Last week, we had the great opportunity to attend and speak at the second annual Best Ever Conference in Denver, CO. Hosted by real estate guru Joe Fairless and his team, the conference featured inspiring keynote speakers, lots of networking opportunities with professionals in the industry, fantastic advice from top Real Estate investors around the country, and, of course, sublime views of the Rockies. It’s hard to distill everything we learned, but here are our top four takeaways after two days of “best ever” real estate advice:
Be Flexible
Unexpected events will occur when you’re investing in real estate. Whether it be a change in your scope of work, physical barriers, or your initial exit strategy, it’s impossible to stick to a hard-and-fast plan in real estate. Instead, planning for multiple scenarios - including disastrous ones - is the best way to prepare you for the future. One strategy outlined by the Spartan Investment Group is simply “Hire an Awesome Team” – one that is accountable, flexible, and resilient. Make sure to fill your team with different and essential skill sets, such as an architect, civil engineer, and contractor. Covering these basic areas will equip you with the essential tools you need for most unanticipated situations.
Align Incentives with Partners
Get to know your investor, buyer, seller, and service providers and vendors. It is important to understand your partners’ demographics, how they operate, and what they are striving to achieve from the experience. After you finalize your project strategy make sure to inform your investors of both the planned and unplanned series of events that you outlined (see above). Share everything with your investor! You can do this by hosting webinars, publishing monthly updates, and scheduling weekly conference calls. Explore different opportunities to partner with companies that want to see you succeed. After a panel with Founder & Chief Legal Hacker, Amy Wan, Esq., at Bootstrap Legal, we discovered there are actually legal solutions tailored for the real estate crowdfunding industry! And this can be applied to any firm, not just your real estate investment business. Our CEO Matt Rodak spoke about Fund That Flip's own rapid growth and how strategically partnering with vendors and influencers led to scaling our business successfully.
Learn Market Trends and Industry Changes
Closely follow the ups and downs of your local market and how to overcome the challenging situations you may face. “There is no such thing as too much due diligence” is a refrain we heard over and over. Aside from calculating your after repair value (ARV), be sure to take the macro view and learn where your local real estate market is headed. Ask yourself: when and where is the right time to buy? Learn more about the general industry by attending educational events such as Jorge Newberry’s Note Buyer Boot Camp or listening to podcasts on BiggerPockets.com.
Build Relationships
We saved the best for last. Relationships are the golden ticket in real estate. It is important to gain confidence not only among investors but also service providers and influencers in the industry. At the conference, we learned that there are three main reasons why you may not be closing deals: 1) Your stakeholders do not know you well enough, 2) You are not perceived as an expert in the industry or 3) You didn’t listen closely enough to their needs and obligations. Thankfully, these are easy to reverse. Attend local meetups, groups, and conferences, get your name out there, and prove to your network and stakeholders that you are determined to completely execute the transaction. To do so, expand your network and get your name out there by attending networking events, MeetUp groups and conferences, and posting on crowdfunding review sites like The Real Estate Crowdfunding Review or BiggerPockets. Happy networking!
We're already looking forward to next year's Best Ever Conference to learn more about investing in real estate. See you there!
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