Leading the Field in QOF Creation

The Opportunity Zone Expo Podcast
Leading the Field in QOF Creation

Transcription

Announcer:0:03How do you go from being a senior pastor with a passion for connecting people, to having a hand in 20% of the opportunity funds created so far? Find out today when we talk with David Sillaman, president of Eazy Do It opportunity funds, on today's OZExpo podcast.
Announcer:0:25Welcome to the OZExpo podcast where we talk with the people who really know the Opportunity Zone market from investors, fund managers and developers, to tax experts, politicians and attorneys. The most influential voices in the Opportunity Zone industry are here on the OZExpo podcast.
Jack Heald:0:52Welcome back to the OZExpo podcast. I'm your host, Jack Heald. With me today, I've got David Sillaman. David, welcome. Thank you for joining us.
David Sillaman:1:02Good Morning. Thank you for having me.
Jack Heald:1:04Tell us a little bit about yourself, David. Your company, what is your interest in the Opportunity Zone market and how did you get involved?
David Sillaman:1:17Sure, so my company is called Eazy Do It. What we do is we help, um, develop the opportunity fund itself. Um, we work with high net worth individuals, um, large scale commercial developers, municipalities, business owners that are looking to grow and expand in Opportunity Zones. And what we do is we consult and work with them on getting all of the foundational documentation, everything kind of prepared. We offer a turnkey service, to get them to market in an expedited time frame. And so we set up the fund and then we kind of stay on board as a, as a longterm consultant and we try to help do our best to get the fund, uh, out there and open and make it aware of, you know, so for investors can to uh, invest into,
Jack Heald:2:09Very good and uh, how did you get started there? I'm assuming that you are already doing this prior to the, the genesis of the Opportunity Zone.
David Sillaman:2:17Yeah, yeah, yeah. We were doing this, um, Eazy Do It and myself, yeah. I was an independent consultant doing private equity raises for businesses that were expanding. Um, I got involved into a real estate project that was looking to do just that. They were struggling a little bit, had been working on the project for almost a, almost two years, wasn't able to get any sort of funding, kind of going for it, lacks some kind of clarity and vision and everything that goes along with it. So I came in, this was in May, and learned of the Opportunity Zone program, it came across my desk on July 3rd. And you know, having a background in, in taxes to some degree. Um, my family has a well established tax office in Northern Virginia, so I've done taxes pretty much the last 20 years and immediately looked at it and said it was a no brainer. It was basically a private equity raise wrapped around a tax benefit on how you spend the money. And made a pivot and launched the second opportunity fund in the country. Uh, and that was on July 10th and it was the second opportunity fund open. It was the first stock based opportunity fund and that was the Sakari Lux funds. And then, um, just kind of started from there and snowballed. And before I knew it had a nice long list of funds to, well now we've developed a fifth of all the funds in the market.
Jack Heald:3:39Now, you specifically said the stock based fund. Tell us why that matters. What's different about a stock based fund?
David Sillaman:3:49Well there's a number, there's a number of things that are different. Um, you know there's two, first of all, there's only gonna be two types of corps structure to an opportunity fund. They're going to have a C Corp, it's going to issue stock to its investors with the capital gains or it's going to be a membership an LLC multi-member ship partnership that we'll issue membership units. The big difference is really coming to first and foremost with a stock based fund, the fund itself can actually act as a multi-asset fund, where it can have multiple investments and you're not worrying about am I a partner in one project versus another project. So it's a little bit cleaner. That's the first thing. Number two is it actually makes it a little easier for an exit strategy from a fund standpoint, from the investor standpoint. What I mean by that is, is that with the partnership you get, the benefit of the partnership is that you're gonna get the pass through and the downside of the pass through benefit in a partnership and tax related bill, the whole entire point of putting the money aside is to be able to defer and not pay taxes.
David Sillaman:4:49And now you're turning around and you're taking a step up in your personal tax liability because of the pass through benefits. There's cash calls that are due there's, you know, exit strategies in the way of partnerships have a tendency to get pretty ugly at times. So, a stocked based fund just make something pretty nice, clean, simple. It also opens up slightly different routes for the future of the way the fund works. The mechanics where this, um, market may open up to. I believe that that with enough time, because this, this is an extended program through 2047. With enough time, these funds will eventually be able to open themselves up. Not that, you know, if the structure is done right, you've got possibilities of, of REIT opportunity funds, which start at a, at a stock base, C Corp base structure. So we're starting to see a few of those began to pop up. I think that there's going to be a exchange market that gets set up to be able to vet, run due diligence as, as matter of fact they're already are, that are looking at placing opportunity funds and, and they're willing to vet these things to be able to have a centralized exchange to buy, sell and trade opportunity funds. Where an investor can go to, um, usually they're going to be a secondary exchange in this particular case, their SEC regulatated` where the transactions are reviewed. But it creates a, it creates a environment to where investors through multiple outlets, both institutional, um, and that I mean from, from the banking side of stuff all the way down to the broker/dealer side, makes it easier for family office, RIA type money. Um, but it also gives, it gives an outlet for an investor to be able to go to and, and source and vet these things and know that, okay, these are legitimate because there's a higher standard when you're looking at getting something that's normally just a private placement. When you get listed with anything that's an exchange or an SEC pipe, you start getting into higher standards and eventually when you're really willing to be, you know, vetted correctly, you're going to have to meet 1022 standards. There is a checklists for this.
David Sillaman:6:58So it opens up though in getting kind of back to that. So you know, there's going to be the change side in the future. The funds themselves, um, have an opportunity to invest in 12, you know, go 12, the 1202 routes, which is a slightly different tax benefit that's not really talked about, but it's stackable and usable within the Opportunity Zone space. And that has to deal with the hospitality world. Um, the tax trade offs are relatively minimal in the sense that there's a flat tax rate right now, um. So long term it just it, you know, it opens up to the fund being sold.
David Sillaman:7:35It opens up the fund being able to go public. Yeah. Um, especially if it's performing well. So conscious is a different different cleaner approach. It's also the one approach that really hasn't been questioned. You know, we've got a lot of questions regarding guidelines and supplemental updates and everything, but if you look at what those questions and those guidelines them, what they all stem from is implementation of the program and heavily within what an LLC or a partnership type structure would look. I've yet to find one real question that says, Hey, what do you know what happens with stocks?
Jack Heald:8:11Okay. So to summarize, I want to make sure I'm understanding you. When you go the partnership route we are, we're basically still dealing in the area where where Treasury has just not made things clear. Whereas going down the C Corp route, as far as we can tell, it's pretty straight forward.
David Sillaman:8:34Straigh forward. Because you've got, you've got, you've gotten rules that have long been established since the 30s and forties on how to raise private equity. At the core, every opportunity fund, the ability to raise money outside of friends, family and, and you know, core founders you get into securities at that point.
Jack Heald:8:56Right.
David Sillaman:8:57So, it becomes no longer a, an IRS issue. It's not a department of Treasury issue, it becomes an SEC Issue.
Jack Heald:9:03As I've talked to various folks involved in this market, there's a little bit of frustration. I think, with the there's a lot more money than there appears to be deals. You mentioned the 1202 program, as it relates to hospitality. Talk a little more about that. That really intrigues me.
David Sillaman:9:30Alright, so if you, in the TCJA, they did updates to a program that was relatively, it wasn't used very much but its what's called 1202. Basically it's a, it's based on a stock based investments. This is where opportunity funds, because of the nature of how an opportunity funds invest is either going to be stock membership partnership, um, predominantly, predominantly. Um, so the fund from a stock based level, let's say that, you know, a project, one of the set up a hotel, so the fund from the stock base level can, can invest into the stock, into the project and the development of it, you know, ground up and it only needs to hold its interest in it for five years. And then the gains on that are 100% tax free back to the fund. So it creates a completely different type of exit strategy all together.
Jack Heald:10:22So that's under the Opportunity Zone act?
David Sillaman:10:25No, no, no, no, not under the Opportunity Zone act under the TCJA, this was the 1202 was, was updated in the TCJA back in December of 2017. Hasn't really captured much in the way of news and big attention. It's not a big sexy fluffer type of thing. It's just it, it was added in there. Um, Opportunity Zones is what obviously is captured the sizzle and the attention in the news, but Opportunity Zones or opportunity funds, you know, there's, there's, there's a stackable program meaning that, you know, they can be in the couch stack. Yeah. You can have other uses in, in, in ways that it works together. And this is where those, that 1202 comes in. 1202 was designed for hospitality. It's designed as a stock based investments. So it's not going to be a partnership and you only have to hold it for five years and then five years, one day you can exit out. And your gains are tax free,
Jack Heald:11:27Which is similar to the Opportunity Zone, only we've got the 10 year the exit on the Opportunity Zone that was for the cap, the cap gains.
David Sillaman:11:36Right. Right. But what it does is think if you think about it from a unique standpoint is it gives the ability for the fund to generate tax free revenue back to the investors. And that's what's really attractive about it. And for investors that may get in and want to exit early for one reason or another because there's no no stipulation that says that an investor has to stay in an opportunity fund for 10 years and you never know what kind of liquidity needs that an investor, even the most sophisticated wealthiest of accredited investors may come across a liquidity crisis and have to figure out how to exit. And that's, that's something that, again, going back to the structure then is if I'm a partner in an opportunity fund and I do need that, I have that liquidity crisis, what does my exit look like? Where if I'm a stock based holder and if there's an issue, you know, okay, a secondary exchange market, which there is and if it's an active one because it's picked up steam, now I've got an, I've got a pretty seamless exit for my liquidity crisis as an investor.
Jack Heald:12:48Strategies for investing in Opportunity Zones after 2020, when the deferred tax or the step up opportunity disappears.
David Sillaman:12:57I've got two thoughts on that. First of all, I think that I think real estate is not the sustaining factor and Opportunity Zones . It's not real estate's the sizzle right now. It's the, it's the fireworks, it's the explosion saying, hey, look at us. But the problem with real estate is cashflow back to investors, back to the fund, liquidity ultimately. Businesses that are there in Opportunity Zones that are growing, expanding their footprint, the jobs that they create, the economic impacts that they create are a lot more sustainable than temporary jobs for developments going up. And then those workers are back to having to find new jobs again. And so businesses will be the sustaining investments in the, in the future riding past 2020, 2021, 2023 et cetera. Um, From an investor though investing in this? I, my personal thought is I think one of two things is gonna happen.
David Sillaman:14:01Either this will really wildly begin to take off as I think that, you know, Congress, government, all of us municipalities, everybody wants to and if it takes off in a healthy direction, okay, I could easily see where, you know 2019 is kind of that year it gets reviewed. Um, 2020 begins to play out your role in the 2021 and you've got no step up in basis. Um, I could potentially see where the, the seven years could potentially turn into a rolling seven year. I think that that, you know, could maybe be, because that makes sense then at that point because now you keep the program sustained through whatever a X date year is. So if we already have a December, we already have a 2037 date as the last date that you can invest into an opportunity fund and hold for your ten year step up in basis to 2047, the rainbow.
David Sillaman:15:00It makes sense that if the program is healthy and it's doing what it was designed and intended to do, the why would you want to siphon future investments into it? You wouldn't, so you would want to, you would want to kind of say, okay, what do we need to do to, to keep the, the yearly demand of capital gain, investors wanting to put money into the, into the opportunity fund market space. Now several things have to happen. One, the opportunity fund market space of the, a number of funds and the amount, if you collectively added all of them up, especially according to like directory outlets like the NCSHA, Costar Group, um, there's an Nova Craddick and company, there's a number of them, but there's not enough supply demand. We've run a very inverted market space right now.
David Sillaman:15:51So for this to really gain legs, not only does this, that inverted market space where you have exponentially more potential anticipated investor demand with capital gains and what you've got available funds if all, you know, if the flood gates were to happen and we think that we're going to see, you know, two waves, you know, now through June 30th and then again probably August, September, beginning to bubble up through October, beginning to really in the November through December 31st so if we've got, if we've got a healthy market, then every year the new money coming in, it's going to have to have an influx of new funds and it's going to have to have um, space to be able to go and be deployed and, and if it's, if it's working and there's going to be every incentive in the world to want to keep, keep that flowing.
David Sillaman:16:43The other thing that happens is they don't, then the other option, the flip side of that coin is, is that, you know, the government doesn't do that and the dates are what they are. 2019 is your seven 2020 is your five as you know, through 2021, uh, you know, is your, is your five years anything after that you're investing not because of the step up in basis that the 15% haircut to save on your taxes, you're investing for the step up in basis at the 10 year Mark
Jack Heald:17:23As I've looked at this, the thought has occurred to me somebody was tasked with writing this particular part of the bill. It was a good idea, but they didn't have a lot of time to think through some of the implications. And that is probably what it was, ok were going to close the window here and at the end of 2021 and at that point all of the money will have come in without it thinking through the fact that this money rolls in every year at predictable times. It wouldn't make sense for it not to continue if it's working, it would not make a lick of sense for it not to continue.
David Sillaman:17:57Right, right. And, and when they and you are right, they did not really, they painted this but when this was originally came up, announcements in April and guidance four sets of four first four pages and that was it. Cause it was four pages originally, right? Of what the initial texts was going to be on the Opportunity Zone program. It was whitewashed with a paint roller. You put, you immediately put investors on a time clock, which they had the retroactively go back and figure out how to solve because by the time that everything came out, you had investors that had had capital gains from selling crypto and things like that at January, February, March and hell, by the time everything got done, there was no fund market space and so they, it was, it was a lose lose program for them. So they kind of solve that, but what they didn't take into consideration was you've got the fund itself. When the money comes in is on a time clock, you've got the investor when they realize their capital gain is on a time clock. Great and great, great for creating a a frenzy. What they didn't put on the time clock though was enough time for the market space itself to develop enough quality base opportunity fund. Because you know, first of all, just developing from the fund standpoint, a lot of people have been sitting on the sidelines, a lot of people who have been waiting on updated guidance for to help determine risks, statements, et Cetera, et Cetera, et cetera. But if you go anywhere and you talked to anybody, getting all the documentation to be able to set up a private equity raises, not something that happens overnight. It takes a while. You've got to crunch through numbers, you've got to forecast out projections, you've got to put private placement documents together, you've got to do all of this kind of stuff.
David Sillaman:19:41You've got to think through administration, auditing, taxation of the fund. You've got investor relations. You've got all of these components that have had to been thought through and there was no timeframe to be able to give a market enough time to get established. It was the proverbial saying, you know, a while back, you know, towards the end of the year was we're all, you know, building the plane while we're flying it and that's still the case. That's also why from a development agency, which is what we do. That's why we like, you know, our preference is setting a fund up as a stock based fund because it allows the funding gets set up, established and to market faster.
Jack Heald:20:25So how fast can you go from concept to delivery when you're setting up a fund.
David Sillaman:20:26That's a good question. There's a lot of variable factors in a perfect world with where our systems and processes are at now today. Um, 60 days.
Jack Heald:20:37That seems extraordinary to me.
David Sillaman:20:40Yeah. There's what we've, what we've done in, in it's, it has been a learning curve and to some degree, a bit of a struggle at times and it's just know learning through, yes. Waiting, waiting through what this is gonna look like. Um, how these things get, you know, structured the right way, et Cetera, et cetera. What investors are really looking for. Because that's the thing is, is they're all private equity. So there's no, you know, set cookie cutter formula that says, Hey, if you just do this every time you're going to hit a grand slam. It's not like that. You know, investors are, they're picky, they're individual, they're unique. um. So it's been a learning curve, but we're at a point now where we feel that we know exactly what information that we need to be able to gather specifically to be able to put something together in a, in a rapid timeframe.
Jack Heald:21:41So, it sounds like, one of the questions I typically ask, what are you most certain about? But it sounds like you've really feel like you have a handle on the right way to structure a fund.
David Sillaman:21:49Well, there's, there's, there's, there's three ways at the moment that funds are being structured REITs, stocks and LLCs. Those are the the three partnerships? Each one has, its, has its advantages and disadvantages, but each one also is tailored to the individual needs that the sponsoring entity is bringing to the table. You know, if someone's gonna be heavily invested in affordable housing a REIT or something like that, makes sense. If somebody is going to be in commercial and maybe it's a bunch of golfing buddies that are pulling their money together, a simple partnership fund makes sense. If you've got five guys and they're not seeking outside investors, partnerships make sense all day long. If you're trying to raise a significant number of capital, you've got to think about who your investors are going to be. That potential that you may have a significant number of investors. Um, most of these raises aren't gonna have anything more than none of these funds should have anything more than 500 investors with the exception of maybe the REITs.
Jack Heald:22:56What has surprised you most about your work with the Opportunity Zone program?
David Sillaman:22:57Honestly, the lack of business opportunity funds. I am absolutely blown away at the fact that the real estate based opportunity funds 10 to one outnumber the business based opportunity fund. As a matter of fact, I'm only aware of six business based opportunity funds that are focused on cash flows and business expansion, within Opportunity Zones. Six out of the list that the NCFHA chase says he's got about 110 115 on there directory list, which is relatively in alignment with Costars, which I think might be, you know, another five or 10 funds more and relatively in alignment with Nova Radix directory lists and all the other subsequent ones that have followed. You've got, even if you called it 200 funds, even if you doubled the existing cap rate of what NCFHA says, which is about 35 billion by the way, for their list. Even if you double that and you say, okay, we're, we're looking at approximately 60 billion between other funds that are just don't exist in or are unknown, which I think is probably not the case by any means, but let's just say hypothetically you double that, you still don't have enough supply and demand.
David Sillaman:24:11If the amount of investors that meet the minimum anticipated demand that the Department of Treasury's announced multiple times at various conferences, you don't have enough. You don't have enough in the market space, you don't have enough. And the problem is is that it's really difficult to identify quality for these investors. But my surprise is, that there's just not enough business funds. I would be thinking that if I was a business, this will be a no brainer. If I was looking, if I was already as, especially if it's a positive business and I'm looking to expand and grow, I think setting up an opportunity fund all day long. You know, I tell my clients, I say that, you know, in everything in life there's a time, place and season for everything. You know? Does it make sense, if I'm going to try to sell you on, hey, invest in me because I'm going to go plant tomato seeds in the middle of Antarctica and the dead of winter and I'm going to promise you a bountiful harvest.
David Sillaman:25:04It's not the right time, place or season for what I'm pitching, right? When we look at the market space right now, the time, place and season is for two things and two things only. It's not the money has nothing to do with the projects, none of that. There has always been money and there's always been projects and there always will be money and there always will be investable projects. The market space, right now you've got a limited season for two things. Number one, to be able to be ahead of the yield curve to get into where something you were, you're one of the first handful or first few. When you look at the business related funds, when there's only six in the market space and you've got a hundred plus funds and they're all focused on real estate, it's the, it's the time, place in season to set something in stand out because you'll instantly be remembered and notice, especially when related to businesses, businesses that have a tendency to be a lot more niche, niche industry specific than what real estate has in general.
David Sillaman:26:02And so you can be your first and one and only in a niche. For example, we've, we've got, um, uh, the largest cannabis lab testing company, uh, in California is getting ready to go live with their business based Opportunity Fund. The cannabis sector is exploded there in the regulatory testing side. Everything that everybody wants to smoke has to be tested. So they test for cannabis and hemp, the largest in California, uh, business, um, a franchising fund to do, to do expansion of franchises in tax tax related franchises within, um, Hispanic, uh, uh, areas. um. Um, you know, I'm, I know that, um, there's one that's called the first harvest that's getting ready to come to market as well. Uh, it's like an indoor vertical farming fund, very unique, very, very unique. There's one that's a revolutionary in the building industry and it's a, it's a laser robotic type of manufacturing facility that can, that can put walls up and build a house and in hours versus what would take weeks really cutting edge first of its kind here in the U.S, Um, so there's a lot of, you know, business opportunities that are one offs that are huge potentials.
David Sillaman:27:25And what really makes businesses very, very unique is how a business can actually structure the investment from the fund into the business to create an immense amount of liquidity back to the fund. Back to the fund manager to be able to create margin accounts with the, with the liquidity back for the investors to pay the tax bill come 2026, because that's something that's not being talked about very much either. Who's going to cover the tax bill? You know, if I put my money in today, put 100,000 in today, I pay tax on 85,020 in 2026, am I going back to the fund for that money to cover my tax based on my gains, which now means I've got to take a withdrawal early and now pay capital gains tax on that withdrawal.
Jack Heald:28:09Ooh
David Sillaman:28:09So, how does the tax get paid? Or do I have to come out of it and just and pay for it out of my own bank account? Well, what if he account, what if the opportunity fund could have enough cash reserve to where it could create a 0% interest margin account for the investor to borrow against, not pay tax on the withdrawal, but have the money to be able to then cover the tax bill that's due in 2026 without having to take an early withdrawal penalty or early paying or early withdrawals tax type thing. Okay. um. So, you know, and it's not that it's not so much that it's a tax for an early withdrawal because I want to make sure that your listeners are clear on that. This isn't like an IRA or a mutual fund.
Jack Heald:28:49Right.
David Sillaman:28:49If I'm, you know, based on when I put my money in relative to when the tax is due, if I take it out early and if I've got to gain early, I'll have to pay tax on that game because I didn't hold it long enough realize my full step up. So that's what I mean by, you know, a withdrawal. Just wanted to clarify that. But there's questions like that that, and this is where businesses have such a amazingly unique ability to really be ultra, ultra lucrative for investors and opportunity funds because a business can structure based on its cashflow on a monthly basis and it's not, it has the ability to increase that faster than what the cash is on a monthly basis and a real estate development. See if I build an apartment complex out and I've got 200 units, my cashflow is limited to the 200 units. If I have a business, my cashflow is not limited to the 200 units sale that I might do one because the very next month I could turn around and if I've got a good sales team I could double that to 400 so my cashflow is a business ideally should be able to look at and say in an A plus perfect world, we want business cashflow to consistently go up.
David Sillaman:29:56Even though there's your, your ebbs and flows, your peaks and valleys, the business opportunity from a cashflow back to the opportunity fund could be structured in such a way, and it already exists by the way, this such a way to where it's what's called the TIGRcub or a top line income generation rights certificate. It's a structured way that the fund makes an equity purchase into a business to where the business pays back the fund on top line, gross revenue, not bottom line net revenue. So what it does is, is for every dollar that the fund would invest into the business purchasing it's equity stake, the business would pay back $2, structuring a buyout over a 10 year periods with dollar might go back to purchasing their equity and a dollar comes back in, um, an income back to the fund. It lowers the fund's assets under management while creating enough of a liquidity accounts for the funds investors to generate and do a, a margin call to pay the tax in 2026,
Jack Heald:30:59I suspect this is the kind of creative thinking that has allowed you to go from zero to 50% of the funds in the market,
David Sillaman:31:11No, no, I don't have 50% of the funds. That's not what we no, no we have a fifth. We've developed, um, well almost a fifth.
Jack Heald:31:18A fifth
David Sillaman:31:19A little under, a little, little less than that, but uh, we're at 20 plus, approaching 30 plus funds for the market out of 100 and change.
Jack Heald:31:27So I want to find a little bit more about David Sillaman, the man, as opposed to David Sillaman, the funds builder.
David Sillaman:31:38Sure.
Jack Heald:31:38You have a background in pastoral work? Is that what I read?
David Sillaman:31:43I do, I do. I, I am an ordained pastor. Um, I was the founding and senior pastor of a church in Manassas, Virginia, and I am no longer pastoring actively at the moment, uh, went through, uh, uh, personal marriage, a situation that resulted in a divorce. Um, you kind of felt hypocritical preaching, you know, love marriage, et cetera from the pulpit. So, um, needed to take some time to regroup. Um, but yeah, so I started my life over again in Virginia Beach.
Jack Heald:32:19Wow.
David Sillaman:32:19Um, but I've actively still pastor, as a matter of fact, that's, and I do want to get back to just one thing if I could, cause we got rabbit trailed just for a second. I mentioned that there were two things, the business, the other thing is kind of goes along with, you know, you asked me about being a pastor and a lot of that did the second benefit that I see from a pastoral side. I mean this is probably what drives me to see this second benefit is right now in this market space and Opportunity Zones, opportunity funds, projects, there's unique opportunity right now, pardon the pun too, develop key relationships that three, four, five, six years from now as the market begins to develop, grow its legs begins to expand itself that are going to be incredibly difficult to develop in the future. And when you've got everybody's arms that are relatively wide open right now and they're wanting to talk about it and embrace the space, now is the time to build as many key relationships.
David Sillaman:33:18And it's kind of like a pastor saying come to our church. Okay we've got plenty of room, our doors are wide open and it's kind of like that type of mentality that drives us and how we, you know, are very quick to one of networking connect dots with people and funds and projects and everything else like that. I think it's because of that pastoral side of me, I just, I'm passionate about this space. I love the idea of, of what the program can do across the country in so many sectors and um. My faith and my approach to that, which is Biblical, uh, drives to kind of how I view the market.
Jack Heald:34:02Let's talk about two related things. Pick one of these. What are you best at and what drives you crazy.
David Sillaman:34:09Best at? Probably networking, to be honest with you, acting as a, as a connector. I love developing relationships with people. I love finding a way, to, to get involved and to help. Um, I look at things significantly different and take a very, very much hands, arms wide open type of approach that whatever kind of comes in, we turn it on, I'm going to put right back out. So, because we're passionate about what this can do, and in this whole it just across the entire United States, what I think if done right, could be we'll look back 50, 60 years from now and the next generation will be like, wow, that I, you know, this was a really huge impactful program. I believe if it can grow its legs in a healthy way.
Jack Heald:34:54Um hm.
David Sillaman:34:54Which I would say that acting as a, you know, connecting hub. Um, what was this the second part of that question again?
Jack Heald:35:05I was really hoping you would talk about this one too. What drives you crazy?
David Sillaman:35:10Okay. What drives me crazy. And you're gonna, it's gonna. It's kind of comical. It's comical. Okay. You'd said earlier on that you're kind of noticing, you know, lack of projects here and there. Things like that drives me crazy is I get it inundated with project requests, inundated with them from, from commercial real estate developers, you know, all the way through and through. And what's amazing me is, is that everybody regurgitates information instead of taking the time to develop and read through and formulate what their own outlook and opinion is going to be. And it's amazing how much of that regurgitation of just, bad information is actually floating around out there. And I'm surprised that that the commercial real estate people haven't just kind of taking um a breather for a second and said, let's kind of analyze this space a little bit. Because if they were really smart, they would realize that, you know, if I'm trying to raise money for a commercial development than right now is the time to set the fund up for the commercial development. When there's not enough funds, you know, law of averages, simple supply demand. Two, three years from now is the time to go seek, you know what funds have money cause you've got funds that, you know, some of them have some money but almost every fund is already got projects relatively identified. There's, there's, I'm not aware of it. Any real blind pool fund out that's, you know, done a successful large scale rates.
Jack Heald:36:45Well David Um,
David Sillaman:36:46I just wish that people would like, you know, really kind of go through the tough, it's not difficult, difficult material to digest and read and understand and, and um, kind of think through. Cause there's a lot, there's a lot of stuff that's not questions that aren't being even addressed. Talked about a in this space. And I wish that, I wish that we had more and this isn't so much like everything, you know, this is in a, in one specific type of client. Just in the general space, I think it's, you know, it's been developing healthy, but I think that, you know, it needs to develop in additional outlets. Um, conversations need to take place on a lot of different areas and I wished that it, that's what's frustrating to me the most. I wish it would just, you know, more of that would kind of come together.
Jack Heald:37:30And as, as a connector, as somebody who's good at networking, I can see why that drives you crazy. I get it. Well, David, I really appreciate your time today. It has been a I've really enjoyed the conversation. If folks want to get ahold of you, give us the best ways to do so. And I will tell our listeners that, uh, all this information will be published in a written form where you can click on links. But for folks who are listening, how did they get ahold of you?
David Sillaman:38:04All right, they can visit our website at EazyDoIt.com E-A-Z-Y-D-O-I-T dot com, if they want to give us a call, we'll be glad to consult because it's what we do. Our direct telephone number is seven five seven three eight nine eight one five nine.
David Sillaman:38:25[Music begins playing]. And if someone has any questions they'd like to email me about my email is dsillaman@eazydoit.com, that's D-S-I-L-L-M-A-N AT eazy do it dot com.
Jack Heald:38:39Well, thank you very much, David, for your time. I look forward to talking to you again sometime in the future as we watched this, this incredible market develop. This is Jack Heald for the OZExpo podcast. We look forward to talking to y'all next time.
Announcer:38:57This podcast is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal tax or investment advice. For specific recommendations, please consult with your financial, legal, or tax professional. This is a presentation of the Out Click Media Corporation. [Music ends}

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