b'FOREWORDThe No. 1 question I would get when I was teaching how to raise private money for commercial real estate deals was, How do I avoid the Secu-rities and Exchange Commission labeling my deal a security? My No. 1 answer was, You dont. You assume every commercial deal youre doing is a security, and you follow the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission. This will keep you safe.The rules are not difficult, but it does take some time to learn them, and there is a process involved. How to Legally Raise Private Money will take you step by step through the process on how to do just that.Raising private money is not an easy task. Not only are there certain rules and regulations you must follow, but there are some rules of thumb that you should know, as well. For instance, only 50 percent of the people who say they will give you money to fund a deal will actually do it. The problem is, you dont know which 50 percent will until you get the deal. Then, of the 50 percent who will, 10 percent will also fall out. Not because they never intended to invest in your deal, but because something hap-pened in their life and they can no longer invest in the deal. This means if you are going to do a million-dollar deal, you need to raise $2,100,000 to ensure you can adequately fund that deal.This book gives you that kind of practical nitty-gritty information that is only known by those who have been raising money for deals. Infor-mation like this is invaluable because if you dont learn it here, you will learn it as you are doing your dealand those are the toughest lessons learnedin the school of hard knocks. Over the years, Kim Lisa Taylor has worked with countless investors, structuring the offerings for their raise. The reason RE Mentor keeps referring investors to her is the posi-tive responses we get from those referrals after their deals are done.AcomplicatedtopicthatKimhasbeenabletobreakdowntoan easy-to-understand process is how to structure the deals with the inves-tors. The world of raising money has its own language. Experienced So-phisticated and Accredited Investors know this language, and if you are not speaking it in its proper context, you are going to discount yourself in their minds, and they will never even tell you the reason why. These are the investors you want to attract. These investors are ready, willing, and able to fund deals that you present that meet their criteria. They are a iv'