Turning Around a Distressed Cincinnati Apartment Building With a Master Lease

The story started with a cold email and ended with Slocomb Reed owning a 24-unit building in Cleves that he still operates today.

What the episode covers

• Why Cleves operates more like a tertiary market than a Cincinnati neighborhood, and why that is a feature for cash flow.
• The master lease structure Brandon Turner designed to get out from under three failed property managers, which gave Slocomb a three-month head start on the turnaround with zero cost of debt, taxes, or insurance.
• How occupancy went from 9 rent-paying tenants out of 24 units at takeover to near-full stabilization before closing, using only the property's own collected rents to fund the turn.
• The utility math: Cleves Water Works runs at less than half the per-volume cost of Greater Cincinnati Water Works, and all-electric construction shifts heat costs entirely to tenants.
• Why $775 for a one-bedroom works in Cleves but would be a slow death in Westwood, and what that says about underwriting small units in low-rent submarkets.
• The Amazon effect: how a single distribution center near the airport pushed wages from $9 to $11 an hour up to $13 to $15 and expanded the qualified tenant pool within 15 minutes of the property.
• The Three Rivers School District angle: why some renters take one-bedrooms in Cleves to secure a school district address.

How the structure works

A master lease lets a buyer run the property before closing while the seller keeps ownership. For the general playbook, read master lease agreements: a tool for multifamily buyers. For a larger example, see running a master lease before closing.

Listen

Stream Episode 12 on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.