Dr. Melynda Kizzie, Co-Founder: every L5 deal starts with her.

How did Melynda and Byron start in real estate?

It started with a house in Hawaii. In Melynda's words, that first home wasn't just a property; it was the beginning of the vision.

As a military family stationed in Hawaii, they built their first home for less than $320,000. Eight years later, instead of selling it, they converted it into a rental and built a slightly larger second home for less than $580,000. They experienced real estate from both sides: as developers creating new value, and as owners earning income. When the time came to sell, both properties sold and closed within 60 days, generating more than $400,000 in combined profit.

"The most valuable thing we gained wasn't simply the profit. It was the realization that real estate could be a vehicle for building long-term wealth."

Hawaii gave them the principles L5 still runs on: buy or build with discipline, understand the value you can create, operate with a long-term perspective, and know when the market presents the right moment to exit. Identify opportunity. Create value. Generate income. Build equity. Exit strategically. Reinvest.

They did the work themselves. "We came in at the ground level," Melynda says. "We both had on hard hats, hammers in our hands, building houses."

The Hawaii homes were the founders' own homes, not an L5 investment or an investor result. One project's results do not predict the results of any other project. Target returns are not guaranteed. All investments involve risk, including possible loss of principal.

How does Melynda think about investors' money?

Personally. The founders put their own money into the fund first, and investors are paid first.

"We always make it a point to pay our investors first, because you are the ones who trusted in the vision."

That isn't a slogan. Under the L5 fund's offering documents, limited partners receive a preferred return and are paid before the general partners share in profits. When a project hits trouble, the founders don't hand it off. They regroup and solve it, because your capital is in it alongside theirs.

"We're in the foxhole with you."

Faith, family and purpose

Melynda's faith in Jesus Christ is at the center of her life and her leadership. She and Byron do ministry together, and they make every major decision with wisdom, faith and purpose. They have three children, and they see L5 as part of what they will pass on.

She describes their partnership in words from the New Testament, after the husband-and-wife tentmakers who worked and served side by side:

"We're the Priscilla and the Aquila of real estate. Our tents look like commercial and single-family properties."