Episodes

Although the multifamily market is on fire, there’s still a chronic housing shortage that will persist for several years. In many markets, job and population growth is far outpacing existing inventory and new construction. As a result, opportunities still abound in many submarkets in the country. Today’s guest, Matt Picheny, has successfully found opportunities in great markets with B and C value-add properties.

In this exuberant environment for Multifamily, the returns for ground up construction can be more compelling than usual. Although the risk profile is steeper, the rewards can more than justify the risk with an experienced operator. Today’s guest, Sam Bates, Founder of Bates Capital Group, has recently done both ground up construction and acquisitions of existing properties, the deals just have to make sense.

Traditional financial investments versus alternative investments…. which is better? The answer may be more nuanced when looking at both over a long period of time. Today’s guest, Denis Shapiro, Managing Partner of SIH Capital Group and author of The Alternative Almanac, believes there are pros and cons to both although he’s leaned more towards Multifamily investing over the past few years.

Is there a downturn coming? Either way, you have to plan on it, according to today’s guest, Whitney Sewell. Whitney is the founder of Lifebridge Capital. Lifebridge is acquiring properties in the Mountain West states of Idaho and Colorado. Everyone is talking about the South and Southeast, but the Mountain West is also growing rapidly with great job growth and strong demographic trends.

Cap rates on most real estate asset classes have dropped 40% over the past five years. This has made cash flow very hard to achieve. Ground up construction, on the other hand, has much higher cap rates. The key is mitigating risk by being in the right markets with the right assets. Today’s guest, Neal Bawa, the Mad Scientist of Multifamily, has been doing ground up construction in smaller markets in several different asset classes in order to generate attractive returns for investors.

Great Multifamily deals are a needle in a haystack these days, but great deals are still to be had if you’re willing to be patient and methodical. Today’s guest, Sam Wilson, founder of Bricken Investment Group, has found great Value-Add deals in the Southeast with rental upsides over $300 per unit. Sam also has a Self-Storage fund and has invested in parking garages.

In today’s multifamily market, you need to buy deals with as much rental and operational upside as possible to make sense for investors. Today’s guest, Nathan Cloud, Founder and CEO of Cloud Capital, has built out systems with stringent buying criteria to meet these goals. Nathan’s bought C class deals in Houston below market and has had great success. He’s in the right submarkets with the right properties to maximize returns.

Even though Austin is the hottest multifamily market in the country, lifelong relationships and a great reputation yields great deals, even when they’re fewer and further between. Today’s guest, Andrew Campbell, Managing Partner of Wildhorn Capital, has built an impressive 3000 unit portfolio in Austin and San Antonio that’s produced consistently strong returns for investors through cash flow and appreciation.

Even in historically low appreciation markets, single family homes are appreciating at unprecedented rates. New household formation and historically low interest rates has spurred renters to leave apartments and buy their first homes. Today’s guest, Eric Martel, Founder of MartelTurnkey, has been buying, rehabbing, and selling homes to investors who are getting 10% returns on their money.

Market cycles ultimately determine the potential of an investment. Markets and asset classes are always in different phases of development. Today’s guest, Serge Shukhat, Principal of Zonal Capital, started out buying houses for $50,000 in a suburb in Phoenix during the Great Recession and has leveraged these early successes into a multi-asset class empire including multi-family, hotels, and other assets.

Starting out from scratch can be really hard. In this case, two partners in Northern New Jersey have leveraged their unique experience and skill sets to found a Real Estate Investment company. Zack Shulruff and Chris Rizzo founded Clear Mountain Properties and are buying smaller properties in Greensville, South Carolina with great value-add strategies that are working very well in one of the fasted growing markets in the country.

In the world of multifamily, first-hand knowledge of a market, property management and construction can make or break a deal. This is where the money is made or lost. Today’s guest, Terrance Doyle, Founding and Managing Partner of Vareco, specializes in multifamily in Des Moines and Denver. He grew up in Des Moines and lives in Denver. Extensive knowledge of these markets is what gives him a competitive edge.

For investors who want to invest passively in Real Estate, it can be hard knowing who to invest with and in what deals. The process can be daunting when there’s a lot of money on the line. Lance Peterson, Founder and Managing Partner at Verivest, has made it easier for investors to find trustworthy syndicators and he’s helped syndicators maintain best practices in how they conduct their business and investor relations.

Believe it or not, there are still markets where you can get great cash-on-cash returns on single family houses and small multi-families. Whether at auctions or sometimes even on on-market deals, Wichita has fit this bill. Mike Heldstab, founder of Michael Morgan Investments, has amassed a significant portfolio of single families, duplexes, triplexes and four plexes that are all cash flowing very well.

There’s no two ways about it. Getting into the Real Estate business is hard. Finding people to mentor you, getting brokers to take you seriously, and raising capital are just some of the challenges to starting out. Today’s guest, Craig Berger, CEO and Founder of Avid Real Estate Partners, started full-time in Real Estate in 2014 and has learned a lot of valuable lessons.

In every market, there’s always a deal. Somewhere, there’s an older landlord that’s self-managed his own property and just wants to get out. These are often buildings with under market rents and unnecessarily, high expenses. Today’s guest Robert Rixer, co-founder of EJ Investment Group and CitiPoint, has found incredible off-market deals in Chicago with cap rates in excess of 8%- 10%.

Even in a competitive market, there are still great deals if you’re willing to put the time in to follow proven lead generation systems and be patient enough to build relationships with sellers. Today’s guest, Adrian Salazar, Co-founder of Two Ten Management has sourced great deals in McAllen, Tx and San Antonio and is generating outstanding investor returns and creating great places to live for tenants.

In this overheated Real Estate environment, you may need to find smaller, growing markets to find the right deals. Depending on where you look, it’s still possible to find cap rates of 5% or slightly higher for Class C buildings in decent condition in gentrifying B class areas. Today‘s guest, Jonathan Barr, founder of JB2 Investments, puts a lot of his own capital in play alongside a handful of selected investors in deals that cash flow very well.

From flipping single family houses all the way to building high-rises in New York, there’s countless approaches to making money in Real Estate. Today’s guest, Ken Van Liew, Founder and CEO of Global Real Estate Strategies and Chairman of Advanced Capital Funding has pretty much done it all. Ken has syndicated or developed over 1.3 billion in various Real Estate classes. Ken recently wrote The Modern Wealth Building formula, his current mission is to help others achieve their potential and find m...

Whereas 93% of large multifamily properties are owned by larger professional investors, Mobile Home Parks and Self-Storage facilities are still mostly owned by smaller and less sophisticated operators. That’s why you can still find significant operational inefficiencies and opportunity to create incredible value in these assets. Today’s guest, Paul Moore, Managing Partner and Founder of Wellings Capital, has raised funds comprised of value-add Mobile Home Park and Self-Storage facilities that ar...

These days it’s become virtually impossible to get an attractive, conservative yield on commercial Real Estate. Cap rates have gone down and prices have gone way up. There’s one asset class, however, that’s held up comparatively well. That’s Sale/Leaseback industrial properties in secondary or terciary markets. Neil Wahlgren, COO of MAG Capital, is acquiring eight to ten properties a year with cap rates in the 7 to 8 range with long-term NNN leases.

Amongst other positive aspects of Real Estate, depreciation is a phenomenon that makes it like no other investment. Especially with recent changes around bonus depreciation, you can depreciate 100% of certain costs in the first year of ownership. This provides an exceptional opportunity to demonstrate big paper losses year one. Today’s guest, Yonah Weiss of Madison Specs, the largest real estate tax firm in the country, has a great way of simplifying how depreciation and cost segregation works.

Everyone who’s invested in real estate knows that the success of a deal can come down to property management. Today’s guest, Peter Lohmann, co-owner of RL Property Management, has built up a portfolio of almost 500 units in the Columbus, Ohio market by charging a flat fee to manage properties and providing proactive management and communication with landlords.

Starting out in Real Estate can be the hardest part, but once you do, good things can come your way fast. Today’s guest, Lee Yoder, of Threefold Real Estate Investing, started out by scouring old deals on LoopNet and ended up making great profits. When other deals fall apart, prices can come down significantly. Lee is now buying bigger cash flowing deals in the greater Dayton area.