A not-so-unique story.

My family didn't have a lot of money and had always lived in apartments. My parents didn't know anything about investing and have never heard of 401K or any of those fancy terms that are all over the internet today. Heck! We didn't have internet (dial-up modem if you know what that is) until my first year of college.

After graduating with a technology degree, I was determined to "upgrade" my family into a house that we can call our own. So, I set out to find the "perfect" house as a first-time home buyer straight out of college while my friends are buying BMW and Mercedes. After looking over 100 homes, I finally found "the one". To my surprise, I really enjoyed looking at houses, don't get tired of it, and learned a ton from the first realtor I met. This experience rooted my obsession with real estate.

Fast forward to climbing the corporate ladder (just like we've all been trained to do), I moved to Austin in 2005 to pursue a bigger corporate dream and went to work for Dell computers. As destiny would have it, Dell sent me to a 3-year ex-pat assignment two weeks after I bought a brand new home. 

"When life gives you a lemon, you make lemonade". We all heard that before. So, I quickly found a trusted realtor to manage my home and turned myself into an "accidental landlord". 

3 years later, I returned to Austin after the ex-pat assignment. To my amazement and delight, the tenant took GREAT care of the home - zero damages. Smiling ear to ear, I thought to myself, what a great way to have free cash flow while someone else pays down the mortgage.  

My real estate passion grew from there. Constantly looking for ways to grow the real estate business by becoming a realtor, finding properties to fix and flip, and finding partners and vendors to scale the business. I even became an Airbnb superhost! I did all these to learn and to fully immerse myself in all aspects of single-family investments.

Then, the stress hit me like all other single-family investors before me. Single-family investment is too much to handle by one person. I reached out to the best people I know in the real estate industry to learn how to scale and become better at it. I listened to their advice and attended real estate conferences to be able to build business relationships. 

The solution is building a team of like-minded people!

Years later, I now own a brokerage firm, became a full-time investor, and serve as Lead Sponsor and Asset Manager for properties in Texas, Kentucky, and Florida. The portfolio grew to 716 units across 3 states.

Is the journey easy? No, of course. Even now, I still deal with a lot of challenges. Over the years, I've learned that success is not a straight line. And, that is OK. A positive mindset will always be the key. In this industry, it is very important to be a risk-taker, a go-getter, and a team player. So, trust yourself, value people, and be awesome in your own way!