Before Foundry: A Backup Plan Built Around a Day Job
Richie has spent two decades in oil and gas, and the industry’s boom-and-bust cycles are exactly why his rental business exists. He started doing rental arbitrage in 2019, building a portfolio of apartment-style listings in a downtown Texas market close to the major sports and event venues, all while working full time as a production manager.
“I never did get laid off, but I started doing this as kind of like a backup plan.”
- Richie
By spring 2024 the backup plan was 19 listings, and pricing was still a side-of-desk job. Richie signed in May 2024, and his revenue manager took over pricing that June.
How We Measure This
The headline compares the 9 listings that earned revenue throughout both periods: the twelve months before onboarding, June 2023 through May 2024, against the most recent twelve, August 2025 through July 2026. His downtown market has been falling through that stretch, with comp sets cutting rates and running 9 to 15% below the prior year through parts of 2025 and 2026, so the revenue index against the market is the measure that shows what pricing did.
What We Did
- Built the pricing calendar around local seasonality: March and April, anchored by a ten-day city festival, are the portfolio’s biggest months, so rates protect those weeks while slower stretches lean on occupancy
- Early-bird and length-of-stay discounts to fill calendars far in advance, then removed ahead of strong summer months so peak inventory was never given away
- Short-window promotions to capture last-minute bookings in slow weeks
- Listing-level optimization, photo and amenity audits, and ranking checks that turned into more bookings
The Results
On the same 9 listings, revenue went from $629K to $567K, down 10% against a market that fell harder. The index tells the real story: the portfolio’s revenue index against its market rose from 125 to 137, meaning its lead over comparable listings widened from 25% to 37% while the whole market shrank. Occupancy on those listings held near 74% in both periods.
The portfolio level shows the growth:
- Whole-portfolio revenue nearly doubled, $629K to $1.2M, across 18 tracked listings
- Year one finished 18% ahead whole-portfolio, $629K to $742K, in a softening market
- Revenue index 125 to 137 on the original book: the market fell harder than these listings
Richie exited several units in an underperforming building and added a family lake house in early 2026, so the portfolio totals reflect that reshaping as well as pricing.
“Patrick’s been great.”
- Richie, on his revenue manager Patrick
Where They Are Now
Richie is still an engineer by day, but the goal has changed. He is over the nine to five and wants to do hospitality full time. With pricing handled, the portfolio held its widened lead through summer 2026, over a market that is still finding its floor.