Has a property in Hawaii: Alexander Zureck. Getty Images
Alexander Zureck owns garages, parking spaces, apartments and a house in Germany – but also a property in Hawaii. Instead of half a million, he only paid $73,000 for this one. How did he manage that? He reveals this in an interview with Business Insider.
Alexander Zureck bought his first property as a student. Back then, he had saved the money he earned as a tutor to buy a garage in Gelsenkirchen.
The professor of banking and finance now owns several garages, parking spaces, apartments and a house. He has developed his own strategy for purchasing new properties.
A property in Hawaii has been part of the 35-year-old’s portfolio for a few years. The oceanfront apartment was supposed to cost half a million dollars. In the end, Alexander Zureck only paid 73,000 euros.
On paper he was a student. In reality, Alexander Zureck was more of a young man who worked full-time. “I’ve done all sorts of weird jobs,” he says. At Schalke, in the youth club, in the amusement park. In addition to his studies, he worked more than 40 hours every week – including as a tutor. He put the money he earned from tutoring into his first property.
While Alexander Zureck Today he owns property in Hawaii, among other things, but back then he put his first money into a garage in Gelsenkirchen. At the time it cost him just over 4,000 euros. The now 35-year-old is deeply rooted in the city in the Ruhr area. Not only was he born and raised in the “Pott”, but he is still loyal to his homeland to this day. After graduating from high school, he completed an apprenticeship at a local bank that operates regionally.
Alexander Zureck is still so versatile
He then started studying – and many jobs to finance it. “I cursed my parents because I had to work and I hardly received any financial support from them. But the upbringing worked,” he says with a laugh. Looking back, it was worth its weight in gold. But “at the same time I found it anything but funny”. It was only after he graduated that the Gelsenkirchen native realized how good it was that his parents wanted him to stand on his own two feet.
Thanks to his various professions, Alexander Zureck can now have a say in many things. “This really helps me to integrate myself into a wide variety of companies and industries,” says the 35-year-old. He still has a variety of careers. Among other things, he is a professor of banking & finance and managing director of his own company. This focuses on building digital business models and project-based activities in areas such as human resources, finance and real estate.
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These are all subject areas that the Gelsenkirchen resident is passionate about. Over the years, the father of a five-year-old daughter has built up a small real estate portfolio on the side. “Small animals make messes too,” says the young man and means this in the most positive sense. He owns several garages and parking spaces, two apartments and a semi-detached house. But Alexander Zureck doesn’t just own real estate in the Ruhr area.
Zureck reduced the price of his Hawaii property by 400,000 euros
In an exciting way, the 35-year-old also bought property on the US island of Hawaii.
The apartment attracts with this view. Alexander Zureck
A few years ago, the entrepreneur paid $73,500 (68,000 euros) for the apartment right on the seafront in Honululu. And this despite the fact that the property was advertised for $500,000 (465,000 euros). In an interview with Business Insider, he reveals how he negotiated the price down and how he used it to build an Airbnb business that earns him more than 2,000 euros every month.
The purchase originated in 2017. Back then, Alexander Zureck was in Hawaii for the first time. He went on vacation to the island with his partner Fabienne. He combined this with a lecture on site at the university. “Then we flew there again for a vacation and took a look at the island in peace. We fell in love with Hawaii a little bit.”
In 2019, the couple was there a little longer. “We looked at apartments just for fun. We were a bit shocked, the prices even exceed Munich,” says the Gelsenkirchen native. For apartments measuring just under 50 square meters, “you can easily pay $600,000 in Honolulu.” It was immediately clear to him that he would have to get creative when buying an apartment.