Multifamily Insights

This week, learn how to set yourself up for a strong exit on a multifamily deal. John points out that investors spend plenty of time on underwriting, finding markets, and raising capital, but rarely talk about the disposition, even though much of a successful exit is decided by the assumptions made on day one. John walks through how to identify the ideal buyer for your asset, why he gets a broker opinion of value (BOV) on every property at least annually, how loan terms and interest rates shape what the next buyer can pay, when a refinance makes sense as an exit, and the fees and taxes many operators forget to underwrite. If you want to protect your returns at the finish line, this episode gives you a practical checklist for planning the exit before you close. Make sure to download our free guide, 7 Questions Every Passive Investor Should Ask, here. Key Takeaways Plan your exit at acquisition, starting with your underwriting assumptions Identify your ideal buyer and position the property for what they need Leave room for the next buyer to create value Get a broker opinion of value at least annually on every asset Know your prepayment penalty and how today's rates affect the next buyer Budget for disposition fees, taxes, and late costs before you sell Topics Why the Exit Gets Overlooked Most investing conversations focus on underwriting, markets, and capital raising A strong exit starts with the assumptions you make going into the deal Most operators underwrite a five-year hold Know Your Buyer Match your property class and business plan to the buyer most likely to pay top dollar Likely buyers include family offices, syndicators, mom-and-pop operators, and busy professionals Busy professionals often want stabilized, cash-flowing assets that are easy to operate Value-add buyers need upside left in the deal Buyers Are Sophisticated Doing the bare minimum for two or three years will not command a premium Expect buyers to dig deep into your numbers and operations Problem assets attract value buyers who will not pay top dollar Use a Broker Opinion of Value (BOV) John recommends a BOV on every property at least once a year BOVs are usually free, so only request them from brokers you would trust to sell the asset Brokers provide a valuation range plus feedback on rents, expenses, and likely buyers Use the BOV as a working plan to reach the top end of that range A 1031 exchange buyer is one example of a buyer who may pay a premium Loan Terms and the Cost of Capital Know your loan type and your prepayment penalty Penalties of 2% to 5% can cut a projected 20% IRR to 15% Determine whether a buyer can assume your loan or needs new financing Moving from 3% to 7% rates sends an extra 400 basis points to the lender If you would not buy your property at today's rates, do not expect someone else to Refinancing as an Exit A refinance can return capital, buy out partners, or fund reinvestment Choose a loan that allows refinancing without a heavy penalty Refinancing into higher rates raises payments and pressure on performance A bridge-to-perm structure builds the refinance into the plan from day one Fees, Taxes, and Late Costs Account for disposition fees, broker fees, and state and federal taxes Negotiate broker fees where possible Expect late invoices: John received a vendor bill 11 months after a sale Unbudgeted disposition costs can drastically shift final returns 📢 Announcement: Learn about our Apartment Investing Mastermind here. Next Steps Define your ideal exit buyer before you close Request annual BOVs from brokers who could sell the asset Review your prepayment penalty and whether your loan is assumable Stress-test your exit against current interest rates Budget for disposition fees, taxes, and late invoices in your pro forma Thank you for joining us for another great episode! If you're enjoying the show, please LEAVE A RATING OR REVIEW, and be sure to hit that subscribe button so you don't miss an episode.

David Tashjian is the Senior Vice President of Comcast's Xfinity Communities national business unit, where he leads strategy, transformation, and performance for one of the company's fastest-evolving growth segments. He has spent more than 20 years at Comcast and over three decades in telecommunications. David started his career in restaurants, bars, and retail management before moving into telecom in the mid-1990s. He took on his first leadership role at 19 and has worked with multifamily properties throughout his telecom career. In this episode, John sits down with David Tashjian of Comcast's Xfinity Communities to break down how apartment owners should approach connectivity and technology. David explains why deployment and service delivery decide the resident experience, how the Connected Building retrofit upgrades older properties using existing wiring, and how national owners are turning technology into higher rents and technology fees. He also shares where multifamily proptech is heading and why a fragmented market is ready for a single partner at scale. Make sure to download our free guide, 7 Questions Every Passive Investor Should Ask, here. Key Takeaways Talk to every stakeholder, from owners to residents, before making technology decisions Use resident feedback and competitor comparisons to spot when an upgrade is due Consider retrofits that reuse existing wiring before committing to a full fiber rebuild Judge providers on deployment, service delivery, and long-term stability as well as price Tie technology upgrades to rent premiums or technology fees to capture a return Treat connectivity as the foundation for access control, cameras, and other proptech Topics From Restaurants to Telecom David grew up around his father's restaurants and bars, then moved into retail management A blind ad in the mid-1990s led him to a satellite company and into telecom He is approaching 21 years at Comcast Serving Every Stakeholder David's customers include owners, developers, consultants, attorneys, property managers, maintenance teams, and residents A strong resident product fails without the right deployment strategy and on-site buy-in What Owners Want Today Ease of use and ease of deployment top the list Xfinity Communities is a new business unit with dedicated leadership over multifamily sales, deployment, and product development David sees the service experience as the main differentiator The 186 Steps Behind a Deployment A new-build managed Wi-Fi fiber deployment involves 186 steps across Comcast and the property Many connectivity complaints trace back to deployment or bandwidth issues Every property Comcast serves gets its own full engineering design Connected Building and Legacy Properties Connected Building is a post-build retrofit that uses most of a building's existing wiring David says it costs pennies on the dollar compared to a fiber retrofit, with no walls torn apart It includes proactive network monitoring, real-time data, and proactive fixes Property-wide Wi-Fi can also support smart devices, security, access control, and cameras Signs It Is Time to Upgrade Resident complaints, such as trouble working from home or dropped connections Occupancy that lags nearby properties Competing new builds charging more in rent or amenity fees The ROI of a Technology Upgrade Residents will pay for what they want, through higher rents or a technology fee Many national accounts are upgrading portfolio-wide, timed with contract renewals Some have built dedicated revenue-generating technology teams Proptech and the Future of Multifamily David describes multifamily proptech as fragmented, much like single-family home automation Xfinity Communities is running three to four beta deployments toward an integrated, white-label experience The team is evaluating acquisitions and partnerships with proptech companies Residents increasingly expect keyless entry, garage access, and entry cameras Scale lets one provider serve owners with properties spread across multiple states 📢 Announcement: Learn about our Apartment Investing Mastermind here. Round of Insights Failure that set David up for success: Believing he had leadership figured out after early success. By his mid-30s he was not seeking enough help from others. Learning to slow down, accept feedback, and bring in diverse perspectives produced far better results. Digital or mobile resource: Manager Tools and Blinkist. Book recommendation: The Truth About Leadership by James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner, for its ten truths of leadership, including that leadership is an affair of the heart. Daily habit: Color-coding his calendar by his top priorities for the year, setting up each week in advance, and rebalancing when any color takes up too much or too little time. #1 insight for leveraging technology at your apartment community: Talk to your residents about what they need, then find a partner who can deliver it. Favorite restaurant in Philadelphia, PA: Vetri Cucina, plus Dalessandro's for a cheesesteak and John's Roast Pork for a roast pork sandwich. Next Steps Learn more about Xfinity Communities here: xfinitycommunities.com Connect with David on LinkedIn Ask your residents what they need from connectivity and technology Compare your rents, amenity fees, and technology offering with nearby competitors Evaluate retrofit options that reuse existing wiring Review whether an upgrade can support higher rents or a technology fee Thank you for joining us for another great episode! If you're enjoying the show, please LEAVE A RATING OR REVIEW, and be sure to hit that subscribe button so you don't miss an episode.

Tom Brodie is a National Account Executive with CSSI, the nation's premier engineering-based consulting firm specializing in tax law surrounding commercial buildings. With over 23 years of experience and more than 65,000 studies completed, CSSI has a proven track record of delivering significant tax savings without triggering a single audit. Tom spent 27 years at Shell Oil before taking early retirement and moving into the scuba industry, where he worked for a Houston-area scuba retailer. Wanting work that was less dependent on discretionary spending in an oil-driven local economy, he found cost segregation and assumed every building owner already knew about it. Most did not. Today, based in Houston, Tom works with commercial and multifamily owners to reclassify building components into faster depreciation schedules and to correct costly errors buried in existing depreciation schedules. Most building owners have never run a cost segregation study, and many who have are still leaving money on the table. In this episode, Tom Brodie of CSSI walks John through what a study actually does, why a CPA cannot perform one, and the land valuation error he keeps finding on depreciation schedules that quietly costs owners six figures. Tom shares two real examples, explains how recapture and 1031 exchanges change the math, and clarifies when it is too late to act. Make sure to download our free guide, 7 Questions Every Passive Investor Should Ask, here. Key Takeaways Break a building into 5, 7, and 15-year asset classes instead of one 27.5 or 39-year schedule Claim 100% bonus depreciation on anything a study identifies with a life under 20 years Audit your depreciation schedule for an inflated land value, because land can never be depreciated Hold at least 3 to 5 years after a study, or use a 1031 exchange, so recapture does not erase the benefit Use a change of accounting method to catch up missed depreciation without amending prior returns Topics What Cost Segregation Actually Does A study divides a building into faster-depreciating asset groups instead of one straight-line schedule The structure stays at 27.5 years for residential or 39 for commercial; interiors and site work move to 5, 7, or 15 years Parking lots, irrigation, security systems, lighting, landscaping, and flagpoles all fall in the 15-year bucket Why the Strategy Stayed Obscure Cost segregation dates to the late 1990s but was originally priced for owners of skyscrapers CSSI brought the cost down far enough to study buildings valued from $200,000, excluding land Tom says most CPAs lack the time and resources to do it, and many never raise it with clients Why It Takes an Engineering Study Counting every window, door, appliance, and countertop across a portfolio is an engineering exercise CSSI delivers dollar totals by asset class for the CPA to plug into the depreciation schedule Tom notes CSSI does not prepare returns, so the handoff stays clean A Medical Office Building Example A 53,000 square foot medical office building completed in December 2023, valued at roughly $12.9 million Straight-line depreciation for that first month came to $13,790 The study identified about $1.1 million in tangible personal property and $3.1 million in land improvements At the 80% bonus rate then in effect, that produced roughly $3.4 million of first-year depreciation The Land Value Error Hiding in Depreciation Schedules A Colorado rental carried $500,000 in land value against a county assessment of $125,000 Reallocating the $375,000 overage lifted the building basis from $522,384 to roughly $897,000 The owner had held the property four years without knowing the error existed Tom recommends validating land value against county records, or a commercial realtor's opinion as of the purchase date Correcting Past Years Without Amending Returns A change of accounting method form allows a catch-up deduction in the current tax year The IRS treats the filing as an automatic acceptance, so prior returns stay untouched CSSI prepares the form as part of every study for the CPA to submit Recapture, Hold Periods, and the 1031 Exchange Selling soon after a study can let recapture consume the entire savings Tom recommends holding at least 3 to 5 years so reinvested savings outrun the recapture A 1031 exchange defers the gain entirely and is the cleanest way to avoid recapture What Qualifies and What Does Not Personal residences do not qualify; commercial and investment property does An owner-occupied duplex can be studied for the rental portion only A vacation rental is prorated based on the owner's personal use during the year Cost Segregation Inside a 1031 or a Syndication Tom recommends a study on both the relinquished and the replacement property Carryover basis reduces the new study's base, and the benefit still holds In syndications and JVs, depreciation flows by ownership percentage under the partnership agreement When It Is Too Late, and the Biggest Mistake Properties owned under ten years are worth evaluating; past twenty, there is usually little left to accelerate CSSI runs no-cost, no-obligation estimates before any commitment Tom says the biggest mistake is simply failing to pursue every tax benefit in the code He notes 100% bonus depreciation returned with no scheduled phase-out, unlike the version that stepped down after 2022 📢 Announcement: Learn about our Apartment Investing Mastermind here. Round of Insights Failure that set Tom up for success: On one of his first large projects he accepted the stated land value without questioning it. Looking back, he believes he could have saved the client more, and he now scrutinizes land allocation on every study. Digital or mobile resource: LandGlide, a mobile app that pulls public ownership records for a parcel while you are standing on the property. Book recommendation: Building a StoryBrand by Donald Miller. Daily habit: Working from a CRM pipeline that shows every project's stage visually, so the day's priorities and next actions are clear at a glance. #1 insight for using a cost segregation analysis: Have one done. Request a no-cost, no-obligation estimate and let the numbers decide. Favorite restaurant in Houston, TX: Gringo's Mexican Kitchen. Next Steps Reach out to Tom Brodie directly at [email protected] Learn more about CSSI here. Pull your depreciation schedule and check the land-to-building allocation against county records Request a no-cost estimate before committing to a study Confirm your hold plan, since selling within a year or two can erase the benefit Ask whether a change of accounting method applies to properties you already own Thank you for joining us for another great episode! If you're enjoying the show, please LEAVE A RATING OR REVIEW, and be sure to hit that subscribe button so you don't miss an episode.

This week, learn how John evaluates the current multifamily market and decides whether to buy, sell, or hold. John opens with the question he hears most often from investors in the current portfolio: what is the outlook, and where does the firm stand as a buyer or a seller today? John explains what has changed. Higher interest rates raised the cost of capital and made it harder to find deals that pencil, while higher savings rates gave investors a low risk alternative that did not exist a few years ago. He walks through the framework he uses in response: separate what you cannot control from what you can, start with operations and the value add upside still available, then weigh that against the runway left on the loan. He also makes the case for thinking like a trader of assets, explains why leverage determines who wins a trade, and shares why he believes multifamily fundamentals remain healthy despite the short term pressure in the market. Make sure to download our free guide, 7 Questions Every Passive Investor Should Ask, here. Key Takeaways Stop spending energy on variables you cannot control Evaluate every deal individually before making portfolio decisions Weigh the value add upside still available against the time left on the loan Never put yourself in a position where you are forced to sell Treat assets as trades and know where your leverage sits Expect forced sellers over the next 12 to 18 months to create buying opportunities Topics What Investors Are Asking Right Now Investors want to know the outlook and whether the firm is buying or selling Most deals in the portfolio are cash flowing, though not at past distribution levels Why the Market Has Changed Higher interest rates raised the cost of capital and thinned the pool of deals that pencil High yield savings accounts now pay a decent return for far less risk Investors are more cautious after deals that did not perform as projected Focus on What You Can Control John tracks the economy, the Treasury, and the value of the dollar without fixating on them Interest rates in 2027 and election driven policy changes sit outside any operator's control Awareness informs the projection; energy goes toward internal execution Operations Come First Every deal gets reviewed individually for performance, cash flow, and remaining upside If rents can still be pushed and demand is strong, keep executing the business plan Once the value add is captured, the deal moves into a second phase Loan Term Drives the Exit Decision A short runway with the value already captured points toward selling sooner A longer runway with upside remaining supports holding the asset Most deals fall between those two cases and require weighing both factors Selling on Your Terms John is a seller at the right price but wants to stay in control of the timing He expects some operators to be forced to sell over the next 12 to 18 months Groups already exiting at a loss will create opportunities for prepared buyers Why Multifamily Fundamentals Remain Healthy Population growth and the housing shortage have not gone away New construction starts have tapered off after several heavy supply years Midwest markets such as Cincinnati saw smaller swings in both directions The Trade Mindset Brokers talk about assets trading, and John applies the same framing as an investor The mindset centers on a clear business plan and a defined exit instead of an indefinite hold John compares the approach to running a sports team as a general manager Leverage Wins Trades Owning an asset other buyers want is what creates leverage Anyone forced to offload a deal rarely gets the number they wanted Positioning for competition, demand, and a strong story protects value at exit Reading Market Sentiment What buyers are willing to pay matters more than John's own view of value The firm buys when the business plan works and the price makes sense Evaluation is continuous, not a position set in stone 📢 Announcement: Learn about our Apartment Investing Mastermind here. Next Steps Explore the Apartment Investing Mastermind and request more details here. Join the free Investor Insights community on Facebook to continue the conversation Review each deal in your portfolio for the value add upside that is still available Map the time left on every loan against the value you have already captured Identify where you hold leverage and where you could be forced to sell Track what buyers in your market are willing to pay, not only your own valuation Thank you for joining us for another great episode! If you're enjoying the show, please LEAVE A RATING OR REVIEW, and be sure to hit that subscribe button so you don't miss an episode.

Jacob Kosior has over ten years of experience in the multifamily housing industry, spanning operations, marketing, and centralization efforts across conventional, student housing, affordable housing, and build-to-rent communities. He previously served as Vice President of Centralized Services at Cardinal Group Management and has held leadership positions with BH Management, The Dinerstein Companies, and CA Ventures. In 2022, while founding a centralized services team at Cardinal Group, Jacob began testing AI tools across the housing space and co-developed a delinquency AI product for rent collection with the EliseAI team. Today he is at EliseAI, where he works with operators of all sizes to implement AI tools, manage the change required for the technology to stick, and rethink how work gets structured across a portfolio. In this episode, Jacob Kosior breaks down how multifamily operators are actually deploying AI, where to start, and what agentic AI changes about the way workflows get built. Drawing on a decade in operations before moving to the technology side, Jacob explains why leasing is the natural entry point, why speed is becoming the metric that matters more than conversion rate alone, and why owners who call their own properties tend to misjudge voice AI. He and John also work through the harder question operators face once automation is in place: what the human team should be doing instead. Make sure to download our free guide, 7 Questions Every Passive Investor Should Ask, here. Key Takeaways Start with leasing, where the tasks are repetitive and already documented Build AI workflows on the same follow-up cadence you train your onsite teams on Track speed alongside conversion rates, because faster cycles compound Decide where human touchpoints serve the customer, not just the org chart Redeploy the hours AI frees up into experience or revenue generating work Ask questions early, since lacking internal AI talent is the most common barrier Topics From Operations to the Technology Side Jacob spent over a decade in multifamily operations before moving into AI Founding a centralized services team at Cardinal Group in 2022 pushed him to demo every tool available He co-developed a delinquency AI tool and a centralized call center product with EliseAI before joining the company What Agentic AI Actually Changes Generative AI answers prompts; agentic AI follows a workflow toward a defined goal Goals map to work teams already do: book the tour, collect the rent, sign the renewal Operators now control the steps the AI follows, mirroring how they train staff onsite Why Leasing Is the Place to Start Leasing represents the repetitive, high-volume work teams handle every day The old five point follow-up has become 8 to 9 touches per prospect to convert AI works the weekend leads so agents start Monday on tours instead of backlog Who EliseAI Serves The platform crossed 6 million units earlier this year, roughly 1 in 6 US apartments Clients range from top 50 operators to regional operators with a few hundred units Over a billion AI conversations give the platform context on industry edge cases Speed as the Metric Owners Miss The industry tracks conversion rates closely and speed almost not at all A 20% lead-to-tour rate achieved in two hours beats the same rate in two days An assistant manager calls one delinquent resident at a time; AI calls the building Faster cycles give owners earlier visibility into collections, renewals, and leasing velocity Rethinking the ROI Question Operators who never calculated the ROI of a leasing agent struggle to value the AI doing that work The 2025 conversation was about ROI; the 2026 conversation is about creating value Freed capacity opens the door to restructuring teams, not just cutting tasks Deciding Where Humans Step In Human Touch Automations let operators choose where staff enter the customer journey One example is a personal call two hours before a scheduled tour The test is whether the customer wants that touchpoint, not whether the team is used to it Automating administrative work finally gives teams room to deliver the service they advertise The Voice AI Misconception Owners calling their own properties judge voice AI against old press-one phone trees Consumers using AI daily are increasingly comfortable talking to it on the phone Voice AI routes callers to the right person instead of forcing them through a menu Regional dialects lifted both engagement and tour bookings in beta testing What Voice AI Replaces After-hours answering services and overflow call centers become optional Call scoring rates every leasing agent call against a rubric, replacing quarterly mystery shops Self-learning feeds those conversations back into the AI to improve automation rates 📢 Announcement: Learn about our Apartment Investing Mastermind here. Round of Insights Failure that set Jacob up for success: Charging ahead on change initiatives without bringing his team members along, which rubbed people the wrong way. It taught him that change management requires as much communication with counterparts, ownership groups, and regional managers as it does with onsite teams. Digital or mobile resource: IBM's YouTube channel for understanding AI concepts, use cases, and terminology. Book recommendation: Deep Work by Cal Newport, which broke his belief in multitasking. Daily habit: Stretching and morning mobility work before starting the day. #1 insight for implementing AI into your business: Ask questions. Most operators have never done this before, and a recent 350 person survey found 28% named a lack of internal talent as a barrier to adoption. Favorite restaurant in Chicago, IL: The Izakaya. Next Steps Learn more about EliseAI here: eliseai.com Explore EliseAI case studies, change management toolkits, and industry surveys Audit which onsite tasks are repetitive enough to hand to AI Document your follow-up workflows before you automate them Start tracking response speed alongside conversion rates Decide where human touchpoints genuinely improve the customer experience Ask vendors questions early instead of waiting to build internal expertise Thank you for joining us for another great episode! If you're enjoying the show, please LEAVE A RATING OR REVIEW, and be sure to hit that subscribe button so you don't miss an episode.

John McNellis is a veteran real estate developer and founding partner of McNellis Partners, where he has spent more than four decades developing over 100 properties across Northern California, primarily supermarket anchored shopping centers. He started as a journalism major, went to law school, and practiced litigation for less than a year before shifting into real estate law, where he learned to structure large transactions and met the people who would fund his first deals. John built his first shopping center in 1983 alongside an older developer client and has worked with the same two partners, Beth Walter and Mike Powers, ever since. He is the author of Making It in Real Estate: Thriving as a Developer, now in its third edition, and writes a monthly column for the San Francisco Business Times and The Registry. ​​In this episode, John McNellis walks through 43 years of development, starting with a duplex he bought at 24 and ending with a firm that uses no outside capital at all. He explains how a law career gave him a shortcut into large deals, why he stopped raising money after his financial partners walked away during the early 1990s recession, and what he learned from losing a Sacramento shopping center in foreclosure. He also makes an argument most real estate podcasts avoid: keep your day job, because the failure rate in development is high and the cash flow takes years to arrive. Make sure to download our free guide, 7 Questions Every Passive Investor Should Ask, here. Key Takeaways Learn large deal mechanics on someone else's payroll before risking your own capital Partner for the skills you lack, and accept that good partnerships can still end Weigh the control you surrender before accepting outside capital Owning 100% of a small deal can beat owning 1% of a large one Do not overpay, over leverage, or over develop Topics From Journalism to Law to Development Practiced litigation for less than a year before moving to real estate law Legal work exposed him to eight figure deals, entity structures, and capital contacts Early Deals That Funded the Career Bought a duplex at 24 for $25,000 with roughly $1,500 down Traded up to a fourplex and turned $1,500 into $90,000 in about two years The First Shopping Center Partnered with a developer client who had construction expertise but could not sell John raised $1 million in equity at $25,000 per investor and handled the legal work Built in 1983, still owned today, mortgage paid off and renovated twice Why That Partnership Worked, and Why It Ended The partnership ran 5 or 6 years, until neither needed the other Beth Walter and Mike Powers joined in 1983 and remain his partners 43 years later The Developer as Conductor John says he still knows nothing about construction after 80 odd buildings Development requires an orchestra of partners, consultants, and contractors The Capital Ladder and Its Ceiling Friends and family money is a booster rocket, useful until you run out of friends Institutional capital costs more and carries total control over timing and exits What Non-Recourse Actually Means Deregulation of savings and loans pushed money into commercial real estate in the 1980s Financial partners walked away mid-project during the early 1990s recession Non-recourse protects you from them and protects them from you Moving to Their Own Capital Only John chose owning 100% of a small deal over a minority stake in a large one The firm buys junk, fixes it, sells it as antiques, and funds the next deal Why He Tells Developers to Keep Their Day Job Development can take three to six years before a property cash flows John practiced law through his first ten years of investing He cites a failure rate above 60% for development firms in their first decade 📢 Announcement: Learn about our Apartment Investing Mastermind here. Round of Insights Failure that set John up for success: A Sacramento shopping center bought with his first partner. They overpaid, overleveraged with a savings and loan that funded 103% of the purchase price, and tried to over develop the site. The deal ended in foreclosure about ten years later and taught him not to overpay, over leverage, or over develop. Digital or mobile resource: Google Earth. Book recommendation: The Elements of Style by Strunk and White. Daily habit: Getting out of bed before 7 a.m. and getting to the office. #1 insight for making it in real estate: Persistence first, risk evaluation second. Real money requires real risk, but too much risk ends the business and none of it leaves you consulting. Favorite restaurant in Palo Alto, CA: Evvia. Next Steps Reach out to John via email: [email protected] Connect with John McNellis on LinkedIn, where he reposts his monthly columns Read Making It in Real Estate: Thriving as a Developer, available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble Follow his columns in the San Francisco Business Times and The Registry Audit whether your current capital structure gives you the control you need Pressure test purchase price, leverage, and development scope before you commit Identify the operating partners you need instead of trying to cover every role Thank you for joining us for another great episode! If you're enjoying the show, please LEAVE A RATING OR REVIEW, and be sure to hit that subscribe button so you don't miss an episode.

This week, learn why waiting until you feel ready to raise capital is the exact mindset keeping you on the sideline. John Casmon makes the case that you will never feel fully ready, and that confidence comes from preparation. In this episode, John breaks down three practical steps to start raising capital today: building your reps, assembling the right team, and shifting your focus from yourself to the people you are trying to serve. Make sure to download our free guide, 7 Questions Every Passive Investor Should Ask, here. Key Takeaways Confidence comes from preparation. Act first, and the feeling of readiness develops from there Analyze deals, talk to people in the marketplace, and find mentors or coaches to build your reps Build a team that offsets your experience gaps so you do not have to be the expert on everything yourself Overcome imposter syndrome by being resourceful and knowing where to find solutions Raise capital when you are not under pressure, before you have a live deal or after you have already closed Shift your focus from your own fear of rejection to educating and serving potential investors Topics Why Waiting Until You're Ready Is a Mistake John opens by challenging the belief that you need more experience before raising capital He argues directly that you are never going to feel ready, and that continuing to wait only delays progress The gap is rooted in preparation and reps, and those are things you can act on today Building Confidence Through Reps Confidence comes from putting in the work: analyzing deals, talking to people in the marketplace, and working with mentors or coaches John uses an NFL draft analogy: rookies have never played a professional game, but they draw on their football experience and translate it to the next level Transferable skills count. Experience managing a budget, running a business, or investing in smaller residential properties can all translate meaningfully to multifamily The benchmark is doing enough preparation that you know what you are talking about, and you can build toward that starting today Aligning Yourself with the Right Team Whatever you lack in experience, offset it with team members who have it: property managers, partners, analysts, brokers, coaches John revisits the rookie analogy: no team drafts a first-year player and hands them the franchise. They pair them with veterans who complement their skill set Building a credible, well-rounded team is how you present a compelling picture to potential investors regardless of where you are in your career Coaching and mentoring adds direct value here. Having experienced people on your side removes the pressure of carrying all the expertise yourself Overcoming Imposter Syndrome Imposter syndrome is rooted in being too focused on yourself: your gaps, your fears, and your ego Investors want you to know more than they do and to be resourceful enough to find solutions. That is the standard, and it is achievable John shares a personal story: a former colleague unsubscribed from his investor newsletter early in his capital-raising journey, and he initially took it personally He later recognized the real lesson. He had not conveyed the right message to the right audience. The feedback was about positioning, and it had nothing to do with him personally The practical response to imposter syndrome is sharing your journey openly, letting people learn about you over time, and focusing on being of service Raising Capital When You Don't Need the Money The best time to raise capital is when there is no live deal pressure, either before you have identified a deal or after you have already closed and can share openly what you are working through When you are communicating without a funding deadline looming, you come across with authentic confidence Pressure is detectable. Potential investors will sense desperation, and it undermines trust The goal is to present opportunities and let people decide if it is the right fit Shifting Focus from Yourself to Serving Others John frames the entire challenge of capital raising as a mindset problem. You are too focused on your own feelings and your own fear of rejection When someone does not invest, it is rarely personal. It is usually a messaging or fit issue, and it is feedback worth learning from Your job is to get in front of the right people with the right message and the right opportunity. Finding those people is where your energy belongs When you focus on how you can serve and educate potential investors, the conversation changes entirely 📢 Announcement: Learn about our Apartment Investing Mastermind here. Next Steps Start building your reps today: analyze deals, talk to people in the marketplace, and identify a mentor or coach who can accelerate your learning Audit your current team and identify the experience gaps you need to offset with the right partners, managers, or advisors Begin sharing your investing journey openly so potential investors can learn about you before you have a live deal requiring a funding decision Practice presenting investment opportunities in a calm, low-pressure way so the conversation becomes natural before the stakes are high Reframe rejection and disengagement as messaging feedback, and use it to sharpen how you communicate Explore the Multifamily Mastermind and request more details here Thank you for joining us for another great episode! If you're enjoying the show, please LEAVE A RATING OR REVIEW, and be sure to hit that subscribe button so you don't miss an episode.

This week, learn why property managers can make or break your multifamily investment. John explains that once you decide to scale, you cannot do everything yourself, which means your success depends heavily on your ability to find the right property manager, understand what good management actually looks like, and stay actively involved enough to guide performance without getting buried in the day-to-day. Drawing from his own experience self-managing a two-unit building and later overseeing larger apartment assets, John breaks down the real work property managers handle, from turns and leasing to inspections, vendors, communication, and performance tracking. He also explains why many investors make the mistake of blindly trusting property managers without understanding the basics of the role themselves, and why that lack of knowledge makes it harder to vet, manage, and retain the right people. If you want to build a stronger multifamily operation, this episode gives you a practical framework for how to think about property management as a core part of the business. Make sure to download our free guide, 7 Questions Every Passive Investor Should Ask, here. Key Takeaways Understand why property managers should be treated as a critical driver of investment performance, not just a service provider Learn why investors need a working knowledge of property management basics so they can vet and guide managers more effectively Match your property manager to the property type and business plan, because a strong Class A operator may not be a strong fit for a Class C asset Build a repeatable management process around KPIs, meetings, approvals, and communication loops Retain great property managers by aligning incentives, giving recognition, and thinking through how your long-term plans affect their career stability Topics Why Property Management Matters So Much John says investors cannot scale if they try to do everything themselves, and that property managers are essential to driving success across the portfolio He also notes that even experienced operators sometimes have to replace property managers because the fit, execution, or staffing changes over time What John Learned by Self-Managing Early in his investing journey, John self-managed a two-unit building with his wife, which forced him to learn the full cycle of managing a rental asset That included handling unit turns, contractor coordination, marketing, leasing, applications, compliance, and minimizing downtime between residents He argues that this experience matters because investors who have never managed property often do not know what good property management actually requires Process First, Then People John frames most operational issues as either a process problem, a people problem, or a partnership problem He emphasizes starting with process, so expectations are clear and performance is not dependent on one person's instincts or style He compares this to the consistency of a fast-food chain versus the variability that can happen when a restaurant relies too much on one chef without strong systems Finding the Right Property Manager John says the first step is knowing what kind of results you need based on the property's business plan A Class A luxury property may require a more polished, service-oriented manager, while a Class C asset may require someone with thicker skin, more hands-on oversight, and experience handling subsidy programs or tougher resident interactions He shares an example of hiring a highly respected management company for an eight-unit Class C property in Chicago, only to find that their experience with Class A/B assets did not translate well to the realities of that building What Managing Property Managers Looks Like John recommends frequent conversations, especially early on, often starting with weekly calls and sometimes more often if a property is more operationally intense Those meetings should start with key KPIs like occupancy, vacancy, move-ins, signed leases, and financial performance before drilling into maintenance tickets, projects, and operational issues He also recommends setting approval thresholds for spending and paying close attention to vendor relationships so managers are not simply hiring friends or using the wrong vendors without oversight Why Scale Can Improve Management Efficiency John notes that larger properties can actually be easier to manage at a high level because they support more dedicated staff and clearer role separation On a larger asset, the owner should be managing the manager, not solving individual resident issues directly He contrasts this with smaller properties, where owners often get dragged into too many day-to-day details because there is not enough scale to support a stronger operating structure Why Regional Managers Matter When working with a third-party management company, John likes to involve the regional manager in as many conversations as possible for alignment and transparency Without that, property managers can get caught between the owner's objectives and the management company's internal priorities, which can create conflict or misalignment How to Retain Great Property Managers John says retention starts with understanding motivations, especially compensation and growth opportunities He recommends tying incentives and bonuses to the owner's objectives and the property's KPIs rather than relying only on static compensation He also highlights the importance of praise, recognition, and regular positive feedback because property managers spend much of their day absorbing complaints and solving problems Finally, he encourages owners to think ahead about what happens to managers if a property is sold, since uncertainty about job stability can influence retention and morale 📢 Announcement: Learn about our Apartment Investing Mastermind here. Next Steps Explore the Multifamily Mastermind and request more details here. Review whether you truly understand the basics of property management well enough to evaluate your current manager's performance Match your management company or manager to the specific class, tenant profile, and business plan of the property Create a standard meeting structure built around KPIs, financials, maintenance, projects, and clear follow-up expectations Set spending thresholds, vendor standards, and communication expectations so managers know when to act and when to seek approval Build a retention plan that includes compensation alignment, recognition, and clarity around future plans for the property Thank you for joining us for another great episode! If you're enjoying the show, please LEAVE A RATING OR REVIEW, and be sure to hit that subscribe button so you don't miss an episode.