It’s part of the human spirit to say goodbye to the year just past with a sense of relief, and look to the year ahead with optimism. But moving into 2022, we have good reason to do just that.

In retrospect, the only surprise about the resilience of the multifamily sector during the trials of the past two years is that anyone was surprised. In fact, the market is arguably hotter now than it’s ever been—we’ve had persistent growth in appreciation and pricing power for sellers, in part because interest rates reached a low plateau (they’ve gradually risen since). Buyers haven’t done too badly either—from what we’ve seen, actual performance after acquisition has routinely beaten the proforma, and even outperformed when compared to proforma assumptions prior to acquisition. Demand and interest have both grown over time, and barring normal fluctuations, there’s no sign of even a slowdown. And while the market booms, there’s good news at our home base too. At Offerd, we’ve said since long before the pandemic that the foundation for multifamily investments has been and will continue to be very strong for at least the next decade. That fuels our own operating philosophy and business growth. We occasionally offer updates on our initiatives to shape the market. For example, earlier this year we talked about sourcing nearly $700 million worth of off-market multifamily acquisition opportunities—all meticulously selected to meet specific target parameters—during just one week early in the summer. We focused on one investor that specializes in acquiring multifamily assets that are underperforming and off-market, and in less than 60 days identified the perfect target asset; the deal closed in another 90 days. More recently, we discussed our role in the capital stack during investment initiatives. We’re happy to say it’s been like that all year. Our core advantages are as strong as ever: Offerd tracks 90,000 ‘off-market’ assets around the country, with algorithms that encompass occupancy rates, demographic shifts, neighborhood incomes, population forecasts, educational levels and more, some 10,000 different categories in all. That’s how we find the best multifamily properties to match buyer and seller, and it all happens fast. We've built a machine—the perfect blend of best-in-class technology, data and people—and it works. Our partners come to us with their criteria, and we get deals done. And as we all know, deals lead to more deals. Now multiply that by two dozen partners and growing. . . More importantly, we’ve pioneered and advocated forcefully for Acquisitions as a Service. At a time when every investor seeks a competitive edge—finding the best assets, off-market or otherwise, in the shortest time and with the least effort—we believe that partnering with a firm specializing in this very practice is the best way to go. By the way, we’re the only firm doing it. We even have an ebook dedicated to the subject. Try it: We promise it’s a quick, fun and informative read. And if all that’s the present, the future looks to be even more dynamic. The Offerd partner roster has grown significantly in the past few months, and there are more coming in regularly. We’ve met our goal of $150 million in acquisitions, and we’re ready to scale beyond $500 million in the year ahead. We’re rolling out new technology that strengthens our value proposition, with more information that’s easier to access, and streamlined and enhanced our product/service offerings and pricing. We’ve boosted our team of talented professionals with more industry veterans and innovators, including a president of acquisitions and president of investments. We have more than 20 executives in-house, and we’re looking for more—come join us. In the big picture, getting away from the problems of the recent past doesn’t mean we won’t face challenges ahead. For example, rates won’t stay as low they are now forever—we’re going to see gradual increases at some point (remember, it’s all cyclical). However, don't expect negotiating power to automatically shift from the seller to the buyer. Supply is perpetually constrained, while demand keeps growing. If this is still a niche investment, that niche is growing rapidly as more sophisticated investors learn of the potential. We’re here for all of it. Our goal at Offerd is to be the singular standard for CRE acquisitions. We currently lead the market in technology, service, experience and expertise, even as the market keeps growing. We want to become the largest acquirer across all major CRE asset classes in the US by transaction volume. It won’t happen overnight, but it will happen.

Question: How does a private real estate investment group focused on the multifamily sector find the perfect off-market assets?

Heartland USA. The nation’s breadbasket. Flyover country. The in-between states.

By any definition, the CRE investment market is booming right now, and that’s a great thing. . .unless you’re in the hunt for new deals, because it’s a crowded marketplace. As we regularly highlight on our LinkedIn page with examples from around the country, the multifamily sector has proven its resilience during the horrors of the recent past. And as the economy inches back to pre-pandemic levels, investors have found rents not only holding steady but dramatically rising in many markets. People are moving between cities and suburbs seeking new residential options, and new developments with flexible living arrangements mushrooming.

As we at Offerd have said before, and as known by other leaders in industry, perhaps half of all multifamily acquisitions take place off market. That means there’s usually no public listing of the property, none of the complications associated with a standard brokerage process, and never a bidding war that ends badly. We’ve covered why property owners go off market (hint: for different reasons, both buyer and seller come out ahead); how the Acquisitions-as-a-Service process is uniquely suited to enabling Principal-to Principal (P2) transactions; and served up examples of ongoing and completed deals. We’re rightly proud of tracking more than 90,000 off-market assets around the country at any given time. When investors partner with us, they find that a lot of the hard work is already done—every search is shorter, better focused and more successful.

In this blog series, we’re looking at how the process for Acquisitions-as-a-Service really works. We appreciate that change isn’t easy: many investors still conduct all acquisitions in-house, because that’s the way it’s always been done. That’s why we developed an ebook that offers a handy overview—it’s a quick and easy read—but it definitely helps to hear about real world examples too. What’s the thinking at investment entities that outsource the acquisitions process? How does the engagement begin, and how does the relationship move forward? What are the parameters involved, and how are metrics developed for success? To be clear, there’s isn’t only one way to do this. Tech-enabled acquisitions around the country to find the right asset for the right investor at the right time and the right price requires a dynamic approach, which means that just about every aspect is quite flexible. There are best practices, to be sure, but each investor has unique needs and objectives, and the goal is always to do whatever it takes to achieve those, and even exceed them. Here’s one example: Cross Mountain Capital, which specializes in acquiring multifamily assets that are mismanaged, underperforming, undervalued, and off-market. The company develops specific strategies to reposition these properties through operational efficiencies and renovations, as needed, to optimize the financial performance of each asset. This creates a passive income stream that builds long-term wealth, while also providing the ideal tax shelter. A marketing campaign led the company to Offerd in May 2020, and even in that inhospitable business environment, it took only three days to reach an agreement to partner on acquisitions. At the time, CMC had around $50 million in assets under management, mostly focused on smaller properties in the upper Northeast. It wanted to go bigger and broader, growing exponentially in the next 36 months with a portfolio that stretched into the Mountain West. Like most multifamily investors, CMC had always conducted acquisitions in-house. The company specifically brought in Offerd to supplement and enlarge the acquisitions team—it wanted to identify prime assets it could never find on its own. In such initiatives elsewhere, almost every search has to start from scratch; by partnering with Offerd, CMC gained access to a huge asset base that allowed it to refine its own search parameters. That’s because Offerd tracks 90,000 ‘off-market’ assets around the country, with algorithms that encompass occupancy rates, demographic shifts, neighborhood incomes, population forecasts, educational levels and more, some 10,000 different categories in all. That’s how we find the best multifamily properties to match buyer and seller, and it all happens fast. Our skilled and experienced acquisitions team—including VPs, a managing director and a president of acquisitions—leverages this deep well of data and technology, as well an eight-prong approach to prospecting, to source a targeted and qualified deal flow for our partners. In CMC’s case, the work has already paid off: Less than 60 days after launching the Offerd Proactive Sourcing Campaign, a target asset was not only identified and evaluated, it was under contract; the deal closed in another 90 days. For the record, Offerd has itself invested in that asset, and so far it’s performing even better than expected. CMC has renewed its agreement with Offerd, and is looking forward to achieving more acquisitions goals in the months and years ahead. We’ve got more real world examples coming—stay tuned.

Late last month, Offerd sourced over $698 million worth of off-market multifamily acquisition opportunities. These were not assets randomly found through searches of online listings—they were meticulously selected to meet specific target parameters set by our partners. That’s one week during a scorching summer when many investors are on vacation.

So with a global pandemic mercifully receding, and the multifamily market showing great resilience in a tough environment, are there only good times ahead for investors? Or do other factors need consideration?

Every year, approximately half of all multifamily property transactions nationwide are considered ‘off market.’ The term is broadly applied, but it typically means the property will undergo a transfer of ownership without an exclusive listing agreement in place or without a full marketing campaign.