REI Wealth Magazine Featuring Paul Finck | Page 87
Diligence and the Promoter
An article appeared in the November/December,
2013 issue of Personal Real Estate Investor Magazine,
entitled, “12 Ways to Earn Money as a Real Estate
Syndicator”, written by Kim Lisa Taylor, Esq., a
securities attorney. It very thoroughly laid out the many
ways an enterprising person can get rich investing other
peoples’ money. Today, there are “gurus” traversing the
countryside teaching syndication.
When evaluating a promoter, several things need to
be investigated, as follows:
1) What is the promoter’s background, education, and
experience with similar projects?
2) Who are the promoter’s teamaccountant, property
manager, attorney, etc., and what are their qualifications?
3) How much is the promoter investing? Is it CASH, or
is it “equity”, which could be anything. Beware of
noncash promoter contributions!
4) What other projects and assets does the promoter
have? Is the promoter spread too thin?
5) Does the promoter put together serial syndications,
leaving the older ones to neglect?
6) What provision is there for removing the promoter if
they are not working out? Is there any?
Under Enhanced Diligence a “background search”
should be performed on every decisionmaker involved in
the syndication. Certainly, this is the promoter, but it also
includes anyone else in authority. This involves ordering
a report from LexusNexus, TransUnion, or another data
base firm. The report will usually include any liens,
judgments, and bankruptcies, along with addresses,
professional licenses (including any revocations),
relatives, phone numbers, and email addresses. Costs of
reports are only a few dollars for those with subscriptions
to these companies. Otherwise, call 35 private
investigators for quotations. Their costs are under $15.00,
and they have the necessary systems. The Social Security
number of the promoter is not needed, and neither is their
permission needed because this is a public records search.
They will not know the search is being done.
C’mon, is this really necessary? It depends. If you are
comfortable wiring $50,000 – 250,000 to a promoter out
ofstate who you don’t know very well, then go for it. The
author has discovered syndicators in bankruptcy, with
federal tax liens, and civil judgments. Would you trust
them with your money? You can’t know your promoter
too well!
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