Accredited Investors Only | Presented by Accredited Life

In this episode, Jonathan breaks down exactly why small industrial outperforms residential for investors who want low management, strong returns, and long-term tenants who are motivated to stay - and shares his full buy box, due diligence process, and why maturing commercial debt is creating a rare buying window right now. If you're a residential investor wondering what comes after multifamily, or a commercial investor looking for a simpler, more passive asset class, this episode will open your eyes to a strategy most people are completely overlooking.

Timeline

[0:42] - Host Peter Neil introduces the episode and welcomes Jonathan Hayek, special education teacher turned commercial real estate investor

[0:58] - Jonathan shares his origin story: a teaching career planned around a pension, a marriage that changed the math, and the realization that a $55K salary was never going to deliver financial or geographical freedom

[13:33] - The fundamental difference between adding value in residential versus industrial: it is not about remodeling kitchens - it is about signing leases, extending terms, and raising rents on paper

[16:26] - The profit multiplier: why an equivalent deal in industrial can return $300K where residential returns $30K, and what it takes to get there

[17:44] - Why Jonathan chose industrial over retail and office: no tenant improvement buildouts, no management headaches, and triple net leases where tenants pay taxes, insurance, and everyday maintenance themselves

[19:22] - How Jonathan self-manages a portfolio spread across Wyoming, Iowa, and Oklahoma City from a resort town in Colorado with no third-party property manager and no landlord responsibilities beyond roof and structure

[29:39] - What Jonathan looks for in the physical property: roll-up doors at 12 to 14 feet, yard space for trucks and materials, and keeping the office portion under 20% of total square footage so the space stays attractive to warehouse-focused tenants

[33:17] - Tenant due diligence on private companies that have no obligation to share financials: the exact questions Jonathan asks to get a read on revenue, stability, and lease renewal intent without ever demanding a P&L

[35:37] - The due diligence step residential investors never think about: the Phase 1 environmental study, what it covers, and why skipping it could leave a buyer personally liable for chemical spills or contamination from prior tenants

[39:26] - Why right now is a strong buying window for small industrial: commercial loans taken out 5 to 7 years ago are maturing at much higher rates, and owners who cannot refinance comfortably are increasingly motivated to sell

[40:53] - Sale leasebacks as a deal source: what makes them work, what red flags to watch for, and why an above-market rent offer from an owner-user at closing should be treated as a warning sign, not a bonus

Key Takeaways

• Value in Industrial Is Created on Paper - In residential, you add value with a new kitchen or fresh flooring. In industrial, value is created by signing leases, extending terms, and increasing rents. A great tenant on a 10-year lease makes a property dramatically more valuable than an identical building with a month-to-month occupant.
• Triple Net Leases Make Out-of-State Investing Actually Passive - Because industrial tenants on net leases pay taxes, insurance, and everyday maintenance themselves, Jonathan manages properties across three states from Colorado without a property manager. The asset class was designed for distance investors.
• Flipping to Fund Your Way In Is a Real Strategy - On a $55K teacher's salary with no money left over, Jonathan used house flip proceeds to fund down payments on rental properties. If you are early in your career with limited capital, flipping is not a detour - it is a funding mechanism.

Links & Resources

Jonathan Hayek

https://jonathanhayek.co/

The Source of Commercial Real Estate Podcast

https://www.thesourcecre.com/

I had the pleasure of sitting down with Brian Tibbs, co-founder of a faith-based nonprofit that sent 360 people to plant 90 churches across 11 countries in South America — all while quietly building a real estate portfolio from 5,000 miles away. By age 44, that portfolio was large enough to cover all of his family's living expenses, and in 2021, Brian and his wife retired from the nonprofit and returned to the States to run their 45-unit short-term rental business full time across Boise, Idaho and Phoenix, Arizona.

In this episode, Brian walks through exactly how he built and manages his STR operation, including the team structure that keeps things running without him, the guest screening systems that protect his properties, and the 80% occupancy rule he swears by for maximum revenue. If you're an active investor thinking about short-term rentals — or wondering how real estate and meaningful impact can coexist in the same portfolio — this episode is for you.

Episode Highlights

[0:40] – Brian introduces himself: born in Boise, moved to South America at 26, spent 16 years co-founding a nonprofit while building a real estate portfolio

[1:25] – How Brian started investing in college with a duplex, then kept building his portfolio even while overseas and not making much money

[1:43] – Brian retired from the nonprofit at 44 after his portfolio grew large enough to cover all living expenses

[5:57] – The early math that convinced him: short-term rents ran double traditional rents with triple the profits

[7:34] – Why not every property works for STR today and how Brian targets B-plus neighborhoods in Phoenix in the $350K–$400K buy range with a rehab to the $600K–$700K range

[9:04] – Why Brian targets traveling professionals and work-related guests instead of vacationers, and how that protects occupancy through slow seasons

[10:04] – The 80% occupancy rule: why Brian sees anything above 80% as a signal he's priced too low

[11:25] – The team difference between long-term and short-term rentals: 9am to 9pm, seven-days-a-week guest services coverage across every channel

[13:13] – Why short-term rental guests are actually lower risk than long-term tenants, and how a staff visit every four to five days keeps properties in near-sale condition

[24:27] – What's next: growing to 90 units, launching a new investor fund, and expanding into sober living real estate as a for-profit impact vehicle

5 Key Takeaways

• Being forced to operate remotely from the very beginning pushed Brian to build a real property management team rather than depend on a single property manager — and that infrastructure became the foundation of a scalable 45-unit operation.
• Short-term rentals flip the risk equation compared to long-term rentals: guests paying $100 to $200 a night demand quality, staff are in the property every four to five days, and problems get reported and fixed immediately instead of sitting unseen for months.
• Brian's 80% occupancy target is a revenue-maximizing discipline, not a floor — if occupancy climbs past 80%, that's a signal to raise rates, not celebrate, because you're leaving money on the table.
• Targeting traveling professionals and work-related guests instead of vacationers keeps demand steadier year-round, especially in markets like Phoenix where summer kills leisure travel demand.

Links & Resources

• The Unexpected Investor — theunexpectedinvestor.com
• Brian on social media — @unexpectedinvestor
• Email Brian directly — [email protected]

If Brian's story resonated with you — whether it's the remote team-building, the pivot to short-term rentals, or the idea of using real estate to fund something bigger than yourself — share this episode with someone who needs to hear it. And if you found value here, please take a moment to follow The Accredited Life, leave a rating, and drop a review. It goes a long way in helping us reach more investors who are building toward the accredited life.

Nick Elder is a Denver-based investor relations director at Ironton Capital, a private equity firm that has grown from $25 million to $85 million in capital raised since he joined, and a co-founder of Trinity Park Partners, where he has acquired 62 units of value-add multifamily in the high-growth Northwest Arkansas market. He made the leap into real estate full time after a six-year run in pharmaceutical sales, leveraging his sales and relationship-building skills to build a track record in capital raising, LP relations, and deal execution.

Episode Highlights

[0:53] – Host introduces guest Nick Elder, an investor relations director based in suburban Philadelphia

[4:02] – Nick shares his background: from Pittsburgh, started in pharmaceutical sales after college at Mylan Pharmaceuticals

[5:36] – Nick buys his first house in Denver in 2019 for $308K, house hacks it, and gets hooked on real estate

[7:05] – How a 2022 layoff became the catalyst for going full time in real estate investing

[14:34] – How Nick self-educated from 2019 to 2021 through books, biographies, networking, and meetups before ever joining a firm

[15:39] – The case for taking a low-paying role under a great mentor, and why Nick accepted the Ironton offer without knowing the comp

[17:34] – How Ironton uses monthly educational webinars attended by 150+ investors to drive capital raising without heavy-handed branding

[24:27] – The two-class share structure Nick borrowed from Ironton to attract investors with capital gains to offset using bonus depreciation

[29:12] – A breakdown of Ironton's three fund offerings: a 9% income fund backed by hard money loans, a 12–13% medical accounts receivable fund, and a diversified growth fund

[38:05] – The real challenge of running a fund: balancing committed investments against a capital raise that hasn't closed yet

5 Key Takeaways

1. Transferable sales skills are one of the most underrated advantages in real estate investing — the ability to communicate quickly, stay available, and deliver a great client experience translates directly into strong investor relations, regardless of what industry you came from.
2. Self-educating before you need the knowledge gives you a shorter learning curve and more credibility when the opportunity finally shows up. Nick spent two years reading, networking, and attending meetups before he ever joined Ironton Capital.
3. Taking a low-paying role under a high-caliber mentor can pay off more than chasing a bigger salary. Nick accepted the Ironton position without knowing the compensation because the learning opportunity was obvious, and it's now paid off across both his W-2 career and his own deal portfolio.
4. A two-class depreciation structure can be a powerful capital-raising tool for value-add deals. By separating depreciation from profit for investors who need to offset capital gains, Nick was able to raise equity for his own projects while solving a real tax problem for his LPs.
5. Running a fund introduces a different set of challenges than syndicating individual deals. The money isn't pre-loaded and waiting; you're constantly managing the gap between committed investments and capital that hasn't been raised yet, which demands discipline, investor incentives, and sometimes internal bridge financing.

If you want to understand what building a real investing career from scratch actually looks like — career transition, mentor relationships, early deals, fund strategy, and all the complexity in between — this conversation with Nick covers it all. Share it with someone who's trying to figure out how to make the jump from a W-2 into the world of private equity or multifamily investing. And if you're finding value in The Accredited Life, take a minute to follow, rate, and leave a review. It helps more people find the show.

In this episode I sit down with Vlad Arakcheyev, a multifamily investor and syndicator who came to the United States from Russia in 1993 as a political refugee and spent more than 20 years as a W-2 graphic designer before COVID pushed him to take control of his income. After getting his real estate license in New Jersey and testing flips and wholesaling, Vlad went all in on multifamily, underwriting 300 deals last year and closing four B-class value-add buildings across the Carolinas, Kansas City, and Dallas.

We get into why the team comes before the deal, what asset management really looks like behind the pretty Facebook photos, and how a ten-year vision of 10,000 units and an animal sanctuary in New Jersey keeps Vlad moving. If you're an accredited investor or W-2 professional who wants to see how real multifamily operators actually build, this conversation is for you.

Episode Highlights

[0:43] – Vlad introduces himself: born in Russia, 20-plus years as a graphic designer, real estate license earned during COVID

[2:53] – The COVID catalyst: his wife's furlough, a near job loss, and the decision to never depend on someone else for income

[4:28] – 75% of New Jersey agents sold zero houses that year while Vlad networked relentlessly and stacked mentorships

[5:41] – Learning to flip by attaching himself to a 15-year veteran, then quitting his W-2 and burning the bridge

[8:08] – Why wholesaling and flipping were unnecessary detours on the road to multifamily and syndications

[10:14] – Vlad's wife pushes the mindset work: set the goal, build the vision board, reverse engineer the plan

[17:02] – The Dallas networking story: the shy woman next to him kept her hand up at 10,000 units

[18:53] – Joining the Jake and Gino mentorship and closing his first deal, seven units in Bradenton, Florida

[19:47] – Today's buy box: B-class value-add buildings, 1985 or newer, 100-plus units in the Carolinas, Kansas City, and Dallas

[20:23] – Underwriting 300 deals to buy four, and why running the building for five years is the real work

[23:38] – What a five-person operations team looks like on a 100-unit property

[28:14] – Team first, deal second: why raising from strangers on social media is like proposing on a first date

[31:13] – Market selection: exiting Florida and Houston over insurance and taxes, doubling down on steady Kansas City

[34:37] – The ultimate goal: LP and GP positions across 10,000 units

[35:19] – The animal sanctuary dream sparked by a rescued racehorse, and ranches using horses to help veterans heal

[40:30] – The man who sold 90 companies and cried in his 10,000 square foot house until he found purpose

5 Key Takeaways

• Relying on a single W-2 paycheck is riskier than investing, and Vlad's COVID furlough scare proved that one income source leaves you one step from poverty.
• You don't have to climb the ladder from wholesaling to flipping to multifamily; define the end goal, work backwards, and use mentors to skip the unnecessary steps.
• Build the team before chasing the deal, because you can't confidently pursue a big raise without knowing what your partners can actually fund and close.
• The glamour shots on social media aren't the business; the real work is walking foundations in muddy boots and reconciling receipts against spreadsheets for years.
• Money without purpose leaves you empty, which is why Vlad's vision board includes an animal sanctuary and three months of travel a year alongside 10,000 units.

Links & Resources

• Zontik Ventures — https://zontikventures.com/
• Wheels and Real Estate Deals on YouTube — https://www.youtube.com/@VladArakcheyev

If Vlad's story of trading a 20-year graphic design career for a multifamily portfolio got you thinking about your own ten-year plan, share this episode with someone who needs the push to write theirs down. And if you enjoyed the conversation, make sure to follow The Accredited Life, leave a rating and review, and share the show with a fellow investor.

My guest today is Jens Nielsen, a Denmark-born engineer turned real estate investor and high performance coach who has built a portfolio of roughly 35 deals and over 2,000 multifamily and industrial units across New Mexico and beyond. After 25+ years in IT and telecommunications, he walked away from his W-2 in 2020 and has since coached well over 200 people through his five-pillar framework built around clarity, energy, courage, productivity, and influence.

In this episode, Jens and I get into why most high achievers plateau before they ever reach high performance, how he transitioned from IT professional to active syndicator, and why the mindset work is just as critical as the deal analysis. If you're an accredited investor or entrepreneur who suspects your inner game might be the thing holding you back from the next level, this one is for you.

Episode Highlights

[0:38] – Jens shares where he's coming from and why he gets up early to start the day with intention

[4:38] – Why Jens didn't check his IT skills at the door and how data, systems, and project planning gave him an edge from day one

[6:51] – How a dinner with a friend and a cold call to an 81-year-old broker launched his investing career without a mastermind or weekend warrior course

[9:04] – The freedom-first why: family in Denmark, aging parents, and a desire to stop trading time for vacation days

[15:20] – When mindset work entered the picture and how hiring a high performance coach in 2020 changed everything

[17:50] – The moment that shifted his path: leaving his W-2, moving back to New Mexico, and renovating a house while the rest of the world watched Netflix

[30:06] – How Jens evaluates deals and operators today and why he's shifted toward debt over equity in the current market

5 Key Takeaways

1. Don't check your previous career skills at the door when you enter real estate. The analytical and systems skills Jens built in IT became core advantages when evaluating deals and managing operations, and the same is likely true for whatever you've spent your career doing.
2. Your "why" has to go deeper than the goal itself. Jens works with every client to find the real reason behind their target because without a strong emotional connection to the outcome, the first stretch of difficulty will send most people back to their W-2.
3. The five pillars that separate high achievers from high performers are clarity, energy, courage, productivity, and influence. Jens coaches clients through all five because most people excel at one or two and unconsciously avoid the rest.
4. Newer, simpler assets tend to outperform older value-add deals on a risk-adjusted basis. Jens learned the hard way that heavy value-add deals in older buildings carry compounding risks around insurance, maintenance, and municipal code enforcement that eat into returns.
5. Vision work is not soft. It is strategic. Most investors never slow down long enough to build a clear picture of where they want to go, and Jens argues that this absence of clarity is the single biggest reason capable people stall out or never take action at all.

Links & Resources

• Jens Nielsen's coaching and consulting website — jensnielsen.us
• Free vision workbook and call link — available via the pop-up on jensnielsen.us
• Vivid Vision by Cameron Harold (referenced by Jens)
• Brandon Turner's book on rental property investing (referenced as Jens's first intro to real estate)
• Connect with Jens on LinkedIn

If you've ever felt like you had all the knowledge you needed but still couldn't get yourself to pull the trigger, this conversation with Jens is worth sharing with someone in your circle who is stuck in the same place. The five-pillar framework he walks through is something you can start applying today. Please follow The Accredited Life, leave us a rating and review, and pass this episode along to someone who needs to hear it.

My guest today is Pam Goodwin, founder of Goodwin Commercial, a Dallas-based development firm she launched in 2006 after spending years on the tenant side of the business with Brinker International, where she developed more than 50 restaurant locations from the ground up. Somewhere along the way she realized the landlords collecting triple net rent on those Chili's ground leases were the ones really winning, and she set out to become one of them. She has been at it for 35-plus years and says she still wakes up on Monday loving what she does.

Episode Highlights

[0:19] – Pam introduces her background at Brinker International developing 50-plus Chili's locations and what made her realize landlords had the better deal

[1:38] – What Goodwin Commercial focuses on today: single tenant net lease, buying land to develop with national tenants, or redeveloping existing buildings

[3:44] – How working in small towns and bringing first-to-market restaurant concepts to communities became her favorite part of the business

[10:50] – Why the current construction cost environment has pushed her toward ground leases over build-to-suits, and what she gives up on the tax depreciation side in that trade-off

[12:23] – The case for buy and hold in triple net: why she wishes she still owned everything she has ever sold

[14:24] – How cap rates vary dramatically by tenant quality, using McDonald's at a 3.75 cap versus Dollar General at a 7.5 cap to illustrate the difference in investor pricing

[17:50] – Where she sees opportunity right now as drugstore chains close locations and entertainment and dining concepts flood the Dallas market

[20:37] – Why 2024 was one of the harder years in commercial real estate for most people she knows, and how high interest rates drove almost all of her recent closings to cash buyers

[21:38] – The creative ways investors are repurposing underused commercial space, from office conversions to senior living and pickleball courts

[28:44] – How to reach Pam and get involved in her education events, classes, and active deals

5 Key Takeaways

• In single tenant net lease development, you are primarily buying land. The existing building on it is almost irrelevant because it is likely coming down anyway, and in many cases the cost to reconfigure an existing structure exceeds what new construction would have cost.

• Cap rates and tenant credit quality move together, and you have to watch both constantly. A McDonald's and a Dollar General can sit on the same acre of land in similar locations, but the cap rate spread between them can cut the property's resale value nearly in half.

• Right now, ground leases are the lower-risk play over build-to-suits because construction cost pro formas can shift dramatically in six months to a year. If you can let the tenant build the building and simply collect rent on the land, you preserve your margin and eliminate a major variable.

• Everything is for sale. It is just a matter of time and price. Pam spent five to six years working one property before finally getting it under contract, and it turned into a four-tenant deal. Patient persistence on the right locations is a repeatable edge in this business.

• You do not have to develop alone. Pam actively partners with bird dogs and local connectors who bring her viable land or vacant buildings, offers a minimum 25% return on the deal, and handles all the due diligence and execution. The relationship infrastructure is often more valuable than the capital.

Links & Resources

• Pam Goodwin's Website — pamgoodwin.com
• Follow Pam on LinkedIn — Pamela Goodwin

If you found this conversation valuable, share it with someone in your network who has been curious about the commercial side of real estate but has not known where to start. Follow The Accredited Life so you never miss an episode, and if you have a minute to leave a rating and review, it goes a long way toward helping us grow.

In this episode, I sit down with Brady Winder, content marketer at Carrot, the platform behind some of the highest-converting real estate investor websites in the country. Brady breaks down why most investors spend all their time generating leads and closing deals while completely neglecting the middle of their funnel — and why that's costing them deals and dollars.

We get into the psychology of website conversion, what the top 5% of Carrot members are doing differently, why branding matters more than most investors realize, and how SEO is evolving in an AI-driven world. If you're an investor who has ever wondered whether your online presence is actually working for you, this episode will change how you think about it.

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Episode Highlights

[0:48] – Brady's background: content marketer at Carrot, real estate investor, and self-described marketing nerd

[3:01] – What Carrot actually is and why investor websites are the most neglected part of the funnel

[3:52] – Why your website is the bottom of your funnel — and why that makes it the most critical piece

[7:27] – The middle of the funnel nobody talks about: lead nurturing between generation and close

[10:21] – Treating all marketing channels as a hub that feeds into one central website

[11:36] – The data: Carrot leads convert into deals seven times more often than purely offline leads

[12:17] – Why inbound SEO leads are higher quality than cold calling or direct mail

[13:06] – How pre-educated sellers convert faster and negotiate less on the phone

[14:33] – What's done-for-you in Carrot vs. what investors should personalize

[16:37] – Why your About page is the second most visited page on any website — and why most people ignore it

[17:13] – Video testimonials: cringe or not, the data says they convert and they're worth getting every closing

[19:45] – Low-resistance forms and conversion psychology baked into every Carrot site

[20:32] – Carrot's free CRM and automated drip campaigns to stop deals from slipping through the cracks

[23:29] – What the top 5% of Carrot members do: treat their business like a brand, not just a lead machine

[24:52] – Real example: how one Sacramento investor dominates her market with a consistent brand and a cowboy hat

[26:03] – Why video content — especially niche, helpful, low-production video — wins in SEO right now

[27:32] – Why gaming SEO no longer works and what actually ranks in 2024

[30:16] – How AI-generated content is flooding the internet and what creates an opening for human voices

[30:31] – The Niche Authority Builder tool: targeting hyper-specific seller situations like divorce or foreclosure

[37:02] – How Carrot works for land, mobile homes, development sites, and even home services

[44:33] – Brady's take on the future: brands get more deals than people — even when the brand is a person

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5 Key Takeaways

1. Your website is the bottom of your funnel — and a bad one wastes every dollar you spend getting leads to it.
2. Leads that pass through a website convert into deals seven times more often and at $14K+ higher profit on average.
3. The top investors treat their business as a recognizable brand — consistent name, colors, voice, and story across every channel.
4. Helpful, niche-specific video content wins SEO right now — low production quality is fine as long as it answers real questions.
5. Stop chasing leads and closing deals while ignoring everything in the middle. Nurturing is where the money is hiding.

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Links & Resources

• Carrot – carrot.com/podcast
• Free tool: Market Scout — plug in your market to see lead generation opportunity
• Mentioned Topics: Website conversion, SEO for real estate investors, lead nurturing, CRM, video testimonials, branding, content marketing, motivated seller leads

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If this episode made you rethink how your online presence is working — or not working — for you, make sure to follow, rate, review, and share the show.

In this episode, I sit down with Anna Li, founder of Outsource Your Tasks, a global virtual assistant staffing company she built almost entirely by accident. Anna immigrated to the United States at 21 with nothing, spent 15 years climbing the corporate ladder in pharmaceuticals, and then discovered a massive gap in how entrepreneurs source, hire, and retain virtual talent.

We break down the VA landscape from Philippines to Latin America to the U.S., what investors and entrepreneurs consistently get wrong when hiring remote help, and how Anna's "rule of seven" training philosophy changes everything. She also shares the story of running flips remotely from Switzerland while working full time — and why she believes outsourcing your lowest-value tasks is the fastest path to freedom.

Episode Highlights

[1:19] – Anna's origin story: born in the former Soviet Union, moved to the U.S. at 21 with -$3,000

[2:14] – Her current world: staffing company, real estate investor, wife, mother of three, pickleball player

[2:33] – How it all started: trying to launch a wholesaling company from Switzerland while working full time in pharma

[3:47] – Why agencies failed her and what she discovered about how VAs are really compensated

[6:56] – How her mastermind community became her first customers — and how the done-for-you side was born

[9:00] – Why she's grateful for 15 years in corporate America and what it taught her about leadership

[13:41] – VA 101: what a virtual assistant actually is and the biggest misconceptions entrepreneurs carry

[14:39] – Sourcing the top 3% globally: 100 candidates reviewed to present three finalists

[15:11] – The Philippines, Latin America, Egypt, and beyond: global talent and realistic hourly rate breakdowns

[17:47] – How the pandemic accelerated the remote work shift and created a wave of highly educated VA talent

[20:30] – New frontier: fractional professionals and subject matter experts hired part-time for specialized needs

[21:15] – What VAs can and can't do — and why "virtually anything virtual" is closer to the truth than most think

[25:33] – The $10/hour vs. $200/hour framework: how to identify which tasks to outsource first

[27:39] – Anna's three service tiers: DIY course, done-for-you sourcing, and fractional specialist placements

[31:14] – Why VAs ghost their employers — and why it's almost always the leader's fault

[32:28] – The top three reasons VA hires fail: bait-and-switch pay, no onboarding, and mismatched task scope

[34:51] – The rule of seven: why Anna expects to repeat every instruction seven times before it sticks

[38:38] – Real estate in Switzerland: running fix-and-flip deals from Europe with her dad as boots on the ground

[40:40] – How they treated their first flip as a $20K tuition payment — and why that mindset unlocked everything

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5 Key Takeaways

1. If a VA ghosted you, look inward first — mismatched expectations, poor onboarding, and bait-and-switch pay are the top three causes.
2. Sourcing from a global talent pool means access to educated, experienced professionals at a fraction of U.S. rates.
3. The rule of seven: plan to repeat every new instruction seven times. Leaders who expect this retain better talent.
4. Start outsourcing by identifying your $10/hour tasks. Protecting your $200/hour time is where real leverage lives.
5. You don't have to quit your job to build real estate wealth — remote systems and the right people make it possible from anywhere in the world.

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Links & Resources

• Outsource Your Tasks – outsourceyourtasks.com
• Free resource: Top 25 Tasks You Can Outsource to a Virtual Assistant
• Follow Anna on LinkedIn: search Anna Li – Outsource Your Tasks
• Mentioned Topics: Virtual assistants, global staffing, remote hiring, fractional professionals, BPO, real estate wholesaling, house flipping

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If this episode helped you think differently about how you're spending your time — or finally convinced you to get help — make sure to follow, rate, review, and share the show.

In this episode, I sit down with Fernando Angelucci, CEO of Triple S, a self storage syndicator who has completed 55 facilities totaling $250 million in transactions across 24 states. Fernando started as an engineer, tried single family and multifamily investing, and then stumbled into self storage at a conference in Indianapolis — and never looked back.

We break down Fernando's three-pronged investment strategy, how self storage technology is evolving fast, what the post-pandemic market correction really looked like, and why consolidation remains the single biggest opportunity in the space right now.

Episode Highlights

[0:52] – Fernando's background: engineer turned real estate investor after reading Rich Dad Poor Dad at 16

[2:20] – Why residential investing led him to self storage: no tenants, no toilets, no trash

[3:39] – Sunsetting all habitation-based real estate from 2016 to 2018 before going all in

[4:03] – Testing the market through wholesaling before buying and holding storage facilities

[5:03] – First facility: bought for $1M outside Chicago, sold three years later for $1.8M

[6:04] – Three legs of the investment stool: mom and pop value-add, Class A ground-up development, and big box conversions

[6:57] – The consolidation opportunity: top six REITs own only 18% of 50,000+ facilities

[9:49] – Always buying with the exit in mind: who the top 100 operators want and what they look for

[10:30] – Targeting high-teens to high-20s IRR and selling within 3 to 5 years

[12:10] – Technology driving the space: AI pricing, dynamic rate adjustments, and competitor tracking tools

[15:44] – Cap rate compression and the evolution of the market from 12-15% caps to today

[17:43] – How Covid drove 80% rent growth in two years — and the correction that followed

[18:38] – Why 85% occupancy is the healthy stabilization target, not 100%

[20:23] – Why a 100% occupied facility almost always means under-market rents

[27:26] – Expense ratios: 32-33% for Class A automated facilities, 42-45% for mom and pop

[28:11] – Third party management: why Fernando uses 3-5 vendors and never puts all eggs in one basket

[31:34] – The difference between REIT-branded management and third party management

[33:34] – Contractor storage as the next emerging opportunity: small bay industrial units displaced by Amazon

[36:56] – How Fernando's investor base has evolved: 822 investors, from friends and family to retail accredited investors

[40:26] – Launching a $15M fund (hard cap $25M) to diversify across value-add, development, and wholesale deals

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5 Key Takeaways

1. Self storage's fragmented ownership creates a massive consolidation opportunity for mid-size aggregators.
2. You make your money when you buy — but you only realize it when you sell. Always plan your exit from day one.
3. 100% occupancy usually signals under-market rents. Healthy stabilization is 85-92%.
4. AI-driven dynamic pricing and competitor tracking are rapidly reshaping how storage operators maximize NOI.
5. Contractor and pro storage units represent the next wave — displaced by Amazon's last-mile buildout and sticky due to high equipment investment.

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Links & Resources

• Triple S – https://ssse.com/about
• Call or text Fernando directly: (630) 408-8090
• Mentioned Topics: Self storage syndication, consolidation strategy, value-add, ground-up development, big box conversion, dynamic pricing, third party management, 506 syndications, self storage fund

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If this episode opened your eyes to self storage as a serious asset class — or gave you a clearer picture of how smart operators are building and exiting portfolios — make sure to follow, rate, review, and share the show.

In this episode, I sit down with Mike Seidl — serial entrepreneur and private money lender — to break down what separates true private lending from the hard money world Wall Street funds. Mike has built three businesses across four decades, from medical alert systems in 1987 to a property damage construction company, to now deploying millions of his own capital in private real estate loans.

We get into how Mike's construction background gives him an edge most lenders don't have, how he structures draws and protects his investors, and why he walked away from Wall Street after nine months of research he couldn't poke holes in. If you're looking to understand private lending from the inside out, this one's for you.

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Episode Highlights

[1:14] – Mike's intro: private money lender, serial entrepreneur, three companies over four decades

[1:55] – Company #1: Medical alert systems started at age 23, sold after ten years to a public company

[2:36] – Company #2: Property damage construction company doing 250–300 repairs a year, sold in 2017

[3:45] – The Wall Street wake-up call: nine months of research that led Mike to pull millions from the stock market

[5:11] – Hard money vs. private money: why the distinction actually matters for borrowers

[6:22] – Expanding beyond single family: mobile homes, small multifamily, and rescue loans

[8:51] – How Mike's lending community grew from personal capital to friends, family, and outside investors

[10:48] – How due diligence has evolved: network-based reputation checks, PropStream, Redfin, and RealtyValue

[12:42] – Why his construction background lets him catch what other lenders miss on scopes and photos

[14:57] – A real example: catching an incomplete tile job by reading photos and calling the bluff

[16:31] – Loan structure basics: 80% of purchase, 100% of repairs, max 70% all-in combined

[17:24] – Cross-collateralization: how borrowers can lend 100% without coming to the table with cash

[18:13] – Draw process: geo-tracked photos, before-and-after comparisons, and 48-hour fund release

[20:22] – Terms, rates, and why interest-only loans with ACH debits keep everything clean

[23:03] – Why 24% annualized is still a win for borrowers who keep 100% of the equity

[23:22] – Documentation: notes, mortgages, personal guarantees, title insurance, and liability coverage

[26:05] – What happens if a loan goes sideways: how Mike would manage or exit a foreclosure property

[27:53] – Construction gem: how to find good contractors by asking whoever follows them

[29:20] – Why borrowers don't need 25% down to pay contractors — and what to do if they ask for it

[32:20] – Mike's entrepreneurial origin story and what's potentially next: flex space on a triple net lease

[36:10] – Why Mike will never stop working: blue zones, mental stimulation, and living on purpose

[37:04] – 40 countries, whitewater kayaking, and diving between two tectonic plates in Iceland

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5 Key Takeaways

1. True private lending means your own capital and your own decisions — no Wall Street buy box required.
2. Construction experience is an underrated edge in private lending — you can catch what others simply can't see.
3. Draw management and geo-tracked photo verification protect both the lender and the borrower.
4. Stress-test every deal and every borrower — your network is one of the best due diligence tools you have.
5. Wealth without health and purpose is incomplete — build income streams that fund the life you actually want to live.

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Links & Resources

• REI Capital Guys – https://reicapitalguys.com/
• Email Mike: [email protected]
• Mentioned Topics: Private vs. hard money lending, draw management, cross-collateralization, fix-and-flip loans, rescue loans, multifamily bridge lending, blue zones

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If this episode gave you a clearer picture of how private lending actually works — or inspired you to think bigger about building income around your life — make sure to follow, rate, review, and share the show.