We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Daa’iyah Cooper. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Daa’iyah below.

Daa’iyah, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s start with a story that highlights an important way in which your brand diverges from the industry standard.

A significant part of what I do currently is providing mentorship and guidance to people who are new to real estate investing or trying to scale up their real estate portfolio. As opposed to being broad and marketing to all comers, I unapologetically focus on offering my services to black women professionals and business owners. That stems from my passion for creating a safe space for these women to learn about an industry that traditionally has not had them as a central focus. I also remember how I felt sometimes shy and out of my element when I would seek out real estate investing resources when I first became a landlord back in 2015 and even when I was looking to buy my first home in 2010. Starting a new endeavor like real estate investing is tough enough, I want to play my part in providing comfort, representation, confidence, and belonging to black woman who embark on this journey.

Daa’iyah, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

A significant part of what I do currently is providing formal mentorship and guidance to other black women who are new to real estate investing or trying to scale up their real estate portfolio. As opposed to being broad and marketing to all comers, I unapologetically focus on offering my services to black women professionals and business owners. That stems from my passion for creating a safe space for these women to learn about an industry that traditionally has not had them as a central focus. I also remember how I felt sometimes shy and out of my element when I would seek out real estate investing resources when I first became a landlord back in 2015 and even when I was looking to buy my first home in 2010. Starting a new endeavor like real estate investing is tough enough, I want to play my part in providing comfort, representation, confidence, and and sense of belonging to black woman who embark on this journey.

Can you talk to us about how your side-hustle turned into something more.

For starters, my background is in Medicine. I am an emergency physician who specialized and worked in emergency medicine for over a decade. I also received further training in medical education so I spent many years working at teaching hospitals with adult learners. Over a decade ago, I purchased my first single family home. After finding out my mediocre credit disqualified me from a using a “doctor mortgage loan”, I did my research on down payment assistance programs, grants, and other zero and low down payment loan programs, I was able to bring only $500 to the closing table to purchase that home! I was hooked. I knew it was only a matter of time before I would buy my next property and put even more effort into researching creative and low down payment financing strategies. It was a few years later when it was time for me to sell but it wasn’t a sellers market. So instead of selling at a loss, I pivoted and turned the property into my first rental. Years later, now living in Maryland, I took the opportunity to buy my next property utilizing a creative strategy where I did not have to go to a bank and qualify for a mortgage, but instead was able to step into the sellers role of mortgage financing they already had in place. From that point forward, I would continue to research and utilize similar creative strategies to buy rental properties. More importantly, I would share my excitement of how I was able to make these purchases. Ultimately, people continued to reach out to me to “pick my brain“. After a few years, that turned into a real estate consulting/strategy service. I got such amazing feedback from the clients of that service. People would come back to me to get further consultations; I knew, then that I would best serve them by launching a longitudinal mentorship program, which is what offer now.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Oh my! They are so many because it’s definitely not easy being a landlord or real estate investor, no matter how many times people call this “passive“ income. I remember experiencing a few unexpected, massive plumbing leaks resulting in property damage at the perfectly worst time financially, attempting to close deals and perform large renovations during a ransomware attack on municipal computer systems, working as a physician on the front lines in an unprecedented respiratory pandemic while trying to grow and maintain a business, etc. However, I will highlight one of the first instances of my resiliency, which gives insight into how I think. The first home purchase mentioned above may not have happened without resiliency. I didn’t come from money. I didn’t grow up in a nuclear family. But I did have extended family who helped to raise and support me. They showed me that homeownership is something to be valued. I watched them move from renters (not by choice), to owners of small mobile homes, to owners of larger mobile homes, two owners of houses that they built from the ground up. So I knew that once I finished medical school, I would be buying a home. My excitement of starting my first job as an intern in emergency medicine/Internal-Medicine residency was thwarted when I found out that my mediocre credit disqualified me from getting a “doctor mortgage loan”. Many people would have canned the dream an idea of buying a home at that time and proceeded to spend months or maybe years growing and building their credit. However, the way my mind works, I did not see that as a true barrier. The next natural step for me was to go and see what I DID qualify for. My research led me to a mortgage loan program that, similar to a “doctors loan“, allowed me to purchase a home with 0% down payment. I also asked the home builder, who was also the seller, for sellers help with closing costs. I even had the audacity to ask for them to place a brand new fridge in the home before closing as part of my purchase agreement. You have to remember, I was a lowly intern, making a mere fraction of what doctors actually make after they have completed their full training. When it was all said and done, I was able to bring only $500.”00 out of pocket to the deal as an earnest money deposit. I was able to finance everything else and step in to my brand new three bedroom, two bath, two car garage home that I could semi-comfortably afford on my intern salary. I still have this mindset of resiliency, outside the box thinking, and certainty to this day. This is what I like to impart on my clients, letting them know that there really are NO BARRIERS to successful real estate investing.

Contact Info:

• Website: thecapitaldynasty.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/capitaldynasty?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daa-iyah-cooper-md-31272094?original_referer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F

Image Credits
Tchad Dublin