In 1985 while working in the restaurant I owned with my brother, a customer would come in several times a week dressed in jeans and a sweatshirt covered in paint.  The interior of our restaurant could use a fresh coat of paint so I asked him if he would like to give us a price.  He looked at me and proudly said “I am a real estate investor”.  “I only work on my own properties!” 

He then shared that he buys distressed single family homes in the urban core;  renovates and then rents them out through the Section 8 low income housing program.  My interest peaked and I asked him if he could teach me how to do the same thing.   He said “of course”.  “Meet me at my project house in the morning. You will help renovate the house (for free) and I will teach you how I do what I do.”

I was there the next morning.  I spent the next several weeks fixing things and painting. We finished the house and I saw how he marketed for tenants, how he interacted with the KC Housing Authority and how he got his house rented.  He then told me it was my turn and took me on the next block, found me a house that he said would be a good first one and walked me through the buying process.  A few weeks later I closed and I had my first house.  

It took a few weeks to clean and paint which I did myself.  A week later I had my first Section 8 rental. Rinse and repeat…..

As the years went by I found myself  buying houses throughtout the Kansas City metro area.  I expanded into brokerage, property management, leasing, working on major renovation projects, assembled several renovation crews and acquired hundreds of single family and multifamily homes that we renovated, rented or sold to either investors or owner ocupants. I was buying  fire damaged homes, Land Bank homes, abandoned apartment buildings, foreclosures, buying subject to the existing mortgage, seller financed multi property packages. I did joint ventures with many other investors. I worked with private lenders, banks as their property manager and investors from all over the world buying property here in Kansas City.

In addition, I started a nonprofit (Tikkun-KC, Inc) that provides affordable housing opportunities for low income families and turning renters into homeowners.  

After 40 years I’m ready to pay it forward and teach the next generation the tricks of the trade in order to become a successful real estate investor. 

To set a time to discuss your real estate investment goals or questions go to the Contact Us page and let me know when and what  you would like to discuss.

Looking forward to hearing from you,

Larry Myer