He Walked Away from $300K a Year. Now He’s Converting Hotels into Apartments Across the Midwest.

Multifamily deals are getting tougher to pencil. Rates are up. LPs are cautious. But Cody found a way to stay active by targeting overlooked hotels and converting them into clean, efficient rental housing.

His approach trades speed and scale for stability and margin. He finds deals close to home, builds trust with local investors, and creates affordable housing with no government programs or income restrictions.

The Play: Hotel to Housing in Your Backyard

Cody’s current deal is a 135-key hotel in Madison, Wisconsin. He’s converting it into 129 studio apartments, with common-area amenities like a gym, shared laundry, pool, dog wash, and co-working space. Units will rent for under $1,000 per month, with no need for tax credits or subsidies.

His strategy focuses on extended stay hotels with favorable layouts and strong infrastructure. The goal is to serve the missing middle: renters who don’t qualify for public assistance but can’t afford traditional apartments.

Why This Works

1. Distress arbitrage
Cody buys hotels below replacement cost and converts them to residential with minimal reconfiguration. The all-in cost per unit is significantly below what it would cost to build new multifamily.

2. No subsidy headaches
By designing naturally affordable units without tying them to income limits, he avoids the complexity and delays of tax credit programs.

3. Local is a superpower
Cody only does deals in his backyard. That proximity gives him speed on underwriting, face-to-face lender relationships, and control over project management.

The Risks (and How He Avoids Them)

• Zoning restrictions: His team worked with the city to reclassify the hotel as multifamily. They had to address parking ratios and secure waivers to move forward.

• Deed restrictions: Many hotels carry covenants that limit long-term stays. Cody negotiated a legal amendment to remove the restriction entirely before closing.

• Fire and life safety: His underwriting includes full upgrades to meet residential code. He budgets for commercial sprinklers, smoke alarms, and system upgrades from day one.

What You Can Learn (and Steal)

1. Save your runway before you raise
Cody set aside two years of living expenses before leaving his job. That gave him time to think clearly, underwrite honestly, and avoid pressure-driven decisions.

2. Convert attention into capital through community
He started a local real estate meetup in Madison. Today, it brings in 300 people every quarter. Half the capital for his current deal came from people who attended.

3. Start local, then scale
Cody isn’t trying to be everywhere. He knows his market, knows his lenders, and knows how to underwrite value in his neighborhood. That’s his edge.

Listen to the full episode

🎙 Groundbreakers with Cody Wiseman

In it, we cover:

• How he left his tech sales job and built a two-year real estate runway

• The exact structure behind his 129-unit hotel conversion

• How he navigated zoning and deed restrictions

• What made his local meetup explode in attendance

• The system he uses to turn relationships into recurring capital