By Anwar Faisal, Boston, MA
The Purchase That Seemed Too Small to Matter
In 1984, I bought my first property. A one-bedroom apartment, 590 square feet, nothing remarkable about it. At the time, it felt like the only move I could afford to make. I had recently finished my master’s degree in communications, and I was working, saving, and trying to figure out what came next. Even at the time, real estate felt out of reach.
I didn’t know it then, but that single apartment would become the foundation for everything I’ve built over the past four decades.
Why I Didn’t Wait for the “Right” Opportunity
A lot of people wait for the perfect first investment. They want the ideal location, the best possible deal, the property that announces itself as a winner from day one. I didn’t have that luxury, and looking back, I’m glad I didn’t.
That 590-square-foot apartment was what I could afford. The kitchen was outdated, the floors and walls clearly worn it, but I only saw opportunity. It was in Greater Boston, near universities where students needed housing. I saw a chance to provide something people needed, and I took it. The decision wasn’t glamorous. It was practical. I spent weeks debating the idea with myself, crunching the numbers, until I ultimately decided to embrace the uncertainty of the decision.
What I’ve learned is that the first move doesn’t have to be perfect. It has to be real. You learn more from owning one modest property than you do from planning the hypothetical purchase of ten.
What That First Property Taught Me
Owning that apartment taught me things no classroom or construction job ever could. I learned how to manage tenants, how to handle maintenance, how to budget for repairs I didn’t see coming. I learned that students made reliable tenants when you treated them with respect and made the rental process clear and simple.
I also learned that real estate isn’t just about the building. It’s about understanding who needs housing, why they need it, and how you can make their lives easier. Students in Boston face a competitive rental market, high costs, and a lot of uncertainty. If you can solve even a small part of that problem, you’re providing real value.
How One Became Thousands
That first apartment gave me the confidence to buy a second. Then a third. Each property taught me something new. I got better at identifying which neighborhoods would stay in demand, which buildings had good bones, and which tenants would take care of the space.
Over time, those individual units added up. Today, I own thousands of units across Greater Boston, many of them near the city’s universities. Every one of them connects back to that first decision in 1984. That uncertain decision created a possibility I couldn’t have imagined at the time.
People sometimes ask how I scaled so quickly. The truth is, I didn’t. It took decades. But I was consistent. I reinvested. I stayed focused on student housing because I understood the need and I knew how to serve that market well.
What I’d Tell Someone Standing Where I Stood in 1984
If you’re waiting for the perfect moment, you’ll wait forever. The market will never be exactly right. You’ll never have every answer. There will always be a reason to delay.
Start with what you can afford. Buy the property that makes sense for where you are right now, not where you hope to be in ten years. Learn from it. Pay attention to what works and what doesn’t. Then do it again.
The first property isn’t supposed to be your legacy. It’s supposed to be your education. Accept the uncertainty— it often obscures the opportunity hiding beneath.
Why the Small Decisions Matter Most
It’s easy to look at a portfolio of thousands of units and think the big moves are what mattered. But the big moves only happened because of the small ones. The decision to buy that first apartment. The choice to reinvest instead of spending everything I made. The discipline to keep going even when progress felt slow.
Real estate rewards patience and repetition. You don’t need one brilliant deal. You need a hundred solid decisions, made over years, each one building on the last. Success does not happen overnight, and taking the time to educate yourself and build off new experiences is what ultimately pays off in the end.
The Foundation Still Holds
Four decades later, I still think about that first apartment. It wasn’t the biggest investment I ever made, and it wasn’t the most profitable, but it was the one that proved to me that I could do this. It gave me a foundation to build on, a lesson in taking action, and a reminder that every journey starts with a single step.
If you’re thinking about your first property, don’t wait for perfection. Start small. Start now. And let that first decision teach you what comes next.