
Brandon L. Raatikka, JD
AREAS OF EXPERTISE
• Private Placements
• Delaware Statutory Trusts
• 1031 Exchange Process
• 721 Exchanges
• Regulation A+
• UPREITs
Brandon Raatikka has served as an alternative investment analyst and project leader at FactRight for nine years. His current role is Chief Operating Officer.
Brandon’s areas of expertise include real estate syndications, Regulation A, project management, and professional business communication. Brandon is passionate about distilling complex ideas so they can be communicated clearly. This passion drives his work to identify, assess, and plainly communicate the material risks of an investment offering.
He is also passionate about people, ideas, and continuous improvement, which has helped to make FactRight the market leader in alternative investment due diligence and a great place to work. Brandon is adept at making connections between seemingly disparate concepts, and he contextualizes due diligence findings so that FactRight’s clients can make optimally-informed investment decisions. Law school emphasized the paired importance of both the details and the larger picture, and Brandon engages with that paradigm every day at FactRight.
Prior to joining FactRight, Brandon oversaw telecommunications facility site identification and analysis through due diligence, leasing, and land use planning.
Brandon is most proud of being key player and influencer on the team that has adapted, grown, and thrived during difficult economic and regulatory environments — less than 10% of companies survive for 10 years in normal conditions — and the mark he continues to make on FactRight’s culture.
- J.D., Law, cum laude, Minnesota Law Review, University of Minnesota Law School, 2003-2006
- B.A., History, magna cum laude, honors program, Bethel University, 1999-2003
- Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Keble College, University of Oxford, spring 2002
- Member and/or Chair of Editorial Subcommittee – Alternative & Direct Investment Securities Association (ADISA)
- Member – State Bar of Minnesota
Recent Blogs from FactRight
- Highlights from FactRight's 2023 RIA Spring Due Diligence Conferenceby sarah@factright.com (Sarah Thommes) on March 23, 2023 at 4:42 pm
We say this every conference, but we are so beyond grateful to all of you for making this Spring RIA Due Diligence Conference in beautiful Scottsdale, Arizona such a success! With over 350 total attendees, the FactRight staff cannot be more appreciative of your continued support and participation.
- Due Diligence Considerations: the Continuum from Conflicts of Interest to Alignment of Interestsby Julie Olsen on February 22, 2023 at 6:39 pm
Alternative investments programs involve many conflicts of interest, and offering documents often have an entire risk disclosure section dedicated to this issue. But not all conflicts are the same and vary by product and sponsor. Assessing conflicts really come down to two central questions:
- What a High Home Prices-to-Income Ratio Could Mean for Residential Real Estate Programsby steve.s@factright.com (Steve Sims) on January 26, 2023 at 7:18 pm
Over the past several years, FactRighthas seen a trend in increased demand for residential real estate investment programs (e.g., multifamily, build-to-rent, single family residences).While our offering-level reports provide a market overview at the MSA-level, I wanted to goa few levels higher to the national scale. This blog primarily looks at the relationship of single-family home prices and income in the United States to answer the following question:What are the implications for residentialreal estate programs if housing is overpriced relative to historic norms?
- Lapses in Due Diligence and the Collapse of FTX: How Could so Many Have Missed so Much?by Jeff.B@factright.com (Jeff Baumgartner) on December 13, 2022 at 9:16 pm
By now, you may be generally familiar with the recent collapse of FTX, and some of the reasons for its failures are obvious. But by examining FTX side-by-side with perhaps the most infamous investment fraud ever perpetrated, we can discover some keys as to why lapses in due diligence may never be a thing of the past. These two epic failures bear little factual resemblance to one another at first glance, but this post will look more closely at the more transcendent lessons they hold.
- All Preferred Shares Not Created Equal – Why FactRight Incorporates Scenario Analysis in our Analysis of Preferred Securitiesby kevin@factright.com (Kevin Kirkeby) on November 30, 2022 at 9:21 pm
It should come as no surprise that the old investment adage about getting what you pay for holds true for preferred stock, too. Despite often being pitched as a bond alternative, especially lately, there are multiple factors beyond dividend yield to consider. Among the features, an investor needs to understand are the liquidity provisions, dividend policy, and preferred shareholder rights. Sponsors tend to get irritable when FactRight stress tests their pro forma model or highlights weak investor protections, dismissing the concerns as implicating scenarios highly unlikely to ever occur. However, sometimes the unlikely or improbable does occur. This post will focus on a real scenario involving several preferred securities that underscores the need for due diligence in these areas.