You don’t have to take a company’s word for its history. Some of it is public, and free to check.

What a Form D is

When a company raises money for a private real estate deal, it usually files a short form with the government called a Form D. These filings are public on EDGAR, the SEC’s free website for company filings. You can search it at sec.gov/edgar/search.

In The Operator Question, Tanya Muro explains what a Form D can show you about each fundraise:

That the raise happened at all.
How much the company said it would raise.
When it raised the money.
How many investors joined.

Compare it to the pitch

Now put that next to the list of past deals on the company’s sales slide.

If the two match, good. If they don’t, that is worth a question. Maybe there are fundraises on EDGAR that never made it onto the slide. Maybe the slide’s numbers don’t line up with what was filed.

There may be a simple explanation. The point is to ask. Tanya’s story of the track record that showed 10 deals when there were 14 shows why.

County records help too

Form D covers the fundraising side. For the property side, county property records can often show what a building sold for, the loan on it, and the dates. Together, the two give you an outside view of a deal that doesn’t come from the company selling it.

Would you check before you invest?

This post is based on a one-minute video on Tanya Muro’s YouTube channel. For education only, not financial advice.