Mat Moxness is a well-established businessman and real estate investor. He is the founder of Crescendo Equity, a real estate investment company specializing in repositioning old and underperforming assets across the Ontario market to provide exceptional returns to the company’s investors. It’s a tried-and-true strategy that has served him well over the past decade.
“When I was starting in the real estate industry, I noticed that everyone avoided these old assets, not realizing that they are hidden gems. I decided to jump into the deep end and seize the opportunity that was in front of me” says Mat.
Crescendo Equity’s investment strategy is fundamentally based on identifying market inefficiencies and patching them with repositioned assets. The process consists of finding an old and underperforming asset that once served a now-obsolete function and transforming it into a multi-family asset.
“It is an investment that will benefit everyone—the investors, the buyers, the local community,” says Mat Mox. “It’s basically teaching an old building new tricks. You have a property, like the retirement home in Niagara Falls that I recently acquired. The home was permanently closed many years; it was neglected, it was an eyesore, and the community was happy when somebody stepped in. When the project is finished, the old retirement home will be transformed into high-end apartments.”
From an investment standpoint, multi-family assets have always been resilient. They tend to perform well financially, even when the supply and demand are balanced, which makes them a highly desired asset class among investors. With an imbalanced market like Ontario, where demand is on the constant rise and supply is barely catching up, the investment is guaranteed to pay off.
According to Mat Mox, making repairs and modernizing the old buildings can be costly, but it’s well worth the investment in the long run. “The repositioning can seem costly in the beginning, but older buildings are typically found in prime locations. When you take into account the benefits of higher rents and that new construction costs are sometimes higher than renovation costs alone, it doesn’t take long to see which one pays off more,” says Mat.
Repositioning assets is not only great for investors but also for the local community. These projects provide much-needed supply to the multi-housing market and most often are injecting new life into a dying area, as renovations require the help of local tradespeople (carpenters, plumbers, notaries, etc.), which opens new job positions for them and stimulates the local economy.
Revitalized buildings bring beauty and appeal to the community by creating a more communal, urban space within the surrounding areas. They also significantly contribute to a neighborhood’s sense of place and character, which attracts more people to move to the area, which in return increases the values of all surrounding properties.
In addition to running Crescendo Equity, Mat is also a contributor to Forbes Councils. For more valuable information and great advice and tips from Mat Mox, make sure to follow him on his Instagram (@mateomox). For a sneak peek about Mat’s future undertakings, make sure to visit Crescendo Equity’s official website.