Episode #274: Investing in Opportunity Zone Funds with Mike Hardy

Dec 26, 2022

Qualified opportunity zone funds boast the incredible benefit of possible tax-free returns, and joining us today to share more on the topic is mortgage banking juggernaut, entrepreneur extraordinaire, life-coach, speaker, and Co-Founder of Cyrus Opportunity Zone Fund, Mike Hardy. Mike has over two decades of experience in securities, mortgage banking, and fund management, managing over $500 million in annual funding volume, and he tells us exactly how he found his way to mortgage banking. Then, we discuss his fears around the impending recession, why he believes that the housing market will not crash, what a qualified opportunity fund (QOF) is, and what his company does, with a close examination of the mechanics behind investing in a QOF. Mike explains the products that his company offers, its target market and ideal investors, and why it will probably add a debt service to its offerings in the near future. We end this inspirational, informative episode with our guest sharing his secrets to success of being an overachiever while still maintaining a healthy work/life balance.  

Key Points From This Episode:

  • Introducing today’s guest, entrepreneur, and mortgage banking expert, Mike Hardy. 
  • Mike’s professional background and how he got into mortgage banking. 
  • Whether Mike thinks that we are in a similar state, pre-recession, like in 2007. 
  • Our guest’s view on why it’s unlikely that the housing market will crash. 
  • The Cyrus Opportunity Zone Fund (COZF): what a qualified opportunity fund is and does. 
  • How Mike’s fund offers flexibility without compromising the integrity of the investment.
  • A closer look at the mechanics of investing in an opportunity zone fund. 
  • The tax implications of a qualified opportunity fund. 
  • How an investor’s withdrawal of their money is valued in the fund. 
  • The markets Mike’s company is targeting, and its product type. 
  • Three countries that COZF is focused on servicing, and why. 
  • Why COZF does not use debt and why it probably will in the future.  
  • Mike’s ideal investor. 
  • Why the impending recession is not influencing the decisions of Mike’s investors. 
  • How he is able to maintain a healthy work/life balance as an overachiever: the core four. 
  • The ways you can become a high achiever if you currently believe that you’re not one.  

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Mike Hardy on LinkedIn 

Mike Hardy on Twitter  

Mike Hardy Email

Churchill Mortgage 

Cyrus Opportunity Zone Fund

Vertical Street Ventures 

VSV Academy 

Passive Income Through Multifamily Real Estate Facebook Group

Peter Pomeroy on LinkedIn

Peter Pomeroy Email

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