Hello all,
I’ve been reading these forums for a few months now, and everyone seems very knowledgeable, friendly, and helpful. This is the first time I’ve posted here, and I was hoping to get a little direction from “professionals of the industry”.
Four months ago, my business partner and I decided to start our real estate development and construction business. Our business model is to purchase dilapidated homes in Sacramento, CA and rent them out as long term investments. As we progress, we will expand into other sectors of real estate investing. We have been in the pre-launch stage (creating business plans, cash-flow analyses, researching, etc.) until now…
Since neither of us have disposable income, our most prominent obstacle to overcome is to get financing. We have analyzed traditional lending situations, hard money, and private investors. We have found that soliciting a group of private investors with negotiable terms is the best solution to getting our business off the ground.
My partner and I are recent (within the last 3 years) Construction Management graduates in California and have been in the construction industry for about the past 10 years. We are a licensed builder, have a LEED AP, and are very eager to start our projects. We have a mentor, who had a very successful and similar business for 38 years. Our mentor is a strong believer in “advising and directing” us, and not “giving” us the answers. I respect this philosophy tremendously.
Now that you know a little about us, this finally leads me to my questions…
-Has anyone had experience in finding private investors? If so, where do I look and how solicit people as investors? We have searched via internet, but find it difficult to weed out the scams, junk, and get-rich-quick programs.
-Does anyone have examples of hard money loans actually working? I have done countless financial analyses, and the lending terms are far too expensive to work effectively.
-We are also working closely with an SBA expert, and might qualify for a loan…
We are interested in hearing about any success stories, failures, etc. that could help us further our knowledge or spark ideas to launch our business. Thanks for any help, direction, or advice!
-James