18% Over 10 Years Beats 20% in Three: Forrest Jinks of Altus Equity Group

Forrest Jinks runs Altus Equity Group, a real estate investment company that works with family offices and high net worth investors. Most sponsors chase top-line IRR: get in, get out in two, three or four years. Forrest says that leaves a lot of meat on the bone. "It might be awesome to get an 18% return over 10 years versus a 20% return in three." He cares about the net return, after taxes, and about how much risk sits behind the number.

Altus runs a lending side too, and Forrest underwrites every loan like an owner. His first question: would we love to own this in our equity business at the debt amount plus foreclosure costs? "If the answer is yes, we're gonna figure out a way to make that loan work."

What Ed and Forrest get into:

• Why a 12% first-position loan at 30% loan to value can beat an 18% ground-up construction deal
• An industrial building in Mississippi bought for $12 a foot, and the Fortune 500 tenant that signed first
• Why Forrest calls the Altus debt fund "effectively a proxy for the 10-year Treasury"
• Walking the property, on equity deals and on loans
• No back-end leverage, and why Ed's debt fund doesn't borrow to lend either
• Why the biggest red flag in an investor is wanting to get rich quick
• Holding for 10 years or more, and why real estate's wider band lets you buy low and sell high in any part of the cycle
• The day Forrest decided to build a company instead of doing three or four deals a year
• The promise he made to investors before 2008, and why he'll never make it again
• His daughter's olive oil business, and why her $7,000 from him is an investment, not a gift

Also in this episode, Questions from the Underground: Jose's lender approved half his draw, and his contractor says no money, no work. Ed covers why the fight is really about the definition of done, why your project schedule and your draw schedule need the exact same language, and why you carry a 10 to 20% contingency.

Book mentioned:

• Making the Zeros Count, Forrest's pick

Read the Altus Insight, Forrest's monthly article on investing and economics, at altusequity.com/insights.

Got a question you want answered on the show? Send it to ed@clarkst.com.

Recorded September 2026.

Real Estate Underground with Ed Mathews. Find us wherever you get your podcasts, at clarkst.com/podcast or elevista.com/podcast

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