The May Wholesalers & Rehabbers meetup featured speakers who left the corporate life behind to become real estate investors. Our panelists were Freddie Nouri of MetroFit Home Solutions, Dalwin Garcia of Blue Anchor Properties, and Eddie Lopez of EKJ Real Estate. They shared their backgrounds, what their companies are doing in real estate, and their mindset or approach to moving from a corporate job into the real estate investment business.

The panelists said that keys to their success were:

• Building a quality team and the willingness to pay for quality work to get the construction work done right and timely
• Having a strong partner in the business, as everyone brings different skills and experiences to balance out the other
• Developing a good inventory pipeline
• Staying agile and adapting to changing circumstances

Where they were, where they are today

Freddie Nouri was a financial analyst at Vornado Realty Trust when he bought his first rental property. He soon teamed up with his cousin to start buying more multi-family investment properties. When Vornado outsourced the internal audit team, Freddie jumped full time into flipping properties. He also got his real estate license, enabling him to earn additional income. Freddie applies his accounting background to his deal analysis and budgeting, credits his real estate license with helping him bridge the transition, and cites his cousin—who was experienced in real estate investing—as a valuable mentor to this day.

Dalwin Garcia was introduced to real estate through his banking and sales career and since 2015, has been fixing and flipping houses, and wholesaling properties that don’t fit Blue Anchor’s buying criteria. Although he was nervous about leaving the 9 to 5 world for real estate full time, he learned quickly that creating a pipeline of housing inventory and keeping it filled was central to feeling more secure about his business. He had not originally set out to be a fix & flip investor but after everything shut down last year because of the pandemic, he shifted his focus.

Eddie Lopez realized his ascent up the corporate ladder was going too slowly. He and his brother Kyle, his partner at EKJ, decided they could make more money and control their futures through real estate. Eddie quit his job before they had their first deal, determined to make it into the millionaire’s club as they read articles and watched videos as part of their diligent research into investing. They also operate a construction company to handle all the renovations on their investment properties. For them, leaving job security behind to pursue their own business has been well worth it.

Glen and Paul Gallucci added that always bringing inventory into the pipeline and networking—meeting with lenders, sellers, and real estate professionals—are part of the real estate investment success formula.

Here’s another factor for your investment success: private funding from Peak Private Lending, NJ’s go-to private lenders for fix & flip investments. Our terms are flexible, our funding process is fast, and we work with investors and wholesalers at all stages of their business and experience. Contact us at 201-836-7300 or schedule a deal analysis from Glen and Paul before you purchase your fix & flip property.