A businessman who grew up constantly worrying whether the bills would get paid has revealed how he clawed his way out of poverty to become a self-made millionaire.
Victor grew up in Gerry, New York, a small farm town with scarce job opportunities and low wages.
He began working at a young age, mowing lawns at just 10 years old, as well as delivering newspapers and working at his grandparents’ video store.
As an adult, having even lived off food stamps at one point, Victor was spurred on to go into the lucrative property business.
Now 47, his life is unrecognisable – he credits his tough upbringing for his success as a real estate business owner, with a portfolio worth over £139m ($175m USD).
But the journey has been far from easy.
“It was a tough situation growing up; my mum and dad didn’t have a lot of money, and there were a lot of mouths to feed,” Victor, who has 23,000 followers (@victorwhitmore ), told Jam Prime.
“My dad was a maintenance man and my mum worked in a factory. I have to give credit to them, though.
“They both have the strongest work ethics of anyone I know.
“They did an amazing job ensuring we were taken care of despite the financial conditions.
“Times were hard. I think dad earned about £8 an hour ($10 USD).
“Gerry, where I grew up, is a really small rural farming community and there just weren’t many opportunities back then.
“There aren’t many opportunities there even now.
“The area is quite depressed economically and has worsened over time.
“Pretty much every single house was falling down.
“My parents bought our home for $6,500.
“It used to be the old town store at one time. It wasn’t built as a house, and it was mostly gutted from what I understood when we bought it, so you can imagine what that looked like.
“My dad was really handy, though, and he turned it into a home over the course of many years.
“My parents did a fantastic job with it for what it was.
“They worked really hard to make sure we had what we needed.”
When older, Victor moved into his own flat for the first time – a government-subsidised apartment unit that was so rundown that, when it rained, the water would leak through the roof onto his bed.
He said: “There was a hole in the bedroom ceiling, and every time it rained, it also rained into the bedroom.
“That was about as low as it got.
“I was on food stamps and I made $4.25 (USD) an hour at Blockbuster Video.
“I got to the point where I just couldn’t stand living like that any longer.
“I told myself… one day, I will own this whole property.”
Determined to change his life, Victor, who now lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma, secured student loans to attend Indiana University-Purdue University of Indianapolis.
He graduated with an Information Systems degree and landed a job with an IT company, earning around $35,000 a year.
Later, while working as a systems analyst, his dream of owning his own bricks and mortar finally came true.
In 2003, he bought a run-down home in a rough part of Tulsa for $17,000, fixed it up just enough to be able to rent it – with the home more than doubling in value just a few months later, thanks to the savvy DIY ($45,000).
After putting new debt on the property of 80% of the appraised value, the cash-out financing allowed him to snowball this equity into buying more houses.
Things gathered pace from there.
The following year, Victor took the cash he had pulled out of the single-family homes and bought a 48-unit apartment complex.
To date, he has purchased nearly 2,400 multi-family apartment doors and over 700,000 square feet of retail shopping centre space.
In the decades since, Victor’s career has gone from strength to strength.
The mogul has closed on over $240 million worth of commercial real estate deals – and he claims that anyone, no matter their background, can follow in his footsteps.
He said: “I think my upbringing taught me that I never wanted my family to go without or to constantly worry about having enough money to cover the basics, so that’s been my inspiration.
“I want to help ensure that my children and grandchildren have enough to go after their own dreams, and that can be difficult when you are burdened with the anxiety and fear of not being able to pay your bills.
“But to succeed, you’ve got to be willing to go all in.
“You have to take huge risks, and you have got to be willing to fail.
“I have felt a burden my entire life to be the one who would take my family out of poverty and create something that will outlast me for generations.
“I have never stopped thinking about it. It’s what drives me.”
Eager to help anyone else who wants to go into the property business, Victor has also shared his biggest tip: find someone to invest in your passion and your expertise.
He said: “Whoever your investor is, it could be a family member, a friend, somebody you work with, anyone with some money who needs your expertise and help to get it invested.
“If they have little cash to invest but don’t know how to, then go together and create a partnership.”
“At first, it might be a very simple partnership, a 50/50 split.”
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