DJA and Vestis Group are managing and upgrading 23 former RightPlace multifamily assets throughout the metro area. Though RightPlace also acquired in Houston, DJA president and CEO Dick Jamessays he decided not to touch those. "We determined it was a lostcause," James tells GlobeSt.com. "We didn't want to get involvedwith that."

James, who already owns and operates more than 3500 unitsthroughout the sunbelt under his own company name, says he'd gotteninvolved with the Right Place portfolio because he was interestedin expanding a third-party management business. He was hopeful ofreceiving two or three Right Place properties to manage when helearned the company was closing up shop. "I ended up gettingdarn-near all of them," he says.

For years, Right Place Properties, led by co-founders Rob Porterand Earl Ricker, had a reputation as a reliable company. Porter andRicker bought low-rent apartment buildings, renovated them withfunds from a pool of private investors, then re-sold the units ascondominiums. Porter and Ricker did this at a rate of one asset ayear, until the mid-2000s, when the company stepped up itsinvestment plan. According to an article in the ArizonaRepublic, the company was acquiring as many as two apartmentbuildings a month by 2008.