Redeveloping Dying Malls with Brait Capital Founder Rafik Moore

 

Redeveloping Dying Malls with Brait Capital Founder Rafik Moore

 

Guest: Rafik is a seasoned commercial real estate operator with extensive experience in retail & industrial property.  His company, Brait Capital is now focused on very large retail & industrial assets.  Recently, he has closed on 3 shopping mall properties with large vacancy and is in the process of repositioning those assets.

 

Big Idea: Commercial real estate success is found in 3 components.  First, finding an asset at a favorable cost basis. Second, assembling the capital to buy & redevelop that asset. Finally, and perhaps most important, operating the business of leasing at a high level to quickly fill the asset with paying tenants – tenants who draw the missing traffic back and bring that asset back to life.

 

 

    

Dan: Yes, smart. I like that. Why don’t we start with a little bit of a back story, right? How did you get in real estate? How did your real estate career developed to the point where we’re taking down and running 200,000 plus square-foot dead boxes and bringing them back to life?

Rafik: I started with a job as a credit analyst at a bank. So, my approach into this industry came from the finance or ability to borrow money to buy real estate. As an underwriter, I worked for two years, learned a lot about credit analysis and what banks to look at when they want to borrow your money. It was a very critical experience in my understanding of how to get banks to lend me money later. After being a credit analyst, I became a sales guy. At first, I was an account executive, sales guy for the mortgages, and then ultimately, became a mortgage broker in 2003. From 2003 until 2008, I was a mortgage broker. We had about four shops and over 100 people, and that basically was my full-time job.

But my part-time job was flipping houses and starting from one house duplex after that and that flopped on a couple of first houses. It’s so hard to believe that starting with that and to sort of fast forward to what we’re doing today, which is four and a half million square-feet of real estate all over the country it’s just mind-boggling and very, very exciting and I guess, humbling. I have been very blessed to have met a lot of friends along the way. I’m all about building long-term relationships with long-term people. But yes, after flipping houses… Oh, by the way, when things collapsed, I started flipping houses professionally. We do 50 to 60 houses a year for about seven to 10 years and in 2012 and parallel, I bought my first commercial warehouse building which was a life-changing event. On that first deal, we made a million dollars, me and my investors. And we continued flipping houses, but commercial real estate became a thing for me, first thing. So, my partner continued running flipping business while I got into commercial full time.

This Episode of The REI Diamonds Show is Sponsored by the Deal Machine. This Software Enables Real Estate Investors to Develop a Reliable & Low Cost Source of Off Market Deals. For a Limited Time, You Get Free Access at http://REIDealMachine.com/

 

This Episode is Also Sponsored by the Lending Home. Lending Home Offers Reliable & Low Cost Fix & Flip Loans with Interest Rates as Low as 9.25%.  Buy & Hold Loans Offered Even Lower.  Get a FREE IPad when you Close Your First Deal by Registering Now at  http://REILineOfCredit.com

 

Resources mentioned in this episode:

www.BraitCapital.com

 

For Access to Real Estate Deals You Can Buy & Sell for Profit:

https://AccessOffMarketDeals.com/podcast/

 

Rafik & I Discuss Redeveloping Dying Malls:

  • The Evolution from Flipping Houses to Buying Malls
  • The System for Creating Astonishing Leasing Velocity
  • Creating a “product”, as opposed to doing a “deal”
  • Managing 700 Commercial Tenants

 

    

Relevant Episodes: (200+ Content Packed Interviews in Total)

 

The transcript of this episode can be found here.
Transcripts of all episodes can be found here.

Avoid Property Insurance Nightmares with Public Adjuster Andy Gurczak

 

Avoid Property Insurance Nightmares with Public Adjuster Andy Gurczak

 

Guest: Andy Gurczak is a seasoned real estate investor and public insurance adjuster. Starting with a humble duplex, Andy has strategically expanded his portfolio to include a variety of commercial properties. He leverages his construction background and keen market insight to navigate the complexities of real estate and insurance claims, making him a valuable resource for both novice and experienced investors.

 

Big Idea: Andy Gurczak delves into the intricacies of insurance claims for property investors, emphasizing the importance of strategic decision-making and thorough understanding of the process to avoid pitfalls. He also shares his journey from residential to commercial real estate investing, highlighting the lessons learned and strategies for success in the commercial sector.

 

 

    

Dan: Yeah, for sure. We’ve been trying to link up here for a little while to get you on the show. Main topic is going to be insurance claims, and I think it’s valuable for the listeners to hang in there. Whether they’re single-family investors, whether they’re commercial investors, nobody wants to have an insurance claim ever. But when you do, you can really, in my experience, get screwed up by doing it wrong, or maybe even choosing to make the claim in some instances. I know that’s been my issue, claiming something too small. But we’ll get into all the problems and the solutions, and what you do as an adjuster and why that’s something valuable here shortly. Before we do that, Andy, do you want to give us a background on maybe some of your investing career, and then also how you got into and what your adjusting business is today?

Andy: When it comes to the investing game, me and my wife bought our first duplex, this was when we got married, so it’s going to be 10 years ago almost. We bought our first duplex. We lived on one side, rented the other side. So we basically lived for free, had a little bit of income even left over. I was able to scale the business, not pull any money, didn’t need to even make money at that point, was able to reinvest everything. My wife brought enough for groceries and the small stuff. That was under FHA. I think we bought that actually before we got married. Right before we got married, I think we bought that under my name. Then two years later, we ended up buying another FHA under her name. It was another duplex. So we ended up doing only 3.5% down, which was nice. It was a small investment out of our pocket to have two properties that were cashflow and really nice.

From then, we bought a townhouse that was a foreclosure. Then we ended up buying a building that’s in downtown Crown Point where we live that we converted into a commercial now. There’s three tenants in there actually. Then last year, we did our first 1031, where we sold the townhouse, took the money or sold one of the duplexes, took the money, and then bought a seven-unit building. It’s a commercial building. There’s seven suites, about 15,000 square feet. I think that’s it. I know we have a lot. We’re building a home right now. Real estate has been something that we’re always interested in. We’re always looking to buy something different.

 

This Episode of The REI Diamonds Show is Sponsored by the Deal Machine. This Software Enables Real Estate Investors to Develop a Reliable & Low Cost Source of Off Market Deals. For a Limited Time, You Get Free Access at http://REIDealMachine.com/

 

This Episode is Also Sponsored by the Lending Home. Lending Home Offers Reliable & Low Cost Fix & Flip Loans with Interest Rates as Low as 9.25%.  Buy & Hold Loans Offered Even Lower.  Get a FREE IPad when you Close Your First Deal by Registering Now at  http://REILineOfCredit.com

 

Resources mentioned in this episode:

https://www.AllCityAdjusting.com/

 

For Access to Real Estate Deals You Can Buy & Sell for Profit:

https://AccessOffMarketDeals.com/podcast/

 

Andy Gurczak & I Discuss Avoiding Property Insurance Nightmares with Public Adjuster:

  • 5:50 – Details of a 1031 Exchange: Insights into executing a 1031 exchange successfully and the lessons learned from the process.
  • 10:01 – Acquiring a Seven-Unit Commercial Property: The story behind acquiring a prime commercial building and its financial implications.
  • 15:40 – Financing Strategies: How leveraging relationships with local banks facilitated property acquisitions.
  • 18:30 – Property Management and Tenant Relations: Managing properties personally and dealing with tenant issues directly.
  • 27:35 – Critical Timing in Claim Filing: Brother Elijah’s experience highlights the importance of acting swiftly and seeking expert advice to maximize claim value.
  • 29:19 – Settlement Offers and Pitfalls: Andy shares insights into deciphering settlement offers and avoiding potential traps.
  • 35:52 – Commercial vs. Residential Claims: Understanding the dynamics between commercial and residential claims can influence strategy and approach.

 

    

Relevant Episodes: (200+ Content Packed Interviews in Total)

 

The transcript of this episode can be found here.
Transcripts of all episodes can be found here.