In this instructional video, Christian Osgood addresses the most common obstacle new multifamily investors face: the proof‑of‑funds (POF) objection from brokers and sellers. He explains why brokers demand POF—to ensure a buyer can close—and outlines a step‑by‑step approach to bypass or satisfy the request without having all the cash upfront. The core tactics include the "steamroller" method—confidently acknowledging the request while moving the conversation toward a letter of intent and contract—plus ethical ways to present partial proof by involving a single interested investor. Osgood stresses the importance of slow, measured speech, a down‑tone, and unwavering confidence to convey that the deal will close, rather than focusing on the amount of money currently in the account. He advises practicing salesmanship in everyday interactions, managing imposter syndrome, and using the contract as a lever to raise capital. The video concludes with a call to join his Multifamily Strategy mentorship community on Skool for ongoing support and live transactions.
Chapters
Before we proceed, we'd like to see proof of funds. The phrase that we all dread, and this is the biggest mistake. 9 outta 10 times you can blow right through it. 'Cause when we offer on a deal, we close the deal. Do not cheat and do this. Slow, measured, exact. Your job is to be that right buyer. Everyone getting into multifamily gets stuck in the same places. Now, I've coached hundreds of investors across the country through Multifamily Strategy, our mentorship program. Over the last five years, I have seen just about every scenario that you can run into. There are a few places where everyone gets stuck getting a deal under contract. So this series kicks off what we're talking about with objections. We're going to go through the most common obstacles that you will face that you need to be able to sell your way through to get into real estate. This is not a step you can skip. So if you felt stuck at any point, this is likely the cure. And we're going to start today with hands down the number one objection that people get stuck. stuck on that there is absolutely no reason to get stuck on. Coaching this, I get this question probably every other week, if not multiple times every week from students coming through our programs. It happens all the time. It is very simple to overcome. I want to make sure you don't get stuck here. The topic today is proof of funds. So you have a deal, you love the deal, it makes money. You have a structure that you think the sellers would accept. You call the broker, hey, I would like to submit an offer or a letter of intent, depending on what's most appropriate for your deal. And they get back, awesome. Before we proceed, we'd like to see proof of funds. The phrase that we all dread. Well, I don't have all this money sitting in a bank account. I don't have the investors aligned yet. Most typically what you're going to do is you put a deal under contract. And once the deal is yours to lose, then you start talking to all the investors and the capital raise happens. But if you're bringing in outside capital, I'm gonna assume that you are buying beyond the money in your bank account today. And they're like, hey, well, I want to see proof of funds. You have a technical problem. Now what most people do, and this is the biggest mistake, they address it head on. They go like, oh, well, I don't have it yet. I will get it. Here's what I need. And you ramble on. Most people talk way too fast here as well, but you ramble on and you try to solve the problem. You have a few solutions to this. 9 out of 10 times you can blow right through it. First of all, the steamroller works pretty well. What does the broker actually want? They're asking for proof of funds because they want to be selling to a ready, able, willing buyer who is going to close the deal. Their odds of closing are highest if you already have the money. So they're trying to stack the deck in their favor. That does not mean that you're not the best buyer for the deal. It means they do not yet believe that you are the best buyer for the deal. You must prove it. The first thing you do is you blow past it. I love the yes, and we need to see proof of funds. Absolutely. Let's get those to you as soon as possible. Here's how it's going to work. We need to get this under contract before I bring it to my other investors. I will be funding this with a small group of other people. However, I'm not going to present a deal to them that's not mine to present. I would burn through all of my investors. When we offer on a deal, we close the deal. So our next steps here is getting a letter of intent at a minimum. Ideally, let's go under contract and then I will start getting that for you as soon as possible and then move on with the Start talking about next steps. Talk about the terms, whatever's next negotiation. We're not ignoring them. We're just moving on. Treat it like a non-issue. And many times it ends up being a non-issue. Way more than 50% of the time, it will disappear. They're like, oh, I'm working with someone who has a plan. They know what they're doing. Awesome. Box checked. Broker will move on. At the very least, it'll be awkward for them to pause, go back and be like, oh, wait a second. So do you not have the money? You want to remove the concern that you're going to close. That is what they're actually worried about. So your presentation is based on, I am I'm going to close the deal and make sure that the broker understands that I am a closer, not do I have the money? Can I prove the money? What is the next step? If you get stuck here or you give it too much credit and you keep talking about it, you will make their objection an actual problem and now it will no longer be optional. So when do you get hit with this? It's when the broker is not 100% confident that you're the one to close the deal. And when you are a newer investor, they have a right to think that. Their job is to find the right buyer. Remember that when you're going into the conversation. So step number 2, if you can't blow past it or they require proof of funds, there's an ethical piece here. Proof of funds is not hard to send them. You need to show there's any investor that exists who has a bank account that has the money in it. They just want to see, hey, you can get someone to text you a bank statement. Basically what they're looking for. Do not cheat and do this. What one could do feasibly is just find someone who has money and say, hey, I need a bank statement to open a transaction I'm working on. You don't need to move forward on this transaction at all. I just, I need some help to get this thing open. I've seen people do that. I have an ethical issue with it. So I'm officially saying don't do that. However, you can talk to people who are legitimately interested in funding the deal. And you need to find one person who could fund the deal and say, hey, I'm interested in this deal. If you are interested in doing this deal with me, we're going to enter due diligence. So this is non-binding. You don't have to invest in the deal. But I want to work with someone who is legitimately interested. If you are willing to at least share a little bit of financial data with this lender, we can open in the transaction. And my commitment is I'll give you first shot at participating in this deal with me. At least you have the right to be in the deal. No ethical issue there. That is what you are normally doing. You're entering due diligence. Nothing is binding yet. You have a contract and you have a way to pull the money back out. But if they need to see a proof of funds and you can't overcome it, you don't need to raise all the capital. You don't need to put all the money in a bank account. You need to find one person who is interested in legitimately exploring the opportunity and potentially partnering with you on the deal. That is all you're doing at that point. That is if you get Stuck. Now, when you present this, every time you're talking to the broker, slow down your thoughts. What I see most people miss is they ramble on and they speak super fast and they say everything all at once. It's a nice slow, hey, awesome. I get it. Absolutely. We're gonna get you overproof of funds. Those are going to come in after we are under contract. I will be funding this with additional partners, and those partners are not going to commit capital or take me seriously at all if I'm presenting them deals that we're not even under contract for. We will close this. Here's what I see our next steps as, and then you move on. You say it slow, you say it measured. More often than not, you're going to use a down tone. If you use an up tone, like a question, you're inviting them to respond. I don't want to invite them to respond. I'm telling them how the transaction is going to be working when they work with me. If you can communicate that tonality, and there's a bunch more you can do with tonality, but that's 99% of it for this conversation. Slow, measured, exact. These are my next steps and this is how this is going to work. If you can control your sale, you'll rarely run into a proof of funds issue. If they have a policy with proof of funds that you absolutely cannot get around, ethically bring in one other person who could legitimately be a partner with you on the deal. I have had to do this on multiple deals. Most of those deals, the people who show proof of funds end up being investors. I've had one where the person came in, we did the underwriting, they decided they want to invest in something else, and we funded it with a whole team of other people. The broker and the seller don't really care. They want to know that the money's coming in and you have access to actually do what you say you're going to do. If you can't communicate that through clear explanation of how it's going to work and you cannot convey that confidence yet, if you're not there in your salesmanship of your multifamily business, then you're going to need to find just one human who has the money in their bank account to show that you have some of the proof of funds. By the way, I've never run into a situation where you actually had to show 100% of the proof of funds. As long as you can show that you have access to some of the money, you're usually going to get the contract open and now you're under contract. You start due diligence and then you start the full capital raise. In earnest, but you have multiple jumping off points. You're not married yet; you're just getting into contract with refundable earnest money. That's where you are trying to get to. That is the end goal. If you find you are always getting stuck here, there is something wrong with the way that you are presenting with the broker where they are lacking confidence that you are going to close. So either you are stuck on imposter syndrome or you need to work on your communication. Fun thing with this is you can practice in the mirror. You can practice with friends. You can practice with family. You can practice with the barista at Starbucks when you order your drink. Speaking confidently and presenting yourself as someone who is ready, able, and willing to close. Whether it's to buy a cup of coffee or to buy a building, you should have an equal amount of confidence that you can do it and be able to portray that when you speak to the people who represent the deal. Again, remember, their job is to find the right buyer. Your job is to be that right buyer. You cannot be a closer of a real estate transaction if you never go under contract. This is hands Down. The most common question that I get from new mentees when they join Multifamily Strategy, hey, I'm getting stuck on proof of funds. What happens as they continue practicing is that objection completely disappears and almost never comes up. So work on that skill. It is completely removable. But if you have been getting stuck there, congratulations, you have your next steps. Continue to follow this series as I'll give you guys more of the most common objections and make sure that you do not get stuck somewhere that you honestly don't need to be stuck in real estate. If you want to join a whole community of people who are doing this together, have live transactions, raise capital together, partner up, learn from others, we have a community on Skool. S-K-O-O-L. It's the Multifamily Strategy Community. The link is below. It is ludicrously inexpensive to join. Check it out. I would love to see you there. I am on there all the time giving even more pieces of advice and answering your questions live there. Thank you for watching. And I'll see you on the next episode in this series.
