It's a great time to be a renter in many Southeast cities.

A harsh realty for real estate GP's: "The middle is death – not nimble enough to be a sharpshooter, not big enough to attract the gobs of institutional money you need to compete." - The Promote Newsletter

High-quality multifamily assets in the Southeast are trading at sub-5 caps, with the following assumptions built in: future rate cuts, outsized rent growth over the next 5-7 years, and continued flow of capital keeping cap rates tight. While it feels like a lot has to go right,

Nobody wants to underwrite 4%-5% multifamily rent growth until they begin seeing 4%-5% rent growth. However, by that time, it's too late.

The bid/ask spread for high-quality multifamily assets is slowly narrowing. Not because sellers are capitulating, but because increasingly impatient buyers are motivated to put out capital, and we're inching closer to a more favorable supply/demand dynamic.

Sometimes a deal story is more important than the returns.

Be the fun phone call for brokers to make. People want to do business with people they like.

Many apartment lease-ups are offering 12 weeks free rent plus 150% commissions to locators—effectively the equivalent of 18 weeks free per lease.

You should always have a live deal to chat with equity about - even if it's just one you're open to recapping.

When a deal is closed, you are not constrained by the original business plan. Don’t entirely throw it out, but things change. Make the best decision given the information you have, your expectations of the future, and your goals.

Be wary of real estate modeling. Everything pencils at the top of the market (the worst time to buy), and nothing pencils at the bottom (the best time to buy). Almost nothing pencils today...

As the prolonged challenges in the multi space have persisted, a lot of pessimism has (finally) crept into the market. Soft Q3 data, overly negative headlines, weak consumer confidence, and many operators feeling the pain at a time where they had expected the market to recover

The biggest mistake I see multifamily developers make in “walkable Southeast locations” is not including enough parking. Even with in walkable locations, nearly everyone still owns a car. It’s a nearly impossible mis-step to recover from.

It’s an incredible time to be a class A apt renter in the Southeast - flat rents, massive concessions, hospitality level focus on the resident experience, and new tech to make your life easier. It’s a great time to be a highly paid young person in Austin, Nashville, Charlotte,

How equity says no to value-add multifamily without saying no: "Let's just stress the rent growth a bit." "Bump stabilized vacancy slightly." "Widen exit cap 25 bps to be safe." Now your deal needs a 2-5% price reduction to pencil. Conservative underwriting is a polite pass.