Pitch Slam Winner Justin Spillers: Attorney, E-Commerce Mogul & Midwest Multifamily Investor

Justin's journey is anything but a straight line. He spent seven years as a corporate attorney during the early e-commerce and offshore manufacturing boom, then built a contract manufacturing and online brand business that surpassed $100 million in sales over five years. Today, he channels that legal precision and operational discipline into a laser-focused Midwest multifamily strategy — and investors are taking notice.

We dig into the nuts and bolts of Real Estate Alpha's playbook: targeting C-class apartment complexes along the I-75 corridor in Western Ohio, converting them to B and B+ assets, and doing it faster than nearly anyone else in the market. Justin's team underwrites roughly 1,200 deals per year to hand-select just two to four "home run" acquisitions — then executes with a fully vertically integrated operation that turns units in seven days or less (with a goal of 96 hours).

We also get into the preferred equity fund structure Justin built to give investors something rare: a fixed 12% annual return, 90-day liquidity after year one, a return-of-capital tax strategy that can defer taxes until year nine, and $31 million in existing portfolio equity serving as a protective buffer — with Justin putting in 50% of acquisition capital himself.

In this episode:

• Winning the Pitch Slam at Best Ever Conference 2026 — and the strategy behind it
• Why Justin's firm underwrites 1,200 deals a year to buy just 2–4
• The 7-day unit turn model and how standardization makes it work
• How his legal and e-commerce background shapes smarter deal structuring
• The preferred equity fund built around transparency, downside protection, and liquidity
• Why "nervousness is just a lack of preparation" — and how that mindset drives everything