The Right Partner

Arbor specializes in both small business and real estate investments that create consistent returns

Arbor Equity Group invests in distressed real estate and small businesses across the Willamette Valley and the Southeast. Every Arbor Partner finds the same commitment: your capital deployed deliberately, and what you have built honored and grown.

RELATIONAL

Every organization gets tested. The test usually looks financial, but what it reveals is almost always relational. Over years of real pressure, we have faced it repeatedly, in moments where walking away would have been easier and protecting a position made short-term sense. The choice, every time, was to come back to the table.

That choice is what Relational means at Arbor: it takes more courage to stay in a hard relationship than to protect yourself from it. We have learned the return on that courage compounds in ways that don’t show up on a balance sheet, until they do. The person beside us at the table is always more important than the terms on it, and that belief guides every decision we make with partners, investors, and the people we build alongside.

Anchored

An investor came to us at a crossroads about their position in a fund. Honest relationships require hard conversations, and this was one where the right answer for them was a hard one for us to give. We came back to what holds us and let it do what it’s built to do: keep us grounded in the decision that was right for them, even when our own interests said otherwise.

That is what Anchored means: our commitments function as a north star when decisions get hard and expensive. Coming back to them, letting them hold the weight of a difficult moment, is what makes them real. We have learned that the only commitments worth having are the ones you keep when keeping them is hard.

DELIBERATE

In our real estate work, the right property at the right price is worth waiting for, even when waiting is the harder choice. The same posture governs every business we consider bringing into the Arbor portfolio: we move when the conditions are right, and we hold when they aren’t.

The same discipline shows up in how we choose technology for the businesses we partner with. The question is always the same: what does this free up? A person hired for skilled work shouldn’t spend most of their day on what a system could do instead. When we find the right tool, it carries that load, and the people beside it get more time for the work they were hired to do. The business gets stronger because they do.

HONEST

Early in building Arbor, we told a prospective LP that we weren’t going to take their investment. It was a significant amount of money, and they weren’t used to hearing that from someone they were prepared to write a check to. The conversation that followed was one of the more honest ones we have had, and what it built was a relationship more durable than any transaction. That LP is now one of our most trusted advocates.

That is what Honest means: we say what is true, even when what is true is hard to say. Honesty that costs something is the only kind worth building a reputation on, and we have found that people come back from those conversations with more trust than they arrived with.

Explore Our Funds

Arbor Equity Group is built on the belief that exceptional results come from expertise, transparency, and genuine partnership. Our boutique platform provides investors with clear, risk-aligned real estate opportunities that balance income and long-term equity growth — including fixed-rate return options for non-accredited investors

Our Team

Mike Proulx, Jared Hicks, and Ryan Strasshofer built Arbor together. They bring different professional histories and different ways of seeing the same problems to every decision they make, and have committed to seeing the whole of what they are building together, the challenge and the aspiration both, and walking toward it with every Arbor Partner.

Fix & Flip Fund

The Fix & Flip Fund provides investors with an opportunity to participate in short-term, high-visibility real-estate projects where value is created through active renovation and repositioning.

Highlights:

  • Focused acquisition of under-valued, distressed, off-market properties with upside through renovation and improvements
  • Short-term hold (typically 3–5 months) on assets
  • Two-year commitment
  • Clear waterfall: preferred return → fee → equity split
  • National footprint for diversification of risk in strategic markets with local operators

Buy & Hold Fund

The Buy & Hold Fund is designed for investors seeking stable, longer-term returns with less day-to-day project risk. You may choose one of two structures:

  1. Fixed-rate return – a set annual yield for the hold period (typically 3-5+ years)
  2. Equity Multiplier – An equity-based return structured as a target 2.0x multiplier on your invested capital, realized at exit (typically 3-5 years).


Highlights:

  • Institutional-style acquisitions of rental property or multifamily homes
  • Medium-term hold horizon (3–5 years) delivering passive income or high, fixed return
  • Clear investor options at commitment (fixed return or full return at exit)
  • Investor alignment through asset management and value-creation focus

Small Business Fund

The Small Business Fund provides investors with an opportunity to participate in community-driven, growth-oriented small-business ventures that generate both consistent cash flow and long-term equity appreciation. This hybrid model blends the predictability of a fixed-income return with the upside potential of an equity position in the underlying enterprises.

Typical structure: a preferred fixed return (to be finalized, generally in the 7–10 % range) complemented by an equity participation component tied to business performance or valuation growth at exit.

Highlights:

  • Focused on established or emerging small businesses with proven demand and scalability
  • Investments backed by tangible assets, cash-flow performance, or personal guarantees
  • Dual return structure: fixed-income yield + participation in long-term equity growth
  • Hold period typically 3+ years, aligning with business maturation or recapitalization timeline
  • Designed to promote local economic vitality while producing diversified returns for investors

Custom Mandates / Equity Participation

Beyond our standard fund structures, Arbor Equity also offers tailored direct-equity opportunities (syndications) where investors gain ownership in a specific real estate asset.

Highlights:

  • Direct equity stake in a designated asset (e.g., single property or portfolio)
  • Potential benefits include tax advantages (including 1031 exchange compatibility), customizing holding period, and pass-through of upside through equity participation
  • Suitable for sophisticated investors seeking intentional asset-level exposure