Merrill Kaliser

Biography:

Merrill graduated from Washington University School of Law in St. Louis in 1999, where he subsequently joined Gardere as a corporate bankruptcy and restructuring lawyer. After five years of extensive experience in some of the largest bankruptcies and workouts in the history of the U.S., Merrill left Gardere for a boutique firm that had focused on commercial real estate restructuring and workouts. In 2008, Merrill became a sole practitioner where his primary practice area was corporate, real estate, and creditor representation. Merrill’s law firm (www.kaliserlaw.com) has represented over 1,400 multi-family/SFR/Storage transactions/syndications nation-wide valued at over $5.4B.

Also, in 2008, Merrill co-founded Longhorn III Investments LLC. The company quickly became the premier hard money lender on non-owner occupied single-family properties in the state of Texas. Two years later, Merrill co-founded Trident Realty Investments LLC, a 506(b) Reg D fund that became the main funding source for Longhorn III, providing $50M+ in lending capital.

In 2012, Merrill formed Longhorn IV Investments LLC to co-venture with Building and Land Technology (BLT), a large privately held real estate developer, manager and private equity firm. Longhorn and BLT jointly bought, rehabbed, leased, and property managed over 1,075 single family rentals. During this time, Merrill developed a proprietary software platform for acquisition and construction management, and founded the property management company Lone Star 4 Rent. In April 2015, the portfolio was sold at a significant profit to a large private Canadian real estate group. At the time of sale, the portfolio was valued at $105M.

From 2016-2018, US REVI originated, rehabbed, leased, and eventually facilitated the sale of 1,400 SFRs for Ovation Partners, a $700M private equity firm based in Austin. This portfolio was valued at over $200M and generated a substantial gain at sale. To date, his team has bought, rehabbed, leased, property managed and sold over 9,500 SFRs in 5 states. Longhorn IV Investments (his SFR acquisitions company) continues to utilize its software and brokerage licenses to service a couple of Texas- based funds. In addition to his J.D., he holds a B.A. in Sociology from the University of Texas in Austin.

Highlights:

• Represented over 1,400 MF transactions/syndications (>$5.4B in value)

• Hard Money Lending Company providing 400+ loans/per year (grew to $40+M) – sold 50% interest in 2015

• Bought, rehabbed, leased, property managed and sold with three PE firms:

o 9,500 SFRs

o TX, MO, KS and IN

o DFW, HOU, SAN, STL, KC and INDY (2013-2019)

• GP/co-GP on 4,400+ MF/Storage Units (2019- Present), $600M AUM

• GP (2) Helium Funds (drilling and extracting helium in NE AZ) (2020 – Present)

• GP – Leander Springs (78acre-mixed use development – future value $1B+) Sold in August 2021 (20% & 30% annualized ROI for investors) – Sold 2021

• P-22 Fee Agreement with Old Republic Title

• RE and KPI software development