Prior to establishing The Leumas Group, Reggie Samuel, served as an Investment Officer at Equity Residential (EQR). Equity, a S&P 500 company, is the largest publicly traded apartment company in the U.S. Equity owns or holds an interest in 451 properties in 17 states and the District of Columbia consisting of 129,604 units and has approximately 6,000 employees who provide real estate operations, leasing, disposition, accounting, acquisitions, legal, development, and other support functions.
After his involvement in more than $2.5 Billion in multifamily transactions (acquisitions and dispositions) with EQR and establishing numerous relationships with industry leaders throughout the country, Reggie resigned from Equity with the aim of solidifying the Leümas foundation prior to the official launch of its investment advisory platform.
More recently, Mr. Samuel spearheaded an effort to revamp the investment unit of a $150 million commingled multifamily investment fund based out of Maryland. The fund’s investors include some of the nation’s largest and best capitalized financial institutions, however, having only invested 30% of its capital commitments heading into the final year of its placement period, the start-up firm sought to tap into Mr. Samuel’s strong multifamily investment background and deep industry connections. Within his first 9 months of directing a shift in the firm’s investment approach and underwriting capabilities, the fund prudently allocated the remainder of its deployable capital. Mr. Samuel leveraged the unique opportunity to contribute substantial value to the fund’s platform while also solidifying his grasp on the fundamental elements necessary to establish and operate a Private Equity Real Estate Advisory Firm.
As a founding member of the NMHC Emerging Leaders Committee, Reggie has been a committed leader within the multifamily industry since his undergraduate experience at Virginia Tech, where he received a full scholarship and graduated from the Residential Property Management (RPM) program. While pursuing his degree and solidifying his leadership skills as a member of the varsity football team, Mr. Samuel proactively worked part-time at a workforce housing community to expand upon the management theory he obtained in the classroom.
Upon graduating, Reggie initiated his full-time real estate career with Archstone-Smith (ASN). While supervising a 22-employee team at Archstone, Mr. Samuel honed his staff management skills and obtained a first rate education on how revenue is produced on a day-to-day basis within the multifamily industry. From property maintenance, HR management, marketing, and budgeting, to property level accounting, it was here that Mr. Samuel developed his firm understanding of the core business and property operations that later translated into his unique ability to identify quality real estate opportunities from the standpoint of financial and operational strength as well as structural soundness.
From his firm grasp on day-to-day property-level operations and involvement with complicated REIT Operating Partnership Unit transactions, to his clear understanding of the importance and requirements of institutional reporting and accounting, Mr. Samuel is in possession of a far-reaching and thoughtfully mapped set of experiences and relationships that are uniquely positioned to translate into above average returns when coupled with institutional capital.