Looking for a Westwood multifamily broker? Michael Sterman, Senior Managing Director Investments at Marcus & Millichap and founder of the Sterman Multifamily Group, has closed $1.41 billion across 254 Los Angeles apartment building transactions over 14 years — including 1 in Westwood alone. If you own an apartment building in Westwood and are weighing a sale, this is the team that prices it against Westwood's real buyer pool and rules — not a generic LA average.
UCLA drives Westwood. Around 50,000 students and faculty rent in or near the submarket. That dominant employer-renter dynamic shapes everything about Westwood multifamily — the unit size mix, the tenancy turnover pattern, the rent roll volatility during academic calendars, the management burden, and ultimately the buyer pool that wants to acquire it. Selling a Westwood building is not selling a generic LA multifamily asset. It is selling a campus-adjacent rental business with a specific operational profile.
Westwood buildings are not operated like conventional LA multifamily. Academic-calendar turnover concentrates tenant transitions into a narrow window each summer. Marketing efficiency is higher per unit than in conventional buildings because UCLA applicant pools are large and continuous. Rent roll design tends toward smaller units, often with roommate configurations. For the next buyer, this is either an advantage (experienced operators who specialize in student housing know how to run this inventory efficiently) or a disadvantage (generic institutional buyers who underwrite to conventional multifamily standards miss the operational specifics). Pricing Westwood without accounting for the student-housing operating model misses what the building actually is.
Westwood has a second distinct inventory profile along the Wilshire Corridor: high-rise and mid-rise buildings that cater to graduate students, young professionals, medical residents (from UCLA Medical Center), and older residents who want UCLA-area access without the undergraduate turnover. This inventory trades on a more conventional rental-apartment model. A seller's pricing strategy depends on which profile the building fits. Corridor mid-rise competes with conventional multifamily buyers. Village-area student housing competes with specialized operators.
Value in Westwood turns on vintage, rent-control status, your in-place rents versus market, and which buyer pool fits your building — not a single neighborhood average. Michael underwrites your specific Westwood building the way a real buyer will, then tells you what it should bring and how to get there. No obligation.
Request a Free Westwood Building Evaluation →Beyond the standard buyer types (institutional, private equity, 1031, family office), Westwood attracts a specific segment: specialized student-housing operators. National student housing platforms sometimes acquire Westwood inventory. Regional operators with UCLA concentration are consistent bidders. These buyers underwrite differently than conventional multifamily buyers and often pay more for buildings they can operate efficiently within their existing platform. Sellers with Westwood inventory should not price exclusively against conventional multifamily comparables. The student-housing buyer pool is a separate price-discovery channel.
A sample of Westwood apartment buildings Michael Sterman has closed. Each links to the full deal record.
Michael Sterman has spent 14 years specializing exclusively in Los Angeles multifamily, closing 254 transactions worth $1.41 billion. He knows how Westwood buildings are valued, who buys them, and what it takes to get a clean deal closed here. CA DRE License #01911703.
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