Nitin John Abraham and Anna Marie Reiners are seasoned real estate investors with a focus on multifamily and commercial properties across Missouri, Kansas, and California. Since joining Rod’s Warrior Group in September 2023, they have actively participated in diverse projects, including 102 multifamily units, a 45,000-square-foot industrial GP deal, an 8-key boutique hotel joint venture, and a 120,000-square-foot commercial LP deal. Anna Marie, an Airbnb Superhost, brings a strong background in rental management, while Nitin, a construction manager and Principal at DeBrine Associates, offers deep expertise in project management. Beyond real estate, Anna Marie is also a school psychologist and certified behavioral analyst, adding a unique perspective to their investment approach. Their combined skills and experiences make them valuable contributors to discussions on multifamily investing, property management, and strategic project execution. Outside of their professional pursuits, they are passionate about creating thriving communities through thoughtful real estate development.

Here’s some of the topics we covered:

  • How The Team Scored a 92-Unit Deal with the Warrior Group
  • The Key Role John Played in Sealing the Deal
  • Driving The Neighborhood To See The State of The Market
  • Genius Value Add Strategies that Transformed the Property
  • Teamwork That Made the Deal Happen in the Warrior Group
  • Tackling Tenant Troubles and Property Challenges Head-On
  • The 2-Unit Fire Disaster and How The Team Handled It
  • Holding Property Management Companies Accountable
  • The Must-Hear Advice Every New Investor Needs to Take Action Now

If you’d like to apply to the warrior program and do deals with other rockstars in this business: Text crush to 72345 and we’ll be speaking soon.

Full Transcript Below

Full Podcast Transcript: Ep #1077 – Nitin John Abraham and Anna Marie Reiners on Multifamily Rockstars

Introduction and Welcome

Riyad Khleif: Welcome back to Multifamily Rockstars. So as you guys know, these are the episodes where we deep dive into our guest deals and we give you some practical and actionable items for getting started and doing your first deal, even if you’re brand new to the multifamily arena here. And I’ve got my co-host Mark Nagy with me here, as usual.

Mark Nagy: Going on Riyad, I’m especially excited for this one because I got one of my business partners here on a deal. So I think we can get a little bit more granular and detail on some of the management stuff, because I know he’s really good at that, so I’m excited to get it.

Riyad Khleif: Love it, love it, love it. We’re going to deep dive on the deal then. So we’ve got John Abraham who I understand just discovered is your partner. He’s also a warrior. Which is really cool. So John, welcome brother.

John Abraham: Oh, thank you for having me, Riyad and Mark. Very excited to be here. I’ve been listening to your podcast for a long time. Never thought I’d get to be on it. So, you know, taking action pays up.

Riyad Khleif: Yes it does, yes it does. You know, it’s funny, I just interviewed someone, for a previous interview, Kyle Stephenson, and he told me he used to listen to it and say, one day I’m going to be on that podcast. You just made the declaration and boom, you know, that’s how life works when you decide something like that.

Riyad Khleif: Well, welcome, my friend. Why don’t you talk a little bit about who you are? Where you came from—whether it was from a previous employment or even maybe still current employment—and why multifamily?

John Abraham: Yeah, absolutely. So much like your story. I’m an immigrant. Came here about 25 years ago. Two bags, one way ticket. Came to Texas A&M to go to grad school. That translated into a job in large scale construction in California, and brought me to Oakland, California. I’ve been here for about 20-plus years in Oakland, working in construction consulting.

John Abraham: I’m a partner in a consulting company and run consulting for large technical construction. And always, you know, coming from India—where I’m from—real estate’s a big thing. It’s one of the goals in life: go to school, get a job, buy a house. Building assets is something that’s deeply ingrained in us.

John Abraham: That’s something my father did as well. Build assets. So buying that first house—I timed the market and bought it at the bottom back in 2008-2009. And then it was always like, what are we going to do next? My leap into real estate investing and actually taking action, as you say, got spurred by my wife.

John Abraham: She was the one saying, “What’s the point of just talking about these dreams? Let’s go get it.” And that’s what set us off on our journey. She’s been instrumental in that success and why we jumped into it.

Deal Sourcing, Underwriting, and Walk-Through

Riyad Khleif: Then get her on and you kick your ass off, and let’s put her on. I’m just kidding. Love it. Well, let’s talk about that deal that you guys are in on together. Where is it at? What is it? Where? How’d you find it?

John Abraham: So it’s a 92-unit in Wichita, Kansas. And we found it purely through networking in the warrior community. Every event I’ve been to, I’ve met great people. By networking and telling people where I currently invest and where our assets are, that’s how I got brought in.

John Abraham: One of your rock stars, Brad Turner, called me and said, “Hey, John, I know you work in Kansas and Missouri—we’ve got a deal. Are you interested? I know you know the market.” That powered networking and clearly communicated intent got me into that deal.

Mark Nagy: I know you’ve been instrumental in asset management, which we’re going to get to in a couple of minutes. But what was the kind of initial role that you played to get yourself into this big deal?

John Abraham: Yeah, absolutely. It brought me the deal. I’m one of those people who wants to be involved in every aspect of a syndication deal. The first thing I do is underwriting. In my day job, I deal with lots of dollars and numbers, and I bring that to underwriting.

John Abraham: Every deal you underwrite, you learn a little bit more. So the first thing I said to my partners was, “Send me the underwriting.” And we went back and forth, analyzing every line item. When people try to decrease expenses, I really question it—because insurance and taxes always go up.

John Abraham: After underwriting, I went out to the asset. I try to be involved in every component of the deal because even if you’re hyper-focused on one thing, learning it all is important.

Mark Nagy: I know you were one of the ones that walked the deal early on, and this was an on-market deal through a broker, if my memory serves me correctly. What did you like about the deal when you initially walked it?

John Abraham: Well, I went there. And by the way, it’s 92 units in Wichita, Kansas. I was at the Warriors-only event in April last year. During the event, a fellow warrior said, “Guys, if you’re getting into a deal, you best walk it yourself.” So my wife and I went out, drove around the neighborhood—half a mile in every direction. A lot of the houses were really well-maintained. The community was full; you could tell by the kinds of cars people drove. I saw that this apartment needed a little work, but I could tell it had potential.

John Abraham: I did some research, ran checks using various tools, and saw that the rents were in the high 600s while the target was in the nine hundreds. There was potential.

Renovation Strategy and Capital Improvements

Riyad Khleif: That’s significant potential—a 200-plus bump is really good. Your note said the rents were at 691 and the target was 935. So, let me ask you this: What do you think the cap rate for that asset is right now, just out of curiosity?

John Abraham: Yeah, about seven.

Riyad Khleif: Probably. Okay, hold on. Times 12 times 92—so I’m calculating what that increase is going to be. If you take it at about $300 a month; if you’re at 995 on a 92-unit asset, that’s an annualized increase of roughly $335,000. With a cap rate of seven, that’s about a $4.8 million increase in value. Boom, baby. That’s freaking awesome, boys. So what are you doing to improve that place, John?

John Abraham: We’re doing both exterior and interior upgrades. On the exterior, we had to redo the decks and stairs since they were in really bad condition. We redid all of the stairways and entry decks, handled deck repairs, and even did some parking lot striping. One thing that struck me was that the main driveway was cluttered with dumpsters—a complete eyesore. We found three spots toward the back, poured new concrete pads, and moved the dumpsters away.

Riyad Khleif: By the way, here’s a little ninja trick: often you can get a towing company to do the painting on a parking lot. We did that on a San Antonio asset—striping and numbering the lot—and were even able to charge people to park in front of their units.

Riyad Khleif: So besides the parking lot, what else did you do? Decks and stairs, dumpsters?

John Abraham: Yes. We tore down the front fence that was falling apart, trimmed a lot of the trees, added parking lot lighting so people can safely walk to their cars at night, and installed new lights at all the decks. We have some additional painting and siding repair scheduled for the spring once the weather improves.

Riyad Khleif: And what about the interiors?

John Abraham: For interiors, we have three different types of turns. One is a basic turn—just paint and carpet. Another is a bigger turn where we upgrade fixtures, lights, fans, and countertops. Then we have complete turns with new vanities, mirrors, full chrome packages, new cabinets, and countertops. We essentially package the improvements so that each unit gets the treatment it needs.

Teamwork, Communication, and Investment Insights

Mark Nagy: We’ve also done plenty of additional improvements. You mentioned lighting—it was super dark at night before, and the new lighting instantly boosted curb appeal. I also noticed on this property that everybody went above and beyond. For instance, Chris and Jermaine, our other partners on this deal, helped tear down the fence to save money. Jermaine even installed electrical outlets in about 91 of the 92 units—saving costs wherever possible.

John Abraham: Exactly. Our partners have been great. Everyone’s playing their part to make this a great investment for all our investors.

Mark Nagy: And John, one thing you’re really good at is the details. Your CapEx spreadsheet is awesome—color-coded with all the different items and where we stand on the budget. You even went out to the property, took detailed pictures, and compiled observations. Where did you develop that skill set? Was it from a previous job, or did you learn that from the warrior program?

John Abraham: My day job is in construction. I work for a lot of developers, and in real estate multifamily, it’s all about breaking things down into actionable chunks and detailed categories. The report I put together was simply an extension of that—dividing exterior and interior observations, adding pictures to illustrate issues and solutions. It’s a skill honed over the past 20 years that really helps our distributed team stay aligned.

Riyad Khleif: That’s awesome. And I promise to all of you listening—each of you have skills that you can bring into this business too. Whether it’s your ability to talk to people, sales skills, construction experience, or management experience, there are many hats to wear in this business. If you’re considering guidance to get to the next level, text the word “crush” to 72345 to see if the warrior program can help you overcome your challenges and start generating lifetime cash flow.

Investor Advice and Final Thoughts

Riyad Khleif: How’s the warrior experience been for you so far, John?

John Abraham: The warrior experience has been phenomenal. I can’t thank you enough for building the network and platform—it’s been so wonderful. I’ve met phenomenal people: those who’ve done great deals and those just starting out. Everybody’s willing to share their experience. You’ve created a culture of giving that is irreplaceable.

Mark Nagy: Let’s also talk about some of the challenges on this deal—obviously, it hasn’t been all daisies and roses. What have been some of the challenges with the tenants or the property, and how have you overcome them over the past eight months?

John Abraham: Some challenges cost us more money than we anticipated. But by working collaboratively as a team and keeping a tight handle on our numbers, we planned the execution of our business plan well. Things unexpected will occur; that’s why you always need a contingency in your CapEx budget. For instance, if you have a $1 million budget, you always set aside a contingency rather than planning to spend it all.

John Abraham: Our asset managers—primarily Chris and Jermaine—are phenomenal. They and even you, Mark, constantly question every extra expense and hold everyone accountable. This detailed oversight drives optimal performance for the asset.

Mark Nagy: I don’t mind getting into conflicts with property managers if needed, but we’ve also had incidents like a small fire, a flood, and even some unusual tenant situations. One tenant, for example, had his place covered in grease because he was rebuilding engines by his window. Despite these hurdles, we’ve done a great job finding and holding our property management team accountable.

Riyad Khleif: Fantastic job. Property management companies need that level of oversight—that’s what asset management is all about. For our listeners who haven’t taken the plunge yet, here’s an action item: start learning now. Get involved, attend virtual or in-person boot camps, and don’t wait to learn everything before you take action.

John Abraham: Absolutely. To those on the sideline, I say come to a boot camp. Action is what counts. You learn on the job, and every conversation—even if it starts about cars—can lead back to real estate. Expand your network and take action.

Riyad Khleif: I love that. Now, what was your “why” for getting into multifamily, and has that evolved over time? I know many of our listeners are driven by freedom and money, but there’s more to it than that.

John Abraham: My why? When I came to America, I believed it was the land where dreams come true—not just financially, but through the people you meet and the community you build. I started in construction and real estate, and while financial freedom is important, the relationships, the learning, and the fulfillment from turning around a community are invaluable. Focus on people and relationships; the money will follow.

Riyad Khleif: That’s a great answer. Achievements are important, but fulfillment comes from what truly juices you—whether that’s charitable work or revitalizing a community. The relationships in this business are often lifelong friendships.

Mark Nagy: On this property, for example, even though we’ve bumped rents by almost $300, the feedback from tenants has been overwhelmingly positive. Many have thanked us for cleaning up the property and replacing problematic tenants.

Riyad Khleif: So, before we wrap up, for those who like your story and want to chat or learn more about real estate, where can they reach you?

John Abraham: They can reach me on Facebook at John Abraham or on Instagram—preferably at Knitting Vest, which is my handle. I’ll be sure to get back to you.

Riyad Khleif: Fantastic. Well, John, it’s been great speaking with you, and congratulations on that screaming deal. I’m sure we’ll see you soon in Sarasota. Thanks for being here, brother.

John Abraham: Thank you for having me. My bags are packed, and my pick is the book—I’ll see you there soon.

Riyad Khleif: All right. Sounds good. Mark, I’ll see you later, buddy. Thanks, everyone.