How Young Moguls Are Shaping Generational Wealth Through Homeownership

How young is too young to be a homeowner? For the minor children of a top-producing Realtor®, you can’t start soon enough.

Cher Castillo began building her real estate savvy when she was an undergrad at the University of Florida in the late 1990s and found a condo she thought was a great buy at only $40,000. But she needed the help of her mother, who was not enthusiastic about the purchase and passed.

By the time Cher graduated, that little condo had increased in value to $200,000 and she knew her instincts had been correct. She also knew that one day when she had a family of her own she would encourage them to take the leap into homeownership as soon as possible.

That’s how her sons Cruz and Lincoln both became property owners at age 4.

But before sharing her wisdom with her children, Cher first had to build her own knowledge base. She was finally able to buy her first home after graduating and moving to the DC area at age 22 for a job on Capitol Hill. She beat out 15 other offers and paid $150,000 for a Victorian row home in Eckington that was in need of renovations, which she did herself room by room.

Along the way, she discovered a love for the property development process and making an income in real estate. She sold the home 2 years later for $450,000 and after purchasing two more properties, she opened her own brokerage at 26.

Fast-forward to the present and Cher’s family includes a blended family of six children, all of whom have an interest in real estate. But it’s the youngest who have – quite literally – become the poster children for building generational wealth through real estate.

Cruz, now 14, became an owner at age 4 with the purchase of a property in Baltimore for the nominal amount of $2,500 (which Cher had negotiated down from $10,000) and without yet doing any improvements have already increased in value to $125,000.

She asked Cruz, now that he owned a property, what he planned to do with it. He answered, “Renting! That way I get money every month rather than selling it and just get money once.” His ability to conceptually understand the complexities of buying and holding real estate impressed Cher, but Cruz took it in stride. “I listen to you all the time in the car, Mom,” he told her.

Not long after the Baltimore purchase, at age 8 he became the face of Cruz Condominiums, a development with three luxury condos in North East DC. “He really got a turn-key experience in terms of developing and selling with this project,” Cher recalls. Cruz accompanied his mom on project development meetings, renovation tours, and open houses, and was featured in all the property marketing. Cher says that he has a large poster of himself and the condos on his wall at home and is proud to show it off to his friends, who are also curious about real estate.

“We lived on the same block that the condos were being built and kids would come by and ask questions,” Cher says. “They would see my name on the sign and wonder what that meant, and I was able to explain how real estate worked.”

Lincoln followed his big brother and bought his first property in Baltimore City as well and went through the purchase process just like any other buyer, complete with a settlement meeting arranged by an attorney friend of the family.

Obviously, the purchase of real estate property by a minor requires responsible adults to navigate the process, but the homes are indeed in the childrens’ name through an LLC that is connected to a trust that the boys will have access to at age 21. “IF they behave themselves,” Cher jokes. She advises that parents or guardians who want to purchase properties in their kiddos’ names should first consult an attorney and an accountant to ensure legal and financial logistics are buttoned up.

Cher also advises having a trusted Realtor® guide the property search and dig for information about what areas are ripe for investment. “Don’t just buy because it’s cheap,” she cautions. “Is it in an area where development is happening? Is there growth potential? Approach it with an investment mindset.”

She also encourages parents and guardians to involve and educate their children throughout the home

-buying process. “If you are going to do this, walk your kids through it from A to Z so they understand all the parts of the transaction,” she says. “Helping them understand the journey is the part that will make them fall in love with the process.”

To that end, Cher is developing a non-profit she calls Young Moguls, aimed at helping 4-17-year-olds learn how to build a real estate portfolio and generate wealth and equity at a young age.

The most important thing that Cher wants children and the adults who are guiding them to do is not to wait to buy real estate. “If you show them the possibilities of home ownership as early as possible, they won’t be afraid of it in the future.