Posted by John Corey on September 27, 2006 at 12:51:46:
Steven raises a lot of good points. I am not going to disagree as much as provide a different perspective Lets say I want to provide a bit of a counter point.
The folks who know you the longest are friends and family. Some of the time these are the worst people to approach. They can remember when you failed at the spelling bee in the second grade. They know that you are not able to shop without running into someone else’s cart. Generally they have views of you that they hold as important but have nothing to do with RE investing.
There is also the rule that says never invest with friends and family as you still have to meet with them at holidays even if the investment does not go well. They will hold you accountable even if they should have been responsible for making the investment based on their own evaluation.
Now, if you are really successful you will get in trouble for not letting them in. They will feel you should have cut them in. Hence they want it both ways.
Network as Steven suggests and work hard at early successes. Even if you have to pay the investor and walk away with nothing take care of the early investors. Then you can use them as references.
Note that if you do your homework to the point where a stranger will invest people you know should also be interested. Some will, some won’t and you can not tell who before you ask.
In the Silicon Valley start up world we call friends and family dumb money. They are folks who will invest but really do not have the background to know why they should or should not. My wife lost some friends because she did not invite them to invest. She kept others when another venture failed and the investors received nothing. It is hard to tell with friends and family.
Posted by StevenS(CPA) on September 27, 2006 at 10:35:02:
When looking for “private” lenders it’s best to use a degree matrix.
That means start with those closes to you and work out from there and also ask them if they know anyone who is interested in real estate investing because if the person who they are asking trust them then the more likely they are going to be receptive to your offer.
Its a hundred times easier to find investors who have some type of connection or relationship to you than it is to go out and find total strangers. Not saying that finding complete strangers is impossible for your investments. I’m just saying it’s easier if the person has some type of connection with you or a friend or relative of yours.
Also, you may think you don’t know anyone who has money or who knows someone who has money, but the truth is we all have 6 degrees of separation between all of us. Once you get the word out between friends and family things will start to happen.