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Born in Malaysia and raised in Australia, real estate syndicator Daniella Dhillon readily admits who the types of investors she looks to work with are. “The typical clients who we help are overseas investors, particularly people from Asia and Australia,” she says in a recent interview. “We help them make money through syndicated U.S. commercial real estate projects.”
The ‘we’ she talks about includes herself and her husband and investing partner, Kevin Dhillon. Together, they are the founders of Dhillon Partners, an investment company dedicated to the stewardship and creation of wealth. They have been investing in real estate since 2006. Previously, however, Dhillon worked as an IT professional, while Kevin worked as a property manager. After acquiring single-family homes, duplexes, and triplexes in Australia, they relocated to the U.S. in 2011 to extend their property portfolio. Soon, Dhillon and her husband were able to quit their jobs (while still in their 20s) and focus on real estate investing full-time.
Many U.S.-born investors find it difficult to create wealth through real estate. Imagine how much more difficult it is for those outside of the U.S. to do so. Dhillon is one of the rare success stories. Since figuring out how to crush it in both the Australian and U.S. real estate markets, she is now committed to helping overseas investors become successful in U.S. real estate as well.
More than her success, Dhillon’s background is what qualifies her to offer U.S. investment opportunities to overseas investors.
“It’s quite personal because we ourselves are not American. We are our target audience, if that makes sense,” Dhillon shares. “My husband and I were both born in Malaysia, but our families migrated to Australia, and that’s where we met each other and got married. We moved to the U.S. in 2011 and started investing in U.S. commercial real estate. But even today, most of our families still live in Melbourne, Australia. That connection to Asia and Australia is what, I think, inspired us to help other overseas investors.”
Acknowledging that they’ve walked in the same shoes before, Dhillon continues, “We understand certain reservations overseas people have about investing in the U.S. There’s a lot of great opportunities here, but it’s a completely different country, and there’s also a lot of unknown risks.
“We feel like we understand where the client is coming from because we’ve been in that position ourselves. Therefore, we’re able to help them, empathize with them and show them how we have done it and how they can too. What we want to do is duplicate the success that we’ve experienced and offer it to other people just like us.”
Dhillon Partners is willing to work with any overseas investor who is accredited, but their target age group is 50–70-year-old medical professionals who have had previous experience with real estate or are comfortable with investing in a real estate project for the first time. To be clear, you don’t have to be a specific type of medical professional. “If you’re someone who has a lot of savings but hasn’t really seen much results in shares or other investments that you’ve made throughout the years,” Dhillon says, “if you’re just looking to get your idle capital to grow and actually produce results, then we can help you.”
Dhillon cites her mother-in-law, who is a general practitioner, as one reason she and her husband target medical professionals. She worked hard in her profession for over 40 years but never had the time to do thorough research about the different investments she was putting her money in. Even though she hired a financial advisor, she still ended up losing a lot of the money she invested. “I wish she had better financial advice,” says Dhillon. “40 years ago, she could have amassed quite a large real estate portfolio and done very well for herself. I’m sure she’s not the only one.”
When it comes to the type of syndication projects that her company works on, it can be located anywhere in the U.S., but Dhillon points out that it must be income-generating from day one. While it is a mixed bag, cash flowing assets such as multi-family apartments, triple net retail, commercial shopping centers, warehouses, and mobile home communities are among the projects that they invest in. They are also looking to invest in industrial assets. But essentially, the criteria that determines whether a property is worth investing in or not is that it must make money from day one.
This fall, Dhillon lends her expertise to the compilation book, Wealth for Women: Conversations with the Team that Creates the Dream – the Top Female Professionals Who Can Help You Get Wealthy in Real Estate. Wealth for Women is led by Monick Paul Halm, founder of Real Estate Investor Goddesses, and features a collaboration of interviews with real estate syndicators and ancillaries who share insights in their specific area of expertise. The book is published by Smart Hustle Publishing, LP, and is scheduled to be released on Amazon.com in the fall of 2018.
For more information about Daniella Dhillon, please visit www.dhillonpartners.com.
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