Orange County Multifamily

William B. Montgomery has over 24 years' experience in the real estate industry focusing on the areas of development, acquisition, dispositions and brokerage. He leads the Multifamily Investment Division where he is responsible for managing SARES•REGIS Group’s acquisition activity for apartment community investments. His team processes acquisitions as required, from community/site identification, underwriting, due diligence, initial project renovation/planning, contract negotiation and to closing of escrow. Mr. Montgomery joined SARES•REGIS Group in April of 2003, and was promoted to his current position in late 2003. Prior, Mr. Montgomery served as director of acquisitions for Western National Properties, managing the acquisitions group in acquiring existing apartment communities throughout California, Colorado and Seattle. Mr. Montgomery also served at Shea Properties, as director of acquisitions. He is a licensed real estate broker and earned a Bachelor's of Science Degree in Business at California Polytechnic at San Luis Obispo, California.

Mark Grace, Managing Director, is responsible for new loan origination utilizing direct relationships with Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, HUD, CMBS, bank, and life insurance companies. Mr. Grace provides financing solutions to commercial real estate developers and owners debt nationally and has over 14 years of experience in commercial real estate lending. Throughout his career, Mr. Grace has procured billions in debt for his clients but remains focused on his clients and delivering exceptional service and flawless execution. Prior to joining Walker & Dunlop, Mr. Grace was a vice president at NorthMarq Capital. Prior to his production roles, Mark served for eight years underwriting debt and served as the analyst council chairperson in 2009. In his first year as an originator, he was awarded the rookie of the year designation for his notable production. Mr. Grace earned a dual degree in finance and management information systems from Boston University School of Management and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business. He is a licensed California real estate salesperson. Beyond the Company, Mr. Grace is an avid snowboarder, mountain biker, and outdoorsman, spending as much time as possible with his family, clients, and friends in the mountains. He is a father of four and is an active supporter of the Challenged Athletes Foundation

William R. Ahern began his legal career at Allen Matkins in 1998. He is a partner in our Orange County office and head of the firm's Joint Venture Practice Group. Bill's practice primarily focuses on real estate transactions, with a special emphasis on helping meet his clients' real estate needs in a tax-efficient manner. For close to 20 years, Bill has advised on purchase and sale transactions, financings, joint venture structures and restructures, tenancy-in-common arrangements, 1031 like-kind exchanges, fund formations and various tax issues encountered in connection with real estate transactions. The other portion of Bill's practice focuses on estate planning. Bill has represented numerous high-net worth clients in connection with the preparation of their estate plans through the use of revocable and irrevocable trusts, insurance trusts, split-dollar arrangements, family limited partnerships, and self-canceling installment notes.

Mr. Astalos oversees the design, development, permitting, buyout, and construction of Multi-Family projects for Garden Communities. He is involved with the entitlements, marketing/branding, leasing, accounting, and property management of the projects as well. Developments Mr. Astalos has worked on include Casa Mira View (2167 units), Torrey Gardens (384 units), Monte Verde (560 units), Metropolis (457 units), Elements (1600 units), and 360 at La Jolla Crossroads (309 units). Mr. Astalos graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles and is a candidate for his Masters Degree in Real Estate from Georgetown University.

Omar Rihani joined UDR in 2015 as Senior Director of Development focused on executing UDR’s development pipeline in California. While Omar actively leads all aspects of UDR’s projects, from site acquisition, entitlement and design through construction and turnover, he is most passionate about building highly-functioning teams and mentorship. Prior to joining UDR, Omar oversaw development and construction activities at CA Ventures, one of the nation’s largest private student housing developers. Omar also held a senior role at Project Management Advisors (PMA), providing third party development management services to a variety of multifamily developers and investors, including UDR. Omar holds a B.S. in Civil Engineering from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and an MBA from the Kellstadt Graduate School of Business at DePaul University (Chicago). He lives in suburban Denver with his wife Lillian and three children Elias, Gabriella, and Elena.

Tim Strader Jr., President of Starpointe Ventures, has 26 years of experience in commercial and residential real estate consulting, development, acquisition and marketing. He started his career in 1989 at CB Commercial Real Estate Group (now CB Richard Ellis) specializing in office leasing and sales. During that time he completed lease\sale transactions in excess of 2.3 million square feet. In 1996 he joined Heitman Properties becoming Vice-President of Leasing for Griffin Towers in Santa Ana and Century Park Plaza in Century City completing lease transactions in excess of 336,000 square feet In 1998 he joined Opus West Corporation as Director of Real Estate Development. In this capacity, he managed the development and marketing of 930,000 square feet of office and industrial projects in Orange County, including the 12-story Opus Center Irvine. While at Starpointe Ventures he has successfully supervised the entitlement of 7,236 residential units, 2,230,755 square feet of office, 100,543 square feet of retail and 569 hotel rooms in the Irvine Business Complex. He has also brokered the sale of 1.1 million square feet of transferable development rights and the sale of 45 acres of land for the development of 2,300 residential units. Tim is Past Chairman of the Board of Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Orange County, Past President of the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties (NAIOP) SoCal Chapter and Past President of the IBC Consortium, an organization representing the interests of property owners in the Irvine Business Complex.

Rick Price oversees all phases of Raintree’s development projects, including acquisition, due diligence, entitlement, project design, permitting, construction and lease-up. He also supports Raintree’s financing and refinancing efforts for both construction and permanent loans on stabilized development projects. To date, Mr. Price has been involved in more than $400 million in development activity. Prior to joining Raintree, Mr. Price underwrote institutional-size multifamily value-add acquisitions totaling $1.2 million for Bascom Group and brokered multifamily transactions for ACI Apartments in San Diego, California. Earlier in his career, Mr. Price worked as a CPA for PricewaterhouseCoopers. Mr. Price holds a Bachelor of Science in accounting from Brigham Young University and a Master of Real Estate Development from the University of Southern California. He is a Certified Public Accountant, a California-licensed real estate broker, a member of Urban Land Institute, and a member of the ULI NEXT Initiative Council.

Mike Ballard is a partner at Ascent Multifamily Accounting and has worked in the real estate and accounting industries for almost 30 years. Early in Mike’s career, he worked in the Information Systems Consulting group for Laventhol & Horwath, CPAs. After Laventhol, he joined McGladrey & Pullen before starting his own consulting firm. At Ascent, Mike leads Ascent’s consulting practice, where he advises multifamily clients on strategic planning, process improvement, and tax credits. Mike was a founding member of the board of the Lied Institute for Real Estate Studies at University of Nevada, Las Vegas and also helped with the formation of the local National Association of Industrial and Office Properties (NAIOP) and Construction Financial Management Association chapters. In 2010, Mike was named one of the “Top 20 Visionaries” in Nevada by Nevada Business magazine. Mike has served on the boards of several for-profit companies and not-for-profit organizations. He has helped start three banks and served on the board of Black Mountain Community Bank.