He Quit Rentals After 3 Houses—Here’s What He Did Instead, Ep. 790 with Will Harvey

Will Harvey began his real estate career in 2015 as a residential loan officer before transitioning into direct real estate investing. After building a small portfolio of rental houses, he moved toward multifamily investing as both a limited partner and general partner, eventually focusing more on the finance, capital allocation, and deal analysis side of the business. Today, Will leads Harvey Capital and invests across opportunities where he can evaluate risk, structure capital, and identify value.

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Key Takeaways

• Pivot when your investing strategy no longer fits your strengths or goals

• Use scale to remove yourself from day-to-day tenant management

• Look for deals with multiple exit options, especially in build-to-rent communities

• Stay open to overlooked real estate opportunities in both private and public markets

• Focus on asset classes and strategies that match your skill set, not just what others are doing

Topics

From Loan Officer to Real Estate Investor

• Will started in the mortgage business after leaving college and built a strong W-2 income

• He realized he was earning money but not building long-term wealth

Why Will Moved Beyond Single-Family Rentals

• Will built a small portfolio of three houses in Northern Virginia

• He realized he did not enjoy dealing directly with tenants

• Multifamily appealed to him because scale allows investors to hire strong property managers and systems

Learning Multifamily Through Podcasts and Relationships

• Will spent nearly a year listening to podcasts and learning the multifamily space

• He connected with other investors and got involved in his first multifamily deal in 2019

Finding His Lane in Finance and Capital Allocation

• Will learned he preferred spreadsheets, capital structure, and finance over operations

• He began investing more as an LP and using income from other real estate activities to invest into multifamily

Using a Friends and Family Fund

• Will started a small friends and family fund and invested as an LP into several deals

• One example was a 95-unit build-to-rent townhome community with individually parceled units and multiple exit options

Build-to-Rent and Exit Optionality

• Will likes deals where investors can sell the full portfolio or potentially sell individual units

• John and Will discuss why multiple exit options can create flexibility depending on the market

Finding Real Estate Opportunities in Public Markets

• Will explains how real estate opportunities can also exist through publicly traded companies and liquidating trusts

• He shares an example involving JCPenney’s bankruptcy, where real estate assets were separated into a liquidating trust

Why Multifamily Still Stands Out

• Will notes that multifamily remains one of the strongest asset classes he has invested in

• He points to the simple fact that people always need a place to live and sleep

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Round of Insights

Failure that set Will up for success: Buying a property in early 2022 that fell outside his normal buy box. The plan was unclear, the deal was overpaid for, and it eventually cost about $70,000 to exit.

Digital or mobile resource: Claude.

Book recommendation: Berkshire Hathaway Letters to Shareholders by Warren Buffet.

Daily habit: Reading the Bible in the morning to calm his mind, slow down racing thoughts, focus on the day, and keep perspective.

Favorite restaurant in Richmond, VA: Cava.

Next Steps

• Learn more about Harvey Capital here: harvey-capital.com

• Review where your current investing strategy no longer fits your strengths

• Identify whether you prefer operations, finance, capital raising, or deal analysis

• Study multifamily opportunities from both the GP and LP perspective

• Look for investments with strong downside protection and flexible exit options

• Stay open to overlooked real estate opportunities outside the most obvious channels

Closing Call to Action

Thank you for joining us for another great episode! If you’re enjoying the show, please LEAVE A RATING OR REVIEW, and be sure to hit that subscribe button so you don’t miss an episode.