Acquisition Advisory

No. All MAA assignments are exclusive with respect to desired markets, product type and classification. If a client’s general investment criteria for example specifies “Class B/Value-Add/Florida”, MAA will not pursue and there will be no other clients accepted who pursue investments meeting that criteria during the term of your agreement.

The MAA program can offer the same or even superior capabilities but with decreased cost and more flexibility:

Cost

Cost. Consider XYZ Acquisitions Co. who chooses to create a small acquisitions department comprised of one senior-level acquisitions professional, one administrative support person, adequate office space and one subscription to an information database) such as REIS or CoStar). This is a simplified example so we will ignore other less significant costs.

In comparison, retaining MAA eliminates long-term salary commitment, ancillary staffing, benefit “load”, the cost of incremental office space and the cost of information/databases. Our retainers vary based on assignment scope and complexity but average approximately $10,000 per month for a total cost of up to 71% less than our acquisition department example.  

Flexibility

Market conditions and organizational priorities change. In our example above, XYZ Co. has assumed relatively long-term commitments. If their investment activity is sharply reduced, their overhead will remain for some time until they unwind. 

Retaining MAA allows you as an investor to immediately react to changing conditions by simply cancelling your agreement. No acquisition mode? No overhead. And if you decide to ramp it up again, you can typically reactivate the engagement. 

Existing Relationships with Market Participants

MAA management, through other entities, has operated in a number of preferred markets, acquiring thirty-eight significant multifamily properties.  Because of this level of activity and exceptional deal performance, these entities enjoyed “Preferred Buyer” status. In other words, simply by association with MAA, any investor, no matter their level of experience will be perceived by market participants as a “player” with a superior ability to perform.  In virtually every instance, that perception is the difference between winning the deal or going home empty handed.

The elements of our compensation generally include a monthly retainer and acquisition bonuses. Historically, clients have also agreed to minor participating interests in property acquired to further align their interests with those of MAA.

Because of our exclusivity assurance, we can engage a limited number of clients at any one time. Therefore, it is important that we engage only the most highly motivated buyers who need to deploy multifamily capital. We have found that a professional retainer structure is the most effective qualifier of that of interest.

We deliver institutional-quality Director of Acquisitions. In retaining MAA, our clients can be confident that their monthly overhead will be substantially less than if they hired a similarly qualified individual.

The short answer is no. Acquisitions and brokerage occupy two different functions within the industry. 

Different Roles
As the prevalence of acquisition departments suggest, acquisition personnel and brokers are not interchangeable. One cannot be replaced with the other.

The Same or Higher Cash Cost
In today’s competitive multifamily environment, there is virtually no co-brokerage. A broker cannot ask to “participate” in a listing broker’s fee and expect to be awarded the deal. The best way an investor can make sure they are not awarded a deal is to be represented by a broker who requests a co-brokerage fee. In the real world, no listing broker is going to split a fee when he or she has ten similar offers that do not require it.

If on the other hand, the investor pays the buyers commission, generally a minimum of 1% of the purchase price, it largely defeats the purpose, which ostensibly would be to save money.

No Guarantee of Exclusivity
There is no limit to how many investors a broker can represent. No guarantee of exclusivity can be enjoyed by an investor instructing a broker to “find us deals”.

Investors Can’t Hire the Brokers Who Could Actually Help Them.
Brokers who are highly compensated and very active in the multifamily space without exception control inventory via exclusive listings. A broker cannot advocate the interests of both a seller and buyer simultaneously. A highly compensated, influential and active broker who is controlling inventory cannot represent a buyer on any listing they have or are seeking.

No. An “operator” who has built and staffed an acquisition and operations platform and has no geographical “gaps” in that platform would typically not benefit from MAA’s services. MAA Advisory exists so that investors without acquisitions and/or operations platforms can confidently outsource those functions and successfully invest in the U.S. multifamily sector.

Ideal candidates for MAA:

• Domestic or foreign entities (trusts and family offices) with passive capital desiring direct investment in the U.S. multifamily sector 
• Individual Section 1031 investors focused intensively on designation and closing of replacement property 
• Smaller to medium-sized “entrepreneurial” investors who focus on multifamily investments and have a clear mandate to increase their holdings but desire to “stay lean” and not assume the staffing, space and administrative obligations of even a minimal acquisitions department. These could include private partnerships and regional operators. 
• Larger entities for whom multifamily investments comprise only a portion of their investments. These organizations’ multifamily mandate is important but is one of many they must oversee and may be finite. Hence, it does not justify assumption of the staffing, space and administrative obligations of a specialized in-house multifamily acquisitions presence. These organizations may include family offices, hedge funds with a recent multifamily mandate but a limited real estate platform, and foreign entities with a desire for direct U.S. multifamily investments but no U.S. presence.
• Large, active investors with an established acquisitions department but with a temporary “gap” in market coverage due to expansion or loss of a regional acquisitions partner. 

Because MAA has relationships with most important brokerage participants and access to property information nationwide, we can effectively cover any market. However, states and markets in which we have previously been active and have strong individual relationships are:

The term of our engagement agreement is negotiable but normally provides for an initial 90-day term with 30-day renewals thereafter.