ORLANDO, Fla. – This week on “Black Men Sundays,” host Corie Murray interviews Sayam Ibrahim, a seasoned real estate investor with knowledge to share about navigating the current market.
Offering practical advice for those looking to enter the real estate market in 2025, Ibrahim noted that many of his own successful transactions were made directly with property owners, avoiding the complications of realtors.
“We bought over 1,400 properties and over 95% of the properties we bought were off-market, direct to owner,” he said. “(...) One of the best strategies is targeting retiring landlords, right? So, people that own properties for 20, 30, 40, 50 years, and maybe they’re tired, maybe they just want to move on, maybe they’re done with the management or they had a bad recent eviction and we’re able to lock in a great deal because someone who bought a house for $30,000, you know, 30 years ago, I can offer them $80,000, $100,000 today, but it’s worth $200,000 after I put some love into it.”
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Turning to creative financing strategies, Ibrahim said one of his favorites is something called “the seller holdback,” an approach that he claims allows investors to enter the market with little to no money out of pocket.
“If a landlord owned a property for 30 years, he probably has the house pretty close to paid off by now, right? They’ve been collecting rent, they got their money back, so we’ll go and get a bank to give 80% of that purchase price — not a regular bank, but what’s called a DSCR bank, an investor bank — and they’ll give 80% of the purchase price. And then I’ll go back to that landlord and ask him, ‘Hey, can you finance my down payment for the next five years? I’ll get you most of your money today, we can defer some of your taxes, but let me get in and you finance my down payment and I’ll pay you from the rent — since you understand this property very well — that comes in every month.’”
Hear the interview and more in Season 6, Episode 15 of “Black Men Sundays.”
Black Men Sundays talks about building generational wealth. Check out every episode in the media player below.