About Great Expectations
A privately funded affordable housing developer and operator based in the Pacific Northwest.
Who we are
We deploy private and tax-advantaged capital to create, preserve, and operate housing for working people — while delivering durable, risk-adjusted returns to our investors.
Our platform integrates investment, development, construction, and property management at scale. This integration allows us to take on projects that are complex, operationally intensive, or overlooked — and make them work.
Our origin story
From insight to action.
After returning to Seattle in 2018, Ben Maritz was struck by the scale and visibility of the city's homelessness crisis. While still at McKinsey, he conducted research that challenged prevailing assumptions — clearly linking homelessness to housing supply and affordability, rather than individual pathology alone.
This work demonstrated a then-unfashionable conclusion: homelessness is fundamentally a housing problem.
The research also identified strategies through which private capital could play a meaningful role — providing housing for people at risk of homelessness while operating within a disciplined, investable framework. Great Expectations was created to put those ideas into practice.
A Social Purpose Corporation
Profit with a purpose — by design.
In 2024, Great Expectations formally converted to a Social Purpose Corporation (SPC) to codify what had been true since our founding: that housing is both a business and a responsibility.
This structure ensures our mission is durable — it cannot be set aside when markets tighten or priorities shift. For investors, it provides clarity. For residents and partners, accountability.
Profitable operations
Sustainable real estate assets that perform.
Social benefit
Advancing affordability for working people.
Balanced returns
Investor value aligned with community outcomes.
Long-term thinking
Built to endure, not to exit.
Our integrated platform
Three specialized entities working in concert to deliver better outcomes.
Great Expectations
Capitalization, acquisitions, development, and asset management. We source opportunities, structure capital, and drive investment performance.
Arboreal Construction
Cost control through self-performed small scopes and disciplined general contracting. We deliver projects on time and on budget.
Arboreal Management
Operational efficiency at scale with resident-focused execution. Our management feedback loop informs underwriting and drives value creation.
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Root & Branch
Facilitates tax advantaged affordable housing ownership structures and provides meaningful services to residents and the community.
Learn more...Why integration matters
Faster execution through aligned incentives
Lower lifecycle costs via operational feedback
Better resident experience from end-to-end ownership
Higher risk-adjusted returns through cost certainty
A track record built with investors
We view every investment as the beginning of a long-term relationship.
Since inception, we have partnered with over 100 individual and institutional investors across five syndicated apartment funds and five single-asset development, construction, and rehabilitation projects.
Our investors include entrepreneurs, family offices, institutional allocators, and mission-driven capital partners. Many have reinvested with us across multiple vehicles.
Stewardship first
Transparency, especially when it's hard.
Our top priority is being excellent stewards of investor capital. Real estate is cyclical. Markets turn. Construction gets harder. Interest rates move.
We do not manage by surprise. In both good times and challenging ones, our investors hear from us early, directly, and with candor. We believe trust compounds faster than returns.
Clear underwriting assumptions
Conservative leverage
Frequent, plain-English reporting
Direct access to senior leadership
Early communication when conditions change
Our philosophy
We measure success not only by financial performance, but by durability. That means:
- Conservative underwriting
- Hands-on asset management
- Transparent investor communication
- Long-term ownership and accountability
Looking forward
Housing is one of the defining challenges of our time. We believe private capital has an essential role to play — not as charity, but as a disciplined, scalable force for good.
Great Expectations was created with the hope that others would follow. We intend to keep building.
Ready to learn more?
Meet the team behind the platform, or explore how we structure investment opportunities.