025: Building a $100 Million Multifamily Portfolio with Brian Burke

Brian Burke is the President and CEO of Praxis Capital, a vertically integrated real estate private equity investment firm. Praxis currently manages a portfolio of active funds for the acquisition of multifamily and single-family residential assets nationwide.

Over the course of a real estate investment career that began in 1989, the funds Brian manages have acquired over 700 properties including over 1,000 multifamily units using the assistance of proprietary software that he wrote himself.  Acquired asset classes include single family homes, self-storage, mixed-use and large apartment complexes in multiple states.  Praxis’ current portfolio exceeds $100 million of real estate assets under management.

As a recognized expert Brian has been a frequent speaker at real estate forums and conferences; including the Opal Family Office & Private Wealth Management Forum, the Keiretsu Real Estate Forum and the Institute for Private Investors. He has also served as co-host and real estate expert on the Fox News Radio show, “The Best of Investing”.

Brian is married and has lived in Northern California for over 30 years. An avid aviation enthusiast, he is a licensed instrument-rated airplane and helicopter pilot.

Lightning Round

  1. What was your biggest hurdle getting started in real estate investing, and how did you overcome it? No money. Brian took out cash advances on his credit cards, although he doesn’t recommend that strategy. With this cash, Brian bought real estate. He also overcame that problem by getting investors with his proven track record from the deals he did with his credit card cash advances.
  2. Do you have a personal habit that contributes to your success? Brian is committed to the business.
  1. Do you have a favorite online resource? BiggerPockets
  2. What book would you recommend to the listeners and why? Real Leaders Don’t Do PowerPoint: How to Sell Yourself and Your Ideas by Christopher Witt. This book talks about presenting your story, which is an important skill in this business.
  3. If you were to give advice to your 20 year old self, what would it be? Lessons on how not to screw up. No matter what, you will mess stuff up when you’re starting to invest in real estate.

 

 Key Points

  1. Not trading your time for dollars at a day job.
  2. Flipping 100 houses a year becomes difficult to scale larger, so transition to multifamily.
  3. The difference in raising money through a fund vs. raising money for each individual deal.
  4. Buying foreclosure properties.
  5. The difficulty of doing a 10313 exchange with multiple owners.
  6. Studying demographics and economics of real estate markets.
  7. Anyone trying to sell you something is automatically disqualified an expert (haha!).

 

Brian’s Reasons Why

Brian loves the real estate game. He eats, breaths and lives real estate investing.  He enjoys talking and producing results for investors.

Future Goals

Brian is looking to expand his portfolio to 10,000 – 20,000 unitswithin 4-5 years through multifamily and ramping up Praxis Capital’s acquisitions platform.

Resources

Real Leaders Don’t Do PowerPoint: How to Sell Yourself and Your Ideas by Christopher Witt

The Milkins Institutes Best Performing Cities Index

The Urban Land Institute

Visit Audible for a free trail, and a free audio book download.

Contact Brian

www.praxcap.com