In this episode of Investor Mindset, Anton Saburov speaks with Roman Kirzhner, a full-time U.S. real estate investor who has been active in the market since 2005. Roman explains why he moved from single-family properties to multifamily, how he thinks about partnerships and management, and why the best real estate business should eventually feel boring.
What we discuss in this episode
Roman started with single-family houses and later moved into multifamily because single-family investing had become too dependent on his own time. For him, the transition was a move from owning a job toward building a more scalable business.
Multifamily changes the vacancy equation. If one unit is empty in a two-unit property, half of the rental income disappears; in a larger property, several vacancies can represent a much smaller share of total revenue.
Real estate is a relationship business. Roman describes multifamily as a “contact sport” where investors, operators, lenders, property managers and partners all matter. Scaling without a network is extremely difficult.
Roman tells new investors to start with knowledge rather than properties. Learn the market, understand local law, work with experienced people and build a useful skill before trying to join a general partnership.
Landlord and tenant rules vary significantly across the United States. Roman prefers markets where the operating environment is predictable, but he also notes that tenant-friendly states can work if the investor understands subsidies, bureaucracy and the local process.
The quality of the operating team can matter as much as the asset itself. Roman emphasizes trust in general partners and says his own team invests money alongside limited partners to keep “skin in the game.”
Property management is one of the most important relationships in a multifamily deal. Managers control collections, expenses, maintenance and day-to-day tenant operations, so owners need enough operating knowledge to challenge costs and performance when necessary.
Roman sees liquidity as one of real estate’s main disadvantages: investors cannot usually exit a property in a few days. At the same time, he values the greater operational control that real estate can provide compared with passive ownership of public securities.
Underwriting is a numbers game. Roman tells investors not to be discouraged if only two opportunities out of one hundred analyses become real deals. Repetition, mistakes and disciplined filtering are part of the process.
His operating goal is simple: make the business boring. A well-run property should produce predictable reporting and cash flow without constant emergencies. In Roman’s words, the ideal meeting with a property manager is a boring one.