So here’s how real estate syndications work. So a real estate syndication is typically led by an experienced real estate professional. Also known as a syndicator or the sponsor. The syndicator identifies a potential investment opportunity, put together a plan, outlining the project’s details, potential returns risks, and the term of the investment.

Then there’s the pooling of the funds, the syndicator reaches out to potential investors, also referred to as limited partners or LPs. who are interested in participating in the investment. Each LP contributes a portion of the required capital, pooling their funds with other investors to collectively finance the project.

Next is the ownership structure. So real estate syndications often involve a complex ownership structure. The syndicator usually holds the general partner or GP role, responsible for managing the project and making key decisions. The limited partners, LPs, on the other hand, hold passive ownership positions and contribute capital without direct involvement in the day-to-day operations. This is one of the critical pieces of syndications to understand.

We talked about in a prior lesson about direct ownership. You, as the owner, get to make the day-to-day decisions, you can work with the manager to decide who to hire, who to fire when to buy, when to sell, how to finance. This is very different in a syndication. This is kind of the definition of passive income. You’re going to invest, you’re going to give money to the general partner, and then you’re going to be hands-off. You’re simply going to collect whatever it is that they pay you, and you’re going to usually get your capital back, or there’s a capital return at some point, should the investment be successful.

So let’s talk about profits and returns. So the syndication structure typically involves profit sharing between the general partners and limited partners and the profits generated from the project such as rental income or property appreciation are often distributed among the investors according to the terms outlined in the syndication agreement, which is what you signed on the front end. The syndicator often receives a share of the profits as compensation for their expertise and management effort.

So investor relations and reporting. Syndicators are responsible for providing regular updates and reports to the limited partners. Keeping them informed about the project’s progress, financial performance, and any significant developments. This transparency ensures that investors have visibility into how their investment is being managed. Next, like about the exit strategy. So real estate syndications have a predetermined exit strategy. Most of the time, which outlines how and when the investment will be liquidated or sold off. So this could involve selling the property refinancing or other strategic options. Once a project is sold, otherwise exited, the proceeds are distributed to the investors, according to the agreed upon terms. So this is when the capital return occurs, like I was mentioning previously. Now there are syndications out there that don’t have an exit strategy. It’s important to recognize that oftentimes they will, they may have a time horizon of three, five, seven, ten years. And they say, this is the improvements we’re going to do to the building. This is the value we’re going to project to add over time. And this is how much we think we can sell the property for at this time horizon, returning you X amount of dollars above and beyond what you gave to us and the original investment. So that’s when things go according to plan. But it’s important to recognize that they don’t always go according to plan. And it’s important to remember that you as the individual investor, the limited partner might not be able to affect the outcome or affect change on the day-to-day operations.

So real estate and syndications offer several benefits. They allow investors to diversify their portfolio across various properties and markets, and you give access to professional expertise and management, and you also get to participate in larger scale projects that may have a higher profit potential. However, like we were just mentioning, they also carry risks, including market fluctuations, property-specific challenges, and potential conflict of interest between the syndicator and limited partners. So investors interested in participating in real estate syndication should carefully evaluate the syndicator’s track record, the project’s viability, and the terms of the investment. Due diligence and thorough research are essential to make informed decisions and mitigate the potential risks like we mentioned in a prior lesson people who protect their downside are often the most successful investors. It’s important to consider the upside, but it’s also important to protect the downside. So the evaluation piece is really where this passive investment is, is not passive. You need to invest time evaluating the syndicator or the general partner, understand what they’ve done well, but also understand what they haven’t done well. A great question to ask is tell me about your least successful investment and see what they tell you. That can often shed a lot of light on who the general partner or who the syndicator is, because you want to understand who you’re getting in bed with, for lack of a better term. You are going to be married to these people for the duration of the investment term. So you want to be sure that it’s something that you’re comfortable with.