How to Get Started in Multifamily with Taylor Loht

Today's Guest: Taylor Loht

Taylor is a real estate investor focusing on multifamily apartments and self-storage properties. To date, he has acquired, partnered on, or otherwise had a hand in over $150 million dollars in commercial real estate deals. He has made it his mission to help others learn how to escape Wall Street and build wealth on Main Street.

Highlights From The Show:

We begin the episode with Taylor sharing his background story and how he ended up in real estate. He shares that he invests in commercial multifamily and self-storage. His investment journey started a decade ago after graduating from college and finding a job. The first investing book he read was The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Gram, and it got him started in the stock market. After doing well for a few years, he realized that it was not going to produce financial freedom for him. Taylor wanted to make more money, and through exploration and listening to real estate podcasts he was led to Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki. The book highlighted the big expense of pursuing an MBA that he wanted and the power of passive cash flow through real estate investing. Taylor decided to get on the real estate path, which took 2 years to get things going and figure out what he wanted to do in the space.

We then talk about where Taylor started investing in real estate. Taylor shares that he is an introvert, but the first thing he did to get into real estate was networking. It was a big struggle for him, but Taylor went to local realtors and started learning about their strategies. He kept on digging, meeting with wholesalers, flippers, and single-family investors, and ultimately what gave him the spark was investing in large multi-family, and he dove into it. Taylor shares that the space was exciting, and he had big goals but didn’t have the money to get involved in these kinds of deals. He started out by learning about syndication and how people closed big deals when they didn’t have all the money, and he set out to get involved. Taylor didn’t know what that would look like, but he hired a coach and started networking, building his own brand, going to conferences, and, ultimately, starting a podcast.

Next, we talk about how to find multifamily deals and raise money when you have no experience in the space. Taylor shares that the first step is working on your limiting beliefs and aligning yourself with people with the experience. You can do this by getting them on your team or by getting on their team. According to Taylor, no matter the type of deals you’re doing, real estate is a relationship and network-driven business. Whether you are doing flips, BRRRRs, or large multifamily deals, who you know is definitely a big part of doing business effectively. People are more willing to partner with people who they know, who can deliver, and who have mutual and shared interests. It is vital to find people who have the experience you need and who you can work with on any given deal to leverage their experience.

We then discuss how and where to start investing in multifamily. Taylor shares that it’s a personal decision; you must know yourself, your willingness, and what you want. He recommends that you go for what you want, whether it’s single-family or small multifamily. Regardless, there is money to be made, but he advises not to get stuck there if you want to scale up. He shares that there are people who are killing it and making big money in different ranges, including in small and mid-size multifamily. According to Taylor, investing in real estate comes back to individual preference and how you want to attack the strategy. However, if you are looking to go straight to big multifamily investing, it’s also possible. Taylor recommends you find a syndicator and work for them or a thought leader in the space to learn, build your experience, and network to make progress.

Lastly, we talk about how to find deals in the multifamily space. Taylor shares that you can find them off-market, but they often go through brokers. In the time he has been in the space, Taylor shares that he has done a handful of deals that didn’t use a broker to negotiate or handle the transaction. The deals came about through building relationships at conferences, not sending emails or offers to people, and getting responses. According to him, if you are interested in building off-market deal flow in the commercial real estate space, there are enormous opportunities in self-storage and small and mid-multifamily properties still owned by individual investors. However, in the bigger space, it’s pretty much brokerage.

Make sure you don’t miss another amazing episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Taylor Loht and get valuable information on how to get started in multifamily!

Notable Quotes:

“Syndication is not a no-money down type of game.”

Taylor Loht

“Property managers shouldn’t have ownership in the property. You should be able to terminate them in case of a problem.“

Taylor Loht

“Asking people what they need is a great way to get them to talk to you even if they don’t need anything and then you get the experience you want from them.”