When Tyler Smith opted to become an entrepreneur in the real estate investment world, he initially decided to be a one-man band.
“I grew the business up to be pretty successful by myself,” he recalled. “I was ultimately wearing multiple hats ”” from acquisitions to disposition to transactions to marketing. And I realized that if you want to grow a company and do something massive, you have to bring other people along for the ride.”
Now celebrating its fifth anniversary in business, Smith”™s Shelton-based Alpha Capital currently has 35 employees. And while his entrepreneurial drive has not cooled, he has calibrated his efforts to encourage others to share his vision and energy.
“I could build something bigger than myself, and I can also take others back and show them the road to success that I traveled,” he said. “I think it”™s a combination of scale and also giving back to people who want to get to the next level and learn about real estate, because there”™s a ton of opportunity. And there”™s more than enough to go around for everyone.”
Today, Alpha Capital focuses on both single-family and multifamily properties primarily in Connecticut, although the company is active in 11 other states. The company focuses primarily on properties below $500,000 that Smith”™s team can renovate and flip for profits.
“I flipped all the way from New London to Norwalk to Weston to Oakville ”” all over Connecticut,” he said. “New Haven and Fairfield counties, New London County ”” at the end of the day, I”™m just looking for a good deal. My team will go all over the state ”” as long as the numbers make sense, we”™re not going to shy away from many areas.”
Smith said Connecticut”™s real estate market “is relatively strong” despite rising interest rates, noting that the state”™s positive elements make it attractive, including strong school systems and a low vacancy rate. Smith added that he works with a debt fund out of New York City for short-term bridge loans in deals that are 75% loan-to-value and 25% out-of-pocket with his capital.
Running alongside these operations is Alpha Holdings, an iBuyer division that acquires between 40 and 60 properties per month across the country for institutional buyers.
“We”™ll buy the house, hold it for seven days, sometimes two weeks, and then we”™ll resell it to these institutions who then stabilize these assets and hold for our long-term cash flow,” he said.
Outside of Connecticut, Smith finds himself competing with aggressive hedge funds eager to gobble up properties, and he frequently pays more than market value in order to snag attractive properties. But as the once-hot national housing environment begins to cool down, Smith believed the market is correcting itself and sellers who became used to multiple bidding wars during the pandemic era are readjusting their reality of what to expect.
“But Connecticut never really felt that,” he added. “So, I still think that”™s why Connecticut is such a strong market.”
Looking forward, Smith is planning to launch a podcast that will share his experiences as an entrepreneur and his perspectives on the real estate orbit. He is also exploring the possibility of a creating a community-focused nonprofit ”” one early aspect of that endeavor is a Dec. 11 charity event in New Haven that will raise funds to buy toys for children in economically depressed households. Smith held a similar event last year that raised about $14,000 for toy purchases.
“I think it”™s a great way to network and provide a ton of value to people,” he said. “I”™m a strong believer that if you bring value to people and you do it in good faith, that will come back to you 100%.”
