Since its inception in 2011, Western Wealth Capital (WWC) has acquired 75 multi-family properties and completed over $2.3 billion in real estate transactions, making it the second largest private ownership group in Phoenix, AZ.
WWC purchases and overhauls working-class housing in high-demand communities, using a highly repeatable, efficient process that focuses not only on capital enhancements but also on quality of life upgrades for residents and staff. This unique system enables WWC to deliver average annual returns of 32% for its 750+ investors and has led to explosive growth for the firm over the last five years, allowing them to expand into Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and Atlanta.
Erik Loptson, Vice President of Operations, joined Western Wealth Capital in 2015. At that time, the firm was managing 13 properties, having divested of one. All investor communications were handled via email and Dropbox, with data pulled from Excel Spreadsheets. WWC worked with 100 investors, and managing and distributing information was a struggle.
“It was getting hard to keep tabs on all of it effectively, Our business was really taking off, and we needed a real estate specific tool that was more suitable for communicating investor information.”
Loptson and his team explored several solutions before settling on Update Capital. Many competing platforms were very complex, requiring mandatory integration of new accounting software and accompanied by a correspondingly high price tag. Furthermore, their user experience left a lot to be desired.
“We weren’t interested in deploying several software packages at once, and our investors weren’t interested in sifting through complicated data sets to access their investment information. The usability of Update Capital was just superior,”
In addition to the streamlined simplicity of the platform, Update Capital offered another chief selling point – enthusiasm.
“We weren’t interested in deploying several software packages at once, and our investors weren’t interested in sifting through complicated data sets to access their investment information. The usability of Update Capital was just superior,”
Indeed, over the last four years, Update Capital has incorporated feedback from WWC into their product roadmap, deploying features that have proven valuable for all clients.
An early project that is still paying dividends involved creating a streamlined system for delivering personalized investment information in an email template.
Western Wealth Capital’s previous system for quarterly reporting required sending separate emails for every deal to each investor. Much of the email was boilerplate information applicable to everyone. Since so many investors were participating in multiple deals, many would receive multiple nearly identical emails.
“We were getting feedback from investors, ‘I’m in six different properties with you, and I get six different emails. Two-thirds of the email is exactly the same; all that scrolling is tedious.“
“Update Capital was able to create a template that includes the necessary boilerplate and then aggregate all of the information associated with each investor into just one email. It’s far easier for us, and a far better experience for our investors.”
“Update Capital is now our prime investor information database,”
WWC uses the Update Capital platform as a hub for all investor data and documents. In addition to providing partners with up to the minute information at the click of a mouse, all monthly reports, quarterly reports, and tax documents are housed on the portal as well.
“We continue to get very positive feedback from our investors about how much they appreciate using the Update Capital platform. All of the content is there. It’s easy to use, and easy to find just what they need.”
Of course, with so much sensitive information on hand, data security is vital. Loptson says the security that Update Capital provides is a key benefit of the platform.
While Dropbox and other services offer data protection, Lopston says the risk of user error is just too high. “When we were using Dropbox, we were careful not to mix sensitive information with shared information, but the possibility of accidentally forwarding the wrong link was always present. Update Capital offers two-factor authentication, which makes that kind of human error virtually impossible.”
The Update Capital platform works well for the full spectrum of WWC’s clients, both enterprise-level investors, and those with less experience. When investors log in, they can access information about all of their properties at once as well as the entity name under which they’ve invested in a particular deal. This feature is particularly useful for sophisticated investors – those who may invest in multiple properties as a company, via a trust, and as an individual.
With over 750 investors (many invested under multiple entities), maintaining clean, accurate data is critical. WWC worked with Update Capital to develop a backend that integrates seamlessly with WWC’s existing accounting software.
“Update Capital customized the database for us so that all identifiers line up with the fields our other tools use. This level of customization makes it that much easier to hand data from one system to the next,”
He says keeping up with Western Wealth Capital’s rapid growth would have been impossible without Update Capital.
“We invested in this software at the right time from a growth perspective. We’ve been able to scale quickly, and Update Capital has been able to evolve with us as our needs change which has been wonderful.”
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