Refuge Investments executive team is a collection of powerhouses in the Real Estate and Investment field with an outstanding record of over $2.3 billion investments and over 7 million square feet of acquired property. They target superior returns in the managed real estate investment field. They firmly believe that growing and enhancing communities will produce growing and profitable investment opportunities.
Refuge Investments use their extensive industry expertise to provide investors with a safe real estate private equity portfolio that is hassle-free and low-risk. Their dedication to an under-appreciated real estate market class has given them a profound purpose and predictable profits while positively impacting families around the U.S.
They are successfully converting coal into diamonds within the real estate private equity sector of workforce housing. Refuge Investments are experts who have developed a socially conscious, highly profitable investment strategy.
We have over 80 years of experience and growing. We use a proven business strategy with predictable outcomes based on our unique and proprietary investment strategy. The basics of which are grounded in long-term profitability using a hands-on approach to asset management while focusing on wealth preservation and future profitability.
Before founding Refuge Investments, LLC, Sterling Lund had the privilege of executing over $2.1 billion in acquisitions, entitlement, development, and renovation projects, including 6.7 million square feet of commercial space and more than 7,460 residential units for some of this nation’s largest real estate companies.
Leveraging his industry experience and relationships, Mr. Lund has established a robust development and acquisitions firm specializing in acquiring below market, value-add properties providing strong cash-flow, above-average annual returns with strong back-end participation for its capital partners.
For most of his career, he worked with Owner/Builders, promoting side by side collaboration with property and asset management. That unique environment reinforced his overall understanding of complete asset management.
Sterling’s renovation experience includes adaptive reuse, conversions of older buildings into trendy multi-family assets, seismic retrofits, water intrusion and remediation, stud-up remodels, and replacement of interior finishes to revitalize obsolete properties. These highly refined talents are at the cornerstone of the value-add transaction that many are seeking today.
Working alongside family in their large private business located across multiple states she learned early the many benefits of owning real estate. Since 2004, Kim has been actively managing investment real estate and her passion for people led her to become a licensed Realtor in 2006. Throughout her career, Kim has been invited to lead and inspire successful teams and she is always looking for win-win solutions. She has both the experience and passion to serve our investors well.
Prior to joining Refuge Investments, LLC, Forrest C. Wylder was a Partner at Stos Partners. His focus was on the acquisition, management, development, and disposition of industrial and office projects in Southern California. Prior to joining Stos Partners, Mr. Wylder was a member of the senior management team of Shea Properties. In that role, he had responsibility for approximately 3 million square feet of industrial and office projects throughout California. His expertise is in developing appropriate leasing, operating, redevelopment, and disposition strategies to enhance rent revenue or sale values.
Previously to Shea Properties, Mr. Wylder was a senior broker in the CBRE North Orange County office in which he was involved in hundreds of lease and sale transactions representing millions of square feet. His brokerage experiences included asset repositioning and disposition (renovation, releasing, expanding, or relocating tenants to maximize value), alternative use analysis, strategic leasing, sale-leasebacks, strategic corporate relocations (sale of underutilized, overvalued, or obsolete facilities to the acquisition of new facility).
Mr. Wylder has earned a Master of Business Administration and a Master of Real Estate Development from the University of Southern California. In addition, he holds a Bachelor of Science, Business Administration from the University of Southern California. He is a licensed Broker in the State of California as well as a LEED Accredited Professional. Mr. Wylder is active in NAIOP and ULI.
A seasoned veteran in the commercial and residential real estate industry, Ryan Van Rensselaer joined Refuge Investments after 18 years as a business owner, VP of acquisitions, and as a business development and portfolio/project manager. He brings considerable expertise in investment, portfolio management, and formation of strategic business relationships.
Ryan has completed over $200 million in acquisitions and dispositions. He has built a solid reputation for acquiring, locating, and managing real estate assets while providing strong, long-term investment returns. Ryan is a key participant at Refuge Investments with his asset acquisition experience and development of business strategies to maximize each project’s short-term profitability while creating sustainable long-term returns.
We strongly believe in the fact that people, plus properties, will equal profits and create a better world. This is what we refer to as Social Impact Investing. It is in direct contradiction to common real estate investments that focus solely on returns while the lives of the property occupants are not truly considered,
Applying Social Impact Investing, we have not only improved the family-living environments by adding community spaces and property renovations, but we continue our investment in the lives of the residents with onsite community events and special services.
Job fairs are one of the notable community services amongst the rest where interviews are held on the spot, and classes are held to teach residents how to get out of debt, improve their credit and improve their interviewing skills. Which all told, increases the residents' ability to stay out of debt, keep a job, and further widens their opportunities for future jobs. With this proven success, we have not only changed the lives of our residents, our investments have also provided an added purpose for our investors.
Another unique aspect of our sound proprietary investment strategy is our specific market focus on Class B and Class C workforce housing with high occupancy and existing strong cash flow provide further benefits for communities and investors.
While essentially being neglected by most traditional firms, this market is uniquely positioned for our expertise. With a solid historic market trend of over 10% per year annually, workforce apartment properties have shown stability during economic market cycles. In contrast, Class A and core class assets are vulnerable to increased vacancies and concessions during economic downturns.
Traditionally Class B and Class C markets are not looked on favorably by investors as they suffer from deferred maintenance, under-capitalization, or missed management, which we see as a value-add opportunity.
We actively increase property value by taking advantage of these opportunities and adding such things as enhanced lighting, shared facilities, landscape, and onsite beautification, which provides the community with a safer and more comfortable place to live.
We ensure that everything goes according to each property's business plan by leveraging our experience in multifamily acquisitions, construction, and asset management to direct the operations and improve the health of the property with best-in-class local property management firms. Regular site visits and constant communication by our team fösters a hands-on approach. These activities give our passive investors a truly hassle-free investing opportunity to own hassle-free real estate.
While you can never have a zero-risk investment, Refuge Investments have brought to market an investment opportunity for investors to create long-term wealth With ongoing cash flow. Beneficial for those who not only care about financial returns but have a sustainable mission to make a difference in underserved communities without the management hassles.
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