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WHO WE ARE AND WHAT WE’RE DOING
An idea born out of COVID, Vacation Rental Real Estate, LLC. was founded in 2021. The founding members have decades of experience working with some of the best institutional private equity real estate firms in the U.S. VR is targeting some of the highest yielding vacation rental properties with its data driven investment thesis. It is through our research and diligence backed by historical unit metric data that we can try and achieve success for our investors.
We’re Gathering Data to Produce the Best Return
We are taking data from the largest property management companies and industry data sources to identify and acquire the best vacation rental homes in the country to produce the best return for our investors.
The Benefit of our Dynamic Pricing
Unlike the mom-and-pop rental approach, our dynamic pricing adjusts in real time to maximize rental income and protect us against inflation measures that long-term rentals are unable to adjust with.
Will the Property be a Worthwhile Investment?
Through proven algorithms, we will be able to devise a conclusion of how likely the home will be as a worthwhile short-term rental through a series of rankings.
Real Estate Team
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NICK LAZZARA
Nick has 20 years of real estate experience specializing in property management, data analysis, MBS risk management, and mortgage due diligence. As the owner and operator of Urban Phenix, a multifamily and single-family property management company, Nick has been part of multiple property acquisitions and sales, has managed over 100 employees, run construction teams responsible for unit renovations, and provides oversight for numerous capital improvements. His property management company is currently responsible for the day-to-day operations of over $90MM in assets. In addition to employee management, training, and compliance, regular duties to run the business include unit pricing, marketing, leasing, collections, maintaining legal updates, vendor management, daily and deferred maintenance, property preservation, resident relations, marketing, accounting and financial reviews, and lender and investor reporting.
Prior to property management, Nick worked for Stewart Lender Services and Clayton. He was accountable for scaling technology, training, staffing, and logistics for mortgage due diligence operations associated with regulatory projects and MBS deal flow for Wall Street banks. Nick has state-side and international experience in mortgage due diligence and MBS portfolio risk management, where his teams analyzed single-family portfolio data for loan servicer errors and originator fraud in order to maximize MBS deal performance for its investors.
Nick holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Management and Entrepreneurship from Miami University. Nick currently serves on the School Advisory Committee at Good Shepherd Catholic School, is the President of the Advisory Council for Colorado Uplift, and an active member in the community as a youth baseball and hockey coach. He enjoys spending time with his family, entertaining, travel, and outdoor activities.
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STEPHEN HESTER | FINRA Series 7 and 63 securities licenses, CFA
Stephen’s career began in the hedge fund industry as a professional securities trader and evolved toward complex and alternative investment analysis for large financial institutions. His latest roles were Director of Due Diligence at Ladenburg Thalmann and Advisor Group, two of the largest independent broker/dealer networks in the U.S., where he was involved all aspects of investment and operational due diligence. He has presented institutional quality investment and risk analysis on opportunities in commercial and residential real estate, private equity, private debt, infrastructure, and energy. He has authored over 100 research articles on REITs and the real estate sector. He obtained his BA in Economics and MS in Energy & Earth Resources with a concentration in Petroleum Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin. Stephen has his Series 7 and 63 securities licenses, is a CFA Charterholder, and a long-term participant in the Big Brothers Big Sisters program. Stephen leads firm strategy, acquisitions, and data analysis.
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BRAD THOMAS | AD HOC Advisor
Brad has more than 25 years experience in commercial real estate, where he’s formulated a deep understanding of development, finance, and securities analysis. He is CEO of Wide Moat Research, author of multiple books on REITs, and a regular guest lecturer at NYU and other premier universities.
Fund Capital Markets
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BRANNON McPHERSON | FINRA Series 7, 63 licenses, MBA
Brannon is the founder of Vacation Rental Real Estate Group –targeting the acquisition of vacation and work-from-anywhere short-term rental homes. Brannon has extensive knowledge in alternative investments and has served as subadvisor and manager to several alternative investment funds.
Brannon has over 25 years of financial industry and investment product syndication experience. He has personally raised more than $1 billion of capital and structured more than $4 billion on behalf of his real estate and alternative investment clients. He has over 300 broker dealer relationships and stays connected with thousands of advisors, family offices and registered representatives. He has successfully raised capital on behalf of multiple innovative real estate, credit and energy platforms, many of which were launching first funds in new capital channels. Brannon’s prior clients include CIM Group, Gladstone Companies, OFS and Amcap, among others. Brannon has spent the past decade building out capital markets distribution groups for nontraded alternative investments. He has held leadership positions with Evolv Capital (Co-founder), Timbrel Capital, Atlas Energy and TIAA-CREF.
He has served on the Boards of Denver Urban Scholars and Youth Opportunity Foundation providing opportunities for at-risk youth in Denver, CO.
Brannon received BA and MBA degrees from Regis University. He holds the FINRA Series 7 and 63 licenses. He enjoys skiing, mountain biking, hiking and cooking. He is also author of Front Range Fatties: A Mountain Biking Guide Book to Colorado’s Front Range. Brannon lives in Denver with his wife, three kids and family dog, Moses McPherson.
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WILL ABBOTT | FINRA Series 7, 24, 63 licenses, CIMA®
Will serves as Managing Partner – Capital Markets for Vacation Rental Real Estate Group.
Will coordinates capital markets and fund offering structure and design for VR. He has a proven track record of building and restructuring distribution teams to optimize sales processes and assist financial organizations in increasing their scale and reach. His experience includes building strong partnerships with enterprise-level clients at the executive, C-Suite, and Board level while establishing himself as a leader, both as an individual contributor and executive team lead. In addition, Will’s CV includes 26 years of investment industry experience.
Will was Head of Registered Investment Advisors and a Managing Director with Allianz Global Investors (AGI). His responsibilities included growing and developing AGI’s RIA channel, including educating advisors on investment strategies and bringing value-added practice management solutions to AGI’s RIA, bank trust, and family office clients. Mr. Abbott joined AGI from WisdomTree Asset Management, where he was one of the original team members of the go-to-market launch team. At WisdomTree, he was Head of RIA and PWM Distribution, responsible for managing the sales and distribution of the firm’s RIA, private wealth management, and family office channels. Before joining WisdomTree, Will held roles at Schwab Institutional, Vista Analytics, and Crescent Capital Management.
Will holds a BS degree in Business Administration from the Leeds School of Business, University of Colorado at Boulder. In addition, he has completed the Certified Investment Management Analyst program at The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. He currently holds the CIMA® designation.
Marketing
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MONICA TURNER | Creative Director, Brand Strategist
Monica has nearly two decades of branding, graphic design and marketing experience in the tourism and lifestyle industries. She is the owner of MonicaLauren design, a creative marketing studio helping adventure, lifestyle and wellness companies (re)define their brand, develop intuitive websites, and effectively communicate their stories across all media platforms. Prior to that, she was a designer at a tech agency in Denver, and the Art Director for iHeartMedia in New York City where her work was featured on billboards in Times Square, at Madison Square Garden events, and in the digital media space from Boston to LA. She has a BA of Graphic Information Design and Marketing from Central Connecticut State University and was a member of AIGA and the Connecticut Art Directors Club. Monica also helps to provide positive outlets for at-risk youth in the Denver Metro area by teaching painting classes and sharing her passion for creativity.
When she’s not being creative, Monica loves playing competitive volleyball, mountain biking, skiing, and exploring Colorado with her husband, two young children, and rescue pup.