Matt Fransen |Chief Investment Officer, Timberland Partners
Matt is a Principal and Chief Investment Officer for Timberland Partners and manages all acquisition, disposition, and financing activity for Timberland Partners, including sourcing, underwriting, market analysis, and due diligence for new property acquisitions. Since joining Timberland Partners in 2007, Matt has been responsible for the addition of more than 17,000 apartment units to the apartment portfolio of Timberland Partners and its affiliates.
Why is it important to have a highly selective acquisitions process?
Our geographic footprint allows us to evaluate a lot of assets at once, but we need to be selective because we take what we do very seriously. We’re investing our partners’ capital alongside ours, and I don’t want to invest my capital and certainly not other people’s money in a mistake or a problem. We want to make sure that the assets we’re selecting fit us well.
When Timberland Partners acquires a new apartment community, who is involved in that process?
We work very closely with the whole organization when we’re acquiring properties. Operations at the site-level, marketing, IT — all hands are on deck. We’re all working in concert with one another to make sure that, when we do take over an acquisition, we hit the ground running day one.
Can you describe what Timberland Partners’ long-term hold strategy means for investors?
We’re long-term holders, so we’re not looking to time the market perfectly with an exit. We largely underwrite and hold our properties for cash flow. We underwrite properties on 10-year terms, and when that 10-year term comes up, we either refinance or sell. We’ve primarily been refinancing. We’ve found that our partners like the solid, steady cash flow, and we can provide that for another 10 years with a refinance.
Sometimes, however, the timing is right where it’s opportunistic to sell an asset. We’re constantly evaluating our portfolio and valuing our assets. If we see a change in the market conditions, or a property is just ripe and ready to sell, we will, from time to time, consider sales.
