Real estate investing can be tricky. You need to be well-versed in the market, ready to confront unpredicted challenges, and able to secure loans from a trustworthy lender who has your best interests at heart.
One way to make the latter happen is by choosing someone who has been in your shoes, found success, and can be much more than a lender – he can actually be a mentor. Rick Bresler, Founder and CEO of Katy Capital Investments might just be that man.
With his wife Tere, their son Omid, his son-in-law Johnny, Tere’s sisters Rosy and Rebe, and brother Frank all working at the office, Rick says it’s unusually harmonious. “Our family business is a true blessing, and we work together incredibly well. The trust factor is what is paramount, and this gives us a big advantage over the competition, because everyone has each other’s back.” Rick says his wife and her sisters are the prayer warriors of the family, something that surely contributes to the positive work environment.
Bresler himself seeks out every opportunity to learn the Word, strengthen his faith, and encourage others. He is a member of FIRE (Faith in Real Estate) and eagerly tells others about how the group has inspired him to walk in faith through his business. He speaks highly of his experiences with the Good Success Mastermind, founded by Tom Olsen, himself a successful real estate investor. The group’s belief is that at the heart of any success lies four tenets: charity, stewardship, community, and growth – paralleling Christian principles that make up work ethic and personal responsibility. “This is a network of the best real estate people across the country,” Bresler says.
Rick and Volunteers at the Garden of Grace Church building massive tomato enclosures. All food grown goes to the KCM food pantry
He is also part of a group called Sonrisers, which meets every Friday morning via Zoom, delving first into the Word, then features some of the best guest speakers from across the country who share both their faith and their real estate expertise. Rick and Tere, and his company host their own local investment group called the Houston BRRRR Community – Buy, Renovate, Rent, Refinance, Repeat – a networking cadre that promotes faith-based real estate investing. (Free to the public – meets the last Wednesday evening of the month at 6:30 PM at Quest Trust Company)
While Rick is heavily involved in those organizations and vocal about his religious beliefs, Bresler applies a gentle hand when meeting and getting to know potential clients. His favorite way to express and share his faith while in the workplace is to give clients and those in his network his favorite book about Christian-based leadership, The Business Card by Dr. Steve O. Steff. And of course, the company applies Christian principles to their daily business practices.
“Clients can expect us to be a trustworthy lender with their best interests at heart,” Bresler says. “We simply won’t let a borrower set themselves up for failure. Additionally, what other real estate guru’s try to sell, we provide for free to our borrower / investors – education, resources, and what we’ve learned from our own vast investing experience.”
What does this look like to loan-seekers looking to invest in a fix-and-flip, new construction project, or long-term and vacation rentals? Bresler explains, “We provide an investor with our Deal Analyzer. It helps an investor quickly determine the profitability of a project. If they plan on keeping the property as a rental, the investor can quickly see what the financing looks like, and what the ROI (rate of return), Equity Multiplier, and IRR looks like on an after tax basis. In addition, we have an in-house appraiser that confirms the value of each property at no cost to the borrower, and we have the experience to determine if the rehab budgets are about right based on the as-is condition of the property.”
Rick and Tere with pasture Calvin and the winning team: main sponsor of the “One Team, One Fight” charity basketball tournament – fundraiser for back-to-school supplies for the Sunny Side community
That experience comes from over 70 fix-and-flips Bresler invested in on his own between 1985 and 2008, and their own rental portfolio and new construction experience. “Many lenders are ‘all hat and no cattle’, i.e., they don’t have any real experience. We are truly investors lending to investors,” he says.
With a degree in chemical engineering and a 4 decade-long career in the oil and gas industry, Bresler says he’s always been good with numbers. In 1985, he began flipping houses as a side hustle, and during the 2009 recession when lending dried up, he added private money lending to investors to his repertoire. In 2017, he turned his real estate expertise and lending savvy into a full-time business that combined both.
“I now refer to myself as a financial engineer,” says Bresler. “My team and I are the second set of eyes helping our clients analyze their deals. After all, we want to help them, but not help them over a cliff.”
Outside of the office, Rick, Tere, the family, and the rest of the staff make an impact on their community. Rick is a board member and helps raise funds for Katy Response, a nonprofit that restores homes for victims of natural disasters. Katy Capital also supports the 1 TEAM 1 FIGHT ministry run by pasture Calvin Miller in the Sunnyside area by sponsoring their annual basketball tournament for Back to School supplies, and their various community campaigns throughout the year. Katy Capital helps support other organizations like the Boaz House, Hope City, Restoration Church, Chair the Love, Neighborhood Kidz, and Frontier missions.
Rick says Tere is the impetus to their community involvement. “My wife has an audacious giving goal every year. She has the biggest giving heart of anyone I know. A new goal we have for 2024 is to be more bold in our faith. Our company motto is, ‘Work more – to make more – to give more.’” We want to be good stewards of HIS resources.
