Diary of an Apartment Investor · Brian Briscoe

EXP - Driving The Conversation With John Funderburk

April 18, 2025·35 min·3 clips

John Funderburk closed a 48-unit and a 52-unit deal in Charlotte, raising nearly $5 million in 2024.

Host Brian Briscoe of Streamline Capital interviews John Funderburk, who entered real estate around 2015-2016 after leaving corporate life, started as a realtor, moved into house flipping, and progressed to multifamily through ground-up construction during COVID. Funderburk describes installing cabinets in four houses simultaneously without air conditioning in Southwest Florida as the catalyst that pushed him to pursue multifamily education. He joined a coaching program — identified as Michael Blank's program — after initial skepticism, persuaded by another student's argument that the coaching cost was equivalent to the cost of making an equally expensive mistake with investor money. Funderburk raised private capital for single family projects before multifamily, which he says gave him an advantage over typical new entrants. In 2023, interest rates made underwriting deals impossible; 2024 was similar until rates began to stabilize. He lost his father mid-2024 and took three to four months off; upon returning, he partnered on two deals. A first deal fell out of contract due to physical property conditions. Two Charlotte properties then closed: a 48-unit for $6.5 million in May 2024 and a 52-unit in South Charlotte for $8.5 million, with roughly $4.5-5 million raised in total. Funderburk frames his capital raising role as consultative rather than sales-oriented, rooted in a background as a VP of sales leading a national sales team. He describes serving as the investor relations point of contact on deals with lead sponsors, attending all asset management meetings, writing reports, and acting as the investor's voice to the operator. He says he deliberately tells investors who cannot afford losses to put money in the S&P 500 instead. He describes investor skepticism around syndication scams as increasing, and says he now shares Google Maps screenshots and signed purchase agreements to prove deals exist. On communications, he recommends monthly live webinars for the first six months of a deal, personal Zoom or in-person meetings, Topgolf investor events, and constant texting and calling. He references a foreclosed property he was invested in that he learned about from a Facebook group rather than the sponsor as an example of communication failure. He closes by announcing a general partner role in Petros Investment Partners, a Bitcoin futures trading fund, and argues that capital raising skills transfer across asset classes. He advises new investors to nurture their investor database as their most valuable asset until reaching 1,000 doors, after which institutional capital becomes accessible.

As heard by us

A candid real-estate interview about hard lessons, investor trust, and credibility built through mistakes.

John Funderburk comes across as practical and unvarnished: he moved out of corporate life, tried real estate, admitted he was not especially good at it, then worked through construction, house flipping, multifamily, and ground-up builds during the COVID years.

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Why you'd press play

You want the honest version of a multifamily operator's climb.

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