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Sean Kia and Ryan Andrade took the stage at the Beverly Wilshire last month and dumped out a bag of Tides Equities’ dirty laundry.

Some of it the audience had smelled before. There were the sweeping capital calls last summer, the dozens of lifeline loan modifications, the more than $1 billion in floating-rate debt on the verge of default and, most pressingly, the foreclosures shrinking Tides’ multifamily empire.

But the Tides guys, fresh-faced and well-prepped, didn’t show up to self-flagellate over old news. Especially not before a home crowd. The Los Angeles-based principals were there to do business and, somewhat surprisingly, that meant copping to their mistakes.