Competitive Advantages — What Makes FREEDOM Different

One of my favorite things to talk about is our competitive advantages. There are a lot of private real estate investment opportunities out there right now, and most of them will tell you they're different. Well, that word only means something if you can explain what's behind it. So I want to walk you through the specific things that Flip and I have built at Freedom, why we built them, and what they actually mean for you as an investor. Let's start with simplicity. Most private real estate funds have really complex structures. You'll hear terms like hurdles, waterfall distributions, promoted interest, and carried interest. And honestly, even sophisticated investors sometimes struggle to understand exactly how and when they get paid. We made a deliberate decision to build simple products. You put in capital at a fixed rate, meaning a set percentage that doesn't change, and you earn that rate, paid quarterly for the term of your investment. You know exactly what you're earning. There's no mystery. And second, vertical integration. We built our own renovation company and our own property management company, which means we don't hire outside contractors or outside managers to handle our properties. We do it ourselves with our own people. We built our renovation company because contractors let our investors down. We built our property management company because third-party managers were not protecting our assets the way we would. Every time we brought something in-house, we got better outcomes. And what that means for you is this: when a property has an issue, we're not waiting on a third party that has its own priorities and its own schedule. We're already there. We own the process from acquisition to disposition. This is not a growth strategy. This is 18 years of protecting investors by removing every outside party that could let them down. Third, the alignment model. I've said this in other videos and I'll say it again because I think it's that important. We get paid last. Our investors get paid first. Flip and I and our team, we invest our money alongside yours. This means our interests are structurally the same as yours, built into how the company actually operates, not just something we say. We don't have a version of success where you lose. We make money only when you make money. And fourth, asset class selection. We focus on workforce housing, senior housing, and self-storage. What I call needs-based assets. They serve people in everyday life regardless of economic conditions. These are not luxury assets. These are not trend-driven. Demand stays consistent even when the economy gets unpredictable. This is a risk decision as much as a return decision. We're not chasing the highest yield in the most volatile market. We're building consistent returns in markets that hold their value. That difference matters, especially when things get hard. And fifth, the support model. Every investor who works with us has two dedicated contacts: an investor relations person who knows you from your very first call, and an investor concierge, so you are never left waiting. You can reach a real person who knows your name and knows your investment. I know that sounds basic, but you'd be surprised how many investors at other funds couldn't reach anyone when they had a question. We don't do that. You're a real person to us, not a line item on a spreadsheet. And sixth, the track record. 18 years, 1,000+ transactions. Not one investor has ever not received exactly what was owed them. Not through the financial crisis, not through COVID, not through any of the major market cycles we've seen. We have had hard deals. Deals that cost the company money. Deals where we absorbed losses so our investors didn't have to. The track record isn't perfect because nothing ever went wrong. It's perfect because when things went wrong, we chose our investors first. So when you're evaluating where to invest, you're not just evaluating a return. You're evaluating a team, a structure, a track record, and a set of values. We've spent 18 years building something worth evaluating. And in one of our next videos, we get honest about what a bad year actually looks like at Freedom. The real moments when things got hard, and what we did for our investors through each one. I hope you'll take the time, and if you want to talk through any of this with us directly, go to chatwithfreedom.com and schedule a call. I hope this was helpful, and I hope we have the opportunity to work together.