In March 2010, after completing a real estate investment course, and with countless instigators and arguments against a real estate investment move (be careful not to be fooled, what will you do when there are no tenants, what will you do when the tenants don’t pay, it is far, why you need it, and more), I started looking for my first investment apartment.

I (and maybe it is a character flaw), when I think something is the right thing to do, I mark a goal and do not stop doing everything possible to achieve it, no matter what people say.

So, I started doing homework, focusing on an area (according to the criteria I learned in the course), reading about it online, and checking apartments according to the price range I set for myself on the websites.

Afterward, I moved to the practical side and started the fieldwork, wandering for hours on the streets of that area I defined as a destination, looking at buildings, population and shopping centers, having conversations with locals, and making dozens of phone calls with apartment owners whose apartments have a sale sign.

After feeling I knew them better and less good streets, and knowing the prices in each neighborhood, I decided to meet with brokers.

I met with five brokers who showed me dozens of apartments.

A meeting with one broker eventually brought me the deal I was wishing for; his name was Gandhi I called him about another apartment I saw on Yad2 website.

I called him and introduced myself as a real estate entrepreneur interested in buying an investment property, he asked what price range I was looking for, and we finally arranged to meet after he said he had some properties to show me.

It happened on Friday, we set for 12 noon in Kiryat Bialik, I did not know that this day would mark the big bang, a milestone, a turning point, or any other bombastic description you choose.

Gandhi showed me 3 properties, the property that just made me butterflies in my stomach and intense excitement (which of course I did not show, to not show excitement for later negotiations), was on Dan Street 17 in Kiryat Bialik, a small apartment (about 50 square meters, and in the land registry even less), on the third floor without an elevator, in a building from the 70s (which did not look so good), and I waited to hear from him the price in the hope that I would not be disappointed.

At the end of the visit to the apartment, I went with Gandhi to his office to talk about other things about the apartment, for example, to understand how much they want to sell, whether they have already bought a house to which they will move and more.

At the end of the meeting, Gandhi told me that the asking price was 300,000 NIS since it was already Friday afternoon, we agreed that I would think about it during Saturday and call him on Sunday.

I was all excited and enthusiastic, I stepped into the car, while driving, I started to think how I convince my wife of this amazing deal, after all, she is my life partner…

You see, the apartment did not have a sign for sale, it did not appear on any website and there was no way to know that the apartment was for sale, which means I would never have found it without Gandhi (while having a conversation with him, I realized the owner's father is a friend of him, and he asked him to find a buyer for the property).

On Sunday morning, I called Gandhi and said that I was willing to purchase the property for NIS 270,000 and that he will check the feasibility and, if so, that he will send me a land registry draft of the apartment and a building file.

It did not take Gandhi much time to call me, the next day he called me and tried to raise the price, I was not flexible and stayed at 270 thousand NIS.

The negotiations lasted several more days, I was not willing (at least towards Gandhi) to raise the price of the offer, in the end, they agreed to my offer and Gandhi asked me to give him the name and phone number of an attorney to give him a draft contract.

Since the only real estate attorney I knew was the attorney who taught me the course, so I approached him, asked him what the fee was, and so the first deal got underway.

I will not tell you that I was not afraid to come and sign the contract (alone), and I did not have any second questions and thoughts, but I convinced myself that this was a small amount and that it would pay off in the long run.

In 2011, it was still possible to leverage up to 90 percent of the cost of the apartment (which today is not possible through the banks), so all I had to bring was only NIS 50,000 (equity), which I had from an education fund that was released.

When I received the keys, I started planning a renovation that would not exceed NIS 30,000, the renovation included paint, pipe replacement, flooring, shower, kitchen cabinet, and toilet.

I still remember me and my wife going to a carpenter in the industrial area of the Krayot (Gandhi recommended the carpenter), who built us a kitchen cabinet for NIS 4,000, including transportation and assembly.

After the apartment was renovated, it took about three weeks for a couple of students to move into the apartment for NIS 1,900 a month for a period of a year and a half.

After a year and ten months, I sold the apartment for NIS 430,000, with which I purchased two more apartments.