Solving the housing shortage in the United States: Prosper Group

“We aim to be the direct line of connection between New York, Miami, Los Angeles, and international capital and Tampa developments.”

Prosper Group is a real estate investment and development firm focused on acquiring and building assets with data-driven approaches. It operates in Florida.

The firm was founded in January 2021.

The Silicon Review reached out to the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Prosper Group, Jay Roberts, and here’s what he had to say.

Interview Highlights

Q. As a leading real estate investment expert, what tactics do you think go into building a successful firm?

At Prosper Group, we are high-conviction value investors. We develop an investment thesis through deep research and thorough analysis. We create aligned relationships with market experts and hire the best and brightest people aligned with our mission.

We make investment decisions after thoroughly analyzing data and statistics around specific markets and deals. From there, we consult our network of investors and brokers to execute the strategy.

Our focus on data, which tells a story of trends and forecasts, and our relationships with our world-class partners have helped to drive the success we've found to date.

Q. How do you manage times of market turbulence?

We are patient, value investors. During times of market turbulence, we protect the existing portfolio and ensure there is enough liquidity to hold through. Then we scour the market to look for undervalued assets. Often when there is fear, people tend to overreact on the downside. When that happens, we move fast to secure opportunities, using speed and flexible capital to our advantage.

Q. Why was Prosper Group born? What pain points did you set out to solve?

I founded Prosper Group to solve the housing shortage in the United States. After the Great Recession, there was a shortage of five million homes. Home builders couldn't keep up with population growth, and I saw a way to bridge the gap by building both for sale and rent properties.

With the great migration of homeowners from northern states to Florida, there was ample opportunity for growth — specifically in the Tampa area, which has been in the top five cities for population growth over the past several years. People flock to the area for a lifestyle upgrade, lower cost of living and because the city and local government are business-friendly — these are critical factors for investors to consider.

The demand for affordable housing in Tampa heavily outweighs the supply. We're on a path to solve that imbalance.

Q. What makes – and keeps – Prosper relevant?

Prosper is laser-focused on our market in the Tampa region which includes St. Pete and Clearwater. We work hard to know every important inch of the city and build trusting relationships with market experts that give us deal flow. We are bottoms-up investors, so we analyze individual deals within a market to find and create value. We are hopefully on our way to becoming market experts here in Tampa. When people think of Tampa, we want Prosper to be their first call.

I used to work in investment banking in New York. When I moved to Tampa, a number of my colleagues went to Miami. Now, these relationships feed capital into Prosper’s Tampa real estate investments. We aim to be the direct line of connection between New York, Miami, Los Angeles, and international capital and Tampa developments.

Q. Tell us about the Prosper team. What value do they bring to the firm?

People are our most important asset. As the founder and CEO, I interview every candidate that we hire. We look for people who have experience, are highly motivated, positive, and want to build something great. We also seek out the best brokers, architects, engineers, lawyers, and other service providers who become an extension of our team.

Q. How does Prosper plan to create long-term prosperity for the communities it serves and deliver above-market returns for the investors?

Contributing to the community's well-being and financial prosperity is at the core of Prosper Group's mission. Aligning the interests of the community, residents and our partners is key to creating outcomes that benefit everyone involved. We are adding the much-needed affordable housing to a market hungry for more. As the Tampa area continues to grow, our developments create tax revenue and bring out-of-state capital to the market.

On the investor side, we go the extra mile to identify and invest in undervalued assets. The work we do to find contrarian investments creates alpha relative to the market which benefits our investment partners.

Q. So, what's next for Prosper Group?

By the end of 2022, we will have 1,000 multi-family units in development. In 2023, our focus is to continue expanding our ‘for rent’ and ‘for sale’ residential portfolio while growing our commercial assets.

Location-wise, we see a lot of opportunities for us here in the greater Tampa region and plan to selectively expand our reach to Orlando and parts of Central Florida.

Q. What's the one thing you want Prosper to be known for?

Prosper Group is value-driven. We seek to create value for the community while acquiring assets that we believe have more long-term value than what we are buying them for.

Jay Roberts | Founder & CEO

Born in Seoul, South Korea, Jay’s story exhibits the hard-working and entrepreneurial nature of American immigrants. He is a former investment banker and the founder and CEO of Prosper Group. Through his business ventures, Jay aims to contribute to the prosperity of his community and provide solutions to collective needs. He previously was founder and CEO of Domio.

“The demand for affordable housing in Tampa heavily outweighs the supply. We're on a path to solve that imbalance.”

“We see a lot of opportunities for us here in the greater Tampa region and plan to selectively expand our reach to Orlando and parts of Central Florida.”