Category: Blog

If you’ve ever played in a pickup basketball game, you’ll know who I’m about to refer to. There’s always that one guy who does all the trash-talking, the fancy dribbling and barking for everyone to pass him the ball, but there’s just one problem. He can never back up the hype with his play. Once he gets the ball, it’s usually shoot and miss, shoot and miss. He can never finish what he starts and it quickly becomes obvious to … Continue reading “Selecting a Syndicator That Can Do More Than Raise Cash”

What investment goals/metrics are right for you? Just like there are no two personalities that are alike, there are no two investors that are alike. In terms of what’s right for you, I can’t answer that question, but I can lay out the investing landscape for you to assess for yourself the right strategy for you. The beauty of passive commercial real estate (CRE) investing is the flexibility it affords investors of all types to find opportunities that meet their … Continue reading “Investment Goals”

For the real estate investor, hiring the right real estate attorney for your transactional needs can mean the difference between a smooth transition in the acquisition roadmap and years of litigation trying to reverse a bad deal. You do not want just a good attorney, you want the right attorney. There are a lot of good attorneys out there, but not all of them will be the right fit for your real estate transaction needs.  The right real estate attorney … Continue reading “7 Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Real Estate Attorney”

Over the holidays, you may gather in smaller groups but no matter who you socialize with, talking business will inevitably come up. As an attorney and investor, I get a lot of questions – both legal and investing-related – no matter where I go. Many think I’m a walking encyclopedia. I try to stay in my lane – sticking to what I know and what I have experience with. When the discussion turns to investments, one or more of these friends … Continue reading “INVESTING FOR WEALTH VS. INVESTING FOR SHOW”

“A Penny Saved is a Penny Earned” “A penny sav’d, is a penny got” were the actual words Benjamin Franklin wrote in his Poor Richard’s Almanac in 1737, but the connotation is the same. Besides all his other many talents, Benjamin Franklin was also a brilliant businessman and he understood the power of saving money as well as earning it. The idea is that saving a penny is just as valuable as earning a penny. I didn’t really understand those words until I … Continue reading “How to Reduce Taxes with Mobile Home Parks”

REITs have long been a favorite vehicle of Main Street investors looking to invest in the commercial real estate (“CRE”) class without the high capital requirements, learning curve, and headaches involved with investing directly. For investors interested in the manufactured home/mobile home (“MH”) segment, REITs focused on operating mobile home parks (“MHP”) are a favorite option.  For example, Equity Lifestyle Properties (ELS), Sun Communities(SUI), and UMH Properties (UMH)s are three popular MHP REITs, accounting for roughly $25 billion in market value. While many investors are … Continue reading “Why investors investing in MHPs prefer private funds over public REITs”

There are three types of trends: uptrends, downtrends, and sideways trends. In the world of commercial real estate investing, the idea is to catch a trend on the upswing, but then has staying power to stick around in the long-run. You want to avoid short-lived uptrends and you want to shun downtrends. For example, shopping malls have clearly been on the downtrend for years – coinciding with the rise in e-commerce. 25% of U.S. malls are expected to shut within … Continue reading “Invest In Trends”

A long time friend of mine recently started asking questions about investing with us. He’s naive to the world of investing in private markets but has started to hear a lot lately about private investments. He asked me, “Are private investments right for me?” I began my response by playing devil’s advocate. I started by describing the type of person private investments are ARE NOT right for. PRIVATE INVESTMENTS ARE WRONG FOR THESE TYPES OF INVESTORS: Indecisive: Indecision is a symptom of a lack of … Continue reading “Are Private Investments Right for Me?”

The year’s 2000, 2008, and 2020 – besides ending in even numbers – all have something else in common. These were all years marked by major recessions: the dotcom bust of 2000, the Great Recession of 2008, and most recently, the economic crisis sparked by Covid-19-induced lockdowns that saw unemployment reach levels not seen since the Great Depression. In a recession, the economy as whole contracts marked by rising unemployment and shrinking wages. With less money, consumers spend less on goods … Continue reading “Are Recession Proof Investments Real?”