Why Does Gatsby Only Focus on the Los Angeles Market?

We often have investors asking us about branching out into other markets. Can Gatsby expand into Las Vegas, so I can invest there? Will Gatsby go bi-coastal and start buying property in New York? Is Gatsby getting into the vacation rental market in Florida?

While we won’t rule anything out, the fact is that Gatsby is deeply ingrained in the Los Angeles residential market. And at this time, we don’t have specific plans for expanding beyond LA. There are a million smaller reasons why the City of Angeles is our focus, but today, we want to share the BIG REASONS. 

Here are the top three reasons why Gatsby only focuses on the Los Angeles market. 

Do you remember the overblown “California Exodus” of the COVID era (the “event” hyped as Californians leaving the state in droves, while we actually lost fewer than 1%, most of which we’ve already regained)? Well, that didn’t really apply in Los Angeles. Even as headlines claimed thousands of households were leaving the city for more affordable rural communities, LA remained in high demand. LA lost less than .1% (yes, point one), which was immediately recovered within a year. And now, population projections are trending straight up. 

Between the weather, job opportunities, beaches, recreation, community, diversity, history, and beauty of the city, this is where people want to live. As long as we can provide more housing (which of course, Gatsby is working on!), people will continue moving to LA. 

Too many syndication companies expand into unknown markets, risking their investor’s profits on their learning curve. Gatsby has no intention of doing that. 

We have spent decades learning the nuances of the Los Angeles housing market. Our local knowledge of demographics, building requirements, and market trends allows us to get ahead of market shifts and meet changing demand.

We’ve also spent many years developing meaningful connections with industry insiders who reduce our costs and increase our investor’s returns. From the real estate agents who help us find off-market deals to the mortgage lenders who provide favorable financing to the contractors who give us bulk rate pricing, every partner in our intricate system plays a role in serving our investors.

Before we could expand into another market, we would need to spend years learning the ins and outs of that market and establishing mutually beneficial relationships with local companies.

Finally, Gatsby is focused on LA because the ever-evolving market continues to provide unique opportunities for growth. 

When Gatsby started, home flips were big business. We could buy neglected houses at a low cost, rehab them, and resell them for substantial profits. As the need for accessory dwelling units (ADUs) increased, we added ADU builds to our flips for increased returns. But then, with rising home prices, lack of inventory, changing zoning laws, and greater demand for multi-family, we shifted to focus on multi-family developments to maintain the high rates of return our investors have come to expect. 

This dynamic market is always changing, and since we know how to shift with those changes, we will never run out of opportunities here!

We’re proud to be part of the fabric of Los Angeles and aim to improve our local community while providing strong returns for investors. In addition to adding housing inventory through new development, Gatsby recently launched built-for-you development programs to help local homeowners rebuild after losing their homes in the devastating wildfires. And our founder and CEO, Dan Gatsby, founded the Los Angeles Builder’s Association in 2024 to promote sustainable building practices in LA and foster industry collaboration.

As far as we’re concerned, Los Angeles is the greatest city in the world, and there’s nowhere we’d rather be!