Value-add residential and multifamily
We buy tired houses and small apartment buildings, fix them, and hold them.
Spinnaker Real Estate acquires single-family homes and small multifamily properties, renovates them to a higher standard, and refinances to fund the next deal. The plan is to scale into mid-size multifamily with agency debt and limited partner capital.
Strategy
Buy it right, improve it, then hold it for the cash flow.
Our current focus is the BRRRR method on single-family homes and 2 to 4 unit properties. Every deal is underwritten month by month before we close: purchase, renovation, rent, debt, and exit.
Buy
Dated or neglected properties priced below what they can be worth once repaired.
Rehab
A fixed scope and budget set before closing. Work that raises rent and value, not finishes for show.
Rent
Place a qualified tenant at market rent and stabilize operations.
Refinance
Replace the short-term money with long-term debt based on the new appraised value.
Repeat
Return the recovered cash to the next acquisition and run the loop again.
Case study: Grand Rapids single-family
Figures from our underwriting model for a 1,480 SF home acquired in October 2022.
| Purchase price | $225,000 |
|---|---|
| Closing costs (1.5%) | $3,375 |
| Renovation | $8,610 |
| Basis before carry | $236,985 |
| Loan, 80% LTV at 7.1%, 30-year | $180,000 |
| Monthly rent | $2,400 |
| Equity required | $60,134 |
| Levered IRR | 19.8% |
| Equity multiple | 1.97x |
| Net profit on 44-month hold | $58,097 |
Renovation scope: new appliances, kitchen refresh, finished basement and upstairs space, new flooring, lighting, and paint.
Basis versus exit
Bars drawn to the same scale within each pair.
Cash in and cash out
Equity invested against what came back.
About
Hands-on renovation experience, with underwriting discipline.
I started in real estate helping my parents flip houses. Years later I renovated and rented out a home of my own in Grand Rapids, which showed me a deal from the owner's side: the budget, the schedule, the tenant, and the debt.
I then earned an MBA with a real estate concentration and began underwriting multifamily development and acquisitions. Spinnaker brings the two together: someone who has done the work on site and can model the deal before it closes.
- Growing up
- Helped my parents flip houses.
- First deal
- Renovated, financed, and rented out a single-family home in Grand Rapids, doing the renovation work myself.
- MBA and underwriting
- University of Wisconsin–Madison, real estate concentration, with hands-on multifamily underwriting.
- Spinnaker
- Value-add acquisitions in single-family and small multifamily, with mid-size multifamily as the next step.
Roadmap
Small deals now, larger assets next.
The same value-add discipline carries from a single house to a multifamily community. What changes is the size of the debt and who we build it with.
Today
Single-family and 1 to 4 units
- BRRRR execution on homes and small multifamily.
- Hands-on rehab management to a defined scope and budget.
- Refinance and recycle capital into the next acquisition.
Next
Mid-size multifamily
- Agency debt from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac programs.
- Limited partner investors alongside our own capital.
- Value-add business plans built on renovation and better operations.
What we buy
The short version of our buy box.
- Property type
- Single-family, duplex, triplex, fourplex
- Condition
- Dated, deferred maintenance, or vacant
- Rehab scope
- Cosmetic to moderate, no structural unknowns
- Underwriting
- Rent, rehab, debt, and exit modeled monthly
Let's talk.
Whether you own a property that needs work or want to follow along as we grow, send a note.