From Engineering to Multifamily Real Estate: Building Wealth With the Numbers

Zorya Belanger (00:00)
first of all, what I take from the engineering side is my confidence in doing difficult things and my ability to solve problems and all that is very transferable to real estate.

Michelle Tack (00:08)
Mm-hmm.

Zorya Belanger (00:15)
⁓ The other thing that engineers are really good at doing is identifying and mitigating risk. And so we’re pretty methodical about that. We’re always running worst case scenarios in our spreadsheets, thinking about what ifs, what this could happen, and then preparing for it. So we are, yeah, it’s really all about the numbers. And that’s what originally even got us interested in real estate because we’re just like, okay, this makes sense. It’s just about the math.

Michelle Tack (00:21)
Yep.

Mm-hmm.

Yep.

Zorya Belanger (00:44)
If

you can leave emotion out of it when you’re making ⁓ acquisition decisions and whether to go ahead with the property or not, if you can just leave it to the numbers, it makes it easier.

Michelle Tack (02:27)
Welcome to Real Estate Pros podcast. My name is Michelle Tack. I am your host and I’d like to introduce Zorya Belanger who is on the podcast here as well. Zorya, just say hi to folks and we’ll get into it.

Zorya Belanger (02:42)
Hi, really nice to be here with you.

Michelle Tack (02:44)
Thank you Zorya. I’m impressed by a couple things that you’re doing. One is that you are based in Canada, but you have done a lot of transactions in the United States and that’s a real strength that you have to offer as well as construction. So we want to unpack that a little bit, but before we do.

Can you for the person that may not come from your world, describe your business, what you specialize in and what markets you serve?

Zorya Belanger (04:08)
Sure, so we specialize in, I’m the principal co-founder of Bre properties and we specialize in multifamily investing and both in Canada and the US. And on the Canadian side, we’ve done a lot of brand new construction multifamily, small multifamily. And then in the US, we are focused on value add large multifamily. And yes, yeah.

Michelle Tack (04:33)
That’s great. In terms of the markets, we’re talking about two massive countries, right? But are there areas of both of those, you know, the United States and Canada that you really focus in on that you found that you’ve already invested in, but are looking to move to other physical areas or is

Can you talk to that a little bit?

Zorya Belanger (04:53)
Absolutely. So we’re based in Edmonton and when we started investing, this was the place to be and it still is one of the best markets in Canada. We’ve seen a lot of investment in here from other parts of the country. So we’re continuing to ⁓ buy in the Edmonton area. And then in the U.S., our properties are in Texas, specifically in the Houston area. So ⁓

Michelle Tack (05:12)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Zorya Belanger (05:20)
Yeah, that is one market that we like as well. It’s not easy to get into a brand new market. if when we continue growing, like I personally want to stay, definitely stay in Texas ⁓ and ideally in the Houston area, because then you just know the market better and you don’t have to relearn everything every

Michelle Tack (05:23)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. That’s right.

Zorya Belanger (05:41)
time. So yeah, those are the two markets that we are focused on and are continuing to grow in.

Michelle Tack (05:46)
And, you know, the Houstonians obviously have a specific brand to them that they’re very proud about. you know, coming in and although you’re living in Canada and, know, Canadian, that you can bring that flare that you really understand the market in Houston is great. ⁓ Do you find that that you know, they may at first go, well, but they the fact that you know that area.

and what you’ve done really must be an asset to you.

Zorya Belanger (06:14)
Yeah, well, when you’re going in a different market like that, you really have to depend on your team a lot. so like having the good property management in place has ⁓ been one of the important parts in what’s driven us and ⁓ made it a successful project.

Michelle Tack (06:19)
Mm-hmm. Yep.

Yep,

makes sense. You share with me that you’re an engineer by education, which fits into a question that or a statement I have in the question is that you seem extremely methodical and precise with the numbers as we had talked in preparation for this podcast, ⁓ which is super important. Obviously to, but the detail level. Can you describe in your whole operation?

you know, those details around how you’re running the business smoothly.

Zorya Belanger (07:37)
Absolutely. My husband and are actually both engineers or former engineers who now do this full time ⁓ growing a real estate business. I think a lot of, first of all, what I take from the engineering side is my confidence in doing difficult things and my ability to solve problems and all that is very transferable to real estate.

Michelle Tack (07:56)
Mm-hmm.

Zorya Belanger (08:03)
⁓ The other thing that engineers are really good at doing is identifying and mitigating risk. And so we’re pretty methodical about that. We’re always running worst case scenarios in our spreadsheets, thinking about what ifs, what this could happen, and then preparing for it. So we are, yeah, it’s really all about the numbers. And that’s what originally even got us interested in real estate because we’re just like, okay, this makes sense. It’s just about the math.

Michelle Tack (08:09)
Yep.

Mm-hmm.

Yep.

Zorya Belanger (08:33)
If

you can leave emotion out of it when you’re making ⁓ acquisition decisions and whether to go ahead with the property or not, if you can just leave it to the numbers, it makes it easier.

So yeah, that approach has really helped us not to get into trouble, I’d say, because there can be like in this market right now, there’s a lot of fear of missing out. Like people think they need to get in because everybody else is doing it.

Michelle Tack (08:44)
Yep. Yeah, that’s.

Right.

Mm-hmm.

Zorya Belanger (09:00)
We just read the numbers and we’re like, no, it doesn’t make any sense.

Michelle Tack (09:03)
Yeah,

yeah, that I mean, that’s great in turn. It relates to a question that I have. You know every operator that I know has run into a situation where something went sideways, right? ⁓ But ⁓ was able to pivot recognized or maybe didn’t recognize, but was able to pivot and resolve the situation. Can you talk to an experience like that? You’ve had.

over the last year or so in terms of, you know, maybe what you learned or what you had learned previously to implement the ability to pivot in a difficult situation.

Zorya Belanger (09:41)
Yeah, like I would say in a difficult situation that we had, let’s say, like when we, one of our big projects in Houston was 144 unit property and we renovated about two thirds of the units. We renovated the exterior and, but then we had a, still had quite a big vacancy. And so to getting that occupancy up was quite difficult.

Michelle Tack (09:57)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Zorya Belanger (10:07)
So we were at 60 % probably during the renovation period. And ⁓ I believe that what I’ve provided to the team is from just the way I am, my attention to detail, and just trying to figure out what’s going on. And so there I can just break it all apart and look at all aspects to see what we need to improve. And so we…

Michelle Tack (10:12)
Mm-hmm. Mm hmm.

Zorya Belanger (10:36)
We did that eventually. Yeah, we got the occupancy up. kind of figured out the solution was, was honestly just more marketing, but the right type of marketing. and then, yeah, in a few months we got it all likely up to about 95%. So yeah.

Michelle Tack (10:40)
⁓ Wow, that’s huge. That’s huge.

I mean, you’ve got a few, I mean, I know you have an engineering mindset and don’t have a lot of ups and downs, I can tell from your personality, you’re very consistent, which is great for business. But that’s a massive accomplishment. Well done.

I rarely hear that ⁓ in terms of. ⁓ You know opportunities we talked about the opportunities that you’re looking at. We talked a little bit earlier about your network, how you’re using that. ⁓ Can you talk about that? Cause you’re also doing some things of service for others and maybe that’s going your network too. Do you mind sharing that with us?

Zorya Belanger (12:14)
Sure, like building your network is so important. So we’ve been building our database, our newsletter list for many, many years. It all started with friends and family, friends from university, coworkers that we had worked with and just kept building that as we meet people. I’m always out there in the real estate communities. I host a couple of meetups every month. I get to meet new people that way. I just take any opportunity to speak.

on a panel or at a conference and yeah, I just continue building that network. And ⁓ I’ve also been able to, I guess, take what I’ve learned and help others that that’s so like, I’ll say that that started off by like people wanting to have get my help in doing multifamily as well. And so I would start helping people one on one.

Michelle Tack (12:58)
That’s awesome.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Zorya Belanger (13:09)
but I found that it wasn’t really like the best use of either of our time. So I created more of a program that I’ll that like a mentorship program for multifamily investing and so helping guiding people through the whole process step by step and how they can get started in commercial real estate and commercial financing.

Michelle Tack (13:13)
Yep.

That’s awesome. And so what’s next for you? Is it going into Alberta and finding some other opportunities? it help me understand what that looks like after we get off the call? Where you’re what you’re doing.

Zorya Belanger (13:42)
Yeah. So we have like a pretty big portfolio here in the Edmonton area in Alberta and then in, in Texas. we’ve been trying to, ⁓ basically look, we’re looking for our next big project to do. Like we’ve been really operating for the last three years without, ⁓ purchasing. ⁓ because that’s kind of just the type of, ⁓ market it’s been here. ⁓ it’s not really been a good time to buy. ⁓ and then we were involved in, you know, the renovations in Texas.

Michelle Tack (13:56)
Mm-hmm.

Zorya Belanger (14:12)
property. So, but now we see opportunity coming is writtenly now in our market here. It’s a very much a seller’s market, but you know, it can’t stay like that forever. So we’re preparing ourselves to get take advantage of when things shift and we already see like inklings of that happening with, you

Michelle Tack (14:29)
Yep.

Zorya Belanger (14:32)
know, just, you know, in every country, this changes in immigration. So, you know, renter softening and

Michelle Tack (14:36)
Yep. Yep.

Zorya Belanger (14:39)
So we’re seeing that as an indication that like things are gonna, it’s maybe more buying opportunities are coming. So we’re just right now preparing our capital, connecting with people and just getting ready for those opportunities.

Michelle Tack (14:54)
So Zorya you provided some great information. You have a clear vision of what you’re doing and you’ve got the building ⁓ cornerstones, which is fantastic with that engineering mind. For those that would love to get in touch with you, can you please give them your contact information and spell out anything that you’d like to provide?

Zorya Belanger (15:14)
Sure, we can start with our website is BREI.CA and then my email is very similar. It’s You can also find me on Instagram at just my name Z-O-R-Y-A B-E-L-A-N-G-E-R.

Michelle Tack (15:37)
Great. Thank you very much for that. You’ve been in a short period of time have really provided some great insight and specific information. So I really enjoyed and I believe the folks listening to this podcast will enjoy. ⁓

the information you provided. ⁓ Thank you again for being with us today and for those that are listening that enjoyed and found value out of the podcast, please continue to tune in. For those that haven’t subscribed yet, please do and continued success. Thank you for your time.

Zorya Belanger (16:11)
Thank you.