Pia Residential

Property Investment Advisors Group Sells Portfolio of 200 South Florida Single Family Homes for $47 Million

MIAMI – July 24, 2018 – Property Investment Advisors (PIA) Group, a Miami-based private equity real estate investment firm, has sold one of its portfolios of 200 single family homes in South Florida to Cerberus Capital Management of New York, for $47 million.

PIA Group will deploy the proceeds toward the acquisition of additional institutional size value-add multifamily apartments in high growth Southeastern U.S. cities.

“The sale to Cerberus Capital Management went “extremely smooth,” says Jimmy Levy, co-founder and partner of PIA Group. “Cerberus is a $30 billion global investor and asset manager. They are agile, responsive, closed quickly, on time and on contract. We look forward to an ongoing relationship with them as we continue to grow our portfolio.”

“Ten years ago, we were fortunate to be among one of the first institutional investors to confirm the early vision of acquiring and upgrading large volumes of single family homes for the rental market,” Levy adds. “Now, we’re shifting our focus, our capital and our repositioning expertise to multifamily properties.”     ­­­

As PIA Group transitions into the multifamily sector, it will continue with the strategy that has fueled its consistent growth since 2005.

“We are a hands-on investment firm and we do not  deviate from our fundamental mission. We secured financing when there was none available for single family aggregators. We managed hundreds of houses when everyone doubted it could be done efficiently and generated substantial returns for our partners,” continues Jimmy Levy.

“We are laser focused on acquiring assets that we can improve, amenitize and manage,” he explains.

PIA Group was formed by three partners, Saul Levy, Jimmy Levy and Danny Kattan. The three founders invest their own personal money in every deal alongside a handful of very select investors.

The firm is known for staying particularly close to its tenants.  “We treat our tenants with respect, offer them good, clean houses and respond swiftly to all their maintenance needs,” explains Kattan. “We understand and appreciate the impact that happy tenants have on our bottom line.”

In the early years, PIA’s owners personally delivered Thanksgiving turkeys to every tenant across the hundreds of homes and apartments in their portfolio as a thank you for being part of their extended family.

With the company swiftly expanding in the last couple years, it became a logistical challenge, recalls Kattan, “so we did the next best thing. We now mail prepaid Thanksgiving turkey gift cards to our tenants.”

Even as a younger, smaller company, PIA Group had structured itself to operate the way a sophisticated institutional investor would. With its knowledge and experience in recognizing market opportunities, it has attracted various large equity partners, family offices and high-net- worth individual investors seeking steady long-term, risk-adjusted returns.

“Now, as we pivot deeper into the multifamily sector, we feel confident we can create attractive residential living in the high growth Southeastern U.S.,” says Saul Levy, partner and managing director of the Multifamily Division at PIA Group.