Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Andy Wu. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Andy, appreciate you joining us today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

When I left my comfortable corporate finance job at Siemens to go into the private SFR sector, at the time, my friends & family thought I was crazy when I left such a promising career at a Fortune 50 company. Now looking back, that was one of the best decisions I have ever made. I have learned a lot and made a lot of good connections since then.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

For the past several years, Andy Wu has served as Director of Acquisitions for RESICAP, the leading vertically integrated solution for institutional owners of single-family residential assets in the U.S. While the concept of providing rental opportunities for single-family homes has been around for years, the onset of COVID and the new trend of working from home has resulted in a huge upswing in single-family home rentals.

Based in Atlanta, RESICAP was founded in 2010 and now has more than 350 employees throughout the country. “We started to see an increase in this type of investment in 2008 during the first housing crisis,” explained Wu. “A lot of Wall Street firms began buying properties at foreclosure auctions and this was a new experience for some who had never before entered the single-family home market. Since that time, we’ve seen a lot of other investors and private equity firms purchasing large numbers of homes as rental properties.”

RESICAP works directly with institutional investors to identify buy box and markets for purchase, renovate, then prepare the homes for the rental market.

The company operates in over 57 markets, with a concentration in Georgia, Florida, North and South Carolina, Texas, Indiana and Oklahoma. “We typically deal with long-term renters,” said Wu. “Many of them are actually able to afford to purchase a home, but they don’t want to be tied down to something and have to worry about constant home upkeep and repair. We also see a lot of younger people who tend to move more often.” RESICAP provides tenant the ability to live in a single-family house without worrying about the upkeep and repairs.

We are always on the lookout for new properties to purchase and work with both the real estate and construction industries. “We are currently buying properties from multiple listing services, wholesalers (off market), national home builders and local regional home builders. We are always looking for new ways to acquire properties,” said Wu.

What’s been the best source of new clients for you?

Resihome (our property management and leasing division) has a strong marketing and leasing team. However, most of our future residents come from “word of mouth”. We offer a world-class resident experience to all of our residents. In addition, we have the right technology and people in place to provide a hassle-free application and move-in process for our future residents.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

I was in corporate finance for five years before I started my career in real estate, I was tired of being the number cruncher and wanted to contribute to the bottom-line number. When I read Olive Chang’s research report on the institutional single-family rental industry, I knew this was a space I wanted to get into. I learned the business and got myself a job at one of the boutique SFR firms here in Atlanta.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://resicap.com/
• Instagram: wuandy23
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andy-wu-pmp-cssbb-089a8b37/

Image Credits
Allan Sabado – Resicap Marketing Team