Goodegg Investments — Helping build passive income through professional multifamily investments

Investing in real estate is one of the proven ways to grow your money in the long term. But most of us find it difficult to invest, as we don’t have much technical details of the industry. However, real estate syndication is an opportunity through which anyone can invest. It can help investors achieve the benefits of owning an investment property without the hassles of being a landlord or an asset manager themselves.

One such company is Goodegg Investments, which works with accredited investors with various levels of real estate experience, from the complete real estate novice to the self-professed real estate nerd. We interviewed the founders of Goodegg Investments, Julie Lam and Annie Dickerson, to understand more about the company. Here are a few excerpts of the interview:

Q. What was the motivation behind establishing Goodegg Investments?

We created Goodegg Investments because we were two busy working Bay Area moms who had found a great way to build wealth for our families through investing in real estate syndications (group investments) and wanted to help other women, moms, and families do the same. We had invested in rental properties for several years prior to creating Goodegg Investments, but with the demands of growing families, we found that we had less and less time to deal with the hassles and time commitments of being landlords.

As such, we both independently found passive investing through real estate syndications to be the perfect fit to help us create passive income so that we could spend more time with our families, pursue passions, and create a meaningful and intentional life by design. Through Goodegg Investments, we have helped thousands learn about the exact strategies that we used and invested alongside them in hand-picked real estate syndication opportunities to build wealth for our families, all without the hassles of being a landlord.

Q. Tell us about your current portfolio and the types of markets and assets you invest in.

Goodegg Investments was founded in 2018, and since then, we’ve done over 30 real estate syndications across over 7,000 multifamily units, with over $900M in commercial real estate assets. We focus on finding low-risk opportunities with value-add potential in high-growth markets like Dallas, Houston, Raleigh, Charlotte, and more – all in an effort to help our investors maximize their returns while minimizing risk.

Our investments range from class-B multifamily assets with significant value-add potential to class-A multifamily with rapid lease-up potential to other recession-resilient assets like self-storage and mobile home park communities. Through it all, our focus is on finding and putting together conservatively underwritten deals led by proven teams with an impeccable track record and with strong business plans, multiple exit strategies, and ample reserves in place – all so we can minimize risk and maximize returns for our investors.

Q. How can real estate syndications help an investor diversify their portfolio?

Investing passively in real estate syndications can be one of the best ways to diversify your portfolio across different asset classes and geographies. Unlike when you invest in a rental property on your own, when you invest in syndication, you are investing with a professional team with a strong track record of success. We do all the heavy lifting while you sit back and enjoy the returns.

Q. Who are the ideal investors to invest in real estate syndications?

Passive investing through real estate syndications is best for those who want to invest in real estate but don’t want to deal with the hassles and time commitments of being a landlord. In addition, you get to leverage the expertise of a proven team of experts whose sole focus is to optimize your investment. At Goodegg Investments, our deals typically come with a $50,000 minimum investment across a 5-year hold period and are open to accredited investors who are looking to strengthen and diversify their portfolio so they can create passive income, maximize tax advantages, and build long-term wealth.

Q. How do you generally mitigate risk in your investments?

As with any real estate investment opportunity, the biggest risk is capital preservation. In addition to sticking to our strict underwriting parameters, we prioritize capital preservation by leaning in on our 3-step approach to evaluating opportunities and making investments. First, we look at assembling a stellar team with a strong track record of success in the particular market, asset class, and business plan. Next, we dive into the submarkets, looking for areas that present strong evidence of historical, present, and future growth. Once the team and market are in place, then we look at the particular opportunity, working together with the team to underwrite the deal conservatively, stress test the investment, explore various assumptions and potential scenarios, and plot out multiple backup plans, reserves, and exit strategies. Through this multi-tiered approach, we ensure that we are mitigating risk on multiple levels and maximizing the chances of success for each investment.

Q. How do you protect the interest of the investors?

There are a lot of ways to make money through investing in real estate, but unfortunately, there are also a lot of ways to lose money and a lot of scams out there. To protect the interest of our investors, we do everything we can to educate them on all aspects of the real estate syndication process, whether they choose to invest with us or not.

In addition, we also have experienced analysts and asset managers on our team with a combined 30+ years of working on the exact type of assets we invest in. This ensures we have the expertise in house to safeguard our investors’ interests throughout the life cycle of each deal.

We find that when investors have access to the right tools and resources, it empowers them to do their own due diligence and evaluate each investment opportunity independently, so they can decide for themselves whether a deal is a good fit for their investing goals.

Q. How do you identify the right properties to invest in?

When evaluating potential opportunities, we start by looking at the team and the market first and foremost to ensure that we’re investing in growing markets and that we can actually execute on the business plan and achieve and surpass the targets we’re putting forth.

When considering value-add opportunities, we look towards comparable assets in the area as a proof of concept to see the targets we are achieving and how our property compares. We also lean heavily on local experts – particularly our property management teams – to help us set conservative yet realistic targets and timelines to maximize our chances of success.

On top of all that, we continue to keep a pulse on the overall market and shifting economy, so we can plan ahead and ensure that we’re investing in the best markets with the strongest levels of growth and that we’re accounting for potential market shifts during the lifecycle of each investment.

Meet the Founders

Julie Lam is the CEO of Goodegg Investments and has over 12 years of successful real estate investment experience. During that time, she has done mostly buy and hold, private lending, and passive/active multifamily investing. Since 2017, Julie has led Goodegg Investments to acquire over $900M in commercial real estate. As CEO, she has focused on growing their portfolio through strategic business strategy and development, forming valuable partnerships, growing teams, company effectiveness/efficiency, financial planning, and management of financial risk.

Annie Dickerson is the COO of Goodegg Investments and has invested in multifamily real estate since 2008. Her current portfolio spans multiple markets around the country and includes both active and passive investments. Annie and Julie are creators of the Real Estate Accelerator Mentorship Program and Passive Real Estate Investor Academy and authors of the book Investing For Good: The Surprising Strategy For Building Wealth While Also Making An Impact.