Midwest Multifamily w/Isaac Holtz

John Emanuels is a co-founder of Axiom Equities, the Kansas City real estate investment company he started with Ben Kalny in 2007. He began in industrial brokerage in Seattle, built a portfolio of small rental properties, and eventually helped build an owner-led operating platform that includes Axiom Property Management and Swyft Property Care.

In this episode, John shares:

• How a side-lot sale gave him the capital to buy his first small investment properties
• Why he moved from flipping houses and small multifamily properties toward long-term ownership
• How he tested a hypothetical 100-unit deal with ten prospective investors before buying Axiom's first larger property
• Why Axiom brought property management in-house after relying on a third-party manager
• The "value values" culture behind Axiom's approach to hiring, retention, and leadership
• How the team ties incentives to operating results while guarding against the wrong behaviors
• Why Axiom uses "low cost probes" to test changes before rolling them across properties
• How resident priorities, not the owner's aesthetic preferences, shape renovation decisions
• Why John prizes downside protection, patient wealth-building, and time to think while exercising

Learn more about John and connect with him:

Axiom Equities: https://axiomequities.com/who-we-are/

Axiom Family of Companies and careers: https://www.axiomfc.com/

Axiom Property Management: https://www.axiompropertymanagement.com/

Swyft Property Care: https://www.swyftpropertycare.com/

Marcus Long spent 21 years in the Navy, serving on submarines and surface ships while building a rental portfolio on the side. He started with a VA-loan condo in 2004, grew to about 15 single-family doors, and began moving into multifamily while stationed in England. Since retiring in 2022, he has become a co-GP on 1,500+ units and a fund manager on another 250+ units.

In this episode, Marcus shares:

* How his first VA-loan condo became the start of a self-managed rental portfolio

* The cross-collateralization strategy he used to grow to about 15 single-family doors

* Why he shifted toward multifamily while stationed in England

* What he gained from a $50-per-month mastermind beyond information alone

* What he does as a capital raiser, from due diligence to weekly asset management calls

* Why he increases investor communication when a deal gets difficult

* How he compares third-party and vertically integrated property management

* Why he takes time to vet GP partners before bringing them investor capital

* How his Navy experience and fatherhood shaped his approach to risk

* What nonprofit fundraising and his home-building work have taught him about relationships

Learn more about Marcus and connect with him:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcus-long-22278391/

Website: https://alonglegacy.com/

Instagram/X: @marcus.l.long

Rachel Morrow is a Kansas City Realtor and real estate investor with 12 units across two fourplexes and two duplexes in Lee's Summit and Lenexa. She changed course after being accepted to medical school, worked 60-hour warehouse weeks, and used house hacking to buy her first fourplex at age 20.

In this episode, Rachel shares:

• How surrounding yourself with people who normalize thoughtful risk can expand your view of what's possible
• Why she chose house hacking as her entry point and how she weighed a duplex against a fourplex
• How working 60-hour warehouse weeks helped her qualify for her first fourplex
• Why she changed course from medical school and committed to a career in real estate
• How she evaluates Kansas City neighborhoods and why she prioritizes strong schools, safe areas, and durable demand
• How she vets agents and lenders when looking for an investment-focused team
• What she learned from inheriting tenants, managing below-market rents, and renovating units over time
• The property-management lesson she learned from a poorly screened tenant and a costly renovation
• Why investors should look at the numbers, maintain multiple exit strategies, and avoid making decisions from fear
• How faith, fitness, and family shape the business and long-term life she is building
  

Learn more about Rachel and connect with her:
Instagram: @rachdoesrealestate
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachel-morrow-88ab8b17b/

Josh Stall is a full-time multifamily real estate investor based in Atlanta, running a portfolio of 227 units through joint ventures and another 150 units through syndications. He started nine years ago grinding through single-family value-add deals before making the jump into multifamily at real scale, and today he operates across four markets: Northern Alabama, Atlanta, Kansas City, and Tulsa. He focuses on risk assessment, underwriting, partner alignment, and executing business plans across a portfolio that spans very different regulatory and market environments.

In this episode, Josh shares:

• Why he believes investors should focus less on how much they could win and more on how much they could lose
• The difference between real value-add and cosmetic unit turns that just "sell the story"
• How he made the jump from single-family flips into multifamily joint ventures and syndications
• The difference between physical and economic occupancy — and why that gap matters more in some markets than others
• The slab-leak moment that changed how he assesses risk as an owner
• Why he evaluates deals by how many things have to go wrong, not how many have to go right
• How a long sales career shaped the way he builds trust and negotiates with brokers and partners
• The role coaching and mentorship played in his growth as an investor
• His take on AI's long-term promise and short-term valuation risk in real estate

Midwest Multifamily with Isaac Holtz explores the people, deals, and ideas shaping multifamily real estate across the Midwest. Isaac sits down with owners, operators, lenders, brokers, and industry experts to discuss practical strategies, market insights, and hard-earned lessons from the field. Whether you’re actively investing or simply curious about the business, each episode delivers an honest look at how multifamily deals really get done.

Christina Kovacs is a multifamily investor and asset manager with 126 units as a general partner and investments in more than 500 additional units as a limited partner.

After getting her start as a loan officer, Christina transitioned into live-in flips, single-family rentals, and short-term rentals before moving into multifamily investing. Today, she focuses on acquisitions, underwriting, asset management, partnerships, and operating properties throughout Missouri and Kansas.

In this episode, Christina shares:

• Why she moved from single-family properties into multifamily
• Lessons from a challenging $50,000 passive investment
• How she evaluates markets, operators, and potential partners
• What investors should look for in a third-party property management company
• The differences between investing as an LP, GP, and JV partner
• Why transparency and clearly defined roles are critical in partnerships
• How networking helped accelerate her investing career
• Her experience acquiring a 21-unit property with an all-women ownership group
• Why she believes investors should think bigger, remain curious, and take calculated risks
  

Learn more about Christina and connect with her:

https://www.christinakovacs.com/