Street Smart Success – Details, episodes & analysis

Wealth Management professionals typically recommend clients invest 70-80% of their portfolios in traditional vehicles such as stocks, bonds and commodities. Although traditional investments are great long-term wealth-building vehicles, alternatives assets also perform well and serve different purposes. They can generate consistent cash flow as high as 10%, with attractive tax advantages and achieve strong appreciation, all with less volatility than public equities. Jim Pfeifer, one of the founders of Left Field Investors, an alternative investment education platform, recently merged with Bigger Pockets. The merged companies relaunched as Passive Pockets. 

There are no shortcuts to succeeding in business, there’s no way to avoid doing the hard work and putting the time in. The key is to persevere and stay in the game long enough to succeed. The longer you persist, the easier things become as you improve your skills and refine your focus, direction, and niche.  A.J. Lawrence, entrepreneur, investor, and founder of businesses, advises companies across industries on how to grow. A.J. is a digital marketing and sales expert with several seven figure exits on companies he founded. 

It’s impossible to time the market, so it makes sense to buy at the right price relative to current markets. If you don’t stay active, you can miss out on great opportunities. It also makes sense to hold for long periods of time, because five years or less is often not enough time to expect precise execution of a business plan given the vagaries that are entailed. Peter Linneman, Principal of Linneman Associates, is a prolific multi-decade investor and founder of Wharton's Real Estate Department and the Zell-Lurie Real Estate Center. Peter Is bullish on Multifamily, despite short term headwinds in many markets.

Many multifamily operators avoid C Class properties built in the 70’s or 60’s in tougher neighborhoods. These properties often have issues with crime and delinquencies, not to mention deferred maintenance. In the past, these properties were priced low enough to justify the risk and the work involved to make them highly profitable. In the past few years, however, newer operators paid too much for these properties and incurred aggressive floating rate debt that will be difficult to refinance.  Many of these operators are now in trouble.  As a result, prices have declined 30% and even more. Matt Faircloth, Owner of the DeRosa Group, has developed a formula for acquiring and managing Class C properties, and is positioned to flourish as prices continue to plummet even further in the next couple years. 

Investing in private credit is growing at a rapid clip as traditional lenders are getting increasingly restrictive in their lending practices and investors are looking for safe havens for their money. One of the most conservative Hard Money lending spaces is against single family homes in non-coastal markets because the home values are relatively predictable without dramatic fluctuations. Will Coleman, CEO and Founder of Urban Gate Capital, has a debt fund that loans money to single family flippers in Nashville with a growing pool of borrowers and investors. Will is currently paying investors 10%.

Buying properties in satellite markets within short driving distance to secondary or even tertiary markets can produce alpha returns, especially when buying them from older owners. Often times, these owners aren’t current on what their properties are worth, and their rents are significantly under market. To make money on these properties, however, you still need to buy them at a discounted price. Farris Gosea, Founder and CEO of Farris Gosea Capital, has amassed an impressive portfolio of multifamily apartment buildings in Northwest Indiana, a market that has become a commuter market of Chicago. Farris has a vertically integrated company that controls all aspects of maintenance, construction, and leasing. 

One of the ways to become successful in Real Estate is through the path of brokerage. There’s almost no barrier to entry and unlimited upside. You can be successful as a broker if you develop a niche, passion, and discipline. Bob Knakal, a modern legend in the NYC brokerage community, leads the Private Capital Group for JLL in New York and has brokered the sale of well over 2000 buildings, more buildings in New York City than any individual broker ever, totaling over $21 billion in sales. In the past several years, Bob has sold mostly Multifamily in Manhattan, with an average transaction price of $40 million.

Investing in Real Estate syndications can be risky, especially if you don’t have the necessary years of experience and the knowledge to effectively vet the operator and the specific opportunity. As a result, many investors have lost money, especially in the last year. One way to mitigate this risk is to invest in a fund that’s run by a fund operator with a lengthy track record of success and diversified holdings within the fund. Paul Moore, Founder of Wellings Capital, is operating his sixth fund for accredited investors to invest across recession resistant asset classes that are positioned to do well over the next several years. In Paul’s latest fund, he’s investing in Pref Equity deals that provide in-place cash flow plus significant potential upside in the form of refinances or sale events.  

Although core gateway markets have the highest appreciation for multifamily over time, secondary markets also offer tremendous growth and stability, and they have smaller barriers to entry. Bobby Larsen, Principal and Founder of Vanamor Investments, has invested successfully in submarkets of Portland, Oregon and Tampa, Florida, plus others.  He’s deployed a very conservative approach to acquisitions and operations that’s minimized risk and produced great returns for investors. Vanamor also utilizes 1031 exchanges, so their investors avoid tax consequences when properties are sold and compound gains over years. With huge distress in the market, and even more to come, Bobby anticipates making great acquisitions in the upcoming year. 

Maintaining high occupancy levels in apartment complexes can be an ongoing challenge, especially in highly competitive markets. This is why affordable, government subsidized housing can be a great option for investors. If the properties are in the right location, occupancy can consistently run at 100%, with waiting lists for new tenants. Not only are these properties full, but delinquencies are a non-issue because most of the rents are paid by the government. Ira Fisher of North Loop Investments owns over 400 units of affordable housing, mostly in Chicago and the surrounding areas.