|
Commercial Real Estate Investing Q&A: Mentorship
A WomenforWealth.com Interview with Kelly Fabros
by Kirsten Lee
Commercial real estate investment magnifies profits for the savvy investor.
Seeking to increase the information available to our community, Women for Wealth held a live Q&A session with LADP officer turned super-successful commercial real estate investor, Kelly Fabros. Our listeners were encouraged to bring their toughest questions to the table. This series of articles highlights Kelly’s responses.
Q: You’ve mentioned using the same people, such as your lender or your mentor, on your commercial real estate team several times. Why is this particularly important?
Kelly: A lot of people shop different commercial real estate lenders and they never use the same person twice. I have used my lender on both deals and he recently told me, “Kelly, you’re my best client”. Well, how can I be your best client with two deals? He said, “You’ve closed over $13 million worth of deals with me in less than a year.” The benefit to that is I ask him for things that are not normal, for example, getting two years interest only on a commercial real estate loan. Establish that relationship with you so he knows who you are and that you’re a buyer and a player in the commercial real estate investment arena.
Q: You stress the importance of mentorship in commercial real estate investing. Do you compensate the mentor in any way or do you pay a fee?
Kelly: Some people starting in commercial real estate investment are fortunate to find someone who takes them under their wing as a mentor. If you find someone like that that’s great. I actually did pay my mentor. He was a flat fee for six months but we’ve also created such a great relationship I can call him anytime now and he’ll help me out. And I can ask him questions and we’re also growing into more of a friendship and not a mentorship where he can call me too and ask questions.
Q: What kind of intangibles do you offer your commercial real estate mentor?
Kelly: I think the key, from what they’ve told me, is I always got them what they needed right away, instead of them having to keep coming to me saying, “We need the property financials. We need the property financials.” Maybe that’s part of it.
Q: How much time do you spend talking on the phone with your commercial real estate investment mentor?
Kelly: Well, I just met my commercial real estate investment mentor
in person for the first time two weeks ago and he’s been my mentor for over a year and half now so, everything’s been over the phone. We’ve had intimate conversations. When you’re talking with about someone’s fears and he’s walking you through your limiting beliefs, you get intimate with them. My lender knew I was a beginner and he took the time to evaluate the numbers with me. He would spend an hour on the phone with me just going over the numbers teaching me how to evaluate.
For more information on commercial real estate
investing, or to access the complete, power-packed Tele-Seminar, check out
the one-hour interview with Kelly, and the 45 minutes of tough questions
from the live audience. You can find out more on the
Profit From
Apartments page.
|
