Rental Property Investor from Jacksonville, FLPREVIOUS POSTWhy I sold Cleveland.If you're a real estate podcast junkie like me, you definitely have noticed the clear shift towards real estate syndication in the multi-family space over the last couple of years especially.As deals became harder to find in single family and smaller multis across much of the desirable markets,the allure of pooling investor funds to acquire larger assets became a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy.Books that were mostly hurriedly written flooded the market pimping the upsides of this strategy.The argument for was simple and convincing:it is better to own 1% of a large deal than 0% of no deal.Personally,I could not help but notice that the popularity of the idea coincided with the rise of real estate crowdfunding.The likes of Realty Shares and Realty Mogul raised a bajillion dollars practically overnight making it very easy for everyday real estate aficionados to own small bites of a mega deal in rural Tennessee at the click of a mouse.A few of my friends experimented with the crowd-funding route, tossing $5000 into this debt offer and $10,000 into that equity offering.These punts yielded mixed results anecdotally, as an equal number seemed to have great experiences to share as did absolute nightmares.To be fair, no real estate niche is 100% fail-safe or iron clad.Money has been lost in a large single family portfolio as well as a personally purchased medium sized apartment complex.It is also certainly true that in the end, every investor will run out of money to invest in more properties if they decide to go it alone trying to rapidly scale up their portfolio, and real estate is most assuredly a team sport at all levels.

In the high PSF market, the half bathroom added $50k of value per the comps.  

Background: I purchased a building with a high-visibility corner space last used as a restaurant.

Rents are rising and the tenants are excellent. 

The National Association of Realtors is forecasting a major rebound in 2026, with double-digit growth in home sales and home prices projected to rise another 4%.They’re also predicting the economy will add 1.3 million new jobs, keeping demand strong despite the ongoing housing supply shortage.After three years of the lowest sales volume since 1995, this would be a huge shift.

In recent agreements in Connecticut and Massachusetts I have typically seen agents agreeing to 3 percent. 
was shocked that buyer agent commission are not trending downward in Orlando 

One influencer bragged, “When that apartment package got you approved for your luxury apartment in two weeks even though you had two evictions and a 500 credit score.”Greystar, the nation’s largest apartment landlord, says up to half of its applications in some Atlanta buildings are fraudulent.

Bottom line is that rents are rising steadily—2–3% annually—while still offering strong affordability when some markets have been declining.Population GrowthThe metro area population has climbed from about 2.195 million in 2020 to 2.254 million in 2024—roughly a 2.7% increase over four years, adding nearly 62,000 people (+2.8%) between 2020 and 2024.

How much are rent-controlled renters generally accepting as buyouts to vacate the apartments these days? 

Medium and high end don’t want a converted motel - they want the latest Marriot Assisted Living building with class A amenities and a memory care unit next door if needed.