The best investment decision I ever made: La7 Founder Omar El Ghazaly

In each issue of Money Matters we ask a senior member of our community for investment advice based on personal experience. Speaking to us this week is Omar El Ghazaly, Founder and CEO La7 Gyms.

The best investment decision I ever made is real estate. Real estate is my hobby and my passion. Putting all my money into luxury real estate and flipping properties changed my life.

The first real money I made was in 2021 when I cashed some money out of my business. I decided to take a big risk on real estate. I made down payments on properties worth more than 10 times the capital that I had, which is a bit insane but it turned out to be the best investment I ever made.

At the time I advised all my family members and best friends to invest in real estate in Egypt, the best property market in the world. I would also tell them exactly where to buy and insist that they do it to the point of being annoying.

But now things are a bit different. Now when I tell someone to invest in real estate they need to hang on to the property for several years before it appreciates. Before, I would tell them to wait one year and they would make 4-5 times what they invested. Right now, depending on the project, you would need to wait at least two years. The average is 3-5 years before you can make a good return on your investment.

Most buyers right now are first home buyers. If we look at a place like New Zayed, for example, anyone buying there is buying a home to live in, not as an investment.

I will only invest in a property now if it's really out of the ordinary. The cycle that happened from the start of 2022 until the end of 2024 is not likely to repeat anytime soon.

Cash is king. The people who had 10 pounds to spread across 5 properties often need to sell one property to pay the installments on the rest and they end up so desperate to sell that they will do a flash sale. If you have cash you can catch a great resale deal.

That's what the market looks like this year. Next year, God knows, it might continue like this into 2028. So whenever I advise someone to buy now, I tell them, "buy, wait maybe 4 years till you receive your unit, live in it, then you can sell. I still believe in real estate as an asset class you just need to have a longer investment horizon.