From Law Firm to Industrial Real Estate: How One Investor Found Success in Sale-Leaseback Deals

Written by:

Steve Marcinuk

Date:

23 Jul 2025

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The path from corporate law to real estate investing rarely follows a straight line, but for Monick Halm, host of the Real Estate Investor Goddesses podcast, each unexpected turn led to greater opportunities in commercial real estate. Today, she specializes in industrial sale-leaseback transactions across 15 states while building a platform to bring more women into commercial real estate investing.

An Accidental Entry into Real Estate

Monick Halm’s journey began in 2005 with what many would recognize today as house hacking, though the term didn’t exist then. “It was just called, how do you make this work?” she recalls. As a first-generation American whose parents emphasized traditional professional paths, real estate investing was never part of the plan.

Working as a lawyer in Los Angeles, Halm faced the challenge of affording a starter home in an expensive market. Her solution was purchasing a property with multiple units, living in one while renting out the others. “I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, these people are paying my mortgage. This is great,’ but I still didn’t think of it as a way to find freedom and get out of this job.”

The turning point came in 2008 when Halm was unexpectedly terminated from her law firm position just a week after announcing her pregnancy. “I thought I was going to get a bonus because I’d been working so hard, so many nights past midnight, and I got fired,” she says. The timing coincided with the economic crash, making traditional employment scarce but creating opportunities in distressed real estate.

From Multifamily Challenges to Industrial Success

Halm’s evolution from residential to commercial real estate wasn’t entirely smooth. In 2016, she and her husband acquired apartment buildings in Albuquerque, New Mexico, including one in an area locals called “the war zone.” The experience proved challenging, with incidents ranging from fires and shootings to break-ins involving “rose petals and hypodermic needles.”

The breakthrough came when a California buyer with a 1031 exchange offered to purchase their troubled properties at an unexpectedly high price. “We gave a crazy number and they accepted it without negotiation,” Halm explains. “That terrified me as a buyer. I don’t want to compete against people willing to pay this much for that type of asset.”

This experience led Halm to explore industrial real estate, particularly as multifamily competition intensified. “When the crowds are going in one direction, I start to think what different direction I can go into,” she notes. E-commerce growth was driving demand for warehouses and distribution centers while office and retail struggled.

The Appeal of Triple Net Industrial Properties

Industrial real estate offered several advantages over residential, particularly through triple net lease structures. “Triple net is such a beautiful thing,” Halm explains. “Not only are they paying rent, but they’re also paying all the property taxes, all the insurance, all the repairs.”

The tenant quality also improved dramatically. “You have these tenants that are businesses, and they’re sophisticated, steady, with long-term leases. All of the challenges we were having dealing with residential, especially C-class, we just didn’t have to deal with any of that on the industrial side.”

When the pandemic hit, industrial properties proved resilient. “These businesses were, for the most part, essential businesses, and that asset class performed the best amongst all asset classes during the pandemic,” Halm observes.

Specializing in Sale-Leaseback Transactions

Halm’s current focus centers on sale-leaseback deals, where companies sell their properties while simultaneously leasing them back for continued use. “They want to take the equity out of the property and still use it,” she explains. “Also, there are tax benefits to being the renter as opposed to the owner. Rents are deductible.”

The investment strategy involves acquiring these properties with 20-year leases featuring built-in annual rent increases, typically around 2%. “We come in already knowing exactly what our income is going to be and exactly what our expenses are, because our expenses are pretty much just our debt service.”

After holding properties for four to six years, they sell to institutional buyers such as insurance companies, hedge funds, or family offices. “They love these deals because we’ve seasoned the lease. At this point, there’s still 14-16 years left on the lease, four to six years of steady payment history.”

Due Diligence in Single-Tenant Properties

The single-tenant nature of these deals requires extensive due diligence on the companies themselves. “If we lose that tenant, then not only are we not profiting, we’re losing money,” Halm explains. “It’s not as easy to find a tenant to replace someone who needs 50,000 square feet of industrial space as it is to find somebody who needs a two-bedroom apartment.”

This thorough vetting process has paid off. “Knock on wood, we’ve never had a default,” she notes, highlighting the importance of careful tenant selection in this investment strategy.

Building the Real Estate Investor Goddesses Platform

Beyond her investment activities, Halm has built an educational platform focused on bringing more women into real estate investing. The inspiration came from attending industry conferences where she was often one of the very few woman present.

“It just came as this divine download to me to bring women and create this community for women investors,” she says. The Real Estate Investor Goddesses podcast launched in 2016, followed by educational training programs in 2018.

The gender disparity in commercial real estate remains stark. “Only about 31% of all real estate investors are female, and in the commercial space, it’s only 2% of commercial real estate owners are women,” Halm notes, emphasizing the opportunity for increased participation.

Current Market Conditions and Opportunities

Despite challenging market conditions, Halm sees continued opportunities for educated investors. Higher interest rates have created downward pressure on prices, particularly benefiting buyers. “We’re able to acquire industrial for less than we were before. So that’s been good on the buying side, not as good on the selling side.”

The rate environment has also reduced inventory as property owners remain locked into low-rate mortgages. “With rates around 7%, people don’t necessarily want to lose those rates and move, so there’s not a lot of inventory.”

However, opportunities exist for those willing to seek them out. “There are always distressed sellers. There’s increasing amounts of distress on the commercial side, and foreclosures on the residential side are also increasing.”

The Importance of Education in Today’s Market

Halm emphasizes that current market conditions require more sophisticated approaches than in previous cycles. “When I started, especially after the market crashed, prices were so low there was so much room for error. Now there’s not as much room for error.”

She advocates for thorough education before investing: “I think it’s really important that people make sure they get educated and really check their numbers and dot their I’s, cross their T’s because there’s not as much room for error.”

Despite the challenges, Halm remains confident in real estate’s long-term wealth-building potential. “I think it’s really important that everyone have some real estate in their portfolio. This is the way wealth has been passed on and transferred for millennia, for a reason.”

Looking Forward

Monick Halm’s journey from reluctant lawyer to successful commercial real estate investor illustrates how market disruptions can create unexpected opportunities. Her focus on industrial sale-leaseback deals demonstrates the value of finding underexplored niches within broader real estate markets.

Through her educational platform, Halm continues working to diversify an industry that has traditionally been male-dominated, while her investment activities show how specialized strategies can thrive even in challenging market conditions.

For investors considering commercial real estate, Halm’s experience suggests that success often comes from thorough due diligence, patient capital deployment, and the willingness to explore less crowded market segments. As she puts it, “There are always opportunities for people to invest,” but success requires education, preparation, and strategic thinking.