Mark Levy:
CLASS OF 1970
Homestead High SchoolClass of 1970
Cupertino, CA
Mark's Story
How did we end up in Colorado?
Well... I wanted out of the Bay Area for at least 10 years before I actually left. I got divorced from Diane and was having a great time dating at the age of 39 - 41. Than I might my wife Linda at a company in Fremont, CA. (Microsensor Technology). We decided to get married but both had reservations about raising kids in silicon valley. She asked me what my dream was .. and I said "to live on 3 or 4 acres backing up to a lake". She replied " that sounds like my parents house in CO""... "and it happens to be For Sale". . Long story short - we got married - I purchased the house sight unseen - quit our jobs in the bay area - started a contract manufacturing company - packed up everything and moved to CO. --- never to look back! ... the only thing I miss about CA is the ocean. In 2000 we had a beautiful daughter, who is now 9 years old.
How'd you get into property management?
In 2000 the stock market burst and we like a lot of people lost a lot of money. Before that I was an aggressive investor, trading options, and what ever.
Linda is a MBA-CPA .. she thought we should get into real estate... so when we moved to CO we bought a duplex and latter a 4-plex. Than we began reading the "Rich Dad -Poor Dad" books and began to understand the concept of cash flow...... time...Expand for more
went by .... we sold the duplex and wanted to 1031 exchange it into "a 4-plex ?" .. we did a lot of research on the best places to own rental property ... looking at Texas, Portland, Denver, Loveland, Rio Rancho, Albuquerque, and even Oklahoma. For a lot of reasons we liked New Mexico primarily because of the cap rates, warm weather, steady growth, high desert, etc. ... so we than 1031 exchanged our duplex in Fort Collins for ... get this a 43 unit apartment complex in Albuquerque, New Mexico. What a leap of faith. That was 7 years ago.... now after selling the 43 unit ... we than when and bought a 52 unit and a 54 unit both closing a week a part. Than we followed that up by putting together an investment group and purchasing a 152 unit(8x 3 story building - 8.23 acres).
That leads us to starting our own property management company. That was a result of piss poor property management companies in Alb. "We can tell you all the ones not to us!" So we started our own, Advantage Property Solutions Inc, (apropertysolution.com) and now employ approx. 10 people, from onsite managers, maintenance, housekeeping, and landscaping. We are now expanding into other services for apartment owners.. that include Apartment Wi-Fi and remote management using IP network cameras.
As you can see its been quite a ride!
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