Latest / REL Freedom Podcast / Mike Swenson - Capital Raising Tips After 250+ Units Closed

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Mike Swenson - Capital Raising Tips After 250+ Units Closed · REL Freedom Podcast

• 0:00
  Mike Swenson: If you want to go fast, go alone.
• 0:01
  Mike Swenson: If you want to go far, go together.
• 0:03
  Mike Swenson: And so I've always just believed in if we want to go far in our investment journey, I want to go together with people.
• 0:09
  Mike Swenson: I want to add value and provide something of value for them.
• 0:13
  Mike Swenson: I can go fast on my own.
• 0:15
  Mike Swenson: I can control everything on my own and make all my own decisions if I want to, but I want to create something that helps multiple people build wealth and gives an avenue for people to maybe change some of their family trees and do things that they probably couldn't do on their own.
• 0:30
  Mike Swenson: And that's the exciting part for me.
• 0:32
  Mike Swenson: Welcome to the Real Freedom Show.
• 0:33
  Mike Swenson: We inspire you to pursue your passion to gain time and financial freedom through opportunities in real estate.
• 0:38
  Mike Swenson: I'm your host, Mike Swenson.
• 0:40
  Mike Swenson: Let's get some real freedom together.
• 0:55
  Mike Swenson: If you want to get started on your real estate investing journey, make sure you check out our website, freedom throughrealestate.com.
• 1:02
  Mike Swenson: That's freedomthroughrealestate.com.
• 1:05
  Mike Swenson: We have lots of great information for you on there of how to get started.
• 1:09
  Mike Swenson: Next steps to take all of our podcast episodes and content.
• 1:12
  Mike Swenson: And so make sure you check that out.
• 1:14
  Mike Swenson: Would love to give you uh confidence to be able to take action in the next deal that you do.
• 1:19
  Mike Swenson: To get started today, I want to share some really exciting news.
• 1:23
  Mike Swenson: So for us, we recently closed on a property.
• 1:25
  Mike Swenson: So we're uh coming up now.
• 1:27
  Mike Swenson: This episode's being aired the beginning of 2026 and ended the year with a bang with a closing here on a 35 unit property.
• 1:36
  Mike Swenson: And so that is now our seventh multifamily deal that we've done or kind of apartment building that we've done, bringing our total to 264 units is where we stand as of the end of 2025.
• 1:49
  Mike Swenson: And so it was a lot of work to get to the end and excited to be able to put that in the rearview mirror.
• 1:54
  Mike Swenson: And now, really, all the the actual work starts on the property, making sure that we've got everything transitioned over, getting the utilities transitioned over, the tenants.
• 2:04
  Mike Swenson: And so our property manager is going to be rolling up his sleeves in a big way and making sure that we're set to go there.
• 2:10
  Mike Swenson: So exciting news to be able to have another deal under contract, to be able to finish the year over 250 units.
• 2:16
  Mike Swenson: And uh, we already have our eyes set on some other properties here in 2026 that we can get moving on.
• 2:22
  Mike Swenson: And so, just real quick, want to talk about this last deal that we did.
• 2:27
  Mike Swenson: So, our focus has been looking at assets in in southern Minnesota.
• 2:31
  Mike Swenson: Primarily, we like in and around Rochester, Minnesota, Rochester being home to the Mayo Clinic, number one hospital in the world, five and a half billion dollars being pumped into the area over the next 20 years, and rising tide lifts all boats.
• 2:44
  Mike Swenson: So, not just in the Rochester area, but in the areas surrounding small towns, um, other areas.
• 2:50
  Mike Swenson: We really like that that spot.
• 2:52
  Mike Swenson: It's a little less competitive than Minneapolis, St.
• 2:55
  Mike Swenson: Paul, a little bit better regulations, should say a little less regulations in terms of tenants and things like that.
• 3:01
  Mike Swenson: Obviously, we still have all the Minnesota rules and guidelines, but we just really enjoy that space.
• 3:06
  Mike Swenson: And we have a great property manager there that's done a nice job for us, and so we like to continue to find assets there.
• 3:12
  Mike Swenson: And so we'll continue to pursue deals mainly in Minnesota.
• 3:15
  Mike Swenson: We do have our eyes on other states, but for now we want to continue to do what we do well and double down on the things that we're doing well.
• 3:23
  Mike Swenson: 35 units off market, had some work done to it, a lot of updates made to it in terms of the capital expenditures, and so gives us an opportunity to add some value, probably not as much of a value add as what we would prefer.
• 3:36
  Mike Swenson: Yet at the same time, we we want to pick good assets and pick things that we think will perform well for us, and so that definitely met the mark.
• 3:43
  Mike Swenson: So we're gonna continue to come in, add value, do great property management, update units as we need to, and uh continue to to run those assets.
• 3:52
  Mike Swenson: And so that's been a lot of fun.
• 3:53
  Mike Swenson: We raised capital for this deal, and the folks that invested were able to take care of some tax advantages here for them, depending on their situation, for the end of 2025.
• 4:04
  Mike Swenson: Then we also had some folks that invested with some self-directed IRA money, and so being able to utilize IRA accounts from past employers or whatever that might be.
• 4:13
  Mike Swenson: Overall was great.
• 4:14
  Mike Swenson: We still have a little bit more to go, but we were able to close and get that done here in 2025.
• 4:20
  Mike Swenson: So that's the end of that.
• 4:21
  Mike Swenson: Um, like I said, we've got some future deals on the horizon and excited to see what we're gonna do in the future.
• 4:27
  Mike Swenson: But I wanted to talk today about uh raising capital.
• 4:30
  Mike Swenson: And so as we continue to do that more often, I know people have questions about it, what it's like, what types of deals we raise capital for.
• 4:38
  Mike Swenson: And so I thought I would take uh, you know, a quick episode here and just kind of walk through the basics of capital raising for people that might be interested in that, for people that might want to learn a little bit more about it.
• 4:49
  Mike Swenson: And I'm constantly learning myself.
• 4:51
  Mike Swenson: So, in total, now I think the you know, we've we figured that we've raised over three million dollars in capital, probably closer to four million dollars in capital over the last few years for the units that we've owned.
• 5:04
  Mike Swenson: And it's certainly not easy.
• 5:05
  Mike Swenson: I know other people that have done deals that have closed here within the last month or two have struggled to raise the funds, have had people back out and things like that.
• 5:15
  Mike Swenson: So it's it's not for the faint of heart.
• 5:17
  Mike Swenson: And yet at the same time, I believe we're adding a lot of value and providing a lot of great opportunity for people to get invested into real estate.
• 5:25
  Mike Swenson: So, today's episode, in addition to talking about the deal that we we just closed here, I want to talk a little bit about capital raising for those people that you know that might be interested in pursuing that.
• 5:34
  Mike Swenson: You know, raising capital for real estate, you can choose to use your own funds, right?
• 5:39
  Mike Swenson: To continue to grow your own portfolio.
• 5:42
  Mike Swenson: There's certainly people that have done that as you add value to property and you're able to get new mortgages and take that money and port elsewhere, you can do that.
• 5:51
  Mike Swenson: I like the idea of the economies of scale of getting into larger properties.
• 5:55
  Mike Swenson: I feel that there's a little more safety there.
• 5:58
  Mike Swenson: Obviously, it's the it's got to be the right deal.
• 6:00
  Mike Swenson: And so larger doesn't always mean better.
• 6:02
  Mike Swenson: But the example that I give is I used to work with a lot of investors that would buy two, three, or four unit properties, and you get a tenant that comes in, and you know, you've got a duplex and you've got two paying tenants, and all of a sudden one tenant leaves.
• 6:15
  Mike Swenson: Maybe you've got to do some updates, maybe they you know have a hard time paying rent or they're not fully paying rent, and so maybe you just have a challenging tenant too.
• 6:23
  Mike Swenson: Well, you're losing 50% of your income.
• 6:26
  Mike Swenson: And instead, if you buy a property, you know, we've bought some 20, 30 unit properties.
• 6:31
  Mike Swenson: If you've got 30 units, you could have two, three, four people that are either transitioning in or out, not necessarily just tenants that aren't paying, because we find that most of our tenants do pay.
• 6:41
  Mike Swenson: They might get a little bit behind, but they get caught up.
• 6:44
  Mike Swenson: But then at the in, you know, life happens, right?
• 6:46
  Mike Swenson: You've got people that are moving elsewhere.
• 6:48
  Mike Swenson: As much as we can be the perfect landlord, we know that nobody's lived in that exact same apartment for their entire life.
• 6:54
  Mike Swenson: We do have people that live there five, 10, 20, 30 years.
• 6:57
  Mike Swenson: However, people are gonna move and that's gonna happen.
• 7:00
  Mike Swenson: So turnover is natural.
• 7:01
  Mike Swenson: So if you've got 30 units, you can afford to have a couple of units that have some natural transitions, some natural turnovers, and then you still get rent from 27, 28, 29 tenants out of 30.
• 7:14
  Mike Swenson: And so there's a little bit more safety there.
• 7:16
  Mike Swenson: The economies of scale, you've got depending on the property, probably one roof, one exterior, one water heater, boiler, whatever that might look like, versus if you had 30 units from 15 duplexes, now you've got 15 roofs, 15 exteriors to worry about.
• 7:34
  Mike Swenson: So there is a natural economy of scale.
• 7:36
  Mike Swenson: And so I like the idea of getting into those bigger buildings versus trying to do it with small multifamily.
• 7:44
  Mike Swenson: I've you know interviewed a lot of people on the podcast that get burnt out and run out, feel like they have just a second job doing that, running a lot of single family or small multifamily properties.
• 7:55
  Mike Swenson: And so I believe there's a spot in the market to add value to those people that want to be more passive, that don't want to get those tenant calls in the middle of the night, that you know, may not know how to fix a toilet, may not know how to fix a water heater.
• 8:09
  Mike Swenson: If you've got a great property management company, they have people on staff that do that.
• 8:13
  Mike Swenson: And if not, they have great vendor relationships with people who can do that.
• 8:17
  Mike Swenson: We had a water leak on a property recently, and our property manager had other people that he already worked with and said, Hey, I'll call this person, we'll get them in, we'll get it taken care of.
• 8:27
  Mike Swenson: And so there's a lot of value there for being passive.
• 8:30
  Mike Swenson: And so it's a way to get your investment dollars into real estate without having to take on the job or all of the work yourself.
• 8:38
  Mike Swenson: So as I'm talking to people looking to invest, I feel like I come from a place of value at a place of contribution where look, you can do it yourself.
• 8:46
  Mike Swenson: What I do, there's there's not a magic pill here for real estate.
• 8:50
  Mike Swenson: And yet at the same time, I think there's a lot of value of what we provide.
• 8:53
  Mike Swenson: And so we're just looking for people who are looking for those same things, the people who find value in the things that we offer.
• 9:00
  Mike Swenson: I don't look at it as sales because my goal is just to show them how investing in real estate can help them get their career goals on track or maybe their investment goals on track.
• 9:13
  Mike Swenson: Maybe they're looking to diversify, maybe they're looking for tax benefits, maybe they are looking for cash flow.
• 9:19
  Mike Swenson: And so we can help them with that.
• 9:21
  Mike Swenson: And so I'm not looking to convince somebody to do something that they don't want to do, and yet I'm offering them something of value.
• 9:29
  Mike Swenson: If it's something that's a fit for them, great.
• 9:31
  Mike Swenson: If not, no worries.
• 9:32
  Mike Swenson: And so that's where for me, raising capital is I'm just I'm adding value to people and providing great opportunities for them.
• 9:39
  Mike Swenson: And then through that, we can scale.
• 9:41
  Mike Swenson: So, you know, buying as an example here, this 35 unit property for over$2 million.
• 9:47
  Mike Swenson: We were able to secure a mortgage for let's call it a little bit over a million and a half.
• 9:52
  Mike Swenson: We helped, we did the work to secure that mortgage, to guarantee that mortgage, to work with the bank that get them all the documentation that they needed for that mortgage.
• 10:00
  Mike Swenson: And so there's a lot of value in being able to do that.
• 10:02
  Mike Swenson: So our investors that come in don't have to worry about the mortgage.
• 10:06
  Mike Swenson: They don't have to worry about guaranteeing the mortgage.
• 10:08
  Mike Swenson: They can come in and just place capital.
• 10:10
  Mike Swenson: So I think it starts with that, seeing the value in what you're doing, because then all the conversation that follows after that is you are providing great value to people, you are providing a great opportunity for people if it's the right fit for them.
• 10:24
  Mike Swenson: And so I think starting with that baseline is really important.
• 10:27
  Mike Swenson: As I'm talking to investors, you know, I want to focus on what you are trying to get out of this?
• 10:33
  Mike Swenson: Are you wanting to be active or are you wanting to be passive?
• 10:36
  Mike Swenson: Back when I was working with clients buying small multifamily properties, the investors that I worked with really liked being active.
• 10:45
  Mike Swenson: They wanted to learn the business, be hands-on, take care of answering those questions and handling those property management issues because for them, their goal was to quit their job and do this full time.
• 10:58
  Mike Swenson: So they were very excited about being active.
• 11:00
  Mike Swenson: And so when I started to do apartment buildings and find investors who wanted to invest in apartment buildings, frankly, a lot of the past clients I worked with weren't interested in that.
• 11:09
  Mike Swenson: And that's okay because they want to be active versus being passive.
• 11:14
  Mike Swenson: Now there's a whole population out there of people that want to be passive because they don't know how to start.
• 11:20
  Mike Swenson: They want to get into higher larger buildings, maybe an economies of skill that they can't do on their own, and they don't have the relationships to find the property managers or to secure the mortgage and do all that stuff on their own.
• 11:32
  Mike Swenson: So they love the value of working through others and with others.
• 11:36
  Mike Swenson: You know, I've always subscribed to it's uh, you know, a famous African proverb.
• 11:40
  Mike Swenson: I think if if you want to go fast, go alone.
• 11:42
  Mike Swenson: If you want to go far, go together.
• 11:44
  Mike Swenson: And so I've always just believed in if we want to go far in our investment journey, I want to go together with people.
• 11:50
  Mike Swenson: I want to add value and provide something of value for them.
• 11:54
  Mike Swenson: I can go fast on my own, I can control everything on my own and make all my own decisions if I want to, but I want to create something that helps multiple people build wealth and gives an avenue for people to maybe change some of their family trees and do things that they probably couldn't do on their own.
• 12:11
  Mike Swenson: And that's the exciting part for me.
• 12:12
  Mike Swenson: And that's why I love working with investors in real estate.
• 12:16
  Mike Swenson: So you're looking for the right type of investor.
• 12:19
  Mike Swenson: Inside of that, there's a couple different ways that you're structuring deals, and you're either going to work with accredited or non-accredited investors.
• 12:26
  Mike Swenson: And this is really important.
• 12:28
  Mike Swenson: So accredited investors generally are people who have a net worth over a million dollars, excluding their primary home, or have income over$200,000 a year for the last two years if they're individuals, or$300,000 a year if they're uh filing jointly with uh a spouse, or they have some sort of securities license.
• 12:49
  Mike Swenson: So accredited investors can invest in deals that non-accredited people can't.
• 12:54
  Mike Swenson: And so that's why it's really important to designate.
• 12:56
  Mike Swenson: Now, non-accredited investors can invest in deals.
• 13:00
  Mike Swenson: That's actually who we primarily work with because most of the people that I know and most of the people that enjoy helping don't meet those qualifications.
• 13:07
  Mike Swenson: So you could make$150,000 a year, have a net worth of$500,000,$800,000, and still not be able to invest in certain opportunities.
• 13:17
  Mike Swenson: And so I like the idea of providing opportunities for lots of people that couldn't do it on their own.
• 13:22
  Mike Swenson: And so that's the part, the helping people part that I really enjoy.
• 13:26
  Mike Swenson: And that's why I really get a lot of enrichment out of what I do.
• 13:29
  Mike Swenson: And so I work primarily with non-accredited investors.
• 13:32
  Mike Swenson: I can work with accredited investors, but it's just the type of deal.
• 13:36
  Mike Swenson: So for me, the type of deal that I have, I can't publicly market those deals to people.
• 13:42
  Mike Swenson: I can talk to individuals about it, but I can't go take out an ad or make a video of like, hey, here's the deal that we have, come invest in this deal.
• 13:51
  Mike Swenson: So everything that I do is just through the relationships that I have with people and work through those kind of off-market types of opportunities where I'm working with individuals versus posting publicly about them.
• 14:02
  Mike Swenson: So you'll see large-scale investors post about those big deals, but they're looking for accredited investors.
• 14:08
  Mike Swenson: Those deals might have a minimum investment of$50,000,000,$250,000.
• 14:13
  Mike Swenson: I'm working with people that that's a little bit too much for them.
• 14:16
  Mike Swenson: Maybe they want to invest$20,000 or$30,000, or maybe up to$50,000 or more for those types of deals.
• 14:23
  Mike Swenson: So really important to designate who you're working with there and then figuring out what do those people actually care about.
• 14:29
  Mike Swenson: For us for apartment investing, I explain it as it's kind of a slow flip.
• 14:33
  Mike Swenson: We are adding value to property over time.
• 14:36
  Mike Swenson: In Minnesota, we can't kick tenants out, and so nor would we want to.
• 14:41
  Mike Swenson: So we are in the leases that are already in place before we take over a property.
• 14:45
  Mike Swenson: And so when those leases turn, when there's opportunities to fix up units and raise the rents, we would do that.
• 14:52
  Mike Swenson: However, if we've got great tenants and there's you know enjoying the property, they would stay for a while.
• 14:57
  Mike Swenson: And so it's kind of like trying to flip a building in the course of five years, is really what we're looking for.
• 15:02
  Mike Swenson: So from a return standpoint, you're investing in something for five years with us.
• 15:07
  Mike Swenson: It's not like flipping a house where we're gonna get our money back in three months or six months.
• 15:11
  Mike Swenson: And so you've got to find people that like that and are okay with that type of investment.
• 15:16
  Mike Swenson: And so that's really what we focus on is hey, you're not gonna get your money back in three to six months, you're not gonna get your money back in a year, you're gonna get some money back either if we refinance depending on the deal, quarterly cash flow payouts, or upon the sale of the property.
• 15:31
  Mike Swenson: And so those are the ways that you're gonna get paid.
• 15:33
  Mike Swenson: And you also have the benefit of the tax deductions or tax benefits depending on your situation.
• 15:39
  Mike Swenson: So those are the wins for you while holding those properties.
• 15:42
  Mike Swenson: Trust and credibility is really important for these types of deals.
• 15:46
  Mike Swenson: So I would say start small and start with you know who you can work with and work with the banks that are willing to work with you with where you're at for your given situation.
• 15:56
  Mike Swenson: But everything that we do is based on trust.
• 15:59
  Mike Swenson: If people are going to invest with me for five years, they're gonna be in business with me for five years.
• 16:05
  Mike Swenson: We own an LLC together, we own a company that owns a property together, and so they can get a hold of me.
• 16:11
  Mike Swenson: Hey, how's it going?
• 16:12
  Mike Swenson: How are we doing?
• 16:12
  Mike Swenson: What's going on?
• 16:14
  Mike Swenson: What challenges have come up?
• 16:15
  Mike Swenson: And so we get out ahead of that and give people updates on those property, but it's a long-term relationship, and so you want to make sure you're picking people that you're okay working with for five years plus for an individual property.
• 16:27
  Mike Swenson: So it's all about finding the right fit.
• 16:29
  Mike Swenson: Like I said, I'm really presenting here's the opportunity, here's what this deal looks like, here's how hands-on or hands-off you are, and is this something that's a fit for you or not?
• 16:40
  Mike Swenson: If it's not a fit, no worries.
• 16:42
  Mike Swenson: We'll go find something else that is a fit for you.
• 16:44
  Mike Swenson: Legal things to think about.
• 16:46
  Mike Swenson: So if we are raising capital like this in this type of uh vehicle, it is a securities activity.
• 16:53
  Mike Swenson: And so there's guidelines that we have to follow.
• 16:56
  Mike Swenson: Having a great attorney who understands securities is really important because there are SEC guidelines that we need to follow for this.
• 17:03
  Mike Swenson: It's not just, hey, wire me the wire me the money and we'll send it back to you when we're done.
• 17:08
  Mike Swenson: So we're issuing K1 statements every year to our investors based on, you know, the money gained or lost, and that's paper loss in most cases for their tax purposes.
• 17:18
  Mike Swenson: And then we have to be very open.
• 17:20
  Mike Swenson: We have to keep all those records, sign private placement memorandum documents for those investments.
• 17:25
  Mike Swenson: So there's a lot at stake there.
• 17:27
  Mike Swenson: And so you've got to make sure you've got your I's dotted and your T's crossed, and you're making sure that you're following all the guidelines.
• 17:32
  Mike Swenson: And so legal stuff we can talk about at a different time, but just understanding there is legal ramifications, there's guidelines that you need to make sure that you're following.
• 17:39
  Mike Swenson: How are the deals structured?
• 17:41
  Mike Swenson: So, what happens is you know, the way that I describe it is you've got two sides of a table.
• 17:46
  Mike Swenson: So if we're raising capital here for a syndication, you've got the general partner side sitting at one side of the table.
• 17:53
  Mike Swenson: These are the people that are making all the decisions, putting together the plan, securing the property, working with the bank, working with the property managers, doing all the active work.
• 18:03
  Mike Swenson: And then at the other side of the table, you have the passive investors who are just putting up the capital, putting their money down for the opportunity to invest in these types of properties.
• 18:13
  Mike Swenson: And so those limited partners don't have the ability to make decisions on the big things that that as they relate to the property.
• 18:21
  Mike Swenson: And so that's where going back to finding the right fit.
• 18:23
  Mike Swenson: You're looking for an investor that that's what they want.
• 18:26
  Mike Swenson: They want to be hands-off, and that's where we succeed very well.
• 18:29
  Mike Swenson: And so there's going to be different types of returns.
• 18:32
  Mike Swenson: There's all different ways to structure the deal.
• 18:34
  Mike Swenson: You can do preferred returns, you can do, you know, certain percentages based of on cash flow, based on the sale.
• 18:41
  Mike Swenson: If a property hits certain thresholds, you can waterfall certain types of opportunities.
• 18:46
  Mike Swenson: So there's lots of different ways to structure it, but it's going to be some sort of you're you're kind of buying into what the plan is, and it's up to those general partners to orchestrate that plan.
• 18:56
  Mike Swenson: Um, some sort of, you know, return, guaranteed return, preferred return, payout for, you know, quarterly returns, whatever that might be.
• 19:04
  Mike Swenson: And so you're putting together what that is, you're dividing the percentage of the property based on kind of what's something that's going to be enticing for an investor.
• 19:13
  Mike Swenson: So we start, we kind of back out what would be something that would be intriguing to an investor and put together a plan based on what might be a fit for them.
• 19:21
  Mike Swenson: And then, you know, that's that's how we run the numbers.
• 19:23
  Mike Swenson: And then we only move forward with the deals that make sense.
• 19:26
  Mike Swenson: If there's not enough meat on the bone, we're not going to move forward with a deal and take all of our time and energy to be able to work with an investor if there's just not a lot of meat there, there's not a lot of excitement there for them.
• 19:37
  Mike Swenson: So that's what we're doing for that.
• 19:39
  Mike Swenson: Building trust without a big track record.
• 19:41
  Mike Swenson: I think that's the thing that we've gained over time.
• 19:44
  Mike Swenson: We've now done seven multifamily deals.
• 19:47
  Mike Swenson: As I mentioned, 264 units.
• 19:50
  Mike Swenson: That didn't happen overnight, and it didn't happen in one fell swoop.
• 19:54
  Mike Swenson: So it takes time to build that resume.
• 19:56
  Mike Swenson: I tell people it's just like starting starting a new job or you just graduated from high school or from college, you're building your resume.
• 20:04
  Mike Swenson: I'm working with people that trust me for the experience that I had when we did our first deal.
• 20:09
  Mike Swenson: And then I'm finding investors on our second deal where we said, hey, here's the deal we did previously.
• 20:15
  Mike Swenson: Here's how it's going.
• 20:16
  Mike Swenson: Here's what we're doing right now.
• 20:18
  Mike Swenson: We get to the third deal.
• 20:19
  Mike Swenson: Hey, this is our third deal.
• 20:21
  Mike Swenson: Here's the other two.
• 20:22
  Mike Swenson: Here's how they're going.
• 20:23
  Mike Swenson: This is what the opportunity is for this deal.
• 20:26
  Mike Swenson: And you keep stacking more and more.
• 20:27
  Mike Swenson: There's investors out there, accredited investors that won't touch anything less than 264 units.
• 20:33
  Mike Swenson: And we've done that over the course of now almost three years and seven different deals, but we're slowly building our resume.
• 20:41
  Mike Swenson: We're slowly building that experience and we're building that trust and credibility with our investors to show hey here's what we're doing.
• 20:48
  Mike Swenson: Here's why we think it's a good fit for you and here's why we think working with us probably makes sense versus doing it on your own.
• 20:55
  Mike Swenson: And so that trust and credibility and that track record is really important.
• 20:58
  Mike Swenson: And so we're open and honest with our investors with where we're at.
• 21:02
  Mike Swenson: We have had some properties that have had some challenges.
• 21:04
  Mike Swenson: We're working to overcome them and so we're sharing here's what what here's what's happened.
• 21:09
  Mike Swenson: Here's what we're doing so that it doesn't happen again.
• 21:11
  Mike Swenson: Here's what we're learning so that future deals are better than deals we've done in the past.
• 21:16
  Mike Swenson: And so we're getting better.
• 21:18
  Mike Swenson: Just like professional athletes start out maybe their rookie year they're okay.
• 21:22
  Mike Swenson: They're getting better.
• 21:23
  Mike Swenson: Maybe their second year a few more things click and then their third year they get a little bit better.
• 21:28
  Mike Swenson: Their fourth year they get better and maybe eventually they become an all-star but it takes time.
• 21:32
  Mike Swenson: And so it's the same way for us.
• 21:34
  Mike Swenson: We're getting better we're finding better deals and as we continue to grow we can leverage that experience into bigger and better deals as well.
• 21:41
  Mike Swenson: So a you know a hundred unit building versus a 50 unit building versus a 25 unit building we can get to some of those bigger opportunities based on the experience that we've had and what we've done in the past.
• 21:52
  Mike Swenson: And so we're building that resume just like everybody else's transparency is really important like I mentioned every quarter we share with our investors how things are going.
• 22:02
  Mike Swenson: We have a quarterly report that we send out to show them here's where we're at, here's the projects that have been completed.
• 22:08
  Mike Swenson: Here's what's still on the docket here's when we're considering a sale here's when we're considering our quarterly payouts and what that looks like.
• 22:15
  Mike Swenson: And so we're trying to be open and accountable to people to set good clear expectations for them so they know we're going to do what we say we're going to do and we're not just trying to pump this up and then run away right it's all about building that trust and that credibility with people.
• 22:31
  Mike Swenson: So through that, you know, we find investors from our personal network versus referrals creating great education based content like this the podcast finding people who are excited about the things that we're working on and just having conversations.
• 22:45
  Mike Swenson: I view most of my role as education based.
• 22:48
  Mike Swenson: I'm telling people here's what we've done here's why we do it here's why we're excited to do it.
• 22:53
  Mike Swenson: And if you want to learn more about it let me know.
• 22:56
  Mike Swenson: And if not if you'd rather continue to invest in other areas that's okay.
• 23:00
  Mike Swenson: And so we're looking for the right people like I said we're not trying to convince people to do what we want them to do.
• 23:05
  Mike Swenson: It's just finding the right fit.
• 23:07
  Mike Swenson: And so those relationships are really important.
• 23:09
  Mike Swenson: I'm not pitching people I'm not selling people on anything I'm just educating them.
• 23:14
  Mike Swenson: And sometimes it takes time to understand that education.
• 23:17
  Mike Swenson: And so you know I I kind of use the example of you know if if a one is I'm not at all interested in investing in multifamily real estate and a 10 is I love investing in real estate a lot of people are probably at a two three or four and my job is to help them understand you know what it looks like to be at a five or a six or a seven and just give them more education to help them make informed decisions on potentially moving forward.
• 23:43
  Mike Swenson: And if you want to do it on your own that's totally fine.
• 23:45
  Mike Swenson: It's okay with me.
• 23:46
  Mike Swenson: And so I'm just education based no pressure type of situation.
• 23:51
  Mike Swenson: Here's what we've got if it excites you great if not no worries.
• 23:54
  Mike Swenson: And so that's kind of been my approach which I I enjoy that approach that's more of who I am versus feeling like a salesman.
• 24:00
  Mike Swenson: And so the people that excited about that probably resonate with that type of uh presentation.
• 24:05
  Mike Swenson: And then when we get deals presenting the deals we put together a good plan here's what we're going to do here's what those five years look like here's the financials here's the potential returns here's the risks here's the opportunities and we'll keep you informed along the way and uh that's how we present that we do a webinar we do a slide deck we have the PPM document the private placement memorandum and people consume that content make an informed decision reach out with questions and then decide for themselves if they want to move forward and so that's simply how that process works.
• 24:39
  Mike Swenson: We put together that plan and because we have relationships with these people this these aren't none of these investors are new people they're people that we know in some way shape or form and so hopefully they feel empowered to ask great questions and to move forward on things that are a good fit for them.
• 24:55
  Mike Swenson: And so that's really what the presentation looks like it's just a little webinar and open it up for questions and then it's answering people's questions over the next week or two or three before that opportunity fills up.
• 25:06
  Mike Swenson: It takes time and it takes patience to be a capital raiser.
• 25:10
  Mike Swenson: You're understanding that this is not everybody's priority while it's I always say well it's my priority to have people invest in these deals so we can get them closed on time.
• 25:21
  Mike Swenson: It's not necessarily their priority if they have a family vacation or a busy work schedule they're not going to be as timely in getting back to me.
• 25:31
  Mike Swenson: They're getting back to me on their timeline not on my timeline.
• 25:34
  Mike Swenson: And so things like setting up self-directed IRAs takes time because they have to fill out paperwork.
• 25:41
  Mike Swenson: They have to work with their current plan whoever their money's with right now transition that over that company takes time.
• 25:48
  Mike Swenson: There's a lot of things out of our hand or you know people have a baby and all of a sudden now their their money that they thought they'd have is going to go towards funding a you know new new nursery or new all the baby equipment that they need to buy or maybe they're renovating their house or maybe they have a kid going to college.
• 26:05
  Mike Swenson: Maybe their spouse or a partner has something happen in their life and they need those funds.
• 26:10
  Mike Swenson: And so life happens and it happens on their timing and their priorities, not my priorities.
• 26:16
  Mike Swenson: And so I have to have a funnel of enough people that are excited to say yes and move forward with our properties independent of what those life circumstances are.
• 26:26
  Mike Swenson: And so we have found ways to maybe move closings back or find funds to get to closing to allow some of this life event stuff to sprinkle back in after closing but we're operating on their priority and their calendar and so if they're busy at their job they're not going to get back to us on time.
• 26:45
  Mike Swenson: And so it's my job to just follow up stay present stay available to help them for when they're ready to ask those questions and provide answers for them.
• 26:54
  Mike Swenson: So that's a big learning for me is is kind of knowing how to work with people, how to work with people on their timing and doing my best to communicate as much as possible.
• 27:03
  Mike Swenson: It's a long-term relationship business.
• 27:05
  Mike Swenson: I think that's kind of the final piece too like I said we're in this for five years with people.
• 27:09
  Mike Swenson: If we're going to hold an apartment building with our investors for five years we're in it for five years.
• 27:14
  Mike Swenson: And so you've got to be present transparent helpful getting back to people as as good as possible and help them see the bigger picture because our goal is we want people to continue invest with us.
• 27:25
  Mike Swenson: We want people to continue to refer people to us that want to invest with us.
• 27:30
  Mike Swenson: And so it's a relationship business that takes time takes patience and it takes good clear communication with people so there you have it.
• 27:37
  Mike Swenson: There's my thoughts on capital raising at least as we stand right now what I've been able to do for the first 264 units and we're excited to see where that takes us in the future.
• 27:47
  Mike Swenson: So if you have any questions you want to reach out to us go to our website freedomthroughrealestate com check it out read the articles reach out to us and we'd love to be able to help you with capital raising questions that you have or if you're interested in investing in future apartment deals with us reach out to us and let us know.
• 28:04
  Mike Swenson: Thank you so much.
• 28:05
  Mike Swenson: Take care have a great day