The SEC-registered universe is overwhelmingly small boutique RIAs — median 5 employees, $404M AUM. Only ~12% manage over $1B. The top targets for Realized's DST/1031 platform (and StoryAMP's outreach) likely sit in the $100M–$5B band with 2–50 employees, which represents ~13,800 firms (85% of the universe).
$100M–$5B captures 63.2% of the universe (10,439 firms) and represents the sweet spot for both Realized and StoryAMP — large enough to run DST transactions, small enough to be approachable.
2–50 employees covers 82% of the universe. Solo operators (1 employee) are likely too small. Firms over 150 employees are large regionals requiring a bottom-up approach (Stephanie's framework).
NY + CA alone = 30% of the universe (4,297 firms). Top 8 states (NY, CA, TX, FL, IL, MA, PA, CT) = ~55% of firms. Geographic filtering is a powerful way to phase campaigns — start with the dense coastal markets, expand from there.
The investment_other_description field
(ADV Part 1, Item 5K) is free text where firms describe their "other" investment allocations —
where non-traded products like DSTs, REITs, and direct participation programs surface.
Keyword match counts below are from this field only.
Exact DST/1031 keyword matching in this field is nearly useless (1–2 hits). Firms don't write "DST" or "1031 exchange" in their ADV Part 1 investment description — they use broader terms like "REIT," "non-traded," or "real estate." The real estate private funds flag (681 firms) and REIT/non-traded text signals are the reliable proxies here. ADV Part 2 PDF scraping (already built) remains the best channel for explicit DST/1031 keyword detection.
Firms flagged as having DST-adjacent signals: real estate private fund (Item 7B), or description containing "non-traded," "REIT," "real estate," or "direct participation."
Signal concentration increases with AUM — larger firms are more likely to run alternatives. But the $1B–$5B band (195 firms, 6.4%) is the volume sweet spot: high enough signal, large enough to be worth pursuing, accessible enough to reach directly.
Item 5K — % of client assets in "other" investments (where DSTs/DPPs typically appear). Firms with >0% explicitly have alternative allocations.
2,860 firms report non-zero "other" investment allocations. Filtering for firms with pct_other_investments > 0 is a clean, data-backed proxy for alternative investment activity — no text parsing required.
Top 10 by AUM among firms whose investment_other_description
contains 1031, DST, "direct participation," or "non-traded."
| Firm | State | AUM | Employees | Signal Text |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LBMC Investment Advisors, LLC | TN | $1.95B | 3 | UNIT TRUSTS, USER DEFINED, MORTGAGE BACKED, NON-TRADED INVESTMENTS |
| Nebrodi Partners, LLC | CT | $1.48B | 5 | NON-TRADED DIRECT PRIVATE EQUITY INVESTMENTS IN LLC OR CORPORATE FORM |
| Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. | MA | $1.44B | 10 | INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT PROVIDED TO UNDERLYING INVESTMENTS WITHIN VARIABLE ANNUITY CONTRACTS. NON-TRADED REITS... |
| Scarborough Capital Management | MD | $1.40B | 13 | ALTERNATIVES AND NON-TRADED REITS |
| Acorn Financial Advisory Services, Inc. | VA | $1.24B | 11 | DSTS, REITS, BDCS, OTHER ALTS ← explicit DST |
| The Advisory Resource Group, LLC | OK | $809M | 6 | NON-TRADED REITS THAT HAVE YET TO BE LISTED |
| MMA Asset Management LLC | PA | $715M | 16 | NON-TRADED REITS AND CLOSED END INTERVAL FUNDS |
| Bellwether Wealth | NE | $685M | 5 | VARIABLE ANNUITIES AND NON-TRADED REITS |
| Financial Directions LLC | AZ | $672M | 3 | ASSETS CONSISTING OF LEGACY NON-TRADED REITS AND PUBLICLY TRADED PARTNERSHIPS/REITS AND NON-AUM DONOR ADVISED FUNDS |
| American Investors Co | CA | $578M | 30 | INCLUDES FRACTIONAL PERCENTAGES OF NON-TRADED DIRECT PARTICIPATION PROGRAMS, VA SUB-ACCOUNTS, CDS... |
Counts below are validated actuals from the live ria_universe table (October 2026).
A ∪ B union = 3,398 firms. Combo C adds zero incremental firms — every text-signal firm is already captured by A or B.
Two effective filters, not three. Combo A (681 firms — active real estate fund operators) is the high-confidence starting point. Combo B (2,860 firms — non-zero alternatives allocators) is the broader net. Their union is 3,398 firms with a 143-firm overlap. Combo C is fully redundant — every text-signal firm is already in A or B. Next step: cross-reference Combo A's 681 firms against the existing 702 ADV Part 2 keyword matches — firms appearing in both are the highest-priority targets.
How many firms already in ProspectIQ's imported_firms table
(keyword-matched via ADV Part 2 scraper) also appear in Combo A or B from the structural filters above.
Firms in both lists passed two independent tests — the highest-priority targets.
| Firm | St | AUM | Emp | Signal | % Other | Part 2 Keywords |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Platform Investments, LLC | MO | $1.7B | 8 | A | — | "1031 exchange" |
| Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC | OH | $6.1B | 52 | A | — | "practice management" |
| Alcentra NY, LLC | NY | $14.2B | 8 | B | 71% | "Delaware Statutory Trust" |
| Orange Investment Advisors, Inc. | NY | $1.7B | 8 | B | 1% | "1031 exchange" |
| Safe Harbor Asset Management, Inc. | NY | $34M | 2 | B | 2% | "Delaware Statutory Trust" |
| RetirementAdvice | JKA | CA | $240M | 4 | B | 33% | "1031 exchange", "1031 exchanges" |
| &Partners | TN | $14.1B | 272 | B | 28% | "OSJ" |
| Balbec Capital Management LP | AZ | $7.2B | 39 | B | 100% | "marketing support" |
| Fragasso Financial Advisors | PA | $2.4B | 25 | B | 4% | "OSJ" |
| IFG Advisory, LLC | GA | $4.0B | 80 | B | 1% | "Office of Supervisory Jurisdiction" |
| Calton & Associates, Inc. | FL | $1.6B | 221 | B | 12% | — |
| Flagstar Advisors, Inc. | NY | $1.2B | 47 | B | 1% | "OSJ" |
| Independent Financial Group, LLC | CA | $11.3B | 484 | B | 1% | — |
| Pinnacle Investments, LLC | NY | $1.1B | 50 | B | 1% | "OSJ" |
| Private Client Services, LLC | KY | $1.1B | 50 | B | 1% | "OSJ" |
| Centaurus Financial, Inc. | CA | $7.3B | 375 | B | 1% | "Office of Supervisory Jurisdiction" |
| TCP Asset Management, LLC | OH | $822M | 18 | B | 1% | "OSJ" |
| G. A. Repple & Company | FL | $615M | 58 | B | 3% | "OSJ" |
| Emerson Equity LLC | CA | $328M | 72 | B | 15% | — |
| Spielberger & Brooks, Inc. | NY | $390M | 2 | B | 1% | "practice management" |
| American Investors Co | CA | $578M | 30 | B | 1% | — |
| Westpark Capital, Inc. | NY | $48M | 10 | B | 5% | — |
Platform Investments (MO) is the standout — it has the real estate funds flag, an explicit "1031 exchange" keyword in its ADV Part 2, and $1.7B AUM with only 8 employees. That's a Realized-profile firm that passed two independent tests.
Alcentra NY (71% other allocation, "Delaware Statutory Trust" keyword, $14.2B AUM) is high signal but very large — a long-cycle institutional relationship, not a quick win.
The OSJ-flagged firms (broker-dealer supervisory offices) are large but the keyword match is noise — those entered the pipeline through a BD/hybrid signal, not DST intent. Deprioritize unless a specific advisor contact is identified.
Blind spot: 85 of 229 imported firms (37%) have no CRD and cannot be cross-referenced. Adding CRDs to those records is a quick data task that would expand this overlap analysis significantly.
The full Airtable dataset (~700+ firms) has not been imported into ProspectIQ — running this cross-reference against all Airtable CRDs would give a materially larger overlap count.