Brian H. Murray - Crushing It in Apartments and Commercial Real Estate: How a Small Investor Can Make It Big

SACKETS HARBOR PRESS

215 Washington Street, Suite 001

Watertown, New York 13601

Copyright 2017 by Brian H. Murray

ISBN: 9780998381626

eISBN: 978-0-9983816-0-2

All rights reserved.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016920040

Developmental editor: Maria Gagliano

Copy editor: Jennifer Eck

Interior designer: Pauline Neuwirth, Neuwirth & Associates, Inc.

Cover designer: Zoe Norvell

THIS PUBLICATION CONTAINS THE opinions and ideas of its author. It is intended to provide helpful and informative material on the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the author is not engaged in rendering professional services in the book. If the reader requires personal assistance or advice, a competent professional should be consulted.

The author specifically disclaims any responsibility for any liability, loss, or risk, personal or otherwise, which is incurred as a consequence, directly or indirectly, of the use and application of any of the contents of this book.

The book provides general information that is intended, but not guaranteed, to be correct and up-to-date. The information is not presented as a source of tax or legal advice. You should not rely on statements or representations made within the book or by any externally referenced sources. If you need tax or legal advice upon which you intend to rely in the course of your business or legal affairs, consult a competent, independent accountant or attorney.

The contents of this book should not be taken as financial advice. It should not be taken as an endorsement or recommendation of any particular company or individual, and no responsibility can be taken for inaccuracies, omissions, or errors. The information presented is not to be considered investment advice. The reader should consult a registered investment adviser or registered dealer prior to making any investment decision.

The author does not assume any responsibility for actions or non-actions taken by people who have read this book, and no one shall be entitled to a claim for detrimental reliance based upon any information provided or expressed herein. Your use of any information provided here does not constitute any type of contractual relationship between yourself and the provider of this information. The author hereby disclaims all responsibility and liability for all use of any information provided in this book.

Although effort has been expended to ensure that meaningful resources are referenced in these pages, the author does not endorse, guarantee, or warranty the accuracy, reliability, or thoroughness of any referenced information, product, or service. Reference to other sources of information does not constitute a referral, endorsement, or recommendation of any product or service. The existence of any particular reference is simply intended to imply potential interest to the reader.

To the memory of Johnny Einbeck, who possessed a rare combination of toughness, integrity, work ethic, pride, and compassion. When they made John, they broke the mold.

The best investment on Earth is earth.

LOUIS GLICKMAN

The fastest way to succeed is to look as if youre playing by somebody elses rules, while quietly playing by your own.

MICHAEL KORDA

B ACK IN 2007, I took a leap of faith and bought my first commercial investment property. Seven years later, I found myself walking up onstage at the American Business Awards in Chicago to accept the Gold Stevie Award for National Real Estate Company of the Year. It seemed surreal.

The acknowledgment was humbling and I was sincerely grateful for the recognition. At the same time, my accomplishments had piqued a lot of peoples interest. Everybody was asking the same question: How did you do it? I remember one reporter shook his head and commented that I was amassing properties like he collects socks in his underwear drawer. Whats your secret? he asked.

The question was not a new one for me. Yet for a long time I didnt know how to respond to this seemingly simple query, and it bothered me that I struggled with the answer. Its not that I was trying to hide anything. I just didnt know what to say. At times, figuring out how to grow my nascent business seemed like trying to solve a giant Rubiks Cube.

Why? For one thing, I certainly never felt like I had it all figured out. I was just an ordinary investor trying to find my way... somebody who was making plenty of mistakes and trying not to screw things up. And for the most part I still am! Yet my properties were thriving while others around me headed to foreclosure.

So when confronted with the inevitable whats your secret? I usually just mumbled something about how important it is to reinvest back into your properties (a boring response, by the way, that is pretty much guaranteed to be met with a blank look of disappointment). People want to hear something a lot more exciting. They figure there has to be some kind of trick.

In the months after receiving the Gold Stevie Award, I gave the question more thought. I found that it proved far more enlightening to stop looking in the mirror and instead take a harder look at what other commercial investors were doing.

Closely examining my investment approach in contrast with other methods allowed me to deconstruct my strategies and pinpoint what led to my success. This helped me realize the extent to which my investment philosophies, while not particularly complicated, were surprisingly unique.

In retrospect, I realized how great of a blessing in disguise it was that I didnt have any commercial real estate experience when I started out. Because Ive since discovered that many of the traditional ways of doing things in the industry are ripe for improvement.

My inexperience gave me the freedom to figure out how to do things the right way how to run my real estate investments like an actual business, and not some bloated, passive source of easy money. I had too much at stake to do it any other way.

By ignoring convention and staying laser-focused on making the best possible business decisions, I exploited a variety of weaknesses that are pervasive in the industry. And in doing so, I was able to achieve extraordinary growth over a relatively short period of time.

Ironically, while my methods had been highly effective by any measure, they were also fairly straightforward. I didnt have any secrets... or at least they didnt seem like secrets to me. My way of doing things had just evolved over time as my business grew.

I hadnt taken any real estate courses, and I didnt have a mentor. I read lots of books and latched onto ideas that made sense. I relied heavily on intuition, embraced sound business principles, and made the best decisions I couldeven when they seemed to go counter to mainstream. I continuously tried different things and learned from my mistakes.

From all of this emerged a set of principles that allowed me to achieve success with my investments. In the chapters that follow, I reveal each of the strategies that were the most important keys to my success.

I should acknowledge that my strategies for investing in commercial real estate are by no means the only ways to do things. And theyre certainly not going to be the best approaches for everyone. But they worked for me, and they can be used as a roadmap for you to follow, if you so choose.