MBA Chairman Brian Stoffers and Alex Rodriquez
SAN DIEGO—Alex Rodriguez, founder and CEO of A-Rod Corp., made his first real estate move 20 years ago. It was a duplex purchase where be "put in some value add" in the form of blue awnings and cream colored paint. Best known for his accomplishments on the baseball field, the founder and CEO of A-Rod Corp., stands as one of the greatest athletes in the world and shared his insights from business to his baseball career at MBA's CREF Convention.
"Success starts starts with people and relationships," said Rodriguez, when talking about building his business empire, a move, he said started out of fear. "If you look at macro trends, the numbers were frightening."
He explained that less than 5% of baseball players had a college degree, most athletes make 80% of their money between age 20 and 30. "Many have financial trouble after playing and I wanted to plan for something after my baseball career." That investment turned into some strategic pivoting, where now roughly 50-60% of his time is spent running his private equity firm, while the rest of his time is in entertainment.
What's important to success, according to Rodriquez, is who you surround yourself with. "You are only as good as the five people you surround yourself with. Hiring great people is one of the ways I have been able to be successful."
Real estate has been a mainstay of his business, which has invested about $400 million of equity in buying multifamily units in secondary markets through Fannie Mae. "They are nothing fancy, but our returns to our LPs have been north of 30%." But they haven't been all wins.
One "strike out" he mentioned includes a 500-unit portfolio out of Tampa at $60,000 a door that overnight was worth about $42,000 per door. "We ended up cutting a deal with the bank, but I had people at the table with me with experience and a great track record."
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Natalie Dolce
Natalie Dolce, editor-in-chief of GlobeSt.com and GlobeSt. Real Estate Forum, is responsible for working with editorial staff, freelancers and senior management to help plan the overarching vision that encompasses GlobeSt.com, including short-term and long-term goals for the website, how content integrates through the company’s other product lines and the overall quality of content. Previously she served as national executive editor and editor of the West Coast region for GlobeSt.com and Real Estate Forum, and was responsible for coverage of news and information pertaining to that vital real estate region. Prior to moving out to the Southern California office, she was Northeast bureau chief, covering New York City for GlobeSt.com. Her background includes a stint at InStyle Magazine, and as managing editor with New York Press, an alternative weekly New York City paper. In her career, she has also covered a variety of beats for M magazine, Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel, FashionLedge.com, and Co-Ed magazine. Dolce has also freelanced for a number of publications, including MSNBC.com and Museums New York magazine.
