Interview with Pasha Esfandiary of Evoke Capital

Welcome back to the Passive Mobile Home Park Investing Podcast, hosted by Andrew Keel. On this episode of the Passive Mobile Home Park Investing Podcast, Andrew talks with Pasha Esfandiary of Evoke Capital. 

Pasha comes from a very non-traditional background. At the age of 19 he started playing professional poker and by the age of 26, he decided that playing poker wasn’t the lifestyle he wanted. Pasha then started his career in residential real estate, flipping houses he found at auctions. Pasha has since been involved in over $250 million of real estate transactions across multiple asset types. These include residential homes, boutique motels and the purchasing and management of large multifamily properties. He is now solely focused on acquiring mobile home park investments with his new firm, Evoke Capital.

Pasha’s journey from professional poker player to mobile home park investor has facilitated many lessons and strategies, he is now on the road to writing a book about it all. Today he shares with us many of those lessons, strategies and stories.

***Andrew Keel and Keel Team Real Estate Investments (Keel Team, LLC) do not endorse any interviewee. This interview is for informational purposes only and should not be depended upon for investment purposes. ***

Andrew Keel is the owner of Keel Team, LLC, a Top 100 Owner of Manufactured Housing Communities with over 2,500 lots under management. His team currently manages over 40 manufactured housing communities across more than 10 states. His expertise is in turning around under-managed manufactured housing communities by utilizing proven systems to maximize the occupancy while reducing operating costs. He specializes in bringing in homes to fill vacant lots, implementing utility bill back programs, and improving overall management and operating efficiencies, all of which significantly boost the asset value and net operating income of the communities. Check out KeelTeam.com to learn more. 

Andrew has been featured on some of the Top Podcasts in the manufactured housing space, click here to listen to his most recent interviews:  https://www.keelteam.com/podcast-links. In order to successfully implement his management strategy, Andrew’s team usually moves on location during the first several months of ownership. Find out more about Andrew’s story at AndrewKeel.com.

Are you getting value out of this show? If so, please head over to iTunes and leave the show a quick five-star review. I have a goal of hitting over 500 total 5-star reviews, and it would mean the absolute world to me if you could help contribute to that. Thanks ahead of time for making my day with your five-star review of the show.

Would you like to see mobile home park projects in progress? If so, follow us on Instagram: @passivemhpinvesting for photos and awesome videos from our recent mobile home park acquisitions.

Talking Points:

00:21 - Welcome to the Passive Mobile Home Park Investing Podcast

00:55 - Pasha Esfandiary’s path into mobile home park investing

05:24 - Pasha’s professional poker journey and how it’s helped him invest in mobile home parks 

08:00 - The strategy for Pasha’s first mobile home park deal

09:50 - Pasha Esfandiary’s Current portfolio and rapid growth

10:52 - Being investor-forward and customer-forward

14:00 - Building a great team

15:00 - The evolution of Pasha’s approach

18:35 - The importance of your pro forma and underwriting

21:00 - Do the incentives align for each other? Investors and operators 

22:47 - Asking a lot of questions will sniff out bad GP’s

24:35 - Pasha’s perfect mobile home park

25:20 - Learning from others and reading everything you can

26:33 - The three metrics that Pasha looks for in mobile home park investment deals

27:38 - A year into the future for the Mobile Home Park industry

30:24 - Pasha’s dud deal

31:50 - Nationwide rent control?

33:40 - Raising mobile home park rent, but also giving tenants value

34:45 - Reaching out to Pasha Esfandiary

35:19 - Focus on the velocity of capital

36:01 - Conclusion

Links & Mentions from This Episode: 

Pasha’s email: [email protected] 

Evoke Capital: https://www.evokecapital.net/

Keel Team's official website: https://www.keelteam.com/  

Andrew Keel's official website: https://www.andrewkeel.com/  

Andrew Keel LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewkeel  

Andrew Keel Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/PassiveMHPinvestingPodcast 

Andrew Keel Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/passivemhpinvesting/ 

Twitter: @MHPinvestors

Quotes: 

“Poker is a game of incomplete information. Everyone’s trying to lie to you. Everyone’s trying to bluff you. Everyone’s trying to tell you a different story.” -  Pasha Esfandiary

“In real estate, you essentially can have 95 to 99 % of all the information when you're buying and deal with enough education.” -  Pasha Esfandiary

“Previous success is an indicator of post -success, in my opinion.” -  Pasha Esfandiary

“We keep our heads down and just ask, ‘Does this property work?’” -  Pasha Esfandiary