RG 128 – Building a BILLION Dollar Real Estate Business from Scratch w/ Keith Wasserman
About Keith
- Keith has built a billion dollar company from scratch.
- Keith has also set up a non-profit
- Keith has recently expanded into China
Nuts and bolts
Keith is the founder of Gelt Inc, he started his company in 2008 and since then he has accumulated over $1 billion in assets ranging from mobile home parks to multifamily homes and infrastructure. Keith has also created a non-profit to help renters to avoid eviction. Keith made his first dollar at school buying sweets wholesale and selling them for a markup. After his bar mitzvah he invested all of his money, and after his 16th birthday he father gave him a loan to buy 1000 leather jackets which was about $10 a jacket, he then sold them on for $80-$100 each.
Keith has built a 600-strong network of investors in his Gelt family, they started by doing small properties but then did a $3.9 million multi-unit property and got addicted. That property cash flowed for 6 years and then was sold for $6 million. He currently owns 75 apartment communities across the US and 1000 mobile home sites. Keith attributes his speed of success to getting into the market at the right time, with good CAP rates, and being in the right place at the right time. He uses a 10-12-year fixed rate debt from Fanny or Freddie to be able to deal with any future storms and he’s only ever done 3 bridge loans. Keith also attributes the speed of his success to being open and honest and easy to contact. He also has good partners who share the same ideals and values. Keith believes in running the properties like a Honda – being decent but not adding so many extras that it would make it unaffordable to most.
Keith has never done property management as it was too labor and time intensive and he wouldn’t have been able to do anything else. Keith is currently looking at new markets for new projects; he’s currently working in China and has started a financial services business called Domuso which is displacing legacy payment providers on properties. He is working to eliminate cashiers cheques and money orders and is currently processing $30million worth of payments each month which is renovating the way rent is paid and managed. Keith is also staying safe from any upcoming recession by not getting caught in any bidding wars, diversifying his assets and buying fewer but bigger deals. He is raising money for a slush fund so he doesn’t become over leveraged.
Top tips
- Most important habit – Walking around the office and talking to everyone each morning.
- Most influential person – His dad and wife
- Most important business tool – His personal relationships – taking brokers to lunch, meeting sellers etc
- Contact – Keith@geltinc.com
