Getting Started in Multi-Family Investing (My Story)

Prior to purchasing my first home here in Southern California, I liked the idea of investing in real estate and thought my first purchase would be a duplex. The thought of someone else making payments to lower my cost and help pay for something that I would own outright was always very appealing to me.

However, the plan would be delayed by 15 years as I moved to Los Angeles while working diligently to earn a good living and build a financial future for my family in the large screen video display business.

Looking back, a lot transpired over that period including raising two children, extensive business travel, a corporate acquisition along with financial successes and even some less than financial successes.

As time passed, I never lost the desire to invest beyond the more traditional offerings of IRAs, stocks, 529s & mutual funds.  Maybe even more so as the value of my home had tripled over that period. The million-dollar question, literally, was how to get started in something that can be potentially risky that you know nothing about.

Experience has shown that things have a way of working out for those that seek out advice and learn from those more knowledgeable. Luckily, the answer was right there as a respected family member of a friend of mine that was in “real estate” was willing to meet with me. I explained that I was interested in investing in residential income property and would appreciate any advice or referrals. Little did I know that he was the principal of a successful investment brokerage specializing in multi-family investments.

We spent some time discussing how real estate will increase real net worth and provide the money required for your future: be it early retirement or additional income streams that are protected against inflation. An investment plan was then devised through an understanding of the use of leverage, ROI, capital appreciation and the historical performance of specific areas within the Los Angeles Market. Truth be known that these concepts are not difficult to grasp and quite honestly, the numbers speak for themselves. I rarely use the term “no-brainer” but call it what you will.  The numbers were the least intimidating and most logical part of the decision-making process.

Now that I was sold on the concept, there were still all the scary unknowns like tenant issues, maintenance and turnover to get past if I was going to take the plunge.

Experience trumps fear in this case because the brokerage already had a network of professionals to use for any transactions from finance, to escrow and professional property management. The discussion was as simple as, “here is who you are going to use!” and that is exactly what I did.

Within 90 days I had closed on my first four unit income property with below market rents, a vacancy and another tenant that would give notice upon receipt of the first rent increase. Sounds horrible right? Wrong! With any plan you need to have reserves for instances just like this and allow for the time required for management to work towards stabilizing the property.

Fast Forward to less than four years into the future and that four unit was already earning double digit ROI and the initial investment had tripled in value. The rapidly rising equity has been invested towards the acquisition of another multi-family property and the cycle continues. Yes, we are in a strong market, but historical values have shown that in the long term, you will come out much farther ahead than with any other traditional investment.

If you are a homeowner, you already have experience in purchasing real estate. If you like the idea of earning passive income and building real net worth, why not put some of that homeowner’s equity or other assets into the real estate market towards obtaining financial freedom.

Fast forward to today and I have since sold my interest in the video display business and  transitioned full time into a career in real estate.  Now I manage my investments and help others attain their financial goals through real estate investing. Oh, by the way, the respected family member of my friend is now my employer, Welcome to Buckingham Investments!

For More Information, Please Contact:

Jeffrey Isenberg

Investment Consultant

Email: [email protected]

CA BRE Lic# 02059354

Instagram: @realestate_returns

Jeffrey is an experienced investor of multi-family income property and Sales Consultant with Buckingham Investments. Buckingham works with both new and seasoned investors to Learn, Plan & Invest in Real Estate as a key component to wealth building.