The multifamily sector continues to navigate one of its most challenging periods in recent memory, with rent growth struggling to keep pace with rising expenses and interest rates creating headwinds for operators nationwide. Yet for some industry leaders, this environment presents unique opportunities for those willing to make contrarian plays and implement strategic changes.
Natalina Rettew, Head of Asset Management at Trion Properties, illustrates how diverse industry experience can create valuable perspectives in real estate leadership. After beginning her professional journey in luxury hotel management at prestigious properties including Terranea Resort and Ritz Carlton downtown Los Angeles, she transitioned to real estate in 2013 as an entry-level analyst for a Newport Beach family office.
“I always was interested in the bigger picture,” Rettew explains. “Who decided to put a hotel here? Why Ritz Carlton and not another brand? Someone put a bug in my ear about the real estate side of the business.”
The timing proved advantageous. Multifamily was emerging as a dominant asset class, and the customer service and data analytics expertise that hotels had developed years earlier was becoming increasingly valuable in apartment operations. “There were so many synergies between hotel and multifamily,” she notes. “The need for customer service and data and analytics, both things that the hotel world had gotten a hold of much sooner than multifamily.”
Building Expertise Through Market Cycles
Rettew’s progression through the industry provided exposure to different market conditions and operational approaches. She moved from her initial family office role to Cole Rich as an asset manager focused on multifamily properties, then to LiveCor where she witnessed significant organizational scaling.
“I was one of nine when I started, and when I left, I was one of 27 on the asset management team,” she recalls. “We tripled in size, and I got to see tons of deals covering California, Oregon, and Colorado.”
This experience prepared her for her current role as Head of Asset Management at Trion Properties, overseeing approximately 6,000 units nationwide. The transition was a significant shift in operational approach. “Going from a machine, a company with so many resources and data at its fingertips, to getting to really write the narrative here has been both the biggest shock of my career and incredibly rewarding,” Rettew explains.
Technology Implementation and Scaling Strategies
At Trion, Rettew is leading technology initiatives to enhance operational efficiency and support growth objectives. The implementation of Power BI provides comprehensive portfolio oversight. “We can take a bird’s eye look at the whole portfolio and dive down to look for outliers,” she explains. “That 80/20 rule, where do we need to pull more resources or spend more time?”
The company is also implementing Elise AI to improve resident experience and operational data collection. “We’re making the lives of the people who work on our properties better, making residents’ lives better, ensuring questions get answered timely, and the data we get from that is valuable for scaling,” Rettew notes.
These technology investments support Trion’s expansion strategy, including building out a third-party management platform. While the company has managed properties for capital partners on a limited basis, they’re now making a strategic push in markets where they have established operations and resources.
Contrarian Investment Positioning
Trion’s approach reflects a willingness to pursue opportunities others might avoid. The Bay Area recovery represents a contrarian play that the company identified early. “Everyone is talking about the Bay Area recovery right now, but we were talking about it back in December,” Rettew explains. “San Francisco is not a city that can stay down for long, and it was time for it to come back.”
The company identified indicators such as the AI boom and changes in city leadership supporting this thesis. Recent market visits have confirmed their early assessment. “From visiting up there, it feels worlds better than even this time last year.”
Trion currently holds three assets in the East Bay and is seeking opportunities in San Francisco proper, recognizing the need for local expertise to navigate the city’s regulatory environment. “When you try to get right in the city, you need an insider,” Rettew acknowledges.
Atlanta is another market where Trion is making investments despite negative rent growth in some areas. “It’s about finding that right submarket,” she explains. “Not all submarkets are created equal. We want to find ones where maybe supply is creating temporary downward pressure that will ease, versus something fundamental like really high bad debt.”
Market Opportunities in Distressed Situations
The current environment is creating opportunities for operators willing to acquire properties from owners who can no longer maintain their capital structures. Rettew describes these as “weathering the storm” situations. “When rent growth is not keeping up with expense growth and interest rates aren’t helping, something has to give,” she observes. “We’re seeing deals coming to market where groups have said, ‘We’ve held on as long as we could, we’ve tried everything to make this capital stack make sense, and now it’s time to trade out.’”
For buyers like Trion, these situations present opportunities to acquire assets at attractive pricing while addressing operational challenges. “We can come in, fully fund the capex needs, tackle bad debt day one, turn units and get them leased up,” Rettew explains.
Overcoming Industry Psychology
Despite these opportunities, Rettew acknowledges that the industry’s psychological state remains a challenge for deal execution. “Our industry suffers from recency bias pretty significantly,” she notes. “In 2022, it was ‘things have been good my entire career, so they’re going to continue to be good.’ Now it’s ‘this is really tough, money can be hard to find.’”
This psychological shift makes it more difficult to execute recovery-oriented strategies. “Selling investors and lenders on this recovery story can be difficult because things have been bad for two or three years, and they don’t want to get burned again.”
However, Rettew views this cautious sentiment as validation of opportunity: “It’s in this moment, when money is a little harder or deals are more difficult to piece together, that’s where the true opportunity is.”
Looking Forward
As the multifamily sector continues to navigate challenging conditions, operators like Trion are positioning themselves to capitalize on market dislocations while building for future growth. The combination of technology, strategic expansion, and contrarian positioning reflects a comprehensive approach to market leadership.
For Rettew, the current environment represents both challenge and opportunity. “Groups buying right now stand to find some real upside in values in the future,” she concludes, reflecting the cautious optimism that characterizes today’s most successful multifamily operators.
The industry’s ability to adapt and evolve through this cycle will likely determine which operators emerge stronger when market conditions improve. For leaders like Rettew, drawing on diverse experience while implementing strategic changes positions their organizations to capitalize on opportunities others might overlook.
