Investor Quarterly™ Issue 1 - May 2015 | Page 14

14 As we know, the markets work in cycles, and we’ve been rising out of the real estate mess that was created back in ’06. The reality is that we are all going to see adjustments in the markets in the next few years. The one thing that seems to be able to weather the storm is the cash flow model, when done correctly. A lot of investors want to sell their properties off the “cap rate” of their property, which makes sense on a commercial property but is ridiculous on a single family home. Investors trying to create opportunities where there weren’t any created this strategy. They figured if they could create a cash flow property at 18% and sell it at 12% they could make the spread. This makes sense on commercial properties where they are valued like this. However, Single Family Home (SFH) aren’t. So when you sell someone a SFH at a cap rate and they pay $70,000 because of the rent that was coming in, the major issue is that SFH’s aren’t appraised with a CAP rate in mind. Your property that valued out at $70,000 because of the cash flow only really appraises for $50,000. If the tenant leaves any time prior to the strategy evening out then the owner is actually under water, and can’t get the value back out of the home. Tis could bankrupt an investor. “They” could have had great intentions, but, “When you over value a property, you Jeopardize the buyers position and no longer have a win/win.” Another significant issue with this philosophy is that these properties that are 18-20% are based on “C” class About two years ago, I ran into Jeremy Roll of Roll Investment Group, a passive cash flow investor who is currently invested in over 50 opportunities. He’s the co-founder of For Investors By Investors (FIBI). He said something I’ll never forget, “I invest in the Operator. The Operator is more important than the actual property or opportunity itself, with that being the next most important thing to consider. The Operator is my number one focus every time I make a passive investment.” This was significant for me. I was always looking to create and build my portfolio, but I was only focused on the path, strategy, or deal. What Jeremy said opened my eyes to focusing on the results by a SPECIFIC person, not just the idea. With that said, it completely changed the way I moved forward. I was now searching for not only the result I wanted but also WHO could deliver on that consistently. neighborhoods, which consistently have issues. This means your 12 cap just became a 3 cap because you had three evictions and two rent turns. When you have to keep doing mini rehabs every time someone moves out of your property, the profit margin disappears fast and you can LOSE MONEY.