A single-family office (SFO) is a private organization dedicated to managing the wealth and affairs of one wealthy family. It employs a dedicated team, typically investment, tax, legal, and estate professionals, who serve that family exclusively. Historically, justifying the cost of a dedicated staff has required $100 million or more in investable assets.
A multifamily office (MFO) is one integrated team serving several families, sharing infrastructure, expertise, and cost across households. Each family receives professional wealth management without bearing the full overhead of a dedicated staff.
The distinction is not cosmetic. It determines whether a family gets an integrated team or a curated list of vendors wearing a family office label, and it explains why the historical $100 million threshold for single-family offices created room for multifamily offices to emerge as an alternative.
Since the 1980s, when the modern multifamily office emerged as a service model, true multifamily office services have been reserved for families with $100 million or more in investable assets. Firms that market family office services below that threshold typically deliver a tiered version of wealth management with a family office label.
Families at the $5 million to $50 million+ tier were quietly steered into products wearing a family office name. The structural distinction is observable in how the services are actually delivered, and in the leakage that accumulates when integration is rhetorical rather than real.
Noblehouse was built to close that gap. The integration is structural. The advisory team operates as one, the strategy is documented and shared, and the family experiences one coordinated relationship rather than a curated list of vendors.