A lot of real estate professionals talk about being born into the industry. But Edward Zuker, founder of Chestnut Hill Realty, counts four generations that have been in the family business. In fact, he just learned that his ancestors were real estate operators in Lithuania – a country he plans to visit soon – before they moved to the U.S.

But his upcoming trip will have to come between purchases of multifamily complexes, including a recent $25 million acquisition in Harvard Square. He now owns roughly 300 apartment units in that area, and approximately 4,000 in total from Cambridge to Brookline, Providence to Newport.

Edward Zuker

Title: Founder, Chestnut Hill Realty; Boston

Age: 64

Experience: 50 years

You don’t hear much about a family that has up to four generations dug into the industry. Can you tell me a bit more about your professional lineage?

Well, my father would take the whole family and we would go for a ride on Sundays for an ice cream cone. We also happened to go to another place to look at a building he was interested in. Basically I grew up eating, drinking, sleeping and breathing real estate. When I was in high school I rented out apartments for my dad, and then when I finished college I opened up a rental office and had 10 brokers working for me in Coolidge Corner, so we’ve been in Brookline and the area all along. Then in 1969 I started Chestnut Hill Realty and was leasing rentals. Then I decided to buy a six-unit building, then a 12-unit building, and I just kept buying bigger and bigger buildings. Now we’re focusing on growing the company and expanding the portfolio and are starting move into an acquisition phase. The goal is to get to 6,000 units, and I expect in the next couple of years we’ll be up to that.

With 50 years experience in the rental market, what have you noticed as the biggest changes in the industry?

The biggest thing that has changed is the professionalism of the industry and the national players coming in, the REIT ownership. Before, it was the developer … that built apartments and expanded to a certain size. Since then, you have the really big guys, the Equitys and the AvalonBays. Those are the competition. When we first got in the industry, it was a mom and pop operation. You had a residential manager that was a couple who lived at the property. He did the maintenance and she did the renting and cleaning of the hallways. Then as time went on, you got more specialists that do all the plumbing and heating and internal training of employees.

It’s not news that rentals have been the bright spot during the downturn and the salvation for stalled development projects. How has the recession affected your business?

When the housing market was very hot, we had, for the first time ever, a lot of tenant movement. We try to keep our rents at a level for a long-term renter, so we always had low turnover at 25 to 30 percent, whereas the REITs would be at 50 to 70 percent turnover. Then all of a sudden, it seemed like all the people we were renting to were buying homes and moving out, so we had the highest turnover we ever had. Then, again all of a sudden, that stopped when the foreclosures started happening. Then we were as full as we’ve ever been, so we’ve seen an enormous change one direction to another. The biggest thing we see in our industry is the effect of oil and energy costs. That has driven more recessions than anything. It’s like a worldwide tax that hurts all industries. Your oil prices go up, unemployment happens, you incur vacancy and delinquency.

You’ve been buying up properties pretty steadily lately. What are your plans for new acquisitions, if you have any?

We feel there are opportunities out there now. We’ve made bids on a bunch of projects. We came in high and got beat out by the REITs because they can close fast since they don’t need approvals for a mortgage, so we’re now making arrangements so we won’t need it either, to compete by getting a financial partner and setting it up in advance.

Edward Zuker’s Five Favorite Places to Travel:

• The Galapagos Islands. Every day you wake up with a new adventure. All the seas come together there, and there’s this incredible amount of animal life.
• Australia and New Zealand. From the outback to the fjords, it’s amazing – but the people do extreme things. They’re just so alive.
• The Amazon River to Iguazu Falls.
• Kenya. Going on an African safari is like going back in time.
• China and Southeast Asia. It’s just a completely different culture to see no refrigeration and how fresh the fish is that they cook.