If you have ever wondered whether it is possible to build a serious real estate portfolio while working a full-time job, raising a family, and doing it all without taking shortcuts, Samuel Li’s story is worth reading carefully.

Samuel is the founder of RASA Real Estate Investments, based in Edmonton, Alberta. Over the past decade, he and his wife Rachel have built a portfolio of 14 suited houses, acquired a 12-unit apartment building, closed on a 36-unit multifamily property, launched a licensed tenant placement business, and structured a mutual fund trust for investors. None of it happened overnight, and none of it happened by accident.

This is the story of how it was built, and what it can teach you about investing with discipline.

Starting With Education, Not Action

Samuel first encountered real estate investing in university after a cousin introduced him to the concept. He wanted to take the courses immediately but could not afford them at the time. So he worked part-time, paid his own way in, and spent the next several years learning before he ever made a move.

He graduated with a marketing degree, worked as a purchaser for an HVAC company, and did not invest in his first property until 2013, four years after his initial education. That decision to wait, to learn everything first and invest with confidence rather than impulse, is one of the principles that has defined how RASA operates ever since.

Building a Niche in Edmonton

Samuel’s first purchases were suited houses in Edmonton, a market that was less competitive than other Canadian cities but offered solid cash flow through the basement suite model. Rather than spreading across the city, he became a geographic specialist, identifying an underserved pocket of Edmonton called Millwoods where no one else was doing suited houses at the time.

He planted a flag there and built his expertise around it. Today, RASA has 14 suited houses concentrated in specific neighbourhoods, a deliberate choice that allowed him to understand the local rental market at a level most investors never reach.

A Different Approach to Property Management

As the portfolio grew, Samuel and Rachel managed their properties themselves after a poor experience with a third-party property manager early on. Over time, other landlords noticed how well their properties were running and started asking for help.

That informal demand became a licensed business. But Samuel’s model is not traditional property management. RASA specializes in tenant placement, finding and placing high-quality tenants on behalf of landlords, and then stepping back.

The philosophy is straightforward. The best way to make property management easy is to place the right tenant from the start and then keep the landlord connected to that relationship. RASA handles the hardest part, the sourcing, screening, and placement, and provides backup support when landlords need it. Landlords retain the relationship with their tenants and are not paying a monthly management fee for calls that never come.

The business now places approximately 25 tenants per month and serves landlords both locally in Edmonton and from out of province.

Joint Ventures Built on Trust

Samuel did not bring in joint venture partners until he had six properties of his own. He wanted to know exactly what he was doing before risking anyone else’s capital.

His JV model was deliberate. He specifically partnered with people who did not need cash flow from the investment, because his philosophy is that cash flow should be held in reserve and recycled into the next acquisition, not distributed. He required a minimum five-year commitment and set a $10,000 reserve fund per property from day one, so he would never have to go back to a partner for more money.

Using the BRRRR strategy, he was able to recycle capital across multiple purchases with the same partner, building portfolios of four houses at a time without additional cash injection. It is a slow, disciplined model, and it works precisely because of that.

Scaling Into Multifamily

When the Alberta multifamily market started showing opportunity, Samuel moved into apartment buildings. He had a unique advantage: his property management business gave him ground-level visibility into rental income trends in Edmonton before most investors were paying attention.

He acquired a 12-unit building using a shareholder structure, raising $600,000 from five investor couples, all of whom were existing clients who already trusted how he operated. The 36-unit acquisition followed, structured through a mutual fund trust that allows investors to deploy registered funds such as RRSPs into the deal.

The Mutual Fund Trust Structure

Setting up a mutual fund trust is not simple or inexpensive. Samuel spent approximately six months and significant legal and compliance costs to get the structure in place properly. He was deliberate about doing it the right way, engaging an exempt market dealer and building a structure that is fully compliant.

The reason he went this route is rooted in his mission. He wanted to create a vehicle that allowed everyday investors, not just those with large amounts of liquid capital, to participate in real estate and benefit from professionally managed assets without dealing with tenants, toilets, or construction.

Each property is issued as its own unit class within the trust, keeping investments separate and clear. Investors can participate in the stabilization phase for a fixed return, the long-term holding phase for ownership upside, or both. It is a flexible structure built around what investors actually need.

What This Means for Investors

RASA was not built through marketing. It was built through relationships. The investors who came in on the 12-unit building were property management clients who had watched Samuel work for years. The people who joined the fund were people who already trusted him before a prospectus was ever presented.

That trust-first approach is not a strategy. It is a conviction. Samuel believes that when you are asking someone to put their capital into something, the relationship has to come before the transaction. Every time.

If you are a high-income professional who wants exposure to real estate without the operational burden, or if you are sitting on registered funds that are not working as hard as they should be, RASA offers a structured, transparent, and professionally managed path forward.

RASA Real Estate Investments is based in Edmonton, Alberta, and serves investors across Canada.