Invest Florida - A Real Estate Podcast

Leveraging Syndication to Do Larger Deals Jim's family migrated from Taiwan. It's the classic immigrant story, building a great business from ground floor. Learn about his strategies to grow from tenants, toilets and trash to managing a successful syndication company.     Key Discussion Points [01:07] Introduction by Eric & Steven [03:19] About our guest: Jim Lee [04:33] How did you end up doing Syndications? [07:33] Is the American dream still alive, even for immigrants? [08:20] How did you get started on your first deal? [09:52] Tell us about your first Synidcation deals in Florida [15:33] What were the mechanics of the deal? Cash? Investors? etc... [18:03] In depth discussion: syndication, waterfalls, preferred return, etc. [20:33] How did you find your business partner? And why did you start doing business with him? [23:13] Talk about the underwriting aspect of this deal and the property management. [25:44] Do you have onsite managers for all your properties? How is maintenance handled? [28:39] Are there amentities you provide in the units to add value to the renter? [32:44] Who were you using to put your documents together? [35:14] How can folks contact you? [35:42] Closing comments by Eric & Steven     About Our Guest   Jim is a real estate investor and founder of Formosa Investing. Jim received his Bachelor of Science degree in Economics in 2010 from UCLA and started his career as an inside sales rep for Loopnet and CoStar. By winning a $50,000 sales incentive bonus he used that savings to purchase his first two-bedroom one-bath condo and learned the importance of having multiple streams of income.   Now, through real estate syndication, he has invested in over 600 units in the past two years where he has participated as a general partner and a limited partner     GUEST CONTACT INFO Website: FormosaInvesting.com Twitter (X), LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook: @formosainvesting

Matt is a local attorney that practices real estate law. He has been on top of a law that recently opened non-residential properties up for residential development. The law came out of Tallahassee and is being dictated to the local municipalities. This could be a great opportunity for people looking to build to rent.   Key Discussion Points [01:11] Introduction by Eric & Steven [11:15] About our guest: Matt Newton [12:43] Give us your background and why you got into real estate law [19:27] The Live Local Act: Trying to make housing more affordable [20:48] Explain the Live Local Act and how it helps create affordable housing [28:15] Under the Live Local Act, is it true that for workforce house, you can you bend the zoning rules? [34:11] Talk abou the timeline for Live Local - is it on the books right now? [38:14] How would you guide an investor who feels they have a parcel they could use Live Local for? [45:37] How can folks reach you? [50:58] Closing comments by Eric & Steven     About Our Guest     Matt Newton is one of very few private-sector attorneys board certified in City, County, and Local Government Law in the Tampa Bay area. Matt received his J.D., cum laude, from Stetson University College of Law in 2014 and has dedicated most of his career to assisting clients with matters in the areas of local regulation of land through planning and zoning, sovereign immunity, state-local preemption, open government, and the defense of both property and civil rights.   Matt writes about legal, political, and urban planning issues in a weekly column for Tampa’s La Gaceta Newspaper entitled “The Reasonable Standard.” Super Lawyers® has recognized Matt as one of Florida’s Rising Stars® in 2022, and Best Lawyers® has named him as One to Watch® annually from 2021-2023.   Matt is licensed to practice law in both Illinois and Florida. He is admitted to practice in the U.S. District Court, Middle District of Florida, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Florida, U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. In addition to his Board Certification, Florida’s Supreme Court has certified Matt as a mediator for civil cases pending in Florida’s circuit and appellate courts.   A dedicated member of the community, Matt Chairs Community Tampa Bay’s Board of Directors, is a member of Midtown Tampa’s Kiwanis Club, and is a regular volunteer for Tampa’s Stageworks Theatre.     GUEST CONTACT INFO Email: MattNewton@olderlundylaw Website: OlderLundyLaw.com Google Search: Matt Newton in Tampa

The benefits of Land Trusts Joe Seagle is a is an attorney based in South Florida. He focuses on providing services that help real estate investors purchase, protect and pass on assets. He is going to discuss Land Trusts...how they are work...why they are better in many instances than LLCs and other forms of ownership of real estate.     Key Discussion Points [01:22] Introduction by Eric & Steven [08:25] About our guest: Joe Seagle [12:47] Advantages of having a land trust vs a LLC? (asset protection, etc) [20:23] Money Lending [25:56] Can you have a land trust without having any property in it yet (like is required for an LLC)? [27:58] How might a land trust fit into estate planning? [30:51] Hiding the purchase price [33:35] If a property is already owned, is it too late to turn it into a land trust? [37:03] Buying properties subject to the mortgage [46:01] How can people reach you? [46:36] Closing comments by Eric & Steven     About Our Guest   Joe Seagle is a legal GPS for the real estate and hospitality industry. His firm works with clients helping them to discover where they are, where they want to be and how to get there legally. The firm does this by assisting clients with the purchasing, protecting and passing on of assets vital to financial independence.   Under one roof, Joe has assembled a law firm and a land trust company that can act as a central source of information and service for clients in pursuing their goals.   The firm's representation is concentrated on real estate investors, developers, brokers, property managers, hoteliers, restauranters, private lenders, and for their needs regarding land trusts, private lending and equity and entity formation.   Joe has been practicing law since 1996. He has been licensed in Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina and the District of Columbia. He is also a licensed Florida title insurance agent and a real estate broker. His company, My Land Trustee, holds title over 2000 Florida properties and trusts to maintain owners' anonymity.       GUEST CONTACT INFO Website: mylandtrustee.com Phone: 833-4FL-TRUST

Doug is a seasoned real estate investor who KNOWS the State of Florida. Through his firm, Shoreham Capital, Doug engages in building residential properties to rent. He discusses how it is easier to reach critical mass with build to rent as opposed to sourcing one-off deals and spends a lot of time discussing the Florida market...where he likes and what he looks for.   Key Discussion Points [01:20] Introduction by Eric & Steven [10:20] About our guest: Doug Faron [11:32] How did you get into this side of the business? And what's your vision? [14:30] Which areas were you focusing on doing your "build to rent"? [15:31] What led you to focus on residential? [21:05] What are you seeing in the residential market with regard to rent / prices? And where do you see the future headed? [25:12] What market conditions are you seeing in south Florida? What about with office / commercial? [31:23] Re: the "build to rent", when you develop, how do you determine your holding period before you sell? [35:43] Which areas of Florida do you like? And what areas are you a little uncomfortable with right now? [37:19] Do you see any reprieve on constructions costs? [42:08] What is your capital stack looking like right now? [45:13] How can folks reach you? [47:30] What's the cost per "door" for single and multifamily home? [49:51] Closing comments by Eric & Steven     About Our Guest Doug Faron is a co-founder and managing partner at Shoreham Capital. He is a real estate leader and skilled dealmaker specializing sourcing, capitalizing, structuring, and executing debt and equity transactions throughout the United States. Doug oversees all aspects of his firm including the acquisition, capitalization, development, and management of their projects.   Doug graduated from Brown University with a dual concentration in international relations and economics and received his MBA from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management. He lives in Palm Beach, Florida with his wife and two children.   GUEST CONTACT INFO Email: [email protected]

Email is NOT dead. With more rules coming out about cold texting, it might be time to revisit how investors source deals. Emailing is not only tried and true, it is also less invasive and professional when prospecting. Adam discusses how to set up...what are the strategies...how to find and clean data.   Adam has a special deal for you:   A.I. Cold Email Mastermind: https://msha.ke/eoc#mastermind Use code "FL50" for 50% off.     Key Discussion Points [01:20] Introduction by Eric & Steven [03:51] About our guest: Adam Rosen [07:22] Tell us about your data / cold email sequencing system [10:34] How do you go about gathering your data? [12:15] Do you use other providers like Seamless AI? [16:01] How likely is it that your emails actually make it to the intended user? [22:16] Regarding email, what works and what doesn't? [26:03] Do you do followups after sending out emails? [30:05] For the Real Estate investor, how do you build trust through the email? [36:48] Is your Mastermind still open to people? [39:45] How can folks reach you? [40:12] Closing comments by Eric & Steven     About Our Guest: Adam Rosen Adam Rosen is an entrepreneur with a heart for supporting fellow business owners. Having led a tech startup that was eventually acquired, Adam learned the ropes of the entrepreneurial world hands-on. He led multi-million dollar real estate sellouts and loves to share his experiences through speaking engagements, podcasts and coaching small business owners. His primary focus is on helping startups get more sales appointments through cold calls and his emails outreach company.     GUEST CONTACT INFO Website: eocworks.com Email: [email protected] Social Media: adamirosen

Making it Big with Mobile Home Parks Charlotte is an impressive person. The first thing you notice about her is her positive can-do energy. She migrated to the USA at 16 from China, searching for a better life. After graduating from Georgia Tech, a few short years later, she is the Managing Partner of John's Creek Capitol, which has purchased 28 parks under her leadership. Find out how she did it!     Key Discussion Points [01:08] Introduction by Eric & Steven [06:03] About our guest: Charlotte Dunford [10:08] How did you get started in real estate? [12:59] As a young graduate, how did you overcome the lending obstacle? [14:13] Tell us about the syndication business and how that works [16:02] How did you overcome not having a track record? [17:49] What do you bring to the table in order to get the "upside"? [20:40] What are the key indicators that tell you if it's a good investment? [22:21] How are you finding deals? [25:22] Do you get a deal under contract first, and then syndicate? Or are you assembling a blind pool of investors? [28:27] Are you buying older mobile home parks? Or newer one? [30:26] What is the cost of a mobile home? [32:14] What do you think about Florida with regard to the real estate business? [36:21] Are new mobile home parks still being developed? [39:01] How can folks reach you? [39:40] Closing comments by Eric & Steven     About Our Guest Today we have with us Charlotte Dunford. Charlotte is a graduate of the Georgia Institute of Technology. She earned her B.S. in business with a focus on business analytics and technology. She came from China at the age of 16 without her parents.   Charlotte's strong drive to succeed led her onto a path to build her own company, along with her business partner Rick. Charlotte started Johns Creek Capital in 2020 with only two investors. At the beginning of the firm's founding, Charlotte and her team led the company to a total investor subscription of over $5 million.   Charlotte is also a certified associate in project management and speaks fluent Mandarin. In her spare time she enjoys playing the piano and doing equestrian sports.       GUEST CONTACT INFO Website: https://johnscreekcapital.com Email: [email protected]

John Cadden from Condominium Advisory Group joins us today to discuss big changes that have occurred in the Florida condominium arena. The collapse of the Surfside condo 2 years ago led to significant rule changes. Find out what they are, along with a bevy of other changes that are affecting go-no-go decisions for investing in Florida condos.     Key Discussion Points [01:11] Introduction by Eric & Steven [05:22] About our guest: John Cadden [07:23] Is there a lot of density of investors in the Condo market? [11:50] What should Condo investors look out for that might trip them up? [15:16] What is a condo conversion? [20:01] Given that Florida insurance rates are sky high, how is this affecting investors? [21:55] So condo investors might not be holding their assets for appreciation if prices start to slow down [26:40] Condo reserve and structural reporting [33:59] Talk about the affect of the new rule passed in March by the Federal Legislature [42:13] Discussion about Florida insurance increases [45:42] Discussion about condo board members having liability [50:40] How can your business help others? [52:02] How can folks reach you? [53:06] Closing comments by Eric & Steven     About Our Guest Today we have with us John Cadden. John is the managing principal of the Condominium Advisory Group. After graduating from Boston University with a bachelor's degree in accounting in 1984, John joined Continental's equipment leasing division in the workout group. Later on, he took a position at the Commercial Real Estate Banker with the Friedman Group in Chicago. In 1988, John formed Century Funding Corporation to provide commercial real estate banking and real estate investment services to third party real estate developers and investors.   After a decade of heading up Century Funding, he joined American Invsco as chief investment officer in 1999 with a primary role of overseeing acquisition, financing, and ongoing real estate operations of various condominium and mixed use developments. Under his tenure, the company acquired and developed over $2 billion in real estate projects. In 2008, John formed CF Capital Holdings.   Since its inception, they have provided asset advisory management, restructuring, and consultancy services to the condominium development, multifamily rental, and single family for sale housing industries. Such services include determining optimum repositioning of assets that had gone insolvent during the economic downturns, many of which were condominium conversions that had not sold completely.     GUEST CONTACT INFO Phone: 312-890-3338

Calvin Roberts, besides being an insurance agent, likes to study issues in his industry for fun! Florida property owners are experiencing record insurance increases....the increases are starting to become crippling. We discuss the main issues. They might not be what you think they are....the main issues are actually very manageable. Find out what can be done.     Key Discussion Points [01:10] Introduction by Eric & Steven [06:11] About our guest: Calvin Roberts [07:23] Is the rest of the country (outside Florida) also feeling the pain of increased property insurance? [09:13] Why is Florida's property insurance so high? [13:07] Are the attornies and roofing contract companies on contigency basis? [15:35] What are other states doing that Florida is NOT doing to help mitigate some of the cost to the consumer? [17:35] What effect did the legislation that was passed have on helping to lower property insurance? [21:56] Is Florida's Citizens Insurance helping to plug the gap in the insurance costs? [24:18] What are some other issues Florida should address to make things better for their citizens [29:11] What are your thoughts on investors pooling their investment properties? [33:53] How can people reach you? [34:17] Final thoughts from Calvin [37:26] Closing comments by Eric & Steven     About Our Guest Calvin Roberts is a nationally licensed commercial insurance broker, and the principle of Falcon Insurance Agency of Michigan, a botique insurance brokerage specializing in multifamily, commercial real estates and mergers and acquisitions, pre-acquisition, and insurance guidance. Calvin has been active in the field since he was nineteen years old and built a wealth of knowledge and expertise to the table. He serves real estate investors throughout the united States. Calvin is a trusted resource for creative real estate, risk management, and insurance placement.     GUEST CONTACT INFO Email: [email protected] Phone: 734-887-9110

Importance of Background Checks on Tenants and Potential Investment Partners Hank Balevic is a former FBI Special Agent and Director of Corporate Security. His lifetime experience deal with security gives him a unique perspective for his current company, running background checks and due diligence on tenants and potential investment partners. The arena is a landmine for investors and Hank walks through and discusses the potential issues all investors need to know to stay out of hot water.     Key Discussion Points [01:22] Introduction by Eric & Steven [07:02] About our guest: Hank Balevic [11:36] How do background check companies sometimes miss criminal backgrounds? [17:42] What's the best type of background search to do? [21:46] What are pitfalls of the Fair Credit Act? And what are your thoughts on the cheap background checks? [25:15] How should apartment landlords properly handle their screenings? [27:07] What is the average time it takes for a proper background check? [27:44] Do you come across errors on credit reporting? And if so, what steps do you take to help mitigate that? [30:40] From a multi-family owner perspecitve, what do you charge for a standard tenant background check? [36:51] How can people reach you? [38:36] Closing comments by Eric & Steven     About Our Guest As a former FBI Agent and Director of Security for two corporations, Hank brings over 25 years experience to Fidelity Data Service. While with the FBI he handled hundreds of background investigations including over one hundred SPIN (Special Presidential Inquiries), investigating officials for high government positions including cabinet posts. He also investigated fraud and embezzlement schemes involving banks, insurance companies, automobile and heavy equipment dealerships.   Hank is a board member of a Condominium Association and a Home Owners Association, as well as being a Licensed Community Association Manager (LCAM). As a Board member, he saw the need for effective background screening techniques in order to lessen vandalism, theft, assaults, misconduct and substance abuse. To that end, he founded Fidelity Data Service.     GUEST CONTACT INFO Website: fidelitydataservice.com Phone: 561-371-3324

Dr. Chau Ong joins the Invest Florida show to discuss corporate housing arbitrage. It's not long term rentals and it's not AirBnB. It's a combination of the 2 and his strategy allows you to ramp up cash flow fast, and you don't need the capital you think you do to get involved. Dr Chau is a Vietnamese immigrant and comes from humble beginnings. He has a fascinating story. Check it out!

Key Discussion Points [01:03] Introduction by Eric & Steven [05:03] About our guest: Dr. Chau Ong [06:13] How did you get to where you are today? [10:03] How does it work to use other people's property? [10:54] So for a particular property, what would you rent it for, and what would you lease it for? [13:12] With regard to short and long-term rental, what has been your experience with the market in Florida? [14:51] What does a typical corporate Florida resident look like for you? [16:40] How do you find the people who will lease you their home? [18:43] Where do you get the furniture when renting out the leased properties? [19:51] How do you deal with neighborhoods who don't want short-term rentals in their neighborhood? [22:20] Which works best for your business: Single family home? Townhome? Apartment? [25:55] What type of landlord would want to rent to you? [27:52] How can people reach you? [28:59] Motivational story [38:37] Closing comments by Eric & Steven     About Our Guest Dr. Chao Ong is an immigrant from Vietnam. He came to America aspiring to live the American dream. He worked hard for eight years and earned his MBA and doctorate in pharmacy. And he was well on his way to the American dream. And then he discovered the American dream was not what he thought it was going to be.   He was determined to have financial freedom, so he explored a variety of businesses and opportunities. He had an epiphany one day and discovered a method called OPP using Other People's Properties to master lease and sublet it out to companies. And that's how he achieved success. And after just two years in this business, he's been able to achieve time and financial freedom and retire in his early thirties.   GUEST CONTACT INFO Website: beyondbnbsecrets.com Instagram / TikTok: drchaubnb Facebook: chauong LinkedIn: Dr Chau Ong