'Go Big or Go Home': An Immigrant Family's Rise from $750 to a $600M Lending Empire
In the competitive world of real estate lending, We Lend has emerged as a standout success story, funding over $600 million across 1,300 assets with zero principal loss since its founding in 2018. But the journey of its managing partner and co-founder, Ruben Izgelov, reveals how personal experience and immigrant determination helped shape a lending philosophy that’s winning over both borrowers and investors.
Izgelov’s path to real estate finance began with his family’s arrival in America in the early 1990s. “When we came to America, we had the epitome of having to live the American dream,” he recalls. “My father had about $750 to his name, six mouths to feed, one bedroom apartment, one bath, sometimes with 15 people in it. And the only way that we saw us surviving in America is going big or going home.”
After initially leaving high school to pursue business opportunities in mortgage lending, Izgelov saw rapid financial success, making over $120,000 annually by age 18. However, the 2008 financial crisis proved a turning point, as his income plummeted “from making $120-150,000 a year down to almost nothing,” prompting a pivotal conversation with his father about his future.
“I couldn’t just go to school and just get, like, a regular bachelor’s degree and move on. I was either a doctor or a lawyer,” Izgelov explains. After getting his GED and enrolling at St. John’s University, he briefly considered following his cousin into pharmacy before deciding on law: “I realized medical school is not for me. Pharmacy is not for me. I’m a lawyer. Nothing more to it.”
During this time, Izgelov never strayed far from real estate, actively buying, selling, and developing properties throughout New York’s boroughs. After law school, despite passing the bar, a two-week stint at a law firm confirmed where his interests truly lay. “I realized I was actually not even reviewing the contracts that I was tasked to do – I was analyzing and underwriting the deals that the investors were buying,” he recalls. A pivotal trip to a private lenders conference in Arizona would unexpectedly chart his future course. “We went in as private investors and developers. We walked out as private lenders. We’ve never looked back since,” he says. This experience proved invaluable in founding We Lend.
Today, We Lend maintains a strategic focus on residential real estate lending primarily in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and the Eastern corridor. This specialization isn’t arbitrary – it’s a deliberate choice based on the sector’s resilience to market fluctuations compared to commercial or retail assets. As the company has grown, their average loan size has evolved from $500,000 to between $800,000 and $1 million.
What truly differentiates We Lend in the marketplace is their founder-level commitment to service and unique perspective as former real estate investors. “We know what it’s like to be an investor, to be a borrower. We know what the pitfalls are. We know what the other lenders did or did not do right,” Izgelov explains. Many of the individuals who invest with the company’s debt 506(c) Reg D debt fund have deep personal connections to the firm: “These are my neighbors. These are people from my synagogue. These are people that I know on a daily basis. My kids play with their kids.”
This deep personal investment drives the team to focus on risk-mitigating strategies for their investors, while simultaneously delivering extraordinary service to borrowers. The company’s three co-founders – including director of credit analysis Moses Suleymanov and director of originations Solomon Suleymanov – personally take borrower calls as late as midnight to ensure deals close on schedule. This hands-on approach has yielded impressive results, with approximately 70% of borrowers returning for additional loans
Building on their lending success, We Lend recently launched We Vest, an acquisitions firm that identifies, purchases, and repositions residential properties on behalf of investors. “Our investors might invest a million dollars in our debt fund,” Izgelov explains, “and then say ‘Hey Ruben, I have another $2 million that I want to deploy, but I need a bit of a higher kicker/return.'” Through We Vest, investors can pursue equity-like returns by participating in deals where the company buys properties at a discount, manages the renovation process, and either sells or holds for long-term appreciation. The strategy maintains the company’s disciplined focus on residential assets while offering investors higher potential returns. Looking ahead, the company is exploring the launch of a mezzanine fund, further expanding their ability to serve larger deals and provide comprehensive capital solutions.
For Izgelov, who built his company from immigrant roots to a major force in real estate lending, the momentum continues to build. ‘We are very, very bullish on what’s to come,’ he says, citing opportunities he sees emerging with the new administration. With a proven track record of success and a growing suite of financial products, We Lend appears well-positioned to capitalize on these opportunities while maintaining its commitment to careful underwriting and investor protection. The firm’s disciplined approach and consistent performance have drawn significant interest, with several major investment groups exploring fund partnerships and SPV opportunities. The company can be found at www.welendllc.com and across all social media platforms.
