How we work with private lenders, and why we take the responsibility seriously.
§ 01 · Who we are
FirstOak is run by Emeka and Jasmine Nwangwu, a Fort Worth couple who started together at the base of a hill on Green Oaks Boulevard in Arlington.
Emeka is a senior network engineer with more than a decade in enterprise infrastructure, holding CCNP and CCNA certifications. He also runs a federal IT procurement firm working with agencies on hardware contracts.
Jasmine is a brokerage operations professional with FINRA Series 7, 63, 3, and SIE licenses. She has spent her career inside the regulated side of finance.
We bring two things to every deal we underwrite: an engineer's discipline about what can go wrong, and an operator's discipline about what regulated capital deserves. Between Jasmine's FINRA licensing and our combined household income, we qualify as accredited investors ourselves.
§ 02 · Protections
We will not promise returns. No real estate operator should. Here is what we do instead.
Every dollar lent to FirstOak is secured by a recorded lien on the property. Most arrangements are first lien. We will occasionally ask for a second, and when we do, the priority, the senior balance, and the equity behind it are disclosed in writing before paperwork. Your collateral is real, recorded, and yours if anything ever goes wrong.
Our baseline is a 1.00x DSCR or better at acquisition, modeled with stress assumptions on rents, vacancy, and reserves. Deals that don't pencil get passed on, even when they're emotionally tempting.
We do not use private capital to fund deals we wouldn't fund ourselves. Every transaction includes meaningful equity from us before any partner capital is deployed.
We plan to self-manage every property through Buildium, with documented SOPs and a property management framework adapted from a top multifamily mentor's playbook. No outsourced asset management, no surprises in reporting.
Our household runs on multiple independent income streams across enterprise consulting, federal procurement, and regulated brokerage operations. Real estate is built on top of stability, not in place of it.
§ 03 · The fit
§ 04 · Start a conversation
We are not raising capital on a clock. If working with a small, intentional Fort Worth operator interests you, we'd welcome a call.
FirstOak is a brand of J&M REI LLC. Nothing on this page is an offer to sell or solicitation to buy any security. All private lending arrangements are evaluated and structured individually.