Street Smart Success

The world of alternative investments holds the promise of outsized gains and returns that exceed the public stock and bond markets. They also entail great risks. When investing in alternative investment funds, you need to make sure the management team has a great reputation, a great track record, and a fee structure that’s aligned with their investors. Kelly Ann Winget, Founder of Alternative Weal...

Most people aren’t even familiar with the term “Alternative Investments.” That’s because until a decade ago, operators of apartment buildings and other Real Estate assets, Private Equity funds, or private companies couldn’t legally market these assets to the public to raise money. Ever since the creation of the 506c code a decade ago, however, these operators can now legally market to retail inves...

In multifamily properties, it can be a challenge to manage buildings with fewer than 50-100 units. Third party property management companies cost a lot of money and having an in-house employee live on-site can be too expensive without enough units to amortize their cost. Additionally, it’s difficult to manage these smaller apartment buildings from afar, especially if you’re adding value to them wi...

There’s nothing passive about investing in older apartment buildings. Appliances, roofs, HVAC systems, plumbing etc. have limited lifespans so there’s perpetual upkeep and surprising expenses are far from uncommon. In new construction, by comparison, you can control all the variables and therefore the costs can be more predictable and therefore the profits. Roger Luri, CEO and President of LD2 Dev...

If you pay close attention and evaluate what’s going around you, you can see opportunities and markets to be served that others don’t. It just requires continual awareness and objectivity and an honest appraisal of what you’re good at and want to spend time doing. After being in Investor Relations and a co-GP on a number of apartment deals. Matthew Baltzell founded Elite Podcast Bookings to connec...

If you ever think of cell phone towers and rooftop antennas that transmit wireless usage, you might think the owners of these properties would have all the leverage in lease agreements with major carriers like TMobile, Verizon, and ATT because the insatiable need for increasing and better signal coverage. However, this isn’t entirely true. The carriers have more options than you would think on whe...

With cap rates having gone as low as they arguably can go, multifamily operators are going to have to add deep value to properties moving forward to meaningfully increase their asset value. They can no longer rely on cap rate compression to generate high IRRs and returns for their investors. At this point, only the strongest operators will generate the kind of profits we’ve seen over the past few...

There’s been so much growth in Multi Family investing over the past few years it can make you wonder if it’s too late in the cycle to get into good deals. Yes, a lot of people are overpaying for properties, especially newer, inexperienced syndicators. There’s also risk that rents contract in an upcoming recession coupled with higher borrowing costs when floating rates adjust upwards. The fact rema...

Sometimes great entrepreneurship is just applying common sense and having your eyes open to great opportunities. Brandon Schwab, Founder and CEO of Shepherd Premier Senior Living, owned 23 single family rental houses that were making $200-$300 per month per house when he stumbled upon the idea of lucrative Senior Living Facilities. Instead of making $200-$300 per home in monthly profit, he realize...

If you’re willing to do what other aren’t, you may stand to benefit immensely. Jorge Newbery, Founder, Chairman and CEO of AHP servicing, has made a career out of inventing himself out of thin air. Jorge’s first big deal was a 298 unit apartment building in downtown Los Angeles in Skid Row for less than $3000/door in the late nineties. The prior three owners had been thrown in jail for violations,...

Private Equity and Alternative investments have outperformed the public markets 35 out of the last 35 years. However, few people are aware of investing in alternative investments such as Real Estate syndications in apartment buildings, Self-Storage facilities, and Mobile Home Parks, not to mention a plethora of other alternative opportunities like life insurance settlements, litigation finance, ca...

One of the great advantages of investing in Real Estate is the ability to shelter or defer paying taxes so you generate a higher return in the short-term and your money works harder for you and generates great wealth over time. Thomas Castelli, Partner at Hall CPA firm, has been a direct investor and also a limited partner in syndication deals so he believes in the value of Real Estate not only fr...

If you’re not careful, you can lose a lot of money investing with the wrong people and the wrong deals. As human beings, we’re inclined to trust others and it’s difficult to discern dishonesty because we don’t expect it. Jack Gibson, a successful businessman, Real Estate investor, and Wealth building Strategist, lost a lot of money in tech stocks at a young age following the advice of a financial...

Austin is one of the hottest Real Estate markets in the country. In order to be competitive and get the edge in this market, being there in person and having longstanding relationships has tremendous benefits. Andrew Campbell, Managing Partner of Wildhorn Capital, has built an impressive 4000 unit portfolio mostly in Austin that’s produced consistent strong returns for investors through cash flow...

The prices on multifamily apartment buildings have risen meteorically over the past 3 -5 years. In some cases, however, between the cost-per-unit to acquire the properties plus the amount per-unit to renovate them, the all-in price has exceeded the cost to build new complexes from the ground up. That’s why Michael Episcope, co-CEO of Origin Investments, has been only doing ground up deals for the...

A great way to reduce risk when investing in private placement alternative assets is to join an investment group. Investment groups give you access to other investors who you can compare notes with on successful investments and reputable sponsors you meet and start building relationships with. David Shirkey founded the Michigan Investor Group to help educate friends and family to help guide them t...

There’s no better way to vet someone you’re going to invest with than getting to know them personally. There are thousands of investment opportunities available and they all look great on paper, but the differentiator is the people because the proformas are generic. It’s the number of years of experience and the number of deals in the asset class of the deal the operator is raising money for, and...

When investing in Value Add Real Estate, construction knowledge is critical to avoiding costly mistakes that can ruin an investment. Dealing with contractors, engineers, architects, etc. can be a shark tank because they’re all trying to get your money. Also, if vendors don’t know what they’re doing or don’t have aligned interest with you, it can turn into an incredibly difficult situation. Van Stu...

Alternative investments such as Real Estate and other private investment opportunities are becoming more favored as the stock market has had the worst first half of a year in 50 years. Whether it’s Real Estate, ATM funds, Venture Capital funds, Litigation finance, Life Insurance settlements, to name a few, more money is flowing into these assets because they’re less volatile and can generate bette...

In the Real Estate syndication ecosystem, one of the key roles is capital raising. Operators are always in need of capital to fund their pipeline of deals. One great way to get involved in syndications is to partner with operators by bringing them capital to their deals. Charlie Rushton, partner at Saber Equity, has partnered with experience operators in Value Add hotel-to-multifamily conversions,...

Ever since the creation of the 506c code a decade ago, which permitted operators to market to the public, alternative investing in Real Estate and other asset categories has grown dramatically. Whereas a decade ago it was virtually impossible, for example, to invest in early-stage technology companies if you were a retail investor, now you can invest in these companies through private placement fu...

Operating Multifamily properties can be more difficult than it seems, and no one will care about your properties as much as you do. Whether it’s staying on top of expenses line by line or making sure tenants’ maintenance needs are being responded to quickly, there are tons of things in the execution that need to be attended to in order to maximize a property’s potential value and generate the high...

As markets are changing, it’s critical to stay on top of trends to maximize your investment returns and minimize risk. For example, you’re starting to hearing more about Build-to-Rent communities as alternative living solutions for renters who no longer want to live in Multi-family complexes. They want more space, a two car garage, a lawn, and they don’t need the amenities of multifamily propertie...

Real Estate has made many people rich, but there are other opportunities where the returns can be much higher and not necessarily with more risk than an average apartment building. Adam Jason, Partner in Legacy Group, manages Alternative Investment companies in Columbia with high upside and strong downside protection. His largest asset, The Green Coffee Company, is secured mostly by land acquired...

The profits on land investing can be stratospheric. Brent Bowers, Land Coach at The Land Sharks, makes outsized returns on buying land and he a ton of monthly passive income without having to deal with tenants or maintenance. Brent has merely learned and followed a repeatable process and discipline that has yielded consistent, predictable results. It all starts with acquiring lists of tax delinque...