Sarah Msuya: From Bank Manager to 40 Units in Maine

What does it look like when a bank manager listens to a podcast during COVID lockdowns and decides to completely reinvent her life? For Sarah Msuya, it meant building a 40-unit real estate portfolio across seven buildings in Maine, becoming a top 5% producing agent in the state, buying a 15-unit building with zero dollars out of pocket, and doing it all as a single mom with a four-year-old son.

Sarah’s story hits every note — creative financing, the BRRRR strategy, subject-to purchases, private money lending, and a fearless approach to real estate that turned a banking career into true financial independence. On this episode of The REI Agent, she broke down every deal and every pivot that got her here.

How Does a Bank Manager Start Investing in Real Estate?

Sarah was working as a bank manager at TD Bank in 2020 when COVID restructured her work schedule. Suddenly working from home half the week, she filled the extra time with self-improvement podcasts and stumbled onto the BiggerPockets Real Estate Rookie podcast. Hearing regular people talk about building wealth through real estate was the spark she needed.

By her own admission, Sarah is a quick start. She hears an idea, evaluates it logically, and moves unless something stops her. By July 2020, she was already looking for her first deal. She initially targeted a distressed property at auction to BRRRR with hard money, but the lender backed out because she lacked renovation experience. In a stroke of luck, she recognized someone next door from her banking days and ended up wholesaling the deal to them — her accidental first transaction.

Then she found out she was pregnant. Instead of hitting pause, she pivoted.

She pulled a HELOC on her primary residence and bought something “boring” — a single-family rental 40 minutes north for $113,000 that needed just $4,000 in updates. Her mortgage was about $800, and she rented it for $1,500. Simple math, one tenant, clean cash flow. That was January 2021. She still owns that property today, and the same tenants are still there — now paying $2,150. She’s since refinanced and pulled equity to buy another property with the proceeds.

How Did She Scale to 40 Units Across Seven Buildings?

Sarah’s portfolio buildout is a masterclass in creative financing. Here’s the progression:

Single family rental (2021) — $113K, 20% down from HELOC, rented for $1,500. The foundation.

Duplex house hack — Lived in one side, rented the other. Kept the previous single family as a rental. Now at four units.

Beach condo Airbnb — Funded by a cash-out refinance on the first investment. She later moved away from short-term rentals.

Four-unit BRRRR with a business partner (2023) — This is where things got creative. Sarah partnered with a former boss from TD Bank. They took over a contract a buyer had walked away from, sourced $255,000 in private money at 12% interest from someone in Sarah’s network, renovated for $80K of their own money, then refinanced. The property appraised high enough to pay back the private lender, reimburse their $80K, and keep a cash-flowing four-unit building with zero money left in the deal.

Subject-to purchase — A distressed seller who was underwater. Sarah proposed a subject-to deal, let the seller stay rent-free for 4-5 months, paid them about $30K over nine months, and assumed their mortgage.

Seller-financed duplex — Negotiated seller financing on a two-unit property.

15-unit building with zero dollars out of pocket — Her most recent and most impressive deal. She stacked three layers of financing — commercial lending, seller financing, and private money — to 100% finance the entire purchase. It cash flows, and she didn’t spend a dollar of her own money.

How Did She Source Private Money From Her Own Network?

This might be the most actionable part of Sarah’s story for other investors. She didn’t go to a private lending company or an institutional source. She talked openly about what she was doing in real estate to everyone in her sphere — and eventually, someone with capital was interested.

Her advice: don’t be shy about talking about your real estate investments. She offered 12% interest backed by liens on properties she felt confident about. The lender was someone she already knew from her banking career. The relationship and trust were already there.

Sarah’s banking background was a genuine advantage here. She understood underwriting, loan structures, and risk assessment. She could speak the lender’s language and structure a deal that felt safe for both sides.

How Did She Build a Top 5% Real Estate Sales Business From Zero?

Sarah’s agent career trajectory is just as impressive as her investing portfolio:

January 2022: Got her real estate license while still working full-time as a bank manager. She was frustrated by her own agent’s performance when buying her duplex, saw the commission they earned, and figured she could do it herself.

January to July 2022: Closed one deal in six months as a part-time agent. Part-time real estate is brutal.

July 2022: Quit TD Bank after 12 years. Maxed out a credit card to buy a wholesaling course from Jamil Damji. Then pivoted when she connected with a local agent looking for a buyer’s agent.

July 2022 to January 2023: Took every buyer lead her mentor/broker sent her. Started at a 20% split, worked up from there. Did all the work, never bothered her broker, figured everything out independently. She was getting reps and building confidence while her broker got a great deal on labor.

2023: Her broker’s business slowed and she needed her own pipeline. Sarah started buying Zillow and Redfin leads — about $1,500-2,000/month on Zillow alone. She answered every single call and had a very robust conversation with each lead. Her conversion rate was extremely high. She closed 49 deals that year.

Now (2025): 100% referral-based business. She’s shut down the paid lead sources entirely. Agents refer investor and multifamily clients to her because she’s built a niche reputation. She’s in her fourth full year as an agent, top 5% in Maine.

The progression from paid leads to pure referrals is the playbook every agent hopes for — Sarah just did it in about two years.

Why Does She Use Her Duplex to Pay Her Mortgage?

One of the smartest structural moves Sarah described is how she uses rental income to eliminate her housing cost. She bought a $775,000 single-family home in the right school district for her son. Her mortgage is about $4,400-4,500/month.

But she also owns a duplex that she’s leased to a company providing group homes for intellectually disabled adults on both sides — a triple net lease to the same company. That property cash flows about $3,000/month, leaving her responsible for only about $1,400-1,500 of her own mortgage payment.

And she’s not done — she’s currently building an ADU in her basement. Once that’s rented, she’ll be back to zero housing cost in a home that’s now worth nearly $900,000.

Sarah’s Best Advice for Getting Started

Imperfect action beats perfect inaction. Sarah’s biggest message: don’t wait for everything to line up. She started investing while pregnant. She started her agent career while working full-time at a bank. She figured things out along the way.

Talk about what you’re doing. Sarah sourced private money, found her business partner, and built her referral network by openly discussing her real estate journey. People look at real estate investors like they’re unicorns. Sharing your story creates opportunities you can’t predict — new clients, private lenders, partnerships, or simply helping someone see the world differently.

Focus on one thing at a time. Sarah recommends the book The One Thing by Gary Keller. When she was ramping up her agent business, she went all-in on converting Zillow leads — answering every call, being fully present in every conversation. When her attention gets divided across too many priorities, performance drops. Get the momentum going first, then add complexity.

About Sarah Msuya

Sarah Msuya is a real estate agent and investor based in Gorham, Maine. She’s a top 5% producing agent in Maine, owns 40 units across seven buildings, and specializes in owner-occupant multifamily purchases and helping first-time investors get started. Before real estate, she spent 12 years at TD Bank. She was featured on the BiggerPockets Real Estate Rookie Podcast (Episode 399).

Find Sarah online:

• Instagram: @sarahtalksrei
• TikTok: @sarahtalksrei
• Facebook: Sarah Msuya Realtor and Sarah Talks REI
• Website: sarahmsuya.com
• LinkedIn: Sarah Msuya

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• BiggerPockets Real Estate Rookie Podcast
• The One Thing by Gary Keller
• BRRRR Strategy (Buy, Rehab, Rent, Refinance, Repeat)
• FHA loans for house hacking
• HELOC strategy for funding first investment
• Subject-to purchasing
• Seller financing

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