After attending college in Ocean City, Maryland, Matt Nusbaum decided to move back home to Raleigh, North Carolina, carrying an idea in the back of his mind that he would one day work for Cisco Systems. His family happily worked there and the company offered excellent compensation packages — it was his dream job. Rachel, his wife, made the move as well and they both found jobs working in sales, but not at Cisco.
Less than two years later Matt and Rachel managed to get their feet in the door and they went to work for Cisco. Sticking with sales, their time with Cisco has taken them from Raleigh to Florida to Annapolis and supported them with generous compensation and supportive benefits. Yet, a question still lingered for Matt: How do wealthy people become wealthy?
“I always wanted to build financial freedom. When I first started working in the corporate world, I was researching in the evenings to learn how wealthy people become wealthy,” Matt Nusbaum shared. “I kept stumbling on real estate. So after three months of research on what the best avenue is, I stuck to real estate. I’d say it was probably another six to 12 months before we ever did something. But I ultimately realized I wanted to get into larger apartment investing.”
Economies of scale weren’t the only thing that attracted Matt to investing in multifamily syndications. Rachel’s father had some less-than-positive experiences with single-family rental properties and college students, leaving Rachel with a sour taste for real estate investing. After some conversation about the type of asset class and the benefits of passive investing, the Nusbaum family was on board to proceed with multifamily syndications.
After adding five syndications to their portfolio, Matt Nusbaum felt it was time to expand his understanding of the passive investment space, which he largely acquired from his consumption of podcasts, books, and digital networking. He committed to attend the Best Ever Conference in 2019.
“You can do a lot behind a computer. You can do a lot sitting at your desk, making phone calls, and sending emails, but nothing will replace meeting in person and building those relationships. Ultimately, real estate is a relationship business,” Matt said. “It comes down to who you want to partner with, and especially if you’re looking to get into larger commercial or apartment properties, you need a team around you. You can’t do it on your own— you’ve got to go out there and find the partnerships, and it starts with building a relationship.”
Matt’s network flourished unexpectedly both during and after the conference as he met many other like-minded individuals and found both learning and potential partnership opportunities.
“A lot of times, I found that a conversation may have felt like nothing at the time. Then a year later, they’re reaching out to me, the same conversation or the same person I spoke with. And they’re like, ‘Hey, we have this great opportunity. We’d love to partner with you.’ And one thing leads to another, and then the next thing you know, you’re a general partner on a large apartment deal,” Matt reflected. “And it’s all because you invested in yourself to fly out to Denver and you were committed to meeting and networking with other peers in the industry.”
Passive investments continue to be the way forward for Matt as he plans for financial independence. Just as he selected a corporate job with the overall well-being of himself and his family in mind, he continues to plan his investment portfolio to set him up for equal success and the freedom to choose what is best for his family at any point in time.
“Financial independence just comes down to having freedom: freedom of choices and freedom of time, and to spend the days the way we see fit. Whether that’s working in our corporate jobs and continuing to build and grow our professional career that way, or whether it’s starting a charity or finding some other avenue that we’re extremely passionate about that we want to work towards,” Matt shared. “It could even mean just spending more time with our kids and our family and doing whatever best suits our family and lifestyle.”
About the Author:
Leslie Chunta is a marketing consultant with nearly 15 years of experience in creating dynamic marketing programs and building brands for startups to enterprise organizations. She has worked agency- and client-side with high-growth companies that include Silicon Valley Bank, JPMorgan Chase, SailPoint, EMC, Spanning Cloud Apps, Ashcroft Capital, Netspend, and Universal Studios. www.thelabcollective.com