The Real Estate Investing Experience

Most real estate businesses and investment groups follow the trajectory of starting with syndication and transitioning to funds. Our guest today has taken the opposite route, with excellent results. Brian Adams is the President and founder of Excelsior Capital, where he spearheads the investor relations and capital markets arms of the firm. In today's episode, we get together with Brian to discuss what prompted him to choose syndication over funds and what he has learned and gained from it. Tuning in you'll hear Brian discuss the pros and cons of this model and why he is dedicated to raising capital in a way that fosters positive relationships with his clients. We unpack the effect that the COVID 19 pandemic has had on his client needs as well as where people are investing.

The duties of a successful real estate investor are almost too long to list. Instead of trying to find a way to do it all, what if there was a way to achieve even more by allocating tasks to the right team members? Today, we hear from Whitney Sewell, director of Life Bridge Capital and host of The Real Estate Syndication Show, who achieves more than most would believe possible on any given day. In this episode, you'll learn how the mission behind his work motivates him to be effective and the pivotal role of changing his mindset in reaching his ambitious goal of producing a daily podcast while also running a hugely successful real estate syndication business. Whitney touches on hiring the right people, why most of your work can be outsourced, and why the first assistant you hire probably won't be the one that is with you the longest.

Today's guest is Dwaine Clarke, net lease brokerage and investment expert. He kicks off our episode with an introduction to his work and his journey with real estate investment and tells us what drew him to this area of real estate: mailbox money. We talk about the properties that are part of our everyday lives that are unexpected investment opportunities, the difference between selling non-essential spaces versus selling essential land, and why it is advisable to seek out tenants with long track records of success. Next, we dive into who triple net leases are most appropriate for and why, and Dwaine stresses the importance of seeing if a triple net lease fits with your specific investment strategy before telling us why he chooses to have multiple strategies at the ready to prepare for possible risks.

Rental properties are not the only way to generate a profit from real estate investment. We speak with Scott Meyers, mentor at Self Storage Investing. Scott believes that real estate is the best possible investment, and self-storage is his preferred subcategory. In today's episode, he tells us why and dives into a comparison of self storage with tenancy. We talk about how the storage landscape has changed during the pandemic, and explore the impact of recessions and economic growth on the storage business. Scott explains why self-storage parallels multifamily investment and tells us why he takes an opportunistic approach to all markets. Next, he tells us how he has benefitted from being in the business for years and having properties in different locations, before outlining some of the mistakes people make when doing due diligence.

The growth of the market in Austin, Texas has been steady and strong for many years already, and the projections show no sign of this slowing down any time soon. Here to talk about the area, his business, career path, and much more, is Ari Rastegar, from Rastegar Property Company! We get the inside scoop from Ari on what makes Austin so special, how he has managed to build such a profitable and flourishing company, and of course his thoughts on the future. We get to talk about what the so-called boom has meant for investors in Texas, and how this has influenced the strategies at Rastegar specifically. Ari also talks about the vital role that data plays at his company, and why he considers them to be in the data business just as much as in the real estate business! Our guest generously shares some of his personal journey and philosophy too, getting into the hard work he has put in and why there is no replacement for his kind of commitment.

In today's episode of the Real Estate Investing Experience, we are joined by a very special guest, Daniel Weisfield. Daniel is a manufactured housing innovator and co-founder of Three Pillar Communities, a Top 50 owner of mobile home parks in the United States. Their company runs and operates 34 communities across five states, has vertically integrated over 8000 residents, and recently transitioned from individual syndication to starting their first fund. In our conversation with Daniel, we discuss how mobile home parks have changed in the last few decades and why he is so passionate about what they offer residents. Listening in, you'll hear Daniel discuss how the COVID 19 pandemic affected their priorities as a company, their current approach to expansions and why they decided to start their first investment fund.

Many people dream of leaving their day jobs and entering the world of real estate investment, but few take the plunge and even fewer find success. Today's guest is a multifamily syndicator and apartment investor who has raised over 80 million dollars of private capital through real estate. On today's episode, Josh Cantwell, Strategic Business Coach and CEO of Freeland Ventures, shares his story of starting with nothing, overcoming health issues, and using his knowledge in financial planning to make informed decisions that supported his career. He tells us about the steps he took to integrate commercial investing into his business, how his workload has drastically reduced and his net worth has increased in recent years, and what motivated the decision to stop lending at the start of the pandemic.

In today's episode, John and Chris have a solo conversation where they discuss topics they are currently occupied with and their thoughts on the current state of investing and real estate.  In their conversation, John and Chris discuss where they recognize current and future opportunities in real estate. John explains why he believes prospective opportunities currently lie in sellers and not product types. The opportunities lie in smaller scale landlords, who may be based out of state or don't have enough time, as opposed to buying deals from large professional groups or very sophisticated investors. Tuning in you'll hear John and Chris delve into how you can use your expertise to find broken deals and fix them, as well as how to gain crucial advantages in a competitive market.

Today's guest is on a mission to transform the way investment firms raise and manage capital. Brad St. Onge is Head of Partnerships at InvestNext, a startup investment management platform founded in 2016 and located in Detroit, Michigan. After realizing the countless hours spent on activities that made fundraising, investment management, and investor relations tedious and inefficient, InvestNext developed software that enables investment firms to operate more effectively and provide greater transparency to their investors.

In today's episode, we get together with Aaron Zucker to talk about his career in leasing, family office, and acquisitions and development. Aaron is the founder and principal of Zucker Investment Group (ZIG), where he has put together a competent team that complements his skill set. He shares how he first became interested in leasing after buying a bar with his friends after college and he credits the Wiener family for introducing him to leasing and allowing him to gain valuable experience.

Moving into your asset might sound like an extreme thing to do, but it's a decision that changed Ryan Narus's life. Ryan is a mobile home park operator, owner, and investor, who was fed up with the lie that so many millennials bought into. He went to school and even got an MBA because he thought that is what he needed to do to get a good job. Instead, after slogging away in the corporate world, he chose to sleep on a blow-up mattress in a mobile home park and bootstrap his now successful business.

As a first-generation Mexican immigrant in the US, military veteran and Certified Registered Nurse Anesthesiologist (CRNA), Maricela Soberanes started building a rental portfolio in 2005 with the private acquisition of small multifamily. In 2017, she joined forces with her husband, and together they self-manage 35 doors, from small to medium multifamily. They have recently transitioned to large multifamily properties as limited partners and, at the same time, they successfully joint venture other real estate investment projects as hard money lenders.

On today's episode of Real Estate Investing Experience, we speak with Abel Pacheco from Texas about his business 5TCRE and the success he's had with multi-family real estate and investing. Abel shares how he got his start in the tech sector and working in IT and how he made the transition to working in real estate and investing full time. Abel lays out his mission to educate the broader public on the investment opportunities in multi-family real estate for reliable and scalable investments. We talk about expanding one's business and Abel recounts how he transitioned from doing one-off deals to a fund structure.

While working with single-family residential mortgages, Dovid Preil, our guest on today's show, witnessed the difficulties that so many people experience when trying to enter the housing market. He believes that there is no bigger driver of wealth than real estate, so he made it his goal to help more people get into the industry. In order to achieve this, he founded a company that pulls capital for diversified, quality real estate investments in the multifamily space. Dovid shares with us some of the important learnings he has had throughout 20 years of investing experience, including attributes to look for in potential partners, elements that decide whether or not he invests in a deal, and why he so strongly believes in maintaining a diverse portfolio.

Suzy and Michael are real estate investors who have approached their business in a way that differs from the norm. They have chosen to focus on people rather than focusing on money (while of course still making sure the numbers work!), and Returns on Impacts rather than Returns on Investments. Through their company, Adventurous Real Estate Investors, their goal is to add value to their residents and create thriving communities within their investments. In today's episode, we discuss the impetus behind Michael and Suzy's entry into the world of real estate, how changes brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic benefited them, and some of the deals they have been involved in so far.

When your searching is driven by the right datasets you will find better deals, and today on the show we talk data with Aaron Norris, VP of Market Insights at PropertyRadar. Aaron is a multifaceted man whose talents lie in the fields of marketing, data, and education, and he also has experience in the hard money lending game with The Norris Group owned by his father Bruce. Our conversation with Aaron is all about the movements he is privy to in different markets and how he can locate the best opportunities by leveraging unique datasets. We kick things off hearing about Aaron's interesting career beginning as a broke actor in NYC before he fell in love with marketing and data on Wall Street.

Unexpected curveballs are inevitable in all facets of life, and learning how to deal with them is one of the most essential keys to success. We are joined on the show today by Julie Holly; self-proclaimed recovering perfectionist, wife, mother, podcast host, ex-school teacher, and current real estate investor, who is about to launch an impact investing network. Julie believes that mindset is everything, and she shares with us the concept she has developed which helps her maintain a balance in her jam-packed life and which keeps her on track to reach her goals, no matter how much her path may change along the way.

There are so many reasons for foreigners to invest in the US real estate market. There are also a number of elements that make the process difficult, that investors may not realize they need to consider before they dive in. On today's show, we are joined by Kenneth Kastner, who has focused his professional career on American taxes for foreign investors. He currently lives and works in Israel, but he deals with clients from all over the world.

Growing up in Manhattan and having a father with vast experience in architecture and design, architect Eli Meltzer gathered a lot of insights into the multifamily sector in the metro, specifically in affordable housing. As a Principal at Meltzer/Mandl Architects (MMA), a firm that has designed over 12,000 units of affordable and market-rate housing in the NYC area, Eli brings his skills as a designer and a leader, his expertise in zoning regulations and building codes, and a sophisticated understanding of the development and construction process. Notably, he spent several years working on Hudson Yards, the largest private real estate development in the history of the United States.

Our guest today is no stranger to hardship, but his “million-dollar mistake” turned out to be the life experience that he is most grateful for. Seth Ferguson joins us on the show to candidly share the blunders he has made along his real estate investing journey, the moment when he hit rock bottom, and what he has learned along the way. He offers sound advice to anyone else working in the industry, including the importance of setting up partnership agreements, having a consistent cash flow, not spending money beyond your means, and setting goals that pave your direction into the future. Having a vision is vital, but don't let that vision prevent you from taking action, and don't be afraid of changing it as you grow in your own personal and professional capacity.

The status of self-storage as a recession-resistant asset class has really been put to the test during the coronavirus pandemic, but today's guest still believes that it is one of the best-performing investments you can make. Ryan Gibson is the CIO and Cofounder of Spartan Investment Group, which owns and operates self-storage facilities throughout the United States. Ryan is responsible for investor relations and raising capital from investors for projects and, to date, Spartan has raised over $25 million in private equity and has over 4,000 units in self-storage under management. His real estate experience also includes residential development and investor relations, and he is knowledgeable in the tax foreclosure process, inherited homes and estates, and real estate syndication too.

An engineer by day and a Managing Partner at JAYS Properties the rest of the time, Apurva Shah brings equal parts compassion and mathematical acumen to the real estate space. He joins us on the show today to share his experiences and offer advice to others in the industry, particularly with regard to mobile home parks. We begin by sharing insights on what the migration of people throughout the United States is doing to the cap rates in certain areas. We follow on from this with a discussion about the recession-resistant nature of mobile home parks and what this has meant for the value of these assets during the past year, the underwriting strategies used by Apurva's company, and how they figure out comparables.

If you're new to real estate investing, scaling from single-family homes to 100-unit apartment buildings can feel intimidating, but today's guest shares some practical advice to help you go bigger, faster! Brian Briscoe is a Co-founder and Principal at Four Oaks Capital, a national real estate investment firm specializing in the acquisition, repositioning, and rebranding of multifamily assets through a private equity fund structure. Brian is also the Cohost of the Diary of an Apartment Investor Podcast, an active duty Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Marine Corps, and an Advisor in the Michael Blank Deal Maker Mastermind, bringing years of leadership and management experience to his real estate investments.

Many people struggle to buy their first home because they cannot qualify for a bank loan, but today's guest raises private capital to buy homes for people so that they can finally become homeowners. Adam Zach is an engineer, real estate specialist, and co-founder of Set Your Rent, a creative homeownership and real estate investment company specializing in rent-to-own programs. This strategy not only benefits future homeowners but investors too, as investing in a property with qualified rent-to-own buyers ready before closing can save you thousands in lost vacancy revenue and improve your long-term ROI. Tuning in, you'll hear from Adam as he describes his transition from successful engineer to rent-to-own real estate investing, how he leverages what he calls selfish goals and his insight into the “three-year overnight success.”

While a lot of uncertainty remains around the pandemic and its effects on multifamily, commercial real estate professionals like today's guest are confident in the industry's ability to withstand COVID-19 and reach greater heights in 2021. Dan Lewkowicz is a seasoned real estate veteran with over 15 years of experience. He is Director of Investment Sales at Encore Real Estate Investment Services and specializes in shopping centers, medical office buildings, industrial fulfillment centers, quick service restaurants, and automotive repair and parts stores. He is an expert in industrial commercial real estate and multifamily, particularly the current economic undercurrents facing these asset classes in today's post-COVID world.

Transitioning into real estate can take many shapes and forms. Some dabble passively on the side while others prefer a more hands-on and active approach. Josephine Heron has done it all, and today, she joins us to talk about her experiences in multi-family. We kick off by finding out more about Josey's background. She tells us how, after many years as an engineering consultant and Senior Reserve Officer for the US Coast Guard, she became burnt out and began looking for a new venture in life that could afford her more time with her family. Josey walks us through the initial stages of her real estate journey, detailing her varied experiences. 

Making a break in the real estate industry takes ingenuity, commitment, creativity, and a solid grasp of time management. Today we speak with industry expert Seth Bradley about his experiences transitioning from being an attorney to a real estate investor. After hearing about Seth's humble beginnings, he shares a series of anecdotes about how he got into the law world. Seth goes on to explain how his experiences as a real estate lawyer gave him valuable industry insight. Seth built on his experiences in real estate, as he tells us about his gradual progression through fix-and-flips, buy-and-hold, wholesale, small multifamily, and small passive syndication.

As the saying goes, “it's all about who you know,” and leveraging your existing network is without a doubt the most powerful tool you have at your disposal, especially if you are just starting out in real estate. Today's guest is Esther Reizes-Lowenbein, a former speech-language pathologist who made the shift into full-time real estate in 2018. She is an entrepreneur, investor, and philanthropist that is heavily involved in commercial real estate nationwide and in the residential real estate market in Rockland County, NY. In this episode, Esther shares a bit about her transition from realtor to investor and how she has achieved success with such a broad focus by being more matchmaker than specialist.

Being a multifamily investor isn't about making it big by juggling as many syndication deals as you can put your name to. As Mike Travella explains in this episode, wealth creation can be a boring, long process of searching for the right deal and to passively or actively invest in. A CPA turned asset manager, today we speak with Mike to gain his insights into successful investing. After chatting about how collaborative the real estate community is, we talk about how being able to see differently can be a keen competitive advantage. Mike then dives into why understanding the story behind a deal can be as important as underwriting it. A highlight of our conversation, we look into why you need to do things that no one else is willing to do in order to land the best deals.

Even the most attractive deals can lead to disaster. Investing success is about having the resilience to adapt to shifting circumstances. Today co-hosts Chris Grenzig and John Cohen break down two of their deals, sharing their top learnings along with how they adapted to overcome their challenges. For our first deal review, we dive into the most expensive per door deal that John has ever made. John unpacks how painful it became to manage this property and how they dealt with plummeting tenancy rates, a sky-rocketing interest rate, and even a murder on the property. By hearing John's solutions, listeners will have a better sense of the issues that are often overlooked in the due diligence process. After touching on more of John's main takeaways, we take a deep look into Chris's deal; one that he had only three weeks to close.

Real estate syndication is all about creating relationships and scaling your business ultimately depends on the quality of those relationships. At least, that is what today's guest, John Okocha, believes. John is the Vice President of Acquisitions at Elevate Commercial Investment Group and a key part of the growth of over 1,700 multifamily real estate units in 2019. He is a master at assessing and analyzing property and market fundamentals for new property acquisitions as well as creating, maintaining, and updating financial models of existing and potential new investments.

Today's guest is Veena Jetti, the founding partner of Vive Funds, which is a unique commercial real estate firm that specializes in curating conservative opportunities for investors. Veena is also a multifamily owner-operator, real estate investor, and entrepreneur with over 10 years of real estate experience. She brings a dynamic perspective to targeting, acquiring, managing, and operating assets using best practices combined with cutting-edge technologies. Her professional expertise includes driving corporate strategy and business development opportunities. In this episode, Veena addresses the role of entrepreneurship in real estate. She wholeheartedly believes that success as a business owner comes down to pivoting when necessary, solving problems creatively, and constantly revisiting strategies.

Finding your niche is important, but it takes experimentation, which means that getting better at time management is a must. Today on the show, Chris and John had a sudden guest cancellation and decided to use this as an opportunity to talk shop. We start with some contextual details about the work involved in managing Chris's duplex and what he is doing on the side. John and Chris talk about their various experiments in wholesaling and buying up land to use in different ways. Here they get into the pros and cons of these different strategies, and the value of hiring staff to handle the less enjoyable sides. This idea of outsourcing so that you can focus on the best use of your time acts as a segue into a great conversation about time management.

Many investors fixate on their net worth when income is often a truer indicator of investing success. This insight is shared in today's episode by Jacob Vanderslice, Principal of VanWest Partners. We've brought Jacob onto the show to talk about his investing model and best practices. We open by exploring Jacob's journey in real estate, touching on his specialization in adaptive reuse projects and self-storage. After highlighting his preference for adding value to existing properties, Jacob talks about the pros and cons of investing in adaptive reuse assets.

Today's guest is Savannah Arroyo, who has taken her skills as a nurse and leader in healthcare operations into managing multifamily syndications. Savannah got started in real estate investing in 2020 when she syndicated her first apartment deal with her husband. Working as a Registered Nurse had taught her how to thrive in a fast-paced, interdisciplinary team of medical professionals, and she was immediately drawn to multifamily syndications due to the many similarities to her career in nursing.

Kayla Fecik received her real estate license when she was just 21. Years later, Kayla has become an expert in the space having since gained experience flipping houses, investing in single-family, and now venturing into multi-family. In this episode, we speak with Kayla to find out more about her journey in real estate, collecting various nuggets of wisdom as we go. We kick off the episode by hearing about Kayla's professional background. Following this, Kayla tells listeners why she decided to go into rentals after honing her skills in flipping.

Managing a property is something that can take up a lot of time, but it has to be done properly if you want to receive a good return on your investment and attract the right tenants. Today's guest is Steven Rea, property management expert and Director of ResProp, where he is currently responsible for growing their management portfolio in Central Texas. He has over 15 years of experience in the industry, having spent time leading teams in operations, training, technology, and business development. His passion for building great management is nearly unmatched, surpassed only by his passion for mentoring the next generation of industry leaders and helping drive the evolution of how properties are managed.

Our discussion today with Dusten Hendrickson covers a vast array of interesting topics. We begin by gaining some insights into Dusten's career trajectory, from owning a roofing company to multifamily syndications and developments. Dusten has gone through hard times in business. However, through learning to say no, pivoting when he needed to, working with people whose skill sets complement his own, and trusting his intuition, Dusten has reached a point where he walks away from deals easily because he knows there will be better ones around the corner. Our discussion then branches out to the real estate industry as a whole, and how the cost of housing and rental is being impacted as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Since the emergence of companies like Airbnb and Vrbo, short-term rental properties have become a popular choice for real estate investors, but how do you know if vacation rentals are a good investment decision? Today's guest, Avery Carl, is the authority in this area. She is a top one percent agent, short-term and vacation rental expert, and CEO of The Short Term Shop, a team that specializes in short-term rental and vacation rental investment real estate. Avery has connected investors with over $150 million in cash flowing short-term rental and vacation rental investments in the past two years, and her expertise could help you do the same. Tuning in, you will learn some of the pros and cons of short-term rentals, how Avery manages vacation properties in more remote locations, and the roles that tourism, occupancy rates, and property size play in short-term rental investments. 

It seems logical to sniff out a good deal first and think about who will invest in it later, but there is a lot to be said for doing things the other way round. Starting with understanding what your investors are looking for is a big belief of Mike Zlotnik's, and today he joins us on the show to explain why. In this episode, Mike also shares some details about his investing strategies, capital raising strategies, and a whole lot more! Mike is a retired software executive who began investing in real estate in 2000, and today he manages a variety of funds, including the Tempo Growth Fund LLC and the Tempo Opportunity Fund LLC. Our conversation with Mike begins on the subject of whether to buy and hold real estate or keep selling and reinvesting, and Mike's main point is about the value of constantly weighing the ROI a deal produces versus the time you have to spend on it.

Not everyone can go from a backpacker to a successful real estate entrepreneur, but that is exactly what today's guest, Alix Kogan, managed to do. After traveling the world in his 20s, he realized that he needed to knuckle down and get serious about his life. So, what did he do? He started a construction company that ultimately grew into the largest single-family developer in Southwest Colorado. He has since sold the business and dipped his toes into the multifamily waters. In this episode, after hearing about his journey, we find out what prompted Alix to sell a company at the top of its game and why the flexibility of multifamily appealed to him. We discuss the different deals he has been involved in so far, along with the different roles he has played. Despite his tremendous construction and development experience, Alix has chosen not to go this route in multifamily yet. He shares his reasoning behind this decision and talks about what would persuade him to make the leap. Our conversation also touches on Alix's deal criteria and red flags, advice for those starting out, and why he cautions against institutional investors, despite their allure. Tune in to hear it all.  

Anthony Vicino is a serial entrepreneur who has helped build numerous multimillion-dollar companies from the ground up. He has done this by creating efficient systems that scale, utilizing value-based content marketing strategies, and always focusing on providing exceptional end-user experiences. He is also a bestselling author, investor, and small business owner who successfully managed his personal portfolio of multifamily assets before joining forces with his partner, Dan Krueger, to create Invictus Capital in 2019. Together, Anthony and Dan are driven to help people achieve financial security by providing solid multifamily-based investment opportunities in an environment of trust, transparency, and clarity.

Today's guest is an expert in using social media for his real estate business. Shaynon Gramling specializes in the sale of commercial and residential real estate in New York City and New Jersey. He has gained experience in both real estate sales as well as property management, including at the world-iconic Empire State Building. Understanding that real estate is a relationship-driven business, Shaynon takes a genuine approach, building life-long connections with property owners, sellers, buyers, and renters. 

People are attracted to working with those they can identify with, so as a syndicator the way you tell your story through branding and marketing is of utmost importance. Today we are joined by Vitaliy Gnezdilov, a man who truly understands the leveraging power of marketing, to talk about how he is adding value in this way to the real estate community. Along with his business partner Chris Arias, Vitaliy runs The Digital Collective, a small team of marketers, designers, and business people who provide a cutting-edge digital marketing system designed for syndication firms to attract more high net-worth investors to their projects and funds.

Like many real estate investors, Jim Pfeifer got into the industry by accident. Now he runs Left Field Investors, a group dedicated to educating and assisting like-minded investors to negotiate the nuances of the passive investing landscape. Today we speak with Jim about his real estate journey and how he's found success by pooling the knowledge of our community. After chatting about his background in the stock market, we talk about Jim's early real estate mistakes.

Today we speak with Brian Burke, a full-time real estate investor with over 30 years of experience to his name. Despite having completed more than $500,000,000 worth of transactions, Brian is adamant he is still learning about the industry every day. We open the show by taking a brief look at Brian's history and real estate. After hearing about several of Brian's early failures, he tells us about the secret to his success — tenacity. Stay tuned and you'll hear some of his best tips when it comes to keeping business confidence, and why accumulating experience is a must-have asset. We then take a look at the current state of real estate. Brian touches on how the internet has kept cap rates competitive, and why otherwise undesirable properties have achieved premium value. In the latter half of the episode, we find out about the resources Brian uses to gather isometrics, as well as why he isn't in the business of property management. To finish things off, we ask Brian to tell us about his business aspirations for the next few years. To hear them and a whole lot more, be sure to join us today! 

When performing due diligence, most investors focus on what might be wrong with a deal while ignoring all the factors that need to go right for you to make money from that same deal. As investor and business expert Tony Coretto explains in today's episode, doing due diligence also means avoiding deals that rely on an if, and, or but. We open our conversation with Tony by exploring his impressive corporate career and experience in real estate. After talking about his approach to investing and why he favors local multi-family deals, we dive into the mistakes that Tony has made, including how he invested in a fraudulent deal.

As Bakerson Founder Bruce B. Wuollet explains in this episode, your residents, investors, and your properties are the three legs that support your real estate business. Today we speak with Bruce about what he does to care for these three legs of real estate. We open our conversation by exploring Bruce's start in the industry and why he transitioned from single to multi-family investing. After reflecting on why residents are so important to your business, Bruce gives listeners his tips on what you can do to foster community and safety for residents. We then touch on how Bruce appeals to repeat buyers and investors through adding value and conservative underwriting, where he looks for deals, and why you need to know the ‘why' behind each of your investments. Bruce also shares his take on partnerships, the value of building relationships with the right people, and how you can survive a downturn by creating a robust investing model. Later, Bruce unpacks the best ways to break through bureaucracy when dealing with city officials. Throughout our discussion, Bruce presents hard-won insights that come from two decades of experience in the industry. Tune in to hear his real estate secrets.

As we approach the end of the year, we use this episode to reflect on the new challenges and changes that hosts Chris Grenzig and John Cohen have seen in real estate. We open our conversation by exploring the issues that arise from the ‘new normal' of pandemic real estate investing. After highlighting the importance of doing your due diligence on a deal, we discuss how to best handle unexpected property costs.

Everyone has a lot to say about the past and future of the real estate markets, and for every prediction or reflection, there is another one that contradicts it. Andrew Cushman from Vantage Point Acquisitions, is kind enough to join us on the podcast today to talk about his belief in the long term stability of real estate investing and how his disruptive approach to property has served him and his business so well over the years. We hear from him about the years following the 2008 recession and the great success he experienced during this time. For Andrew, there are certain dependable elements of real estate that make it very attractive, and he argues that as long as you take note of the right signs, you will most likely come out smiling.

Many adaptable and fast-moving real estate companies put themselves miles in front of their competitors by using online platforms to generate leads. Today we speak with real estate expert and PowerISA CEO Gus Muñoz Castro about how you can use Facebook to find high-quality leads. We open our conversation with Gus by exploring his journey into real estate and how he built his company.