Serving Lucas, Ottawa, Sandusky and Wood Counties
Much of the multifamily industry runs on a short clock. Funds are built around fixed hold periods, capital is expected back on schedule, and properties often change hands once projections are met. A smaller group of operators works on a different timeline, measuring decisions in decades rather than fund cycles, and their approach is drawing renewed attention as the market places a premium on patience and discipline.
Steven Libman, founder of Investing With Purpose™, recently spent most of a day with David Snyder, founder of Community Growth Foundation and a multifamily operator whose career spans several decades. The two first met through a Faith Driven Investor cohort that Snyder led for real estate business owners, and Libman has looked to him as a mentor since.
“Most of our industry thinks in terms of a hold period,” says Libman. “David thinks in terms of decades, and that perspective shapes every decision, from how a property is financed to when, or whether, it should be sold.”
The difference between those timelines shows up most clearly at the point of sale. Capital partners bring different mandates to a deal. Institutions managing large, diversified portfolios often need to realize gains on a defined schedule, which is a legitimate requirement of how they are structured. Operators backed by long-horizon capital have the flexibility to hold through cycles rather than sell on a fixed schedule.
Over his career, Snyder has worked alongside both types of capital, and he has seen assets continue to build value well beyond their original projections. For Libman, the lesson is less about any single sale and more about alignment: matching the hold strategy to the right capital from the outset.
“Every capital partner has its own mandate, and that should be respected,” he says. “The key is aligning the capital with the strategy before the deal closes. In real estate, the sale is the moment that locks in the outcome, so when you sell matters as much as what you buy.”
Snyder’s influence on Investing With Purpose extends beyond hold strategy. Through his cohort, Libman was introduced to Apartment Life and other nonprofits that place on-site care teams inside apartment communities. That foundation became the basis for the firm’s Purposed CARE Initiative, which places care coordinators in its communities and now has a full-time head of Purposed CARE overseeing the program.
The exchange has gone both ways. Investing With Purpose invites its investors to serve alongside staff on its properties, a practice Libman shared with Snyder as the two compared notes on what was working in their communities.
“The value of a peer network is that ideas move in both directions,” says Libman. “A practice one operator takes for granted can be new to another, and that is how the whole model improves.”
One of the more practical lessons Libman took from Snyder concerns how faith-driven operators describe their work. Entrepreneurs in this space sometimes assume they need to downplay their convictions to work with institutional partners. Snyder’s example points to another approach: framing the work around measurable outcomes for residents.
“Impact is a language every stakeholder understands,” says Libman. “When you describe the work in terms of residents’ education, financial stability, and physical, mental, and spiritual well-being, the conversation centers on outcomes, and outcomes are something any serious partner can evaluate.”
Libman’s broader takeaway is that operators accomplish more together than apart. Community Growth Foundation brings operators together to share programs, from on-site care teams to financial literacy initiatives. Investing With Purpose has partnered with Dave Ramsey’s organization to bring Financial Peace University to residents, an example of working with specialists rather than building every program in-house.
“Too often, operators work in silos, each in their own lane,” says Libman. “When you partner with organizations already doing this work well, everyone moves in the same direction, and the result is multiplication rather than addition.”
For an industry still adjusting to higher rates and longer hold periods, the operators who built for the long term from the beginning may offer the clearest picture of what durable multifamily ownership looks like.
About Investing With Purpose: Investing With Purpose is a faith-driven multifamily real estate firm based in Bluffton, SC. iwpurpose.com.
Educational Purpose Only. This post is intended solely for informational and educational purposes. It does not constitute investment, tax, or legal advice, nor is it a recommendation or offer to buy or sell any security or investment. Always consult with your qualified tax advisor, legal counsel, and financial professional before making any tax-related or investment decisions, especially those involving retirement accounts or private placement investments.
Disclosure: Individuals or companies mentioned may have a commercial relationship with KeyCrew.
