I currently am not doing what I was doing when i started out. I sent mail to everyone. Mailing Too small a deals, institutional, frank and dave etc.
Generally speaking I would say if your primary goal is getting a deal , its improbable.
From all the direct mail i sent out , i once was able to work out a deal with a larger operator but for it to come to fruition was really a non probable scenario but nonetheless it was able to materialize.
There has been other chances i have gotten on deals before they went on the market but then they weren’t really something you might want to buy.
It also becomes hard to classify at a point because there are a lot of people you might not know, but then they might own a few thousand lots.
I also had another one with a very, very large portfolio but i think it was being pruned for a reason.
I have had some call to say they are buying and even gone out to lunch with and pick their brain on what they wanted.
I also incidentally got to be know a bit more ( since i sent out mail to everyone and their mother… ) . And i would go to an industry event and someone would tell me about a deal they might sell . Or even when i had cold callers they would say i talked to blank with your company last week but its a really personal business so you have to be careful. It worked great when i would answer the phone all the time after sending out tons of these things and could take a drive or hop on a plane to meet with an owner if i needed too .
I really solely focus on doing the calls myself now if they get made to just regular relationships
Marketing dollar wise was this whole thing effective? Actually with the one deal i would say yes but i think most of these guys aren’t going to sell you what you are looking for thats not to say it won’t happen. Someone might be looking to shift their core focus.
I missed out on a 500 space deal because i was too green at the time to realize it was a deal (and a very reasonable at that) . I have another deal i talk to thats valued at 15M but its non institutional . So if you are just starting while you think you may know , you do not know what you do not know yet.
Also can I be a mom and pop and still own in an LLC? I would say from experience absolutely ( which i think this goes against conventional thoughts- or maybe not) .
I think that most traditional larger buyers who are active will go the brokerage route. I also suspect not just for maximizing their sale but then my thought is that if you let the brokers sell for you , maybe you get a leg up on an acquisition that might be a fit for you. Just from a couple scenarios i have seen.
I think @carl makes a good mention that for a first time buyer getting a great deal might not happen.
But id also like to add , if you understand the larger operator model , market cycles, and the investment model, many of these guys are set up to hold forever. While i have come across some larger institutions that have owned for 25 years ( probably longer). The syndicate model is often predicated on getting your investors money within a designated time. Ie 5 years, 7 years 10 years. That can happen in one of two ways, refi and or sale. I dont think you often see people pitching those terms for an investment. You have to also look at your yield curve . If you get a deal stabilized in year 6, and you have 10 year debt on it, you can run scenarios on what numbers look like for refi or sale and sale is maybe what you need to do and the numbers give the answer themselves. Market cycle and cap rate will also be a consideration.
I have also had another portfolio operator tell me to be weary of any multi park operator selling a park. I for a bit thought maybe that is true . But people change strategies, regions , and grow up as they build their business so i dont think that is true anymore. But like a deal from last year i reviewed, if someone has 50 parks in one area and is selling one and is currently buying in that area, i would really look closely as to why.