Based in Los Angeles, California, Sandstone Properties began in 1994 as a single personally funded investment, and is now a real estate investment firm with a $650 million portfolio including a broad spectrum of office, retail, industrial, multi-family, and hospitality properties.
Growing from a single personal investment, by 2018 Sandstone Properties had a roster of institutional partners as well as over 70 individual investors. Though the firm had expanded significantly, their reporting process had not kept pace, and Sandstone wanted to offer more comprehensive, convenient information for investors than their monthly reports were able to provide.
When Raphael Zilberstein joined Sandstone in 2018, he was convinced there was a better way to handle the monthly reporting than the system they were currently using – emailing out individual PDFs to investors.
“We’d previously been introduced to Update Capital, and I immediately saw the platform as a way we could provide added value to our investors” says Zilberstein.
The Update Capital platform provides investors with a clean, comprehensive look at their investments and also serves as a one-stop-shop for documents, reports, and communications.
“Every time we send something out, we can see how many investors opened the email, how many of them logged in, everything. We get information about how they are engaging, and that's a nice feature” says Zilberstein.
Some of Sandstone’s investors keep regular tabs on their investments, while others may only check in once a year to review their holdings and performance. No matter how they use the platform, Update Capital is always there, providing the necessary information on-demand, in an easy-to-use dashboard.
“It’s a great way for investors to get the full story on their investments. They can take a look whenever they like, as frequently as they prefer. If they haven’t been keeping up with a development project, they can log in and get caught up on everything that’s happened and know just where things stand.”
Sandstone began by using Update Capital as a way to distribute important information and monthly reports to their existing investors, but the platform’s capabilities make it an excellent CRM tool as well.
“As we consider new investments and development opportunities, Update Capital is a great tool to evaluate potential investor interest and helps us determine whether institutional partners or individual investors are the best fit for a particular project” says Zilberstein.
In addition to providing information about upcoming opportunities to existing investors, the portal operates as a marketing tool, advertising the firms upcoming projects to potential investors, and growing the firm’s investor base.
Sandstone began years ago by investing in commercial real estate, but as the firm has grown, so has its focus. Today, they have several development projects in the works including multi-family housing, hotels, and office conversions.
A changing focus requires an adaptable platform, and Zilberstein says Update Capital is always willing to go the extra mile to ensure the platform meets Sandstone’s needs.
“The team is very attentive. If we're looking for a feature that’s not available, they always say, ‘Let’s see if we can add that for you.’ In the beginning, we needed a lot of customization and Update Capital was always happy to work with us. They are very receptive and responsive to feedback.”
He continues, “When we decided to go with Update Capital two years ago, it was because I saw the potential to add value for our investors at a reasonable price. Since then, they’ve proven they’re willing to collaborate with us to make sure the platform continues to serve our evolving needs.”
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