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MAREI Master Class: Getting Started in New Construction with Lionel Finley

Every investor in our group is chasing the same thing right now: a deal that actually pencils out. Existing homes are priced high, the good rehabs get scooped up fast, and competition for solid rentals is fierce. So more and more of us are asking a question we never used to ask — what if we built the deal instead of chasing it?

Why New Construction Investing Is Becoming a Real Option

New construction isn’t just for the big developers anymore. For the everyday mom-and-pop investor — that’s us — it’s becoming a realistic path to create exactly the product today’s buyers and tenants want, instead of competing over yesterday’s inventory. The reward is real: the right property that rents or sells at a premium, built the way you wanted it from the ground up.

Where It Gets Tricky

Building isn’t just buying the dirt and hiring a contractor. One misstep in choosing the land, budgeting, permitting, financing, or managing the project can erase your profit before the foundation is poured. That’s exactly why we brought in someone who’s actually doing it — so you can learn the process from a builder, not a brochure.

Meet Your Instructor: Lionel Finley

Lionel Finley is a licensed general contractor, entrepreneur, Realtor, and experienced real estate investor. He’ll walk you through the whole process — from finding the right lot to deciding whether it’s a build-to-sell or a build-to-rent — and share the tips, the traps, and the numbers behind getting started in new construction investing.

What You'll Learn

By the end of the day you will have a good understanding of

Why new construction is becoming more attractive in today’s market
How to evaluate markets and identify high-demand locations
How to choose between raw land and teardown opportunities
When the numbers actually make sense to build to rent, and to build for resale.
Construction financing options, including construction loans, hard money, private money, and creative financing
How to build realistic budgets that include both hard and soft costs
How to assemble the right construction team
The stages of construction from permitting through final finishes
How to control timelines and reduce costly delays
Ways to add value with smart features and energy-efficient design
Exit strategies for building to sell, long-term rentals, mid-term rentals, and short-term rentals
How investors scale from single-family projects to larger developments

Whether you’re brand new to construction or simply wondering whether it’s the right next step for your investing business, you’ll leave with a practical roadmap for getting started in new construction.

Class is Saturday, July 25, 8:00 AM–2:00 PM Central, live on Zoom.

Members: $47 early bird through Thursday, July 23 · $67 after Non-members: $97 early bird through Thursday, July 23 · $127 after

MAREI August Meeting: Get Fundable Kansas City with Merrill Chandler

Join Mid-America Association of Real Estate Investors (MAREI) on Tuesday, August 11, 2026 at the DoubleTree by Hilton, Overland Park for a special one-night event: Get Fundable Kansas City with nationally recognized funding expert Merrill Chandler. If you’re a real estate investor or business owner in the Kansas City area, this is the night to learn how banks really decide who gets funded — and how to get them saying yes.

If you’ve ever been denied, stuck, or capped out, it’s not because you can’t get approved — it’s because your borrower profile isn’t structured the right way yet. Merrill Chandler has spent 30+ years cracking exactly that code.

How Much Faster Could You Build Wealth If…

Real estate investing is one of the best ways to build wealth. But imagine how much faster you could grow if you:

Didn’t have to answer to private or hard money lenders
Didn’t carry the drag of points and 10–18% interest
Didn’t pay for appraisals and lending fees on every purchase
Didn’t have to explain why you needed the money now

That’s what access to unsecured business lines of credit makes possible — capital ready the day you find the deal.

Meet Merrill Chandler

By request, MAREI has invited Merrill Chandler — co-founder of Lexington Law Firm, founder of CreditSense and GetFundable — to Kansas City for one night. Merrill will reveal how real estate investors and business owners can access multiple six figures in unsecured business credit lines and loans at Prime +1% from top-tier institutional banks, without relying on tax returns, financial statements, or collateral. His framework aligns your personal and business borrower profiles, entity structure, and banking behaviors with the exact internal criteria banks use to approve — or deny — applications.

What You'll Learn

What “fundability” really means — and why it’s not credit repair
How FICO® scoring actually works — the 40+ data points banks weigh
How to optimize your personal and business credit profiles
The investor mistakes that get you denied — and how to avoid them
How to access unsecured business credit lines at Prime +1%
Bank underwriting basics: what approves you vs. what flags you
The Velocity of Money — putting the same capital to work again and again
Real-world funding strategy for real estate and small business

Who Should Attend This meeting is built for Kansa

This meeting is built for Kansas City real estate investors and business owners at every stage:

Flippers and rehabbers who want to fund earnest money and rehabs on multiple projects and BRRRR without stacking up closing costs all year
Buy-and-hold investors who want to move on a deal today instead of waiting weeks on an underwriter
Small-business owners who want to draw for inventory, payroll, equipment, or expansion and pay only for what they use
Private lenders who want to access capital at Prime +1% and put it to work at a spread

Come learn how to Get Fundable, keep capital ready, and grow your real estate business at the speed of cash. As always, the MAREI Meeting is free for Members and 1st Time Guests. All others are invited to join for all the meetings, discounts, the member library and more. Or pay a $35 Guest Fee.