I’m Joe Stampone. I work at Atlas Real Estate Partners (‘AREP’), a private real estate investment firm focused on value-add and ground-up multifamily investments. ASotREG is a place where I share my thoughts on real estate, careers, technology, entrepreneurship, passive investing, and anything else that piques my interest.
10 Things I’m Pondering Going into 2025
Typically, at this time of the year I’m down in Florida, enjoying some time in the sun with my family. However, this year is a bit different. We’re patiently waiting a new baby, providing some extra time to ponder the year ahead. It’s the calm before the storm. Nobody needs another year-end roundup or set of predictions, but this isn’t for you. It’s for me. One of the reasons I enjoy writing so much is that I find it helpful to craft narratives around all the messy data, events, and random chaos that surrounds me. It provides a much-needed sense of calm. This is the story I’m telling...
What is an ‘Atlas Deal’?
The deal had everything we look for: a clear value-add story, forced seller, and it was in a high-growth pocket within a city we’re bullish on. We structured a creative back-door equity participation with the seller, and we had pre-existing relationships with the preferred equity provider (decision-maker) and lender, who was on board to restructure the loan. It had all the hallmarks of an ‘Atlas deal’. Bids were due, and we came in just below guidance, confident in our offer. The next day, the broker called with news that Blackstone came over the top with an all-cash bid,...
Hard Won Insights and a Single-Minded Focus on Multifamily Real Estate Investing
This week, I was sitting in a conference room in Fort Lauderdale, surrounded by prominent multifamily investors. We were having a closed-door, off-the-record conversation about all things multifamily. I was in heaven. I got to ask questions and hear insights from experienced multifamily investors who have been through cycles, grown platforms, and experienced failure. I feel fortunate that I found my career passion – building a platform for investing in housing. It consumes most of my headspace and is intertwined in many aspects of my life; I write here, I tweet constantly, and I...
The Evolution of a Private Real Estate Investment Company Continued…
In early 2023 I wrote about the evolution of Atlas, highlighting our transition from JV structures to owning deals without partners, from buying 70’s/80’s vintage assets to focusing on 2000 and newer, and from syndicating deals to raising capital from a mix of HNW, family office, and other private capital sources. It’s been an eventful ~16 months, so I’m sharing part II of our evolution as a private real estate investment firm. Everything mapped out in the initial post has come to fruition; our last two acquisitions were 2015 and 2019 vintages deals with no partners, we’re expanding our...
Is it too Early to Buy Multifamily?
We all know the famous Warrant Buffet quote, “be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful”. It’s a saying that gets thrown around often these days, but not one that’s applicable to the current multifamily market. There’s general optimism in the market and plenty of capital waiting to be deployed for the right opportunities. However, owners of high-quality multifamily assets are unwilling to sell for ~20% discounts, especially when NOIs are up, there’s considerable dry powder, and there are expectations of rates falling. They may sell at ~5%-10% discounts,...
The Truth about Real Estate’s Latest Dirt Word: “Syndication”
In real estate, when the market is hot and values/cash flows are increasing, every mistake gets overlooked. When the market turns (and it always does), investors scrutinize everything. However, in today’s world where anyone can produce media, it’s not just investors who scrutinize, it’s anon Twitter accounts, newsletters, niche media sites etc. In real estate today, there’s no bigger public punching bag than multifamily syndicators. I’m not going to say it’s undeserved. There are several high-profile examples of multifamily syndicators who got over their skis, charge exorbitant...
Buying Value-Add Multifamily in the Southeast: A Differentiated Strategy
“We buy value-add multifamily properties in high-growth Southeast markets.” There isn’t a more popular or less differentiated strategy in the multifamily space today. This prevalent investment strategy was especially apparent after spending a few days at NMHC talking to brokers, investors, and other operators. While it’s important to keep your pulse on the market, there’s something striking when you have ~30 conversations over the course of 48 hours with people of similar backgrounds and life experiences, who generally read the same things and talk to the same people. Everyone more...
5 Things I’m Pondering Going into 2024
We made it. 2023 was by far the most difficult of my professional career which started in 2011. I dealt with a myriad of deal and market-related issues; uncapped floating rate debt straining cash flows, raising preferred equity behind an agency loan, inability to access construction financing, complex capex challenges in an environment with no liquidity, and general market pessimism which makes everything feel worse. In the past, rents/values kept growing and with interest rates at zero, we’ve been able to continually refi deals at higher valuations, and sock proceeds away as reserves or...
Rise of the Boutique Airbnb
One of the trends in real estate I’m most interested in is the rise of experience-focused boutique resorts. These are typically 10 units or less, independently owned and managed, and provide a unique/hospitality-driven experience. These opportunities are made possible by booking platforms such as Airbnb and VRBO and supercharged by social media (Instagram/Tik-Tok/YouTube). What gets me excited about these projects is the opportunity to create a differentiated product through design, creativity, and providing hospitality experiences, which serve as long-term competitive advantages. From an...
Fall 2023 State of the Multifamily Market – Time for Optimism
Although it’s only been a few months since my last state of the multifamily market update, I feel like it’s time to write another one. That post is not dated by any means but needs to be expanded upon. The world is changing rapidly, pessimism has crept in, rates being higher for longer is becoming consensus, and ‘survive until 25’ is the new motto. I spend a lot of time reading and talking with people, attempting to organize my thoughts in a cohesive narrative that drives my investment thesis. This post is another attempt to take all the messy information and weave it into a story that I...
Is there such thing as Alpha in Value-Add Multifamily Investing? Absolutely!
The value-add multifamily (“VAM”) business was the darling of real estate investing over the past decade. In a zero interest rate environment where capital flooded the space, it was impossible to do wrong. The more you bought and the more aggressive floating rate debt you used, the better you performed. What a time! Things have shifted quickly and the sentiment toward VAM investing has turned negative. The real estate rags and online discourse are littered with outlier distressed situations. In November 2022 the co-founder of a well-known syndicator was featured in Entrepreneur Magazine...
Summer 2023 Multifamily Landscape: Best Buying Opportunity in a Decade?
Over the past few years, with the world changing so rapidly, I’ve posted several times on the state of the multifamily market. It’s been a great way to organize my thoughts, distill all the information I’ve been consuming into a semi-coherent narrative, and justify my investment strategy. Here are just a few of the posts: Making Sense of the Multifamily Market (June 2022) A Golden Era for Apartments? (February 2021) What’s Going on with the Multifamily Market (August 2020) This is the Moment We’ve all been Waiting for (June 2020) Suffice to say, my views on the market change quickly, but...
Smooth Operator: The Key to a Seamless Transition
We recently acquired a 256-unit value-add deal in Savannah, GA. Despite being a relatively new asset (2015 construction) and performing well (95% historical occupancy), we intend to upgrade and reposition the property, targeting rents approximately $250 above the market rate at takeover. We believe there is unmet demand in the submarket, which has experienced significant growth in recent years. However, achieving success requires flawless execution and a flexible hold period. Flawless execution begins prior to takeover. We establish goals and expectations for the staff. At Atlas, we...
The Evolution of a Multifamily Syndicator
Every so often, I go back and read old blog posts to get a sense of my thinking at the time. It can be embarrassing (like the bearish case for multifamily in 2019), but others (such as why we prefer value-add deals and long-term holds and our 4 forms of sustainable competitive advantage) serve as incredible resource for me to understand my views at specific times and as a result, reflect on my decision-making. One thing I’ve consistently said over the years is that by establishing trust with our investors, we can scale our high-net-worth capital base. With the use of technology and...
Taking a Differentiated Approach to Developing & Operating Multifamily Real Estate
Over the past decade multifamily investors had it easy; interest rates were nearly zero, debt was widely available and cheap, capital poured into the space compressing cap rates, fundamentals were strong etc. It was nearly impossible not to well. The key to success was just being in game and outperformance meant not selling too early. That’s quickly changed. We’ve shifted from an asset market to an operator market, where success requires buying assets at the right basis and executing well. Outperformance, going forward, will require differentiation. Packy had a great post on...
Expecting Multifamily Distress in 2023? You’re Going to be Disappointed
I started my career in real estate in 2011 and have experienced a decade of low rates and increasing asset values. Success in multifamily investing was driven simply by being in the game. Well, the game has changed. Today’s environment is unprecedented. I’ve been spending an inordinate amount of time recently reading macro news, speaking with brokers, and underwriting deals. We’ve quickly shifted from over-exuberance to fear and everyone I speak to in the multifamily space is preparing for “distress” and lining up capital for buying opportunities. While there has been a much-needed...
Long-Term Trends Impacting Multifamily
As 2022 winds to a close, I’m sure you’re getting inundated with predictions for 2023. While I certainly enjoy making predictions (like I did in 2019), I struggle with forecasting short-term trends. In 2019, for example, I was talking about renter flexibility and the disruption of the STR business. While the predictions were directionally correct, real estate is a slow-moving business with trends emerging over decades, not in a single year. What’s more relevant and interesting to me are the longer-term trends impacting the multifamily industry. At Atlas, we buy/develop quality multifamily...
Reflecting on the Sale of a Winner
When I look back at my time at Atlas over the past 11 years, the mistakes we’ve made have primarily been selling multifamily assets too soon. Selling class B assets in Tampa or Salt Lake in 2016/17, for example. These mistakes inspired me to put a note on top of the deal plaque which says “never sell winners”. The more refined quote I remind myself of is to “hold winners as long as possible and sell losers as quickly as possible.” I look at it every day. A few weeks ago, we sold a winner. One of the first deals we acquired when I joined Atlas in 2011 was a property in Naples, FL. The...
Understanding the 2021 Multifamily Demand Surge
At Atlas, I oversee a portfolio of multifamily assets primarily located in the Southeast. What an easy job that was in 2021! Rents and occupancy boomed as we experienced record new lease demand and high resident retention. The chart below highlights the YoY lease trade-outs by month from Feb 22’ through September 22’. YoY Rent Growth - FL Portfolio This post is my desire to better understand the dynamics of 2020 and 2021 rent growth explosion. At first, it was a bit of a mystery to many housing economists, but looking back it’s obvious. From 2009 to 2015, I Iived in NYC with two buddies....
Multifamily Investors: Ignore the Shiny New Objects and Focus on what Matters Most
I’ve been on vacation the past few days, largely ignoring the deluge of headlines and incessant barrage of market news (what a week to be away!). It’s tough at first because tracking the latest news feels a bit like sport, but over a few days I’ve begun to realize that the news is largely irrelevant and often detracts from my long-term goals. While keeping your pulse on the general market is important, getting caught up in the “shiny new objects” as Peter Linneman calls them, is generally a waste. The daily movements of interest rates, when inflation recedes, speculation on Fed actions,...