A six-week vacation sparked an unexpected career pivot for Brian Seidensticker, leading him from missile defense systems to distressed real estate investing.
“I went on vacation for six weeks, came back, and prior to leaving, was very nervous about how much work I was missing,” recalls Seidensticker, now Officer and Founder of Last Best Partners. “I came back to really, almost like I never skipped a beat. And that was eye opening. I felt like I was doing a lot on a daily basis, but at the end of the day, I realized maybe I’m on the hamster wheel.”
That realization led Seidensticker to explore real estate investing, initially through fix-and-flip properties in Montana. However, it was a personal brush with tax liens during the 2007-2008 market downturn that revealed his true calling.
“We ended up upside down because of falling values on one specific property in Montana, and ended up getting a notice of a potential tax lien certificate,” Seidensticker says. “That’s really what started me down the path of where I’ve ended up today.”
After discovering what he describes as a “$4.5 billion niche space that I had never heard of,” Seidensticker spent 15 years developing expertise in tax deed investing before launching his current venture. “I spent close to 15 years gathering knowledge before we ever placed a cent doing what we’re doing,” he notes.
Today, Last Best Partners combines software and analytics capabilities with direct investment through Mount North Capital, the firm’s investment fund. The company has grown from an initial $1.5 million test placement to its current $38 million fund size.
Seidensticker sees potential headwinds as opportunities. “The distressed real estate tends to be countercyclical,” he explains. “If you’re investing in that aspect, then a recession typically can bring tailwinds, as far as more opportunities, less demand, better spreads.”
Looking ahead, the firm projects capacity to scale to $150 million “before we start to run out of good, widely available product at the prices that we need to pay,” according to Seidensticker. “Being an engineer, I seem to have enough fixation on solving big juicy problems, and this is definitely right up my alley.”
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