Today we’d like to introduce you to Edward Weng.
Edward, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
My journey into real estate began when I was eight years old. when I would venture into different apartment buildings with my dad on Saturdays when other kids would be playing in the yard & watching cartoons. I used to think my father was a plumber (him being in the faucet industry, it was easy to make this misconception at a young age). We would do things such as collect the coins from the laundry machine, visit tenants, clean up the common areas, & typical responsibilities of a property owner. This was our typical Saturday.
My dad really loved doing these things, & it wasn’t until I grew older that I realized that instead of doing these “mundane” physically laborious tasks, he was really protecting his American dream. Immigrating from Taiwan in the early 90’s, my father resorted to various jobs & saving each penny with the hopes that one day, he could provide for his family in America – thousands of miles away from Taiwan. Luckily, this lifestyle paid off, & together with his sister, they were able to buy their first apartment building together. My father finally created passive income by working hard for his first downpayment on the investment property.
When my aptitude for real estate investing grew in my collegiate days at USC, I started to realize that my father’s purchases were a combination of great timing & strategic sacrifice. He could have easily indulged with fancy cars & elaborate clothes. But instead, he chose to instill in me that working tirelessly every day & having a single source of income wouldn’t be enough to take care of the family in the lifestyle he envisioned.
My dad was really patient with me. After college, I bounced between various jobs, medical, music, corporate gigs, restaurant – you name it. Heck, I even landed myself into a Verizon wireless commercial in college & made a few bucks in royalties. Nothing stuck. It wasn’t until I found the mentor that would change my life forever that I realized my true calling was right in my back door, just a few blocks from where I grew up in. I needed a career, & by learning from someone who had been dealing with commercial real estate for 20 years, I was willing to start from the very bottom, with the hopes that I could make something of myself.
From creating marketing pieces, to calling 50 people per day inviting them to seminars & scheduling appointments, & helping coordinate 5-6 real estate seminar sessions per month & listening to Vice Presidents from some of the largest real estate funds in all of America, I quickly learned how people built wealth & income streams for more than hundreds of years: sophisticated real estate investing & market timing. Working at TFS Properties, the added value for my clients is our grasp in advanced real estate taxation methods, acquiring property both in CA & out of state, & my brokerage having been through multiple recessions, how to game plan for the future to create sound investment strategies for each investor profile of all capital tiers ($50,000 – $15M+)
Fast forward to today – I am the Senior Associate of TFS Properties, Inc in San Marino, five years in the industry, & I am wrapping up multiple escrows where we will be closing $12 million in real estate transactions for the month. At 28, I am helping people just like my father’s estate plan for their retirement & their families.
We differentiate ourselves from typical brokerages, as we are a full-fledged brokerage that handles in-state & out-of-state investments of all risk profiles & generates higher yields in markets that make sense. To top it all off, we have developed great connections across America to provide real-time insight of each individual market we acquire property in.
There is more to this story – but I am blessed to have found an industry that brings excitement & creativity each & every day!
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Of course not!
We had the opportunity to list a $22M building in the first year & found that marketing this property in my first year as an associate was not an easy task. It was there I realized how many layers of underwriting are required by buyers in order to surgically conduct due diligence in order to make both ends meet. At the end, the building sold for some of the offers we received, but our Seller had a huge defeasance fee to pay if we had sold during our time, so the price we needed was higher.
With a couple of years under my belt, I was presented with an opportunity of a lifetime. A broker from El Paso TX approached our offices looking for a suitable buyer for his development project – a $20M 20 acre parcel right off of a major thoroughfare that was backed by over $75M in tax incentives. We had successfully lined up our capital partners & financing. We even flew out to El Paso multiple times, which at the time was in the midst of regentrification with Whole Foods, Porsche, & other high-end retailers entering the market. Turns out this broker was misrepresenting his position on the property & we were unable to close due to titling issues. I spent about five months of this project & ended up having the deal fall apart. However, I learned so much from this deal about development, construction costs, architects, engineers, leasing, pitching to private equity funds, etc. The information & knowledge learned was priceless!
TFS Properties – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Our company TFS Properties, Inc. focuses on strategic investments & 1031 Exchange advisory for our clients. We are based in the San Gabriel Valley – San Marino, CA – the very city I grew up in. As a CA licensed brokerage, we also focus on out-of-state markets that make sense in today’s world. Every month, we make it a point to travel to various parts of the country to get a thorough understanding as to what is driving each market. From there, we have curated broker relationships, through business contacts & local brokers, & have built a network that encompasses management/developers/ brokers in the top-25 markets.
We do retirement planning & advise our clients on how to take advantage of some of the real estate programs that the Internal Revenue Code has in place, including retirement accounts (401K’s / IRA). Many of my fellow immigrants are unfamiliar with these benefits of owner being property owners. It has been my status quo to teach these investors what my mentors have passed on to me. From there, we build portfolios & counsel our clients on how to achieve maximum results from naturally conservative schools of thought.
As a young buck in this industry, my focus in my early career was to gain as many mentors (10-40+years in the industry( as I could from all over the country. To this day, I am proud to have worked alongside some of the brightest minds in real estate from all facets of real estate!
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
The proudest moment of my career was seeing my Dad see the growth I have made in the last 4 years. The day he acknowledged that he sees the effort & work I’ve put into helping growing our business & being able to be involved in multi-million dollar transactions that we would never have been able to experience personally really warmed his heart. He sees that not only am I happy & passionate about my career, I am helping others achieve their goals towards financial freedom!
Also, my team comprises of many of my friends who saw my growth during this time. I have been able to teach them the fundamentals of real estate & they have joined my team & are my fellow loyal comrades. I hand-picked each member because of having seeing them deal with adversity & today they are also following the same path that has been fruitful & rewarding to me!
Being an only child, at times I could be a real pain to my parents. Today, they are both happy to talk to me & are always waiting to see what other endeavors I can conquer. That is really what truly made me proud to enter this industry!
Pricing:
- $50,000 starter investment in single family homes that yield 8-12% return.
- $1-5M multi-family / commercial property + estate planning, both in state & out of state.
- $5m+ concierge service, custom built portfolio that will match each investor’s criteria – long term & short term.
Contact Info:
- Address: 2060 Huntington Dr. Suite #1
San Marino, CA 91108 - Website: www.tfsproperties.com
- Phone: 626-551-4326
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: instagram.com/tfsproperties
- Facebook: facebook.com/tfsproperties
Image Credit:
Clinton Lu
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