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Strength in Numbers: Victor Cuevas Gives us Advice About Crowdfunding as a Tool for Investments

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By Victoria Kennedy

An important caveat to real estate investment, quite simply, it’s expensive. It requires more capital upfront to get going, and for a lot of potential investors, it just isn’t feasible. But Victor Cuevas, founder of Griffin Crowd and Capital, just might have the answer, and it’s a surprising, but innovative one. He suggests using crowdfunding!

When we typically think of investments, the stock market comes to mind. However, real estate is emerging as a competitive alternative to stocks, one that is safer and can often yield higher returns. But like so much else in business, real estate investments lead to portfolio diversity.

“Borrowers using a crowdfunding portal have an advantage because they can get funds from a wider pool of investors,” said Cuevas. “While they typically have to accept a higher interest rate in order to get additional funds, the access to those additional investors is typically worth it.”

Whatever side of the fence you are currently on, as either a borrower or investor, see below for a few tips from Cuevas to get you started.

Learn about Splitting the Bill

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As it turns out, investing in real estate may not be as costly as it seems. With the rising popularity of crowdfunding—online platforms for sourcing capital for a given project—a creative new approach has emerged for breaking into the prohibitively expensive, but wildly lucrative field of real estate investment. With a little help from crowdfunding, you could soon be on your way to making big bucks, while at the same time, shaking things up along the way. Cuevas recommends crowdfunding as a way to expand your possibilities and adapt to the rising cost of homes. In the past year alone, Griffin Crowd and Capital has crowdfunded over 100 residential apartment complexes totaling tens of millions in profit as a result.

Find Strength in Numbers

David and Goliath was a close one, but ultimately, the “little guy” triumphed by sheer ingenuity. Now imagine if it had been 10 Davids, all equally resourceful, taking on that single Goliath—it would almost be unfair. And that’s the idea here.

Cuevas recommends using crowdfunding as a way of teaming up and pooling resources to collectively achieve what is too often reserved for the already-wealthy. It is a great way to challenge the longstanding dynamic of the “fat cat” being the one at the top.

A Man’s Game? Don’t be So Sure

Any number of factors can explain the demographic disparity of real estate investment, and investment in general. From systemic and interpersonal sexism and racism, to toxic notions surrounding women and investment in general, there’s no question: it’s an uphill battle for women and minority investors.

But one thing is for sure, regardless of this inadequate representation, there’s zero truth to any notion that non-male, individuals are in any way, shape, or form “less fit” for the field—the truth is, there’s just more to work against. While this may seem so obvious, nevertheless, the myths floating around can still be damaging. The key is to try not to be dissuaded by all these ‘tall tales’—you know what you’re capable of. As Cuevas said, “it’s a fast-growing market” and now is the best time to get involved!

Learn Where to Invest Sensibly

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Real estate is a huge field encapsulating all sorts of different sub-categories within it. If you’re seeking to maximize your returns all while keeping your overhead to a minimum, Cuevas recommends looking at multi-family residentials. These have emerged as popular living arrangements, and they’re generally cheaper and easier to invest in than larger properties. Between collecting rent and easier mortgage terms, there are numerous advantages that should put the multi-family residential towards the very top of your list when it comes to prospective real estate investments.

Pick a Winner: Choose the Right Bank

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When investing in real estate, it’s essential to choose a bank that’s a good fit for your investments. Cuevas suggests paying close attention to the experience and track record of the institutions you consider. It’s important to be certain that the bank you go with has enough experience in the area you’re investing in to best assist your specific needs. For example, at Griffin Crowd and Capital, Cuevas puts his 30-plus years of specific experience in the field at the disposal of his clients—all the knowledge, know-how, and vital industry connections go into helping clients ensure the maximum possible return on their investments.

It can be a daunting prospect, but with the right approach, investing could become your next successful venture. With crowdfunding, it doesn’t have to cost an arm and a leg, and by focusing on real estate, particularly multi-family residentials, you can start generating wealth easily and with little risk. While there may indeed be some obstacles standing in your way, with the help of creative solutions, careful planning, and a little teamwork, it might not be such a distant dream.

About Victor Cuevas

Victor Cuevas is an industry professional with over 30 years of mortgage finance experience, including extensive knowledge in both residential and commercial properties. He is a successful serial entrepreneur with a multitude of accomplished companies and ventures. Among them, Victor built a mortgage empire, spanning 36 offices in several western and central states. He currently serves as the founder of Griffin Crowd & Capital, the next chapter in an already illustrious career. For more information, visit griffincrowdcapital.com

5 Ways of Getting $10M to Invest in Real Estate

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By Fuquan Bilal

Need more money to invest in real estate? Where can you get another $10M in capital from?

The ironic thing about money for real estate is that you rarely have too much of it. You can for a little while, especially if you’ve raised a lot and have your latest deal oversubscribed to. It’s happened to many funds recently. Though sooner or later, the reason for not doing more always comes back to “If only I had a little more money I could…”

Maybe you want to take down a big commercial building, or need to have millions to earn a seat at the table and ability to bid on the note pools and bulk REO deals with the most profit. Or perhaps $10M is just the next milestone you’ve set for yourself. Where do you get it?

Commercial Real Estate Loans

$10M is a very small number in commercial real estate. In fact, there are many, many lenders who don’t want to touch small balance deals for less than that. It’s their minimum loan amount.

You may have to find a great deal with lots of equity, or raise $1M for down payment, but this kind of money is out there to borrow.

Real Estate Crowdfunding

This can be done publicly or privately, and for debt or equity or even donations. If a prototype for an off brand smart watch (not even Apple) can raise $10M in a few hours on a crowdfunding platform like Kickstarter, shouldn’t you be able to raise a lot more than that for some prime real estate with great yield or value add potential?

Here’s the thing. Most crowdfunding campaigns fail. Either because there was no strategic roll out, or the organizers didn’t have the marketing budget designated to invest in it. It might cost you $100k or $1M to raise $10M, but that may still be worth it.

Partnerships & Syndicates

Partnerships are probably the most obvious way to raise capital to invest in real estate. At least after loans. Depending on who your contacts are, that may come in $50k or $1M or $5M increments.

If just being involved in a deal of this size is what you want, then maybe you don’t even need the $10M. Maybe you can put your $1M into an existing syndication with the right connections, management and systems in place – and benefit from big deals like this, without having to raise money at all. You might even be the one getting the preferred return, without any of the work.

Launch a Startup

As crazy as it may seem, there are still billions of dollars being plowed into startups. It may make little sense given the risk of volatility and how poor and low value you think the ideas that are being funded are. So, why not do better than them? If you can make contacts that want to invest in startups instead of just real estate, give them a startup to put their money into. You can call it a tech company in the real estate space, or a real estate or finance or fintech startup. Put a nice appealing twist on it, get help with a great pitch deck and float the opportunity.

Make $100M for Someone Else

If you make $100M for someone else, they shouldn’t have a problem cutting you a check for 10% of that, right?

Maybe you don’t want to do all the work involved in acquiring, managing and disposing of $100M worth of real estate. Yet, it may be far easier to help someone else raise that kind of money, sell that much real estate or buy that much property. Then get some reasonable compensation for that. Or you can leverage arbitrage and invest that money into another fund and keep your slice. Then you can invest your $10M in whatever you like.

It’s not that much when you really start looking at the numbers. That much property can change hands in a day in Manhattan alone. These days $1B seems to be the new minimum property price tag for Google and Apple. $100M is loose change for them.

How will you raise your next $10M?

Investment Opportunities

Find out more about investing in secured debt and real estate, go to NNG Capital Fund

Fuquan Bilal

Fuquan Bilal founded NNG in 2012 with the principal mission of capitalizing on the growing supply of mortgage notes in the interbank marketplace. Mr .Bilal utilizes his 17 years of residential and commercial real estate success to identify real estate opportunities and capitalize on them. To date, he has successfully managed three private mortgage note funds that primarily invest in singlefamily performing and non­performing mortgage notes. His financial acumen and proprietary set of investment criteria enable him to purchase underperforming real estate assets at a deep discount of face and market values, thereby increasing the value of the assets. This, coupled with his ability to maximize the use of leverage, enables him to build strong, secured portfolios with solid passive income flows.

Changing Real Estate Investing HANDS FREE, ANYWHERE

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By Stephanie B. Mojica

The CEO of Southern California-based HomeUnion hopes to turn the business into the Amazon.com of real estate investing.

Don Ganguly, an entrepreneur and chief executive with an impressive record of building successful businesses in the technology and financial services markets, stepped into his role as the chief executive behind HomeUnion this October. Ganguly, who earned an MBA at the prestigious Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, serves as a mentor for current Wharton students. HomeUnion was developed alongside three other partners, Ravi, Cpand Nani, all of whom have worked together in two previous successful startups. All four entrepreneurs are engineers with graduate degrees. What also unites them is their belief that the current experience of investing in real estate can be dramatically improved.

Ganguly’s business eyes are tuned in to providing the real estate investor a hands-free experience where HomeUnion eases all the pain points of investing in real estate.

Homeunion will provide flexible investment options. Investors can buy the whole asset or a fractional interest via crowdfunding. “Crowdfunding allows accredited investors to invest in ready-made diversified portfolios,” ganguly explained.

HomeUnion will allow people to invest according to their preferences in a secure and trusted manner.. Investors will finally be able to buy the best investment property remotely regardless of location. Investors can use cash, qualify for an investment loan or use funds from their IRAs.

Ganguly and others running the company only work with properties that they ‘certify’, located in known “cash flow zones” nationwide. Cash flow zones have excellent rental income potential when compared to the price of a single-family home mortgage, a stable job market, and an excellent rental culture, according to Ganguly.

Some of the properties, which investors can add to their general investment or retirement portfolio, are located in Chicago, Atlanta, Houston, Jacksonville, Cleveland, Indianapolis, Austin and San Antonio.

“We are making single-family real estate investment an institutional play where investors can buy this as they would any other stock market instrument. Our platform brings fully vetted investments. This is different from companies that sell opportunistic deals of the month and merely connect people with sellers and collect their money. ” Ganguly said.

Though there are, of course, never any guarantees of absolute success, representatives with the Homeunion firm utilize proprietary methods of selecting the best investment locations. Additionally, company associates work closely with clients to ensure they understand the ins and outs of the current investment and rental markets. Full management service, including collection of rents and upkeep of homes and help with tax documents is offered to all clients. HomeUnion is the only company providing a fully managed investment experience in more than 10 investment locations in the U.S.

“I recently invested in real estate using a self-directed IRA,” said p.k. Neelu. “ I had no idea how to go about this, but thanks to HomeUnion, I was able to navigate the various steps with ease. They are building the real state investment platform of the future.”

To learn more about investing in single-family homes through crowdfunding or other types of means, call HomeUnion at 866-732-3220 or visit www.homeunionservices.com