The Wisconsin Investor
Each week, we bring you interviews with some of Wisconsin's top real estate investors who share their tips, tricks, and strategies that you can implement right away. This show is dedicated to helping Wisconsin real estate investors elevate their game. Along with interviews, I'll also dive into hot topics in solo episodes and feature experts from various real estate sectors across Wisconsin.
The Wisconsin Investor
From Chiropractor to Real Estate Syndication Expert | Dr. Kate Gress’s Journey to Passive Income
What if you could invest in real estate without dealing with tenants, toilets, or day-to-day headaches?
In this episode, Dr. Kate Gress shares how she’s transitioning out of her 26-year chiropractic career by building a scalable real estate syndication business.
Kate breaks down how syndications work, the role of general and limited partners, and how you can generate cash flow and tax advantages without being a landlord. She shares how coaching, networking, and a clearly defined investment “buy box” have helped her build long-term wealth through value-add multifamily deals.
Whether you're a busy professional or a real estate investor exploring passive income strategies, this episode is packed with real-world advice.
📌 Topics covered:
- The structure of a real estate syndication
- Defining your buy box (Kate’s focus: 40–80 unit B & C class multifamily)
- Using cost segregation to reduce your tax bill
- Finding the right partners through networking and passive deals
- Why she’s planning to exit her chiropractic practice by 2026
👉 Connect with Dr. Kate Gress:
Kate’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drkategress/
Ascend Equity LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ascend-equity1/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ascendequityy
Website: https://ascendequitygrp.com
Free Passive Income Playbook: https://link.ascendequitygrp.com/widget/form/jIEgAsoXMxwtgYPAj9io
Hey everybody, corey Raymond, your host here for the Wisconsin Investor Podcast, and, as usual, I have another guest. Today, we are talking about a different topic than we've ever talked about on the show before, so I'm super excited to get into this show with you. Before I do, though, I always bring up our sponsor, wisconsin Discount Properties. Every week, guys, I bring you either a deal that you missed out on to create some FOMO, or I just talk about our process, and so today I'm just going to talk about the process at Wisconsin Discount Properties. One of the biggest challenges in real estate is finding deals right. If you can find money, well then you got to find deals to place it somewhere right, and before you can go find money, sometimes you got to have some deals to be talking about, and so getting on our buyers list at Wisconsin Discount Properties. Every week, we're putting good quality deals in your inbox spreads for rentals, flips, whatever your exit strategy is. All you have to do to get on that list is go to our website, wisconsin Discount Properties, plug your information in and you'll automatically get added to the buyer's list, where you get text updates and email updates Every single week. We put the offers and the deals out on Monday mornings and by Thursday at one o'clock, we accept offers. And if you're the highest and best deals out on Monday mornings and by Thursday at one o'clock, we accept offers. And if you're the highest and best offer, you got a new project coming to you and you're building wealth or building your income With that.
Speaker 1:Let's get into today's episode. So today I have Dr Kate Gress. Did I say your last name right? You did yes, okay, awesome, how are you doing?
Speaker 2:I'm great it.
Speaker 1:Yes, okay, awesome. How are you doing? I'm great. It's another beautiful day in Wisconsin. Absolutely, absolutely Well. At the time we're recording this, kate, we met last week at a networking event called the REI Success Club. So if you've listened to previous episodes audience, you've heard me talk about this. You've heard me talk about the power of networking. Today, kate, I have a feeling you're going to probably have a lot to share about the power of networking with what you do. But before we get into that, can you just tell the audience a little bit about you, your background and how you got into real estate?
Speaker 2:Sure, so I am a chiropractor. I've been practicing for 26 years. I have a practice I do not see patients, so I just work, you know, basically on the business. I have a couple of I do not see patients so, um, I just work, you know, basically on the business. Um, I have a couple of associates that see the patients.
Speaker 2:Um and uh, I got into real estate, uh, 23 years ago and built a commercial building with some rental space, um, yep, and, and that was basically the house, my practice, right, and uh, I always said I was going to do more in real estate and kind of wanted to keep going with that and I kind of took a pause.
Speaker 2:So it just kind of, you know, it got busy practice, got busy life, got busy kids, family, that sort of thing. And uh, then a few years back I said, okay, I'm going to do more, I'm going to do more real estate, um, and part of my exit strategy too. Um, I'm going to do more, I'm going to do more real estate and part of my exit strategy too. I knew I was going to passive investor in a uh, offering a syndicate, um and multifamily. And that's where I actually met my um, current one of my business partners now that I do the syndications with and um, so, yeah, just basically meeting him that way and talking to him about um syndications and you know how do I go big, how do I do this Like and like a shorter amount of time because I'm selling my practice and um, yeah, that's kind of what I want to do is just go full in. So that's kind of the story. So then I just started doing it, started learning and that's amazing.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So you, so you. Basically what I'm hearing here. The key to your progress here, Kate, is networking. So you went in, you met somebody who had this syndication right and then you started asking questions right, how do I, how do I do this, how do I do what you're doing, how do I grow on a bigger scale? And then it sounds like you started just taking action based off of that. Is that pretty accurate?
Speaker 2:That is pretty accurate. Yeah, you know, and you said networking. It is all about networking.
Speaker 1:I don't care what business you're in.
Speaker 2:You know, chiropractic, real estate, you know it's all been about networking. That's how you meet your people, how you, you know, in real estate, find your deals Right. So, um know, in real estate, find your deals Right. So, um, that's been invaluable. Um, so, networking and then um, just meeting those people and, yeah, just just learning. You know I love learning and and doing what I can, uh, taking it all in, absorbing it all and um, and started coaching, actually with a coach for um, learning more about syndications so that I could just learn as much as I can and just be the best that I can at doing what I do.
Speaker 1:I love that.
Speaker 1:You know, I was actually just reflecting on this case because I'm going to be starting sort of some other initiatives within our company in the real estate space and sometimes I think for a couple of years I've like wanted to do some of these things, but then there's just, like you know, you're complacent in other areas maybe, or maybe I was, maybe I was held up, but I think what it was is like I look back and I'm like what do I need?
Speaker 1:Every time I did something or built something within the company, I hired a coach, found who was doing the best at it, and I went and like I'm going to pay you. I I'm going to pay you. I know it's going to be a quote unquote expense right now, but really it's an investment and I'm going to pay you and I'm going to take as much as I can from you to learn, and then I'm going to put it into action. It's going to be messy, but we're going to figure it out. But having that coach, I think, is so important. You know, what Was that? Like a really big catapult for you with your coach that you found.
Speaker 2:Yes, definitely. I mean, it's just someone to like bounce stuff off of learn from um from day one. Even in chiropractic I've had a coach. I hired a chiropractic coach, consultant, whatever you want to call them from day one. I ended up marrying one also.
Speaker 1:So um well, you're going to. You get a better rate, I hear, if you marry him. I think.
Speaker 2:Not really actually, but no still charges me.
Speaker 1:Wow.
Speaker 1:I know I know what a guy. Oh, that's hilarious. That's such a great nugget, though I think you know you have two people here guys that you're listening to, who've had. You know I guess you'd call it success it depends on how you define it. But you know we've, we've made progress, we're doing. You know she's new chiropractic and not seeing patients. I mean that should tell you guys something here. You know, if you unless you, love seeing patients every day, but you're using the power of leverage of other people and you've built a business now that you can work on the business, not in the business, and now you're just taking a lot of those skills that you learn and it sounds like you're applying that into the real estate space and you're just taking the same lessons, like I love what you said. It doesn't matter what industry you're in or what business you're in, you're just doing the same basic principles here.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's so true. It is the same basic principles, from your systems and your procedures when you're running a business, to your networking, your marketing, it all applies.
Speaker 1:It all applies. Yeah, that's awesome. How did you find your coach? Because I think this could be something for some people when they're like, great, I'd love to get a coach, but where do I find one? How do I know they're reputable? How do I know that they're somebody I can actually get some value back from, versus just throwing money down the drain?
Speaker 2:the Wisco Rio Um. He was a speaker and that's how we connected and um just started talking with him and kind of did my research on them and thought, okay, you know someone who's been doing this for 35 plus years, that's who I want to learn from. You know the person who has, you know, had the successes, has had been through failures, who has, you know, been through it all. So that's that's what I, that's who I want to learn from.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Been. Through 08 and the market downturn they probably got a lot of bumps and bruises that they've learned from right.
Speaker 2:Yep, yep. So that's, that's how I found my coach, but there's so many people out there in that space, you know. Again, probably going back to networking, you can talk to people and, you know, find referrals that way. So yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1:I think for me, the biggest way I've done is exactly what you're talking about, kate. It's asking other people who've either gone through that coaching program like hey, what was your actual experience? Or, like I belong to a networking group called the collective genius. You know, I've had a Leon Barnes on a few episodes ago who represented the collective genius on there, and it's just an awesome group of networking, you know, at a level of people all over the country. And then you can same thing, like oh, I want to now want to get into this. You know a vertical over here within real estate who is doing it at a high level over here. And then hey, who did you learn from? Like I could learn from that person too. But then it's like, hey, who did you learn from? And then I can go and you know, get that coach or get that person as well, but it is, it's just we're probably going to beat this dead horse here a little bit, but it's about the networking.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it truly is, um, and you know it doesn't even have to be kind of like you were saying, um, it doesn't have to be like even just a one-on-one coach. You know, it could be like a group coaching or like mastermind group that you can learn so much from. You know, I do, I've done, I've been part of masterminds. I've, you know, go to seminars and conferences regularly, listen to podcasts, so just you know learning all of that and you just, you know, kind of learn and basically just find your people that way.
Speaker 1:Right, and that's like all the listeners of the Wisconsin investor podcast, kate. They talk about how much faster they reach success just by listening to the show. It's amazing. Yeah, I'm just kidding, but in all, reality.
Speaker 2:I'm sure it's true.
Speaker 1:Listening to a lot of this stuff and the podcast and the audio books and all those kinds of things, I could be like a little mini mastermind or coach for you when you're out there. Talk about now. So you've kind of zeroed in now. You've done the single family stuff and the small duplex, small multifamily, that kind of thing and it sounds like you still hold those assets. But you shifted into these syndications. For those who don't know what the heck is a syndication, can you just kind of make it third grade level what is a syndication? And as it relates to real estate, yes, so basically a syndication.
Speaker 2:You've got your group of investors. There's the active group, which is the GP general partners, and then you've got your passive investors, which are your limited partners and the active partners. The GP team basically does all the work. They, you know, source the deals. They, you know, find the markets. You know, talk to the brokers. You know, find the deals. Um, you know, do the underwriting, get the financing. You know everything start to finish and um bring in um passive investors to partner with them, uh, to share in those profits. So basically, that's a syndication in a nutshell.
Speaker 1:So basically I'm in the wholesaling space. What it sounds like to me, Kate, is again, you're just using network, but I go out, I find a deal and then I find a buyer. You're kind of doing the same thing and we try to do a lot of the legwork up front. So we get inspection, we do video walk thing. We try to do a lot of the legwork up front, so we get inspection, we do video walkers. We try to make it as easy as possible for our buyers so when they're going to look at underwriting a deal it can be a quick 15 minute hopefully process for them. It sounds like you're doing kind of the same thing, just on a bigger scale, and then you're staying in these deals right, yes, yes, so, yes, so, yeah.
Speaker 2:Basically, yeah, we do all the underwriting, all the work trying to, you know, figure it out and, um, you know, there's so much, you know I, there's been so many things that I've been um underwriting, you know, over the past couple of years, and a lot of them don't pan out. But, um, you know, so we do, we do all that, we do all that due diligence, all the underwriting, find the right properties, find the right offerings and then bring that to the investors and then, yeah, that's the thing, we stay in the deal, the GPs stay in that deal.
Speaker 1:Okay, got it. I have a lot of questions around that too. But for you, when you're looking at, like, getting a passive investor, how long are they typically going to invest in some of these deals? I'm sure it varies. But, like, is there a period where you say, hey, you know you can buy X amount of shares in this for, say, a hundred thousand dollars. This is your expected return. Here's how long it's going to take to get that? Or like, what does that typically look like?
Speaker 2:Yes, when you're you're putting an offering together, so there's not just like, okay, it's always you know X number of years, it just totally depends on the underwriting and what is going to pencil out for the numbers. Basically, when we're underwriting, we're trying to get to a minimum of 15% IRR for our investors, Um, and then with us, like at least a minimum of seven to 9% preferred return um for the investors. So typically I'd say, you know, when we underwrite, it's anywhere from four to seven years, four or five years to seven years.
Speaker 1:Okay, and that four to seven is that you said it's to get to that target return, but is that also is the exit strategy? Then you guys refinance that property in that four to seven year period and pay off the investors at principal plus their, their investment, or how does that? How does that work?
Speaker 2:So usually we try to basically just exit that property, all of us. I mean we could, we could, you know, refinance and then pay them back and and you know, then they're done with that but, and then they're done with that, but no kind of. The goal is then to move on. Basically, we're looking for value-add properties, so we do what we can to increase the value of that property, turn around and sell it in that whatever two to four to seven years, whatever it might be, and then, yeah, in that whatever two to four to seven years, whatever it might be, and then, um, okay, yeah, so we have a little little bit of meat on the bone for the next buyer.
Speaker 1:Okay, so you as the general partner team or if it's you and maybe some other folks you're talking about some partners and things like that Are you guys then getting the big spread on it? So you're saying, hey, this is our target for you as the passive investor. Anything above that is our value that we're bringing. Or how do you guys typically do it? Let's say you have a banger of a deal and four to seven years you've got a huge spread. You guys are exiting it. You're going to make a bunch of cash. Is that going back to the passive investors or are they getting their agreed upon sort of amount up front?
Speaker 2:They well, they're getting their agreed amount, their agreed upon amount up front If it ends up being more than that like. So it's basically a 70-30 split, so 70% to the passive investors 30% to the GP team.
Speaker 1:Okay, got it. And are you guys typically funding some of these as well? Or is it everything from outside investors and you guys you're funding quote unquote? Is your sweat equity you're putting into the deal?
Speaker 2:Your funding, quote unquote, is your sweat equity you're putting into the deal. Both, both. I mean yeah, okay, we put money, our own money, into it.
Speaker 1:And then also, you know, our sweat equity Okay, got it. And so most of these folks that are investing in this, then, kate, they're basically covering like the down payment and the rehab. Is that what the passive investor is for? Is that their purpose in the deal?
Speaker 2:Yeah, basically that's a lot of it. Yeah, yeah, we. So, when we were raising, when our capital raising, we're, you know, trying to come up with the money for the down payment and then, yeah, whatever value add rehab that we have to do.
Speaker 1:Got it Okay, cool. And then I'm going to go back to. Just for those of us who are third grade level here, like myself IRR, can you just explain everybody in third grade terms? Irr.
Speaker 2:Internal rate of return. Basically it's the amount that they're going to like, like with the investors what they're going to get per year, their returns per year. So when we, um, when we have an investor come into the, the offering, we pay them their preferred return, uh, which is getting paid out along the way. So if they say, have a 7% preferred return, uh, we usually pay that out quarterly. And usually when we, when we take over a property, it might be, you know, maybe within you know, towards the end of that first year, just to get that property stabilized. But then we start distributing those returns to the investors and they get their initial capital back plus their IRR, the difference between what they got for the preferred return and the IRR.
Speaker 1:Okay, so let's say they're going to 7%, they're going to get an extra 8% bump at the end. Is what you're saying, based on that whole period of time?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so say it's a 17% IRR, 7% of that 17% is going to get paid out along the way, or 7% of that 17% will get paid out along the way. Then that difference, which is the 10%, will all get paid out at the end.
Speaker 1:Does that make sense? Did I explain that in a way that makes?
Speaker 1:sense 100% for me. I think that's clear, as can be Yep. One question I have now with your guys' offerings if I'm a passive investor and let's say maybe I'm a doctor or something else where I have active income, and then there's me the passive investor who's a full-time real estate professional Are there any kind of tax benefits? As far as you know, if I'm investing in some of these, can I get a chunk of the depreciation offsets on my, my income, or how does that work if you're passive in some of these deals?
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely so. We usually will do like a cost segregation study. So one of the offerings that we have currently that we're bringing in investors still, which we own the property, that one we did a cost segregation study when we took it over last fall and it was between 40 and 50 percent and then this year it should be a little bit less than that. But so, yeah, if you're in active, if you are in real estate, then you can get that depreciation. So there are some tax benefits that way.
Speaker 1:Yeah, 100%. Well, if this big beautiful bill gets passed, we're going to be back to 100% bonus depreciation is what I'm hearing out there. So that's exciting for us as as investors out there. If you're not understanding exactly what we're talking about, that's okay. We have other episodes, you know, back with some accountants that are talking about this. Just know that you can write off a lot more stuff If bonus depreciation is at a hundred percent and you're an active investor who's buying and holding properties, but you also have active income. Yeah, properties, but you also have active income. Yeah, fingers crossed, we get the 100%. I was like you can do whatever else you want with that big beautiful bill. Cut whatever else you want, just leave bonus depreciation please 100% for me, thank you.
Speaker 1:Because I think right now this year it's currently set to be 40%, is that?
Speaker 2:right, that sounds about right?
Speaker 1:I think it's 40%, which basically means if you have $100,000 of loss that you could have taken against your income, you can now only take $40,000 of that this year. But if this rule gets put back in or this thing gets added into the big beautiful bill now, you'd be able to take the entire $100,000 against your income, which saves a lot of money in taxes for sure. Yeah, that will be huge when you guys go to sell that. How are your investors offsetting? Because you do have to pay it back on the road if you do sell. So how are the investors offsetting? Are they just investing in another deal with you then to take that future bonus depreciation?
Speaker 2:They can. Yeah, they can definitely do that. That's, I guess, kind of up to them if they want to continue to invest or just walk away and figure it out.
Speaker 1:You probably wouldn't be too upset if they did that right.
Speaker 2:You'd be like, yeah, that's a good If they invested again now.
Speaker 1:Yeah, throw that money back in here.
Speaker 2:Come on now.
Speaker 1:Let's keep it rolling Right. Well, that's pretty exciting stuff. How are you guys finding these? You mentioned talk to brokers before. Has that been like the acquisition strategy? The brokers are sending you guys a lot of deals to underwrite.
Speaker 2:Yeah, again, it goes back to those connections, right? So, especially my partner, who's been in this for forever, he just knows has the connections with the brokers. But that's been part of my work as well is just making the connections with the brokers, just finding the markets that we want to be in and then making those connections with the brokers. You know, just finding the markets that we want to be in and then making those connections with the brokers. You know, letting them know what our buy box is, what we're looking for and, um, hopefully they can bring us, bring us some, some good deals.
Speaker 1:That's awesome. Are most of these just kind of off market? Like they have a seller who's interested in selling and they they have the buyers that they know are ready, willing and able to buy and they're just sort of shopping those to the people that they know Like their short list. Are these listed on some of the websites and you guys are going out there and finding them?
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, some of them are listed on the website. So, yeah, some of them are not just off market. But obviously that's where, if you can make those connections with the brokers and let them know, reach out to them, let them know what you're looking for. Then when they find something, or they have something before it goes to market, then they'll reach out to you and let you know.
Speaker 1:I think those of you out there that are listening to this, you're like I don't want to get into this multifamily syndication stuff. This isn't for me. I'm going to move on to the next episode of something else. Before you do, just listen to what Kate just said there. This is so important for us too, when we're thinking of like, hey, we have this deal that we could get under contract.
Speaker 1:If I know your buy box and I know exactly what you're looking for, I'm going to have a lot more confidence. A to go lock that up at the numbers that I know I can get it for, because I know it's going to fit your buy box and I'm going to be able to provide you another deal and you're going to be the first person I think of. I know you're very clear on exactly what you want. As soon as I find it, I'm like, yep, this is going to Kate. I'm calling Kate first. Let me give Kate the first opportunity.
Speaker 1:So I think those of you guys out there listening to this get really clear on exactly what you want and then tell everybody exactly what it is that you want and let them bring you those specific deals. And you'd be surprised that, like there's one guy I know he buys only in a specific town, I literally just wholesaled him a deal the other day because I was like, ah, the numbers are kind of tight for us to go put it out to anybody. I'm just going to call this dude, because otherwise we're just going to cancel this contract and move on. And we ended up working a deal out and boom, he just I know he buys everything in this town, so but I know his buy box, so I brought him the deal first and he got first crack at it.
Speaker 1:So, I think that's a huge nugget.
Speaker 2:That is yeah, and that was one of the first things. When I started, you know, looking for some of these bigger properties and you know, doing the syndications, just got really clear on what my buy box was going to be. So then, yeah, then when you're communicating with the brokers or the wholesalers or whoever, then you know you can, you know, let them know what you're looking for and they can find you the best deals. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Magically it starts showing up, right, you don't have to do a lot of work after that. Then it's just making more connections with more of the brokers, right, right, and letting them know how. Then it's just making more connections with more of the brokers, right, right, and letting them know. How did you come up with your buy box, kate? Maybe you can talk about that process. So somebody out there listening to this they're new or maybe they're like, I don't know First of all, what the heck is a buy box this is talking about. And then, how did you come up with crafting your buy box, like? What was your process to get to where you are right now?
Speaker 2:So a buy box is basically what are you looking for? You know, is it like with me with syndications? Okay, am I looking for multifamily? What kind of assets Am I looking for multifamily? Am I looking for hotels? Am I looking for parking garages, mobile home parks, what is it? And so you know, getting clear on your asset class, um, and then you know so, okay, multifamily, I knew that that's what I wanted to do and, um, you know from there what you know. Break that down Okay, a, b, c, d class properties, what am I looking for? I knew it was value add properties, um, bc class properties, uh, that we can add value to, and um, you know, just kind of the number of units and the price, um, what's your price point? What are you looking for? Um, part of that is you know what do we think we can. You know what's our investor network? Um, you know how much capital do we think we can raise? So that was another part of trying to determine. You know, my buy box.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, so that's the buy box. That's kind of how I narrowed it down and figured that out.
Speaker 1:Now were you basing a lot of this, kate? So those are really good answers. By the way, for you guys listening. There's a lot of nuggets in what Kate just said. But when you were thinking about it, were you also thinking of, like, your end goal, when you were crafting this Like, so I need to do these multifamily syndications because I, I know I like multifamily, or whatever the case is, but also because it's going to get me this end result that I'm looking for. How did you, how did you end up landing in this, this area or this arena as you were crafting the buy box and settling not settling, but figuring out that multifamily is what you want to go after?
Speaker 2:Hmm, that's a good question. Um, I kind of, oh, did I kind of figure out that? You know, I don't know if I looked at the end result, I just knew, like what, what was reasonable to me at the time and and what could I figure out? And and I think my confidence level, you know, I wasn't going after a $50 million properties when I'm just starting out, so, um, so that's, I think that's part of it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, question because, like for me, I think about a lot of times it's like, why am I doing what I'm doing really, at the end of the day? Or why do I want duplex, or why do I want this, or why do I want that? Like, I get clear on why I want it and then I'm like, okay, this is a means to get me to that greater purpose or that end result or that lifestyle. I'm looking for that passive income level, I'm looking for that active income level, whatever the case is, if I think it's a viable option for me and I'm really strongly attached to the outcome I'm looking for. You know, it's like you took massive action in this arena.
Speaker 1:My guess is, either consciously or subconsciously, there's some kind of greater pull, and I think you mentioned it. Maybe it has to do with, you know, getting out of the chiropractic business and having something you know to to do outside of that. Maybe that was the bigger purpose. And where multifamily came in, maybe that was, you know, uh, intellectually stimulating enough maybe for you to like all right, this is more of a challenge for me. This is going to be I don't you know and that's why I was wondering if there was something there that was beyond just multifamily as well.
Speaker 2:Yes, absolutely, that definitely had a huge part in it. Uh, just knowing that in 2026, I'm selling my practice, I'm exiting chiropractic, um, and you know just kind of, you know just real estate in general, kind of part of my plan, um, you know you can do it from anywhere. Um, you know I want to do more traveling and and have more, uh, freedom to just kind of do what I want to do and, um, yeah, and yeah, I think the challenge of learning something new, um, like I said before, I love learning. I, you know, it's just I love challenges. You know I'm one of those people too. I set goals and I meet my goals and I'm on to the next goal. So what else can we do? How much bigger can we get? So I'm just kind of that way.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think a lot of entrepreneurs are like that, right. We're like, okay, cool, conquered that board, what's next? Right, let's move on. Yeah, somebody else go run this other thing. I started it, I got it going. It's great.
Speaker 2:I need something else.
Speaker 1:That's good. Done there, done that. Let's just move on 100%. Yeah, we're totally jiving on that level. Was there a reason? You know you could have done parking garages, you could have done mobile home parks, you could have done some of these other bigger asset classes still. What was the reason for you that you chose multifamily classes still? What was the?
Speaker 2:reason for you that you chose multifamily, I think, because I was already doing the smaller single family, small multifamily stuff, kind of knew that and I invested passively in the multifamily and so I thought, okay, that's kind of what I know. And then I think too, I mean, there's a huge housing shortage in the US, right. So I think multifamily is pretty safe that way, pretty recession resistant multifamily. So it's not like retail or office space, which you know what happened in 2020.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, I'm making a little bit of a bounce back now, but yeah.
Speaker 2:Right. So I guess that's why multifamily and that's. I felt like I knew that better, so I kind of wanted to just scale that more.
Speaker 1:Sure More natural for you. You already had a little bit of a base of knowledge. You had some some of your own stuff going. You mentioned BC class. Now, just for the audience, can you, can you explain B and C class and what are these classes? Because when I got started in real estate I'd hear it on podcasts all the time. People would be like, yeah, I buy C class properties and then I'm like online I'm like where do you see what class it is? It's like how do you know? Now I know, but at the time I'm like where are people getting this information? Can you just explain to them? You know, general terms would be in C-class or these classes mean to you.
Speaker 2:Right. So C-class and I don't know exactly the years. It could be like a 1960s, 70s product, even 80s, that basically they're a little bit more rundown, they need more work. So that's where you know you have the value add. You can go in and rehab and update. You know the units, you can, you know, update the exteriors. So you know, bring them from like, say, a C class up to a B class property. A class would be like you know your new, you know apartment complexes or you know maybe even like luxury apartments, b and C class not.
Speaker 1:Right, yeah, I just thought like I'm glad you mentioned that. I wanted you to explain that a little bit, because I think for newer people they're like there's got to be some kind of like if it's this, then it's B, if it's this, then it's C, and it's kind of like you, just there. Everybody kind of agrees on what's a, c and what's a b, but it's not a set like it's 1960s and 1970s and it's this type of stucco and this, you know it's very much like yeah, there's value add here, it's affordable, probably more so, right, it's this, that, or you know, but it's, but it's not a, it's not a set.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's not black and white, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly. Well, I'm glad we, I'm glad we mentioned that. I think this has been, this has been awesome. Kate, as you, as you're out there, like what are the, what are the sizes of properties? You mentioned this earlier. Like you're limited sort of by the amount of capital you think you can raise. Is there a certain number of units? You mentioned that as your buy box, but like where did you when you, you know, did your first offering? Has that grown since you've done the first offering, or is it kind of within a similar range? And about how many units are you guys typically putting together?
Speaker 2:Yeah, probably, it's probably still about a similar range. So, like the first one, 65 units, um, so in my buy box was, uh, I think anywhere from like 40 to 80 for my first first uh offering and um, so I mean we were fine going bigger. You know, I've grown. I started, you know, since I started doing the syndications I've added another partner and so we've kind of grown that way. So we have more, I guess, access to capital, um, you know, more investors, um, one of my partners is also a chiropractor. So, um, you know, we do a lot of events and make a lot of connections with other chiropractors, of course.
Speaker 1:So, you know, in fact we're going to Miami on Thursday.
Speaker 2:So we have a big chiropractic event that we'll have a booth for a sound equity and just make some good connections with chiropractors, which you know so many of them have no idea what, what this is, you know syndications, and that they can actually own real estate without having the work of the real estate. Um, it's just been kind of. It's actually been pretty cool when we go to these events and we're talking to other chiropractors and they're like wow, what's this? Like I can have real estate and I don't have to do anything with it.
Speaker 2:Um and and usually we're the only ones like, the only exhibitors with any kind of booth financially related or anything with real estate, and the feedback we get is great. They're just like wow this is so exciting, like there's nothing else like this here, like yeah, isn't it?
Speaker 1:cool. Oh, that's amazing. That's awesome. There's a gentleman in our mastermind group, uh, david, dr David Phelps, and he's a retired dentist and he does very similar. He has a whole mastermind group now and it's just dentists in it and all they do is they find assets to passively invest in. So what you're doing, I think, is so awesome because you have the credibility with them of being a chiropractor and then that partner now is also a chiropractor, so you can talk the language with them and talk about your struggles and how did you find you know ways to put your money to work and all those things as you're trying to grow your own practice and you can leverage that.
Speaker 1:And so the you guys listening out there like what? What do you know? Like what industry? And what do you know? What are you really good at? Go find the people that are sitting idle or that they're struggling with a place to place it. Trust me, you're giving them an opportunity. You are not asking for money. You are giving people an opportunity to put money that's probably dead cash just sitting in their bank account or in some low yield savings account they call it high yield, I call it low yield savings account and put it to work at a much higher yield and something else that they don't have to do anything other than scratch the check. For the most part Right.
Speaker 2:Oh, yeah, absolutely so. Yeah, it's, it's pretty cool and, like you said, yeah, you're giving them an opportunity. You know, you know it's not like, okay, I'm selling this. It's like, no, you know what, this is an opportunity that you didn't have access to before. And you know, I, I've. I tell them too. It's like okay, chiropractic isn't going to make you rich. You might make good money, but what are you going to do with that money?
Speaker 1:For sure. Yeah, In the chiropractic space, do they have other? You know, like, I know, like you go work for somebody else, right, you get a 401k. Or you think like, are chiropractors doing that, or are they pretty much just like you know, putting their cash in the bank account? Or like, what's the general wealth building strategy for you know, a retirement strategy for you know chiropractors for, for your example, is there any?
Speaker 2:You know, I don't. I think it just varies depending on the person. Um, you know some of them. I think it could just be all right, we're going to put it in an IRA or 401k or whatever it might be, um, and just let it sit there. And you know, that's my retirement. Um, I, you know some of the chiropractors that I talked to have multiple practices so they reinvest in, in building you know a business, uh, which is good, good strategy, but then again you got to turn around and do something with that money, right? Um, so, yeah, some of them do real estate, but you know, there's only been a like a very small handful that actually passively invest.
Speaker 1:So, and I think, just because they don't know that that is out there, right, this is so good, you guys again, if you tuned just because they don't know that that is out there, Right, this is so good, you guys, again, if you tuned out because you're like I'm not doing syndications, you're missing out on a lot of really good nuggets here. You know, one of the one of the other challenges for a lot of people, especially newer people, is access to cash. Right, they want to do flips, they want to do rentals, they want to you estate, but they're limited by the capital. They have a good W-2, but they're not accumulating enough cash to be buying 100 doors. I mean, it's tough to do on your own when you're first starting out. And so how do they raise private money?
Speaker 1:This is exactly what you're doing, Kate. You're going out and you're networking and you're raising capital and you're bringing people in to help do it. You're just doing it on a bigger scale with bigger properties. But what are some of the things when you're having conversations like when you were when you started this with people who are raising capital, like, do you have any like quick tips for somebody, say, who's looking to maybe get a duplex and they need, you know somebody to come in and be the capital partner for the down payment and the rehab? Like what would you say for them? For quick tips on how to approach maybe somebody out there who's a potential you know money partner?
Speaker 2:I think just tell them what you're doing, Tell them what you need and you know, be transparent, do your due diligence with. You know the properties that you're looking at so that you can come back and you know, show them the numbers. Like, we're very transparent, you can go into our investor portal, see all the numbers, see all of our underwriting, you know. I think that helps. So, just being transparent with all that knowing, knowing what you're getting into, so that you can convey that to your potential investor.
Speaker 1:Yeah yeah, the credibility piece is a big piece. Even if you're brand new and you don't, you've never done a deal. If you prepare and you, you know you do your homework and you and you present it in a professional manner, you're probably gonna have better success than just kind of running and gunning and trying to figure it out as you go.
Speaker 2:Right, Right, writing it on a napkin. Here's my numbers no-transcript Gone.
Speaker 1:You know what are some things that you know. How do you, how do you, you know, juggle that as much as possible when you're raising this capital? Like, where do you get that confidence from? Is it from the underwriting, to make sure that you're feeling really confident that these people's money is safe, or how are you? How are you juggling that?
Speaker 2:I think it's the underwriting, you know. You know we, we did our due diligence. You know, I feel comfortable that when we find something, okay, this is, we're doing the underwriting. You know I feel like we're doing it for them. It's not, you know, just for us, but you know we have to bring something that's going to be a really good offering to our investors. Um, so I think that is huge. Um, just um yeah just yeah, doing your due diligence, that's a bit, that's a big part of it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that'll give you the confidence to know. You know there's a really low probability this deal is going to fail.
Speaker 2:Right, right. And then, um, you know, just, you know the team, you know my team, I have full confidence in my team. Um, so that's huge. Um, you know I put my own money into it. So you know, you know I, I have the confidence myself. So it's not just like I'm going to you and asking for you to put your money in when I've done nothing. Of course, you've got that sweat equity that we talked about, but, yeah, I think those are some of the big things.
Speaker 1:Right on. And one, the other thing I want to touch on before we start to wrap here. Kate, you mentioned markets, right, and doing the due diligence on the markets For somebody out there who doesn't have a market picked yet for their own purpose. A lot of times we recommend hey, if you're just starting out, start in yourunk, wisconsin, which is a very real possibility, and they're looking to get somewhere where there's some population like what are some just key things that somebody could be looking at as far as you know, maybe picking a certain market to start in?
Speaker 2:You know, I guess what we look for is markets that are showing growth as far as population income. You know, we don't want a dying market. Safe schools, you know safe or good schools, safe neighborhoods, that sort of thing, okay. So yeah, I think that's the thing. Just looking at and then looking at also, you know what, what are you if you're looking at multifamily or you know single family, whatever it is? Just looking what, what is the outlook, the comparables, like rent, rent wise. You know what can you get, what you know what, maybe, what you can. You know what you can you buy, that you can maybe is under market rent that you can increase, and you know, increase that. Noi, that way.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, that's great. What are some resources you know when you're talking about, like we're looking for comparable rents, we're looking for population growth, like what are some of the resources you guys use to look that stuff up?
Speaker 2:So when we're looking at the markets like one of the big thing is the CoStar report you can look at those Um that'll tell you a lot of information. Um quite a bit Um just looking up like apartmentscom and looking at comparable rents that way. Um. So those are some of the resources that we look at Um. There's another one as far as and I can't think of it um as far as neighborhoods and safe, safe neighborhoods and schools. Sorry, I it's, I've lost it.
Speaker 1:I can't remember the name. That's right. If you think of it after this, text it to me. We'll throw in the show notes. Okay, there we go. Yeah, that'll be perfect. Well, that's good. The CoStyle report, is that something?
Speaker 2:you guys have to pay for, or is that something that's available for anybody out there? I think you know. Sometimes you have to pay for it, but if you know people or you have good connections with the broker, sometimes they'll just give it to you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Because they get it all anyway. Sure, yeah, that's really good. That's really good. I know there's another one. We had Colton Van Elzen on who was at. He was at the meeting as well a few episodes ago and there's a few resources in there that you can look at for a lot of market data. I think it's the Redfin data center is, if I remember correctly. They've got a lot of really good data on, you know, just more for the single family duplex type of stuff. But you know, sale prices are they going up or down? Days on market, you know, those kinds of things too can be a good indicator of the strength of a market, of whether we're a buyer's market, a seller's market. Are prices going up, prices going down? All that kind of good stuff.
Speaker 1:But okay, this has been awesome. I learned a ton on here. I've got a whole page of notes over here that I was taking down and probably have to go back and re-listen to this because there's a lot of stuff Again. Some of this stuff I needed somebody to explain to me. I've been doing this for eight years, so if you're brand new out there listening to this and you're still listening, that means we got a lot of good information in your earbuds, but you might have to go back and re-listen to this.
Speaker 1:A lot of this stuff is a new concept for you, but these can all be helpful, even if you're not at the level of what Kate's looking for right now. There's so many things that Kate talked about in here that you can apply and where you're currently at in your real estate investing journey. Kate, before we wrap, we always ask one question, because we love Wisconsin and we have people outside of Wisconsin that sometimes they want to get in Wisconsin, they want to get in the market a little bit For you. Do you have a favorite Wisconsin tradition or a place to visit?
Speaker 2:Hmm, that is a good question as far as anything like.
Speaker 1:Anything, whatever, fill them in. What do they got to know about Wisconsin?
Speaker 2:Well, of course you know you have your traditional Wisconsin stuff. You've got your Friday night fish fries and your supper clubs and all that. So one of the supper clubs I love is in Tomahawk, Wisconsin bootleggers Okay, it's on Lake Nokomis, Okay yeah.
Speaker 1:Ooh, there we go and Tomahawk's a beautiful area that's come up a lot for a lot of the guests on here. That area, that area of Vilas County, that kind of stuff is beautiful and you're up in that neck of the woods.
Speaker 2:right, you're in Antigo, not quite. Yep, I'm in the Antigo area?
Speaker 1:Yep, yeah. So maybe if you're in the Antigo area, come visit Kate, get a little adjustment from one of her people up there and feel a little bit better on your journey up north or whatever you're doing up there. Maybe after a long weekend of four wheeling or whatever you're doing, you might need a little adjustment.
Speaker 2:You're hanging out in.
Speaker 1:Hanago. So, kate, this has been great. If anybody wants to connect with you to talk about maybe investing passively or get involved, you know, with you and anything, any of the offerings that you have, what is the best way for them to get in touch with you?
Speaker 2:So you can find us on our website, which is ascend equity grpcom. Uh, you can email me just Kate grass at Gmail. Um, so yeah, that's how you can get ahold of me.
Speaker 1:Awesome and you have a book out. Okay, Can you talk about the book and how if anybody wants to get a get access to the book?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I have an ebook, um free ebook. It's on basically passive investing and passive investing blueprint. If you want it, just reach out and I'll give you the link, corey, and you can put it in the show notes if you'd like. And then they can just go to that and sign up for my free ebook so they can learn more about passive investing.
Speaker 1:so they can learn more about passive investing Awesome. Thank you so much, Kate, for being on. Thank you guys for listening. As Kate mentioned earlier, share the show. If you're still listening to this point, share it out on your socials and whatever else. Again, helps us, but also more so for you guys, to tell people what you're into. Tell them what you're doing. It's going to create conversations. It's going to create leads. It's going to bring people in who have money and want to invest passively with you. So share the show. Help us get the word out, but help yourself as well as you're building your network.
Speaker 2:Kate, thanks so much for being on. Thank you, guys, for tuning in and we'll see you on the next episode. Thank you.
