Episodes

It’s hard to find businesses that consistently generate profit margins in excess of 20%. One such asset class most investors don’t think about is laundromats, but they’re everywhere and simple businesses to run. Over the past couple years, Real Estate investors, in addition to others, have entered the laundromat space because of the strong cash flow and the ability to dramatically increase revenue by adding value. For starters, most laundromats lack the simple technological advances that make th...

In the multifamily apartment category, Class B provides the greatest hedge against risk. Renovated Class B apartments often have many of the same amenities as Class A, but cost anywhere from $300-$500 per month less to rent, depending on the market. In a tough economy, a lot of Class A renters move down to Class B properties in order to save money, but Class B renters generally don’t move down to Class C. Lee Harris, President and CEO of Cohen Esrey, has acquired and improved 10,000 Class B apar...

One of the keys to success in multifamily investing is picking a market that’s not fully discovered and still experiencing a lot of growth. Another aspect of this strategy is buying B class properties with huge rental upside without having to pay a lot in unit or exterior upgrades. Christopher Stout, Principal and leader of StoutCap, has selected Northern Alabama, NW Arkansas, and Fayetteville, NC as up and coming markets that are growing, but not yet saturated with other investors. These are fa...

There aren’t too many asset classes within Commercial Real Estate right now where you can generate a strong cash-on-cash equity return plus great upside. One exception to this is RV Parks. RV Parks are where Self Storage and Mobile Home Parks were ten years ago. There are approximately 15,000 RV Parks in the U.S. and many of them are often filled to capacity. Several of them are owned by ma and pa owners that have not maximized their true revenue potential. Robert Preston, CEO of Climb Capital, ...

Although multifamily Real Estate has been a stable, cash-flowing asset class for the past several years, many properties are facing major headwinds. Interest rate hikes, rising expenses, and slower rent growth has presented big challenges. Despite these current market conditions, however, there’s still a significant supply-demand imbalance of housing in the U.S. that portends well for multifamily in the long run. Daniel Holmlund, CEO of Good Samaritan Capital, is helping investors seeking consis...

If you want to invest in Real Estate, but don’t want to tie your money up for an extended period of time, a great way to do this is through non-bank private lending. When you invest in single family fix and flips in stable markets, for example, it’s a conservative way to generate high yield, consistent passive income. Kevin Amolsch, Founder of Pine Financial Group, owned several of his own single family properties before transitioning into private lending. Kevin now has funds that lend mostly on...

Other than Class A office space in top-tier markets, the overall office building asset class remains a healthy and viable investment alternative. There are several types of office product, and most are faring well depending on the location. Stewart Heath, CEO of Harvard Grace company, is building a portfolio of properties in the Nashville to Huntsville, Alabama, corridor, including cash-flowing office buildings. This market has seen explosive growth and offers great investing opportunities.

In highly desirable, steady markets not subject to excessive volatility, Real Estate values tend to hold and appreciate consistently over time, and are great, low risk capital preservation assets. One such market that has withstood the test of time is Chicago. Chicago remains a powerful magnet that attracts residents from all over the greater Midwest and beyond. Joe Smazal, Senior Managing Partner of Interra Realty, is one of Chicago’s top-producing Multifamily brokers in the $5-$15 million rang...

If you’ve been paying attention at all, you know there are clouds on the horizon in Commercial Real Estate. This is caused in no small part to escalating interest rates, which can move even higher. Amongst asset classes facing headwinds is multifamily. Depending on the market, there’s a glut of new construction, rents and occupancy are down, and expenses are up. As a result, many apartment complexes acquired over the past two to three years with floating rate debt will not get refinanced, which ...

Investing in the right operator is more important than investing in the right deal. A poor operator can make a good deal bad; a good operator can make a bad deal good. When selecting who to invest with, it’s important to vet how often, how much, and what they communicate, in addition to making sure they’ll prioritize the operations of the deal before they move on to other deals just to reap the acquisition fees. Nancy Chillag, Founder of 23rd St. investors, partners with other General Partners t...

You don’t need to be a direct operator of Real Estate to get a great return on your money. You can invest in the secondary mortgage market and get conservative, mid-high teen returns with almost no leverage against single family homes. Bill Bymel, CEO and fund manager of First Lien Capital, invests in pools of mostly non-performing single-family notes at a discount and a conservative loan- to-value of 60%. First Lien owns over 700 mortgages valued at greater than $100 million. They help borrower...

It’s hard to find businesses that consistently generate profit margins in excess of 20%. One such asset class most investors don’t think about is laundromats, but they’re everywhere and simple businesses to run. Over the past couple years, Real Estate investors, in addition to others, have entered the laundromat space because of the strong cash flow and the ability to dramatically increase revenue by adding value. For starters, most laundromats lack the simple technological advances that make th...

To be successful in the long-term in Real estate, you need to buy things right at today’s value versus hoping the market will carry you, because the market is undependable. The market has carried a lot of investors over the past few years, even when they overpaid for properties, but these days are temporarily over. We’re currently in a Real Estate recession as lending has all but shut down, but great deals are starting to present themselves because of skyrocketing borrowing costs for borrowers w...

We’re currently in the longest bull market in U.S. history as the government continues to print trillions of dollars. With this unprecedented situation, continued inflation and rising interest rates are unavoidable. Depending on what happens, it’s possible that rates can go as high as the high teens as they did in the 80’s. This scenario will spur a declining stock market and depreciation of most assets. Jim Rogers, renowned six-decade investor, author, and commentator, predicts choppy waters ah...

Finding a new niche in an increasingly crowded marketplace is close to impossible. One asset class which has yet to be scaled, however, is laundromats. Laundromats are run mostly by small operators with antiquated systems, often in outdated facilities. Sam Wilson, a successful Real Estate investor and entrepreneur, is acquiring laundromats and modernizing. He’s achieving huge revenue increases and profitability in the process. Sam created a fund where investors can participate in this trajectory...

Hyper-focus is a key to success in business. In Real Estate, having a tight geographic and operational focus pays high dividends, especially in the Multifamily sector. There’s no substitute for living in the market you’re operating in, where you have intimate knowledge of the neighborhoods, blocks, and even the streets. On top of this geographic specialization, if you’re truly vertically integrated, the odds are highly stacked in favor of your success. Jered Sturm, Principal and CEO of SNS Capit...

One of the critical components in Real Estate acquisitions is the lending piece. The wrong loan can end up dooming a project in the long term. Getting the right loan product with all the right terms and conditions for your investment can make or break the deal when unforeseen circumstances occur. Malcom Turner, President & CEO of Castle Commercial Capital in Detroit, helps commercial borrowers navigate the complex landscape of commercial lending so they can close on the right deal and avoid comm...

Most real estate classes require a lot of hands-on daily management that makes or breaks the success of the investment. Nowhere is this more the case than multifamily apartment communities. When you’re dealing with tenants 24/7, there’s things that need prompt attention at times. Ryan Weiss, Principal Broker and Managing Partner at Blue Door Living, has gone from managing 40 units to over 400 units in just three years and has gotten all his clients by word-of-mouth. Ryan is based in Manchester, ...

After many years of escalating prices, it’s now a buyer’s market for institutional, quality multi-family assets. Institutions are on the sidelines as they rebalance investment portfolios, and it’s become much harder for newer operators to raise money. As a result, the buyer pool has shrunken, and prices have decreased. Class A, new vintage properties are selling for 10% off their peak in growing secondary markets in the Midwest. Ivan Barratt, Founder of the BAM companies, a fully vertically inte...

Unlike most Real Estate asset classes, the Mobile Home Park industry will not see high levels of distress caused by aggressive, short-term floating rate debt. Lenders of Mobile Home Parks are typically more conservative, and operators are not facing the same level of occupancy and expense challenges of other asset classes. Mobile Home Parks aren’t pretty, but they still consistently cash flow better than many other assets that are traditionally more sought after. Mario Dattilo, CEO of Celebrate ...

Although the market for Multifamily still remains one of the most competitive asset classes, it still represents one of the best opportunities to add significant, predictable value in a relatively short period of time. Zach Winner, Founding Partner of Prosperity CRE, has had recent success in Kansas City where he 1031 exchanged out of an 80-unit apartment building into a 180 unit building and is brining units up to market rents. Zach is an opportunistic investor who is also undertaking a hotel-t...

Many operators over the last couple years paid exorbitant prices for assets and have been unable to increase income as planned. Expenses have also increased significantly more than anticipated. These factors, combined with escalating borrowing costs, will make it very difficult for operators to hold onto certain properties. As rates readjust upwards, there will be distress and opportunities for acquirers. Brian Estes, President of the Estes Group in Jackson Mississippi, has a background in repos...

In major markets across the U.S., residential rents have shotten up dramatically over the past 10 years. As a result, many renters have moved further out from urban cores. For operators of apartment complexes, investing in markets outside of the urban cores has made sense because these markets have also seen rental rate increases, but the prices are less, especially for buildings with fewer than 100 units. Mike DesRosiers, CEO at Growth Capital Group, has acquired over 1000 units, mostly in seco...

When it comes to investing, nothing pays off more than patience and discipline. As sellers insist on prices that no longer make sense in this current interest rate environment, it’s gotten increasingly difficult to find deals that pencil out. Even before the interest rate surge, prices were at unprecedented levels because of the incredible amount of competition that were chasing deals. Andrew Cushman, Founder and Principal of Vantage Point Acquisitions, operators of multifamily assets in the Sou...