CHAD SUTTON

Co-founder and Partner

Why multifamily commercial real estate?

My journey with real estate began when my wife and I purchased our first home years ago in a market that was so hot it almost priced us out completely. After doing a live in rehab and reaping the rewards of sweat equity (because it was all that we could afford to do at the time), value-add real estate investing has become a love affair that will last a lifetime. In my investment life, I followed the main stream investment strategy of stocks, bonds and mutual funds for many years until I realized that forced appreciation in real estate was something I could control and generate significantly better returns…if I only knew how. After learning that commercial real estate assets were valued on the income they generate and not using the comparable method as in the residential world, I was hooked. I had learned a beautiful thing, forced appreciation by  means of operational and capital improvements on existing properties. 

What's your business track record?

• General Partner for 35-unit multifamily in Knoxville purchased in January 2020

• General Partner for 36-unit multifamily in Atlanta purchased in March 2020

• During the General Electric stock crisis, he led global teams executing on variable cost productivity totaling more than $84M in savings. 

• Executive Leader and Global Strategist for $100M in goods generating 9.6% YoY spend deflation.

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Have you always been in real estate?

Always? No. Actually, my first love was aircraft. I was originally an Aerospace Engineer working on combustion devices with NASA back when the Space Shuttle was still flying. The feeling that comes from watching a man made machine leap off of the ground and leave this world is something I still to this day have trouble explaining. But, all good things must come to an end as did the space program. I then transitioned into the private sector and rose through the ranks of General Electric in their Aviation company as a Mechanical Engineer of ever increasing influence. When the company health began to come into question by investors, I was fortunate to be asked to join an elite internal consulting group that had one sole mission, expand contribution margin on industrial products to improve profitability. It was here that I developed my understanding and love of business all while becoming a cultured world traveler as I jumped from facility to facility around the globe. Soon after this once in a lifetime experience ended, I was blessed with an opportunity to serve as Global Commodity Leader for GE Renewable Energy supporting both Onshore and Offshore Wind Turbines, effectively assisting the world in its transition to more sustainable green energy generation. My main priorities were to collaborate with a global cross-functional team to develop the electrical component strategy focusing on cost-out, quality, re-design and optimization of the Tier 2 Supply Chain. I come from a diverse background with passion for ingenuity and a love of generating thoughtful solutions to some of the industry's most challenging problems. Now that passion and ingenuity is dedicated to my love of multi-family real estate investing.