One of the most underrated & overlooked skills a GP in REPE (or really any GP) should optimize for is “investor experience”.
Especially, early on.
Investors want returns, the bigger the better. Great returns over a long period of time are what keep a GP in business.
What else do investors want besides returns?
Transparency of good & BAD news, consistent & detailed reporting, quick responses to inquires, safely stored & easily accessible investment documents, quick K-1’s, etc.
LP’s want to be treated like a high valued customer, not a checkbook.
My mentor growing up beat this into my head early on, “Treat your investors like a customer, and you’ll go far in this business.”
Returns will always make their way to business or dinner table conversations.
That’s table stakes.
What separates 2 GP’s that each provided a similar risk adjusted 20% return to the same LP is the experience they had with each GP.
I am convinced that over the long haul, LP’s would prefer to invest with a GP consistently delivering 18% returns and exceptional experience over a GP that provides 20% returns and has a terrible experience.
There will be people that disagree with that, that’s ok.
The relationship created when one party trusts another with their MONEY is built on intense trust.
The highest level’s of trust come through delivering an unbelievable experience (to the extent your resources can provide) that is consistent, intentional, & overly transparent.
This thread isn’t meant to minimize the importance of returns (it’s ultimately what keeps a GP in business), it’s to emphasize that everything else a GP does is equally as important and will open up a lot of doors for raising more capital, w/ less friction, as they move forward.
Great Returns + Great Experience is ultimately where GP’s begin to separate themselves from the pack.
It creates raving LP’s who will, w/o asking, introduce you to new LP’s, which creates more available capital (from current and new LP’s) and less friction/time...
(less convincing needed when a referral is made) in raising that capital.
When you tell a new LP about a deal & your company, remember to tell them about the experience they’ll get with you once their dollars are in your control.
If you’re not excited about telling LP’s about the experience they’ll have with you, get to work. By making this a priority, you’ll realize it doesn’t cost a lot in dollars or time to create an experience LP’s will love.
If you’re not sure whether your experience is great or not, ask your LP’s. Consumer companies look to customer feedback surveys, GP’s should do this more often with their LP’s (customers).
The end.
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One reason we like Class B Industrial - we aren't competing against new supply, so we can forecast competition.
The lack of available land in city limits for industrial creates barriers to entry.
Often, even if there is land, it's not priced for industrial.
Lastly, if someone was able to find affordable dirt, the hard cost to construct is too high to make sense.
Most tenants in this asset class are using the space as a function of their business, with minimal attention to how "nice" it is.
Don't get me wrong, we always want to deliver a clean property, but tenants aren't looking to pay large increases in rent just to have something that is newer and nicer - so new development doesn't make sense.
I love getting updates like this from our Director of Technology @_gregadams_.
"We finished our first version of the “satellite feature classifier.” Basically, it takes satellite images and extracts features from the image using a neural network. This allows us to scan...
through large volumes of properties for features, we are seeking in our investment strategy (whereas county data and sources like CoStar have less reliability). I ran the classifier on about 190k parcels in Tarrant and Dallas and the results of parcels with high “industrial”....
Here are 6 takeaways from listening to the guests on 75 episodes we've recorded to date:
1. The perfect time to start anything you want to do is NOW.
There is no perfect time because it's always the perfect time.
2. When you work hard at something and are passionate about it, doors will open.
Several episodes are with people doing things for the first time. That doesn’t slow any of them down. In fact, it accelerates their desire to learn quickly.
3. The goal isn’t to be perfect; the goal is to learn quickly—because failures are guaranteed along the way.
In most conversations, some of the biggest ‘breakthrough’ moments were after a failure, not after a success.
I’m proud of our team @FortCapitalLP for completing the purchase of Merrick Business Park, our 4th acquisition in Irving, TX.
- 115,000 sq ft in one of the fastest-growing cities in the country W of Dallas.
- Sourced off-market through direct negotiation with the seller.
- Located directly next door to property Fort purchased in early 2019 which creates operational efficiencies and gave us great insight into u/w the asset.
- Seller financed, 75% LTV.
- We will mark to market rents as we get through the rent roll and also convert gross leases to NNN. (Current rents 26% below market.)
- Entire roof replaced 5 years ago.
- Cosmetic cap-ex on the exterior includes monument signage, paint, landscaping, and parking lot striping.
In 2011, we assembled 30 SF homes & lots and entitled them for a MF project and sold to an institutional MF developer in 2013.
This was in an emerging area of #FortWorthTX called W 7th.
Here's what went down...
Over an 18 month period, we achieved some major entitlements including:
1. Zoning 2. Re-platting 3. Removing a public road out of the grid 4. Allowing for a bridge to cross a major city waterline easement so parking garage could attach to units.
We worked through these entitlements with the developer and upon completion, they closed. The dirt was "shovel ready" meaning they could go pull a permit and get started.