Summary: The goal of our Investor Spotlight series is to provide you with stories of real physicians and professionals who are at different points in their journey to financial freedom through real estate investing. At Semi-Retired MD, we love to share many perspectives and learn from others’ experiences along the way. Today’s spotlight is on Hussein, a medical device engineer, and his wife Seo, a surgeon. Their first investment purchase was a big one—a 16-unit property across the country. Hussein credits his investment confidence to the knowledge and community support he gained from Zero to Freedom and Empire Builders.
Hussein has always had an interest in real estate and an entrepreneurial mindset. As a medical device engineer, he was passionate about his career, but not totally fulfilled. A couple of years ago, with Hussein having a two-plus hour commute each day and his wife, Seo, a busy surgeon expecting their second child, he knew he needed a change. He decided to make a major life pivot and pursue financial freedom through real estate investing. We caught up with Hussein and his wife Seo when they were in North Carolina visiting their 16-unit property for the first time.
How did you become interested in achieving financial freedom through real estate investing in the first place?
Hussein: I’ve always been interested in real estate. For me, enrolling in the Zero to Freedom course was a way to finally answer the question, “Is this something that is right for me?” Just answering that question was valuable. I tried reading books and looking up information online about investing in real estate. Going through the course really provided me with the confidence and motivation to decide it was the right path. The sense of community in Zero to Freedom and Empire Builders motivates you to take action.
What is your “why” behind this? Was there a triggering event that led you to start your journey of achieving financial freedom through real estate investing?
Hussein: I’ve been thinking about real estate since Seo was in training. I even bought J.Scotts first books, but it didn’t go anywhere – I was never sure what the next step was. We decided to take the course to decide “Is real estate for us or not?” We’d been thinking about this for such a long time. We decided to do it! If it helped us answer this question, then the class would have served its purpose.
Seo: Even though I make decent money, I was really surprised by how little there is left after the mortgage, kids’ payments and all these things. That’s when we really started thinking about financial freedom. How do we reach that? How do we get there? Hussein loved engineering and had been doing it for over a decade but he always had an entrepreneurial mindset. He knew something was missing but couldn’t identify why he wasn’t fulfilled. I was pregnant with our second baby and he decided it was time for a change. He quit his job to consider the options. It was a good time to think of “What’s next?” and we saw Zero to Freedom listed as a recommended real estate course.
You hear about people doing real estate investment, but you feel like “It’s not for us.” I always thought that those investing in real estate must have a huge chunk of money saved up, and we never really had that. We decided to take the course. If it didn’t work, we knew we had tried everything and we had an answer to our question. This course showed us a way that we could do it.
Once you decided to pursue financial freedom through real estate investing, how did you get started?
Hussein: We were hesitant, and each step that we took felt like a big deal. It took a while to figure out which market to focus on. Building a team of any value also took time.
We tried about 5 other markets before we considered North Carolina, things just clicked there. I had tried other markets and understood how to find and build a team better by then. Plus, we have family on that side of the country and I had some familiarity with the area so it made sense.
As we kept putting in offers, we realized that most of the time the seller isn’t even going to accept your offer. Making an offer is no big deal. When your offer is accepted and you go through due diligence and don’t like it, you have the option to walk away.
What was your first real estate investing purchase?
We started looking at duplexes and quadplexes, but always felt that maybe we should aim for bigger. By the time the 16-unit came around, we were comfortable with it but only because we had gone through all of the mentioned steps. We made offers, went through due diligence on smaller properties and built relationships with the team along the way.
Seo: Each small step was challenging because we’ve always been conservative people. Each little step we took allowed us to take that next step with confidence. Hussein told me from the get-go, “Don’t let me get stuck in analysis paralysis.” The time you spend analyzing a deal is the same whether it’s a small property or a big property. Hussein and I both felt like “Let’s just go for the big one because it makes sense.”
The financing didn’t work out as smoothly as we had hoped. We made the bold move to take out a hard money loan on our first property. We can’t wait to share our experience with the Empire Builders community! I remember telling Hussein at some point, if a surgeon and an engineer can’t do this and succeed somewhat, who can do it? I felt like we just had to do it, and there’s no such thing as failing, you learn. Those changes in mindset really helped me to keep going.
What type of properties make up your real estate investing portfolio (SFH, multifamily, etc)? Were they in state/out of state?
Hussein: We started looking in our local market of California because that just felt more comfortable and then realized there’s just no way to really cash flow. The entry price point is really high. Then we looked at places that were easily accessible from where we lived. Las Vegas was one of those, but it just never clicked. As I kept looking at different markets, at some point, you realize that it makes no difference whether it’s Las Vegas, Florida, or North Carolina. It’s the same level of accessibility. The importance is what is the best market for us to invest in, in terms of market robustness and opportunity.
You’re not tied down to your original location, when you invest remotely, which is liberating. If we ever considered leaving California, that investment property would be one additional concern that would make you feel tied to the area. Now, I could be out of the country, and it doesn’t make a difference. I can manage our real estate portfolio from anywhere. It’s also the technology – there is so much information available online now. You’ve got aerial views, pictures, and access to the county data. I feel like I know more about my North Carolina property than I ever did about my primary home in California. We bought that house without a blink. When I think about it, we took a lot more risk buying our primary home than this property.
How are you balancing gaining financial freedom through your real estate investing with your career(s) and your clinical work?
Hussein: For us, we’re lucky because this whole gaining financial freedom through real estate thing is fitting really well with our interests and our life right now. I left my regular job because of the commute and started consulting. After the course, I realized what a great fit consulting was to getting Real Estate Professional Status (REPS). I can completely control the number of hours that I work as a consultant. I can modulate the hours that I work outside of real estate and make sure I qualify for REPS.
Seo: I’ve got a full-time job as a surgeon where two or three days out of the week I’m operating. I do not have the time to be actively involved in real estate investing. It’s crucial for me to have a partner that can manage the details. Hussein finds the leads, does the due diligence, works with the teams, then we review the information together. We make every major decision together. We work on the big picture planning together. It’s the perfect pairing.
Hussein: Seo is taking more of an interest in interior design and she has more of an eye for that and has always been able to create little spaces that feel right for the purpose in the tiny apartments we’ve lived in. Seo and I are lucky to be in this situation where the work needed aligns so well with our interests and the bandwidth we each have. If we didn’t have that however, you’d just need to invest a bit more in building your team. If you get comfortable trusting your team when they tell you it’s a good deal, then it’s definitely doable for working physicians with very limited time.
Can you tell us about any difficulties or failures you’ve had in real estate investing? Any big learning points you’ve taken from these experiences that you can share with us?
Hussein: We learn every day that the problems that you think you have are really bigger in your head than they are in reality. I keep realizing that over and over again. I make a big deal out of something and really it’s trivial in the grand scheme of things. In large part it’s because I often feel like it has to be perfect.
We felt the same way when Seo was finishing her medical training. We were wondering “Where do we go next?” Our decision needed to be the perfect choice. Then, finally we were just like “Let’s just pick a spot that feels like the best fit right now. If it doesn’t work out, we’ll make a change.” Just having that mindset changed everything for us in terms of how big of a decision that was. That’s how it is with real estate investing—it never has to be a final decision. You just make the best decision with the information you have. If it doesn’t work out, then you make a change, and do something different next time.
Seo: For me, the biggest challenge for us was when we were trying to get our loan for our North Carolina property. We relied completely on a broker to get us the loan we needed, but he couldn’t deliver. We were out-of-state and first-time real estate investors so that made it harder. But, we also didn’t take matters into our own hands soon enough. Instead of relying on the broker, we started thinking about what else we could do. We became very creative and found the financial solutions that made this happen. I remember a thread from Kenji on Empire Builders where he said “When someone tells you ‘No,” turn that into ‘How can we.” That was the biggest lesson for us. You’ve got to find alternative ways if you want to make something happen.
Hussein: The broker finally found us a loan, but it was terrible terms, and I remember sharing the terms on Empire Builders. I was at the point where I didn’t think we had a choice. I thought we were going to just have to accept the terms. Kenji replied with a really short but powerful message. He said, “I don’t think you should settle.” It was such a small thing he said, but it really changed the way I was thinking about it and the action that I took.
Seo: Yes, Kenji’s comment alone was worth the cost of Zero to Freedom!
How about any big successes? Anything you learned from these good outcomes that you can share that might help other real estate investors?
Hussein: One thing that I’ve learned during this process is how valuable the course and the Empire Builders community is. For me, the confidence that the community provides has so much value. You often have a question and spend significant time looking for an answer without getting one that is satisfactory. Then you reach out to the community, and have 10 people respond. That feedback and reassurance is what is so valuable. It’s a range of investors, and each has their area of expertise developed through their background. You have lawyers and people in finance. Everybody has that little nugget of information that is really valuable when put together. We’re all celebrating each other.
Seo: When we bought our 16-unit property, the first thing I said to Hussein was “When are you going to post about it on Empire Builders?”
Where are you now in your real estate investing journey? What are your goals for where you want to be in 1 year, 5 years or 10 years from now?
Hussein: The 16-unit deal is a BRRRR deal, so we should be able to pull all of the cash out of that deal, and it should be healthily cashflowing by the end of this year. The second goal is that we want to have at least one short-term rental by the end of this year – which will be our second year doing real estate investing.
My 3-year goal is to really get us to a point where we can say we’re financially free through real estate investing. Where if we don’t do anything more, we would have the financial independence for Seo to not have to work any more, neither of us working any more and we’d be OK. It wouldn’t be a lavish lifestyle, but we’d be OK. It wouldn’t feel like we needed to work anymore.
The long-term goal is a million dollars of annual cash flow in 10 years—that’s the goal we’re setting for ourselves. If you take the right steps, I have no doubts that’s achievable.
How has real estate investing affected your lives?
Hussein: It’s become a lot more fun too. I loved my job, when I was working, but it was never this fun. Right now there’s a lot of excitement, even as a family, because it’s like you’re building something. You have this goal and vision of where you’re going, and you’re working towards it. Seo and I are spending a lot more quality time together. You’re doing something where you’re building something for yourself, so it’s very different from doing it for a company.
Seo: When Hussein was in his engineering job, and he was continuing to grow, it was good, but it didn’t have this excitement of “We’ll build an empire. The whole family can be a part of the business we build.” We will have that financial freedom to feel like we’re not tied down in any way to any place. It’s just amazing.
Have you found a way to creatively fund your real estate portfolio and achieve financial freedom? Join the conversation! Follow our Semi-Retired MD Facebook page and join our Physicians (for MDs or DOs only) or Professionals group! Also, if you missed it, check out our prior Investor Spotlight.
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