SAMO blog archive
Passive real estate investing, explained.
Explore the SAMO Financial LLC blog archive from newest to oldest. Each article is now available here before the former website is retired.
The 7 Mistakes High Earners Make Before Investing in Real Estate
The 7 Mistakes High Earners Make Before Investing in Real Estate A high income can create a false sense of financial security. I see this all the time. Smart professionals making $200K, $300K, sometimes much more, assume that because they are...
5 Reasons Why You Should Never Invest With Me
5 Reasons Why You Should Never Invest With Me Let’s skip the fluff and get real. Over the years, I’ve had countless conversations about passive investing. Some turned into powerful partnerships that changed lives, not just mine but theirs too...
The Self Rental Rules: What Real Estate Investors Need to Know (and How My Friend Navigated Them Owning a Dental Office)
The Self Rental Rules: What Real Estate Investors Need to Know (and How My Friend Navigated Them Owning a Dental Office) Introduction If you're investing in real estate and also run a business, the way you structure your ownership can have a...
The Real Cost of Overlooking Main Street in Your Portfolio
The Real Cost of Overlooking Main Street in Your Portfolio Not long ago, I was fully committed to the traditional path. I maxed out my retirement accounts. I followed market trends, trusted in index funds, and stuck to the Wall Street playboo...
Why Wall Street Falls Short on Personalized Investing
Why Wall Street Falls Short on Personalized Investing You’ve worked hard to build your wealth. You’ve made sacrifices, stayed disciplined, and played the long game. Now, you deserve more than just a “safe” investment plan—you deserve one that...
The Diversification Myth That Could Be Undermining Your Portfolio
The Diversification Myth That Could Be Undermining Your Portfolio You’ve done what the experts said. Diversify to manage risk. So you spread your money across dozens of stocks, mutual funds, ETFs, and sectors. But here’s a truth many investor...
Why So Many Smart Investors Still Feel Financially Exposed
Why So Many Smart Investors Still Feel Financially Exposed You’ve done everything by the book. ✔️ Maxed out your 401(k) ✔️ Stayed committed through every market cycle ✔️ Trusted Wall Street to grow your portfolio And yet… something still feel...
How Wall Street Delays Could Be Costing You Big — Without You Even Knowing
How Wall Street Delays Could Be Costing You Big — Without You Even Knowing If you’ve been investing through traditional Wall Street channels, you’ve probably heard this advice over and over: “Time in the market builds wealth.” And while that’...
5 Critical Facts Every STNL Investor Needs to Know Before Buying a Property
5 Critical Facts Every STNL Investor Needs to Know Before Buying a Property If you’ve been exploring ways to diversify beyond the stock market and create passive income, Single-Tenant Net Lease (STNL) properties may have caught your eye. And...
How I Built a $10,000 Passive Income Stream Through Real Estate Syndications
How I Built a $10,000 Passive Income Stream Through Real Estate Syndications What if you could earn $10,000 in passive income every month without ever dealing with tenants or property maintenance? For me, real estate syndications have made th...
How Lending for Real Estate Renovations Can Outperform Savings Accounts and CDs
How Lending for Real Estate Renovations Can Outperform Savings Accounts and CDs When it comes to growing wealth, many investors today are searching for ways to make their money work harder than it would in traditional savings accounts or cert...
A Comprehensive Guide to Mineral Rights and Private Real Estate Investments
Unearthing Wealth: A Comprehensive Guide to Mineral Rights and Private Real Estate Investments Guest post by Peter Yordanov Did you know that the land you own might be sitting on a gold mine - literally? If you're a real estate investor or a...
The path to becoming a lifestyle investor
"The path to becoming a lifestyle investor" Interview with Justin Donald Alina Hello and welcome, everyone! We have an absolutely amazing guest for you today. His name is Justin Donald, and I want to give him the floor to share his story beca...
How the Real Magic Word in Real Estate, “Depreciation”, Impacts Your Tax Liabilities
How the Real Magic Word in Real Estate, “Depreciation”, Impacts Your Tax Liabilities If you are in any way exposed to the world of real estate investing, then you undoubtedly have heard investors mention th...
How I raised $5M in less than two days without skipping a beat
How I raised $5M in less than two days without skipping a beat It was a brisk Saturday morning, and the weather was sunny and inviting. Lots of my friends planned to enjoy some fun activities outside, but t...
What are the Four Investor Quadrants?
What are the Four Investor Quadrants? Making decisions sporadically and without a plan has never produced quality results. The same is true for making real estate investment decisions and choices. You nee...
What are the PIGs of Real Estate
What are the PIGs of Real Estate When you hear the word “pig”, you may be thinking of an animal that is associated with filth, mud or dirt. When people use the term “pig” in a derogatory way about someone...
Interview with a passive investor
How to be a successful part-time investor Alina Hello and welcome everyone to this 2022 edition of the SAMO Financial interviews. Today we're interviewing one of our investors Marc Halpern, who in addition to being one of the investors with u...
What is Debt Vs Equity Investing?
What is Debt Vs Equity Investing? What is one of the more common ways to invest in real estate? That would be to buy a house, build up some equity in it and hope that it appreciates. But contrary to popular belief, this investment option is...
What is Passive Real Estate Investing and how do I begin?
What is Passive Real Estate Investing and how do I begin? Alina Trigub, the founder of SAMO Financial, had the pleasure of speaking with Dr. Allen Lomax of Steedtalker Capital during the 106th episode of Cr...
The beauty of J-curve in Private Equity Funds
The beauty of J-curve in Private Equity Funds When most people hear the term “J-curve” they instantly realize that it has something to do with the letter “J”. But what makes this letter so special when it comes to real estate investing? J Cur...
What are different types of investment strategies
What are different types of investment strategies Typically, investors that are either employees with W-2 jobs or busy business owners, fall into two categories: Category I – growth investors: They plan to retire down the road, maybe 5, 10, 2...
Why investing in a syndication is one of the top choices of the wealthy
Why investing in a syndication is one of the top choices of the wealthy Investing in real estate syndication remains a very viable option for individuals looking to diversify their portfolio passively with alternative investments outside of t...
What does it mean to you to leave a legacy?
What does it mean to you to leave a legacy? What will our children, and the children of our children remember us by? There is no cookie cutter approach to building a legacy after we are long gone. So how do we achieve it? There are the obviou...
What are various apartment asset classes
What are various apartment asset classes? When searching for a multi-family home or apartment, or whatever other type of real estate asset in which to invest or purchase, one very critical factor would be the asset class. Before we discuss th...
Are compound and cumulative dividends the same thing?
Are compound and cumulative dividends the same thing? Every investor loves the word “dividend.” Stocks in general and especially the so-called “dividends kings” stocks often pay dividends making that stock more attractive. Commercial real est...
How my family builds wealth passively through real estate
How my family builds wealth passively through real estate There is no mistake about it: the job market is erratic at best. Companies are in business one minute and unfortunately shut their doors the next minute, leaving some with pensions or...
What are the Main Players in a Syndication?
What are the Main Players in a Syndication? Real estate investment syndications are a lucrative way for groups of people to partner to in order to build wealth. A real estate syndication is a partnership between multiple parties that pool the...
What Is a Self-Directed IRA?
What Is a Self-Directed IRA? If you’d like to expand your retirement portfolio to include real estate, cryptocurrencies, commodities or other non-traditional assets, then a self-directed IRA could be an option for you. A self directed IRA i...
Pros and Cons of Investing in a Private Equity Fund
Pros and Cons of Investing in a Private Equity Fund A Private Equity Fund is an investment vehicle in which investors pool their money into a private fund intended to make investments on behalf of the group. This model is usually operated as...
What are the passive real estate investment options to increase your net worth?
What are the passive real estate investment options to increase your net worth? Guest post Experienced investors consider real estate as an alternative and practical resource for making profits compared to stocks and bonds. Though most people...
How not to fall for a Ponzi scheme (investor interview)
How not to fall for a Ponzi scheme (Interview with our investor, Mark Wolgin) Alina Trigub We have a great guest today, Mark Wolgin. Mark will share with us his story of what appeared to be at the end a Ponzi scheme. So, Mark, why don't we st...
How to capitalize on pandemic-induced hotel demise
How to capitalize on pandemic-induced hotel demise If you missed Big Mike’s and my webinar about hotel conversions, I suggest you give it a look! We’ve discussed hotel investing in the past, and this webinar was the first time we dived into t...
What is mineral rights investing
What is mineral rights investing Out of all investment strategies in real estate, whether it's single family housing, multifamily, warehouses, etc., there is one particularly effective strategy of passive investing that many rarely discuss: i...
What is a better investment: private equity real estate syndication or REIT?
What is a better investment: private equity real estate syndication or REIT? Folks from all walks of life want to improve their families’ financial standing through investing. However, there are so many investment vehicles available to invest...
What are the Accounting Tips for novice Real Estate Investors
What are the Accounting Tips for novice Real Estate Investors? This is a guest post by Blair Jaedon. Commercial real estate is one of the most lucrative investments in the world, but it’s also complex with a lot of moving parts. Investors wil...
How To Choose The Best Property Management Company?
How To Choose The Best Property Management Company? This is a guest post by Michael Skvorak. Michael is a property manager and shares his expertise in this article. Some say the most important decision you’ll make in real estate investing is...
What does private equity fund investing entail
What does private equity fund investing entail When it comes to investing in syndications, many people presume that this means investing in a single property, whether it’s a multi-apartment complex, self-storage or a mobile home park, or anot...
Why not invest in a syndication
Why not invest in a syndication Real estate syndications are an incredible investment opportunity, but there are certain criteria individuals should consider to before investing in a syndication. This type of investment requires more than jus...
What is Private Equity vs REITs Investments
Private Equity vs REITs Investments One of the most important considerations for choosing to invest capital in commercial real estate is with the goal of minimizing risk while optimizing investment returns. Two of the most popular investment...
What the changes to Biden’s Tax proposal mean for real estate investors
Biden’s Tax proposal While the drama over the next presidency plays out, some of you who invest in real estate are probably worried or at least curious about Biden’s proposed tax changes. In a nutshell, according to Biden’s tax plan, several...
What is syndication and why use different rules (506b versus 506c)
What is a Syndicated Investment? A syndication is an investment by two or more parties, such as individual investors or companies, who agree to combine their financial resources to invest in a project that would be too expensive to tackle ind...
What it takes to Build a Family Office From Scratch
What it takes to Build a Family Office From Scratch Interview with Noah Rosenfarb, CPA Alina: Very nice meeting you, Noah! Thanks a lot for agreeing to be interviewed. Can you please tell our audience a little bit about yourself, your family,...
Where do you find the money to fund the properties?
Where to find the money to fund the projects? More often than not, people tend to say, “find the property, and the money will find you.” While we all wish that this stamen is correct, the devil is in the details and in reality, it is actually...
Out Of The Box Ways To Search For Commercial Properties
Commercial deals can be lucrative, bringing in revenue on a steady basis. Whether buying RE that is MFH, or SFH, renting it out for years, or just keeping it temporarily, renovating it and then “flipping” it within a certain time frame, can b...
How (Where to look for?) to Find Syndication Investments
Where to look for Syndication Investments? Investing in syndications can yield returns, which may potentially meet or beat the historic average of the stock market, while also offering certain tax advantages. If you’ve decided this form of pa...
Building Relationships to Raise Private Money
Building Relationships To Raise Private Money Relationship building is a critical component of large-scale real estate investment. This article discusses steps new investors should take while they build their portfolio to simultaneously estab...
The Pros and Cons of Investing In Assisted Living Facilities
The Pros And Cons Of Investing In Assisted Living Facilities The Baby Boomer cohort, the largest demographic in America, began turning 65 in 2011, triggering unprecedented growth of the elderly population. This demographic shift has significa...
Virtual Landlording 101 during the Pandemic and beyond
How to Effectively Manage Your Multifamily Properties virtually during the Pandemic We live in the times that will be remembered in history as the pandemic that captured the whole world hostage. There are numerous opinions as to when the worl...
What you as a Property Owner must do during COVID-19
What you as a Property Owner must do during the Pandemic There are not a lot of good news recently in the world…let me rephrase that: we are relentlessly bombarded with increasingly grim and terrible news. Many families already lost loved one...
Guest Post: Best Mortgage Refinance of 2020
Guest Post: Is it a good time to refinance your mortgage? While this is not a common theme for us to talk about mortgage refinancing, we thought it may be useful for some of our readers and hence sharing an article written by Ian Salisbury of...
Looking for Yet Another Long-Term Investment Opportunity? Can Hotel Investing possibly be the Answer?
Hotel Investing Pros and Cons You may have been investing awhile perhaps or are looking for another “out of the box” opportunity even if not a seasoned real estate investor. Well, a little known yet stable investment that might be worth consi...
Pros and Cons of Investing in Mobile Home Parks
Interest in mobile home parks (MHP) has grown over the last few years. Since they have become known as an overlooked asset class for real estate investors seeking to diversify their portfolio. Mobile home residents spend roughly 20-40% less o...
Why Invest In Assisted Living Facilities
Why Assisted Living Facilities Investing Makes Sense? You likely heard the phrase, “Ok, Boomer”, correct? This rather condescending phrase was coined by millennials to refer to the aging Baby Boom generation, and if you are like the vast majo...
Pros and Cons of Investing in the Self-Storage (Or Why not another commercial asset class?!)
Pros and Cons of Investing in the Self-Storage Investing in self-storage facilities is a lucrative venture for real estate investors looking to diversify their portfolio into multiple asset classes. The self-storage industry has grown exponen...
Interpreting the Private Placement Memorandum (PPM)
Interpreting The Private Placement Memorandum One of the important syndicator’s jobs is a role of an investors' liaison. This entails, among a multitude of responsibilities, managing clients’ relationship. Real estate deals are offered by syn...
Should I Scale my investments from Single Family Homes to Multifamily?
Differences between Residential and Commercial Real Estate Investing How does one know whether they are ready to move on from investing in single family houses to instead investing in residential or even commercial multifamily? In order to an...
Six-Steps Approach to Getting Started in Real Estate
Six Steps Approach to Getting Started in Real Estate Part I. Taking Personal Inventory to Discover Your Niche You’ve been listening to Bigger Pockets podcasts for a while, reading blog posts and secretly trolling Zillow for hours at a time: y...
Interview with a passive investor
Interview with a passive investor You know how the operator always speaks from their perspective. I wanted to share with my audience the other side of the story and hence interviewed one of my investors who happen to live in the same town as...
The Pros and Cons of investing in real estate syndication
The Pros and Cons of Investing in Real Estate Syndication When considering any significant decision, many of us defer to a “pros” and “cons” list. Why? It is our best attempt to objectively determine whether we perceive something as “good” or...
How to find wealthy investors
How To Find Wealthy Investors Hopefully since reading “ Where can I find investors? ” , you’ve started taking action and building momentum towards establishing your investor network. Once your confidence identifying and communicating with pot...
Should I buy a turn-key property or invest in a syndication?
Should I buy a Turn-Key property or invest in a Syndication? Recently, we combed through the pros and cons associated with investing actively and passively . The benefits of passive investing range from minimal involvement to less stress to r...
"Nothing will work until you do" – Maya Angelou
"Nothing will work until you do" Changing Your Mindset is absolutely critical for your success. The title of this article is the famous quote by Maya Angelou who believed and applied this concept in her own work. How often have you told yours...
Where can I find investors?
Where can I find investors? In one of my previous articles, “ Care Like a Mom ” , I equated caring for investors in the same fashion as a mom would care for her children. Just like a mom would keep her kids satisfied, it is just as important...
What Type of Investor do I want to be When I Grow Up: Active or Passive?
What Type of Investor do I want to be When I Grow Up: Active or Passive? Let me define a couple of terms before I unpack my opinions. Firstly, for the sake of this article, “landlord / active investor” is defined as an investor who purchased...
Private Equity meets Stock Market
Private Equity meets Stock Market In this article, I will explore options for wealth-building, as well as how to best maximize wealth. I will also offer my own opinion on whether Wall Street or Private Equity investing is better; spoiler aler...
What exactly is an Opportunity Zone?
What exactly is an Opportunity Zone? In my previous article How To Pay Less In Taxes I wrote about tax advantages of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Job Act (TCJA). In this article, I would like to expand about the U.S. Treasury Department proposed reg...
How to Pay Less in Taxes (or Six Tax Saving Strategies for Real Estate Investors)
Six Tax Saving Strategies for Real Estate Investors Most real estate investors own property personally or in an LLC (Limited Liability Corporation). Because in both instances taxes are paid on a personal (not corporate) level, the new Tax Cut...
You cannot force it to rain, but you can force a property to appreciate
You cannot force it to rain, but you can force a property to appreciate One of the ways real estate allows to create wealth is through appreciation. Appreciation can either be forced or natural. Let us first look at the definition of the word...
Deciphering Syndication Investment Terminology
Deciphering Syndication Investment Terminology So, you are at the point where you finally received your first Executive Summary (also known as Offering Memorandum ) from a syndicator. As you glance through the summary, you will immediately no...
What goes up must eventually come down (or Real Estate Market Cycles)
What goes up must eventually come down (or Real Estate Market Cycles) We’ve all heard the old cliché, “What goes up, must come down.” Well, this proverb also certainly applies to the real estate market. As long as we are citing clichés, here’...
Step By Step Process on How To Invest In a Real Estate Syndication
If my article, The Power of Passive Real Estate Investing , peaked your interest about becoming an equity partner in a syndication, then read on to find out more detail. Similarly, while the questions posted in my follow-up article, Where to...
Is Your Portfolio at Risk if the Market Crashes?
Is Your Portfolio at Risk if the Market Crashes? If the title of this article grabbed your attention, you’re likely not new to the world of investing. You are likely very familiar with the word “diversification”, and you may have even read my...
Care For Your Investors Like Mom Cares For You
Care For Your Investors Like Mom Cares For You Who do you know that gives you unconditional love and attention? You guessed correctly – your mom! Remember those good old days when you were a little kid and you relied on your mom to take care...
Five reasons why I like investing in apartment complexes
Five reasons why I like investing in apartment complexes There is no safer way to build your real estate investment portfolio than by adding multifamily housing (MFH) investments. I am not talking about high-rises with a door man, a full gym...
Does It Pay to Invest in Self-Storage?
Does It Pay to Invest in Self-Storage? Everyone talks about multifamily. Everyone is familiar with multifamily. Most of us have lived in an apartment building at some point of out lives, whether it was while living with parents, or in colleg...
We are all brainwashed to hold on to old beliefs
We are all brainwashed to hold on to old beliefs For many generations, women have been seen as merely a child-producing source; as a nurturing resource for everyone around them, and in various ways as men’s support mechanism. However, as we a...
Why is stereotyping not healthy, or what do you mean by “luxury mobile homes”?
Why is stereotyping not healthy, or what do you mean by “luxury mobile homes”? We live in a society that stereotypes and generalizes every person, situation or object. As John Gray called out in his book, “ Men Are from Mars, Women Are from V...
No women allowed or old boys club
No women allowed or old boys club There were times in recent history when women were not allowed to enter boardrooms or even business meetings. Housewife was considered the only role for a woman to have. Among the dozens or even hundreds of a...
Questions to ask a syndicator
Questions to ask a syndicator The list of questions to ask a syndicator can become exponentially long and one cannot possibly cover all possible questions. My goal here is to give you guidance and a general idea about the type of questions to...
If I were a rich man...
If I were a rich man... If you had all the money in the world, would you invest it in real estate? Why? Who came up with such a radical idea?! I'll tell you why! Because all rich people invest in real estate in one form or another. In fact, m...
Securities offering documentation
Securities offering documentation When it comes to investing in an apartment building syndication, you will have to review a number of documents including but not limited to executive summary, private placement memorandum, subscription agreem...
Where to begin when it comes to passive real estate investing
Where to begin when it comes to passive real estate investing The most critical part when starting something new in life is first learning how to do it! Passive real estate investing is no different. Education is key! In addition to reading a...
How do I define a value-add opportunity in a multifamily building?
How do I define a value-add opportunity in a multifamily building? There are several different strategies available when it comes to purchasing an apartment complex. The most common one is so-called "Value Add" strategy. Let me start by clari...
Don't put all eggs in one basket
Don't put all eggs in one basket During the days when I invested only in the stock market, I always remembered one golden rule; " Diversify ". So, I did. I invested in stocks, bonds, and mutual funds. And then within each class of stock marke...
Investing with IRA funds
Investing with IRA funds So you finally left the job that held you back and started a new one. You're excited and willing to work extra hard to make the new one a complete success. You selected your new medical benefits, dental plan, chose a...
The power of passive real estate investing
The Power of Passive Real Estate Investing Imagine you purchased a rental property. Don’t be surprised if you get a phone call at 2AM from one your tenants stating that the pipes froze and started leaking. Needless to say, this needs to be fi...