How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. Anyone who is great at anything had to start somewhere. So how do you get started? Some people start with single family houses, but it is not necessary. I think the first place to start is education. Being able to speak the language is important in any field you desire to get into. It is particularly important in the Multifamily space. It does not take long to figure out if a person understands the business or not. The good news is it is not rocket science.
Education
Understanding the terms in the Multifamily space is an important first step. Even if you have no experience buying real estate, knowing the vernacular goes a long way. You will be able to converse with experienced professionals. Most of the people I meet in the multifamily space are excellent people. They love sharing knowledge and helping new investors.
Reading books and listening to podcasts can get you up to speed. There are plenty of good real estate books out there as well as podcasts. I recommend the following books:
Best Ever Apartment Syndication Book – By Joe Fairless
For YouTube I recommend subscribing and watching James Eng’s videos: James Eng – YouTube
I recommend listening to the following podcasts:
Old Capital Podcast – With Paul Peebles and Michael Becker
Multifamily Legacy Podcast – With Corey Peterson
Financial Freedom with Real Estate Investing Podcast – With The Michael Blank
These will get you started, and you can branch out from there. I read a lot and I find once you get started on a subject there are endless suggestions of what to read or listen to next.
Networking
Once you have built up a working knowledge, it is time to start meeting like-minded people. This is a step I wish I did a lot sooner. The first Multifamily meetup I went to was great. Everyone there was like-minded and loved investing in real estate. I tried for years to tell my friends about how great Multifamily investing is, but it mostly fell on deaf ears because they were not interested.
If you go to a multifamily real estate meetup, all attendees will have similar views as you. To do this go to Meetup.com and search multifamily events in your area. There are also several virtual events as well.
There are conferences and paid events as well that can be beneficial. Make sure to do your research beforehand. You want to make sure you are getting a good value for your money. I find joining a group of multifamily investors helps me network, learn and find opportunities. This is how I became a director at Old Capital.
Multifamily Mentoring
If you want to do your own deals, then you will want to pay for some sort of mentoring program. A good mentoring group will save you money in costly mistakes and provide guidance. Multifamily is largely an insider’s game where the people who have relationships get better deals. It is an unfair business. Joining the right group can get you better access.
Being connected in a mentoring group will help you take the right action steps and know the right people. You can build better relationships with brokers, and you can also form partnerships easier. Multifamily is a team sport. No one really lone-wolfs it because the deals require a lot of capital and management.
The group you join will also likely have experienced general partners. They can be a great source of knowledge or investment opportunities. If you are willing to hustle, they can also provide the experience you will need to close on a deal. Lenders require the sponsorship team to have multifamily experience in most cases. You cannot just buy a big apartment deal with no experience so teaming up with someone experienced helps.
Some people like to invest in a deal first, so you will need to have a preexisting relationship with a sponsor unless you are an accredited investor. Here is an article I wrote if you want to learn more about why that is: Real Estate Syndication: Accredited Investor vs Non-Accredited Investor – James Wilson
Conclusion
The best time to plant a tree was 20 years. The second-best time is today. If you want to get started in Multifamily, start today and start learning. There is so much free content out there to learn from. Take action and be consistent!
