Real Estate is a block-to-block business, especially multifamily. That’s why a highly targeted strategy is desirable when choosing an operator to invest in. Tight geographic and asset class focus mitigates a lot of risk. Michael Voulgarakis, COO of Southgate Ventures, buys class B and C multifamily properties in Seattle in the sub-middle market $10 million, 20-30 unit range from owners who’ve owned the properties 15-30 years. With longer-term ownership, there’s a likelihood that value-add opportunities exist to significantly enhance the values of these properties. There’s an abundance of these properties in Seattle, a growing market with limited supply, robust employment, and high incomes.

The hardest part of being a passive, cash flow investor is knowing who you can trust with your hard-earned money and life savings. With so many operators and opportunities, it’s difficult to know what to invest in, especially if you don’t have a lot of experience. Currently, there are many Real Estate projects in big trouble with Limited Partners losing their investments as a result of poor underwriting and execution on the part of General Partners. Pat Zingarella, CEO of Invest Clearly, is providing passive investors impartial feedback about sponsors and opportunities before they invest. Pat created Invest Clearly, a review website for Limited Partners to find General Partners and learn about them from peer reviews from other investors. 

The affordable housing issue persists in this country as homeownership becomes further out of reach for most people. One of the most viable solutions to this issue is Mobile Home Parks. Unlike common misperceptions of old, rundown parks with low-income tenants, many parks are in solid communities in great submarkets with modern amenities like pools, pickleball, kid’s play areas, and clubhouses.  They can also be great cash flowing assets for investors. Kevin Bupp, CEO of Sunrise Capital Investors, has built a portfolio of 3500 pads across17 states over the past dozen years. 

Although the competition to acquire most commercial real estate assets is fierce, there’s frequently less competition to acquire non-institutional Triple Net deals. Yet Triple Net deals are often offered at higher cap rates with stronger in-place cash flow and greater predictability for the long-term. These are great assets for cash flow investors that rely on consistent income to subsist on. Ben Kogut, founder of Rooster Equity, invests in single net lease properties at under market prices. Ben is currently exploring opportunities in national, publicly traded medical facilities. As the population ages, the demand for medical care will continue to increase. 

Amongst the popularity of Commercial Real Estate, Public Equities, Oil and Gas, and other common alternative asset classes, one asset class remains underneath the institutional radar. That’s Strategic Special Metals. Strategic Special Metals is an opportunity to invest in raw materials that are the underpinning of many of the world’s largest industries. Examples are Gallium, Indium, and Geranium, to name a few. Louis O’Connor, founder of Strategic Metals Invest Consultancy, helps clients invest in these highly appreciating asset classes with consistent double digit historic returns. 

To invest in most multifamily projects, investors need to have accredited status. With Diversyfund, investors don’t need to be accredited to invest. For as little as $500, investors can invest in Multifamily funds. Since 2016, Diversyfund has had over 30,000 investors. 

The multifamily industry has made a lot of people a lot of money, but the tides have turned over the last couple years. The rise in interest rates and inexperienced operators drawn to potential riches including exorbitant acquisition fees have taken its toll with a lot of properties upside down and investors losing money. Sandhya Seshadri, Founder of Engineered Capital, is a Dallas-based multifamily operator who works tirelessly to preserve her investor’s hard-earned money. Instead of perpetually trying to raise money for the next deal, Sandhya focuses on optimizing her existing portfolio...

Finding under the radar Real Estate niches is extremely difficult, especially with the amount of information readily available online. One exception in today’s market is RV Parks. There are 1.2 million people that live full-time in RVs but there are only 600,000 pads for them to occupy when traveling.  In addition, 85% of RV parks are owned by owners who only own one park, and 50% don’t even have websites and 70% don’t take online reservations.  This is an asset class rife with opportunity. Ben Spiegel, Founder and CEO of Redwood Capital, is building a portfolio of RV parks in the south. Ben is implementing professional management and positioning them for sale to an institutional buyer. 

Getting higher than 10% cash-on-cash returns is close to impossible with most real estate investments. One exception to this is short term rentals. Short term rentals are a hybrid between owning typical residential housing and the hospitality business. Short term rentals require more management but can yield higher returns. Avery Carl, CEO of The Short-Term Shop, the country's top short-term rental and Airbnb real estate agency, and host of the Short Term Show podcast, helps investors find short term rental properties and educates them on how to manage them.

As market rate apartments have become cost prohibitive to acquire over the past several years, ground up construction has become a more economically feasible option, especially with various federal, state, and local government tax credit programs. Lee Harris, President and CEO of Cohen Esrey, specializes in the development of 100-300 unit subsidized multifamily properties in the Midwest and Sunbelt markets, often with complex funding strategies. Cohen Esrey has managed more than 82,000 multifamily units since its formation.