Why My New Role Is All About Making Multi-Market Investing Easier
This week’s blog comes to us from our National Sales Development Manager, Chris DeTreville.
When I first got into real estate straight out of college, my world was one market, one neighborhood at a time. Today, more and more of our clients are thinking very differently:
“I like Columbia, but I also want exposure to Chattanooga.”
“I’m selling in Augusta to rebalance into Kansas City.”
“I’d like one team that understands my whole portfolio, not just one zip code.”
That shift is exactly why I’m excited about my new role as National Brokerage Sales Manager at Auben. My job is simple to describe, but big in practice: make multi-market investing easier and more efficient for buyers and sellers who want to be active in multiple markets as one aligned team.
What I’m Seeing From Investors Right Now
Whether you’re buying your first SFR or repositioning a 100-door portfolio, a few themes keep coming up in conversations:
- You want diversification across markets—but not five different playbooks.
- You’re tired of re-explaining your strategy every time you talk to a new agent.
- You care about the back end (property management, turns, leasing) just as much as the front-end purchase price.
My background is in both sales and property management, and those years on the back end permanently changed the way I look at deals. I’ve seen what happens after closing when expectations weren’t aligned—or when the right questions never got asked. That 360° view is what I’m bringing into this national role.
One Strategy, Many Markets
At Auben, we’re in multiple markets across the Southeast and beyond, and each one has its own personality—different rents, different tenant bases, different operator nuances.
My goal isn’t to flatten those differences. It’s to connect them under a common strategy so your experience feels like this:
- One playbook. Clear buy boxes, return targets, and risk tolerances that our agents reference in every market you touch.
- One language. Whether you’re looking at Columbia, Kansas City, or Jacksonville, you’re not decoding a new set of terms, pro formas, or expectations each time.
- One relationship. A core point of contact who understands your history, preferences, and portfolio—then plugs you into the right local specialist when you need boots on the ground.
Behind the scenes, that means better internal communication, shared data, and training so our team isn’t just operating in silos by city, but as one brokerage focused on investors.
Making Buying Across Markets Smoother
Here are a few ways we’re working to improve the experience for buyers active in multiple markets:
- Aligned deal flow: Instead of sending random listings, we’re tightening how we filter opportunities so you see deals that really match your criteria—no matter which Auben market they’re in.
- Comparable, investor-focused underwriting: We’re leaning into consistent analysis so you can compare a Columbia duplex and a Chattanooga SFR on apples-to-apples terms.
- Clear expectations on operations: From estimated turns to likely rent ranges and management considerations, we’re integrating the property management view earlier in the process so there are fewer surprises after close.
If you’ve ever tried to piece together a multi-market strategy using five different brokerages and three different management companies, you already know how valuable that consistency can be.
Serving Sellers With Portfolios That Cross State Lines
On the sell side, things get even more complex—and that’s where a multi-market investor brokerage can really earn its keep.
When we help owners sell portfolios, we’re not just asking, “What’s your price target?” We’re talking through:
- Which assets you truly want to exit—and which you may want to hold or 1031.
- How timing in one market affects capital you might want to redeploy elsewhere.
- The emotional side of selling a portfolio you’ve built over years—long-term vendors, tenant relationships, and pride of ownership.
My job in this new role is to make sure we can:
- Package and present portfolios in a way that resonates with buyers who are also thinking multi-market.
- Coordinate across cities so due diligence, access, and communication don’t become a tangle of conflicting calendars and processes.
- Match the right buyer to the right portfolio, whether they’re looking to deepen in one market or use your sale to plant a flag in several.
You shouldn’t feel like you’re herding cats every time you decide to sell across more than one city. We want to take that off your plate.
Where AI and Best Practices Fit In
At IMN’s Single Family Rental conference in Scottsdale, I spoke on a panel about using AI and best practices to optimize property management, marketing, and turn. That topic ties directly into what we’re building on the brokerage side.
To be clear, I don’t believe AI replaces relationships or judgment—but it can help us:
- Spot patterns in your portfolio performance across markets.
- Surface the most relevant deals faster.
- Standardize communication and workflows so your experience feels consistent, even as you scale.
The goal is not “tech for tech’s sake.” It’s using tools in the background so that, on your end, things feel simpler, clearer, and more predictable.
What This Means for You
If you’re:
- A buyer looking to grow in more than one market,
- A seller thinking about bringing a multi-market portfolio to market, or
- An institutional or boutique fund looking for a partner who understands both brokerage and property management…
…I’d love to talk.
We’re still refining and improving our systems every week, but the north star is clear:
Make it easier for serious investors to buy, sell, and operate across multiple markets with one trusted team.
If that’s the experience you’ve been looking for, let’s connect and see how we can put Auben’s multi-market platform to work for you.
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