Q&A
Real questions from readers, answered by vetted real estate experts — investors, operators, and proptech builders.
Warm intro or nothing — cold-emailing a family office is the fastest way to get filtered out permanently. They invest in people they (or someone they trust) already know. So do the unglamorous work: publish your thinking consistently, show up where they gather, and get one trusted mutual connection to vouch. And know…
Adding to Paul's point — the structural shift nobody mentions: LPs who used to write $5M fund checks now prefer $2M co-invests where they see the asset. Design your vehicle so co-investors can graduate into fund LPs. Your first 'fund' might really be a co-invest club with a management fee.
Read more →Start with your senior lender's intercreditor posture, because it often makes the decision for you — many seniors will tolerate pref equity but fight a mezz loan that creates a second lien. Beyond that: mezz is debt with a fixed maturity and foreclosure remedy; pref has no maturity but harder control terms on default.…
Read more →Honestly? Probably not at sub-$300M. The rating process is expensive in both fees and the operational overhead it forces — you'll need reporting and risk infrastructure that's heavy for a fund your size. The math flips around $500M+, where the insurance capital it unlocks more than pays for the apparatus. Below that,…
Read more →Underwrite the operator, not the deck. Concretely: pull title on every deal they claim, call the lender on their last two deals (sponsors sign off on this if they're real), and ask for the capital call and distribution history — dates and amounts, not IRRs. Then the soft test that predicts everything: give them a…
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