COVER STORY Each of Karya Property Management Teams are extensions of Swapnil’s commitment to excellence in business and customer service. Photo by Gwen Juarez
ing staff, and making investments worth hundreds of millions of dollars.” It was a significant undertaking for Swapnil who was only 24 at the time. But, after going there in 2006, he thrived. “It was a great experience. We made investments in China, India, Australia, New Zealand, Korea, and Japan. Traveling to these countries was unbelievable and it taught me the importance of looking for a good partner when making investments. We were trying to give money to good operators so they could take that money and invest in good assets. I realized that finding somebody to partner with who’s ethical, smart, and who knows what they’re doing is the most difficult and important part.” Thankfully Swapnil wasn’t alone in Hong Kong. He was there with his beautiful wife, Deepika Agarwal, who was a childhood friend he’d known since medium school in India. Though arranged marriages are common in India, for Swapnil and Deepika, it was love first. “We liked each other, and then told our parents who talked to one another. It was love and then arranged,” explains Swapnil. After seven long years in Hong Kong, Swapnil and Deepika moved back to
Houston. Their life would soon change after Swapnil made the monumental decision to give in to his entrepreneurial passion and risk starting his own business. Coming from such a modest upbringing, Swapnil now took strides to build his business with Deepika helping him realize this dream. But, Deepika was pregnant, making the transition even more daring. “Even though we were expecting our first child, I knew the time was right,” explained Swapnil. “What was the worst that could happen? If things didn’t work out, I could always get a job.” Leveraging his real estate and financial background, Swapnil started planning. “I said, ‘Look, what am I going to do differently? What’s a business that’s recession-proof?’ There’s nothing that’s really recession-proof, but there are businesses that are recession-resilient. I looked at housing because people always need a place to live. I then asked myself, ‘What type of housing?’ I said, ‘Well, the blue-collar, the workforce housing. Finally, I considered the kind of housing they could afford and chose Class B and C older apartments where I grew up and handed out pizza flyers.” Swapnil was set on buying the same apartments he had delivered flyers to so many years ago, but he took things fur-
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ther. Not forgetting his roots, he had a vision of building a profitable business while doing good. “I told myself, ‘I’m going to treat these tenants with real respect and provide them with real services. I don’t think they will mind paying extra rent in return for a nicer apartment and a clean, safe place to live so their kids can go to school without worrying about getting robbed or their house being robbed. I said, ‘Look, we’re going to buy these kinds of apartment complexes, improve the physical conditions of these properties, improve the customer service, and improve the maintenance.’ We started buying older ‘70s and ‘80s apartment complexes in Texas and built our team who managed it. That’s when Karya Property Management was born.” The first complex purchased was in August 2013. “It was a small 37-unit apartment complex in Dallas,” explains Swapnil. “The next one we bought in November 2013. That’s also in near Dallas, in Irving. The first Houston one we bought was in March 2014 on Tidwell. It’s called Villa Nueva Apartments. Villa Nueva is in a very rough part of town. It was a very humbling experience because the best way to classify the apartment complex is a Class D apartment. You have criminals, drug dealers, and all kinds of people living there.” Even though repairing these apartments was a challenge, acquiring the capital to do it was even more difficult because they didn’t have the net worth and Swapnil lacked experience. “Thankfully, we were very fortunate to come across the right people at the right time,” explained Swapnil. “One of my close friends who has good net worth came and co-guaranteed with me. I maxed out credit cards to put equity in these deals. I went to friends and family, and Vivek helped raise capital.” Occupancy issues were another problem that had to be dealt with. Swapnil recalled, “On paper, occupancies were high, but when you took a closer look, they weren’t. Sellers sometimes inflate the occupancy so that it looks good on