Whitaker Capital acquires and manages underperforming multifamily properties across the Southeastern United States. We provide investors access to unique investment opportunities with the following characteristics:
- Transaction size of $5 million to $25 million: Acquisition of assets in this range tend to have less competition from major institutional investors, while still maintaining good construction quality and attractiveness to tenants.
- Secondary and tertiary market focus: Assets outside of urban core locations can be acquired at a more attractive basis while maintaining the potential for strong long-term growth prospects.
- Age of less than 10 years (or replacement of major capital items in the last 3 to 5 years): Apartments require significant capital investment as systems and structures age. Most investment managers far underestimate property-level capital requirements, resulting in unplanned investor capital calls, a negative impact on property-level cash flows, and reduced investor returns.
- Focus on operationally deficient assets: We seek properties that offer the ability to improve cash flow via more active leasing/property management, optimization of leasing programs, increased tenant service, minor capital improvements to support tenant needs, and rigorous expense controls. Our strategy to own and operate properties within close geographic proximity to Whitaker Capital principals allows for highly intensive asset management oversight.
- Avoidance of heavy “value-add” assets: While value-add strategies can be profitable in the near-term and tend to have impressive 3 to 5 year IRR projections, the long timeframe it takes to renovate, re-lease at higher rents, and effectively transform an asset introduces a myriad of additional risks, all of which will be amplified if market conditions deteriorate. Success with a value-add strategy is predicated on market timing and requires knowledge of future market conditions.
Whitaker Capital believes our investment strategy provides highly attractive risk-adjusted returns to our investors, mitigates many of the downside risks other managers tend to ignore, and capitalizes on the company’s strength in owning and operating multifamily assets.