b'1. What is Syndication?Withinthisbook,wewillcovertheapplicablesecuritieslaws,entity structures, investor agreements, and investor relations. The fundamental legal considerations for a real estate securities offer-ing are: Fiduciary dutiesRisks/rewardsTax implications for investorsEntity structures and investor agreementsSecurities lawOTHER FINANCING OPTIONSWhile this book is about raising private money, remember to seek avail-able sources of institutional financing as part of your investment strat-egy or capital stack. Those sources will often fund up to 75% or more of the money you need, and they will usually require a lower return than private investors. Leveraging the investment with institutional financing will thus allow increased returns to your private investors for the por-tion of the investment opportunity that they fund. Institutional sources of financing include regulated entities such as banks, credit unions and insurance companies whose business involves lending money. If you are interested in getting a small business loan, check out the web-site www.SBA.gov. The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) main-tains more than 900 service sites, called small business development centers, where you can obtain free advice from government-paid consul-tants about starting and running your business. They can help you with your business plan and help you position your company to successfully obtain a small business loan.Real estate hard money lenders are another source of financing. You will usually find them locally, by doing an internet search or by attending meetings of your local real estate investment associations. Hard money lenders usually offer short-term financing for projects that institutional lenders wont finance. Their origination fees can be steep, typically rang-ing from 3% to 5% or more of the loan amount, and their interest rates are generally 11% to 18% annualized. However, in geographic areas with fierce competition, the rates may be lower.7'