Choosing Assets

By Christina Suter on Jun 27, 2015 at 08:06 AM in Real Estate Issues, Business Issues
Choosing Assets

I am a real estate investment advisor; I work with investors and help them to assess the right style of asset for them. Say you're working 40+hrs a week, and you’re thinking about having direct ownership of 10 ‘doors’. Behind each door, within each unit you have 2 people; those 20 people will be less busy that the one of you. I’d recommend a fund or a syndicated deal. The syndicated deal will allow you to have direct ownership of a portion of real estate. In a fund, you’ll give your money over to a fund manager, but you may not have direct ownership of a particular piece of property. Point is, direct ownership might not be for you if your life is already busy.

Let’s say you want to be in real estate but you don’t have any startup money. It’s a question I get a lot and in that circumstance you get a job in real estate; you become an operator in the field, you get a job in real estate. That could be a real estate agent, a bird dog or an assistant to anyone already in the industry. 

I had the pleasure of attending a real estate meeting recently and I listened to a woman who is an experienced, single family unit flipper. She finds properties, value adds by cleaning, fixing, and updating, and she puts out ads and signage while she’d doing renovations. She sets up an open house time, calls people back and looks for the best tenant match for her. When she speaks to people who are interested, she inquires about their families and why they’re interested in the property. By doing all of this, she assures that she will be a landlord for a long time. She has created a training system that helps her tenants understand her policies, practices, and know their expectations.  Unlike her, my interest is in multi-units. In multi you’re dealing with a management company. When you have a new management company, I recommend sending them an email every Monday morning. That Monday morning email serves to inform you of what the management company says the problems are with the unit and lets you know what needs to be addressed. Every Monday send, and by Wednesday you should get an email back from them. This system tells them that you want to be kept in the loop.  When you are getting into real estate, do your homework and understand the different assets and investment types available. When you are a property owner, create a system that helps you remain a landlord with good tenants.