26 units in 10 months and 16 more under contract...

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26 units in 10 months and 16 more under contract...

Chris Levarek
Real Estate Syndicator · Phoenix, AZ · Member since 2018 · 903 posts · 1k+ votes

Sharing our success after a highly successful first year from 0 to 26 units closed in under 10 months. 

In early 2018 my brother @Ashton Levarek and I began educating on investing in real estate through podcasts, webinars, books and meetups. Deciding to invest out of state, we selected Raleigh/Durham, North Carolina and built the team of partners to ensure our success, credit in the beginning to the @David Greene book on "Long Distance Real Estate Investing" and @Brandon Turner "The Book on Rental Property Investing". 

Developing our company "Valkere Investment Group", joined by our wives to round out the team and closing our first deal October 2018 we quickly followed up with an additional 9 units and finally closed on a 13 unit deal July 30th 2019. Taking 3 months hiatus to regroup, refocus and re-prioritize our goals, we are currently under contract for a 16 unit apartment complex with 34 more on the horizon to finish out the year.

Thank you to all those who have contributed in one way or another to our success whether our team partners, Bigger Pockets, conference connections, meetup relationships, books, podcasts and more. Looking forward to much more and my hope is this post inspires another investor to get after those goals no matter how big or small!

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Dennis M.
Rental Property Investor · Erie, PA · Member since 2018 · 6k+ posts · 9k+ votes
6y

Well How were you able to acquire these ? How much of your own cash was involved. ?  How much capital did it take 

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  • Arif Uddin
    Member since 2019 · 6 posts · 1 vote
    6y

    Very encouraging

    1Reply
  • Marvin Tu
    Homeowner · EASTVALE, CA · Member since 2014 · 7 posts · 5 votes
    6y

    What an impressive accomplishment in just the first year ! I am still in the very beginning stage ! 

    1Reply
  • Tonya Slater
    Specialist · Jasper, GA · Member since 2017 · 19 posts · 7 votes
    6y

    Very inspiring! Goes to show just how much.. how far.. and how quick you can go with a support team/partners. 

    1Reply
  • Sara Bollinger
    Member since 2019 · 5 posts · 3 votes
    6y

    A total inspiration for anyone who wants to do long distance real estate - I'm glad you recommended a book to read specifically about that. I currently live in the Middle East for work, but am looking to invest back in the United States and am curious how difficult the management would be. Thanks for sharing!

    1Reply
  • Alan Musilek
    Member since 2018 · 3 posts · 2 votes
    6y

    I want to know how you paid for all this.  The financing is the part I am interested in.  

    1Reply
  • Adam Odom
    Columbia, SC · Member since 2014 · 133 posts · 190 votes
    6y

    I'm thinking @Alex G. is going the same road I am - although i would consider it fairly impressive to get this many units in a short time (sounds like creative financing and some thought went into it) I don't think you can necessarily call it a "success" without some numbers backing it up. I could own 500 units and bleed money every year. Private money, investor equity, tenant vacancies can all eat up profits and it's multiplied on such a large scale. Could you tell us some better numbers on actual returns you're getting?

    4Reply
  • Chris Levarek
    OP
    Real Estate Syndicator · Phoenix, AZ · Member since 2018 · 903 posts · 1k+ votes
    6y

    @Daniel Mendez We'll do a 1st deal deep dive and share. However, our deals our all on my profile.

    1Reply
  • Chris Levarek
    OP
    Real Estate Syndicator · Phoenix, AZ · Member since 2018 · 903 posts · 1k+ votes
    6y

    @Jeff Nishimura Brand and credibility. Relationships first, deal second.

    1Reply
  • Chris Levarek
    OP
    Real Estate Syndicator · Phoenix, AZ · Member since 2018 · 903 posts · 1k+ votes
    6y

    @Jonathan Carter I am still in IT. The benefits of having a W-2 are great for investing. 

    2Reply
  • Chris Levarek
    OP
    Real Estate Syndicator · Phoenix, AZ · Member since 2018 · 903 posts · 1k+ votes
    6y

    @Ross Leavitt  Phoenix is a really hot market! When we were getting started, the competition and inflated price points for entry in Phoenix were barriers. We started at a 50k a door price point in Durham, NC versus the 75k-90k a door, for value-add, I was finding in multifamily in Phoenix at the time. It was simply an easier entry point however, those barriers were only early investor misconceptions. Phoenix is a great place to invest and we are forming a team locally to take advantage of all that the city has to offer.

    I should say now, 75-90k was cheap, now that prices are upwards of 100k a door in the trending areas of Phoenix :) Phoenix is really doing well.

    As far as travel, I've been out to the properties 1 time. We partnered with great team members who share video, pictures and communicate effectively. When this is the case, being on site for these smaller deals is not absolutely necessary. As we scale to larger completes, however it will be necessary to fly out.

    @Ross Leavitt

    0Reply
  • Chris Levarek
    OP
    Real Estate Syndicator · Phoenix, AZ · Member since 2018 · 903 posts · 1k+ votes
    6y

    @JJ GONZALEZ II Who says syndication or real estate is the only passive income? Sky is the limit. We have plans for other businesses, education content, books to be wrote, ideas to be explored, etc. We also are big into the 10X approach presented by Grant Cordone. If you don't set big goals, you achieve moderate results or less than your true potential. Our instincts tell us to aim small, natural human instinct to protect ourselves. Set big goals and achieve higher then you thought possible. 

    Additionally, there are many ways to structure a deal or syndication. We use one, tweak it and move on to get closer the goals we set.

    2Reply
  • Chris Levarek
    OP
    Real Estate Syndicator · Phoenix, AZ · Member since 2018 · 903 posts · 1k+ votes
    6y

    @Sara Bollinger Work on partnerships with the right Team, ie property management. We get video, pictures and ensure communication is a top priority. Grow your team to manage the manager slowly. Intially however a good partnership with a strong property manager is key.

    0Reply
  • JJ GONZALEZ II
    Islip, NY · Member since 2013 · 95 posts · 27 votes
    6y

    Chris thanks for the wonderful reply, can you share with me how much of your own money are in the deals and what your coc and roi have been.

    0Reply
  • Ross Leavitt
    Real Estate Investor · Springfield, OR · Member since 2013 · 94 posts · 35 votes
    6y

    @Chris Levarek thanks for sharing your experience, and that makes perfect sense about why NC was more attractive at first. It's amazing how affordable Phoenix still is for being a hot market. To me, that means it still has room to grow.

    0Reply
  • Ashton Levarek
    Rental Property Investor · Beaverton, OR · Member since 2018 · 88 posts · 155 votes
    6y

    Team work makes the dream work because - "No one is smarter than all of us." -Jim Rohn

    Clear goals are best achieved through Strong Desire and Consistent, Focused Action. 

    Failure, was never an option.

    1Reply
  • David Holt
    Rental Property Investor · Phoenix, AZ · Member since 2019 · 14 posts · 17 votes
    6y

    Awesome results! It seems a lot of study and planning went into this success. Also persistence and hard work. Thanks for the great example and inspiration! It's hard enough to just do the planning and study, but to put it in practice, that's true success. 

    1Reply
  • John Culotta
    Investor · Boise, ID · Member since 2016 · 42 posts · 19 votes
    6y

    @Chris Levarek - Wow, way to go Chris! Very inspiring. The title of your post caught my eye because my wife and I just last week set a goal of 24 - 36 doors by 4th quarter of 2020. In 3 years 100 doors. Big goals!! We have no current portfolio, but over 16yrs experience and starting over.

    We've been focused on building our team and building our brand just like you suggested.

    Are you new to RE investing?

    Any pointers on finding deals, analysing, making offers, and structuring your syndications? I would be grateful.

    Again, Congratulations Rock Star :)

    1Reply
  • Felix Marte
    Member since 2019 · 1 post · 1 vote
    6y

    Congratulations on all your hard work. I plan to get some skin in the game once I return from deployment.  

    1Reply
  • Account Closed
    Investor · FL · Member since 2019 · 76 posts · 37 votes
    6y

    Thank you for your story and great information.  Great Job.

    1Reply
  • Joshua LeMasters
    Rental Property Investor · Portland, OR · Member since 2019 · 10 posts · 6 votes
    6y

    @Chris Levarek Congratulations, hard work pays off. I am planning to buy my first long distance investment this coming summer. Cant wait to see how it unfolds and ready to learn a ton.  

    1Reply
  • Bill Goodland
    Rental Property Investor · Allentown PA, United States · Member since 2016 · 567 posts · 442 votes
    6y

    Congrats on your success @Chris Levarek! How did you build the credibility to raise private capital as a newbie investing out of state? I understand you have a team in place to manage on the ground, but how did you also manage to bring them on your team and go above and beyond with videos and such when you were just starting out? 

    0Reply
  • Andrew S. Hollihan
    Investor · Temecula, CA · Member since 2018 · 5 posts · 2 votes
    6y

    These are goals for me just starting out! Great to see success!

    1Reply
  • Chris Levarek
    OP
    Real Estate Syndicator · Phoenix, AZ · Member since 2018 · 903 posts · 1k+ votes
    6y

    @Bill Goodland Thank you. As credibility is a hard thing to have without experience, leveraging expert partners credibility is a must early on. For example, starting out anyone can consult with an attorney. By doing so, the attorney gives credibility to the new investor when speaking with other partners. Friends, family and co-workers are the easiest starting point for initial investments and when coupled with expert partner information/resources, security and credibility are reinforced. After that, momentum and credibility builds through meetups, blogs, posts and sharing what you are doing.

    Building the Team starts with understanding your areas you need assistance and highlighting those areas. We built an org chart and reviewed partners until we found those who we felt aligned with our goals. Some we got wrong, some we got right and some still need to be found. However, having a good review by another investor goes along way to speed up the find. We leverage Business tools such as Google Drive and Slack to stay in communication which is key. We try and have weekly checkups with property managers and contractors with visual photos or video. Always a better way to communicate and improve the process. Looking pretty heavily into Virtual Assistants and how we can add to the team for more parts of the business as well!

    1Reply
  • Ian WalshBusiness Member
    Lender · Philadelphia, PA · Member since 2016 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    6y

    Congrats!  Are you keeping your leverage low?

    0Reply
  • Ken Chud
    Investor · Reisterstown, MD · Member since 2015 · 56 posts · 20 votes
    6y
    At how many cents on the dollar are you purchasing each door and typical monthly rent. it takes cajones Sir for long distance investing.
    0Reply
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