How to Raise Real Estate Capital Where No One Else Is Looking | Isabella Anastasia

Isabella Anastasia (00:00)

I go and capital raise myself. I’ll give the gold. I don’t mind. there’s eight billion people on this planet. I would say go where nobody else goes. Go where no one goes. Go where the money is.

Are you trying to be at the luncheons where all the family offices are at? There’s so many opportunities. go to yacht conventions, go to jet conventions, go to Dalas, go to art galleries. Yeah, those people are not necessarily looking for a real estate deal there. But you’re this is a relationship-building world. you build relationships. And even if that person is not necessarily going to invest, maybe they know several people that are.

Dylan Silver (01:10)

Hey folks, welcome back to the show. Today we’re joined by Isabella Anastasia, single family investor and multifamily syndicator in California. Isabella, thanks for joining us here today.

Isabella Anastasia (01:22)

Thank you so much for having me. How are you today?

Dylan Silver (01:25)

Doing

great, what types of deals are coming across your desk these days?

Isabella Anastasia (01:30)

Ooh, a lot of them. I’m underwriting between three to nine deals every single week, possibly more. And I am seeing that there has been a shift into a more buyers market, more so than a seller’s market. Not all the states, not all the markets are moving in that direction. They’re slowly getting there. I’ve actually started underwriting some deals in Los Angeles. I don’t

Typically invest in California, but I was very curious to see. So in Los Angeles, in California, there is a buyer’s market. In Texas, there’s more of a buyer’s market. However, in North Carolina, it’s not. It’s still about a million, two million above asking price, and same with Tennessee. I was underwriting a deal where I was using their NOI and their cap rate.

And I was still 10 million under. And I was like, where are you guys getting these numbers? They’re like, we’re using the Pro forma NOI. And I’m like, that’s not real numbers, is it? So I still feel like some people are stuck in that twenty twenty two, twenty twenty three market cycle. And that’s just not where we’re at right now. So that’s what I’m seeing.

Dylan Silver (02:36)

My understanding is a lot of multifamily investors historically utilizing the equity in order to explain the evaluation or their projected exit rather than the cash flow of the property itself. And that’s where people can run into issues. Are you seeing any of that as well from your spot on the driver’s seat?

Isabella Anastasia (02:59)

a little bit more and what you mean by that.

Dylan Silver (03:01)

Sure. So let’s say that I am purchasing a property. Let’s say it’s 50 doors. And rather than looking at unit by unit what each unit cash flows and what I’ll be able to look at the five year mark simply from the cash flow in each individual unit, I’m actually taking out debt which exceeds what that cash flow will provide, and then hoping that.

the equity increases substantially through, appreciation more than anything else, inflation, and then selling for more are you seeing folks banking on that inflation rather than cash flow of each individual unit?

Isabella Anastasia (03:39)

I’m sure they do. I don’t know why you would do that. you’re using people’s money, investor money, why you would do that. hopes and dreams are great, but from what I’m hearing is that the interest rates are gonna go up at least two times more this upcoming year. And I don’t know why anyone would base their returns on something that’s

not ethereal as of right now, I underwrite very conservatively, stress testing it and everything. I have a deal in Texas stress test a deal if I don’t raise rents for three years, does it still work? And it does. So I’m looking at it like whatever happens, I don’t think anyone truly knows what’s going to happen in the next year or two.

Yes, the cycle is it’s cyclical, but we don’t know when that’s gonna happen. And I just don’t want to bet my bets on that. So they

Dylan Silver (04:24)

Yeah, I think

Isabella Anastasia (04:25)

do, but that doesn’t yeah, I wouldn’t recommend that.

Dylan Silver (04:28)

I think there’s a lot of people who encountered trouble with that because they fell asleep at the driver’s seat, so to speak. They saw deals from twenty fourteen till twenty twenty. You could buy wrong, the deal would appreciate substantially, and you could still make out like a bandit. Where, if you bought in twenty twenty-one, twenty twenty-two, twenty twenty-three, right, it’s a totally different beast. And you might be lucky to sell for as much as you bought it for, maybe just above that, but certainly not.

double in many cases, especially in certain markets. And one thing that you said caught my attention buyer’s market versus a seller’s market. And in certain markets, you mentioned a couple and I’m familiar with Austin. we were talking in the green room about that. It’s very clear that there is a huge supply and that even concessions are being made for tenants to move in. from your seat,

What are these indicators where it’s a clear buyer’s market versus a seller’s market?

Isabella Anastasia (05:23)

So if the deal pencils out, literally, if it pencils out and I’m getting returns above 15% IRR, I’m like, okay, this is a good price to deal for a multifamily syndication. If it’s not penciling out, then I’m like, we’re still too high. We’re still, because I have to think about everything else while the broker and the seller just has to think, I have to get this property off my hands.

Again, like I said, certain markets are still too high, other markets are just right, surprisingly. And I really want to go back to one thing that you said about appreciation. The only market that I do see that type of appreciation where you, I would say you’re allowed almost to bank on that appreciation, that inflation is Los Angeles, because we’re surrounded by mountains and surrounded by an ocean.

We can’t expand Texas can, right? And so you have a limited amount and we can’t even build vertically because we have earthquakes. So when you buy a property in Los Angeles, you’re gonna see a very high appreciation a lot faster than anywhere else in the nation. So I would say it depends on the market and it depends on the geography of the place. But California, Los Angeles specifically for single family, I see that happening. I don’t see it anywhere else that aggressively, honestly.

Dylan Silver (06:37)

If we look at Los Angeles in particular, I can imagine certain challenges, higher price points. as an investor looking at multifamily deals, are there specific things that you have to be wary of other than higher acquisition costs when you’re looking at deals in Los Angeles?

Isabella Anastasia (06:53)

The reason why I don’t touch Los Angeles when it comes to multifamily is because there’s about, I think it’s a hundred and eighty-eight cities in Los Angeles, if I’m not mistakes, there’s a ton of little cities within the Los Angeles County. And each city has its own laws. So in West Hollywood, you have certain laws that you cannot raise rents pretty much at all.

Whereas in Culver City, which is, I would say not even 10 miles south, it has its own laws. So you really have to understand the city laws in each little borough, which is, I think, a lot. and Los Angeles is massive. So it really depends. If you go into Orange County, different story completely, right? It’s going to be a lot more landlord friendly than it is tenant friendly, like Los Angeles County.

But still, California is a tenant-friendly state. So for me personally, I would love to live here, maybe have my own property, but I don’t want to do business here. Me personally.

Dylan Silver (07:49)

So you’re looking at buying in areas maybe across state lines. this presents another challenge, having booths on the ground, property management. How do you manage these properties remotely?

Isabella Anastasia (08:02)

So I have a partner that has been doing this for the last 30 years and I do rely a lot on his experience because I am at the beginning of my journey. So he already has his foot in the door. He’s had property. He has 8,000 units all around the nation. So he is definitely the person that is like, okay.

This is the property manager we recommend. This is how you interview them. This is what you do. And it’s very interesting to learn from someone that’s been in the industry for so long because, they’re questions that I would have never thought to ask a property manager during an interview.

Dylan Silver (08:35)

Yeah, that’s really interesting. one of the things that has been shocking is how much property management seems to drive success and on the other side, distress, right? You could have a property in a good area that is itself the bones of the property are good. And then you can have issues with regards to servicing, you can have issues with regards to tenant communication.

Or even vacancies on the property maybe shouldn’t be there because there could be demand and property management can get in the way there. Do you think that when folks are looking at multifamily deals, enough attention is being paid to property management in particular?

Isabella Anastasia (09:18)

My mentor said, and I don’t mean to offend anyone, every property manager is going to sound good during an interview, but eventually they all suck. Well,

Dylan Silver (09:27)

No.

Isabella Anastasia (09:27)

they all kind of suck and you have to roll with the punches. Basically, I don’t think people pay enough attention. I think they can ask better questions. I think they could be more thorough in their, in their interview line. But

Are you cut out to manage and be a leader when it comes to these types of situations? And if you’re not that person, maybe partner with someone that is good at communicating and is good at talking to people and managing people and so on and so forth. so I think it’s an obstacle no matter what. I just feel like you need to either be the person or find someone that you can align yourself with to do that.

‘Cause you’re gonna have to go through that hiccup no matter what.

Dylan Silver (10:45)

Are you also still looking at any single family deals?

Isabella Anastasia (10:47)

Yes. So I just recently purchased my single family property in North Carolina. I have been looking for a fourplex and doing the house hacking. And with a fourplex, I’ve been unsuccessful because a lot of people are looking for them. I looked out here in Los Angeles and the numbers just didn’t come out. I’d still be in negative and I didn’t like that. Then I trekked in North Carolina, specifically Winston-Salem area where I have my partner located. And

Still there, the fourplexes were really highly priced, and you were getting them in shambles. They were awful. And so what I did instead is I was looking at single family properties that had three bedrooms and three bathrooms. And if I could find something with a finished basement. we did find that. So it was a 2700, 2700 property, and

The basement’s fully finished. It has its own bathroom. If we put a kitchenette there, it has its own exit. So it’d be like a studio and we want to put a traveling nurse there. Then upstairs, there’s two bedrooms that I would love to put two students. It’s really close to the university. And then we live in the primary bedroom, the master room. So in a way, I found a fourplex

we’re planning on doing the numbers all check out and everything would be paid in full. So the mortgage would be taken care of and we would build equity that way. also really nice thing is that my partner is a medical provider. So we were able to put zero down. We just paid closing cost.

Dylan Silver (12:15)

That’s right. So what was that called? there’s a specific loan for doctors, right?

Isabella Anastasia (12:20)

Any medical professional, he’s an NP, for example. Mm-hmm.

Dylan Silver (12:23)

Okay, I’ve had other doctors on the show and they’ve explained this to me. Really interesting. for folks who are looking for creative ways to purchase a home, they might not be a aware that there’s certain loan programs that they could take advantage of. You mentioned zero down. I wanna ask you about single family and specifically the first deal or the first couple deals. Is this a quadplex, the first deal that you’ve done?

multi unit in the single family space or have you purchased other, duplex, triplex, quadplexes before?

Isabella Anastasia (12:53)

So this would be my first personal acquisition. I was a wholesaler back in the day in my residential time. And I was helping people, investors, find those deals search for them. So I didn’t ever purchase it myself. I’m at the point where I was able to. So this would be my first one, yes.

Dylan Silver (13:10)

Now, when we’re looking at interfacing with investors, right, and they might be looking for different kinds of deals. They might be looking for deals, large cash as is. They might be looking to take over a note, right? they might be open to a position where there’s seller financing and they’re paying the seller directly. I’ve been in those conversations as a wholesaler, and we were talking about that before hopping on here. for wholesalers who are looking

at what types of deals to find right now. we’re talking November 10th, 2026. it can be challenging because it feels like maybe there’s fewer end buyers out there. Maybe they’re picky what types of deals should wholesalers be looking for right now?

Isabella Anastasia (13:51)

Which market are we talking about?

Dylan Silver (13:53)

It’s good question. we could take anyone, but let’s take a look at right the Carolinas. Okay.

Isabella Anastasia (13:57)

I would say I’ll be honest, the only type of single family property I’ve looked at was in Winston-Salem. So the Carolinas I’m not super familiar with as a whole. I didn’t do much of my business there. I did a lot of business in Texas, but this was again 2023, 2024. So the market has changed a ton.

I’m now looking in the Carolinas more so on the multifamily side. So I could definitely put a lot more insight on that. this is just my personal observation. There’s not much data behind it necessarily, just simple observation, is that the Carolinas don’t have the type of housing force that I think if you’re there to just buy property and

rent it that’s fine. But I would not look for it as an appreciation. You’re just not going to get it. It’s cash flow. If you want to do cash flow and that’s your strategy, by all means. But if you’re looking for appreciation, they’re just not going to have that.

Dylan Silver (15:30)

Yeah, I think that’s common in a lot of areas right now. We’re seeing more uncertainty with well, there’s been a huge supply, multifamily but also single family suburbs, not subdivisions, I should say, sprouting out of the ground in places like Texas. I’m sure you also see maybe some amount of that in the Carolinas. And so you look at okay, well, that home three years ago, what’s it worth today? Well, my neighbor’s home sold for X.

So I think I should be able to get that. Well, that was three years ago. you’re really looking at two totally different times. And, how much will these homes appreciate? It’s complicated. One of the things that I saw when I was looking at what the next hot area would be for wholesale was actually infill lots and working with builders who were building out those subdivisions.

And the tricky thing I realized was you had to have a really good buyers list. And then in many cases, those builders had their own network and they really only wanted to buy from their network. Did you ever as a wholesaler do land deals or wholesale deals to a builder?

Isabella Anastasia (16:40)

No, I mainly stayed in single family. I didn’t really have land. I try to help another wholesaler do that, and that was his thing. I never really did anything with land. the only thing that I know about land, I went to a networking event recently, and there was a woman, her name is Jet, and she’s awesome. So she bought land

In California, in Victorville, which has the largest airport in California. And so California, if you look at it, it has a very large GDP and it’s a logistical state, right? And so you need that kind of infrastructure to carry out that type of economy. And she bought a bunch of land through, like I said, Victorville, basically from Los Angeles to Vegas. And she was, now she’s selling this property.

Fortune five hundred companies because they’re all investing because there’s a train that’s happening between Los Angeles to Vegas. And that’s gonna be huge for them. So she bought land, I don’t know, fifty thousand dollars and now she’s selling it. The turnovers like almost a million. it’s insane. the one thing that she recommended is that if you see land around airports.

Buy it because eventually they’re gonna need it and then you can turn it over. But it’s a long-term hold more so than something that you can just turn it over very quickly. I’m sure there’s exceptions to that rule. the one thing that, and I was talking to another business partner about this is like, okay, you’re holding this land, what does it cost? Because you have property taxes, you have a bunch of stuff. So is it worth it in the long run? That’s the question that we came to.

my business partner, we decided that it wasn’t. But maybe it works for certain cases.

Dylan Silver (18:16)

I’ve heard this term land banking, which speaks to what you’re describing, a situation where you’re holding this for an extended period of time. And the reality is it’s illiquid, right? You might not have a buyer this month, this quarter, potentially this year at the price that you want to be at. And if you’re looking at the urban sprawl of an airport and seeing that expand, that could of course take some time. That deal where someone

Was looking at land on the way from Los Angeles to Vegas is really interesting. when we look at some of the markets that we’ve spoken about, Los Angeles, Texas, North Carolina, they’re all distinct. They all have different market conditions. and if you’re looking at multifamily specifically, you talked about underwriting in various areas.

Are you then going direct to seller in these areas? Are you working with wholesalers who are bringing these deals to you? Are you going through broker relationships in these markets? What does that look like?

Isabella Anastasia (19:12)

So being in the multifamily space, it’s typically going to be a lot with brokers and broker relationships. So yes, I’m constantly talking to brokers, seeing what the whisper price talking to them constantly. I don’t really talk to any sellers when it comes to multifamily. There is a deal that we have now in Texas and

The broker and the seller are a lot closer in relation. So I have been able to speak to the seller, but that’s not usually the case. It’s usually just me and the broker speaking together on deals. Mm-hmm.

Dylan Silver (19:44)

Is it then maybe in some ways complicated, more complicated, but also less complicated doing a multifamily deal? Is there any truth to that?

Isabella Anastasia (19:53)

it’s definitely more complicated. The turnover takes way, way longer, right? The due diligence is much longer. so with investors that are curious or wanting, an investor call last night, and I asked them, why are you investing in real estate? And they say, I want to make a hundred thousand a year. And I’m like, okay, well, how much time do you want to spend doing that?

what do you want to do with that hundred thousand? Why is it a hundred thousand? Where did you come up with that money? What does that build? Because every single asset class is good, but it depends who you are as well. That’s why there’s so many different types. I don’t think there’s one better than the other. It just depends how much responsibility you want. So he was telling me that he wants to have 15 properties.

And he wants to manage them outside of the state. He lives in California and Los Angeles. And I’m like, okay, you wanna do it in Indianapolis? You want 15 properties. Well, that’s gonna cost a lot of time and money. Like, do you want to have that lifestyle? There’s nothing wrong with that lifestyle, but do you want that lifestyle? Or do you want to put it in the care of other people and then they bring you that type of money to you? he was like, I actually don’t know. I have to think about it. So we’re gonna have another call.

So a lot of people, I think, when they’re talking to investors is that the investor doesn’t actually know what they want. They watch all these videos saying, I heard that this is a good amount or this is a good amount and I just want this. But they don’t actually spend the time of like, okay, why do I want this? How do I want to achieve it? And then who do I partner up that would get me there in the most efficient and proper way? Because you can get there fast.

It just might fall apart quickly too.

Dylan Silver (21:30)

That’s true. That’s true. how many times if we go back to the wholesaler world will we have a deal, end buyer is looking like everything is good to go and then their lending falls apart at the last minute. They need another inspection, they need to have their team come look at it, There’s so much that goes into this, it’s really not done until the inks dry, at the title company.

And I can imagine that that’s just as complicated, if not more so, in multifamily where financing can be even more challenging. I want to ask you about that. When we look at financing these larger deals, these multifamily deals, is there one preferred method that you’ve used?

Isabella Anastasia (22:09)

I love preferred equity. If it works on the deal, I love preferred equity. And I go to Europe pretty often and a lot of Europeans, money managers, anyone that has a lot of equity loves the American market because it is the most cash flow. They can they love the American housing market. They love it. And I have yet to find remotely closely, to having the returns that you can have.

anywhere else in the world besides the American market. So I have worked with preferred equity that have investors from Japan, from Indonesia, and they’ll invest in American markets. So I do like that. Of course they want a specific percentage and that can kill the deal if you don’t underwrite it correctly. But if it works, I find it the easiest to deal with.

Dylan Silver (22:55)

Without giving away all the gold here, there’s a lot of folks who are saying capital’s their biggest bottleneck. They need to know where to go. Where are the family offices? Where are the fund managers? How can they find buyers and investors for their deals? If someone wanted to look for a preferred equity partner, what would be your advice or feedback to them?

Isabella Anastasia (23:17)

I go and capital raise myself. I’ll give the gold. I don’t mind. there’s eight billion people on this planet. I would say go where nobody else goes. Go where no one goes. Go where the money is.

Are you trying to be at the luncheons where all the family offices are at? There’s so many opportunities. go to yacht conventions, go to jet conventions, go to Dalas, go to art galleries. Yeah, those people are not necessarily looking for a real estate deal there. But you’re this is a relationship-building world. you build relationships. And even if that person is not necessarily going to invest, maybe they know several people that are.

And then that could be, that’s how you capital raise. And so it’s more of going out there. Cause if you’re gonna go to a real estate event that cost you, let’s say, $30 to $100, or even some of those that are several thousands and it’s a, for a week long, everyone’s going there. it’s gonna be so much harder. Go somewhere where you can show off your personality, be friends with awesome people that have that kind of capital, and then bring them in.

or bring their friends in and so on and so forth. that’s where I go. I go to car shows, I go to conventions, I go to a bunch of different places. I’ve been looking at like, okay, there’s a yacht convention in Dubai. Let’s go there. Let’s, there’s another jet convention. go there. there’s so many things that you can do. And it depends what kind of money you want.

you’re gonna have older generational money on the east coast, you’re gonna have newer money on the west coast.

Dylan Silver (24:45)

These

are the inside secrets, truly. Because you mentioned Dubai. I spoke with a person involved in brokerage in Dubai. And it’s interesting because you think about how some of this can be challenging. And I think someone less traveled than you might look at this and they wouldn’t even have half of the ideas that you had, because you really are operating from a worldly international perspective. And that comes across,

From my seat talking to you, I would imagine that’s a pretty sizable advantage. Do you feel that way? do you sense that you have an advantage maybe over folks who are less traveled because you have the ability to look at even raising capital from a different lens?

Isabella Anastasia (25:26)

if you’re gonna take away anything from this podcast, anyone that’s listening, the only investment where you’re gonna get 100% ROI is traveling, investing in yourself and going to places you will 100% grow, your horizons will increase, you are going to look at the world so differently. Absolutely. I was 12 years old when I first went to Monaco.

I got, I was in there looking and I’ve been to Monaco three times and I’ve traveled so much. So yes, I have a clear advantage on that, but it’s not like nobody else can do it. It’s not unique, anyone can replicate it, but you definitely have to travel if you’re gonna,

be in worlds where money matters because they don’t like to just talk about money. they’re gonna want to talk about things that are more sophisticated. And if you can pull from your own experiences and talk about that, your people are like, wow, you’re awesome and you want to be around awesome people. So I would say most importantly is invest in yourself in that being, if you can’t travel, you can always learn and become worldly through your laptop. That’s so easy to do nowadays. And so

Yeah, sure, you can’t travel right now, but that’s okay because you will be and just learning that knowledge to being an awesome person and being an awesome person be around.

Dylan Silver (26:44)

favorite places or place that you’ve been, knee-jerk reaction, is it Monaco? Is it somewhere else?

Isabella Anastasia (26:50)

I don’t like this question because again, it depends what I want to do. What do I want to play? How do I want to go on the playground? And where do I want to go? I would say personally for me, the biggest culture shock. it was country number 33. And I was like, I can handle anything, the world, I can do whatever I want. And I went from Terifa, Spain, to Tangier.

And I was like, nothing could take me down, stupid little 23 year old. And I went there and I was in such a culture shock. I was panicked because nothing was written in any language that I could read. For me, no offense, it’s squiggly lines. That’s it. That’s what Arabic is. And I was like, where am I? What did I get? I had no internet connection. There was nothing like.

Google Translate or anything at that time. And so I had to figure it out. And that was one of my favorite countries because it was so raw and authentic. it was a challenge for me. And maybe I’m sadistic a little bit, but I do like a challenge. I do like to work hard.

Dylan Silver (27:53)

I can imagine that. I can certainly imagine that. I haven’t experienced being in a country that doesn’t have a Latin language or any connection to it, a different alphabet, right? You don’t recognize any of the symbols. But I can relate to, your internet doesn’t work and you’re in a place that doesn’t speak your language, you’re trying to figure out how to get around. You also don’t really want to make it seem like you’re panicked or you’re really out of place because you don’t want to attract negative attention.

I get that. it’s a lot that goes into it. And

Isabella Anastasia (28:22)

go ahead, go ahead.

Dylan Silver (28:23)

you mentioned the importance of travel and the ROI. I second that. there’s nothing that will change your mind like forced neuroplasticity more than traveling.

Isabella Anastasia (28:34)

Absolutely. And I would recommend doing it by yourself. I know that’s terrifying, but when I went to Morocco, I was by myself. I planned the whole thing on my own. It’s a Muslim country. don’t be dumb. use common sense. I know it’s not that common, but don’t go to

in the dark alley. Don’t look at your phone while you’re walking alone at night. I’m very open. I’m always and nothing bad has happened. And whether you’re religious or not, I believe God in the universe has my back. So I’ve done some, most people would be like, that’s not very intelligent, but it made me grow. Even though it’s

not the best. going there by myself, it really showed me the culture, how they think, I dived into it and they loved me and nothing bad happened. I actually have had less problems in Morocco and in Muslim countries than I did in Western Europe.

Dylan Silver (29:21)

Yeah, I think a lot of people, until they travel and they have that experience, they have a lot of ideas that, could be drastically different once they travel and once they experience it themselves and the language and the food and the views and how homes look, right? And everything is radically different. Then you come back and you’re like, smooth roads and buildings that look, very much one similar to the next, and that type of thing.

We are coming up on time here though, Isabella. Any new projects or activities that you’re working on these days? Also anything that you’d like to mention directly to our audience?

Isabella Anastasia (29:56)

Absolutely. So

I am working on a podcast. It’s going to be a lifestyle podcast. We’re just starting it off. It is called Off the Silver Platter. And we’re very excited to just show the world how awesome it is to be curious and just do awesome activities with one of my really good friends. She’s an entrepreneur. I also am looking at deals constantly. So if you have any questions, especially on multifamily properties, my email is isabella at arimiecapital.com. So shoot me.

an email and if you want my personal number it’s 818-917-8095 and I’m more than happy to answer any questions at all. I do take a little bit to respond. I’m constantly traveling and moving all the time. So just keep that in mind.

Dylan Silver (30:40)

Isabella Anastasia, thank you so much for your time today. Thanks for joining us.

Isabella Anastasia (30:44)

Of course. Thank you.