Why Multifamily Real Estate?

After years of contributing 15% of my monthly income to mutual funds, I realized that I had saved only enough to take a fixed draw starting at 67 years of age, which would provide about one-half of the income I had while working, but only until I reached 90 years. If I lived longer than 90, or if I wanted to leave a legacy for my children, all those years of saving would not be enough.

So I began to look for investments that would provide ongoing income for my family even if I could not work 60-80 hour weeks. I knew I would not have the time to build and grow a traditional business, but what I did have was those years of savings. While not enough to provide generational wealth, it was enough to allow me to invest in real estate.

I started with single family homes, renting those out, hoping for appreciation to increase my investment. I soon learned, however, that while perhaps better than mutual funds, there was not enough upside to create the kind of wealth I was looking for and that growth in value was largely out of my control.

The most important thing I learned while buying and renting out single family homes was that being able to provide living spaces for families is hugely rewarding, and that clean affordable housing is very much in need.

At this point, I had three concerns: How do I create wealth that outlasts my ability to work as a surgeon? How do I provide quality living spaces for as many people as possible? How do I help other people invest in such a way that their investment provides freedom-generating income?

What I discovered is that multifamily investing is an opportunity to align interests of tenants, communities and investors. A well managed property creates cash flow that covers expenses and provides a monthly return. More importantly, because mutlifamily properties are valued according to cash flow, increasing rents increases value of the property. A $25 - $50 increase in rent per unit can add hundreds of thousands of dollars to the value of the property.

I committed to changing my family’s future by learning everything I could about mutifamily property investing. I learned about various markets, property types, property management strategies, and how to maximize return on rehab investment. I built a team of experience real estate professionals to help me invest responsibly. Through this process my thinking began to shift. I came to understand that growing wealth through real estate is not only for the lucky or uber rich, and that there is a life waiting for my family that is better than the one that depends on trading my time for money. I could take control, make good decisions and finally live by the products of my intelligence, compassion and attention to detail, rather than giving control and profit to others. I began to think that with the right investments I could even go back to practicing medicine on my terms. In short, I quit thinking in terms of limitations, and started thinking in terms of possibilities. I also quit thinking so much about guarding what I had saved, and more about how to share what the future holds as possible.