Tired of the weekly routine of trading your time for money and serving corporations with minimal financial reward? If you find yourself in a cycle of paycheck-to-paycheck work-life, earning too little to maintain your desired standard of living, or just tired of the W2-salary-disparity, I’m sure you want to find a way out of the rat race and a path to financial independence. If you want to get a jump start to reach your financial goal through real estate syndication or investing, you may need help to get on track with your objectives.
But, where and how to begin your real estate investment journey? This is the topic of my recent conversation with Michael Reilman of Summit Path Acquisitions. His path to real estate syndication began at his corporate career as an engineer in the auto industry and has meshed with forays into stocks and bonds until he settled on multifamily syndication. Along the way, he’s learned valuable lessons that have proven crucial in the successful founding of his syndication company.
If you’re interested in taking the plunge into real estate syndication or want to strengthen your footing in the industry, here are some essential tips that will help you get started.
1. Connect and create your network of resources
“Go out to network, get around like-minded people and talk about what you want to do. When I first went to a networking event, the first thing I did is just tell everyone, “I want to get into multifamily. I want to get into syndication, I want to do this,” relates Michael who then got referred into a multifamily meet-up and eventually got referrals and business connections.
Speaking to other people about your goals and expectations will also let you hear about other people in the same area of your interest. They become your resources for knowledge, deals, capital, referrals, services, staffing, supplies, etc.
“So, when you say, ‘Hey, I am looking for a good real estate attorney that can do this’ or ‘I am looking for a property manager’, ask as many people as you can and you start hearing the same people in your area, same referrals, and you can end up calling them up, getting to know them and getting them on your team,” says Michael who recalls that by using this process he was able to team up with some of the big players in his area.
2. Set up a system to track investors and contacts
Don’t think about systems as some complicated software or service that you have to pay for. There are plenty of free options available that can be used especially by beginners in the investing business. Michael has the following suggestions:
“You can use Excel spreadsheets to keep track of contacts. Have columns for names, dates, follow-ups. Use the “sort” functions to generate names with a particular category, for example, “Follow up in three months.”
Michael also recommends using MailChimp, an email marketing service used by businesses to manage their mailing lists and create email marketing campaigns.
“It’s very easy to give updates to people using MailChimp. All you need is an email address and to get permission to email. It’s easy to categorize and tag recipients and generate lists,” he says, adding that with the free plan you can use a fair amount of MailChimp’s service at no cost.
3. Set daily goals that will bring you closer to your objective.
“As a syndicator, my objectives are to find deals and find the capital for them. So, to achieve these, I set two goals for myself every day: one, call a broker, and two, call an investor,” declares Michael, who believes that communication is the key to building relationships and nurturing trust with clients.
“It doesn’t matter what the call is for. It could be, “Hey, what deals you got?” It could be, “Hey, how are you doing?” It could be personal or it could business-like. Build that discussion with them, maybe they’ll throw you something, maybe they won’t, but it’s a time thing. The fact that you took the time and made the effort to call makes people more open to you,” adds Michael. He has proven that once a relationship has been established, it is easier to pitch business deals or get referrals.
He further shares this interesting insight, “This is my goal today, call a broker. But, he doesn’t pick up so I leave a voice mail. I’m done in 30 seconds but I realize I could spend five more minutes doing calls. So, I call one more broker than two, three and then they start calling you back or sending you emails”, setting the motion for the business transactions for the day.
Find a goal that you can achieve every day and start there.
4. Plan your day and make use of time wisely.
“When I wake up at 5 am, I focus on the tasks I’m going to do for the day, in my entrepreneurial life and my personal life. I think about exactly what I’m going to do for the day – the major tasks such as meetings, calls, and the small ones in the pocket of times of the day such as when I am driving home for lunch or the drive back to work. What I’m going to do, who I’m going to call, what I’m doing during my lunch hour, what I’m doing after work – letting the dog out, working out, analyzing deals, shooting emails,” cites Michael.
When you have a busy schedule, it’s easy to feel stressed out and frustrated – like there are never enough hours in the day for everything that needs to get done. Planning your activities for the day allows you to manage your time better, be more productive, and focus on things that matter. Just make sure they are aligned with your goals.
“I allot 10 minutes a day reading a book. I hate reading but because there’s a ton of good information out there, I input a reading schedule on my day to force myself to read. It becomes this avalanche of activity as you’re building your networking base and you’re getting your deal flow up so manage your daily schedule well,” ends Michael.
5. Continue self-educating
For newcomers in the real estate industry, it is important to take the time to educate yourself on important aspects of the business. Continuing self-education is necessary to keep you up to date with business policies and trends in the market.
Michael shares his daily habits to keep himself informed of recent news and updates on the industry. “I try to listen to at least one podcast a day. I listen to yours (The Real Estate Syndication Show). There are a bunch of podcasts out there and just spend maybe an hour. Podcasts are awesome because of the wealth of information that you can learn. You can Google whatever is in your head.”
“Educating yourself is a series of steps because all of this is learnable, you could read and learn about many things in the real estate industry if you just put in the time. But, there is also a lot of stuff that you only get through if you’re experiencing it like I learned a lot in my six-unit deal,” adds Michael.
6. Renew Your Commitment Everyday
It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the work and knowledge required when getting started in real estate syndication. Michael says that one of the hardest parts of his journey is keeping the commitment to do all the simple, little things that need to be done to keep the business sustainable.
“The reason why it took me two years to get to where I am now is that I took four months off. I thought I was committed before but I wasn’t. I mean one investor is great but you are going to need a ton and the next ten you might talk to might say no. It’s a numbers game and it is just being consistent every day that’s actually pretty difficult to sustain. The secret is just doing it and convincing yourself to do it and doing it especially on the days that you don’t want to do it,” advises Michael.
Michael highlights the value of developing the mindset, and motivating the self with the mantras like, “I can do this,” and “This is what I have to do to achieve what I want to achieve.” “It’s a matter of breaking down complicated tasks into smaller pieces and doing the smaller pieces and doing them consistently,” reminds Michael.
Final Thoughts
Success as a real estate entrepreneur has a lot to do with upholding your commitment to your goal and maintaining a positive attitude towards the ups and downs in the business. The real estate investing journey can be daunting but if you have the drive and motivation to go beyond just relying on your W2 income, then get on the road and forge a path to financial independence.
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Interested in investing? It doesn’t have to be difficult or complicated as there are plenty of ways for you to get started no matter what your background is. Talk to one of our experts today. Email us at [email protected] or call to see if LifeBridge Capital’s investments are a fit for you.
