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Serving the Needs of Accredited Investors - INSIDE: Information to Grow and Maintain Your Wealth a Real Estate Hobby Be a Private Lender, Zero Down Investments 10 8 Turn Learn to make BANK! 18 Learn Our Secret Recipe into a Profitable Business
Dave Lindahl’s
Syndication Secrets
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Learn How to Grow Your Portfolio FASTER
nown as the “Apartment King” and the leading authority on commercial real estate investing, Dave Lindahl currently owns more than 7,500 multifamily units in some of the nation’s best emerging markets. His private acquisition firm, the Bostonian Investment Group, also owns interests in retail centers, self storage facilities and office buildings Like most investors, Lindahl started out small. His first purchase was a modest
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three unit rental in a depressed area of Boston. He soon made a goal to acquire 1,000 units as quickly as possible, so he transformed himself from “a dead broke landscaper” into a savvy syndicator. Within a short time frame, he was managing millions of dollars worth of assets on a national scale. In fact, it only took him 3 1/2 years from the time he started investing to be able to retire and enjoy a monthly income larger than most people’s annual salary! PAGE 21 • 2011
How did Lindahl acquire so many properties and accrue an abudance of cash flow in such little time? Using a sophisticated technique that investors call OPM (Other People’s Money). By offering accredited investors an opportunity to join him on deals, Lindahl was able to reach his destination to real estate riches much faster. He estimates he’s raised more than $30 million in capital from investors around the world. His success came so quickly and proreWEALTHmag.com
foundly that soon others began to request his knowledge, which led Lindahl to become a top educator in the industry. He has shared the stage with such luminaries as Tony Robbins, Robert Kiyosaki and Donald Trump. In fact, Trump asked Lindahl to write a book on commercial real estate, “Trump University Commercial Real Estate 101: How Small Investors Can Get Started and Make It Big.” Lindahl has also authored numerous other books and courses including such best sellers as Emerging Real Estate Markets, Apartment House Riches, and The Real Estate Marketers’ Tool Kit. What’s most surprising is that Lindahl was at first reluctant to accept responsibility for other people’s money, but he realized it was the only way he could reach his goal of amassing 10,000 units. So, he set out to formulate a program to streamline the process and ensure maximum success. We recently caught up with Dave in between his travels to discuss syndications and their importance in growing a wellbalanced real estate portfolio.
real estate deals than they would have, had they not participated in the syndication. Q: Dave, we know you come from a very close-knit family. Were your siblings and extended family some of your early investors?
study courses help investors learn to package it all together? Lindahl: They basically take you step by step throughout the whole process. First of all, I show you where the money is so you know where to find it. A lot of people don’t know anybody with money because they are hanging around in the wrong
“The Real Estate Business is Really a MARKETING Business” Question: When did you discover the power of real estate syndication? Dave Lindahl: I started syndicating more than seven years ago, when I realized that it was easier to buy bigger properties than smaller properties. I was self-funding my own deals before that and I realized I was going to need a lot more money to reach my goal. By then, my objective had changed from [owning] 1,000 units to 10,000 units. I realized the more I could get other people to partner up with me, the more deals I could buy. Q: From an investor’s point of view, what are some positive aspects to acquiring properties through a syndication? Lindahl: Joining a syndication is great for busy investors because they don’t have to deal with management, they can have passive income and participate in the appreciation of a deal. Investors can also control much larger Realty411Guide.com
Lindahl: When I started investing, I became partners with my brother and sister, but they weren’t my investors. When I started out, my siblings were all broke, so they did not have any money to put into my deals. That’s why I had to go after investors. My father, who told me to stay away from real estate when I first started, actually became a very large investor in many of my deals and still is. Q: Is it a good idea to start with friends and families when raising capital for syndications? Lindahl: Doing business with family members can be a great way to start, but when family and friends are involved there can be more emotional involvement in the deal. I do see a lot of my students start with family and friends then graduate to larger investors. Q: Organizing syndications takes a lot of skill, expertise and marketing flair. Tell us how your bootcamps and selfPAGE 22 • 2011
places. So I show my students where to locate people with money. Secondly, I prepare my students on what to say when they attend events or locations where there are people with money. I teach them the initial introduction and how to offer an opportunity. We never ask for money, we always offer opportunities. Next, we teach how to close for the second presentation, which is usually a lunch or dinner presentation. There you lay out exactly who you are and what you do. Of course, my students also learn how to structure deals properly. One important thing to note is that if you’re going to be pulling in money in a deal, you have to consider the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). A good part of the training is how to stay within the boundaries of SEC regulations. People always ask me: “How do I avoid the Securities Exchange Commission rules.” I always say, “You don’t, you just follow their rules, which are easy rules to reWEALTHmag.com
follow but you have to know what they are.” The most important part of my syndication training is how to manage the deal and how to manage the investors. Now, I’m not speaking about how to be a landlord, I’m talking about how to be an asset manager. Because as a syndicator, you have to manage your investors, which can be more difficult than managing properties. Q: Really, that’s interesting, why is that, Dave? Lindahl: Because of the emotions, because of the personalities. And it’s always the person who puts in the least amount of money who is always the biggest pain in the butt!
Upcoming Events by Dave Lindahl PRIVATE MONEY SYNDICATION San Diego, CA ... May 20-22 FORECLOSURE BOOT CAMP Chicago, IL ... June 3-5 MANAGING THE MANAGER Boston, MA ... June 10-12 COMMERCIAL TRAINING ACADEMY Boston, MA ... July 15-17
Q: It must be such an awesome feeling to know that people place such trust and high regard in you and your deals for them to invest with you. Lindahl: It is. But when I first started, I didn’t really want to be responsible for other people’s money. It took me a while to start offering opportunities so that others could come into my deals. But a lot of people wanted to be involved and I realized it would give us the ability to do more deals. However, a lot of responsibility goes along with having other people’s money, and it takes time and specialized knowledge to be able to do that properly. Q: What comes first: The deal or the investor? Lindahl: Both. The real estate business is really a marketing business. You need to be marketing all the time. You should be marketing for deals and you should be marketing for money. If you don’t have [monetary] commitments for any deals that may come up, when you go to negotiate for one, subconsciously you will negotiate from weakness because you know you don’t have the money. A lot of people actually self-sabotage themselves by doing this. I’ve heard, “If it’s a good deal, the monRealty411Guide.com
APARTMENT HOUSE RICHES Boston, MA ... September 13-16 ey will come,” but it’s always a good idea to be marketing for both at all times. Question: Your private acquisition company the Bostonian Investment Group is known for acquiring large multifamily complexes and I know you also invest in self-storage facilities.
What other type of properties do you like to acquire? Lindahl: We also buy triple net lease (NNN) properties, office buildings and retail centers. Actually, retail centers are our favorite type of property acquisition at the moment. Q: What is your current investing PAGE 23 • 2011
style, are you buying and holding or are you doing short-term deals by repositioning ? Lindahl: It depends on the market and the type of property. We typically like to hold and maximize the appreciation since the deals we acquire have strong cashflow. Q: Donald Trump asked you to write the book on commercial real estate for his educational series, how was it to work with him? Lindahl: Donald is a true delegator. If you’ve ever seen “The Apprentice”, he is just like the way he is in on the show. He’s tough, but fair and down deep he’s actually a very caring person. Q: Besides Trump who are some other real estate leaders that you admire? Lindahl: My first mentor was a guy by the name of Mark Shavell from Cape Cod, Mass. He really introduced me to conservative investing and commercial real estate. I also look up to Sam Zell out of Chicago. He is known as “the grave dancer,” because he made his billions buying in markets just like these, markets that are down. Q: Besides commercial real estate, your expertise is also in locating emerging markets. Can you give readers a tip on how to locate a booming area? Lindahl: It’s all about job growth and an increase in population. We follow and read the business periodicals on a regular basis and also research demographic trends. Q: Do you have any other tips or suggestions for our readers? Lindahl: Putting together a syndication allows investors to use leverage and acquire larger deals using other people’s money as equity. It also gives investors confidence to get into larger deals knowing they always have the resources behind them. Receive Dave Lindahl’s “Insider Secrets to Creating Wealth” for FREE, simply call 1-800-559-8590 or visit: www.DavesOffer.com/Realty411 reWEALTHmag.com