The Market Right Now
Bull market, correction, distress cycle — it doesn't matter. Across Class D to Class A, new construction to distressed turnarounds, 12-unit scattered sites to large institutional-grade portfolios, I've operated through all of it. That range is the point. Whatever the market is doing, I've seen what it does to operations — and I know how to position for it.
Right now, the market is doing something specific.
Rent growth ended 2025 flat — rents fell in H2, wiping out all gains from the first half of the year.
Apartments offered rent concessions in Q3 2025 — the highest rate since the financial crisis.
Operating expense growth while NOI growth slowed to 3.5% — down from 24.8% in 2021. Insurance alone surged 33.5% YoY at its peak.
In floating-rate multifamily loans resetting by 2026 — many at 2–3x the original rate. Bought at 3–4%, refinancing at 6–7.5%.
Of 2021–2022 vintage loans mature next year. MSCI expects a surge in apartment foreclosures. The "extend and pretend" strategy is running out of road.
The markets are unusual right now. But unusual doesn't mean bad — it means you have to understand what's happening. With an operator who's actively managing through this across 38 deals and 20+ PM companies, you do. You see the real numbers. You catch the problems early. And you position your assets to come out ahead while everyone else is reacting.
What This Means for Your Operations
You closed the deal. You hired a property management company. You're getting monthly reports and the numbers look fine. Maybe occupancy dipped, but the PM says it's seasonal. Maybe expenses crept up, but they say it's market-wide.
Here's what I've learned across 38 deals and 20+ property management companies: "fine" at the property level and "fine" at the asset level are two completely different stories. Your PM is managing the property. Nobody is managing the business plan. Nobody is asking why projected rents aren't hitting. Nobody is catching the expense creep before it eats your NOI. Nobody is holding the PM accountable to the numbers you underwrote.
By the time the reports tell the real story, you're already months behind. I've seen it on value-add deals, core plus deals, even new construction. The operators who brought me in early protected their investors' capital. The ones who waited called me when it was already a mess — and the turnaround took twice as long and cost twice as much.
In this market, if you're not 100% confident that your operations are tracking to your business plan — not your PM's version of it, yours — it's worth a conversation. Because every deal I've turned around started with someone who thought things were fine.
Get a second set of eyes on your operations →
