How to Create a Commercial Real Estate Time Table - Part I

Posted by: dscruggs on Thursday, September 4th, 2008

Figuratively speaking, I meet individuals on a daily basis that have developed interest. I often get question such as the following:

· I want to buy my first commercial building how do I get funding?

· How can I buy a 50 unit building to replace my current income?

· What building can I get to make money in real estate?

· How many units or buildings would I need to buy to replace 50K a year?

· When can I start learning to be a real estate millionaire?

· Will you help me get what you got?!

As you can likely see, most people really don’t have a plan. They have what I would refer to as a pipe dream. As the old adage states, “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail!” It really is that simple. If you are serious about becoming successful not only in the real estate field, but in life and business overall, you need a plan. Let me put this in terms with which we all are very familiar.

Let’s return to freshman year in college. This is the familiarization phase. This phase is all about finding out what being on your own is all about. In relation to the real estate investment world, the familiarization phase needs to be appreciated even more. For instance, let’s say that you have zero business experience and little, if any, managerial experience. These are very important skills that can be learned if you are willing to be coached. In most cases the investors I deal with are older and have life experience as their backdrop.

Let me be honest. There aren’t many life experiences that can get you ready for managing a 50 unit building, or even being successful in business. You need to be 3 people all at the same time to truly have success in this business. Wait! Let me take that back. You do not need to be all three, there can be a team that you assemble to equal the talents needed. One needed team member would a Visionary, which is probably the most important of the 3, because there is a saying, which states, “You can’t be what you cannot see.” As the visionary your role is to see the end goal, develop your mission and vision statement. This is very important for newbies to understand. Someone has to keep the team on track over the rough roads. I have some priceless words of wisdom for you. It is never as easy as you see on TV, but it is not impossible either.

The goal for you is to stay focused on your goal. The next vital member of your team is a good technician or handyman. It is not necessary for that person to do the work, but just to have a great feel for what needs to be done and how or what the cost will be to get whatever needed work on your property done. You can lose a bundle if you are completely green. Most contractors and or management companies can see it in your eyes or in the questions that you ask. I am not saying that they will take advantage of you, but I will say that it is better to be prepared, ask penetrating question to your contractor, develop high expectations for what you will or will not except.

The final piece to the puzzle is the manager, someone has to keep it all together, the bookkeeping, rent collections, managing the staff, and being able to multi-task, this task is usually overlooked and or given to whomever is left, don’t sleep on the job of a great manager, if you have a solid manager, that take this very seriously you can rise to the top very quickly. If you don’t have the kinds of team members that I am suggesting to you here, you will have a multitude of problems.

In closing remember Rome wasn’t built overnight and neither will you’re Commercial Real Estate Portfolio be. Research to find a company that can assist you in your field of interest. If you wanted to be a top notched lawyer, attending and graduating from an Ivy League school would be a great first place to start. In your quest to uncover to uncover a winning team, a top-notch engineer from Michigan/ MIT would be high on your list. Well, when it comes to Commercial Real Estate Training there are a few that are what I would call the pretenders. There are, however, some truly qualified and empowering training programs out there for you take advantage of.

The Ivy League of Commercial Real Estate Training is located in Michigan. The company to look for is The Power to Be Free, which was created for and by someone who has done over 2 billion dollars of DOCUMENTED real estate transactions. As I stated earlier, you should first check for the Ivy League of Commercial Real Estate classes. By reading this article, you are checking and you need to look no further. In fact, you have just now discovered your golden connection to an Ivy League level instructor that is available to teach you all he knows! Your instructor is Mr. Herb Strather, a.k.a. Michigan’s own ‘Donald Trump,’ and he has taught Commercial Real Estate Education classes at Harvard, one of the most prestigious Universities in America.

Tags: commercial real estate michigan, real estate, commercial property investments, real estate, Apartment Buildings Investing, commercial real estate foreclosure, cashflow 101