#53: Funding tips from the Entrepreneur's Banker

 

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If you’re interested in expanding your real estate investment portfolio, you might be considering the option of getting into commercial or multifamily real estate. This can be an excellent strategy for building wealth, but it’s not as straightforward as simply scaling up your current business - there’s a lot more you need to know about, including commercial funding.

Greg Martin is a Commercial Banker at BB&T Bank, now Truist. With over 14 years of banking experience he is an entrepreneur’s insider to the banking industry. Greg is the creator of The Entrepreneur’s Banker brand and is a certified Profit First Banker (1 of 2 in the world).

Greg and I discuss some of the differences between owning and managing commercial versus single-family real estate and what you need to know about funding. We also talk about some of the strategies you can use to secure funding and why it’s essential for you to have a great team in place as you make the jump into commercial real estate.

In this episode, we’re discussing…

  • How Greg helps entrepreneurs use banking to their greatest strategic advantage.

  • How to get involved with commercial real estate and what the bank will look for as you make that leap.

  • Why you should really get to know your bank and your banker.

  • Why entrepreneurship these days is a team sport and why you need a great banker, realtor, and lawyer on your team.

  • How having cashflow independent of your rental portfolio - like from a W2 job - can be used to your advantage.

  • A broad overview of how commercial loans work and what terms you can expect.

Greg’s Top Tips:

  • You must understand the risks that come along with owning and managing multifamily property – managing multifamily real estate is pretty different from managing a single family portfolio, so be prepared to assess risks like vacancy and your ability to pay back your loans.

  • Build a great relationship with your bank – that way you can get solid advice from your banker about what kind of investments they can help you make, what risk you might be taking on with a particular deal, and creative funding strategies you can explore.

  • Think about the length of time you want to own the investment property – this will help you quantify and assess the risk on the deal up front, lower the bank’s interest risk, and save money in the long run when you sell - a great banker can help you figure this out.

Resources:

 

+ Read the transcript

What if you could be doing something smarter with your money that creates income right now? If you're an IT professional who's wanting to get ahead financially and enjoy greater freedom of choice, and if you wondered who else in tech is creating ways to make their money work for them? You want actionable ideas with honest pros and cons and no fluff. Welcome to The Richer Geek Podcast. We're helping IT professionals find creative ways to build wealth and financial freedom. I'm your host, Nichole Stohler and in this podcast, you'll hear from others who are already doing these things and learn how you can too.

Welcome back to The Richer Geek Podcast. One of the absolute beautiful things about investing in real estate is the ability to use leverage, you would put 20% down 25% down and then financing can cover the rest. Now I had someone asked me recently about moving from single family home properties to larger commercial properties. And Mike and I are we'll cover the basics on more of the buying the numbers and what you should look at. But if you're curious about moving into commercial property, securing funding is also an area. So this is an episode for you focused around commercial funding. I'm really happy to be able to introduce Greg Martin, who is a relationship manager at bb&t and Chief Strategy Officer for the entrepreneurs brand. Welcome to the show, Greg.

Oh, thank you, Nichole. I appreciate you. You reaching out to me and I appreciate the opportunity to be here and speak to you and in your tribe.

Fantastic. Tell us a little bit about your background and what you do.

Sure thing Well, I as you said, I am a relationship manager commercial Relationship Manager with bb&t Bank. I hang my hat in college. In Texas, but I'm also the chief strategy officer, Chief consultant for the entrepreneurs banker brand which is, which is kind of a side hustle of mine in the sense that it is a is a brand that I'm building that is geared towards helping entrepreneurs increase their profits, to strengthen their leadership skills to develop and define their strategic vision and then to transform their banking relationship into one that's an actual competitive advantage. So that's a whole lot of words but but what do I really do? And what I do is really come alongside entrepreneurs and learn what their goals and vision for the future is. And then I what I do is I'm married my 13 years of banking experience and four years of military experience before that, and I understand where they want to go and then I say okay, well here's strategically how bb&t bank can can help you whether that be With strategic credit, or helping them to to acquire some properties or maybe looking at different types of properties, educating them on the different risks that are associated with different property types, and then also say okay, well how do we talk about risk? And how do we overlay the the services and products that bb&t has, in order to push you towards success? However you as entrepreneur, define it.

Got it. Thank you. Thanks. So much bigger than just focusing specifically on commercial loans. And I I know that you've introduced me actually to a several different entrepreneurs who have leveraged, unique and different creative banking strategies. So it's helpful to understand that you've got kind of that broader vision.

Well, I'm happy to do that. I firmly believe that entrepreneurship today is a team sport, and that the right type of banker really come along. Side those entrepreneurs, and to help them achieve their goals, very much like the other advisors that they could possibly have their attorney, the real estate, real tour or the CPA or insurance agent, a banker should be a part of that as well.

It's absolutely true. Part of your team, and we talk about building a team and some of our other episodes. So tell us a little bit about let's say, let's kind of take the question I received from one of our listeners, which is moving from single family into a larger commercial, and not too crazy, let's say maybe like a 10 unit type of thing. How do you get involved? And then what are the things that you're looking for? And I'm really trying to make sure that as a listener who's looking to get in those properties, they understand sort of some of the criteria.

Sure, well, I appreciate that. And it's a this is definitely a journey that you and your husband have have walked through and I can really have a lot of empathy towards The challenges that you had because it is significantly different. Going from owning a single family residential portfolio to one that maybe has multifamily or some other types of properties. I know that you've also invested in hospitality and each one is unique. But the biggest thing to remember is that at the core, a bank, any bank is an assessor of risk. So when when they underwrite or they analyze you, or the property or the opportunity that you have, what that bank is doing is assessing and analyzing what's the risk that this loan, if I give you $2 million, that you're going to be able to pay me back. And if you're not able to pay me back, what is the risk associated with that there may be a loss in the event that that the opportunity doesn't work out. And so that is, in my opinion, the heart of the matter, when you're really talking about making the leap from single family residential rental portfolio into multifamily. And really, as you walk through it, one of the major things that the entrepreneur needs to understand is the risk that's associated with managing multifamily versus single family home. And I think that one of the biggest ways are the biggest ways to reduce or mitigate that risk is to have a property management company that had a lot of experience to help help out with, but I would also sit and argue if if you have that every entrepreneur is unique, every entrepreneur is different. And so if you have you know, let's say you have five or six or seven single family residential home and you manage those yourself, well then in my opinion, you have the ability to manage a 10 to 15 unit, apartment complex or multifamily and so actually As you're going through and talking with the banker, you need to understand what are the key risk triggers, that they look for that property type?

It that a question that someone could ask, what are the risk triggers? What are what are the pieces that I need to prove to you?

Oh, definitely. And I would I would even go so far as to say not only what are the risk two years of the risk parameters, what are the things that are most important and that the bank looks at as mitigations or protections against that risk? Where is he you know, a lot of entrepreneurs, they sit there and and I see that they focus a lot on loan to value and loan to value is is a good indicator. But just as important, especially when you're talking about multifamily properties or any type of income producing property, really, it all comes down to the cash flow, or the noi that is being generated by that property. What are what's the Probability of the noi being able to be continued forward. And that's an analysis of looking at how long the tenants have been there. What are the lease types are they all month to month? You know, because obviously, if someone has signed a five year lease that the probability or the strength of that cash stream is higher than as month to month, but I would also sit there and I would also argue that someone who's been at that property for 11 years, but has gone month to month for the last six years, well, they've demonstrated that they're not going anywhere. And so, as they're, as you're going through, you're looking at debts or cash flow debt service coverage, loan to value, the experience and the knowledge of the either the entrepreneurs themselves or the property management company. Having How much cash Are you going to have? After you put the downpayment in either to make sure that the property is maintained and repaired properly, or maybe to market and bring in new tenants, if needed, a lot of these things kind of go into the different risk buckets or the risk triggers that banks have. And most definitely, they entrepreneurs should be able to be very upfront with with their banker, and the banker should be very upfront with the entrepreneur about where you need to be. And I think that, you know, honestly, is obviously the best policy. But the bankers should always have the entrepreneurs interest in mind and saying, Look, I don't want to put you in something that is so risky, that you're not putting yourself in a place to succeed.

I love that. And it's one of the things I think is, it's like a it's like an additional check and balance when you're buying a larger commercial property that you don't have in the single family homes. A single family home is 100% about you and your credit and the world. appraisal and how the home compares to other homes in the neighborhood. But that's, that's really about it. It's not whether the home is going to actually make money if you're making a good choice if you're doing a good deal. And what I appreciate about the commercial lending processes is like, it's like another set of eyes. Like by the time you're bringing it in, you're talking with a banker, you've, you've already vetted and you've looked at numbers yourself, but it's, it's another set that says, oh, did you think about this? And it's, I think it's like a safeguard. It's like, you're not if you can't get funding, then there's something wrong. You shouldn't be buying it.

That's right. But I was the one caveat of that is that you, you also have to realize and a lot of experienced entrepreneurs that are in the income producing property space, they realize that different banks have different appetites for different properties, you know, and a lot of that has to deal with the bank's internal portfolio of how many of that type of loan whether it be, that'd be 100 But how a loan or multifamily loan, or even a single family residential that they have in there their whole, if you kind of look at the bank as a whole, kind of their their aggregate book, you know, whether that the and those, there's actually limits that are set by the federal government, when you hear about banks that are being stressed tested, part of that stress test, is to look at their portfolio mix of different types of loans, and are they too concentrated in one type of asset, and it very well may be that the bank gets concentrated in that asset class. And so they say if they come in, they say, Well, I'm sorry, that's just not a type of loan that that we are doing right now. It's not saying that that is a bad deal or that you're a bad entrepreneur or it's not a good opportunity. It's saying that that bank individually doesn't have appetite for it. But even if you have that, that's where having a relationship with your banker, and being able to walk through and say okay, well what you look at risk all day long. banker? What am I not seeing? And how can I protect myself because no one wants to take out a loan and and buy a property that is not gonna succeed for them.

I love kind of a few things you've described, one of our properties is a hotel. And that's a unique and it's not, the funding for that is not as universal, I think as you would find like in apartment complexes. And then the other thing to your point. So people are, you know, the banks are looking at their portfolio, but they also have some unique guidelines. And it doesn't mean necessarily that it's not a good deal, also to your point, but for example, they don't like exterior rooms, like not having interior corridors in a hotel room. And it's doesn't mean that the hotel doesn't make, you know, the right kind of cash flow. And it doesn't make sense. It just means that they don't like the way that it was built, which I think is is interesting as well,

that's correct. And specifically using that as an example. I mean that that's something that you can't. I mean, it would take a lot of money in order to turn exterior corners and interior quarters. It's about being open and honest. And saying, Okay, first and foremost, what the entrepreneur, what is their strategy? What do they want to achieve out of this? Is this an income producing play where they are able to scrape off X amount of cash every year from the operations of the company? Is it an asset appreciation play, where they're going to acquire that property, and then they're going to manage it or have a team that manages it really well, and then they're looking to exit sometime in the future and really looking to get your game when that happens? It all comes down to the strategy of the entrepreneur, and how a bank can come alongside and support that strategy.

Yeah, great point. Tell us a little bit about the guidelines for the individual investor.

Sure. Well, I think that what you kind of have to take a look at it, especially in specifically if you've got an entrepreneur you Your your tribe is very, very unique in the sense that you have entrepreneurs that are in tech. And so most of them have a W two income or a strong cash flow that is independent from the real estate portfolio. And a lot of times that can be a benefit to them and an asset to them. Because regardless of how the individual property produces, there is something there that can generate excess cash in order to support the debt and the property. You know, maybe in that template, maybe you don't necessarily have all the leases staggered. And so there's a risk of, let's say, four of them going dark in one particular time. Well, if there's renovations that need to be done or something, well, the entrepreneur has external cash flow to be able to support that and then get tenants back in there because an income producing property that doesn't produce income is kind of pointless. But what I would say is, is Specifically for your for your tribe to be able to look at and say, Okay, what is my experience? Do I have? Am I jumping from one rental house? And now I want to jump from that owning that one rental house to an opportunity to come up and there's a there's a 30 unit complex that I think that that I can acquire? Well, you know, the understanding and knowing the intricacies of a multifamily property is completely different than just one rental house. And so you look at the liquidity the cash that the entrepreneur has not only to put into the deal, but also, this is where you do an analysis and you say, Okay, well let's let's look at the tenant. Let's look at the cash flows, look at is there any type of deferred maintenance that needs to happen or any type of repairs that need to be done? What's the market, rent saying and this is again, where where it goes back to that team concept where entrepreneurs surround themselves with with smart people with Team, sometimes the banker if they are familiar if they have financed some other properties of that neck asset class in the area, they know, okay, here's what rental rates are, here's what vacancy rates are. And they'll be able to say to prove it to test your assessments to see if they're correct, your realtor, the one that probably identify and help you identify the property, they can really give you some good ideas to be able to say, Okay, here's what the market conditions are. And and so how do you look at it and say, does that individual entrepreneur have the skill set to manage the property? If not, then who are they going to bring in? And if even with that, so that handled the management piece, is there a cash cushion or is there a reserve that if something is needed to support this property, that that can be done externally from additional bank financing

Got it. I think there are absolutely those circumstances and also a need to be realistic about an ongoing cushion right for vacancy rates and some of those things and and you know, we're in Arizona and those air conditioning units will go out and funding has to come from somewhere. My husband is so adamant now on getting - always before we're gonna buy a property - getting on the roof, looking at the air conditioning units, and if they're old, he's just is not interested.

Or you know what, that's gonna have to come off of the opposite sales price or to have someone be able to do that because you're right that that money has to come from someplace and, and you cannot tell your tenant Hi, I understand is 115 degrees out. We'll get someone to you next next month when you pay your rent, and then I'm gonna use that money to repair your unit. You want to talk about having a vacant property!

Yeah, not a good strategy. So tell us how the loans work, all the kind of, the different options and the terms which are very, very different again, then, you know, a 30 year fixed, residential.

Yes, and there are so many intricacies that that can be done from a financing standpoint, everything from a traditional commercial loan, I don't know if you but probably some of your audience are familiar with HUD back financing. They can provide I mean, some really amazing, long, long long term fixed rates that are associated through the HUD financing and but those again, you have to have those are very strict guidelines. And you have to have experience in that. So I'm going to I'm going to just kind of say that that stuff is out there that's available and but it kind of stick to the commercial loan side. So and these are these are general alleys and every bank is different, every area of the bank. Be a little bit unique depending on the property market. For example, you might have one area of the country that a particular bank says, Hey, you know, we think that there's a little bit of saturation of supply in this market. And so for that, we're not going to be necessarily as aggressive, which may mean that they say, Okay, well, yes, we'll do a loan for you, but that loan is going to be at, you know, 40 to 45%. down. And there are other places that within that same bank or other markets that they say no, but the demand is way outweighing the supply. And so we'll be much more aggressive and say it's 15% down. But in general, it really comes down. I don't like to focus on the percent down because at the end of the day, it really is what makes sense from a cash flow perspective. What is the net operating income or the noi that is available to start service the debt. And then what is the appropriate amount of debt that can be serviced? For example, let's say that you had a property and it threw off $100,000 in noi or cash that's available to service debt? Well, if you load that sucker up so that it has, you have to have $95,000 in debt service every single year, well, there's not much of a cushion, you have to maintain 100% occupancy, the tower, you have to maintain the current occupancy, the current rate, a specific amount of reserves or repairs or expenses. And so there's not much of a cushion. Dealing with vacancy in vacancy, in my opinion, is the number one risk associated with multifamily properties and there's a lot of ways that you can kind of you can kind of work through that. But anyway, so so instead of focusing on the percent down it really is it I try to focus on what is the ability for this thing to cash flow itself. That will help you kind of be able to size a loan, whether that be a 10 1520 25%, down with the rest of the financing. And typically what I see entrepreneurs, they have an LLC that is set up, or a company that set up to actually own the property. And so that LLC is is going to be the borrower, and you might have the entrepreneur, if it's a single member LLC, or maybe it's other partners that own a portion of the LLC. But any partner that had typically any partner that has 20% or more, will also provide a personal guarantee. So the LLC that owns the property is going to be the one that owns the asset and has the liability, the loan, but the owners of that LLC will also provide a personal guarantee, making sure that if something were to happen, that the bank has the guarantee of the owners. Typically the terms are depends upon the preference of the bank, it depends on, but really, I think it would have boiled down to the age and the quality of the property. So if you have a property that is 30 years old, and there's got some repair that needs to be done to it, you're probably not going to get a bank to find the repairs and then give you a 30 year loan on it. When you have your appraisal done, the appraiser can say what the estimated useful life is of the property. And so that's kind of the maximum that the bank is going to allow, again, think about it this way, you wouldn't take a 20 year loan on a vehicle would you know, I mean, by the time you're 10 years into it, that vehicle is has exceeded its useful life and so you're going to turn it in and still owe money on it. Well, so you kind of typically looking at somewhere between 15 and 25 years from an amateur ization standpoint. Now, most entrepreneurs that I work with Are they want to quantify and assess their risk? And one of the biggest risks that's associated with a large commercial loan is interest rate risk. I don't know, I don't have a single client that said, Greg, I will take a 20 year loan and I want you to just float the rate for the next seven to 10 years, whatever it is, you know, I'll take the interest rates if they go up, I'll take the interest rates if they go down. No, most entrepreneurs are going to want to fix their interest rate risk, and there's a couple different mechanisms that they can do that and I can talk in generalities about those and if if we want to discuss later kind of go into specifics, but really it is on balance sheet or the commercial loan, the bank will offer you to say okay, well what is your risk, your interest rate risk, so for the next seven years, or the next 10 years, we'll say that you you will pay 5.15%. Another way if the loan is greater than a million dollars is it's called an interest rate swap. I don't know. Are you familiar with those? I'm sure that you are. Have you heard that term before? I have not. Okay. So if you think about this way, and I don't want to go to too much of a rabbit trail, but in in a normal loan, if you have a variable rate loan, the entrepreneur bears all the interest rate risk. If you have a commercial fixed rate loan, the bank bears all the interest rate risk. And so five years into it, if you're at that 5.15% and the bank comes to you and just like man rates right now, or 9%, I'm losing money on this rate because I fixed it in and you know, my CDs on my CDs, I'm having to give 6% So, I'm giving 6% on my CDs and you're only I'm only taking in 5.15 the bank can't go the entrepreneur be like hey, let's negotiate this entrepreneurial, like pound sand. I don't think so. So there's something that's called an interest rate swap. And it's a it's a contractual agreement with a third party that basically shifts that interest rate risk to the third party. And like I said, we can talk more in depth about that, or I'd be more than happy to connect you with some amazing people that are subject matter experts more than I. But really, it is a way that from the bank's perspective at the variable rate loan, so that it is less risky to them from the entrepreneurs perspective, they are fixing in that long term rate through the swap mixing mechanism. So in effect, they're they're locking that rate in. But like I said, we talk more about that later. The third component of the destructor that is a little bit different than traditional home mortgages or something is that so you've got the amortization, that's somewhere between 15 and 25 years, you've got the borrowing structure where you've got the LLC that owns it, and then the individual owners of the LLC provide personal guarantees. You've got the interest rate, whether that be fixed or variable. But But then there's a there's a term. And this is normally on these types of properties. This is where really understanding the strategy of the entrepreneur comes into play. Because again, if this is an acquisition that is a buy and hold, well then that entrepreneurs is going to want to maintain, want to have as having appropriate amortization, but then mitigate the risk and say, I'm going to fix that rate in for as long as I can. Typically what I've seen and then every bank is different. So So don't take this as gospel, but normally it is somewhere between three and 10 years that that term or that rate is fixed, after which that time the bank comes in and maybe they they assess the financials or maybe they're doing that every single year to make sure that the property is continuing to to be strong, that the cash flow is still there that that the Leafs have What you saying your rent roll is actually what was coming in. But at the end of that term, they're going to say, Okay, well, I've fixed you at the 5.15 for 10 years. So let's fast forward to 2029. And let's say the interest rate environment is vastly different than what it is now. Well, then we'll say, Okay, well, we did a 20 year loan, and we fixed it for 10 years. So we're halfway into it. And so we're going to, we're going to set the end straight now to whatever the current market condition is. And we're going to fix that again for another 10 years. So it's an opportunity for the bank to look at it and say, Okay, how can we not provide too much interest rate risk from the bank's perspective and look at the property and understand kind of what's going on with the entrepreneur? If the entrepreneur and that's for a buy and hold investor say, look, Greg, I got a really good opportunity. I'm blind is below market. I have got a team around me, I think that we can put in some really good leases and that we can inject a little bit of cash either through their own sales or borrowed funds. And we can rebrand this whole thing. We use this thing a facelift. And I want to be out of it in less than three years. So at that point in time, you want to only have maybe a three or four year term. Think about it. If you want to exit in that time, then why are you locking it in for 10 years? If the bank is going to bear the interest rate risk, typically, the 10 year rate is a lot higher than the three year rate. So understanding or knowing what the entrepreneurs goals are, is so critical to having the right loan structure for the entrepreneur.

I wish we all had a crystal ball we did we have properties - We had properties that we absolutely thought were long term buy and hold chose usually the seven or the 1010 year and then somebody came along and we ended up selling them. They offered us a great deal, but so that is a bummer. We did think about, you know, you could have could have saved some money there. But it's helpful, as you talked about to kind of understand the different strategies, or at least what people think their strategy is going to be.

That's exactly right. And you don't want to read a book by Annie Duke who was a professional poker player called thinking in bets. And you don't want to necessarily equate the outcome of a decision with the decision itself, whether it was a good or bad decision, you make the best decision based on the information you're having based on your 10th but your intent changes. Now. One, one critical point I want to say is that again, maybe depending on your bank, depending on the your relationship, depending upon where you are, a bank may have a prepayment penalty or a refinance penalty, if the bank goes ahead and locks in a rate on the commercial side, and they're holding it. And if you think about this way, you know, banks are going to try to protect themselves. So they're going to take their pile loans and say, Okay, well, I've got x dollar of loans, and here are the interest rates, you know, they're they're going to go out and they're probably going to provide some type of bank hedge from an interest rate perspective out in the open market. But that hedge is anticipating to have 5.15 paid for the next 10 years. If you sell a property or you refinance, or something like that, that that cash string goes away. And so there could be an economic cost to the bank, which the bank may or may not pass along to the entrepreneur. So understanding what the bank's perspective is on that and, quite frankly, negotiating a prepayment penalty or maybe a refinance penalty, then that that's something the entrepreneur needs to be aware of.

That is a good point. And I like the pokers poker story about the outcome and the decision. One of the things you mentioned, you talked about personal guarantee. And for the listeners, you know, one of the strategies that we've talked about on other episodes is the ability to use a self directed IRA for that initial downpayment. And Greg just talked through whether it's 10 2025 if there are funds are not self directed IRA, they can be used for alternative investments like real estate. The question I have, though is there are some specific rules around loans and non recourse loans what what kind of options do you have for that?

Yes. So, a lot of this was some of it is specifically with the self directed IRA. Those those by law are non recourse or non guaranteed loans. The conventional loans there, there are some banks that do offer non recourse loans, even on conventional financing. Each one kind of has their own threshold. Typically, it's a matter of looking at it. You said Well, if this entity that is by the eyes of law is separate, and that entity can lend be, you borrow money and can own property and could do everything that a person can, if that entity, and it only has one asset, if something were to happen to that one asset without a personal guarantee, then the bank or the lender is relying completely on that asset to repay, repay them, I can completely understand why an entrepreneur says, Look, I I don't want to provide a personal guarantee. But it's a function of talking through with the bank to say okay, how do you what are the what are the triggers or what are the thresholds that are needed to provide that but with specifically with a self directed IRA, I think that that is an awesome mechanism and a vehicle that you can use and but what I would say a couple things one, make sure very, very early in the process, you talk to your banker because that that is not a that is not Typical requests that most bankers have, I think that in my 13 year career, I've only dealt with it three times. And, and honestly, with all of them, those were situations where the entrepreneur just liquidated assets in their IRA bonds and stuff like that and acquire property debt free. So they didn't have debt on it. But I do have teammates that have been able to work the process and understand the legalities of it and to provide a loan to the self directed IRA, that as we talked about, by definition has to be non recourse. So that is something you you need to find a bank that is very familiar with it and having very frank and honest discussions with your banker upfront as to whether or not you've got that, but just as critical as a banker is in that circle of excellence are the Fab Five and people that you surround yourself with. You need to make sure You've got your attorney, and you've got your your CPA that are all right there and their alignment and they understand what you want to achieve, specifically how you'd achieve that. And then does your does your attorney that set that up? And does your CPA that has helped managing those books and and the recording? Are they doing it properly? Because you do not want to do something inadvertently, and then have Uncle Sam with all the strength of the IRS come down on you and say, yeah, you really did that wrong. And you know that, that million and a half dollar investment that really doesn't qualify. So here's a tax bill. And I'd be more than happy to take a credit card for that $250,000 or we can set up nice installment plans over the next 10 years, small 14% interest. So really having your team around you that that is experts in this is super critical.

That's a great point and it does get into a complicated strategy - I've not used self directed IRA for property purchase with alone. I and I know there's people that have absolutely explored that or gone down that path. There's other great ways to use it. But thank you for talking to us through that in the clarification of the team. It would be really great to hear a little bit about resources because you've talked about, you know, a lot of different strategies, and I know there's way more that we can't, we can't all go into in this episode. But where can people find more information or get more details?

Well, I appreciate one being able to come in and to share with with your tribe and to be able to talk with them. For me personally, if they want to reach out to me, I'm more than happy to kind of talk them through everything. I may not necessarily be able to be their banker, but I'd love to be able to talk strategy and speaking to entrepreneurs and help help them and they can find me either through my LinkedIn page. Again, that's Greg Martin and I am in Bryan College Station, Texas, and or the entrepreneurs banker calm. That's my personal brand website that's going to be out there. And I've written quite extensively on different types of entrepreneurs and different risks that are associated with entrepreneurs and some things that they can think about. Working out a couple calculators and stuff like that, that they can use to kind of and provide an assessment for themselves. Outside of that, I think that the most important thing is that they be part of your tribe, Nichole, and to be able to really understand and hear what you're trying to speak into them. And through that network, being able to get in touch with other entrepreneurs that maybe have done what they want to do, or think that they've done what they want to do, and to be able to share with that to reach out to your CPA, to reach out to an attorney to reach out to a real estate agent that's in your area that clearly knows your goals. clearly define and pushes you towards success and what I would what I would challenge everyone to do that as they're building this team did they actually go and say, hey, let's all get together for lunch. And let's sit down and let's talk about where I want to be over the next 10 years and so that that all the members of the team are hearing what the entrepreneurs saying straight from the entrepreneurs mouth. And so the CPA is the CPA is coming up with a tax mitigation strategy that that can kind of be bounced back off the off the the attorneys and make sure that you're not taking too much legal risk. That could be bounced off the banker to make sure okay, well, if you if you take all the cash out of the business, and you don't leave anything in there or you put all of your your living expenses in the business, well then that doesn't give you enough and ally or ability to service debt. And so I'm not going to be able to give you a loan besides this one. And so having all those teammates together in one place, looking eyeball to eyeball to the entrepreneur and then saying okay, well We're all in this together. Let's let's, let's all move this boat for the rescuer success. I love that concept.

That is such great advice. Thank you so much. And thank you for coming on and sharing your experiences and, and this information with us.

Oh Nichole definitely is my pleasure. Thank you for doing what you're doing and speaking to your tribe and I look forward to serving you guys and helping in any way that I can.

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ABOUT GREG MARTIN

Greg Martin is a Commercial Banker at BB&T Bank, now Truist. With over 14 years of banking experience he is an entrepreneur’s insider to the banking industry. He believes that every person is uniquely designed for a higher purpose and calling, and he strives to support that purpose and calling professionally and personally. Greg is the creator of The Entrepreneur’s Banker brand and is a certified Profit First Banker (1 of 2 in the world).

Before his career in banking, Greg was an officer in the United States Army, serving with the 82nd Airborne Division. He has been deployed 3 times and has been awarded the Bronze Star Medal and the US Army Ranger Tab. When not empowering or coaching entrepreneurs, Greg can be found on a date with his wife of 18 years or shooting hoops with his 11-year old son.

 
 
 
Business FundingNichole Stohlerpodcast, season 1