Why I Keep Buying Hotels Everyone Else WON'T Touch

Last week, I walked through another "distressed" hotel with an investor who spent 20 minutes listing everything wrong with it.

Same conversation I've had dozens of times. Same response I always give:

"It can't be that simple."

But it is that simple. Here's what I see that others don't:

Most hotels built after 1980 already have individual HVAC systems, private bathrooms, electrical sized for residential use, and parking that meets apartment requirements. The infrastructure is there. You're not building apartments, you're revealing them.

When we launched Studios On Fourth in McAllen, Texas, I wasn't trying to revolutionize anything. I was solving a simple problem: The Rio Grande Valley had tons of affordable housing demand and a tired mid-century motel that couldn't fill rooms.

We created furnished studios with flexible stay options. Month-to-month leases. All-inclusive pricing. No long-term commitments for tenants who needed exactly that kind of flexibility.

The "flex-partment" model we pioneered there isn't complicated. It's common sense applied to an obvious market gap.

Traditional hotel occupancy in secondary markets: 40-65% on good days

Converted apartment occupancy: 91-95%+ consistently

The same property, same location, same building (kinda lol). Different revenue model, different results.

Personally and through my advisory, I've consistently discovered, negotiated, locked up, and closed these forgotten hotels. Not because I'm a genius, but because I'm willing to see opportunity where others see problems.

Every conversion conversation includes 10 minutes about zoning hell and permit nightmares.

My experience? Most hotels with baggage are located within cities who'd jump out of their chair to help re-zone for multi-use or offer a variance approval faster than you think. Cities desperate for workforce housing solutions actually want these conversions to succeed.

The regulatory framework exists. We just stopped using it while chasing more complicated deals.

I've raised over $10 million for real estate acquisitions, and conversations with family offices and private equity are changing. Six months ago, they'd never heard of hotel conversions. Now they're asking how many more I can find.

The secret's getting out.

Every successful conversion creates another case study. Every case study creates more competition. The hotels trading at 50-60 cents on replacement cost today won't be available at those prices in 24 months.

Hotel conversions aren't complicated—they're just different. And different scares most investors.

While others debate feasibility studies and hire consultants to study what might work, I'm walking properties, running numbers, and making offers on assets with clear conversion potential.

My success isn't because I have some secret formula. It's because I act while others analyze...but I still make mistakes.

We're sitting on billions in hotel real estate perfectly positioned for adaptive reuse. Properties built for temporary occupancy that can serve permanent housing demand. The economics work. The regulations exist. The financing is available once you educate lenders.

The only missing piece is execution.

Are you going to keep chasing the same overpriced multifamily deals everyone else is fighting over? Or are you ready to create apartment inventory where none existed before?

DM me/email me ([email protected]) to set up a call to go over my actual due diligence framework—the same process I've used on 4 successful conversions.

The opportunities are real. The window is closing. The choice is yours.