How I Got Here

I recognized at a young age that some people in life struggled to just “get by,” while others seemed to be in control of their lives, their finances, and their happiness. But I couldn’t seem to answer what distinguished one group from the other.

With these questions still unanswered, I developed a sales and marketing company among other businesses and began investing in the stock market. It was profitable, but still I felt that there had to be something bigger and better. I just hadn’t found it yet…

A few years later, by what now seems like a strange twist of fate, I had dinner with a friend during one of my business trips and it changed everything. He owned several rental properties and began to educate me on cashflow, depreciation, and the tax advantages related to rental properties. We compared the stock market returns to owning rental properties in detail and I could not believe the difference.

I was hooked. I had to learn more.

Fast forward 15 years and I now have thousands of hours of hands-on experience and all levels of real estate education under my belt. I have been involved in trading land, new construction, single family houses, fix and flips, duplexes, large 100+ unit apartment buildings — not to mention passively investing in over 600 doors nationwide.
You name it, I’ve done it. And I can confidently say that, not only is real estate the obvious answer the questions I had growing up, but the real wealth secret is in creating passive cashflow.

Why passive cashflow? It allows you to live a meaningful life on YOUR terms. A life where the status of your employer does not affect your family’s way of life. Where healthcare is taken care of and your mind is free to cherish your time with loved ones. Having enough passive cashflow and wealth is not about being rich, it’s about being free to make choices that benefit you and your family’s lives.

There are many ways to generate passive cashflow, but my favorite has to be investing in real estate syndications.

What is a real estate syndication?

In the simplest sense, a syndication is a group investment. A group of investors pools their money to invest in something together. In the case of a real estate syndication, investors come together to invest in commercial real estate assets, like apartment complexes, self-storage buildings, and mobile home parks.

The beauty of a real estate syndication is that you can leverage other people’s time, energy, and expertise.

As a busy man, I can use all the leverage I can get.

In a syndication, the sponsors are the active investors, the ones who know the ins and outs of that particular market, who spend time getting to know the real estate brokers, who visit the properties and walk the units, who pore over the due diligence documents, who work with the property managers day-to-day.

As a passive investor in a real estate syndication, I get to partner with a stellar team with a strong track record, invest my money in a great piece of real estate, and get great returns, all while doing next to no work.

Let me say that again, because I think it bears repeating. I get to invest in real estate without having to do any work.

Renovations running behind schedule? Not my problem.

Noise complaints from the tenants in apartment 2B? Not my problem.

Tenant stopped up the sinks and flooded two units? Not my problem.

The sponsor takes care of all of that, and I get a neat little monthly report on the progress and updates.

As a passive investor, I can spend more time with my family and less time dealing with the headaches of being a landlord. #winwin

What’s the catch?

Okay, you’re thinking, this all sounds pretty good. But what’s the catch?

I hate to disappoint you, but there is no catch.

In a real estate syndication, everyone works together, and everyone wins.

Think of a real estate syndication like an airplane ride. The sponsors are the pilots. They do the active work of flying the plane. If a warning light goes off, the pilots deal with it.

The passive investors, on the other hand, are the passengers. They get to enjoy the ride, while reading, watching a movie, or dozing off. They don’t have any responsibilities in making sure the plane gets to the right place safely. They’re just along for the ride.

For their work, the sponsors get a cut of the deal, just as a pilot gets paid for their work in flying the plane. The lion’s share of the returns, though, go to investors, even though they’re doing the mouse’s share of the work (okay, I’m not exactly sure what the opposite of lion’s share is, but you get my point).

In a syndication, just as in an airplane ride, everyone works together and is going to the same place.

Interests are aligned, and everyone wins.

What do returns look like?

Just like when you invest in a rental home, the returns in a real estate syndication can vary, based on the asset, market, and business plan.

What I can tell you though, is that, on average, the deals that I invest in (which are the same deals that we offer to our investors) have a cash-on-cash return of 8 to 10 percent per year and are held for a projected 5 years.

When factoring in the profits from the sale of the asset at the end of the 5 years, the average returns are around 20 percent per year. Not bad, right?

In other words, if you were to invest $100,000 in one of these real estate syndications with us, you could expect around $8,000 per year in cashflow distributions. On top of that, when the asset is sold in year 5, you could expect another, say, $60,000.

In 5 years, you would likely turn your initial $100,000 investment into $200,000. All without lifting a finger or dealing with a single broken toilet.

How to Invest in a Real Estate Syndication

The process to invest in a real estate syndication is a bit different than buying a rental property. For one, you can’t just go up to a broker and ask about a syndication. It doesn’t quite work that way.

Rather, to find real estate syndication opportunities, you need to find sponsors who have deals currently under contract. Often, because of SEC regulations, sponsors cannot publicly advertise their deals, so they can be hard to find unless you know someone who knows someone.

Luckily, now you know someone who knows someone. (me.)

At Sterling Rhino Capital, we specialize in connecting passive investors to high yield deals in growing markets. We do the heavy lifting of finding, vetting and underwriting the deals. We cherry-pick the best deals in the best markets, and we make them available to our investors.

We’re investors first and foremost. So we’re always looking for deals that we want to invest in ourselves. When a deal meets our strict criteria, we invest our own money into the deal, and we open the investment opportunity to our investors as well.

What does Sterling Rhino Capital get out of it?

We’re in the business of helping people. We’ve seen firsthand the difference that great syndications can make to a community. We’ve had tenants thank us profusely for the work we’re doing in turning their communities around.

We’ve also been thanked profusely by investors whom we’re helping to build passive income streams, so they can stop worrying about money and start living the lives they’ve always wanted.

As for how we keep our lights on, that part comes from managing the asset as the General Partnership team.

As such, we get a cut of the acquisition fee and a share of the equity in the deal. That means that, as an investor, you invest your money directly into the deal; you don’t pay us any extra fees.

Ready to learn more?

The best way for you to learn more about real estate syndications, as well as our current, previous, and upcoming deals, is to join the Sterling Rhino Capital Investor Club.

Through the Sterling Rhino Capital Investor Club, you’ll get first looks at all the deals we offer. We’ll work with you to figure out your investing goals and to help you find the best deals to meet those goals. We’ll then walk with you every step of the way as you invest in those deals.

So if you’re ready to be done with the headaches of being a landlord, sign up for the Sterling Rhino Capital Investor Club below, and get started on your path toward becoming a passive real estate investor.