Twenty years into her marriage, Chaya Brandwein was blessed with eight children — and had purchased eight apartments on a teacher’s salary.
She tries to explain the math, how she put aside 2,000 NIS each month until she had a nest egg of 60,00-70,000 NIS, how she’d then mortgage her Jerusalem apartment and use the money to purchase another apartment in the periphery of the country.
She’d use her savings for all the related expenses: lawyers, realtors, and taxes. Then, she’d rent out the new property and use the income to pay off the mortgage.
Every two or three years, she’d start the process again.
And this wasn’t her job. Chaya spent her days working as a social coordinator in a school. She’d plan trips, create workshops, and plan special activities. But by the time she went on maternity leave with her eighth, she had to face an unpleasant truth: she was burnt out and didn’t want to return to work.
Around the same time, people started calling her for advice. They’d heard about the wonder woman whose husband was an avreich, but she’s managed to purchase an apartment for every child long before they married. They wanted to consult with her.
Could this be a new stream of income?
“I knew all about apartments, but I didn’t know anything about business,” she admits. A friend suggested a Temech networking group — and that changed everything. Her real estate consulting business was born.
“Temech taught me how to create a business, charge for my knowledge, price my services, get my name out there, and build an email list.”
She attended networking groups, Temech workshops, and the annual conference.
“I was expecting again. I learned how to take maternity leave when you’re a freelancer, onboard employees, and manage staff.”
Chaya’s business grew rapidly. She currently has seven employees, and her weekly email goes out to 30,000 subscribers.
In August last year, she opened an ancillary business advising people who want to buy a property and build a house on it rather than purchasing something already built. To date, she’s helped over 1,000 people purchase an investment apartment.
She’s been blessed with two more children and now owns 13 apartments of her home. Yet every day, at 4:00 in the afternoon, the internet in her little office shuts off. It’s time for her to head upstairs and dive into the homework-supper-bedtime routine. Chaya has never lost sight of her priorities.
She’s also gone from networking student to leader. “Temech gave me so much — knowledge, community, confidence. I want to give all that back to others.”
#SeedStories 15 #realestate #investment
