Young, black, and real estate savvy: one entrepreneur’s vision

Dwayne Jordan is a savvy real estate investor with an eye on Newburgh

 

35 year old real estate entrepreneur Dwayne Jordan

This entrepreneur sees opportunity in Newburgh!

Dwayne Jordan is a young man with a mind and heart to create a successful real estate portfolio to secure his future. He  also sees an opportunity to grow neighborhoods by investing in and restoring buildings in areas in Newburgh considered risky by many, which is why he proudly located his office for Yenom Holdings, L.L.C., on Landers street in a building he beautifully restored.

Streets like Lander’s in Newburgh represent areas he sees as rich with cheap real estate and what he considers to be a once in a lifetime buying opportunity. When asked if he minded the title of this article, young, black, and real estate savvy, Dwayne said, “Well, that’s who I am!” True!

Dwayne is also a tall, imposing fellow with the nature of a wise man and the stature of a gentleman. He is as sweet as he is smart. We hope by saying that we do nothing to besmirch his street creds!

A River of Opportunities sat down with him at Blacc Vanilla to learn about the investment appeal of Newburgh.

Question: What does your current portfolio look like?

I hope to grow my company to a few more properties, but right now I have a total of eight multi-families.

How old are you?

I just turned 35, so it’s a lot, I mean I’ve done a lot of it (investing) in such a short period of time, six years. I’ve renovated all of them, so, like I said, it’s a lot!

Where are your properties?

The bulk of my properties in the city of Newburgh are in the Heights and what I call the flats, and close to the edge of town. All over, really.

How did you begin?

I bought a few properties from  River Realty company. They are a regular real estate company, but they also do Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac properties.

I’ve only financed one property. I’m an all cash buyer now, so I only financed that property.

What’s the least expensive property you have purchased.

I think 38k was the cheapest that I ever paid, but that was a few years ago. It would be hard to find that in Newburgh, now.

What are your goals going forward?

Besides overseeing my properties and adding a few more, as well as growing my relationships in the community,  my main goal now is consulting. That’s the thing I most want to do.

For instance, for people coming up from The City  looking to get into the city of Newburgh, I want to show them the ins and outs of renovation:  the different aspects of it; renting, what it takes to renovate and rent a property in the city of Newburgh, and what it takes to have a successful business in the city of Newburgh. I want to show them how to successfully be a landlord and grow a portfolio.

I also want to get speaking engagements, I really like speaking. I’d like to do a lot more of that.

Read our Newburgh spring 2018 real estate report here!

Tell us a little about your background.

I was raised by my great grandparents growing up. Mainly, I was raised by my great grandmother (Mabel) and my grandmother (Nannie Mae), her daughter. My mom was in the picture, but she worked a lot, her name is Tangela. Mabel, my great grandmother was a very, very great, very structured individual. She was super. She was born in 1913.

This was in Staten Island, where I was raised. My grandmother, Mabel’s daughter, was an educator.

Nannie Mae worked for South Beach Psychiatric, and she was a school teacher: to her, an education was important to have. Very, very important to her.

She was big on education, on penmanship, on proper English (she was an English teacher!) and as the grandson of an English teacher, while everybody got to play outside, and I got to go practice penmanship!

One of Dwayne’s holding company’s properties. His company is Yenom Holdings, L.L.C.

 

 

Q. What interests you?

A.  I love design. I love architecture. I love Newburgh because of it’s architecture. The churches here, the brownstones,  you look at the row- houses, and you know they will never be made again, in a million years. You can mimic it but you can never make it again, the cost would be too much!

Q. What do you credit your success to?

A. I credit my success to faith, God makes this happen, my success. I credit that I grew up in a household where Sunday, Sunday morning, you went to church.

I’ve played by everybody’s rules and done what I was supposed to do so now, I feel like I have a seat at the table.

Q. What’s important for the city now?

A. I would like to see uninhabitable shells taken down, the ones that can be rehabilitated lets focus on that. I’d like the city to work as much as possible with people who are trying to renovate buildings, who are putting their money into property.

The police department here is doing a great job. There is a strong police presence.

They are chipping away and it’s becoming a safer place. My office is on Lander, at one point Lander was one of the most dangerous place in Newburgh, but I feel like it’s a different time now.

Q. Are there areas in the city you’d like to see people come into?

A. Well Liberty Street is where everybody is, and I love it, but I like the Heights. I love it up there, when you drive around and see the Victorians with the wrap around porches, they are beautiful.  There are still a lot of little hidden pockets.

I just rented to a guy from Brooklyn on Henry Street in the Heights. I bought the property last summer, and I just rented it to him. He asked me: “Is this the town of Newburgh?” And I’m like, ‘No, this is the city!’ He goes ‘oh this isn’t, this wasn’t the way people depicted it to me. People said I’d be dodging bullets, and it’s not like that at all!’”

Q. What’s the value of Newburgh, to you? 

A. When I go down to New York City it’s a lot of stimulation, almost too much!  I think there are so many people there, at some point it’s going to be the elite, elite but the people who are the infrastructure, the working class they are leaving. And I think this represents an opportunity for Newburgh, the working class can afford to be here!

 

A Yenom before and after grouping. Dwayne both manages construction and does work himself

Find Dwayne on Instagram: @yenom_holdings_llc

DISCLAIMER: This article in no way constitutes investment advice nor recommendations. Real estate investing can be highly speculative and requires a great deal of research, professional advice from licensed realtors, as well as advice from attorneys and financial institutions familiar with real property investments.

A River of Opportunities offers insights for those interested in learning about Newburgh’s commercial real estate, and the makers and creative individuals choosing to live here.