Eric Yao

Eric Yao is the founder of Pacific ProPartners, located in Redondo Beach, Calif. He is a California registered investment adviser specializing in EB-5. Mr. Yao has more than 20 years of professional experience in the real estate industry, mainly in underwriting of equity and debt investments.

Having worked at a real estate development company, an EB-5 regional center, and a migration agency company, Mr. Yao understands investors’ goals and the risks associated with the EB-5 investment process. The firm provides due diligence reports that not only “summarize” the existing business plan, but also provide in-depth analysis and verification of key facts such as the feasibility of capital sources including EB-5 itself, the developer’s true “cash” equity contribution prior to and after the EB-5 raise, site control, and entitlement risk.

The analysis provided by Pacific ProPartners reviews important items that are sensitive to adjudicators, such as job creation, TEA compliance, the “at-risk” requirement, and the sustained investment requirement, along with the risk of not being able to complete the project.

The due diligence report elaborates the section of ownership structure and asset valuation to ensure a good alignment of interest and to mitigate investment risks (loss of capital). The analysis reviews assumptions, methodologies, and conclusions of the appraisal report, and provides a second opinion on market feasibility and property valuation. In the end, the report highlights the strengths and weaknesses and lists out major risk factors such as the lack of other capital sources, and insufficient capacity of the regional center.

Prior to founding Pacific ProPartners, Mr. Yao was the U.S. operations manager for the El Segundo, California-based American Dream Fund (ADF). In this capacity, he was responsible for project screening and due diligence, and participated in deal sourcing, investor recruiting, and asset management. Before joining ADF, Mr. Yao served as the chief investment officer for Columbia Assets Management, Inc., in Reston, Va. Prior to that, he worked as the director of capital markets for Wangard Partners in Milwaukee, Wis., where he conducted market studies and financial analysis, coordinated the financing and equity raise process, and managed the acquisition and disposition process.

Mr. Yao earned his M.B.A. in Real Estate from the University of Wisconsin Madison, an M.A. in Economics from Renmin University of China in Beijing, and an M.S. in Real Estate from the University of Reading, Berkshire in the United Kingdom. He speaks fluent Chinese and some Korean.