Axel sits down with Matt Lefebvre, founder of Downtown Realty NH, active multifamily investor, and one of the most well-connected brokers operating in New Hampshire — for a wide-ranging conversation that spans his origin story, the realities of investing in tertiary markets, the current state of the New Hampshire multifamily market, and the value of local networking organizations for new and growing investors.

This episode is essential listening for any investor or broker who wants an honest, on-the-ground picture of what operating in tertiary markets actually looks like, how to navigate the broker-investor identity as your business grows, and what the New Hampshire multifamily market looks like heading into the second half of 2026.

Join us as we dive into:

• How Matt separates his investing and brokering activities by owning exclusively in one hyper-specific market (Claremont, NH) while brokering deals across the state — and why that clarity makes his client relationships cleaner.
• Why Claremont, NH — a 13,000-person city 30 minutes from the nearest major interstate — became Matt's target market: rents only 15% below Manchester, prices roughly half, and virtually no competition from other investors at the time.
• The first deal: a 40-unit downtown brick building with six retail spaces — and how that acquisition set the template for growing to 100 units in one market.
• The real cons of tertiary market investing: a 115% property tax increase over four years, limited vendor options, higher vacancy than statewide averages suggest, and the unpredictability of small-town code enforcement and building officials.
• Why fire code has become the single biggest financial risk for multifamily investors in older buildings — and how one Claremont property was required to install a sprinkler system costing roughly one-sixth of the purchase price.
• The financing reality of small-market investing in New England: how Matt uses Pat Brady at Brady Capital Advisors to navigate a six-bank county, and why New England is significantly better banked than markets like Florida.
• The current New Hampshire multifamily market: cap rates flattening or expanding slightly, Manchester's new property tax override adding to expense pressure, Massachusetts capital continuing to flow north, and why gold-standard 1970s–90s garden-style apartments are still compressing in cap rate while mid-market and mixed-use assets are expanding.
• The NHREIA story: how Matt started attending meetings before he had his license, became vice president, ran nine of twelve meetings in one year by default — and how that early visibility accelerated his brokerage and investing career simultaneously.

Connect with Matt Lefebvre:

Website: downtownrealtynh.com
(All contact info, social media links, and team information available on the website)

Are you looking to invest in real estate, but don't want to deal with the hassle of finding great deals, signing on debt, and managing tenants? Aligned Real Estate Partners provides investment opportunities to passive investors looking for the returns, stability, and tax benefits multifamily real estate offers, but without the work - join our investor club to be notified of future investment opportunities.

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In this episode, Axel sits down with Zach Hoereth — real estate investor, operator of Midwest Storage, and one of the more entertaining (and polarizing) voices on real estate Instagram — for a genuinely unfiltered conversation about what actually works in this business.

He brings a uniquely blunt, been-there perspective on direct-to-seller acquisitions, the limits of AI and technology in a relationship-driven business, and why chasing unit count and AUM is one of the most overrated status games in real estate investing.

This episode is essential listening for any investor who wants a no-BS look at what it actually takes to source deals, build a lean operation, and avoid the traps that sideline so many people who get into this business.

Join us as we dive into:

• Zach's path from a college leasing hustle to buying his first $20–30K house in Indianapolis in 2018, and how that snowballed into today's business.
• How Zach's operation is structured: direct-to-seller mail feeding wholesaling and flipping, which funds acquisitions of small multifamily, single-family rentals, and self-storage — all without outside equity to date.
• Why "just buying rentals" isn't a wealth strategy — cash flow keeps you in the game, but equity and capital events are what actually move the needle.
• Why AI and chatbots can't fix a bad reputation or replace the human-to-human trust that wins deals, retains tenants, and keeps LPs engaged.
• The "70 dudes who partnered on a fourplex" problem — why unit count and AUM get wildly overrated as status symbols, and why doing a few deals solo teaches more than riding shotgun on a syndication.
• The three things you actually need to start doing direct-to-seller deals: a CRM, a targeted list (tools like PropStream and Reonomy), and a mail house
• How to make aggressive offers respectfully, and why "running toward the confrontation" beats avoiding it.
• The three Ds of distress — death, divorce, and drama — and how to quickly identify which sellers are actually motivated versus wasting your time.
• Why a seller's real pain point is often bigger (and weirder) than investors assume, and why being present when they decide to sell matters more than trying to convince them.

Connect with Zach Hoereth:

Follow him on Instagram

Are you looking to invest in real estate, but don't want to deal with the hassle of finding great deals, signing on debt, and managing tenants? Aligned Real Estate Partners provides investment opportunities to passive investors looking for the returns, stability, and tax benefits multifamily real estate offers, but without the work - join our investor club to be notified of future investment opportunities.

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Learn more about Aligned Real Estate Partners

In this Multifamily Minutes episode, Axel breaks down why revenue management deserves far more attention than most multifamily operators give it. Using a simple 10-unit example, he shows how a single percentage point of recovered revenue — whether from reduced vacancy or lower delinquency — can boost net free cash flow by 5% or more, a magnified effect similar to how leverage amplifies returns. 

He also shares how his own portfolio tracks collections throughout the month, why vacancy is the lever operators actually control while rent is dictated by the market, and the practical steps his team is taking — from tenant screening to new collections technology — to keep squeezing out those last few points of revenue.

Join us as we dive into:

• Why revenue assumptions (vacancy and delinquency) vary wildly across A, B, C, and D class deals.
• The leverage analogy: how small revenue changes create outsized swings in net free cash flow.
• What happens at the extreme: a 3% revenue increase driving 15–16%+ additional cash flow.
• Why this effect becomes easier to see and more important at scale, across larger portfolios or buildings.
• How Axel's team tracks collections by day of the month (1st–5th, 5th–12th, 12th–30th) and what "normalized" collections look like for stabilized C-class buildings.
• The tech and process changes being used to push collections rates higher, including third-party payment plan platforms for past-due tenants.

Are you looking to invest in real estate, but don't want to deal with the hassle of finding great deals, signing on debt, and managing tenants? Aligned Real Estate Partners provides investment opportunities to passive investors looking for the returns, stability, and tax benefits multifamily real estate offers, but without the work - join our investor club to be notified of future investment opportunities.

Connect with Axel:

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Learn more about Aligned Real Estate Partners

In this Multifamily Minute episode, Axel gets introspective on a concept he's been wrestling with personally: the psychological relationship investors have with money as their portfolio grows — and why the skill that helps you scale can quietly become the thing that costs you the most.

Using poker as a framework, Axel maps the psychological arc of the growing investor — from the early-stage necessity of emotional detachment, to the mid-stage risk of becoming too numb, to the mature-stage discipline of swinging the pendulum back and reassigning real dollar value to every line item in the business.

This episode is essential listening for any investor who has started delegating, doing more deals, and moving faster — and who wants an honest gut-check on whether their relationship with spending in the business has quietly drifted in the wrong direction.

Join us as we dive into:

• The Hawaii vacation story: a routine electrical bid that came in $1,500 high nearly got approved on autopilot — and what that moment revealed about how Axel thinks about money in the business today.
• Why developing emotional detachment from dollar variance is a necessary skill for any investor growing from 5 to 15 to 50 units — and how holding onto stress about every water heater replacement prevents delegation and scale.
• The poker analogy: why elite poker players must strip emotion from their decision-making at the table, and why the same psychology applies to real estate investors managing day-to-day swings.
• Why detachment needs to apply to the upswings too — staying disciplined when a cash-out refi returns more than expected, or a deal comes in under budget.
• How the pendulum swings too far: as businesses grow, faster decision-making and more line items on more P&Ls make it easy to approve lump sum quotes without analyzing what's inside them.
• The Silicon Valley startup parallel: when you have a war chest and are running with urgency, individual cost line items stop feeling material — the same dynamic happens in real estate as portfolios scale.
• Why this episode speaks most directly to investors with 15–50+ units who are actively running a business, managing teams, and moving fast across multiple deals simultaneously.

Are you looking to invest in real estate, but don't want to deal with the hassle of finding great deals, signing on debt, and managing tenants? Aligned Real Estate Partners provides investment opportunities to passive investors looking for the returns, stability, and tax benefits multifamily real estate offers, but without the work - join our investor club to be notified of future investment opportunities.

Connect with Axel:

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Learn more about Aligned Real Estate Partners

In this Multifamily Minute episode, Axel pushes back on one of the most commonly repeated narratives in multifamily investing right now: that falling housing starts will automatically trigger rent growth and bail out investors who bought or underwrote aggressively. 

It's a thesis Axel hears constantly — across Sun Belt, Southwest, Texas, and increasingly even in lower-supply Northeast markets — and he thinks it dangerously oversimplifies what's actually driving rent dynamics in 2026.

This episode is essential listening for any investor currently underwriting new deals with rent growth assumptions, or holding existing deals while waiting for supply to thin out and rents to rebound — and who needs a clear-eyed reality check on whether that thesis actually holds up.

Join us as we dive into:

• Why "supply is falling so rents will rebound" is the most widely parroted — and most dangerously incomplete — thesis in multifamily investing right now.
• Why the Northeast was hit hardest on housing starts (down 25%+ year over year for the April '25 to April '26 comparison period) — and why the Midwest was the only region to see a bump.
• The monetary policy variable: the US grew its money supply by roughly 30% in two years post-COVID, and that injection — not structural demand changes — drove the majority of 2020–2022 rent growth.
• The population variable: for the first time in US history, the US recorded a net population decline in 2025 — driven by a hard pause on immigration, declining birth rates, and net deportations.
• The AI variable: a fourth factor nobody can yet quantify — AI-related disruptions to the job market — that could further dampen wage growth and renter demand.
• Why solving for supply while holding monetary policy, population, and economic variables constant is an incomplete and potentially misleading framework for underwriting rent growth.
• The practical implication: challenge the assumption before you underwrite moderate-to-aggressive rent growth, and model a scenario in which rents remain flat even as supply falls.
• Why this matters for existing deal holders in Sun Belt, Southwest, and Texas markets who are waiting for legacy supply to be absorbed before making hold/refi/sell decisions.

Are you looking to invest in real estate, but don't want to deal with the hassle of finding great deals, signing on debt, and managing tenants? Aligned Real Estate Partners provides investment opportunities to passive investors looking for the returns, stability, and tax benefits multifamily real estate offers, but without the work - join our investor club to be notified of future investment opportunities.

Connect with Axel:

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Learn more about Aligned Real Estate Partners

In the first official Multifamily Minute episode of the newly rebranded Multifamily Hour, Axel introduces a macro economic concept that he believes every active real estate investor should be factoring into their deal-making right now: the K-shaped economy. Rather than leaving it as an abstract economic talking point, Axel translates it directly into a tactical framework for choosing deal types, building renovation scopes, and pricing rental units in today's market.

This episode is essential listening for any investor currently executing or planning a value-add business plan who wants a clear, economically grounded framework for how to position their product, scope their renovations, and price their units in the current environment.

Join us as we dive into:

• What a K-shaped economy is, real-world k-shaped examples across consumer sectors.
• Why businesses and investors "serving the middle" are getting squeezed — and why the same dynamic is hitting multifamily operators who are trying to push C-class product into B-class rent territory.
• The tactical implication for C-class deals: compete on price, do functional renovations only (life safety, curb appeal, cleanliness), and price below market to drive volume and minimize vacancy.
• A real example from Aligned's own portfolio: why the team moved away from $20K renovation scopes targeting $1,575–$1,600 rents and toward $15K functional scopes priced at $1,475 — with far more applications and faster lease-up as a result.
• The A-class play: why investors buying in truly A-class locations should go all-out on renovations — quartz countertops, tiled bathrooms, in-unit washer/dryer, smart locks, package lockers, built-in storage — because the A-class tenant is not price-sensitive and rewards a premium product with premium rent and strong renewal behavior.
• The short-term rental parallel: why Airbnbs that succeed are either ultra-premium (every amenity, right on the water, top-of-market pricing) or ultra-budget (high occupancy, low price) — and why the middle is where operators go to lose money.
• Where B-class investors fit: lean into what the B product can offer, pull C-class residents up with modest amenities and competitive pricing, and avoid over-improving a building that A-class residents won't want to live in regardless.

Are you looking to invest in real estate, but don't want to deal with the hassle of finding great deals, signing on debt, and managing tenants? Aligned Real Estate Partners provides investment opportunities to passive investors looking for the returns, stability, and tax benefits multifamily real estate offers, but without the work - join our investor club to be notified of future investment opportunities.

Connect with Axel:

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Learn more about Aligned Real Estate Partners

After six years, 340 episodes, and over 500,000 downloads, Axel announces the rebrand of the Multifamily Wealth Podcast to its new name: The Multifamily Hour. In this short solo episode, he explains the reasoning behind the change, what listeners can expect going forward, and why this evolution reflects where his business — and his focus — actually is today.

The rebrand isn't a pivot in content. It's an alignment of the show's identity with the business Axel is actually building.

This episode is a must-listen for any long-time listener of the show who wants context on the change — and for any new listener who wants to understand what this podcast is, who it's for, and where it's going.

Join us as we dive into:

• Why Axel decided to rebrand after six years, 340 episodes, and 500,000+ downloads — and why it wasn't an easy decision.
• The origin story of the Multifamily Wealth Podcast: launched in May 2020 during COVID as a side project when deal-making had ground to a halt.
• How Aligned Real Estate Partners continued to grow throughout — and why the core investment business is now the primary focus.
• Blue Door Living, Axel's New Hampshire property management company: now at 900 units under management, with ~70% third-party clients.
• Why The Multifamily Hour is a more accurate description of what the show actually is.
• What's not changing: same guests, same topics, same tactical content — all legacy episodes remain on the feed.

Are you looking to invest in real estate, but don't want to deal with the hassle of finding great deals, signing on debt, and managing tenants? Aligned Real Estate Partners provides investment opportunities to passive investors looking for the returns, stability, and tax benefits multifamily real estate offers, but without the work - join our investor club to be notified of future investment opportunities.

Connect with Axel:

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Learn more about Aligned Real Estate Partners

In another in-person episode, Axel sits down with Will Peck — multifamily broker at Horvath & Tremblay and one of the most active apartment building brokers in New Hampshire — for a wide-ranging conversation on the current state of the New Hampshire multifamily market, what it actually takes to build a successful brokerage career from scratch, and what separates the buyers and sellers that brokers love working with from the ones that make deals fall apart.

Will has been focused exclusively on New Hampshire multifamily since graduating college in 2018, building his book of business from cold calls and grand list research to becoming one of the go-to brokers in the state. 

This episode is essential listening for any investor buying or selling in New Hampshire — or any investor who wants to understand how to build a productive, long-term relationship with a commercial real estate broker.

Join us as we dive into:

• The distinction between being a transactional broker and being a true advisor — and why Will regularly tells clients not to sell
• Why New Hampshire continues to attract capital migrating from Massachusetts — and why Will sees demand growing even further over the next 12 months
• What makes a great seller: transparency from day one, accurate financials, and open communication throughout the transaction — because in today's market with only 2–3 strong buyers at the table, you can't afford to waste a bullet
• Creative deal solutions: the escrow agreement Will structured for a student housing deal with unleased units — how leaving money in escrow gave the buyer and lender comfort to close without delay
• What makes a great buyer: do what you say you're going to do, give specific and timely feedback, and share your underwriting assumptions so the broker can actually serve you
• Why telling a broker "I'm looking for 8 caps" means almost nothing — and what you should be saying instead
• The two-way intel relationship: how sharing renovation costs and achieved rents with your broker builds the kind of market knowledge that eventually comes back to help you price, lease, and sell your own deals

Connect with Will Peck:

Reach out to him on Linkedin
Cell: 207-712-6402
Office: 603-218-1857
Email: [email protected]

Are you looking to invest in real estate, but don't want to deal with the hassle of finding great deals, signing on debt, and managing tenants? Aligned Real Estate Partners provides investment opportunities to passive investors looking for the returns, stability, and tax benefits multifamily real estate offers, but without the work - join our investor club to be notified of future investment opportunities.

Connect with Axel:

Follow him on Instagram
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Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Learn more about Aligned Real Estate Partners

In this solo episode, Axel gets highly tactical on the one thing every real estate investor should be doing right now to get the most out of AI — regardless of which tools they use, how big their portfolio is, or how tech-savvy they are. The answer isn't a new app or a prompt hack. It's building context: the foundational informational backend of your business that allows AI tools like Claude to actually understand your company, your portfolio, and your goals well enough to do meaningful work on your behalf.

Axel opens up his own Notion workspace and walks through exactly what Aligned Real Estate Partners has built — from company information and brand voice to portfolio dashboards, transaction coordination, and vendor contacts. He also shares specific real-world use cases: auto-completing loan applications, running weekly email analyses to identify new automation opportunities, and having Claude keep the Notion database updated on its own.

This episode is essential listening for any investor or operator who wants to build a real estate business that scales with AI — not one that uses AI as a party trick.

Join us as we dive into:

• Why Axel recommends Notion as the informational backbone of your real estate business — and why it integrates cleanly with Claude, Google Drive, Gmail, and other tools.
• The new employee analogy: why giving AI context is exactly like training a new hire, and why most people skip this step entirely.
• A walkthrough of Aligned's Notion workspace: company information, brand voice, mission and values, organizational chart, glossary, lessons learned, software tools, and business history.
• Why uploading monthly property management statements to Notion creates a living dashboard that Claude can analyze and reference at any time.
• How Claude is integrated with Axel's Gmail, calendar, Notion, and Beehiiv — and what becomes possible once those connections are live.
• The 21-day email analysis scheduled task: how Axel uses Claude Cowork to identify workflows that can be automated or removed from his plate entirely.
• The rent comp use case: how Claude now automatically runs a rent comp search and drafts a renewal offer whenever a lease renewal email appears in the inbox.
• The weekly vendor discovery task: Claude scans the last seven days of email, flags new contacts worth adding to Notion, and updates the database with one click.

Are you looking to invest in real estate, but don't want to deal with the hassle of finding great deals, signing on debt, and managing tenants? Aligned Real Estate Partners provides investment opportunities to passive investors looking for the returns, stability, and tax benefits multifamily real estate offers, but without the work - join our investor club to be notified of future investment opportunities.

Connect with Axel:

Follow him on Instagram
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Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Learn more about Aligned Real Estate Partners

In this solo back-to-basics episode, Axel steps away from the AI and current events conversations that have dominated recent episodes to refocus on the real estate underwriting process. He breaks down the entire game of value creation in real estate into one simple equation, using clear numeric examples that any investor can apply regardless of asset class or market.

Axel walks through the three-step framework for quality real estate investing: finding an undervalued deal, assessing whether continued investment can generate a meaningful spread over your all-in cost, and financing the deal in a way that matches the business plan. 

This episode is essential listening for any investor — new or experienced — who wants a clear, simplified gut-check framework for evaluating whether a deal actually creates value, independent of rent growth projections or cap rate compression assumptions.

Join us as we dive into:

• Why understanding the current market cap rate for your specific asset class and submarket is the non-negotiable starting point for any underwriting exercise.
• How to interpret that 9% yield on cost depending on whether the market cap rate is 9% (no value created) or 7% (significant value created).
• Why Axel and his team target an 8.5%+ yield on cost in a 7% cap environment — a 150 basis point spread — across Southern New Hampshire and the Greater Boston periphery.
• Why the same 150 basis point spread creates more value in a lower cap rate market than a wider spread does in a higher cap rate market.
• Why a deal with a 12% yield on cost in a 10% cap market actually creates less value than a deal with a 6.5% yield on cost in a 5% cap market, despite the spread looking similar.
• How to gut-check a multi-year cash flow model: calculate your yield on cost at stabilization and compare it against the market cap rate at that point in the hold period.
• Why a thin or non-existent spread between yield on cost and market cap rate signals that your returns are dependent on rent growth or cap rate compression — both riskier bets than underwriting a real spread on day one.

Are you looking to invest in real estate, but don't want to deal with the hassle of finding great deals, signing on debt, and managing tenants? Aligned Real Estate Partners provides investment opportunities to passive investors looking for the returns, stability, and tax benefits multifamily real estate offers, but without the work - join our investor club to be notified of future investment opportunities.

Connect with Axel:

Follow him on Instagram
Connect with him on Linkedin
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Learn more about Aligned Real Estate Partners