwriting Multifamily Acquisitions. He has written over 50 articles about underwriting, deal structures, and capital markets and hosts the Capital Spotlight podcast, which is focused on interviewing institutional investors.
Rob’s areas of expertise include:
- Multifamily Underwriting: Basic overview, key metrics, sensitivity analyses, stress tests, comparables, cap rates
- Partnership Structures: How to structure deals with investors, waterfalls, preferred equity, matching your strategy
- Raising Capital: How to partner with institutional investors, how to form joint ventures and co-GPs
- Financing: Overview of debt options for multifamily, matching debt product to investment strategy, loan term nuance
Topics on Today’s Episode:
- Rob got an early start in real estate through his parent’s brokage firm that focused primarily on construction and fix and flips. This led Rob to dive into multifamily as the best way to accumulate wealth and assets.
- At 20 years old Rob, alongside his partner Kent Piotrkowski, started Loan Star Capital about 7 years ago. In that span of time, the firm has acquired close to $400M worth of multifamily properties.
- Growing up around real estate and his father’s mature conversations contributed immensely to Rob’s entrepreneur mindset and his ability to lead and inspire others.
- You really do not understand business until you are in business. Higher education is only textbook knowledge, real-life business is the best teacher.
- Risk factors are so important when starting a business, however the stakes become higher when you have a family and other responsibilities. The best time to take a risk is early in life when liabilities are less.
- Being Bullish on Houston makes sense because it's a diverse city. Houston is not only an oil city, but also the largest medical center in the world and the busiest port in the US in terms of foreign tonnage. It is often overlooked, making it one of the most accessible large markets to penetrate.
- Insurance is one of the biggest obstacles in today’s Houston market. Not to mention that interest rates have affected all markets.
- Rob and Wayne discuss the main factors behind high insurance premiums. The spike of property insurance in Houston has been caused by:
-
- Many hurricanes have made landfall, and repetitive major losses have followed.
-
- The number of carriers that are willing to insure in Houston has decreased.
- Rob talks about what the risk is in today’s market. Being mindful of risk is key. Consider whether a value-add deal will yield the same return as a clean stabilized deal. If you are not getting paid for the risk, it's better not to take it. There are cycles in the market that will recenter prices and insurance costs.
- Operational headwinds are likely to approach in the near term, such a recession which will impact collections, rents, occupancy. This makes it critical to be tighter on proforma rents, growth assumptions and wider exit cap rates.
- Good Underwriting fundamentals are key when considering Cap Rates. Taking the current market cap rate and widening returns by 50 basis points (0.5%) is a good strategy.
- Debt is the biggest strategic difference, focusing only fixed rate permanent financing. No more bridge loans. Doing 70% LTV Ration is typically the sweet spot, where there is a long-term view but short term enough to be an opportunistic seller or refinance into a better capital market.
- In today’s climate, it is hard to know exactly where the market is since very few deals are getting done.
- There is so much liquidity in the market right now that we are not going to see a deep and prolonged buying opportunity. Buying when the market is going down will be the best option.
- What is the best deal you’ve ever done? It is the one you don’t do. The best deal is walking away from the wrong one. Its better to walk away from that wrong deal that can break you.
- On the retail side of capital raising, private high net worth investors, we are still seeing a sustainable amount of capital, despite a 75% transaction decline. Capital is available but there are few places to put it.
- On the institutional side, however, it is completely dry since institutional investors pay attention more to “headline risk” and tend to operate in unison, waiting to see what the next person will do.
- The Dallas market is very competitive and forces you to spread your numbers when underwriting.
- Rob talks about his book, “The Definitive Guide to Underwriting Multifamily Acquisitions” which has sold almost 15,000 copies. He felt there was a gap in the industry to show the true process of underwriting multifamily from someone doing it in real life.
- Rob recorded the audio version of the book himself to take advantage of the opportunity to highlight his personality and build a relationship with the audio listener.
- When underwriting a deal, it is important to leave room for failure. If you are aggressive on some parts and conservative on others, it can balance out.
- There are 2 ways to stretch the numbers in underwriting.
-
- To get more aggressive on assumptions.
-
- Accept a lower return.
- However, #2 is less likely to excite the investor hence over-promising by deal sponsors.
- Under-promising and over-delivering is the name of the game. This is the way you win in the long term.
- Rob’s lesson learned: It is best to have your team in place prior to getting the property under contract. It is a mistake to put the property under contract and then go look for a managing partner.
- Rob’s proudest moment was when they closed their first deal in Houston. It validated everything he had been working for. He was prouder closing the deal than selling it.
Links and Resources:
https://lscre.com/
https://www.amazon.com/Definitive-Guide-Underwriting-Multifamily-Acquisitions-ebook/dp/B087114QRT
Amazon.com: Structuring and Raising Debt & Equity for Real Estate eBook : Beardsley, Rob: Kindle Store
https://www.youtube.com/@RobBeardsley-LoneStarCapital
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-beardsley/
https://www.creipartners.com/invest-with-us/
Reach your investing goals with our new course:
Passive Investor Coaching
In this episode, Wayne talks to Virginia “Ginny” Bolling. Ginny has been in real estate for over 35 years working as a consultant expert in real estate acquisitions in the governmental arena. She has extensive knowledge and ability to understand and work through land title, land use, zoning, valuation, contracting, litigation, permitting, and environmental issues, as well as closing complex transactions. She has: * Acquired or supervised the acquisition of over 600 properties * Earned the designation of Senior, Right of Way Associate (SR/WA) * Bought first foreclosure property in 1987 * Real estate broker over 30 years * Residential (2-yr) and commercial real estate appraiser over six (6) years * Started first of five (5) businesses in 1984 * Worked in highly litigious & contentious environments (eminent domain) 22+/- years * Fix & flip investor (4) years * Currently holds rentals in Central Florida and Jacksonville * Limited Partner in 544 units in Houston, TX
Ginny is known for her calm, collaborative style, zest for data, and communicating difficult concepts well. She has a passion for community development and redevelopment and one of her businesses in the 1980s performed real estate research specializing in feasibility studies.She is known for having a considerable real estate network. She connects with, as well as follows, leaders in the industry closely. She enjoys volunteering in the community and has served on many boards. Ginny currently serves on the Board of Directors for Valhalla Villas, a nonprofit whose mission is to provide independent living facilities for people with autism. Topics on Today’s Episode: * Ginny’s Journey into Real Estate began early in childhood with her parents being real estate investors involved in flipping and selling. After studying marketing, she entered the governmental arena, participating in real estate purchases for the state of Florida and negotiating complex settlements. * After leaving the governmental arena, Ginny moved into commercial real estate syndications. Covid presented a great opportunity to get into Syndication as renters were defaulting and sellers were looking to get rid of properties. * It is less important to time the market than to “buy right” with solid underwriting and have the 3-legged stool of commercial real estate syndications. + 1. Location + 2. Team + 3. Business Plan * The darling investment of the day is still multifamily, generally value-add. Ginny’s acquisition team is mostly focused on Multifamily because of a long-term housing shortish. * Additional opportunities in Commercial space include potential to build, medical office, mobile home park, self-storage, and assisted living. * The “Silver Tsunami” is coming and there will be opportunities to invest in assisted living facilities. There is potential to invest as an owner and hire complete management. * The 2 biggest factors to consider when underwriting are taxes and insurance * You should assume that the property will be appraised after purchase to 80-90% market value. * Insurance estimates can increase by 40-60% higher than initial underwriting in coastal cities. * Get real insurance estimates before you close, and assume the taxes will increase due to assessor valuation increase. * It is becoming harder in Florida to find insurance options because many companies have left the state. Florida recently signed legislation to mitigate potential lawsuits for insurance companies to open competition and reduce rates. * The new law signed by Florida Governor DeSantis gives funding to two major funding programs and tax credits. These will allow for a 4-9% tax abatement dedicated to the affordable housing market. This will create opportunities for multifamily investment. Incentive is toward solving the affordable housing problem-Investors are incentivized to build affordable housing complexes. They are also possibly offering additional services, like financial literacy classes, to improve the lives of residents. * The current market presents an amazing opportunity for investors as the debt service cover ratio rises due to the increase in interest rates on variable loans. It will be harder for owners to re-finance, moving forward, so they may be more inclined to sell. * Future challenges for property owners will include the inability to refinance or will need to bring in more capital to do so. This is due to higher debt-to-loan ratio and interest rates. * For Investors out there listening: This is a great time to forge broker relationships and find properties off market that might be suffering because it's getting harder and harder to refinance. * Investment companies need to build key relationships with lenders to explore whether they know about a property that might be in distress, that they don’t want to take back. * Key idea to learn: It is possible to invest in multifamily with retirement savings, rather than cash savings. You don’t have to limit yourself to the stock market. Using custodian accounts, such as 401K, retirement funds could be a fantastic way to get started in passive investment. * The Jobs Acts of 2012 and 2017 paved the way for current models of syndication. The 2017 TCJA created opportunities for syndication. Current business models have been called the “information age” by Harvard and other experts. Trends have moved away from packaging a product to shipping it out. * Its important to know, like, and trust syndicators that you passively invest with. It is a long-standing relationship with a lot of moving parts, so positive feelings between parties helps the process. * Real Investment Firms must follow SEC guidelines. These require that you formalize a joint venture opportunity through a Private Placement Memorandum. This allows investors and the management team to understand their responsibilities and liabilities. * If you are not in the game, you can’t play. It's always a good time to buy real estate if you buy it right. The syndication model allows people to control their risk better than stocks and other assets as a shared risk model. * Proudest moment: Florida DOT success story-Ginny was involved with negotiations in which a 2 story, L-shaped condominium building. She was able to negotiate a settlement with the building to remove and replace an entire wing. Negotiations took more than a year but were successful.
Links and Resources: Pivotal Real Estate Investments – Passive Income Through Sound Real Estate Investments https://www.youtube.com/@PivotalREI https://www.linkedin.com/in/ginnybolling/ Interested in Multi Family Acquisitions » APPLY TO INVEST WITH US » CREI Partners
In this episode, Wayne talks to Virginia “Ginny” Bolling. Ginny has been in real estate for over 35 years working as a consultant expert in real estate acquisitions in the governmental arena. She has extensive knowledge and ability to understand and work through land title, land use, zoning, valuation, contracting, litigation, permitting, and environmental issues, as well as closing complex transactions. She has:
- Acquired or supervised the acquisition of over 600 properties
- Earned the designation of Senior, Right of Way Associate (SR/WA)
- Bought first foreclosure property in 1987
- Real estate broker over 30 years
- Residential (2-yr) and commercial real estate appraiser over six (6) years
- Started first of five (5) businesses in 1984
- Worked in highly litigious & contentious environments (eminent domain) 22+/- years
- Fix & flip investor (4) years
- Currently holds rentals in Central Florida and Jacksonville
- Limited Partner in 544 units in Houston, TX
Ginny is known for her calm, collaborative style, zest for data, and communicating difficult concepts well. She has a passion for community development and redevelopment and one of her businesses in the 1980s performed real estate research specializing in feasibility studies.
She is known for having a considerable real estate network. She connects with, as well as follows, leaders in the industry closely. She enjoys volunteering in the community and has served on many boards. Ginny currently serves on the Board of Directors for Valhalla Villas, a nonprofit whose mission is to provide independent living facilities for people with autism.
Topics on Today’s Episode:
- Ginny’s Journey into Real Estate began early in childhood with her parents being real estate investors involved in flipping and selling. After studying marketing, she entered the governmental arena, participating in real estate purchases for the state of Florida and negotiating complex settlements.
- After leaving the governmental arena, Ginny moved into commercial real estate syndications. Covid presented a great opportunity to get into Syndication as renters were defaulting and sellers were looking to get rid of properties.
- It is less important to time the market than to “buy right” with solid underwriting and have the 3-legged stool of commercial real estate syndications.
-
- Location
-
- Team
-
- Business Plan
-
- The darling investment of the day is still multifamily, generally value-add. Ginny’s acquisition team is mostly focused on Multifamily because of a long-term housing shortish.
- Additional opportunities in Commercial space include potential to build, medical office, mobile home park, self-storage, and assisted living.
- The “Silver Tsunami” is coming and there will be opportunities to invest in assisted living facilities. There is potential to invest as an owner and hire complete management.
- The 2 biggest factors to consider when underwriting are taxes and insurance
- You should assume that the property will be appraised after purchase to 80-90% market value.
- Insurance estimates can increase by 40-60% higher than initial underwriting in coastal cities.
- Get real insurance estimates before you close, and assume the taxes will increase due to assessor valuation increase.
- It is becoming harder in Florida to find insurance options because many companies have left the state. Florida recently signed legislation to mitigate potential lawsuits for insurance companies to open competition and reduce rates.
- The new law signed by Florida Governor DeSantis gives funding to two major funding programs and tax credits. These will allow for a 4-9% tax abatement dedicated to the affordable housing market. This will create opportunities for multifamily investment. Incentive is toward solving the affordable housing problem-Investors are incentivized to build affordable housing complexes. They are also possibly offering additional services, like financial literacy classes, to improve the lives of residents.
- The current market presents an amazing opportunity for investors as the debt service cover ratio rises due to the increase in interest rates on variable loans. It will be harder for owners to re-finance, moving forward, so they may be more inclined to sell.
- Future challenges for property owners will include the inability to refinance or will need to bring in more capital to do so. This is due to higher debt-to-loan ratio and interest rates.
- For Investors out there listening: This is a great time to forge broker relationships and find properties off market that might be suffering because it's getting harder and harder to refinance.
- Investment companies need to build key relationships with lenders to explore whether they know about a property that might be in distress, that they don’t want to take back.
- Key idea to learn: It is possible to invest in multifamily with retirement savings, rather than cash savings. You don’t have to limit yourself to the stock market. Using custodian accounts, such as 401K, retirement funds could be a fantastic way to get started in passive investment.
- The Jobs Acts of 2012 and 2017 paved the way for current models of syndication. The 2017 TCJA created opportunities for syndication. Current business models have been called the “information age” by Harvard and other experts. Trends have moved away from packaging a product to shipping it out.
- Its important to know, like, and trust syndicators that you passively invest with. It is a long-standing relationship with a lot of moving parts, so positive feelings between parties helps the process.
- Real Investment Firms must follow SEC guidelines. These require that you formalize a joint venture opportunity through a Private Placement Memorandum. This allows investors and the management team to understand their responsibilities and liabilities.
- If you are not in the game, you can’t play. It's always a good time to buy real estate if you buy it right. The syndication model allows people to control their risk better than stocks and other assets as a shared risk model.
- Proudest moment: Florida DOT success story-Ginny was involved with negotiations in which a 2 story, L-shaped condominium building. She was able to negotiate a settlement with the building to remove and replace an entire wing. Negotiations took more than a year but were successful.
Links and Resources:
Pivotal Real Estate Investments – Passive Income Through Sound Real Estate Investments
https://www.youtube.com/@PivotalREI
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ginnybolling/
Interested in Multi Family Acquisitions » APPLY TO INVEST WITH US » CREI Partners
In this episode, the managing principal of CREI Partners, Wayne Courreges III, explains how passive investors should vet real estate Investing deals. Wayne leads the investment lifecycle and investor relations for CREI Partners as the lead sponsor and general partner. For more than 15 years Wayne has worked with a Fortune 150 commercial real estate firm leading property management services of 4.5M+ square feet for both institutional and non-instructional clients over his career. Wayne has worked closely with dozens of real estate professionals executing building strategic plans of over $60M and assisted owners through their investment lifecycle. His background in commercial real estate, passion for leading teams, and desire to increase his investor’s and team’s wealth pushed him to start CREI Partners. Today, Wayne delves deep into the following topics to help passive investors analyze real estate investment opportunities including: * What Is Passive Investing? * Determine Your Risk Tolerance and Investment Goals * Assessing the Sponsorship Team * Assessing the Financial Returns * Assess the Location and Market Demographics * Assess the Underwriting and Business Plan * Analyze The Risks * Review Tax Implications - Open Q & A
Topics on Today’s Episode:* The Motley Fool definition: Passive real estate investing is when you give someone your money and they do all the work for you. A real estate investment trust (REIT) or real estate partnership where you do not play an active role are good examples. The key point is that a passive investment requires little work on your part. * Determining your risk tolerance will require that you identify where you fit in the risk versus tolerance spectrum. There are 4 levels to consider-Core, Core-Plus, Value-Add, Opportunistic. Each provides distinct levels of risk/benefit. Core is less risky with more cash flow, but less opportunity for equity growth. Opportunistic is the riskiest with potentially no cash flow, but the highest opportunity for equity growth. * Are you primarily looking for cash flow or equity growth? Click this link for a brief explanation of the difference. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/3WkyRnc_BBE * Assessing the partnership team requires that you also know who will be managing the property and executing the business plan. * Assessing the financial returns. Wayne discusses 3 common deal scenarios and the pros and cons of each. Your goals determine which deal structure makes the most sense for you. * Important metrics to consider include average annual returns, operation cash flow, equity multiple, and internal rate of return. * Assessing the market location and demographics. Google can be your best friend in searching out property reviews. Below are some additional tools that can be useful: + Google Earth https://earth.google.com/web/ + Justice map https://www.justicemap.org/ + FEMA Flood Maps https://www.fema.gov/flood-maps + Best Places https://www.bestplaces.net/ * Assessing the underwriting and business plan. The Private Placement Memorandum (PPM) could potentially scare many investors, but it details opportunities, risk, compensation, and other data points. Be sure to attend the investor webinar to get a good feel for the location and potential. Having the PPM reviewed by your attorney is always a good idea. It is also great to sit down with the deal sponsor to go over deal assumptions. * Deals should be looked at as a business. Revenue minus expenses equals income. Do the estimates make sense? * Having a generous amount of capital reserves can make the deal look less attractive, by the numbers, but it reduces the risk in the case of an unforeseen event. * Consider tax implications. Real estate investment attracts high-net-worth individuals due to its ability to provide paper losses through depreciation and cost segregation. For a detailed discussion on tax planning check out our previous monthly meetup with Susan Geist.
Links and Resources: Texas Multi-Family Passive and Active Investors Meetup (Austin, TX) | Meetup https://www.creipartners.com/ Passive Investor Coaching: Course and consultations coming soon!Official Podcast: The Untold Stories of Real Estate Investing https://www.creipartners.com/podcasts/ https://www.youtube.com/@creipartners Available on most podcast-sharing platforms.
In this episode, the managing principal of CREI Partners, Wayne Courreges III, explains how passive investors should vet real estate Investing deals. Wayne leads the investment lifecycle and investor relations for CREI Partners as the lead sponsor and general partner. For more than 15 years Wayne has worked with a Fortune 150 commercial real estate firm leading property management services of 4.5M+ square feet for both institutional and non-instructional clients over his career. Wayne has worked closely with dozens of real estate professionals executing building strategic plans of over $60M and assisted owners through their investment lifecycle. His background in commercial real estate, passion for leading teams, and desire to increase his investor’s and team’s wealth pushed him to start CREI Partners.
Today, Wayne delves deep into the following topics to help passive investors analyze real estate investment opportunities including:
- What Is Passive Investing?
- Determine Your Risk Tolerance and Investment Goals
- Assessing the Sponsorship Team
- Assessing the Financial Returns
- Assess the Location and Market Demographics
- Assess the Underwriting and Business Plan
- Analyze The Risks
- Review Tax Implications - Open Q & A
Topics on Today’s Episode:
- The Motley Fool definition: Passive real estate investing is when you give someone your money and they do all the work for you. A real estate investment trust (REIT) or real estate partnership where you do not play an active role are good examples. The key point is that a passive investment requires little work on your part.
- Determining your risk tolerance will require that you identify where you fit in the risk versus tolerance spectrum. There are 4 levels to consider-Core, Core-Plus, Value-Add, Opportunistic. Each provides distinct levels of risk/benefit. Core is less risky with more cash flow, but less opportunity for equity growth. Opportunistic is the riskiest with potentially no cash flow, but the highest opportunity for equity growth.
- Are you primarily looking for cash flow or equity growth? Click this link for a brief explanation of the difference. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/3WkyRnc_BBE
- Assessing the partnership team requires that you also know who will be managing the property and executing the business plan.
- Assessing the financial returns. Wayne discusses 3 common deal scenarios and the pros and cons of each. Your goals determine which deal structure makes the most sense for you.
- Important metrics to consider include average annual returns, operation cash flow, equity multiple, and internal rate of return.
- Assessing the market location and demographics. Google can be your best friend in searching out property reviews. Below are some additional tools that can be useful:
- Google Earth https://earth.google.com/web/
- Justice map https://www.justicemap.org/
- FEMA Flood Maps https://www.fema.gov/flood-maps
- Best Places https://www.bestplaces.net/
- Assessing the underwriting and business plan. The Private Placement Memorandum (PPM) could potentially scare many investors, but it details opportunities, risk, compensation, and other data points. Be sure to attend the investor webinar to get a good feel for the location and potential. Having the PPM reviewed by your attorney is always a good idea. It is also great to sit down with the deal sponsor to go over deal assumptions.
- Deals should be looked at as a business. Revenue minus expenses equals income. Do the estimates make sense?
- Having a generous amount of capital reserves can make the deal look less attractive, by the numbers, but it reduces the risk in the case of an unforeseen event.
- Consider tax implications. Real estate investment attracts high-net-worth individuals due to its ability to provide paper losses through depreciation and cost segregation. For a detailed discussion on tax planning check out our previous monthly meetup with Susan Geist.
Links and Resources:
Texas Multi-Family Passive and Active Investors Meetup (Austin, TX) | Meetup
https://www.creipartners.com/
Passive Investor Coaching: Course and consultations coming soon!
Official Podcast: The Untold Stories of Real Estate Investing
https://www.creipartners.com/podcasts/
https://www.youtube.com/@creipartners
Available on most podcast-sharing platforms.
In this episode, Wayne talks to Susan Geist, PMP, who grew up in a lower-class family in rural Appalachia and began investing in real estate in 2008. Eventually, she achieved a portfolio that now generates over 5-figures in passive income each month. Using strategic investment deductions, she reduced her annual federal tax bill from $137k to $6k while increasing her W-2 and investment income. Her current multi-million-dollar real estate portfolio consists of both long- and short-term rentals, in addition to limited partnerships in apartments, car washes, self-storage, hotels, and mobile home parks nationwide.
Through her company Rising Femme Wealth, LLC, Susan provides financial education workshops and investment coaching to empower other women with the strategies and confidence to grow their wealth, reduce their tax bills, and achieve financial independence.
Topics on Today’s Episode:
- Susan introduces herself and provides a disclaimer. Susan is not a lawyer, CPA, or certified financial advisor, and does not offer legal or tax advice. The information she shares is only for educational purposes, and everyone should do their own due diligence.
- How Susan went from a humble beginning in rural Appalachia to building a current portfolio that generates over 5 figures monthly passive income. She found inspiration to grow wealth and promote financial independence, through her mother’s experience. Susan also provides some details about her personal portfolio.
- What is tax optimization and why you should do it? The 2 biggest wealth killers are taxes and inflation.
- Tax laws were fundamentally put in place to shape the economy; tax shelters were put in place to promote housing and job creation. The government rewards investment into these sectors and not utilizing the tax deductions legally available to you is stealing from yourself and your family.
- Most CPAs are not trained in real estate investment so they can only offer limited advice, it is up to each individual investor to become educated in real estate specific tax shelters. Knowledge is power over your personal tax situation.
- “Tax buckets” and Depreciation. The IRS splits your income into 3 distinct buckets: active, portfolio, and passive. Gains and losses in each bucket are separated and typically cannot be combined.
- Active income: W2 income, running a business or an LLC, or if you have Real Estate Professional status. Short-term rentals are considered an active business if self-managed, as is active house flipping as your primary job. Active income incurs income taxes as well as 15.3% self-employment tax.
- If your AGI is below $100,000 per year, you can take up to $25k in passive real estate losses-One of the few places passive and active income might interact.
- Portfolio income: Stock and bond sales, dividends, interest from accounts or owner financing interest, and sales of non-business assets such as a non-rental home. These are taxed as capital gains or losses.
- Passive income: Rental income whether single family homes or syndication, royalties, and short-term rentals if you have a management company.
- Real estate (buildings only), equipment, or capital asset depreciation, allows you to generate a paper loss on the tax return without losing money. The depreciation amount changes with lifespan divided by value. Building lifespans are either 27.5 or 39 years.
- Cost Segregation separates components of the business asset that depreciate faster than the building overall such as appliances, flooring, fixtures, etc.
- Bonus depreciation allows more of the depreciation loss in year 1.
- Depreciation recapture at the sale of the property is taxed at the ordinary income rate up to 25%, rather than lower capital gains tax. Because of potentially higher tax rates, consider taxes at exit and opportunity for 1031 etc.
- Tax loss harvesting can be a helpful technique to reduce capital gains tax on passive income. A limit of $3k in losses can be used on active income and the remainder of loss can reduce capital gains on stock, non-business property sale, etc.
- Investing in real estate syndications offers passive losses through depreciation and cost segregation.
- A work vehicle over 6000lb also provides another opportunity for depreciation losses, without recapture under certain circumstances.
- For couples involved in real estate, one partner without a W2 could obtain REPS (Real Estate Professional Status) could be a great strategy to avoid taxes. This would allow you to take all passive real estate income and move it to active earnings to offset W2, much like self-managing a short-term rental.
- Online training and Workshops offered by Susan Geist:
- Sensational Investing the Financial Security Formula-How to set up an income generating portfolio)
- Tax strategies and Planning-Expands on topics mentioned here
- Personal Coaching Sessions
Q&A:
- Does 27 ½ years exclude the age of the residential property? No matter the age, 27.5 years is the depreciation time for residential property.
- Can we extend the depreciation to W2 income? Most of the time, no, unless you have Real Estate Professional Status
- What is the tax effect of participating in real estate syndication? K-1s are issued from the syndication LLC listing passive income and losses generated through depreciation after a cost segregation. Losses can carry forward to offset future gains.
- I thought losses were limited to $3,000? How did you get more? Capital losses up to $3,000 can be used to reduce W2/active income, but additional capital losses can be used to offset capital gains.
- How do you see solar panels and associated tax credits? Solar panels take a lot of time, if they ever make your money back. So, do your math to make sure the investment makes sense. Otherwise, check with a CPA on this tax credit in your situation.
- Did you purchase the short-term rental for tax benefits? It is not cash flowing very well due to the economy, but yes, it was purchased for tax benefits. As a short-term rental being used as an active business, it is a 39-year depreciation. Susan also did a cost segregation study and used accelerated bonus depreciation on that property. Leverages debt to utilize tax benefits that yield funds available to reinvest.
- Does depreciation affect the land value or just the property? Just the structure is depreciated, not the land.
- Are there specific cost segregation firms? Yes, there are specific firms. Engineering-based firms focus on commercial properties, and some online firms will perform cost segregation for single-family homes at lower cost. The cost is also deductible.
- How much time is spent actively managing the active short-term rental? At least 100 hours per year must be spent on the property and it must be documented.
Links and Resources:
https://www.risingfemmewealth.com/
risingfemmewealth@gmail.com
https://calendly.com/risingfemmewealth/60min?month=2023-02
https://www.linkedin.com/in/susan-geist
Texas Multi-Family Passive and Active Investors Meetup (Austin, TX) | Meetup
Ethan Gao is an attorney, key principal, and general partner. He has made over 300 private loans secured by real estate, invested in over 100 single-family “fix and flips” and is a general partner on multiple commercial and multi-family projects totaling over 900 units. His primary role on deals is loan guarantor, key principal, or gap funder. Ethan, both personally and through his private equity fund Good Bull Investments LP and Good Bull Lending, LLC, has invested in commercial properties totaling over $25 million.
Ethan graduated from Cornell University with a BA in Economics, in 2003 at the age of 19. Ethan was admitted to Columbia Law at 19 and graduated at 22. He worked on Wall Street in financial institutions focusing on billion-dollar mergers and acquisitions for several years before transitioning to being a professional investor and entrepreneur in 2016. He lives in Houston, TX with his wife, whom he met on the first day of class at Cornell in 2000, and their five children.
Topics on Today’s Episode:
- How and why Ethan went from successful Wall Street lawyer to Houston real estate investor. How different life stages change priorities and perspectives.
- The top reasons why staying on the passive side of real estate investment works for attorneys. Ethan took the approach of finding operators to lend money to or financially back, to limit his time commitments while working demanding corporate jobs.
- Perspectives on single-family distress sales and “fix and flip” and why he prefers working as a loan guarantor.
- Leveraging networking to meet personal goals. He went to meetings and took cards, emailed them back, and was able to form valuable connections. One person that is less relevant often can refer you to someone who is a perfect fit for what you’re trying to do.
- The current market environment has caused deal flow to slow down dramatically for single-family “fix and flip” transactions. Negotiating all the services and aspects relating to purchasing a property is valuable-mortgage fees, inspection fees, etc. can improve the terms of the transaction.
- How the financial system works in multi-family deals and the role of the key principal/loan guarantor. Liquid funds and net worth requirements for multi-family lending.
- How to vet whether sponsors and managing principals are reliable and will execute the business plan. Ethan believes in underwriting the people before underwriting the deal, to mitigate risk. How will this person behave in a tough situation?
- Discuss the difference between recourse and non-recourse loans. If the loan value is greater than the sale value, a full recourse loan will have to be repaid in full to the bank. A non-recourse loan will be fully evaluated by the bank, and if the lower value was outside the operators' control, and there was no fraud, etc., the bank would now own the property then everyone moves forward. The operator would struggle to be approved for future loans but would not have to repay the balance of the loan. Recourse loans may be needed for certain asset classes, and often offer better interest rates.
- If the key principal is signing off on multiple loans, does it eventually trigger a red flag from the bank, Fannie Mae, or Freddie Mac? Anecdotally, results vary.
- What are additional requirements to sign off for government loans from Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac? These loans have more stringent requirements than other loan sources.
- Ethan’s perspective on the gap funding process and why it is necessary in syndication deals. This is a demanding, speedy process meant to help meet deadlines, such as in the case of 1031 exchanges.
- Gap funding is valuable for Ethan because original funds plus interest are returned quickly, in exchange for a percentage of general partnership that will yield a payout at the sale of the asset in 5-7 years.
- In order to consider providing gap funding, Ethan prefers 80% of funds needed to already be raised, as well as other criteria. Creative collateral options are available in cases of low liquidity available from the syndicator.
- What other asset classes is Ethan Gao interested in extending gap funding for? Due to his network, Ethan’s investments are primarily in multi-family real estate syndications, but there are a few outliers. He is motivated to find opportunities to lend that are short-term loans, where the borrower is motivated to pay high rates and their repayment strategy makes sense. This is a tool to move the needle from no to yes, for a transaction.
- Ethan is proudest of his kids and in support of his wife as a “professional mother.”
Resources:
Ethan Gao | LinkedIn
Good Bull Investments – Private Equity, Texas Style
In this episode, Wayne talks to Ruben Greth. This is his second time on the show! Ruben has a popular podcast about raising money for multi-family syndications called the Capital Raiser Show, where he learns from the best multi-family syndicators in the country. Ruben started in real estate by raising $625,000 of joint venture money from social media to buy small multi-family deals in Phoenix, Arizona. He is an expert in marketing, brand awareness, and capital raising.
In 2019, Ruben partnered with one of the top syndicators in the acquisitions of 190 units and has since become a fund manager who is building over $48 Million worth of subdivisions in Louisiana and Alabama and partnering with multiple select syndicators bringing equity, advisory and investor management.
Ruben is a managing partner of Legacy Acquisition, which is quickly becoming the premier build-to-rent and community builder in Arizona.
Topics on Today’s Episode:
- (0:45) Introducing and welcoming Ruben Greth.
- (1:45) Relationships and partnerships matter: Wayne and Ruben are partnering on a build-to-rent community, and Ruben has a new partnership with Richard Wilson. Networking benefits all parties.
- (3:30) Ruben Update. He is now in the process of co-authoring a book and is working on capital raising for 3 deals. There are 100-unit, 150-unit, and 220-unit 506(c) deals in the progress. He is involved in the leadership of Legacy Acquisition and working on a mentorship coaching program.
- (5:40) Ruben mentions the concept of teaching other capital raisers how to extract themselves out of the capital raising model to have others run the operations for them while they kick back and enjoy life.
- (6:03) Compare yourself, in a positive way, to who you were 1 year ago instead of comparing yourself to other people. Avoid unhealthy comparisons through social media.
- (7:30) The power of vision boards and intention statements to track and reach goals. Write your goals down and review them as often as possible, daily if you can.
- (10:20) Ruben talks about the process of speaking books into existence. Pros and cons of different methods.
- (13:25) Wayne discusses 2 main book topics that he would like to write about: 1. Passive investing education 2. Successful asset management.
- (16:24) Re-defining Success: Loving what you do, working less (not more), being 3-5 times more productive, and helping people along the way.
- (21:50) 2023 Goals in growth and scaling.
- (24:00) The current market landscape
- (24:32) An ABCD breakdown of multi-family subclass types.
- (25:00) The tough economic climate is forcing many investors to move into sub-niches such as: Built-to-rent, assisted living, RV parks, storage units, and mobile homes.
- (25:00) Market opportunities in built-to-rent development, whether vertical or single-family homes. Build-to-rent homes are beneficial for tenants, investors, and institutional buyers.
- (26:00) A synopsis of current built-to-rent market forces and opportunities.
- (30:00) Specific market is incredibly important for build-to-rent communities: Secondary, pro-growth cities facilitate on-time project completion with high desirability for renters.
- (35:47) Expected returns in a development project would allow you to double your money in a 5-year period.
- (36:00) Completion timing and renting rate differences for multi-family vertical and multi-family horizontal.
- (38:45) For people coming up in real estate syndication or asset management, Ruben recommends partnering with larger companies or funds to add value for all parties.
- (42:00) Partnering with a Managing Principal by bringing value to the table: Many prospective partners will ask, “How can I be of service to you?” Instead, up your game and ask, “What’s preventing you from scaling to 10x your current size?” Listen to the answer and find the way you can contribute and add value.
- (44:10) Ruben’s proudest moments of 2022: 1. Over 1.3 million Podcast Downloads 2. Partnership with Richard Wilson
- (45:00) Breaking Through limiting beliefs: Go out and do it, and don’t be afraid. Stop analysis paralysis and take some action in order to self-actualize.
Resources:
- Capital Raising Show
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-capital-raiser-show/id1478498436
https://capitalraisershow.com/
- Legacy Acquisition
https://legacyacquisitions.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rubengreth/
In this episode, Wayne talks to ‘’Raj’’ Venkatramani MD. Rajkumar Venkatramani (“Raj”) is a pediatric cancer researcher, oncologist, real estate investor, entrepreneur, founder, and manager at REIDOC Capital LLC. Raj went to medical school in India and trained in London, Illinois, and California. Raj has a master’s degree from the University of Southern California and an MBA from the University of Massachusetts. Raj owns and manages several rental properties in Houston and has invested in multi-family syndications for more than 5 years. He has invested both as a limited partner and a general partner in more than 1200 apartment units. Raj is passionate about helping doctors invest in apartment syndications.
Today, Raj answers questions about why doctors use commercial multi-family investing as a gateway to financial independence, and what motivates medical professionals to feel passionate about real estate investing.
Topics on Today’s Episode: * How Raj began investing in real estate. Education is key, and Raj is passionate about educating professionals in his field on how to properly vet real estate syndicators and make the right decisions. * How to build relationships with syndicators to help doctors find the correct Real Estate Syndicator. * What should doctors look for when vetting a sponsor? * Why might physicians hesitate to invest? 1. No time for a learning curve 2. Fear of recession 3. Too good to be true 4. Stocks are easier * Have you had the experience of an offer that is too good to be true? Past performance cannot guarantee future results. Covid also created unusual growth. * Why real estate syndication is ideal for doctors? Top 3 Reasons: 1. Diversification 2. Tax Benefits 3. Higher Returns * Doctors become high earners later than most professionals because of the length of education. Doctors are high-income earners but not necessarily wealthy. They have significant med school debt, and the health care system is enlarging so they expect lower W2 income. Furthermore, Doctors are motivated by the ability to have financial independence and focus more on helping patients and healing. Finally, covid has made doctors rethink priorities, most would like to be able to spend more time with family since death can come earlier than expected. * Raj’s online course for passive investors: Doctor Syndication School (link below) * How Raj balances w2 job, family, and syndication. * With the current state of the economy, are there certain markets Raj is focused on? Texas and the southeastern US due to population growth, job growth, and landlord-friendly laws. Raj diversifies within this market by assessing each deal on its own merits. * What to look for when underwriting a deal. Raj has become more conservative regarding rent growth and increase in cap rate or final sale price. * What is Raj finding is one of the most overlooked aspects of real estate investing? Expenses are shifting due to inflation, as well as insurance details. * Reach Raj through LinkedIn or other social media through searching ReiDoc Capital, feel free to reach out.
Links
REIDOC Capital Website:
https://reidoccapital.com/
Rajkumar Venkatramani M.D. & REI DOC LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/reidoc/
Passive Real Estate Investing: A Guide for Doctors Ebook
https://reidoc.mykajabi.com/ebook https://lnkd.in/gsiwPnHe
Doctor Syndication School Online Course
https://reidoc.mykajabi.com/dss-landing-page
Multi-Family Investing Uncovered Free E-Book
https://www.creipartners.com/ebook/
In this episode, Wayne talks to Adam Carswell. Adam is a real estate investor and podcaster. He’s also a Linkedin power networker and a new media marketing maverick. Co-founder of RaiseMasters. He earned the title The Voice of Liberty as the MC at Libertyland national events. Additionally, he’s a cryptocurrency pioneer and a former semi-pro basketball player.
In today’s wide-ranging conversation, Adam begins by describing his real estate journey up to this point. Wayne and Adam discuss media marketing, the social media platforms that most contribute to success in commercial real estate, what people do right and wrong when nurturing investors, and what’s going on with cryptocurrency and NFTs. Listen in to hear more about Adam’s career and what he has to say.
Topics on Today’s Episode: * What Adam’s real estate journey has been up to this point. * Media marketing and how it ties in at the commercial real estate level * Adam’s LinkedIn strategy * Hacks for LinkedIn * Social media platforms where there is the most success * The importance of YouTube as a platform * Adam’s thoughts on outsourcing and how to make it easier from a time commitment standpoint. * What people do right or wrong when it comes to nurturing investors * What’s going on with NFTs and blockchain, and how it fits into real estate * Adam’s proudest moment
Links and Resources:
Adam Carswell RaiseMasters Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki Onlinejobs.ph Fiverr Upwork Libertyfund.io Wayne Courreges Free Passive Investor eBook by Wayne Courreges The Untold Stories of Real Estate Investing Podcast
In this episode, Wayne talks to Nonna Pikiner, a real estate investor, about how to scale real estate in California. Through partnerships with reputable and experienced operators, Nonna has a real estate portfolio valued at almost $1 billion.
Nonna identifies promising financial opportunities for investors with various experience levels. She helps them accumulate wealth through asset diversification, tax-efficient passive income, and capital preservation.
Topics on Today’s Episode:
- Willingness to Learn: How Nonna got started in real estate investing
- 8-Unit Property: Challenge of not knowing who is going to take out the trash
- Refinance and Reinvest: Scale quicker in real estate with syndication
- Nonna’s Strategy: Passive to active investing and listening via partnerships
- Why Oakland, CA? Make multifamily properties perform in rent-controlled space
- Section 8: Government help with housing, but landlords uncomfortable w/ government
- Property Calculations: Review and evaluate cash flow, principal amortization, and value
- Eviction Moratorium: People unable to pay rent and landlords not able to do anything
- Smart Oak: Nonna’s next-generation multifamily real estate investment company
- Mission: Buy, operate, stabilize, and exit multifamily rental properties with shares
Links and Resources:
Nonna Pikiner on LinkedInSF Investor Social ClubHousing Choice Voucher Program - Section 8Wayne Courreges
Free Passive Investor eBook by Wayne Courreges
The Untold Stories of Real Estate Investing Podcast
CREI Partners on Facebook
In this episode, Wayne talks to Keishia Kennedy, Founder, and Owner of Kennedy Remedy Investments, about how she balances a military career, family, and scaling real estate.
Keishia is an Army veteran with six years of service in the Army National Guard. During her enlistment, she was a human resource specialist and deployed to Kuwait as part of Operation Enduring Freedom.
Keishia began investing in real estate 11 years ago following her enlistment. In April 2021, she decided to take the next step on her entrepreneurial journey to focus on investing in commercial multi-family properties by founding Kennedy Remedy Investments.
Topics on Today’s Episode:
- Self-Taught: How Keishia got started in investing tax-free money into real estate assets
- Family Effort: Blessing to have someone you know and trust to help take care of the property
- Veterans Administration (VA) Home Loan: Resource to purchase the home you reside in
- Refinancing and Tax Benefits: Build equity and take capital/money to redeploy into deals
- Lessons Learned: Be strategic with who you rent your property to and get better results
- Contractor Issues: Be mindful when hiring and realize the cheapest is not always better
- Team Sport: Rely on referrals, contracts, insurance, deadlines, materials, and family
- Kennedy Remedy Investments: Why Keishia decided to focus on multifamily real estate
- Partnership: Do due diligence and leverage to invest someone else’s money into deals
- Roadblocks: Takes time to build a great relationship with someone for multifamily deals
- Coach/Mentor/Mastermind: Invest in yourself to ensure others’ experience and referrals
- Multifamily Mistakes: Don’t be too eager to invest in a deal, take time to do due diligence
Links and Resources:
Kennedy Remedy Investments
Keishia Kennedy on LinkedInThe Beginner's Guide to Investing As a Limited PartnerKennedy Remedy Investments on Facebook
Kennedy Remedy Investments on Instagram
In this episode, Wayne talks to Kevin Gardner, President of Multifamily Utility Solutions (MUS), about creating miscellaneous income through cable, internet, and other contracts.
Kevin spent nearly 20 years with Comcast and was responsible for managing the team that negotiated telecommunications access agreements with multifamily property owners.
For multifamily property owners and their management companies across the country, Kevin’s experience has resulted in favorable contract terms and improved net operating income (NOI). In 2021, MUS’s clients increased their NOI by more than $4 million, resulting in an increase in asset value of more than $100 million.
Topics on Today’s Episode:
- Comcast: How Kevin got started in multifamily investments and settled into cable niche
- Profit-Sharing: How Kevin’s contracts work for multifamily tenants and property owners
- Buy in Bulk? You buy and pay for 100% of your unit whether amenity is used or not
- Bulk Agreement: It’s a fixed expense, so find out if there’s a contract via financials
- Right of Entry: Compensation given for permission/authorization to be on the property
- 100: When to add revenue to NOI with new or renewal agreement/contract opportunity
- Future of Cable: Streaming is inevitable but broadband pipe is critical to have for access
- FCC Ruling: Protect consumers and not eliminate or limit their choices for financial gain
In this episode, Wayne talks to The Kitti Sisters—Palmy and Nancy—about how to mitigate risk for both passive and active investors. The Kitti Sisters discuss their journey of owning over 11 apartment projects with more than 2,600 doors.
Palmy and Nancy are first-generation immigrants who were reliant on one income stream despite owning successful fashion manufacturers. The income they worked so hard for dried up. They had to find a different way to financial freedom.
The Kitti Sisters became entrepreneurs, real estate investors, and apartment syndication experts. They are dedicated to teaching others how to live their lifestyle dreams without having to manage apartment complexes or find tenants.
Topics on Today’s Episode: * Backstory: Why Palmy and Nancy transitioned from world of fashion to real estate * Why real estate syndication? To escape daily grind for stability, reliability, and scalability * Why start small?! Takes too much time, money to buy houses, make comfortable living * Why apartment syndication? From flipping business to passive investors for cash flow * Hurdles: Culture, not immigration status was challenge to buy large, multifamily assets * Inflation: How Kitti Sisters underwrite with federal loan rate changes, supply challenges * Multifamily Markets: Consider cap rates, affordability, supply, demand, other variables * Risk Mitigation: Any investment comes with risks, try your best to mitigate known factors * Additional Asset Classes: Diversify in multifamily but concentrate to build wealth
In this episode, Wayne talks to Christopher Nelson, Co-founder, and Principal of Wealthward Capital, about building successful teams and passionately protecting sensitive investor data.
Wealthward Capital is a private equity investment firm that invests in cash-flowing, institutional-grade assets and has acquired more than 3,000 multifamily units.
Christopher focuses on meeting with operators and finding the next investment. When not seeking opportunities, he educates investors on building thriving passive income portfolios.
Also, Christopher is a technology executive, real estate investor, educator, and author. He has built professional services practices, run small businesses, and took Splunk (SPLK) through an Initial Public Offering (IPO) to grow it to a billion-dollar company. Christopher is known for building strong partnerships, win-win negotiations, and finding opportunities where others are not looking.
Topics on Today’s Episode:
- How Christopher shifted from a tech background to getting started in real estate
- What Christopher would have done differently to scale faster and smaller
- Onboarding Process: Press and push as much as possible with operators
- Project Communication: Builds trust with operators and passive investors
- Mentors and Masterminds: Where you tell personal brand stories and solve problems
- Cyber Security: New frontier of crime where email, devices w/out passwords aren’t safe
- Investing in 2022:
- Equity vs. Cash Flow: What is more important right now?
- Do you want investments and partnerships where capital is cycled in 2-3 years?
- What kind of hold period are you wanting with asset classes?
Links and Resources:
Christopher NelsonPassive Real Estate Investments for Tech Employees / Wealthward CapitalThrive Community FundSplunkJeremy Roll of Roll Investment Group
Steve SettlageRaiseMastersYou Are The Brand by Mike Kim<
In this episode, Wayne talks to Chris Freeman, Principal Partner at High Tech Freedom, about consistency, processes, and technology in real estate.
Chris is an experienced real estate investor with $30 million in assets under management. His 20 years of real estate investment has focused exclusively on multifamily apartment buildings that generate immediate cash flow.
For more than 25 years, Chris has been fortunate to experience financial success through high-tech sales and sales leadership. He learned how to achieve a high level of performance in sales while re-deploying a portion of his commissions into cash flow generating real estate.
Through a consistent process over time, Chris created enough passive income to replace his high-tech sales income. This success inspired Chris to create High Tech Freedom Capital and help peers achieve their own personal success.
Topics on Today’s Episode:
- Duplex Days: How Chris got started in real estate was not intentional part of grand plan
- Mentor/Partner/Father-in-Law: Chris connected with retiree making serious cash flow
- Commissions: Put money down on multifamily properties to increase cash flowing assets
- Caution - Shiny Objects: Leverage basic tech platforms and tools to scale business
- Workflow: Follow steps in processes, make it consistent, and checklist everything
- Avatar: Why Chris focuses on raising capital, growing with high-tech sales entrepreneurs
- Property Challenge: Buying is more competitive but more info is available/accessible
- Metrics: Are we growing? How are the expenses? Are meetings and investor calls up?
- Motivation: Big goals and big dreams to own 300 units all paid off to generate cash flow
- To Do: Plan and map out daily, weekly, yearly goals - include revenue-generating activity
- Moving the Business Forward: Is what you are doing matter or just keeping you busy?
- Primary Partnerships: How Chris builds relationships and sources deals to grow portfolio
- Lessons Learned: Feel sorry for yourself for a few minutes, then start working again
- Overlooked Aspects: Numbers game - don’t let emotions/assumptions get in the way
Links and Resources:
High Tech FreedomChris Freeman on LinkedIn
In this episode, Wayne talks to Stewart Heath, Chairman and CEO of Harvard Grace Capital (HGC), which provides fractional C-level executive services to clients as well as general business consulting.
Stewart sits on several boards, including HGC, Winsome Truth, The Shepherd’s Call, and Second Chance Sober Living. Also, he holds several fractional CFO positions.
Previously, Stewart held positions as COO and CFO for companies in retail, real estate, manufacturing, corporate services, entertainment, and digital media. He earned his CPA license in 1987 and has since held several senior financial and operating positions. Stewart also holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Auburn University.
Topics on Today’s Episode:
- Inheritance: How and when Stewart became interested in real estate, long-term assets
- Carleton Sheets: Who inspired Stewart to transition from taxes to real estate investing
- Lessons Learned: Financial crisis, pandemic changed view on value of equity/reserves
- 840/565 Corridor: Stewart chooses market based on competition, growth, and familiarity
- Inflation and Interest Rates: What to expect and how they will impact real estate
- Real Estate Cycle: Consumer demand, labor shortages dictate where businesses locate
- Real Estate Metrics: Stewart recommends various resources to research interest rates
- Financial/Tax Strategies: Use retirement accounts, credit unions for better terms/deals
In this episode, Wayne talks to U.S. Marine Shelon “Hutch” Hutchinson, Owner and Co-founder of H Squared Capital, about building veterans wealth in real estate.
Hutch immigrated from Jamaica in 1998 and has been serving the nation for more than 23 years. He is a Master Gunnery Sergeant E9 and has created and led teams of various sizes that performed effectively in training and combat operations. Semper Fi!
Hutch has successfully executed more than $2.4 million in single-family real estate transactions. His most recent real estate transaction was a syndication in Augusta, Georgia, with more than 167 units.
Topics on Today’s Episode:
- How Hutch got into real estate - followed in his father’s footsteps
- Off-market MLS Listings: Hutch’s strategy to expand and scale his business
- Start Conversation: Talk to people to see potential and sell property for cash
- Market Trend Tools: Ways to find economic data, job growth, population, demographics
- Why multifamily? More predictable, stable, and safer — it’s all about risk
- Fix and Flips: Hutch’s experience cost to sell property or make a profit
- Marine Corp Traits: Use same stick-to-itiveness, assess potential in real estate investing
- Partnerships: Understand who you are and aspire to be to build better relationships
- Multifamily Investing: Hutch is committed to transitioning to a passive investor
- Economy of Scale: Who doesn’t want to double their money and save on taxes?
- Cost Segregation and Bonus Depreciation: What needs to happen to get ROI, retire?
In this episode, Wayne talks to Maurice Philogene, founding managing partner of Quattro Capital, retired lieutenant colonel, federal agent, IT services executive, and real estate investor.
With more than 300 acquisitions and dispositions completed, Maurice has built a portfolio of 35 single-family homes as well as owns apartments and mobile homes in eight states.
Maurice uses real estate and professional careers to generate passive income and build legacy wealth while empowering communities and helping others through lifestyle design.
Maurice is passionate about living life by leveraging freedom principles. He believes that people are meant to live their best life, not simply exist.
Topics on Today’s Episode:
- Passive Income: How and why Maurice got started investing in real estate
- Schedule: Create and manage time for what’s important by building lifestyle
- Real Estate Ups and Downs: Don’t quit or give up, and focus on goals and purpose
- Bank Loans and Paychecks: Stable employment let Maurice buy homes in his name
- Less Aggressive Lending: Defining difference between recourse and non-recourse loans
- Lifestyle Design Hacks: Leave the rat race and leverage real estate for financial freedom
- Freedom Principles: Financial freedom, time freedom, geographic freedom, freedom of purpose, and freedom to build meaningful relationships
- Definition of Success: Peers always want more money, Maurice went after time creep
- Tools: Maurice uses SyndicationPro, Earth Class Mail, Loom, Slack, and Zoom
- Pros, Cons, Pitfalls: Market and interest rate protection related to real estate investing
- Bridge Loan vs. Agency Debt: What’s the difference and which is cheaper, riskier?
In this episode, Wayne talks to Bethany Finch, Community Enhancer at American Made Home Solutions, about creating Christ-centered workforce housing communities.
Previously, Bethany was a teacher and coach who transitioned to real estate. Her passion is to create change that is beautiful and sustainable.
Since the inception of American Made Home Solutions, Bethany and her team have rejuvenated neighborhoods and increased the standards of housing for residents.
Topics on Today’s Episode:
- Company Vision and Mission: Create sustainable growth
- Property Attributes: Numbers have to make sense for conditions and remote investing
- Cash Buyers: New real estate investors need to find creative ways to compete
- Consumer vs. Business Mindset: People get in trouble if they don’t know their numbers
- Passive Income: Potential to create momentum and leverage home loans/equity
- Single to Multifamily: Bethany and her husband’s vast experience and business sense
- Negative Growth: Markets where more people are leaving than coming to that market
- Additional Asset Classes: Build-to-rent and manufactured/modular homes w/ RV parking
- Step Back, Slow Down, Reprocess: How residents find, feel, love the spirit of Christ?
- Passive Investing Tips:
- Assume there will be no return that first year
- Ask about correspondence frequency to set expectations
- Ask how often will you get paid (different deals differentiate)
- Ask if you have voting rights or say (different scenarios, sometimes negotiable)
- Be willing to lose it all (it hurts to lose money, but not always detrimental)
Links and Resources:
Bethany Finch on LinkedInAmerican Made Home Solutions, LLCFree Passive Income Checklist Purpose Driven Investments; Multifamily Real Estate
In this episode, Wayne talks to John Azar about scaling real estate through private equity. John is the Founder and Managing Partner at Peak 15 Capital, a capital advisory and syndication firm servicing commercial real estate operators and sponsors in identifying, sourcing, and securing their capital stack.
In his leadership of Peak 15 Capital, John directs strategic development, client growth, and new acquisitions and syndications. Also, John is the Head of the Peak 15 Coaching Program for new syndicators and sponsors.
In addition, John is a managing member of MACC Venture Partners, a southeast focused owner/operator of multifamily assets.
Topics on Today’s Episode:
- Career Path: First venture into real estate investing specialized in structured finance
- Then and. Now: Aggressive underwriting and similar unwarranted euphoria
- Debt vs. Equity: Peak 15 specializes in equity placements with active deal sponsors
- Nationwide Market Locations: Look anywhere, everywhere there’s money to be made
- Syndicators: What to consider asking a potential equity partner to invest in a deal
- Underwriting: Share and show or stop because there’s no deal to move forward with
- Asset Classes: From built to rent and multifamily to single-family rentals and self-storage
- Capital Stack/Equity Placement: Takes previous experience, check size, business plan
- Establish Relationships: Investors want capacity to do multiple deals with same player
- Financial Crisis: The good, bad, and ugly of real estate investing in today’s market
Links and Resources:
Peak 15 Capital
Jalal John Azar on LinkedIn
John Azar’s Email
Wayne Courreges
Free Passive Investor eBook by Wayne Courreges
The Untold Stories of Real Estate Investing Podcast
In this episode, Wayne talks to Amy Tiemann, Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at TM1 Properties, a commercial real estate private equity firm.
Amy’s first multifamily investment was in 2010. By 2015, she decided to focus primarily on real estate investing, and in 2017, she opened her own investing and property management business.
Topics on Today’s Episode:
- Amy’s Career: Started as general contractor in construction, then real estate investing
- Post-COVID Opportunities: Office and retail space is coming back everywhere in Texas
- Value-Add Component: Amy buys ugly properties and makes them better/pretty
- Property Attributes: Age, physical condition, foundation - nothing scares Amy
- Now: Good time to buy commercial real estate - anything and everything
- Acquisition: In new markets, Amy considers existing inventory and sets unit targets
- Scaling: Amy’s doing more asset management and less property management
- Smart Building Technology: What owners/residents want based on property price points
- Internships: Located in a college town? Go to the Office of Career Planning
- Amy’s Goal: So many deals, can’t underwrite them all - raising capital to buy properties
- Asking for Money: Are you bankable? Do you have equity? Can you raise capital?
- Lessons Learned: Setting up a fund is pretty straightforward, similar to syndications
- Investor Qualification: Know/understand deals and what you’re doing, including the risks
In this episode, Wayne talks to Ruben Greth, who has a popular podcast about raising money for multifamily syndications based on what he learns from the best multifamily syndicators in the country.
Recently, Ruben raised $1 million through cosponsors for multifamily projects in Arizona. He started out doing social media videos for a local apartment investor in Phoenix and successfully raised $625,000 for deals during the post-crash buying frenzy.
Topics on Today’s Episode:
- Ruben’s Real Estate Journey: From mortgages to the power of multifamily investments
- Capital Raising: Facilitate process for raisers, sponsors, syndicators by starting own fund
- Services in Demand: Master the finding and acquiring of capital to add value
- Ways to Raise Capital: Partner with right people with good track record and experience
- Multifamily Investment Benefits: Passive income, generational wealth, and tax benefits
- Brand Yourself: Be go-to multifamily person, automate communication to build trust
- Consistency with Touchpoints: Email marketing approach that adds value is successful
- Original Base: Once friends and family max out, before investing more, convert others
- Best Marketing System: Use several tools, not just one for people to know, like, trust you
- Selling vs. Offering: There’s other ways to provide opportunities and diversify portfolio
- Brand Awareness: Not what brand says to audience, but what people say about brand
- Assumption: Other people want the same things they want - people have different needs
- People, Success, Money: Use strengths to share information by doing certain things
- Lessons Learned: Focus on one thing - raising capital - to get real estate investor label
Do you want to or know how to outwork the competition in real estate? Get back to basics with a boot camp style, open enrollment training program called, CRE Analyst FastTrack. It strives to give professionals the best industry training at a fraction of the cost of traditional education methods.
In this episode, Wayne talks to James Ray, who co-teaches the FastTrack program and oversees regional commercial real estate acquisitions, developments, and joint ventures for an institutional investment manager. James spends much of his free time teaching the fundamentals and tools used by experienced real estate investors to succeed.
Topics on Today’s Episode:
- James’ Job: Find value and understand entire commercial real estate market
- Money Threshold: Big institutions don’t like cutting checks less than $15-20 million
- Teach What You Know: Help people learn real estate business in/for less time, money
- Curriculum: Focuses on the eight critical fundamentals of commercial real estate
- Four Transaction Frameworks: Buying/selling, borrowing/lending, partnerships, leases
- Students: Differences between undergraduate, MBA, and professional classes/programs
- Right vs. Wrong Way: Invest in yourself to learn legitimate real estate skills or strikeout
- Strengthen Weaknesses: Most common struggles and setbacks students experience
- FastTrack Results: More than half of students have found a job or were promoted
- Valuation Skills: Most overlooked aspect of real estate investing
- Property Values and Taxes: If you miss the mark on taxes, returns are gone
- James’ Advice: Be own arbiter of fact/opinion, pick a spot/niche, find/be a good partner
In this episode, Wayne talks to Ryan Narus. Ryan Narus is a double graduate of Wake Forest University with an undergraduate degree in Psychology and an MBA with concentrations in Operations and Marketing. He started his real estate career with no money or experience but has grown his real estate portfolio to 17 mobile park homes. His strategy focused on investing with active investors and planning for the long term.
Show Notes
- The difficulties of a deal lead to opportunities for outside thinkers.
- Mobile homes have unexpected problems when trying to get financing.
- Banks care most about your reputation and your debt to coverage ratio.
- You have to partner with someone to act as a recourse holder to start.
- When you think everything is overpriced, your strategy is wrong.
- You can always pay more than the next guy.
- It would help if you only were using other people’s money to scale business.
- When you are active investors, you can pay more to capitalize on the long-term gains.
- Creativity is severely overlooked in real estate.
In this episode, Wayne talks to Spencer Hilligoss. Spencer is an active syndicator, real estate investor, and co-founder of Madison Investing. He started his career building high-performance teams across the technology sector and, in 2021, was a member of the Forbes Real Estate Council. Madison Investing has over 6000 units and over $800M in total acquisitions in multifamily and storage units.
Today's topics include:
- You have to take stock of your reality to find the deals you are looking for.
- You have to honestly know and vet your potential partners before you do a deal with them.
- Storage units are a recession resistance asset class.
- Traffic count and visibility to the road are significant components of a good self storage unit.
- Radius+ website is a great way to compare occupancy of storage units.
- Value can be added to storage units by cleaning up operational inefficiences and renovating the facility.
- Local resources are the best way to get an idea of what other self-storage units are going for in an area.
- Looking at real deals are one of the best ways to educate investors.
- Real Estate forms like Bigger Pockets have great hidden resources.
- When you invest in real estate, you have to take care of your tenants to create long term relationships with them.
Wayne talks to Jerome Myers in this episode, a once corporate America drop out to now running Myers Development Group, LLC. Jerome Myers started his real estate career by fixing and flipping homes until he began investing in multi-family. Jerome spent years defining what he wanted out of life and himself. He now uses his experience to help others find their way to happiness and achieve their dreams.
Topics on today's episode include:
- To succeed, you need to be willing to take the red pill in life and business.
- The Red Pill has six levels: Self Image, Relationship, Work, Health, Prosperity, Significance.
- Active and passive investors need to have the mindset of commitment and belief that it will happen.
- Start your day with something that is going to motivate and help you.
- Create your vision mirror to remind yourself of what you want out of life.
- Myers Method of Real Estate: Find, Fund, Fix, Flip
- Four things every investor is trying to overcome: Knowledge, Deal Flow, Experience, Capital
- What steps need to be taken to see more diversity in real estate?
- Steps required to find quality hard money lenders. The necessary qualifications and steps to find and close on hard money loans.
- Your investments need to make an impact not only in your life but the entire community as well.
In this episode, Wayne talks to Ellie Perlman, Founder and CEO of Blue Lake Capital, an investing firm specializing in multi-family acquisitions and management. Ellie started her career as a commercial real estate lawyer for Israel's largest real estate company. She would eventually transition to a property manager role where she oversaw properties worth over $100MM. Blue Lake Capital has successfully acquired over 2,000 units since its formation in 2017.
Topics on Today’s Episode:
- What characteristics should you consider when looking at location
- How to protect yourself and mitigate risk during COVID-19
- Benefits of Multi-family as an asset class
- Results of Government Involvement on Asset Valuations in 2021
- Taking your wealth to the next level
- Investing with Family Offices
- Most important performance indicator
- Lesson learned to reduce stress
In this episode, Wayne talks to Zach Feldman, Vice President of Development at Aptitude Development—one of the nation’s top student housing firms. Zach spearheads the company’s new development efforts around the country, focusing on sourcing and underwriting new opportunities, as well as pre-development, entitlement, capital markets, and investor relations.
Topics on Today’s Episode:
- Getting started in real estate from the ground up, specifically student/multifamily housing
- Real Estate Success: Principles of having your money work for you
- Family, Friends, Partners: Buy student housing buildings based on highest yield on cost
- ENJOI 77 HOLDINGS: Introduction into student housing world at institutional level
- Aptitude Advantage: Student housing development w/expertise, entitlement, construction
- Off-Market Strategy: Provide best returns to investors and best residences for students
- Secret Sauce: How to find and source student housing land deals to create value
- Development Lifecycle: Start with macros in market and find location that makes sense
- Pain Points: Zoning, variances, and entitlement risk where town isn’t developer-friendly
- Main Macros: Enrollment, rents, concessions, occupancy, endowment, and tuition costs
- COVID Impact: Student housing continues to hold its own, remains recession resilient
- Differences, Decisions: On- or off-campus living depends on lease, location, and design
- Financing Options: Land loans, raising equity, entitlement process, construction phase
- Cost Segregation Analysis: Push depreciation into first few years for large tax benefits
- Limited Partnership: Real estate passion is a lot of work, not a get-rich-quick position
- Due Diligence: Do your homework to know the market and avoid investment mistakes
Links and Resources:
Aptitude Development
Zach Feldman on LinkedIn
Zach Feldman’s Phone: 781-789-4354
Zach Feldman’s Email
Wanted: Partners passionate about investing and creating new relationships with top-notch professionals in the real estate world. Are you committed to forging a path that will generate incredible wealth and opportunity for all involved?
In this episode, Wayne talks to Lee Yoder, a practicing physical therapist turned full-time real estate investor focused on faith, family, and building a business. He quickly built a portfolio of several small apartment buildings. Lee is the founder of Threefold Real Estate Investing and host of the Threefold Real Estate Investing Podcast.
Topics on Today’s Episode:
- Career: From climbing corporate ladder to being unchallenged and unfulfilled
- Entrepreneurial Spirit: Created to feel challenged, competitive, and fulfilled—not bored
- Residential Real Estate: Why apartments vs. commercial, industrial, or retail properties?
- Good, Bad, and Ugly: How to find and buy single-family and duplex properties? Auctions
- Goal: Go bigger, but stay smaller by owning 1,000 units in 10 not 100 buildings
- COVID-19: Tenants continue to pay rent or can be evicted despite unemployment
- Lessons Learned: Walk all units due to deferred maintenance leading to lots of money
- Vacancy Rates: Buy property, do what’s needed to improve value, and fill units
- Property Management: If you want nothing to do with managing people, hire someone
- Future: Syndicate by believing in economies of scale and on-site property management
- Risk Management: DIY or ask property management to get contractor/insurance quotes
- Masterminds and Mentors: Learn as you go and ask for help from those with experience
- Routine Habits: Stay focused and motivated by compounding wealth, commit to process
- Advice: Vett sponsor and select one with integrity and experience to be put at ease
Links and Resources:
Threefold Real Estate Investing
Threefold Real Estate Investing Podcast
info@threefoldrei.com
Phone: 937-400-3044
Lee Yoder on LinkedIn
How do real estate investors with active and passive income save significant tax dollars, legally? Learn about general depreciation, bonus depreciation, and cost segregation.
In this episode, Wayne talks to Yonah Weiss, business director for Madison SPECS. Yonah has helped hundreds of real estate investors save tons of income tax money through cost segregation services.
Topics on Today’s Episode:
- Teacher Skillset: Trial-and-error role of non-stop networking to make cost seg less boring
- Real Estate vs. Tax World: Depreciation makes real estate a tax-advantaged investment
- What is cost segregation? Engineering method of study that involves taxation
- What is depreciation? Non-paper loss or deduction that reduces income tax liability
- Who can utilize depreciation? Any type of investment property—no matter size or shape
- Depreciation: Starts the day that you purchase the property, not intrinsic to wear and tear
- 100% Bonus Depreciation: Reallocate other property aspects, not structural pieces
- Icing on the Cake: Complicated cost segregation required for bonus depreciation
- Catchup with Depreciation Recapture: When investors sell property, avoid or defer tax
- Active and Passive Real Estate Investment/Cost Segregation Benefits:
- Maximize annual depreciation
- Reduce upfront income tax costs
-
Lower capital costs
-
Good, Bad, Ugly Aspects: Diversify investments, but don’t jump in without experience
It takes years of experience to become an expert at due diligence leading up to closing and then implementing a value-add strategy through construction, renovation, and repositioning.
In this episode, Wayne talks to Jorge Abreu, CEO of Elevate Commercial Investment Group and owner of JNT Construction. Jorge is a full-time active and passive multifamily real estate investor with 1,720 doors on the general partner side and more than 1,400 doors on the limited partner side.
Topics on Today’s Episode:
- Due Diligence Inspection Process:
- Gather information
- Schedule due diligence
- Hire professionals and manpower
- Inspect each unit
-
Outsource leases to third-party property management company
-
Inspection Tools: Software apps (HappyCo), phones, tablets, and power packs
- Most overlooked due diligence aspects and issues include:
- Drainage
- Plumbing and Sewage
-
Storm damage
-
Retrade or Renegotiate? Goal is to not retrade, unless issue is found, but not disclosed
- Cost Per Door: Ask a lot of questions to get accurate numbers to make appropriate offer
- Property Must-haves: Rebranding depends on budget and reputation for curb appeal
- Full Renovation Costs: From $5,000 for affordable housing to $10,000 for all inclusive
- Competent Contractors: Effective communication of change orders is critical for success
- Risk Management: Safety first—insurance coverage is necessary in case of claims
- Why actively invest? Transform properties to build up community, portfolio, and wealth
- Why passively invest? Returns and tax benefits are positively great
- Equity and Experience: If you need help, seek partnerships and teamwork
Links and Resources:
Jorge Abreu’s Email
Jorge Abreu on LinkedIn
Elevate Commercial Investment Group
JNT Construction
Are you passionate about personal and professional growth? If you are on a mission to help other people capitalize on the benefits of real estate investing, you’re not alone.
In this episode, Wayne talks to Sandhya Seshadri, founder and CEO of MultiFamily4U. Sandhya knowledge of the multifamily space and local neighborhoods makes her an ideal “boots on the ground” asset manager for Dallas properties. Sandhya has invested as a limited partner, key principal, or general partner in more than 3,500 doors; totaling $200 million in assets. A leader in the equities markets for 20 years, Sandhya shifted to commercial real estate due to tax advantages and ability to force appreciate assets.
Topics on Today’s Episode:
- Why shift from stock market to multifamily? Reduce tax burden, produce passive income
- How? Bonus depreciation, cost segregation, and real estate professional designation
- Syndication Concept: Immediate access to money and multifamily mastermind investors
- COVID and Cash: Real estate is less liquid than stocks and cash, not short-term safety
- Passive Investments: 75% suspended distributions will be made up; 7% average return
- Eviction Rule: What landlords can and cannot do if tenant does not pay rent
- Multifamily Metrics: Before investing in deals, do you know, like, and trust sponsors?
- Passive to Active: Understand underwriting, find mentors/partners, perform due diligence
- Property Portfolio: People don’t witness systems, processes, and pain of syndication
- Third-Party PM: Set expectations for renting units, retaining tenants, and collecting rents
Links and Resources:
Sandhya Seshadri on LinkedIn
Sandhya Seshadri’s Email: multifamily4you@gmail.com
Bonus Depreciation
Cost Segregation
Real Estate Professional Designation
Enhanced Qualified Retirement Plan (eQRP)
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
How can you be active in your community and give back to the military? Help active, veteran, reserve, and others in the military reach their financial freedom goals by investing in real estate.
In this episode, Wayne talks to Tim Kelly from Active Duty Passive Income (ADPI) and Kelly Housing Group. Tim is a real estate investor and educator, best-selling author, speaker, and Chief Petty Officer for the U.S. Navy. Tim is pursuing his dream of owning and operating multifamily real estate by investing in apartments, mobile homes, and storage facilities.
Topics on Today’s Episode:
- House Hacking: Benefits of long-term buy-and-hold real estate align with financial goals
- Network Connections: Build relationships to analyze, own, control multifamily properties
- Thank You for Your Service: 1 percent of the 1 percent serve in the military
- Real Estate Pattern: Pass the time by continuing to learn and grow personal finance
- Education: Find all the ways you can create generational wealth in real estate
- VA Housing Assistance: Seek loans to purchase properties and investment opportunities
- Military House Hacking Book: Rehab, refinance, and create cash flow multifamily assets
- Self-Manage: Do all the hard work, then pass it onto PM professionals to get time back
- Efficiency Tools: Time management, documentation, screening tenants, due diligence
- Balance: Educate others, pursue acquisitions, and pick up skills by emulating success
- Deliver Value: More you grow, more you can give; more you give, more you receive
- ADPI’s Three Pillars: Learn, network, and take action
- Perfect Partnership: What you know, who you know, and who knows you to close deals
- Lessons Learned: Failure is stepping stone to success; choose how to respond
- Scalability: Straight shot to increase net worth, wealth, income, quality of life; no regrets
- General vs. Limited Partners: One is not better than the other to analyze deals
- Mailbox Money: Become owner to produce income, tax benefits, equity, time, freedom
- COVID Impact: Invest in workforce and affordable housing to thrive and survive
Links and Resources:
Active Duty Passive Income (ADPI)
Kelly Housing Group
How can you target stabilized properties to buy a cash-flowing asset and drive value through improved operations? Implement your own systems and deploy your experienced staff to replicate the business model across new acquisitions.
In this episode, Wayne talks to Bruce Petersen, a.k.a. The Apartment Guy. Bruce is a serial syndicator of large multifamily properties ranging from 120-292 units throughout Central Texas. Bruce won the Austin Apartment Association’s Independent Rental Owner of the Year for 2016 and the National Apartment Association’s Independent Rental Owner of the Year for 2017. Also, he’s the author of Syndicating is a Btch: And Other Truths You Haven’t Been Told*.
Topics on Today’s Episode:
- Why write a step-by-step guide? Free means someone’s trying to sell you something
- Stress of Syndication: What to expect and what can make a difference
- Coach/Mentor: Teach me how to invest in apartment complexes as a syndication
- Syndication: Learn from someone with experience to scale faster and safely
- Know, Like, and Trust: Start a meetup, attend real estate events, and build relationships
- Think Like a Millionaire: Save money but still live an abundant life, not a frugal one
- Location and Loan Parameters: Where to find deals based on what you want
- Relationships: Don’t be a moron, but respectful, professional, and mindful of others’ time
- Non-Disclosure Industry: Don’t trust or believe everything you are told
- What you’ll need: 30% down payment, 2-10% closing costs, and rehab funding
- Property Goal: Double or triple soft commits for enough money
- Operations: Lenders may require third-party over in-house property management
- KPIs: Owner’s packet with income statement, rent roll, and P&L balance sheet
- Passive Investors: There is no guarantee when making the right decision/projection
- Aspiration for Autistic Adult Space: Buy/build property for affordable, safe place to live
Links and Resources:
Bruce Petersen
Syndicating is a B*tch: And Other Truths You Haven’t Been Told by Bruce Petersen
Dave Ramsey
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
Interested in investing in multifamily, single-family, or vacation rentals, but not sure where and how to get started? Consult with someone who has behind-the-scenes experience in the asset class of your choice.
In this episode, Wayne talks to Travis Watts, a full-time passive investor and director of investor relations with Ashcroft Capital. Travis educates others by sharing passive investment strategies to achieve and maintain wealth in real estate.
Topics on Today’s Episode:
- Real Estate Investing Background: Dumb luck, prep, and guidance at garage sales
- Great Recession and Career Focused: Real estate on sale, so find off-market deals
- Gaining Momentum: Get a roommate and check to pay mortgage
- Active vs. Passive: Hands-on or hands-off real estate investing
- Lessons Learned: No spare time to read 52 books a year and find sponsors/operators
- Analysis Paralysis: Too much focus on ROI rather than value-add experience
- Target Markets and Trends: Right deal, right market, and right sponsor to lower risks
- Risk Tolerance: Opportunistic, core, and value-add asset classes
- Mistakes Made: Diversify portfolio by experimenting, doing what you know/understand
- Under Promise and Over Deliver: Invest in or take discounts by banking on cash flow
- Publicly Traded vs. Private Placement: Always have paperwork reviewed by attorney
- Education and Network: Align interests and philosophies with like-minded people
- Four Steps to Financial Freedom by Being Frugal:
- Make as much money as possible by doing your best
- Live on as little of that income as possible for a period of time
- Take margin from earnings and invest it all
- Avoid bad debt or pay off loans sooner than later
Links and Resources:
Consultation with Travis: https://calendly.com/traviswatts/consultation?month=2020-08
Connect with Travis: Understanding Real Estate Private Placements
Ashcroft Capital
Travis Watts on LinkedIn
You’re never too young to follow your passion and entrepreneurial spirit by starting your own business and building a brand in real estate.
In this episode, Wayne talks to Matt Teifke, broker of Teifke Real Estate (TRE) Homes and part-owner of Stone Oak Property Management. Matt has a Master’s Degree from Texas A&M and began his career at 18 years old because he’s passionate about value-add real estate opportunities.
Topics on Today’s Episode:
- Value, Value, Value: Capture leads and make money on every aspect of real estate
- Family Business: Create balance and merge work/wife relationship as a lifestyle
- Education Foundation: Set yourself up for success and always strive to be better
- Challenges: Finding and figuring out creative ways to obtain real estate financing/lending
- Preparation: Constantly build relationships and investor base to raise capital
- Follow Up: How can you add significant value for investors, buyers, and sellers?
- Matt’s take on the Buy-Rehab-Rent-Refinance-Repeat (BRRRR) Strategy
- Wholesaling: What it is and why it’s important when finding value-add deals
- MLS Access: Know and learn the market to make money
- Contractors: Properly vet and perform due diligence; meet onsite and walk the property
- Partnerships: Set clear expectations and protect yourself by planning exit strategy
Passionate about helping people, but ready for a career change with financial growth? When what you think is normal can be taken away, consider real estate investing. Do great work to make great money.
In this episode, Wayne talks to Dave Seymour of the hit home improvement show on the A&E network called, Flipping Boston. After 16 years as a firefighter and paramedic, Dave launched his career as a real estate investor and quickly became one of the nation’s leading experts in both residential and commercial transactions. Dave describes himself as a blue collar guy in a white collar world who wasn’t raised in financial intelligence.
Topics on Today’s Episode:
- Lessons Learned: Trading time for money and following somebody else’s financial plan
- Keeping Up with the Joneses: Average American’s amount of debt is extraordinary
- Financial Illiteracy to Intelligence: Losing everything forces Dave to figure it out
- Past, Present, and Future Mantra: If you say you’re going to do something, do it
- Favorite Asset Classes: Single-family to multifamily isn’t sexy but creates cash flow
- Go Big or Go Home: Post-COVID opportunities to take down multiple assets in areas
- Partner Up: Be available, accessible, and transparent to bring in accredited investors
- Data-driven Statistics: Multifamily/commercial real estate outperforms stock market
- Secret Sauce: Finding deals takes time to build relationships with brokers and bankers
- Good, Bad, and Ugly: Educate, then execute; know what you know
- Learn and Grow: Always look for value adds in real estate and people
- Bottom Line: If real estate is not part of a retirement plan, the plan’s broken
- Passive vs. Active Investors: What to look for and expect to not be a real estate victim
If you’re interested in real estate investing, which space suits you best? Single-family, multifamily, senior living, or student housing? Real estate is a great way to diversify and expand your wealth.
In this episode, Wayne talks to Jeff Greenberg, CEO and Managing Member of Synergetic Investment Group (SIG). Jeff has invested in multifamily and student housing assets in various markets for several years. It’s about knowing and trusting who you are dealing with.
Topics on Today’s Episode:
- Banks, Prices, and Time: Reasons why Jeff shifted from single-family to student housing
- Student Housing: Stabilized or value add, which direction to go?
- Finding to Fundraising Deals: Jeff’s seeking high-quality deal sponsors for partnerships
- COVID Changes: Student housing is recession resilient, it may not be pandemic resilient
- Multifamily vs. Student Housing: Similarities/differences involve location, safety, turnover
- Social Media and Marketing: Depends on properties and available options
- Rental Rates: Student housing based on affordability, not square footage or amenities
- Value-Add Strategies: Increase rents via renovations, furnishings, WiFi, and security
- Joint Cooperation and Acceptance: Support from campuses to provide safe environment
- Financing: Some lenders hesitant about student housing, others willing to provide loans
- Real Estate Investing: Be sufficiently funded to cover unexpected events, (i.e., COVID)
- Due Diligence: Protect yourself by learning and researching passive and active investing
Links and Resources:
Jeff Greenberg’s Email
Synergetic Investment Group LLC (SIG)
Fannie Mae
Freddie Mac
Passive Investing in Commercial Real Estate by James Kandasamy
The Hands-Off Investor by Brian Burke
Wayne Courreges
Free Passive Investor eBook by Wayne Courreges
Is it possible to raise capital in the COVID-19 environment? It takes sourcing new investors and maintaining relationships with current ones by being a trusted resource.
In this episode, Wayne talks to Andrew Lucas, Director of Capital Markets at Trion Properties, which maximizes investor returns by increasing net operating income through heavy renovation and aggressive lease-up.
Topics on Today’s Episode:
- Extensive Experience: Finance, investor relations, commercial/residential real estate
- Risky Decision: Team up with high-growth entrepreneurs or startup your own shop?
- Organic vs. Progressive Growth: Friends and family money to robust investor network
- Funds: Raise and allocate property investments to reduce risk and increase returns
- Resident Experience: Increase renovation value by repurposing property amenities
- COVID-19: Double-down on communication efforts with investors, residents, network
- Equilibrium: Navigating natural obstacles of raising capital and acquiring properties
- Debt vs. Equity Funds: Money and no loans, or loans and no money
- Real Estate Relationships: Be transparent, engaging, available, ethical, and dedicated
- Investment Markets: Be an inch wide and a mile deep vs. a mile wide and an inch deep
- Keys to Success: Different markets require different learning curves and due diligence
- Routine Habits/Best Practices: Create structure, culture, and pay attention to details
Links and Resources:
Andrew Lucas on LinkedIn
Trion Properties
Wayne Courreges
Free Passive Investor eBook by Wayne Courreges
The Untold Stories of Real Estate Investing Podcast
With a strong work ethic and positive attitude, you can achieve your hopes and dreams of becoming a successful multifamily investor and syndicator.
In this episode, Wayne talks to Vinney (Smile) Chopra with Moneil Investment Group. A mechanical engineer turned successful real estate investor and syndicator, motivational speaker and teacher from India, Vinney believes in everybody’s ability to shape the world through positive thought and selfless actions.
Topics on Today’s Episode:
- The Good: Start small and stay the course to achieve financial benefits
- The Bad: Inability to scale up quickly and purchase more apartments with own money
- Syndication: Pulling and raising money legally for a common goal to make profit
- Drawbacks: No track record, no bank loans, no money to buy properties
- Due Diligence Problems: Don’t cut corners; costs more and causes trouble
- What’s in the best interest for investors, residents, team members, and vendors?
- Communication: Personalized presentation and full disclosure of property/asset
- Happy Family: Monica and Neil equal Moneil brand to leave behind legacy wealth
- Syndicators must keep five plates spinning in the air:
- Build superb teams
- Build investor lists and relationships
- Understand underwriting and analyze deals
- Loan qualification
-
Property takeover and management
-
Passive Investing: Limit principals, request track records, and review criteria to buy
- Syndicator Succession Plan and Systems: What happens if…?
- Silver Tsunami: Shift to assisted living space to meet demographic demand
Links and Resources:
Moneil Investment Group
Vinney Chopra’s Mentorship Programl
Apartment Syndication Made Easy by Vinney (Smile) Chopra
Vinney (Smile) Chopra Podcasts
Rule 506 of Regulation
If you don’t have time or don’t want to make time to invest in real estate, can you still make money investing in multifamily properties while reducing/shielding your tax liability? It’s possible and legal.
In this episode, Wayne Courreges talks to Dan Handford with PassiveInvesting.com and Multifamily Investor Nation. Over the past 12 months, Dan and his team have invested more than $136 million in multifamily properties with a capital raise of $50 million to purchase those assets. Also, Dan and his wife, Dennae, host the Tough Decisions for Entrepreneurs Podcast.
Topics on Today’s Episode:
- Multifamily Side: Dan’s motivation to move from passive to active investing
- Real Estate Professional Classification: Offset all income to reduce taxable liability
- Multifamily Investing Mentor: Hire lifeline and pay for direct access to acquire assets
- ABCs of Asset Classes: Dan chooses A and B+ with value-add multifamily properties
- Investor Pools: Never passively invest without considering capital preservation at play
- Would of/Should of: Start ability to find investors earlier and raise money to secure deals
- Due Diligence: Building relationships with brokers, making investor lists takes time/effort
- Lessons Learned: Always have more reserves and extra funds than expected
- Overlooked Aspects: Underwriting can make returns look good, but unrealistic
- Post-COVID Pros and Cons: Cashflow, renovations, rent defaults, and occupancy rates
- Pandemics: Create marriages, divorces, and babies that drive demand for place to live
Links and Resources:
PassiveInvesting.com
Multifamily Investor Nation
Tough Decisions for Entrepreneurs Podcast
CoStar Market Analytics
Apartments.com
Wayne Courreges
Free Passive Investor eBook by Wayne Courreges
The Untold Stories of Real Estate Investing Podcast
Get ready to hear active and passive investors share their stories about the good, bad, and ugly aspects of real estate investing. The Untold Stories of Real Estate Investing Podcast is hosted by Wayne Courreges. In this episode, Wayne talks to James Kandasamy with the Achieve Investment Group.
James has syndicated nine multifamily properties valued over $130 million. Also, he’s the author of Passive Investing in Commercial Real Estate: Insider Secrets to Achieving Financial Independence. If you’re interested in multifamily syndication, seek guidance from James through his Achieve Academy Mentorship Program.
Topics on Today’s Episode:
- Achieve Academy Mentorship Program: Be an operator, raise money, manage assets
- James’s Journey: Started by acquiring single-family properties; shifted to multifamily
- Why single-family investing? Produces better returns, deals everywhere—one at a time
- Why multifamily investing? Scale wealth faster, syndication opportunities, higher value
- Single-family Pitfalls: Flips are stressful but profitable; contract management
- Multifamily Pitfalls: Difficult to find deals and build relationships with brokers
- Most Overlooked Aspects: Roof condition, sewer lines, tenant demographics/occupancy
- Lessons Learned: Conduct thorough inspections and perform due diligence
- What should passive investors know? Construction, competition, cashflow, and capital
- COVID-19: Adapt and take operations approach by filling vacancy of existing properties
- Foundational Success: Real estate is fun, takes work, and adds value to people’s lives
Links and Resources:
James Kandasamy’s Email
Text “achieve” to James Kandasamy at x38470
Achieve Investment Group
Achieve Academy Mentorship Program
Passive Investing in Commercial Real Estate: Insider Secrets to Achieving Financial Independence by James Kandasamy
James Kandasamy on LinkedIn
James
Hello listeners- This is Wayne Courreges your host for the Untold Stories of Real Estate Investing. I am excited to launch our podcast to share the good, bad and ugly of real estate investing. This podcast is focused on hearing the raw truth from experienced investors and operators. We will get to know each of our guests in a way that helps us learn from their successes, but also take us to a more vulnerable place in learning from their struggles and failures.
I truly believe that as we hear all aspects of real estate investing, we will benefit from avoiding mistakes and piggyback on what works to ease our investing path. In doing so, we make our businesses stronger to help our tenants, residents and employees, along with protecting and growing our investors wealth. The show is for both active and passive investors. Active investors get tactical advice and experiences to help their investment process, while passive investors can hear from deal sponsors and learn questions/advice that can help them evaluate opportunities to invest in.
We will hear from operators and investors in all real estate asset classes ranging from institutional to non-institutional owners. A new podcast episode will launch every other week starting in June 2020. For the weeks we did not post a new podcast, check out our blog focused on multi-family investing at www.creipartners.com/blog. You will find our podcast page and information on my company, CREI Partners.
For some background on me, I was born and raised out of Austin, TX. In 2003, I enlisted in the United States Marine Corps and was stationed with 1st Tank Battalion in 29 Palms, California and then transferred to the 1st Marine Air Wing in Okinawa, Japan. I was fortunate to earn my Undergraduate and majority of my master’s degree while in the Marine Corps. I didn’t have much of a life after work! My passion for real estate began in High School, and I was very eager to transition to a Commercial Real Estate company. I participated in a military recruiting event where private companies were hiring former military. I went to this particular recruiting event due to CBRE being an employer. I remember going into the interview and telling the Managing Director she can stop all other interviews as I was her guy. I received an offer to start with CBRE in June 2007.
I have been part of the CBRE team for the past 13 years managing commercial real estate properties. I am currently an Associate Director in Austin overseeing approximately 2 million square feet of office and retail space. I am fortunate to enjoy what I do with CBRE and my clients taking care of their real estate assets, while pursuing my side passion of owning and growing investor wealth through multi-family investments. I control the investment life cycle and investor relations as the Lead Sponsor and General Partner.
I have three kids ages 8, 7, and 5. I have been married to my amazing wife, Jennifer, for nearly 11 years. I am a Cubmaster for a Cub Scout Pack in Spicewood, TX and stay active in the Rotary Club of Austin.
I started this podcast to help others but also to learn alongside each of you. Real Estate is my passion and we will have a lot of great discussions and aha moments.
Look forward to having you join us on our next episode of the Untold Stories of Real Estate Investing.
Hope everyone stays safe and well!