What should you look for in a multifamily sponsor before trusting them with your money?
In this episode, I sit down with Adriana Barrero and Paula Sabrsula of Elán Equity. Adriana is the co-founder of Elán Equity, a real estate investment firm that helps pilots, physicians, and busy professionals build wealth through passive real estate investing, with over 28 years of experience in real estate. Paula has over 13 years of experience in real estate investment and management, has been the principal in many real estate investment companies, and has been involved in over $50 million of real estate investments.
We get into how they found each other as partners, why they chose pilots and doctors as the people they serve, and what they are doing differently to protect their investors after a rough few years in the market. We also talk about why they are still bullish on multifamily and what they would tell anyone just getting started.
Timestamp
00:00 Intro
00:57 Paula’s journey from pharmacy to real estate investing
02:40 Adriana’s journey from marketing in Asia to multifamily
04:34 How to choose the right business partner in multifamily
09:49 Why Elán Equity focuses on pilots as their investor avatar
13:52 How to attract doctors, pharmacists, and busy professionals as investors
17:01 Why they are still bullish on multifamily real estate
20:09 Why they focus on raising capital and educating investors
27:09 Why they hire an outside underwriter to stress test every deal
32:17 Advice for anyone starting out in real estate investing
34:58 How to connect with Elán Equity
What We Cover
- How Adriana and Paula transitioned from single family into multifamily investing
- What to look for when choosing a business partner
- Why picking a specific investor avatar makes raising capital easier
- How investors who got burned can think about syndications differently
- Why they see real estate as a hard asset worth owning right now
- Why they hire an outside underwriter to double check every deal
- Why educating investors comes before taking their money
Key Takeaways
- Choose partners for honesty and shared values, and build in checks and balances from the start
- The best test of a partner is how they act when things get difficult, not during the honeymoon phase
- A clear investor avatar with a clear pain point, like high income taxes, makes your outreach far more focused
- Many investors who got burned since 2022 had a problem with the debt on the deal, not with the syndication structure itself
- An outside underwriter can stress test rent growth, exit cap rates, and capex, and sometimes the right answer is to walk away
- Educate your investors before taking their money, and put your own money in every deal
- Hire a coach and use discernment when choosing who to learn from
Connect with Adriana Barrero and Paula Sabrsula
- Website: https://elanequity.com
- Invest with Elán Equity: https://www.elanequity.com/invest
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