M
iriam Reis, 58, teaches at a Jerusalem religious elementary school and quietly owns eight properties in Israel and abroad. She sees herself as an investor. Born in Melilla, Spain, her father ran a real‑estate business, sparking her early interest.

    After moving to Israel at 19, she studied art and taught math for twenty years. When her children reached marrying age, she wanted to help them buy homes. With her mechanical‑engineering husband, they saved, avoiding luxury cars because “a car isn’t an investment.”

    After her parents died, she inherited a share of their estate and considered buying a Jerusalem apartment. Instead, during the COVID‑19 pandemic she joined a women‑focused real‑estate course, which taught her to align investments with family needs and led her to draft a ten‑year financial plan.

    Her portfolio began with a plot of land co‑owned with her daughter, then expanded to a housing project in Atlanta, a renovated Manhattan building, a student apartment in Be’er Sheva (later sold), land in Haifa with a partner, and modest units in Athens and Thessaloniki. The latest purchase is a presale apartment in Kiryat Gat for her son, financed through a loan against her pension and a mortgage that the rent covers.

    Reis never mortgages her primary residence and carefully checks zoning, nearby universities, and future transit projects before buying. They review profitability spreadsheets.

    “First step is the hardest,” she says, “but you don’t need wealth to start; small, risk‑controlled moves can secure your family’s future.”