Built RE holdings from $0 (1 unit) to over 600M (4,500+) without giving up any equity. No syndication or coaching. Own PM, construction & few other businesses.
All company meeting today. Had a lot on my mind and many mixed feelings. Thought I’d write them out and share transparently.
Started PM company w/construction arm in 2019 w/ 4 employees.
*Managed 252 units and averaged 2 rehabs a month.
All company meeting today. 150
12 years ago: I drove a ford escort.
I'm 6'5, speedometer didn't work, and it broke down often.
I didn't care. I was putting everything I had into real estate. Money spent on a new car to keep up with friends meant less to invest. I had goals and was obsessed with making every
When I worked my “W2” in retail, I had a boss share something with me that has had a profound impact on me and my kids.
My boss shared with me something he did with his kids over the years that they never forgot and helped him connect on deeper level.
His kids were almost out
I escrow all my property taxes.
Banks want to do this for you and they say it’s “free”.
It’s not. For me, it would cost me $17k this month😳.
It’s not hard…taxes can be easily projected, then divide by 12 months, then automate transfers each month. Once set up, it literally
Always get asked the question, do you allow pets?
We make $90,000 a month in pet fees.
So yes, yes we do!
Here are 3 ways to do it right:
1. We rehab with premium vinyl plank (scratch, pet, water resistant).
2. Pet Criteria - Bigger renter pool.
3. Great lease policies and
For the guy that called me an overnight success…
Picture - No syndications, no outside investor money, or partners.
Light yellow under contract.
How I scaled from nothing in 9 steps:
1. In 2013, my wife and I used every dollar we saved for 3 years to get that first
Yesterday I broke 4,000 units with the closing of a 384 unit portfolio.
Not even the 6-8 inches of snow could takeaway the smile on my face!
It took me until my 8th year of RE investing to own more than 384 TOTAL units. Everyone's journey is different, mine has been about
I escrow all my property taxes.
Banks want to do this for you and they say it’s “free”. It’s not. For me, it would cost me $21k per month.
It’s not hard…taxes can be easily projected, then divide by 12 months, then automated transfers each month. Once set up, it literally
Want to know how I scaled to almost 4,000 units while keeping 100% equity?
See below: Add world class value, do it w/ speed, & build system to make it repeatable.
Timeline:
1. Closed Property Tuesday(10am)
2. 10:34am Tueaday rehab crew wrapped up demo and started on rehab
Closed at 10am today(Tuesday).
I was on-site at 10:34am and the rehab crew was already well into it. “Crew captain” said I should come back Thursday and itll be picture ready!
Speed kills!
In March 2021, I closed on a duplex (pictured). I remember looking at the huge apartment community behind it and thinking, "one day."
Well, today is that day.
I'm proud to share that I've 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐚𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬: 𝟓𝟗𝟐 𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐬, 𝟓𝟕
Our process for rehabs is done the same exact 4 ways every single time. Just like a car wash, we simply press the button for the package our car (unit) needs. Here is how it looks:
1. Silver Package:
*All new LVP(luxury vinyl plank flooring), new trim, and all new paint.
The secret to success?
Pick one thing and get insanely good at it. While others are jumping from one shiny object to the next, I doubled down on residential multi-family. I buy, rehab, and manage. Over and over.
Took 5 years to hit 100 units. In the next 6, I scaled to 5,000.
Apartments are not properties you buy.
Apartments are businesses you acquire.
To scale, stop spending time learning about how to run properties and start spending time learning how to run businesses.
This changed everything for me.
Not sure who needs to hear this but you do not have to scale by buying a 100 unit apartment complex early in your RE career.
You can buy a duplex and slowly learn the business to allow for more scale later.
3 years into my RE career I owned only 7 units.
Today I own 4,086.
My company can reposition 100+ unit apts in 12-14 months vs the typical 36-48 month average in multi-family industry.
I’m talking full reposition - every unit, common area, exterior, and even landscape.
Over the last 3 years, I’ve done this on over 2,000 units.
Here’s 7
By mid-September, I’ll have closed on 1,423 units this year.
No investors. No partners. No syndications. 100% equity, taking on all the risk and all the reward.
Here’s why we’re moving faster than ever:
1Deal Flow: It’s never been stronger. I’m getting cash-flowing, value-add
12:30pm
Me - “Dad I'm wrapping up work early today, want to come over and play “HORSE”?
Dad - “On my way”
1 pm: playing “HORSE” with my dad and having a drink on the deck afterwards together.
I love scaling my businesses but nothing beats these moments and I wont sacrifice
I'm a buy-and-hold investor, selling less than 1% of my portfolio over the years.
1. Experienced investors advised that selling properties was their biggest mistake, so I decided not to sell from the beginning.
2. To scale, I refinance existing properties, keeping the
For those that think growth has to come in the form of huge apartment deals right away in your RE career.
See below for my first 6 years and the short version of how I did it:
1. Started slow. Real slow.
2. Learned the business by running the business.
3. Took all W2 and
After closing 976 units this year, I planned to take the summer off from new acquisitions…
Well, nothing ever goes to plan and this week I put two huge deals under contract instead.
Off mkt, great locations, & value add. Teams ready to get back to work…going to be a big
The longer I am in biz, l'm convinced that most decisions should be made with 70% of the information.
Waiting for until 90%+ is to slow and why most people wait on the sidines.
Instead of worrying about making the perfect decision, worry about getting better at course
My property management company offers our employees more than just a 401k.
We offer education.
We offer guidance and mentorship.
We offer programs to help build wealth.
We offer a job that teaches you how to develop personally, professionally, and financially.
This year, we
Monthly Experience Results(March):
1. Answer phone on second ring(Speed): 98.37%.
2. Quality on phones: 4.5/5
3. Move in satisfaction score: 93%
Every month my PM company presents their KPIs, new process changes, and overall performance for the past/future 30 days.
As we close
I get a lot of questions on how I reposition apts so much quicker than the competition.
My team and processes can rehab a 100 unit apartment that needs a new roof, parking lot, siding, windows, doors, common areas, and all new unit rehabs in 9-12 months vs 3-4 years.
I've
Resident satisfaction is non-negotiable in every aspect of my property management business.
This means:
-Answering every call with energy on the 2nd ring
-Sending handwritten cards for birthdays or celebrations
-Greeting all new residents on move-in day
-Handling delinquencies
One of the best decisions I’ve made was creating a construction arm of the PM business.
I spent 14.8 million on CapX last year and have averaged about a million a month on rehabs for almost 3 years.
It’s allowed me to acquire 1,423 value add units this year and not have any
If you've had the balls to invest in real estate despite the current rates and know how to manage it effectively, you'll be greatly rewarded when rates drop.
The value and cash flow will soar.
There has been little to no competition since 2023…that will change too.
We recently took over a 592-unit community, marking our company's second-largest acquisition to date. We've only had the property for 45 days and have wasted no time executing our vision.
So far, we've rebranded the community with new signage and new exterior lighting.
@ThinkAppraiser
F man. That would have been 🔥.
I once drove a 1998 moped to my inspection of a 55 unit apt. That story is for another day but it was epic.
Thx man!
It's been a while since I've had the chance to update, but here's the latest unit count, including those under contract.
𝐁𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐉𝐮𝐧𝐞, 𝐈'𝐦 𝐬𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝟏,𝟎𝟎𝟎 𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐟 𝐨𝐟 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟒.
My dad is retired but loves to stay busy…in fact he cuts the lawn at my HQ office building(converted school).
My mom comes around and scans in new property paperwork or helps with random administration.
Its awesome walking into work some days and getting to chat w/ my parents
@JShamess
I have a lot of it on YouTube and some really good stuff on “scale” but I put together a few deal breakdowns that’ll post on here in January for the first time.
New here so more to come.
$50M+ in real estate set to close in the next 30 days.
Here’s the kicker: I’m not spending much time on closing the deal itself anymore. My focus? 100% on the first 30 days post-close.
Why? Because those 30 days are the make-or-break window. Nail the execution, and you set the
A simple strategy I learned playing Monopoly that I do now in real life - When I get one apartment complex under contract, I look to buy as much as I can in that area and as close as possible to the first property.
Economy of scale is a very important business strategy. It's
My Current Unit Mix 🏢
Total Now - 4,086 units:
10% - A Class
30% - B Class
50% - C Class
*All properties in average to strong locations.
My first 8 years in RE:
100% - C Class
*Not all properties in average to strong locations.
I made my money and grew my portfolio
Instead of looking for your next property or business to invest in... look at your current properties or business and invest in them.
ROl is always better, faster.
People structure for rehab scaling:
1. Director.
*Strategy, talent development, material and labor costs, set up new territories, leadership of leaders.
2. Leader.
*Lead 8-10 Crew Captains, misc vendors, scheduling of teams, training new teams in new territories.
3. Crew
Im sitting over here with no investors, no partners, and no syndications quietly building my way to 1,000+ units closed this year and nearly 4,000 overall.
Alot of ways to build wealth in RE for sure but I’ve always loved keeping 100% of the equity and never having to slow down
952 units closed this year.
10 different vacations, including this one in Europe.
2 more vacations planned before year end and 4more properties scheduled to close by year end.
Two stats I’m proud of in 2023:
1. 7+days of vacation each month.
2. 100+ units closed on each
$24,000 stupid mistake.
I’ve made a lot of mistakes in business and RE. I’m going to share more on the mistakes as maybe it’ll help save others some money.
A few years ago I bought an apartment. As always, my team and I went through our usually checklist for inspections. One
Almost done updating all financials from 2023 and business metrics.
I put all this together in a year end business book to go over in-person with all lenders I have debt. I also meet with new lenders and share this info with them as well.
I take the time to slow down and
I am only here to learn and connect with others doing cool things but also to hopefully encourage people to spend more time on their actual business vs just buying deals or raising money(can do both too).
In my experience, I've seen many investors not slowing down to focus on
We complete service requests in 48 hrs 100% of the time and in 24 hrs 75% of the time.
*On 4,000 units, in 26 different cities, and 2 states.
Here’s the process in 10 easy steps:
1. We run everything through
@AppFolio
.
2. Each Service Tech(ST) has a territory and all
Closed on 164 units about a week ago now…
Signed 3 leases with average increase $335. Moving from $800 to almost $1150.
Rehabbed 7 units. Spent $94,500
Updated brand, signing, laundry rooms, and a bunch of other misc items we can still do in Winter. Spent about another
Want to know how I scaled to almost 4,000 units while keeping 100% equity?
See below: Add world class value, do it w/ speed, & build system to make it repeatable.
Timeline:
1. Closed Property Tuesday(10am)
2. 10:34am Tueaday rehab crew wrapped up demo and started on rehab
Started my PM company in 2019 with 4 employees and 252 units. We now have 104 employees today and almost 4,000 units.
Want to hear a crazier stat?
99/104 employees have had no RE or PM experience.
My president, 4 directors, and 9 leaders all didn’t come from the RE or PM
@sweatystartup
Lots of people can find the money for a deal, few can find the people and set the business plan while doing it. Love the total amount of pieces you pushed to place here…i bet it helped with the raise too.
My biggest property, 536 units, has one vacancy left I've been just informed…
I've been repositioning this property for 18months and we just finished majority of all the rehabs.
Feels great considering we had over 50 this time last year…this community looks brand new and
This year I've bought 976 units so far, averaging out to 5 units a day.
2 deals, 4 apt communities.
All off-market.
I pay a huge finders fee for anyone that brings me a deal, “off Mkt” in the areas I invest(WI). Depending on the deal size and potential value, strong 6 digits.
Extremely proud of the business results this year wrapping up just over 1,100 units acquired.
However - even more proud to have slowed down to take 11 vacations, coach my son and daughter in multiple sports, and on track to go 52/52 reading and exercising min of 5/7 days a
952 units closed this year.
10 different vacations, including this one in Europe.
2 more vacations planned before year end and 4more properties scheduled to close by year end.
Two stats I’m proud of in 2023:
1. 7+days of vacation each month.
2. 100+ units closed on each
People structure for rehab scaling:
1. Director.
*Strategy, talent development, material and labor costs, set up new territories, leadership of leaders.
2. Leader.
*Lead 8-10 Crew Captains, misc vendors, scheduling of teams, training new teams in new territories.
3. Crew
The “Rehab Car Wash”
Our process for rehabs are done the same exact 4 ways every single time. Just like a car wash, we simply press the button for the package our car(unit) needs.
Here is how it looks:
1. Silver Package:
*All new LVP(luxury vinyl plank flooring), new trim,
Running a property management business means you’re also in the logistics game. Especially if you're handling rehabs along with regular maintenance. Early on, I made the mistake of only negotiating material prices. As we scaled, I leveraged our volume to drive down costs—basic
l'm proud to share that in 2023, my PM company achieved our fastest-ever work order speeds for residents!
We fixed 8,448 work-orders in 24 hours or 88% of the time(97% in 48 hrs).
Compare this to 2022 where we fixed 900 work-orders in 24 hours and 15% of the time.
Improving
@roberthendricks
Good take here. I strongly agree and have aggressively bet on multifamily long-term. This year will be my biggest taking down over 1,400
Apartments are not properties you buy.
Apartments are businesses you acquire.
To scale, stop spending time learning about how to run properties and start spending time learning how to run businesses.
This changed everything for me.
Closed at 10am today(Tuesday).
I was on-site at 10:34am and the rehab crew was already well into it. “Crew captain” said I should come back Thursday and itll be picture ready!
Speed kills!
So many RE investors believe they need to be better at raising money, creative finance, or negotiating a deal.
I'd argue that most RE investors need to be better at systems, asset or property mgmt, and overall leadership.
2023 final version!
Team and I worked hard on this one and I love how it turned out.
Had the opportunity to present it with one of my biggest lenders who holds 100million of debt for me.
CEO has 47 years of experience and chief lending officer 37 years so they have seen it
Almost done updating all financials from 2023 and business metrics.
I put all this together in a year end business book to go over in-person with all lenders I have debt. I also meet with new lenders and share this info with them as well.
I take the time to slow down and
Wrapped up 4 REFIs today's(blend & extend).
They all had over a year left but I don't love waiting unless I have to for a loan to come due.
These were about 4 years old and even with the increase in rate, the cash out $ was significant.
REFIs are my favorite part of the RE
One thousand, three hundred and twenty-two.
That’s the number of work orders our service techs completed in July. What’s even more impressive? We resolved 97% of them within 48 hours, and 87% within 24 hours. In property management, speed is everything.
This rapid response time
The other week I shared a post on how I reposition apartments so much quickly and add value substantially faster than most RE operators. Since so many investors were interested in the “behind the scenes”, I’ll be sharing my entire process that can work for a 4-unit or 4,000-unit
My kind of closing…w/ lender on a property. Had to get it in and didn’t have time since I was with my team inspecting the newest deal(just under 300units).
I don’t get excited about closing, I get excited about figuring out how to run the investment better.
Random picnic
I realize there is always this picture of someone closing a RE deal, at the closing table, smiling next to a bottle of champagne ready to celebrate.
Not me.
Closing day is “day one” and I don't celebrate “day one.” It's hands down the riskiest day of the new investment so I'm
There is a level a pain you must go through for a given period of time when buying and repositioning a heavy value-add property(business).
Doesn’t matter how big or good you are at predicting the business plan… there is significant burn rate, tenant problems, employees to move
We treat our resident retention process like a marriage. 💍
When residents choose to move out, we don't just say "See ya, here's your move-out inspection form!" It's just like in a marriage, if your partner wants to get a divorce, you won't just let them walk out the door. The
Around 3,000 units lenders started asking a new question:
“What is your succession plan if something happened to you?”
Fair question and surprised it took that long to ask considering I own 100% in those units and have no partners to in 99% of deals.
I won't get into a ton of
Just wanted to add - I have 20 rehab crews, each lead by a Crew Captain. This rehab was lead by our only female crew captain and she is outstanding!!! Always leads with world class quality and speed with her team. Does an outstanding job at communication!
That ability to buy property below replacement cost has been a huge part of my strategy and success over the last decade.
I am able to routinely buy RE, many times $100k a unit under replacement. It’s given me an unfair advantage as the location and properties will never be
I’ve focused on people way more than properties or deals.
Everyone talks about location, location, location in RE investing.
It’s about people, people, people in my experience.
Location matters but it’s already built into the price.
I think there is a lot of investors that feel they need to buy a 100 unit apartment first. So the best path to grow their wealth is to raise a bunch of money, give up all the equity, and then post that they own 100 units.
I hate this…
Instead - Buy the 10 unit apartment
For the last few years we’ve let our kids pick a national park and fly out for a week.
We hike as many trails as possible together as a family and they’ve really grown to love it. My daughter is only 7 and son, 9.
No technology and only nature. Long hikes together like this