Peter Lohmann's Newsletter - Issue #202

KKR to Avenue One: We’ll Take it From Here

There’s a major shakeup underway in single-family rentals that’s going to impact hundreds of property-management jobs: Wall Street giant KKR, one of the largest players in the space, is ending its asset-management relationship with Avenue One and taking things in-house, according to two people with direct knowledge of the situation. Avenue One managed about 10,000 SFRs for the PE firm, mostly in the Southeast.

Founded by Ryan Stroker and William Martiner, Avenue One was one of the beneficiaries of the pandemic-era SFR frenzy. In 2023, the startup raised $100 million at a ≈$1B valuation, per Bloomberg, drawing investors such as WestCap and MetLife. KKR had also previously invested in the firm. Avenue One’s pitch was helping institutional players identify, acquire, renovate, and manage properties using their local partner network. It provided the sourcing, infrastructure, and local operator connections necessary to scale.

Today, however, much has changed on the ground. Legislation passed this summer imposed new restrictions on large investors, and the policy back-forth took a toll on investor enthusiasm and may hurt portfolio pricing. Meanwhile, many of the largest asset managers have been looking to insource property management; The Promote reported in February that Blackstone’s multifamily unit LivCor had informed some of its PM vendors, including Bell Partners, of its decision to do so.

Avenue One recently notified four of its property management partners that the KKR relationship would be winding down, in some cases within the next 30 days, per two sources with direct knowledge. Mynd managed ≈ 4,000 of the homes, Evernest 3,500, Northpoint 1,500, and PURE HomeRiver (a product of the Jan. merger of PURE Property Management & HomeRiver Group) 1,000.

KKR will now look to its subsidiary My Community Homes (MCH) to oversee the portfolio. The division, which was created in ‘21, isn’t seen as a profit center; it allocates actual costs back to the funds it manages on a pro-rata basis, SEC filings show. 

MCH, in turn, will assign property-management responsibilities for the bulk of the doors over to its preferred provider, Darwin Homes. Purchased by Pagaya in 2023, Darwin is one of the nation’s largest SFR property managers (≈20K doors as of ‘25), working exclusively with institutional investors. My two sources said that MCH is retaining Mynd, but not the other three managers.

The move follows a broader shakeup inside KKR's real estate business. In early ‘25, KKR merged its real estate and infrastructure groups into a single "Real Assets" platform under infrastructure chief Raj Agrawal. At the time, Bloomberg reported that KKR's flagship Americas real estate fund posted third-quartile returns, below its threshold to earn a promote. New leadership with a mandate to fix returns tends to go on the cost-cutting hunt, and an outside asset manager layered on top of four property management firms is an obvious place to start.

Northpoint and Evernest will be helping secure roles for those impacted by the likely layoffs, and we’ll have more information as it comes to light. Northpoint is losing ~30% of its total door count and will restructure to diversify its focus to include small multifamily assets, one of the sources said. Evernest and PURE HomeRiver are likely to lose roughly ~15% and ~3% of their portfolios respectively, according to my own estimates.

The situation highlights the risks of property-management firms that tether themselves too closely to institutional investors. Be careful out there.

-Peter

Marriott wants to be your landlord?

Marriott just put its name on rental apartments. First time any national hotel brand has tried this, and Mark Brower and I spent a chunk of the most recent Crane Podcast picking it apart: genius move, or brand disaster waiting to happen?

Hotels run on consistency, so you know what you're getting every time. Rental housing never has. Can Marriott pull that off once it's managing tenants instead of guests? We also got into vendor kickbacks - would you be fine if your owners saw a quarterly report of exactly what every vendor paid you for their business? That question kicked off the episode, after some pushback on an article I wrote calling kickbacks what they are. Check it out.

Also available on Apple Podcasts, Amazon, and Spotify

Property Management Companies For Sale This Week

• This mid-term housing management business in Tulare County, CA is still available (asking $745k, $565k annual revenue)

• Established property management company in Western Wisconsin (asking $550k)

• 5-unit rental portfolio in Lehigh Acres, FL (asking $1.65M)

• Turn-key property management company in Arizona (asking $525k, $1.01M gross revenue)

Sponsored by AppFolio. 77% of property managers expect their portfolios to grow in 2026 - even with rising costs and vacancies. See the data-backed moves they’re making in the AppFolio 2026 Benchmark Report.

Industry News & Events

• Zillow is now requiring renter leads to sign in before submitting interest in a property.

• Yardi Breeze announces a user conference called REfresh. October 6-8th in San Diego, CA.

• NARPM Texas Style is September 14-16th. I hear this is a ton of fun. More info.

• Propexo did a new fascinating breakdown of unit count by PM Software. AppFolio comes in at 9.5M, followed by RealPage (Buildium + Propertyware + OneSite) at 9M.

• NARPM announced the 2027 Board of Directors slate. Tracy Streich has been named the President-Elect. Crane member Stephanie Michael joins the board as a Director.

Closing Thought

Did you miss it? 3 highlights from Tuesday’s Newsletter:

1. List of Largest PM Companies (2026 deadline was yesterday, but you can still submit here if you missed it)

2. State of AI in Property Management survey.

3. Why you should always read the fine print.

Software I’m using to scale my 700+ door property management company:

Note: These are affiliate links, but I’ve been recommending all these companies long before any financial arrangements came into place.

The content of this newsletter is for informational purposes only and does not constitute professional advice. I may have consulting agreements with, or financial interests in, companies mentioned in this newsletter. Additionally, some of the links included in this newsletter are affiliate links, meaning I may earn a commission if you make a purchase through these links. Always perform your own due diligence before making any financial or business decisions.