During a real estate course I took around 2009, the lecturer who specialized in the field of practice, said and emphasized that the profit in a real estate transaction is already made at the time of purchase.

And how can you already make a profit at the time of purchase you ask? The answer is simple, you buy a property at a price lower than the market price and preferably at a price that is about 20 to 30 percent lower.

True, it is not easy, to find a property at a price that is about 20 to 30 percent lower, you need to find a property that the seller wants to sell, or some inheritance apartment whose heirs need money, or any other combination that the owner needs money, and of course know the market price.

In June 2012, after I had already purchased 3 apartments for investment, and knew the Krayot area quite well, I focused on certain streets, which were considered good for investment in my eyes and I was looking for good deals.

Indeed, I had the opportunity on one of these streets, I found a small 3-room apartment, about 60 square meters, on Kakal Street in Kiryat Bialik.

After a short negotiation, I bought the apartment for NIS 420,000.

Since I purchased the apartment at a price 20 percent lower than the market price, even before the date of signing the official purchase contract, I advertised the apartment for both rent and buy.

Immediately after the ads were posted, the phones started, and because I live in the central area, an hour and a half drive from Kiryat Bialik, I had a hard time traveling every day to show the apartment to potential buyers, and I started thinking about how to make the process more efficient.

On one occasion, in the middle of the week, when I went to show the apartment to people I had arranged a meeting with, I arrived about half an hour before the meeting time for the apartment.

While I was waiting, I wandered around the building a bit, and I saw a young boy playing ball, we started talking, and then I realized that he lives in the building where the apartment I bought is, and that he is in high school.

I told him that I had bought the apartment on the first floor and that I lived far away. After I received permission from his parents, I offered him that for 500 NIS I would leave him a key to the apartment, and when I text him that there is someone who wants to see the apartment, he will show it to him.

I was not afraid to entrust the key to a stranger for the apartment I had just purchased, because the apartment was empty, and there was nothing there that could be demolished.

So it's true that he could have organized parties there, used it as a warehouse, or anything else that did not justify the trust I had placed in him, but somehow I trusted him.

I gave him a short tour of the apartment, told him where to focus, not to mention the price, and whoever wanted more details should call me.

And so it was, people called me, I asked when it was convenient for them to see the apartment, and I texted the boy the time they were supposed to arrive, and he was waiting for them in the apartment.

A few weeks later, buyers were found, and the apartment bought for NIS 420,000 was sold for NIS 505,000 in a short time.

So true, this is not some crazy exit, and even from that profit I lost a few thousand on betterment tax and attorney's fees, but overall, not bad for a first exit.

The money from the sale of this property was used of course to purchase another property!