Other than being a successful snowboarder, Dan Brisse is the co-founder and managing partner at Granite Towers Equity Group. Based in Southern Washington, he leads operations, acquisitions, investor relations, and asset management. He's also the co-host of Keeping It Real, Real Estate Podcast and co-author of Four Steps to Successful Passive Investing.
I reached a point in my career where it was about to end. It happens to all athletes. See the life of a professional athlete after snowboarding and it is brutal, like suicide, actually.
Your identity shifts. Who are you after you have been an athlete all these years? That’s scary.
I am among those people who grew up without having much. My parents gave me love and support, but they were not financially strong. My routine was to work really hard at a night job and snowboard every day, while eating peanut butter and jelly for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Then things took off, and it was a pleasant surprise from life that wasn’t going to last long.
It occurred to me that building a life of financial freedom would take four steps:
These four points are pillars of my investing strategy, and they have changed my life. I will tell you about that in a minute.
Athletes are very specific about their goals, and they don’t quit. The same goes for investors. Professional athletes are focused on multiple X Games gold medals. For investors, the reward is passive income.
I can tell you from personal experience that successful people choose not to quit. I moved out from Minnesota with a group of guys, and those guys were all better than me at snowboarding, but every one of them got distracted or quit. Some of them got into drugs. Others couldn't land a trick at a specific spot and realized they didn't have it, or thought they didn't have it, so they quit.
I could have faced the same fate, but a great leadership coach told me that “a commitment moves the world.”
Do you know what is the reason for my success as a professional snowboarder and then as an investor? It’s staying committed and doing what’s necessary.
It was a 9-unit deal that I acquired back in 2012. Real estate investors work for three reasons:
My investment was successful on all three accounts. My initial investment was $130,000 which created a cash-on-cash return of 12%-15%. It was all passive income.
We did a cost segregation study, which gave me a big loss on paper on a K-1, and helped me offset some of my income as a snowboarder because my wife qualified as a real estate professional.
You must earn money while sleeping if you ever want to build wealth.
The money an athlete makes is great, but the game is over as soon as you are hurt or the brand decides that you are not valuable anymore. There is fierce competition, and you cannot keep the top spot forever.
It was a 2-minutes phone call when I was fired:
“Hey Dan, thanks for being on the team for the last 10 years. You’ve been invaluable, but we’re done.”
That one sentence took away the career that I built over years. A passive income stream can shield you from such events.
Multifamily investors have more room for errors. They have reduced vacancy rates with the power to scale your business.
A single-family home can bring you cash flow. Let's say you earn $500 per month and the water boiler needs to be replaced at a cost of $5,000. That means you have lost your cash flow for the next 10 months.
Multifamily investors raise capital with others. Your property can qualify for non-recourse debt.
The best part is the ability to drive NOI. Life is uncertain, and you can never have 100% control because cap rates move. However, a smart investment in a submarket with pent-up demand can help you succeed. You can achieve occupancy rates of 95% or higher.
It’s always important to track incoming supply. If there is too much supply, you are not buying in the right location with the right value-add strategy to drive NOI.
“Choose submarkets with extreme demand. Supply and demand control everything in the investment world. Get into a submarket with an occupancy rate of 93% to 95%. Have a clear understanding of what the deal will take, and put 75% leverage for seven years via Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. If you can do it, it will be a safe game considering the market cycle right now.”
Dan Brisse and his team invest in Texas, Tennessee, and Minnesota. They have specific criteria for selecting neighborhoods and real estate class: A, B, or C.
At Granite Equity Group, we invest first in cash flow with a clear value-add strategy. Our search is for buildings with 150 to 300 units. We’re looking for newer assets (constructed after 1985). You can also do well with C-class deals. Many of our deals were originally constructed back in 1970.
If you can underwrite your “Capital Expenditure (CapEx)” correctly, which is the money required for maintenance, then you don’t have to worry about the specific class of real estate.
We just bought a 2003 product in an A location up in Chaska, Minnesota. We're buying another one in Minnetonka, Minnesota. Our main focus, though, is still Dallas and Nashville. We just saw these two that came up in premier locations 10 to 15 minutes from where my partner Mike lives, and the numbers worked.
The market shifted in an unpredictable manner in 2021, creating losses for investors nationwide. Interest rates went up, cap rates followed, values came down, and expenses were ripping during the inflationary period.
Now is the time to purchase real estate. There are many overleveraged deals ready to be sold because of a bridge loan, poor management, or partners backing out of the deal. If you know what you’re doing, you can secure investments at a 20%, 30%, or even 40% discount.
Dan Brisse talks about raising capital from newbie investors with a simple philosophy. At the end of the day, it’s important to have a great deal. You’re not really selling anyone on anything. The deal has to sell itself.
"You are presenting an investment opportunity. There is a reason why you are investing personal funds. Over time, you develop trust with investors. If you review all variables, underwrite correctly, and the deal turns profitable, then others will see the potential upside of investing with you.
Our job is to analyze and scour the market for the best opportunities and then put those opportunities in front of our investors. After closing, we manage capital expenditure efficiently with exceptional property management skills. That’s really the name of the game. And then you have to rinse and repeat over and over again."
Asset management happens in two steps. There is an on-site property management company, and then you have a syndication firm like Granite Towers. The syndication firm creates and executes the business plan in the first 12 to 24 months to create value.
The market can shift, and your business plan will have to adjust accordingly. We can create a CapEx plan or business plan according to the data you have today. As the feedback comes or the market reality changes, you will need to pivot. That’s where great leadership comes into play. Be clear about your vision. Choose the right vendors and property managers, and verify the work is being done within time and budget constraints, while the rent is hitting our projections year after year.
This is the most time-intensive job we have at our firm at Granite Towers. You must underwrite and purchase at the right price. That’s a non-negotiable step. The next step is to execute the business plan according to what the market is sharing with us.
With the right execution, you will have a cash-flowing asset where you have driven NOI. Your CapEx is taken care of, and the property can withstand a 5 to 7-year hold period before you can sell or refinance.
Dan Brisse has co-authored Four Steps to Successful Passive Investing. He believes the biggest investing mistake is not investing at all.
You cannot look at deals while thinking about 2021 and 2022. We’re in 2025. It’s a totally different time as we are headed toward 2026. The real estate cycle is the most ignored part of the game. ARV, CapEx, and debt all matter, but the timing matters more than that. Based on the last 250 years here in the U.S., there is a clear rhythm of real estate.
It’s always an 18-and-three-quarter-year rhythm, and it topped out in 2021. The reset is here. We’re in 2025 now. Are we at the bottom? Nobody can say that for sure, but we’re way off the top for sure.
Listen to the market. 100% bonus depreciation is now back. It allows you to defer your tax bill for a later time, which is incredibly powerful.
The first step is to know a deal sponsor with a track record. Don’t just listen to success stories. Every experienced person in this industry hasn’t gone ahead without challenges. There are failures, losses, and challenges that teach you real lessons. Lessons in real estate are brutal, but you learn them deeply. Those learned principles, applied correctly in this next cycle, will distinguish winners.
The next step at Granite Towers is to continue working with the right people. We read a great book at our company called Good to Great by Jim Collins.
We have implemented EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System), which laser focuses the entire team on our 10-year, three-year, and one-year targets. We set targets every 90 days and sprint toward those goals.
Personally speaking, I would like to work on spiritual growth, meditation, and listening to the sixth sense.
That brings us to the end of our conversation with Dan Brisse, co-founder of Granite Towers Equity Group. You can connect with Dan via the business website: www.granitetowersequitygroup.com.
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