Randy Langenderfer on Multifamily Investing, Syndication, and How to Succeed in a Tough Market

Randy Langenderfer (00:00)
Your network is your net worth. And it’s true. The older I get, the more true it really is that those relationships and people are the most, the biggest asset you have. So build relationships, I guess, and educate yourself. And the last one I would say, persistence. Stay in the game.

Michelle Kesil (01:53)
Hey everybody, welcome to the Real Estate Pros podcast. I’m your host, Michelle Kesil. Today I’m joined by someone I’m looking forward to chatting with, Randy Langenderfer, who is a syndicator specializing in multifamily as well as a consultant for real estate entrepreneurs. So really excited to have you join us today, Randy.

Randy Langenderfer (02:19)
Michelle, thanks for the opportunity to join. It’s a pleasure and look forward to getting to know you and your audience.

Michelle Kesil (02:25)
Great, let’s dive in. First off, for those not yet familiar with you and your work, can you share what your main focus is these days?

Randy Langenderfer (02:35)
Happy to do so. So Randy Langenderfer, Houston, Texas. My wife always says when I get on these, I never talk about personal side. husband, father, grandchildren, and left the corporate world three years ago to focus exclusively on real estate and activities. ⁓ Basically, I am, as you said, a real estate syndicator. So I started my journey out in the single family fix and flip world.

as a hard money lender trying to find another revenue stream when I was still in corporate America and landed on multifamily. Really liked that space. I’ve been doing that for about the last 11, 12 years. And syndicator and have ⁓ joint ventures in Houston, Dallas, Tucson, Arizona, Kansas City.

off top of my head. So that’s what I spend a lot of time on today as well as, as you said, consulting ⁓ real estate entrepreneurs on how to streamline their finances and make sure they’re profitable.

Michelle Kesil (03:40)
Awesome. And which markets do you operate in?

Randy Langenderfer (03:43)
Yeah, I say from the syndication side, I would say we operate in the Sunbelt areas. So I would say from the west of Arizona to the east, probably North Carolina’s mentioned several properties that I’m involved in with as a general partner in those markets. From a consulting side, there’s no boundaries. wherever they’re geographically located at is kind of irrelevant. It’s just helping them get their finances in order.

Michelle Kesil (04:12)
Awesome. And so how did you get started in real estate?

Randy Langenderfer (04:18)
Yeah, it’s a great one. ⁓ I was working as an executive for a private equity company at the time in Akron, Ohio. And I knew that it had a short lifespan, five, six years max.

And so I started to look for another revenue stream. I really wanted to find out how I could get away from corporate America. Started in the single family, fix and flip as I said, as a hard money lender. That was about 2000 and.

nine, probably 11, did that for several years while living in Cleveland, Ohio, fixing and flipping in the South Florida, Dade County areas and then moved to Houston.

I needed a job. So I found a job at a large academic medical center here in Houston and learned. That’s what I learned. You know, the value of education got involved in a couple large.

national educational firms, specifically Lifestyles here in Houston and then Brad Sumrock and I’ve been in Rod Calif’s organization as well and the value of those relationships and those networks are instrumental in growing your business and helping educate yourself wherever you’re at. So got into my first partnership where I had invested in others so I started learning about the

syndication and the multifamily world by investing in other people’s deals. Did that for three or four years and then in 2018 did my first general partnership and as I said fast forward a day of I’m in about a thousand doors in those different geographic regions that I mentioned so enjoying it.

Michelle Kesil (06:54)
Yeah, amazing. And what do you feel have been some of the main keys that made the biggest difference in allowing your business to grow and run successfully?

Randy Langenderfer (07:06)
I’m an analytical type, so I value education. And that’s why I got involved in those organizations I just previously mentioned. I don’t know if you’ve heard of the old adage that everybody’s personality, ⁓ ready, aim, fire. And so I’m a ready, aim, aim, aim, aim, and then fire. ⁓

sometimes to my own detriment, but I got over that by educating myself and understanding the risk that you take as a real estate investor in a syndication or basically in a single family, anyone. If you understand the risk and you can mitigate those risks as much as possible and learning from the lessons of those that have gone before you, it’s invaluable. ⁓ And you’re going to lower it, you know, you’re going to increase the risk of probability of success and

lower the probability of failure. So I’m not a smart guy, ⁓ somebody told me a long time ago, just follow the playbook that’s been out there for generations on real estate.

Michelle Kesil (08:15)
Yeah, what are some of the biggest challenges or obstacles that you have had to overcome in this career?

Randy Langenderfer (08:25)
Well, I think it started out like most entrepreneurs, Michelle, that the obstacles are one of time. So I was working a full time job and had a desire to do something else, but finding the time to one, educate myself and then go look at properties and build relationships and building a team of be it a accountants or legal people or vendors along the way.

Uh, I really attribute that again, a lot when I transitioned to multifamily, those large educational arms or other coaches, uh, that I had along the way really helped expedite that. So building your network and time is the first obstacle. And then for me, the obstacle was, as I mentioned, being overly analytical. I wanted to understand it all. And at some point you just got to pull the trigger and go for it. And, uh,

That doesn’t mean you should take blind risk. really like educated risk, but there are a lot of people that can’t just pull the trigger. When I was writing my first $50,000 check, my hand was shaking. ⁓ But ⁓ I got over it. that’s really one of the key takeaways is take action. Educate yourself, but take action.

Michelle Kesil (09:49)
Yeah, definitely. And what have been some of the biggest takeaways from real estate investing?

Randy Langenderfer (10:34)
Takeaways for me are one, I really enjoy it. It’s entirely different than what I did in my corporate world and I’ve always had an inkling to do it. So it’s fun for me. So the takeaway is, is make sure you enjoy it. If it’s work for you, there’s probably other ways to make money that are more enjoyable for you. I don’t know what they are for you, but are other people, but enjoy it. The other takeaway is, is ⁓ spend time building relationships.

spend time educating yourself and building that network. You’ve heard it before, I’m sure.

Your network is your net worth. And it’s true. The older I get, the more true it really is that those relationships and people are the most, the biggest asset you have. So build relationships, I guess, and educate yourself. And the last one I would say, persistence. Stay in the game.

It’s easy in this market, especially in the multifamily side, the last several years with the interest rate rise to just say, I’m going to sit on the sidelines and not do anything, but stay in the game. Continue to educate yourself. Look at opportunities you’re going to hit if you’re persistent and you’re knowledgeable and you got a good network.

Michelle Kesil (11:57)
Absolutely. And how do you kind of see the current opportunities right now that you’re going after in today’s market?

Randy Langenderfer (11:58)
Thank

Yeah, it’s certainly changed. Obviously, the old adage that rising tide lifts all ships. But when the tide goes out, you learn who’s swimming naked. we’ve seen that, at least in the syndication world, the last two to three years. A lot of people that got over-leveraged and got over their skis in terms of terms and et cetera, et cetera. So some of the challenges I think are really just finding opportunities.

that cash flow for investors. If I’m out buying a large multifamily, ⁓ the investors are the ones that really I like to focus on. so finding a deal that pencils, that meets the criteria of what we’re trying to sell to them is a challenge today in any market. It doesn’t matter where you’re located at. so

The tendency is try to go after bigger opportunities that requires more capital upfront. I’m contemplating going down on the scale and moving, looking at smaller entities just so there are less capital partners required to take down the deal. ⁓ But I think it’s just the environment right now. so what I say is slow and steady wins the race.

I want to be a buyer in all markets, up, down and sideways, just that you buy very differently today than we did even 24 months ago. Debt constraints have to be very different, matched with the business plan, fixed rate debt versus a variable rate debt. And it’s always about operations, who is managing the asset, who’s the face of that tenant walking in the door trying to lease an apartment.

I’ve had some bad ones and I’ve had some really good ones and you never really know a bad one until you’ve had a good one and you see the difference. So focus on operations.

long-winded answers. ⁓

Michelle Kesil (14:18)
Are you currently

operating your buildings as well?

Randy Langenderfer (14:26)
So we always, I don’t self manage, so we always use third party property management. Having been in some of those various markets, it’s difficult to find a single property management that’s expert in all those regions. So we always try to find the best one, the first or second best property management in the specific market like Tucson, like Houston, Dallas.

Kansas City and focus on those and those relationships and building those and then hopefully expand in those markets. So those would be the ones I’m looking at today because we have some operational experience in those markets.

Michelle Kesil (15:52)
Yeah and are you looking to scale right now and what are you focusing on scaling into?

Randy Langenderfer (16:00)
I’m always looking to acquire more. don’t have some have a preset goal to do X number of doors or properties per year. ⁓ I don’t do that. So the most I’ve ever done is three acquisitions in one calendar year. And I don’t see myself. I didn’t do any in 25, maybe in the latter part of 26.

to again, trying to find that property that pencils and meets objectives for investors. So I don’t set a predefined number. I just look at opportunities. If there’s five that are presented that work, then I’ll find partners that can raise the capital for them. And if there are none, that’s okay too. I don’t have to do this. It’s like some of these syndicators, you see they’ve created big…

back-end machines and they’ve got to do deals for the transactional fees. I guess I’m, I don’t have to do that. So I can survive it where I’m at or I can buy three or five more.

Michelle Kesil (17:15)
Yeah, absolutely. Is there any advice you would give to someone that is looking to get started in investing?

Randy Langenderfer (17:26)
My younger self, as the question goes. ⁓ Yeah, that’s a great question. would, ⁓ so I kind of live in this, I have a son-in-law right now who wants to start out in the single family space. So I’m trying to coach him to buy houses and flip them. ⁓ But I think the, goes back to where we said before, I would say education and persistence. So I’m coaching him. He lives in a different market than I’m in.

to network, get involved in the real estate organizations in that market, begin to develop a list of vendors, study, study, study, ⁓ and just plan on it for the long haul. So I think he’s going really too slow, but that’s OK. That’s his speed. And after he does a couple of them, he’ll be wanting to call me and do a whole lot more. ⁓

Summary persistence and education I think is the advice I would give. Stay in the game. Stay in the game. It’s like the stock market. Stay in the game and just continue to learn. People who expand too fast end up paying the price.

Michelle Kesil (18:37)
Right.

And why particularly do you focus on multifamily? Are there other asset classes that you’re also investing in? Or how does that look?

Randy Langenderfer (18:50)
So my personal life, I invest in other opportunities, but from a syndication, I only do multifamily. And primarily the reason I still like multifamily, I know you’re aware, but for your listeners, know, somebody said that industry is never going to be disrupted. As long as human beings are as they are today, they’re going to need a place to live with a roof over their head. may not always need the latest iPhone or the latest Tesla to drive, but

I always am going to have to have a roof over my head. And with the changing demographics across the U S with, we’re becoming a nation of renters because so many of the millennials and Xers or Z’s I should say can’t have a down payment to buy a house.

And many of them want to live in the urban core. And then there’s boomers like myself who want to sell their homes and get out of the rat race, the maintenance of it, and live someplace in a high rise or whatever. So we’re becoming a nation of renters. All the demographic information points to that. And the point, the need for more housing.

⁓ Depending on who you listen to, we’re anywhere from 3 million to 6 million units shorts across the entire US. those macro economics speak to me and it hasn’t changed for the 10 plus years I’ve been doing this, Michelle. It’s still the same. so whether you’re looking at single family, multifamily or something else in between, ⁓ it’s just a matter of where your comfort zone is.

Michelle Kesil (20:34)
Yeah, sure. And so I know that you’re also consulting with people. What does that process look like?

Randy Langenderfer (20:34)
that makes sense.

Yeah, so the name of the company is called the Simple CFO. It is a real estate financial services. You can out and look at it. Call me. I’d love to talk to you about it. That is a process that helps business owners, entrepreneurs, and specifically real estate owners, whether you’re a

fix and flipper or wholesaler or a multifamily person, of really focusing in on the financial statements and making sure that one, many entrepreneurs are great at buying houses and fixing them or identifying deals, but the ongoing operations to get your financials in order to make sure one, you have cash reserves to pay yourself, that you’re creating a profit motive for yourself. How many entrepreneurs do you know that

are just living in the business and not taking any money out of it because they’re either buying the next deal or they’re behind on their vendor payments. So profit, compensation, and then you know the other big thing we really see a lot is entrepreneurs don’t reserve for their tax liability. So they get a call, they turn all their records over to the CPA at the end of the year and all of sudden, bang, they get a big surprise that they owe the government.

X or whatever that is. so planning for that is, I think, essential for entrepreneurs. And so that’s kind of the story we like to support and give to the budding entrepreneurs out there. Start early. There’s a book out there, Real Estate Profit First. I’d recommend it to any of your listening audience. And that’s really the thesis of what it is I’m in and we’re doing.

Michelle Kesil (22:34)
Amazing. Well, before we begin to wrap up here, if someone wants to reach out, connect and learn more. Where can people find you and reach you?

Randy Langenderfer (22:45)
⁓ I’m on all the social media, Facebook, LinkedIn, there’s other, think they’re in the show notes. I think I already gave them to you. Happy to talk to somebody. The other one is, is my real estate syndication is randy.langenderfer, L-A-N-G-E-N-D-E-R-F-E-R.

Invest-Arc.com is the website. That was my email address. Happy to talk to any of your listeners, coaching, syndication, single family, whatever their specialty is.

Michelle Kesil (23:12)
Perfect. Appreciate your time and your story. Thank you for being here.

Randy Langenderfer (23:16)
It’s been a pleasure, Michelle. really thank you for the opportunity.

Michelle Kesil (23:19)
And for those tuning in, if you got value, make sure you’ve subscribed. We’ve got more conversations with operators like Randy, who are building real businesses, and we’ll see you on our next episode.