Bhavna Jhaveri

I would attribute a lot of my success to resilience, curiosity, and being willing to change direction when life gives me a different answer than the one I expected.

One of the pivotal moments in my career happened in 2003. I had gone through weeks of interviews for a position at Nike, made it to the final round, and really believed I was going to get the job. When I was turned down, I was devastated.

But that rejection pushed me toward entrepreneurship. I started educating myself about real estate, and about six months later I found my first single-family fixer-upper. I had no track record, but I convinced a hard-money lender to finance the project based on my research and preparation. I renovated it in about three months and made approximately $30,000 in profit. That successful first project led to flips, condo conversions, development projects, and eventually mortgage-note investing.

Looking back, one of the biggest lessons of my life has been that sometimes what feels like rejection is actually redirection. My willingness to keep learning, adapting, and moving forward has been a major part of my success.

One of the best pieces of advice I've carried with me is: don't wait until you feel completely ready.

In almost every major transition in my career—from my first real-estate investment to entering mortgage-note investing—I didn't have every answer when I started.

What I learned was to educate myself enough to understand the risks, ask good questions, surround myself with knowledgeable people, and then take thoughtful action.

I think sometimes we believe confidence has to come first and action follows. My experience has actually been the opposite. You take thoughtful action, you gain experience, and confidence grows from that experience.

I still follow that philosophy today. No matter how much experience I gain, I continue asking questions and learning.

First, I would tell them to become exceptionally knowledgeable about what they do. In mortgage-note investing, there are so many moving pieces—finance, real estate, legal documents, servicing, title, borrower circumstances and risk. Knowledge gives you the confidence to walk into a room and participate in the conversation.

Second, don't be afraid to ask questions. And don't assume that because someone has an impressive title, you shouldn't respectfully question something that doesn't make sense to you.

Third, build relationships. Some of the greatest learning opportunities I've had have come from talking with experienced investors, attorneys, servicers, lenders and other professionals.

And finally, don't be discouraged because you don't see many people with your background doing exactly what you want to do.

You don't have to start as the expert. You become the expert through education, experience and persistence.

I think we’re entering a very interesting period for mortgage-note investing, particularly in second liens, which is where I spend most of my time. One of the biggest challenges is affordability. Mortgage rates remain elevated, while many homeowners are still carrying very low first-mortgage rates from several years ago. That makes refinancing a much less practical solution when a borrower runs into difficulty.

At the same time, that creates opportunity for investors who understand distressed credit and borrower resolutions. As stress develops in parts of the mortgage market, institutions may have loans they simply don’t want to manage individually. The opportunity isn’t simply buying a distressed loan cheaply. The real value is knowing how to resolve it—understanding the collateral, the legal position, the borrower’s circumstances, and finding the appropriate solution.

I think investors who combine strong underwriting, good servicing and responsible borrower resolutions will have tremendous opportunities.

I would say integrity, responsibility, compassion and personal growth.

Integrity is extremely important to me because financial transactions are ultimately built on trust. If I give someone my word—whether it's a lender, business partner, servicer or borrower—I take that responsibility seriously.

I also believe compassion and financial discipline can coexist. When we're dealing with a distressed borrower, we still have a responsibility to protect our investment, but we can do that while treating people with dignity and looking for reasonable solutions when they exist.

And finally, I value personal growth. No matter how experienced I become, I never want to reach a point where I think I have nothing left to learn. Meditation has been an important part of that growth for me. It has taught me self-awareness, patience, and how to respond thoughtfully rather than react emotionally.

For me, success isn't only what you build. It's also how you build it and who you become in the process.