MFM History
In December of 2017, Powell Chee organized the first meetup of the Out of State Multifamily Investors (OSMFI) in Redondo Beach, CA. He created the group just one week earlier on meetup.com and by the time the event took place it had about 15 people in its membership. There was no agenda, no presentation, no guarantee that anyone would show up. That first meetup was eight people who met inside of a hotel lobby. They all sat around a table, discussed what they did in real estate and what markets they were investing in. After that first meeting, the OSMFI membership and attendance grew at a rapid rate. Within six months the membership grew to over 400 members and the group was ready to expand. With the help of Khoa Pham & Kevin Dugan (West LA) and Lalita & Kyle Mitchell (Long Beach), the OSMFI grew to three chapters by May of 2018. During the early stages of this expansion the three chapters provided support and helped each one be successful. They shared many things including topics, speakers, and methods of success.
For the next year the three chapters continued to solidify, strengthen, and attract more members. Several of those members had expressed interest in starting their own chapters in other locations and by May of 2019, OSMFI was ready to expand again. This time Bethany & Nate Smith (Ventura), Leonie & James Tran, Nathan Webb, and Jack Tsai (Pasadena), Gary Lipsky & Jay Chang (Downtown LA), and Chris Collins & Chat Sarmiento-Steinwald (Marina Del Rey) all joined. OSMFI had now expanded to seven total chapters all in Southern California. At this time OSMFI also created their first all-chapter event. This was a one day event filled with networking, multifamily education, presentations from industry experts, syndication panelists, and speakers from Southern California, Indianapolis, Boise, Houston, and Dallas. OSMFI had grown a tremendous foothold in Southern California and was attracting a lot of eyeballs. Speakers with national platforms were asking to do speaking tours for the OSMFI chapters. Gene Trowbridge (SoCal), Rod Khleif (FL), Neal Bawa (NorCal), Adam Adams (CO), and James Kandasamy (TX) all were seen at multiple chapter locations.
With the incredible amount of momentum that OSFMI was generating and the interest from other parts of the nation, the group expanded once again. This expansion included Baltimore, New Orleans, Little Rock, Tampa, Palm Beach, Lubbock, and with many more soon after. With this expansion the group had out grow its name Out of State Multifamily Investors and rebranded into MultiFamilyMasters.com. By December 2019, two years after the first meeting of eight people in a hotel lobby, MultiFamilyMasters.com has grown to just shy of 50 chapters including two international chapters. The group continues to grow and actively pursue its mission: A global grassroots community to connect, educate, and empower people to build wealth through real estate.