Family offices considering a real-estate position do not typically need a broker. The deal-sourcing market is well covered; what is under-supplied is advisory that frames the three questions a family office actually has to answer before signing. The hold-period question, the structuring question, and the exit-optionality question — these are the questions that earn the room.
The hold-period question is whether the asset is a 5-year position, a 15-year position, or a generational position. The answer changes the structuring entirely. A 5-year position can sit in a flexible vehicle with limited governance overhead. A generational position needs a structure that survives principals, that allows partial liquidity events for one branch of the family without forcing sale, and that has reporting discipline a third-generation family member can understand. The hold-period question is rarely asked clearly and almost always determines whether the structure ages well.
The structuring question is which jurisdiction holds the asset, which entity holds the title, how the financing is sleeved, and how the tax flows are managed. Most family-office real-estate transactions are structured for the principal’s current tax position; the structures that survive are designed for the regime that hasn’t been announced yet. A real-estate advisor who only solves for current-rate optimisation is solving the wrong problem.
The exit-optionality question is what happens if the asset has to be sold faster than the original thesis assumed. A family office that designed the structure assuming a 15-year hold but is forced to sell at year four often discovers that the structure that minimised tax on day one maximises friction on exit. Building exit optionality into the structure on day one costs basis points in the running fee and saves percentage points at the exit.
Kaelo’s real estate sector is shared work between Kaelo Advisory and Kaelo Investments. The advisory side concentrates on the three questions above; the investment side takes direct positions on the group’s balance sheet. The two are governed independently — Advisory will not advise on a transaction Kaelo is itself bidding on, and conflicts are documented in writing.