In a recent conversation on On The Move, Dustin Miles sat down with Chris Larsen of Next Level Income to explore a remarkable journey from competitive cycling and engineering to multifamily real estate, financial independence, and helping others build long-term wealth.
Chris’s story is one of resilience, discipline, and intentionality. From a life-changing tragedy that forced him to reconsider his priorities to building a successful multifamily investment business, his experience offers valuable lessons for anyone interested in real estate investing, capital raising, and financial freedom.
A Tragedy That Changed Everything
Chris Larsen didn’t grow up dreaming of becoming a real estate investor.
He studied engineering in college, but his real ambition was to become a professional cyclist. He was training hard, racing competitively, and sharing that journey with his best friend and training partner, who was set to become his college roommate at Virginia Tech.
Then everything changed.
During a race the summer before college, Chris’s best friend suffered a brain hemorrhage in the middle of the race and passed away.
Cycling became both a passion and a form of therapy for Chris. A year later, at a memorial race held in his friend’s honor, Chris delivered one of the performances of his life, dominating the event and winning dramatically despite a flat tire and the chaos of the race.
But when he crossed the finish line, something unexpected happened.
He felt nothing.
There was no excitement or sense of accomplishment—just emptiness.
Shortly afterward, during another race, Chris pulled over, told his mother, “I’m done,” and walked away from competitive cycling altogether.
That moment led to a realization that would change the direction of his life:
There had to be more to life than this.
Chris began thinking more deeply about meaning, autonomy, and the role money should play in creating the life he wanted. He didn’t want to wake up years later with a long list of regrets.
That search ultimately led him toward financial independence, passive income, and eventually real estate.
Building Wealth Through Multifamily Real Estate
Chris entered multifamily investing around 2013, and over time, real estate became the vehicle that helped his family achieve financial independence.
One of the most compelling examples he shared with Dustin was a roughly 100-unit value-add apartment community in Smyrna, Georgia.
The property was an approximately 100-unit, 1980s-vintage apartment community located near what would eventually become a new stadium. Chris and his partners held the property for approximately 10 years.
The business plan was relatively straightforward:
- Improve the units and property
- Increase rents and net operating income
- Refinance during the hold
- Return approximately 80% of investors’ original capital
- Continue holding the property for cash flow
- Eventually sell the asset
The result was approximately a 3x equity multiple for investors.
Chris acknowledged that if the property had been sold near the peak of the market around 2021, the returns could have been even higher and the hold period considerably shorter. But the larger lesson was that nobody has a crystal ball when it comes to market timing.
What mattered were the fundamentals.
The property was located in a strong, growing submarket with solid demographics and demand drivers. The value-add strategy was straightforward, and the investment was supported by long-term, patient capital and agency debt.
For Chris, this is the type of deal worth repeating: buy right, improve the asset, refinance to return capital and reduce investor risk, then hold and eventually exit.
When appropriate, a 1031 exchange can also provide an opportunity to defer taxes and roll the proceeds into the next investment.
Raising $4.5 Million for the First Syndication
One of the most valuable parts of the conversation was Chris’s candid explanation of how he raised approximately $4.5 million for his first 100-unit deal in Atlanta.
He readily admitted that he didn’t have a sophisticated capital-raising system at the time.
What he did have was persistence—and one particularly important investor.
The Anchor Investor Advantage
Chris’s partner had an uncle who had recently sold a property, and that uncle ultimately invested $1.5 million into the deal.
That single investment provided several critical advantages:
- Immediate momentum
- Credibility with other investors
- A significant portion of the required equity
Chris believes an anchor investor can be incredibly valuable for someone completing their first syndication. In fact, he encourages new syndicators not to be afraid of giving up a meaningful portion of the GP economics if a larger investor can bring substantial capital and help get the deal across the finish line.
The goal early on isn’t necessarily to maximize the economics of the first deal. It’s to gain experience, build a track record, and prove that the model works.
A “Primitive” but Effective System
Beyond the anchor investor, Chris’s initial capital-raising process was remarkably simple.
He created a spreadsheet of contacts, printed it out, and carried it with him everywhere.
He made calls from his car. He sent emails. He followed up. And he worked his way down the list until each person had given him a clear yes or no.
After hundreds of conversations, approximately 20 investors ultimately participated in that first deal.
The lesson is an important one for anyone raising capital for the first time: low conversion rates are normal.
Most people aren’t going to invest. Some won’t be ready. Others won’t understand the opportunity. Some may simply need more time.
But the handful of people who are ready—and who trust you enough to invest—can completely change the trajectory of a business.
From Manual Hustle to a Scalable Investor System
Today, the investor relations operation at Next Level Income looks very different.
The company has built a more sophisticated system around investor communication and education, including:
- HubSpot as its CRM
- A network of more than 1,200 investors
- Consistent educational content through podcasts, emails, articles, and other resources
But perhaps the biggest evolution has been philosophical.
Chris and his team take an education-first approach to investor relationships.
Their mission is centered on helping investors achieve financial independence through education and investment opportunities.
Rather than constantly pushing investment opportunities, the strategy is to educate first and allow investors to decide when they’re ready.
That means providing books, podcasts, articles, tools, and other educational resources while staying relevant over time.
Chris shared an example of an investor who had been aware of the company’s investment opportunities for roughly 10 years before finally committing capital to a current deal.
That’s a decade of building trust and providing value before receiving a dollar from that investor.
The takeaway is simple: not everyone is ready at the same time.
Someone may not be financially ready. They may not be emotionally ready to invest. They may be listening to different advice from their financial advisor. Or the timing may simply not be right.
The job of an investor relations team isn’t to force the timing.
It’s to meet people where they are, continue providing value, and be there when they’re ready.
Infinite Banking and the Importance of Liquidity
The conversation also touched on Infinite Banking Concepts (IBC) and the role liquidity can play in an entrepreneur or investor’s financial strategy.
Chris is a strong proponent of using properly structured whole life insurance policies as a potential:
- Place to store cash
- Source of liquidity when opportunities or emergencies arise
- Long-term component of a broader financial plan
He and his family have used these policies as a financial shock absorber during periods such as COVID and other market disruptions and income squeezes.
For entrepreneurs and real estate investors, liquidity can be especially valuable because much of their wealth may be tied up in illiquid assets.
Chris views this liquidity as the foundation of his broader financial model, with real estate sitting on top of that foundation.
How New Investors Should Get Started in Multifamily
When Dustin asked Chris what advice he would give someone looking to break into multifamily investing, his answer was straightforward.
1. Partner With Experience
One of the fastest ways to shorten the learning curve is to partner with someone who is already doing the type of deals you want to do.
For a new investor, that might mean bringing deals to the table, helping raise capital, or providing operational value.
Chris emphasized that new investors shouldn’t be afraid to give up a significant portion of the economics on their first deal—even potentially all of their GP split—if the tradeoff is gaining:
- Real-world experience
- A track record
- Exposure to the entire lifecycle of a deal
- A relationship with an experienced operator
The first deal isn’t necessarily about maximizing profit. It’s about eliminating unknowns, gaining experience, and learning how successful deals are actually executed.
2. Learn, Then Act
Chris has also turned much of his experience into educational resources through Next Level Income, including a book focused on the value-add multifamily model and team structure, as well as a newer “How to Be Financially Free by 40” ebook.
The resources cover topics such as increasing income, reducing taxes, understanding infinite banking, analyzing real estate deals, and teaching the next generation how to manage wealth.
But Chris emphasized an important distinction: education without action doesn’t create results.
Reading books and listening to podcasts can provide a foundation, but eventually investors have to put that knowledge into practice.
That could mean:
- Underwriting a deal
- Calling a broker
- Meeting a potential partner
- Speaking with a potential investor
- Investing passively in a first deal
The reps matter.
The Long Game: Wealth and the Next Generation
Now that Chris has achieved financial independence and is raising two boys, ages 16 and 14, his focus has expanded beyond simply acquiring and operating investments.
He’s increasingly thinking about the next generation and what it really means to build lasting wealth.
The questions become bigger:
- How do you transfer not just assets, but wisdom?
- How do you teach children to steward capital rather than simply spend it?
- How do you build systems and knowledge that continue long after you’re gone?
That’s why teaching the next generation has become such an important part of Chris’s philosophy.
True financial freedom isn’t necessarily about accumulating the largest possible portfolio. It’s also about developing the knowledge, habits, and systems that allow wealth to be preserved and responsibly managed for generations.
Final Thoughts
Chris Larsen’s story brings together personal tragedy, discipline, entrepreneurship, and more than a decade of experience in multifamily real estate.
His journey offers several important lessons for both aspiring and experienced investors:
- Use adversity as a catalyst to build a life with fewer regrets.
- Focus on strong markets and straightforward value-add fundamentals.
- Don’t underestimate the power of an anchor investor when raising capital.
- Build investor relationships around education and trust rather than constant sales.
- Recognize the importance of liquidity, particularly when much of your wealth is tied up in real estate.
- Learn from experienced operators, even if it means giving up a significant portion of the economics on your first deal.
- Think long term—whether that’s a 10-year hold, a decade-long investor relationship, or a multi-generational approach to wealth.
Chris Larsen’s path from competitive cycling to financial independence is a powerful example of how resilience, discipline, and a willingness to rethink the traditional definition of success can lead to an entirely different life.
And perhaps the biggest lesson is the one that started the journey in the first place: don’t wait until it’s too late to ask whether you’re building the life you actually want.