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Revenue growth
FY 2016 to 2018: 142%
2018 revenue: $4.0 million
The history: Ivan Barratt went to work in real estate after graduating from Indiana University in 2000 and always had in mind the idea of starting his own company. After “everything fell off the cliff” in 2008, he began to put together Barratt Asset Management in a spare bedroom. The company now has more than 70 employees and more than $250 million in assets under management and ownership, Barratt said.
Its business model: The company buys apartment properties and adds value by creating management efficiencies through its team. It’s been able to find opportunities in three Midwestern states and now owns 11 properties and manages a handful of others on behalf of their owners. “We look for opportunities where we can deliver a solid, consistent return by bringing in a new management team and, most of the time, new capital to make improvements and raise the rents and increase the bottom line.”
Recent acquisition: In January, the company acquired the Carmel Woods Apartments at East 136th Street and Rangeline Road in Carmel. “Couldn’t be happier to be an apartment owner in Carmel,” Barratt said. There’s a lot of competition for good real estate deals. “It takes 200 frogs to find one princess,” he said.
Value the team: Barratt said one of his goals in building the company has been finding the right people and helping them enjoy their work. The company tries “not to take anything too seriously” and boasts that it treats its maintenance teams “like gold.”
The future: The company plans to continue to grow in a disciplined way, Barratt said. “I’m a product of the Great Recession, so our growth track is first and foremost rooted in managing risk. If we can stay disciplined and conservative, we can continue that momentum. It doesn’t always look like it’s moving fast, but a little bit in the right direction every day tends to add up and compound over time.”•
Check out more of IBJ’s ranking of Indy’s fastest-growing companies.
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