Diary of an Apartment Investor · Brian Briscoe

EXP - Expanding Your Knowledge With Jay Balekar

April 11, 2025·27 min·2 clips

A cybersecurity consultant quit his travel job after reading Rich Dad Poor Dad and bought his first distressed eight-unit property in Cincinnati.

Host Brian Briscoe interviews Jay Balekar, who holds a computer engineering background and spent 10 years at Deloitte doing cybersecurity consulting, a travel-heavy job that gave him time to read real estate investing books. His father invested in real estate in India and retired on cashflow, which Balekar cites as the inspiration to pursue the same model in the United States. He read Rich Dad Poor Dad, Cashflow Quadrant, Ken McElroy's books, and BigPockets content before starting in late 2019. His first deal was an eight-unit in Cincinnati, bought severely distressed; COVID halted his travel and let him manage the gut renovation. He raised rents from $500 to $1,100, did two cash-out refinances, and grew to 40 units using only family capital. In 2021, he realized his own capital would cap deal size and moved into joint ventures in the 20-60 unit range, completing 12-15 JV deals before starting to syndicate in 2023. He now has about seven or eight syndications. His three-partner team splits roles: Balekar handles acquisitions and asset management, DJ runs property management operations, and Andy Crawford handles investor relations and capital raising. The team brought 550 units in-house after finding third-party managers misaligned — third-party managers earn 8-10% of revenue and have little financial incentive to hold out for higher rents, signing leases at 10% below market to fill vacancies sooner. In-house management dropped their expense ratio from 50-55% to 41-42%. Balekar was asked to characterize the recent wave of syndicator failures: he estimates 60% market forces and 40% operator choices, distinguishing between inexperienced sponsors who took on 200-unit first deals and experienced operators hit by insurance doubling, property tax increases, and bridge debt at floating rates now requiring doubled mortgage payments. His passive investing advice: evaluate the operator at 90% weight and deal numbers at 10%. He plans to focus on multifamily exclusively, grow deal size to 50-100+ units, and expand the investor base, which he says has been underbuilt while he was focused on operations. He closes by advising new investors to start small, spend two years educating before buying, and recognize that current market headwinds mean mistakes no longer get bailed out by appreciation.

As heard by us

A sober look at sponsor risk, market pressure, and who deserves investor trust.

Jay's route into apartment investing comes across as lived-in, not polished for effect: a decade in cybersecurity consulting, a lot of travel, and a steady habit of reading real estate books until he had the capital to move.

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Why you'd press play

When you want a calmer read on why apartment deals go sideways.

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