Crossing the Border Into Multifamily Investing with Zorya Belanger

Managing a 144 unit apartment complex in Texas does not mean Zorya Belanger needs to live in Texas.

From Edmonton, she handles asset management by working closely with the property manager, reviewing the operation through regular calls, and traveling to the property when needed. During a year of renovations, someone from the ownership team visited the property about once a month.

Zorya and her husband started investing in 2013 while both were working as engineers. They hired property management from the beginning because they wanted to focus their time on raising capital and building their portfolio instead of learning every part of being a landlord.

That approach changed after their longtime property manager sold the company. With both Zorya and her husband now working in real estate full time, they took over management of their Edmonton area portfolio themselves.

The conversation also gets into their move into US multifamily. Zorya explains how joining an experienced general partnership team made the transition easier because other partners already brought acquisition experience, legal and accounting relationships, and US lending connections.

Key topics and takeaways

• Why Zorya and her husband hired property management from their first two houses
• What caused them to take over management of their Edmonton portfolio
• Why they are now looking at existing value add properties instead of more new construction
• How Zorya joined the ownership team of a 144 unit Houston property
• How she manages the asset from Edmonton
• How the three tier limited partnership structure works at a high level
• Why mixing Canadian and US investors created more administrative work
• Why buying back time is now a priority for Zorya and her husband