Real Estate Success Often Fueled by Falling Rates
I don’t know who needs to hear this, but many real estate fortunes were helped along by one of the greatest tailwinds in history: falling interest rates. Be careful when judging track records. Some of it is skill. Some of it is timing. We may not get that same environment again.
Embrace Minor Setbacks, Gain Resilience Over Stress
I call it Spilled Milk Syndrome. The people who suffer from it live difficult, stressful lives, no matter how well things may otherwise be going for them. They freak out when their iPhone screen cracks. Their flight gets delayed an hour,...
Regret Over Missed $12M Deal Highlights Risk Appetite
If you're in real estate long enough, you'll have deals you passed on that stick with you forever. My worst: A $12M strip mall that’s probably worth $80M now. Why didn't I buy it? The two anchor tenants were paying...
2.5% Cap Rate Rise Erases 30% Equity
Cap rates go from 4% to 6.5%. No big deal, right? Just a 2.5% move? Nope, that’s a 38.5% crash. Put down 30%? You’re completely wiped out. But everyone reading this understands basic commercial real estate math and already knows this.
Claude’s Chrome Extension: Game‑Changer or Security Threat?
Is adding the chrome extension to Claude a security risk? Allowing it to take over your computer and browse the Internet in order to complete tasks is an insane game changer beyond belief. Seemingly.
AI Speeds Work, Prompting Shift to Package Pricing
Spoke to a friend whose company has always charged clients based on the hour. Now that AI is allowing his company to complete tasks much faster, it means they’d make less money. So what did they decide to do? Switched from billing based...
Claude + Excel Eliminates Need for Quickbooks
Holy crap we literally don't need Quickbooks anymore because of what happens when you combine Claude and Excel
Challenges Spark Innovation, Fueling Explosive Business Growth
Different aspects of our business have only improved dramatically when they’ve been challenging. For example: Years ago, when it was taking longer to lease space than I would have liked, it forced us to drill down like crazy and figure out how...
AI Price Advice Now Derailing Real‑estate Offers
Ok so this is a first for us: Broker gives us pricing guidance, we make an offer, and broker gets back to us. “The seller was happy with your offer. But ChatGPT told him it’s worth $2M more, so he’s going...
TownCentreCapital Offers All‑Cash, 45‑Day Strip Center Acquisitions
Dear Retail Brokers: I'm reaching out because we're actively acquiring strip centers and wanted to be on your radar in case any of your retail landlord clients are considering a sale. We've purchased 40+ strip centers so far and are continuing to...
Kids Reveal How Little Free Time You Actually Have
I had zero idea how much free time I had until I had a kid.
Invest Principal, Not Pay It: Use Interest‑Only Mortgage
The mortgage on our home is interest-only. Why? Because it’s much smarter to invest that principal instead of paying it back to myself every month. Unless you need a forced savings account to protect yourself from yourself, OR You don’t have good investment opportunities, an...
Mastering Brevity: The Underrated Business Skill
I’m terrible at staying patient when someone's taking forever to get to the point during a workday call. Sitting there feeling the time being wasted needlessly is draining. Knowing how to relay the bottom line quickly is an underrated business skill.
Gen Z Adopts Claude‑first Workflow; Adapt or Fall Behind
The new norm for countless people under-25 is to take every single task they get and start by entering it into Claude as a first step. It's here, and if you're not jumping in you're going to be left behind fast. I...
Patience Over Mediocrity: Wealth Requires Character
“It takes character to sit there with all that cash and do nothing. I didn’t get to where I am by going after mediocre opportunities.” -Munger
Parents Choose Convenience Over Baby’s Sleep, Public Suffers
Today on a flight, there was a baby crying for about an hour and a half straight. That happens. You expect it. But in this case it was crying because the mother refused to allow her to fall asleep. The dad tried to...
High IQs Stall without Trusting Their Own Problem‑solving
One of the main reasons folks with high IQs don’t reach their full potential is an inability to trust they’ll figure it out without a clear plan
No Missed Deals; Market Prices Too High to Buy
There hasn’t been a deal we’ve passed on this year where the broker believed we were making a mistake by not pursuing. With rare exception, it’s very much an “I wouldn’t buy it at this price either” kind of market.
Replacement Cost No Longer a Credible Selling Point
We’ve gotten to the point where you almost lose credibility when you bring up replacement cost as a selling point. Take literally any retail property in America: Calculate what it would cost to build it. Add tenant improvement allowance, leasing commissions, permits,...
Strip Mall Deals: Pay Full Price, End Up Flat
Was pitched a strip mall deal this morning. It’s around a 4% cap based on today’s income. The pitch: If I can get back a space where’s there’s a non-paying restaurant tenant, spend a year releasing it, pay TI and leasing commissions, then...
Buy by Price per Foot, Sell by Income
We bought a 6% Cap building for $1.95M and sold it for $5.5M. Lesson: Buy based on price per foot, sell based on income. https://t.co/cMiaf6dKzV
CRE Success Requires Value Creation, Not Passive Holding
I don’t believe in holding commercial real estate long-term. Doing so means you are relying on two things to happen in order to get appreciation: Interest rates going down, or rents going up I don’t have control of either. “Buy and hold” made...
2026 Demands Higher Caps—Don’t Wait for Naive Buyers
Dear sellers stuck in the past: A property we’re about to list with a broker would’ve sold at a 4.75% cap in 2021. It will be listed at a 6.25% cap. Why are we selling at a 24% discount to 2021? Because it’s...
Spouse’s Employer Coverage Can Save Small Business $40K
Health insurance for a family of five can easily cost $30,000–$40,000 per year. So -- If you run a small business and want to recruit an employee who expects fully paid health insurance, that’s a really big number. If that same candidate...
Future Self Craves This Moment, So Treasure It
I do this thought exercise often when I’m playing with my two-year-old daughter: I think about myself as a 75-year-old, wishing to be back to this very moment. And grant myself that wish.
Cold Calls Fail; Find New Ways to Connect
That’s it. People have stopped answering their phones. So now what? It’s all-hands-on deck to find deals right now for our team, and I’ve joined them to cold-call brokers. Out of 10 calls I made yesterday - zero picked up. So I leave...
Skip TSA Chaos with PreCheck and CLEAR
Public Service Announcement: The hack to getting around this TSA madness is TSA PreCheck + CLEAR.
Own the Small Details, Lead the Big
During the first year of my career, I met my mentor at one of his properties. As we walked in the parking lot, I was surprised to see him stop to pick up a piece of trash. “That’s the landscaper’s job,” I...
Choose Battles Wisely: Sometimes Walking Away Wins
A dry cleaner ruined one of my shirts recently, and I decided not to do anything about it. Why? They would have pushed back and insisted they didn’t do it. I would have explained why they were wrong, and they would have...
Celebrate Small Wins Daily to Reduce Fund Stress
When you're running a real estate fund, there's lots of balls in the air, the stakes are high, and you deal with a healthy level of pressure and stress. Something I came up with to help balance things: I ask my team...
No Agenda, Pure Value: The Secret to Viral Growth
This account happened by accident. I was bored on an airplane in 2021, randomly decided to start posting, and it has completely changed my life. What was the strategy, and why did it work? For a very long time I had no idea,...
Airport Pickup Backs Out over Rising Gas Costs
My Monday airport pickup service in Charleston just called to say they can’t honor the rate we agreed to because of the jump in gas prices. Here we go.
Savoring Precious Moments Before Sibling Arrives
Never worked as hard in my life as I have for the first 2.5 months of 2026. Decided to take the day off tomorrow so I can go skiing with my son. Three months from now, he will have to share my...
Fast All‑Cash Fund Closes Retail Deals in 35 Days
A broker recently asked me how we’re different than all the other value-add retail buyers he hears from. Fair question. Well, we’ve been doing this since 2006. We’ve purchased 45 of them. We buy every deal all-cash. We can close anywhere in the US...
Brokers Often Push Their Own Asset Focus Over Your Needs
Actual call with a broker today: Me: Great to meet you, would love to do a deal with you. What type of retail deals do you focus on? Broker: I actually wanted to convince you to buy industrial assets instead, which is what...
Rockefeller Center Hits 98% Lease at Record Rents
The iconic Rockefeller Center. Ben Epstein and his team handle the leasing, and they’re crushing it. 6.5M square feet, 98% leased. Rents? The highest they’ve ever seen. Fun geeking out on the market - hard to imagine a more incredible leasing assignment anywhere. https://t.co/yBZqAs7D2v
Property Manager: The Toughest Role to Fill
I’ve found the Property Manager position to be, by far, the hardest role to hire for.
Rent Rolls Must Always Include Options and Option Rents
hey guys, I can't do much with a rent roll that doesn't show options and option rents/fmr - including that stuff should be standard 100% of the time
Capital Raising Is the Real Estate Bottleneck
The biggest bottleneck in real estate is raising capital for your first deals. In my case, I raised $400k from eight friends after calling everyone I knew when I was 26. Others who’ve built real estate portfolios, how did you raise the...