Holding Or Flipping - Which is Best For Private Money?

There's a source of some debate about whetherwith a private investor who has a 3-5 year time
private money is better suited for a 'buy and hold'frame. If you plan on holding it for the rest of your
approach or a 'flipping' strategy for real estatelife (and your kids' lives) then it isn't far fetched to
investing. Real estate investors correctly point outconsider buying your equity investor out with your
that their private investors will want to exit (or theshare of the cash flows (it nets out to be the same
availability of exit) from their investment at a futurecash on cash return for you) or setting up the note
date, which could cause financing issues with theto be amortized, where you pay off part principal
project.You don't want to mess with a good thing ifand interest each month.
you have a nice cash flowing property. So, which isHowever, private money equity partners are better
private money best for: flipping or holding?than lenders for buy & hold properties. The
First of all, you shouldn't think in terms of either/or.investor comes into the project as a profit sharing
You can successfully flip and hold properties withpartner with you and, thus, you both have the same
private money. How you structure the deal, though,time frame for investment going in. Many private
will determine the extent of your profitability withinvestors would welcome a buy and hold investment,
each.When it comes to flipping, turning propertiesas it reduces their worry about how to turn the
over quickly can generate healthy profits for you, butfunds over when the investment redeems.
you must be careful to pay your private investors anPrivate Money Re-finance
appropriate rate. Set it up so that you pay them anAnother option to use on buy and hold with an
'annualized' return on their money. Here's aninvestor that has a shorter time frame than project
example:Private Money Investment: $100,000length is to replace their funds with those of another
Annual Interest Rate: 10%private investor. It can be much easier to bring a
Deal Profits: $25,000new private investor into your business on an already
Money Invested for: 45 daysperforming project than an altogether new
Cost of Funds: $1,250investment. Keep this in mind to bring in new funds
*The cost of funds should not be total points on thecontinually. You can set up the deal so that down the
amount borrowed - is should be prorated annually.road, one investor can sell their interest in the project
In the above example, you are borrowing privateto another private investor or they can sell the note.
money to buy and sell the property, you are makingTake care to structure your promissory notes so
a net profit of $23,750 after you pay your investorthat they can be sold from one investor to another
$1,250. While this may seem disproportionate in youror set it up so that one investor pays off the note
favor, the investor still got a great return on theirand another investor re-loans you the money. Think
money. You must protect your profits. Too manyof it as refinancing one private investor with another,
real estate investors would be willing to give up morejust like a bank would do.
than necessary on this type of deal - you don't haveThe best thing about working with private money is
to if you know how to set things up with thethe financing flexibility you achieve with it. As long as
investor at the outset.the returns on there for you and the investor,
You can impair profits if you finance a long term holdeverybody wins.