Ep287: How to Make Money Work for You, with Real Estate Investor Eng Taing
August 30, 2021
Making the first investment can be a scary decision, but as real estate investor with $150M assets under management and Touzi Capital CEO, Eng Taing tells us, self-doubt leads to missed opportunities.
Born to a poor immigrant family, Eng was raised under harsh living conditions. Even so, he is thankful for his circumstances as it was the catalyst for his pursuit of financial freedom and security. Speaking from experience, Eng shares with us three key factors to consider in making that first investment.
1. Think outside of your scope. Depending on your location, Investing in the Real estate might not be the best move. It pays to really take your time in finding the right avenue for investing and expand the options that you have.
“If you live in a very nice, very expensive area with high price income ratios, it’s probably not the best place to invest,” Eng says, “Think outside your scope, in terms of potentially investing in another part of America.”
2. Always look for a partner. When starting out, Eng puts the emphasis on actively seeking partnerships. Whether it’s a partner who can provide financial stability or someone who can provide the time to make the magic happen behind the scenes, it’s important to make connections and find people who are just as eager to achieve financial freedom as you are.
“There are lots of meetup groups in real estate; people really want to help, it’s a very helpful industry.”
3. Think of scale and cost efficiency when investing. It takes the same amount of work and time to pay for a 5-million-dollar loan and a 300-thousand-dollar loan in the sense that investing in more units reduces property management fees and variable costs.
“I am in the business of ‘scale’” the real estate boss says. He advises entrepreneurs to analyse each decision. “Can I put a scale on something? Can I make it better? Is my 50th time really good, and can I create cost efficiencies across the board?”
Eng is an economist by training, from the Wharton School of Business. He also has experience leading data science and analytics at Apple, Capital One and AT&T. Touzi Capital focuses on high cash flow investments and providing passive income to investors by acquiring and optimizing multifamily, industrial, senior living assets and offering investments in Blockchain and Pre IPO stock, among other things.