Street Smart Success Roger Becker

One asset class that still has great deals on sub-institutional properties is Mobile Home Parks. Although larger parks near major metros are being acquired by REITs, Private Equity, and other institutions, parks with fewer than 100 sites are still being acquired by smaller investors with less competition. Smaller parks, mostly in tertiary markets, can offer great buying opportunities with value-add components that result in tremendous value and cash flow. Ferd Niemann IV, Mobile Home Park lawyer and investor, has acquired over 20 parks in mostly small markets across five Midwestern states. Ferd is raising a $10,000,000 fund to acquire more parks and leverage the success he’s had with individual assets. 

It’s hard to time the bottom of a market but real signs of distress are starting to appear in multifamily. Because of financing issues in addition to operational challenges, the market is starting to see forced sellers with lower prices. It’s once again becoming possible to acquire properties with positive leverage and potential upside over the next couple years as new inventory gets absorbed, occupancy increases, and rents rise. There are certain markets where job and population growth continue to serge and property values along with it. Dallas, for example, has 100,000 new residents still arriving per year, which will continue to put pressure on housing inventory. Daniel Farber, CEO of HLC Equity, has made significant investments in Dallas since 2012, and after an acquisition hiatus in 2021-2023, is starting to get back into the market. 

In a world where there’s so much money available to finance private Real Estate, there’s no need to employ your own capital as an investor. With creative deal structuring that solves other’s problems, you won’t need to come out of pocket to do deals, and you won’t need to deal with impersonal banks or other financial institutions. There are thousands of private investors and other sources of capital you can use for wholesaling, flipping, or buying and holding real estate, and these strategies are applicable in any size market. Derek Dombeck, Founder of GOW Global, has built his own portfolio of rentals and is teaching others how to implement the same strategies.

Many investors over the years have built portfolios of single-family rentals that have ultimately enabled them to quit their jobs and build legacy income for their families. Single family homes in the right neighborhoods can always attract good renters and some stay for many years with not a lot of management required. Dustin Heiner, Founder of Master Passive Income, has built a portfolio of single families in Northeastern Ohio, Houston, Tennessee and  Phoenix since 2006 and never sells a home. Dustin also offers a FREE Real Estate investing course online at masterpassiveinvesting.com. 

Alternative assets are getting a greater share of investor allocations as they seek higher yields and less volatility. Pension funds, endowments and other large institutions are directing more dollars to these assets in order to increase overall yields in their portfolios and to hit mandated returns. Kim Flynn, President of XA Investments and a Harvard MBA, specializes in Private Credit funds, some of which generate higher than 10% yields. Kim is responsible for all product and business development activities plus the firm’s proprietary fund platform and consulting practice.

The hardest part of Real Estate investing is finding the right deals, but there are great deals in any market. Someone always has to sell; you just have to be able to identify the opportunity when you see it. In order to do this, you need to stay in the market at all times. Jeff Greenberg, Principal of Heritage Capital Management, has been investing across several asset classes for over three decades and has enjoyed great success by utilizing 1031 exchanges in order to scale his portfolio. Jeff is currently acquiring flex industrial properties in secondary and tertiary markets in the $10 million to $30 million range, a segment too small for larger institutions and too large for smaller investors.