"The Link Apartments brand provides highly innovative, amenitized, and efficient urban housing in desirable living areas to help fill the growing housing gap," explains Spencer. "We try to "write down" the total cost of the project to be the most affordable the project can be."

For example, Grubbs acquires multifamily properties built in the 70's, 80's and 90's that were constructed on what was then the edge of town and now is a central location. These properties are usually good investments and have great surface parking which can be used for office parking during the weekdays and then operate as residential parking after-hours and on the weekends as these multifamily properties are usually located in the same space as the office building, Spencer tells GlobeSt.com.

For instance, the office building in which Spencer works was initially Reverend Billy Graham's farm located on the edge of town. "Now it's an office building 10 minutes from the center of town," he says.

The 2019 Grubb QOF has five acquisitions to date, comprising commercial properties in Chapel Hill, NC, Alexandria, Va., and Columbus, Ohio, as well as multifamily development projects in Washington, DC and Winston-Salem, NC.