Leading The Future Of Affordable Housing With Jason Bordainick (Podcast)

Jason Bordainick is the co-founder of Hudson Valley Property Group, which he established in 2010 with a vision to create the preeminent housing preservation firm, improving upon the availability, quality, and affordability of housing across the country. HVPG acquires existing multifamily properties and enhances their sustainability, leveraging innovative strategic partnerships in the areas of healthcare, education, and technology to deliver added value for residents and investors. The firm has completed nearly 20,000 units and over $4 billion in total project value.

Prior to founding HVPG, Jason built Off Campus Partners, the nation's largest online marketplace for off-campus student housing, which he started from his dorm room at the University of Virginia. The platform helped millions of students secure housing each year and was acquired by CoStar in 2019. Throughout his career, Jason has successfully executed over $2.5 billion of investments on behalf of private investors and corporations. He holds an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business and a bachelor's degree from the University of Virginia.

The Dealmakers' Edge with A.Y. Strauss

Leading the Future of Affordable Housing with Jason Bordainick

Insights from Jason Bordainick on Scaling Affordable Housing Through Consistency and Trust

Jason Bordainick started his first company from a dorm room at the University of Virginia. Off Campus Partners became the nation's largest online marketplace for student housing and was eventually acquired by CoStar. That success gave him credibility, momentum, and the confidence to take on something harder.

In 2010, he and his childhood friend Andy Cavaluzzi decided to build a business in affordable housing preservation. Expertise, relationships, and regulatory fluency created steep barriers to entry in the space. They had vision but no track record in the asset class, no institutional backing, and no family real estate firm to lean on. For three and a half years, they submitted proposals, chased deals, and came up just short. That grind built the discipline and partnership that would eventually shape Hudson Valley Property Group into one of the leading platforms in the space.

In this episode of The Dealmakers' Edge, Aaron and Jason discuss what it takes to break into a market with high barriers to entry, how to build institutional trust from scratch, and why consistency and execution matter more than having all the answers upfront. Jason shares lessons from proving out a model, earning credibility deal by deal, and leading a business that does well by doing good.

2:57 – Starting Off Campus Partners from a dorm room and winning a business plan competition

4:57 -Teaming up with childhood friend Andy Cavaluzzi to start Hudson Valley Property Group in 2010

6:48 – Understanding capital-A Affordable housing and the role of Section 8 and LIHTC programs

11:49 – Starting with $5,000 and $10,000 checks and compounding investor trust

14:52 – Values-first leadership and how you do anything is how you do everything

16:21 – Using discipline and AI to screen projects and deploy capital at scale

18:16 – Managing adversity and the mental challenges of entrepreneurship

21:14 – How adversity strengthens partnerships and builds equal commitment

23:35 – Career advice for the next generation and the value of specialization

Mentioned In Leading the Future of Affordable Housing with Jason Bordainick

Transcript

Aaron Strauss: You're listening to The Dealmakers' Edge with A.Y. Strauss, diving deep into stories behind commercial real estate leaders.

Hello, everyone. Welcome to The Dealmakers' Edge. Today, I'm really excited to be joined by my friend, Jason Bordainick. It's a very exciting conversation. Jason's bio is that he co-founded a Hudson Valley Property Group with a vision to create the preeminent housing preservation firm, improving upon the availability, quality, and affordability of housing across the country.

HVPG acquires existing multifamily properties and enhances their sustainability, leveraging innovative strategic partnerships in the areas of healthcare, education, and technology to deliver added value for residents and investors. He's a recognized industry leader. Jason applies his creativity and business acumen towards building an impactful organization that achieves outstanding results for its partners, both for-profit and nonprofit, and the communities it serves. He's a frequent lecturer.

Prior to building this company, he built Off Campus Partners, which was the nation's largest online marketplace for off-campus housing, which helps millions of students secure housing each year, which was ultimately acquired by CoStar in 2019. Throughout his career, Jason has successfully executed over $2.5 billion of investments on behalf of private investors and corporations. He has an MBA from Stanford, and undergrad went to University of Virginia. So without further ado, here's a conversation with Jason.

We're going to talk about how he got to where he is and his operating principles and how he manages the day-to-day while keeping the bigger vision in sight. Hello, everyone. Welcome to The Dealmakers' Edge. Today, we're really excited to be joined by my friend, Jason Bordainick, who's really done some amazing work in the affordable housing space and who has built a fabulous business and who's got a really interesting background. We're excited to tell his story or rather have him tell it.

So Jason, welcome to the podcast. Thank you again for making time out of your crazy schedule.

Jason Bordainick: Thanks for having me. I'm looking forward to it.

Aaron Strauss: I know we typically try to start from the beginning because you try to see where people come from and how they get on their entrepreneurial track. But maybe you can give us a couple of minute biographical sketch before we start hard-hitting questions in the commercial real estate industry at large.

Jason Bordainick: So I grew up in Rockland County. I was the son of a couple of public school educators and learned early importance of service and doing things the right way and ended up going to school at University of Virginia. I was an athlete, so I wanted to go to a school where I could compete at the Division I level and also get a good education.

I did track and baseball, but I was high school All-American in track and competed at the ACC level in track for a bit. I started my entrepreneurial journey while I was in undergrad. I started a company from my dorm room, won a business plan competition, ended up setting up my first business helping students find places to live through an online platform.

That business ended up expanding out nationwide and became the largest online marketplace for off-campus student housing and was ultimately acquired by CoStar, which owns Apartments.com and a variety of other assets. So I had a first successful entrepreneurial endeavor. I knew this is what I wanted to do. Then I teamed up with my childhood friend, Andy Cavaluzzi, to start Hudson Valley Property Group in 2010.

It's been quite the ride. You know, 15 years we've been doing it and have built the leading platform in affordable housing preservation. We've done nearly 20,000 units and over 4 billion of projects. I would say the thing I didn't mention in there was also I went back, got my MBA at Stanford, and all this stuff was the entrepreneurial things before that and after as well.

Aaron Strauss: It's exciting. It's the classic dorm room story, but to have success is very unique. That's a testament to your vision, entrepreneurial abilities. But if I remember correct, Off Campus Partners got to millions and millions of students a year really using it as a platform. Very hard to create a platform for anything, frankly, but to get national adoption is very significant.

So congrats on that first win, if you will. Then having the relationship you have with your current partner going back for many, many years, I'm sure it was helping. Maybe you could talk about how you got started. I know we've talked about it. I've read about it online as well, that first acquisition, I think it was eight to ten units, and informing your interest in this asset class where it's hopefully a win-win-win all around. Maybe how you just got started on the real estate side would be great.

Jason Bordainick: Andy and I, we reconnected, I think it was around 2000. I mean, we've known each other since first grade. Then we each went different ways. Both became entrepreneurs in different realms. We got reconnected on a project in 2008, which at first was going to be a side investment. We were going to buy this property, fix it up, and make a good real estate investment.

Through working on that one project, which happened to be an affordable housing property, we saw one, that it could be both a good business, but also something that really at our core, we felt like was meaningful work and something that got us both excited about finding the next project and continuing to build the scale. I think a much larger vision came together when we noticed that that one opportunity was not really just isolated.

It was part of a bigger space. We could do what we're doing and do it on a much greater scale and do well by doing good is what we say. Create an amazing business, but doing one that is solving a problem in communities across the country.

Aaron Strauss: Absolutely. You've come to dominate this industry too. Maybe you could talk a little bit about learning about the low-income housing tax credit, learning about credits in general on the federal level, working with various agencies. A lot of people listening to this, myself included, my knowledge of affordable housing is weak.

Either you're deep in that space, I find you don't dabble in it, or you ignore it altogether. So maybe you can just talk through for maybe somebody who's investing in retail or maybe traditional multi or industrial, whatnot, just the fundamentals of the business and how you make all those parties work together for a successful transaction.

Jason Bordainick: When people say, "Hey, I work in affordable housing," that means different things to different people. We work in what we refer to as capital-A Affordable. This is not lowercase affordable. These are properties on some form of program that is designed to make that housing affordable to the low and moderate-income communities across the country.

That could be working-class people in high-cost-of-living areas. That could be seniors retired on a fixed income, which actually has grown to be probably the largest. It's going to be the majority of the housing in there because people are living longer. You have the baby boomers going into demographic shifts and a lot of other trends.

But these are properties that in a high-cost-of-living area, the numbers just don't work to just say, "Hey, I'm going to spend all the money building a property and then I'm going to choose to make this available to the lowest brackets." The cost of building an apartment, whether it's affordable or whether it's market rate, there's a large fixed component to that.

So you really need these programs set up in thoughtful ways. Two of the bigger programs are Section 8 and Low Income Housing Tax Credit, also known as LIHTC. Between the two, there are about 4 million units of these properties. The demand for it is off the charts. Sometimes people say four times to five times. I think it's only going to explode.

The cost of living goes up and impacts of things like AI on potentially displacing some jobs. So I think there are these units out there today that are on these programs. There is a business case, and we've been proving it out, of you could buy these properties, improve them, work with the programs with a public-private model where you invest money.

The government and the programs have mechanisms to create attractive returns to attract capital and to help ensure that we keep those properties affordable, help keep them maintained, and reinvested in. So yeah, that's really where we operate. There is a need for it. There are complexities. There's understanding how it all works. All of that is really a barrier to entry.

So if you could wrap your head around it and understand it and do it well, yeah, you could build a business around it. But there's definitely a need for more capital to flow into the space. We're one of the larger groups doing that.

Aaron Strauss: Yeah. That's well said and well articulated, of course. I mean, I think I recall when you started, it was classic syndication. Let's bring in friends. Let's bring in family. When I wrote a check, it's based on trust. But now you've really proven out a model to scale. I forget your ranking, but it's way up there.

I think, were you number two in the country as far as acquisitions in 24? And I don't even know your numbers in 25. But maybe you could talk about bridging the gap from somebody starting at the smaller levels to where now you get institutionally. There's obviously a big gap between, but how did you get from those initial stages, those initial days, to building critical mass, to attracting your first institutional investor in the space?

And then we'll get to where you are now. But maybe that transition period would be exciting to hear about.

Jason Bordainick: Yeah, we've been scrappy entrepreneurs. So I think this might resonate. I mean, we're not a story where our parents had a big real estate firm. We started with a base. We split off. We're not someone that was at a big place and then leveraged that. So then getting the ground, which are all viable paths.

We built this from scratch and we had to establish credibility. We had to gain the expertise. But I think big picture, regardless of what asset class you go into, really the market rewards execution and consistency, credibility, and discipline over time. I mean, those are the things that you really need to build trust because at the end of the day, someone's going to be giving you money, whether it's an individual, a family office, a bank, an insurance.

We've now continued to grow. Now we have sovereign wealth funds. At the end of the day, you've got to gain that trust. The way to do that is through showing that you could execute with results. So I think we did that project by project. We built a little bit of a resume of these are the things that we did.

Now that we've done this, this is what we learned. This is how we're going to apply it. So you start out with people who are, from our story, we started out with friends, family, classmates, and we were not talking about big checks. We had people writing $5,000 checks, $10,000 checks. We compiled it together to I think initially our first raise was about half a million.

Turned the half a million into probably about $2 million. Then those investors said, "Hey, I like what you did for us. Why don't we reinvest it?" That two grew to five and the five kept them reinvesting it. Then they told their friends, they told others. Then just from that initial base, we had a very healthy portion or initial institutional fund that came from what you would refer to as small LPs that had reinvested.

Then we were able to attract institutional partners that were impressed by what we were doing, had some familiarity with the space. They knew how hard it was to execute and we were doing it well and doing it consistently. And so then, yeah, we started in 2010 and built the track record really over seven, eight years before we launched our first fund.

It's really snowballed from there because the first fund was very successful and then led to a second. Now we're raising a third institutional fund that's actually a global fund now. We have investors now around the world. But it's really just one step at a time, proving out that you could execute, you can get things done. "This is what I say I'm going to do, and this is what actually happened." That's how you really build the trust.

Aaron Strauss: No, 100%. I love the way you just casually describe 15 plus years or 16 plus years of brutal blood, sweat, and tears. It just rolls off your tongue as if it was just very chill. I'm sure there's a ton of heartache and an enormous amount of work. I know the way you work. You're very focused. So congrats on all that.

I think you're in fundraising mode. So I guess we won't talk about that because there are all sorts of rules around that. But you've certainly done a fabulous job of attracting capital. Well, I think at this point you've got over $4 billion of assets under management, if I'm not mistaken, and over 20,000 units you've worked on.

As far as pipeline, it seems like, I mean, I knew that huge deal recently when you got into the Western states, that was thousands of apartments. That was massive. Do you see the pipeline for even continued growth? I know your ranks as a specialist in that market keeps increasing.

Also, I think I was reading that you've adopted a high level of industry standards to, I forgot the exact technical term, but maybe you could describe how you become a leader now. You know, you're in that high pecking order. How do you continue to make progress, continue to inspire your team, deploy capital?

You know, now you're a CEO of a much bigger company. So how do you project your ethos through the business? And what do you see for future growth?

Jason Bordainick: By part of our eye, we really believe in "a values first leadership," where we say how you do anything is how you do everything. You really want to instill integrity and discipline and follow through. Like, hey, this is what we say we're going to do and we do, whether it's an investor, whether it's a resident community, whether it's a local council person.

Really build those trusts, build those partnerships because that's how you do great work. Things happen and you need help. You need to team up with people to get it done right. So we built that culture. We attract great people. People have been with us for a long time and constantly helping us set even bigger targets.

So I think definitely my team at Hudson Valley is amazing. That's what's going to help us get to where we're going. You know, I think it's having standards. I think early on, there's just like you really want to get deals done because you want to build that track record. Maybe there are things that you kind of, all right, like maybe you'll widen what you would look for because you just really want to get there.

But I think as you start, as we get more established now, we have really the ability to do any size project and we could do anywhere in the U.S. We're really stepping, leaning in on the discipline to make sure we're choosing the right projects, not getting our resources tied up on something that is not going to result in the outcome we're looking for.

So really refining our screening and using technology to do that, using process and even now AI to help do this in a more efficient way. But it's really doing great projects leads to other projects. Great is both from an investor perspective, but also from the communities that we operate in.

So yeah, I think selecting projects, we're trying to now think about as we raise more and more capital, like we have to really deploy capital at scale. So larger portfolios, larger platform acquisitions are things that we are really focused on. But then also identifying regional JV partners, maybe people on this call here who are like, man, I have a way to find these opportunities. I have relationships.

We're definitely open to having conversations about being the capital partner for that, figuring out how we could really scale. So yeah, it's discipline, but it's standards of what makes a good project. That's not just from the financial side, but it's like our design and construction team is continually thinking about putting in the better materials, doing things that are going to really, really make a difference in the day-to-day lives of the people living there from a physical side.

And the amenities and the programs and services that could really uplift the communities from an impact side. We're thinking about all those things and we try to score it and focus our efforts on the stuff that's really going to move the needle in all those ways. That's how we build a reputation of doing great work. That leads to attracting great people, but also attracting projects and people who want to work with us.

Aaron Strauss: Absolutely. I want to work with you guys. How can I get a job there? I'm just going to leave the law. I want to just hang out with you guys and do deals. It sounds like fun.

Jason Bordainick: Let's do it.

Aaron Strauss: But all kidding aside, what about maybe we could talk a little bit about adversity. You know, one of the things we try to tap into on these podcasts is that we're interviewing the best of the best, the elite, most successful people. But I think there's a misunderstanding. People just think, "Oh, that's how they did it. It was so easy."

So I always try to sprinkle in the fact that besides for being an economic rollercoaster, physical rollercoaster, there are stress levels that go up and down. There's deals that explode for no reason other than they were just doomed from the start. Maybe you could talk a little bit about that adversity and how you speak to yourself in times of stress and how you manage through those periods.

Because whether you're buying your first property or hundredth property, no matter what you're doing on this call, people just assume success often is linear. But we all know it's tons of ups and downs and moving sideways. How do you get your spirit up? How do you manage the mental aspect of juggling all you have to juggle?

Jason Bordainick: Great question. I would say both of my two entrepreneurial endeavors, I had very challenging early days. Even the background of starting my first business, I ended up having an injury in track that ended up kind of curtailing my track career and then using that time into building my first business.

When launching Off Campus Partners, which was originally Off Grounds, we were a completely new concept. A lot of the large owners didn't like that we were coming in. We were making it an even playing field for all. It was really helping students have the selection versus allowing the existing duopoly to control things.

So they actually tried to illegally replicate the software and technology. And, you know, long story short, was able to find a path through that. Then it's actually, when you get through it, it builds the grit and it makes it gives you the confidence to take on the next endeavor.

I would say Hudson Valley was actually that on steroids, I guess, because it wasn't just challenging. It was for a prolonged period of time. Andy and I, we had a big vision from the start. I think we were breaking into something that was high barriers to entry. You had to have the relationships.

We took a lot of swings in this as we—a lot of RFPs, a lot of proposals. Every time we were like just this far away from doing it. Yeah, we could go through, we bond over it. That's actually some of the silver lining is that I would say the early days of Hudson Valley, which was like trying to get that early projects, took us almost three and a half years.

So people say, "All right, like you look at this, wow, you went in this very steep go from zero to 20,000." But it was like zero for a very meaningful period of time.

But what I would say is during those tough periods, it actually drew us closer. Andy and I had similar values and background, but we were both equally committed to building this. I think partnerships really are built when you have two people or more than two people that are equally committed to seeing their success.

So I think now when we go and we have challenges, it's like, wow, this is nothing compared to trying to do what we did in the beginning when we had no resources, we had no track record, no real strong banking relationships, investor relationships. So, yeah, I think adversity sharpens the knife and also gives you the grit, and pushing through that ultimately gives you the confidence.

But I think from the mental side, I think it's important to, I mean, I'm a big believer in making sure your health and wellness are really focused on. It's keeping a good active daily routine. You got to have the ways that you de-stress and reset and ensure that you can get good sleep. All that makes you stay grounded. It helps you bring more clarity and more energy to everything you do. So definitely it's been a big part of pulling through it, of really trying. I meditate, I do other things. So it's having that tenacity, but then also making sure that you're taking care of yourself at the same time.

Aaron Strauss: Well said. You really project a good, healthy sense of equilibrium. So maybe I got to pick up some more meditation skills from you. We'll talk about that offline. But it's been fabulous to watch the success. You've really grown tremendously in all the right ways.

Maybe we'll touch on one last question because we try to keep these episodes in a certain time range. But the proverbial next-gen person coming up through the ranks, they want to get on your calendar, they want career advice. They're picking it up through this conversation, I think, organically. But if you had to imbue some operating principles beyond just be excellent, be consistent, be tenacious, is there any other tips of the trade for long-term success you'd throw out to individuals that could be meaningful when somebody is trying to find their way in this business?

Jason Bordainick: Yeah, look, I think, at least within real estate, I do think ultimately success will come from some level of specialization because knowing the region, knowing the asset, knowing something very well, ultimately being able to really have some level edge. We always ask, what is our angle on this? What is it that we're doing that we can do better than someone else? And early in your career, you obviously need to get there. You got to work hard. You got to apply yourself.

So, yeah, it's definitely finding things that resonate and where you're going to come up and be excited to try and be good at whatever that trade or field is. But then once you find that, it's continually thinking about what's the value that I'm bringing, where am I going to help us and this company get an edge? And if you're able to do that and collaborate with others to find that, that's ultimately going to be noticed by that place and given opportunities to take on more responsibility and grow.

Then whether you go out on your own and do that. This is more current, but it is relevant. AI is a game-changer right now that came out. I think it is something that people who know how to apply that to the work they're doing and leverage it so they can do more, I think in the current environment where we are today, that is going to be a differentiator. Also being able to bring ideas to companies and say, "Hey, I know how to implement this in a way that's going to actually make your company more efficient. Let me show you and let me help others get there," if you're that kind of person, this is very current, it's not just a sales pitch, you actually are, and you actually do have that, I think that's going to be very attractive to companies and will probably create opportunities.

That would be probably in the current environment the best initial hook in things if you actually have a way to do that. But then I don't think longer term, hard work, applying yourself, building relationships, and building trust—that's going to be the recipe to real success.

Aaron Strauss: 100%. Well said, as always. I always love talking to you. Always get great perspective. I think you're very inspirational. I think people learn a lot from this episode, as I have. I guess we'll wrap it here, Jason, because I know you've got to get to a million things as far as international travel and just managing the day-to-day. But success couldn't happen to a better person. Let's just put it that way. I'm thankful for your friendship. Thankful for you taking the time and just want to continue to watch your journey, my friend. Keep up the awesome job executing on the big vision.

Jason Bordainick: Well, thank you.

Aaron Strauss: Thank you for joining the Dealmakers' Edge. Don't forget to follow us on your favorite podcast platform. Please give us a five-star rating so more people can follow the conversation.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.