Being an apartment syndicator can feel like a complicated job. After all, dealing with a large team of investors, handling complex financial terms, and managing a massive property are all difficult tasks. Doing them well isn’t easy, but it’s certainly possible, especially if you maintain the proper mindset.
The key to making sense of a large, multifaceted undertaking is to redefine it in simplified terms. At the end of the day, managing commercial real estate is a business like any other. You can draw from the tactics of other ventures to develop the best real estate practices. In fact, the simplest business of all serves as an especially useful example. By imitating the approach taken by successful lemonade stands, you can become a wiser, more deliberate apartment syndicator.
In a competitive landscape, you can only succeed if you stand out from the pack. It’s fine to draw inspiration from other businesses, but you can’t simply copy what everyone else is doing. If your operation offers the exact same thing as all your competitors, you’ll never manage to get ahead. By breaking the mold and giving your enterprise a unique flavor, you’ll attract extra attention and make yourself the envy of other businesses in your industry. Whether you’re operating a lemonade stand or working in commercial real estate investing, a maverick streak is essential to success.
Whenever you’re selling something to members of the public, you need to set your product apart from whatever else is on the market. Commodities are practically omnipresent today with thousands of versions of every product available to consumers and investors alike.
In the case of a lemonade stand, simple lemonade is nothing but a generic commodity. Consumers could just as easily make the drink themselves or buy it from another seller.
In the realm of residential and commercial real estate, returns are the commodity. Apartment syndications everywhere offer investors a return on their investment. The only way to put your businesses on a different footing is by providing something extra.
Even when the commodity itself is hard to enhance, a business can still offer something amazing on the side. There’s not much a child with a lemonade stand can do to alter the product itself. Lemonade is what it is, and there’s no way to make it particularly special. It's with an additional giveaway that the child can set their stand apart. Perhaps the kid hands out an original drawing or a painted rock along with every glass. Suddenly, the business moves beyond simple commodities and gives each consumer a special reason to choose that particular stand. With just a bit of effort and ingenuity, the child has significantly increased the lemonade stand’s chances of success.
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For an apartment syndicator, moving beyond simple commodities means providing something other than returns for investors. You need to operate your business in a unique way, showing that you’re truly different from your competitors. Communication is often the best way to set yourself apart. Sending out newsletters, engaging in conversations, and providing a constant flow of information about the business will provide investors with additional value beyond the financial returns. These might seem like small details, but they can make all the difference in a competitive industry.
In any type of business, location is a major factor in determining the likelihood of success. A store that would take off in one city might crash and burn in another. A commercial real estate property near a highway could provide massive returns, while the same property in an out-of-the-way location would struggle to land a single tenant.
Location is also pivotal when it comes to where you go to talk about your business. Some spots are perfect for building fruitful relationships, and others are networking dead zones. By keeping the importance of location at the top of your mind, you can put your business in the best possible position.
The location of a child’s lemonade stand is likely to be the largest determining factor in the venture’s ultimate success. A stand that’s buried within a quiet neighborhood won’t attract anybody except a few random dog-walkers. By placing the same stand on a busier road, the child can greatly increase sales. Choosing a spot by an intersection with a stop sign or traffic light is even more advantageous since it will encourage drivers to buy a lemonade while they wait. At the end of the day, the location of the stand matters much more than the flavor of the drinks on offer.
As an apartment syndicator, the location of the properties you choose will have a massive effect on your entire enterprise. With the whole country available for investment, you need to narrow your focus down to a single property. Start by considering which region makes the most sense for your plans. Then, find a city with promising economic conditions. From there, you’ll need to identify the neighborhood and specific property that has the most potential. Making the right choices during this process will set you up for long-term success.
Not only do you need to focus on the location of your properties, but you should also determine what are the best places for meeting future investors. Ask yourself where you can find people with the resources to invest in an apartment syndication. Visit the places where wealthy people tend to gather and do what you can to make lasting connections. When you surround yourself with potential clients, you make it easier to grow your business.