How Andrew Freed Scaled to 550 Rental Units in 5 Years

Andrew Freed (00:00)
⁓ Yeah, I just definitely want to mention, you know, ultimately, you know, I started just like many of your listeners just a w2 job I didn’t get any money I would didn’t wasn’t born with a silver spoon in my mouth and you know Ultimately, they had the same tools and the same ability to do what I did all they really needed All they really need to do is apply intention and action and have a strong why so that’d be my message

Scott Bursey (01:53)
Welcome back to the Real Estate Pros podcast. I’m your host Scott Bursey. And on today’s show, we’re focusing on effective frameworks and strategic growth from real estate entrepreneurs. Today we’re joined by Andrew Freed of Andrew Freedom Management, who brings deep expertise from years of successfully guiding and growing top producing agents and teams across various market segments. Andrew, thanks for being here today.

Andrew Freed (02:20)
Thank you for having me. I’m excited to be here.

Scott Bursey (02:23)
Absolutely, it’s our pleasure. And for our listeners who may not be familiar with your journey, please tell us, Andrew, how did you begin your career and what’s your focus now?

Andrew Freed (02:34)
Well, like many of your listeners, I got mesmerized by the American dream. Get a good education, get a good job, get a nice six figure salary, get a nice swanky condo in the city. I did that all through my entire 20s. And by the end of it, I felt empty. I felt like I had so much more potential to give it. At that point, I worked at the Broad Institute of MIT in Harvard at a condo in Boston. By all accounts, I made it. But I didn’t feel that way. During COVID, I think at that point, we were all stuck in our house. And I ran out of vices to do. I ran out of video.

I ran out of to watch and I found this beautiful book called Rich Dad Poor Dad and it opened my eyes to real estate and opened my eyes to entrepreneurship and it showed me a path outside of the rat race more or less financial freedom. So at that point I decided I’m going all in the real estate. I’m gonna start buying multifamily. So I key locked by one bedroom condo for $200,000 which was essentially most of my net worth and I started house hacking or owner occupying multifamily properties.

for properties in Worcester, Massachusetts. And I started doing that. I started getting some momentum. I started one of the largest real estate meetups in Worcester, became an investor focused agent. And over a course of five years, I went from zero to around 550 rental units and a vertically integrated property management company.

Scott Bursey (03:51)
that is fantastic. Talk about scaling. Wow. What are some core strengths of the Andrew Freedom Management company right now as you see them, Andrew?

Andrew Freed (04:02)
So I would say some of the core strengths is ⁓ urgency.

Right? You know, when it comes to when it comes to business, speed is essential. Right? If you if you are three, four times quicker than your competition, you will accomplish all of your goals and you will grow three to four times quicker. And we have a high level of urgency and we have a very strong project management sort of background. I’m a certified project manager. That’s what I did in my W2. And I bring that to my organization as well. And we try to keep a tight lid on all of our assets on weekly basis.

Scott Bursey (04:35)
How long has your organization been in operation now?

Andrew Freed (04:40)
So we’ve only been in operation for about three years. We’ve been to around zero to 27, 28 employees in that short period.

Scott Bursey (04:50)
And what markets are you covering?

Andrew Freed (04:53)
So we cover primarily Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island, New England markets. And our main market is Worcester, Massachusetts. The second largest city in mass is about 45 minutes west of Boston. And then a lot of the tertiary markets out that so we pretty much plan on, you know, ⁓ six and a half seven eight cap rate market. And we typically focus on value and multifamily.

Scott Bursey (06:03)
And no business is perfect. What’s one or two aspects that you’re working on as an organization right now?

Andrew Freed (06:11)
So I would say the more you grow, the more you scale in business, the more you realize.

It’s not about finding opportunity. It’s about finding talent and cultivating talent. And we’re at that stage right now where, we’re trying to grow our organization and we need, ⁓ you know, we need A level players right now. And we need to train them up and give them strong leadership skills because ultimately the other people are going to run your organization very efficiently and very good. Right. So that’s kind of where we’re at right now is we’re trying to build up our organization where it’s more self-sustaining and less relying on me and my partner to push the ball forward.

Scott Bursey (06:48)
Absolutely. And what’s your strategy on acquiring the top talent?

Andrew Freed (06:53)
So.

One of my strategies, you definitely got to sell them a vision. You definitely got to give them a why. One of our main why’s is we want to help as many people reach financial independence as possible, be it our investors, be it our employees, be it our tenants, right? It’s a big tenement of ours. And I definitely think that will bring people on board. Right. Additionally, you know, we try to target people with the right personality traits and the right strengths. And we do that with personality tests. We typically filter people based off the personality we write. We want for the role, because every personality, every role requires a different trait.

different strengths. And we typically filter solid talent that way, we find very top level people.

Scott Bursey (07:32)
That’s a good formula. What sort of opportunities are on the horizon now as you see it, Andrew?

Andrew Freed (07:40)
So, you know, I’m a one trick pony. I don’t get shiny object syndrome and my main strategy is value and multifamily. I typically buy property on a price per unit basis at a 20 to 30 % discount with this ability to do forced appreciation and create equity, right? You know, appreciation is great. It’s not guaranteed, but forced appreciation is if you know what you’re buying. And that’s typically how we mitigate a lot of our risk.

Scott Bursey (08:05)
Okay, let’s discuss operational structure for just a moment or two. What specific coaching models or technology platforms, I guess, are currently proving most effective for optimizing agent efficiency when implementing a growth strategy in today’s variable economic environment?

Andrew Freed (08:27)
I don’t understand the question. What was the question?

Scott Bursey (08:30)
no problem.

No problem. What are some challenges that you see right now? That could be market risk or something of that nature.

Andrew Freed (08:39)
Okay, yeah, I mean, I would say one of the biggest challenges I see in the world in general is the Iraq War, you know, the cost of

oil, the cost of everything, inflation going up and obviously that’s going to have a, ⁓ you know, that’s going to drip down to my tenant base, right? Can they afford rent? Can they not afford rent? You know, I typically rent the class being class being classy multifamily. So it’s definitely on the lower enchilada of, you know, societal economics. So that’s definitely a concern of mine. know, Massachusetts is recently implemented, not implemented, they put rent control in the ballot, right? So that’s a concern of mine as well. You know, rent control.

has been shown to have detriment effects on many areas when implemented. So hoping it doesn’t pass, but that’s a risk as well.

Scott Bursey (09:26)
Absolutely, and what’s one big takeaway or golden nugget you’d like to share with our listeners here today regarding your your business your operation?

Andrew Freed (09:36)
What I would say is when you find the right partner one plus one equals ten, right? And if you could sit in your genius and if and where you’re weak, your partner is great. Well, you’re great. Your partner is weak. You guys you together you will do things ⁓ way you got you would do things way at a way better level than doing it separately. So I highly recommend finding the perfect partner and don’t find somebody similar to you find somebody who’s the opposite of you because ultimately together that’s how you truly scale.

Scott Bursey (10:06)
Absolutely, couldn’t agree with you more. And what is freedom management’s business strategy for the next 12 to 18 months?

Andrew Freed (10:49)
⁓ Which we aim to buy five to 50 unit properties, be it portfolio, be it one building at a 20 to 30 % discount on a price per unit basis. ⁓ You know, and we find some sort of value going there. We increase the value and we suck money out. So that’s typically our business model and that will continue to be our business model.

Scott Bursey (11:10)
And that is a great model. Is there anything else you’d like to share with our listeners here today?

Andrew Freed (11:15)
⁓ Yeah, I just definitely want to mention, you know, ultimately, you know, I started just like many of your listeners just a w2 job I didn’t get any money I would didn’t wasn’t born with a silver spoon in my mouth and you know Ultimately, they had the same tools and the same ability to do what I did all they really needed All they really need to do is apply intention and action and have a strong why so that’d be my message

Scott Bursey (11:37)
And that is a great message. Andrew, we love fostering connections here at Real Estate Pros. For the listeners who want to follow your journey or collaborate with you, what’s the best way for them to reach you?

Andrew Freed (11:49)
They can reach me at investorfreed on Instagram or andrewfreed at LinkedIn or Facebook.

Scott Bursey (11:56)
There it is. Andrew Freed, everybody. Andrew, thank you for being here today.

Andrew Freed (12:02)
Thank you for having me.

Scott Bursey (12:04)
It was our pleasure. And for our listeners, we appreciate each and every one of you. If you got value out of today’s episode, please subscribe. We have more conversations coming up with exceptional operators, just like Andrew. Until next time, keep your standards high and your vision clear. We’ll see you on the next episode, everyone.