The Commercial Real Estate Investor Podcast
Welcome to The Commercial Real Estate Investor Podcast where your host, Tyler Cauble, covers the ins and outs building wealth and passive income through investing in commercial real estate. Tune in for investing strategies, leasing & management tips, market updates, and more.
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You Think Apartments Are a Safe Investment?
<p >Key Takeaways:</p><p >Multifamily Isn’t “Safe” Anymore</p><p >The old playbook—buy, renovate, raise rents, refinance—worked when you had margin. Today’s compressed cap rates and higher debt costs leave almost no room for error. When everything has to go right, that’s not safety.</p><p >Competition Changed the Game</p><p >Institutional and out-of-state capital flooded major markets. Local operators who once competed with familiar players suddenly faced groups willing to pay far more—and accept thinner returns.</p><p > COVID Exposed the Fragility</p><p >Eviction restrictions and drops in economic occupancy crushed cash flo...
Stop Investing in Real Estate for Cash Flow - Do This Instead | Office Hours
<p >Key Takeaways:</p><p >Cash flow alone will not scale you quickly.</p><p >A 10 percent cash on cash return sounds strong, but earning 10K per year on 100K of equity can trap you in slow growth. It can take years just to stack enough capital for the next deal.</p><p >Equity growth is the real accelerator.</p><p >Forced appreciation, increasing NOI through better leases, operations, or repositioning, can create six figures in value almost overnight. Small income increases can dramatically change valuation.</p><p >Commercial property is valued on income, not emotion.</p><p >If you...
Using Energy Data to Find Vacant Buildings | Office Hours
<p >Key Takeaways:</p><p >Innovating Deal Search: The meeting covered a creative strategy of using New York City energy usage data and public financial filings to identify “phantom vacancies” and financial distress in office buildings—giving investors an edge in finding off-market deals.</p><p >Community & Education: Tyler Cauble launched updates about the CRE accelerator mastermind, emphasizing personalized education, affordable resources, and networking opportunities for investors.</p><p >Leveraging Technology: The team discussed integrating AI tools such as ChatGPT for streamlining property document review, underwriting, and lease abstractions—vastly increasing efficiency in property analysis.</p><p >Personal and Project Updates...
McDonalds owns their real estate. Why doesn’t Starbucks?
<p >Key Takeaways:</p><p >McDonald's treats its business as a real estate venture, owning much of the land under its restaurants and leasing it back to franchisees, enabling stable cash flow and capital for expansion.</p><p >Starbucks, in contrast, leases nearly all its store locations, allowing rapid expansion, more flexible market entry, and the ability to invest in operations and marketing instead of property.</p><p >McDonald's strategy provides long-term stability and predictable returns, making it ideal for patient, long-term investors who value control.</p><p >Starbucks prioritizes speed, flexibility, and asset-light growth, which enables quicker market penetration...
Waterfront Flex, Medical Office Boom, Multifamily Delinquencies, and More | The Deal Desk
<p >Key Takeaways:</p><p >Waterfront Industrial & Blue Highways: Using waterfronts for industrial logistics is an emerging trend, with efforts in NYC to shift freight from road to boat transport, relieving congestion and creating new opportunities for flex-space developers.</p><p >Marijuana Industry & Small Towns: Cannabis companies are revitalizing struggling towns by providing jobs and increasing tax revenue, though they face regulatory and licensing hurdles.</p><p >Silicon Valley Real Estate: Real estate development in the region is at its lowest since 2013, with high leasing activity but elevated vacancy rates. Older office assets may provide conversion opportunities.</p><p >Medical...
10 Ways to Make Money from ONE Deal | Office Hours
<p >Key Takeaways:</p><p >There are at least 10 different ways to make money from a single commercial real estate deal, including:</p><p >Brokerage fee (buying/selling commission)</p><p >Acquisition fee</p><p >Property management fees</p><p >Asset management fee</p><p >Development fee</p><p >Leasing fee</p><p >Disposition (sale) fee</p><p >Additional brokerage fee at sale</p><p >Equity (ownership share in the deal)</p><p >Debt (financing structure, sometimes with added fees)</p><p >Combining these fees and equity can help sustain an investor, even on smaller ($1 million) projects.</p><p >Fee...
The Hidden Economics Behind Parking Lots
<p >Key Takeaways:</p><p >Chicago’s 2008 parking meter deal resulted in lost long-term revenue for the city, with investors earning profits and retaining rights for decades.</p><p >Monroe Carroll, Sr.’s initiative to monetize underused railroad land in the 1950s evolved into Central Parking, benefiting from legal requirements and the car boom.</p><p >The parking lot industry grew due to high operating margins, captive demand, and minimal maintenance, drawing attention from Wall Street and institutional investors.</p><p >The business model has expanded into industrial outdoor storage, supported by trends like e-commerce growth and infrastructure investment, resulting in s...
Starting a Family Office | Office Hours
<p >Key Takeaways:</p><p >Practicing daily underwriting significantly improves deal analysis skills, and many viable deals can be found in common online marketplaces.</p><p >Tyler advised against purchasing a specific industrial condo deal due to unfavorable returns and risks, stressing the importance of careful deal evaluation.</p><p >For small family offices, use a holding company or trust with separate LLCs for each asset to maximize asset protection and management.</p><p >Work with a specialized real estate CPA for optimized tax planning and execute 1031 exchanges by preparing ahead of asset sales.</p><p >Allocate portfolios with a...
2026 Trends, Trump's Ballroom, 50-Year Mortgage, and More | The Deal Desk
<p >Key Takeaways:</p><p >Data centers, senior housing, self-storage, and student housing are the niche real estate asset classes poised to shape investment trends in 2026, but each comes with unique opportunities and challenges.</p><p >Office sector recovery is uneven: top-tier buildings in strong markets are performing well, while lower-quality or less-central offices continue to struggle.</p><p >Economic uncertainty remains high for 2026; interest rates, inflation, and capital availability are top concerns for real estate investors, with overall optimism dropping since last year.</p><p >Regulatory risk and transparency are major issues—exemplified by the controversial Trump ballroom project, wh...
Let's Talk Flex Space | Office Hours
<p >Key Takeaways:</p><p >Strong and growing flex space demand:</p><p >This trend is driven by e-commerce growth (like Amazon’s logistics), changes in urban development, and insufficient new supply of small bay industrial spaces.</p><p >Developer focus on larger projects leads to small space shortages:</p><p >Most new construction is for big warehousing, leaving limited availability of flexible, smaller units, especially near urban cores where older small bays are repurposed or demolished.</p><p >Versatility attracts diverse tenants and businesses:</p><p >Flex spaces serve trades, startups, studios, recreation, and more, allowing owners to backfill va...
