Apartment Distress Is Creating Real Estate Opportunities | Anna Murphy on Multifamily Investing

Anna Murphy (00:00)

One of my recommendations would be just recognizing where we’re at in the market. COVID created, a lot of uncertainty, interest rates, inflation, all of that created uncertainty in the market. So

if you’re in a position right now where you have liquidity and you want to take advantage of some of the distress in the market, I believe, making a decision is better than making no decision. And, there’s some real opportunity right now in the market to take advantage of, just given the, current climate and some of the distress, and not, across the board, but in more than one asset class. Yes. You’re interested in taking advantage of that. I think the timing is right for that.

Q Edmonds (02:04)

Hello, everyone. Welcome to the Real Estate Pros Podcast. I am your host, Q Edmonds, and I am excited today. I’m excited about my guest. She’s a speaker. She understands how residential flows into commercial. her backgrounds allow her to be kind of in different lanes. And then also, listen, I was trying to pin it down. I was trying to hold it down. Give me a title. And she said, you know what? I’m an expert.

I know after 20 years of doing this, I know what I’m talking about. And I’d be like, that’s enough for me. And so I’m so excited to introduce you all to Miss Anna Murphy. Miss Anna, how you doing today, ma’am?

Anna Murphy (02:42)

Thank

you so much for such an incredible introduction. That was awesome.

Q Edmonds (02:46)

I couldn’t have done the introduction without you. So thank you. So listen, I always say time is our most precious commodity. So I value you being here. I really do because you couldn’t have been doing anything else. And so I am the tightness, Anna. I love to dive in. So I would love for you to tell the people.

What’s your main focus these days? if you don’t mind, give us a little origin story, kind of how you got started, and then tell us what markets you’re operating in. And so I know I threw a lot at you, but you got it.

Anna Murphy (03:13)

That’s very long, lots of different kind of

Q Edmonds (03:15)

I know right. Yeah, I know, I know.

Anna Murphy (03:18)

so it’s been twenty it’s been twenty years. So I’ve spent, roughly twenty years in real estate in brokerage. I got involved in capital markets in 2016. So that’s kind of the money side of things. I started in residential, moved into land development over the years, then getting into commercial, so some of the larger asset classes, and then kind of how the money works.

So it all kind of, it works together, but a lot of people try to, a lot of people are very nichey and kind of just stay in kind of one area. And so over the course of time, it’s really, I’ve, moved through kind of different asset classes. they’re all somewhat related, but sometimes people kind of have a start and an end, whether it’s land development, sometimes people buy raw land and then they go and get it approved and then it’s time to sell it. So then, I would sell that to

a builder in bulk as an example. So if we’re gonna fast forward to today, I have a real estate brokerage in the state of California. I have a residential brand, Pink Ink Realty, a commercial brand, PIR Commercial Realty, and then I have an investment management company, PIR Investment Management. So on the brokerage side, I represent buyers and sellers for a single house, fourplex, that’s all in the residential category. Commercials, mostly institutional, so apartment buildings, hotels, land, senior student.

and sometimes those people also need money. So I’ll partner up with them and help them introduce them to either high net worth capital or institutional capital, depending on the deal and the location and all of those things. and that’s kind of where the investment management company comes in. So essentially, that’s more on the passive side. So allowing kind of retail and institutional investors access to some of so you some of the transactions at the asset level.

Q Edmonds (04:58)

Yeah. Love it. Thank you, ma’am. Listen, that was concise. I love it. I knew I’d I could throw some at you. I appreciate that. Thank you for taking us through your journey, kind of where you are, kind of how you got there. I always try to, get to the heart of the business owner, right? Like the pull from where they get their resource from. So I often say destiny has no wasted moments, right?

We are learning from each leg of the journey, from our success, from our loss, from our failure. So throughout your journey, I would love to know in this real estate space, throughout your journey, Miss Anna, what has the journey revealed to you about yourself? Has it revealed discipline? Has you made you more humble? Has it increased your innovation? Like what has the journey revealed to you about you?

Anna Murphy (06:30)

I think it it’s shown me how resilient I am. because we go through ups and downs. We go, as the market goes up and down, or just we go through all of these challenges. You get through, a certain challenge, then you have another challenge, a lot of times, in the in the we’re talking about different views and different perspectives depending on kind of like what seat you’re in. But the family view is typically one that where, things are gonna go wrong.

based on any business plan, things are always gonna go wrong. And what typically they look to underwrite when they’re making, decisions about, if they’re gonna invest into a business or into an asset, all of these things, typically it’s, what how did you deal with this when this went wrong? Or what, and so it’s really like the resiliency, right? Push through.

the challenges or like making pivots or making decisions or seeing what’s going wrong or seeing, what’s working, what’s, what needs to be adjusted. an entrepreneurship’s journey is not an easy one. Come on. One of like, figuring out what’s not working and trying to fix everything that’s not working, right? Like with like recognizing that

Q Edmonds (07:35)

Absolutely. Yes, ma’am. No, I love that. Such an insightful answer. And love how you’re saying, like, fixing what’s wrong. And sometimes it’s trial and error, right? Sometimes we get into it, we try, and then it’s that error that’s like, okay, this is not working. How like to use your word? How do I pivot? Right. Right. And so I would love to know, building on a success, build on what’s working. If

Anna Murphy (07:54)

Yeah.

Q Edmonds (07:55)

you could tell me maybe one operational thing you’ve put into place, let’s say like the last two years that has really helped you be successful.

Anna Murphy (08:04)

One of the group, so you were talking about kind of like some of the mentorship stuff. Like I’m somebody who like tries to pay attention to who I listen to because there’s just a lot of people out there that are ha especially in the real estate space, right? There’s so many, experts.

Q Edmonds (08:18)

Yeah, right.

Anna Murphy (08:19)

And so to an untrained ear, right, it’s very easy to take on advice from someone that may or may not know their stuff.

Basically. Right.

Q Edmonds (08:34)

Yeah.

Anna Murphy (08:35)

So there’s a group that I’m involved in, 100 Women in Finance, that I joined.

January, I would say. It’s

Q Edmonds (08:41)

Okay.

Anna Murphy (08:42)

like minimal fee, a couple hundred bucks. Gotcha. and they have different levels. So they have very entry level. So like helping women who are just entering the market just out of university or college, yeah. Have FundWomen, so women that are actually have or starting private equity funds. And then

Q Edmonds (09:01)

Yeah.

Anna Murphy (09:02)

they have angel women. So

it’s an international organization. And so they have in-person events in a lot of different cities and they have webinars constantly. But it’s a lot of institutional webinars that I’ve been to, I’ve probably been to a total of 10 to 15 webinars since January, but it’s a lot of institutional investors and a lot of very high level women inside very large companies that

speaking on some of the issues and some like what did I need to do when I entered the boardroom? What did I need? How did how did that change when I moved from an executive to a board seat? in terms of women dynamics in the female dynamics in, a company that’s mostly men, what things are going on that I need to be, how do I address this? Or

in terms of institutional investors, what specific things do I need to be doing to present myself to this institution to really finalize this capital that I’m interested in to really, flourish, for an assets under management standpoint. So it’s a very elevated, space to really help women in business. so it’s excellent. So I would say memberships, but certain rooms.

Certain rooms are much more valuable to be in than others. So just like paying attention, is this valuable? Did I get value from this? Maybe, really evaluating right and whether you write it down or, whether you have like certain parameters to decide, yes, this is valuable and this is why. they even teach you conferences, the best way to follow up after conferences or, what to address, what to, how to what to wear to, be in line with.

your integrity and all of these things. So I have nothing but amazing things to say about that organization.

Q Edmonds (11:19)

Absolutely. I love it. You’re two things you hit on. One proximity is everything, right? Who you put yourself around, putting yourself in position with people, that’s where you want to go. So obviously, proximity is everything. And I love 100 Women in Finance because I get the privilege of interviewing or talking to a lot of different women. Yes. And they have organizations that are specifically for women, because let’s be honest.

this real estate space is still so male dominated. Yeah. So have to have other women, shoulders that you can lean on, women that you can link up with, to kind of help you along the way.

Anna Murphy (11:55)

And they’re on point. They’re on point. sometimes you get in rooms and people have like conflicting interests or all of the things, right? Where right. So, they have the very high level of integrity. No they’re not gonna steer you wrong. They’re very credible organizations. So yeah.

Q Edmonds (12:09)

Absolutely love it. Yes, ma’am. Absolutely. So let me ask you this. What’s next for you, Miss Anna? Like, what are you looking to scale or solve next?

Anna Murphy (12:19)

Okay. So I actually got an invitation this morning to appear on stage on the 24th in Silicon Valley at the Family Office Club. So I haven’t said yes yet, but it would be to present one or two existing strategies that I’m working on. So one of the strategies I’m looking for a check, a $50 million check for a joint venture partner to take advantage of apartment distress as a short sale.

lights going off here. So essentially that’s one of the strategies that I intend to deploy, over the next 60 to 90 days. One of the other projects that I’m currently working on are wineries, two wineries. and so that is more of an investment into an operating business with an acquis with two acquisitions.

Q Edmonds (13:03)

Yeah, yeah. Love it. I’m and so you’ve already kind of went into relationships, but I always like to ask this question and I don’t want to rob you of the opportunity because obviously you’re showing that relationships matter. And so I always like to ask.

What is your philosophy on building healthy business relationships? I know you have relationships, with this 100 Women in Finance, but there’s just healthy business relationships that we need as well. So what is your philosophy on building healthy business relationships? And what are maybe some relationships, mentors or coaches or people that you watch, listen to? Like what are other relationships that have helped you along the way to be successful? And maybe even some relationships who you’ve helped be successful.

Anna Murphy (13:47)

Yeah. So it’s always one of those things. And this is probably one of the harder things, sitting in California because I do meet a lot of people in business. I do go to a lot of events. And it’s really important kind of who you bring into your sphere. Very, important. So it’s, constantly kind of, going through kind of

an open door, but also a door that moves kind of, both directions. So it’s really kind of evaluating the people in front of you that what they’re saying to you is true and accurate, that there’s no, like when you’re looking at any details too, right? You’re looking through materials. So you’re constantly, doing your due diligence to make sure that, what you’re I would say one of one of the things is like

And I, had the this said to me recently as well. Someone else had been asking, and I was in the room and I, heard us and I was, in agreement about it. It’s like if someone comes to you, right, and they’re saying something, but if your gut tells you it’s a no, you gotta listen to it, right? And then you just you don’t need a confrontation with that person, right? You can just politely kind of like excuse yourself, and just kind of like a mental note.

Right. But I’m a child of God and I try and extend grace to other people. But also important, the people that are close closest to you in your business, you need to build relationships with them. I’m somebody who’s like a contract person. so any partnerships I enter into or any money or all of these things, I like to have everything in writing. people who, are of the opinion, we agree verbally, we don’t need to write it down like that doesn’t work for me.

So that’s just not everyone operates that way. But

Q Edmonds (15:25)

Yeah.

Anna Murphy (15:26)

if we can talk about it out loud, we need to be able to write it down. Yeah. That’s my view.

Q Edmonds (15:31)

And I thank you. again I love asking people yet their unique answer to that question. And I love and two things you said, you were talking about.

Watching who you allow into your sphere. Yeah. And so I always say what goes along with relationship is the word community. And I always say community is common unity. Like we have to be in common unity for a goal. And so I have watch what I’m into my sphere because we got we had to agree on the mission. Right. And we had to be in unity when it comes to the mission. Yes. And if we’re not in unity, we we’re not going to be able to.

Anna Murphy (16:06)

Right, That was conflicting interests is exactly yeah. Mm-hmm.

Q Edmonds (16:08)

Exactly.

So I love when you said allow people in your sphere. And I love how you said it don’t have to be in confrontation. So one of my sayings by Brené Brown is clear is kind, unclear is unkind. The kindest thing I can be to you is to be direct. That’s the kindest thing I can be. I don’t have to raise my voice. I don’t have to be snippy about it. Right. I can be crystal clear. Like, you what?

That just does that really doesn’t line on the best. Right. Like you say, it don’t have to be a conversation. I just gotta be clear to you. I mean, like this is what it is, And so I love that. I really appreciate your perspective. Thank you. When it comes to that relationship aspect. I really do.

Listen, before we give people kind of how they get in contact with you, I’ve been asking you a lot of questions. Yeah. So I just want to make sure if you might have came in with a message that you wanted to make sure people knew about you, about your business, or just maybe about an inspirational message or motivational or educational message. I kind of just want to give you a chance that if you had something like that, you can land it for the people that’s watching.

Anna Murphy (17:13)

Okay. I would say just no matter where you are in your investing journey, we were talking about this Quentin a little while ago. Just a lot of people are stuck right now. One of my recommendations would be just recognizing where we’re at in the market. COVID created, a lot of uncertainty, interest rates, inflation, all of that created uncertainty in the market. So

I would say, if you’re in a position right now where you have liquidity and you want to take advantage of some of the distress in the market, I believe, making a decision is better than making no decision. And, there’s some real opportunity right now in the market to take advantage of, just given the, current climate and some of the distress, and not, across the board, but in more than one asset class. Yes. You’re interested in taking advantage of that. I think the timing is right for that. So that would be one message that I could

leave.

Q Edmonds (17:56)

I love it. I appreciate it. Listen, you are the expert, so I had to ask you that I need you to give some give someone some money that 10K hours of doing that because that’s what they say. That’s really when you become an expert in something, when you put in the 10,000 hours and over 20 years, 20 years of doing what you do, I’m sure that 10,000 hours is there. So thank you. Thank you for sharing. I appreciate it. If someone wanted to reach out to you, connect with you.

collaborate with you, learn more about what you’re doing, how can they get in contact with you?

Anna Murphy (18:26)

the best way to do that would be just adding me on LinkedIn. Anna yeah, Anna Murphy with PIR. And then if they want if someone wanted to email me, email address is Anna A-N-N-A anna@pirinvestment.com.

Q Edmonds (18:40)

Love it, love it. Well, Miss Anna, let me say three things to you sincerely. One is a reiteration. Again, thank you for your time. I think time is our most precious commodity. So thank you for valuing us with your time. I appreciate it. Secondly, thank you for the gift of your integrity, showing up with the gift of your authenticity. I believe when we tell our story, we plant seeds for people. And those seeds, we never know where they’re gonna take root, but the seed is there. So thank you for sowing some seeds today.

Absolutely. And lastly, thank you for your mindset. Thank you for the way you think and bringing that mindset to this platform. I appreciate you coming on, man.

So listen, y’all heard Miss Anna. Her information is in the show notes. Please get in contact with her. But definitely make sure you’re subscribed here, because I promise you we’re going to continue to bring up amazing people, just like Miss Anna Murphy. So ma’am, I say thank you again. And everyone else, y’all have an incredible day.