PassivePockets: The Passive Real Estate Investing Show

Debt funds are having a moment but most LPs still don’t have a clean framework for where private credit fits inside a real estate portfolio, or how to diligence a fund beyond “it’s first lien” and a headline return.

In this episode, Chris Lopez sits down with Whitney Elkins-Hutten to break down a simple (but powerful) portfolio exercise Whitney built for herself: categorize every asset by risk and liquidity, then work backward from a real cashflow target to build an “income sleeve” that can hold up when equity cashflow gets compressed. Whitney explains why she doesn’t start with percentages, how she thinks about taxable vs. retirement capital for early retirement timelines, and how she reinvests income to steadily grow both the debt and equity sides of the portfolio.

Then they go deep on debt fund due diligence, Whitney’s “four-part” risk lens (capital position, asset type, development phase, and legal structure) and the three buckets she uses to evaluate a fund once you’re past the basics: People, Processes, and Protections. They also cover practical verification steps LPs can take (without needing a social security number), what she wants to see in reporting, when a missing loan tape is or isn’t a dealbreaker, how to think about third-party reviews vs. audited financials, and why leverage inside a debt fund can quietly flip your real position in the stack.

Key Takeaways

A portfolio exercise for building an “income sleeve” and working backward from your cashflow number (not arbitrary percentages)

How to think about liquidity and reserves as your “oxygen mask” before chasing returns

Debt fund risk framework: capital position + asset type + development phase + legal structure

Debt DD simplified: underwriting the People, the Processes, and the Protections

What Whitney wants to see in monitoring: monthly payments, draw cadence, early warning signals, and workout plans

Loan tape reality: why some operators won’t share it, what they should provide instead, and when third-party verification matters most

Leverage in debt funds: why a warehouse line can be fine at low levels and why high leverage can make you “behind the bank”

Fraud and “messy middle” risks: cross-collateralization, self-dealing permissions, and what to confirm in the PPM

How to validate third-party financials: trust-but-verify steps (including confirming directly with the auditor)

Disclaimer

The content of this podcast is for informational purposes only. All host and participant opinions are their own. Investment in any asset, real estate included, involves risk, so use your best judgment and consult with qualified advisors before investing. You should only risk capital you can afford to lose. Past performance is not indicative of future results. This podcast may contain paid advertisements or other promotional materials for real estate investment advisers, investment funds, and investment opportunities, which should not be interpreted as a recommendation, endorsement, or testimonial by PassivePockets, LLC or any of its affiliates. Viewers must conduct their own due diligence and consider their own financial situations before engaging with any advertised offerings, products, or services. PassivePockets, LLC disclaims all liability for direct, indirect, consequential, or other damages arising out of reliance on in

Connect with Altruis Capital Partners:

https://reports.alturascapitalpartners.com/quarterly-reports/2025-q4 

https://alturascapital.com/ 

This Episode

Alturas Capital Partners has built a vertically integrated platform across the Intermountain West—and in this episode, Chris Lopez sits down with Daniel Trevino (Director of Investor Relations) to unpack what that “operators first” philosophy looks like in practice.

Daniel explains why Alturas focuses on markets they know firsthand (including Colorado), how they think about creating alpha through hands-on execution, and why the firm chose an evergreen fund structure designed for long-term compounding instead of a traditional closed-end raise. The conversation also dives into why Alturas leaned into “neighborhood” and experiential retail when the asset class was out of favor, how that thesis has evolved, and what they’re seeing today across office, retail, and other commercial segments.

Chris presses on the core LP questions: how diversification works inside a multi-asset evergreen vehicle, how Alturas thinks about underwriting spreads in today’s rate environment, why location quality matters even more in office, and what a “poor performer” taught them about risk management. Daniel closes with where Alturas sees opportunity building over the next cycle—and why the right basis (and the right market) still matters most.

Key Takeaways

What “operators first” means and why Alturas verticalized acquisitions, management, leasing, and maintenance

How Alturas defines the Intermountain West—and why local market knowledge is central to their strategy

Why they built an evergreen vehicle for flexibility through cycles (buy when it’s right, sell when it’s frothy)

The retail thesis: “experiential” and neighborhood retail vs. the parts of retail most exposed to e-commerce

How Alturas approaches multi-asset diversification without losing operational discipline—and what skill sets translate across retail/industrial/flex/office

A real example of a struggling office asset and the key lesson: location quality can make or break execution

What they’re watching next: office supply dynamics, underbuilding, and where basis-driven opportunity may emerge

Disclaimer

The content of this podcast is for informational purposes only. All host and participant opinions are their own. Investment in any asset, real estate included, involves risk, so use your best judgment and consult with qualified advisors before investing. You should only risk capital you can afford to lose. Past performance is not indicative of future results. This podcast may contain paid advertisements or other promotional materials for real estate investment advisers, investment funds, and investment opportunities, which should not be interpreted as a recommendation, endorsement, or testimonial by PassivePockets, LLC or any of its affiliates. Viewers must conduct their own due diligence and consider their own financial situations before engaging with any advertised offerings, products, or services. PassivePockets, LLC disclaims all liability for direct, indirect, consequential, or other damages arising out of reliance on information and advertisements presented in this podcast.

PassivePockets members have asked for two things over and over: better terms and access to more deal options without writing huge checks. In this special webinar, Chris Lopez breaks down how “community capital” can do exactly that—by pooling investor commitments into an SPV (Special Purpose Vehicle) to unlock lower minimums, stronger economics, and cleaner access to sponsor funds.

Chris is joined by Travis Smith (Founder & CEO of TribeVest) and Paul Bennett (President of AAA Storage). Travis explains what SPVs are, how Open Tribes work, and why modern tech has dramatically reduced the cost and complexity of running these structures compared to the “old school” SPV process. Then Paul walks through a real-world example: a PassivePockets Open Tribe built around AAA Storage Growth Fund II, complete with improved fee and waterfall terms for the community, plus a lower minimum that makes the fund accessible to more accredited investors.

You’ll also get a practical, investor-focused overview of AAA’s strategy: a ground-up development portfolio spanning self-storage and small-bay industrial across four growth markets (Austin, Houston, San Antonio, and Charlotte), why Paul believes self-storage is bottoming and setting up for a supply/demand tailwind into 2027–2031, and how AAA structures its fund to avoid land entitlement risk and eliminate additional capital calls.

Disclaimer

The content of this podcast is for informational purposes only. All host and participant opinions are their own. Investment in any asset, real estate included, involves risk, so use your best judgment and consult with qualified advisors before investing. You should only risk capital you can afford to lose. Past performance is not indicative of future results. This podcast may contain paid advertisements or other promotional materials for real estate investment advisers, investment funds, and investment opportunities, which should not be interpreted as a recommendation, endorsement, or testimonial by PassivePockets, LLC or any of its affiliates. Viewers must conduct their own due diligence and consider their own financial situations before engaging with any advertised offerings, products, or services. PassivePockets, LLC disclaims all liability for direct, indirect, consequential, or other damages arising out of reliance on information and advertisements presented in this podcast.

Link to Deal:

https://passivepockets.com/directory/deals/aspen-industrial-growth-fund/

This Episode

Aspen Funds’ Ben Fraser and Ellis Hammond return to PassivePockets for an exclusive LP Deal Review on their Industrial Growth Fund—an industrial land + development strategy concentrated in Kansas City’s “Golden Triangle” submarket. Chris, along with LP panelists Pascal Wagner and Christy Burakovsky, breaks down the thesis behind the fund: why Kansas City is positioned as a major industrial “supernode,” how onshoring and supply chain reshoring supports long-term demand, and why Aspen is focusing on smaller-bay industrial where vacancy has remained structurally tight.

The discussion digs into how value is created before a building ever goes vertical, buying raw land, pushing it through entitlements, securing meaningful tax abatements, and turning it into shovel-ready inventory in a supply-constrained corridor. From there, Aspen has multiple paths to realize gains: sell parcels to owner-users and developers at a premium, develop spec/build-to-suit projects themselves, and/or structure JV partnerships where the fund contributes land into projects.

The LP panel also pushes hard on the questions that matter to passive investors: how timelines and exits actually work in a multi-asset land fund, what “lumpy” distributions look like vs steady yield, how the cumulative preferred return accrues, and what happens if market conditions delay sales. Finally, Aspen outlines special PassivePockets terms, lower minimums and improved economics if the community hits a group investment threshold.

Key Takeaways

Why Aspen is concentrating in Kansas City’s “Golden Triangle” and what makes the submarket supply-constrained

How industrial tailwinds (onshoring/reshoring + logistics corridors) support long-term demand in KC

The value creation stack: raw land → entitlements/tax abatements → shovel-ready uplift → land sales and/or vertical development

Fund cash flow realities: event-driven distributions (land sales/refis/sales), not consistent monthly income

PassivePockets community terms: lower minimum and improved pref/split if the group minimum is reached, plus a cumulative preferred return structure

Disclaimer

The content of this podcast is for informational purposes only. All host and participant opinions are their own. Investment in any asset, real estate included, involves risk, so use your best judgment and consult with qualified advisors before investing. You should only risk capital you can afford to lose. Past performance is not indicative of future results. This podcast may contain paid advertisements or other promotional materials for real estate investment advisers, investment funds, and investment opportunities, which should not be interpreted as a recommendation, endorsement, or testimonial by PassivePockets, LLC or any of its affiliates. Viewers must conduct their own due diligence and consider their own financial situations before engaging with any advertised offerings, products, or services. PassivePockets, LLC disclaims all liability for direct, indirect, consequential, or other damages arising out of reliance on information and advertisements presented in this podcast.

This Episode

Michael returns to the show after a standout LP Deal Review Q&A, and Chris digs into the full backstory: how Michael went from the Chicago Mercantile Exchange—trading interest rate derivatives bell-to-bell—to building Origin Investments into a multifamily-focused platform built around downside protection and long-term compounding.

They unpack how Michael thinks about “edge” as markets became more efficient, why risk management lives at both the deal level and the company level, and what LPs should pay attention to when evaluating a manager’s balance sheet and decision-making under pressure. The conversation also gets tactical on portfolio construction in today’s environment—why Michael believes credit is being “overcompensated” relative to equity, how Origin evolved from value-add to a build/buy/lend approach, and how cycle awareness influences where (and how) he’s willing to deploy capital.

Chris also asks how current macro uncertainty impacts underwriting and positioning right now, and Michael closes with a set of simple, but hard-earned, LP principles: build a written plan, stay disciplined, keep liquidity, and remember that small performance deltas compound into life-changing outcomes over time.

Key Takeaways

Michael’s path from commodities/derivatives trading to launching Origin and why 2007-2009 was a formative real estate “training ground”

How to think about “edge” in modern real estate when information is ubiquitous and why small advantages still matter

Risk management at two levels: deal structure (leverage, markets, people) and firm structure (bench strength, balance sheet support)

Why Michael would overweight credit today and keep equity exposure selective and how that creates flexibility to rebalance

LP discipline lessons: write your strategy down, don’t fear saying “no,” protect liquidity, and let compounding do the heavy lifting

Disclaimer

The content of this podcast is for informational purposes only. All host and participant opinions are their own. Investment in any asset, real estate included, involves risk, so use your best judgment and consult with qualified advisors before investing. You should only risk capital you can afford to lose. Past performance is not indicative of future results. This podcast may contain paid advertisements or other promotional materials for real estate investment advisers, investment funds, and investment opportunities, which should not be interpreted as a recommendation, endorsement, or testimonial by PassivePockets, LLC or any of its affiliates. Viewers must conduct their own due diligence and consider their own financial situations before engaging with any advertised offerings, products, or services. PassivePockets, LLC disclaims all liability for direct, indirect, consequential, or other damages arising out of reliance on information and advertisements presented in this podcast.