Buy under-managed multifamily in cities where the math still works, fix the operations first, and let disciplined asset management do the compounding.
That is the whole strategy. Everything below is how it plays out in practice — what we underwrite to, where we look, and what "hands-on" actually means on a Tuesday.
How we evaluate a deal.
Small multifamily is priced by people, not by indexes — which means the best buildings are usually the ones that have been run badly, not the ones that look best in the listing. We underwrite the building in front of us on today's income and today's rates, and treat the upside as the reward for doing the work.
What we look for. What we walk past.
- 15–50 unit walk-up or garden-style buildings — small enough to manage hands-on, large enough for economies of scale.
- Established neighbourhoods with stable employment bases and rents that still clear today's borrowing costs.
- Evidence of neglect that is operational, not structural: below-market rents, weak screening, deferred maintenance, absent ownership.
- Sellers and partners who value certainty and a straightforward process over the last dollar.
- Deals that only pencil on projected rent growth or a future cap-rate compression.
- Heavy-renovation plays where the return depends on construction budgets and timelines we don't control.
- Markets we can't be physically present in, or partners we can't be direct with.
- Anything that requires us to overstate what we've done to raise the money to do it.
Discipline over geography.
We are not an "Edmonton fund" or a "Saskatchewan fund." We are a set of criteria — and right now, the Prairie cities are where those criteria are easiest to meet. Purchase prices relative to rents still make sense, the employment bases are diversified enough to weather a cycle, and small buildings trade between individuals rather than institutions, which keeps pricing rational.
Where we live and where we operate directly. Two buildings a short drive apart mean weekly walk-throughs, same-day vendor visits, and a tenant base that knows who the landlord is.
We invest here through an operating partner on the ground. The rule is simple: the same underwriting, the same reporting standard, and someone we trust holding the keys.
Asset management as the core discipline.
Acquisition is one day. Operations are every day after. In a 20-unit building there is no management layer to hide behind — the person who signs the offer is the person who deals with the leaking suite, the late rent, and the roofing quote. We think that is an advantage, not a burden.
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01
Weekly presence
Walking the property, talking to tenants, and catching small problems while they are still small. Deferred maintenance is the most expensive line item in multifamily, and the only cure is showing up.
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02
Tenant quality over occupancy
A full building with the wrong tenants is worth less than a 90%-occupied building with the right ones. We hold a consistent screening standard and accept short vacancy to get there.
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03
Vendors as partners
A small bench of trades we use repeatedly, pay promptly, and hold to a standard. It is how a 20-unit building gets the response time of a 200-unit one.
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04
Plain reporting
Monthly actuals against budget for every investor and owner. The numbers we manage to are the numbers you see — no narrative layer in between.
Three buildings. Same playbook.
The thesis is only worth what it produced. Each property page documents role, scope, and outcome — including the parts that are still in progress.
- Westlynn
- ~$1.0M value added
- Mount Royal
- 30% return on refi
- Dakota
- Refinancing
- Under management
- $6.3M