The Future of Commercial Real Estate Investing in Major Cities with James Nelson

 

The Future of Commercial Real Estate Investing in Major Cities with James Nelson

 

Guest: James Nelson is an industry expert in commercial real estate with over 20 years of experience. He is a Principal and Head of Tri-State Investment Sales at Avison Young, one of the world’s fastest-growing commercial real estate services firms.

 

Big Idea: In this podcast, James Nelson shares valuable insights into investing in commercial real estate in major cities like New York and Chicago. He discusses the challenges and benefits of doing business in these cities, the importance of thorough due diligence, and the potential for value-add opportunities in “tired” assets. Nelson also emphasizes the significance of location in real estate investing and provides guidance on navigating current challenges in the industry, such as the shift towards e-commerce and the need for more flexible office spaces.

 

 

    

 

Dan: So I was going to make a little bit of a perception of the New York real estate market from around the country, right? Oh, it’s overpriced, it’s outrageous. The price of land in Manhattan and those kind of things that we all hear around the country, it’s like, who could ever buy anything in New York, anywhere in the city and be successful at the way the prices are? So that was growing up in Philadelphia, James, so that’s my perception, right? We would get the New York buyers who would come down and see Philadelphia as just like discount bargain just pay cash for it. Who needs a mortgage kind of a market. Well, when I got to Chicago, Chicago had a similar, very priced out type of feel to it coming from Philadelphia. And long behold, it does work and you can’t make money.

Sometimes those high price points offer things like high commissions and high profit spreads and 8,9,10%, or even 3 or 4% appreciation on a larger number is larger numbers at the end of the day as well. So I’ve gotten more comfortable with the higher price points myself personally. And I’m curious, as we kind of get into today’s show, I imagine cut your teeth in the New York market, and it’s a high price point market we all know that. I’m excited to kind of hear today’s show with that frame, if you will.

James: Sure, yeah. New York certainly is a place to live. It is very expensive. So a studio apartment here is $3,000 a month. The median apartment sells for, I think it’s 1,000,00.

Dan: Wow.

James: So yes, it is certainly expensive. When you’re looking to buy here on the commercial side yes, the barriers of entry are high because there is global demand looking to purchase properties here in New York, when we talk commercial, I’m talking multi-family with five or more units. I’m talking retail, office development, industrial, and there’s only about in Manhattan about five or 600 of those sales that happen a year. So there’s always this supply demand imbalance. And so the New York terms here are very challenging, especially for kind of the first time investor because most of our deals are signed with a 10% hard deposit due diligence done prior to contract signing. So that’s pretty daunting to jump in and have to put in hard money day one, really tough when you’re buyer, but when you’re looking to turn around and sell again, the market is liquid. So there are challenges to break into this, but once you’ve been able to secure an investment, if your business plan is to resell, you’re going to have a much easier time exiting when the time is right.

 

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://JamesNelson.com/

 

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

https://AccessOffMarketDeals.com/podcast/

 

James & I Discuss:

  • The challenges and benefits of investing in commercial real estate in major cities

  • The importance of thorough due diligence in real estate investing

  • The potential for value-add opportunities in “tired” assets

  • The significance of location in real estate investing

  • Navigating current challenges in the industry, such as the shift towards e-commerce and the need for more flexible office spaces


    

Relevant Episodes: (There are 218 Content Packed Interviews in Total)

 

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

Real Estate Development with Karl Krauskopf

 

Real Estate Development with Karl Krauskopf

 

Guest: Karl Krauskopf is a multi family real estate investor and developer based in Seattle, Washington. He is the managing partner of Auroras Investment Group.

Big Idea: Real Estate development, specifically the entitlement process can produce large gains without the risk of construction. Flipping houses is a great place to start in real estate, but can be challenging to scale. This is why many real estate developers progress to development of land and larger projects after finding success in single family homes.

 

 

    

 

Dan Breslin: Welcome to the REI Diamond Show. I’m your host, Dan Breslin, and this is episode 209 on real estate development with Karl Krauskopf. Karl is a multi-family real estate investor and developer based in Seattle, Washington. He is the managing partner of Aurora’s Investment Group. Real estate development, specifically the entitlement process, can produce large gains without the risk of construction. Flipping houses is a great place to start in real estate, but it can be challenging to scale, which is why many real estate developers progress to the development of land and larger projects after finding success in single family homes. On this episode, Karl and I discussed this as his recent or past transition to larger deals and the same transition that I am currently going through myself.

Karl: Sure. Happily. So, how I got into real estate was probably a little bit different from most folks. I got into real estate. That was 10 years back, I was a veteran and working in the healthcare industry. I was a director of corporate strategy and business development. So, that is where my passion lies, which is really around growth partnerships. How do we basically, how do we grow an entity of business?

And what ended up coming to fruition and what bore the real estate endeavour was my wife and I going into a conversation about wanting to start a family, wanting to have a kid, and what better way to start a side business, which would become my future business, is having a kid. So, spent about six months during my wife’s being pregnant, self-educating myself, really learning how to maximise my income, as well as getting into diversifying my income by adding additional streams of revenue. Decided it was time to take the first leap, which was buying a duplex, a remote duplex across the state from me, and with full intentions of rehabbing, refinancing it, and repeating it. Come to find out that I was not the right asset for that. And now I just spent about $75,000, the majority of my at that time, disposable income in putting it, parking it into a duplex that had no direct path for the refinance. So, I started sweating. I was nervous, didn’t know what to do. We were about to have a baby. So I figured what’s the best next step? Well, the best next step, apparently at the time was to flip a massive home. My first flip ever, it was a hoarder home too. Fantastic idea, right? No, it was awesome. I believe it was four dumpsters’ worth, 440-yard dumpsters’ worth, of junk that we took out of this home. All this direct to say back is, I’m working a 40, 50 hour a week job as well as we just had our newborn, and apparently I’m a glutton for punishment.

 

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.AurorasInvestmentGroup.com/

 

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

https://AccessOffMarketDeals.com/podcast/

 

Karl & I Discuss Real Estate Development:

  • Entitlement Process-Real Estate Development

  • Finding Mentors doing Larger Deals

  • “Covered Land” play-teardown deals

  • The Microsoft Real Estate Market-Seattle, Washington


    

Relevant Episodes: (There are 209 Content Packed Interviews in Total)

 

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

Fast & Easy Multifamily Lending with StackSource Founder Tim Milazzo

 

Fast & Easy Multifamily Lending with StackSource Founder Tim Milazzo

 

Guest: Tim Milazzo is the co-founder of StackSource, a technology driven engine for funding commercial real estate deals of all types. 

 

Big Idea: Having access to fast & easy multifamily lending, or any other commercial funding, is the first step to scaling a multi-million dollar real estate portfolio.  The commercial loan landscape is extremely fragmented, with many lenders focused on only certain asset types, loan sizes, or other niche spaces at any given time.  StackSource is a national high volume aggregator of lenders, loan types & contacts, providing borrowers the faster method for finding the correct lender for your particular asset type.

Tim & I discuss how this volume of lenders will put you in a position of strength when you’re funding a deal.  Obtaining multiple, competing loan term sheets can be difficult when you’re buying a commercial deal because of the short timeline to closing.

The StackSource platform allows you to provide details of your project-whether multi family, industrial, commercial, etc- and then matches your loan type with those lending institutions currently lending in your local market and funding your specific deal type.  The end result is multiple term sheets allowing you to select the best option for your deal.

This is a contrast to how I’ve bought my last half dozen multi family projects:  calling around asking people I know who is funding this type of deal-then submitting my deal details to that single lender and obtaining one term sheet.  My way is a position of weakness-I am stuck riding with that single lender on that deal.  It’s worked out for me because I’m lucky to have found the right lender for my type of loan.  Shall we begin?

 

 

    

 

Dan Breslin: Welcome to the REI Diamond Show. I’m your host, Dan Breslin, and this is episode 206 on fast and easy multifamily lending with StackSource founder, Tim Milazzo. If you’re into building wealth through real estate investing, you are in the right place. My goal is to identify high-caliber real estate investors and other industry service providers, invite them on the show, and then draw out the jewels of wisdom. Those tactics, mindsets, methods used to create millions of dollars more in the business of real estate. Having access to fast and easy multifamily lending or any other commercial funding is the first step to scaling a multimillion-dollar commercial real estate portfolio. The commercial loan landscape is extremely fragmented with many lenders focused only on certain asset types, or certain loan sizes, or other niche spaces at any given time. StackSource is a national, high-volume, aggregator of those lenders, loan types, contacts, etcetara, providing you, the borrower, with the faster method for finding the correct lender for your particular asset type.

On today’s episode, Tim and I discuss how this volume of lenders that StackSource has aggregated will put you in a position of strength when you are funding a deal. Obtaining multiple competing loan term sheets can be difficult when you’re buying a commercial deal because of the short timeline to closing. It’s multiple calls to the lenders that you’re googling and they don’t do this kind of asset type, etcetara. Whereas the StackSource platform allows you to provide the details of your project, whether multifamily, industrial. commercial, etcetera, and then matches your loan type with those lending institutions currently lending in that local market and funding your specific deal type. So, the end result is a multiple term sheets allowing you to select the best option for your deal, and then proceed with a complete loan package. And this is in contrast to how I bought my last half dozen multifamily projects which was going around, asking people I know who is funding this type of deal, and then submitting my deal details to that single lender, and obtaining a single term sheet. So, I kind of had no other options if that lender did not work out, and I didn’t really have the ability to shop the deal due to lack of time and lack of contacts. Whereas I didn’t have access to this platform.

So, my way was a position of weakness and I’m stuck riding with that single lender on that deal. Now, luckily, it worked out for me because I found just the right lender for just the right loan type who lends in my market but that’s not always the case, and the challenge can be even greater if you’re investing all over the US.

 

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 6.99%.  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.StackSource.com

 

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

https://AccessOffMarketDeals.com/podcast/

 

Tim & I Discuss StackSource & Multifamily Lending:

  • Hottest Sectors in Commercial Real Estate

  • How to Finance Multifamily Investments

  • Obtaining Fastest Rate & Term Quotes

  • Finding Commercial Funding Anywhere in the U.S.


    

Relevant Episodes: (There are 206 Content Packed Interviews in Total)

 

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

100+ Unit Apartment Syndication with Stephanie Walter

 

Episode: 100+ Unit Apartment Complex Syndication with Stephanie Walter

Guest: Stephanie Walter is the Founder & CEO of Erbe Wealth.  Stephanie began investing in single family homes in Colorado while owning & operating her insurance agency business.   She has since exited that business and sold all of her single family rentals to focus solely on larger commercial real estate syndication deals.

Big Idea:  Recognizing the Opportunity to Sell Appreciated, Low Cash Flowing Deals and Transitioning to Larger Apartment Syndication Deals. Stephanie and I discuss her decisions to exit both single family rentals AND her insurance agency business to focus solely on larger, less active-truly passive commercial real estate deals.

 

 

    

Dan Breslin: Today’s guest Stephanie Walter is the founder and CEO of Erbe wealth, Stephanie began investing in single-family homes in Colorado while owning and operating her insurance agency. She has since exited that insurance agency business and sold off all of her single-family rentals to focus solely on larger commercial real estate syndication deals. Today we are going to dive deep into those decisions, her investment selection process, and a few big recent wins, and of course, an upcoming deal. So let’s get started. So I did a little research on you and your background, and I figured that we could begin with your sale of the insurance agency, what led up to that what your thoughts were, how you emotionally changed chapters, let’s say, and then got on to the next place that you currently are.

Stephanie: Yeah, well, I’ve had my agency since 2006, so about 16 years. And before that, I was actually an insurance adjuster for eight years. So my whole working life, I’ve been involved in insurance in some way. And I do love it. But I also love real estate. So I used to buy and hold single-family homes and really, really loved doing that and actually became more curious. In 2016 I joined a group of people that do some education, great education, about kind of how to buy larger commercial properties through syndications. And that was in 2016. And from there, there was really no looking back I found a partner and group of people I like to work with and found that I really liked raising money. And from that just ended up working with a lot of really wealthy people and learned a lot from watching the way that they handled their finances and started changing the way that I was viewing my finances and 2018 started selling off my single-family rentals and investing that money into these syndicated deals where we were getting double-digit returns and that allowed me to replace my income in the matter of a little over two years. I sold my agency and December 2020 and so now I’m retired but I am still raising money occasionally once or twice a year for a deal and I like to talk to people about kind of changing their views on money because it was life-changing for me. Because I’ve been able to retire and now I can spend a lot more time with my family.

Dan: Congratulations on the sale. That’s pretty cool. I imagine that must have been… I don’t know. I mean, was it a decision brewing for a year, six months? Did you just wake up one day and say, “Hi, we got to get going here.” This is too much weight. Was it the daily responsibility of you running and managing a team? What was it that led up to the sale, I guess?

Stephanie: I like to work a lot. I’m a nerd that way. But so I really like what I was doing. But as I continue to invest in these deals, and the money came in, and eventually it replaced what I was making in my insurance agency, all of a sudden, I was like, well, it would be nice not to be having to work every day and not having and being able to take a vacation. I hadn’t taken like, over a week’s vacation since 2006. So then, my eyes were opened a little bit more. And it was a little bit emotional to sell it. But, this is the direction that I’m going. And I really love helping people get into these syndicated real estate deals. And but yeah, it definitely was emotional. Because you get very close to your clients over 16 years. And just kind of that’s your identity.

 

Episode Sponsored by the Deal Machine:

Driving for Dollars Software to Build a Team of Drivers, Manage Routes, & Even Automate Marketing.  Free Access at  http://REIDealMachine.com/

 

Resources mentioned in this episode:

www.ErbeInvestmentGroup.com

 

 

Stephanie & I Discuss Commercial Real Estate Syndication:

  • Owning, Operating, & Exiting 100 Unit+ Apartment Deals

  • Luxury Single Family Home Development

  • Exiting a Successful Insurance Business

  • Exiting Single Family Rentals for Larger Deals


    

Relevant Episodes: (There are 190 Content Packed Interviews in Total)

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

Investing in Multi Family Properties-150 to 300 Unit Deals with Chris Larsen

 

Episode: Investing in Multi Family Properties-150 to 300 Unit Deals with Chris Larsen

Guest: Chris Larsen is the founder & managing partner of Next Level Income. He’s been investing in multi family property deals since 2016 and raised more than $15 million over $150 Million in acquisitions.

Big Idea: Buying High Quality Assets when No One Else Wants them Can Generate Huge Wins. Chris’ company is focused on identifying high yield passive investments ranging from real estate to oil & gas leases.   Specific to oil & gas, Warren Buffett recently amassed a HUGE position in Chevron leveraging this same principal.  Everyone was selling off oil due to the Pandemic and the coming of electric cars.

Big money can be made if you know what you’re doing.  On this episode we discuss this principal as well as dive into his asset selection process, favorite multifamily markets, & some risk mitigation strategies that served Chris well during the recent pandemic.

 

    

Dan Breslin: Chris Larson is the founder and managing partner of Next-Level Income. He is been syndicating multifamily property deals since 2016 and raised more than $15 million over $150 million in acquisitions. Chris’s Company is focused on identifying high yield passive investments ranging from real estate to oil and gas leases. All in this episode, we dive into his asset selection process, favorite multifamily markets, and some risk mitigation strategies that served Chris well during the recent pandemic, as well as some other topics. Let’s get right to it.

All right, Chris Larson. Welcome to the REI Diamond show. How are you doing today?

Chris Larson: Dan, I am great. I am excited to be here with you. Thank you.

Dan: Nice. It is always looking forward to this high-volume multi-millions of dollars raised and you know conversations I get to have with guests like you, but you know for anyone who does not know your name already maybe does not know about your podcast. You kind of want to talk about maybe the evolution of your career, starting with let’s say you are first deal and then ending with your current business model Chris.

Chris: That sounds great. So I love real estate, I set off to be an investor when I was really a teenager. It is kind of a long story short. I race bicycles. I started racing when I was 14, and I will never forget that feeling of freedom I had when I first left my neighborhood on my bicycle. And it really instilled in me this ability to kind of go where I wanted to and do what I wanted, and when I was younger that meant racing my bike. And I got my driver’s license, I was excited to get my driver’s license so I could drive to races outside of the state. And so I was traveling, when I was 16 years old, up and down the East Coast across the country, and plans raced even at a national level. Until I was in college, and at that point, I want to be a professional cyclist.

I went to Virginia Tech I was doing an engineering degree and no I did not want to be an engineer, but I also did not want to be poor. And if anyone knows anything about cycling, they know those bike racers are pretty poor unless you are racing in Europe, which is a very very small portion. You just do not make a lot of money, like a lot of professional sports. So I was entrepreneurial. I would do different things in college, but I quit cycling after my best friend, my training partner my roommate, passed away. He had a massive brain hemorrhage. And spend another year kind of poured my heart and soul into the sport, but I realized I was not happy. I still wanted that sense of freedom and I thought well, I am not going to race my bike anymore. I am not going to be an engineer, What am I going to do?

I started day trading in the stock market in the late 90s, which there are a lot of similarities today Dan, in my opinion between the market than in the market now. This is very exciting also very stressful. So here you take a junior, 20 years old in college making $5,000 a month day trading but could not sleep at night. And one morning at 3 a.m, I just remember thinking, what the hell am I doing? And I start, I kept reading books. I have always been an avid reader and I started learning about real estate.

 

Episode Sponsored by the Deal Machine:

Driving for Dollars Software to Build a Team of Drivers, Manage Routes, & Even Automate Marketing.  Free Access at  http://REIDealMachine.com/

 

Resources mentioned in this episode:

www.NextLevelIncome.com

 

Chris & I Discuss How to Avoid Capital Gains Tax:

  • Multifamily Property Market Selection

  • Upcoming $100 Million Deal

  • The Power of Purpose in Your Life & Career

  • Reasons Why Larger Deals Offer More Control


    

Relevant Episodes: (There are 187 Content Packed Interviews in Total)

 

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

Financing Million Dollar Deals Post Covid with Anton Mattli

 

David & I Discuss:

  • Post Covid Commercial Real Estate Market

  • How this Compares to 2008

  • Deals which are Difficult to Now Finance

  • How Underwriting will View Your Deal


Listen Now:

Relevant Episodes: (There are 163 Content Packed Interviews in Total)

 

Resources Mentioned in this Episode:

www.PeakFinancing.com

 

Do You Know Anyone Else Who’s a Real Estate Investor? 

Do You Think they’d Also Enjoy this Episode?

Please Forward this Link & Tell Them to:

 

Sign Up for the REI Diamonds Weekly Podcast Your Copy of “Become a Wholesale Real Estate Master”

Just Go to www.REIDiamonds.com to Download a Copy & Check out Recent Popular Episodes.

REI Diamonds Show with Abhi Golhar on Attracting Off Market Deals & Scaling to Larger New Construction Tract Developments in Atlanta Georgia

Off Market Deals

Abhi & Dan Discuss:

  • Adjusting Your Buy Formula Depending on the Market (You’re Probably Doing the Opposite Right Now)

  • Finding a 92 Unit New Construction Development Deal

  • Easiest & Often FREE Method for Building Deal Supply Pipelines in Your Market

  • Why Atlanta is Currently the “Perfect Storm” Market for Growth

 


Listen Now:

Resources Mentioned in this Episode:

Real Estate Deal Talk Radio-Abhi’s Radio Program

www.RealEstateDealTalk.com

Do You Know Anyone Else Who’s a Real Estate Investor?  Or Trying to Become a Real Estate Investor? Do You Think they’d Also Enjoy this Episode?

Share the link and tell them to:

Sign Up for the REI Diamonds Weekly Podcast Your Copy of “7 Sources of Off Market Deals”

Just Go to www.REIDiamonds.com to Download a Copy & Check out Recent Popular Episodes.

REI Diamonds Show with Dave Lindahl on Multi-Family Investing in Emerging Markets

Multi-Family Investing

Dave & Dan Discuss:

  • Timing the Real Estate Market

  • Selecting the Right U.S. Market at the Right Time

  • Vacant Apartment Complexes-Worth the Time & Effort?

  • Best Markets in the U.S. right now & Why


Listen Now:

 

Mentioned in the Show“Ultimate Partnering 8”  Dave’s event in Boston (I’m attending August 19-21)
www.UltimatePartnering8.com

 

Recent Popular Episodes

 

Do You Know Anyone Else Who’s a Real Estate Investor?  Or Trying to Become a Real Estate Investor? Do You Think they’d Also Enjoy this Episode?

Send them this link and tell them to:

Sign Up for the REI Diamonds Weekly Podcast Your Copy of “7 Sources of Off Market Deals”

Just Go to www.REIDiamonds.com to Download a Copy & Check out Recent Popular Episodes.


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REI Diamonds Show with Kathy Fettke on Market Cycles, Private Lending, & Land Development

Emerging Market

Kathy & Dan Discuss:

  • 3 “Must Have’s” of Selecting a Winning Market

  • Government Manipulation of the Market

  • #1 Thing to Offer to Mentors GUARANTEED to Get their Attention (NOT a Check)

  • For Married Investors-How to Navigate the Start-Up with Your Marriage in Tact


Listen Now:

Resources Mentioned in this Episode:

More Info at www.RealWealthNetwork.com

Recent Popular Episodes

Do You Know Anyone Else Who’s a Real Estate Investor?  Or Trying to Become a Real Estate Investor? Do You Think they’d Also Enjoy this Episode?

Send them this link and tell them to:

Sign Up for the REI Diamonds Weekly Podcast Your Copy of “7 Sources of Off Market Deals”

Just Go to www.REIDiamonds.com to Download a Copy & Check out Recent Popular Episodes.


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REI Diamonds Show with Michael Freedman on Verifying, Reducing, or Even Eliminating Flood Zone Designations on All Kinds of Real Estate

Single Family Homes

Michael & Dan Discuss:

  • How to Remove a Property from a Flood Zone without Moving the House

  • Correcting Flood Policy Premiums & Why No Agent Does this

  • Dealing with Blackstone on Single Family Homes

  • How to Get a Free Evaluation of the Current Flood Zone Designation Status


Listen Now:

Resources Mentioned in this Episode:

More Info at www.AmeriFloodSolutions.com

 Recent Popular Episodes

Do You Know Anyone Else Who’s a Real Estate Investor?  Or Trying to Become a Real Estate Investor? Do You Think they’d Also Enjoy this Episode?

Send them this link and tell them to:

Sign Up for the REI Diamonds Weekly Podcast Your Copy of “7 Sources of Off Market Deals”

Just Go to www.REIDiamonds.com to Download a Copy & Check out Recent Popular Episodes.


Leave a Reply & Remember to Mention Your Geographic Market.