Author: Jesse Prince

Preserving the American Dream

By Jesse Prince

In recent years, there has been a surge in institutional investors and real estate investment platforms acquiring single-family homes as an asset class. While this strategy may generate short-term profits for these firms, it threatens to undermine the foundation of the American Dream and erode the wealth-building opportunities for millions of households. In this article, we will explore the potential consequences of institutional investment in single-family homes and explain why HappyNest chooses to stand apart from this trend, focusing on preserving the American Dream and fostering long-term financial stability for all.

 

The Downside Risks of Institutional Investment in Single-Family Homes:

 

  1. Creating a Generation of Renters: By converting single-family homes into rental properties, institutional investors reduce the availability of affordable homes for potential homeowners. This shift in the housing market pushes more people into long-term renting, stripping them of the opportunity to build wealth through homeownership. As a result, wealth inequality widens, and the traditional path to financial stability becomes less accessible for many Americans.
  2. Market Risks and Unintended Consequences: Institutional investment in single-family homes can lead to inflated housing prices and increased market volatility. As these large investors compete for properties, they may drive up prices, making it even more challenging for first-time homebuyers to enter the market. Additionally, the influx of institutional capital can create market dynamics that are susceptible to economic shocks, increasing the risk of another housing crisis.
  3. Neighborhood Stability and Community Impact: As institutional investors buy up single-family homes, neighborhoods can lose their sense of community and stability. Long-term homeowners who have deep roots in the area may be forced to relocate due to rising property values and taxes. This displacement can weaken the social fabric of communities and disrupt the lives of individuals and families who have called these neighborhoods home for years.
  4. Lower-Quality Property Management: With institutional investors managing large portfolios of single-family homes, property management may suffer. The focus on maximizing profits can lead to cost-cutting measures, resulting in deferred maintenance and a decline in the overall quality of the homes. Tenants may experience decreased responsiveness to maintenance requests, and neighborhoods may see a decline in property upkeep, negatively impacting the living experience and property values in the community.
  5. Barriers to Entry for First-Time Homebuyers: As institutional investors acquire single-family homes, they often outbid individual buyers in the market. This competition can create significant barriers to entry for first-time homebuyers, who may struggle to compete with the deep pockets and aggressive tactics of institutional investors. Consequently, many potential homeowners may be priced out of the market, making it more difficult for them to achieve their dream of homeownership.

By recognizing and addressing these additional potential downside risks, we hope to emphasize the importance of responsible real estate investment practices that prioritize the well-being of individuals, families, and communities.

 

HappyNest: A Differentiator in the Real Estate Investment Landscape

 

HappyNest firmly believes in the importance of preserving the single-family home as a cornerstone of the American Dream. We understand the value of homeownership as a wealth-building tool for families and are committed to ensuring that the opportunity remains available for future generations. By consciously choosing not to invest in single-family homes, HappyNest differentiates itself from competitors and demonstrates a commitment to the long-term financial well-being of American households.

Our investment strategy focuses on commercial real estate, which not only provides investors with diversified portfolios but also avoids contributing to the potential negative consequences associated with institutional investments in single-family homes. This approach aligns with our mission to empower individuals and communities to achieve financial stability without sacrificing the American Dream.

 

Join HappyNest in Upholding the American Dream

 

The growing trend of institutional investment in single-family homes poses significant risks to the fabric of American society and the wealth-building opportunities that homeownership has historically provided.

At HappyNest, we take a stand against this trend and pledge to prioritize the long-term financial well-being of American households above short-term profits. By concentrating on commercial real estate and alternative assets, we strive to offer our investors a diversified and responsible investment platform.

By supporting real estate investment platforms like HappyNest, which prioritize commercial real estate over single-family homes, you can be part of the solution to safeguard homeownership opportunities for generations to come.

Together, we have the power to shape the future of real estate investing and create a more equitable and prosperous society for all. Let us stand united in our commitment to uphold the American Dream and protect the single-family home as a cornerstone of financial stability and wealth-building in our nation.

We encourage you to share this article, discuss it with your friends and family, and join the conversation on social media. The more people we can rally to this cause, the more significant the impact we can make in preserving the American Dream for future generations. Stand with HappyNest as we work towards creating a brighter, more secure financial landscape for all.

Author Image

About the Author

Jesse Prince, a combat veteran, CEO of HappyNest, and a seasoned commercial real estate entrepreneur, is passionate about making real estate investing accessible to everyone. With the innovative HappyNest investment app, Jesse empowers investors of all budgets to grow their nest eggs through quality real estate investments. Jesse’s expertise spans various aspects of real estate, including acquisitions, asset and property management, valuation, credit analysis, and real estate securities evaluation.

HappyNest is an alternative way to ‘invest in what you know’

By Jesse Prince

Peter Lynch, a multi-hundred millionaire investor and Fidelity investment manager, has been vocal about his leading investment philosophy: Invest in what you know.

Many investors look up to Warren Buffet. He is widely considered one of the greatest investors of all time.

He echos Lynch’s sentiment: ‘Don’t invest in a business you can’t understand.’

Whether that be drawing on your professional experience or your observations as an every day consumer, understanding what companies offer and how they make their revenue is step one in effectively vetting potential investment opportunities.

You’re probably aware that CVS is a shopping center staple with a national presence. You know that FedEx has had tremendous growth over the last decade; perhaps its role within your own life has grown. With the rise of e-commerce, you probably also can understand why the services of shipping companies like FedEx are becoming ever more central to the functioning of our shape-shifting economy.

Think outside of the stocks

Sure, you could invest in these companies by buying shares of them in the stock market.

Or you could leverage their success, stability, and growth prospects by investing in the critical infrastructure these businesses need to operate.

HappyNest is an alternative investment that fits the bill.

We own a portfolio of commercial and industrial properties and lease them out to the likes of CVS and FedEx.

By buying shares of HappyNest, you become a partial owner of these properties. You’ll also become a partial landlord to these Fortune 500 companies. As a shareholder, you’ll get a slice of the rental income and enjoy the value appreciation of our properties.

Best of all, you start building your personal passive income stream.

HappyNest’s portfolio consists of in-demand properties with tenants you know

It’s not hard to see that the demand for the properties in our portfolio is unlikely to wane anytime soon. 

Industrial shipping property in Fremont, Indiana

Consider our industrial shipping center based in Fremont, Indiana. With the rise of e-commerce, facilities like these are already rapidly appreciating in value, and are projected to see exponential growth. 

fedex shipping center in fremont indiana property card with property specs

And that’s just to support current demand.

But it’s hardly the end of the e-commerce sector’s growth. Current forecasts estimate 30% expansion or more by 2024.

That makes it hard to imagine a property like this will struggle to find tenants or face value depreciation. 

Commercial retail property in East Hampton, MA

Our portfolio also has a commercial retail asset. This 8,775 square foot property is located in East Hampton, Massachusetts.

happynest portfolio property: commericial retail space in east hampton Massachusetts

While the commercial retail sector experienced market volatility in recent years due to the pandemic and social distancing, our property is home to a CVS pharmacy.

Because many pharmacy offerings require in-person consultations, business operations in this sector have fared moderately well through lockdowns. We haven’t experienced any interruptions in rent and don’t expect to with this well-established tenant. CVS still has twelve years left on the active lease.

The long-term nature of the lease, and considering our estimations for this property’s value appreciation during the lease period, the rental rate on this property is on a five-year tiered plan.

Every five years, the rental income will increase. CVS has already accepted these future rent raises as part of the contract. These scheduled rent increases amount to approximately a 10% bump every five years.

Those rent increases will be trickle back to HappyNest shareholders in the form of higher rental yields.

Translation: Revenue growth is already in the signed contracts.

HappyNest likes to keep things simple

Here at HappyNest, we strive to streamline our own operational costs so that value add and revenue can be passed right on to our investors. 

One advantage we have is that though the properties in our portfolio are high value, they generally require one tenant. That means we don’t have to invest time and resources to continuously fill vacancies as an apartment building or shopping complex might require. It also means less fluctuation in dividend payments based on vacancy rates and overhead. 

We prefer to keep things simple and consistent. As we look to add to our portfolio, we consider the property’s long-term prospects, what kind of companies and industries would be interested in that property, and select for the best combination of high value and lowest management overhead possible. 

Less paperwork. More dividends. 

When you invest in HappyNest, you invest in what you know

HappyNest is a strategic approach to ‘invest in what you know.’ It’s thinking outside of the box and finding ways to invest in valuable, stable companies outside of the stock market.

If you agree that e-commerce will probably continue to see healthy growth in coming years, you can probably see why we think industrial shipping centers won’t fall out of fashion. 

If you agree that many pharmacies will continue to require in-person visits for many of their offerings, you’ll probably be on the same page with us regarding reliable demand for properties like ours. 

It’s not too hard to understand that managing one or two tenants per property is easier than managing many. 

Having tenants like FedEx and CVS is also a major advantage, because the outlook for these major corporations over the next few years suggests they will have no problem making rent. We bet most people never considered that they could become the landlords of Fortune 500 companies. But with HappyNest, they absolutely can. 

Grow your yields as we grow our portfolio

As HappyNest’s collective investing base grows, we will use our pooled capital to acquire more properties.

Your principle capital investment is reinvested into more assets, expanding your portfolio, tenants list, and dividend income. Brick by brick, you’ll be steadily building your financial future and making your money work for you.

Warren Buffett, the Oracle of Omaha, says: “If you don’t find a way to make money while you sleep, you will work until you die.”

But as HappyNest’s portfolio grows – and whenever corporate America’s rent comes due – you’ll be sleeping like a baby.

 

How Real Estate Investing Complements Dividend Investing

By Jesse Prince

Investors can gain exposure to real estate by purchasing securities in the public markets such as stocks, bonds, exchange-traded funds, or similar vehicles. One way to do this is by buying Real Estate Investment Trusts, or REITs.

One way to diversify in real estate is to own property. In this article, we’ll take a look at privately held real estate as a way to diversify against some of the market forces that are in play when investing in dividend stocks. Then we’ll dive into how real estate can be an effective diversification tool for investors.

Why own real estate?

First, let’s tackle why one would want to own privately held real estate. In short, this asset class is any real property that isn’t traded on a public exchange of some type. This could be a person’s primary residence, or a residential or commercial investment property. Exposure to this asset class generally takes a lot of capital, given that coming up with down payments for residences is generally on the order of tens of thousands of dollars. Of course, owning a home is a worthwhile investment for many because it allows people to build wealth while giving them a place to live. 

Meanwhile, for commercial properties, the price of entry could be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. However, owning this asset class has certain benefits to the holder. First, and most obviously, is that it provides income to the holder of the asset. Buying an investment property means the holder expects some sort of financial return in the form of rent payments, and secondarily, asset price appreciation. Over time, real estate has proven to be a long-term winner in terms of asset price appreciation. 

Hedge against volatility

One benefit is that privately held real estate doesn’t experience daily price swings like those of publicly traded securities. This is referred to as volatility. While privately-held asset prices do move up or down over time, these swings aren’t visible to the holder of the asset, and only matter when/if it is time to sell. This has certain benefits from the asset holder’s perspective of knowing their property is a store of value, and not seeing daily, sometimes erratic price movements of their assets.

Apart from this lack of volatility in the asset price itself, rent payments are generally received on a monthly basis, meaning that the holder of the real estate receives regular income from their holdings, minus operating and/or financing costs of the asset itself. In this way, holding real estate is a great way to not only generate long-term wealth with asset price appreciation, but regular income as well via rent payments received. Real estate investing is quite similar to dividend investing in this way because the goals of both are the same: Regular income and long-term asset price appreciation.

Benefits of dividend investing

That said, dividend investing has certain benefits as well. Dividend investing, as mentioned, also offers the ability to see asset price appreciation and regular income, the same as real estate investing. This means that holders of dividend stocks and real estate can see similar benefits in terms of compounding wealth over time.

However, while dividend investing can prove to be a rollercoaster during turbulent stock market periods, it also offers a very important liquidity component.

Liquidity is the ability to effectively price and buy or sell an asset, and while real estate has many benefits, liquidity is not one of them. Privately held real estate isn’t priced on an exchange the way a stock is, which means that when an investor wants to buy or sell real estate, it is a very long process. This lengthy process can easily take months, and cost hefty commissions for attorneys, brokers, real estate agents, etc. These implicit and explicit costs are both harmful to returns for the investor, while dividend stocks don’t have any of those issues.

Dividend stocks can generate income and long-term asset price appreciation with the ability to buy and sell any day the stock market is open, with real-time asset pricing. Depending upon one’s goals, this may be important.

Dividend stocks can also be bought with minimal initial capital given that many brokerages offer the ability to invest with as little as $1. That means that investors that don’t have access to tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars of initial capital can begin their investment journey much sooner than those waiting to buy a property.

How they work together

Given that the goals of dividend investing and real estate investing are largely the same – long-term price appreciation and income – it makes sense that they would attract similar types of investors. Both asset classes offer certain benefits over the other. Dividend investing offers liquidity and low initial capital requirements, while real estate offers much lower volatility. Therefore, they can work together harmoniously.

Real estate and dividend investing can offer holders the benefits of both, which together, can mean higher portfolio liquidity and lower overall volatility when assets are split between the two classes. In addition, the two asset classes are priced in very different ways, so real estate may benefit from conditions where dividend stocks may not, and vice versa. This diversifying component can add to the lack of volatility from real estate investing and increased liquidity from owning stocks to create a very favorable overall portfolio mix.

Final thoughts

While investors have many choices in generating income from their capital, we see a mix of dividend investing and real estate investing as quite favorable. The benefits and costs of each asset class can be balanced with an allocation to both, providing important benefits to the asset holder.

Dividend stocks offer long-term capital appreciation and current income, with the prospect of income growth as dividend payments rise. Real estate offers the same potential benefits, but without the volatility of daily asset pricing. Real estate investing and dividend investing, therefore, are two different ways to achieve the same goals.

We see them as complementary – not exclusive.

Everything You Need to Know About Investing in REITs

By Jesse Prince

Looking to hedge your yolos with some investments that would make the likes of Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger proud?

We could all use a nice anchor in our portfolio to hedge against volatility.

REITs have consistently ranked among the highest return investments over time, which is why they have been an investor favorite for decades.

Real estate is a historically high-performing investment

4-of-5-wealthy-from-real-estate---buildings

In fact, over the last 30 years across ten different investment classes, REITs have taken the

#1 spot for highest returns eight times – more than any other asset class. For those years that they didn’t snag the #1 spot, they ranked second or third an additional six times.

This year proved to be a rough one for REITs, closing out at a net loss. But smart money knows that a down year can also be a prime entry point. After all, the goal is to buy low, sell high.

For the capitalist who sees the opportunity where others see obstacles, here’s the 360 on all things REIT.

What is a REIT?

REIT is an acronym for Real Estate Investment Trust.

In a nutshell, they are companies that pool investor capital to invest in real estate or real estate products. The gains on these investments are in turn distributed among shareholders.

REITs were defined and passed by Congress in 1960 under the Cigar Excise Tax Extension.

The idea was to give average Americans – who might not have the means to buy more than one property – the opportunity to take part in and enjoy the fairly consistent gains from real estate investments.

The act outlined requirements to qualify as a REIT under law. REITs are incentivized to meet these conditions through tax advantages. The big fish reward is that the company does not have to pay corporate taxes if they meet REIT qualifications.

REIT Qualifications

No corporation wants to pass up tax breaks. They’d rather hit these key numbers than rendezvous with the IRS come springtime:

75%

Percent of total assets invested in real estate, cash or U.S. treasuries. Also the percent requirement of revenue generated from real estate-related income such as mortgage interest rates, rent on property, or profit on real estate sales

90%

Amount of taxable income that is paid out to shareholders – a nice perk for investors, courtesy of Uncle Sam. HappyNest intends to pay out 100% of its net income to shareholders.

50%

The maximum amount of shares that can be held by 5 people or less. Coupled with this requirement is that within the first year of an REITs formation, it must have at least 100 investors in the pool.

3 Trillion

Estimated total value of assets currently held by REITs.

The Benefits Of Investing In REITs

1. Regular returns

Unlike many investments, investing in REITs typically produces regular income in the form of dividends generated from rent or mortgage interest payments.

2. Investing in REITs is accessible to the average person

While it would be great to be in a financial position to buy numerous properties and collect rent monthly, for most people, that’s simply not financially feasible.

REITs offer the ability to participate in real estate investing without having hundreds of thousands of dollars at the ready. With real estate investment apps like HappyNest, for example, investors can buy in with as little as $10.

3. Liquidity

Compared to traditional real estate investment property, buying into and selling out of most REITs is easier and more streamlined and requires a lot less paperwork.

4. Hands-free management

Ask any landlord and they’ll tell you – managing properties is a lot of work. Between filling vacancies, managing tenant requests and complaints, and building maintenance, a lot of time and money can go into the administrative side of real estate.

REITs handle the operational side of real estate investments, so investors can skip the 3 a.m. calls about plumbing issue emergencies.

REIT Taxonomy

Although it may seem difficult to understand all there is to know about investing in REITs, let’s start with the basic building blocks.

Remember in biology class when your teacher covered taxonomy trees? You know, kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species, etc.?

No? Okay, well, pay attention this time – there’s money on the line.

There are several categories…of categories…of REITs. Very meta, we know.

To make things a bit more digestible, it might help to start with a visualization, then get into the nitty-gritty.

If REITs were a taxonomy hierarchy, they’d look something like this:

REIT Taxonomy

Every REIT has a ‘class,’ ‘order,’ and ‘family’ component.

For example: American Tower Corp is a publicly-traded (class), equity-based (order) REIT that primarily manages telecommunication infrastructure sites (family) around the world.

 

Breaking Down The REIT Taxonomy Hierarchy

Class: Investment acquisition strategy

REITs can be categorized by how they accrue capital for different forms of real estate investing.

They fall into three main categories: Publicly traded, public non-traded, and private.

Publicly traded

Publicly traded REITs trade on stock exchanges like the NYSE. Anyone can buy a slice of a real estate portfolio whenever they want.

Pros Cons
  • High degree of transparency
  • Registered with the SEC
  • Ability to generate a high amount of investment capital quickly
  • Easy to buy and sell (highly liquid)
  • Able to be grouped into ETFs. This means the value of the REIT’s share can be affected by the performance of other REITs and sectors as opposed to solely on the performance of the underlying portfolio.E.g.: If a REIT has a strong year but is grouped with low-performing REITs in ETFs, the REIT’s performance will be adversely impacted.

Public, non-traded

An REIT can be public without being traded on a stock exchange like the NYSE.

HappyNest falls into this category. Though anyone can buy shares of our portfolio of properties, the shares are not listed on the NYSE or anywhere else. We see this as an advantage – and 2020’s bottom lines back us up.

This year, the value of the properties in our portfolio appreciated. But not every sector of the real estate market was quite so lucky.

Had our REIT been publicly traded on exchanges, it’s likely it would have been grouped into other REIT ETFs. Because of this grouping, our returns would have been smaller. It’s the stock market equivalent of “guilty by association.”

Instead, our performance is tied directly to and only influenced by the appreciation of the properties in our portfolio, all of which gained this year.

Pros Cons
  • Registered with the SEC
  • Performance of investment tied to underlying asset value alone – insulated from swings in the market at large
  • Ability to quickly raise capital from investors since anyone can buy in
  • Not bought and sold as quickly (less liquid)
  • Less transparent, harder to tell share value
  • Fees
    *(HappyNest does not charge for broker commission of platform fees)
  • Information provided to the SEC may not be independently verified

Private REITs

Private REITs are not listed on exchanges and not offered to the public. As the name implies – they aren’t open to everyone.

Private REITs are not required to register with nor report to the SEC. More often than not, they are only offered to “accredited” investors, otherwise known as very wealthy people that can take the kinds of financial gambles and hits that would put the rest of us on the streets.

Though private REITs have produced higher returns than publicly traded ones, they come with significant risk. Without an SEC registration, there is little to no oversight on their performance and operations. That makes these kinds of REITs particularly susceptible to fraud.

Management fees can be high and unsubstantiated. Investors must put their full trust into the board of trustees.

Pros Cons
  • Potentially higher returns compared to traded REITs
  • Partially insulated from stock market fluctuations
  • Lack of transparency
  • Must be “accredited” investor
    *net worth of $1 million, not including primary residence or income of $200K+
  • Not registered with the SEC
  • High management fees
  • Can require long holding periods (low liquidity)

Class: Type Of Asset Managed

The ‘class,’ (in our REIT taxonomy hierarchy) is the type of real estate assets managed by that REIT. These primarily fall into two categories:

  • Equity

    An equity ‘class’ REIT owns real estate investment properties. The REIT manages, buys and sells, or collects rent from those properties.

    They generate income and profits via market appreciation of their assets. That could include things like rent payments from properties they own outright or a rent payment that exceeds their own mortgage payment on that property.

    For example: An REIT buys a property for $100,000. Their mortgage payment is $1,500 a month. They are able to rent it out for $2,000 a month. That $500, minus overhead expenses, is profit for the REIT – 90% of which must be paid back to shareholders by law.

  • Mortgage-based

    Mortgage-based REITs provide capital to borrowers much like a bank does. They generated returns via interest paid by the borrower during repayment.

Unlike the ‘order’ (investment acquisition strategy) which is either/or, asset types can be diversified within an REIT.

Two Harbors Investment Corp, for example, engages in both mortgage-backed securities as well as owns a portfolio of properties. Its income is generated by a combination of rent, asset appreciation, and interest paid on mortgages it holds.

Family: Real Estate Sectors

Lastly, within the real estate market, there are sectors.

Examples of real estate sectors include:

  • Residential
  • Commercial
  • Retail
  • Industrial
  • Healthcare facilities
  • Data centers
  • Telecommunications infrastructure

The sector in which a REIT operates can have a huge impact on the bottom line, and the performance of each sector can vary year over year.

A retrospect of 2020 demonstrates just that. As millions of workers across the world were sent to work from home, office buildings and retail storefront worldwide stood empty as leases lapsed and were not renewed.

As a result, office REIT’s year ended with a net loss of almost 20%. Around this time last year, office REIT investors were celebrating 30%+ returns.

Meanwhile, e-commerce demand skyrocketed. In May of this year, even fast shipping MVP Amazon had to remove non-essential items from its 2-day prime delivery schedules.

All that demand meant the need for shipping fulfillment centers, part of the industrial sector, increased significantly. HappyNest has an industrial property in its portfolio, currently leased by shipping logistics company FedEx, that is enjoying this appreciation.

Property-Cards-Gold happynest properties in ints real estate investing portfolios
Properties in HappyNest’s real estate investing portfolio

Choosing The Right REIT For Your Investment

At the end of the day, every investor wants to protect the value of their investment and gain a little alpha along the way.

Though 2020 wasn’t the best year for REITs as a whole, some sectors thrived. Even for those that didn’t, as the old saying goes: Buy low, sell high. The dip in performance could prove to be a great entry point. REITs have historically outperformed stocks and other asset classes consistently.

Successful REIT investments are often the product of accurate predictions of what comes next.

HappyNest remains confident in its portfolio of properties’ ability to weather – and even thrive – in the upcoming year. Are you ready to start investing in REITs?

My Financial Journey: Drew Appelbaum

By Jesse Prince

My name is Drew Applebaum, and I am HappyNest’s Director of Customer Support and Engagement.

Are you someone that has pushed off investing until recently? Was watching your savings account “grow” month after month just enough for you to feel like you were saving for that inevitable rainy day? Or is investing just not your thing? If you nodded, screamed, flinched, or said “yes” under your breath to any of the above, I’m with you.

At heart, I’m a simple man. I don’t need fancy things or seven-figure cars. I’ve never strived to work in finance. The thought of wearing a Patagonia vest to work every day was my nightmare. I simply wanted a decent job where I could have a true work/life balance, with life being the focus of that balance. Yet, what I learned quickly was that simple comes with many perks as well as many struggles. Sure, I don’t care to ride around in a Ferrari (livin’ that Honda dream since 2014).

But I do crave financial freedom. I do not want to be another stereotype where I “live to work” to uphold my life.

So, there I was, all motivated to invest my hard-earned, slow-growing savings account into something great … but what? I think we can all agree if you listen to too many people, you will find yourself terrified to invest but also terrified not to invest. That’s when I learned about HappyNest.

The process was quick, easy, and incredibly user friendly. I had a rough idea of how much I wanted to save within a certain time frame. HappyNest took the guesswork out of it for me. It broke down how much I needed to put in monthly to achieve my goal. The best part – I’m not doing any more or less than I used to with my sluggish savings account, yet my growth is far greater.

Will I become a millionaire overnight? No. The one thing I really appreciate about real estate investing is that it’s a slow and stable burn, regardless of what the rollercoaster we call the Dow Jones is doing. For me, I finally have a piece of mine that there is an investment option out there that is working for me and my goals, even if they are simple.

 

Connect with me on LinkedIn

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My Financial Journey: Jesse Prince, Founder

By Jesse Prince

My name is Jesse Prince, and this is my financial journey.

I often think about the series of events that led me where I am today. 

A vibrant childhood (I am the third of four boys), years of playing team sports, a 6-year-long military career – all formative experiences of being part of something bigger than myself. 

It might sound cliché, but bear with me. I think many of you reading this will be able to relate.

The Prince Family principles

You see, growing up, my parents impressed two things upon us:

  1. Never live outside of your means, and
  2. Do good things. 

When the time came for me to fly the nest, so to speak, I enrolled in the United States Military Academy at West Point, in accordance with these principles. (Go Army!) 

Head shot of HappyNest Founder and CEO, Jesse Prince
Me in my Army days

By serving my country, I could sidestep burdening my family (or my future self, for that matter) with the crushing student debt that burdens so many young Americans today. It was a win-win.

After six years of active duty – including two tours in Iraq – my worldview had fundamentally shifted, to say the least.

Perhaps the biggest challenge of assimilating back into civilian life was that what had once satisfied my desire to “do good” just wasn’t cutting it anymore.

Frankly, I had to do something bigger. Something great. I wanted to have a meaningful impact.

But how?

Lost in combat 

Three things serving in the military will give you: Thick skin, lasting life skills, and a deep love for learning. 

That, and a paycheck every first and fifteenth of the month.

What the military doesn’t give you are the skills needed to manage that paycheck effectively. As far as I can tell, schools aren’t acing the subject either. 

Growing wealth, saving for retirement, building rainy day funds – these might not be the skills you need to survive combat. But you sure as hell need them for a fighting chance at the American Dream. 

When my time in the service was over, I found myself in a position I never thought I’d be in – aimless, unemployed, and defeated. 

Overnight, I went from a Captain in the Army with command over 120 soldiers, to reading rejection letters from employers due to “lack of work experience” in my parents’ basement where I was living.  

The transition was jarring and brutal. 

I had neither income nor resources. The only thing lower than my self esteem at the time was my bank account balance. It was humbling. It was terrifying.

A lot of grit and a little luck

Fast forward a few months (and a handful of rejection letters).

There I was, standing in my parents’ kitchen (staring into my mother’s freshly packed refrigerator, oddly enough), when it struck me: “Speak the language of your profession.” 

Of course. Classic Occam’s razor: The simplest answer is usually the best one. And as expected, something I had learned in the service would indeed guide my life outside of it.

I started with a list of all the things I find joy in. I’ve always had a natural interest in real estate – it seemed like now was as good a time as any to explore that further. 

Step one, of course, would be to learn the language of the real estate industry. I was essentially starting my career anew. There was going to be a learning curve.

I didn’t just want to learn it – I wanted to master it.

I enrolled into graduate school with a Real Estate Finance degree fixed in my crosshairs.

At the same time, I looked for employment in the industry. Every soldier knows you never truly master your craft until you’ve had real combat experience. After what felt like a lifetime in the reserves, I was more than eager to get my boots on the ground. 

Luckily, I stumbled upon a handful of amazing people who helped me do just that.

Building the nest

I’d always known real estate investing was an incredible way to build wealth. However, like most Americans, I didn’t exactly have mountains of cash at the ready to drop on investment properties. 

So I turned where many of us do when we need answers to life’s pressing questions: Google. 

A quick search for how to invest in commercial real estate without having to front large sums of money for a downpayment only brought up a GIF with a menacing Jack-in-the-box popping out holding a sign that said “better luck next time.”

Okay, okay…that didn’t really happen. 

But it may as well have, because all I found were real estate investing platforms with high minimum investment requirements ($1,000 or more) and confusing, technical language. 

Without access to wealth building investment opportunities, how could everyday people build their financial future? 

I thought to myself, “If I, as a professional, am turned off by these platforms, I can only imagine what others are feeling.” 

And then it hit me. I could satisfy my “do-something-great” drive by helping others live within their means while building wealth.

In other words, I could feed two birds with one scone. That’s how HappyNest was born. 

My vision was to create a place where everyone – regardless of the financial hand they’re playing – can access an opportunity to build their wealth and improve their financial literacy.

HappyNest takes flight

I gathered the information and resources needed to help HappyNest take flight. 

My first order of business was lowering the barrier of entry. A thousand dollars is a lot of money for most people – prohibitive even. It certainly was for me at one time. 

Real estate was an investment asset class once reserved for the wealthy. We may not serve caviar or champagne here, but $10 will get you a seat at the table. 

I made $10 the entry point because, at one point in my life, that’s all I had in my bank account. I like to think that if I could afford it on my worst day, others could also buy into the chance to change their financial futures. 

My path hasn’t been the easiest, but I’m confident that I am not alone. I hope HappyNest can help you achieve whatever goals you may have.

And that is my most important mission to date. 

Thank you for taking the time to read my story.

My name is Jesse Prince, and that is my financial journey.

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